Letting Your Proteges Go - Part 1

One thing I had a lot of in my old personal development blog was, well, personal things. I don't want to do too much of that with this blog, but I do have a Magic story to tell, so I figured, why not?

Have you ever taught a player to play Magic?

What about taught a bad player to become better?

This story will first cover my journey to here, and then it'll cover the journey of my proteges.

A couple of years ago, I entered Mega Games Trader for the first time. I'd heard that they had an Arena tournament there (whatever THAT was). The friend who invited me actually never showed, and I then proceeded to be told the following by the store owner:

See those guys out there? They've forgotten more about Magic than you ever knew. Listen to them. Learn from them.

Of course I thought I knew strategy. Here was my entire bevy of knowledge about strategic thinking.

• Build your decks to be 60 cards
• Have 4 of each of your key cards
• Instants should be played on your opponent's turn. I...think...

No card advantage, deck matchups, sideboarding (what's a SIDEBOARD?) or anything that I now take for granted. My first deck was a Saproling Overrun deck. Mono-green, no removal whatsoever except a single Wear Away which was part of the snake deck I started with.

It sucked. I went 2-2 at Arena though, because other people sucked just as much as me.

Then, the best thing that would ever happen to me, happened. The thing that would sculpt me into a competitive player, the thing that rocketed me into FNM and into competition.

What was it? A staggering insight? An awesome mentor?

Well, actually, I lost my deck.

Because I lost my crappy Saproling deck, I had to build another deck, and I figured "Why not make it Standard legal?"

At this point, all I knew of Standard and Extended was that Standard was Time Spiral, Lorwyn, and Tenth Edition, and FNM was Standard. My deck was Extended. Whatever that meant.

So from the little I'd heard about Lorwyn I decided to make a Kithkin deck, since I figured it'd be budget.

4 Goldmeadow Stalwart, 4 Wizened Cenn, 4 Knight of Meadowgrain, 4 Cloudgoat Ranger made up the core of my deck. I can't remember what else I had, but I do remember it was a deck I played for months.

It rocked. I tore through Arena. And then, next week, I showed up and there was nobody there, so Manuel said he'd put me in FNM and see how I fared.

I came 3rd. I went 3-1. Of course, the competition at my store was FAR, FAR less at this point, but I didn't know that. I was on top of the world. Two months later, I won my first FNM.

Two months later, I tanked at Regionals. In fact, I got a disqualification for insufficient randomization. See, the store owner knew I wasn't good enough at shuffling so he told me to manaweave before each round started: but then I didn't shuffle it as well as he'd hoped: I only cut the deck, albeit numerous times. The end result was that when my deck got taken away (for a random deck check or someone reported it was shady, I'll never know) it was found that my deck had a near perfect land-creature distribution. I said I understood.

It was the worst day in my Magic career. Ever. I vowed to stick to FNM from then on. The months went by. I continued to do well. I even won again. And then, OMG showed up.

Team OMG (originally standing for Omega Games) were pros. They came with netdecks. They came with tech. They creamed us all. Ben was the first to rise up, but the rest of us were slow to follow. As for me, I maintained my 'netdecks are evil' policy for quite some time. I did, however, start to study the metagame in depth. I learnt about Faeries, about Quick 'n' Toast when it first came out, about Reveillark, about Red Deck Wins.

I fell in love with Red Deck Wins. It was like Kithkin, but it had removal! And it WINS! I built it, and won once with it. OMG weren't there. Then things got really tough.

Other people started netdecking. They built good decks. I was not to win another FNM for a year.

I built a red shaman deck next. It had Rage Forger, Incandescent Soulstoke, and lots of one-drop and two-drop elementals. It was frighteningly fast, but it DIED to a Wrath of God. I remember winning a game on Turn 4...through a Pro-Red creature. The problem was it didn't even have burn. It had 32 creatures and 4 Shared Animosity. This was a 50c rare that nobody knew about til I bought it.

Creatures I controlled got +1/+0 for each other attacking creature. It was amazing. I built the deck to power out 3-4 elementals by Turn 3, then drop Rage Forgers or Shared Animosity for the win. It did pretty well. Except against OMG.

