D.I.Y.: Making the Most of Your Monsters

Planar Chaos is finally here!

Alright, you got me - Planar Chaos has been here for a while. A more appropriate introduction would have gone something like this:

My post-Planar Chaos D.I.Y. article is finally here!

Not as dramatic, but far more accurate.

Anywho, as of this moment (3:35pm, March the 15th, 2007- articles are always about two weeks behind actual events) I've only been able to play in one FNM in which PC was legal. The other two Fridays were spent driving across the country in various directions, which afforded me little time to sling the cardboard. I knew it was going to be my only FNM for a couple of weeks, so I wanted to come up with something really smoking hot.

I had a bunch of ideas for Planar Chaos decks, but couldn't really settle on one. There was my idea for 4-color dragon, and then my idea for, uh, other 4-color dragon, and um... well... something with Crovax? Maybe Mono-Red Beats with a big ol' Akroma, Angel of Fury finisher?

I gotta admit, I was a little stuck; what to do, what to do? There were so many options that I couldn't decide on anything.

In the end I went with my age-old mantra: when in doubt, just play Green.

I don't think anyone needs to be told just how much depth Planar Chaos added to the color of big fat monsters, and for the first time in a very long time green mages can do something other than go multi-color, beat rude amounts of face, or lose games at alarming rates. I was ready and eager to enter this new dynamic world of Green, a world where tact, guile and strategy count for as much as dropping huge monsters on the third turn.

Then I realized I had a playset of Timbermares and Groundbreakers. Screw fancy new tricks! Green haste? Yes please, an extra helping for me!

The Creation, The Deck, and a Brief Discussion of How Awesome I Am

I decided that I was going to run four Groundbreakers because, well, I had them. A Timbermare somehow got lost on the unorganized card table of doom (the only rule in my house is no drinks on the dining room table, and this is why), so I had to settle for three of the lovely mare. Since I was sort of making a theme here (i.e., big green creatures with haste) I decided to throw in my four Giant Solifuges. It took me forever, but through wheeling, dealing, buying one online, and some really disadvantageous trading for myself, I managed to get a playset of one of my favorite - hey, I can only find three! Where the hell is the other one?

Probably somewhere on the gigantic pile of cards. I really need to organize.

In short, this is what I figured: everyone would be ready (to some extent) for the green Ball Lightning. Most people would be prepared for some green Thundermare action. A few intelligent souls would probably expect the Solifuge to turn up (because I use it, like, every week). Maybe one or two really discerning fellows would anticipate some Uktabi Drakes.

But who in their right mind would expect all of those in one deck?

No one. That's who.

Quick Lesson #1: Know your local trends and be prepared. This is a little different than paying attention to the metagame, because the metagame I was planning for hadn't yet developed. What I'm talking about is paying attention to all the cards that people are excited about in one fashion or another for an upcoming expansion, because I guarantee that the people who aren't excited about said cards will be prepared for them.

Or maybe the card everyone is talking about is all hype, and in the end no one cares, but if there's one thing I took from Boy Scouts it's to always be prepared. Well, that and how to cook a meal in the pouring rain using only one match (use it to light a gas stove).

I was at an impasse - for me to have any chance of winning at all, it was essential for me to retain the element of surprise. However, I wanted to use Groundbreakers, and everyone at the Hall of Heroes was talking about it. That meant that everyone who ran green was probably going to use 'em if they had 'em, and everyone else would be ready with some instant speed removal (like Darkblast, Piracy Charm, Condemn, and pretty much anything red).

I counteracted this anticipation in two ways. The first was through my sideboard, which I'll get into later; the second was by going all out with the green hasty creatures. That's right - I figured that everyone would be ready for some Groundbreakers, and even a few Timbermares. But by throwing everything that was green and hasty at them, I would (hopefully) strain their resources to the max, thus making it easier for me to win and lessening the disadvantage provided by playing a card that was going to be well-prepared for.

As I found out, the best way to maximize this advantage was by going all-out and just attacking every turn (although I didn't discover this important lesson until losing the first round). Thus, the card choices I made defined the way that the deck needed to be played .

The deck was slowly taking form, and was looking to be really super aggressive. Even in its primordial stages it was a blast to play; however, it clearly needed some added depth. The green hasties were fun, but I had to over-commit almost by necessity, and there was rarely anything left on my side of the board by John #1's turn (the resident playtester for all ideas I have, great and dumb). What to do, what to do? After much deliberation, I decided to pull some old favorites out of retirement from the scavenged remnants of my Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper deck. Take a look and see what I came up with.

Extreme Angry Suicide Aggro
Creatures 1 Plagued Rusalka 4 Birds of Paradise 3 Uktabi Drake 2 Llanowar Elves 3 Pit Keeper 4 Groundbreaker 2 Nantuko Husk 2 Spike Feeder 3 Timbermare 3 Giant Solifuge 1 Mortivore Spells 4 Putrefy 2 Damnation 3 Harmonize	Land 4 Overgrown Tomb 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Gemstone Mine 3 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb 3 Swamp 11 Forest	Sideboard 2 Loaming Shaman 2 Scryb Ranger 3 Spectral Force 1 Spike Feeder 1 Mortivore 2 Call of the Herd 2 Stonewood Invocation 2 Moulder