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1  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / [Results Madrid 02/11/2015] 2º LMV IX on: November 16, 2015, 05:30:43 am
Results from our monthly tournament on Alcobendas (near of Madrid). We always play six rounds and with 19 players we opted for top 4 (only play vintage once a month).

Players: 19
6 Rounds + Top4

Metagame breakdown

Big Blue (8)
2 Mentor (UWB, UWR)
2 Keeper (4C, Burning)
2 Tezzcast
1 Gush Storm
1 Control Slaver

Fish (5)
2 BUG Fish
1 Goblins
1 RW Humans
1 BGW Skullclamp

Combo (5)
3 Oath
1 Belcher
1 Long

MWS (1)
1 MUD

Winners and Top8 Decks

Champion - Jaime Cano - Esper Mentor

4 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Mana Drain
1 Echoing Truth
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Preordain
3 Gush
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Dig Through Time
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand

SB:
1 Plains
2 Flusterstorm
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Containment Priest
2 Rest in Peace
2 Disenchant
2 Stony Silence
1 Kataki, War's Cage

Top2 - Pablo David Díaz - Control Slaver

3 Goblin Welder
1 Sundering Titan
1 Myr Battlesphere
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
1 Mental Misstep
1 Misdirection
1 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Fire/Ice
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Mindslaver
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand

SB:
3 Razormane Masticore
1 Trinisphere
1 Mental Misstep
3 Toughtseize
3 Smelt
2 Pyroclasm
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Lightning Bolt

Top4- Rodrigo Togores - Belcher

4 Force of Will
4 Pact of Negation
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Preordain
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
2 Diminishing Returns
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Windfall
1 Mind's Desire
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Expedition Map
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Memory Jar
4 Chrome Mox
4 Grim Monolith
4 Mox Opal
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy

SB:   
4 Leyline of Anticipation
2 Mishra's Workshop
3 Mental Misstep
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Void Snare
1 Defense Grid

Top4 - Alejandro Escribano - 4C Keeper

4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trygon Predator
1 Notion Thieft
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Mental Misstep
2 Duress
1 Mana Leak
1 Flusterstorm
1 Pyroblast
1 Echoing Truth
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Dig Through Time
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Dack Fayden
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Mana Confluence
2 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand

SB:
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Graffdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Notion Thieft
1 Trygon Predator
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Flusterstorm
2 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Ancient Grudge

Top8 - Antonio Escamilla - Oath

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Thorn
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
1 Misdirection
1 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Balance
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dragon Breath
4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta

SB:
2 Claws of Gix
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Progenitus
2 Flusterstorm
2 Energy Flux
1 Rebuild
2 Duress
2 Nature's Claim

Top8 - Victor Martín - Tezzcast

1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Mental Misstep
1 Negate
1 Pyroblast
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Thoughcast
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Mox Opal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta

SB:
1 Mountain
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Echoing Truth
1 Mental Misstep
2 Ingot Chewer
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Pyrpblast
1 Pyroclasm

Top8 - Jorge Matilla - MUD

4 Lodestone Golem
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Null Rod
1 Batterskull
1 Trinisphere
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Workshop

SB:
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Graffdigger's Cage
2 Duplicant
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Null Rod
3 Dismember

Top8 - Manuel Sanz - Gush Storm

"Thirst for Gush"
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Mana Drain
2 Flusterstorm
1 Thoughtseize
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Gush
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Dig Through Time
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Fastbond
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest

SB:
1 Forest
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Notion Thieft
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Yixlid Jailer
4 Nature's Claim
2  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: October 05, 2015, 09:04:38 am
I tried this deck on Ovinoggeddon yesterday. I liked the deck on testing but thing didn't gone well. Maybe I have to work some more on the deck, but great majority of my games were lost almost without playing, like mentor on first turn and traditionally bad matchups for this kind of decks like UR pyromancer and TPS:

2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
2 Repeal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Burning Wish
1 Noxious Revival
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn

