Article: Twisted Sister's Vial Rats at FNM Tournie!
Date: Friday July 22nd, 2005
Written By: Twisted Sister

Vial Rats

2 Ink-Eyes, Servant to Oni
4 AEther Vial
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Skullsnatcher
3 Skull Collector
4 Nezumi Shortfang
3 Throat Slitter
3 Nekrataal
3 Nezumi Cutthroat
4 Chittering Rats
4 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
3 Tendo Ice Bridge
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
15 Swamp

Sideboard

4 Viridian Shaman
3 Befoul
3 Distress
3 Terror
2 Echoing Decay

Round 1: Josh Hustlar, playing mono black.
Game 1: You may recognize his name from last week, but this week, he copied my deck, almost to a tee. I'll take that as a compliment, I guess. He goes first and takes a mulligan. However, he manages to get an Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni. I know what you're thinking, how could he dare play the game over ninja on me, right? Well, My two Game Over Ninja trump his one, so I steal the match, made easier the one time he hits me with inky, he forgot to reanimate anything.

Sideboard: -3 Throat Slitter, -3 Nekrataal, -1 Nezumi Cutthroat, +3 Viridian Shaman, +3 Distress.

Game 2: I mulligan this time. He stalls on two land, And I hit a jitte. I draw another one and am disappointed, being that its legendary, but he plays one, so the second one came in handy. Chittering Rat once again functioned as a time walk, which happens quite often if you read my previous articles, and the Chitt Jitte seals the deal.
1-0(2-0)

Round 2: Keidren Shokey, playing Blue Green turn deck...?
Game 1: He wins the die roll, and mulligans with a serum powder to reveal Time Stop, Beacon of Tommorows, and Mindslaver, so I'm on to him. He gets only blue mana, and a jushi apprentice working, but it finds him no answers before I nekrataal it. Chittering plus Skull Collector forces the concession.

Sideboard: -1 Cutthroat, -2 Throat Slitter, +3 Distress.

Game 2: He has Azami, Lady of Scrolls along with Asuza, Lost but Seeking, but I have nekrataal, and a jitte to boot. I soon reanimate his Azami with Game Over Ninja, so all is well.
2-0(4-0)

Round 3: Andrew King, with Mono Blue Tron.
Game 1: This guy is currently undefeated, but on of the worst players I've ever met, and wins the die roll. He has out a Sundering Titan, with the full tron. I have out Aether Vial, and two Ravenous Rats. He plays Oblivion Stones, and uses it. Okay. Later, he has a Sundering Titan, and I have a Nekrataal and an Aether Vial. He plays Oblivion Stone, and uses it. Okay again. It is at this time that Staff of Domination lives up to its namesake, and He drew a Penuvus, and finished me off. For those of you wondering, no, pentuvus is not good in that deck. Meloku is 1000 times better, I promise. I wouldn't rag on this guy so hard, but he wasn't very nice either, so it makes it easy.

Sideboard: -1 Nezumi Shortfang, -3 Nekrataal, -2 Throat Slitter, -3 Nezumi Cutthroat, +3 Viridian Shaman, +3 Befoul, +3 Distress.

Game 2: He mulligans once, and on the play I have aether vial and Jitte before he has two land. This game goes as expected, a rat(whichever one) with a jitte went the distance, in spite of annoying life gain from Staf of Domination.

Game 3: I come out of the gates fast, and deplete his life quickly. Nexus working overtime have him in the single digits, and my continued pressure has him to 2. He has an Oblivion Stone, though, and then a Mindslaver. I have in my hand a Jitte and a Shortfang, 4 land out. Instead of overplaying my hand into the Stone, He taps all my land, looks at his top card, and scoops. Now, I had a Nexus, mind you, so he only had 2 turns, but that extra draw could have one him the game. He forgot about the Oblivion Stone. Once again, Okay.
3-0(6-1)

Round 4: Jake Herter, playing Green Black cloud.
Game 1: He offers the draw, but since we;re both in no matter what, why disappoint my Twisted fans? He wins the dies roll, and takes a mulligan. He mana-stumbles after a turn two Bird of Paradise. I have a Ravenous Rat on turn 2, a Chittering Rat on turn 3, and a Jitte Equip on turn 4. Talk about curving out. I kill his bird, a current fourth of his mana(he had a Darksteel Ingot), and he scoops thereafter.

