Chainsaw Massacre is a 100 card singleton Player Run Event hosted by ML_Berlin and sponsored by MTGOCardmarket. Chainsaw Massacre came into existence two years ago and keeps the 100 card singleton format alive.

I was very sad when I logged in to Magic Online and saw my 100CS decks listed under Legacy suspecting that WotC stopped supporting the format. Since the 100CS Filter disappeared from Magic Online there are no longer players looking for that kind of match (even though I managed to enter such a match with Vintage deck by accident). This tournament is the place to go to meet other 100CS enthusiasts. The players are a nice group of people who love the format and will gladly play matches during the week, not just during the tournament. Thanks to them I can play my favorite format every day and I hope that other players will join the ranks and will rediscover the format. It has a lot to offer and is still the fun format it used to be.

To learn more about the format and how to join Chainsaw Massacre you can read my article '100CS is not dead!' or just go to Gatherling and click on Chainsaw Massacre Event Series.

In order to participate in the Chainsaw Massacre tournament I had to change my 100CS decks a bit so they wouldn't contain banned cards. I could either play UWb Control or 5c Midrange. I wanted to try both decks in the Chainsaw Massacre and I knew I would have many opportunities to try other decks as well. But I lacked cards for the two aforementioned decks. I knew that it wasn't a big deal since I would need to adapt to 100CS games and for that I did not need a fine tuned list yet. In the first tournaments I participated in, my most resilient opponent was the Magic Online client. I managed to get in several situations which wouldn't happen in paper (even reproduced one situation several times - keeping priority is sometimes important!) and lost because of it. I knew that I would need someone to play against to avoid future misplays due to not knowing how something works on Magic Online and regain some confidence. Dawts, cgomes, Michelle_Wong and ML_Berlin offered to be my 'sparring partners' and helped me go through all the clicking and get used to playing 100CS once again. A two year break obviously took its toll. I also took this as a challenge to help me learn to play Magic in the middle of the night (because premier events usually are played at that time for me). I have to admit that very strange things were happening when I tried to play at 3am or similar time.

Metagame

Before the first tournament I was told to be ready for red decks. That is nothing new, there are always RDW decks around so I was already ready for them but I did not know how many players actually play RDW or something similar (if the percentage of such decks would be way higher than I anticipated or not). After few tournaments I actually wondered what the most successful decks are and for that reason I decided to check the results of Chainsaw Massacre season 2. During the second season the average number of players is 11. I checked all the tournaments from the second season and wrote down the top 4 or top 2 decks (if the attendance was low) down.

Unsurprisingly, the most successful deck is Red Deck Wins constituting 18% of the decks. The next most played decks are Mono Green Aggro and BUGw Midrange with 6.5% of appearance. The Mono Green deck is played only by one player while more players played BUGw during the Series. ML_Berlin placed well enough to put his White deck (that I can't quite place) to the fourth position (6%). In fifth place, the very first control deck - Jeskai Control - can be found, piloted by only one player.

Most decks are aggro decks with 48% of appearance (there were 2 ramp decks that I put, probably incorrectly, in this category), followed by midrange with 26%, control with 16% and combo with 10%. Combo decks present were Pod decks, Reanimator decks, Pattern/Rector decks and Twin decks. One player played Jeskai Painter that I included in the combo category (combo-control category is more or less inexistent)

37.5 percent of the decks were monocolored (red in the lead, followed by mono green, 14 mono white decks, 2 black decks - one aggro, one control and 1 mono blue deck). The rest of the decks was multicolored with BUGw being the most popular color combination (14 percent of all decks, 23 percent of multicolored decks).
note: Monocolored deck does not necessarily need to show up as monocolored in Gatherling. A red deck running cards like Vexing Shusher, Rakdos Cackler or Mental Misstep is still considered mono red deck for my analysis not 4c.

