Subject: tournament report: Mogg Song
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 01:48:12 EDT
From: GrueBleen@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Here's a type 2 tournament report from the weekly sunday morning tournament at
Another Universe in White Marsh, MD, for June 14.

Generally I (Stu Gluck) like to play control decks, especially black control;
lately, I've been using my version of gypsy pox, which is just a great deck
(kudos to Schneider).  I enjoy needing to think a lot during matches.
However, I decided, with a bit of encouragement from my friends/teammates
Chris Schreiber and Francis Uy to make a brief diversion out of character, as
I had talked for a while about trying out a silly goblin deck that proved in
play testing not to be so silly.  Actually, the impetus for reviving my
interest in this deck was from seeing raging goblins in Exodus.  I play tested
a version with these in it, and it was fun and fast.  I decided to play the
deck even though they aren't available yet, and it was still very strong.
I'll give a deck listing before some analysis and, of course, a rundown of the
tournament.

Deck List (remember, in a few weeks this will absolutely have 4 raging goblins
in it):

4 song of blood
4 goblin recruiters
4 goblin vandals
4 goblin digging teams
4 mogg fanatics
4 mogg flunkies
4 mogg raiders
3 mogg conscripts
1 mogg maniac
2 goblin kings
1 fireslinger
4 shock
4 incinerate
13 mountains
3 gemstone mines
1 undiscovered paradise

sideboard:
4 sleight of minds
4 pyroblasts
2 shatters
1 null rod
1 havoc
1 mogg maniac
2 rathi dragons

Let me explain my deckbuilding rationale quickly.  The basic idea of it is not
new or original, but all the new goblins make such a deck strong.  I wanted
the deck to be a super-aggressive attacking deck, and it is.  It was also
designed to be extremely consistent, with a mana-screw nearly impossible;  a
majority of the deck is 1 casting cost, almost all the rest is 2, with just
the two goblin kings at 3.  I stayed away from some standard red creatures to
keep true to the goblin theme, which makes the kings, raiders, and recruiters
much more effective.  The reasons to keep vandals and digging teams are
obvious, and the latter are especially useful with all the walls around these
days.  The conscripts and flunkies are great in this deck because they're
surrounded by so many other creatures (but raging goblins would make the
flunkies even better).  The raiders are surprisingly strong, allowing all
sorts of great moves that often catch your opponent off guard.  Fanatics,
shocks, and incinerates are obvious.  I was hesistant to put in the kings, but
play testing showed they often helped a lot, especially if your opponent has
1/1 creatures.  The maniac is useful for, for instance, blocking ball
lightnings.  The fireslinger was a late addition and the only break from the
goblin theme, but is great for continuing damage if you're ahead (which you
will be) and your opponent has stopped the horde with blockers, propogandas,
etc.  Now, the centerpiece:  the recruiters and the song of bloods.  I know,
many people think this combo is a bit of a joke, but it's wonderful for 2 key
reasons.  1)  it provides a huge amount of early damage and 2)  both cards are
very strong by themselves.  At least they are in this deck.  Even if you don't
get the recruiter, there are so many creatures in this deck that you'll almost
always get +2 or +3 from a blind song of blood.  Considering that you will
usually have 4 or 5 creatures attacking by turn 5, that's just deadly.  This
deck has shown off a lot of turn 4 kills because of song of blood.  It gives a
major boost that allows it to outrace other weenie decks, or just be too fast
for control.  Song of blood is to this deck what emp. armor is to armor-geddon
decks.  The recruiter can make a song of blood unbelievable, but also is
powerful by itself with all the goblins.  After all, if you have 3 or 4 lands
in play you won't want anymore, so you can lay all the creatures you want, in
exactly the order you want them, on top of your land in your library;  for
basically the same price, you get a mana severance that doubles as a creature
and even allows you to order the cards you draw!!  If you just want a bunch of
flunkies and conscripts to outmuscle a sligh deck, there it is, or if you
really need a digging team, a vandal, or a fanatic for their abilities, you
can just put them on top of your library.  The recruiter is strong in this
setting.   Some may wonder why I didn't put in scrolls, which I thought a lot
about, but they were just too mana intensive and too slow (!!) to be useful in
the deck.  Firestorms might be good in place of incinerates, but I didn't have
any, so that was an easy decision.  As for the sideboard, the pyroblasts are
obvious, as are shatters.  Null rod was a close call over a third shatter, and
is basically for the same purpose...stopping scrolls and disks.  The havoc is
also standard.  An extra maniac helps against sligh or any deck with big
creatures.  The two rathi's are also for sligh....red has trouble removing
them.  Finally, the four slights are crucial, and the reason for the special
lands.  They deal with all the anti-red cards you'll see....chill (switch it
to blue for some great judo), cop red, pro red creatures, etc.

