Welcome to the second part of my DMF Orlando experience, the main event. For those of you who missed the first part of this article wherein I explain how this list came to pass, you can find the article on the official WoW TCG website. I won’t retread that particularly long piece now, but the short version is that we started in Arms and wound up in Fury with what we thought would be a surprising and explosive list.

I got into Orlando on Wednesday night at midnight with my friend Mike to spend a day or two with my family. It’d been a long time, and I figured that being within 30 minutes of my family and not seeing them would be a real shame. We had a nice relaxing Thursday that ended with a brief trip to Epcot thanks to my aunt working for Disney. The next day it was time to head over to the venue to get our game on, with the iPod draft fixed firmly in my sights. I had a pretty reasonable Alliance Druid deck that was only hampered by a lack of [Lockjaw], but lost in the second round to my failure to remember that Tauren heroes have an extra health. Curse you, [Ayaka Winterhoof]!

Friday morning rolls around and we trudge to the event hall to register and listen to the player meeting. Three of us are playing the same 60 cards, although one has decided that there are some more last minute tweaks to be done. I’m content; I’m running what we brought, as that’s what I’m most familiar with and prepared to play. The last thing I want to be doing throughout the day is trying to relearn what’s going on in my own deck, as I plan on trying to seize the tempo of my games through pressure and surprise.

Round 1: Fleckenstein, Jim has a bye.

How lucky. I spend the first few minutes wandering around the hall taking a look at what’s going on and what people have chosen to play. There’s some Triton, very few Zaritha, just a couple Pidge and Zorak’tul, and a reasonable amount of various Warlock and Priest flavors. Billy Postlethwait is playing a more traditional Lord Benjamin Tremendouson control list, so he’s at least running interference for me with my bizzaro list. All told, it’s a pretty diverse metagame, and I’m only actively worried about the Tritons and the very few shaman.

Round 2: Michael Wood, Lanthus the Restorer (I lost the die roll)

I was a little surprised by someone packing [Gift of the Earthmother] in a format littered with [Hesriana], but it’s still probably a reasonable choice with Mage only making up a small portion of the field. The twist is that Michael’s also playing a lot of nature damage allies like Emerald Captain and Garet Vice to double dip via Nature’s Fury.

Unfortunately for him, Alliance Restoration Druid telegraphs his intent to me, and I start using my [Fleshwerk Throwing Glaive] to keep his board clear while taking a few points of damage. Around turn four or five, I’ve got two [Death Wish]es in play and a free path to his hero, so two big swings of 8 and 10 damage convince him that it’s game over.

Round 3: William Brown, Nicholas Merrick (I won the die roll)

Ah, Mage. There are a lot of various flavors of Mage, from controlling variants to ally based strategies, so I have no idea what it is I’m in for. However, the beauty of my deck that would bear itself out time and again is that they don’t know either, so my blind charging forward and applying pressure is probably a reasonable strategy. I come out with [Mortal Slash] into [Death Wish], while he reveals himself to be what I interpret as Stormwind humans, probably to [King Varian Wrynn]. His mulligan isn’t proving too friendly, though; I have a lot of damage on him in short order, and he’s in trouble. His turn five is [Weldon Barov] with no backup, so I flip to clean out the peasants and have my board of Adam and Death Wish get in there for the kill.

Round 4: Daniel Betancourt, Nicholas Merrick (I lost the die roll)

Well, this is starting to get worrisome. I thought that Core was supposed to be Mage-free now? No matter, as my teammates are playing something approximating Control Mage and I’m actually familiar with how this should go. It helps that Mike played Daniel earlier in the day and can tell me a few things before we sit down, but it also means that surprise won’t entirely be on my side.

This game was spectacular thanks to two pretty slow mulligans; I don’t get much action early aside from an Ashnaar that’s good for 6 damage all told, who then gets flipped on. A midgame [Blizzard] slows down my push after I’d played an [Edge of Oblivion], but it can’t stay for long as he has to keep establishing his board. I’m able to resolve a [Bloody Ritual] in the wake of his Poultryizing a [Garet Vice], and we get to turns six and seven with both of us with mostly full hands. I play a [Recklessness] on six that sits for two turns until I’m able to get back over there and hit him with what’s left of my Edge enhanced by Recklessness, and a Heroic Throw for 6 seals the deal.

Daniel reveals a hand that features three [Adam Eternum]s, a [Pappy Ironbane], and a [Kel’thuzad]. He just didn’t have time.

Round 5: David Bodimer, Triton the Sacrilegious (I won the die roll)

My old teammate and longtime friend David is playing a deck I was concerned about, although it appears to be a much more explosive and less controlling list than we’d tested against. I knew this from my brief walk around the room during round 1 as well as from one of my teammates, Patrick, who had played David earlier.