Alara Reborn came out. By now I knew about aggro and control and combo, and I had some idea of my own inadequacy as a player. So I played aggro. I built a R/G deck with Giantbaiting, Bloodbraid Elf, Hellsparks, and Boggart Ram-Gang. Essentially, every card could go to the face (which was pretty nuts with Bloodbraid Elf). Shame I couldn't cascade into Flame Javelin.

Then I opened 3 Pulses over 3 weeks. These were chase rares, and I knew this, having gone ape about the card when it was previewed. I decided then and there to build a Jund deck. Next week, I asked my teammate Jeremy if he had a Jund deck I could use. He then took a deck out of his bag, and told me it was Five-Color Blood, which was similar.

I didn't see the point of splashing UUU for one card. The world soon followed suit. I took out the Cryptics and Cruels, and added in more aggro. It did great. I loved it.

Then Jeremy lost the deck. I went back to playing R/G Aggro while I collected the cards for Jund. Shortly before M10 came out, I managed it.

I got better at Jund, learnt it, added Bolts to it...and then made this blog. I wrote a lot about Jund in my early days. Everything went great.

When Zendikar rolled out, I went with the punches. I'd finally gone full-circle. Lorwyn was gone, I'd now been around for the release of all of Standard. I won again, two weeks ago. OMG weren't there, but I triumphed over some great players.

Jund is everywhere now. As is Soldiers, Vampires, and control builds. As I look around the room every Saturday, I realise it took me 18 months to catch up to the level I used to be at: but now I'm 20 times better at the game. I owe OMG more than I ever could have fathomed. And the store owner, Manuel, was right. I had no idea of how much I had to learn. Now, as a player, I realise how far I still have to go.

But that's Magic for you: the game of a lifetime.

Next bonus post, I'll talk about three kids who I decided to mentor, and how their stories have affected me, and made me into the player, and person, I am today.

Tournament Report: August Week 4

Welcome back to Magic: The Blogging! People have expressed interest in the tournament reports, so I'm bringing them back. I didn't draft today, but I did have some interesting games.

2 weeks beforehand, my teammate Jeremy lost the GSS Jund list I was playing, so I had to make a new deck. Here's what I made, totally off the cuff, with the thirty dollars + trades available (and I had Maelstrom Pulse already)

Lands (24)

4 Savage Lands
4 Vivid Crag
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Graven Cairns
2 Jungle Shrine
2 Twilight Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

Creatures (17)

4 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Boggart Ram-Gang (lack of card availability)
3 Kitchen Finks (lack of card availability)
4 Putrid Leech
1 Vithian Renegades

Spells(19)

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Sign in Blood

I didn't have time to build a sideboard, so I was going to have to play pretty tightly. Round One loomed.

Round 1 vs. Elf Combo / Synergy

I mulligan to 6, and he mulligans to 3. Ouch. He plays a Llanowar Elves, and I play Lightning Bolt. Normally I wouldn't, but I'm taking the chance he's stuck on one. He is. I play Sign in Blood. (18) We play Land-Go (Go for him, no lands) and then I play Bloodbraid Elf into a blank Anathemancer and swing (17). He plays Nettle Sentinel. I swing for 5 (12) and pass. He plays Heritage Druid. I swing for 5 (7) and play Sign in Blood. (16) He plays Nettle Sentinel, and pass. I swing, he blocks Bloodbraid Elf and lets Anathemancer through. I double Jund Charm to pump it to a 6/6 and win.

Game 2  I mulligan to five. He plays 2 Elvish Visionaries and I play Sign in Blood. He plays Elvish Harbinger. I play Putrid Leech, Lightning Bolt the Harbinger, and pass. He plays Jagged-Scar Archers. I swing, and pump (16) and kill the Archers. I play a Gray Ogre Anathemancer and pass. He plays Bramblewood Paragon. I Lightning Bolt, then Bituminous Blast into Vithian Renegades, coming up with a blank. He plays Coat of Arms and another Paragon. He doesn't swing, and next turn I bolt a 3/3 Visionary, and swing with Vithian Renegades. Paragon blocks. I play Putrid Leech and pass. Next turn I swing (14) and hit (12) and pass. He passes, I EOT Jund Charm Anathemancer. I swing (12, 4), then next turn swing for the win.

I later find out that he's a fairly new player, who was lent Elf Combo by a friend. I give him some tips (mainly to be more aggressive) and move on to Round 2.

1-0.

Round 2 vs. Esper Jank

Game 1 I mull to 6, and he plays Mistvein Borderpost. Next turn a Fieldmist Borderpost. I play Putrid Leech, and he plays Master of Etherium. I Maelstrom Pulse it, and swing. (18, 16). I pass. He plays two Borderposts. I swing and Jund Charm + pump the Putrid Leech. (16, 10) I Sign in Blood (14) and pass. He plays Etherium Sculptor, I Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt and earn the concession.

Game 2 He plays Etherium Sculptor. I Bolt it. He plays Esper Charm to draw two. I play Anathemancer for two. (18). He Crystallises it. I pass. He plays Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt, killing Gwafa, and swing for 3 (15). He plays Levitation. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Maelstrom Pulse, killing Levitation. I swing for 6. (9). He plays Crystallisation on Bloodbraid Elf and Court Homunculus. I swing, and Court Homunculus blocks. I use Jund Charm on Bloodbraid Elf. I play Putrid Leech, and pass.

He plays Mistvein Borderpost and passes. I swing, Etherium Sculptor blocks. I Jund Charm Putrid Leech and pump. (18, 3). He draws and plays Magister Sphinx (18,10). I Anathamancer for 2. He plays Court Homunculus, and swings with the Sphinx. (13, 8). I Bolt Court Homunculus, and swing for the win.

2-0

Match 3 vs. R/G Fat Guys

This is a Warp World deck, but with more big R/G creatures and no Warp World. It still has Siege-Gang commander and acceleration though.

I start off with Sign in Blood (18, 20). He plays Farhaven Elf. I play Putrid Leech. He plays Spellbreaker Behemoth. I swing. Farhaven Elf blocks. He swings, and I double Bolt the Behemoth to kill it. I then swing. (16,16)  He plays Broodmate Dragon. I EOT Bituminous Blast into a Sign in Blood, then Bituminous Blast on my turn into a Sign in Blood. I swing (10, 12) He plays Bogardan Hellkite and knocks me to 5. (5,12) I use Lightning Bolt and Bituminous Blast into Putrid Leech, and swing without pumping. (5,10). He plays Dragon Broodmother. I Bloodbraid Elf into Anathemancer for 2 (5, 8) and swing. He blocks a Leech with the 1/1 dragon and Bloodbraid Elf with the Broodmother. I Jund Charm so the Elf and Dragon trade. (5, 6) He draws and concedes.

Game 2. This is an incredible game for me, where I play very well and get a generous dollop of luck. He plays Fertile Ground. I play Putrid Leech. He plays Trace of Abundance. I'm stuck on 2, and remark that there are worse hands to be stuck on 2 at as I play my second Leech.  I swing. (18, 16). He plays Baneslayer Angel. I play my third land, swing, and then close my eyes and say 'Baneslayer Angel has first strike and lifelink, doesn't it?' He asks if I'm attacking with both, I sigh and say yes. He blocks one, I Jund Charm and pump it to kill Baneslayer Angel! Yes! I pump the other as well. (14, 17). He plays a Cloudthresher. (12, 15) I swing again, with the 4/4 Leech.. (10, 9). Cloudthresher attacks, and I pump my 2/2 and Lightning Bolt the Cloudthresher. (8, 9) He plays Broodmate Dragon.

He has lethal damage on the table. Flying no less. I draw Jund Charm, and grin with confidence. I swing, and he blocks with a Broodmate Dragon. I Jund Charm again (two bluffs!). He swings (4, 9) and plays Siege-Gang Commander. At this point, only Jund Charm can save me and even then Broodmate Dragon'll have me, but I draw Bloodbraid Elf, play it, CASCADE INTO JUND CHARM, wipe out his team, and swing for the win. Prodigious amounts of luck and skill won me that game which I really shouldn't have won, but I guess my bluffing has improved.

I move into the final round.

3-0.

Round 4 vs. Kithkin.

I bolt his initial Stalwart, and get stuck on 2 land. He plays another Stalwart and Knight of the White Orchid, then plays Forge-Tender and Honor of the Pure next turn. I get crushed.

