What a weekend I just had. I know I promised you all an article that you voted on, which I will give you next week. To start, I suppose I should tell you why this has been such a great weekend. Friday I played at my local FNM tournament and won it going 4-0. Then Saturday December 2nd was my 3 year wedding anniversary. Sunday I played in a Peasant Magic tournament for the first time and again won, going 4-0. Friday's tournament netted me $19.00 in Store Credit while Sunday's netted me 4 packs of Time Spiral. The first three packs gave me junk, but then the last pack gave me an Akroma and Lotus Bloom. To top it all off, Sunday December 3rd is my mom's 7 year wedding anniversary.

Friday's tournament at Flights of Fantasy started at 6pm with 25 participants and would play 4 rounds. I had built my deck using a spoiler I had printed out some time ago from mtgsalvation. You'll see why this was relevant in a little bit. I decided to play my own version of an aggro black white deck. Keep in mind I don't have many of the big name cards I would have liked to have played. Here is my deck list:

Creatures (22):
2 Skeletal Vampire
1 Helldozer
4 Spectral Lynx (Read below)
4 Thoughtpicker Witch
4 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
2 Nether Traitor
1 Stromgald Crusader
2 Plagued Rusalka
2 White Shield Crusader

Enchantments (6):
4 Faith's Fetters
2 Sacred Mesa

Spells (9):
1 Grim Harvest
4 Mortify
4 Wrath of God

Land (23):
2 Godless Shrine
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Orzhov Bassilica
2 Urza's Factory
5 Plains
6 Swamp

Sideboard (15):
2 Tivadar of Thorn
4 Story Circle
2 Ivory Mask
1 Persecute
4 Death Mark
2 Sacred Ground

I like playing weird decks so as you can see my deck is very odd. Here is a description of the deck:

Skeletal Vampire- This was probably the MVP of many games, giving me the ability to block a Giant Solifuge and still have creatures in play. And the ability to get three creatures for the price of one is more than worth the 6 mana casting cost. The secondary ability of turning one bat into two also works great with Teysa in play giving you two bats and one spirit for the price of 3BB and one bat.

Helldozer- This was a filler card. I wanted something that could be used to end a match or stop a stalemate. It only was effective in one game and it didn't even matter that much. I should probably change this to another Skeletal Vampire.

Spectral Lynx- I had printed out a spoiler from MTGSalvation around the time Time Spiral was released. It may have been before it was confirmed or right after. All I remember is that this card was on it. So, with that spoiler I put four of them in my deck. Game two of the first round, I found out they were not type two legal. I had to remove them and put in their place 4 basic land, Swamps. I ended up playing the tournament with a deck with 27 lands.

Thoughtpicker Witch- This is great with 2 Nether Traitors because you will always be able to control what your opponent will draw and what they can play. This was another MVP winning me games in round 1, 3, and 4 when my opponents were unable to burn me for the win.

Teysa, Orzhov Scion- This works great with Skeletal Vampire as described above. It also is the reason I played Sacred Mesa. I can remove any creature in play for the cost of 6 mana.

Nether Traitor- Every deck I played against could do nothing about this. If they killed it I brought it back. If they let it live, it dealt damage turn after turn.

Stromgald Crusader- A one-of to give me a two drop creature that could also help me on defense with its protection from White.

Plagued Rusalka- I figured the deck was short of spot removal so I put these two in to help out. It also was a nice one drop.

White Shield Crusader- I only had two of these but they were in for the same reason as the Stromgald Crusader. It was very ineffective.

Faith's Fetters- This card saved me a few games by buying me an additional turn. A few times I had to play it on a land just to gain life to live but it worked.

Sacred Mesa- See Teysa Above. A few times I played this too early and was not able to get an advantage with it. In the long run, having this put into play early was worth it, especially by allowing me to get around counterspells.

Grim Harvest- I love any card that can be used over and over again. This won me a lot of games by getting my Skeletal Vampires. It's also amazing against any deck that relies on your creatures dying and staying dead.

Mortify- My only form of enchantment removal. It was used more for that ability than removing a creature.

Wrath of God- Of course any deck with White in it should be playing these.

Godless Shrine- I only have 2 but otherwise would have liked to have 4 in.

Caves of Koilos- The painlands lost me a game and would have been better as Godless Shrines but without four of them I need these in.

Orzhov Basilica- Another necessary land.

Urza's Factory- This was in the case of them removing both Sacred Mesas and if it ends up being a long game. I only made one or two tokens the whole tournament.

Plains and Swamp- Necessary.

Tivadar of Thorn- No one in my area plays goblins and I don't have Paladin en-Vecs otherwise they would have been in here instead. As it was, I sided these in a few games versus red and never saw them.

