Lord Erman's picture
By: Lord Erman, Nafiz Erman
May 18 2010 2:22am
5
Login to post comments
6186 views


 

ROGUE PLAY
Wrapping Up the BYOS Season

by Nafiz Erman

Hello dear readers and welcome back to Rogue Play. The first season of BYOS (Build Your Own Standard) has finally ended and we now have a champion. But before I get to the details, here's a quick link for those who don't know what BYOS is:

Rogue Play: Self Service

That's an old article of mine in which I explained what BYOS is, the rules of it, banned list, where to play it etc... If you're not familiar with the format I suggest you to check that article because it's a useful guide to BYOS. In this article I will assume you know what it is and that you know everything about it.

The first season of BYOS was equal to sixteen weeks. After each tournament, each player received points based on their accomplishments in that tournament. And at the end of the sixteenth week, the top twenty four players of the season were invited to play in a "Season Finale" to battle for the title.

I was also one of those invited players and before I get to that final tournament, I would like to share with you the story how I get there.

 

BYOS SEASON ONE - WEEK EIGHT

This was the first week I played in a BYOS tournament. Before entering the tournament, I examined the Top-4 decks of previous seven weeks (that list can be found here) and saw that Aggro was the dominant deck style. And to beat Aggro, I brought this below deck to the table:

 

I went though all the five rounds and emerged victorious in my very first event with this deck after a successful 5-0 record. But I must tell you that it wasn't easy.

I played against a Storm Combo deck in round one and won the game just because of my Ravenous Traps. My opponent was playing a Mirrodin based deck called "French Eggs" and he was constantly sending his artifacts to his graveyard and was constantly bringing them back with Second Sunrise. I met the same player during the semi final round and won once again only because of my Ravenous Traps.

Then my Kor Firewalkers saved my butt in one other game. Mono Red can get out of control pretty quickly and it can deal you tons of damage in no time; unless of course you do something about it. After winning the first game easily, my opponent was a bit frustrated to lose the next two to a 2/2 creature alone. My Kor Firewalkers kept me alive and my Baneslayer Angels did the rest of the job.

I was very happy after the tournament as you can imagine. Winning a five rounds tournament isn't easy especially if it's your first time playing that format. I liked the sweet taste of glory and that pulled me deeper into the format.

But for my second appearance I had to wait several weeks.

 

BYOS SEASON ONE - WEEK ELEVEN

This was a very interesting week. The attendance was very high and instead of five rounds (three swiss rounds + two rounds Top-4), this week we had six rounds due to the high number of players. And just because I love Control decks, I brought another one to the table that week and went once again all the way up to the final with it.

 

Surprisingly the majority of players that week were playing Control decks. After going 5-0, I played against a Mono Blue Merfolk deck in the final and sadly lost the game 1-2. I never thought of playing Merfolk in BYOS simply because of the lack of Aether Vial. You can't select MRD as one of your blocks simply because it doesn't give you anything useful other than Aether Vial. But apparently I undervalued Ice Age and especially this two:

Force of Will Mystic Remora

Mystic Remora single-handedly destroyed me in that final game. I was playing a lot of non-creature spells and no, I wasn't paying an extra  for them. And thus my opponent was filling his hand constantly and was keeping me at bay with his free counterspell.

All in all it was a nice tournament and I was satisfied with the second place.

 

BYOS SEASON ONE - WEEK TWELVE

The next week I was very determined to win the event and brought yet another Control deck to the tournament with one exception: My deck was a Control deck surely but it had no counterspells in it. As a matter of fact, it didn't even had Blue in it. That week I played the following deck:

Code of the Orzhov / RAV - ZEN - 9th Ed.
A BYOS deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Angel of Despair
4 cards

Other Spells
4 Orzhov Signet
4 Wrath of God
4 Luminarch Ascension
4 Castigate
4 Phyrexian Arena
3 Faith's Fetters
3 Condemn
2 Smother
2 Mortify
2 Sorin Markov
32 cards
 
Lands
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Godless Shrine
4 Kabira Crossroads
4 Marsh Flats
4 Orzhov Basilica
2 Plains
2 Swamp
24 cards

Angel of Despair

 

This was one of the most exciting and challenging weeks ever. Every player in the tournament had perfect decks and every single game was a big challenge for me. During the swiss rounds I faced a  Countertop deck which was also my opponent in the final. It was a real challenge but my deck was too unpredictable for my opponent. And no, he didn't have any seven cost card on top of his library when I played my Angel of Despair and destroyed his Counterbalance.

