I’m not exactly sure what I expected to accomplish at States. I do, however, know what I expected NOT to do. Not do well. Not come out with a winning record. Not make it anywhere close to the top tables. Not have any success whatsoever.
So you see, my hopes weren’t high at all for States. In the weeks leading up to it, I had found that I couldn’t actually care about the tournament. After all, what is it good for in the large scheme of things? States doesn’t qualify you for a Pro Tour, grant you bye rounds for a Grand Prix, or even get you a nice fat check. You get some product, yes, and other incentives that vary with each state, but I wasn’t all that interested in any of those. To emphasize that, I didn’t even bother to construct a deck for it.

However, I have a few advantages when it comes to these things. For the last few months, I’ve been helping MOTL’s own Valmtg improve her game, which has included helping her build a variety of decks. On the Wednesday before States, I asked if I could borrow her Liquid Tempo deck, which she agreed to. I had never played the deck in the current incarnation before, but I did have some experience with it from early in the Invasion Block Constructed season. Not a lot of experience, mind you, but some.

The drive to States was going to be roughly two and a half hours, with registration beginning at eight, so Val crashed at my apartment. This game me time to get to know the deck a bit better and implement some changes that I had been considering. What started out as a rather standard Liquid Tempo deck changed quite a bit when I added in Red, although something like it was seen later on in IBC. The deck that I finally ended up with was as follows:

4x Nimble Mongoose
4x Gaea’s Skyfolk
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Mystic Snake
3x Thought Devourer
4x Rushing River
4x Prophetic Bolt
4x Fire/Ice
4x Counterspell
1x Wash Out
4x Karplusan Forest
4x Shivan Oasis
4x Yavimaya Coast
7x Island
5x Forest

Yes, I know, the deck has some issues. However, I had neither the card stock nor desire to actually work out the problems it had, and, seeing as how it was literally the night before the tournament, I knew that it wouldn’t matter all that much anyway. What it was all going to come down to was if I could pick up on how to play the deck fast enough to avoid making too many mistakes. I briefly considered putting in Urza’s Rage over Prophetic Bolt, but then I decided that, since I had balls of steel, I’d risk it. Besides, I’m not sure I’d want it in there anyway.

I’m not going to go into the entire story behind the ride into Columbus, because it’s not much of a story. I picked up a couple of other guys at the shop that we normally play at, and we reached the tournament site just after eight. That gave me plenty of time to trade for and purchase the cards that I still needed for the deck, namely Karplusan Forests, and get all my papers in order. Also, it allowed me to actually make a sideboard, which I hadn’t done the night before. That pile came out looking like this:

4x Divert
3x Mana Maze
1x Wash Out
3x Spellbane Centaur
4x Gainsay

As I said, a pile. However, the jankiness served me well, so I can’t complain all that much. What follows is a somewhat random tournament report, as I failed to take notes. After all, if you went in expecting to play at the bottom tables all day, would YOU bother to take notes? I thought not. I have no names, which I apologize for.

ROUND 1- Traumatize/Haunting Echoes

I’ll admit it, I couldn’t help laughing about this matchup afterwards. There was no way that I was expecting someone to actually play this pile.

Game one was really a slaughter, and if you think that I was the one being slaughtered, you’re either drunk or low on the IQ chart. As it was all day, a first turn Nimble Mongoose was key, as it shut down everything from Repulse to Recoil, and even his techy Cabal Pits. Basically, it went like this for me:

Turn one Nimble Mongoose
Turn two Wild Mongrel
Turn three just beatdown, counter a Fact or Fiction on his end.
Turn four Thought Devourer

There really wasn’t any resistance put up during this match. I just proceeded to pound in his head, countering a pair of Recoils and a Repulse along the way. I just let a Traumatize go through; it wasn’t worth worrying about. I would have let a Haunting Echoes resolve if it had come up, too. My draw was just all gas, and the misery ended when I sneaked in a Prophetic Bolt to his skull when he attempted a second Fact or Fiction. I was happy to win my first game, of course, but I knew that this should be a simplistic matchup.

Game two was the most fun I had all day. I got out a couple of cheap threats in the form of Gaea’s Skyfolk Wild Mongrel and started beating down. At this point I was wishing that my sideboard included Standstill, but it was all good. He went for the Traumatize, and I smiled. Normally I try to keep my emotions in check, but this was too good to pass up.

“Hmm, Traumatize. Damn, you know, that thing is a stick. It just sucks half of your library away, and I mean, that’s a major threat right there. You might drop a Millstone after that and start milling away, and if you deck could actually deal with mine in some way, you could win! Should I counter Traumatize? Should I just scoop? Oh, what the hell, might as well go through with the game. You know, bite the bullet. I’ll take a pain from Shivan Oasis…damn, that hurts, I’m feeling the pain…and cast this here Divert.”

If you ever have the opportunity to Divert a Traumatize, take a moment to savor the look on your opponent’s face. It’s absolutely priceless. Milling half of his library pretty much took whatever fight out of him that he had, and he was sullen for the rest of the game. Next turn, he went for the other half of the combo, Haunting Echoes, and I shook my head.

