Feature Article - The Bastille-Bastion of Basem #1

Greetings my fellow magicians, my name is Basem Askoul, and I am very excited to debut my very first magic article here.  Most of you know me from Get Your Game On where I've had some modest success across various formats; I also have in my possession one PTQ top 8 pin (did it!).  That nonsense aside, I like to believe that people know/respect me due to my friendly attitude and funky deck design (some good, mostly bad).


I will be bringing you some of these deck lists over the upcoming weeks, but I also hope to share with you some of my drafting experiences (might take a while though, I need to actually build a good deck/beat a first round opponent... yeah, not good).  For today though, I'd like to talk a little bit about myself and share some words of wisdom about this game that we play.  I first started playing magic back in 2004 where I played a deck that my friend shipped to me back in high school to try to get me to play.  The deck was a ton of fun, and I soon was loving and playing magic a lot.  Feast your eyes on this death machine:

Thanks M10 For Making This Deck Not Make Sense | The Rusty Machete

14 Creatures:  
2 Vine Trellis
4 Silt Crawler
3 Scoria Cat
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Silvos, Rogue Elemental

23 Spells:  
4 Citadel of Pain
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Rhystic Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Giant Growth
1 Barbed Field
2 War Cadence

23 Lands:  
10 Forest
9 Mountain
4 Shivan Oasis

0 Sideboard:  

Yep, all synergy!

I started playing competitively a couple years after; 06/07.  I really liked Reveillark, and played nothing but that deck, in various forms, for a year and a half.  I started with a sub par, 5 color, homebrew version, then u/w, and eventually settling in on u/g/r/w version which I liked the most:

5c Reveillark... Kind of | The Rusty Machete

26 Creatures:  
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
4 Wall of Roots
3 Greater Gargadon
2 Firespout
2 Body Double
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Civic Wayfinder

9 Spells:  
2 Momentary Blink
3 Cryptic Command
4 Rune Snag

25 Lands:  
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Vivid Grove
4 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Crag
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Flooded Grove
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Forest
3 Island
1 Plains

15 Sideboard:  
1 Firespout
4 Wispmare
2 Trickbind
1 Word of Seizing
3 Cloudthresher
1 Negate
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Primal Command

The idea of playing a combo deck was so appealing, and seemed so unfair for my opponent (until I actually played in a tournament and saw how close games are).  I went 5-3 at my very first regionals (3rd loss I attribute to tilting).  Both my real losses coming from Magus of the Moon (I had Gemstone Mine instead of some basics and no Wayfinders; lesson learned).

During this period of time I began drafting and testing with some local ringers. I attribute my improvement to these core players and the fact that I listened to what they had to say, which brings me to an important piece of advice:  Listen to what good players have to say, whether its about your deck, drafting strategies, or metagame insights!  Of course you shouldn’t do this all the time every time, but if you want to get better this will help you along immensely.

Another point I’d like to bring up is the importance of supporting your community, whether it is by being friendly, letting regulars burrow a few cards, or by simply not being rude or looking down on others.  The only reason we have the luxury of playing in Grand Prix’s/PTQs/ and Pro Tours is because of the core base of magic players which, I believe, is mostly made up of casual players.  

At this point I would like to make one request of you, the reader; Feedback is awesome, post up!  Even just a "Hi Basem" would do.  Feel free to criticize (constructively would be nice), fill in the blanks, and share your opinion.

Stay tuned for my next article where I talk about potential deck lists for standard including a Blue/White do nothing deck (it really does nothing).

Until next time,

Not bashful, just Bastastic!