Would have been interested in this one; more advance notice would probably have been better.    (Also, the subject says "June" instead of "July".)

I like the deck idea!  R/B is a superfun color combo.

If you want to be more competitive, I'd consider the following changes:

- Grafdiggers cage is probably better than planar void for maindeck hate, as it hits Oath as well as dredge.

- Thoughtseizes should be maindeck.

- 4x Moon Magus are made for this decktype.

Yeah, I love vintage!  I'm in Ames which is about a 3 hr drive to St. P, so I'll probably show up at least once to check out the scene.  No facebook, tho.  I know one other person in Ames who plays vintage, maybe we can connect some other way and try to get some semblance of a scene out here.

Is this happening for December?

Looks like I might have to represent Team Serious at this particular event.  Twaun, yangtime, CJ, and Rolko, I will not let you down.  (If I actually show up.)

Sigh...  Anybody (coming from, perhaps, the Chicago area) going to be passing by South Bend, IN?

Gas money available.

Where in MI are you?  I live in South Bend, IN (very close to the IN/MI border), and in the past I've gone to Chicagoland to play at Xtreme Games, as well as RIW in Livonia while they were still having tournaments.  I'd be up for playing in tourneys about once a month, so if you're close by, we can talk about carpooling if you're interested.

Anyone swinging by South Bend, IN?  I need a ride, and as my Serious brethren weren't able to come through for me (), I thought I'd send out the distress signal to the general vintage community...  Yeah, I know, it's short notice.

Any awesome bro-sums who can offer a ride, PM me your phone # by Sat. night and I'll call to make arrangements (of course, I will chip in for gas, hookers, etc.).

Also, who's the chick you're holding in your poster, Twaun?

Interesting deck, Jim.

Esperzoa?  Saucy!

Thanks for sharing the list & tourney report.

This is the day before my GRE general, so in the interest of good sleep, I'm out. 

Should be a well-run tournament though, as usual.

Sounds funk-runk-alonkicious!

Please define:  Formal Attire.

Thanks,
Mr. S

I like your deck, CHaP!    I've been working on a Keeper-style deck with maindeck Grudges and Cunning Wish for more in the side...  but no Intuition, which seems like a strong idea now that you've put it in the context of this deck.

Since you yourself noted you only won about 10% of your games with the infi-combo, maybe the Fastbond and Zorb could be replaced with something like Balance and ... ?  Maybe look at what your toughest matches are and see what you can do to shore them up.  Maybe a 2nd Roar?

Anyways, thanks for sharing this.

Hey duders,

On 7/18 I drove up to verdant Livonia, MI from verdant South Bend, IN with Evan Cauffman for a day of cardboard crack.  I holstered up The Pursesnatcher for this event:

The Pursesnatcher
===============

4 Dark Confidant
4 Dimir Cutpurse
2 Trygon Predator
1 Sower of Temptation

1 Rebuild

4 Mana Drain
4 FoW
3 Spell Snare
1 Mis-D
1 Mindbreak Trap

1 Vamp. Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawg's Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder

2 Nature's Claim
2 Engineered Explosives

1 LoA
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Swamp
5 LoMoxen (no Ruby)

SB
===
2 Glen Elendra, ArchFUCKINGmage
3 Old Man of the Sea
1 Sower of Temptation
2 Nature's Claim
1 Trygon Predator
3 Planar Void
3 Yixlid Jailer

Round 1 - Kyle with Tezz
-------------------------

Game 1:  He mulls to 4 on the play, I start with LoA.  Not much more to say about this one.

Game 2:  He lays Underground and passes.  I go Flooded, Emerald, Lotus, pass.  He goes Mana Crypt, Demonic Tutor, Lotus, Jace.  I respond with a well-tripped Mindbreak trap.  He FoWs.  I sac the Lotus to hardcast Mis-D.  After the dust settles from this initial skirmish, I draw a string of annoying little card-drawing duders which bleed out Kyle's counters until one sticks, then I ride the CA home for the win.

Round 2 - Twaun Pwnerson with BR TwaunStax
-----------------------------------------------

Oh man.  This guy.  This guy and his control-crushing hate decks.  I've contacted the DCI about possibly banning Welder.  We'll see.

