Dies to Removal

This is what I took to States for a 19th place finish out of 169 players:

[deck=Khaos's 19th Place States List]
Creatures 24
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fanatic of Mogis

Goodstuff 3
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Burn 10
2 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet

Land 23
1 Mutavault
22 Mountain

Sideboard 15
2 Burning Earth
3 Skullcrack
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Act of Treason
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Frostburn Weird
[/deck]

There isn't much to tell about the deck that hasn't already been explained in the threads. It just does what it does, and then either grinds out a win with Chandra or ends it with a Fanatic.

I'll attempt to explain my sideboarding. I actually expected to see a lot of Esper, G/W Aggro, Mono Red
Aggro, and G/B Midrange. The plan for the aggro matchups was pretty simple: take out my 8x1-drops and replace them with “anti-aggro package,” consisting of 2xWeirds, 3xAct of Treason, and 3xMizzium Mortars.

For the G/W matchup, I wanted to take out the Hammer and replace it with a Dragon since 3/3 Golems are outclassed pretty easily, and they pretty much cannot answer a Stormbreath Dragon (much less a Monstrous one). Everything else is pretty much textbook “sword-and-shield” manuevers – just play defense, form a stonewall with First Strikers as you burn away their dudes, and nip away with Phoenixes.

For Esper, I just wanted to take out 2x Fanatic of Mogis and replace it with 2x Burning Earth. Additionally, I swapped Shocks for Weirds, and swapped out 2xLightning Strike and 2xMagma Jet for 3xSkullcrack and 1xHammer of Purphoros. You're a pretty big underdog once they resolve Elspeth, so you need to just go in fast.

For the G/B Midrange and other fatty-driven decks, like R/G Monsters, I
just wanted a bunch of Act of Treasons. Play as the Beatdown and steal their big dude for the win.

I don't want to bore you guys with major details so I'm just going to give you “short and sweet” version.

Round 1 VS UWR Control w/Guttersnipe – Win, 2-1

I actually lost Game 1 when he landed a Guttersnipe and I didn't kill it. He actually dealt me 11 damage on Turn 4 by casting a Boros Charm and a Lightning Strike. Game 2 was rather unexciting since all I had to do was kill Guttersnipe on sight and keep attacking, but in Game 3 I resolved a Burning Earth and just watched him bleed out. Card is so good. I didn't even have to try to win – the card did it for me. I now know how Thragtusk players feel.

Round 2 VS G/W Aggro – Win, 2-1

I aggro'd out in Game 1 (surprisingly), but in Game 2 was such a clusterfuck with Voice of Resurgence and Boros Reckoner both on the field. After trading some early blows, the board stalled and the game degenerated into a “draw,go” match
until my Phoenix got him so low that he was forced to make a move. That move was called Unflinching Courage, and it allowed a Voice token to trample through for some exactsies. Game 3 was textbook defense as I removed his guys with Burn, walled-up with First Strikers, landed a Dragon, and used Act of Treason on a Smiter to nail for lethal.

Round 3 VS Esper – Loss, 1-2

Man, Game 1 was such an epic blowout on my end. I had to mulligan to 5 while he lands a Turn 3 Ashiok, followed by a Turn 4 Jace, Architect of Thought. He passes on Turn 5. I play a Fanatic with an Ash Zealot on the field, hoping to burn for 3, but he play Far//Away to get rid of both creatures with the devotion trigger on the stack, netting me ZERO damage. Turn 6 is the coming of Elspeth and I have no chance of winning at this point with no presence and no hand. I win Game 2, but in Game 3 I fail to punch through Elspeth's Army, eventually succumbing to 6 Soldiers backed by an Emblem.

Round 4 VS U/B Devotion – Win, 2-1

I won
Game 1 easily enough, but Game 2 was strange. I failed to improve on the 2 lands in my opener and he starts milling the shit out of me with Ashiok, which is where all of my lands went – to exile. Dude actually ultimates Ashiok, but he's been stuck on 3 lands himself, which allows me to draw Mountain, Mountain, and Burning Earth. I resolve the Burning Earth and watch his life total start to tick down as he cast some kill spells on my freshly drawn guys. He plays Desecration Demon and I topdeck Act of Treason it, but it's not enough. A second Desecration Demon finishes me off. I show him the power of the haste in Game 3 to take the match when I Act of Treasoned my own Cackler to deal the final 2 points of damage.

