By Chris Davies

So this is a follow on to the Nationals Qualifier article I wrote. For those who haven't read the other article or need a quick refresher here it is: I took Boat Brew to a Manchester qualifier and went 3-0, hit two 5 Colour Control decks in a row and went home a very sad bunny. (Yes thats a VERY quick refresher).

I had a couple of ideas on improving Boat Brew against 5 colour control. I could switch to the Kithkin base that has become popular but it just didn't strike me as giving me that much more game. I tried out adding 3 additional flamekin harbingers to the board so that I could always find and recur Fulminators, to limited sucess. The deck had a final outing in the Grimsby Easter Weekend Tournament. After winning 3 rounds (one against Bad 5 colour control) and ID the final round to save rating with a friend, I'd won again with Boat Brew.

I knew I was heading to Leeds on the 18th April, and you'd think that with my win the weekend before I be happy with Boat Brew again, but I knew I still wasn't going to win against 5 Colour Control and with Dark Bant on the rise two, my match-up wasn't amazing either. So me and Matt Light (who had already qualified) looked at what deck I could play. We came across a couple of lists that had placed 2nd and 3rd in the SCG 1k event recently.

Green White Aggro... There were two very different lists. One with Cloudthreshers and Marshal Coups, the other with Ranger of Eos and Figure of Destiny. I worked on the deck, testing it as often as I could, running sample hands, learning how best to play the deck out and trying out as many match-ups as I could. Before I go into that... here's the list

Lincolnshire Evo - C.Davies (Leeds Nats Qualifier - 18/04/09)

Land
3 Reflecting Pool
3 Treetop Village
3 Windbrisk Heights
4 Wooded Bastion
4 Brushland
4 Forest
2 Plains

Creatures
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Cloudgoat Ranger

Spells
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Overrun
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
2 Oblivion Ring

Sideboard
2 Austere Command
2 Primal Command
2 Celestrial Purge
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Cloudthresher
3 Gutteral Response

So thats the deck, make guys, make guys bigger, smash face. The deck has some amazing things to put under windbrisk heights: Liege, Cloudgoat, Procession, Garruk, Overrun! The deck goes about its business fairly singled mindedly and can win out of absolutely no where even more than R/W Tokens or B/W Tokens.

A quick note on the match-ups I tested:

5 Colour Control - Elspeth, Garruk & Treetop Village are all beatings to 5cc. Bringing in Gutterals and Death-O-Flash Cloudthresher means this match-up is actually really good.

Dark Bant - So Deck that produces loads of chump blockers vs deck that swings with 1 guy. This match-up is only scary if they have trample (And I hear Primal Rage is well... all the rage).

B/W Tokens - Their tokens are usually bigger than yours... until you give all your guys +3/+3 and trample! In the space of one turn you swing the match back in your favour. All you have to do is survive while keeping something on the board. Austere command to wipe the field of tokens and enchantments is just a beating on them.

R/W Tokens or Boat Brew - Again this is about surviving and doing the damage where you can in hopes of landing a huge swing with Overrun. Primal command coming in to search for a cloudgoat and gain 7 life is usually enough to seal the deal.

Faeries - Well this isn't an easy match-up by any means. If you can get off a turn 2 spectral procession (from a turn 1 heirarch and turn 2 bastion) then the match-up becomes better. Out of the board you bring in the Thresher and gutterals to make your life a little easier.

Esperlark - Its becoming more popular and can get really tricky if they lock down your attacks with cryptics and keep wrathing your board. Life gets very difficult when their Larks come on line. Gutterals and cloudthresher in again here. Most of their flyers are 2 toughness and evoking your thresher to bring back two Sower'd Lieges is so funny.

Blightning or RDW - It can be a hard match-up. Here you're wanting throw out finks and stop as much damage as you can while making them use up their fallouts. The forge tenders and primal commands come in here and with enough life cushion you can win this without too much problem.

I'd say every match-up is 50/50 or better, no match is auto-win so there's plenty of room for player skill to win you some matchs.