A little bit about my deck - Junk Midrange

After my first tournaments did not really go as planned, I decided not to play blue since playing something blue requires more concentration than I was capable to muster at night. After playing with Esper Control last time I played totally on auto-pilot and totally forgot that my deck does not contain certain cards because they were banned (and because I lent someone Engineered Explosives). I lost one game because of it.  A 2-1 record seemed like an achievement though since I could hardly think straight at that time. I certainly plan to play with the deck in the event again in the future but first I need to learn how to be more focused around midnight. It was time to switch back to midrange. I played with Bant and Dark Bant before so I decided to get rid of the blue cards (I was usually siding them out) and play either Junk Midrange or 4c Blood. I found old decklists of mine from tournaments I played and loaded those decks and tweaked them. I had to replace cards I did not own (Voice of Resurgence, Horizon Canopy, fast lands), I could cut cards that I put in the deck against control decks (Aether Vial, Bitterblossom, Thrun, the Last Troll, Winter Orb etc.) and I also could add some sweet new cards that were printed during the two years of my 100CS inactivity. I wanted to try cards like Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Grim Flayer, Kolaghan's Command, Tireless Tracker, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Anafenza, the Foremost and new creaturelands. While some cards are really awesome, some are rather subpar (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar). The format is relatively fast and cards like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar are too slow for it if played in a deck like 4c Blood.

I put together these 115 cards. It was time to try the deck in another Chainsaw Massacre tournament. Since EMN cards showed as illegal (they are legal now) when I was registering the deck I had to make last minute changes.

Decks that have midrange in their name are value based. They are also often called 'Goodstuff'. Midrange decks are neither control or aggro but they have elements from both of these decks. Some are rather pure value decks, some play a bit of disruption be it in the form of discard or counterspells (Dark Bant), and some lean more to the aggressive side (4c Blood) and can even have a combo finish.

Midrange decks try to fight all decks and are very flexible which gives them a good chance to win any matchup. They rely on strength and efficiency and card advantage this efficiency provides. They win mostly through combat.

In 100CS it is very easy to play a stable 4-color deck and playing 5-color is not unrealistic either. Some midrange decks are just 3-colored but the mana base is worse than in a 4-color deck. This might actually get better since in Kaladesh where the new fast lands will be printed.

If there would be bigger attendance or I would need to deal with more types of decks I would stick with 4c. But since I was siding out disruption from my decks most of the time I decided to cut all the double blue cards. Without cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, True-Name Nemesis (and others) there is no need to play blue. I wasn't sure if 3-color would satisfy me, but playing 4c Blood when I can't test against RDW (4c Blood should be favored) wasn't something I wanted to do yet and that is why my deck ended up being Junk. The mana base suffers because of that but I had no problem putting together 100 cards that I found strong enough to be in the deck unlike two years ago.

Green has access to many strong creatures and also acceleration in the form of cards like Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch, Deathrite Shaman etc. These creatures are more important in this deck since they allow the player to play a 3 drop on turn 2. Those cards are very strong and provide a great advantage for the deck. Having a mana producing creature on turn 1 or not plays a big role. Normally turn 3-5 are the most crucial for such decks and being able to be one turn faster can have a huge impact on the game. In a four color deck though I'd play less of these. All these cards die to Forked Bolt or Zealous Persecution and such. They are very bad top decks even though some cards can turn them into a good beater.

White gives access to the best removal cards both spot removal (Swords to Plowshares) and global removal (Wrath of God). White creatures are usually a 'hatebear' kind - they prevent something. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Aven Mindcensor, Leonin Arbiter are hatebears I decided to play in my deck. Since the whole field is more creature based I decided not to play Gaddock Teeg main deck, but so far I usually side it in most cases.

Black provides disruption and removal apart from all-star cards like Liliana of the Veil or Dark Confidant.