Oh that, and Control has difficulties overcoming a second turn Luminarch Ascension.

Then I faced a CHK block based Greater GoodGifts Ungiven deck and that was my first loss during swiss rounds in my entire "career" in BYOS tournaments (not the last though). He won game one because my deck wasn't designed to fight graveyard manipulation. Then I won the second game after adjusting my deck accordingly. But in game three he was very fast and he locked me with a recurring Yosei, the Morning Star before I could do anything and won the match.

Thankfully for me the Gifts player got paired with the Countertop player at the semi final and lost, and I won the final against Countertop (2-0 this time) and also won the event.

 

BYOS SEASON ONE - WEEK FOURTEEN

After a one week break, I returned to the format for more glory and fame and fortune! And as expected, my deck choice was once again a Control deck; a very good one this time:

Tradewind Control / TE - LRW - 10th Ed.
A BYOS deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Tradewind Rider
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Spike Feeder
3 Spike Weaver
3 Seedborn Muse
17 cards

Other Spells
4 Counterspell
4 Forbid
4 Legacy's Allure
3 Capsize
3 Jace Beleren
1 Oona's Grace
19 cards
 
Lands
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Flooded Grove
2 Faerie Conclave
2 Treetop Village
6 Island
2 Forest
24 cards

Tradewind Rider

 

What I did here was simple; I took my already proven TE Block Tradewind Awakening deck and tweaked it for BYOS. Tenth Edition gave me my manlands, my Yavimaya Coast but more importantly it gave me Seedborn Muse which automatically replaced Awakening. Then Lorwyn / Shadowmoor block gave me Flooded Grove and Jace Beleren (among other things).

Long story short, it was one other very successful tournament for me and after a satisfying 5-0 record, I managed to win it once again. I faced almost only Aggro decks and against them my anti-creature package was more than enough. I even won against a crazy Elves! deck which even actually surprised me as well (considering the speed of that deck).

 

BYOS SEASON ONE - WEEK SIXTEEN

This was the last week of the normal season and I once again joined the event even though my previous achievements already secured my place in the final invitation only tournament. This time I played another "big" deck but my choice for that week was not something one would normally expect from me.

 

What happens if you combine the Jund deck we know with White for more crazy cards and give it Ravnica's perfect mana base? Well, that above is the result! I mean really, life is too easy if you have access to the dual lands.

All in all this was another fun tournament and I once again managed to go 5-0. And this record includes a  Control, a Blightning discard, a  Midrange deck with Armageddon back up and an Elves! deck. 

 

PREPARING FOR THE SEASON FINALE

And that above was the story of how I got to that big day. I played in five tournaments out of sixteen and managed to win four of those five and came second in the other. Those accomplishments gave me lots of season points and I ended up at the third spot on the season table.

For the final tournament I was undecided for a long time. The options in BYOS are almost limitless and each is better than the other. I had four criteria for my final deck: 

1- It had to be a Control deck (with or without counterspells).
2- It had to be a really good deck. I mean, a really good one.
3- It had to be a multicolored deck. Why? Because I love multicolored cards and decks, that simple. I loved Kaleidoscope because of the same reason. As you may (or may not) remember, last year these days I was writing nothing but Kaleidoscope articles.
4- Above all, I had to have fun while playing the deck.

I went through my options many times and decided to chose INV block as one of my main blocks. There are four blocks which has tons of multicolored cards (INV - RAV - LRW (the Shadowmoor part of course) - ALA), and I liked the options INV block was offering me. Especially these two:

Vindicate Pernicious Deed

For the second main block I was undecided for a long time. ALA was giving me Maelstrom Pulse and Elspeth, Knight-Errant, LRW was giving me Thoughtseize and a good mana base (which was very important), and RAV was giving me a couple of good cards but more importantly a perfect mana base.

