Subject: Vermont States Report - Big Living Death Mono Black Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 07:20:26 -0500 From: "Jamie Wakefield" To: “Here endeth the book of Lancelot, last of the noble knights of the round table and his adventures with Raxis, hollow knight, and Merlin, and Morganna Le Fey, last of the wise folk of Camelot, in his quest for the san graile” Quote from The Last Defender of Camelot – by Roger Zelazney. States testing went o.k. I am still convinced that Magic is fast aproaching a time when the only viable deck will be lightning beatdown, or Ultra control. You either kill your opponent by turn 3-5, or you lock hijm up by turn three to five, no matter what that means. You have spike feeder recusion going, or you have a hand full of counters, and just wrathed away the initial onslaught. I get tired of either concedeing to lock decks, or dying before turn three, so I seriously consider going with Hatred to Vermont States. I make the deck up, and I actually put some work into it, and then we have a small playtest session over at my house while Mare is Dog training one night. I play Walter the Wrecking Ball, because all his decks just sem to smash mine, and I play him with my green Land destruction deck a couple of times, and it plays o.k., and I have some fun with it, but, mostly, I’m just wating time. I’m NOT playing mono green in Vermont States unless the deck wins 95% of its matches pre sideboarding, because there are not enough options in Green for me. I like more of a mid range deck despite the fact that it will probably get crushed. The green deck does fine, but not great, never having a better than 50% win ration, and I put it away. It’s a great deal of fun, but I’d like to have fun, AND win. I pull out the Hatred deck and Hatred walter to death on the Third turn. Then I do it again. Then I do it again. I am sure that these are amazingly lucky draws, as I realize that no one can draw a Hatred every game, but, if I believed in signs, I would say that this is one. I ask Walter how beneficial getting Hatreded to Death three times in a row is to his playtesting. Dying on the third turn. Did you learn something? Did you see all the mistakes you made, and notice the amazing amount of errors you can make when you have two, sometimes three land on the board? Are you a better player for our playtesting tonight Walter? Of couse, I am being completely sarcastic, and am trying to point out the sheer ridiculousness of Hatred, but Walter is very self consious and thinks I am picking on him. Walter – I’m never picking on you o.k.? Oh, before I forget – Walter went 5-0 in regionals this year with his WW deck, and then had some amazingly bad draws to go 5-2 for the day, and just out of the top eight. Oh, and Walter won Vermont States too. Walter’s a good player when he doesn’t get Hatred/Channel-balled on the third or second turn. Oh well, as dumb as the deck is, I am thinking about taking it to states, but finally decide not too. I finally find a deck that I like that has ways to beat weenies, uses all the cool new black spells like Duress, and well, Duress. Living Death = Wrath of God for weenie decks, and I can’t live without rituals, so that means on a good draw VS suicide black or weenie red, I can wrath on the third turn. I love that. I take the deck to the shop for testing, and quickly realize that Mind Maggots are amazing. The only problem is that sometimes they are amazingly good, and sometimes they are amazingly bad. Playing against Louise, one game I get a second turn 8/8 mind maggots, with my graveyard full of fat creatures that will come back as soon as I draw a Living Death. I have used the Mind Maggots to fill may graveyard with Greven, a Workhorse, and a Phyrexian Colossus. If I can get a living death, OR she can’t deal with my 8/8 Mind Maggot – I win. And I do. Next game, I draw a mind maggot as my my only creature, and after I cast it, I draw another. And then I draw a living death, and I think “Wow! Are these guys Bad! Bad! Bad!” If I cast the Death, I lose two guys, and I have no way to sac them to get them back. They just die. If only I could discard these four lands I am holding to make them bigger like I can with Creatures. And if only I could sac the mind maggots for some benefit, like, oh, maybe drawing cards!” Wow are Mindless Autamatons good. Not vulnerable to Light of Day. Sac themselves in response to the Death, so I not only get them back right away, but I also draw cards for doing so! Does it get any better than that? I am so impressed with this amazingly obvious discovery that I start thinking about OTHER artifacts that would do the same thing. Things like Bottle Gnomes and Workhorses even….. I head home to go for a run, and to re-work my deck. As far as mundane, not computer games, not