Subject: PTQ-PA 'White Trash' Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 20:23:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael R Tidrick To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com A week before this September 12th tournament I was scratching my head wondering what I could possibly throw together. I had been away from the game since before the Exodous Prerelease tournament and had no clue which of the Exodous cards people were using. It seemed that all black and al red decks were extremely popular, especially in Youngstown, Ohio (my hometown). I though that white had the best ways of shutting those decks down, and I guessed that white could pretty much deal with anything I'd come across. Rather than 'White Weenie' I made a deck type my buddy and teammate call 'White Trash'. White Trash differs from White Weenie because in White Trash you just throw a bunch of different cards together, and they aren't nessicarily weenie creatures. Anyways I just threw in all the white cards I liked and thought would be neat. I took the deck to a local unsanctioned tournament and finished second to a 'Trade-wake' deck. With that experience in mind I made a few changes I thought would better my odds against 'Trade-wake' decks and assorted other decks I thought would be rough. Here is what I finally ended up taking to the Pittsburgh Qualifier for 6 rounds of swiss: Land: 18 Plains 4 Wasteland Artifacts: 2 Scroll Rack (This card made the deck work. It helped me get what I needed when I needed it. Even if I had crap on top of my deck and crap in my hand, using it made my opponant think I was up to something.) Spells: 3 Disenchant (Oh so useful! Don't make a white deck without 'em!) 2 Repentance (White creature elimination, Big ole dragon defense too.) 2 Kor Chant (More creature elimination.) 3 Cataclysm (The deck would not have worked without them. They're essential.) 2 Smite (Always catches the opponant by suprise) 2 Bandage (Perfect for saving creatures when your foe does sneaky double blocks. Good Hatred defense too.) Creatures: 2 Wall of Essence (Works great vs. creature oriented decks.) 3 Soul Warden (My friends always said I should get a life, so I did.) 1 Soltari Monk (Shadow is good.) 3 Soltari Priest (ditto) 3 Soltari Visionary (Shadow and enchantment removal is better.) 2 Paladin en-Vec (Seemed like the twisty thing to do.) 2 Spirit en-Kor (Great flyer defense, an underrated card.) 1 Cloudchaser Eagle (Enchantment removal AND a creaature... go figure.) 3 Staunch Defenders (My favorite creature in all of MtG) 2 Master Decoy (Game breaking card vs. other creature oriented decks, always seems to draw the counters vs. Trade-wake.) Sideboard: 3 CoP: Red (duh) 3 Light of day (duh) 3 Torture Chamber (More creature removal for white... neat.) 2 Humility (Often shuts down tradewind decks, I used it a lot) 1 Disenchant (Handy) 1 Cloudchaser Eagle (Useful) 1 Master Decoy (The weak link in the sideboard, but I still used it a good bit.) 1 Winds of Rath (Great for decks that overwhelm me, and for getting rid of tradewinds.) Round 1 vs. Lewis McDonnald (Trade-wake) Game 1 was a really big stalemate. The early Soul Warden helps me gain 40+ life by the mid-game. I manage to draw out all of his counter, but I can't get a cataclysm to save my life. When I finally get it, and get him to tap out I thought I broke the game open. He rebuilds quicker than I thought he would and the game stalemates again. I cataclysm again (with only two land left in my library) and then he concedes. Game 2 began with only 20 mins. left in the round. I managed to get the cataclysms early and wear him down. With time about to expire it was obvious I was in much better shape than he was. He was nice enough to concede. Hats of to Lewis! For the match he probably would have won had he been more aggressive bouncing my land, rather than my creatures. I just got a bit lucky there. Game 2-0 Match 1-0 Round 2 vs. Ryan Schnabel (Trade-wake) Both games I got the creatures I needed, with just enough land and timely cataclysms. He claims he was mana screwed, but it really didn't matter with all the hot cataclysm action that was going on. Disenchants kept him out of the game completely. He was one of the guys who came down with Dennis Bently from Rochester... quote of the day: 'I don't understand how I lost, I beat Dennis' deck all the time!' Game 4-0 Match 2-0 Round 3 vs. Lowell Battles (GEEZ! MORE TRADE-WAKE!) Game 1 