Knight of the Living Dead

-or, "preboarding"

Just when I thought I was out..

I'll start with the game plan, as laid out to me by Sean.

1. get paired against a white deck
2. play pro-white knights
3. attack and stuff
4. thoughtseize him too? i guess?
5. pizza

 Oh, here's the deck.

can you believe he wasn't starting dark ritual? really!

The original configuration had the fourth Disfigure, an additional Swamp, and 2 more Cabal Therapies. 

There were Dystopias in the board, but I talked Sean into Spinning Darkness instead. If I reveal it to Dark Confidant, so what? I gain three life back! In addition, I was offered a few Dilu Horses.

The shop was sparsely populated again, which was a bummer. Andrew had returned from his back surgery, just in time to let a loud nerd know that his story was not good. The words "shut up, nerd" are some of the sweetest.

Round 1: Arabian Block Constructed w/ JB
JB was playing a "Greatest Hits from 1998" theme deck, complete with Beta Kird Apes and Psionic Blasts. This deck was conceived the prior week at Fellini's, after about half a pitcher and half a pizza, steeped in nostalgia for the days when Ernham Djinn was the best man in town.

In game 1, I led with Ritual into Thoughtseize + Hymn, which left him with land, Birds in play and a Serendib Efreet stuck in his hand. Then I played a 4/5 Tarmogoyf and killed him with it. 

For this and every subsequent game 2, I boarded in the Dilu Horses. 

This was my opener.

pseudo-random

 

 

I might have kept that on the play, but I had images of him playing a Birds (and my subsequent suicide)- instead, I kept five to his seven.  My Thoughtseize got Disrupted.  (JB was polite enough to drop it while I was shuffling, though my brain rudely forgot about that until Thoughtseize was on the stack.)

his keep

Luckily I peeled a Hymn, which made me feel clairvoyant. He played a Kird Ape, which is strong against most of my ground guys, but Knight of Infamy and pump knight have game against that.
Then he cast Earthquake for 1.

Reeling, I cast a Bob which died to Chain Lightning, then a Lilana which died to Psionic Blast. Kird Ape continued its assault, and after it had dealt me ten damage, I drew a Dark Confidant. This was an opportune time for him to draw Time Elemental. I won't lie, Time Elemental didn't scare me at first, but I quickly realized that JB is not the AI from Shandalar, and therefore would not be blocking with the Time Elemental for value.  Bob hooked it up with some extra action, but a Serendib Efreet put the final nail in me before I could mount a counterattack.

I went to five again in the third game, and the first play was me getting his Tropical Island with a Wasteland. (He had played a City of Brass on turn 1, but I declined to hit that.) Knight of Infamy was met with a Brainstorm, and then put him to 16. He fetched next turn, then tapped a City of Brass to play a Serendib Efreet. Attacking wasn't viable, but City of Brass was doing good work on my side. Unfortunately, he played Control Magic on my Knight of Infamy. My notes are clear on this. 

My grip was full of BB cards, and though I drew a second black source eventually, this board put me under.

Those are some nice-lookin' cards, at least.

Round 2: Storm w/ Greg
Greg is my fellow Judge-mat-using-competitor.

I had skillfully drawn the Ritual-Thoughtseize-Hymn combo again, which left him with Brainstorm and Dark Ritual in his hand. I followed that with a Tarmogoyf, and he Brainstormed at the end of my turn. Over the next three turns, I drew Disfigures while he Brainstormed once and played lands. Then, at 5, he cast a third Brainstorm, two Rituals, two LEDs, an Infernal Tutor, blah blah blah, I died.

In came the Dilu Horses, out went the Disfigures.
My single Cabal Therapy made its first appearance in my opener, and he had declined to draw Brainstorms in his opening hand. He had a Therapy of his own, however, which hit the two Tarmogoyfs in my hand, leaving me no action. I did peel a Lilana after he cast a Bob, but he had revealed an Infernal Tutor already. A Ritual and an LED later that turn convinced me I was dead, but he was playing around graveyard hate and only got another Bob. I drew a Confidant of my own, and cast it with Wasteland up. In his upkeep, he revealed an Abrupt Decay, so I cleverly Wasted his Tropical Island to keep him off BG. 

Did you know that Abrupt Decay is an instant?

Anyway, every day is a lesson. He cast Ritual, Petal, Petal, Tendrils when I was at 8. Bob did a lot of work that game.

Round 3: Terrence
Terrence "Top-8" Demby was playing a Modern deck. Cabal Therapy was very good for me this match, as he was playing a suboptimal mix of 4 Cultivate and 0 Kodama's Reach.


Interlude: Cubing
Lukas is a store employee who is my former roommate. He and I share many likes: gambling, drafting, and Carver's Country Kitchen. What better way to enjoy ourselves than doing a Winston draft, best of 5, loser pays for lunch next week? 

he was like, "wait til i cast coalition honor guard!"

I neglected to mention that in Round 1, Game 1, he arrived at the shop with my winnings from last week. Waffle fries, man.
My match with Terrence was as brief as the write-up, so we attemped to get a little drafting in before the fourth round. My memory is spotty regarding the draft, but it was full of white and green aggressive two-drops, Pacifism-effects, and a Moss Kami. So, when he played a fourth-turn Stinging Barrier, I figured my work would be cut out for me. On the right is a scene from game 1. I conceded right after this picture. He would have killed me with Stinging Barrier and the off-color ability of Stormscape Apprentice.

Round 4: Beau
This round started as I was trying to rebuild my deck to not get utterly demolished by Stinging Barrier, no small feat in the pauper cube. Why didn't I put in Flame Slash..

Anyway, Beau is playing a R/G all-basics deck. 
In game 1, he drew the burn side of his deck, excepting a Quirion Dryad which got Disfigured in response to the second counter. I led with a Bob into Knight of Infamy after Thoughtseizing an Isochron Scepter. I played a nonstop sequence of black 2-drops, and that he cast a Fireblast by tapping six lands sums up the game pretty well.

The Dilu Horses came in for the last time.

In game 2, I Thoughtseized him and took a Tarmogoyf, leaving him two Quirion Dryads and two Lightning Bolts. A few turns later, he drew and cast an Isochron Scepter and put one of those Bolts on it. I had declined to bring in Krosan Grips. For a few turns, I was live to draw a Tarmogoyf and kill him with it, but eventually he put a Magma Jet on another Scepter after I had run out all of my smaller guys. Somehow, it felt worse than in the old days, when losing to Fire/Ice on a Scepter was normal. 

I spent a long time sideboarding for this game. There were Null Rods and Krosan Grips I wanted to bring in, as well as Spinning Darkness, and the Disfigures seemed bad, but only if he doesn't draw Dryad.. The Jittes,
3-drop Knight, the Therapy, and a pair of two-drop Knights came out.

My six for the last game had a Krosan Grip, a kill spell, and a guy, which was acceptable. I put on some early pressure, while he sat back on what I assume was a mass of burn spells. Eventually he traded Bolts 1-for-1 with my guys when I dug into his hand with Thoughtseize and a Hymn, and we got to a state where I had no guys save a Dark Confidant, and he had a 1/1 Dryad and a bunch of lands. He topdecked a burn spell to kill my Bob, but I peeled another next turn. His attack next turn would have put me to 4, though, so I blocked expecting to get blown out, but he had drawn another land. My Lilana got burnt to death with a Fireblast, then I drew lands and Rituals until he killed me with a Tarmogoyf.
♣

Looking back, I'd have waited to play this until more Stoneblade decks were in the room- or at least, tried to get the flying pump knight from Coldsnap into the conversation. Really, all the games I won were from the Ritual Duress Hymn combo plus Tarmogoyf. I remember now why Tarmo-rack decks were popular in Standard!

My notes from the cube match are sparse, but he destroyed me with Pristine Talisman. Plus, this isn't a pauper cube blog! What did you expect?


Next week, the return of real decks!

Until then, try to control your volume- especially if your story is bad.
∎

Naughty Delver

-or, getting extra tricky

This week, I made it as far borrowing and actually sleeving up all the cards for the real deck, but when I found out that Pants wasn't playing, I figured I owed it to the crowd to be entertaining for one more week. After all, GP Denver is fast approaching!

sideboard is the red cards, perish, extirpate, divert explosives clique

This deck is innovative for its simultaneous use of Force of Will and Dark Confidant, a rare combination which finds its way into few decks not featuring Death's Shadow. Having said that, it's not quite as uncommon as it is for Sean to hand me a deck with blue cards and Force of Will. (This one was actually for our buddy J.B., and nobody likes taking 5 from Bob as much as he does.)  After dealing with the disappointment of his absence, I had resolved to dig deep and make some 12/12's.