OK....on to the tourney, finally:

The set up is 3 rounds of swiss and final 16.  There were 47 people....less
than usual.

Round 1:  Sean Cornwell 1614 R/B/U burn/bridge/ganda

Game 1:  This game is over in about 2 minutes as I rush him fast.  He removes
a creature here or there and drops a bridge, but can't dump cards fast enough
to stop the horde.
Game 2:  I start out rushing him and get him low in life when he gets out a
propoganda to slow me, but incinerate and fanatic finish him.
Game 3:  He puts out a turn 2 cop red with a gemstone.  Where did that come
from!?  I have no slights, having seen no reason in games 1 or 2 to put them
in.  Needless to say, I lose, though it was still fairly close.

Matches 1-0, Games 2-1

Round2:  Jonathon Gardner 1622 B/R weenie suicide

Game 1:  We both come out fast.  I have a lot of creatures, he has less, but
some unholy strengths.  Song of blood is the difference, as a massive attack
finishes a very fast game.
Game 2:  I play very sloppy and deservedly lose.  I forget about flanking and
lose creatures to suq'ata lancers (one with an unholy) when I could have taken
out the lancers with my creatures with better thought out blocking.  The big
lancers finish me with help from black flying weenies.
Game 3:  This was a fun one.  He comes at me fast with a double unholy
strengthed critter.  In the meantime, I do a few points with a maniac and a
flunkie.  On my fifth turn, he's at 15 life with both his creatures tapped
from having attacked me and gotten me fairly low in life.  I have out the
maniac, the flunkie, and a conscript, with 4 mountains.  I drop a recruiter so
that the conscript can attack and to set up the library, then play song of
blood for a devestating +4 for all my creatures and attack for 18.  Game.

Matches 2-0, Games 4-2

Round 3:  Daniel Rachell 1825 5cg tradewind

Dan's a great player that I run into at tournaments, but have never matched up
against for real.  We take an intentional draw to guarantee final 16, then
play a match just for fun.
Game 1:  I play mountain and he tells me I should be glad I took the draw
because he practically can't lose to sligh because he has wall of souls in
addition to the standard walls, with stronghold recursion, and earthquakes.  I
tell him I'm not playing sligh, but I'm sure it is a tough match up for me.
Nevertheless, I swarm him fast, with the digging teams coming up strong.  He
eventually manages to stop my hordes with lots of big blockers, but is nearly
dead and on the defensive, and I finish him with direct damage.
Game 2:  He has 2 early walls of souls with recursion going on them, so I
never seriously threaten him.
Game 3:  I rush early and he clears the board with an earthquake and lays lots
of blockers.  I pyro a couple of his tradewinds.  He's at 7 life.  I top deck
a couple of fanatics, throw them at him, shock and incinerate him out.  He
curses stupid red sligh decks....I remind him that my deck may be mindless and
red, but it's not sligh....goblin power!

