All States 2007

[GiveUsBackTheBridge]

Hey. Figured there might be some use in a forum where people could discuss how they did at States, along with anything else they'd like to share.

I attended Maryland States, a grand difference from PA States in Philly, which I'm used to. I ran UB Teachings (Dralnu), and piloted it to a 5-1-1 record. I beat G/W Elves, Mono G Elves, Mono Black Control, Red Deck Wins (splash for Goyf), and GWb Aggro. I lost the Dralnu mirror mulling to 6 and 5 in games 1 and 2, and I drew to GWB Doran.

Alas, the fates were not kind, as I was the only 5-1-1 to miss top 8. But there was a bit of a problem with identification for one of the members of the top 8...a 15 yo kid didnt have any ID accessable, and got booted from the t8. This jumped of my friends into the 8th seed, but it really sucked for the kid, who was freaking out. My friend ended up giving the kid the top 8 mat and doran, in what all agreed was a very considerate gesture.

Overall, I would recommend Dralnu in the current meta. But there are a couple of caveats:
1) Most importantly, if you are not a great player, don't try it. Seriously examine yourself here. Dralnu leads to extremely long games, and a single mistake can lose it for you. I played non-stop from 10:30 until 7:00. Tight play is extremely important. If you cannot honestly say you can go through an entire tournament without making complex decisions on the fly, good for you. You should play something else, and you will probably do better with it.
2) Run Tendrils of Corruption. For some reason, many of the other teachings decks represented failed to do so, and it was quite amusing to watch them fall by the wayside to lesser aggro decks. I only ran 2 Tendrils with 2 Urborg main, and could still tutor when I needed. My average tendrils was for 9.6, so it shows exactly how much of a difference it can make.

I am a firm believer that with the right decklist and enough playskill, Dralnu is still a tier 1 deck, and deserves you respect and consideration.

[Orconem]

I went to Madison, WI with U/B Teachings and 0-2 scrubbed (ran into horrible matchups both games). However, my teammates that played all did amazing. Tommy and Nighbor both went X-2 with an Aggro-Blink deck they built on the road to Madison, Adrian and I@n played a Mono-Red Control deck and went X-2 and X-2-1, and my friend Kevin made T8 with Elves. So all-in-all a great day.

[The Boss]

Unfortuantly I had work and couldnt attend Philly states. I would have played Faeries, because that deck did great when I tested it all week with a group of friends that were going. I gave the deck to my brother to use (we share cards) and he won 3, then lost 2 "due to mana screw." In the end he got 1st in a single elimination draft, and he picked me up some Revised dual lands I needed, so it was a good day in the end (from what I heard on the telephone at least).

I did expect teachings to do well. That's the deck I played at every PTQ I went to during block season, so I'm glad to see that its cleaning up well.

[GiveUsBackTheBridge]

the only difference is that the teachings from block season were relatively lax on countermagic, whereas i ran 16 counters main...i wouldnt run teachings without that many.

[The Boss]

the only difference is that the teachings from block season were relatively lax on countermagic, whereas i ran 16 counters main...i wouldnt run teachings without that many.

It may sound funny how I say this, but I think that the block teachings and t2 teachings are very different. It seems like the block teachings waited for their opponents to overcommit, and also just ran alot of answers to any problems that they could face; while t2 teachings likes to counter alot more stuff before it actually hits the board.

[GiveUsBackTheBridge]

block teachings isnt a control deck in the tradition of draw go, counter-mesa, and dralnu. to succeed in the current standard environment, you need the latter.

[PainAgonySuffering]

What did you run as far as monsters go for U/B Teachings??

[GiveUsBackTheBridge]

2 teferi
2 aeon chronicler
1 triskelavus
1 platinum angel

if i had to do it again i'd probably try and fit a tombstalker in there...he never would have made a difference in any of the games i lost, but i think i'd like another big flying body. As for the rest, the teferi is pretty standard; trisk was always just ok for me...i really never had the chance to get recursion going when i was happy to do so. Aeon chronicler is a total house, and platinum angel alone wins a good chunk of games when you can back it up with counters or recursion.