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A Fallen Empires 40 World Championship 2024 Report

The Event

“Honeypot ants feast on foraging termites. Should two colonies come across the same cluster of these plump prey, the ants gather at a tournament site where the workers from each colony circle each other while standing high on their legs.”

-Mark W. Moffett, Science Magazine

On March 30, 2024, the first Fallen Empires 40 World Championship tournament was held at The Shuffler’s Den in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. My family and I happened to be approximately 9 hours closer than we would have been, thanks to visiting family for the Easter holidays. I could not pass up the chance to meet many friends I have made since the pandemic playing with old cards over webcam, and a serialized 001/001 foil Ring of Renewal made for some plump prey as well.

The Deck

“The mega-sized army ant forces are strategically coordinated so that the few Braveheart-caliber killers can sweep in and destroy, but only after expendable workers have rendered the enemy helpless. In a move that’s also known as “the death blow,” a soldier ant – whose huge head is packed with muscles for gut-crushing obliteration – eventually advances from behind the front lines and takes out the termite adversary.”

-Katie Drummond, Wired Magazine

For three months in 2023, the Fallen Empires 40 league allowed varying amounts of Homelands cards, and the most uncomfortable of these for me to play against was the lowly Carapace. It cost me so many resources to remove an opponent’s creature, such as a Thallid Devourer or Thorn Thallid, and that creature was able to carry the opponent to victory.

In the absence of Carapace, and determined to brew something new, I started the deck with 4 Thrull Retainer. The next four creatures were those that could single-handedly do a lot of damage to the opponent, my “queens”: 4 Order of the Ebon Hand would dodge white removal and blockers (which I expected to face much); 4 Thrull Champions would defeat opposing Thrulls. Both of these creatures are also good against Orgg. If these 8 creatures were going to be good, I wanted them to be very good, so I played 10 pieces of protection and ways to make them stronger. As for a plan versus Deep Spawn or Thallids, well, I just hoped to draw and play well. Without further delay, the deck:

The Queens (also known as “the death blow”)

Queen ants will do whatever it takes to be the last one standing.

-Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience

• 4 Order of the Ebon Hand
• 4 Thrull Champion

The Protection (also known as “the expendable workers”)

The tiny “minor” workers move quickly to the front lines—the danger zone where competing ant colonies or prey are first encountered. A single minor has no more chance against the enemy than would an equally small scout of a lone-hunting species . . . Although some may die along the way, the minors slow or incapacitate the enemy until the larger workers . . . arrive to deliver the deathblow.

-Moffett, The Scientific American

• 4 Armor Thrull
• 2 Soul Exchange
• 4 Thrull Retainer

The Removal

When a worker of certain Borneo ant species contacts an enemy she blows up by squeezing her body so hard that the cuticle ruptures, spewing out a toxic yellow glue from an internal gland.

-Moffett, Smithsonian

• 4 Aeolipile
• 2 Dwarven Catapult

Lands

• 4 Ebon Stronghold
• 4 Mountain
• 8 Swamp

Sideboard

Sideboard:

• 4 Basal Thrull
• 1 Goblin Chirurgeon

I played the Basal Thrulls to enable my early Thrull Champions. I did not think anything else mattered in the Thrull mirror matchup. The Goblin Chirurgeon is one other protective measure for Order of the Ebon Hand that further buys you one turn against a lethal Order of Leitbur.

The Matches

Round 1 - vs. Tiffany playing Thrullkites

Tiffany’s strategy was to combine Goblin Kites with Necrite or Mindstab Thrull as removal and discard, resulting in a highly interactive and disruptive deck. I was happy to see Goblin Kites!

Unfortunately, her strategy did not match up well against Thrull Champion; her Necrites and Mindstab Thrulls no longer had the requisite toughness of 2 or less, so they could not be flung into the air with goblin weaponry. Additionally, she drew too many lands in both of our games. She did make a go of it, though, in game 2: her Necrite resolved a turn sooner than my lone creature, a Thrull Champion, so I was forced to block the Necrite or have the Champion destroyed. My next turn I had an Armor Thrull and a Soul Exchange to bring the Champion back as a 5/5. While her bad luck in an already tough matchup made for a quick match, I was glad to speak with her about Modern and Legacy. Between her and Klements, I am nearly convinced to try Legacy one day.

1-0, 2-0

Round 2 - vs. Jason playing . . . Protect the Queen

Well, so much for having brewed up something unique! If I am going to play a deck within about 5 cards of someone else’s, though, at least let that someone else be Jason. He is a tough builder and opponent.

Games 1 and 2 my Ebon Strongholds and sideboard Basal Thrulls proved indispensable. I was able to play Thrull Champions before he was, so it was just a matter of using my Orders, Aeolipiles, and Dwarven Catapults to beat his Orders.

2-0, 4-0

Round 3 - vs. Adam playing Deep Spawn Reanimator

I was glad once I realized who Adam was; he and I have played at least one other 40-card format, and possibly two. He is not a Fallen Empires 40 regular, and his take on Dwarven Armorer, Deep Spawn, Soul Exchange was fresh and fun. He included Order of the Ebon Hand, which I had not seen in similar decklists before.

Game 1 Adam fails to play Sand Silos or to land a Dwarven Armorer within a reasonable time frame. At one point, I chose to target a summoning sick Dwarven Armorer with Aeolipile instead of one of his 2 Order of the Ebon Hand, and I think it was the correct choice. Next turn he could have upgraded that Armorer into a 6/6 lobstrosity. As it was, my high-toughness Thrulls were able to outclass his Orders of the Ebon Hand and minimal black mana.

In game 2 Adam’s Mountains are shy, so he is limited to his small black creatures. My Thrull Champion is able to gain control of his Thrull Wizard (which he promptly targets with his own Aeolipile instead), and my Catapult is able to deal with his Orders. A Thrull army takes him down within two turns.

