Subject: [Deck]: "The Brazilian Jungle" and small report... Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 13:02:26 -0500 From: Michael Mast Did anyone notice this deck from the Dojo? It won the Brazilian Nationals. The deck: Mana (20): 4 Undiscovered Paradise 3 City of Brass 3 Gemstone Mine 2 Karplusian Forest 4 Mountain 4 Forest Creatures (24): 4 Mogg Fanatic 4 Granger Guildmage 4 River Boa 2 Mogg Flunkies 3 Skyshroud Elite 3 Barrow Ghoul 2 Man-o-War 2 Uktabi Orangutan Stuff (16): 4 Winter Orb 3 Firestorm (3 is all I have, so this works :) 3 Incinerate 2 Disenchant 2 Mana Leak 2 Giant Growth 60 cards total. The sideboard I had: 3 Pyroblast 3 Honorable Passage 1 Disenchant 1 Mana Leak 3 Dread of Night 2 Terror 2 Tranquil Domain It's basically a 5-color weenie/Orb deck. As soon as they tap out, you play the orb. It has a smattering of utility cards, so that if your opponent sees something once (particularly a Leak or a Growth) they always have to worry about it from then on. I took this to a small local type 2 (where there are a bunch of scrubs (me included), and a couple of good good players)... Disclaimer: I am a scrub, so if I do scrubby things in the report, don't yell at me too much :) Round 1, vs. Counter/Burn Game 1. I play some stuff, get a little damage through, he kills my stuff (all 1-1 removal tho). He eventually taps out to return a Hammer, and I go Orb, Ghoul, game. Game 2. I get him down to 2 (with a Flunky doing not much most of the time), and he has a Shard Phoenix out. He Quakes for 9 (I was at 9). I countered it with a Leak, but didn't have anything else useful in my hand. I should have let it be a draw -- oh well. Game 3. I think he drew 15 Ophidians this game. Didn't matter tho -- I killed 2, and got a Boa out. He eventually got 2 Ophidians going, but he couldn't stop the Boa. He was at 7 -- Incinerate the Boa -> Passage -> Counter -> Passage. I had GGrowth in hand for game. Round 2, vs. the Spike/Vineyard thing. (SDT? Is that what it's called?) Great - a bad matchup for me for first game really. Game 1 - he kills me with a big Stomple-beest. (No Firestorm). Game 2 - I Tranquil Domain a Vineyard and Survival of Fittest, play a couple of creatures, then Firestorm for 4, game. Game 3 - Arrrgh. He drew 15 Walls of Blossoms this game :( Between that and my land pocket of about 8 *grumble grumble*. I kept everything early under control with a pair of Grangers (that did 7 to me, but I was doing ok). If I had gotten a Firestorm I would have won. Was thinking that even with as many green creatures in the deck, a Perish still might not be a bad idea for the sideboard... (because the Elites got taken out of course vs. mono-color). Round 3 vs. Oath of Druids. Hmm... If I get an ok draw the first game, I have a chance. Game 1 - I ran him over fast. Went Forest, Elite, then Mtn, Fanatic, Elite. He Mystical tutored for a Wrath, then Wrathed (but was at 5 or so), and I did the Orb/Ghoul bit again and won. Game 2 - Damn. No Disenchant, and he drew the Oath in first hand. Bummer. Game 3 - Stupid stupid stupid me. I chose to go first (with my sideboard, should have drawn), and then Paris'ed on a hand where my only land was an Undiscovered, but I had both a Disenchant and a Tranq. Domain. I drew 6, got only a forest (and a bunch of creatures), kept it, and got run down by a Spirit of the Night. Oh well. Dropped after that (only 1 round left anyway). I thought the deck did pretty well all things considered -- I didn't get swept and really thought I had a chance in every match. Things I'm considering: The ManoWars weren't useful all night. Maybe switch those out for the 4th Incinerate and another Disenchant/Leak. Another land (prolly Karp. Forest) -- 20 isn't much, even for this deck. 1 Perish on the sideboard (for either a Dread or Pyroblast) Comments? Suggestions? Thanks for reading this far :) Mike Mast