In my last article, I detailed my preparation and the decks I liked. I got a lot of questions at Worlds about my exclusion of Loraala the Frigid from the pre-Worlds discussion, and I think the answer lies in a simple miscommunication. I had seen a terrible Loraala deck that used Ossus the Ancient and Arcane Warding in an attempt to lock the opponent out of the game. Whenever someone referred to Loraala, that was the deck that sprang to mind. The good Everlasting Cold/Blizzard/Brittilize/blue allies version that we saw everywhere at Worlds was something we also had in our testing—we just called it “the Merrick deck.” It evolved parallel to our Velindra list, and in many ways we lumped those two decks together in discussions. To my mind, the red version was much better than the blue versions, because everyone would be teched against blue allies, thinking they would be the most popular. In retrospect, we should have been more flexible on our hero choice, as the flips on Loralaa and Spellweaver Jihan were better suited to the environment and the deck, regardless of how powerful Nicholas’s flip was in a vacuum.

I severely underestimated the presence of blue Mage at Worlds, but that wasn’t such a bad thing—the deck I chose to play had a pretty reasonable matchup against it. I solidified my decision the Tuesday before Worlds, rocking Chloe Mithrilbolt in a Battleground tournament and becoming completely smitten. I flew out for Austin after work on Wednesday with Basem Alsalah and met up with Dan Overbeek soon after our arrival. As for the rest of the crew, the Northeast guys and Mike Jacob were arriving Thursday, while Dan Clark, Jason Newill, Jacob Gillham, and Paul Nicolo felt particularly ambitious—he chose to drive all the way from Michigan. Late Wednesday night, Basem and I took a stroll through downtown Austin, and it lived up to its reputation for live music.

We joined up with Mike Jacob on Thursday morning, while the others were still driving. Mike and I still wanted to tune the deck a bit, and we chatted on the way to the Crafting booth at the convention center. We decided that two Overpowers were sufficient, although Mike ended up only running one, and we both agreed that Twinblade of the Phoenix was useless. Eventually, our brainstorming session ended with only a few changes.

Hero: Chloe Mithrilbolt

Abilities: 22

Equipment: 24

Quests: 14

Side Deck: 10

The only difference between Mike’s list and mine was that he replaced one Overpower with a single Arcanite Dragonling. The Dragonling was our technology to handle an opposing Talisman of the Alliance, as it was the only maindeckable 1-cost equipment. If there was a playable 1-cost armor, we'd have probably played it instead.

At the tournament site, we ran into Dan Clark's group, along with Steve Lynn and Chad Gaynier, players from our local Battlegrounds. After everyone got registered, we met up with Bobby Victory, Andy Farrell, and Andy Hoang at Ironworks for some Texas-style BBQ, then headed back to the site to round up Charles McArthur for a practice draft and some Constructed testing at my hotel. My draft deck was pretty sick, featuring three board sweepers: Iravar, Carnage, and Burgle when combined with one of my two Heartless. I also had a pair of Victimizes to win the card advantage war, and a full playset of Celerity, which basically forced the opponent to overextend into my sweeper effects. Elder Zeez was the perfect finisher, as his Elusive didn’t blank my own Celerity, and he hit like a truck—I played two. Unfortunately, I was only able to finish 2-1, losing out to Bobby’s infinite burn Shaman deck. I stabilized the board on 8-12 damage both games, then just got burned out. He had two or three copies of Fork Lightning, Greater Chain Lightning, Earthen Flurry, and Tremor Shock.

After the draft, we relocated to the Northeast guys' hotel room, which was a bit of a hike. On the way there, McArthur declared that he would only play Chloe if I could prove that it beat Velindra. When we arrived, Mike and I set up against Andy Farrell and Charles. Once the combined records were 6-1 in Chloe’s favor, Charles admitted he was wrong. He still wouldn’t play it though—what a world, with Charles McArthur fixed on Horde rush and me piloting solo Warrior!

And just like that, we were out of time. Worlds was upon us, and we had to simply trust in our testing and experience.

Round 1: Peter Banck—Gyro of the Ring

A feature match here. A key detail is that I had only 5 counters on Cloak of Darkness when he played Pappy Ironbane, but I did have In Defense of Halaa available. As he scanned my board, contemplating what he might destroy, I reminded him about his Dimzer trigger—I asked him, “Draw a card?” He bit, and I was able to kill the 2/7 Protector with my Cloak, effectively winning the game, as his only other Pappy was already face down in the resource row. I didn’t know that, and was really stressed when he dumped 3 of my 4 copies of Owned! with a timely Detect Traps. I felt pretty lucky to get out of that match with a win, as he had plenty of tough cards for me to beat.