Game 1:  He gets a quick Confidant followed with Bazaar, so I know I'm in trouble.  Fortunately I am able to Sower his dude.  Not so fortunately, a Lodestone hits play soon thereafter.  He has Barbarian ring in play but no 2nd red source and attacks with Lodestone; like an automatic reflex I say, "No blocks," and quickly realize my mistake:  I need to chump with Confidant before he can ping my Sower to regain control of Mr. Drawsalot.  He gets a Badlands.  On to game 2!

Game 2:  Chalice @1 makes my Claims irrelevant.  He gets a Smokestack on the board; I die pretty fast.

With all my talk of vengeance, I realize the Dark Side is not the true way.  Next time we meet, Twaun, I will beat you, but only with the purest of charity in my heart.

Round 3 - Mark Trogdon with Metalworker/Staff MUD
----------------------------------------------------

We joke around before the games about removing Workshop from Mark's deck since he doesn't seem to draw them anyways.  Alas, my memory seems to have blanked what happened in our first 2 games.  All I know is we split them.

Game 3:  On the play, Mark drops a first-turn Metalworker off a Workshop.  <--- Proof that he does draw them.  I'm deflating like a balloon inside, as visions of a poop-ton of artifacts hitting the board dances in my head (but not in the good Christmas way).  Amazingly, his next turn consists of playing a Factory followed by meekly swinging for 1 with the Worker.  I am perplexed.  Then it occurs to me that he must be holding hate for the Trygons (Dups and Trikes), so I start bumping out Cutpurses as bait, and sure enough, he reveals artifacts with Worker and makes a Dup, which I don't counter.  I think for a while and drop a 2nd Cutpurse, holding a Trygon.  Mark makes another Duplicant which I counter, as I conclude from the artifacts he showed me with Worker that he probably doesn't have another, and I can't let his army get too big or I'll risk him being able to swing for lethal.  He declines the attack and passes.  I attack with Cutpurse into Factory, which he pumps to make it a 3/3; somehow I thought tapped blockers didn't deal damage anymore under M10 or something else equally erroneous.  I drop Trygon.  Mark says something indicating his displeasure.  He does nothing relevant on his turn, then I rip the 2nd Trygon.

Round 4 - J-Dizzle with Long
=======================

Game 1:  I get out one or two Cutpurses fairly quickly, while JD's opening seems rather slow.  He Twisters into Tinker for Jar but doesn't have any untapped mana and ends his turn.  During my turn I Nature's Claim the Jar which he cracks; I get a couple Moxen off it or something and pass.  JD Grims for the Will but I Drain it.

Game 2:  I don't remember exactly the sequence of play here, but I know that JD gets the Desire for 7 and storms me out.

Game 3:  A captivating tale of an epically shitty opening 6, followed by an epically awesome string of topdecks.  I mull to 6 on the play and decide to keep an inactive hand because I hate going to 5, esp. on the play (at least I had mana):  it was something like 3 lands, a Sower, a Regrowth, and a Will.  If memory serves, JD gets Ancestral on the first turn (way to rub it in, buddy) and on 1st or 2nd turn Thoughtseizes me, taking the Regrowth.  I do nothing except lay lands for 3 turns.  Oh, and topdeck an absolutely crucial Mana Drain.  On around his 3rd turn JD vamps into an attempted Vault + Key, but I drain the Vault.  On my turn Lady Luck smiles warmly as I rip Glen Elendra with Drain mana to cast her while keeping 1 blue untapped.  I swing a couple of times with a 2/2 flier while JD doesn't do much for the next 2-3 turns.  In some order, my next sequence of draws nets me Demonic, Lotus, and the 2nd Glen Elendra.  I drop Glen #2 off the Lotus while keeping 2 blue up.  JD drops ESG (go 2/2s!) and we trade beats for a while.  At 2 life, JD drops moxen and maybe a ritual to Tendrils me for exactly 10 while I'm at 12; I think a little while about whether to expend Glen resources to stop some of the damage, but decide it's not necessary, and we switch life totals.  I swing for 4, Demonic for the Walk, Walk, swing for 4, Yawg Will for the Lotus + Walk, and that's game.

Round 5 - CJ with Oath

After a brief discussion we conclude that we can ID.

Quarter finals - Paul Mastriano with Tezz
===============================

Game 1:  Paul gets some quick Bob drawage while I don't do too much.  The CA is too much and we go to game 2.

