Unpredictable Fires
By Isaac Tong
Tournament Date: Friday July 20, 2001
Number of people: 10
Location: Comic Warehouse, Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Format: Type II

It was quiet when I got to Comic Warehouse except for a few players, having 
games and trading. I had just slapped together a Fires deck in about 30 
minutes before heading to the store. I have to tell you though, this is not 
the best Fires deck in the world. Yet it still won me the tournament for the 
night!! I'll explain it later but first, here's the deck listing.

Lands

7 Forest
7 Mountain
3 Karplusan Forest
4 Shivan Oasis

Artifacts

4 Chimeric Idol
2 Fire Diamond
2 Moss Diamond
1 Grafted Skullcap

Red Spells and Creatures

2 Bloodshot Cyclops
1 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
4 Shock
4 Seal of Fire
1 Obliterate

Green Spells and Creatures

2 Birds of Paradise
2 Blastoderm
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Saproling Burst
1 Restock
2 Creeping Mold

Gold Spells and Creatures

2 Shivan Wurm
4 Fires of Yavimaya
2 Hull Breach

Sideboard

1 Fire Diamond
1 Moss Diamond
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Shivan Wurm
1 Creeping Mold
4 Rhystic Lightning
2 Desert Twister
2 Elvish Lyrist
2 Rhox

This is a crap version compared to the Fires decks used by professionals. 
Oh, well. I was planning on using Planar Portals but I didn't have enough 
time.

Round 1 - Isaac Tong VS Gage Bunn (Goblin-Zombie deck)

I drew an okay hand in game 1. The problem is that my only big fat creature 
was Tahngarth!!! Gage started to slowly peck away at me with little 1/1 
creatures. Of course, my eight burn spells took care of them. And just when 
I was on the verge of winning, he pulls out a Twilight's Call. His little 
Goblins and Zombies swarmed me before I could recover. Game 2 was better for 
me since he didn't get too many little creatures as he did last time. 
Although he cast Backlash and Terminate, my Chimeric Idols and Shivan Wurms 
pounded him into oblivion. Game 3 was slow for both of us. I had lost the 
Shivan Wurms to Terminates and he was slowly chipping at my life with 
Nightscape Familiars.  When I got to about 10 life, I decided enough was 
enough and cast Obliterate. Needless to say, I recovered much more quickly 
than he did and game 3 was mine. Even his Dralnu's Crusades couldn't help 
him when he had no Goblins.

Rounds 1-0	Games 2-1

Round 2 - Isaac Tong VS Fred Craig {I think} (Mono-Green saproling deck)

I got the quick start in game 1 but when he cast Vernal Bloom (the 
enchantment that causes all forests to produce an additional green mana), I 
realized that he could easily cast the fatties that he had been storing in 
his hand. I cast the Skullcap and frantically kept drawing for a Hull 
Breach, a Creeping Mold, anything!!! It wasn't too long until Verdeloth hit 
the table along with an Avatar of Might and Rith (He had a Tinder Farm). 
Four turns of Rith beatdown was all it took. I took out Tahngarth and 
swapped in the extra Creeping Mold for game 2. I didn't see a Bloom come out 
and the fact was that I was roasting all his little elves with burn spells. 
The Idols and the Blastoderms came through for me. Game 3 was a bit slow for 
both of us. I had a Fires of Yavimaya on the board and was slowly beating 
him with an Idol. He got the Thorn Elemental out but when I drew the 
Saproling Burst, it was game over for him.

Rounds 2-0	Games 4-2

Round 3 - Isaac Tong VS Lindsey ??? (Spiritmonger deck)

I did horrible in this round. Game 1 was his with a second turn Spiritmonger 
and a third turn Tangle Wire. I swapped in the Artifact Mutation for game 2 
but the Tangle Wire didn't appear. Instead, Lindsey introduced me to his 
army of Spiritmongers, Kavu Chameleons and Blastoderms. I conceded when I 
started drawing nothing but land.