1-0

Round 2: Dmitry Burtsey—Pidge Filthfinder.

Luckily for me, this matchup is generally straightforward. He had maindeck Talisman of the Alliance, which was unexpected, and used it to kill my Cloak and a Bonecracker on the third turn. However, the first game went like clockwork, and I had an Owned! ready for his Pappy Ironbane. In game 2, I didn’t see a Pappy from him for a long time, until he finally played one with 2 resources still ready. I knew he had Blue Suede Shoes, but I didn’t have Goggles or way to fetch one in a reasonable time frame, so I still went for it with Owned! He had the Shoes. It would still take him a few turns to dismantle my dominating board position, and I had a second copy of Owned!, so I wasn’t too concerned . . . until he produced a second copy of the Shoes. Suddenly, I was in trouble. Even though I did eventually remove the Pappy, the damage had been done.

Game 3 again went long, except this time when he played Pappy, I quickly readied and played Keys to find Tankatronic Goggles. He showed me two Suspended Curse and a Blue Suede Shoes. I then played Owned! on his Pappy Ironbane. He responded with the Shoes. We stared at each other for a moment, and then Dmitry came to understand the true power of my wondrous Goggles. With his most relevant cards taken care of, it didn’t take long for me to clean this game up.

2-0

Round 3: Sammy Gilly—Skumm the Pillager

Just great. Not only does a metagame predator like my deck thrive on facing known archetypes, but Rogues have plenty of dangerous tools. If his build was anything like I imagined it would be, with Ruthlessness/combo cards/Vestments, then I could be in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, it was. In game 1, I felt like I was in the driver’s seat until he played Kidney Shot on my resources and dropped a Vestments. When he interrupted my next two plays with a Deathblow and a Surge of Adrenaline, followed by a Burgle, I packed it in.

I got ahead of him in game 2 with a Bonecracker and a Cloak, then used my interrupts to protect my position. Eventually, I got a Pappy Ironbane into play, and finally felt safe against him landing a Vestments. I played fairly conservatively in this game, trying to ensure I not lose a won game. I chose not to fight his Thud!s and Truncheons, and tried to leave up double interrupt whenever possible. Here’s where I ran into problems—after I close him out in game 2, we ask a passing judge about the time remaining, and we’re told a mere 7 minutes are left. We shuffle and present, both in a timely fashion, and begin. Of course, he gets the draw that shoots me with Johnny Rottens and Slay the Feebles. I had what I needed, a Cloak and a Bonecracker, so the game was on. Here’s where things get awkward. As he passes on turn five, I complete a Concerted Efforts. During my completion of this quest, time is called in the round. That means that he is turn zero, while I get turns one and three. As it played out, I had no shot against his topdecked Thud!, whereas an additional turn would have given me the ability to leave up Absolute Poise for his two draw steps. It was a truly frustrating way to lose.

2-1

Round 4: Pat Eshghy—Pidge Filthfinder

I was relatively certain that this was the “Las Vegas list” I had heard about. If that was true, then Pat would have maindeck Talisman of the Alliance, Pappy Ironbane, and Woodsie Leafsong. Woodsie’s no problem—though she can make a bad situation worse, she'll rarely win the game on her own. In the first game, he’s able to land an early Battle Mage’s Baton on five resources, thanks to Gromble the Apt, and I didn't have the interrupt. That was pretty much game right there! I certainly didn’t expect the Baton in game 1, and boarded in my answers. Game 2 went better, as I was able to Owned! his Pappy, play around his Talisman, and generally blank all of his cards.

Of course, immediately after I concede, it is pointed out that I could Owned! the Weldon tokens, exhaust the Pappy with the Battlegear, and kill him. Whoops! I was too focused on Owned!’s primary job in the matchup, killing Pappy, and I completely missed a game-winning play. I’ll chalk this loss up to my own stupidity. The lesson? Know all of the applications of your cards, even the corner cases. Also, practice for playing in time, as I could have won a longer game by dropping another Defiance and Owning the pappy, leaving him drawing dead.

2-2

Round 5: Brad Theis—Gyro of the Ring

Another Rogue? Wasn’t this tournament supposed to be all squishy casters? I get game 1 fairly easily, as he never finds a Pappy and fails to rush me out with Cymbre and Adam. Berserker Bracers ruins his plans, and I take the first game in a rout. I’m feeling good in game 2, doing basically the same thing as before, when he drops a Boundless Agony. No, I did not see that one coming. He then proceeds to utterly destroy me with his unpreventable damage. Game 3, I board in Demolish and Pappy, treating the Agony like a Battle Mage’s Baton, but unfortunately I don't draw those answers, and go down in flames. In retrospect, Concerted Efforts may have been a factor here, as I passed up two answers to the Dagger with that quest. If only Warrior had an answer to equipment with an even cost—I might have been able to win this one.