magic, and not sex is concerned – there is only one thing better than running with one dog. And that is running with two dogs. Sugar Bear (God I hate that name and have to get around to just calling him Bear.) loves to go for a run with me. He is a golden brown Sheltie that is ten years old, and plays like a puppy. He can be a grouch at times, and does not play with the other dogs as much as I would like, but he can, at times, be very agile and spry. But when he runs with me…. He is truly alive. His face lights up and he looks at me while we are running, as if we are bonded with a mental link, and a friendship that will last the ages. He runs along beside me without jumping and barking, playing, or distracted. He runs with me like we are on the hunt together. Looking for the evenings meal, or just back to where the pack is hiding out. He changes pace with me, and keeps one eye on me at all times. Head low to the ground, soaking in the scents and the pure joy of the run. But we have four dogs, and I cannot just run with one of them all the time. But Sugar Bear is not like the other three. It is clear to us that he must have been raised on a farm, or someplace with a lot of open space, because he NEEDS to go for walks more than the others. He needs to run with me, and to feel like he is on the hunt again. You can see him in it, and I try to do it often. But then, Morganna, primarily my other dog, looks at me with confusion in her eyes. Confusion as to why he gets to go out on the leash more often than she. Solution – take them both, and see what will happen. Sugar Bear and Morganna are not bonded. They rarely play together, and their interaction is limited to chasing after furred lightning, also known as Naughty Nikki, the fastest, and evilest dog we share our home with. Not that they do not get along, but it is not a dog friendship, but more of a tolerance. If one were to disappear from the house, the other would not miss them a bit. I imagine that the walk/run can go either way. They will tangle their leashes, be under my feet, and Sugar Bear will not look at me the same when we run. They will get distracted, try to go in different directions, and it will be a mess. One of them will slip a collar, and I will be in big trouble with my lovely bride. Or, everything willl be fine. The second I touch the leash, all the dogs go berserk. It takes me ten minutes to find another leash, and two good collars to put on both of them. Sugar bear needs a chain, because if he sees another dog, he HAS to sniff its rump, and if you have anything less than a chain, he will snap it or slip it, and be on his way. (not that this has ever happened, but why take chances?) Morganna just needs to have a collar that fits her, and that takes a few minutes to find, and finally I just settle on Merlin’s collar which is a little too big. The whole time Nikki and “the puppy who deserves angel wings” Merlin, are clamoring for attention, and desperatly want to be the ones that are going for the walk. Finally, I get everyone harnessed up, and make it out the door. The beginning is fine, and there is a little confusion, but Sugar bear just sniffs the ground, and looks for neat scents to pick up, and Morganna keeps looking at me to make sure I’m not hiding a treat somewhere and to assure me that she is being a good girl. Because, since she is such a good girl, surely she should get a treat for it, correct? (Morganna is in agility and obediance training, and The Lovely Mare plies her with food for every little deed when she is on the leash, so Morganna can’t quite understand how come I don’t ask her to perform and get rewards the entire time we are on walks.) Morganna eventual stops watching me, and starts following Sugar Bear’s lead, and sniffing where he sniffs, and discovering that he finds some pretty damn interesting things. Some of them you can even roll in!!! Much better than I expected, and the walk goes as smooth as silk. Now for the run. I lead them out to the Dike that is in back of our house, and in back of everyone’s house in East Middlebury, and we walk along it for a while, and then I break into a jog. Sugar Bear gets that look in his eye, and no longer is he a dog going for a walk. In his mind, you can tell he is a wolf, loping along beside the pack leader, with many miles to go. A loping, easy stride, watching me with one eye, and scanning the terrain ahead. Morganna leaps a couple of times as we run, and wants to play with me at first, and then she “gets” it. She runs along side me, still looking for treats, but a gleam comes into her eyes, and her look is a little different. It’s a look of – “I’m running with you! I’m running with you!! A more youthful exhuberance, like a small child. But she does it well. She doesn’t run in a straight line like Sugar bear and