The State/Provincial Championships is a tournament that isn’t held in high regard by many players. It is just a tournament that lets players try out the new Standard in a competitive setting. Sure if you win you get to be called “The Champion” but that is a very misleading title as a lot of the best players don’t actually play in the tournament. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t care very much about this tournament or the title, but this year was different. I wanted to win. No I needed to win. Badly.

I had been in quite a slump the past few months. As Jake Meszaros rightly put it, I was on MTG-life tilt. The quality of my play had deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t even win at local FNMs. I was making mistakes that I never used to make. Even the players who made mistakes every turn were soundly defeating me. I would be playing tightly one match and then punting my next few matches away. This consistently happened in 4 consecutive premier events (Nationals, GP Pittsburgh, PT Philly and GP Montreal) and I failed to put up any decent finishes. I was not playing at the level that I expected myself to play at. I was losing the fire, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to come back.

I told myself if I did not do well at Champs that I was probably going to stop playing for the foreseeable future. The weeks leading up to the event were just crushing my spirits more and more. No deck was good enough for me. Being a Control player I naturally started testing Solar Flare but the deck was just miserable and was not beating anything I played against. UW Blade was just Caw Blade players trying to hold on to their precious Swords and I knew I did not want to be one of them. UB just didn’t have the card draw to keep up with the Aggro decks and [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card] was the most overrated card I had ever played with in my life. I was lost and didn’t know what I was going to do.

Then something weird happened. I started playing in Modern and Legacy tournaments, with Zoo and GW Aggro respectively, and was winning more than I felt I should have been. It was weird to me that I was able to win in such degenerate and unfair formats by just playing creatures and attacking. I had always respected players who continually played Aggro all the time, but only because I felt they were putting themselves at a severe disadvantage going into every tournament. I was the typical cocky Control player thinking that Aggro decks could never beat my [card]Day of Judgment[/card] or [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card], but after playing on the aggressive side of things I started to see it in a different light. If Control did not have one of those answers they just straight up lost, and even if they did have one it was still an uphill battle. Never before has the saying “There are no wrong threats, only wrong answers” meant something to me. Now all I had to do was find an Aggro deck I liked in Standard.

Enter Wolf Run Red. The straw that broke the camel’s back was me going 0-2 in a weekly T2 tournament with Solar Flare while 2 people went 4-0 with Wolf Run Red, including my friend Davies who did not lose a game and told me the deck was absolutely nuts. I finally gave up on control and built the red deck. Davies was partially right, the deck was really good but I wouldn’t say it was the nuts as it was still a little rough around the edges. [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] made [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] a joke. [card]Day of Judgment[/card] barely mattered at all as you just ground past them with [card]Shrine of Burning Rage[/card], [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card] and [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card]. I won a game where my Solar Flare opponent played 3 Timely Reinforcements and hit me with [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] on top of his normal removal and counter suite.

Was this for real? I didn’t understand how this deck could win games through all these cards that were supposed to be unbeatable and still not get much respect as being viable. I knew which side of the matchup I wanted to be on and for the first time it wasn’t the Control side. This was the list I started off testing with.

[deck title=Wolf Run Red by Justin Richardson]
[Lands]
3 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
12 Mountain
[/lands]
[Creatures]
4 Reckless Waif
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Goblin Arsonist
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
3 Hero of Oxid Ridge
[/creatures]
[Spells]
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Geistflame
4 Incinerate
4 Brimstone Volley
[/spells]
[/deck]

The deck was good but still felt incomplete. I started off by just testing against the RDW mirror and Solar Flare as those were the only 2 decks that mattered at the time and I wanted to shore up those 2 matchups first. The first card to get cut was [card]Reckless Waif[/card] as unless you were on the play against Solar Flare and played it turn 1, it never transformed, and a 1 mana 1/1 is not a card you really want to be playing. Those became some extra [card]Goblin Arsonist[/card]s and some [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card]s just to try out the different 1 drop options. The next thing I noticed was the the Wolf Run package was very underwhelming in a lot of games. Every time I activated it my creature would instantly die. This combined with the fact that my friend Nick kept urging me to run [card]Koth of the Hammer[/card] over [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] made me decide add more Mountains, cut the [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card], keeping only a few green sources some for sideboard [card]Ancient Grudge[/card].

Going to Mono Red was the big turning point in tuning the deck as Koth turned out to be the best card in the deck and soon became a 4-of. I tweaked around the maindeck a bit and Nick helped me out a lot with the sideboard (although I had to convince him not to play Shock) and this is what I registered for Champs.

