Five With Flores

Just in time for the State Championships! This is the second of three videos featuring the qualifying decks from the Pro Tour Berlin Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). This Top 4 Blightning Beatdown deck was played by Oscar Almgren.

Like the previous Demigod Deck Wins video, this one was also built for this week’s Top Decks at magicthegathering.com.

Another preview for you!

Enjoy!

Oscar’s Blightning Deck:

4 Bitterblossom

4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Blightning
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Goblin Deathraiders

4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
4 Tarfire

4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
5 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Infest
4 Thoughtseize
3 Everlasting Torment
4 Magma Spray

I didn’t use Oscar’s sideboard hardly at all… When I tried this out I was mainly getting a feel for the starting sixty; Thoughtseize, though, is very good as everyone on MTGO plays Cruel Control. I think I would like more copies of Everlasting Torment, that is, the fourth. I like Infest the least but perhaps Oscar had a transformational mindset that I have not yet grasped with my limited play of his deck.

Not surprisingly, Bitterblossom is excellent in this deck, as it is in many decks. Having a steady stream of attackers freed up my mana for pumping Figure of Destiny, distributing burn spells, &c.

Goblin Deathraiders is yet another two, which I suppose is available only in this specific color combination (that is, it is actually Gold rather than hybrid like Vexing Shusher). This card was okay for me. It hits much harder than the other options, especially if you have the fire in your hand. I can only assume Magma Spray in hand is a beating for Kithen Finks (because this never came up for me… probably because I never sided in Magma Spray).

I didn’t play any “mirror” with this at all but I can only assume the B/R version is weaker in the mirror due to Springs and Bitterblossom (ouch, collateral damage, what have you). However the deck seemed much kinder to me than straight Red Demigod elsewhere. The added pressure of Bitterblossom really affects how opponents play (which you probably already know having been on the wrong end of one at some point in the last year… I can only assume). In a Red Deck it is much more gratifying than in a Blue deck.

Just a reminder I will be updating HERE for certain before Saturday and I’m not sure if I will have time to post a pre-States video about my deck choice. So check back Friday or so if you want to know what I am bringing. My favorite cards in Standard that no one plays with are Rampant Growth and Gift of the Gargantuan, so I have been playing them in a variety of decks (mostly Reveillark versions) but I think I have one, finally, that I am going to go with.

Like I said, check back later in the week.

One more video up tonight after this.

LOVE
MIKE

Just in time for the State Championships! This is the first of three videos featuring the qualifying decks from the Pro Tour Berlin Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). The winner was none other than Demigod Deck Wins, played by Guillaume Baudois.

This video was built, again, for this week’s Top Decks at magicthegathering.com. However I had to get it up on YouTube in order to, you know, link it into my article, so YouTube subscribers and FiveWithFlores blog afficionados get a preview.

Enjoy!

Oh, here’s some additional meat:

The PT Berlin LCQ was won by an update to Demigod Deck Wins, played by Guillaume Baudois. Here is Guillaume’s version:

4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny

4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Puncture Blast
4 Stigma Lasher
1 Unwilling Recruit

4 Ghitu Encampment
19 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Guttural Response
1 Unwilling Recruit
3 Chaotic Backlash
1 Everlasting Torment
1 Vexing Shusher
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Murderous Redcap

Notable changes in Guillaume’s version:

1) Mogg Fanatic on one; as you know from previous blog posts, I have been running Tattermunge Maniac in this slot. Tattermunge has been pretty great but in testing Guillaume’s version, I can say that Mogg Fanatic was just fine.

2) Stigma Lasher on two; we’ve been running Vexing Shusher (which is obviously much better in a Blue format). However Stigma Lasher is a fine option, especially if you fear Kitchen Finks. As I’ve said repeatedly, this slot is up in the air and I think most of the choices are about as good as one another… As the great Tsuyoshi Fujita once told me, it depends on the metagame.

3) Land mix, being four Ghitu Encampments and one Unwilling Recruit (that is, not a land) over five Mountains. Ghitu Encampment was okay testing Guillaume’s version but I prefer Mountain personally.

4) Puncture Blast over Shock, Lash Out, &c. this is a big one… He really seems to respect a Kitchen Finks. This card is fine, but I think I prefer Lash Out to fix my draw, especially if I am down one land.

Not that the LCQ win was required by any means to validate the Demigod deck, but it certainly seems like a fine strategy for States. I will be making my recommendation here on FiveWithFlores later this week — not sure if I will have time to produce another video specifically about my deck choice before States — so definitely check back by Friday night / super early Saturday morning because you know I am apt to change my mind at the last minute (This Girl, The Legends of Team CMU, &c., &c.).

More videos up tonight.

LOVE
MIKE

This is the first of a couple of videos we are posting in anticipation of PT Berlin 2008. The subject is Extended Affinity (that is, the best offensive deck of all time according to Osyp Lebedowicz). “Five With Flores: PT Berlin Preview - Extended Affinity” takes us from an archetype overview, to morphing last year’s Top 8 deck to incorporate Atog and Fatal Frenzy, and finally to a quick fight with aggro Rock.
 

 

The above is a basic overview video that I intend to post on my Top Decks column on magicthegathering.com this week (crossing my fingers to get 1-3 more finished for the same column). The idea is to do the usual Top Decks analysis for a pre-Pro Tour Berlin format overview article, but enrich the article with some of the stuff we are doing on Magic video side.

Some people are just visual and I think that showing them how decks actually play, how you can swap out certain Magic cards for other cards to tune and template a deck, and then some actual game play, will be helpful in a different way than just the articles.

As with the Red Deck set we did last week, I opened this one up with a Magic Online deck editor screen, and ran though the changes there… Thanks as usual to Brian David-Marshall for the idea.

So in the unlikely event that you’re reading my blog on 26 October 2008… You get a sneak peek of what I am intending for this week’s column.

LOVE
MIKE