all your report are belong to us

Yesterday, I went to my first tournament since the latest BoM in May, 2010
(yeah, I've been pretty busy), and I didn't feel like playing either of the new
meta's contenders (aka 'Shop and Jace-vault).

I rather decided to go and try something new, a rogue deck which should take
advantage of the somewhat bland new meta, based mainly on artifacts and
heavy-cost spells. Plus, I somehow felt aggro should make it.

Thus, I tinkered with a few lists, mainly Zoo, R/G beats, U/R fish and Noble
Fish. The Zoo lists I found were too focused on the aggression, and the mana
base was weak at best. Fishes were too slow, keen on slowing down the opponent,
but with no real threat beyond the first 3 turns. I finally came to this list
(see below), around 1 AM, a few hours before the tournament.

The results were so-so, as I ended with 2 wins and 3 losses by the end of the
day, but with the feeling that the matches were pretty close, and that none was
'unwinable'. Had I had more time to train with the deck, I could have finished
with a far better score. As I often say, "blame the driver, not the car".

Now, the list :

Zooligan 1.0

CRITTERS (27)
3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Tin Street Hooligan
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Magus of the Moon
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Noble Hierarch

SPELLS (11)
2 Artifact Mutation
2 Path to Exile
3 Null Rod
4 Lightning Bolt

MANA (22)
2 Savannah
2 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl

SB: 3 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Ravenous Trap
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Nature's Claim

First match was vs a u/b/r Shop list. I won the first round although it seemed
pretty impossible to win: he cast a turn 1 Trinisphere, turn 2 Golem, turn 3
Tanglewire. As I had started and was able to drop a land each turn, I played an
Artifact Mutation at the end of his third turn, targetting Golem. I tapped the 4
tokens to the wire, and popped 3 Tarmo' and a Magus which ended the game
promptly.

Second round I sided out 3 Gaddock and 3 Mogg for 3 Kataki and 3 Nature's Claim.
I started by razing his board (bolt on his welder, wasteland, etc.), and
committed the mistake which cost me the round by wasting his 'Shop instead of
his Bazaar. He was able to come back to the game while I couldn't find my
answers.

Third round was quite the same.

Second match, I played vs Aggro Shop, with Hellkites and Wurmcoil Engines. My
opponents cast a turn 2 Hellkite, which met my Tin Street Hooligan. Turn 3, he
played another Hellkite (!!!), but I cast a Null Rod. The next few turns, we
traded damages, he found a blocker, but I topdecked an Artifact Mutation which
ended the game.

Second round, he sides-out his Spheres in order to side in all the robots he
can. He will win thanks to a Wurmcoil Engine, although he drew 4 Ancient Tombs
as his only mana.

Third round he wins to a Wurmcoil Engine as well.

Third and fourth match (vs Jace-vault and Gush-TPS) I win mainly thanks to mana
denial, Gaddock Teeg and Magus of the Moon. I sided in both REBs and Mindbreak
Traps which were a huge help. The trap really are a good threat, as most players
won't expect them in a R/G/W deck.

Fifth match, I lose vs Noble Fish (although the matchup is supposed to be in my
favor) by drawing no mana sources and mulliganing to death.

So, what went wrong during this tournament ? Well, to put it plainly, this is a
deck where each card can have a huge impact on the game. Thus, you have to play
each card exactly at the correct time. Each game I lost, I thought to myself
"had I played this card before/after this moment, things would have been very
different".

Secondly, the list has a *lot* of space for improvement. For instance, room
should be made for Ancient Grudges, as they create a nice card advantage. (I was
also advised to play Sylvan Libraries maindeck, but I'm not sure I will). Mogg
Fanatics are good vs Dark Confidants and Welders, but I saw very few of them,
and the Moggs were a liability vs the rest of the field. I was quite
disappointed with Gorilla Shamans and Kataki, as their impact on the game was
not so impressive on the long run - but this could be due to the way the rounds
went rather than a general statement.

Voila. Were I to run another average-sized tournament these days, I would still
play this deck, as it was really fun and allowed me to have a lot of
interactions with my opponents. Have fun!