Matches 2-0-1, Games 5-3-1

Final 16
Round 4:  Mike Gainer 1768 Verdant Force/Sliver Queen/Natural Order
I don't think I've ever played Mike before, but my friends have played him and
his brother and think highly of them both.  His deck is very interesting and
well-constructed.
Game 1:  I start to rush him, then drop a recruiter, setting up a bunch of
critters in my library for the song that I'll use the next turn.  Bam!  He
drops an armageddon on his turn.  Strong move.  I have no land in play and am
guaranteed not to draw any for a while since I can't cast the song to draw
through the 5 or 6 creatures on top.  He had birds, etc., so within a couple
of turns casts natural order and has out a verdant force and I lose fast.
Game 2:  I side in the extra maniac, amongst other things, grasping at straws
trying to figure out a way to beat his deck.  I get a good draw and do a lot
of early damage, but he gets a 4th turn verdant force.  I drop a maniac, so he
can't attack with the force or the damage from a maniac blocking it will kill
him, so he sends some tokens at me.  In the meantime, I shock, etc., him, to
get him down in life.  Eventually he gets down to 2 life.  Then a great
exchange happens.  He needs to clear out the pesky maniac so he can kill me
before I top deck a shock or incinerate.  He uses fling to fling a token
creature at the maniac and takes 1 damage from that.  But he forgot my secret
weapon:  the mogg raider.  I sack a recruiter to make the maniac +1/+1 until
end of turn so it will live.  Now he can't attack at all or he'll die.  I
immediately get a recruiter, cast it and put a fanatic on top of the library
and kill him the next turn.
Game 3:  Again, I do a lot of early damage, but a sliver queen allows him to
stop the horde.  A shock gets him to 3 life with me having a fanatic in play
while he starts to beat me down very fast with big creatures despite my chump
blocking.  I've been waiting a while for a shock or incinerate to finish him,
to no avail.  Finally he plays a stampeding wildebeest.  Uh oh.  I could have
lived with chump blocking, but at 4 life the trample damage will kill me.  I
have 1 draw.  I tell him that I have 3 shocks and all 4 incinerates left, and
if I draw 1 I win, if not, the wildesbeest kills me on his turn.  I flip over
the card from my library.  It's not a shock or incinerate.  But wait....it's a
maniac.  I play it so that if he attacks with the wildebeest he'll join me in
death.  That buys me a turn, and I draw the incinerate the next turn and win.
These were great games, and I feel fortunate to have won.

Matches 3-0-1, Games 7-4-1

Round 5:  Drew McLean 1851 a unique 5cu-ish deck
Drew is obviously a top-notch player, and he has a very original deck founded
on the 5cu engine.
Game 1:  I come at him and am ready to kill him on turn 4 as I dropped the
recruiter on turn 3 for the set up with a bunch of creatures in play and a
song of blood in hand.  On his turn he drops propoganda.  Ouch.  So much for
the really quick kill.  Still, the goblin deck owns 5cu in play testing so I
feel confident for the match.  He then drops more propogandas on his next two
turns.  When he wisdoms and wraths I concede.  Still, I figure that with pyros
for the props in games 2 and 3, and my speed, I have a good chance.
Game 2:  Well, I said it was nearly impossible to get mana-screwed with the
deck...but it is a remote possibility.  This tournament is standard (not
Paris) mulligan and I get 1 mountain and all 2 casting cost stuff.  I top deck
a fanatic and a raider, but after about 10 turns that's still all I have in
play, to his wall of blossoms.  To make a long story short, I concede after he
wisdoms 6 times and wraths a few times.  Oh well, that's the way magic goes.

Matches 3-1-1, Games 7-6-1

Concluding thoughts:  the deck is tight and fast.  I like it.  It's more
consistently fast than sligh is, IMHO, but it does sacrifice a bit of board
control in return.  That's ok...it is aggressive, and very hard to deal with.
I think, despite my initial light-hearted approach to it, that it is very
capable of winning tournaments.  I'd love to try a version of it in extended
with 4 goblin grenades (in place of the incinerates, probably).  That just
seems scary deadly to me.  It's also a really fun deck to play.  I hope some
people will try it out and e-mail me with their thoughts.

Props:
Chris, for joining me in the final 8 with his white-weenie/tradewind deck.
Francis, for just missing the final 16 while playing mono-green because he was
inspired by a Wakefield rant.
Everybody in the final 16, for playing an assortment of original decks.

Slops:
Nobody.

                            Stu Gluck