For the past couple of years, mostly since the beginning of my high school senior year (also see, August of '08), I've been getting an average of like, 5-6 hours of sleep a night. While in school that was largely attributed to doing stuff like playing Dota (WC3 custom map for the blind), doing homework, jazz like that. After I graduated I went back to a normal sleeping schedule, not sure why, and the past couple of months I've reverted back to not sleeping. It's not that I can't, it's just that the computer world is oftimes more interesting than my bed. Plus I've never really needed to run off much sleep, I've found I work at approximately the same level of competence pulling all-nighters than with sleep (true story, got a 32 on the ACT after being up until 2 the night before, also went 4-2 at a Magic tourney with a deck I'd playtested for a total of 20 minutes after an all-nighter).
Anyway, back to now. Partly because I impressed myself at FNM this week and mostly because I've run out of things to entertain myself with as I continue to not sleep, I figure I'll tell a tale of my Magic works.
So it's Thursday night. I'm sitting here thinking "man, I don't have money to draft this week but I don't have a decent Standard deck. What the balls should I do?" So I get to work looking at my available options. It comes down to something like this:
- A terrible butchery of Red Deck Wins without fetches (considering I'd have to run the landfall RDW, this is a terrible spot to be in)
- RG really bad mana ramp (ideally ramping into a Rampaging Baloths that makes dudes and overruns. Thing is, I have one Cobra and no bloodbraids available)
- Awful 4c Cruel control (not a bad option considering I've got a few wonky Mythics that'll do as nice finishers and I can use all three of my fetches to a decent effect, but still very awful)
I look at these options and decide the Cruel control route is probably the best. I'd had the Ascension version built already for silly testing, sans fetches, but the Cruels and whatnot were all still there, so I'm like "okay, should be easy". I take a look at it, decide to toss out Pyromancer, and with it came the Ponders and some other stuff that becomes really bad without the red Ascension. So now we're at something like this:
Little Spells
4 Path, 4 Bolt, 4 Esper Charm, 4 Courier's Capsule, 3 Negate, 2 Essence Scatter, 4 Cancel
Bigger Spells
2 Cruels, 2 Day of Judgment, 1 Obelisk of Alara
Finishers
Prepare to "wat" harder than you've ever done before.
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths. Okay, pretty standard CA engine for the late game.
1 Ob Nixilis. All right, he's pretty legit, he's only 5 mana so dropping him with Negate backup for Path or whatever they have is pretty easy once I lockdown the game.
Here's the kicker.
1 Lorthos. Yes, I did run the big blue octopus. What of it?
Okay, well, that was actually my deck after I decided creatures are probably a better wincon than two Cruels and all my bolts. Shut up I'm tired.
My board was basically "hmm, aggro eats me, how many Pyroclasms do I have...two? Well crap, guess I'll toss in some purges for Jund, flashfreeze for other Jund, a couple Luminarchs for the mirror, a Swerve for mise and away we go". There was obviously some other stuff that made it fifteen but that would make me look intelligent if I looked at my sideboard and listed the rest.
So I bring this monstrosity to FNM in my fancy new deck box I bought the week before, in shiny new Japanese sleeves I bought the week before, thinking "god I'm just gonna be 0-3 drop by the end of this". I do stuff pre-pairings, mostly look for the 3 Crumbling Necropolises I need to replace the stupid refuges and only find 2, yadda yadda. Pairings go up and I find my table.
Round 1
Talk to this guy a bit, he's the guy I played round 1 last time I did Standard when I was running Esper wizards before Lorwyn rotated. Cool guy, though he tends to get really pissed when his opponent has answers to, yenno, anything he does. So we shuffle, I probably win the die roll here, not a clue, and we start playing. After a while I realize "hey, he's playing 4c not-cruel control, almost mirror match, awesome". Turn 6 I make an Obelisk, he doesn't have a Negate or Cancel or anything, I proceed to win off the burn engine after a while. He gets double Obelisk out the next two games and I have no answers in my board except 2x Luminarch Ascension. Almost got one active, though. And then he Pithing Needled.
Oh, also screw Baneslayer. Stupid $50 cards.
Round 2
One of a pair of black dudes who come in with unsleeved, almost casual decks, they're really loud, but I don't care. Why is that? Because they play to have fun, and I respect that. Which is weird because I was playing control. Oh well, gotta be a hypocrite sometimes.
So after he goes turn 2 hexmage it becomes clear to me he's playing vampires (since the only other deck in T2 I know of that runs it is the bad B/W deck I was working on earlier this week). I start going on tilt because vampires are obviously faster than my deck unless I hit the turn 4 wrath on most of his team and path/counter the rest, which is actually exactly what happened. Eventually my...some cool dude gets there, amazingly. ...No, wait, that was game 2, he wrecked my face game 1 after getting me to 1 and then Hideous Ending my Lorthos.
Games dos y tres, I get there with clasms and wraths and other cool stuff. Purges are nice too.
Afterwards, dude's like "does anyone want this?" and tosses down an Ob Nixilis, so I'm like "sure, lemme get my binder", and am thusly disappointed when he finds nothing. I should probably put my Bloodghast in there before that goes down.
Round 3
Funky GWB rock. I don't remember this match other than my 1 maindeck Celestial Purge going the distance on a Leech game 1. I did win, though.
Round 4
Cascade or something, he had Rupture Spires and stuff. Of course, being that he had Rupture Spires his deck was slower than mine, so after getting game 1 in which I land a Lorthos who subsequently gets pathed, I board in Luminarchs and the 4th Negate and proceed to make angels all over his face and down his back.
Round 5
Mill. I lose after not having the turn 3 Negate for his Jace both games. Trainwreck, ravaged butthole, etc.
Round 6
Another GWB concoction! Difference being this one's more rock-aggro than the other one, as this one played Nixilis and Baloths in the side. Looked pretty good, had maindecked Day of Judgment as well for some funktastic reason. Alas, I once again get there and end the night 4-2 after going to the FNM that could've been half a PTQ at 44 T2 players and 15 drafters. And then I watched awesome pack wars go down in which a guy gets Soul Stair Expedition to 3 quest counters. And then gets Ior Ruin and Sunspring to 3. Best ever.
My friend also ate a Worldpurge. Still need to ask if this one resulted in diarrhea like the last Worldpurge he ate.
Also, holy Christ this post is long.
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