Over the years, the Australian Grand Prix’s have been kind to me. Considering the speed at which the Australian Vintage scene has grown over the past few years it has been all the more outstanding that I have been usually able to navigate these fields to respectable finishes.
In my first GP side event in Melbourne I made top 8 with Dark Times. This was a small event; barely a blip on the radar. This deck was really budget and I was promptly crushed by a Smokestack wielding shops pilot in the first round of top 8. Over the next couple of years, our Australian Vintage scene grew and grew. In these larger fields I lagged behind initially but have steadily been improving my placing. 14th in GP Sydney 2013, 9th at GP Melbourne 2014, top 4 at GP Sydney 2014, and I finally made my way through to the finals taking down the whole event in Sydney this year. This time I was the player running the Smokestacks.
My decision to play in the event was left late. I have been quite unwell in the months leading up to the event which restricted my availability to attend. In the end I said f**k it and bought tickets on a whim to Sydney in order to play.
My decision to play Smokestacks was also relatively last minute. Before the Banned and Restricted list changes I was pretty firmly set on playing Storm in this event. I felt like the pre change metagame had evolved that duress effects were a good place to be and I had liked the Reid Duke’s list from this year’s Vintage Championship. Over the few weeks prior to the restriction I had built a very similar list. I had the deck ready and sleeved and had been testing it in the Melbourne Vintage League when the B&R changes were announced. All of a sudden it was like the world had exploded. I was immediately at the drawing board for decks to play, knowing that Sydney would be one of the first sanctioned events after the changes; I wanted to be sure that I believed in what I was playing with. With so many difficulties facing storm I felt like I did not want to risk something that fragile without knowing the metagame. Looking back at this even in hindsight it would have probably still been a decent choice but I was not comfortable pulling the trigger at the time.
I spent the first week trying to figure out where things stood. I expected all of the changes to have an impact on the metage. I initially dismissed Shops as a primary strategy to focus on what I thought would be the most monumental change; the unrestriction of Thirst for Knowledge. I spent many days conversing with Graham King, who had won many of our recent larger events, about Thirst and its place in the metagame. We knew straight away that Turbo Tezzeret would be a thing again. Tom Sullivan who made 3rd place in this event made it known that he was testing the card with good results. I had played Tezzeret’s Picnic before and done well with it so I was definitely interested. What interested me more however was the fact that thirst gave blue decks the instant speed card draw effect that required nothing more than you play a few additional artefacts to ensure you had a good chance of outdrawing your opponent.
Did this allow the blue player to go back to an older style of control?
By not having to tap out for anything on your turn, one could gain the maximum amount of information from their opponents and sculpt their game from there. I decided to explore this further. After looking at a bunch of older lists I ended up with this:
5 Island
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
2 Flusterstorm
3 Thoughtseize
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Chain of Vapour
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Toxic Deluge
There were changes to this list. The AK’s came out and were replaced by Snapcaster Mage, DTT and more Duress effects. The tendrils was removed for a Time Vault but it still was not quite where I wanted it to be. There was certainly some power behind a deck like this but it did not quite have the game against Hangerback shops that I wanted and I was still trying to get the structure together as the event drew closer.
Perhaps something a little more akin to what has actually been played in the last 5 years?
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Fetch
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Thoughtseize
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
2 Goblin Welder
1 Myr battlesphere
4 Dack Fayden
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgnoth’s Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Dig Through Time
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
This list was obviously trying to put Thirsts into the slaver shell which Rich Shay popularised once again last year. Some of the inclusions may seem a bit off and I dropped the list after a few testing games but it did get me interested in playing welder once again. It was awesome against Ravager and friends and also played counterspell vs the blue decks for your important artefacts.
In addition to these lists I was also looking at Burning Oath and Tezzeret but they just did not feel right.
Having lost too many games and with only a couple of days before the event itself I dropped the lists I had been testing and focussed back onto what had served me well in the past; Mishra’s Workshop. I had made a very good run with Espresso Stax throughout 2014 and a friend of mine had won Australia’s largest event this year with the deck. With the views I expressed here:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=48066.90 I set about looking at the shortcomings of Espresso without Chalice of the Void. I did not especially want to play an aggressive strategy as that had backfired on my in the past so that ruled out the list I put forward in the post linked.