Round 1: Dredge w/ Robert
Robert is a nice guy who is around the shop now and then. He appeared to be relatively new to dredging, or at least with the particular nuances of playing with Lion's Eye Diamond.
In the first game, he led with a City of Brass into Careful Study, discarding a Flame-Kin Zealot and an Ichorid.  Though I had Pierce and blue source in my hand, that he didn't discard a dredger convinced me to Wasteland him in hopes that his hand didn't have action. Then he played Coliseum, LED, LED.  And a Breakthrough. He cast it for 0, and then we waited about 5 seconds-
"Resolves"
"Crack my-"
"can't"
":( ok"
He hit a Thug in his four cards, as well as a Faithless Looting, which he flashed back. A Narcomoeba was waiting on top, but no more dredgers, though the fifth card down was a Stinkweed Imp. After drawing a Confidant, I played a fetchland and shipped back. Ichorid got up, he beat for 4, and Therapied me twice, netting him two Zombie tokens and stripping the Spell Pierce out of my hand. I peeled Electrickery, which, while exciting, was not enough to handle many Zombies. Interestingly, that the Izzet spell couldn't target my Confidant was relevant and annoying, as it would have put me in a position to interact much more meaningfully with the Bridge.

I boarded in the Explosives and Extirpates for the Jace, Spell Snare, and Ghastly Demises.

My hand for game 2 was p. spicy: Explosives, Snapcaster, Spell Pierce, Brainstorm, lands. He curved into turn 2 Narcomoeba (cast), Stinkweed Imp (cast), Narcomoeba. I was able to get him to 4 via a combination of 3/2 fliers and City of Brass, and even though I had two Extirpates, I targeted the wrong things and died slowly to an Ichorid.

Round 2: RUG w/ Darrin
Darrin's a pretty consistent competitor at the shop, usually with Forces and Dazes in his arsenal.

We started slowly, me with a turn 2 Delver, him with a Ponder and a Nimble Mongoose. My notes aren't clear, but I recall drawing Electrickery while he had threshold, cursing silently, and dying with many Stifles in hand.

Pyroblast, Cliques, and Explosives came in for the Delvers and Jace, since I had already grown tired of playing with "good" cards.

I fetched into a Ponder, he cast a Delver, I played a Bob, he revealed Lightning Bolt. Next turn, I cast a Vendilion Clique in his attack step, which was Red Blasted.  (Unfortunately, he answered my question "in response to the trigger?" correctly.)  Insectile Abomination died to Ghastly Demise off the top, then we played draw-go for a few turns. When he was at 16, I ran out a Dreadnaught very casually, which resolved. Obviously I had Trickbind. He dumped his hand of Tarmogoyf, Mongoose, Delver, but we didn't pay an extra card for a 12/12 that could get chump blocked.

We started the last game with less than 15 on the clock, so my notes get fewer. My opening of double fetch led to a fight over his Stifle on turn 2- we both lost a Force, but a Spell Pierce kept me from being on the back foot early in the game. His hand was light on threats, and they were all targetable- very convenient for my removal-heavy draw. As the clock was winding down to 5 minutes, I stuck a Dark Confidant at a double-digit life total, and it kept me full up on Demises and Snapcasters to keep Darrin from sticking a man for too long. Time expired, and on the first of extra turns I emptied my hand casting and protecting a Dreadnaught, but he had a grip full of counters for my Stifle. I didn't have a sufficient army to kill him in two turns, but he was totally crushed on board- he saw that and generously conceded.

Round 3: 12post w/ Paul
Paul, like Sean, has been around since before sleeves were invented. He used to be the #1 Vintage player in the state, back when I was in high school. He was playing a sweet Cloudpost deck.

In game 1, I stick a Delver, and flip it on turn 3. My hand is light on permission and disruption, so he gets to Scry into six mana on his fourth turn. He makes a Duplicant to eat my Insect, but fortunately it doesn't put an equivalent amount of pressure on me.. though it doesn't really matter, as he cast Primeval Titan into my hand full of Spell Pierces and Dazes. An Eye of Ugin gets activated, he reveals Emrakul, I Stifle the extra turn trigger, then die anyway.

I board in the Extirpates for a mix of Pierces and Dazes, hoping to get him with the Wasteland + Extirpate combo.

On the play, I keep a hand with two Delvers and an Extirpate, but no Wastelands. My first Delver flips blind, and via a Brainstorm in my upkeep, I flip the second and cast a third. A Daze on his Sylvan Scrying puts the nail in him.

I spent a good while staring at the Extirpates between games, trying to tell myself that it wasn't good, but I don't know who I was trying to fool.

