So I'm still trying my damnest to get a win at something. I really can't say I've done much but mess around since Philly. With work actually caring about extended after the Biggest GP in US history (We had the absolute last PTQ in the us), I found myself on the outside looking in at the Hollywood Prize.
Actually, that's not true. I was on the outside looking DOWN at the Hollywood prize, because due to my job, I am going to be taking my Judge Test for MTG, and Hollywood was 'Training Day'
Now this is both positive and negative, for many of the same reasons. Most MTG players would love to get paid for playing Magic, and so would I. Judging is not that. Judging a tournament is like babysitting your 5 nephews for 4-6 hours just after they get back from the dollar store with their new arsenal of squirt guns. No matter what happens someone gets angry and another gets hurt. However, with a judge certification I can go to these major tournaments and technically complete my goal of going to a PT or GP and Being in the money.
Kinda.
Sorta.
I hear that the promo cards sell for a bit on eBay.
Damn.
Either way I have been playing more and I've stumbled upon something I'm a real fan of. I have a good feeling that this deck will end up somewhere in the buzz and brewhaus that will surround Hollywood and the results that come from it. I've been working on it for a while ever since my favorite card came back - CORRUPT
MBC Corruption
Dudes
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Graveborn Muse
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
Spells
3 Beseech the Queen
4 Bitterblossom
4 Corrupt
4 Damnation
2 Extirpate
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Thoughtseize
Lands
4 Leechridden Swamp
2 Mutavault
16 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard
4 Dusk Urchins
2 Extirpate
4 Puppeteer Clique
4 Spiteful Visions
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Play or Draw This deck HERE
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=303991
(note - this says legacy legal because there is a problem with the deck builder where they say that corrupt is not shadowmoor legal..... yeah corrupt is so good the compy doesn't want it back)
So despite the fact that everyone says faeries are the strongest and everyone is second fiddle, most decks have tried to take over where they THINK the fae stumble, in the early game. If they don't hit BB turn 2, there's a lot of open potential for beatdowns from Paragons, Vanquishers, Maurauders, Maniacs, and Cavaliers. The problem with that is Damnation becomes a 3 for 1 every time and once it hits, that BB will keep them alive until they can stablilize. Plus by playing such a low curve, Spellstutter stays relevant throughout the game, able to stop all 2 drops and most 3's once a BB is out
So the true time to exploit them is in the late game. The Fae's only real plays late are Cryptic Command, the only counter that many decks are playing as of late since Cancel/Trickery are a turn late for dealing with the winged ones problems, and Mistbind Clique, the annoying 4/4 that takes out bitterblossom when they are about to die. By wiping the board you let your bitterblossoms play defense against theirs. The key of this deck is staying alive as long as possible. There are times that Korlash or Demigod will end the game on turns 6 and 7, but more than likely you will let your opponent play into your destruction and then blast a huge corrupt at their face for 8-10 damage. Beseech helps to get you to Damnations or BB's early, and with 9 mana up you can beseech and fire to completely swing the game. The backbreaker is that this deck will usually fire off Damnation followed by a Tendrils on a dude turn 5-6 and stabilize, using 2 cards to negate the opponent's entire early game and punching it to the late game. Corrupt takes over late games and puts the opponent in the Lose or Lose More situation. Korlash helps to superpower the Drainage while making a huge body to swing with, and Demigod may be the best Post Damnation card you can find. Graveborn is in there of course as a 3/3 Arena, but he can run double duty if Korlash teams up with him (OMG TRIBAL FROM ZOMBIEZ!!!) Thoughtseize and Extirpate are here to clean up any problems and Extirpate can be found with Beseech if there's a troublemaker like Oversoul of Dusk, Flame Javelin, or Mistbind Clique floating in the yard.
YAY now its 2:30 am, so I'm gonna go to bed and update this post on monday with results from our standard tournament this week.