Enough of the warm-up, I borrowed the cards I needed and headed to Leeds, this time I was going to try my hardest to qualify. The turn out was lower in Leeds and only 37 players meant a meager 4 slots to aim for.

Round 1 - Jim Marlow - Esperlark
The first land he drops is a vivid land and I do the common trick of mental fist pumping. As it happens its more to throw me off and he's just playing Esper. The first game I smash him a couple of times with an Elspeth boosted Treetop but he manages to lock me out of 3 combat steps with trip Cryptics.

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, -2 O-Ring, +3 Gutteral, +3 Thresher

The next game is short to say the least. Turn 2 Procession, turn 3 Garruk and a guy, turn 4 win. So into the final game and we both play out nicely, I land a finks which gets sowered, and another one. I have Elspeth and Garruk in play and trying to force him to block flying soldiers or beasts with his Sowers. The board end up up with him tapped out on 6 life with Double Sower (for double finks) and a mulldrifter. All I have is Elspeth and a single soldier token. I draw for the turn... Cloudthresher, evoke it to clear his board and put him to 4. Now my finks are back but unable to attack but then Elspeth up the token, swing in with the 4/4 Flying Soldier. Win!

Round 2 - John Ingham - Jund Ramp
We start the round off with a deck check. After spending the time talking with John we have a good laugh about me wanting lunch before the next round. With 9 minutes added to the round it looks like thats not going to happen although John says it might be likely (at least I know he's not playing Turbo Fog).

The first game is pretty quick, he accelerates into a Deus of Calamity which I have the Path for. I manage to get a few creatures on the board and Garruk up to 4. I draw my fifth land on my fifth turn play it down and with 4 creatures on my side unleash Garruk and then... cast the Overrun in my hand, +6/+6 and trample anyone?

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, -1 O-Ring, +2 Purge, +3 Forge-Tender

The next game was my favourite of the day. I land two Hierarchs and a forge-tender followed by a finks and then Garruk by turn 3. On his 4th turn he ramps up to Violent Ultimatum! I throw Garruk, Forest and Wooded Bastion into the bin. Leaving me with just a single plain (but 2 paths in hand). I draw for the turn, plains, lay it down and swing for 5 with finks. He can't find more gas and ships the turn, I draw a path. Swing in again for 5 which he chumps with birds this time. I draw another path the next turn (4 paths in hand!) and bash him down to 6. The next turn he thinks he can stabilise with Deus which I path at the end of his and path the birds he's left to block. I go for the called shot "Noble Hierarch off the top of the deck for 6 damage finks". The next draw: Noble Hierarch. Good game.

Round 3 - Mick "Lincolnshirebane" Edwards - Mono White Tokens
The first game is over so quick that all I see from him is a Windbrisk Heights and a Mutavault. I come in with a turn 2 Spectral procession and seal the game a little too quick. Now I have no idea at this point what colour he is playing to back up the white, is it B/W Tokens which I board Austere in against, is it R/W Tokens, in which case I can bring in Forge-Tenders. It might even be G/W Mirror which I bring in Thresher for... no idea.

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, +2 Austere Command +2 Cloudthresher

I go with what I do know, he's playing spectral procession, so wrath and thresher are strong. I joke with Mick that I don't really want to win this round as I'd go 3-0 again and then probably 0-3 like I had in Manchester. I don't remember much about the next couple of games, save to say I lost them both. Elspeth, Liege, Ajani (and apparently I didn't even see the mirrorweave!). This was as close to playing the mirror match as I think I will get. Mick played really tight so it doesn't surprise me that he won this game. My indecision about how to go about this match-up cost me the match. I need a better way to deal with Planeswalkers too

I learn afterwards that Mick had defeated both my travel mates in the previous rounds and then that he went on to defeat at least one more person from Lincolnshire. Thus his name Lincolnshirebane.

Round 4 - Ryan Brierley - Esperlark
So I'm 2-1 and I know I probably have to win out to secure one of the 4 slots. The first game goes pretty much to plan, I manage to keep rebuilding as he wraths and manage to establish a good enough board presense to swing in after a while.