Story Circle- This was a key sideboard card. If I had known Spectral Lynx was not legal, these would have probably been main deck.

Ivory Mask- Anti burn, Dragonstorm, and discard. I never played one even though it got sideboarded in frequently.

Persecute- Against control. I sided it in once and it was actually played.

Death Mark- Almost every round these got sided in and were very effective.

Sacred Ground- I never faced a land destruction deck but in the future I would keep these in just in case.


Round 1 vs. Jacob playing U/B:
Game 1:
Jacob is a young kid who hasn't been playing for too long. Unfortunately for him I usually beat him when I face him. Game one when I see he is playing blue I decide to play a turn 3 Sacred Mesa to avoid getting it countered later on in the game. I end up getting stuck at 4 land for quite a few turns while he builds up his mana base up to 7. I end up making 2 tokens a turn for a bit and hit him for a few points of damage before he finally started casting threats. He played a Skeletal Vampire which I was able to Wrath away. The following turn he played a Pit Keeper, getting his Skeletal Vampire back. Then he recast it. I again topdeck a Wrath. Then he plays another Pit Keeper getting the Vampire back. He recasts it and I yet again Wrath it away. He ends up playing a Szadek, Lord of Secrets. I Mortify it. He plays his third Pit Keeper, getting back the Szadek. He replays it and I Mortify it again. I end up overrunning him with Pegasus tokens.

Game 2:
This game made me so mad. On turn 2 I play a Spectral Lynx only to have half the players at the table I was at tell me it wasn't reprinted. Some of the other players thought it had been just like me. I got so frustrated I told Jacob he had the win. I took the Spectral Lynx out and replaced them with 4 Swamps (I should have done 2 Swamps and 2 Plains). While I was sitting there all frustrated I was told it isn't a round loss for playing illegal cards, but rather a game loss, so we shuffle up and get ready for game three.

Game 3:
I was still frustrated over playing illegal cards because it made me feel like an idiot and it was the first time I have ever played cards that were not allowed. My frustration did not keep me from winning this game. I played a turn 1 Thoughtpicker Witch and then started the beatdown. A turn 6 Skeletal Vampire joined in the beatings and Jacob only managed to draw Swamps. He never played any threats. I didn't have any worthwhile cards to sideboard in against him but luckily that didn't matter.

Games: 2-1-0
Overall Record: 1-0-0

Round 2 vs. Joanie (My Wife) playing W/G:
Game 1:
Yet again I get to play against my wife in a tournament and this time I was getting paired down against her. I'm starting to hate playing against my wife because, as you all know, women get too moody especially when they are losing. She over extends, getting me down to 4 life, even though she can clearly see I am playing Wrath of Gods. I Wrath away all her creatures. She only draws Enchant Creatures the rest of the game and I ride the Pegasus' all the way home.

Game 2:
I played a turn 3 and turn 4 Story Circle naming Green. That started to frustrate her even though I told her to side in her Krosan Grips. She manages to get around them and gets me down to 2 life. I manage to topdeck Wrath of God 3 turns in a row. After that happens she gets very upset and gives up. She luckily cheers up by the time we leave to go home.

Games: 4-1-0
Overall Record: 2-0-0

Round 3 vs. Alex Male playing R/W Firemane Angel:
Game 1:
Alex is someone I have played against time and time again. I actually helped him build his deck and gave his suggestions on how to improve it so I had a great idea of how this matchup would turn out. Since his deck is a slow R/W that depends on Firemane Angel for the win I was able to beat him down with Nether Traitors and Thoughtpicker Witches. He gets the first Firemane Angel into the graveyard when he gets stuck at 4 mana, all of which is White. The following turn he gets his first red mana and starts to kill off my creatures. Unfortunately for him he can't deal with Nether Traitors returning from the dead. I play a Sacred Mesa ensuring I will always be able to get the Nether Traitors back. Sacred Mesa's Pegasus win the game. He never drew a Wrath of God the whole game.

Game 2:
Alex gets stuck at 2 land after keeping a one land hand. He doesn't draw his third land until 8th turn, but meanwhile he had discarded 3 Firemane Angels. I managed to get him down to 10 life by the time he drew that third land. The game ends when he never draws land number 4. He was sitting with two Wrath of Gods in his hand from the opening draw.

Games: 6-1-0
Overall Record: 3-0-0

Round 4 vs. Joe Tibbets playing R/W Boros:
Game 1:
Joe is one of my poker buddies who I've only played against a few times in tournaments. I had watched the end of one of his earlier games and saw he was playing Boros. I just happen to be either blessed or cursed when it comes to watching players play. I usually end up playing against the players whose games I watch. In this game he gets me down to 2 life before I am able to stabilize with a Skeletal Vampire and Thoughtpicker Witch combo making sure he did not draw any useful cards. I won that game.

