A 2009 Regionals Report
by Ed Steele
Short back story before getting straight into the report, just so everyone is on the same page. Saturday (as in yes the day BEFORE regionals) I’m hung over as a Draco man can be due to self inflicted damages, at work in a lot of pain but soldiering on nonetheless. I begin to wonder while standing around idly behind my survey equipment thinking Regionals must be soon. After an early morning chat with Aaron Nicol, he informs me it is the next day and I basically scrub any idea of playing in it as I have an assignment due Monday (technically two) and I have work commitments which are supposed to take up all weekend. The girl at work overhears said conversation and after a few laughs at my expense agree to start at 5am on Sunday on site in Ipswich (her ex boyfriend used to play and apparently she understands these are a big affair!)
After a quick chat with Levi and Nick C, I discover that there is a deck available and Levi can even rego it for me- I just need to be there by ten am. I ask Levi to make me a deck under strict requirements that:
A) It’s not 5 colours as I won’t and previously haven’t had the mental energy to make the big decisions involved nor tested.
B) And that it’s not got blue as that is almost just as bad when it comes to decision making (call me a commitment phobe I don’t care!)
So Levi says he has a somewhat competitive and partially tested Jund Junk deck (self named Levi’s Junk) that is pretty straightforward and has a few great main deck cards against his predicted meta.
Jund Junk by Levi Hinz, Cameron Veigel, piloted by yours truly
2 Sulfurous Springs
3 Reflecting Pool
2 Mountain
4 Treetop Village
4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Savage Lands
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Graven Cairns
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Anathemancer
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Incinerate
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Jund Charm
Sideboard:
3 Filigree Fracture
4 Terror
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Scepter of Fugue
As you can see, the deck is fast, and if uninterrupted can reasonably reliably kill or put severe pressure on by turn 5 or 6. I joked towards the end of the day that the hardest decision I needed to make all day with this deck was whether to mulligan or not (obviously there was a LOT more to it but nothing like choosing between 4 modes on cryptic or procrastinating over what land to drop turn 3 so I wasn’t stuffed come turn 8!)
Really the only contribution I made in creating this deck list was the sideboard and the Garruk main (I wanted the option to just put 5c and tokens on wrath or scoop). I have been playing a LOT of online block and most of these cards are relatively applicable in both (pro tip!)
So I rush round to a mate, grab some Pools and head off in a hurry to get there by 10am!
Round 1 vs. Zi Yang Lim with GB Elves
Game 1 goes pretty quickly; I think there were no mulligan’s and Zi leads off early laying down a turn two Vanquisher. I play a bunch of quick dudes, which I think was outlander, into hackblade, into finks. We trade blows for awhile and I incinerate any blocker left back. Interestingly to play his turn two vanquisher he was on two reveal lands, and revealed another vanquisher-which if played would have caused me some major issues- I only have Jund charm main as a sweeper and deathtouch hurts all round. Anyway a few turns pass, he’s in hurt but he does manage to starve me off a bit with two back to back Profane Command. I deal with the life loss through finks recursion off a jund charm and smash through his blockers to get him to 4. Unfortunately at this point Zi is pulled over by the judges and awarded a game loss for registering a 14 card sideboard.
Game two I side in my terror as I think it’s the only useful card against his beaters. Unfortunately I didn’t plan on a turn 4 colossus and a turn 5 oversoul of dusk. Somehow through the power of my MVP Bloodbraid rips some nuts ramgang action and with garruk and a treetop on the swing I manage to just get there.
Round 2 vs. Jason (lambeth or greenhall?) with Monowhite
Jason is a young up and comer, at thirteen this kid plays very convincingly and no doubt without time will become one of these teenage powerhouses that are emerging from the woodworks. His deck however seemed to contain a lot of random cards, although I think this may have been due to a somewhat limited card pool.
Game 1 I recall was very close, he got down an early kithkin figure and some other white weenies with the chroma anthem, unfortunately I had maelstrom pulse for the enchantment, covered the kithkin in wither counters from beating ramgangs and took the game with some hasty creatures. I think with a bit more rules knowledge and paying notice to triggers (such as missing 4 life at end of turn off his wall of reverence) Jason may have got back in this game.
Game 2 I recall is much the same although he draws a lot of land in this game and I had sided extra hate in the form of 4 fallout which I held back and 3 for 1’d and then just dropped hasty gas.
Round 3 vs. Cameron King or Bolter but definitely not Veigel with BW tokens
Game one we shuffle up and are about to start before the first deck check. Twelve minutes later our cards are returned and I’m warned of a “pattern in the marking of my sleeves” where there is some pimpling of the plastic (of course, as I’d just picked up the deck of Levi 15 minutes prior to the start of the tournament even if it was a pattern, there was no way I was to learn it!)
