Ah, States/Provincials. The time of the year when people aren't worried about giving away "tech" (since it DOES want to be free after all), but instead just want to win the right to say that they are the (insert State or Province name here) Champion.
In Halifax, Nova Scotia, the scene was abuzz with activity. There were people organizing weekday evening testing sessions at the local Student Union Building, pre-tournament Type 2 tournaments to test the waters, and lots and lots of trading in the weeks leading up to the big day. Everyone was involved.

Just for reference, here's the deck I was planning on playing before my moment of reason.

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Thornscape Familiar
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Call of the Herd
4 Urza's Rage
4 Raging Kavu
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Skizzik
4 Beast Attack
1 Ghitu Fire

4 Mossfire Valley
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Barbarian Ring
1 Keldon Necropolis
5 Mountain
7 Forest

Sideboard:

3 Price of Glory
3 Engulfing Flames
3 Hull Breach
3 Fire/Ice
2 Scorching Lava
1 Spellbane Centaur

This deck was solid (although the sideboard was not very strong), but it lacked something. I couldn't exactly name it, but I played many games both online and in person with real opponents, and it just wasn't performing as I wished it to. So I got to thinking.

In my opinion, plain Red/Green beatdown could not do it by itself. Extensive testing showed me that while RG was a good deck, it didn't have the late-game kick or raw power. The deck I listed above was indeed very fast, but speed wasn't exactly important when facing a similar deck. See, I knew my field would be full of two things.

a) Lots and lots of control.

b) A fair amount of other RG decks.

I decided I wanted to revamp the deck. Why not mess around with the build, make a few drastic changes and hope for the better?

Here's the deck I ended up playing on the day of the tournament.

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Call of the Herd
4 Urza's Rage
4 Raging Kavu
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Skizzik
3 Spiritmonger
1 Beast Attack
1 Life/Death

6 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Mossfire Valley
3 Karplusan Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Darigaaz's Caldera
1 Keldon Necropolis

Sideboard:

4 Terminate
3 Price of Glory
3 Engulfing Flames
2 Hull Breach
2 Beast Attack
1 Spellbane Centaur

Now this was more like it. I had always been a fan of Spiritmonger since Day One (the Prerelease where I got my first taste of how utterly powerful this guy was - the hard way). Also, adding Black added some nice other options (namely a single Life/Death in the maindeck, and the ever useful Terminates in the board). I felt that this version was much better than straight RG.

I decided to show my face at the tournament site fairly early, giving myself plenty of time to scrounge for cards I needed or make any needed last-minute changes. Just for fun, here's the list of cards I needed to borrow for my deck during the days leading up to the tournament:

4 Skizzik
4 Raging Kavu
3 Urza's Rage
3 Karplusan Forest
3 Beast Attack
2 Call of the Herd
1 Mossfire Valley

Sucks having your cards (and any chance of making a deck with all your own cards) stolen, eh?

Anyway, I ended up getting the last card I needed (1 Call of the Herd) literally five minutes before the tournament started, since nobody, NOBODY, had any Calls. Of course, I found my man. Mr. Ralph Jackson, you're my hero.

Between that time and when I had arrived, many familiar faces showed up as well. I knew that the field wasn't as big as last year (we had 38 people this year and about 10-15 people more last year), so I would end up playing more people I knew. Not exactly a good feeling, but in such a relatively small Magic community, I've gotten used to playing pretty much everyone I know.

My two closest Magic associates, Phil and and Phil, decided to play a secret deck they had been working on for months. Even I didn't find out what it was until pretty close to the starting of the tournament.

Anyways, as the story goes, we had a field of 38 people, with six rounds of swiss then cut to Top 8.

It began.

Round One I get paired with a guy named Peter. He lent me the Karplusan Forests and one Rage for my deck, and I lent him a bunch of Absorbs, Caves of Koilos and Gainsays. We both knew exactly what the other was playing before the match even started.

Game one I tested the waters with a few minor threats, like Raging Kavu and Skizzik, he countered some, takes some damage, and then played a Lynx. I force a Skizzik kicked into play and trample over the frightened kitty. I think I ended up double-Raging him out (no, not with the kicker).

We sideboarded for a minue or two and quickly got on with the game.

He led with a turn two Lynx which I promptly Engulfing Flamed out of the game. I stalled on few lands, and he counters pretty much everything I play. He then dropped the bomb - Haunting Echoes. Here's what he removed with it.

All my Llanowar Elves
All my Birds of Paradise
All my Wild Mongrels
All my Call of the Herd
All my Flametonge Kavu
All my Urza's Rage
All my Skizzik

I was left with pretty much only land in my graveyard. I still had a chance, however, since Price of Glory is in play and he has no way of getting rid of it. I take some hits with two Lynxes, but then I eventually get a Spiritmonger into play without a counter hindering his passage. Uh oh. I attacked a few times, changing his color so he had to regenerate his Lynxes (while losing some lands in the process). I eventually won the war of attrition, with him having not enough lands in play to stay alive and he scooped.

