March 26^th 2011 some of the best Magic players in Iowa gathered to compete in the extended format and then there was me. After a convoluted process of choosing a deck to pilot I went from a home brew rogue deck ( literally the creature type not just the deck description) I decided to go the unoriginal route and simply pilot fairies, in my eyes at least the best deck in extended. I was feeling prepared and confident I analyzed some match ups, I watched prop players play the deck and I devoured every bit of information on playing the deck as possible, ultimately this did not save me from a horrible fate of going 0-4 in the tournament. To understand how I reached this terrible finish readers please continue to read on, the deck I was piloting was the following build of fairies and I will explain my reasoning for some of the more interesting choices.

 

 

I decided to not run any main deck Jace The Mind Sculptors due to mainly price restrictions and the fact I found successful fairy builds not running it, the same can be said for Sword of Feast and Famine. I opted out of playing Scion of Oona's because I felt going the more controlling route with a lot of hand discard options and removal and counters. I ran Jace Beleren for a three drop that can draw me lots of extra cards and present a tantalizing target to opponents. Overall I felt confident with my main deck although I feared aggressive match ups. My friend and I began our long drive to the event by waking up at 5:00am and hitting the open road, discussing tournament protocol with my friend whose first tournament was this event, we eventually made it to the gigantic metropolis known as Des Moines Iowa. Meeting up with a friend I will talk about later this week we sat down for deck registration paid our fee's and sat down to win it, unfortunately as this report will attest I faced stiff competition and ended up doing extremely poorly.

 

 

Main Deck

Land

x4 Secluded Glen

x4 Creeping Tar Pit

x4 Mutavault

x4 Darkslick Shores

x4 Island

x2 Sunken Ruins

x2 Tectonic Edge

x2 Swamp

 

Creatures

x4 Mistbind Clique

x3 Spellstutter Sprite

x3 Vendillion Clique

 

Spells

x4 Go For The Throat

x4 Bitterblossom

x4 Cryptic Command

x3 Thoughtseize

x3 Mana Leak

x2 Disfiguere

x2 Inquistion of Kozilek

x3 Jace Beleren

 

 

Sideboard

x3 Wurmcoil Engine

x3 Sower of Temptation

x3 Black Sun's Zenith

x2 Tectonic Edge

x2 Spell Pierce

x1 Thoughtseize

x1 Inquisition of Kozilek

 

Running seven discard spells between the main deck and the sideboard may have been a plethora but I felt confident in it. The three Wurmcoil Engines were for red decks or extending my life total in certain match ups. Black Sun's Zenith was for Elves, White Weenie and other assorted aggro decks, Sower of Temptation to deal with Mirran Crusader and other random threats. The Tectonic Edge's are all around good in the format so I was sold on their inclusion. The Spell Pierce's if I needed additional combo deck protection or extra soft counters. I was more then excited about my sideboard choices as I was walking into a hopefully diverse and unknown meta game. I packed nothing for the mirror match and that was surprisingly was one of my few good choices in the tournament, as I faced not a single fairy deck nor saw a single fairy deck.

 

If you couldn't tell I immediately dropped after going 0-4 due to the embarrassment of continuing and the fact my friend and I felt it was a waste of time to continue, we got some decent experience and are looking forward attending future tournaments this summer. Now going onto the match up's my first match up was realistically my closet match up and I had an abundance of energy going into the match up and afterwards began to tilt. My first match was Green/Red Valakut record 0-1.

 

Match 1 Game 1 R/G Valakut

Things started off slowly with a Bitterblossom and random other cards including a few discard spells and no counters. I floundered around until a lethal Scapeshift was sent straight to my face for 36 damage. I immediately began side boarding I brought in the3 following cards but am unsure of what I removed.

+2 Tectonic Edge

+1 Inquisition of Kozilek

+1 Thoughtseize

 

 

Match 1 Game 2 R/G Valakut

Things definitely started out in my favor as I was able to stick a Bitterblossom early and began overrunning my opponent with tokens and the occasional manlands I was also sitting on two Mana Leak's and a Cryptic Command, I also managed to draw into another two Cryptic Command's and still managed to lose this game due to a horrible misplay. I decided to Mana Leak a Primeval Titan when my opponent had the three mana to pay it where I should have used Cryptic Command a few turns of beat down's later I countered a second copy of the jolly green giant and bounced the other copy. After the replay my opponent search up lands via the titan to kill me the old fashioned way with Valakut triggers.

 

 

Match 2 Game 1 Jund

Going into the second game I was still riding high on the hopes my fairy deck would decimate the competition the reality sunk in after I lost my second match up to record 0-2. My match up consisted of Jund overall I wasn't to worry and was hoping to strictly outplay them. The first game was nothing spectacular I lost to a series of small play mistakes that added up over time, I missed a Demigod Trigger on the stack which allowed the player to outplay me and return the Demigod I killed. I totally blanked on my sideboard choices and brought in nothing exciting, I failed to sideboard any Wall of Tanglecord's and did not play any Vampire Nighthawk's and I forgot to board Black Sun's Zeniths.

 

 

Match 2 Game 2 Jund

I thoughtseized my opponent on the play and saw a Great Sable Stag so I immediately swiped it. A few turns later my opponent dropped another Stag at this point I was holding Cryptic Command and thought I needed to race, my opponent dropped another Great Sable Stag. At this point I was obviously flustered but I still thought I could race with Cryptic Command, my opponent then dropped Thrun The Last Troll and I packed it in. My record an underwhelming 0-2.

 

Match 3 Game 1 Red Deck Wins

For this match I was paired up with a nice gentlemen and we shuffled out. The first game was rather boring I tried to stablize my life total while a Bitterblossom was in play and was on the opposite end of a wrecking Goblin Guide which I managed to Disfigure, although by then it was to late and I was overwhelmed by burn spells.

 

Match 3 Game 2 Red Deck Wins

I sideboarded in three Wurmcoil Engines and sided out the tectonic edges. The game was also uneventful I debated whether or not go for a Mistbind Clique during his upkeep and I went for it as I needed to stabilize my life total as Bitterblossom would kill me soon enough. I went for the Mistbind and I was met with a Flame Javelin I extended my hand, “good game”. At this point I was on full tilt and debated with myself that I could still go onto an unimpressive 4-3 record.

 

 

Match 4 Game 1 Jund

 

This game was rather uneventful I lost once again to a series of play mistakes and bad draws. Sideboarding for game 2 was extensive as I boarded in everything from my sideboard except Spell Pierce.

 

 

Match 4 Game 2 Jund

This game was the single longest I played making me one of the last group of players to be playing a match. I stuck a Bitterblossom early and then was on the receiving end of a Wurmcoil Engine beat down I managed to stabilize and land a Wurmcoil Engine of my own and we exchanged blows after staring at the board for a few turns. My Bitterblossom tokens served as excellent chump blockers to an opponents Demigod of Revenge. Eventually my opponent was able to stabilize with life in the high forties and drop another Wurmcoil Engine, not even my own second copy of Wurmcoil Engine could save me. My final record an embarrassing 0-4 my friend and I then decided to drop and start the long ride home. For my third tournament attendance I was severely disappointed but I almost always realized my misplays after I committed them, my friend and I will be attending more tournaments this year so look forward to my future zany antics.

 

Any advice, criticism, questions, or general taunts should be sent to PlatinumFUBU5@hotmail.com