Of course I tested all of the possibilities carefully, even gave ZEN block a shot in the meantime but my final decision was RAV mainly because of the perfect manabase it provided me. I combined my two blocks with M10 as my core set and came up with this deck below:

Hard Rock / INV - RAV - M10
A BYOS deck by Nafiz Erman
Creatures
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Baneslayer Angel
2 Angel of Despair
10 cards

Other Spells
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Vindicate
4 Phyrexian Arena
4 Farseek
3 Condemn
2 Last Gasp
2 Faith's Fetters
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Yawgmoth's Agenda
26 cards
 
Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Godless Shrine
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Llanowar Wastes
3 Swamp
3 Plains
2 Forest
24 cards

Pernicious Deed

 

I was expecting the field to be dominated by Aggro decks and therefore I build my maindeck to fight them. I added tons of lifegain and tons of removal; my anti-aggro package was enough to deal with them. Then I build my sideboard especially to deal with Control. I added a total of eight cards to fight that strategy (Duress and Gerrard's Verdict). I also added one more Faith's Fetters and two Routs to my sideboard in case of an emergency against Aggro decks and my final choice for my sideboard was another obvious one; Leyline of the Void to fight graveyard manipulation.

Right at this point a special thanks to Flippers_Giraffe for lending me those three Leyline of the Voids I was missing.

Oh and a side note: Before the tournament we were chatting with Flippers and he was furious because he prepared a deck with Rise of the Eldrazi cards but that set was not legal in the final tournament. And what made him furious was the fact that he didn't know that. So he had no deck to play and there were like twenty minutes for the tournament to start.

We were talking about alternatives and he said he could play his Standard vampires deck. I liked the idea and made a few suggestions to make it even more powerful. Apparently it became something way more powerful than I first thought but we will come to that later.

And so I was ready for the final battle. And here's the story of how things went in that tournament.

 

THE SEASON FINALE

Round One
Opponent: fliebana
Playing:  Vampires 

His deck was actually the usual Zendikar vampires deck but he was also using White for Day of Judgment and also for Ghostly Prison from CHK. CHK block also gave him Sensei's Divining Top and made his deck even better.

In the first game he first destroyed my hand with a Mind Sludge and then killed me swiftly with his vampires but I managed to win the second game. The third one was undecided for some time. I destroyed his hand with Gerrard's Verdict (twice if I'm not mistaken) but then he played not one but two Malakir Bloodwitches one after another. My Baneslayer Angel helplessly watched them attack, and I failed to draw neither my Pernicious Deeds nor my Routs. I played two Loxodon Hierarchs in a row but those life gains weren't enough.

And that was a sad start to the tournament for me. This was really not what I was hoping for.

Game: 1-2
Overall: 0-1
 

There were three more rounds to go before the tournament cut to Top-4 and if I wanted to be in it, I had to win all my next three games.

 

Round Two
Opponent: magicplayer298234
Playing:  Aggro

Black and Red is a very dangerous combination especially if you don't have a way to gain life. He was using LRW and ALA as his blocks and started very fast with a Thoughtseize and two Blightnings but right at that point I played the last card in my hand which was thankfully this:

Thoughtseize and Blightning is a very dangerous mix but not against Yawgmoth's Agenda.

All of a sudden all those cards he made me discard were once again at my disposal and winning from there was easy.

The second game was even faster but this time I was the one who was pushing the pressure. My opponent played his discard spells and played again his Stigma Lasher and other disturbing creatures but I mana ramped pretty fast with Farseeks, stayed alive with Loxodon Hierarchs, filled my hand with my Phyrexian Arena and finished the game with my angels.

Game: 2-0
Overall: 1-1

That was more like it. There were two more rounds to go and there was absolutely no place for mistakes.

 

Round Three
Opponent: Owlman
Playing:  Discard Aggro

Owlman was playing a similar deck to my opponent in the second round but he was using ZEN and he was using Bloodchief Ascension too. Blightning once again crippled my hand and his Hellspark Elementals backed up by his burn spells lowered my life total pretty fast but I emerged victorious in both of the games. As I said above, life gain against this archtype is crucial. Loxodon Hierarch was the key card in this match. Thanks to my second turn Farseek I was casting him on turn three and not only was he giving me four life but he was also very good at holding the ground with his fat 4/4 body.

Game: 2-0
Overall: 2-1

There was one more round to go. Everything was depending on this next round for me.

 

Round Four
Opponent: Ranth
Playing:  Kithkin

Ranth is one of the best BYOS players and he finished the season at the first spot after sixteen weeks. He almost never missed a tournament and there was almost no tournament he didn't end up in the Top-4. He was playing the same Kithkin deck he played all season and from our previous meetings in previous tournaments, I knew how deadly that deck was.

