Two weekends ago, I played URg Landstill to a 3-3 finish at the GP Melbourne Vintage side event. I started 3-0, dropped my 4th round to God-draws from Grixis Control, punted the 5th against BG Hex-Depths, and won, but conceded, the 6th round, because I had a plane to catch and couldn't stick around for the Top 8. My list was:
Maindeck
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Standstill
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Mental Misstep
2 Mindbreak Trap
4 Mana Drain
Sideboard
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Viashano Heretic
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Firespout
I played pretty tight Magic in the first three rounds, beating Gush Delver 2-0, Noble Fish 2-0, and Remora Control 2-0. Grixis God-drawed me in the first game to beat me 0-2 (Turn 1 Jace, then Turn 1 Strip Mine on my Library of Alexandria in the 2nd game), and I punted the 5th round against BG Depths, Draining a Bob when I had a Barbarian Ring with Threshold on the board, causing me to lose to the follow-up YawgWill. 6th round I played TurboTezz, against a friend who always seems to draw all the FoWs and Misdirections he needs to get big things through my counter-wall, and I managed to draw and cast all 4 JtMs's in my deck, finally sticking the fourth one, which netted me the match win (even though I cracked my own Standstill with a REB!). I conceded to him because I had the best resistance of the bracket and he jumped into Top-8 in my stead. Looking at the matchups in the Top 8, I think if I had been able to stay I would have had a reasonable crack at taking the entire thing down, I fancy Landstill has a reasonable shot at beating all the Top-8 decks.
So playing fair Magic in Vintage isn't quite dead. I'll be continuing the Landstill crusade in the local Vintage league (I'm 2-1 at the moment) and also at the Bazaar of Moxen in Annecy in May this year. I will be chasing more pimp for the deck - at GP Melbourne I fully foiled the sideboard, and I now only need 2 Foil Unhinged Island, 4 Foil Scalding Tarn, 1 Foil Misty Rainforest, 1 Foil Misdirection, and 3 Foil Wasteland (FNM Foil) to completely shine-ify it. After that, a move needs to be made on some FBB German Volcs, a Trop, and a playset of Forces
So if you're in Anncey, hit me up and say hello, I'll (probably) be one of only two Australians there! I am frantically studying French, so please bear with me when you chat to me!
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