For reference; this was my list at last year’s event in which I lost to Dredge in the Top 4:
Joshua Butler – Espresso Stax GP Sydney 2014
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra’s Factory
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Serum Powder
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Trinisphere
Sideboard
3 Null Rod
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Maze of Ith
2 Karakas
1 The Tabernacle at Pendral Vale
This was a monumental task. The loss of chalice at 0 meant that straight away cards like Tangle Wire and Smokestack become a lot worse as your opponent has more opportunity to play the permanents which previously would have been locked in their hand. Hoping to continue the mana denial strategy without Chalice meant that I needed to look to other ways to control the opponents’ board. This meant that I needed something like Null Rod/Powder Keg/Ratchet bomb. Even though BC had done well in the 2012 Vintage Chanpionship with Ratchet bombs my primary leaning on this decision was to go for Null Rod. With Thirst around, I expected more players to be gunning for Time Vault and the restriction of Chalice likely meant that there would be more players at least toying with the idea of going big with something like Steel City Vault or Charbelcher. Null Rod was straight up more effective at fighting both strategies. Null Rod did however necessitate further changes to my list.
Moving the Null Rod’s to the main meant that certain cards also had to go. Rod did not play well with Karn, Silver Golem and with Karn gone Serum Powder lost a LOT of its lustre. Not only did Serum powder help fix your draws but it was the perfect size for a creature to go to the dome under Karn’s influence. The 3/3 body would survive most combat steps (unlike a 2/2 Sphere) and was easily expendable in situations you didn’t want to risk a Crucible to a Lightning bolt etc. Mishra’s Factory also became significantly weaker; not chopping block weaker but it did lose its defensive power. Suddenly needing to change 3 cards had turned into 14-18 in the blink of an eye.
My initial lists were attempts to keep the deck colourless to maximise the efficiency of my 4 drops which are after all is said and done the backbone of the deck. Lodestone is still so strong against so much of the field and Smokestack simply allows you to control the pace of the game more than any other card in Magic (except perhaps Tinker -> BSC). Staying colourless also allowed me maximum freedom to play with the land base as necessary. I decided I wanted to complement the mana denial plan with further disruption in that area. By the time I was boarding the plane for Sydney I had the following built and was goldfishing.
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
4 Buried Ruin
2 City of Traitors
2 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Lodestone
4 Revoker
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
3 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
3 Null Rod
3 Crucible of Worlds
This build clearly wanted to use it’s spheres as leverage to lock it’s opponent out and use its large mana base to eventually apply a threat such as a Smokestack or Lodestone and kill the opponent. Buried Ruin seemed to complement this really well and so was included over the Factories. This build used fully 4 more lands than the other Shops decks and included ports to wreck havoc on opposing sol/tri lands and I believe could reliably out produce even decks like Terra Nova. The deck did have one glaring weakness though which was enough to make me rethink the deck. An early delver/Mentor/Pyro was catastrophic. I found myself simply hoping to race the opposing creatures which was simply not happening. Even with testing Dismembers and bringing back the Tabernacles into the sideboard reliably keeping them off the board was hard. I expected Delver to be there, though was not sure exactly on the numbers of Pyro’s vs Mentors etc.
One tech from a local player I tested was Ensnaring Bridge. Ensnaring Bridge allows you hide like the fabled troll, stopping all combat and gives you the time needed to find the relevant hate cards or to get your late game engine of Crucible and Smokestack online. The more I thought about Ensnaring Bridge, there I knew it was where I wanted to be. Running the card and it’s interactions over in my head the more I knew it would be what I was playing with the next day. Some of its highlights were:
• In most cases Shops cannot remove it and by turn 3 you can reliably get low enough in cards that nothing can attack.
• It’s a non Misstepable Grafdigger’s Cage vs Oath/Tinker and acts as incremental hate vs Dredge.
• If they can attack at all, it forces mentor players to rely solely on instants to pump their team rather than Top/main phase shenanigans.
Ensnaring Bridge is not without its downsides though. It requires you to keep your hand size low to slow attacks which means that you can’t play any cards you intend to keep around such as counterspells or fatties like Sundering Titan which will most likely be stuck in your hand. Ensnaring Bridge + Bazaar of Baghdad is a hard lock for anyone hoping to win through the attack step ensuring that no matter what you draw it can either go on the board or into the bin keeping you at 0 cards in hand.
So I had a piece of tech that worked from ok to excellent against a number of decks I expected to face (Shops, Oath, and Delver variants), served as splash hate against others (Dredge), and was only dead in a few circumstances (creatureless decks i.e. Belcher). Even most storm variants use a Griselbrand or a BSC so while it would not be there for game 2 it could provide a modicum of usefulness against traditionally creatureless decks in game 1.