One other aspect that raised the tension in our match was the fact that both of us were 2-1 at that point. So the winner was going to be in Top-4 and the loser was going to be eliminated. As you can see, there was no place for any mistake for both of us.

I won game one thanks to my Pernicious Deeds and Loxodon Hierarchs. One kept the table clear and the other kept me away from the danger zone. Ranth did everything to stop me but eventually failed.

Game two was very exciting and just when I thought that I had everything under control, he ended the game with one single strike as shown below:

I've been Mirrorweaved
Mirrorweave can be very deadly when the opponent has four creatures and turns them all into Baneslayer Angels with it. It's even more deadlier when played after Brave the Elements set to White. Nice play Ranth! Very nice indeed.

So we moved onto game three but it ended very quickly to my favor.

Double Gerrard's Verdicts killed his entire hand and Pernicious Deed killed what he had on table and Ranth conceded on turn eight.

Game: 2-1
Overall: 3-1

And so I was in Top-4. The tournament started as a nightmare for me but I managed to win all my next three rounds and ended the swiss rounds at the third spot.

 

Between Rounds

And so the swiss rounds ended. The top four players were me, Flippers_Giraffe, Fliebana and bluedragon123 who is also the host of the weekly BYOS tournaments. Fliebana was my opponent in the first round and he was playing vampires. Flippers was also playing vampires. Bluedragon123 was playing a very good  Sea Stompy deck with lots of cheap and efficient creatures backed up by counters and burn. The decklists by the way, you'll see at the end.

After a short break the pairings have been announced and it was me against Flippers, and Fliebana against bluedragon123.

 

Semi Final
Opponent: Flippers_Giraffe
Playing: Vampires w/Hatred

Flippers also had a bad start to the tournament. Just like me, he lost his first game (against Ranth's Kithkin) and then managed to win the next three matches. Then there was also the fact that we knew what each other was playing. I was the one who suggested him Hatred and on the other hand he watched enough games of me during the swiss rounds and had a clear idea what I was doing with my deck.

Our first game started and ended in light speed. I ended up with no in front of me with two Pernicious Deeds, one Farseek and one Loxodon Hierarch in hand. I just sat like a duck and waited to be killed.

Game two was more challenging and I experienced no mana problems even though Flippers hit me with Wasteland. The game went back and forth but at the end my Baneslayer Angel plus my Loxodon Hierarch ended the game.

Game three started very good for me and at some point I was so sure that I was going to win. Then I started drawing totally unnecessary cards and things started going downwards. To be exact I drew land, land, land, Baneslayer Angel (destroyed on sight), land, land, land and Farseek. Of course things immediately changed and Flippers played very wisely and didn't waste that opportunity.

Game: 1-2
 

And this was the end of the road for me. After the game we talked with Flippers and I whined about getting mana flooded for like five minutes or so. Flippers patiently listened while I was acting like a sore loser but then I pulled myself together and wished him the best of luck in the final.

 

The Final
Players: Flippers_Giraffe vs. Bluedragon123
Playing: Vampires w/Hatred vs.  Sea Stompy
 

This was a close match but the ending was exceptional. Flippers played patiently and finally his patience payed off and he caught bluedragon123 fully tapped. Flippers attacked with his tiny 2/1 Bloodghast while his opponent was at fifteen life and ended the game right there. How, you ask? Below is how:

Bluedragon123 never saw it coming.

And so we had our champion: Flippers_Giraffe!

 

DECKS DECKS DECKS

You saw my deck above. Fliebana was the other player who reached the Top-4 and got eliminated at the semi final. Here's his deck:

 

This isn't the best vampires deck I have ever seen but it was enough for Fliebana to find himself a spot in the Top-4. Actually the deck's main strength is its eight mass removal spells. In a tournament so full with Aggro decks, they were very efficient.