I, but runs in a zig zag, from the end of her leash away from Sugar bear, to as far away from him as she can, and then back again, casting excited looks back and forth at me, and just being alive. We do this for ten minutes, running up and down a section of the dyke that is mowed, but slightly overgrown. Then I am too exhausted to keep it up, and I slow to a walk and vigorously pet them both as I do so. Neither are even panting yet, but my throat is raw in the cold, and each breath causes my throat to ache. We walk a couple of laps, and then we turn around and run again, and, oh, do they come alive. The only thing better than running with one dog, is to run with two. Great Therapy for a long week, and I am filled with the joy of life when I come back inside. And more importantly, so are they. Kind of tough to be filled with Hatred when you feel this good. I have actually been, well, fibbing for a couple of days. I actually won’t be playing Hatred in States. I was considering it when I posted that initially, but then Doug Shepardson (The Gamesmaster) has decided that it is time for him to get into Magic again, and called me to ask for a deck. Doug has this annoying habit. He likes to call me for a deck, and then inevitably beats me with that same deck I give him in the tournament!! He played my original Black Fat deck to great success, knocking me to third place while he went on to win the finals, three times with the damn thing. That gets old. But it has been a year or more since Doug has played Magic, and I am excited that he is going to get back into it. I explain to him - “Remember how we used to play Hymns and Mind Twist when they were legal? Remember how we knew they were broken, and begged for their banning? But remember how we played them anyway, because you have to play the most powerful cards you can find? Let me tell you about my Hatred deck.” Doug loves the idea, and wants to take that. Fine – that means I will be going with my Living Death Deck. I’m not nearly the deck builder that Kastle is, so you’ll just have to trust me on this. Here it is. 4 Carrion Beetles 4 Thrull Surgeon 4 Bottle Gnomes 4 Mindless Automaton 4 Fallen Angels 2 Workhorses 1 Phyrexian Collosus (won me two games last night in testing) 1 Corpse Dance (not essential) 4 living death 4 duress 4 dark rituals 20 swamps 4wastelands 2 Volraths Stronhold Sideboard 4 Bottomless Pit 4 Gloom 3 Evincars Justice 2 Planar void 2 Perish (just because - they may become eastern paladins. :-) Carrion Beetles are better than I initially thought. In my infinite wisdom, I completly ignored the fact that they make the living death even better. I was just using them as anti Survival/Recuring hosers in the main, since I hate that deck with a passion. :-) But in fact - I use them to empty my opponents grave, cast Living Death, and they get nothing back. The Phyrexian Colossus (thrown in as a lark, and just because it is so me) has actually won me two games all by himself. He cannot be blocked by less than three creatures so he comes through for a bone crushing eight quite a lot. Very helpfull against Necro. And - he can be cast relatively easily. Only seven mana – and for decks like mine - thats nothing. He can also be untapped at any time - not just during upkeep - like many assume. You may pay the eight life cost whenever you wish. good for blocking - or when you draw something that will mean he should be untapped for the win (this has happened) The large amount of artifacts mean that I am not vulnerable to Light of Day. The large amount of saccable creatures means that even if I do not have an angel - I get a good reuse out of the Living Death. (thrull surgeons, bottle gnomes, automatons, angels and workhorses all go, all by themselves. Only the carrion beetles and the one Collosus actually die to a death.) And - Nothing in my deck cannot just be cast with plain old mana - quite a difference from a number of other living death decks. The sideboard is pretty self explanatory. Green has some amazing creatures, and if anyone is playing Fire Elves, I need to Perish those away on the third turn. Life force isn’t really a threat to me, and neither is Light of Day. Bottomless Pit is in there for Tolarian Blue, anyone playing blue, and anyone that thinks they are going to hold cards against me. I hate when people hold cards. I absolutely hate that. Tolarian Blue will probably wreck me, because I am pretty slow on the kill, but I do have wastelands, thrull surgeons, and Duress in the main, and I have planar void (not that great) and Bottomless pit (not that bad) to side in agains them. I AM SUPER DISCARD BOY!!! I like being able to be super discard boy after sideboarding. Planar Void is in there for decks that’s entire method of winning is by dumping a whole bunch of crap in their graveyards. I