One of my problems was that once I had achieved a lock I needed a win condition. With Null rod in play, my options were really limited to Black Vise and Darksteel Reactor* (it was suggested). An alternative win con could have been Platinum Angel and simply let my opponent deck out. Each of these avenues came with their own problems. I had already noted that I did not want fatties to clog up my hand. In addition to this counterspells would be very relevant. Especially if I had only a single Angel or Vise it may be too low in the deck to reliably fight through counterspells etc or not be able to actually kill my opponent in time.
Red however gave a very reliable, non counterable win condition in Barbarian Ring. Barbarian Ring allowed me to finish my opponent from underneath a Bridge, did not require cards in hand and even helped with the crucible plan. Barbarian Ring can also be used in the mid game to remove creatures and hassle Planeswalkers which threaten to take over the game.
As I was committing to play Red in my Shops list it basically necessitated Welder as he synergised with every other part of the deck. He can play tricks with cards like Smokestack and Tangle Wire to make them even worse for your opponent; he protects your stuff from removal and acts as a counterspell against the blue decks, and he even acts as a mana accelerant when combined with Bazaar of Baghdad. He even counts as removal in some situations such as the mirror. Welder is another card which benefits from Chalices restriction as it is unlikely to be locked out of a game. I did quickly think about the inclusion of Cavern of Souls but decided against it because I would rather the consistency for the Barbarian Rings. If my opponent wanted to keep missteps in post board for my Welders then more power to them.
In order to fit all of these cards in did come at a cost and that costs was the Spheres. Both Sphere of Resistance and Thorn were cut from the main deck to fit in appropriate numbers of all the various cards. Numbers could be shaved from the various combo parts to fit in some spheres but I surmised that if I could lock down the board then it would be unlikely that there would be more than 1-2 relevant cards in my opponents’ decks. Lodestones did offer some extra lock but I wanted to focus on controlling the board and force my opponents to use any Hurkyl’s etc defensively rather than offensively.
When it came to the sideboard I took my friend Dan Dowse’ advise and stayed away from Red spells in the sideboard. Dan has been playing Welder Stax for longer than I have been playing Magic so I was not going to go against all that experience off the cuff. Dredge hate was obvious and when coupled with the main deck was a very potent anti-Dredge mix. The remaining 8 cards were there to help with other shortcomings. Wurmcoil Engines are simply one of the best threats in the mirror and against the creature decks and there was no reason at the time to make a split I ran the full four. The thorns were in there for added security against any combo decks or Big Blue control decks.
When I had finished securing cards I registered the following:
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
3 Mountain
3 Barbarian Ring
3 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Goblin Welder
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Razormane Masticore
4 Tangle Wire
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Smokestack
3 Null Rod
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Trinisphere
Sidebaord:
4 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
Tournament Report:
R1 vs Dillon Kikkawa (Dredge)
Dillon is a great guy who was put in the unfortunate circumstance of having to knock me out of this very tournament the year before ending my run at top 4. While our games last year were memorable (I won game 1 on a mull to two); this year I was out for revenge.
Game 1
I am pretty sure Dillon is on Dredge again though I am not 100% and mulligan to 6. I meet his bazaar with a Trinisphere and continue to deploy cards in my hand as he starts to assemble his army with a triple Bazaar draw. On the penultimate turn I draw the bazaar but fail to find the game deciding Ensnaring Bridge and the 8 zombies created on the death of his Ichorids run roughshod over my poor Phyrexian Revoker.
0-1
Game 2
Game two was textbook for keeping dredge from completing their game. I opened with a Welder and proceeded to apply waste effects to his lands and threatening to return the Tormod’s Crypt I had used previously whist beating down with Revokers.
1-1
Game 3
In game three I land an early Lodestone golem and Wurmcoil Engine which finish him off quickly. It was an unceremonious end to what could have been a very back and forth game three. Dillon was not able to find blockers before he was dead.
2-1
1-0
Round 2 vs Thomas Ribet (Miracles)
Thomas is an old friend from the Vintage world. He is generally brining something spicy. He has tried everything from Madness to Remora Storm and today was no different.