Then comes bluedragon123's Sea Stompy deck:

Sea Stompy / RAV - TSP - 9th Ed.
As played by bluedragon123
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Kird Ape
3 Plaxmanta
3 Trygon Predator
2 Mystic Snake
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
1 Giant Solifuge
19 cards

Other Spells
4 Shock
4 Electrolyze
4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
2 Psionic Blast
1 Char
19 cards
 
Lands
4 Stomping Ground
3 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
2 Shivan Reef
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Karplusan Forest
3 Island
2 Forest
2 Mountain
22 cards

Kird Ape

 

This deck begs for Tarmogoyf and for better numbers for some cards especially for the lands section but it did get the job done. Bluedragon123's problem was that he couldn't do any scouting during the swiss rounds. He was already busy with hosting the tournament which requires a lot of time and apart from that fact his games were also ending after everybody elses. So he didn't have a chance to watch Flippers. And maybe that fact alone cost him the title.

And now it's time to see the deck of the champion. Here it is in all of its glory:

Hatred of Vampires / TE - ZEN - M10
As played by Flippers_Giraffe
Creatures
4 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Vampire Hexmage
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
21 cards

Other Spells
4 Tendrils of Corruption
3 Dark Ritual
3 Sign in Blood
3 Urge to Feed
3 Hatred
16 cards
 
Lands
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wasteland
18 Swamp
23 cards

Malakir Bloodwitch

 

And this above is the winner of season one. 

I must say that I am very happy that the winner is from the PureMTGO family. If you count me too, then we can say that two players from the PureMTGO family ended up being in the Top-4 and that is also making me happy. I am also happy that the winner is someone I know (sadly I don't know every member of the PureMTGO family (but hey, it's a big family)). And I am extra happy that I also helped him building his deck even though my help was only 1% at best.

Regarding my own performance; well what can I say? I ended up winning four of the five tournaments I played in during the season and ended the fifth one at second place. Then I reached the Top-4 during the "Season Finale". I think I should be happy.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

There are a few decks and players I must mention here. The first one is Ranth and his famous Kithkin deck.

 

This is actually the winner of the season. Ranth finished the season at the first spot with this deck. I played against it several times and I know how it works. Early game it performs as a regular Kithkin deck but unlike normal Kithkin decks, it has long game plans too. Also Mirrorweave alone can turn the tide of a game single-handedly.

Then there is this below deck:

 

Evolver3 made this deck his signature deck. He entered every tournament with it and rarely stayed outside of Top-4 and even won a few tournaments. I like this deck a lot because it reminds me of one thing: Expensive cards and fancy decks are good of course but sometimes something as simple as this one is enough to win a tournament. 

Speaking of simple but efficient decks, I think I must mention this one too:

 

This isn't anything too fancy or mindblowing and yet it was enough to earn its pilot a spot in the final invitational season finale. Owlman is also a player who likes to play the same deck each week (most probably because of budget reasons) and this above deck performed very well during the whole season (which was sixteen weeks long).

And I must say that evolver3 finished the season at fifth spot and owlman finished it at sixth spot with the decks you see above.

And so the first season has ended. Flippers_Giraffe is our champion. And now we have a whole new season ahead of us, which leads me to...

 

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Your Guide to BYOS Season Two

Next week I will once again write about BYOS. The second season is starting this coming weekend and I will prepare you a very detailed guide which will include tons of useful information. If you would like to participate but don't know what to play, then do not miss next week's Rogue Play.

Thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman
 

16 Comments

Once again Lord interesting by bingobongo at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 04:03
bingobongo's picture

Once again Lord interesting article with good insight into the format.

Did try this tourney once but was far from prepared but i have to agree it does look a great format.

Not one to disagree with you but if it starts again this weekend would all the useful info you going to give people next week be too late?

Is the tourney info still on the MTGO forum?

Season Finale by Katastrophe at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 04:57
Katastrophe's picture
5

So, at the end of the day, Flippers_Giraffe won it with a deck that he had to throw together in the last hour? What does that say about the field? Everyone brings their best and/or most practiced deck, and Flippers just disrespects them all, basically? Is there a rule against bringing a deck twice or something? (Obviously not.) Why not just bring an old deck?

You dominated 5 of these events with 5 different decks! All 6 of your decks were awesome, really. I can tell how much you love building decks. "Yay, I win again! Now that I've established a deck in just one week it's time to adjust it for next week's meta start all over again with a completely new deck!" Hardcore!

I wish I had an hour to build by Flippers_Giraffe at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 08:21
Flippers_Giraffe's picture

I wish I had an hour to build the deck, I had 20 mins and no time to play test it.

I follow the same rules as LE where I never play the same deck twice.

