HDC 002: College Pool Party

Last week, one submission for the HDC caught my eye that I really wanted to talk about, especially because this deck is extremely fun to play.  I've tested a little with it already for Manaleak's budget contest a few weeks back and, although I didn't take it far, there was definitely some cool interactions.

Anthony E. says-

 "For your horrible deck challenge, I wish to submit a deck built around Knowledge pool. It must win by stealing it's opponents cards rather than running good ones itself."

Spoiler Alert: New Phyrexia Part 1

Well folks, it's that time of the season yet again.  I know I skipped the first wave of spoilers this time, so I'm going to tackle the first set along with the most recent announcements for a total of 44 cards from the up-and coming set.  Let's get things started, shall we?

Bryan Haak Owes Me a Night on the Town

This past Saturday, I was at a tcgplayer.com 1K qualifier at the home store, The Game Castle, in Londonderry, NH.  The list I took was a slight alteration to Super Saiyan Shock I decided to try out, cutting two Bloodchief Ascensions and two Forked Bolts for a playset of Inquisition of Kozilek, the two forks replacing BSZ in my sideboard.  The fact is that while FB is a great way to kill two birds with one card, Inq does manage to kill four. I haven't been running them mostly because Blackleave Cliffs is my only land that comes down untapped on turn one and taps for black, but helps to deal with swords and counterspells that the rest of my maindeck simply can't handle.  It even helps my Valakut matchup by getting rid of GSZ pre-board.  The only real issue with Inquisition is that unless I'm facing down Kor Firewalker or Leatherback Baloth, I'd simply rather have the burn.  It's just more versatile.  A lot of times I'm just sitting there, waiting to draw the last point or two of damage, and Inq doesn't help me get there later on.  There's also some times when I get absolutely no value from it, albeit rare but it does happen. Nevertheless, Inq certainly did its job today and could have netted me a slot in top 8.

Tournament Report: TCGPlayer 1K Qualifier- Manchester, NH

This weekend, I headed down to a 1K piloting Super Saiyan Shock alongside Russel Keeler playing RUG, Raymond Cipoletti playing Elves, and Andrew Kiwatkowski with RDW.  The shop is Level Up Gaming in Manchester, NH, kindofa small space but with enough for the 61 players in attendance and a full six rounds of swiss.  However, the TO still had to turn back a good 20 players due to lack of space.

Build With Me- Standard Aggro Part 3

I didn't expect to keep on with this deck, but I've played a few matches with the deck against various opponents and I've quickly come to hate the choice in a few things.