After a deck check, we’re off…into one of the least eventful games I’ve played. David’s mulligan is atrocious, and he’s helpless to prevent me from beating him soundly about the head with an early Death Wish, although he did have an [Extract of Necromantic Power] to stop my turn one [Garet Vice]. Unfortunately I don’t have a Glaive to go with my Death Wish, so I’m getting pretty high in damage myself. Around turn eight, I’ve got a [Provoke] protecting a Mikael I had managed to squeeze into play, and Adam also gets in there for a solid 5, but I’m at 20 to his 23 and thus in danger of [Corpse Explosion] and/or [Saurfang the Younger, Kor'kron Vanguard] coming over and punching me in the face. Fortunately I have a full [Eye of the Storm], and so the game ends thanks to Mikael and Provoke dealing David lethal damage on the nose coming out of his ready step. This was a lot closer than I’d have liked, and a really bad break for David on his poor draw.

Round 6: Niles Rowland, Velindra Sepulchre (I won the die roll)

MORE Mage? At this point, I’m starting to wonder if I’ve stumbled into an alternate timeline. I expect Niles to have some insight as to how to play against me thanks to his being close to Tim Rivera, but he doesn’t know my list card for card.

He sits down and tells me he’s pretty sure this isn’t good for him, and that seems fairly true when he has no available answers to my turn one [Garet Vice]. He Tastes my turn two [Death Wish] play off of a Question of Gluttony top deck, but has nothing for my turn three of Garet plus [Provoke]. The turn after is Edge of Oblivion, which gets met by a [Blizzard], and he flips on one of my [Garet Vice]s to have it die at the start of my turn. It’s too late for him to dig out of this mess, though, and two turns later we’re packing up the cards.

Round 7: Andrew Berke, Nicholas Merrick (I lost the die roll)

Another mage, this one fresh off of his feature match win against Pat Eshghy of DMF Boston fame. Andrew’s somewhat new to the game and a local player of mine. Having converted him from the dark side, he’s been an integral part of our playtest group and certainly knows his way around a Mage list. Unfortunately for him, I know his list almost exactly, and we also both know that this is a pretty poor matchup for him. I stick a turn one [Mortal Slash] (which shocks me, as he always has Taste of Arcana) followed by turn two [Death Wis]h to eat his [Gromble the Apt], into turn three [Death Wish] and the beats are on.

He tries to [Blizzard] me to slow down the rush after cracking his turn three [Flash of Brilliance] for [Mystic Denial], but I play a [Provoke] to get that silly clothie to walk on over into my loving arms for a hug. He then gives up and breaks Blizzard to play [Mana Shift] on five (yes, THAT Mana Shift) stealing my two Death Wishes and Mortal Slash, but I activate them both in response anticipating his hero’s attack. My turn five is Ashnaar, Mikael, free [Heroic Throw] to deal 6 points on my turn and then 3 from Mikael and Provoke on his turn, which is exactly enough. And I still had all these cards!

Round 8: Matthew Spreadbury, Triton the Sacrilegious (I won the die roll)

Given the trouble I had with David despite his poor mulligan, I anticipate more of the same, and Matt’s armed with foreknowledge of what I’m up to which David didn’t exactly have. This game looks similar, with an Extract helping slow my early roll until I’m able to get a [Demolish] on it. [Death Wish] and Glaive get to work on his [Dethvir the Malignant] and Saurfang in the midgame, but he’d been able to stick a [Deathcharger] that was flying a [Tuskarr Kite], and I had to [Bloody Ritual] to keep up. He plays another Extract, and now I have a problem; Glaives will turn my hero’s attack into ranged, and the Extract will also reduce the damage that my in hand Heroic Throw will deal.

On turn eight I start doing math, as turn seven involved my [Eye of the Storm] keeping his slowly accumulating army at bay. I have to [Bloody Ritual] to see if I get any help, which takes me to 24, and when I don’t get anything I was looking for (like another weapon to get a free Heroic Throw), I have to run into him with two Death Wishes and an Ashnaar pumping my hero…

…and go right into game two. Whoops, rather forgot that I’d kill myself with that.

Thinking it through afterwards, there wasn’t any other way to get out of that game in one piece, so the draw turned out to be the best outcome given that I was wrong about winning. Game two starts with 6 minutes on the clock, and I have a pretty good hand for this situation; turn one [Garet Vice], turn two Mikael, turn three [Adam Eternum], turn four [Edge of Oblivion], turn five a new Edge to replace the one Matt [Entomb]ed, and turn six Ashnaar and [Heroic Throw] for lethal. Unfortunately Matt caught a real slow hand whose action cards consisted primarily of a lone Vuz’din on three that got eaten followed by a [Corpse Explosion] and [Broderick Langforth], and he didn’t have a second Entomb to answer my second Edge. After this mess, I’m really strung out, but the pressure feels like it’s come off. I’m the last undefeated player, and I’m pretty sure that even if I lose the last three rounds I’m going to advance to day two.