I had only played two BYOS events before this and had leant LE my Leyline's from the first deck and wasnt going to go back on my word. My second deck I knew wasn't up to the level of winning vs burn decks.

So I made a new deck at the last moment with LE's help as the one I had been play testing all weekend wasnt legal as it was heavy with RoE cards.

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by Lord Erman at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 05:28
Lord Erman's picture

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by.

Of course there is no rule about bringing a new deck to each event and most of the regulars already play the same deck every week. Then there are some who play 3 or 4 different decks and each time they select one for that week.

And then there is me of course who is, as you perfectly summed, someone who loves building decks. I think I can build above average decks and I also think that I can play above average. I already have like 6 finished decks for season two which I will play during the first 6 weeks and I'm currently working on the rest!

Regarding Flippers: To be perfectly honest I wasen't expecting vampires to be that successful. I was expecting vampires surely but their success really surprised me. 2 of the top 4 decks are vampires and this fact may tell us a few things. But apart from that, I know that Flippers is a very good player so his success didn't surprise me a bit. Give his deck to a mediocre player and the results will dramatically change.

@bingobongo: Next week's article will not be too late because season two starts this weekend and it will once again last 16 weeks. So actually yes, it will be too late for the very first tournament of the season but I think it will still be very useful for the other 15 weeks. And yes, you may find more info about the tournament on the official forums.

Thanks again for the comments.

LE

Nice article LE a nice run by Flippers_Giraffe at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 08:26
Flippers_Giraffe's picture
5

Nice article LE a nice run down of your journey through the first BYOS season.

I look forward to the next article and season I have been busy building new decks as well.

Thanks again for your help with the Vampire deck I wouldnt have thought to use Tempest block if you had not of mentioned it.

Hatred for the win in the final was amazing, I was left on one life point after pulling that off.

I think you made a good call by JustSin at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 11:47
JustSin's picture
5

I think you made a good call in the finals... three of my fav cards, pulse, deed, vindicate, are really powerful, but all in the same deck that isn't singleton would have been overkill

I really loved these articles because I think this is a fantastic format, I had wanted to give the event a try, but felt reluctant about jumping in a game at the end of a season, though I'm still a little confused on the start can I get a date for it? I still want to give it a try, though seeing these lists not sure how successful I'll be lol there's some really great ideas, it's always nice to see a format that allows for so much creativity in deck building

I actually knew that the by Lord Erman at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 12:54
Lord Erman's picture

I actually knew that the field was going to be mainly Aggro and picked up a deck to fight it. I seriously missed ZEN block's enemy fetchlands but one cannot have'em all in BYOS and that's the beauty of the format.

The format is really fantastic as you say and there is absolutely no limit in deck building. The power level of decks are kept in balance due to the rules of the format. So yes, there are decks with Force of Wills around but they lack other good components.

By the way season two starts this Sunday. The official announcement for each week's tournament is being made by the host of the tournament during the week on the official boards. There you will find lots of other useful info as well.

LE

Thanks, I'm definitely hoping by JustSin at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 13:12
JustSin's picture

Thanks, I'm definitely hoping to find time to start making these, I've sat in watching it quite a few times, but you can't always make the reg time, think your articles have brought about great interest to the format

Great article and in-depth by Ranth at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 16:06
Ranth's picture

Great article and in-depth detail gotta love it. Thanks for honor mention!

I'll be dead honest I originally played kithkin because how much fun i had with them during Lor block as a casual deck, however After playing in my first BYOS tourney 1.02 and winning it with them i stuck with them the meta even shifted from aggro to control at a few points and made life hell on me but thats what my sideboard is for right? hehe

Actually to be honest even after the meta shifted i kept at it because the deck was still doing well even if not winning the entire tourney and it was proving that u CAN take 20tics and make a semi competitive deck to have fun with. So i say to anyone that wants to play just build a deck and come out and TRY! I'm sure you'll learn something and have ideas for the next week :)

Nice report. by Wyrath at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 19:50
Wyrath's picture
5

Good to hear about the conclusion of the tournament.

As I'm currently in Australia I was unable to attend, but I am happy to hear that my boy Bastow delivered the goods with his GG/Gifts list.

I'll be looking forward to tearing it up with my ICE/TSP/9th SwathStorm list in future seasons.