SB:
1 Mountain
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Tinker
1 Thoughtseize
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Pulverize
1 Pyroclasm
3  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: New Mulligan Rule on: June 30, 2015, 05:25:02 am
I like your idea a lot, @Twiedel. Nobody would take mulligan to see extra cards and this helps a lot with variance.
4  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Free article] The Best Draw Engine in Vintage on: May 07, 2015, 10:29:43 am
In my experience, I have never a problem having an acceptable graveyard after casting multiple DTTs. Second on I will pay more than two mana very often and I will exile at least the first one. Really, you only have to keep in your graveyard Lotus, Ancestral and Time Walk.
Also DTT is a superior card in Mentor decks and UBx decks, while TC is only better in Delver-decks.
5  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Free article] The Best Draw Engine in Vintage on: April 30, 2015, 03:12:32 am
But with all these draw is pretty easy to assemble any combo like tendrils, Vault-Key, Tinker or Monastery Mentor. I played two decks with this engine last months and was easy to do. With Oath win-con I wasn't worried even against MUD.
I think Dig Through Time will not go unrestricted for too long.
6  Vintage Community Discussion / General Community Discussion / Re: Unusual but correct plays on: April 29, 2015, 07:28:04 am
I've made the Vampiric into Demonic some times. It is usually for the double tutor Yawgmoth's Will thing.

Past weekend, on my monthly leaguer tourney I played:
T1: fetchland go.
T2: Sea, crack fethc for Trop, Time Walk
T3: Mystical for Vampiric on upkeep, vampiric for Fastbond, Gush, play Trop, Fastbond, land, gush, land, land, Y.Will...

On MKM Rome I made a very funny play ftw; when I was lethal on the table and my opponent played EOT Noxious Revival on his Ancestral, I let resolve it and played my own Revival on his Revival Wink
7  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: March 27, 2015, 05:50:09 am
The problem with the vastly majority of list I see online :
- You can't play less than 24 mana sources in a deck with so many slow cards like Gifts, Jace, Will and delve cards. On my experience Delve cards have not good sinergy with the deck itself and SDT is too ana intensive for a deck that are trying to play 4cc spells.
- Your Gifts piles are very weak without playing a good quantity of graveyard recursion. Having Snapcaster Mage in hand BEFORE you resolve gifts ungiven is gg too often to not maximize the chance of doing it.
- Recoup is weak. You can Compare any yawgmoth's will+recoup pile with Snap+Noxious+YawgW+Black Lotus/Time Walk and you will very dissapointed on Recoup performance.
- Gifts is a combo card and you have to use it on this way. You have to use both aspects of the cards, the graveyard fill one and the pure card advantage one to fully benefit the four mana you spend on it.
- Repeal is best friend of combo-control players. It ups the storm, ups the mana with Mana Crypt and can resolve temporarily annoying permanents like oath, containment, delver, cage... or won a ton of time against aggresive decks. Its also have a lot sinergy with other cards you have to play in your deck like Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Revival and Mana Drain.

Burning Gifts works. It is as good as any other deck in Vintage right now. Maybe it is a little thoughtful because you have a lot of options, and you have to chain a lot of spells to win the game instead of throwing Vault-Key (mongocombo) or oath into play, but the deck is very good if you can play at a good magic level. The deck is elitist and I can't recommend it to everyone, but this also makes it very fun because you have a lot of room for improvement for your own play. I have lost very few games where I could not have played better, and I like it.
My list have a positive UW Mentor matchup and I have only some problems beating remora lists, but they are not too popular (and I think  they are not very good for a open metagame neither). These decks have to tap out on his own turn too often and this is very good for us to win before they untap.
8  Eternal Formats / Ritual-Based Combo / Re: Ritual Gifts on: March 02, 2015, 08:34:18 am
It's also my feeling about Burning Wish and Cabal Ritual, but I'm not sure why you need Pyroblast, because you can use Flusterstorm and I doubt you need more than 4 Fow+4-6 Discard+4 Flusterstorm.
9  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: February 23, 2015, 05:28:44 am
I update my list to win my local league tournament. I used this list:

3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
2 Repeal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Walk
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Burning Wish
1 Noxious Revival
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn

Sb:
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Tinker
1 Thougthseize
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Mountain
4 Pulverize
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Surgical Extraction

I came back with Mental Misstep disruption beacuse of Pyroblast and having to fight for Noxious Revival. I add 3 instead of 2 MisD and the 3rd Repeal.
I drop DTT because of his poor perfomance in this deck.
Also dropped Fire/Ice because the metagame shift on Young Pyromancer to Monastery Mentor on my metagame.
I added Noxious Revival and a 3rd Snapcaster.
In spite of being 21 players we always play at least 6 rounds with cut to top8:

