Gen Con: Slighing Rage
 Greetings, my fellow Spoilers!
My name is Vince, and I’ve been playing this wonderful game since Gen Con 2010. I’ve recently won the Constructed Championship at Gen Con 2011 with my girlfriend’s brew of Rage Sligh, and I’m here to share the experience, as well as to talk about how this deck (which placed 4 players in Top 8) was born.
(Side Note: I’ve been a Magic player since ’96, so some of the jargon I use may be Magic-related. I apologize, and I certainly mean no disrespect to the game).
(Side Note 2: I met Team Hopper and Will Clark at Gen Con 2011 and everyone left a fantastic impression on me. They are just great people who showed me nothing but kindness and tolerance. I was probably the only one there tapping my resources instead of attaching, and they also took turns explaining to me that I couldn’t respond to triggers while allowing me to take stuff back. In addition, I had a hard time understanding multiple combat steps, creature speed, and the idea of creatures trampling through when blockers are destroyed before damage is assigned. Everyone there was just so tolerant and kind, unlike the cutthroat environment Magic has grown to become. Spoilers, you guys should be proud of having such great folks as ambassadors to the game).
As a Magic player, I’m super obsessed with the idea of card advantage, so when I was first exposed to Gilded Yurt last year, it became my favorite card in The Spoils. I mean, LOOK AT IT! It costs one for crying out loud! ONE! And it blinks stuff at instant speed! It’s basically begging to be abused with “come into” and “leaves play” triggers. I spent weeks working on a Yurt control deck, trying ways to streamline the deck so that it had a good curve with early, mid, and late game control cards. Having no one to play test with, I played solitaire and set up different scenarios to put my deck in tough situations and then try to figure out ways to survive and take control of the game. After numerous weekends working on the Yurt deck, I was finally satisfied and left it aside.
Let’s fast forward to Origins Game Fair 2011 this year. Knowing that Spoils events would be available there, I took my Yurt deck for some play testing, even though my primary reason for going to Columbus was to play Magic.
I played several games against Will “Big Will” Clark and the former Judge of Great Justice, aka Terence “I-Will-Eat-Any-And-Everything” Dorman, and won a majority of the time. To those Spoilers who play solitaire (like myself): Nothing beats actual play-testing to iron out the kinks when brewing decks because you can never truly “pretend” to play as though you don’t know what is in your hypothetical opponent’s hand.
(Terence Note: While I do greatly enjoy food, I have recently reduced my intake and am now known as Terence “I-Will-Eat-Any-And-Almost-Everything” Dorman)
 Anyway, I went back to New York feeling satisfied with what I had learned about my deck, and made several minor changes to it. During this time my girlfriend, Viviann (a Magic player), had been bugging me to play Spoils with her. We had already planned on going to Gen Con together and she wanted to play some Spoils events but had very little experience with the system itself. I built some random decks out of whatever cards we had and we played a couple of games every day for about a week or so. Then she found out I had a “special” deck that’s kept in a deck box, and she insisted on playing against it. I was reluctant at first because I knew I would destroy her with the Yurt deck, and I didn’t want her to be discouraged prior to Gen Con. However, the competitiveness in her kicked in and she started using the Art of War and said crap like “You’re just afraid of showing that pathetic deck ‘cause you know you’ll lose.” And of course, like a sucker, I bit and proceeded to beat her three straight games before she gave up. That’s that, or so I thought.
On a random Wednesday morning, she told me before leaving for work that she’s going to build a deck that destroys mine. I recall my exact words were “Ha-ha! Please don’t make me laugh.”
(Side note 3: The next time you want to say something along this line, don’t; more often than not it will come back to haunt you).
She came back that night with a bunch of small squares with card names on them. She “proxied” up her Rage deck and we played for 3 hours. I can’t remember the details, but I do remember I was in a haze after that 3 hours.