[deck title=RDW by Justin Richardson]
[Lands]
20 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Spikeshot Elder
3 Furnace Scamp
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
[/creatures]
[Spells]
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Geistflame
4 Incinerate
4 Brimstone Volley
[/spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Traitorous Blood
4 Vulshok Refugee
3 Perilous Myr
2 Arc Trail
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

The only change I would make to the deck after playing is cut 1 [card]Furnace Scamp[/card] for 1 [card]Spikeshot Elder[/card].

Finding the right mix of 1-drops was hard but I think this is as close to perfect as it gets. [card]Goblin Arsonist[/card] wasn’t performing other than in the mirror and even there it was still mediocre. [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card] was also cut because without fetchlands there is no steady stream of cards going into the graveyard and you have [card]Geistflame[/card] and [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card] that you want in your graveyard so it was just a 1/1 for 1 a majority of the time.

[card]Furnace Scamp[/card] fits the theme of the deck much better giving you a bit more reach and the ability to deal a lot of damage quickly, as well as triggering morbid for [card]Brimstone Volley[/card].

[card]Spikeshot Elder[/card] may look underwhelming, especially with [card]Teetering Peaks[/card] rotated out, but I assure you he is the best 1 drop after [card]Stromkirk Noble[/card]. He gives you that extra little reach that the deck needs when it goes to the late game. Also so many creatures in the format have 1 Toughness and it can pick off [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] as well as [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] and Soldier Tokens from [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] like it’s going out of style. Spikeshot was a card that I was still not 100% of going into the event but it impressed me so much that I wished I had played more.

[card]Geistflame[/card] over Galvanic Blast/Shock – Just like in the reasoning for Spikeshot there is just so many things that have 1 toughness right now makes Geistflame so much better than Blast or Shock. Recurring Chandra’s Phoenix twice and putting 2 counters on Shrine is huge plus. I think Geistflame will become better than [card]Firebolt[/card] ever was.

[card]Brimstone Volley[/card] over [card]Volt Charge[/card] is simply because I never encountered a situation where I needed to proliferate anything and the 5 damage from Volley is just so much easier to get value out of.

The sideboard is fairly standard for RDW. [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]s are there mainly for [card]Tempered Steel[/card] and [card]Birthing Pod[/card], as well as giving you more outs to cards like [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] and [card]Batterskull[/card] out of the Ramp or Control decks.

[card]Traitorous Blood[/card] was for the Solar Flare and RG Ramp deck that came out of nowhere to win the SCG Open. Stealing 6 drops is nothing new but giving it trample is a big plus as now they usually just die instead of chump blocking.

[card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] is there just to fight against Timely Reinforcements from UW and Solar Flare.

[card]Vulshock Refugee[/card], [card]Perilous Myr[/card] and [card]Arc Trail[/card] put us on the control plan against the mirror and other aggressive decks (although without the Refugees if they aren’t playing red). The Myr was mainly just to deal with Refugee in the mirror and Arc Trail is a solid 2 for 1 most of the time.

My matchups throughout the day were pretty much what I expected the meta to be like although I did not play against any Ramp decks and there were a few random decks as well. I won’t bore you with the details of my matches as all the games tend to go the same way but here’s a quick rundown of what I played against in the swiss:

Round 1 – Nick Leblanc (74 Card Mirror) – Win 2-0
Round 2 – Jonathan Renaud (Wolf Run Red) – Win 2-1
Round 3 – Rob Anderson (UWb Draw Go) – Lose 0-2
Round 4 – François Lagacé (BUG Pod) – Win 2-0
Round 5 – Michael Lambert (UW Shape Anew) – Lose 1-2
Round 6 – Simon-Charles Rollet-Boutin (RDW) – Win 2-0
Round 7 – Eric Gaudreault (UWb Draw Go) – Win 2-0

Standings go up and I finish in 9th place. It was a little bittersweet as I was happy with my deck and my play for the most part but finishing 9th on breakers is always a little heartbreaking. But then something amazing happened. My good friend Joey Smith knew how much winning this tournament again meant to me on a personal level, so he decided to drop from the Top 8 so I could defend my title from last year. I was in shock that someone would act so unselfishly and nicely towards me, thanks Joey!

Once that happened I knew I couldn’t let him down and put all my focus on playing the best magic I could for the next 3 matches.

Top 8 – Stephane Bisson playing Tempered Steel

This matchup slightly favours Red, but it also has a few cards that were hard for me to deal with like [card]Hero of Bladehold[/card] and [card]Shrine of Loyal Legions[/card]. Your game plan is to rely on Shrine, Phoenix, and Koth do deal most of the damage, while keeping the board clear with creature trades and burn.

Game 1 I kept a slow and reactive hand with a lot of removal and a [card]Shrine of Burning Rage[/card], and stuck to the game plan. It was a very close game but I made a mistake near the end that almost cost me the game. Thinking I could kill him that turn, I attacked him down to 15, played [card]Koth of the Hammer[/card], used its -2 ability for five mana, played a [card]Stormblood Berserker[/card], and ticked my Shrine up… to 14. I was so shocked about miscounting that instead of just sacrificing my Shrine to put him at 1, I just said go, giving him the chance to draw a [card]Tempered Steel[/card] to kill me or an [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] to remove my Shrine. If I had counted correctly, I would have played defensively for one more turn, and leave mana open for my Shrine so I could kill his unblockable [card]Signal Pest[/card] in case he did draw the Tempered Steel. Fortunately, he never drew it (although he did draw the O-Ring for my Shrine to punish my misplay), and I got there with a couple more attack steps. I was a bit shaken up but I slapped myself and told myself to get in the game and not worry about the mistakes.

I sideboarded in 3 [card]Perilous Myr[/card], 2 [card]Arc Trail[/card] and 2 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] for 3 [card]Furnace Scamp[/card] and 4 [card]Stormblood Berserker[/card].

Game 2 He got an early Shrine of Loyal Legions and sat back on it, but I forced him to crack it to deal with Koth. He attacked with enough creatures to kill Koth even if I blocked and had a removal spell. After doing some math, I realized that I would win the race at 1 life, because of the extra token he committed to attacking Koth. If he drew Tempered Steel, I would have lost regardless, so I committed to the race, only blocking one token with my Perilous Myr to kill his [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] that was staring down my [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card]. 3 turns later he still hadn’t drawn Tempered Steel, and I had won the match.

Top 4 – Patrick Chagnon playing RDW

Knowing what Patrick was playing, I kept a hand of [card]Geistflame[/card], 2 [card]Koth of the Hammer[/card], and 4 Mountains because Koth is the best card in the mirror as it is very hard to deal with. I drew some removal and dealt with his early pressure, he had to use a Shrine to kill my first Koth, and when he had no answer to my second Koth, he died in short order.

I sideboarded in 4 [card]Vulshok Refugee[/card], 2 [card]Arc Trail[/card], 3 [card]Perilous Myr[/card] and 2 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] for 4 [card]Stromkirk Noble[/card], 3 [card]Furnace Scamp[/card] and 4 [card]Stormblood Berserker[/card]. The mirror becomes an attrition battle post-board so you want to make sure you’re not drawing useless 1-drops in the mid-to-late game. You also want to draw first because you are trading 1-for-1 back and forth and you need the extra card that drawing gives you. Killing Shrines is key because most of your burn is pointed at creatures instead of at your opponent, and the majority of damage done is going to be with a Shrine with a lot of counters on it.

Game 2 wasn’t very exciting. My opponent choose to play, kept a land light hand, didn’t play very many spells and wasted his Shrine on my Refugee. Eventually I just starting pointing burn spells at his face and took him from 12 down to 0.

Finals – Toby Rosman with Solar Flare

I was pretty excited even before the finals started, because both decks in the other bracket were easy matchups (Solar Flare and RUG Pod), but I was happy to see my friend Toby win the match with Solar Flare. Game 1 was pretty boring as he mulled to 4 and I had the nut draw of Noble into Berserker into Phoenix into Koth and not even his best draw could stand up to that much less a mull to 4.

I knew he only had 1 [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] and 0 [card]Batterskull[/card] so I didn’t need to bring in [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]. I brought in 2 [card]Hero of Oxid Ridge[/card] to help fight [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] and [card]Traitorous Blood[/card] to deal with his 6- and 7-drops.

Game 2 was much tighter as we were both trying to grind each other out. He has a [card]Sun Titan[/card] recurring 2 [card]Phantasmal Images[/card] but [card]Spikeshot Elder[/card] was working overtime and shooting down Images every turn as well as dealing with 2 sets of tokens from Timely Reinforcements. After playing 2 [card]Traitorous Blood[/card] on Sun Titan and some burn spells, I ran him out of gas. He showed me his hand of lands and extended the hand. The spark was back!

I cannot express my gratitude enough to Joey for doing what he did without asking for anything in return. He just wanted me to win to so I would stop being on tilt and start playing seriously again. I honestly cannot believe what a great friend he is.

I urge all of you to give Mono Red a shot at your local FNMs because it is still not getting the respect it deserves. Have fun burning people to a crisp.

Jrich