This match was over in less than ten minutes. I guess my deck makes for quick games, eh?

I basically watched for many other people to finish their matches, then get a hot dog and come back in time for the next match.

Again I got paired with a guy a know, Roy. He doesn't show up for tournaments here all that often any more, but I knew that he had a good deck and it would be a challenge. UW control gives me fits.

Game one I got beat, fair and square. I played a few minor threats (namely three Raging Kavus) which end up getting Wrathed or Countered. I didn't draw any threats, which hurts since he dropped Iridescent Angel on turn eight of nine. I lose. Hard.

I had some nice sideboard for him. Price of Glories come in.

I led with a Bird, he plays a Tower. I played a land and Price of Glory. He tilted his eyebrow, looked at the card and nearly crapped his pants. Apparently he sided out all his Dismantling Blows! I won the game easily as he couldn't possibly keep up.

*aside on Price of Glory*

Oh my dear god. Any Red deck should play three-to-four copies of this in their sideboard, no questions. It is easily the best Blue hoser for Red (possibly for any color) in Type 2. It won me at least four or five games. this day. Play Price of Glory.

*end aside on Price of Glory*

I knew after the second game he'd bring in his Dismantling Blows to deal with Price of Glory, so I took one out.

This game was very fast. I get another second turn Price of Glory, and he didn't have a D-Blow. In the meantime, he was stuck on four lands and was swearing like a sailor. I ran him over, even though he drew into a few more lands later.

Again, I'm done long before other people. I got some Sour Skittles and watched matches. Oops, time for the third match!

This time, I knew I won't have any problems. The guy I'm playing (I should say kid as this kid's about thirteen years old) is somewhat of a regular at tournaments here, but he never does well. I've played him twice before in other tournaments and had no problems beating him. He's playing some weird UB beatdown deck with Thought creatures and Unholy Strength/Sinister Strength. Can it hold up to four Flametongue Kavus? I think not.

Game one. What can I say other than I drew three FTKs and he wasn't playing countermagic? Smash.

Game two. What can I say other than he tried to cheat by looking at his library? I smashed him regardless.

This match was a fair bit quicker than the last two, about five-to-six minutes. I went to the bathroom with a comfortable pace and came back and watched matches and traded.

At this point I was 3-0, with a good chance of making Top Eight. I just hade to win my next match and I can draw in.

Round four I was playing against a guy named Jodie. He's a nice guy, I've seen him once before, and I knew this match would be an entertaining one.

Unfortunately, I didn't take many notes on this match and I can't remember much other than I got utterly smashed. Good job Jodie!

At 3-1, I wasn't as comfortable as I was before. I couldn't lose another match if I wanted to make Top Eight. Fortunately, I got paired with a guy I knew I wouldn't have any trouble with.

My opponent, Mike, was also a regular. He always plays somewhat rogue-ish decks, which I was happy about as my deck pretty much walks over most rogue decks. He played a UWg control deck with....Cognivore as the kill.

Game one I had to paris down to six, but that doesn't help his as I Raging Kavu him out of the game.

Game two he mulliganned to four (yeah, you heard me) and drew into something like three Harrows and three lands to help out his land problems. In the meantime, I was smashing his face with Skizziks, Spiritmongers and Herd tokens. Uhh, yeah.

At 4-1 I was in a position to draw into the Top Eight, unless I get paired down with a 3-2 or 3-1-1, in which case I'd have to play. Luckily, I get paired with a 4-0-1 (Tony) and we draw into the Top Eight.

Here are the Top Eight decks:

Sam with UWr Trenches control
Chris with UWr Trenches control
Ben with Finkula
Mark with Finkula
Tony with RBg control
Trevor with RBg control
Cory with Rogue Domain Control (more about this later)
Ted with RGb beats.

The matches are:

Ted and Mark.
Chris and Ben.
Tony and Sam.
Cory and Trevor.

My match against Mark was most definitely an unfavorable one, possibly even more so than my earlier match with Roy.

Game one was utterly brutal. He played a turn three Lynx (not turn two so he could regenerate if need be). I baited with a few Raging Kavus, but he doesn't counter them. Instead, he gets out Jonny Magic (Shadowmage Infiltrator) and starts card-advantaging me out of the game. I lost when Desolation Angel hit the table. Ouch. Oh, did I mention he cast all four Absorbs that game? Double ouch.

Here's where this match started getting messy. I sided out my Skizziks (among other things) as they just aren't good enough in the match in my opinion. I sided in 4 Terminates, 3 Price of Glory, 3 Engulfing Flames.

I spend a good while shuffling as I want to prevent a bad (mana) draw to the best of my ability. Mark looks on in boredom. I threw out a few minor insults to throw him off but he just sat, ever the stoic opponents. Oh well.

