It took me a week to come up with this chapter, if for no other reason other than I needed the extra week to finally build a decent deck. I was losing every possible game in Casual Play and I ended up looking to the forums at Wizards of the Coast in total desparation.

Fortunately they were available to help.

Snakes 041505 by David Gonterman Main Deck Sideboard 4 Matsu-Tribe Decoy 4 Matsu-Tribe Sniper 4 Orochi Eggwatcher // Shidako, Broodmistress 4 Orochi Sustainer 2 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 2 Seshiro the Anointed 2 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro Creatures [26] 2 Orochi Hatchery 4 Sosuke's Summons 3 Time of Need 3 Umezawa's Jitte Spells [12] 21 Forest (306) 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers Lands [22] Deck Total [60] 2 Dosan the Falling Leaf 3 Gale Force 3 Kodama of the North Tree 2 Patron of the Orochi 1 Seshiro the Anointed 4 Wear Away Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

What I end up with here is a combination of one main deck and another's sideboard, which I've tweaked. As some of you know, there are multiple ways to build a snake deck in Kami Block. Some go straight Warriors, while others use all the Shamans to produce a mass of tokens. What I have here is a middle ground that can go both ways if need be. Dosan is for decks that like to play on the other guys turn (UR Arcane), Gale Force for all those pesky flyers, Northside because it's untargetable, a couple Patrons when a big goon is in order, Seshiro for the mirror, and Wear Away because there's no Naturalize in Kami Block.

I've gotten a lot of good results with this deck; with most of the playtesting getting me as many wins as losses (It would have been more if it weren't for a bad night.) Most of the people who provided Feedback said that my deck would be good enough for my primary goal, to get back to 1600 Constructed (or maybe Composite) rating.

So I entered into the Block constructed tourney last Friday (April 15) with my current rating standing at 1575 Composite, 1564 Constructed, 1587 Limited. It's still in the Unhinged Swamp Promotion, although I'll be holding out for the Forests. In the back of my mind there's this voice saying "Stick to the 7th edition lands, they've got better ascetics. Like I said before, I don't like to drop from a tournament, but I will when, in an average 6-7 round event, I suffer either my second straight loss or my fourth total, and I've added at least one point to my rating. If just this happens, I'll be happy.

This will be a 5-rounder, however, because just 31 players came in. So, it's second straight or third total loss.

Round 1, vs TheDarkKnight, Playing Kami Rock. Cons: 1594, Comp: 1619

They say that the Jitte wins games, and it certainly did in the first game. I sided in Dosan, Northside, and Patrons. While the second game was close, he managed to cast the double Kokusho and pull off the win. Not even double Kokusho saved him in the third game, where the shuffler got him.

Winning the first round of a swiss draw is always a good sign for me. It shows that little glimmer of hope that I'll have a decent event. Here's hoping there's more where that came from.

3 Points, 1-0 record, 66.67% Games Won. Constructed Rating Jumps 13 points to 1577

As is good practice, I tend to review the played games the others are playing while I'm waiting for the next round to begin. I saw a lot of snakes and Rock decks with an occasional White Weenie tossed in, which is what I played next:

Round 2 of 5, vs Phi_Delt125, Playing White Weenie. Cons and Comp at 1629

The first two games were ruled by the shuffler. I lost the first and the other guy lost the second. I put in my Gales (didn't need them but I didn't know if he had Dragons), Patrons, and Northsides.

The actual game in this match was a seesaw battle between my legends and his enchantments. We were in polarity with both sides locked when I found my Sosuke's Summons, and started spitting out tokens, biding my time until I got out Seshiro. A Shining Shoal Threatened to make this a draw at the resulting attack, but he didn't add any defense the next turn.

This is a rarity for me. Two straight wins at the start:

6 Points, 2-0 record, 66.67% Games Won (4-2). Constructed Jumps another 13 points to 1590

One more win straight and I would have crossed 1600 in Constructed, my goal in this blog! Would I just scratch it and somehow level off at the 159X or stay there at the end? The fifth round is still iffy.

By the way, those promotional Unhinged lands look pathetic. For something that's supposed to be a promotion, they didn't put in any pride in making the online versions of these lands; they just scanned in the first Unhinged Swamp they had lying around and they look like they saved it as a JPEG with too much compression. They pixelated the phrack out of these cards and I wouldn't want them anywhere near my deck. I'll be sticking to 7th Edition lands, thank you so very much.

I would have turned MTGO's R&D team in on the Fab Five, but the next round came up.

Round 3/5, vs IronToof, Playing White Weenie. Comp: 1577, Const: 1645

Remember what I said in the first chapter: When you play MTGO, you play against two opponents, the other player and the shuffler. While the other player may be friendly, the shuffler hates your guts, and if it has it's way, it'll drag every player down and slap them around, making them lose games before they can even play a card and make them Wonder if they should ever be playing this game.

Just like what happened here. Questionable mulligans and terrible draws ruled both games. These are the kind of games that just happen. It would have made for a very short post to this blog if this happened in the first round, and not after two straight wins.

6 points, 2-1 Record, 50% Games won (4-4) Constructed Rating drop 10 points to 1580, still a decent 16 point net gain in my rating, however. Whatever I do in this next round will dictate whatever or not I stay the whole way through. If I win I stick around for the fifth round and a possible final table. If I lose I bail with at least some points gained and a job well done.

Round 4/5, vs mtg_simulacrum, playing GWU Prison. Comp: 1774, Cons: 1752

I'm not surprised. Why am I not surprised?

With my Karma this is expected. I have a Do or Die match, and it's against someone who has a rating that insures that his poop doesn't stink, but it's also playing a deck that Snakes all but auto-loses to, as he gets multiple copies of Prison on the field. Both Games.

I bail from the tournament.

I lose only 7 points in this match loss, so my Constructed Rating ends at 1574, a net gain of 10 points from the original setting of 1564. My Composite rating raises 5 points to 1580.

In the aftermath, some of the other players were chatting and discussing what happened, and they gave me some tips and critiques about my playing. It appears that my two losses was a combination of being unlucky and a mistake in playing against Prison decks. I was spitting out snake tokens and playing out my hand, hoping to draw a Wear Away, when I should have attacked with my snakes and paid he Prison costs, especially with Seshiro on the field. That way I can get some more cards if some of the attackers are allowed to go through.

All in all it's not a result anyone should be ashamed of. My record was an even 2-2, and I gained points in my rating. I was going great until I got unlucky. I did find room for my deck and my game play to improve. I'll find out what I need to do and write about it as I go.

David "Daveykins FoxFire" Gonterman
http://Foxfirestudios.us
FoxStudiosDavid@MTGO