I said I’d come up with a 250 dollar viable deck list. Yes, I can tell you guys that Dragon Stompy is viable, or I could say hey, Pox is really good. I’d be lying to you though, and that is something I will not do to my readers. (Who happen to be the best fans of all time!) If you’re willing to 3-1 a DE than be my guest and play those decks, but to me that just isn’t good enough. When I have a deck, I want to win, and I want to win big. A lot of people know me for my play skill, so in today’s article I’ll show you what I know as a magic player by breaking the game down.

Preparation

Now before every tournament I take time out of my schedule to prepare. To me, the tournament starts an hour before the actual time. My usual routine involves playing a casual game with my friends. I find that having a good laugh is a great way to start the tournament. It also helps gauge where I am mentally on how I play. Winning or losing do not come into consideration, as long as I feel I am playing well. I found a great way to relax is by playing a 600 card deck. I have a viable opportunity to test my playing skills by way of random situations being amplified. My resources become more limited in what I can do by the volume of card choices in the deck. I will play normally three games to properly gauge myself, allowing one game as a warm up and the next two to determine where I am. Here is my 600 card list. If you seriously want me to break this list down, I have a giant hippo that will bite your head off.

The American Dream

Piloted by a drunken FatManInALittleCoat

Creatures 4 Godhead of Awe 2 Mulldrifter 1 Ophidian 3 Exalted Angel 1 Clone 4 Weathered Wayfarer 2 Vendilion Clique 4 Trinket Mage 1 Bogardan Hellkite 1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 1 Meddling Mage 3 Triskelion 1 Serra Avatar 2 Mulldrifter 1 Morphling 2 Eternal Dragon 4 Numot, the Devastator 1 Nucklavee 4 Lightning Angel 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury 3 Ophidian 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours 4 Sower of Temptation 4 Rakavolver 4 Draining Whelk 1 Greater Gargadon 2 Bogardan Hellkite 1 Battlegrace Angel 1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror 4 Magus of the Future 3 Dwarven Blastminer 2 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1 Vizzerdrix 1 Phyrexian Dreadnought 3 Phyrexian Dreadnought 2 Darksteel Colossus 2 Spellbound Dragon 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 3 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 1 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero 1 Wall of Denial 1 Mirror-Sigil Sergeant 1 Inkwell Leviathan 4 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 3 Flametongue Kavu 3 Platinum Angel 3 Meddling Mage 2 Venser, Shaper Savant 4 Magma Phoenix 1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter 2 Vesuvan Doppelganger 2 Brion Stoutarm 2 Sakashima the Impostor 1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn 1 Magus of the Disk 1 Windreaver 1 Sphinx Ambassador 1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath 1 Flametongue Kavu 1 Clone 1 Captain of the Watch 2 Reveillark 4 Solemn Simulacrum 4 Plumeveil 1 Guile 140 cards Other Spells 4 Fact or Fiction 2 Merchant Scroll 4 Counterbalance 2 Relic of Progenitus 4 Stifle 1 Crucible of Worlds 4 Force of Will 2 Merchant Scroll 3 Ponder 4 Lightning Helix 4 Fire/Ice 1 Decree of Justice 2 Wrath of God 2 Oblivion Stone 1 Pithing Needle 4 Land Tax 4 Steel of the Godhead 3 Thirst for Knowledge 3 Shattering Spree 3 Engineered Explosives 3 Vedalken Shackles 3 Crucible of Worlds 4 Suffocating Blast 4 Prophetic Bolt 1 Hoofprints of the Stag 1 Balance 2 Double Negative 1 Helm of Kaldra 3 Essence Scatter 4 Remand 1 Disenchant 2 Orim's Thunder 4 Battle of Wits 2 Plateau 4 Intuition 2 Illusionary Mask 1 Shield of Kaldra 4 Coalition Relic 1 Electrolyze 3 Strategic Planning 4 Counterspell 4 Opt 4 Scourge of the Nobilis 1 Chandra Nalaar 4 Ancestral Vision 4 Hindering Light 4 Cryptic Command 2 Volcanic Fallout 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 3 Sunforger 1 Wrath of God 1 Ruby Medallion 4 Sapphire Medallion 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale 4 Swords to Plowshares 1 Electrolyze 1 Strip Mine 4 Scroll Rack 4 Condemn 1 Cursed Scroll 4 Wild Research 4 Brainstorm 4 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Essence Scatter 4 Enlightened Tutor 4 Mystical Tutor 4 Mana Leak 1 Braingeyser 4 Path to Exile 1 Desertion 1 Illuminate 2 Tormod's Crypt 4 Serum Visions 4 Mana Drain 1 Incendiary Command 1 Ponder 1 Brightflame 4 Isochron Scepter 3 Jace Beleren 4 Karakas 1 Hammerheim 1 Ajani Goldmane 1 Sword of Kaldra 2 Condescend 3 Tezzeret the Seeker 3 Oblivion Ring 4 Chain Lightning 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Chandra Nalaar 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Terrain Generator 4 Gush 4 Volcanic Island 1 Pithing Needle 4 Impulse 2 Condescend 3 Legacy's Allure 2 Telling Time 2 Disenchant 228 cards