Apparently he was ignorant to the card "Engulfing Flames" and was surprised when it sent an opposing Lynx to the 'yard. I then had free passage to smash his face with a bunch of dudes. However, he Wrathed away all my guys and I soon found myself at six life from a Lynx (why does everyone have to draw all their freakin Lynxes against me?). Now, here comes the hard part. He was at nine life and I had ten lands in play with two Rages in hand. I sat. I ended my turn. He draws a card and passes the turn. I considered throwing my two Rages at him at end of turn, hoping to the god of Probability and Statistics that I would draw another Rage off the top (I had played none before this). However, that would be extremely risky and I decided to wait to see what I'd draw, since I could Rage the Lynx to keep it at bay for a turn. I untapped, took a card from the top of my library, and put it face down in front of me.

I peeked at the top part where the name shows.

"Spiritmonger"

Well that made the game a bit more interesting, eh?

I didn't play the card immediately as I was only at two life and I need to consider how to properly cast it, leaving me with Rage mana open and regeneration mana (my only Black sources were a Caldera and a Wastes). I tapped very carefully, and laid the card down.

"Spiritmonger".

"Spiritmonger resolves".

Ted breathed a sigh of relief. I knew then with 100% certainty that he didn't have a Counterspell or he would've countered Spiritmonger immediately. I smiled, and say something about the game ending very soon. He smiled back.

He untapped, drew, and said go. Exciting, eh?

I untapped. Drew. I played my twelfth land and kicked a Rage at Mark's head. Game over.

Ted breathed another sigh of relief.

I had just won a game I didn't really deserve to win.

Here came the REALLY hard part. I spent about 5-6 minutes sideboading. I needed to fully assess the importance of Terminate in the matchup, as the only creatures I had seen were Lynxes and Desolation Angels. I sort out my deck in my hands and figure out an average mana curve, etc. Basically just a bunch of probability calculations and the like. I decided I needed all four Terminates in order to deal with the Lynxes.

I go first, and the game went just as expected. He countered a few threats and took some damage from some others. He Wrathed away the board with him at seven lands and myself at five. He passed the turn.

I drew a card, and it being a land, held it back expecting Desolation Angel.

Well, he did end up casting Desolation Angel with kicker. However, he wasn't expecting my tapping a Red and a Black into my pool in response. I allowed the Angel resolve and I Terminated it. He slumped visibly in his chair. I, on the other hand, smiled.

I drew, played a land and an Elf. He drew, played a land. I drew, attacked with the Elf, played a land, played another Elf. He drew, played a land. I untapped, drew, smashed for two, played ANOTHER Elf. After a few turns of Elfsmashing, he conceded the game.

Oh well.

The top four was Sam, Chris, Ted and Cory.

I had to play Cory.

Cory is a regular tournament player with a penchant for control, and somewhat rogueish decks. He wins. A lot.

Game one he Harrowed/Lay of the Landed to get the lands he needed while I beat on him a bit with Herd tokens. However, my start wasn't as fast as I'd have liked to be and he dropped Deed and cleared the board. I tried a Skizzik with kicker but he Evasive Actioned/Syncopated it and every other threat I tried to play. He kills me with the Hippo (Questing Phelddagrif).

I didn't really have much to sideboard other than the ever-present and ever-powerful Price of Glory (quickly becoming MVP of the tournament). I chose to play first.

Unfortunately, my opening draw was five lands and 2 Birds. I had to paris, and I got 6 non-lands. I parised again and am as happy with my hand as one could possibly be with an opener of five cards. I mumbled something about not wanting to lose in the Top 4 like that.

I can't really say much other than my double mulligan hurt, bad. He had the edge as he drew three Fact or Fictions that game and Global Ruined me out with the assistance of a certain flying Hippo. I shook his hand as I know it's not his fault my deck drew badly that game and gladly accepted my prizes of 15 packs of Odyssey, a play mat and a pin.

In other Top 4 match, Chris defeated Sam in a Trenches-on-Trenches mirror match that took way too long.

When the dust settled, Cory had defeated Chris two games straight to be the Nova Scotia Provincial Champion.

*aside on hindsight changes*

After any major tournament I always try to figure out what I would've done differently had I been presented with the choice. After Provincials, I probably wouldn't have changed the maindeck much, maybe dropping a Flametongue for another Beast Attack. I know, I'll probably get some negative feedback for that, but in matches one, two, four, five, Top 8 and Top 4 my Flametongues were almost useless. That means I only played four of them game two in one match, match three. They were of questionable usefulness. However, I'm not advocating not playing them. In fact, I'm quite the fan of playing many a Flametongue. It's just that the rounds I played were not exactly great times to play Flametongue. Had I played aggro decks all the time, I probably would have wished I could play more than four. I'd take out the Hull Breachs and Spellbane Centaur from the sideboard and put in a fourth Price of Glory (I'm nuts about this card now) and possibly two Kavu Chameleon. I faced counters all day, and I'm kinda sick of them.

*end aide on hindsight changes*

Well, looks like I've pretty much said all I can say. It was a great day, I had lots of fun, gained a few DCI points, did some good trading, and won some cards and a nice playmat/pin. Until next time, this is Tedman signing off.