Round 9: Stuart Wright, Jeremiah Karvok (I won the die roll)

I knew Stuart had something rather potent given that he was sitting at 7-1, and I’d heard he was playing Jeremiah as early as January in the RCQ circuit. That worried me; whatever it was he had over there was well tested and prepared, although if he’d done any planning against what I was playing I would have stood up and sung My Country ‘Tis of Thee. What actually happened was that he looked at my hero and figured out that Warriors like to deal melee and ranged damage (which they do), and so he played his only copy of [Sardok]. On turn one. And that, as they say in the vernacular, is that.

I didn’t have any of my relatively few answers to [Sardok], although I did apply a [Provoke] to his hero to entice him to come out from around the blueberry of doom that was thwarting my fun. I was able to get a good swing with [Death Wish]es as a result of a [Provoke]d attack, but I had to play a [Recklessness] in the hopes of getting enough through with my ongoing abilities. Given that Stuart’s entire deck is composed of lots of really small packets of damage, this was not a good plan. Around turn five or six, I explode thanks to a [Dreadsteed], a stashed [Sava’gin the Reckless], Jeremiah’s Assault from a [Kor’kron Vanguard], and that bloody [Sardok] walks over to finish the job. The dream is over!

Round 10: Kurt Spiess, Emek the Equalizer (I lost the die roll)

Kurt’s a quasi local to me, hailing from Baltimore, which is around 90 minutes north of where I live. He’s playing a deck that has been around in some form since Worlds 2009, although the addition of [Divine Fury] has to make it a lot better.

He plays [Searing Light] on two, which has me a little worried as that can represent a lot of damage later in the game. I’m able to get an Adam online after he [Oppress]es my turn two [Death Wish], and I chew through his turn four Dethvir with my own turn four [Death Wish] and Glaives while keeping my Adam alive. He sticks a [Devouring Plague] on me, which has me worried; I can’t get empty, so I guess I’m going to have to try to just buffer it for a turn. I [Bloody Ritual] and ditch some redundant weapons and an extra [Eye of the Storm], aiming to empty my hand on the following turn. He Divine Furies my hero on his turn six, taking himself down to 8 damage on and myself up to 18, and then passes the turn. I propose with Adam, which he allows, and then I’m confused. He goes to 13, and I sit back and count…and do it wrong.

If I don’t waste two resources on playing Glaive and instead use it to Heroic Throw for free then I win; instead, I get him all the way up to 25 on thanks to a third [Death Wish] (hello, [Bloody Ritua]l) and a hard cast [Heroic Throw], figuring that I didn’t want to take 6 back from my own Death Wishes. Instead, with him at 25, he readies and deals me 6 out of hand via [Searing Ligh]t along with 3 from [Devouring Plague] and 3 from that same Searing Light in play. I’d like to think that I was just tired, but an error’s an error. He put himself in the position to win, and I obliged him rather nicely. After beating myself up for a bit over that, I refocus and tighten up for the last match.

Round 11: Dusty Hostutler, Souldrinker Bogmara (I won the die roll)

There are only a few notes I really want to make so as to not steal Mike Rosenberg’s thunder on an excellent feature match cover (found here). First, Dusty was convinced I was playing the typical control Lord Benjamin, which may or may not have influenced his mulligan decision. Second, [Mortal Slash] was absolutely the MVP of this game, as it kept his Haunts from healing and thus effectively being responsible for about 8 damage. And lastly, on turn four as [Provoke] kept [Souldrinker Bogmara] from killing Ashnaar and thus making Dusty use a Searing Pain on him, he was forced to ask me if I was playing a real deck.

Between this and his honorable cyanide pill of [Dr. Boom!] into [Twilight Vanquisher Knolan], this may have been the most amusing match I played all day. I’m sorry, Dusty. It was as real as I could make it.

And so ends my day one of DMF Orlando. You can see how my day two ended up on the official coverage page, so I won’t go into the details of my quarter- and semi-final matches. Overall, there are some more improvements we could have made, and certainly some different choices; if I were to play in the same event right now, [Lady Bancroft] would be in over [Garet Vice], no questions asked. I really expected more Mikaels than I saw (which would be 0). [Recklessness] was helpful and outright won me two games, but having to rely on it cost me my matchup with Stuart pretty handily.

We did succeed in making a deck that was fun and completely unexpected, though, so from that angle it was definitely a win. I do think, for what little it’s worth, that if Niles had beaten Stuart I stood a pretty good chance of at least making it to the finals given how our matchup in the swiss had gone. Oh well, perhaps next time the cards will fall my way. I hope this was in some ways enlightening and at least an enjoyable read. See you around the forums!

-Jim Fleckenstein

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Jim Fleckenstein is a seasoned WoW TCG card slinger. Aside from his top 4 at DMF Orlando, he also won the 2008 World Championship and finished in the top 4 of the 2010 North American Continental Championship.