“Damn, I get out of one mess by the skin of my teeth, and you come right back with another threat. What to do…Divert Haunting Echoes. Oh, but I DO take another pain from Shivan Reef. You’re killing me here, kid.”

Yes, I know how it wouldn’t matter if he knew the rules better, as Haunting Echoes could have flushed nothing from his deck, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. So all that was left in his deck was land and Fact or Fictions and a few counters. Oh, and a now useless Yawgmoth’s Agenda. No, those cards aren’t broken at all if there’s nothing to use them with.

I ended up playing a Nimble Mongoose and just going the distance with that, not bothering to achieve threshold. There was, after all, quite a while left in the round, so why not do it in style, right?

ROUND 2- Rocket Shoes

Now, I wasn’t all that sure what I needed to do in this matchup. I had the general idea, of course, but the presence of Urza’s Rage, Fire/Ice, and Flametongue Kavu would make things tricky. My inexperience with the matchup really showed here, as I was lost the match, only taking one game by the skin of my teeth. I really don’t remember many details, except that I lost the second and third games to Flametongues shooting down Thought Devourers. However, I do remember the details of game three quite well, as he told me about his broken opening hand afterward. He started the game with ALL FOUR Flametongues, a Birds of Paradise, a Forest, and a Karplusan Forest. He then topdecked a Call of the Herd on his first draw step, a third land on turn three, and things went downhill from there. Lots of Flametongues blowing up lots of screaming flying things. I almost screamed in agony as my poor Thought Devourer was shot down.

However, I actually managed to battle back, clearing his board with a Wash Out and beating him down to four. His sideboard tech then showed through as he replayed a Llanowar Elf, cast Reckless Charge on it, flashbacked the Charge back, and hit me for exactly lethal damage.

How in the name of God was I supposed to be prepared for RECKLESS CHARGE?!?

ROUND 3- B/R Braids

I had heard about the Braids/Mindslicer deck from Mike Long’s article on the Sideboard, but without even playtesting the thing I knew it wasn’t optimal. However, my opponent for this round had made the necessary changes and was very skillful with it. I was in for a war.

Game one showed that almost immediately. I went through the motions of throwing out a few cheap creatures and beating, but he found answers for them in the form of Flametongue Kavu and Terminate. He then dropped down Braids. I’m pretty sure that I won this game because Mindslicer didn’t put in an appearnace until far too late, and my mana curve was low enough to fight a Braids lock. Braids proceeded to Armageddon our lands one at a time, and I played out a couple more creatures and started the fight again. I had achieved threshold, so my Nimble Mongoose grew up to a healthy 3/3. At the end of my opponent’s turn, I Rushing River with kickered away Braids and Flametongue Kavu, beat for five with the Mongoose and a Skyfolk, and when he went for the Flametongue again, I Rushing Rivered my Skyfolk back to my hand, forcing the Flametongue to go Kurt Cobain and shoot himself. However, my opponent AGAIN fought back, dropping Braids and Mindslicer on his next turn. I beat with the Skyfolk, getting him down to five, only to have my hand stripped as Mindslicer died to Braids. He discarded a Pyre Zombie in the process, returned it to his hand, and cast it. At this point, I was low enough on life from painlands and some Braids and Flametongue hits to be killed off by the Zombie in the next two turns, so I knocked on my deck and said a prayer to whatever god is in charge of Magic games.

I topdecked the only Wash Out.

Wash Out on Black cleared the path for my attackers. He was one mana short of sacrificing the Zombie to kill my Skyfolk, so he attempted a Terminate after the bouncing had occurred, but I hissed at him and showed him Mystic Snake for the win.

This titanic game had taken up much more time than either of our decks were really built for, leaving just over fifteen minutes left in the round. We quickly shuffled up and went to work on game two.

Game two was a bit of a letdown after the first game. I couldn’t draw into enough threats before I was Braids/Mindslicer locked on turn five. It was possible that I could pull out the game, but in the interest of time I conceded.

Game three was the opposite. Not wanting to get stuck in the 1-1-1 bracket, which would have not only sucked but hurt my tiebreakers as well, I went hyper-aggressive, playing out every threat in my hand. With two Thought Devourers, a Nimble Mongoose, and a pair of Wild Mongrels staring him down, my opponent drew, couldn’t find the Firestorm that was hiding in Extended, and conceded. It was incredibly risky for me to get that aggressive, as I hadn’t seen much of his sideboard in game two, but luckily it worked out.

ROUND 4- Finkula

So this was it. After all the press this deck had been getting, after all the praise of Shadowmage Infiltrator and talk of how it would dominate States, I was finally getting to take my crack at the beast.

Game one started out with a Wild Mongrel looking at a Spectral Lynx for a while until Meddling Mage got dropped, naming Rushing River. Luckily, I wasn’t without my own tricks, dropping the Shivan Reef that I had been hiding in my hand and casting Fire/Ice on the Mage. I then Rushing Rivered the Lynx on the next turn and hit with the Mongrel, failing to counter the Lynx on the way back down, as my Mystic Snake was Dromar’s Charmed. On his next turn, he tapped three mana for…

Shadowmage Infiltrator.

