It took me a while to write this next chapter of my Brainburst blog. Throughout last month, I've been studying the final tables of the Kamigawa Block Premier Events on MTGO. We're talking the Swiss draw tournaments I favor over the 8-man tourneys because you're not out of the game if you happen to lose in the first round. What I've learned made me rethink my tournament deck:

Here's the breakdown of the Top 8 players in about 5 Premier Events:

White Weenie: 15, 2 Champions
Green/Black Aggro: 12, 1 Champion
Snakes: 5, 1 Champion
GWU Control: 4, 1 Champion
MonoBlack: 1
Blue/Black Control: 2
GRB Aggro: 1


A lot of White Weenie, some Rock types, a good number of Snakes, and some random control decks floating around.

But, there are no Spiritcraft decks.

At this point, I decided that I'm going to need to change my deck. No sense going into a tourney with a Tier 3 deck that won't get me a single win. But which deck am I going to pick from the list above. Of the decks around, it is the Snake deck where I have most of the cards in my collection already, so I decided to switch to a Snake deck.

Snakes by David Gonterman Main Deck Sideboard 3 Orochi Leafcaller 4 Orochi Sustainer 3 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Seshiro the Anointed 3 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro Creatures [21] 4 Commune with Nature 4 Sosuke's Summons 4 Time of Need 3 Umezawa's Jitte Spells [15] 23 Forest (306) 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers Lands [24] Deck Total [60] 2 Gale Force 2 Jugan, the Rising Star 2 Kodama of the North Tree 4 Nine-Ringed Bo 2 Splinter 3 Wear Away Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

The basis of this deck is the same as any other Snake deck. It spits out a stream of snake creatures White Weenie style, both with its one and two drops, as well as the ever-returning Sosuke's Summons. Add a Legendary Snake, or two . . . or three . . . that boosts the smaller crits, and can do bad things if allowed to, and you have a steady series of alpha strikes that will take down many opponents. (The trick is to get more than one Summons into a cycle and attack with just the tokens.)

The most surprising part of constructing this deck is I only had to spend $20 to build it. All but two of the three Jittes were gotten by trading the stray cards I had in my collection which I'm not using anymore. Despite the warning Wizards made about the automated traders, they've been a real help. I was able to get all the trades and tickets I need and still keep this deck affordable.

I've tried (and fretted) about splashing a color, either red to add damage and splicing or white for enchantment hate. Each time I tried I've come back to mono green because I end up breaking what isn't broken and losing every game I'm in. At least there are good cards in green and artifacts to create a deck that should win matches in a regular fashion. It gets going with 3-4 lands, maybe sooner if you have a Sustainer as your second drop. The initial worry about the shuffler is somewhat solved with the inclusion of Commune with Nature. It can be a godsend on turn one because, if the shuffler decided to call you a dog before you even see the dice roll, and the shuffler does do that, it's a lot more comforting to see that screw appear when you see the next five cards with this spell (and pick one if there's a creature there) than getting locked, pummeled, or compelled to scoop for the next 5 turns. Of course, you could also see the only five forests that you have would have drawn this game, but that's an acceptable risk.

Wear Away and Splinter is a must for the sideboard with all the enchantment cards and artifacts floating around, with Splinter mainly for the Jittes on the other side. Jugam is here for the mirror game, when you're locked on land with equal forces and you need someone to fly over the stalemate. Northside is untargetable, good for splice and ninja decks, since they'll have to commit guys to chump-blocking. Gale Force is to clear the field of opposing fliers, be they black dragons, Meloku, or the flying tokens the Sailor Moon clone makes.

Last in the board is Nine-Ringed Bo. We're still in Kami Block, so there's going to be a lot of ectoplasmic naughty-spawn floating around.

This will no doubt be the deck I'll be playing with when I enter my first Kami Block Constructed tourney this Friday. I don't know how I'll do, I just hope to leave the tourney with at least one more point than when I entered, even if it's just by one point. I'll never know until I put down my six bucks. I'll try not to worry about wasting those six tickets, and those six hours, and those sixty points in my rating.

Wish me luck.

I'm going to need it.

David "Daveykins FoxFire" Gonterman
FoxStudiosDavid@MTGO