the cataclysms wore him down and kept him from getting enough to tradewind my stuff or capsize. Second game my horde of creatures was no match for his two lonely islands. Mana screw is a cheap way to win. Game 6-0 Match 3-0 Round 4 vs. Nathan Heiss (Funky Blue Deck) I was pretty excited to play something other than Trade-wake... I was starting to get a headache from all of that. I had never seen a deck quite like this before. Thalakos Drifters and Mawcors with curiosity gave him great card drawing advantage. First game the card advantage overwhelmed me, the second game the double curiosity on the Tradewind helped him go to town after my cataclysm (he put the curiosities on after the 'clysm) then he locked me down for the kill with 2 Drifters. I think that that was a bad deck matchup for mine, but Nathan is a good guy and a great player. Hats of to a great deck. Game 6-2 Match 3-1 Round 5 vs. B.J. Zappelli (White Weenie) B.J. is a guy I knew from when I used to live in Rochester. During the day we were talking about how we did after each round and problems with certain matchups for our decks. It was almost like fate that we had to play eachother. First game was back and forth and it just so happened I was on top after 20 life. The game was a race to the finish and I just got lucky. For the second game he didn't have anything to sideboard (most of his sideboard was geared up against spell oriented decks) and my sideboard put the match in my favor. There were lots of unexpected big creatures like Avenging Angel that poped out that caught me by suprise, but the Match was mine. Game 8-2 Match 4-1 Round 6 vs. Jason Hillman (Trade-wake) Game 1 was long. I had the early beat-down going on, but getting him down to 4 was not enough. Tradewind/Spike Weaver shut me down. Second game humility forced him to use his mana and tap out lots. I was able to drag the game out long enough to get enough damage through. I had 42 life at the end of that game. There was not enough time for the 3rd game. Game 9-3 Match 4-1-1 Going into the 6th round I was highest among the players without perfect records. To be honest my power of opponant was stellar and my other tiebreaks were great. If I had taken an intenional draw most likely I would have made it in, but even if there is a slight chance of not making it, I'd rather play it out and have the fates be in my hands rather than the rest of what's going on. So I decided to play the 6th round out, against one of the 3 undefeateds at that point. In the end I made the final 8, and even if I had lost I would have probably made it anyways, since all the other players decided to play out their final matches. It was neat seeing no draws being taken. Final 8 vs. Nathan Heiss (That funky blue deck again) The first game I was crushed into a bloody little pulp, and advancing at that point looked very grim. The matchup just wasn't in my favor. In game two I stuck in the Humilities from the sideboard and that made his Mawcors and Tradewind Riders and Thalakos Drifters in the 'Managable' range. I outswarmed him that game to even up the match record. Thank goodness he didn't get any hot capsize action going. God bless Humility. The third game was very similar to the second, I was feeling pretty good part way through with Humility on the table. I made a few small mistakes and he was a good enough player to punish me for it. The thrid game just slipped out of reach. Hats of to Nathan for playing a neat deck well! In all for the day I played an awful lot of Trade-wake. The deck has pretty good odds against it, but you need to play smart. If you can draw out the countermagic on stuff early, that'll make Cataclysm good for the mid-game, than as long as you get as much damage as you can it, then your opponant is forced to defend against your creatures, rather than working towards a lock. That tips the scale in your favor. The matchup vs. WW or other creature oriented decks is very favorable, no need for any concern. Against funky blue decks with unexpected suprised expect to bend over and ask if your opponant wants any fries with that. Sometimes matchups just don't work for you. I felt bad that I didn't get to play against a more varied field, but my teammate, Chris D'Andrea, and I will got a shot at that at the qualifier in Muncie, Indiana. Congrats to Nathan for winning the whole darn thing, hope Rome treats you well, and grats to Andon for a well run event. -Michael Tidrick Team Twisty