It's 5pm on Friday night. I grab my deckbox, rares binder, Scrye magazine, two Vault sodas, smokes, and tell my 13 year-old daughter that its time to roll. I kiss my wife goodbye and hug the other kids. As we leave I hear a resounding "Good Luck!" from the doorway. My daughter and I make the 20 minute trek to Port Washington, WI where we will participate in a local Friday Night Magic Tournament at John's Field of Dreams. I guess that you could call John's Field of Dreams our home store. It's the only place we play Magic aside from home. We know almost everyone that plays there and we know John, the owner, quite well. It is a small store that has a cozy atmosphere that we manage to squeeze in anywhere from ten to 20 people each week. When we walk in we are welcomed warmly by the other regulars and we sit and 'bs' before the night kicks off at 6pm. I open my deck box and stare at its contents to make sure that all is in order for the ensuing night.

As many of you know, FNM is always a type two, or standard format. For those that aren't quite sure what a type two or standard is allow me to break it down a bit for you. Unlike your typical home rules game where any card you throw in a deck goes, its a bit more restricted in type two. In type two you are only allowed to use the latest Core Set (currently 9th Edition), and the two latest block expansion sets. The current type two allows the following sets:

9th Edition
Betrayers of Kamigawa
Saviors of Kamigawa
Champions of Kamigawa
Ravnica: Cit of Guilds
Guildpact
Dissension (starting May 20)

With these restrictions in mind, you must build a 60 card deck and have the option to have a 15 card sideboard. The deck that I currently use has gone through many revisions because I am of firm belief that unless you constantly play a deck, you will never learn the potential that it has. If you just play it once and it doesn't work and you just toss it aside or break it up then you just wasted your time building a deck. However if you take that deck, learn from it, make necessary changes, and play it again you will eventually see that your deck is worth the time you put into it.

Since my first FNM tourney (which was all of two months ago) I have played an Orzhov deck. I started with a basic creature enchantment deck which at my first tourney took me to a fourth out of 12 finish. Seven weeks and many matches later I have come up with the final deck which works quite well. Let's take a look at the deck I'm using in depth and see why it works.

Its a rough hybrid of a creature and a control deck. Utilizing cards such as Souls of the Faultless to intimidate your opponent not to attack in fear of life loss, Mortify to get rid of those pesky creatures or enchantments blocking my way (goodbye Privileged Position), Pillory of the Sleepless to get my creatures through unscathed AND do damage to your opponent at the same time really get this deck moving along in the control aspect. Just for fun we have two Ghostly Prison. I can't count how many times this card alone has saved my life. Making your opponent think whether to keep that Mana Leak in their hand or to attack and just pay the extra mana is a great advantage. Add in cards like Reciprocate to remove cards from the game and Terashi's Grasp to kill off artifacts or enchantments and you have a good control aspect to your game. Oh, and don't forget the ever fun Wrath of God when things get way out of hand. Coupled with Debtors' Knell, Wrath of God has so much more power than just sweeping the board of all creatures.

My favorite card of the entire Ravnica block is definitely Debtors' Knell. Getting any creature card from any graveyard and putting into play under your control for free is relentlessly painful. I love this card for so many reasons. It allows you to exploit cards that have Put Into Play effects like Angel of Despair. Debtors' also gives you the freedom to kill off your own creatures and bring one of the back the following upkeep. One of my favorite combos is to swing with Kokusho, the Evening Star for five damage, then to use Mortify to trigger his graveyard ability of socking the opponent for five more and gaining me five. It gets real fun when you have two Kokusho in your graveyard...10 points of damage every other turn is a lot to handle. Even if you don't have the cards like Kokusho or the Angel the weenie creatures in this deck are fairly efficient.

One of the most overlooked commons in any set has to be the Festering Goblin. This 1/1 for one is probably one of the most efficient cards in the game. When Mr. Goblin hits the graveyard, you get to throw a -1/-1 counter on a creature. How fun is it to get rid of a Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf just by your goblin hitting the graveyard. Savannah Lions is another great card for a one mana cost. Throwing out a 2/1 beater first turn can damper your opposition a bit. Couple the lion with Isamaru, Hound of Konda, a 2/2 beater for one and the rain starts to pour on their parade. Also mixed into the vat are Blind Hunters and Mourning Thrulls. The Blind Hunters are a fairly expensive 2/2 for four mana, but as soon as it hits the table it gains you two life and siphons away two from your victim for the evening. The Blind Hunter also has the Haunt ability which allows you to Haunt any creature in play when the Blind Hunter hits the graveyard. Once the Haunted creature hits the graveyard, the Blind Hunter's ability of taking two life and gaining two life is triggered yet again. Similar to the life gaining ability of the Blind Hunter, the Mourning Thrull gains you life each time it does combat damage. At a two mana casting cost, this 1/1 flyer is definitely a plus. Throw a few +/+ enchantments on this guy and watch people get scared.

Now that I have given you a break down on what my deck is and how it works, lets take a look at the deck itself.