To my surprise, the combo and two Wastelands are in my opener for game 3, so I keep. Hard up for mana, my early 12/12 puts him on the back foot. After I attack him to 7, he peels a Forest to cast Crop Rotation. I let it resolve, holding back the Force in my hand for the big spell he's building towards, but he just gets Glacial Chasm. I don't attack for one turn, he falls to 5, then I peel the third Wasteland to kill his Chasm and him.

Round 4: Maverick w/ Andrew
Andrew, my frequent passenger, asked if we could draw. Due to reasons, it wasn't a great idea, so we decided to wait for more information about the matches around us. We spent that playing game 1.
He plays a Noble Hierarch, I match him with a Delver. He plays a Thalia and sends my 1/1 farming.  I Ponder on my turn, trying to find my third land, but miss. He casts a Qasali Pridemage, attacks for 4 with Thalia, and plays a Scryb Ranger after I blank on my turn. His Gaddock Teeg gets Forced on his fourth turn, and the attack after that puts me to 8. A Stifle is waiting on top, and I cast a Dreadnaught, but Thalia requires me to pay an extra mana which I can't produce. Thalia eventually deals lethal to me.

Fortunately, someone has dream-crushed for us a few tables over, and Andrew is still cool with IDing.

Top 8: Reanimator w/ Greg
Greg is also playing on a Judge mat, causing the effective value of our match to skyrocket.

In game 1, I had a turn 2 12/12 with Force backup, but he won the roll and Griselbranded me on turn 2 with Force backup. Then he reanimated an Emrakul with Shallow Grave. Rude. Too bad you can't Stifle lifelink any more.

Red Blast, Clique, and Extirpate got boarded in for the Ghastly Demises and other kill spells.

I led with a Dark Confidant, which revealed a Force of Will. He cast a Careful Study on his second turn, discarding irrelevant things. Dark Confidant kept the disruption flowing into my hand, and he didn't get his engine going before Bob and a Vendilion Clique killed him to death.

For the final game, I cast a Delver on 1 which flipped on my second turn. He was light on mana sources for this game, and Wastelands from my side kept him from doing much of anything. (Also, I was sandbagging two Extirpates.) While his life total dwindled, he durdled with Brainstorms and Hapless Researchers, but he couldn't outrace the 3/2 flyer.

The top 4 split the $100 store credit, and we went to get pizza.
♣

This was the first legacy Delver deck I'd ever played, and man, is it sweet to have a 3/2 on turn 2. It didn't really feel like a Dreadnaught deck, but the few times the plan came together made killing my opponent very easy. Electrickery was nice, but I might rather have just had a Spark Spray for all the good the overload ability did.


In SSD news, I'm moving over to more "real" decks, in order to prepare for the GP in January. If there's interest, I'll try to post some write-ups as I figure out how to play Legacy again. Don't worry, though; Pants has offered to take up the slack and play some "very nice decks" when he can.

Until next time, try to get things done on time.∎

Guest Week: Berserk

-or, spreading disease for fun and profit

I suppose an explanation is in order: this week, Casey decided to play a "real deck."  In his stead, I decided to borrow one of Sean's decks and contribute an article.  You can call me Pants, and you should know that there is a vast, unknowable void in my heart that holds only hate for my opponents.  More on that later.

For this stout seventeen-man tournament, I borrowed Sean's Berserk deck.  For those of you who are too poor to afford foreign cards,  I must tell you, a fully-foreign deck is a sight to behold.  It contained the stock list of infect men and pump spells, with a few spicy pieces such as 3x Revenge of the Hunted (Korean), 2 Snap (German), and 2 Misdirection (T-Chinese).  The sideboard had an assortment of cards, featuring 4 Submerge (T-Chinese), 2 Reverent Silence (T-Chinese), four cards I always boarded in over 2 Snap/2 Misdirection, and two German cards for which I neglected to ask for an oracle text.

Round 1:Hell on Earth is Real and I Play Against it Round One

When I sat down, I recognized my opponent.  Many moons ago, when our local legacy scene was in its infancy, he played regularly;  he was back, he said, with a spicy brew.  I was immediately confident in my ability to mercilessly pound him, my first perceived victory on the road to twenty-five dollars store credit.
I kept a hand of Blighted Agent x2, Glistener Elf, Inkmoth Nexus x2, Misty Rainforest, Forest.  With basically any spell gas, I anticipated a quick victory.  He led with a turn one Swamp, go.  Strong!  I ripped another Glistener Elf, fetched out a valuable Tropical Island, and cast an elf.  My opponent was unfamiliar with both the card and the poison mechanic, and remarked that it was hard to play when my cards were foreign.  Just to be safe, he decided to cast Funeral Charm during my end step.

