Shortly after Pro Tour Hawaii my friend started ranting and raving about a particular deck. It wasn't the Gruul Beats deck, it wasn't the Heartbeat of Spring deck but a deck that took a 17th place finish. He could not stop telling me how well this deck was made and how smoothly it ran. After hearing about this deck for about a week and a half he finally mentioned that I could probably throw this deck together and only be missing a few cards. So I went home that night after work and decided to see exactly how many cards I had for this deck. After about 45 minutes of pulling cards from various places I finally had the deck together. I had to make a few adjustments but after test playing, this deck worked pretty well for what it had. Little did I know how right my friend would be on how hot this deck was going to become.

I had put together a rendition of Ghost Husk. I loved the simplicity behind it, and the easy mechanic it was using, and the fact that it was fast, just made it that much more fun. I did run into some early problems though. I did not have the four Promise of Bunrei, a staple of this deck. I only had one Savannah Lions, two Isamaru, Hound of Konda, and one Ghost Council of Orzhova but I was determined to make this deck. I was missing about 10 cards and since they were all rares I started to feel a bit down about getting this deck together.

My luck started to change at a FNM event where I was able to trade a Stomping Ground for three Savannah Lions. I was also able to get a Promise of Bunrei off of the store owner. The next day my wife and I go to a shop and pick up a few packs where I happen to pull the first of three Pillar of Paruns (two were pulled later that night at a booster draft) and she pulls a Promise of Bunrei and an Isamaru, Hound of Konda out of a tournament pack. I eventually grab another Ghost Council of Orzhova and try to run the deck at a FNM. I grabbed a 4th place finish being seated at the final table and getting owned by a Gruul Beats deck.

Fast forward to this past Friday where I am running the Husk once again. The biggest difference this time is that I am running the deck with four Promise of Bunrei. Let's take a look at the deck list.

For those who aren't quite sure how this deck works or why it works so well, allow me to explain a bit. You have some one-drop creatures (Festering Gobilin, Savannah Lions, and Plagued Rusalka) which are great against slow decks. If you aren't able to get your Husk out then you can go the distance with these little guys. Turns two and three are where the meat and potatoes of this deck come in. Castigate, Mortify, Pillory of Sleepless are your control aspects which can start turn two with Castigate; getting rid of immediate threats are key.

There are two enchantments at turn three which compliment this deck perfectly. Promise of the Bunrei allows you to put four 1/1 colorless spirits into play as soon as one of your creatures hits the graveyard. Phyrexian Arena is massive card advantage. I like the Arena over Dark Confidant because I don't like the possibility of losing four life if I pull a Ghost Council.

Turn three creatures include Nantuko Husk, Orzhov Pontiff, and Teysa, Orzhov Scion. The Husk is brutal when you have an open board and a few creatures to sacrifice. In preparation for a huge Husk hit you can drop the Orzhov Pontiff giving your opponent's creatures -1/-1 or yours +1/+1, sacrifice him to the Husk, haunt your own creature, sacrifice the haunted creature to the Husk to re-trigger the Pontiff's effect and then swing. I threw Teysa in the maindeck for the possibility of more creature control if things got out of hand.

On the fourth turn you have your Ghost Council of Orzhova. Not only is he a 4/4 for four mana, but his ability is too good to pass up. Using him as a blocker then triggering his ability to take his damage away is too strong not to use. Couple this with the effects of the Rusalka or Festering Goblin and you have one mean deck on your hands.

Enough babble about the deck, let's get to the matches!!!

Match 1, Game 1
I have to preface this match by saying that the kid that I was playing against was one of my daughter's friends. It has become ritual that every other week I bring anywhere from five to seven of her friends to FNM. This particular friend was playing Red Green. He decides to go first and plays a land and passes turn. I drop a Plains and a Savannah Lions and he just shakes his head. Turn two was the same scenario with me playing another Savannah Lions. On turn three, he puts a fist of Ironwood on my Lion giving him two tokens. Those tokens were short lived when I cast an Orzhov Pontiff effectively giving them -1/-1. The game didn't take much longer because my Lions, Pontiff, and Goblin went the distance.
1-0

Match 1, Game 2
This game was very similar to the first game. I win in the same fashion. After the match I gave him some play tips because he was making a few simple mistakes that could have made his match last a bit longer. No Husk this match...maybe he will appear in the next!
2-0

Match 2, Game 1
This match, I was paired with another Ghost Husk deck that didn't have Promise of Bunrei in it. I knew this card was valuable but I didn't realize how valuable it could be. We start off with almost the same opening hand, starting off with Swamp, Plains, Castigate. He throws out a Dark Confidant turn four. Even though he kept pinging me with it, I kept it in play because I know from last week that he killed himself quite often with Dark Confidant. After awhile I eventually win out by killing off his creatures with my Pontiff coming into play, then sacrificing the Pontiff to my Husk, haunting a creature of mine then sacrificing the haunted creature to re trigger the effect clearing his board. I swing for 12 with my Husk and win the game.

