Magic: the Gathering Standard Tournament Deck






Deck: 4-color White Weenee ( W / R / B / U ) 5.5 -- Tempest

January 3, 1998

I played this deck in my sixth Tempest Standard (Type 2) tournament.

The tournament was a 5-round Swiss system, with the top eight of the 26-person field advancing to a single-elimination final.
When I looked at the field, I knew that it would be a good field again -- several good players were there (which seems to be the usual). I was hearing rumors of heavy Blue, which I didn't care to hear, since my deck isn't as consistent against control decks (probably due to my playing errors against those types of decks). I had modified my deck to be stronger against Sligh, and ended up not facing a Sligh deck all day long. However, the Serrated Biskelions were very strong, even better than expected. Many times I was able to achieve two-for-one creature removal, and there just wasn't much artifact removal around at this tournament.
My score was 3-2; 8-6 in the Swiss; I was the 8th seed in the finals (snuck in the back door -- I was the only 3-2 that made the final eight).
I won in the Quarterfinals, the Semifinals, and the Finals to finish 3-0; 6-2 in the single-elimination rounds, and 6-2; 14-8 on the day, winning the tournament.


The round-by-round was as follows:
Round 1 v. mono-Green, 2-0 -- I won fairly easily, primarily because he had poor draws. I liked his deck (actually, I like all Green decks). If I had the cards, I'd probably build a 5CG deck. His featured the Rogue Elephant - Fallow Wurm - Harvest Wurm combo. The deck was sound, proven by the fact that he won his next five matches in a row to to make the Semifinals. He had problems handling my shadow creatures, and my Serrated Biskelions hurt him by removing his River Boas and Birds of Paradise.
He also mentioned that this was his first tournament in about eight months.
1-0, 2-0

Round 2 v. Black Necro, 1-2 -- A close match. This player won last week's tournament, playing a White weenee deck, with an 8-0 run.
I took the first game, lost the last two.
The deck construction was an updated classic Necro -- hand disruption with Stupor and Abyssal Specter, land destruction with Rain of Tears / Choking Sands, quick creatures with Black Knights and pump-Knights, and removal with Nev Disks and Diabolic Edicts.
1-1, 3-2

Round 3 v. Blue, 2-1 -- This was a Steel Golem/Propagada/Winter Orb deck. I escaped this one feeling very lucky.
I got decked in the first game. I ran him over in the second game with creatures, mainly because I was lucky enough to have what I needed when I needed it (especially Pyroblasts). The third game boiled down to a stalemate. Late in the game, with him at 6 life, he said "You'll probably Incinerate me twice now." I was holding two Incinerates, and after unsuccessfully trying to push through my White Knight, I Incinerated him on each of the next two turns -- no countermagic! As I said, I felt lucky to pull this match out. In the final game, I was lucky enough to have my Undiscovered Paradise under the Orb, which gave me two mana per turn.
2-1, 5-3

Round 4 v. White/Blue, 1-2 -- My luck turned against me in this one.
I squeaked out the first game, then lost the last two. This time, in game two a Gerrard's Wisdom gave him the life he needed. In the third game, he was on the ropes early when he managed a Wrath of God. After that, he used two Wastelands to destroy my off-color mana producers and more Wraths to wipe out my creatures, and I couldn't pull it out.
2-2, 6-5

Round 5 v. mono-Black, 2-1 -- Pure luck of the draw in these. Game one, I rushed him and ran him over. Game two, and early Gloom did me in. Game three, third turn Armored Priest, Spirit Linked it on the fourth turn. Enough said.
3-2, 8-6


I made the final eight as the eighth seed and the only 3-2 in the final eight.

Quarterfinals v. Blue/Green, 2-0 -- (Tradewind Rider/Propaganda)
My opponent came in with four wins and a draw, but I had beaten him last week, and he was playing virtually the same deck. I won in two games. In the first he seemed short of mana, and just couldn't get going. My Serrated Biskelions made sure that he didn't have enough creatures to get the Tradewind Rider action going. In the second game, I Pyroblasted an early Tradewind Rider, and he promptly dropped two Propagandas. We sat in a stalemate for a long time because he 'Geddoned twice and I couldn't remove the Propagandas, but I got a Crusade and an Aura of Silence down, plus a lot of creatures. Finally, I pulled a City of Brass, sacrificed the Aura of Silence to destroy a Propaganda, Pyroblasted the other Propaganda, and came through with three shadow creatures under Crusade, one Armored, with six cards in hand, to deal 15 damage, which was his life total at the time.
I felt bad for him, since he had a good run in the Swiss. I knew that it had to be disappointing for him to lose in the first round of single-elimination as the first seed. This was just another case of the luck of the metagame -- he just happened to draw a bad matchup for his deck.
4-2, 10-6

Semifinals v. mono-Green, 2-1 -- Same opponent as round 1.
This deck had gone 5-0 since I beat it in round 1. I won the first and third games, he took the second. This was yet another case of matchups -- his deck was strong against the field in general, but my combination of shadow creatures, creature removal, Serrated Biskelions, and general deck speed caused him problems.
In the game he won, I had only one land, and he crushed me quickly. In the other two, I had good draws, with enough mana to run smoothly, and a good mix of creatures and creature removal.
5-2, 12-7

Finals v. Black Necro, 2-1 -- Same opponent as round 2.
Here we go again. I didn't like my chances, especially after getting pounded in the first game by a mild mana shortage combined with his three (yes, three) Abyssal Specters.
My chances improved dramatically when he stalled at two Swamps in game two and started discarding. I finished him off before he could recover, and we went on to game three.
This was a very fast and exciting game (six turns). We both had a lot of land, a few creatures, and not much else. He played first, but my Plains - Lotus Petal - Soltari Monk on the first turn followed by a Plains - Soltari Priest on the second turn got me off to a great start. He had a turn two Knight of Stromgald, which he started pumping (which told me he had nothing better to do with his mana, which was fine with me). Eventually, he was at six life, I was at eight. I had a White Knight, Soltari Priest, and Soltari Monk in play, he had two Knights of Stromgald. He paused, and thought for a while, and I knew he was in trouble. He played a Swamp, pumped the Knights, and attacked for seven. I'm at one. He says he's done, and I'm a bit confused, because I can finish him off with my creatures on the table, and he's tapped out. Then, as I draw, he says "That's it", and I breathe a sigh of relief as the onlookers break into a commotion. The judge flips over his next card -- a Drain Life, one turn too late. Such is life. This time, I pulled it out.
Overall score: 6-2; 14-8



61 Card deck:

15 Card sideboard: