[Origins] Broken Oath and the Rogues - an Origins report and Analysis (long)

[The Corrupter]

It was an exciting Fourth of July weekend for both Team Rogue and Cabal
Rogue...

This report will begin with a short overview of my Origins experience, go to
an analysis of the new decks to emerge from Origins, and then go into a
more detailed description of Origins...

The Overview:

Wednesday: We arrive with much gusto, sending two people to the top 4 with
the deck of the weekend, Broken Oath... It gets heavily copied and is
soon metagamed out of the environment (Chris Wong incorrectly attributes
our deck and the anecdotes related to the deck to Team Legion, but the
deck was played by Team Rogue and created by me and Cabal Rogue, with
inspiration from Robert Hahn)

Thursday: I continue to play our Broken Oath, and have fun in the
Gauntlet, as one of the invited personalities taking the money from those
willing to put up or shut up. Only my Teammate, Brian Kowal, wins versus
the Gauntlet, but a good time seemed to be had by all...

Friday: A bit more relaxing... I take some time away from the convention
center, and, when I return, start to playtest more decks for my two
qualified teammates in the US Nationals. In the end, we resolve our
choices to a pair of decks from affiliated non-team members.

Saturday: I watch the action in Nationals, and play _AGAINST_ the
Gauntlet, throwing away money to Flores and the like. Our highest
showing is 19th in Nationals, quite respectable.

Sunday: Top 8 day. The Nationals team is made, and Cabal Rogue prepares
for the Dojo Invitational, taking 4th.

Monday: On our way home...

---

Analysis of the decks this weekend

While the weekend included a large number of new surprises and new
additions to Type 2, the following stand out:

From the Midnight Open:

Two decks achieved major notice in the midnight open, Broken Oath (by
Adrian Sullivan and Cabal Rogue) and David Williams's original Recurring
Nightmare/Survival of the Fittest deck... Both of these decks are by no
means the sole product of their inventors (others, for example, may have
been working on similar ideas), but both of these decks were very well
devloped and influential upon their followers.

"Broken Oath" by Adrian Sullivan and Cabal Rogue
4 Oath of Druid
3 Propaganda
2 Creeping Mold
3 Brainstorm
4 Impulse
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Sylvan Library
4 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Hatcher
1 Spirit of the Night
1 ArchAngel
2 Force Spike
3 Mana Leak
4 Counterspells
2 Forbid
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Reflecting Pool
11 Island
7 Forest

Two members of Team Rogue took this deck (albeit not honed) to the top
4 of the first (midnight) US Open, one eliminating the other from the
Open... With much attention from the field that night, trading for Oath
of Druids skyrocketed. In response to the deck, the metagamed shifted
rapidly, with many of the successful White Weenie decks beginning to
sport standard enchantment removal (Soltari Visionary was common), and
the field slowed down half a pace, as the standard weenie attack (in
black and red especially) were generally unable to deal with the threat.
The deck was developed upon the inspiration of Rob Hahn, through Cabal
Rogue (an internet think tank), with the archetyped version copied from
the open designed primarily by me. Common questions regarding the deck
are based upon two things: creature selection and counterspell
selection. The base creatures important to the deck are the Feeders and
the Spirit of the Night... Subsequent versions phased out the Hatcher for
Spike Weavers (based primarily on the inspiration of The Crew's Ron
Serio, Sexecution Society member Dan Bock, and Milwaukee's Paul Artl).
Counterspell selection was based on the expected meta-game... a shift to
faster (Force Spike, Mana Leak) counters seemed apropriate for a
fast-attack environment, but a shift towards slower (Forbid, Dissipate)
counter might be important in a slower environment.

David Williams Survival of the Fittest/Recurring Nightmare deck
(referred to as Williams' Tech) was important for being very visible in
the midnight Open (Top 8 finish). Including each of the 187 creatures
(including Cloudchaser Eagle), Tradewind Rider, and Wall of Blossoms,
Survival can very easily get Williams Tech to any of its "answer" cards.
After achieving this state, Recurring Nightmare will begin the loop of
Wall of Blossom/187-critter, removing a large amount of threats wile
drawing cards.

Two other new additions to the type 2 scene were the
monocolred successful US Nationals decks, Jon Finkel's "Forbidian" and
Seth Burn's "Burn Green". Both of these decks are available from the
WotC page from the Nationals Top 8.

Forbidian's largest surprise, to many, was the inclusion of Meekstone
in its sideboard. Answering threats from Armored creatures, Bad Moon,
and the difficult to handle (in mono-blue) Scragnoth. One of the decks
fundamental strengths comes from its name "Forbidian": with an Ophidian
drawing cards, the buyback cost of Forbid is negligeable, and any
additional counters drawn serve as addition opponent suppression. The
severe strength that Ophidian gives to Forbid is even more apparent to
those watching the deck play. I strongly suggest playing the deck
yourself to see.

Burn Green was, perhaps, the largest surprise of the US Nationals.
Monogreen, running Desert Twister, Spikes, and Eladmiri's Vineyard,
Burn's deck had two top 8 appearances. While many feel this showing
"proves" mono-green to be in fine shape, I think that this is promising,
but does not suddenly give Green the fair shake many might claim it has.

The final deck of the weekend, proving itself againand again in side
tourneyments was Paul Artl's "Spike Girls", a deck similar in design to
both Williams Tech and Seth Burn Green, developed independently in Milwaukee.

"Spike Girls" by Paul Artl (slight Modifications made by Team Rogue)
4 Servy Spike (Spike Soldier)
4 Saucy Spike (Spike Feeder)
4 Misty Spike (Spike Weaver)
2 Uktabi Orangatang
2 Nekratal
4 Wall of Blossom
2 Stampeding Wildebeest
1 Dauthi Mindripper
4 Eladmiri's Vineyard
4 Harrow
2 Corpse Dance
2 Living Death
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Recurring Nightmare
2 Volrath's Stronghold
1 City of Brass
2 Gemstone Mine
5 Swamp
11 Forest

This deck had a strong showing in each of the side tourneys at Origins,
getting in the top 4 of most of the tourneys it was entered in and
winning more than one tourney. Played by Team Rogue member Jacob Janoska
in the US Nationals, the deck went 4-2, but according to Jacob, probably
should have gone 5-1 (he attributes the loss to a sideboarding error).

A strong showing from this weekend. 5 new archetypes after only a single
month of availability of EX is fairly impressive.

---

The Long Form

--- Or ---

How Cabal Rogue and Team Rogue Fared at Origins

Things started off badly. On Wednesday, with half of the Team flying and
half of the team going by car, the ground-based half took a huge
nosedive: the car was dead. Much scrambling (and fits regarding smoking
tires and busted bearings) resulted in a ride with WI Standard Champion
Robert Castro.

Team Rogue makes the final changes in Broken Oath, and prepares for the
Midnight Open... They were playing:

Aaron Souders: Broken Oath (proto-version)
Jim Hustad: Broken Oath (proto-version)
Brian Kowal: Broken Oath (evolved-version)
Adrian Sullivan: Broken Oath (Cap proto-version)

Cabal Rogue (an internet magic think tank) also spent a bit of time
together, and, all-in-all, had an extremely successful Open experience
(with multiple Cabal or teammates of the Cabal in Top 16s and higher).

Brian takes an early loss, and I lose in Round One to Mark Garrison of
Fredericksburg.

Jim and Aaron swing into high gear and end up in the final four. Jim
eliminates Aaron in a close match. Aaron is fuming mad, but these things
do happen. A look at the decklists shows that had they matched up
against the other two, it would have been a Team Rouge sweep of the first
qualifier. C'est La vie.

After that first Open, a minimal ammount of sleep and the new and
improved Broken Oath was unveiled, basicly with alteration reflecting the
Open field, and a replacement for the Bad Spike Hatcher...

Broken Oath by Adrian Sullivan (with Cabal Rogue)

4 Oath of Druids
3 Propaganda
3 Static Orb
1 Spirit of the Night
4 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
3 Brainstorm
4 Impulse
2 Sylvan Library
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Force Spike
3 Mana Leak
4 Counterspell
2 Forbid
3 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Quicksand
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Reflecting Pool
9 Islands
6 Forests
(NOTE: The Quicksands were an addition to deal specifically with Soltari
Visionary, if you don't care about the visionary, replace with an Island
and a Forest; the counterspell collection can be shifted to accomodate a
high or low speed environment - the current selection is for a high-speed
environment)

The 8 AM Open:

ROUND 1 - I beat the DCI's worst player, Mr. Bye... I'll spare you the
details.

ROUND 2 - Gaben Moore - 1600 - Concord - independent - WWx

Gaben is a nice guy who was born in my own town of Madison WI. He's
playing a fairly standard White Weenie with other colors splashed in.

Game 1 - I get out a Static Orb to slow his attack, followed quickly by
an Oath. His attack can't keep up with my life gain, especially after a
propaganda hits the table. Spirit comes to the table and ruins him.

Game 2 - He mulligans, and I simply take early control with a counter
protected oath. When he declines to lay creatures, I beat him down with
a Spike Feeder till he changes his mind, and then I Oath every turn with
counter-support.