Lands 4 Faerie Conclave 4 Forbidding Watchtower 4 Forgotten Cave 4 Vesuva 4 Windswept Heath 3 Wooded Foothills 3 Bloodstained Mire 4 Polluted Delta 1 Flooded Strand 3 Flooded Strand 4 Wasteland 4 Secluded Steppe 4 Flagstones of Trokair 4 Seat of the Synod 4 Ancient Den 3 Kjeldoran Outpost 4 Steam Vents 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Caldera Lake 3 Tolaria West 1 Plains 2 Mountain 10 Island 4 City of Brass 26 Plains 26 Mountain 21 Island 1 Plains 1 Island 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Adarkar Wastes 3 Gargoyle Castle 4 Mishra's Factory 2 Vivid Meadow 1 Vivid Crag 4 Vivid Creek 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea 1 Diamond Valley 4 Mutavault 4 Skycloud Expanse 2 Petrified Field 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Tundra 2 Glacial Fortress 201 cards

Wee, I’m sure that was fun. Before I enter the queue, I look who’s registered. I have mental notes of what people have played. The best players in the queue are the ones who regularly change up decks with the exception of Mr. Pox and Mr. Merfolk. (The Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)I can gauge then what the proper deck should be and the proper side board. I normally have a feel for what I want to play before the tournament. Occasionally I’ll tweak my board if I notice a potential chance for a higher percentage of a deck to appear.

Choosing a proper side board

People often don’t understand how many, or what card to use in a tournament. Say you’re playing a blue/white control deck. You notice four RDW players are queued up. Logically Circle of Protection: Red seems like a fit. While this may be true, it is often times the wrong choice. Zoo might be piloted by two other players. How can you kill two birds with one stone here? Hydroblast is automatically better now. Yeah, one card hose the deck, but I find countering Lightning Helix and killing Kird Ape to be much better in the long run. You also have to understand that most RDW will play in a pattern. The effective way is to blow by counters by playing their smaller and less mana taxing spells at the end of turn. Hydroblast at a single mana can take care of this while leaving you counter magic up. It’s also not a bad card to side in against Belcher lists. Stopping a Burning Wish, a Rite of Flame, or a Manamorphose allows you more flexibility with your counters. Your deck’s technological improvements have increased dramatically against the meta by this one choice. Everyone seems to be on alert with a current dredge meta. Yes, dredge is a deck to pack hate against, but make sure your hate is multi-dimensional. Here are some options people have over looked that I feel can be very strong against the meta.

• Propaganda/Ghostly Prison – Beside Dredge, Merfolk just hate dealing with this. Locking a deck out of land that generally has little is seriously a sick key to victory.