Let's take a look at Funeral Charm.  Funeral Charm has three modes.  For those of you who aren't familiar with numbers, three is a strictly better number than two.  Strictly!  Those modes are: target player discards a card; or target creature gets +2/-1 until end of turn; or target creature gains swampwalk until end of turn.  God, those are fine modes.  You can't find modes like that just anywhere!
This was slightly worrisome; there's a certain combination deck/player that is unbeatable; the man who hasn't played in nine years will inevitably show up with old-school Merfolk and play against your Merfolk deck round one. His deck, however, has three main-deck Seasingers and four sideboard Merfolk Assassins.

Uneasy, I watched as he untapped, drew for turn, laid a white-bordered swamp, and cast a Dark Confidant.  I untapped and went to draw my card, but my opponent informed me that he was not yet done. 
 Perplexed, anger building, I watched as he pondered his hand, then shipped, telling me he was just screwing with me.  I drew a Gitaxian Probe (T-Chinese), and cast it.  The probe revealed Snuff Out, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Spinning Darkness, Nyaxathid, and Swamp.  He remarked that he had thought about using Snuff Out on my elf, but instead opted to use Funeral Charm.  Cool!  Sweet!  Rad!
The rest of the game went predictably; I played a man, he used single-target removal.  Nyaxathid, suitably large, decided to turn sideways, directly into my face.  My board plan was more dudes, less crap, and a miser's Pact of Negation (Japanese).

I decided to play, and saw a hand that contained one man and six lands.  I mull'd into a six that consisted of Probe, Elf, Berserk, Invigorate, Brainstorm, Hierarch.  I kept, probed, and drew Blighted Agent.  My next draws were Revenge of the Hunted, Blighted Agent, and Pact of Negation.  My opponent made bold moves, casting Inquisition of Kozilek, followed by Hymn to Tourach, then next turn another Inquisition of Kozilek.  It was at that point I decided to end my pain in style, with no lands in play and a three-card hand, by casting Pact of Negation.

A bystander remarked that it was a good return to Magic for my opponent; I thanked him for his observation.

Round Two: Bringing a Knife to a Global Thermonuclear War

My round two opponent was a shop regular who was just in the legacy event to have fun.  I believe that his deck was Junk Standard Budget Tokens™.  In game one I played an unblockable man followed by spells that increased his power.  Game two was not substantially different.

Round Three: Lilith, Bride of Samael

My round three opponent happened to be the girlfriend of my round one opponent.  I had watched her finish one of her earlier matches, so I knew she was playing affinity, which I felt as though I should win against, barring a nut draw from my opponent.  I started the match in relatively high spirits despite losing the die roll.

Turn one Vault of Whispers, Mox Opal, Springleaf Drum, Memnite, Frogmite, tap Memnite w/drum to cast Thoughtcast.  A strong start!  My hand was not so strong, leading off with a Glistener Elf, then a pass of priority until the beginning of my end step.  Her second turn, she cast a second Thoughtcast, put a third artifact land into play, and cast Master of Etherium.  I still had a chance to win, however, as I had an Inkmoth Nexus in my hand, as well as an Invigorate.  I would merely need to draw a Berserk, live until turn three, then swing in and pump.  I was able to play lands, but unfortunately I could not find a Berserk, and in the subsequent turns my opponent cast a third Thoughtcast as well as a second Master of Etherium.
In between the first and second game, I asked a judge what the oracle text on Reverent Silence was, heard him say enchantment, and ignored everything else.  I boarded out 2x Misdirection 2x Snap, looked at two German cards from Mirage, and decided that since I didn't recognize them they were bad, and ultimately not worth sideboarding.

In game two, my opponent discovered how my deck worked, as I swung for one poison, then twelve.
I kept a solid seven in game three consisting of elf, agent, hierarch, invigorate, daze, 2x land.  My opponent led with Darksteel Citadel, Memnite, pass.  I opted to play the elf first so that I could swing for two the following turn, before she could play any meaty artifact men to block my sad little elf.  On her turn, she did not lay a land, and cast Springleaf Drum.  I dazed her drum, and she asked if she was allowed to tap it and Memnite to pay for Daze.   I informed her that her proposed sequence of actions was not possible, and she binned the drum, then shipped the turn.  I drew a probe and cast it, targeting her.  Her hand was 2x Master, Cranial Plating, Thoughtcast, Drum.  I felt vaguely worried, but I knew that she would have to have an impressive series of draws to remain in the game.  I cast Hierarch and swung for 2.