Miss the Sins. by The_Gunslingers at Tue, 05/18/2010 - 23:48
The_Gunslingers's picture

Lord Erman,

The first article I ever read on this site was your first Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony. I loved the article, made the deck and have had a blast playing it ever since (of course tweeking it). The last couple weeks you have left the seven deadly sins articles to die and I really miss them, they are what got me on puremtgo. I understand the BYOS is important to you and it is obvious you have dedicated a lot of time to it, but as a big fan of your ways to play rogue in standard I would like to see you finish what you started with the seven deadly sins articles, as well as your takes on the new rogue deck you made, Big Bug. From testing Big Bug I have had problems with the mana base, not getting the colors I need. I know when you put up the deck you said it was untested, so I don't expect it to be perfect but I can see so much potential.

I know you already spend a lot of time on these articles and I was really hopeing to know what you think about your new rogue standard deck.

Your Fan,

The_Gunslingers

Thanks for the sincere by Lord Erman at Wed, 05/19/2010 - 05:52
Lord Erman's picture

Thanks for the sincere comment, I really appriciate it.

First of all: Do not worry. I didn't abandon the Seven Deadly Sins articles and the last two parts of the series will be published. I have Anger and Envy to go. Envy will be a lot of fun with different decks each better than the other, but I still have to work on Anger.

But...!

Please do understand that I'm also a person who has his own interests. My interest shifted from semi-casual Magic (aka Seven Deadly Sins) to competitive BYOS recently. And as a writer I have to follow my interests and write about the things I care; otherwise my articles would be very "artificial". They would be colorless, toneless, weak and above all they would be fake.

I cannot pretend that I'm thinking and testing 24/7 semi-casual decks whereas I DON'T. A such "Seven Deadly Sins, Part VI" article would be, just as I said above, soulless, dry and weak.

Please be patient. After I'm done with BYOS, the first article I will write will be that "Seven Deadly Sins, Part VI". And that will be about envy. And that will be a lot of fun, trust me.

Until then, all I can hope is that you at least enjoy these BYOS ones.

Thanks again for the comment.

LE

"...but I still have to work by Paul Leicht at Wed, 05/19/2010 - 17:06
Paul Leicht's picture

"...but I still have to work on Anger. " me too. Hard one that ;P

Great article! I liked BYOS by Roman at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 09:44
Roman's picture
5

Great article! I liked BYOS before reading this and now I just love it. The sheer diversity of decks makes it one of the most interesting formats on MTGO. I hope Wizards will realize this at some point and embrace it as an official format. The run down you give of the format is amazing.

And I have to say the fact that you brought different decks to each tournament is beyond awesome. That's just hardcore!

A last note is: Have you considered taping your matches and putting them on youtube? "Show it, don't tell it" you know. Many of the matches you describe sounds to me extremely exicting and I would just die to get an opportunity to watch them. Especially the mirrorweave match and Flipper_giraffe's finale.

Keep up the good work!

Hey Roman, thanks for the by Lord Erman at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 10:16
Lord Erman's picture

Hey Roman, thanks for the comment.

Actually you're not the first person who asked for videos and I'm afraid you won't be the last. The problem is that I'm not a *high tech* guy. To be honest I don't know how to make a video (I should be ashamed, I know), I don't know how to format it and besides I don't have a mic as well.

Of course none of those are big problems but I think I'm a bit lazy when it comes to technology. So for now I will continue with screenshots but no one knows what will happen in the future. Maybe one day I'll decide to learn how to make a video.

But first I have to learn how to write and send an SMS, what an IPod is and how to use it, how to use the microwave etc...(yeah, I know I sound hopeless).

But hey! I can play Magic!

Thanks for the comment.

LE

Great article Lord Erman! by bluedragon123 at Thu, 05/20/2010 - 19:07
bluedragon123's picture
5

Really great article Lord Erman! It shows how truely epic the tournament can be from many different views.

I was a at a big disadvantage by not know Flippers deck. My deck rarely taps out any ways and once I played my giant solifuge in game two I wasn't planning to tap out again for the rest of the game. I had alot of backup to make sure the solifuge would go all the way. It was a really great play by flippers.

Registration starts every Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. Even after a full season the format is still wide open so come try it out. The full season 2 schedule can be found here: http://community.wizards.com/clanyawgmoth/go/thread/view/77017/24078365/...