Game one I take convincingly by waiting out until two spectral processions are cast to jund charm the board, I got a few sneaky beats through with a turn two outlander who coupled with some mad cascading and haste sealed the game quickly.
Game two I side in the obligatory fallout and I think possibly one or two fracture for any bitterblossom or the potential anthem, halo, story circle hate. Cameron has a slow start laying lands, holding back and I stupidly keep a slow hand as well with no black till turn 4 when I filter out two outlanders only to have him double persecution at the end of mine. He took control of the game pretty quickly from here and as we ended we were informed we had about 5 minutes left going into game 3.
Game 3 I know I have to keep a fast hand and keep something godlike with 2 lands, outlander, ramgang, incinerate and double cascade sexiness. My deck draws the nuts and I get the perfect land going and manage to have enough to get Cameron on turn 3 of extra turns even after misplaying cascade into fallout and letting my creature die.
Since this last round was allowed extra time, it actually ended up eating into the lunch half hour and I barely had time to scratch myself but run across the road and get a sausage roll and water and the pairings were up before I was finished.
Round 4 vs. Nick C 5 colour control
Nick starts off some trash talk as we shuffle up trying to rubbish the mother flipper for not being a real player and questioning if I would actually attend nats. Realistically he was trying to amp himself up because it’s not a great matchup for him in my opinion.
This game should probably be more memorable but it wasn’t unfortunately. In game one I just hit drop turn after turn and Nick tried to slow it with a few tap downs from Cryptic and drawing but couldn’t get there quick enough.
Game two I side in my scepters and manage to bait a counterspell on the elf after a lackluster cascade but I slide in a sneaky scepter and start to fugue his hand hard. Without the land he can’t cast his spells and without the spells he can’t win and slowly turn by turn I get more aggressive to the point where I make my most idiotic play error of the day and decide to make a beast with Garruk and then play another one, all the while thinking I can untap two lands, the first will die and he will be forced to wrath. Apparently that aint how pw’s work! So basically, being the nice fugue guy I am I gave Nick an extra turn to get back in the game and being the 5c guy that he is he just drew a land. Champion.
Round 5 vs. Aaron Nicol with 5c
I have made idle threats to Aaron before the round outside that he will concede to me or else pain will be imminent to which he just laughed and talked verbal diarrhoea as usual. Anyway when we sit down and realize we are both a) tired, b)in need of a magic break and c) he’s already qual’d we agree this is a safe as any place to ID and go get some air and smokes and talk more diarrhoea . We call Sugar in Melbourne and rubbish him on playing fae.
Round 6 vs. Dan “The Man” Baulderstone
Dan and I have a quick chat before he decides to smash on with me.
I really can’t recall much of the first game, except Dan stalls on two caves of koilos and probably pains himself for about 5 throughout a game where I just draw solid gas and cascade into answers like a pro.
Game two where I side in fallouts is almost just as quick although he does get some lands I manage to get enough in with burn, ramgang, and village and finally lay an anathemancer for 3 to the head to take the game.
Round 7 vs. Tim Gawne
Tim and I sit down and immediately he begins asking if I want to ID. Normally by this stage I would jump at the chance at not playing, as it would put me in first and I can just relax. But being the mother flipper I am and seeing as though Nick and a few other notables are also vying for the 5-2 slot in top 8 I decide upping their resistance provides them with a better chance.
Game 1 Tim gets very animated and possibly very nervous I think as he keeps talking to himself (he says it’s an actor thing- probably best I don’t understand). There are early drops on both sides, but he lacks the removal of jund charm which I use to sweep and incinerate to finish any guys off.
Game 2 Tim gets a quick start with squire into paladin and then lays more protection dudes than I can poke a stick at. I try to beat through where I can but with a runed halo on outlander and two of them on my side I just get beaten down my paladin en vec and voice of all.
Game 3 I draw a two land horrible hand on the play, fail to draw gas and Tim repeats very convincingly how he beat me in the second. Very well played sir.
So in summary, big ups to Levi and Cameron for the deck-to everyone who attended and played, to the fellow top 8’ers I hope you’re all keen to test and play nats.
Props:
*Cascade elf- I will never know you as anything else, you sir are a charm to work with and always bring pleasing results
*Treetop Village- you just stick in there buddy, doing all kind of cool green mana related things and apparently holding on to +1/+1 tokens all you like!
Slops:
*Sleeves- seriously, you my friends are a bloody wrought! You are no longer cheap, you were never good and you constantly get pimply. Can’t wait till they grow up and reach maturity.
Peas n Carrots