Round 5 VS U/W Control – Loss, 1-2

I was on the draw Game 1 and managed to kill him, despite him resolving an Eslpeth. In Games 2 and 3, however, Jace and Elspeth team up to make aggro efforts look childish. Game 2 involved Jace going ultimate, resulting in him
stealing my girl, Chandra. I felt like a chump. Game 3 was close, but since I had to mulligan to 5, I ran out of critical gas.

Round 6 VS Boros Beatdown, Win 2-1

Not much to tell here, unfortunately. I really believe that this match was primarily a skill battle, since we both were playing the Reckoner sub-game. In fact, I probably should have lost this whole match because in Game 3, he follows up casting a Fiendlsayer Paladin with an Ajani, Caller of the Pride, giving the Paladin a +1/+1 counter. This was bad for me, since I had him at very low life and I needed to keep applying pressure. I was winning the race in the air with a Phoenix, but my lead wouldn't hold out if he even gained the slightest amount of life. And not to mention, that Ajani could turn just about anything into a game-winning threat. So, I did the best thing I could think of – I played Mizzium Mortars on my Reckoner to deal the Paladin lethal damage. This is a great plan when it involves a Shock or
Lightning Strike, but you cannot – I repeat, CANNOT- play Mortars on your own guy. How we both missed that is beyond me, but it was enough to put the match in my favor. It is what it is I guess. This would also not be the only time I got lucky in the tournament.

Round 7 VS ???, Win 2-0

My opponent is late and is awarded a Game Loss. When he arrives, he looks at the match sheet, concedes, and then drops to go play in the Triple Worldwake Draft. He later tells me that he was playing U/W Master of Waves with Sphinx's Revelations. Hooray for luck, I suppose.

Round 8 VS RDW, Win 2-1

I come out of the gates swinging to smash him Game 1, but Game 2 was a completely different story. He only sides in 3 cards and I quickly find out what they were. He keeps me from reaching 3 land by playing back-to-back Peak Eruptions while he beats my face in with a Cackler. To add insult to injury, he finishes me off with a third Peak Eruption for lethal damage. Game 3 was another test of
combat skill while we both stonewalled the ground with Reckoners. Three to be exact, and on both sides. What are the odds? However, I landed my Phoenix first to start the air race and by the time he found one of his own, I had enough burned chained together from my Magma Jets to take the match.

Final Record: 6-2

When the dust cleared, 9th through 20th were all tied with 18 Game Win Points. The Game Win Percentages were used to determine rankings, and I was less than a point below 14th -18th. Even though I got 19th place, I feel very satisfied with the event as a whole. For one, I beat my personal record from last year - 34th place out of 200-something players. Two, I still feel like I “Top 16'd.” Third, I played something that I truly felt comfortable with. I stood by my convictions and played the deck I wanted to play, the way I wanted to play it. And lastly, I felt like I had mentally and physically prepared myself by more or less following Z's advice from his “
Preparing for Big Events” article. While most of what he says is straight common sense, he is absolutely right – there is no substitute for sleep and nutrition. I skipped FNM, strip clubs, and booze-chugging in order to get 7 hours of solid rest. I made a lunchbox complete with sammiches, apples, 5-Hour Energies, water bottles and gatorade, peanuts, protein bars, cigarettes, and ibuprofen. The extra time it took me to prepare actually saved me time, stress, and money later on as I didn't have to rush out and order something between rounds from an overpriced local joint. I stayed mentally focused and energized all freaking day, much to the amazement of my testing party. And despite having to piss like a racehorse between every single round and fighting to get into the bathroom, I had a blast at States.

9/10 – would do it all over again.

Deck Notes:

Knowing what I know now after the event, I would definitely like to make some changes to the deck. For one, Hammer of
Purphoros, while good, didn't deliver the goods for me. I've considered removing it. Shock also underperformed, and I'm starting to think it's an all-or-nothing card. Act of Treason is a great card, but I would consider cutting it down to two copies to make room for Peak Eruption in the sideboard.

The 22xMountain and 1xMutavault combination worked great for me. There was only one game where the Mutavault kept me off of a Turn 3 Reckoner and I'm okay with that. In other games, my lone Mutavault did some work, but I never really want to see more than 1. Maybe I'm just weird like that?

Frostburn Weird was a soldier. I think he stays in for the time being.

I've also considered moving the maindeck around a bit to accommodate 2 dragons. I'd probably have to up my land count for this and I think the 22x Mountain and 2xMutavault configuration seems fine. Testing will have to be done to confirm how effective this is.

Overall, the deck performed as expected and I made us of
every card in the sideboard.