Game 2:
This game my frustration from game one comes back to haunt me. I make a simple play mistake that cost me the game. I have a Skeletal Vampire in play with 2 tokens and 2 Pegasus tokens. I attack. I get him down to 4 life. He has in play 2 Knights of the Holy Nimbus. I cast Sacred Mesa tapping a Swamp and 2 Plains. My remaining lands are 2 Swamps and 2 Caves of Koilos. I should have tapped only one of the plains because I was at 2 life and could not have made 2 Sacred Mesa tokens to block the Knights. It was an unfortunate play mistake for me. I lost the game due to that when I would have won the game the following turn.

Game 3:
I sided in 4 Story Circles and 1 Ivory Mask. On turn 4 he over extends himself with a Savannah Lions, Magus of the Scroll, Knight of the Holy Nimbus, Giant Solifuge in play. I cast Wrath of God on my turn. He never recovers. I win with Skeletal Vampire and Teysa removing any threats.

Games: 8-2-0
Overall Record: 4-0-0

Overall this was a deck no one was expecting. Even after having to play with 27 lands in my deck, the deck outdid my own expectations. I was expecting to finish 2-2 after that mishap. In place of those 4 basic lands I will probably add in another Grim Harvest and 2 Spirit Loop (I love life gain cards) and leave the last land in. I will probably replace the Helldozer with another Skeletal Vampire. Playing this deck was just the start of an interesting weekend. Sunday I played in my first ever Type 2 Peasant Magic tournament. Here is the deck I decided on playing:

Fungus Attack

Creatures (26):
4 Thoughtpicker Witch
4 Deathspore Thallid
4 Thallid Shell-Dweller
4 Thallid Germinator
4 Penumbra Spider
4 Sporesower Thallid (U)
2 Savage Thallid

Spells (7):
3 Grim Harvest
4 Strength in Numbers

Artifact (4):
4 Golgari Signet

Land (23):
4 Golgari Rot Farm
10 Forest
9 Swamp

Sideboard (15):
4 Aether Web
4 Molder
2 Assassinate
2 Trophy Hunter (U)
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Mortipede
1 Wildsize

I spent the morning of the tournament trying to figure out what to play and finally decided on the Thallid Deck. It seemed like it would be solid. I'm not going to go into full detail of the tournament but I will discuss some key points.

I arrived at Flight of Fantasy at noon with the tournament scheduled to start at 1pm. We had 13 players and 4 rounds. It gave me a chance to playtest. Playtesting showed that I had a problem with fliers without the Penumbra Spiders in the maindeck. I also found out I had 2 too many uncommons in my deck. Because of that I had to scrounge the commons box and that's why I have the last three sideboard cards. Aether Web was an amazing sideboard card. Almost everyone else that was playing Green played Silhana Ledgewalker and Moldervine Cloak. I wasn't. The Aether Web allowed me to surprise my opponent by playing it on my biggest creature to block the Ledgewalkers. I also had to sideboard in the Molders almost every game and the life gain did come in handy.

Round 1 I played against a R/G deck with Ledgewalkers and lots of burn. I won in 3 games.

Round 2 I played against another R/G deck that my opponent built from the commons box right before the tournament. I won in 2 games.

Round 3 I played against another R/G deck but this time it was a snow deck with Boreal Shaman and Keldon Halberdier. I had a big problem with the Halberdier's first strike. I still was able to win in 3 games.

Round 4 This was the championship game between myself and Fred Cole. He was playing a mono red deck with small fast goblins and lots of burn. I won in 3 games only because of Grim Harvest.

Grim Harvest was the MVP of the tournament. Every game I drew it I won because no one was able to keep up with removing my creatures. I should have had more in. The second MVP is the combo that involves Thoughtpicker Witch, Penumbra Spider and Grim Harvest. That combo allowed me to use 10 mana to sacrifice the Penumbra Spider, get a token Spider, remove one of the top two cards from my opponent’s deck, and return the Spider to my hand while recasting it and having the mana open to recover the Grim Harvest.

For the next Peasant tournament I plan on adding in Fallen Ideal to my deck to help with flyers and give some evasion to my creatures. I will remove the Trophy Hunters and three random cards from my sideboard. I do not have a clue yet as to what the last card I will add in will be.

I hope you all enjoyed my wonderful weekend I had in the world of Magic and look forward to next week’s article which you have voted on.

Billy Moreau
[email protected]