The sideboard itself was very simple to throw together. Control, control, and more control. Keep in mind when making a sideboard that you are limited to 15 cards, but every one of those cards does not need to be used. Meaning that if you happen to have a total of three or four cards that you really wish you could throw in your deck but don't want to slow it down by going over 60 cards, throw in those three cards and 12 more land into your sideboard. Just because you announce that you have a sideboard doesn't mean you have to use it.

Now that you know the deck I'm using, onto the nightly matches! The first match that I played was with a guy that is a great player. I knew the deck he was using right away. The gold borders that his buddy painted on the cards gave it away as soon as I saw him shuffle. My first test of the night would be a Heartbeat Combo Deck. For those of you who are not familiar with this deck it utilizes the mass mana production of Heartbeat of Spring along with Early Harvest to over produce that mana into the grand finally of one of three cards. Maga, Traitor to Mortals, Savage Twister, or Invoke the Firemind REALLY hurt when they have 50 plus mana behind them. I found this out the hard way the first game. Needless to say while I was mana screwed he Sakura-Tribe Elder'd and Kodama's Reached his way into the mana he needed and nailed me with a 28 damage Invoke the Firemind.
0-1

Match 1, Game 2
I informed Mr. Heartbeat that I was going to sideboard. When he asked me how many cards I said 12. He freaked out and asked if I was changing my deck to which I nodded. I took out weenie creatures which had no use in this match along with a few other creature spells. I put in Cranial Extraction, Castigate, and Caustic Rain. In my opening hand I held a Mortify and a Cranial Extraction along with proper mana so I decided to keep regardless of having no creatures. A few rounds in, he realized what I had done when I cranial'd his Heartbeat card. I win using Kokusho, the Evening Star.
1-1

Match 1, Game 3
He knows my deck now and decides to sideboard. I never see the cards in play that he did sideboard because of a BIG mistake on my part. I allow one Heartbeat to stay in play and use it to my advantage. If I happen to take a point of manaburn, so be it. I cranial the remaining Heartbeats and Mortify the one in play when he builds up a decent size mana base to use at his disposal. I pull my second cranial when I make the game losing mistake. I've already castigated one direct damage spell, now its time to take out Invoke the Firemind. BIG MISTAKE! I realize my mistake when he transmutes his second Early Harvest to his hand. Two turns later he has all four Early Harvest and I get hit for the most direct damage I have ever seen when he throws down the unexpected card, Maga, Traitor to Mortals. He wins, and I lose the first Match.
1-2

Match 2, Game 1
I was paired with an older regular who is yet another great player. He was using a green/white beat down deck which was quite quick. Since you can't sideboard immediately, you have to deal with what you have until the 2nd match. I was quite worried about this once I knew what deck he was playing because of the quickness of it. I got lucky enough however that he ended up mana screwed and I took the first match with ease.
1-0

Match 2, Game 2
This game he got off to a much better start and was throwing creatures out left and right. I was glad that I kept my Pillory of the Sleepless in my deck otherwise I would have been destroyed with ease. I throw out two pillory, one of which he Naturalized. I was able to get out a few creatures by mid game and the pillory was still pecking away at him. Around turn eight, one of my favorite cards of the Ravnica block came into play: Debtors' Knell. He knew my deck from past play, and his response was something that I am not allowed to write. We were at a standoff with him having multiple creatures and me bringing back his 1/1 weenies to block, all while the pillory kept pecking away. We were both at 3 life when I topdecked a Blind Hunter and threw it down gaining me two life and taking two from him. He then realized that I had won the match when he looked at the pillory on his creature and let me know how much he loved that card in a not so loving way
2-0

Match 3, Game 1
After a much needed smoke break I was paired up with my 13-year old daughter's boyfriend. He was the only other Orzhov deck there that night. As in Match 2 Game 1, he got manascrewed. I easily win throwing down a Mortify on my Kokusho, the Evening Star.

Match 3, Game 2
This match was almost the same as the first but I decided to toy with him a bit. I gathered enough manabase and got lucky enough to topdeck my second Kokusho to my hand. I throw down a Kokusho and pass turn not attacking with my other creatures. He gives me a blank stare and attacks me for 4. I take the damage and smile at him. My next turn I swing over his head with Kokusho, then throw down the second Kokusho triggering the Legendary rule hitting him for 15. He was a great sport about it and laughed for 10 minutes.
2-0

Match 4 Game 1
This match was with a well known guy at this particular store. He was a fun guy to be around and had the tendency to get plain goofy when things were just going down hill for him. His deck was destroyed by the judge because of the "plays played" ruling where if you bring a creature like a Myojin to play using Elvish Piper, the Myojin does NOT get the divinity counter. These two games were the most bizarre fun I've had in a quite some time playing Magic. They both ended the same way so I will summarize by saying: Stall until turn 6, Kokusho, Debtors' Knell, Kokusho#2 to kill both, next turn bring Kokusho#1, following turn...well you get the idea. The funniest thing about the match was that he tapped his That Which Was Taken and said "Yes, I am hitting you with my Artifact."
I win the match 2-0

With an overall record of 3-1 (7-2 game wise) I get in at the final table. My first pairing was with a kid who is probably the most annoying teenager that Magic has ever seen. He was playing a Selesnya deck that was extremely fast. The first game I manage to win due to his lack of mana and my weenie creatures taking over. Game two was a bit of a struggle for both of us but he eventually won out due to his Loxodon Hierarch gaining him the extra life needed to win. Game three was an absolute joke. In his opening hand he had one Forest, two Plains, two Savannah Lion, and two Watch Wolf. This game was over before it even started for me. I lose the match 2-1 but still have a shot at 3rd place out of 17 finish.