Event Report

Round 1 - Bant Midrange
I kept a hand with Thragtusk, Marsh Flats, Fleecemane Lion, Green Sun's Zenith, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Temple Garden. I started with Temple Garden keeping the Zenith for better times because I didn't know what my opponent played. On her turn Michelle_Wong played Windswept Heath. Her second land was Seachrome Coast and that told me that she's most probably playing Bant colors. I played Fleecemane Lion. Next turn I searched for Dryad Arbor so Green Sun's Zenith wouldn't get Spell Pierce'd, knowing that it could get only removed from the game. That would help me anyway because I could keep my Cat in play. I did not draw a fourth land though but Sword of Fire and Ice seemed like a good enough threat. Michelle_Wong played Trinket Mage unsurprisingly finding Pithing Needle. Academy Rector joined the creatures already in play which meant that I did not want to attack into it because the card can look for very strong and annoying cards (usually). I managed to play Gideon though so when our creatures died to Wrath of God I was fairly sure Rector would look for Oblivion Ring effect. The found card was Faith's Fetters though.

Michelle played True-Name Nemesis but otherwise was already in top deck mode while I still kept 2 threats in my hand. She also showed me a bit of ramp so I expected her to have more dead cards than me. I played Zealous Persecution to deal with the other 'half' of Kitchen Finks and True-Name Nemesis since I still couldn't equip Sword of Fire and Ice. Later, I played Scavenging Ooze, Siege Rhino and Sorin, Solemn Visitor. Neither card was met with resistance so I won few turns later.

I sided in Gaddock Teeg and Winter Orb because it seemed like I would be the aggressor in this match up.

This time I kept a hand with two fetch lands, Noble Hierarch, Llanowar Elves, Duress, Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Dismember. I kept it because I could possibly play Elspeth early and I did not really need to worry it would possibly be immediately destroyed or countered since I had Duress in my hand as well. If I wouldn't like Michelle's hand I would just wait for something else, since I did not feel threatened by Michelle's deck in early game. Michelle started with some ramp. My Duress discarded Jace, the Mind Sculptor and I knew I would have to deal with Knight of the Reliquary, Restoration Angel and Reflector Mage. KotR was most likely to be played first. I Dismember'ed it and played another mana dork. I wanted to play my planeswalkers one by one. Both Sorin and Elspeth create tokens and produce a Flying creature so I was quite sure the planeswalkers would put me ahead. My mana producing creatures would turn into a 4/5 or 5/5 Flyer so I did not need to care much about the Restoration Angel blocking. But I needed to block it to keep my planeswalkers alive. Sometime later Michelle played Elspeth, Sun's Champion. She was down to 6 life already though so I did not really care about Elspeth much. I had both Golgari Charm and Zealous Persecution in my hand. I played the Persecution and swung with a Flying Noble Hierarch, Vampire token and 3/2 Llanowar Elves that would trade with Reflector Mage (because Michelle had to take 4 damage from the Vampire token). Next turn I had another great attack and I won.

Round 2 - 5c Midrange
My opponent won the die roll. He started with Woodland Cemetery. I was glad to see it since I did not want to play against a red aggressive deck. My hand contained Sylvan Advocate, Sword of Fire and Ice, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Duress, Tarmogoyf and some lands. I drew Tidehollow Sculler so instead of playing Advocate or Duress I played the Sculler. The hand that I saw was a very interesting one. I saw Bring to Light that I wanted to discard with Duress later, Garruk Wildspeaker that I chose with Tidehollow Sculler, Kitchen Finks, Phantasmal Image, Praetor's Grasp and Savannah. After seeing this hand I wondered if my opponent had Scapeshift in his deck (he didn't). On my next turn I played Duress choosing Bring to Light and played Sylvan Advocate. I was facing Kitchen Finks already but I knew that I would have time to Path to Exile it. I expected my opponent to play Praetor's Grasp most probably fetching Birthing Pod or Natural Order if he would have a fourth land and would expect me not to have anything to deal with Kitchen Finks. Pod was a better choice in vacuum anyway.

Next turn my opponent tapped out and played Birthing Pod. I was wondering if he had it in his deck or if the Pod was mine. When the card showed up on the battlefield, there was 'owned by stsung' in blue letters written on it. I exiled Kitchen Finks in response.