Game 1
This was a very odd game and I am not sure If I lost it through my error or divine intervention. We have got to a point where he has resolved a Monastery Mentor and I reply with a Razormane Masticore. At some point before my draw step Devastation Tide goes onto the stack and returns everything to my hand which is the following:
My board had 5 mana on it. I played the Lodestone into the expected counter and had to decide RE the Razormane. I played the shop (mistake) and had to wait a turn to play the Masticore. Unfortunately because I played the turn prior and my draw was Null Rod I had to choose between killing the mentor or playing a Null Rod onto the board of Mentor and 1 token. Of note was that he had 2 cards in hand and a SDT in play. I decided to forgo the Null Rod to kill the Mentor. Before the Mentor was killed he had assembled 3 tokens and with me on 3 life he was very much threatening lethal. He managed to find a Jace to bounce the Masticore before swinging in. I figured at the time that removing the mentor was more important than stopping the top from doing its thing. Who would have thought that playing a Workshop was a bad idea in a Workshop deck?
Had I not played the Shop I would have had both the Null Rod and the Razormane on the board. Perhaps Jace was the top card? I guess I will never know.
0-1
Game 2
Game two was as uneventful as Game three of the previous round. I smashed into him with multiple Lodestones before he would muster a defence.
1-1
Game 3
Game 3 goes long and into turns. My early Lodestone is sent plowing and I settle in for a long game. As we enter turns have a Lodestone and a Razormane Masticore to a clear board but he has runner Swords and Snapcaster Mage to keep himself alive with 3 life left and turn 4 of time. He was unable to win on turn 5 and we unintentionally draw
1-1-1
1-0-1
Round 3 vs Cameron Reedy (Hangerback Shop)
I had not met Cameron before but he seemed a jolly enough fellow. Now it was time for a mirror match and I was ready...
Game 1
I managed to get an early Bridge down but keeping my handsize down was difficult as I had the multiple Ancient Tomb draw and he had some smaller creatures to help whittle me down. I spend a good 10-15 turns at a semi locked board where he could only attack with small creatures into my Lodestones when I draw two Wurmcoils without the mana to cast them and did not see a mountain or Bazaar which would have saved me from the Hangerback Walker Cameron subsequently cast. I blocked it on the ground as I was on 1 but could not find any of the 5 cards above to stop the 1/1 flyer from attacking or killing it.
My notepad here only reads “FU DECK”
0-1
Game 2
Game two is over quickly as my early welder is run over by multiple lodestones and I could not find a Bridge or get an artefact in his Graveyard to start welding. It may have been a greedy keep but it was a t1 welder, t2 Crucible + Waste which is generally enough vs most shops decks.
0-2
1-1-1
At this point in the tournament I was livid. I really felt like I had been dealt a bad hand. I felt I had fallen from the variance tree and hit every branch on the way down. Two rounds in a row lost or drawn on the basis of simply not drawing a single copy of any one of 7+ cards in two crucial games. Infuriated as I was I was not out of contention yet. My headache was back and was excruciating but I figured that if I lose the next round I can always do coverage etc as I sometimes do.
Round 4 Michal Kreutzer (BUG Fish)
Michael was on one deck I certainly did not want to face. Although I did not realise that was what he was on at first, the minute I saw Abrupt Decays I knew I was in trouble. BUG had the answers for all of my cards. Removal for the Welders and Bridges, as well as Trygon Predators for clean up duty all makes for very good game against any Workshop variant
Game 1
I waste him in the early game but my threats are destroyed by Abrupt Decay. I almost managed to lock his creatures out having stabilised on 7 life. He had been hitting me with a Trygon Predator and draining me with a Deathrite Shaman but I locked the flyer out with an Ensnaring Bridge. Unfortunately for me Michael had another Abrupt Decay for the Bridge and from there it was a quick way to 0 life.
0-1 (not won a game 1 yet)
Game 2
Game 2 Michael kept an all control hand with a dismember for my Welder and forces for both by subsequent Smokestack and Lodestone Golem. Wurmcoil Engine resolves only to be hit by a Nature’s Claim but the tokens are able to race his board and he had put himself at 10 before I hit him with anything.
1-1
Game 3
Michael keeps a very greedy had which has only Strip mine and Mox Jet for mana and my Turn 1 Lodestone Golem smashes into him hard and fast.
2-1
2-1-1
Going into round 5 I knew that I would have to bash to even hope of getting in. Looking at the standings it showed that both Thomas from round 2 and I were on 7 so were paired into matchups forcing us both to bash to make it in.
Round 5 vs Jared Mallett (U/R Delver)
Jared is a good guy whom I played in the previous years’ event. Both of us have a chance of making top 8 so we must bash if either of us want to go further into this tournament. He jokes that if I am playing the same deck as last time it should be fine for me.