At some point during match 3 I glance over to the neighboring match to see a Farrel’s Zealot, enchanted with Farrel’s Mantle and targeted by Goblin Kites, deal 4 damage to one creature and 3 damage to another. The player then won his coin toss, so the Zealot stayed on the battlefield to do it again. Just disgusting, what a play! I shook my head and struggled to believe none of the FE40 regulars had found this interaction yet. Throughout the day, it was refreshing to see outside perspectives on the format.

Round 4 - vs. Mitch playing Mono Red Aggro

Mitch is an artist local to the Shuffler’s Den area, and he provided basic land artwork to match the aesthetics of Fallen Empires. They are beautiful pieces, which I am sure anyone reading this report already knows. I am not sure whether he intended to play in the tournament, but here we met at the finals. He has borrowed a deck from Mike Klements, and it is another brew that I have not encountered after over two years playing the format.

In most formats, I gravitate toward red. I blame John Ekleberry. A while ago I crunched the numbers to apply Sligh principles from 1995 to 40-card formats. While my result was similar to Mitch’s/Mike’s, there were a few notable changes in the build I was about to face, including enough Goblin Chirurgeons to support a single Goblin Grenade, and Goblin War Drums to make my life very uncomfortable.

Game 1 was relatively simple. I played big creatures; I protected them; and my Aeolipiles and Dwarven Catapults cleaned up the board.

Game 2 was a nightmare. Dwarven Soldier and Dwarven Lieutenant combined with Goblin War Drums to ensure that I was going to take chip damage. Aeolipiles targeted face. Finally we got to a situation where I could not attack Mitch and still have enough blockers to satisfy the War Drums, and Mitch could not attack me without losing his creatures to my massive Thrull defenses. We played draw-go, but the entire time, he was holding one card in his hand. I hoped it was a Dwarven Catapult made useless by the great amount of toughness on my side; I knew in my heart, though, that it was a Goblin Grenade. Sure enough, after a few turns of staring at one another and playing lands, Mitch plays a Goblin Chirurgeon and immediately follows it up by playing the last card in his hand: Goblin Grenade, killing me.

Game 3 started off tense. I kept a creature-light hand. He spent two resources to kill an early Order of the Ebon Hand with Thrull Retainer. I drew many lands, and things looked scary when Mitch attacks me with a Dwarven Soldier and a Brassclaw Orcs. I know I cannot afford many turns like that, but I hoped to bait him into decreasing his clock. Indeed, he plays a second Brassclaw Orcs, and I clear the board with a Dwarven Catapult for x=6. We both limp along, and shortly after, time is called. It is difficult to state how tense things were; he had me in a tricky spot with Goblin War Drums again, and his hand was so full. I feared the worst: a Goblin Grenade here, a Dwarven pump there, and an Aeolipile could easily finish me off if a creature or two got through. On the last turn, my luck truly shined, and I drew my second Dwarven Catapult, earning the extended hand from Mitch. Mitch was a great opponent, though, and I am so thankful for our match and the beautiful contributions he has made to the format with painting!

Meanwhile, a couple of yards behind me, the only other undefeated player besides Mitch and myself, John Ekleberry (the champion in all our hearts) lost his match to Jason, my round 2 opponent that was playing a deck very similar to mine. I was relieved; had John and I needed to play, the match could really go either way. His mono white aggro deck can get away from Dwarven Catapult and Order of the Ebon Hand. That being said, instead of pairings being announced for round 5, Mike Klements started his sentence with “After round four, our champion is,” and things got blurry. I was handed some really sweet prizes, and a number of pictures were taken. I think I had something like a runner’s high.

Conclusion

Rather than hiding behind stones like Ecuadorian ants, people can also choose to develop alliances among societies of their kind, something ants find impossible. It’s in the pursuit of peace that the brainpower of humans shows our species at its most impressive. Moffett, Smithsonian

24 hours after the fact, I am proud to have won the event: many players I have respected for years, and some new players that I found out quickly I needed to respect, were there. Thrull Champion and Order of the Ebon Hand did indeed win their games, especially with +2/+2 counters, +1/+2 counters, and Thrull Retainers. Still, though, the stronger feeling I have is gladness to have met these great players in person, and I still can’t shake the enjoyment I had from such a well-run, hype-filled event. Fallen Empires cards were the first Magic cards I ever bought. Seasinger was the first card I ever saw (bounty prizes for anyone who gets her to work!). Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves because this really is a great format. Because of banding, first strike, face up Aeolipiles and Elven Lyres, Dwarven Catapults, Thorn Thallids, Armor Thrulls, and so much more, every land you tap, and every creature you choose to attack with, really matters. The format is missing a lot: removal, higher power level cards, some of the nostalgic pieces of our youth, but for what it lacks, it makes up for in games that require many decisions. Nothing is settled for many turns, and I think some Old School and Premodern formats and players will find that experience rewarding and refreshing.

Thank you for indulging me. I wrote this mainly for myself, but I used to enjoy the tournament report section of the forum called themanadrain, during the Type 1 era (as it was known then) in the early 00’s. If anyone misses those, here is my offering to you. I will close with a list of cards I think “broke out” this tournament. As I type that, I realize it is wild to say, since our format has just over 100 cards and is over 2 years old. Still, the people brought the spice, and there were some jaws dropped when various cards and interactions hit the table.

• Thrull Retainer
• Elven Lyre
• Farrel’s Zealot
• Farrel’s Mantle
• Goblin Kites

The last three were all from the same deck! Jason K, in addition to winning the 2023 North American Old School Magic Cup, you won a well-deserved spice prize!

-Troy Drinkard, unpublished