Saturday was the day for Peasant Magic at Gen Con and the tournament sure didn’t disappoint. Before I talk about the event, I want to remind all the readers about the PEZ rules.
PEZ is the format for fun and creativity that brings players: new and old, casual and competitive, together. No rares are allowed in the format and only 5 uncommon cards can be in your deck. There are, however, no banned cards and all cards printed at multiple rarities count as their lowest rarity. Also, cards that were printed as C1 are counted as commons and cards printed at U1 are counted as uncommons.
Anyway, the day of the event I was drugged up and felt like I was flying thanks to the fact that I had surgery just a few days before. I appeared showed up that morning with no deck but both Marcus Anderson of www.card-shark.com and my friend Bob had been kind enough to build my deck for me. Marcus had suggested some changes to the deck which, in the end, I choose to ignore. He felt that the deck was a bit too slow for the format and had sought to improve that aspect of it. I felt that, although slow, the deck had a nice ability to turn games around and had enough creature removal to prevent the early game from getting out of control.
Coffer King (deck cost under $20)
22 Swamp
3 Cabal Coffers (Uncommon)
2 Demonic Tutor (Uncommon)
4 Drain Life
4 Soul Burn
2 Corrupt
3 Brush with Death
4 Cemetery Gate
2 Pestilence
4 Crypt Rat
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Vicious Hunger
2 Serrated Arrows
sb: 4 Innocent Blood
sb: 4 Terror
sb: 2 Serrated Arrows
sb: 2 Corrupt
sb: 3 Stench of Decay
I felt the deck was pretty solid although I hadn’t spent much time testing with the main deck Cemetery Gates and Pestilence. My test deck had instead included 4 main deck Innocent Blood and 1 each of an extra Swamp and Serrated Arrow. I think the change went over well as both the Gate and the Pestilence proved their worth and won games that I may otherwise have lost.
Marcus had counseled the removal of Brush with Death in Favor of Dark Ritual to accelerate the deck. As mentioned above, I felt that this was unnecessary since my deck doesn’t need speed even in this format. I must also say that Brush with Death may be the single most important card in the whole deck. It is the key to maintaining pressure in lieu of poor draws and is a very effective card to keep me ahead of my opponent. It also frees up the Soul Burn and Drain Life to be additional creature kill without having to worry about running out of life gain or win conditions.
The day started well as the fans of PEZ gathered despite a chaotic card gaming area, no announcement about where the event was located, and a misprint in the manual that had the event listed as a board game and not a CCG. Turn out was still around 50 people but I have a feeling that we could very well have had many more. I was feeling pretty good, only a little pain and a lot of nausea. I had my saltines, water, and prescriptions with me so I felt ready for anything.
Ronde 1
First round, I was paired off against Paul F. playing a Bird deck. In game one he laid an early Suntail Hawk which pecked me for one before I decided to emulate the prince of darkness and cast Vicious Hunger to remove the threat. Thereafter, I was in control removing his threats as they came into play and I was actually able to attack with a Crypt Rat for a point or two. At one point he was able to get a few licks in drawing me down to 15 life before I drained him down to 14, then to 8, and then dropped 8 an 8 point Drain to finish him.
Second match, I had much more control of the game. Although the game was longer, I ended at 34 life and dropped below 20 only once. Overall a fairly easy win.
Paul never was able to get an Aerie out against me, something that may have had some effect on the games. He did, however, drop Sorya and that was cool enough to earn a high-five from me. Having seen, I think, 2 Battle Screech and Sorya I wonder if he was playing only 2 Aerie’s (or less). If so, I think additional copies of the most broken bird card could have aided his deck ever. Still, Paul was a lot of fun to play against and I have a soft spot in my heart for Bird decks. This was a great game that helped put me in a great mood for the rest of the day.
1-0, 2-0
Ronde 2
Round 2 I was paired with Wes M. He was playing one of the three toughest match-ups for my deck: a mirror deck with discard instead of creature removal. I still feel as though the choice of removal over disruption is the proper one given the format. However, discard can be huge in very specific matches and if the format changes the way I think it might, discard will be even more important.
Anyway, Wes started off with Hymn to Tourach and followed that with a mid-game Coercion which really threw my deck off it’s pace. I hung in there with some Drains and Corrupts but in the end he was able to get ahead on life and Pestilence into the win.
