Sligh

<p align=justify>I went to Borderlands in Salem for the type II FNM on August 31st. It`s getting bigger every time I go. There were 50 people for Friday Night Magic. I know it sounds a little arrogant but I went in knowing full well I was going to win. I needed one more foil Jackal Pup, this month`s prize, and I just had a lot of confidence in the deck I had. Unsurprising to anyone who knows me, I played mono red beatdown. I`ve been coming to accept the realization that it`s probably just better without Legionnaires as I had been playing it recently so I decided to take it back to basics. It`s really just the same maindeck I`ve had since 7th rotated in but the sideboard is a mix of my old favorites and some new technology. We played 4 rounds of Swiss and a top 8. With this many people involved, there really should be 5 rounds to determine the top 8 but due to time constraints there were only 4. I still didn’t get out of there until after 1am as it was. <p align=justify>4 kris mage <p align=justify>2 firebrand ranger <p align=justify>2 rage weaver <p align=justify>4 goblin raider <p align=justify>4 chimeric idol <p align=justify>3 FTK <p align=justify>3 skizzik <p align=justify>4 seal of fire <p align=justify>4 shock <p align=justify>4 urza`s rage <p align=justify>3 ghitu fire <p align=justify>4 rishadan port <p align=justify>19 mountain <p align=justify>Round 1 vs Willie with Nethergo m/d Lobotomy <p align=justify>I`ve played against this deck before with something else. Initially I had to question the Lobotomies because he has to tap out during his turn to cast them, but after more observation he seems to know what he`s doing. In all 3 of our games his Lobotomies had an impact and he was wrecking other people with them. In the first one it looked like I was about to Rage him out for 10 but he Lobotomized with me at 11 mana. I played it for 3 and Ghitu Fire’d him with the rest of my mana but his Nether Spirit outraced my topdecking. Games 2 and 3 I brought in my powerful anti control board and overpowered him with threats. U/B really needs better mass removal. <p align=justify>Games 2-1 <p align=justify>Matches 1-0 <p align=justify>Round 2 vs Eric Looney with Dark Fires <p align=justify>His mana didn’t seem to be fully cooperating with him in either game. My Ports kind of exacerbated that and I had burn for all the little green mana dorks. I got some Idol and bear beats going in both games and also killed him with Ghitu Fires in both games, I believe. The Fires hate in the sideboard did it’s job pretty nicely. <p align=justify>Games 4-1 <p align=justify>Matches 2-0 <p align=justify>Round 3 vs Ronnie with a bad Fires deck <p align=justify>He had Fires and Derms and mana acceleration, but no Sap Bursts. What he did have that I saw was kind of questionable. Strafe and Voracious Cobra, wtf? I don’t know how he got this far going 2-0 but I put a stop to that right there. I offered up a set of 4 Bursts for trade but he didn’t want ‘em. Sure whatever. <p align=justify>Games 6-1 <p align=justify>Matches 3-0 <p align=justify>Round 4 vs Jeremy Grogan with B/R Land Destruction <p align=justify>His deck was kind of cool. It had stacks and stacks of LD and a pair of Nether Spirits and some Pyre Zombies. Void and Rages and stuff for board control. I won the first game by drawing lots of land and then made an error in judgment by keeping a 2 land hand in the next 2 games and losing both. I thought I could overwhelm him with early beats but instead he was able to stabilize at low life with Void or Pyre Zombies and lock me out with LD and Ports. I don’t fault myself for doing it the first time, but in game 3 I should have known better and Parised into a land heavy draw. This is when the extra round we didn’t get to play becomes a factor because lots of people with 3-1 records won’t get in. Fortunately my only loss came against Jeremy who was undefeated so my good tiebreakers got me in at 5<SUP>th</SUP> seed. <p align=justify>Games 7-3 <p align=justify>Matches 3-1 <p align=justify>Quarterfinals vs Ryder Nishioka with Grudge Match R/W Rebels <p align=justify>Ryder is the best 12 year old magic player I’ve ever seen. He did his best to stop my army with a couple Parallax Waves in the first game but I overwhelmed with attackers and had removal ready for all his men. Game 2 he drew way too much land and my 3 Shock hand was enough to hold off his forces and turn creatures sideways a lot. <p align=justify>Games 9-3 <p align=justify>Matches 4-1 <p align=justify>Semifinals vs Doug with Dark Fires <p align=justify>This was definitely the best Fires deck and best Fires player I faced today. In the first game he started out with a City of Brass and a Bird. The Bird got shot down and I had a 2 Port hand that I kept him locked down and then color screwed with until the City had drained him to 11 life. My Ranger raced his Derm for a couple turns until he was in range of Ghitu Fire. Game 2 I slowed his mana a bit until I could get my sideboard hate working for me. I was able to swing with an Idol a few times before I Ghitu Fire’d him all out. I didn’t have to see any Sap Bursts this match. Partly because the mana attack was working so well but by the time they could have gotten off it would have been too late. <p align=justify>Games 11-3 <p align=justify>Matches 5-1 <p align=justify>Finals vs Jeremy Grogan with B/R Land Destruction again <p align=justify>I knew I could do well if I just got lots of land so I decided I’d just Paris until I did. Luckily I started with 5 and 4 respectively in both games. If he lets me get to Idol mana it’s pretty much all over. You know it went bad for him because I got to hit him with Skizziks both games. I don’t think the deck has enough creature control to bail itself out of a situation if the LD lock isn’t in full effect. I got my foil Pup and an Apoc booster that I pulled some junk out of. <p align=justify>Games 13-3 <p align=justify>Matches 6-1 <p align=justify>A good time was had by all. Or at least by me. <p align=justify>Eric Olson