Fortunately for my opponent, she drew a Seat of the Synod, laid it down, cast Springleaf Drum, then tapped it and Memnite to cast Thoughtcast.  After that, she laid down a Frogmite.  The next couple turns are a blur, but I do remember losing and my opponent's board containing two Masters, two Myr Enforcers, Frogmite, and Memnite.

My opponent thanked me for the games, and told me that it was fun.  I responded with an affirmation that winning was indeed fun.  The same bystander that congratulated my opponent round one congratulated my round three opponent, remarking that it was a good showing for her first tournament, and enforcing that she should be proud of herself, as it was her first tournament.

Intermission: Dern Ferrin' Cards

I was sitting and chatting with Sean about how much I hated my life, the lack of justice, his two Misdirections in the mainboard, and racial inequality in the southern United States, and he asked how many times I drew Seeds of Innocence (German) in my affinity match.  I apologized for my ignorance and asked what Seeds of Innocence did.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Seeds of Innocence, Sorcery, 1GG - Destroy all artifacts. They can't be regenerated. The controller of each of those artifacts gains life equal to its converted mana cost.

Seems strong!  I sure wish I had asked for an oracle text on that German card in my sideboard!  Now, you may be calling me an idiot, and in fairness I am, but I have to explain my reasoning.  Sean has jammed the worst pieces of crap in my sideboards in the most obscure foreign languages multiple times, and every time I ask for an oracle text, I die a little inside.  I now know what Jihad does, and I have forgotten my grandfather's face in order to store that card knowledge.

Round Four: John Person is a Fine Southern Gentleman

I had erroneously assumed that since there was a third round, I could squeak in at 2-2, so I decided to put my game face on, forget that I had punted away a match to someone who just started playing Magic, and spread some disease!

My opponent for the fourth and final round was John Person, a very polite man who shows up to Magic events and never seems to talk to any of the people in our Magic sphere.  I sat down, asked him how the matchup was, and asked him how he felt about Lance Armstrong, as he was wearing a Livestrong bracelet. 
 He did not know what I was playing, but offered to tell me if I told him, to which I declined, then told me his opinion on the drug scandal with Lance Armstrong, which I found to be fair, given my knowledge of the situation (none).

It turned out John was playing Maverick, a matchup I was not familiar with, partially because I had never played my own deck before.  The first game was basically a single moment where I incorrectly cast Invigorate then Berserk on my elf before gaining a bonus from exalted; he had a chance to flash in Scryb Sprite, block with it and Mother of Runes, and go to nine poison.  Unfortunately for him, I had drawn a Vines of the Vastwood that turn, cast it, then wrote in my journal that I sacked into the win.

Game two I yet again boarded out 2x Misdirection 2x Snap in favor of 4x Ichorclaw Myr.  This proved to be an enormous advantage, as John had boarded out one of his three(?) Quasali Pridemages.  The sequence of plays for this game was a back-and-forth of Ichorclaw Myrs and Quasali Pridemages.  During John's final turn he tapped out for a Green Sun's Zenith where x=3 and put a Knight of the Reliquary into play.  During his end step I submerged his Knight and showed him my pump spells; he responded by showing me four lands and the Pridemage he had boarded out.

It turned out the entire fourth round was superfluous, and I was locked out of top 8.  I told Casey I'd have an article for him soon (lies) and that it would be a real page-turner, so to speak (more lies).  We discussed his performance with Doomsday, which I understand was abysmal, both in terms of results and the deck itself, much like every combo deck.

Overall, I think I'd like to play Berserk Infect again at some point.  It's a pretty simple deck, although mildly frustrating.  I don't think it requires anything tricky like Misdirection in the main; just men, pump, and the occasional countermagic.  As I said before, those slots were better off being men in basically every matchup, but I could see them having some use in the sideboard.  Daze performed particularly well, and I think I'd go down to two Revenge of the Hunted.  The deck can do very well against people who don't know what's going on and even against people who do, but I think it loses to any deck that can recur removal... or draw multiple Funeral Charms off of Dark Confidant.

Get pumped for next week, when Casey pilots Four Horsemen to multiple slow-play warnings and a request from the store owner to never come back!