Match 2, Game 2
This game went horrible. I could not get any good draws even with Phyrexian Arena. I didn't get anything but creatures. To give you an idea of how painful this game actually was I dropped myself 15 life due to the Arena being in play. He was able to finally kill me with his weenie creatures in two more turns. I must have had the un-magic touch when shuffling my cards between games because when I flipped up my deck I had 20 out of the 24 land on the bottom. Keep in mind that three of the land were in play. Go figure…

Match 2, Game 3
This game started off with almost an identical hand as last time but my gut told me to keep the cards. We went back and forth going creature for creature. I would kill one of his, he would kill one of mine. I finally drop two Promise of Bunrei in a row, followed by a Goblin, Nantuko Husk, then finally an Orzhov Pontiff. I was extremely lucky that over those draws he only pulled land. I set up the kill by sacrificing my Goblin to the Husk triggering both Promise of Bunrei to go off. I give his Savannah Lions -1/-1, killing it. I then sacrifice the Pontiff to the Husk and haunt a token. I sacrifice all tokens to the Husk, and give the Husk +1/+1 from the Pontiff's effect. With an open board I swing with my now 23/23 Husk for the win.
2-1

Match 3, Game 1
This match I play against a pretty wicked version of Ghost Dad. I traded this guy for my other two copies of Promise of Bunrei before the tournament started and he got a few cards off of me. He knew the deck I was playing and I honestly think it was his biggest threat. The first game was a battle back and forth until he was able to get a Paladin En-Vec on the table. I’m telling you now that this guy is impossible to deal with when all of your removal involves black. He had me locked out and I wasn’t too thrilled with it. My only option to get rid of him was an Eight-and-a-half-tails or some white removal like Condemn or Reciprocate which I did not have in my main deck or sideboard. He wins by going the distance with his Paladin.
0-1

Match 3, Game 2
This game was a mirror match of the first where I was trying to get rid of his confounded Paladin. I cast two Promise of Bunrei in a row and then sacrifice a creature to my Husk to trigger them. I get eight little guys out there to help defend against this chump when he throws down the ultimate insult. Now allow me to inform you that a Paladin En-Vec wielding a Jitte is bad freakin news. Not only was he able to damage me to get the tokens, but no matter how hard I tried to chump block with my eight tokens, he could kill them off easily. His Jitte laden Paladin owns me yet again.
0-2

Match 4, Game 1
This match was probably the most fun of all night. I was playing against an Owling Mine deck which I had never played against. I wasn't even sure how the deck worked. My first hand was horrible, and I honestly hate to mulligan knowing that I am going first. I draw my hand and am somewhat pleased with what I have. The game got fun really early when I pull a Nantuko Husk and play him. On the board I have a Rusalka, and the Husk. With him having a Kami of the Cresent Moon on the table I am able to draw two cards each turn which is a mistake against this deck. I am able to throw down a Promise of Bunrei on turn four and turn five to effectively set up my kill. I throw a Pillory of the Sleepless on his Kami, sacrifice my Rusalka to the Husk, which triggers both Promises to go off. I sacrifice the eight tokens to the Husk making him a 20/20 and with no way for him to block and noticing that he has tapped all of his mana, I swing for the win.
1-0

Match 4, Game 2
This game is when I got to see the beauty of Owling Mine. I was actually glad that I lost this game so I could see how the deck worked in its entirety. The game started out with me pulling nothing but mana and him being able to get two Ebony Owl Netsuke on the table and a Kami of the Crescent Moon. Being hit for eight each turn hurts. He then did the final damage with a Cerebral Vortex and beat me. I was told that this deck could be fast but I didn’t realize how fast it worked. I was extremely impressed by the deck and its simplicity.
1-1

Match 4, Game 3
This game was something like the first of the match where I had to mulligan. We were going back and forth with him Remanding and Boomeranging my creatures and spells. I finally had one Promise on the field; all I needed to get was a weenie and a Husk. I was down to eight life and he was down to three, when I play a Plagued Rusalka. I pass turn; he draws, and tries to Boomerang the Rusalka. In response, I sacrifice the Rusalka, giving his Kami a -1/-1 and triggering the Promise to get four 1/1 tokens. He picks up his cards and says, "you got me."
2-1

With an overall Match record of 3-1 and game record of 6-4 I get seated at the Final Table. Before the matches begin, the four of us decide that we all split the $90.00 prize total and get seven packs each along with the top two getting foils. I had already received a random foil prize from a different match so I was pleased at the outcome. We did play a few more matches to see what would have happened and I would have placed fourth.

The deck breakdown for this week was quite an interesting one. We had two Ghost Husk decks, one Heartbeat of Spring, one Ghost Dad, one Owling Mine, one Red White, one Black White, one mono Red, three Red Green including a Gruul Beats, one Blue White, one Green Blue, and one Red Black. Of these decks the following went to the final table: Ghost Dad, Ghost Husk, Gruul Beats, and Mono Red.

This FNM was very fun for a lot of reasons. New people showed up which is always a plus, but the deck breakdown was something that was not even close to being anticipated. I was so happy to see so many good decks this week.

There were a few small lessons learned this week. Although few, they are, in my opinion, very helpful.

• Gruul Beats is extremely strong and fast. This is also the fourth week this guy has used this deck to get to the final table...what can I do to slow it down?
• Ghost Dad is a tough deck to play against. I need to switch out the sideboard to avoid getting En-Vec'd again. (Anyone have an Eight-and-a-half Tails?!)
• Owling Mine is a fun deck to play against, but in order to win with Owling Mine, you really have to know how to use the deck to your advantage. Giving your opponent's card advantage is very dangerous.

As always, fun was had by all and a lot of different decks made a showing which spiced things up a bit. As always, at your local FNM it's your goal to learn, meet new people, and have as much fun as possible.

~FNG~

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