Game 2 played out even faster than game 1. We basically just drained back and forth, turn after turn. He didn’t draw any discard that hurt me but he did drop a Chimeric Idol that ate away at my life. I didn’t draw into a single card that could deal with it and I spent some time kicking myself for not thinking to include the Idol in my build. In the end the Idol put him over the top and I came to the conclusion that I was happier with my 2 Tutors than I would be with a single Idol even though I had lost the game (beaten like a baby seal may be a better description).
1-1, 2-2
Ronde 3
Round 3 saw me face to face with a mono-blue deck piloted by Nicholas U. Nick’s deck was an interesting balance between control, ping, and fish. I believe it used all pining creatures except for Spire Owls and backed them up with Sunken City and counters.
Things looked pretty poor at the beginning as I was forced to mulligan a 6 land hand. He got out some creatures and followed that up with a Sunken City. He then beat me down to 8 life and kept my drain spells off his head with well timed counters. I cleared the board with a Pestilence or Crypt Rat and then I drained for 13 and finished him the next turn.
The second game I had a much better showing and was able to control the board a bit better. Early on he cast Volrath’s Curse on my Crypt Rats. After a few turns, however, I had a second Coffer on the table and he was within range. I sacrificed a Swamp to the Curse and then exploded the Rat for a win he couldn’t counter.
2-1, 4-2
Ronde 4
Round 4 I was paired with Danny M. and his Accelerated Stompy deck, which packed 4 Sol Ring. Danny and I had been trash talking since the beginning of the tourney since I kept telling him Sol Ring was not optimal and would be better replaced with an aggressive source of damage like Treetop Village. Danny was convinced that a turn 2 5/5 or 5/4 was a much more intimidating possibility than a land that could swing. We had been going back and forth all morning and now we got a chance to face each other.
Game 1 lasted quite a while. My deck drew a bit short on land and his deck drew a bit short on creatures (I think he played only 8 critters the whole game). Basically, he would swing for a while then I would draw some removal and we would stall until the cycle was repeated. At one point in the game, I drew into a Tutor and was unsure whether or not to Tutor for a Cabal Coffer or creature removal. I decided to hold onto the Tutor for a turn and see what happened. I then top decked my second Tutor and played both. Eventually I was one up on life at 8 points and I played 7 points of Pestilence to end the game.
Game 2 went real quick as he got a perfect draw. I don’t remember what beat me down but my life total went from 19 to 17 to 11 and then 0. I didn’t draw a single answer to anything he had and I wasn’t even able to deal a single point of damage to him.
Game 3 was a lot better for me. I got an early Vicious Hunger to remove an Elf and the I drained up to 26 life. He played a Blastoderm and I let it through my Cemetery Gates since I wanted to save them for a more critical attack. He eventually got me as low as 9 life but I was able to burn him out quick enough to pull out a win. This game was a little odd as we had about 5 turns in the middle of the match where we were both drawing our card and then ending the turn having nothing playable in hand.
3-1, 6-3
Ronde 5
Round 5 saw me paired against a really amazing White Weenie deck played by Joe A. My guess is that the deck contained 4 Mother of Runes and also packed (probably) 4 Standard Bearers and 4 Temple Acolyte (Portal). For those not in the know, Temple Acolyte is one of the most vicious cards in PEZ and one I complained about all through our three games. For 2 mana you get a 1/3 body and you gain 3 life. Not a bad deal at all, unless your opponent is the one playing it. His deck seemed a good deal quicker than most WW decks in the format, I’m guessing it had a lower curve. The only downside I saw was that it’s only kill card was 3 Army of Allah; he didn’t run a single Empyrial Armor. Then again with 4 Prismatic Strands his deck had a lot more kick to it than most.
Anyway, Game 1 he simple overwhelmed me with quick creatures. I gained some life off a Vicious Hunger but other than that he just rolled right over me and kept me from winning with a few Prismatic Strands. In fact, he ended the game unhurt and at 26 life.
Game 2 swung my way and although he was able to drop me down to 9 life after a real nice opening draw I came back to gain control of the board through my removal and the Serrated Arrows. Eventually I was just sitting back and casting Brush with Death over and over. Then, when he was at 1 life I got cocky and cast Brush with Death a twice in one turn, the second time without buyback. He responded with Congregate and since he had a single creature he just escaped death. I had no more win conditions in my hand so I was forced to top deck for 6 turns before I could finish him. Most opponents would have conceded early on but Joe hung in there and he had a chance for that decision to pay off, props.