Game 2 He plays Goldmeadow Stalwart and swings. He plays another Stalwart, then Honor of the Pure next turn and swings. (12) Here I make my mistake. I should Maelstrom Pulse his Honor of the Pure (you know, as I recommend in my OWN PRIMER) but instead I Pulse both his Stalwarts. He plays Spectral Procession, I Jund Charm. He plays Wizened Cenn and Figure of Destiny (3/3's). I play Putrid Leech. He plays more 3/3's and kills me. I die with a Jund Charm in hand.

If I'd Pulsed Honor of the Pure, it might have gone something like this:

I Pulse his Honor of the Pure. He swings for 4 (8) then plays Spectral Procession. I play Jund Charm. He plays Wizened Cenn and Figure of Destiny (both 2/2's). I play Putrid Leech. He plays more 2/2's, and I Jund Charm.

I might not have WON the game, but it was a blunder on my part nonetheless. The only good part about that game is finding out how right I was that Pulsing Honor of the Pure is the right move in this matchup.

3-1.

I come third, win a few boosters, and head home happy. 3-1's a good result, and now I know for next time. I also found my Sable Stags (2 so far) and Firespouts, so next week I should have a sideboard. I'll keep tweaking the deck for the rotation, and get a fully-powered Jund deck soon enough.

Until next time, may you follow your own advice.

Catching Up On Magic - Part 6

This will be the final article in the series. The entire article will be republished into one for linking purposes, and then this series will end.

It's time for the last post of this series: the metagame. I could write a large amount about the metagame, but I'm just going to give you the bare bones. I'll actually be writing a bigger post about the metagame in the next few days that caters to the PTQ players.

The main decks in the metagame are:

Major:

Five-Color Control

Jund

Faeries

Minor:

Jund Mannequin

Elf Combo

Time Sieve Combo

Kithkin

Doran Rock

Merfolk

Man that's a lot of decks. Let's do this:

Five-Color Control

Decklist from USA Nationals, 1st place, by Charles Gindy

Creatures
3 Broodmate Dragon
3 Mulldrifter
3 Plumeveil

Instants
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
4 Esper Charm
1 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
4 Volcanic Fallout

Planeswalkers
2 Ajani Vengeant

Sorceries
3 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Hallowed Burial

Basic Lands
3 Island

Lands
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Exotic Orchard
2 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Meadow

Sideboard:
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Runed Halo
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
2 Jace Beleren
2 Firespout
1 Hallowed Burial
2 Identity Crisis

Five-Color Control's strength lies in it's ability to play all the best control cards in Standard in one deck. It starts off slow, then uses overwhelming card advantage and card quality to beat you down until it plays Broodmate Dragon, Baneslayer Angel, or Cruel Ultimatum, and then proceeds to win.

How to beat it: Anathemancer is always an excellent choice. If you're not in the colors or need another weapon, Glen Elendra Archmage is a good choice too. Great Sable Stag helps, but won't really win on his own with Lightning Bolt, Firespout and Hallowed Burial providing an answer.

How to play it: Try not to tap out on your opponent's turn unless what you play is far more devastating than anything they can come up with (Broodmate, Baneslayer, Cruel). Use your counterspells only on things you will find hard to deal with if they hit.

Jund

Decklist from Uruguay Nationals, 3rd place, by Rafael Peralta

Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-gang
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Putrid Leech
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

Instants
2 Bituminous Blast
3 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Volcanic Fallout

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse

Tribal Instants
3 Nameless Inversion

Basic Lands
5 Forest
2 Mountain

Lands
3 Auntie's Hovel
2 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
1 Graven Cairns
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh

Sideboard:
3 Anathemancer
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Chaotic Backlash
2 Volcanic Fallout
4 Deathmark
2 Thought Hemorrhage

While I personally disagree with some of his card choices, he's got the invite to Worlds and I don't, so there ya go. The deck focuses on Cascade and powerful aggro creatures to create a rare deck: an aggressive deck with card advantage.

How to beat it: Anathemancer is effective, as is Burrenton Forge-Tender to stop most of their removal. Ethersworn Canonist or Double Negative is good if you're getting beat up by Cascade, and you can outlast them if you're a deck like Five-Color.