ROUND 3 - David Goodnuf - 1776 - Dallas - Team Ramallama - Draw-Go

David and I have a pretty intense game 1. He is using a modern draw-go
with Legacy's Allure and 14 Counterspells. This is going to be a
difficult matchup.

Game 1 - It is a long slow game. We fight counter-wars over Nevinyral's
Disks and Static Orbs... eventually I bet him down with a feeder, and he
forces out a Disk. He Pops it and lays a steel Golem.
My library is very depleted. I lay a pair of Propagandas to slow him
down and search with manipulation to get the last feeder. The feeder
blocks and brings me back up to 5 from 1. I choose to draw an uncastable
(currently) Spirit of the Night and cast the Oath. The Oath recycles my
library on the next turn, I'm at 2. I cast a feeder (brought into my
hand by Sylvan, I had no feeders left in library prior to recycling).
After I get my life up a short amount, I brainstorm the Spirit into play
and kill him.
One of the most exhausting games I've had in a long time. A very good
game.

Game 2) Time fizzles out (too much used in game 1)

ROUND 4 - Nathan Nichols - 1753 - Seabring FL - Team Magic Cannibals - WWx

Nathan is a younger guy playing a deck very similar to my 2nd round
matchup.

Game 1 - I slow the game down with 3rd, 4th, and 6th turn Propagandas.
By the time he recovers, a Spirit of the Night is visiting him...

Game 2 - I Oath out creatures, but he continuously Armors weenies,
ignoring my propogandas. He is slowed heavily by a Propaganda/Static Orb,
and I counter and disenchant his Armors and he never can finish me.
Spirit finishes...

Round 5 - Mike Flores - ???? - TDC (Member of Cabal Rogue) - ProspBloom

Mike and I look around and 4 members of Cabal Rogue are in the top 16...
Things have been looking good for us all weekend, and this matchup is a
bit disappointing, but was coming close to inevitable.

Game 1 - I wait for him to try and go off, throwing in Counterspells to
disrupt him. He eventually attempts to go off, but doesn't have enough
of a library left to get a strong enough Drain. He drains for 20, and
I'm at 22 life.

Game 2 - I'm a bit mana-screwed, but I begin to recover, counter-protect
a Jester's Cap, and take his roads to victory out...

ROUND 6 - Glyeb Koumasinski - 1979 - Columbia MD - independent - 5CU

Another horrible matchup... This game is like playing T1 control-versus
control.

Game 1 & 2 - Both games are long involved affairs that end in a counter
war over a fireball for the kill. In each case, he wins the war. :(

I try one more time, losing to Brian Hacker (playing SRB) on time, after
we get to game 3. I have the game in hand, but lose 18-20 in life. I
love single elim. (He was Prop/Orb locked, and I had lifegain recursion
going). Another turn and I would have won... C'est la vie. He goes on
to lose to a WW deck with almost no enchantment elim. Who knew? :)

I spend the rest of the day hanging out with people.
A small number of us play Variant (called mental magic by some) and I
enjoy my time with Kibler, the TDC guys, John Shuler, and Rob Hahn. Rob
and I play a fun and extremely good game, with numerous incidents like:

Rob: Abeyance you?
Me: Fork It.
He: Hydroblast the Fork
Me: Thoughtlace the Fork
He: Chaoslace the Fork
Me: Purelace the Fork
He: Damn.
(So much for his geddon)

That night, the Gauntlet gets organized by Mike Flores and Rob Hahn. I
have the honor of being one of the opening line-up:

Table 1 - Dan O'Mahoney-Schwartz - Blitz
Table 2 - Al Tran - White Weenie
Table 3 - Bob "The Bomber" Maher - Prospbloom
Table 4 - Adrian Sullivan - BrokenOath
Table 5 - Brian Kibler - "Modern" Draw-Go

We have a seriously fun night, and I even take some time to play at the
beatdown end with Bill Macey Black, and a Blitz Red deck. In the end,
only my teammate Brian Kowal manages to beat the Gauntlet.

There was a Friday in there somewhere, but I don't remember muchof it...
Spending 42 hours awake was a bit difficult...

Playtesting finished that night, and in the wee hours of the morning, my
teammates have their decks. Jim Hustad is out of the running, but Jakob
"Danger" Janoska is looking like he could be in. They finish 4-1-1, and
4-2, respectively, but apparently should have been 5-1 each... A 5-1
finish would have projected Jake into contention for top 8, but we won't
dwell on that.