• Platinum Angel – If you’re playing Tinker, then this is absolutely a beast of a card. Getting her down against Dredge, Merfolk, or Cinnamon Twist will flat out win games with the proper back up.

• Echoing Truth – Just a great utility card. It can bust you out of situations. Bounce is very under rated in the eternal formats. If you’re playing blue, consider this card with serious potential. Oh yeah, bouncing Bridge Tokens, Narcomoeba, or Ichorid back to their hand works out pretty damn well I’d say.

• Umezawa's Jitte – Hot damn, what a great card. This card can wreck aggressive decks and bust control games wide open. Killing your own creatures with Jitte to stop bridge isn’t that bad either. Riding yourself of their Ichorids with Jitte counters will finish the game.

To be fair, the last two you’re going to have to stall out games. Just consider those options though. If you’re looking for an optimal sideboard package, I find 4x(Tormod’s Crypt), and 3xPithing Needleto be solutions they can’t deal with very well if you have any type of disruption or answers to their disruption. Deploy this sideboard if you feel Dredge is at least twenty-five percent of the meta. Pithing needle at the moment should be an auto two of in any board due to their ability to shut down Wasteland, Opposing fetch lands, Grindstone/Helm of Obedience, or how about the long forgotten yet ever so powerful (Sensei’s Divining Top). I would even consider playing two in the main with any deck that can afford those slots.

Game Play 

Lands

 My biggest edge is often times details. Here are a couple of my secrets. People will often tell you their next play by scenarios. In any type of deck that runs Brainstorm and Ponder, a turn one fetch land that isn’t activated means three things:

• They’re afraid of Wasteland - In my experience, it’s best to hold the Wasteland as long as you possibly can.

• They’re mana screwed - Mana screw is often what can just flat out loses games due to people not knowing how to play out of it. The good news is you’ll have an advantage over them in the mana department, but the bad news is they have more spells than you. Keep that in mind with your plays against a deck which with solid counter magic. People often feel a false sense of security by keeping a hand with a Force of Will in it even if it only contains a single land.

• They’re masking a Stifle - Just be aware when popping your fetch lands off if they have ones that aren’t used. Stifling a land within the first two turns of the game will just flat out win the game.

You should ALWAYS sacrifice your fetch land on the play. If you feel they are running Wastelands, than grab yourself a basic. With the new enemy fetches from Zendikar, there should not be any excuses on not playing a single copy of a basic.

Mulligans

This is another situation where the game can be lost easily. When should I and should I not mulligan? Well the simple answer to that depends on your deck. Zoo has an extremely low mana curve, but that doesn’t mean you should always keep a hand with just two lands. With a wasteland heavy format, Zoo can ill afford to have less than two lands in play. The answer is by siding in one or two basic lands. Here is an example of a hand that I wouldn't keep with Zoo if I knew my opponent was packing LD.

  Examing this hand, first thought that comes to mind for me is I don't have any white mana. I have three unplayable cards in this hand at the moment. My Kird Ape and Lightning Bolt both have potential if they don't have a wasteland. Am I willing to gamble? No. I can ship back this hand and hope something better will come. Now lets examine another situational hand with a different deck.

    At first glance I have a Volcanic Island into a Brainstorm with a Daze for back up. Here's my biggest issue with this hand. If I strike out with Brainstorm, than I'm going to be in a world of trouble. I also can't play my Quirion Dryad or my Demonic Tutor. Force of Will is nice, but one Wasteland on my Volcanic Island and chances are I'm not going to be stopping much. I'd ship this hand back without a question. The final one involves a popular control deck. My bud Salgy calls it Canadian Bacon, you know it though as Canadian Threshold. Here is a sample hand I polled people on if they'd keep it or not.