How to play it: Play aggressively, but sandbag a Bloodbraid Elf against a control deck. Against Elf Combo or Kithkin, use your sweepers well. Cascade is your friend, and use Lightning Bolt and Maelstrom Pulse aggressively.

Faeries

Decklist from Brazil Nationals, 1st place, by Paulo Vitor Damo de Rosa

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants
4 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
1 Essence Scatter

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Sorceries
2 Thoughtseize

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Basic Lands
6 Island
2 Swamp

Lands
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Gargoyle Castle
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
3 Puppeteer Clique
2 Sower Of Temptation
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Deathmark
3 Infest
2 Thoughtseize
2 Warren Weirding

Faeries is an aggro-control deck that uses it's creatures to control the board, by countering spells with Spellstutter Sprite, stealing your turn with Mistbind Clique, and disrupting you with Vendilion Clique. Bitterblossom provides incremental card advantage.

How to beat it: Great Sable Stag is the KING against Faeries here. It totally stops them cold, and all they can do is race or play a sideboarded Warren Weirding (very clunky). Against U/B/R Faeries, Anathemancer is good, and Great Sable Stag is still almost as powerful.

How to play it: Save your cards til the right moments: Sprites to counter spells, Scions to counter removal or as combat tricks, Mistbind Clique on their upkeep, etc. Bitterblossom is good to play as early as possible. Don't be afraid to turn aggressive and race.

Elf Combo

Decklist from Russian Nationals, 1st place, by Andrey Kochurov.

Creatures
1 Burrenton Forge-tender
1 Cloudthresher
4 Devoted Druid
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Mirror Entity
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Oversoul Of Dusk
4 Ranger Of Eos
3 Regal Force

Sorceries
1 Overrun
4 Primal Command

Basic Lands
8 Forest

Lands
3 Mosswort Bridge
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Wooded Bastion

Sideboard:
3 Burrenton Forge-tender
3 Great Sable Stag
2 Oversoul Of Dusk
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Guttural Response
3 Path To Exile

Elf Combo uses Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel and Elvish Archdruid to get lots of mana, Elvish Visionary and Ranger of Eos to assemble a critical number of Elves, and Regal Force / Mirror Entity as finishers to win the game with.

How to beat it: Lots of sweepers and Wrath effects. Tapping all their creatures with Cryptic Command can also buy you time.

How to play it: Don't be afraid to overextend unless you have a combo + Ranger of Eos. If you don't win fast, you won't win at all. Use your big creatures to win the game.

Jund Mannequin

Decklist from USA Nationals, 4th place, by Brad Nelson.

Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Caldera Hellion
2 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
4 Putrid Leech
4 Shriekmaw

Instants
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Volcanic Fallout

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse

Basic Lands
2 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Swamp

Lands
3 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
2 Vivid Marsh

Sideboard:
4 Anathemancer
1 Cloudthresher
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Deathmark
3 Thought Hemorrhage

Jund Mannequin uses a combination of aggressiveness and comes-into-play creatures (reanimated) to win the game. It's an aggro control deck that hinders the opponent while building it's own attacking force.

How to beat it: Removing their graveyard with Jund Charm helps, and it's also vulnerable to Burrenton Forge-Tender and Anathemancer like conventional Jund decks.

How to play it: Feel free to evoke Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter early to bring them back with Makeshift Mannequin. Caldera Hellion is a good controlling card, and your other cards are used for attacking the opponent. Your deck can switch roles between aggro and control repeatedly during a game: use it.

Time Sieve Combo

Decklist from Finland Nationals, 1st place, by Mikko Airaksinen.

Artifacts
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Font Of Mythos
4 Howling Mine
3 Kaleidostone
4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 Time Sieve

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Pollen Lullaby

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren
2 Tezzeret The Seeker

Sorceries
4 Open The Vaults
4 Time Warp

Basic Lands
7 Island
3 Plains
3 Swamp

Lands
3 Mystic Gate

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Angelsong
4 Flashfreeze
4 Path To Exile

This deck focuses on playing artifacts to draw cards and get mana, then use Time Sieve, Time Warp, and Open The Vaults to take infinite turns while drawing lots of cards with Howling Mine. It wins with Tezzeret's ultimate ability.