hate that even more than people holding cards. God I hate that concept. God I love Planar Void. So you think to yourself… Planar void, Wakefield? What are you thinking? You ’re playing a LIVING DEATH deck!! Well, yeah, but I can win without anything in my graveyard. I can cast all my stuff, and I have a ton of really good flexible creatures. I don’t really need the death to win. Here – look at this - ------- Planar Void + Living Death = Wrath of God. How can that be bad? Its not. Gloom is pretty self explanetory, and Perish is in there purely for spiteful reasons. :-) Evincars Justice is for handling hatred decks, and basically any deck that wants to weenie rush me. Die weenie swarm, die! So that’s the deck. Lets hope it does as well as its been doing in play testing. I give Justin (former Burn boy) a ride to States, and he is going to be playing some janky thing he just came up with, and playtested for one day. It has Tradewinds, SEVENTEEN counters, Bottle gnomes and Wall of blossoms and two Whispers. I ask him how it wins. He tells me most people just conceed at some point. I’d imagine that would be so…. We arrive, and for about the third time in my life, the directions are good, and I get there with no fuss whatsoever. We drive right into the place, and I didn’t make a wrong turn once. How amazing. It’s a nice day, I slept pretty well, and I know a lot of cool people are going to be here. Doh! Fogot to tell you. We were going to have a tournament at the Shop, and I like to throw in a pack of Magic as my Ante for the tournament. I decided that since the Duelist came with a free pack of Urza’s, I’d just buy the Duelist, and throw in the free pack as Ante, and take the mag home with me. Keith and Louise do not have time for a tourney, so we just playtest for a bit, and then we all head home. I come home after playtesting, run with the dogs like I was telling you about, and then read the newsgroups. The newsgroups are a flame with posts about the Academy. Wow am I scared of that deck. I am scared because the people who say it blows, are people I have never heard of. While the people who say it is amazingly consistent, and just as broke as you would imagine, are people who I either know, or know of and respect for their good posts and obvious knowledge. I open up my Duelist. While I do so, I am thinking – “Wow, I can’t wait until the new Scrye comes out. THAT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT ISSUE!!!” I guess I’ll just have to satisfy myself with this lightweight Duelist here instead. (It’s a joke and some forshadowing - people, relax.) I open up my pack and get – two walls, some crappy blue uncommon, and a Diabolic Machine!! No wait – that wasn’t it. It was actually a Tolarian Academy. No Joke. How cool is that? I call Alan and tell him he can borrow it on Sunday. End forgotten story. (Damn – I hate when I forget to put something at the beginning, and then have to do a whole story out of place. I wish someone would invent some machine that would let me go back and insert the story where its uspposed to go… but I guess that would be impossible, huh?) Oh well. Justin and I walk in and immediately see Alan “eeyoo” Webster – Possibly the only man more filled with Hate than I. He ask me in his nicest possible way for the Academy. Lets see, how did his begging go? Let me see if I can reproduce it here…. “About time, You bring the Academy with you?” “Yes” “Good, hand it over.” It leaves a warm glow in your chest doesn’t it? He he he Ah, I see all the regulars are here. Alan “Eeyoo”Webster – Tolarian Blue – the only one in the tournament. Don “Thawing Glaciers” Webster – What the Hell Don? Your mommy forget to wake you up on time? How come Don’s not here? Keith “Ice” Kenyon – Control Necro Louise “Evilbabe” Graham – WW with secret Healing Salve Tech Kevin “Cabal Rogue/DojoBoy/Editor” McGlaughin - Counter Pheonix Ira “Wonderboy” Beaver – Recuring Whale Titan “I’m just a really happy 6 foot 6 inches 16 year old” – WW Walter “The Wrecking Ball” Ochs Fritz “The Fritzenator” Nickols – Oath of Druids Fattieness with Spikes Doug “No Show” Shepardson – what the hell doug? Paul “killed wakefield so many times with black weenie I’ve lost track” No idea of his last name…. – Black weenie. Justin “Uber Control 17 counters/ Wow! Most men are so whipped.” Olson Jeremy “I play and win with decks that Wakefield wish he’d designed” Muir – Wurm – a - Geddon And others… I can’t type them all… sorry – that’s enough. Onward. The place is excellent. McDonalds right down the road, a big cool room, Rob Dougherty running it, and all my friends are here, and I’m playing a new cool deck that I love. How cool is that? First round. Some guy I do not know. He is very cool, says he has been playing for two years, but I think this is his first sanctioned tourney. I