All I had to do then was swing with my creatures and not let my opponent use the Pod. I knew that Phantasmal Image wouldn't be a problem since I had Elspeth and Sword of Fire and Ice to deal with it. My opponent played Baleful Strix, that was one of the creatures I did not really like to see. I actually hoped the card would get sacrificed to pod so I wouldn't need to attack into one or two copies of it. Image followed copying the Strix and was turned into Eternal Witness with Birthing Pod returning Bring to Light which was a scenario I welcomed since I could kill my opponent next turn via Elspeth's +3/+3 Flying ability that would let my Tidehollow Sculler go through the Strix since it was equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice (that I expected to get destroyed by Reclamation Sage or something).

I put Gaddock Teeg and Shriekmaw in and wondered how the next game would look like. I kept a hand that was risky. It contained one colored land and Gavony Township. I hoped to play Sylvan Library and find another land thanks to it. If I couldn't, it certainly would go bad for me. I drew Avacyn's Pilgrim which certainly helped. In the worst case scenario I would have to Path to Exile it to find a black source. Totalhate started with Fauna Shaman. Since I wanted to see what I would draw off the Sylvan Library I decided to keep it in play even though it presented a threat. But with 3 mana available next turn I thought it would be safe to keep it there for a turn or two. I had Shriekmaw in my hand already so all I needed was a black source. In the meantime I drew another colorless source. The first three cards I saw with the library contained a Swamp though (along with Lotus Cobra and Reclamation Sage). I left Sage on the top of my Library, killed the Shaman and played Lotus Cobra. This way next turn I could play Natural Order (Cobra would produce the second Green I did not have) to turn my mana producing creature into Primeval Titan. If the spell would be countered I would still have plan for the next turn (Sword of Fire and Ice). Natural Order resolved so I fetched the Titan, Shambling Vent and Stirring Wildwood. Scapeshift or other combo would kill me but if my opponent played a fair deck I would most probably just win (even though while being down to 9 life and my opponent being at 20).

Totalhate fetched for Plateau and played Vraska the Unseen dealing with my Sword which meant I had a free attack with my creatures. I destroyed my opponent's Plateau if by a chance he would need it and played Gideon. My opponent conceded.

Next round I knew I would play against RDW so I mulled my 5 and 6 drops hand. I kept a pretty bad hand though. I kept Dryad Arbor, Godless Shrine, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Knight of the Reliquary, Duskwatch Recruiter and Birds of Paradise. The scry brought me Marsh Flats so the hand turned into a not so bad hand after all. I played BoP on turn one already facing Falkenrath Gorger. My opponent played Shrine of Burning Rage next turn, and that was something I had to simply race. Thalia died immediately so I did not get the chance to block. I played all the creatures I could and still hoped to deal 20 damage sooner than the Shrine would finish me off. My plan was spoiled by Sin Prodder that I decided to kill rather than let my opponent draw a card. Next turn I played Knight of the Reliquary and Dryad Arbor so I could swing for more damage. If by a chance my opponent would decide to deal with Knight of the Reliquary with the Shrine I could still relatively easily win. Then I accidentally passed both Begin Combat and Attack steps. I was furious which tilted me even more. Next turn I stared at my board trying to figure out if I could win in two turns. I could, I just needed to attack. But being distracted pretty hard I passed the combat without attacking and next turn I did not swing with everything nor used Township in mid-combat. Which meant that I totally messed up in three consecutive turns and all I could achieve was getting my opponent down to 1 life.

I was so embarrassed that I wanted to drop, especially when I knew that probably my opponent wasn't the only one to see me screw up so badly. I tried to side in some cards to help me against RDW but I did not even manage to side in Warmth.

The hand Magic Online provided me with was a nice one though. It contained 3 lands, Dromoka's Command, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thragtusk and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. I couldn't ask for more. Nothing was lost yet but I had to compose myself. I couldn't though while also starting to feel very drowsy. I played Thalia into my opponent's Spikeshot Elder hoping that I would save her with Dromoka's Command (I did not have double white for Gideon, so I wanted to keep Thalia in play if possible). I drew Garruk Wildspeaker though in the meantime so I let Thalia die and played Loxodon Smiter instead. Next turn I played Garruk and Fyndhorn Elves so I could possibly play Thragtusk the next turn. I doubted that my opponent would be interested in killing my 1/1. GotThisForSOI dashed Goblin Heelcutter and just ran past the elf. Next turn I played my Thragtusk and started swinging (dealt the first damage). Keldon Champion joined Spikeshot Elder but both stared at Thragtusk standing in the way. I attacked with both creatures, playing Zealous Persecution after Keldon Champion was declared a blocker for Thragtusk. After this I had all the time I needed to just play my Gideon and kill my opponent with Thragtusk and Gideon. My opponent knowing he couldn't do anything about this, conceded.