2-3

Round 6: Nicholas Jamoulle—Loraala the Frigid

This was it. My back was against the wall. Fortunately, I had drawn a good pairing. Unfortunately, I had drawn a good player as well. He's on the play and sticks an Everlasting Cold, followed by passing turn two with no play. I assume (correctly, it turns out) that he is sitting on The Taste of Arcana and decline to play my only 2-drop on turn two. On his turn three, he plays an Elder Achillia, and I’m right back where I started. I have no choice but to run headlong into his Taste. He has an Adam on the next turn, and a second Taste. Things are looking grim! I try to stabilize with Berserker Bracers, but he has the Brittilize.

In game 2, I get Tasted on turns two and three again, which is frustrating, as those are the only turns when that card does anything at all, but I eventually get the game going in the direction I want it to go. I get him really good with an Amani Mask of Death that I tutor up, which draws a wry smile from the French Canadian. Perhaps spurred on by my experiences with running out of time, I play a little too aggressively. He draws a ton of burn at the exact right time to kill me through double interrupt and four pieces of armor.

2-4

Demoralized, I drop from the tournament. I try telling myself that it was just bad pairings, but I know I didn’t play as tight as I could have in the last round. I definitely shouldn’t have lost that second game. I do a little interview with PaulECoyote, before being convinced to un-drop, as some 4-4s have a shot at Day 2. I get to the stage just in time, and suddenly I’m back in the game, boys!

Round 7: Brian Jonas—Savitir Skullsmasher

After I saw this guy's deck, I kind of wished that I had stayed dropped. Post-side, he had all of the following cards in his deck: Deadliness, Detect Traps, Demolish, Munkin Blackfist, Cromarius Blackfist, Talisman of the Horde, Burgle, Thud! and Blackout Truncheon. He even had Band of Vile Aggression, which is pretty terrible for my deck if activated often. Most of those were full playsets. I know this because I played Owned! in game three, and was just stunned at the level of hate for my solo deck. However, despite all of that, I still won.

In the first game, he didn’t have as much hate, and misnamed on his first Detect Traps. He tried to position himself for a race, but I played Owned! on both of his good finishers, Kazamon Steelskin and Rehgar Earthfury, and he couldn’t deal enough damage through the armor. In game 2, he simply blew up the first seven things I played! He also used Detect Traps to blow up my hand twice. After that, winning was academic. In game 3, he fundamentally misunderstood his role. See, with that much removal, he’s not the aggro deck—I am. As you are probably aware, my deck is not very good at being aggressive. Anyhow, he still had a ton of removal, as well as a turn four Detect Traps to nuke a good portion of my hand. He also had a Band of Vile Aggression on the board, unused, for a long time. Eventually, I get him in range, wait a turn for him to exhaust all of his resources, and Gorehowl him for game. He was definitely blindsided by it, but he could have easily played around it by just blowing up my resources with his Band. He was too concerned with killing me, rather than containing me. I felt very fortunate to escape this round with a victory.

3-4

Round 8: Matt Griffin—Ryno the Wicked

Matt was a really nice guy from New Zealand. He didn’t seem very familiar with my deck or its cards, as he had to read pretty much everything I played—one of the advantages of going rogue! The first game was academic. He built a board, I built my defenses, and then he dropped Pappy on turn seven with 4 counters on Eye of the Storm. I immediately dropped Owned! on the 2/7, looked through his deck, and knew that he had no chance of winning. In game 2, he went all-out on rush, with Cymbre Shadowdrifters and Mikael the Blunts, trying to take me down as soon as possible. This plan hit a wall of armor, and once his Pappy got Owned! again, it was smooth sailing. Matt was a cool guy, though, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet him.

4-4

Not exactly the result I was hoping for coming in. Mike punted his last round to end up 7-1 rather than 8-0, while most everyone else made Day 2 at 6-2. After a bittersweet celebration dinner, it was time to figure out what I was going to do with myself. This was the first time I had ever missed Day 2 at a major event, so I decided to go for the Darkmoon Faire. I honestly never check out the side events, so I was kind of surprised by the six-set Sealed format. It sounded wacky. Before bed, Dan Overbeek and I went through the last block’s commons and uncommons, with me trying to point out cards that are deceptively good/bad. Dan didn’t play until earlier this year, so he was probably feeling a little bit of information overload, but he’s a smart guy. I figured he could handle it.

