Rogue T3ch VS The "Real" Idaho State Championship

Hey party people. I'm back to talk about the State Championships this past weekend and what we at Wizardden.com and Team Rogue T3ch sleeved up to try and beat the competition. Now, before I go any further I have to tell you; no, I didn't win but I was knocked out of the swiss in round five by the guy who did win so that should count for something, right? *nudge nudge*

Now I'm gonna start with the 75 Team Rogue T3ch member Danny O'Berry piloted to a top 8 finish. I want to say, Danny doesn't play standard much but when he does he tends to put up the best record out of all of us. Fellow team member Will Lotz did that this time but the point is the same. When Danny comes out, He intends to crush face and does just that. His weapon of choice this time around being a super sweet Mardu Control deck. It's mostly sweet because I helped him build, test and adjust the deck but I digress.

Danny O'
Weapons of Mardu Destruction (WMD Control)
7-8th place at Idaho State Championship

Creatures:
4 Seeker of the way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury

Spells:
4 Thoughtseize
3 Wild Slash
2 Magma Jet
3 Lightning Strike
2 Ultimate Price
3 Crackling Doom
3 Outpost Siege
2 Murderous Cut

Lands:
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Battlefield Forge
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Mana Confluence
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Mountain
1 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Arc Lightning
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Duress
2 Erase
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Radiant Purge
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker



When building this list we tried to use other Mardu aggro and control lists as reference but it was significantly different than any we could find. I would like to thanks the dudes over at spikes reddit for the recommendation of Kolaghan as a planeswalker killer. He did plenty of that and lead Danny to 4-0 and gave him the luxury of a double draw into top 8. Two hour breaks always help top 8 performance and i'm sure was much needed.

Next up we have Will Lotz's G/R aggro. We knew the deck was well positioned for an aggro heavy meta like we expected (And ultimately got, the SCG open on the otherside of the country had a top 8 of all aggro decks for Christ's sake). He finished top 4 and here's the 75 that took him there.

William Lotz
Petro's Binder Special (PBS Aggro)
3-4th Idaho State Championship

Creatures:
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Heir of the Wilds
3 Boon Satyr
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells:
1 Stoke the Flames
1 Roast
2 Wild Slash
2 Lightning Strike
4 Crater's Claws

Lands:
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Mana Confluence
1 Rugged Highlands
6 Mountain
6 Forest

Sideboard:
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Xenagos, The Reveler
2 Atarka's Command
4 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Stoke the Flames
2 Roast

Will had a top 4 finish out of 70 people. That is super sweet. I have to admit i'm salty as there were promises of beer had he took 1st or 2nd but his loss to Ramzi in the semi-finals crushed that dream and the free beers that came with it. That aside, Will had an intense tournament. A round four loss brought him to 3-1, same record as me at the time and the fear of us being paired was real as X-2 had no hops of top 8 and us in Rogue T3ch always seem to knock each other out of tournaments quite frequently. For once, that didn't happen then as I was paired against Ryan and took a rough loss in game 3 of the match and Will took his match down and progressed in the tournament to ultimately finish X-1 in the swiss and make the cut to top 8.

Us at Wizard Den couldn't be happier with Danny and Will's finishes. For now, we move back to the Grind. Next on the Rogue T3ch agenda: Team member Josh Kreiter has a Regional PTQ to test for and I'm sure he will post soon with his list and preparation for the event.



Much love,
Christian.