I sided in Warmth for the third game and tried to stay awake. I kept my hand because it contained Sword of Fire and Ice and two creatures. Otherwise I did not really like it (Scrubland, Marsh Flats, Mother of Runes, Vindicate, Natural Order, Sword of Fire and Ice, Tidehollow Sculler). I hoped that Mother of Runes would prevent a few damage and was hoping my opponent wouldn't play something like Searing Blaze or Searing Blood. Unfortunately he did have Searing Blood in hand. Next I played a Tidehollow Sculler that revealed Price of Progress, Fanatic of Mogis and Burst Lightning. For some unknown reason I did not take the Burst Lighting and chose Price of Progress instead which practically meant I lost the only chance to slow my opponent down or theoretically deal some damage while getting the chance to equip Sword of Fire and Ice. For my misplay I was punished by my own deck - I drew 5 lands in the following 5 turns which wasn't good. My opponent wasn't really putting much pressure on me though. He played Flame Javelin and Frenzied Goblin. I really hoped he would keep Fanatic in his hand for as long as possible. When I drew a sixth consecutive land and my opponent finally played Fanatic I conceded trying to understand how I could mess up both games so badly and making a complete fool of myself.

Round 4 - 4c Blood
When the last round started I even forgot to click on Stream button so I don't even have the video of the game. I guess I did not want anyone to see the game. After my opponent played his first land I was glad not to face another RDW because I would most probably panic and lose once again. My opponent seemed to be on 4c Blood but I wasn't really sure of it. I wanted the match to be over as soon as possible.

I kept Dark Confidant, Primeval Titan, Tarmogoyf, Siege Rhino, Garruk Wildspeaker, Wooded Foothills, Scrubland. I hoped that my Dark Confidant wouldn't immediately die to some Bolt. My opponent started with similarly colored lands and Tarmogoyf on turn 2 which probably meant that he did not have anything better. My Confidant provided me with Plains and my draw was Polluted Delta. I had all I needed till the end of the game so I did not care about Confidant surviving another turn (it died to Dromoka's Command). I played my own Tarmogoyf knowing that my opponent's Tarmogoyf won't probably threaten me and I had Abrupt Decay for it if Siege Rhino wouldn't be enough to stop it. So I attacked with Tarmogoyf, played the Siege Rhino and passed the turn. My opponent was mana screwed but played Sylvan Caryatid to compensate a bit. Next turn I played Garruk and dealt with Tarmogoyf thanks to my own Dromoka's Command. My opponent went down to six after my attack. He played Liliana of the Veil making me sacrifice Tarmogoyf. But he did not produce a blocker or removal for my last creature so I could kill him with Overrun from Garruk or Zealous Persecution. I chose the latter.

In the next game, Socanelas started with a fastland and Llanowar Elves which did not look good for me since he would be well ahead of me. My hand with Volrath's Stronghold, Scrubland, Overgrown Tomb, Parallax Wave, Inquisition of Kozilek, Flooded Strand and Tarmogoyf wasn't the fastest and did not even pose a threat. I drew Thoughtseize but played Inquisition of Kozilek first discarding Sword of Feast and Famine. My opponent had Castigate, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Xenagos, the Reveler in his hand, I did not expect to win this game.

My opponent removed my Tarmogoyf from the game as I expected and I discarded his Sorin because that was the planeswalker he could have actually play with his lands. He then played a few creatures I couldn't really deal with. Later I drew Elves of Deep Shadow and equipped them with Sword of Feast and Famine. I hoped that this would buy me enough time to draw something better that could actually kill an opposing Loxodon Smiter.