My Darkmoon Faire deck just wasn’t very good. I had two discard abilities, Mental Anguish and Vampiric Tendrils, and one removal card, Cuffs of Devastation, backed up by a bunch of large allies that didn’t do a whole lot. Spiritualist Sunshroud pitched in an additional ally removal effect, but overall the deck was pretty lackluster. While I love a Rodrigo as much as the next guy, there are only so many vanilla allies you can have in your deck before it starts getting bad, no matter how large or efficient said allies are. I was dangerously close to that territory. Still, I pressed on, and to my utter shock, found myself at 5-0. I lost Round 6 to an actual deck with cards that interacted well together. He opened on Himul Longstrider into Johnny Rotten, killing my 2-drop, and it was all downhill from there. I beat Joe Gayda in Round 7, whose deck was worse than mine, and found myself in a “win and in” situation. My opponent was none other than Matt Griffin, my last round opponent from Day 1, and he was looking for revenge.

Sadly, he got it. He stole one of the games out from underneath me with a perfectly timed topdeck—Terokk’s Shadowstaff. I managed to take it to three games, but his deck’s superior firepower and some questionable plays on my side ended my run in a disappointing 12th place. One of these games was a perfect “you make the call” situation, and I’d like to share it with you in the hopes of creating some discussion.

It's game 1, and he’s playing first. His hero is Phosphus the Everburning. He opts to keep his opening hand and places a face-down resource to play Arcanite Dragonling. I place a quest and pass. He places another face down and plays Hulok Trailblazer. I place a quest and Natasha Hutchins. On his turn, he places a quest and then attacks Natasha with Hulok and plays a 3-drop 4/2. I place a third quest, and have a decision—I can play Gladiator Emek, hoping to trade for the 4/2, or play Mental Anguish, leaving him with one card and one face-up quest. I have 4 and 5-drops in hand, including a Protector at each slot (4/4 and 4/5). What would you do here? Take a moment to think about it, as I think I’ve presented you with all the relevant information, before reading on.

I chose to Mental Anguish him. My reasoning was that there was a distinct possibility that this was my last opportunity to do so for full value, as he could easily dip below two cards on his next turn with a pair of 2-drops. Moreover, I really wanted to get my 4- and 5-drops online, which meant that whichever 3-cost card I did not play would probably end up in the resource row. As it played out, he readied, set a face down, and played Retainer Kai, bashing me for 4 damage. On my turn, I played the 4/4 Protector, which was answered by his flip, another face down, and a Dragonling activation, putting me to 14 damage. It was there that I dropped the hammer, adding a 4/5 Protector to the board. On his turn, he drew and said “That’s really good!” He flashed the game-winning Terokk’s Shadowstaff.

It’s easy to look at a game like that and say, “Oh, he got so lucky,” but while that is true, it’s hardly useful. The fact of the matter is that I put myself in a bad position by ceding board control to empty his hand when his flip made it so difficult for me to recover lost board presence. Yeah, he drew the perfect card for the situation, and I might not have beaten his draw even if I had played Emek, but I should have focused on the board situation first and foremost. It’s always frustrating to lose at the very end, especially when you feel you could have played differently to potentially get the win, but Matt was a great guy and a gracious winner. I wished him luck for the next day and tried to catch up with my teammates.

Andy Farrell had a great first draft, which propelled him to a 15th place finish, the highest on the team. Mike Jacob slid to 24th place after a rough draft day, and Basem Alsalah continued to prove he’s a stud, finishing in 26th. Dan Clark finished in 31st after a disappointing result with one of the most insane draft decks I've ever seen, and Chad Gaynier did us proud by placing in 32nd after his first Day 2 appearance. McArthur pulled down 46th, a disappointing result for him given his high standards, but nevertheless very respectable, while Paul Nicolo was able to snag some money in 57th. Andy Hoang finished 62nd after some tough breaks at the draft tables, but at least he made it to Day 2.

Over on the DMF side, Jacob Gillham, Rob Victory, and I were all riding near the top tables, but we all ended up on the bubble going into the last round. Rob won, while Jacob lost and got Owned! on tiebreakers, finishing 9th. While the event didn’t go well for me personally, the team continued to prove that we have some great talent. As I said at the beginning, I would definitely play the Chloe deck again if I had it to do over. Sometimes you need to make a bold deck choice, and I think our solo Warrior deck would have had the juice to get it done in Top 8.

Block is over, and Realm Championships are coming up fast—check out my Elite Minion Facebook page for regular updates on Constructed decks. I’ll be back soon with a Sneak Peek at Scourgewar!