  Fourty-Two percent of MTGO loves to gamble. Six of them said they see the turn one Nimble Mongoose and with a Stifle back up against the Wasteland. My question is where are you going to play the Stifle if your tapped out? I would keep this hand and gamble in this situation for there reasons. Even though you have a turn one Mongoose, the land is more important. Stifling the Wasteland attempt will set you ahead because you have Brainstorm to fall back on. I'd feel more comfortable playing the Brainstorm at EOT(End of Turn) rather than playing the Mongoose. Even if I strike out with the Brainstorm on land draw, I've still got the Stifle and I'm sure I can fetch another blue card to pitch to Force of Will. I still have the potential to cast Nimble Mongoose and gamble against a slower deck.

When it comes to mulligans, I stop at five unless I'm playing Brainstorm and Ponder. I'll stop at four then. I'd rather take my chances at five for a couple of reasons. Mulligans to four decreases the chances you'll even get a land in the four. Even if you do get a land in the four, you're virtually dead in card advantage. At least at five you can maintain card advantage and hope that statistics work out in your favor.

Reading your opponent

The best way to properly read your opponent revolves around what tools you have combined with what they’ve shown you. Study their last matches, and review the deck they are playing. Check out Classicquarter.com for the deck lists. Watch for when they tap and untap lands. That should be a dead giveaway on what they want to do. Figuring out the mana cost of the spell they wanted to cast in combination with the time they thought about casting should narrow the choice of cards. When they fetch for certain mana, it should indicate what’s playable in their hand. Zoo only needs white for three spells. So when they fetch their source without aWild Nacatl on the field, you should make a guess that they have a Path to Exile or a Lightning Helix.

Long pauses indicate they are debating something. In control decks, it often leads to a creature they have in hand. It will also indicate that they lack a Force of Will, but may have a Mana Drain or another hard counter. It should also indicate they fear you have counter magic or a way to remove the creature they can't deal with.Keep in mind you can only play four copies of a card unless you’re playing the dreaded Relentless Rats decks. The same rules apply for your opponent. Play into their spells. Remember, cards like Force of Will are good, but do give you a two for one advantage on hand size. Keep in mind how many cards they’ve seen in their deck as well. For instance, Wizards Not of The Coast plays her foil Force of Will removing a foil Brainstorm from the game. After the fact she makes you feel poor doing that, you now know that in her hand, the chances of her having either another Brainstorm or another Force of Will are unlikely. Also, if she has removed a Brainstorm and had casted a Brainstorm, then chances are she has some other counter magic in hand. This is how I am able to deduct what she has in hand by what I know about the deck, and what she’s shown.

Cards like Thoughtseize and Duress are your best friends. It is a mistake to just remember their hand. You should look for more information by how they’ve played. The two disruption spells make your opponent act out aggressively in their play. They really don’t have much of a choice. When looking at their hand, ask yourself how you would play it out. It is always a tell when they play something different from what you thought. This could indicate what cards they’ve drawn. Don’t be afraid to assume what you think they have in hand.

 Combo

I gave Combo its own little section for a good reason. Most combo decks aren’t reactive at all. This is definitely the easiest matchup to understand. First off there are three different combo decks at the moment. I’ve excluded Elves from this list until I see more of them around.

• Dredge – A deck that’s goal is to dump its library in its graveyard and kill you within the first three turns

• Storm/Belcher/Ad Nauseum – Last week’s article refers to the decks. Their goal is to beat you by getting a ton of mana from a mass number of spells and just flat out killing you with the Storm mechanic or activating Goblin Charbelcher.

• Cinnamon Twist – This deck has an assortment of two card combos that it will try to assemble. Their combos include:

1. Tinker into a creature
2. (Painter’s Servant)/Grindstone
3. Leyline of the Void/Helm of Obedience
4. Necropotence Engine with Tendrils of Agony

Playing against Dredge is normally a sideboard war. Slowing down the deck is flat out impossible at times. Your best defense against the deck is aggressive removal that will shut them down. An early (Tormod’s Crypt) or Pithing Needle naming their Bazaar of Baghdad or Cephalid Coliseum is the best attack you have. Do not be frustrated if they just flat out win. Keep a cool head and proceed to the next game. Chances are with a half decent draw you should slow them down with your hate. Any type of graveyard hate is welcome. Don’t play Thoughtseize against them or you may get burned. Use Duress to deal with their hand. Duress can’t target creatures, and their dredge outs are creatures.