After sticking around another hour waiting for the match to end, my daughter and I realize that it is pushing 12:30am. We were waiting to see who would win which would determine whether or not I would play for third place. The match to move to the next round (which would determine who would play for first) took an extremely long time. The reason for this was because it was a Selesnya Stomp deck (green/white deck with quick creatures) vs a Selesnya token/counter generation deck(green/white deck using cards to produce tokens and counters at a high rate of speed.) The Stomp deck seemed to be pouring out creatures left and right instead of attacking where as the token deck was just producing blockers for the creatures. The table was full of both and a stalemate was in order. The token producer had so many tokens out that his Scion of the Wild was up to a 27/27 but his opponent had two Phytohydra which just taunted him to attack. The match finally started to come to an end when the stomp deck would attack with flyers to purposely get them blocked so that he may kill off his opponents blockers. He would then regenerate his flyers by sacrificing his Loxodon Hierarch. Rinse...Repeat...Win.

As I had mentioned before the night was getting very late and instead of playing for First, Second, or Third, the four remaining players decided to split the prizes accordingly.

The four decks that made it to the final table were mine, and three variations of a Selesnya Stomp deck. As mentioned, two of the three Selesnya decks were stomp decks that relied heavily on quick creatures where as the third utilized Doubling Season mixed in with numerous token producing cards. Of the three decks I believe the token deck was the strongest although it split third place. The reason I am of this opinion is that I have played against both decks that were jockeying for the first place table. Of the two decks, my most difficult Magic match ever was with the token deck. We were given 90 minute rounds and the token deck put me through the ringer for a full 88 minutes before I finally won.

Out of 17 people, the deck breakdown was four Green/White, two Black/White, seven Green/Red, two Combo decks(heartbeat and a combo deck based around Twincast, Quicken, Traumatize, and Glimpse the Unthinkable) , and two Blue/Red. I was surprised to see so many Red/Green decks but as always Gruul Stomp seemed to be in over abundance.

As with all FNM the finals are determined by a two factors in my opinion. The first being your decks strength vs. other decks and the second being the match pairings. I can't count how many times I have seen a very weak deck in the finals because they happened to have a first round bye followed by two or three rounds of cake matches. Is there a way to stop this? Not really. Its typically the luck of the draw. Sometimes you get lucky with your rounds, sometimes not.

The most important part of your local FNM tourney in my opinion is what you can learn from winning, losing, and making mistakes during match play. When you walk away from the table do you start to analyze what you did wrong, right, or could have done differently? I know that I do this on a constant basis and that has what has made me into a decent player who still has a lot to learn about the game. With that said, lets take a look at the mistakes made during match play during the tournament in a segment that will be a fixture to all of my FNM articles entitled Lessons Learned.

There are a few basic but core lessons learned this FNM. I made the most mistakes during my first match, so we will look at that first. During the first match it was not only I who made mistakes.

• He should have never played Heartbeat before he was ready to use it. Why give your opponent the opportunity to completely own you with your own cards?
• Him not realizing that after me sideboarding 12 cards that I would be putting in a Cranial Extraction. Which brings me to my first mistake.
• Never tell your opponent how many cards you sideboard. This could be a game winning difference. If they know you change your deck completely with a huge sideboard they can easily sideboard along with you and change their deck around either to a different win condition or bring in the cards necessary to stall long enough to get their win condition to go off.
• I should have never cranial'd for Heartbeat of Spring. ALWAYS go for the Early Harvest.
• Using Cranial Extraction to go for a win condition is a bad idea.

The following three matches went so perfectly for me that it actually lead me to make my second series of mistakes of the night.

• I got too comfortable with my deck and never changed it back to its original state after sideboarding during match 1, game 2.
• Having faith in your deck is good but don't get cocky thinking you won't be beat. Nine times out of ten, you will.
• Know when its time to sideboard. Keeping a card like Cranial Extraction in your main deck while playing a Zoo stomp is a bad idea. If I would have sideboarded my Souls of the Faultless back in during the finals I could have probably gone to the table for First or Second rather than Third.
• You're only as good as those around you. Surround yourself with better players and you will eventually step up your game to their caliber.

All in all the night was great. I met new people which is always a plus, learned how my deck would work against other decks, and had a great time. Regardless of the outcome, I believe that the aforementioned take the cake when it comes to points or standings. As long as you learn, have fun, and meet people at your local FNM you will always come out the winner.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

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