Sideboard: -2 Throat Slitter, -1 Nekrataal, +3 Distress. Im looking forward to Trolls and Kokushos, hence my decision.

Game 2: He mulligans and I hit a vial, but he has a Shaman of his own. It hits me once, but I get another vial, and with him stalled on three forests. use the next three turns to play Chittering Rats, topped off with the Jitte. Game concluded quickly.
4-0(8-1)

Top 8
Round 1: Alex Lewis, with an arti-blue infi-mana combo.
Game 1: I play first, and things are looking good, he plays a Genesis Chamber, and Ninjitsu is granting me some tokens. But then It happened. He played Krark Clan Ironwroks, 2 Myr retriever, and went infi-tokens, used Staff of Domination to draw his deck, played Arcbound Crusher, sacs it to Ironworks, puts 100000000 +1/+1 counters on a Triskelion. Cute. I like the idea of the deck, but come on, it's a 4 1/2 card combo, I didnt get any disruption for it? All well.

Sideboard: -3 Cutthroat, -3 Nekrataal, -1 Throat Slitter, +4 Viridian Shaman, +3 Distress.

Game 2: This time, he land stalls, and I have the pressure to abuse it,his life falls to 16, and then even less, when I ninjitsu Game Over Ninja, giving me 2 tokens from the Genesis chamber, so 9 is done next turn, I win.

Game 3: I get two Viridian Shamans with my Aether Vial, and 2 other two power creatures to wreck him. He has a Vedalkin Archmage, but doesn't want to block, and my Skullsnatcher eliminates his Retrievers from combo-ing off.
5-0(10-2)

Round 2: Toku, with Mono Blue Tron.
Game 1: I play first, and get two Ravenous Rats online, when he drops a Triskelion. I might be in trouble, but he makes a mistake. I attack with my Rats, he blocks one, and says 'Ping the other.' Thats the declare blockers step, folks, so I ninjitsu the Game Over Ninja, nabbing a Trike of my own, that he had ditched to a Thirst for Knowledge.

Sideboard: -3 Nekrataal, -2 Throat Slitter, -3 Nezumi Cutthroat, -1 Nezumi Shrtfang, +3 Viridian Shaman, +3 Befoul, +3 Distress.

Game 2: He thinks about his hand for a while, and reluctantly keeps. He has two urza lands, and a Sun Dropplet when I play Jitte. He stalls, plays another Sun Dropplet, and I drop a Chittering Rats, a Time Walk once again. He finishes the tron shortly, and gets Oblivion Stone, which I force him to blow quickly, bye bye dropplets. I have some Nexus working for me, adn his life total is dropping. When He finally gets a blue, though, it is too little too late, and a second wind of rats seal his fate.
6-0(12-2)

Round 3: I am very proud to say that my opponent in the finals, the top two of the event, was none other than my little brother, our very own Blazing_Shoal, ladies and Gentlemen. He wants to draw, but I would consider it a dishonor, to him and to me. We earned the right to play for the top spot, and I was damned proud to play my brother, and his red deck.
Game 1: Not the game I had in mind, he double mulligans on the play, and keeps a one mox no land hand, as he just couldn't try for 4. I have the Vial, Ravenous Ratsx2, and Skullsnatcher to empty any threats he may have had.

Sideboard: -3 Nezumi Shortfang, +3 Terror.

Game 2: He is a little shaken up, so keeps a hand with no visible threats. I manage to draw three Chittering Rats, and thats all it takes to keep them in play and turn them sideways for the win.
7-0(14-2)

I'm quite proud that me and my brother played in the finals, and I get 22 dollars for my efforts, he gets 11. We buy some packs,he gets nothing of note, but I find out of my 7 saviors some foils, a Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, a Hidetsugos Second Rite, and a FOIL Akuta, Born of Ash. Pleased I am, me and my brother stomped the competition, and I got some decent prize.

Twisted Sister

To view more articles from Twisted Sister, check out the Articles page on the Official TeamRotten clan site.
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