This past weekend I played in the KMC in Columbia, Missouri. I drove there with my friend Jason and his son Ryan(who ended up winning the whole tournament.) I had a deck built I was really excited to use at this KMC, but then at the Duel Day before this KMC I ended up going 0-4 with it so I decided not go with it. I had to think about what deck would be best to use in Missouri, I did not expect a lot of control decks, I figured they would mostly be aggressive decks and maybe a few Dragons. I was pretty much right, from what I could tell, there were only around like 5 decks in the whole tournament that weren’t aggressive. It seemed that everyone was using some sort of Cyber Scamp deck so I am really glad I decided to not use control. I went with Water/Darkness/Light tempo deck. Ryan and I play tested with it Thursday and Friday and both felt like it was the best deck to use. It is aggressive enough to win by late game and has enough small answers to deal with the early game. In the end Ryan and I used the exact same deck, only 1 card different. Here is the deck I chose to use.

[ccDeck=”Main Deck”]3 General Finbarr:3 Cyber Scamp:3 Bottle of Wishes:2 Andromeda of the Citadel:3 Lyra, the Blazing Sun:3 Keeper of Laws:1 Stormspark Blast:2 Screeching Scaradorable:3 Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow:3 Terror Pit:3 Bone Blades:3 Squillace Scourge:2 Lost Patrol:3 Aqua Strider:3 Piercing Judgment[/ccDeck]

It pretty much looks like your typical WDL tempo deck, I ended up not going with King Neptas because I wanted to focus on early game as much as I could because I expected to play against more rush decks than control decks. That is also the reason I maxed out on Striders and Gloom Hollows. I originally played 3 [ccProd]Lost Patrol[/ccProd] but I just could not use a deck without Stormspark Blast. I think that card is way too important in this format right now, it can just win you games or stop you from losing. It did win me at least 3 games in the tournament. It was also cool using only 1 because it will keep my opponent guessing that the other 2 are in my shields because only 1 is gone. The deck is fairly simple, gain as much board presence as possible until you can play General Finbarr and then attack your opponent like a madman while drawing a lot of cards. I really like using 3 Squillace Scourge in the deck, without it, it is very difficult to deal with Eternal Haven decks. I believe Andromeda is also need to give you that extra late game advantage over other aggressive decks. Scamp is a great card but 9/10 times I had at least one in my shields, I had 2 in my shields in my top 4 match. Now for the round by round report, I do not have a great memory but I will say what I do remember.

Round 1 Hannah (Blurple)

She was using a very interesting Chimera based blurple deck using [ccProd]Gigabolver[/ccProd]s and [ccProd]Freakish Test Subject[/ccProd]. At one point I was just attacking and all she had was a freakish test subject and then she put [ccProd]Tekamora the Wretched[/ccProd] on it. It through me for a loop and luckily I had Lyra for it the next turn. Both games I was able to get my progression and get both games pretty swiftly. Record 1-0

Round 2 Jason Markulin (NWD Tempo)

We drove 10 hours together just to play against each other round 2. Neither of us was happy to play each other, especially me because he destroyed me in the KMC in Bedford the week before. I do not remember much of our match but I just think I drew better and was able to get control of the board and Andromeda on turn 9 both games and eventually Squillace for the win. Record 2-0

Round 3 Joshua Heeter (WDL Enforcer Tempo)

I met him up at the shop on Friday and he was really nice and yet another guy I did not want to play against until later in the tournament. Game 1 he got out all his early Enforcers and was able to destroy me with a turn 5 Blinder Beetle Prime. Game 2 and 3 I drew double Lyra and knew that was the weakness to his deck because other than bouncing stuff it was hard for him to deal with any creatures stronger than 6000 power and I exploited that and was able to win the next 2 games. Record 3-0

Round 4 Resse (Haven Ramp)

I was excited for this match up because I knew it would be in my favor because Haven decks struggle dealing with early aggression. Game 1 I was able to get the turn 2 Scamp, turn 3 Lost Patrol, and turn 4 Laws along with bounce to deal with his blockers and took game 1 quickly. Game 2 was going the same way, he decided to just hardcast [ccProd]Bottle of Wishes[/ccProd] turn 7 just because it looked grim and he got a [ccProd]Twilight Archon[/ccProd] off of it but I just Lyra’d it the next turn and proceeded to keep attacking for game. Record 4-0

Round 5 Ryan Bishop (WDL Tempo)

We were both the only undefeated in the tournament so we just drew to guarantee us 1^st and 2^nd spot going into the top 8.

Top 8 Andrew (WFL Rush)

I was a little scared going into this match up because I knew if he went off and I did not draw my blockers, I stood little chance of winning. Game 1 I was able to get my blockers and deal with all his creatures and eventually play Andromeda and Squillace Scourge to win. Game 2 he got his turn progression and I drew 1 blocker, which his used comet missile on, and had no shield blasts to save me. Game 3 went pretty much the same as game 1 I was able to hold out until I played Andromeda and Squillace to win. He was also one of the nicest people I met.

Top 4 Joshua Heeter (WDL Tempo)

Game 1 I was able to get my Lyra’s and control his enforcers to prevent him from using Prime and eventually Squillaced for game. Game 2 everything was looking great, I had 2 Lyra and 2 other creatures that can attack with his 4 shields left. He had a [ccProd]King Neptas[/ccProd] and General Finbarr that he just played. He broke my last shield, it was Bottle of Wishes. I was hoping to get any creature to just seal the deal next turn for the win but sadly I hit a Bone Blades but I was not too upset because I still had game on board. I drew another Bone Blades for my turn. With no shields left I went in for game and I double broke with the first Lyra. I hit a Terror Pit, which he used to banish my other Lyra and that was it. I had 2 creatures and he had 2 shields, he had 2 creatures and I had no shields. Game three my opening hand was 2 Aqua Strider, 2 Piercing Judgment and a Bottle of Wishes. I had no hope in game 3. He was able to do the turn 2 Scamp, turn 3 Lost Patrol, turn 4 Laws and follow it up with a turn 6 Finbarr. I dealt with most of that but he already had too much advantage at that point the game was already over and I lost. Fun fact is though I was able to call every move he made before he did it, but sadly I could not do anything about it. While he was breaking my shields I saw 2 Cyber Scamp in them and knew I was just destined to lose this game.

 

So I ended up getting 3^rd place and winning the Water Civilization. I was sad that I did not get my invite but I tried my best and I still have the LCQ’s in November! I had great time and met a lot of great people. Overall the only change I would make to the deck I used would be to take out Bottle of Wishes and put in more Stormspark Blasts. Bottle of Wishes is nice but without big creatures to follow it up with it just isn’t that relevant. This deck has enough early answers for rush that it is definitely not needed. I hope everyone does well at the KMC’s they have left and look forward to meeting everyone at the Championship in November! Also, don't forget about the Circuit Series in Worcester, MA on November 16-17!

See you on the other side of the veil!

 

Bobby Brake

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