2-1 UW Remora Mentor
2-0 Oath
0-2 Landstill (3+3 Pyroblast Sad )
2-0 UW Mentor
0-2 MUD (I heavily missplayed g1 and g2 he nuts-draw me completely)
2-1 UWR Mentor
QF
2-1 Esper Tasigur Bomberman
2-1 UR Delver
2-1 UW Mentor
10  Vintage Community Discussion / General Community Discussion / Re: MKM European tournament series on: February 20, 2015, 06:10:14 am
Same as @Twiedel. My playgroup and me will try to go every event. An European Vintage circuit and 4-gifts are the best news for Vintage in years Wink

I think spanish event will be on Madrid, because the picture is the emblem of the city Smile
11  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Article]Eternal Europe: Opening Up Gifts on: February 20, 2015, 05:24:56 am
Hi, Why you continue playing with Recoup? I think playing some number of Snapcaster Mages is a better option.
Also if you believe MUD will be so problematic, you can try our 4 Pulverize sideboard. Usually MUD goes to topdeck mode without any non-land permanents, so it usually buy enough time to combo in one or two turns. The drawback of this strategy si having to play at least 3 Volcanic Island and Mountain on sideboard.
12  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / [Article]#GiftsWeek – Burning Gifts on: February 05, 2015, 11:25:27 am
Continuing with the GiftsWeek series on Eternal Central, here is my initial approach of Gifts Ungiven combo-control deck:






http://www.eternalcentral.com/giftsweek-burning-gifts-2015/

Enjoy!



13  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: February 04, 2015, 04:12:26 am
When I have played my Burning Wish list, I have some feeling of the deck is too heavy, and my deck have only five 4cc spells and 25 mana sources. When I saw your list at the first time, @Machinus, it looked like you will be mana screwed too often playing only 23 mana sources. Also, may be Mana Vault is not needed in a non-storm deck, but I think it will be good in a deck with 5 3U spells and wants to play a lot of spells in one turn.
14  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: January 27, 2015, 04:50:22 am
If you want to play Past in Flames, add at least one Dark Ritual to produce some mana. Probably it will be better in a Ritual Gifts deck like the 2007 one.
I'm not sure about how good will be the Unburial Rites package in Vintage. It seems too slow, but I think it deserves a try, beacuse it's completely game crushing against some deck like Ichorid (with Elesh Norn). It also can be better with Ritual, but I don't know.
15  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: January 26, 2015, 01:12:38 pm
You can't compare Recoup with Snapcaster Mage. SCM is very flexible, beacuse you can rebuy a lot of cards on the deck, instead, Recoup is restricted at 4-6 cards in your deck.
Recasting a Time Walk with SCM leaves a 2/1 guy to attack planeswalkers and it is incremental with more copies. You win a lot of games attacking with SCM.
"Recouping" a Time Walk is cycling the Recoup for 4 manás at sorcery speed exiling Time Walk for the rest of the game. Tapping out at sorcery speed to cycle recoup is very risky aganist any counter-deck.
The problem with Recoup isn't when you have targets in the graveyard, the problem is when you haven't or you can't access it because Graffdigger's Cage or RIP. I think for a more flexible deck and a less miser losses because dead cards you must swap Recoup for one more Snapcaster Mage on every Gifts deck.
16  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: January 26, 2015, 04:12:27 am
Recoup is completely unneeded, you can do a lot of piles to Yawgmoths Will for sure with Snapcaster Mage and not needing to play a card so bad. In a list with Recoup, Blightsteel Colossus, Time Vault, Key, Mental Misstep and som situational answers, you will be flooded of situational cards too often. Noxious Revival is a far better card and you can put in also but I'm not a fan.

About Inkwell Leviathan it's very bad against a lot of deck. Tinker is the best answer against MWS decks, but with Inkwell Leviathan it's very easy for him to race you with Lodestone Golem. Sure, a control deck can't Jace it, but you give a lot of time for them to find a Hurkyl's Recall or win faster. The same against Oath. I think it is only good against Fish decks, and only if you play it very fast.
17  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge on: January 21, 2015, 04:26:29 am
I'm brewing with it also. We have lost some cards, but we gained also another ones like Snapcaster Mage.

Control: We have to play at least 3 Mana Drain to power up Gifts. Also I like to play some singleton defense cards instead of Mental Missteps to use Gifts Ungiven in counterwars. Misdirection, Flusterstorm and Mindbreak Trap aare very good counter when where are playing with an instant engine. Don't play Rebuild. Back in the day MUD played only 5 Spheres, but now one more mana is too important.