---
The Dojo Invitational

Numerous teams showed up, and we had Cabal Rogue members throughout a
heap of them. John Shuler ended up playing on another team due to some
miscommunication, but in the end we decided to swap decks, mne playing
his copy of "JoeBlue" and him playing my Baron Harkonen...

I play in Type 2. Brian Kowal plays 1.x with Senor Gonzalez (the Midwest
defining 1.x deck), and Kevin McLaughlin plays Spike Girls in Type C.

ROUND 1 - Jeff Clark - El Nino-touch Red - Team Houston

I can tell Jeff is a little bit irked at me, but that's okay. I try to
be a polite and pleasant opponent, but I can't help it if others decide
not to aquiesce.
Jeff is playing a ping-heavy Tradewind deck, with Firestorms touched in.

Game 1 - I establish total control, but am at low life. After
Lobotomying out his Tradewinds, I see he has a firestorm in hand. I drop
to 3 life and die because he firestorms for the kill. I miscounted his
hand, and thought he could only firestorm for 2. Way to go! And me with
Bottle Gnome in hand.

Game 2 - We don't have time to finish this game... I had been dragging
out game one because of my control over the game, and my error in that
game doesn't afford me enough time to kill him.

Both Kevin and Brian win...

ROUND 2 - Mike Turian - Team CMU - CMU Cataclysm/Oath

Mike's deck (Which we jokingly dub "Turbo Grassland" because of his
opening 3 grassland draw) uses library manipulation to abuse Scroll Rack
in combination with Mulch and Tithe and shufflers. Using Geddon and
Cataclysm as mana-retardants, the eventual goal is an Oath of Druids on
an Archangel. Mike is a bit more reserved than I would have expected
after meeting him in LA, but that's okay...

Game 1 - In a long slow game, I surpress his Library manipulation, and
let him keep the racks. Eventually I lobotomy him and he concedes.

Game 2- We never finish, but play on after time is called. Another 10
minutes (50 minute rounds) and he would have beaten me...

Brian wins and Kevin loses.

ROUND 3 - Larry Janiek - Team Legion - Prospbloom

Larry is a fun guy, and we have a great time playing. He's playing Mike
Long's deck, card for card.

Game 1 - Neither of us does anything for a long time, but he wins a key
counter war, and tries for suicide style bloom (bloom without Power sink
protection). Scott Johns walks by and says to him "You are not Mike
Long", but it doesn't matter because he still manages to piece everything
together and kill me.

Game 2 - A virtual recreation of game 1. He needs a miracle to go off.
He gets it. :( With no cards in hand, he tries for a lucky Infernal, and
gets enough cards to try for _another_ lucky Infernal. This time, it all
comes together and he wins.
These things happen.

Brian loses and Kevin wins. Watching Brian's game is heartbreaking. He
can't get the one land he needs for the win... :(

ROUND 4 - Sammy Batarsen - Minions of Atog - Blitz

Sammy is playing standard burn...

Game 1 - Sammy gets a quick kill in game 1, despite my gnome...

Game 2&3 - I go into BATTLE Gnome mode, putting out Gnomes to stop his
beatdown, and eventually serving with Corpse Dancing Battle Gnomes and
live gnomes. He dies surprisingly quickly. Multiple Chills really
helped, though.

Brian loses, and Kevin runs out of time in game 3. Brian and I both had
split matches, and so Kevin and his opponent (playing nearly identical
decks) have to finish this game for 4th place.
While we wait for that game to finish, Jacob "Danger" Janoska and Brian
hear some noise about a money draft, and we get involved.

Kevin loses, and we get 4th place. The money draft has Gary Wise, Brian
Hacker, and Gabe Tsang all ready to dstroy us. Well, I am happy to throw
my money at them and lose bunches. Jacob "Danger" Janoska decides that
he'll cover me, and he wins all of his matchups. Brian loses 1-2 versus
them and there flies our money. If I had done a bit better... :/

--

It was a good weekend.

We qualified a member of Team Rogue for Nationals, rising the number to two.

We defined the metagame for the weekend with BrokenOath.

Teammate Brian Kowal was the only person to beat the Gauntlet.

Cabal Rogue got 4th at the Dojo Invitational.

I got to meet a large number of people from my mailing list.

I even played some Jyhad.

A good weekend.

---
Asides:

Congratulations to the National Team.

@#$ Adrian Sullivan $#@ Game Theorist Coffee Addict Eccentric $#@
@#$ The Corrupter $#@ Opinionated Gynophile Hedonist MHSTHSTS $#@
@#$ Cabal Rogue $#@ GAT/CS/WS C(+++)$ N++ PS++@ R+++* r+ z++**? $#@
...watching the lake turn the sky / into blue-green smoke...