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SIDEBOARD
4 Armadillo Cloak
3 Tsabo's Decree
3 Kavu Chameleon
2 Flashfires
2 Simoon
1 Obliterate

Red Zone (Blastogeddon).

Description of deck by Paul Reinhardt @ www.pojo.com (quoted):
This is what Brian Kibler used in Pro Tour Chicago. The Elves/Birds work well with the port. But how do you play this deck well?

I was in a small tourney, and the opponent played a 3rd turn Blastoderm, and than a 4th turn Armageddon. Well, since I had only 2 lands, I was easily capable of recovering. I had a Dismissal variant, so I waited out for Blastoderms fading to fade and Recoiled some Birds of his.

Now, how was this especially bad? He got a deck and barely knew how to use it for one. Second, Armageddon is supposed to kill all resources. If he waited until I played some Ports, Marshes, Cromar's Catacombs, and other great lands, he could've easily won since I couldn't use Gold cards easily. Armageddon especially kills 5 color Green and other cards that include City of Brass and a few basic lands to take care of a color's mana. Don't play Armageddon to fast is what I'm trying to say. If you get a Blastoderm out, almost nothing can effect it besides creatures anyway. Armageddon is for the decks that try to, say, pump a creature up to kill Blastoderm. It isn't really necessary. Rith ought to kill with the Leech, and Chimeric Idol kinda says what you think of your lands. If you don't need anything else in play and your opponent seems to be playing cards like crazy, fry those lands.

Also, Blastoderm is played at inopportune times. Do you play Opportunity with 4 cards left? No. So why play Blastoderm if he's gonna be blocked and killed? Rith/Idol will clear the way of creatures, and they can pretty much kill your opponents life in two turns. Blastoderm is played when you need extra blockers/creature killers (Rebel and Sligh), need to kill your opponent fast (Control), and if it's the only creature that'll survive your opponent (All of the above, along with Ponza, Necro, and others). Remember, overextending is often done, so hold it. Lucky, though, that guy played Blastoderm on turn 3, since I could've killed it with Lobotomy on my next turn. Play it early or wait until you can really use it fully.

I hope this might've cleared up some people's opinion on Blastogeddon. Play it right or go back to Stompy.

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by Brian Kibler - PT Chicago 2000 - Top 8

BEATDOWN: Blastoderm - Armageddon