Recoup: It's a very bad card. Back ago were very weak, and now is almost unplayable. Now we have Snapcaster Mage, and it is all we need to power Yawgmoth's Will pile. Also, if you want a card like this maybe you can play Past in Flames with one Dark Ritual. There are other options to graveyard recursion like Noxious Revival. It's a card I've not tested yet, but I'm thinking playing one.

Burning Wish: I think this is the deck to abuse this card. Having access to Yawgmoth, Tinker and Pyroclasm so easy is very good. It's very dificult to run out of wincons and it makes very easy the eot gifts->Burning Will. The only drawback is the lack of sideboard Space.

Vault/Key: I don't like this combo too much and I think I have no room to play it, but if you play this combo add a Noxious Revival to do some cheap piles.

My decklist:

2 Snapcaster mage
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
1 Flusterstorm
1 Thoughtseize
1 Pyroblast
3 Repeal
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Fire/Ice
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Dig Through Time
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Burning Wish
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
5 Mox
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
1 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn

Sb:
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Duress
1 Treasure Cruise/Deep Analisys
1 Toxic Deluge/Pyroclasm
1 Mountain
4 Pulverize
4 GY-Hate (I don't know)

The weakest card in my list is probably Sensei, but I wanted to play it with the Repeals. I will try Noxious for 1 Snapcaster and a Misdirection for the Sensei

18  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: Mono Blue Control on: October 08, 2014, 07:46:36 am
Having more Jaces in the deck, means you can sacrifice it without fear. Also, in a deck with Back to Basics the bounce ability is very good. In this kind of deck you need to land a Jace ASAP to refill your hand and build card advantage to seal the game. I think four are fine.
19  Eternal Formats / Northeast U.S. / Re: The 2014 Eternal Weekend! $20,000+ in prizes! Philadelphia, PA! Oct. 24-26! on: October 03, 2014, 07:19:01 am
Some guys from Spain will be there. Maybe I'll carry with me some Old School cards also.
20  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Free Article] Vintage Master Class: Coss Vs. Mastriano on: April 16, 2014, 07:52:50 am
@Mr.Type4
In first game, why you played Vampiric Tutor in response to Duress? If you have seen Imperial Tutor you can imagine you are playing against a combo deck, so it is pretty probable he will take Force of Will, and if not, you will be happy if he chooses Vampiric Tutor. If you don't play Vampiric Tutor you can play it in response to Wheel of Fortune and go for the Fow to try to stop him. Live to fight another day!
I think it is a poor play, but really didn't matter because you don't drew a blue card to pitch to it.
21  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: How would you play out this hand? on: October 03, 2013, 11:32:37 am
The problem here is if he has Dark Confidant and Force or Flusterstorm/Spell Snare.
If I go with the route of DT->Ancestral it can be stopped with any counterspell and you will be hopeless against his Dark Confidant, unless you draw an mana source to play Jace and bounce it. Not very good.
If I go with DT->Black Lotus and play it is almost the same, beacuse he will use Flusterstorm/Spell Snare to counter your DT. If he has Force of Will he will not counter your DT or your Black Lotus, instead he will wait to use it protecting his Bob. Then If he plays Bob, I would not counter back with Mana Drain, but I prefer to let him resolve bob, and in my turn playing Jace with Mana Drain backup or Duress+Mana Drain if I drew a mana source (not mox pearl plz!). Not very good against non Force of Will counter.
If I pass the turn and he plays Bob, it only can protect it with Force of Will. If he has the Force I will go with Demonic->Lotus->Jace->bounce the critter with duress backup if I drawed a mana source.
I think this is the better route assuming our opponent has the bob.

If he has no bob and I go with the Demonic->Lotus route, I will lose the DT to his non-fow counter in the same way, negating the possibility of play Jace next turn, beacuse if I draw a mana source I will instead Duress + Mana Drain, beacuse playing Jace into Mana Drain is a very bad choice.
In the same way if I go with the pass route I will countinue doing nothing until I need to use my mana drain or I draw a mana source to play the Duress.

I think the plan of pass the turn is safer almost ever, and it has the same profit in a lot of cases, so is my choice.
22  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: Burning Wish Outside of Pure Combo Decks on: September 20, 2013, 04:48:55 am
With the easy access to Yawgmoth's Will, Tinker and Tendrils, the Burning Wish decks will never be a pure control deck. My Burning Robadeck build is really a very agresive deck.