(Side note 4: I found out recently that there’s a deck called Purple Haze. Whenever I see the name or hear someone mention it, the painful feeling of that Wednesday comes creeping back…)
By haze I mean DESTRUCTION. I was in shock. I had spent countless hours on the Yurt deck while my girlfriend had spent less than 10 hours on hers. I blamed it on luck and insisted on playing against it the next day. Another day of haze, which was followed by another day of haze. I finally threw in the towel after a specific game in which I played Walk the Plank 6 times. SIX FREAKING TIMES! And I still lost. Did I mention I wrathed 6 times? How? I Walked 4 times, then Dark Awakened my Walk twice. AND I LOST. That’s the moment when I actually felt my brain throw up inside my skull.
The last time I tried to beat a deck this hard was during Standard (Magic) season, against Caw-Blade (pre-banning of Jace and Stoneforge). Similarly, I took the “If you can’t beat it, use it” route and snatched up her deck to do a full analysis. The strength of her deck comes from the fact that she’s building card advantage with board advantage at the same time. While I was busy blinking Dwarvish Grimalkin in and out of battle to draw cards, she’s using creatures and spells to deal with the only resource that she’s concerned with: my life total.
(Side note 5: The “card advantage” mentioned above is tied to the Philosophy of Fire in Magic. More specifically, there’s a understanding that cards that deal 2 to 3 damage to an opponent is worth a card. A threat that can consistently deal “a card’s worth” of damage will generate card advantage in this sense).
The core of the deck was there, but I felt like she was using a few unnecessary cards that could be removed to make the deck more streamlined and powerful. For example, she had Mighty Ballista and Conscientious Objector; both of which I feel are clunky and win-more cards. I also believed that Chain Reactions were unnecessary, especially after I how lost consistently without her having to use it. There are definitely good locations out there other than Yurt, but why don’t you just swing at it instead of casting a spell? Creatures are never dead cards to draw; Chain Reactions are. The Crests of Rage are fantastic and should be abused. They provide you with the option of running silver bullets, and when your bullets come with bodies that stay on the board, you net both card and board advantage again.
 Here’s the original list (Rage Sligh v. 1.0):
Items:
4x Crest of Rage
Location:
4x Drill Garrison
4x Watchtower
Tactics:
4x Dark Awakening
4x Noble Sacrifice
Characters:
1x Adriel, Defender of Marduun
4x Aroused Stiffbone
1x Athalamund Mangod, The Iron Fist
4x Deadly Striker
4x Dying Hero
1x Elzibeth, Military Sorceress
4x Gideon, the Ultimate Warrior
1x Padamose, Emperor of Marduun
1x Plunging Shriever
1x Really Big Barduse
4x Spry Archer
4x Surplus Soldier
4x Tiny Sarume
1x Trebuchet Officer
Resources:
4 x Violence
16 x Rage (2 starting)
I shared the deck list with Ian, who play-tested with me a week prior to Gen Con. I was debating on whether to use the Warlord faction – as opposed to the Tournament Faction – because I had wanted a sacrifice outlet for my Deadly Strikers. After several games, Ian suggested that the Tournament Faction was better, because the deck can do so much more with 5 resources than using them to sacrifice a creature. Besides, the 5 extra life was good for the mirror, or other aggressive decks.
The day before the actual tournament I made some changes again. I realized that I had severely underestimated Adriel. First and foremost, he’s a 3/3 for 2. More importantly, creatures don’t have haste – they can’t attack the turn you play them. However, you are definitely not going to block with Gideon, or Dying Hero, or Spry Archer. These creatures are way too important to die while playing DEFENSE. That’s why Adriel shines. He plays fantastic defense the turn he comes down, then he starts attacking for a decent amount the following turn. Playing 1 Adriel was definitely not the right call, so I chose to play 4 copies instead. Tiny Sarume also seemed underwhelming after play-testing. He doesn’t shine in this version of Rage Aggro because there’s no Strength in Numbers. Sure, a free creature is pretty decent; but you’re casting Aroused Stiffbone for free (or close to free) as well, and that made Tiny Sarume pretty mild. Mild wasn’t what I was looking for. Thus, I decided to use the slots that I freed up to play some spells to deal with the bane of the deck: going second against the mirror.