take him in two, the details are not really necessary. Second Round – Mike Pidgeon. Mike is a fun player. He plays fun decks, and I don’t think I have ever had to play him in a tournament. I saw him playing Justin last round and I know he is with Fire Elves. Fire elves is one of those decks that can overrun you on the third turn, or it can fireball you for a whole lot of damage on the fourth. Sometimes both. I know that he could kill me before I get a chance to set up. In the first game, I look at a Workhorse and a Fallen Angel, three swamps and two Wastelands. Hmm, that’s looking pretty slow, but, maybe I’ll top decks some good stuff. Mike empties his hand in the first four turns, and puts out Prist of Titania, Elf, Whirling Dervish!!! In the main! And last but not least - a Goblin Bombardment…. Wow, is that Goblin Bombardment really, really, REALLY good against my deck. Mike pounds me the Dervish while I play land like, well, a guy that runs a lot of land and big creatures in his deck! On turn five, I am so low on life, I have to living death, or die. I say a silent prayer that he forgets that he can sac his guys in response. He does. And then remembers and does more damage to me by saccing them, and then next round, the dervish and elves finish me off. Ouch! Side in two Perishes and three Evincars Justice. Die weenie hordes, die! I draw my seven cards – Three Swamps, Bottle Gnome, Bottle Gnome (aka “dervish killers”), perish, evincars justice, and a wasteland. It doesn’t get any better than that does it? “So you won right?” Damn right I did. Mike gets SIX creatures on the board on the fourth turn, and I Perish them all away, and I don’t feel guilty about it at all. Damn that’s a sick, sick card. Mike starts to recover from the Battle Gnomes smashing him for two with their little metal fists and I Evincar decides to mete out some Justice with Buyback, thanks to a dark ritual. Wow is that demoralizing…. “Kill all your guys, and buy it back. My guys live. Beat you with little metal fists until you die….” Second game is more of the same. With four Wrath of Living Death, Evincars justice, and Perish, a weenie horde deck doesn’t have much chance. My beetles keep his garevyard pretty empty, and the Elf Graveyard is completely eaten by the time I need to living death, and then, I lose only a Beetle. A bad matchup for Mike. 2-0 – I am the man…. Not really. I go get a quarter pounder… MMMMMMM Yummy. I come back, and I park one space away from my previous Parking spot, for some unknown reason, and I think “Wow, I’ve had good luck all day. I wonder if it’s a lucky parking spot?” and then quickly tell myself to quit it. Superstition is dumb, and I need to get over wearing lucky underwear, pants and shirts, and cofffee mugs and lucky rituals. Etc. Lucky parking spot indeed! I go inside. My next opponent? Alan Webster – Tolarian Blue Boy. Damn. Oh well. I have Duress in the main, Wasteland in the main, and Thrull surgeon in the main. In the side I have Bottomless pits, and Planar Void. I’m not helpess, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose. I make a few joking comments about how I’m going to lose, and alan says “we can draw if you want.” “Really?!?” I say. He shrugs – “Sure.” I grab up the sheets before he can change his mind and I go up to tell Rob we are drawing. I come back and Alan and I play for fun. First game I get the two Wastland, two Duress draw, and strip his land, and take important stuff out of his hand. He recovers in record time, and smashes me on the sixth turn, giving me massive card advantge. So much card advantage that I draw my entire library! I’m holding my entire library on the sixth turn! So you won right? Um, Don’t ask ask stupid questions. Second game we don’t sideboard. We’re just playing for fun, and I don’t want him to see my bottomless pits in case we have to face off in the top eight. Alan mulligans down to five cards, and I again get the two wastland draw. I also get the swmpt, ritual, mindless automaton on the second turn. Then I pitch as many cards as I can to it, and it grows big enough to kill him pretty quick. Third game, I do not get as good a draw, and he smashes me on the second or third turn. Then we quit and I watch Fritz and Jeromy play. Oath of Druids vs Wurm a Geddon. Great magic. Now I just need to win one more match and I make it to the top eight. Fourth Found – Playing off against Louise, who is 3-0 with her white weenie/ Pariah/ Healing salve tech deck. No problem. I am with Gloom, a whole bunch of artifact creatures and living death gets rid of pro black pretty darn well. First game, a monk goes the distance. I don’t remember much else. Second game was one of those games that are best not talked about. Louise eyes brighten when she sees her opeing hand, and I squeel like a little girl