I also have tried more controlish decks, like a Keeper with the Wish and the Rest in Peace/Helm combo. It is more on the side of the control than the other deck, but I can force fast kills with tinker. But the deck is rough already and it needs more tunning:

RIPBurningKeeper

4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
3 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Thirst for Knowledge

3 Rest in Peace

1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

4 Burning Wish
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Lightning Bolt

1 Helm of Obedience
1 Blightsteel Colossus

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
5 Mox
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Fetchs
4 City of Brass

SB:
1 Balance
1 Tinker
1 Hull Breach
1 Deep Analisys
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Toughtseize
...
23  Vintage Community Discussion / General Community Discussion / Re: What is Your Most Memorable Vintage Match? on: September 19, 2013, 05:38:31 am
Some years ago, in the second GroAtog era I was playing a gush deck which "only" could win with Tinker-Colossus or Cunning Wish into Brain Freeze, with only one wish.

In the first game I won with tinker + colossus with a lot of counters.
In the second game he won, but I see Jester's Cap and change my side plan, bringing in Brain Freeze to forcing him to take Wish, Freeze and Colossus if he cap me.
In the third game he plays a Smokestack in his first turn and I had to play the Force of Will in my hand. In the second turn I couldn't counter a Jester's Cap, so he activates it taking away the three cards, but I had a plan. I prepare myself for a long game, countering or destroying everything until I could assemble a good Yawgmoth's Will to remove a lot of cards from my deck. When I played Yawgmoth's Will I didn't played some of the better cards on my graveyard like Time Walk or Ancestral Recall, but I played a Extirpate on my own Mana Drains and played throug Fastbond every land in my deck. After Yawgmoth's Will the cards on my library and graveyard were 2 Brainstorm, 2 Gush, Ancestral, Walk, twister, 4 Fows, Hurkyl's Recall, Rebuild, Fire/Ice and Regrowth. I passed the turn after Will and start the loop next turn, playing Fire/Ice + cantrips + Twister + Regrowth->Twister eight times to play the Fire/Ice eight times and won the game!
24  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: Burning Wish Outside of Pure Combo Decks on: September 13, 2013, 07:21:47 am
One year ago I wrote a primer on the deck, but it went unobserved beacuse it was written in spanish:
 
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=44728.0

One of my friends and me played the deck some months ago on BoM in Anecy. Both run X-2 one day (top16) and dropping early the other, tha I think it is not a bad result for a deck only played by two people.
We also were testing the 4 Pulverize sideboarding plan against MUD, that seems fine, beacuse the deck can rebuild a good game state after Pulverize, but it weakens a littel the manabase for games 1.
I found the sinergy about Intution and Burning Wish -> Yawgmoth's Will very powerfull, so I maximized it playing 3 Intuitions and 4 Burning Wish.

I have also tried some others approachs with the Burning Wish, using Fact or Fiction or a more control oriented deck (Burning Keeper). The Fact or Fiction build were worse than the Intuition-AK one beacuse it ahs less sinergy, and the Burning Keeper build is waiting some improves, beacuse I think I tested too many new things in the deck and them dilutes the result too much. Also I thing the Burning Keeper isn't a deck to play in my meta in Madrid, beacuse is a deck very good against MUD and Ichorid, and there aren't too much here.

If there are interest in the primer about the deck, maybe I can spend two hours in tranlate it to english.
25  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Vintage for Cash 4 (11 players) Lists Pics Results Vids! on: November 19, 2012, 05:23:18 am
At the begining the deck had Sol Ring, but it didn't proven too good in a deck without Tinker and without ways to spend colorless mana, so I cut it for another land. Also, initially a friend of mine run The
deck with some changes:
-2 Vendillion
- gifts
-2 lands
+ tinker
+ BSC
+ TFK
+ Sol Ring
+ Mana Crypt

It resolves the problem of not win fast, but I didn't liked play these cards doing the deck less consistent.
26  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Ovino 7 - Winner and top4 Report @ Maná Infinito on: October 16, 2012, 04:04:24 am
Here, in Madrid, never was so high. We play in the land of blue mirrors, with at least 50% of the metagame of blue control/control-combo decks, and the other 50% being a mixture of MUD, aggro-decks like white trash or GW and some Ichorid. But this deck has a good pairing against MUD now. It has a good mana base with 18 lands, so Chalice of the Void is less painful, and with sideboard you play 3 Ancient Grudge, 3 Nature's Claim, 2 Ingot Chewer and 2 Lightning Bolt which you can replay with Snapcaster Mage. Also the deck is better against aggro versions with less Smokestacks and Crucible of Worlds, and worse against classic prison MUD.
27  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Ovino 7 - Winner and top4 Report @ Maná Infinito on: October 12, 2012, 07:35:40 am
In previous versions of the deck I played two Nihil Spellbomb in those slots. Two months ago I realized that my meta was growing on creature decks, and I changed them with the Scavengin. I don't like to play with less graveyard hate cards, and I think you don't need to play Tarmogoyf beacuse the pairings is good without them.
28  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Ovino 7 - Winner and top4 Report @ Maná Infinito on: October 11, 2012, 11:43:39 am
Thanks Richard!!
If you want count you can see the list of achievements here(in spanish) which I update after every tournament Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy

@Onslaught
You are going backward with the list. I started it with more artifact accelerants and were replacing it with lands for consistency. I am happy beating a lot of opponents who had a dead card either board or hand, like Time Vault, Tendrils with a empty hand or Colossus. It is one of the keys of this deck. The key to beat Dark Confidants is Vendillion Clique. Clique puts a very short clock when your opponent is also taking damage from bob. Another key of the deck is using discard with Snapcaster Mage. We realized it a year ago and started to work in this deck.
Duress+Snapcaster >>>> Flusterstorm+Snapcaster

I've never liked Dark Confidant too much. We call it "ruedines", that are the little wheels you have in your bike when your are starting riding. When you know how to ride, you don't need them. Dark Confidant is worse as you becomes better, beacuse it is a card with no posible choices, it gives you free wins and also snatch away another that you would win otherwise. I use them as less as posible in control/control-combo decks in Vintage.
29  Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Premium Article] So Many Insane Plays: The Return of Burning Long! on: October 09, 2012, 11:40:20 am
I have tested both list, with Oath and without them, more than 50 games against Gush Storm and the matchup isn't favorable. I can understand why it is so good against Grixis Control, but when you are playing the deck against another without creatures, that isn't too slower than you, the deck completly fails. I were losing too many games beacuse a ran out of gas with them countering and discarding my bombs.
I haven't the feel than the deck is very good. Maybe I have a bad feel beacuse I had played against a bad matchup, but I think the deck lacks consistency. I am no very sure if I will try to improve this deck, but I feel it lacks more fixers like preordain, or, maybe, Gitaxian Probe.
30  Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: JMS version of The Deck on: November 24, 2010, 05:44:17 am
This weekend I go back again with Keeper for my league. I went top4 losing for a little play error against the very broken start of my opponent. I tuned the deck against a field full of MUD and Blue control decks without Oath and very little Fish.

1 Sundering Titan   
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind   
1 Gorilla Shaman   
4 Force of Will   
4 Mana Drain   
2 Mindbreak Trap   
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor   
1 Brainstorm   
1 Ponder   
1 Mystical Tutor   
1 Ancestral Recall   
1 Time Walk   
1 Merchant Scroll   
1 Tinker   
1 Fact or Fiction   
1 Gifts ungiven   
1 Balance   
1 Vampiric tutor   
1 Demonic tutor   
1 Yawgmoth´s Will   
2 Ancient Grudge   
1 Lightning Bolt   
1 Regrowth   
1 Black Lotus   
1 Mana Crypt   
1 Sol Ring   
1 Mox Jet   
1 Mox Sapphire   
1 Mox Ruby   
1 Mox Emerald   
1 Mox Pearl   
1 Library of Alexandria   
1 Strip Mine   
4 Wasteland   
4 City of Brass   
1 Tundra   
1 Tropical Island   
2 Volcanic Island   
2 Underground Sea   
1 Misty Rainforest   
1 Scalding Tarn   
1 Flooded Strand   
1 Polluted Delta   
   
SB:   
1 Trinisphere   
1 Nihil Spellbomb   
1 Sower of Temptation   
1 Mindbreak Trap   
1 Sword to Plowshares   
2 Extirpate   
1 Yixlid Jailer   
2 Lightning Bolt   
1 Ancient Grudge   
1 Red Elemental Blast   
1 Pyroblast   
2 Nature´s Claim

I prefered Lightning Bolt over swords to plowshares beacuse it hits Jace TMS, and now I have more anwers against TinkerRobot or Tarmogoyf in the form of Jace TMS. Also I remove Spell Pierce beacuse it is not so good against Gush.dec and against Vault-Key or MUD the more dangerous early threats are creatures. I am a fan of Mindbreak Trap beacuse it prevents you to loosing of a very broken star with a lot of artifact sources and it is very good against gush.dec.
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