Here’s my final list for the Constructed Nationals (Rage Sligh v. 1.1):
Items:
4x Crest of Rage
Location:
4x Drill Garrison
3x Watchtower
Tactics:
4x Dark Awakening
2x Essence of Rage
3x Mass Confusion
4x Noble Sacrifice
Characters:
4x Adriel, Defender of Marduun
4x Aroused Stiffbone
2x Athalamund Mangod, The Iron Fist
4x Deadly Striker
4x Dying Hero
1x Elzibeth, Military Sorceress
4x Gideon, the Ultimate Warrior
1x Padamose, Emperor of Marduun
1x Plunging Shriever
1x Really Big Barduse
4x Spry Archer
1x Trebuchet Officer
Resources:
4x Violence
16x Rage (2 starting)
Rage Sligh may seem like an easy deck to play, but it really isn’t. The deck really rewards those who mulligan wisely. You need to know the key cards for each match-up, as well as understanding how they change due to play order. Mass Confusion absolutely stinks when you go first, but becomes a great meta-game spell when you go second against another Rage Aggro. In fact, the nuttier your opponent’s opening is, the more of a blowup Mass Confusion will be when cast during your turn. The semi-wrath on his board should overcome the disadvantages of playing second. In addition, having 4 Adriels certainly helps as well.
(Side note 6: I will talk more in depth about how to play Rage Sligh, as well as key cards for match-ups, in my next article).
Athalamund was increased to 2 copies because it is essentially a 6-damage removal spell for 4 that you can tutor with Crest. He usually dies after activation; therefore I felt the need for an extra copy to deal with other players’ silver bullets. I added 2 copies of Essence of Rage because of its versatility. It can deal anywhere between 1 to 6 points of damage, depending on how you use it. You can throw it straight at your opponent with or without Gideon in play, or you can pump a creature, or you can mess with your opponent’s combat calculations by swinging with smaller dudes while holding a Really Big Barduse or an Aroused Stiffbone back. Your opponent will most likely save a blocker for those attackers, but then you just tap it down. Ouch. And it costs 1. That never hurts.
 And then the Nationals began. To be honest, I’m not the kind of player who remembers how each match went. The only thing I’m concerned with while playing is to win, and winning in Spoils take as much mental energy, if not more (since there’s no mana screw), as Magic. When I make mistakes, I internalize and process it, so that I can do my best to avoid repeating it. However, I don’t linger on past matches during the event itself, because I find it distracting and useless.
Hence, I try my best to enter each match with a clean state of mind. I believe this is an effective way of staying focused during the long grind.
I made top 8 with a X-1-1 Swiss record. Unfortunately, due to a shady computer program used by the former Judge of Great Justice (Terence Dorman), I was paired with my girlfriend in the quarterfinals.
(Side note 7: I’m joking about the shady computer program... but I’m still upset at the pairing, Terence!!!)
She decided to concede to me because I’m a better player, and thus had a higher chance of winning the event. And then she gave me hell for it. And then she pinched me really hard. And then after I won the event she took my prize and claimed it hers. And then she kept her own prize for coming in 8th. And then she said “What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is mine. And besides, I designed the deck.” And then I was left at a corner by myself while she cradled the bloody iPad for the next 2 hours.
Sometimes life throws you lemons. Then there are times when life throws you a girlfriend…
But in the meantime, have fun and play Spoils!
Vince Chuan
(Side note 8: Another shout out to Team Hopper: Thanks for being great players; more importantly, thanks for being wonderful people. Lifetime record against Dan: 0-0-3. I’m very proud to say that I’ve never lost to you! Lifetime record against Moxless: 2-5… Thanks for being the toughest opponent I’ve faced in my gaming career – Magic or Spoils. I promise you that I will be better the next time we face off).
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