Game 2:  Starts off very similarly to Game 1.  Paul has out 2 Confidants at one point, but seems to be drawing a bunch of mana, and I am able to get out maybe 1 or 2 Confidants and Cutpurses of my own, which, through a sequence of attack-block exchanges end up trading with Paul's until I am able to get a Glen Elendra into play (I absolutely LOVE this card).  At some point late in the game I have to sac it, so it's sitting around with one -1/-1 counter.  It's my turn and I've got 2 cards in hand (land + Sapphire); Paul Vamps EOT.  I consider countering the Vamp but decide against it.  His turn, he draws the Vamped card for a total of 2 in hand, and plays Tinker.  I make a remark about countering the Tinker and then possibly dying to Will, or not countering the Tinker and dying to a fat robot (I'm at 7 life).  As I've got nothing else in hand or on the board to stop Sphinx I go ahead throw the Glen at his Tinker, but he drops the Vault for the Key that was already in play, and that's game.

-----------------

So I end up in 7th and get the Karakas.  I have no need for this pile of Legacy goodness, and trade it back to the store for packs post-haste.  One of those packs contains a Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

So I won a Jace for 7th (sort of).  Not bad.

Looks like the date was changed from 7/10-11 to 17-18?  Sucks because X-treme is having theirs the 18th as well (the third Sunday of the month, as they've been doing for quite some time now).

I'm torn.

P.S. to Twaun - Beware if I show: Vengeance is MINE, suckah.  Hide behind green enchantments all you want.  I'm running Deathgrip in the SB; you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I flew solo up to Ann Arbor, hung out with a bunch of my Team Serious buddies, made top 8 with a 2-0-2 record, had a great time, and got some loot to boot!     Thanks to Get Your Game On for holding this, and honoring prize support even with such a low turnout.

Paul won the Sapphire (congrats again).

Top 8 was almost a complete Team Serious lockout.  Only non-serious guy was the dude who took 2nd, Duane (I hope I spelled it right!).

As alluded, only 17 people showed,   And again, I made top 8 winning my first 2 Swiss rounds and then ID'ing the last 2.  That's just not right.  More weak-spined sissies need to "man up" and come out next time.

My decklist (Jeremiah - 6th place) is missing an Emerald.  Otherwise it looks right, offhand.

3 FoW's?  That's nothing.  What about:  Opp lays vault + key turn 1, I lay turn 1 Lotus + Engineered Explosives FTW.  Soly, you need to practice your cutting skills.    (Also, my deck just loves me.)

Two gunslingers from the East(ish) will be riding in on you pansies.

Prepare for carnage.

That show & tell list is missing the Boseiju's...

Okay, it's looking like the peeps I was trying to drag along to this shindig are dragging their feet.

Is anyone passing by South Bend and willing to give me a ride in exchange for gas money & the pleasure of my company?

I'm right off US 20 (5 mins).

Post here if you can offer a lift (e-mail removed b/c of spambot potential).

I will try to get at least 2-3 other people to go with me to this.

Very stoked to see some quality Vintage action in Indiana.   

The list is up in the tournament forums now:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?board=43.0

I agree:  You can't even steal the Stag with Sower!

Clearly this card should be restricted.

No, I don't unfortunately.

You could try asking Eric at Xtreme games in the announcement post.

Thanks to Pam for running this, I had a lot of fun and the tournament was well-run and enjoyable, as has been my consistent experience for RIW events.  I was able to bring a crew up to Livonia with me this time: Evan and Kelsey, who are new to high level vintage tournaments, and partially in testament to the quality of the tourney we all are definitely planning on coming again.  When we drive up I see Twaun standing the lot with his crew, who comes over to see us and I introduce him to my magic homies.  I reveal to them that this is the man who went 7-0 in the swiss at the Xtreme games P9 tourney a few months earlier.  There is much awe and reverence.

I played a BUG fish-esque deck that eschews traditional fish mana denial in favor of bustedness and wound up taking 2nd against Paul Mastriano in a cliff-hanging 3 game nailbiter.  I wish I had been able to post this earlier as the details of my rounds would have been fresher, but I can blather on about my impressions:

Round 1 vs. Kelsey.  1st round opp is my friend from IN who came up with me.  Bummer.  He's with an unpowered goblin deck with Vintage hate.  Unfortunately for him, he can't answer Sphinx of the Steel Wind and it wins the game for me 2nd game, possibly the first as well (altho that might have been Sower, I don't remember).