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, -1 Finks, -1 O-Ring, +3 Gutteral, +3 Thresher

My opponent gets a little stuck around 3 and 4 mana. By which time I have a pretty good board and have managed to draw and play Garruk who is now on 5. He however has managed to get 2 Wall of Reverence out and a Stillmoon but is tapped out. I look at my board and at his and do some sums. He has 13 toughness of blockers and I don't quite have enough to win with Garruk's ultimate. I check the figures again and then notice the Path in my hand. I untap, fire off Garruk and then Path his wall, at which point he scoops. I was tempted to wait until he blocked before I pathed letting him thing he had stabilised, but that would be mean... I'm not that guy.

Round 5 - Chris Vincent - Boat Brew
The round is paired and I'm up against Chris who is 2-0-2 (so actually undefeated). I've seen him hold out with Boat Brew against 5cc so I know he's good and I'm a little scared of this match-up. Lucky for me the TO calls out that the round is being re-paired.

Round 5 - Jem Perks - NDW (Noggle Deck Wins)
As I get re-paired I breath a big sigh of relief. I saw this deck in Manchester (sitting next to me round 5) and here I was playing it. The first game he comes out with Riverfall Mimic, then another, then a Noggle, having swung for 9 unblockable damage I'm a little worried. I manage to find a finks and am swinging with some tokens in the air. Finally I draw into an Overrun and finish the game as quick as I can.

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, +3 Forge-Tender, +1 Primal Command

So the next game goes all my way, Turn 2 spectral while he is stuck on 2 lands. He gets nothing except a Hellspark elemental to stop this from being a very very quick game. So end of Round 5 I'm now 4-1 and one match away from Qualifying.

Round 6 - Chris Vincent - Boat Brew
The standings go up after round 5, two people on 13 (having played each other already), me at the top of 3 people on 12 and Chris is on 11 (two people on 10). That means that one person from each of the top 3 tables goes through and possibly one from table 4 (or one of the 13's on tiebreakers if they lose). We all have to play.

I didn't want to play against Chris as he's still undefeated. We both open with solid hands, he Moggs my mana producer to slow me a little, but I have more gas than him and allow him to swing with minimal blocks so I can maintain board presence. Eventually I find an overrun to seal the first game.

Sideboard: -4 Visionary, +2 Purge, +2 Thresher

This is not the way you want your final match to go. I like to win, I do, but this is not how I want it to happen. The second game, my opponent mulligans once, looks at his hand, back in again for 5... 5 produces no joy so its down to 4. Later he reveals he had a figure, mogg and 5 lands in his opener (I think). I only see a Rugged Prairie for him for 4 or 5 turns in a row, thats more than enough for my deck to go off. Not a good game.

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So, 5-1 and I've managed to qualify for Nationals for the first time. I'm completely over the moon but also a little sad of how I got my last round win. I congratulate Mick and Noel who also qualified (I didn't catch up with the 4th Qualifier). Unfortunately my two car mates (Mark and Mike) didn't qualify so the car journey back is pretty sober. The phone call to Matt Light (who qualified in Manchester) is a little more celebretory.

I'd like to say a quick thanks to a few people for helping me qualify.

Matt Light: You may hold the record for the worst Pro Tour performance ever, but you're a brilliant player and an awesome strategist. Without your help I wouldn't have qualified. We'll break the format before nationals!

Mark Pinder: Travelling companion, Magic Mentor and favourite TO. I know you'll qualify this year just as soon as you get those Meddling Mages from Reborn! Thanks for your help and support.

Tom, Mike, James & the Lincolnshire Magic Crew: Thanks for all the help, playtesting and support. You guys are some of the most fun guys I've ever played with and its nice to see more of us Qualifying this year. Remember "Less Learning... more winning!"

Morgan Davies: Morgan is my son we call him Mog (or Mogg to Magic players). I've played magic properly since just before he was born. One day this guy is going to win a Pro Tour.

Amy Davies: My beautiful wife, you put up with me when I'm depressed from losing, you put up with me being out of the house multiple weekends in a row. You are my number one supporter (even when you're annoyed at me). Without you in my life there wouldn't be any motivation. I love you always.

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