I win the die roll for the first time and elect to play. Jared keeps a very controlling hand which forces both my early threats (Smokestack and Lodestone) but he is forced to Gush which puts him behind on mana and Lodestone #2 and a Revoker manage to put his life total into the negatives.
1-0
Game 2
Game two I was far too cocky. I expected to win this game the entire time...right up to the point I scooped. I have a board lock out and a smokestack at one is racing the cards he draws to keep making tokens for his young Pyromancer. While the smokestack is basically eating away at his cards in hand it was not hindering his mana. I am so sure of Victory and so unprepared for what came next that I started the Wastelanding him down to 0 mana a bit early rather than play around his cards. Energy Flux came down onto the table and I looked at my board.
Mox Ruby
Crucible of Worlds
Smokestack
Phyrexian Revoker
Null Rod
OUCH
I scoop immediately.
1-1
Game 3
Double Delver of Secrets does not race a Wurmcoil Engine and a Tangle Wire
2-1
3-1-1
Top 8 vs Yunus Yuksel (Martello Shops)
The standings were posted and I made the top 8...just. Sneaking in at 8th place meant that I would be on the draw for the entire top 8. Paired against Yunus on Martello Shops would be a rematch of my round three as far as Bridge is concerned. Unlike Round three, this time things worked out.
Yunus was on the play and I land an early Ensnaring Bridge. Unfortunately I am forced by situation to play a mana crypt which slowly kills me. Even with rolling as well as I did (I didn’t take damage 4+ turns in a row) I was not able to find a smokestack or a Welder and although Yunus was completely locked out he won the first game
0-1
Game 2+3
I have put these two together as all that happened was that I played an early Ensnaring Bridge and from that point Yunus was completely locked out. The games grew very wide as both players would simply play what they drew each turn as Yunus waited to die. Once I had multiple Null Rods in play and a Revoker on Forgemaster I named Pheldagrif with another Revoker because there was just nothing that he could do. I simply had to wait until by deck gave me both a mountain and a Barbarian Ring.
I did make a couple of mistakes but Ensnaring bridge meant that Yunus could not take advantage of them.
2-1
Top 4 vs Beaudean Mead (Alluren)
Well this was a first. I had never played against Alluren in any format but I kind of knew what to expect. I had to check with the judge the oracle wording on a bunch of cards but I expected that the Lodestones would be key.
In the first game I have a land heavy draw and his Thoughtseize can only take my Welder whilst my Wastelands make short work of his mana base and a solitary Phyrexian Revoker gets there.
Game 2
Game 2 was much more interesting. I was playing Welder ballet between my Thorns, Lodestones, Revokers and Smokestacks ensuring that he was kept off as much mana as possible. Lodestone would bash into a chump blocker or two and be welded back in. I had to play around his removal and he eventually landed an Alluren but it was enough as I followed it up with a Wurmcoil Engine which was enough to end the game before he could find another recruiter or combo piece.
2-0
Final vs Thomas Ribet (Miracles)
A lot of things had to go right for this rematch to happen. We both had to win our win and ins’ as well as all further matches but there we were. Armed with my knowledge of his deck from round two I felt a lot more confidant. As this was untimed there would be no draws this time. We agreed to a prize split as neither of us particularly wanted the sheet of foil Rares but we both were 100% out for the glory and there was no question about not playing from either party.
Game one saw Ribet counter my first few threats but he stumbled on mana and I managed to get enough onto the board to his Cavern of Souls and Plains including a Lodestone which carried me to victory.
1-0
Game 2
Game two saw a quick victory as Thomas kept a very safe hand with plenty of mana, a force and a Dig Through Time. My opening hand of Welder (Countered) Lodestone Golem into Wurmcoil Engine was enough to end the game in quick order as Thomas did not have the time to play out the lands and draw into relevant spells. Ending the day with three Workshops in play (on turn 3) and the lotus in the bin was a very Vintage feeling.
Overall the event was great and I am glad I went.
If I were to change anything in the deck I might try and shave some of the dredge hate as it was a bit overboard; possibly find room for bazaar 4 as the quality of the games where I had Bazaar skyrocketed over those where I did not.
This deck is definitely not a 7/52 type of deck. The Ensnaring Bridges in the main were a direct consideration to the deck I expected to face. Mono Red Stax got a little better with the restriction of Chalice but not by a huge amount. I suspect that the more aggressive colourless versions of Shops are probably a better deck in a vacuum but if there are going to be lots of those decks then something like this is a great choice.
The more Abrupt Decay or Rituals see play the worse this deck is going to get but for now it worked out for me.
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