Unfortunately my Sword was destroyed and my Dryad Arbor and Elves had to chump. After drawing two lands I finally top decked a creature big enough to deal with more or less anything - Thragtusk. The turn before my opponent played Birds of Paradise meaning I would face Xenagos and that wasn't good when I was in top deck mode and couldn't deal with either the creatures nor the planeswalker. My opponent was top decking creatures and I also knew that he still had Lightning Helix in his hand that would either destroy Thragtusk or the token left behind by it. I dealt with Loxodon Smiter, recurred Thragtusk and tried to stay alive. My graveyard contained only mana dorks and my library decided to provide me with even more 1/1s or 0/1s. When my opponent had both Dark Confidant and 1 Tireless Tracker in play I really felt that this game is unwinnable for me unless I drew Wrath of God very soon. I did not draw it and just watched my opponent draw four cards and play Siege Rhino, Courser of Kruphix, Bitterblossom, Garruk Relentless and Noble Hierarch thanks to which my Thragtusk became too small to deal with Siege Rhino. My draw was a Swamp and Bloodstained Mire but I was too reluctant to concede. Sunpetal Grove followed so I finally scooped.

Game 3 I had to mulligan. It was about either Sylvan Library winning the game or being screwed till the end of the game. The Sylvan Library showed me two lands and Anafenza, the Foremost and I drew Eternal Witness before so it wasn't bad. The Library got destroyed by Qasali Pridemage and my hand was stripped of Natural Order. I returned it with Eternal Witness but it ended under Mesmeric Fiend a turn later. I drew Inquisition of Kozilek so I checked my opponent's hand. He had three cards in hand but none that I could fear - his hand was full of land. I let him deal some damage with Raging Ravine because I wanted to still play the Natural Order even though it was something I shouldn't have done. I played Swords to Plowshares targeting Mesmeric Fiend and then I finally played the Natural Order looking for Primeval Titan. Anafenza and Eternal Witness would have been enough to win the game but I was greedy. That is something I should avoid in tournament play if possible. My opponent having nothing that could help him, conceded.

After the tournament I reviewed my deck a bit and decided which cards to keep in the deck and which cards to replace. Comments about new card choices follow (since my break lasted two years, new means cards from the past two years).

New cards

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - This is a card I play in Vintage, Legacy, Modern and it always does a great job. For that reason I considered it more or less auto-include in the deck. After few days of playing though I realized that this card is actually a candidate for cut. In general the card is too slow and does not impact the board immediately unless Emblem is used. But if I would want that kind of effect I could play Nissa, Voice of Zendikar that costs less mana and survives the activation or Sorin, Solemn Visitor (that I already have in the deck). At first I cut Elspeth, Knight-Errant but that card is better than Gideon and still has its place in the deck.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar - When this card was spoiled I trembled in fear that this card would see play in Vintage/Legacy/Modern and I really did not look forward to playing against it. When playing Grixis Therapy and encountering White Eldrazi all the time I have to say that this Thalia perturbed me more than Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Thorn effects can be overcome but seeing a fetchland coming into play tapped and then being destroyed with Wasteland was a very bad experience for me. When I was considering cards to include in my deck I decided to give Thalia a try as well. 3/2 First Strike not only can block and kill (without dying) many creatures played in 100CS but her ability is also pretty good for a deck that needs to gain tempo and is capable of putting pressure on the opponent.

Tireless Tracker - This is a card we can also see everywhere (not really in Vintage). It is very strong creature that can become very big, but what is the most important, it draws cards letting us use the mana we have available. The one or more card difference is huge in a format where cards are very powerful. Auto-include that replaced Dreg Mangler that was hardly 100CS material in this kind of deck.

Grim Flayer - I tried this card in a dedicated Delirium deck in Standard, non-dedicated Delirium deck in Modern and in either of those the card wasn't doing what I really needed. In this deck though it is a solid two-drop. With Delirium a 4/4 Trample creature is a threat and the ability is actually pretty good since it can filter cards. Grim Flayer replaced Putrid Leech, a creature that is good in attacking but also not really fit for this kind of deck.