“He’s some good,” my opponent remarked with a smirk.

I slipped into Army of Darkness mode. “Good, bad, I’m the guy with the gun.” I then proceeded to Prophetic Bolt the Infiltrator back where it came from, Impulsing into a second Prophetic Bolt.

With three cards in my hand, the Bolt, a Counterspell, and Thought Devourer, I cast the Devourer, which met with no resistance. Suddenly his Lynx wasn’t looking so amazing. I beat with the Devourer, getting him down to four, and when he used his last card on it, a Recoil, I Bolted him in response for the win.

Game two the Infiltrator put in an appearance on both turn three and four. The sight of Finkel’s smug face must have infuriated my deck, though, as I dropped down a Mana Maze, effectively making half the Infiltrators drew useless, then managed to Bolt both of them out of my face when I got the change. Uncounterable Thought Devourers are some good, I hear, and I easily countered his two attempted Vindicates on it. Finkula amazingly enough was looking like a good matchup, and I hoped to face it again.

Suddenly 3-1, I started thinking that I just might have a shot at this thing.

ROUND 5- Rocket Shoes

I was more prepared this time around, so I had a feeling in my gut that things would be different than round two had been. I was right.

The main threats against me in the first game were a pair of Raging Kavus. Unwilling to trade threats with a deck built around producing an army of them, I tried to wait for an answer, finding it in the form of Rushing River. However, they were simply played again, but my draw step had revealed a more permanent answer in Fire/Ice. I countered the maindeck Spellbane Centaur that tried to put in an appearance, and by the time he started regaining tempo with a Flametongue Kavu on my Thought Devourer, it was too late, as my last turn of tempo advantage brought lethal damage thanks to a Prophetic Bolt.

Game two was all about Price of Glory, but not in the way that you might think. He pulled it out on turn two, but I mentally shrugged and played out a Gaea’s Skyfolk. He was low on threats, and I managed to beat him down for a while. Flametongue Kavu killed off one of my little critters, and here’s where Price of Glory turned against his master. I played Wash Out on Red and came across with what would have been lethal damage, even considering a Birds of Paradise block, which forced him to play out Raging Kavu. He blocked a Nimble Mongoose, and it saved him. Flametongue Kavu would then come down on his turn to wipe out my last remaining creature, a Wild Mongrel, because I didn’t have a counter in hand. However, his forced play of the Raging Kavu had taken him down to two lands, and since the Birds of Paradise had been killed off in a chump block, it left him with just that to cast spells with. He drew, grimaced, and played Fire/Ice on my Mongrel, but I just simply discarded a card to let it survive and win on the next turn. Good dog.

ROUND 6- G/B

I honestly didn’t see much of this guy’s deck. Both games were over very quickly, as I just countered his Pernicious Deeds and bounced whatever else happened to get in my way. The only tricky moment came in game two, where he managed a Fallen Angel, but I topdecked the Rushing River and rode a pair of Mystic Snakes to victory. There isn’t really anything else to say about the match, as it was neither interesting or challenging. Liquid Tempo in any form just smacks around B/G as long as the Deed doesn’t appear on the board more than once.

The guy was nice, though, more interested in having fun than really winning in the tournament. A pleasure to play against, and I talked to him a few more times in the tournament when he happened to be sitting close-by.

Good God, I was 5-1.

The last three rounds of the tournament I don’t need to go into detail on. It was quite simple: I faced three Borteh-style Fish decks, complete with Opposition and Static Orb. My deck has a very hard time dealing with the Islandwalkers this deck presents thanks to Lord of Atlantis, and there were a few instances of mana screw on my part. It all culminated in an absolutely abyssmal last game, where I sat on a Forest and Karplusan Forest, with my hand packed with Rushing Rivers, Mana Mazes, and Gainsays. An absolutely heartbreaking way to end a tournament, especially considering the mirth that I felt at doing so well without ever having played the deck. With all of my tiebreakers turning out to be horrible, I didn’t have a chance at making Top 32, let alone Top 8.

All things considered, though, I had a great time at States. No one in the group that had come with me did exceptionally well, but three of the four of us flirted with the top tables for most of the day. However, to add insult to injury, something must have gotten recorded wrong in the system, because while my win percentage on the Standings sheet was reflective of my record, my points weren’t. Being as tired as I was, it didn’t click until the drive home (we left after the champion had been decided), so I sent in an inquiry to the DCI, whom I’m hoping to here back from soon. It doesn’t really matter all that much, of course, but hey, I was mildly proud of my performance, so I’d like to have some recognition for it. The deck was solid in every matchup except for Fish, which I knew that I was basically conceding going in, and I wouldn’t change a thing, except for fiddling around with the mana base. With the metagame, however, I would shift around the sideboard to something like:

3x Gainsay
3x Spellbane Centaur
4x Divert
2x Wash Out
3x Standstill

I didn’t really need options as much as I needed things to keep up tempo, so I feel that this sideboard would have been the superior choice.

To close things out, I would like to thank everyone who attended Ohio States for a great tournament, and now I’m off to browse through what I picked up and whip up a new Have/Want list.