Round 2 vs. Jerry Yang.  This is my 2nd career match against Yangtime; first was around a year ago in Philly where I was unceremoniously blown out the water by some oath/dredge monstronsity.  This time he's playing storm with brainfreeze.  He manages to storm me out in the 2nd game, but I win the 1st and 3rd.  Key was Cutpurse keeping his hand down while I drew countermagic.  Jerry was, as usual, the consummate sportsman and a cordial and enjoyable opponent.

Round 3 vs. Randal.  He's playing Stax with Factories.  Also, dude has one of the pimpest collection of extended art cards I've seen.  I end up winning in 2.  Key plays were Trygons eating artifacts and him drawing 3 Tangles but nothing to back them up.

Round 4 and 5:  ID.

Quarterfinals vs. Gil with Mono-R Workshop aggro.  I win game 1 off Sowers, E. Explosives killing Welders, and Sower IIRC.  Game 2 he locks me out fast with Moon Magus.  Game 3 I have Cutpurse + 3 mana in play and a Sower in hand.  He just played a Welder with Solemn in play and a Trike in the graveyard.  He passes the turn; I have no mana in hand and need to draw either another mana or an EE to kill the Welder.  My draw step yields nothing.  I look at the board position and realize my only hope is to swing with the Cutpurse and hope he doesn't block with solemn.  I announce attack and he decides to let it through, drawing me a Polluted and allowing Sower to get the win for me.  After the match he told me he realized his mistake.

Semis versus Mark Trogdon with Dark Tez.  We talk some friendly trash before the game; I inform him that I have the advantage since my deck is 61 cards.  Game 1 I get 1st turn Ancestral.  Then Regrow it next turn(?) and get it again.  Then he casts Tez with the Key in play(?) off scads of artifact mana and wins.  We both agree that Ancestral is pretty over-rated.  Games 2 and 3 I get Confidant + Cutpurse advantage and seal it.

Finals versus Paul Mastriano with something that looked similar to Steel City Vault.  (It had U, welders, and Vault.)  Game 1 I go off with Will sometime before the 4th turn I think and tinker up Steelwind.  His turn he baits with the Welder (I had no FoW and it does nothing against Sphinx anyways), then plays the Vault combo.  Game 2 He Tinkers land-eating robot, killing my 3 land, while I've been eating his life with 2 Bobs.  He can't swing though because I'm still at high life (15ish) while his is around 6 or so.  Soon he casts Time Walk and Swings with the Sundering.  I chump with a Bob, then he swings again on his turn.  I can't remember if I chump this too or let it through.  However, I recover on mana quickly and wind up Sowering for the win.  Game 3 was a long and grinding affair which featured me drawing lands and Bobs with LoA, and Paul hitting me with my own Glen Elendra.  When I finally get a Trygon up for defense he darkblasts it and goes TO TOWN with a lone Sower.  This was an intense round of magic and very enjoyable and hats off to Paul for the great competition (even though he called me "son" while I am, in fact, his elder).

I got to see some familiar faces and some new ones as well, and again, I thoroughly enjoyed this tournament.

-Jeremiah G.

You could throw in a copy of Opposition to establish a quasi-hard lock with the Blossom tokens.

Pyroblasts and REBs main and/or sideboarded, for the Tinker.

The presence of nonbasics in the field seems quite high to me, so much so that we are seeing something of a backlash against them in the form of people playing Back to Basics again, etc.

I think Moon effects are quite good ATM.

Play with a couple Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth so you can tap your Depths for mana.

This guy named Nate went undefeated in the swiss of Xtreme Game's Vintage tourney last week, using a R/G beats deck that ran Magus + wasteland...  and Pillage and Great Sable Stag.

I am led to believe the Stag was one of the keys to his deck's high performance.  Uncounterability combined with massive mana disruption made it very formidable, apparently.

The standard Stax lock components (sphere and thorn) are superior to Aura of Silence b/c they are easier for Stax to cast (double W is a problem), and because they hit a wider class of spells.

Some enchantments which have been used to good effect in 5c Stax in the past are In the Eye of Chaos and Chain of Meph.

And Energy Flux (I kid!  I kid!).