Playing the storm variants involve two different games. Before board, they will attack you quickly with their storm plan. Playing around this is really simple. Use disruption as much and as fast as you can. Just try and stop them from going off. Put pressure on them. Watch for their hand size to board ratio. Without a mulligan, if their hand size is about double their board in card ratio, than chances are they’re preparing to go off. If their hand size is more than three times their board in card ratio, than they’re struggling or waiting to top deck the final piece to their puzzle. After board, the game will slow down significantly. Position yourself by using the optimal amount of disruption you have while establishing a clock on them. They have to respect your disruption. If you are Threshold, Grow, or any other combo variant, than there is no need for you to have slots in your sideboard dedicated to this matchup. Zoo on the other hand has a hard time with this match. Use Null rod, Ethersworn Canonist, and Gaddock Teeg against these decks should get the job done. Each of these cards helps you against the meta in a variety of ways.

The next list is pretty odd. I’m not a big fan of it, because I really dislike throwing a ton of combos together and praying for an outcome. The deck lacks both synergy and focus as a hole, yet will maintain a very powerful punch. I will write a future article on this deck but I’m not going to bash Cinnamon Twist as non viable. It’s a potent deck due to the fact it can win in a variety of ways seemingly out of no where. To beat this deck, use null rod with any other type of disruption. I really feel the meta is shifting to where null rod will become more viable in any sideboard other than affinity. If you can’t afford null rod, then use Pithing Needle in combination with Trygon Predator or Krosan Grip. Duress and Thoughtseize work wonders here. Counter magic is also a great option but should be paired with another sort of disruption. Keep mindful of their hand disruption. Platinum Angel should be boarded for any deck that uses Tinker in any of these matchups.

Psychology

I know for a fact I have enemies in there that love to beat me in the tournament. Personally, I don’t let it get to me and neither should you. There is no reason to do more than what I needed to get the match done. This is not about sportsman ship at all. Going beyond and above just to rub it will lead to a possibility of giving information away on how you play. A lot of players may notice a pattern of your style. Also, do not worry about being a good sports man when it comes to actual game play. I am not saying you should be a jerk to them in chat here. What I am saying is find out as much information as you possibly can about your opponent. By using a duress before swinging for lethal you can find out why and how they got in the situation by replaying the game in your head. People repeat their patterns. Perhaps you’ve stumbled on the same pattern game two in a tight matchup. You know what they love to hold onto, so you can use this knowledge as an advantage.

The shuffler online is the same for everyone. We all get the bad draws, but it’s the ones who can take the bad and compete with it. I understand sometimes you’ll become mana screwed or mana flooded. For a while, I blamed the shuffler. I finally figured out it was the actual deck and not the shuffler (for the most part). I tuned my decks to help out the draws and found more success with stability. Finally, understand you will run flat out just get horrible luck. The game has what I believe a ten percent variance when it comes to luck. One out of ten games will be plagued by horrible luck. Understand that no matter what you do, that game just won’t go right. Best thing to do at that point is just move on. Luck often times is associated with emotion. If you feel you’re having a horrible day, then just sit out of the PE. Watch some San Diego Charger, or go check out the Hang Over. Personally, those are my best cures for depression! (Although San Diego will always let me down, I still love ‘em)

I’m always looking forward to learning this game from people. Next week I’ll be answering some emails and questions people have asked me. If you’d like to email me a question in regards to MTGO or Magic the Gathering online, send me your question with your online MTGO name at FatsMtgo@hotmail.com Also, I promise next week I’ll show you ten cards that should be in MED 4 and the reason behind it. Until next week, You stay classy PureMtgo.com