How to beat it: Counter their Open the Vaults, or be fast enough to kill them first. Maelstrom Pulse on Borderposts is a good idea.

How to play it: Don't be afraid to play Borderposts at full price. Top priority is Howling Mine, then 'draw a card' artifacts, then mana artifacts. Once you hit 5-6 mana, start Time Warping, Sieving, and vault opening until you win.

Kithkin

Decklist from Finland Nationals, 3rd place, by Antti Malin.

Creatures
4 Cloudgoat Ranger
4 Figure Of Destiny
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight Of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn

Enchantments
4 Honor Of The Pure

Instants
2 Harm's Way
2 Path To Exile

Planeswalkers
3 Ajani Goldmane

Sorceries
4 Spectral Procession

Basic Lands
18 Plains

Lands
1 Mutavault
2 Rustic Clachan
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Burrenton Forge-tender
2 Stillmoon Cavalier
1 Harm's Way
1 Mirrorweave
1 Path To Exile
1 Elspeth, Knight-errant
1 Hallowed Burial

Kithkin focuses on playing lots of threats, then pumping them up to win quickly. It's surprisingly resilient, as a Cloudgoat Ranger or Spectral Procession can provide an immediate threat, especially with a pump spell on the battlefield.

How to beat it: Sweepers and Wrath effects, as well as anti-white cards like Stillmoon Cavalier and Deathmark work well. Chaotic Backlash can often deal a lot of damage to them if they don't have Burrenton Forge-Tender.

How to play it: It's an aggro deck: simple to play. Play cards, make them big with Ajani and Honor of the Pure, and bash them to death. Keeping back a Cloudgoat Ranger isn't a bad idea though.

Doran Rock

Decklist from Hungary Nationals, 2nd place, by Gabor Kocsis.

Artifacts
1 Behemoth Sledge

Creatures
3 Chameleon Colossus
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Putrid Leech
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Wilt-leaf Liege
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher

Instants
2 Path To Exile

Legendary Creatures
4 Doran, The Siege Tower

Sorceries
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Profane Command

Tribal Instants
2 Nameless Inversion

Basic Lands
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp

Lands
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Murmuring Bosk
2 Reflecting Pool
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Twilight Mire

Sideboard:
3 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Infest
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize

Doran Rock uses powerful creatures and removal to make a very strong midrange deck. It's card quality is difficult to beat.

How to beat it: Anathemancer (do you see now why I play it maindeck?) is good, as is Deathmark and Hallowed Burial, though 2-3 damage sweepers won't cut it against this deck's main threats.

How to play it: Remember: you're a midrange deck. Control their early game, then play your guys turns 4-6 and win before the late game comes online.

Merfolk

Decklist from Switzerland Nationals, 1st place, by Tommi Lindgren.

Creatures
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Wake Thrasher

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Path To Exile

Legendary Creatures
2 Sygg, River Guide

Sorceries
3 Sleep

Tribal Instants
3 Sage's Dousing

Basic Lands
10 Island
2 Plains

Lands
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub

Sideboard:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Burrenton Forge-tender
2 Sower Of Temptation
2 Harm's Way
2 Negate
1 Sleep

Merfolk is an aggro-control deck which plays some creatures, and then protects them with counterspells to win. It also features removal and the game-ending Sleep to force through damage and kill opposing creatures.

How to beat it: Sweepers do well, especially the uncounterable Volcanic Fallout. Racing them is often an option, as well: generally you won't face Merfolk often.

How to play it. Treat your creatures as both offensive creatures and blockers. You are an aggro-control deck: you can do both. Go aggressive when you draw Sleep, and go for the kill when necessary. Use your lords well. It's not an easy deck to describe briefly.

And there you have it! You have the sets, the mechanics, what's powerful, what's not, how to draft, what's being played and all the new additions to the game. You're now ready to build a deck and head to FNM without making a complete fool of yourself. But the next step is up to you. Your foot is in the door, but now you have to step through, by playing in events and continuing to learn. When Zendikar comes out, everyone else will be as confused as you are, and you'll be ready to play with the regulars once again.