Rounds 2-1	Games 4-4

Round 4 - Isaac Tong VS Brent Bunn (Blue/White Control deck)

Him again. I lost to him in the previous Type II tournament from Crusading 
Knights. My Speed Demon deck had defeated all other decks at that tournament 
except for his. Thanks to him, I got knocked out in the semi-final match. 
Time for revenge, heh, heh, heh. My speed in game 1 was excellent. A second 
turn Fires and some big fatties quickly won me game 1. He sideboarded in a 
Teferi's Moat and got it out, hoping to stop my Blastoderms and other green 
creatures. I gave a smug grin as I cast a Creeping Mold on his enchantment 
and smacked him to death.

Rounds 3-1	Games 6-4

Semi-final match	Isaac Tong VS Lindsey ???

Fate looked like it was against me...again. They have sent me to death in 
the previous tournament where I lost to Brent. Game 1 was won by Lindsey of 
course with a few Spiritmongers and Tangle Wires. In came the Artifact 
Mutation for game 2. When he cast the Tangle Wire, I was ready for him. It 
was a longer match with some Pernicious Deeds making my life miserable. 
Finally, I beat him with Idols. Game 3 was absolutely amazing. He kept 
casting Pernicious Deeds but I kept bouncing back. He even got so pissed off 
about my saprolings, he shouted "(Insert swear words) Saprolings!!" when he 
cast Tsabo's Decree. The last two turns were what turned things for me. He 
had me on the ropes. I was at 7 life and he was at 9 life. He had two 
Spiritmongers, looking to sink their teeth into me. I had a Llanowar Elves, 
a Bloodshot Cyclops, a Seal of Fire and five lands, all untapped except for 
the mountain used to cast the Seal. His Spiritmongers got bigger when I 
blocked both of them. I used the Cyclops to fling itself into Lindsey as a 
fast effect, then I sacrificed the Seal of Fire and cast Shock on him 
bringing him down to 1 life. He then cast a Tangle Wire...and my only 
Artifact Mutation was in the graveyard. I tapped all my lands except for the 
Shivan Oasis, drew my card...and slammed my game-winning card on the table. 
Needless to say, Lindsey was pretty "shocked" (Bad pun, I know) when I cast 
the Shock on him.

Rounds 4-1	Games 8-5

Final Match - Isaac Tong VS Brent Bunn

Sweet!!!! I get to kick his ass once more!!! In game 1, he tried using 
Meddling Mages to stop my Idols and Blastoderms but I still got them out, 
after killing the Mages of course. He conceded at my little army. Game 2 was 
very interesting. He achieved a stable board with Meddling Mage stopping me 
from casting the only card in my hand, a Chimeric Idol. He also had several 
chump blockers. Well, things lightened up when I drew the Obliterate. I even 
had eleven mana, enough to blow up everything but my Fires and his Circle of 
Protection: Green, and cast the Chimeric Idol in my hand! It didn't take me 
too long to claim victory.
That was the greatest tournament I had in my life!! My prize is a foil DCI 
promo Ophidian and $16 from the store. I also got some good trades...like a 
Chaos/Order, a Ring of Gix and a Temporal Aperture!!!

Props

Fate...THANK YOU FOR THAT LAST MINUTE SHOCK!!! Aaron Collins for helping me 
obtain some of these cards for this deck. You rock!!! Comic Warehouse for 
running the tournaments. Wizards of the Coast for making this all 
possible!!!

Slops

A small minor slop to Lindsey's Spiritmonger deck. I will take away the slop 
once I have constructed a similar deck just like it.

Well, that's it for hopefully what will be the first Canadian Magic 
tournament report on Pojo Magic. If you want to use this version of Fires 
(yeah, right), give me credit when you post a report up on the site. What I 
wanted was to use a few Obliterates and either have mana in my hand for a 
quick recovery or tap out for all my mana, cast Obliterate and have some 
left over to cast a Chimeric Idol, a Blastoderm or a Saproling Burst with a 
Fires of Yavimaya on my side. Well, for all participants of tournaments, may 
Fate smile upon thee like it smiled upon me on that fateful day.

Isaac Tong
ditong@ipoline.com