At a high profile event such as this, it’s a guarantee that players will run the deck with which they think they have the best chance of winning. For most players, as I have discovered, that means a standard Zombie or Chaos deck based on the winning decklists from the most recent major tournaments. However, there are a special few players who have the courage to look beyond the ordinary and dip into new territory to find their deck ideas. Brian Maass is one such player, and I was lucky enough to talk to him about his fascinating deck.

There has been a lot of talk about a deck of this type being viable since the Advanced format began, but barring a few blips at Regional tournaments, the deck hasn’t seen too much success. When asked why he chose Last Turn over a more stable deck like Zombies or Chaos, he replied that it was because it was harder. I probed further and learned that Brian is the kind of person who is content to win with a conventional deck but would much rather win with a challenging deck of his own design. This is exactly what he intends to do today, and he easily dispatched his round 1 opponent in two quick games.

I asked Brian what advantages he thinks Last Turn has above the standard deck types. “First and foremost,” he said, “it takes away all the opponent’s options.” This is certainly true, as Brian runs three copies of the severely underrated Dragged Down into the Grave. He also plays multiple heavy draw engines in the form of Morphing Jar, Cyber Jar, and Card Destruction to help draw into the Jowgen/Last Turn combo. With plenty of ways to recycle these engines, once Brian gets started it’s nearly impossible to shut him down. The second major advantage that his Last Turn deck has is its intrinsic surprise value. It’s not the kind of deck most people playtest against, so most players are at a loss for finding ways around it.

Speaking of ways around it, Brian admits that Book of Moon can be a real pain sometimes. Fortunately, he packs plenty of counter-traps to stop the Book, in addition to the Dragged Down into the Graves that help to eliminate the card before it can become a problem. When asked what he thinks his chances of winning today are, he replied, “I’m optimistic but realistic. It’d be great to win a Cyber-Stein, but that’s not really why I’m here.” Regardless of why he’s here, Brian Maass is a force to be reckoned with.

Last Turn Deck
by Brian Maass