Game 3 I had a bit of confidence back and both Joe and I had big smiles on our face after the last game. Unfortunately, I just drew land, Lots and lots of land. I Drained him for 6 early and then topped deck nothing but land for the rest of the game. It was a big let down for both of us as we were hoping for another long battle.
3-2, 7-5
Ronde 6
The final round was a great way to cap off my day. We knew right away that the 6 4-1 players all drew into the elimination rounds and that there was only one spot open for a 4-2. Then I got paired with Rob B., the founder of Peasant Magic who was playing a Berserk deck designed by the eventual tournament winner, Erik.
Game 1 I wasn’t able to touch Rob, instead I was focusing on removing every threat that hit the table. I felt as though I was doing good as I had 2 Cemetery Gates in play and Rob had only a lone Mongrel. Then he taps to attack with the Mongrel, pumps it a bit, and double Berserks it. My two walls couldn’t do much to stop a 44 power trample creature.
In game 2 it looks like I dropped two 5 point Drains followed by an additional 10 to finish him. Nothing at all remarkable happened except that Rob didn’t draw into a Berserk (or at least not with enough pump to make a difference).
Game 3 seemed to be going in favor of Rob as he was able to drop me to 6 life in only 2 attacks. I was then forced to Pestilence for 5 points over a couple of turns to keep the board clear. If you weren’t paying attention that means I was at 1 life. After the last Pestilence the board was completely clear except for land, not a good situation against an aggressive deck. However, I was able to quickly swing the game with a Brush with Death and 2 shots to the head with Drain Life.
4-2, 9-6
While it wasn’t the best finish I could have hoped for, especially with a deck that I still believe to be very solid, it was a very good finish considering my condition that day and I’m very pleased with it. Heck, considering how much fun we all had I would have been happy just to play.
I didn’t stay to watch the elimination rounds, instead I went home took a double dose of my pain meds and went to sleep. Others will have to fill in the details but what I do know is that a mono-blue Pros-Tides deck went undefeated to win the whole thing. That means that Blue is no longer the red-headed stepchild of the format and every single color is viable.
What does this mean for the future? Well, maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all. PEZ players aren’t the most cutthroat in the world so it is possible that people will decide that Pros-Tides is too good and not enough fun and simply leave the deck at home. I don’t think that is very likely, however.
What I think will happen is that a few more players will start to build Pros-Tides (as with any combo deck make sure you practice with it before you expect to win a tourney with it). Pros-Tides, however, can’t handle disruption very well. The reason is that Pros-Tide has a very limited number of counter spells (somewhere between 3 and 7) and the cards it does play are critical so even a single discard effect that gets the right card or a single counter that sneaks through can ruin the combo and put the deck off it’s normal pace of a 3-4 turn kill.
That means Black decks of all stripes, at least the ones that choose to play discard, will become more popular. UR decks (one took 3rd place although it packed 4 Library of Alexandria) may also see more play. This means the format will slow down a little, possibly even enough for UG, UW, UB and U Control to become viable contenders. That will of course push Pros-Tides out of the running and you will have a three tier effect. Disruption will beat Tides, Aggresssion (traditional WW and Sligh builds) will beat Disruption (especially if it is more Black disruption than Blue), and Tides will beat Aggression. At that point it’s simply a metagame call and pretty much every deck is still viable as long as enough of the tournament is set to beat Tides (say 20% of the players). As a matter of fact, it may be possible that the power of Tides will make even more decks viable.
Anyway, those are some interesting thoughts but the future remains unwritten and who knows what cards WotC will come up with next.
For more PEZ resources, visit www.geocities.com/peasantmagic/ the home site of the format. Also try www.card-shark.com/content/ and www.pojo.com/magic/peasantmagic/. Last but not least, PEZ has a busy Yahoo group, groups.yahoo.com/group/peasantmagic/, where many of us in the Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago area will be making arrangements to get together every few months for some additional PEZ fun.
The future of PEZ looks bright and it looks like many more conventions will feature Peasant events in the future. This is a format to keep your eye on so check the resources listed here and keep coming back to Game Players Network for future posts as well.
Jason Chapman