VenoM
Well, if you know what Raw Deal is, you know who I am, and that I tend to go off every once in a while. I guess I'm just in relapse because my favorite game has died, but where else will someone listen to me? maybe here...
My name is Mike Bauman..... Actually my name is Mike 'VenoM'
Bauman, but I'll get to that. I work in a store in Rochester, NY called Millennium Games and Hobbies (or just millennium). For about 4 years Millennium was one of the premiere hotbeds for the WWF/E Raw Deal CCG. we consistently placed multiple players in the final rounds of major tournaments across the US and Canada. This culminated in myself winning the largest Raw Deal tournament ever recorded (190 players)....
One year later, Raw Deal ceased to exist. Its creator had decided that the entire game needed an overhaul, and when 'Revolution' came out, everyone abandoned the game.
So now, here I am, trying out something I would consider 'NEW'... Magic. I haven't played The Gathering since I was just a young boy, and someone convinced me that Leviathan was the best creature ever because it was a 10/10. I traded him some odd lands that I didn't use and couldn't understand why he wanted lands, since you could get regular ones in the starter decks. Suffice it to say mine were not 'Regular' lands and I proceded to trade 4 dual lands for a Leviathan.....
I am not a good magic player. I want to emphasize this because I think that Magic is a very skill based game, despite what many people say. I was playing sorceries on my opponent's turn until Odyssey and still didn't understand the stack until Ravnica. I still would not call myself a good player, but I'm working on it.
So this year I made one of my goals to start playing Magic competitively. My main goal was to either win a Grand Prix or Pro Tour Qualifier, or get a money finish at a GP or PT.
My friends, however told me I should attempt to die instead, it would be much less painful. I heard horror stories about Cheating, Scumbaggery, Annoying players, Bad Judges, and General Pissyness. The fact that the owner of Millennium is one Edward G Fear, aka The guy whose face is the Djinn on the Judgement Wishes because he was caught drawing cards from his sideboard sitting in his lap at a PT, did not help to ease my ways. Regardless, I began playtesting for Grand Prix Philly. I was weary of even attempting to drive 6 hours for a Magic event. I was used to big Raw Deal events so it was not the scale of the tourney but rather I was used to Raw Deal being a meeting of Comraderie. Even when you lost at Raw Deal players would shake hands, discuss their mistakes in the game, offer advice, and make general banter. It was the best part of the game, making a new friend each round, asking how they were doing in between rounds. All I could imagine for Magic was a cold hearted killer sitting across the table from me. silently pondering over his sideboard as he plotted my demise. If I could picture a sniveling dog in 1900's racing gear going 'Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee' then he would be right under the table.
Boy, was I wrong!
I want to thank everyone at Philly that I played against.
- Jesse, playing Merfolk, who completely trounced me in game 2 when he activated Double Mutavault with a Reejerey on board
- Robert, who found his Atog unable to attack for 6 turns because he just couldn't fit over the bridge
- Nathan, who got a laugh out of the 2/4 ornithopter that Burn just CAN'T KILL!!!
- Eric, the man with the worst Sphere of Law in exsistence (Not so good when his only white source is the Shockland he just drew at 2 life)
- Donald, who got to read Sulfuric Vortex with two Baloths on board looking for the win
- Julien from Florida who was stuck being 'The guy who wore the same shirt as the fatter guy' all weekend (Julien bought the shirt first)
- Eric Williams, the RIT college guy from our local tournaments that I eliminated (sorry bout that)
- Shawn, hopefully I didn't hurt your rating too bad
- and Nicholas, the man with the 'Stronghold Sideboard Tech (Pyrostatic pillar?) that made me wish I had finished my math classes in College.
Thanks guys. I have a new found respect for the game, and I want to keep playing. it doesn't hurt that I was one point of damage from making day 2 of my frist GP, but if any of the people had been jerks like they were supposed to I wouldn't want to play.
VenoM
Tags: Magic The Gathering Raw Deal
