With an empty board, life at eight, I was staring down a Sorin, Grim Nemesis, and a Ob Nixilis, Reignited. How do I put myself in such terrible situations? I play out a Stromkirk Condemned, and a Bloodhall Priest with madness enabled, dealing two damage to Ob Nixilis, bringing him down to one. I pass the turn hoping my opponent doesn't have a Grasp of Darkness. Surprise! He does! I go to activate Stromkirk Condemned and realize, I have no cards to give it!. You know that first question, how do I put myself in such terrible situations? Well, it's because I play terrible decks. My opponent dispatches me within the next two turns and I end the night at a disappointing two and three. It's an all too familiar ending to a Friday Night Magic session for me.
I've been in and out of standard for a little over five years. In the dozens of tournaments I have played in, there is maybe two where I emerged three and two. My highest placing, eighth place... My Magic "career" has been stagnant ever since I began playing standard back in the original Zendikar block. Coincidentally, Vampires was also my deck of choice back then. The results were the same.
On my long drive home I thought about all the decks that I've played over the last five years and realized they were all aggro decks. The reason being, they're cheaper to play. I'm not an aggro player. I enjoy playing control. The problem is though, control in standard is expensive. I weighed my options as I drove home on the empty streets. I could either, keep grinding with R/B Vampires, trying to get better with the deck, if that was possible. Or, I could jump into a tier 2, tier 1 deck and try my luck there.
My Vampire deck cost me virtually nothing to build. I traded in a few EDH cards and built the deck for sixty dollars. The deck that I had my eye on, Bant Tempo, would cost around one hundred and thirty dollars, double my Vampire deck. I had thirty dollars left in store credit at my local gaming store to use on the deck. I also figured my friends would have a few of the cards I needed, which would save me some money. At that point, my mind was made up. For the first time in my Magic "career," I was going to attempt to play an actual "good" deck. My journey was beginning.