Sylvan Advocate - Any good two-drop is something that these kind of decks welcome. I wasn't sure if Sylvan Advocate is such a card (I knew Flayer would stay no matter what). When I was putting the deck together though I added Shambling Vent and Hissing Quagmire to the deck. With Treetop Village and Stirring Wildwood it is not a negligible amount of creaturelands. Also when by a chance I draw this card lategame while having 6 lands in play (does not happen often) this card becomes 4/5. Before I had Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim in the deck but for some reason I did not like the card much. I never managed to kill a relevant creature with it and the life gain was never relevant. I also have more problems playing a card for BW so I replaced her with Sylvan Advocate.

Anafenza, the Foremost - This creature just has 'awesome' written all over it. I replaced Doran with Anafenza even though Doran, the Siege Tower is still a card that deserves a slot in the deck. Anafenza not only makes other creatures bigger but she also exiles opponent's creatures from the game which can be sometimes relevant. No one wants the creatures to come back. Reanimator players won't be happy to see this card. Anafenza is big beater and more versatile than Containment Priest and will certainly stay in the deck.

Siege Rhino - When looking at the decklist I imported I had a feeling that some very good Abzan creature is missing and indeed it was - Siege Rhino. A creature that no one wanted to see since Standard and Modern was full of it. In 100CS there is nothing like a pack (actually a crash) of Rhinos but the single copy is very potent and creates a large life swing and the Trample is often relevant.

Sorin, Solemn Visitor - During a KTK/FRF draft I first picked a foil version of this card. I played Mardu aggro and put this card in. I started to like the card afterwards and decided to play it in a deck when the circumstances will call for it. But the card never made it to any deck I played in Standard or Modern and I could hardly imagine myself playing it in Legacy or Vintage. So now when I started playing 100CS again I decided to put it in. And the card does exactly what I need! Huge life swing, pumps the team and provides me with flying creatures.

Candidates for being cut

Call of the Conclave - This deck does not really need sorcery Watchwolf. 3/3 for 2 mana does not do enough for this deck and the card I chose to include in my deck has more downsides than upsides. The token can be bounced, the card can cost more mana due to Thalia etc. I put it in the deck because I did not own Voice of Resurgence and I couldn't come up with anything better.

Reclamation Sage - This card used to be a necessity but Stoneforge Mystic is no longer in the format and one does not really need to deal with equipment that often. Council's Judgment was also printed to help with pesky equipment. While I do like cards that can deal with artifacts and enchantments, this was more of a meta call. It is not needed anymore.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - This card simply is not as powerful as some other cards. Might replace with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.

Sigarda, Host of Herons - Certain decks can't simply deal with this card and this deck lacks flyers in general so I thought it would be good inclusion. So far though it chumped Marit Lage twice and for that I'm thankful but usually never helped my game plan much. I could do well without Sigarda. She's also rather expensive for the deck and it is not Natural Order target (even though that is how it managed to chump Marit Lage). Dragonlord Dromoka might be a better choice if controls will become a thing and the lifelink helps against aggressive decks. But how I would manage to land this creature fast enough is a different story you will probably not see me play this card.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang - For similar reasons for which I would not want to play Gideon and Sigarda I'm thinking about cutting Tasigur completely. No matter how I like the card it is too slow. One needs to play it soon and activate its ability to get some value out of it and this does not happen fast enough for this deck. The creature does not have immediate impact and there are other creatures that have similar power and toughness and are more accessible.

Other possibilities

This deck has a nice mix of everything, control elements, aggressive creatures and the best value cards ever printed. Sometimes though the deck would welcome a tutor. The best ones for this deck are Eladamri's Call and Tainted Pact. Both are instant cards, one looks for a creature card and te other one simply for the first card we would like. They are very powerful and also help with finding cards we sided in for game 2 and 3.

Decklist

If you'd like to try the deck out here is the decklist. You can download it in a text form or Magic Online native format.

If this kind of experience or deck would interest you, don't hesitate to join us in the Chainsaw Massacre Series. If you have any questions about the tournament series, format or just want to play few games of 100CS just contact me via Magic Online (stsung) or Twitter (stsungjp).