when I see mine. “Duress you” I say on the first turn, and she glares at me and say’s “Can I just belt you? Just once? I just want to come across this tabel for just a minute….” Ah, I’ve really missed Black. ;-) I snag something good out of her hand. She plays a plains. I duress her TWICE on the second turn. Now – heres the part that you want to forget about. We each draw eleven land, and talk about how bad we are at this game. I am holding five land and two dark rituals, and she is holding all land and a healing salve or some such. Oh we are bad at this game. I eventually draw a Gloom, and she draws a Visionary to get rid of it. Very exciting. I don’t even rememebr how I won, but I think she fell asleep, I drew a whole bunch of cards when she her eyes were closed, tipped her dice over to one, and said really loud “Attack with my Bottle Gnomes!” and this woke her up, she glaced at her dice and started shuffling everything back into her library for third game. Third game she pretty much is smashing me with two shadow guys and I can’t find a Living Death to save me. I have an ever growing Mindless on the board, but he can’t get by the knights on her side of the board, and I eventually start removing counters to draw cards in a vain search for a Living Death – the only thing that will save me. I am using a beetle every round to remove stuff from her grave, so I think I can recover. Draw a card, pitch it to the automaton, remove two counters, draw a card… not the living death. This goes on for three or four rounds, and I get another automaton, play him sac him, draw a card – nothing. Louise kills me and the next card down – no joke – Living Death. Damn – Now I HAVE to win the last round. Last round. Justin “Ultra Control Boy.” Olson. Fine. Game one – No idea. I get nothing, he gets a Tradewind, Bottle Gnomes and a Wall of Blossoms. I practice the Scoop. I side in Four Bottomless Pits. Heres the second game, in its entirety against Justin “Ultra Control Boy, 17 Counters” Olson. Justin Mulligans Starts with Six cards. Me – “Swamp, Ritual, Duress, Take a Counterspell, play a Thrull Surgeon.” Justin – Play an island. Me – “Wasteland, use the Surgeon.” Justin – “You forgot to attack with him. Here, let me be a really nice guy and go down to 19 anyways” Me – “No, don’t do that.” Justin – “it’s o.k.” Me – Looking at Justin’s Dismiss,Rewind and Bottle Gnomes. Also his other Island and his City of Brass. “Alan Webster tells me Land destruction is weak.” But I can’t resist temptation, and I take his Island. Justin plays the City of Brass and I waste it. Three turns later and neither of us has played any more land. I smash my deck “C’mon you Mother--------- C’mon!!!!!” Justin plays a land. I play a land. Justin plays another land and a Bottle Gnome. I play a land and the Duress I just drew. Two counters – two of which he cannot play. Just draws and says go. I draw a land, and play a Mindless Autamaton – soon it will be huge, and smash Justin into paste. “Counter” Justin says. Damn – he drew a plain counterspell! Justin draws and plays a land – now I know he can counter my next two spells. I play a Mindless – Counter Justin draws and plays another land. I play an Angel – he counters it. Now he should be out of counters. Living Death – Countered Damn – I now have a thrull surgeon, a living death, and a Workhorse in hand. What do I play? Is it possible he’s draw another counter? I play the Thrull Surgeon, and immediately use it. (I have drawn a ton of business cards, and no more land. I am at six land at the moment, able to cast anything I draw, and no more. I cannot have had a better draw. Well, more land earlier would have been nice while justin was Screwed, but, whatever.) I look in his hand. Nothing of consequence. Next turn, I’m gonna Living Death, and win. Justin draws – “Lobotomy you.” Me – String of Curses that would make a sailor blush. A father ten feet away covers his child’s ears and shoots me a dirty look. I push the table over that I am playing at and start to run towards him and he flees in the other direction (None of this actually happened – except the lobotomy and the cursing part.) That’s game you know. I play my Workhorse anyway. Justin says “Annul” Thus endeth the Book of Jamie and his quest for the State Championship. Oh well, it was still a great day. I played a lot of fun matches, hung out and watch Alan play some amazing magic, watched Walter the Wrecking Ball bring home the State Championship to Middlebury (where it willl reside forevermore.) I played some fun games with Titan, and a really nice Englishman named Andrew. Also, I loved my deck, and with some more tuning, will become as good to me as Brothers Grimm and Secret Force. I think I need to add some Books to it. Later Jamie C. Wakefield King of the Fatties Loves Living Death now.