Yep, there should be 3 Mental Missteps in there.

I'll be preparing for this tonight!

Ah, gotcha. Ya, same page for rituals. I'll most likely try 1 next time I play the deck.

As for Probe, I didn't play it at Gencon, but Soly did and I'm considering it in the deck again, mainly because it allows you to build piles with protection when you're going off with little or no free mana, whereas a lot of the time I would have to put lotus petal or mana crypt in that slot to allow me to cast my draw spell. I found myself trying to go off with less than 4 lands quite frequently, so throwing a gush in that slot wouldn't cut it. I know in Soly's top 8 match against Lanigra, he vamp'd for Probe to see if the coast was clear because he didn't have enough mana to cast anything else along with Doomsday, this is a pretty narrow situation, though. I need to mess around with it a little more.

Soly and I ended up playing almost an identical maindeck in that tournament and both made top 8 with 2 rituals, which he thinks is the right number. I've played this deck with 0, 4, 3, and now 2 rituals and have come to the conclusion that I want at least 1 so I have the ability to mystical tutor for black lotus, but no more than 2 since I never want to see more than one in a game.

@Smennen: Soly wasn't playing Imp Seal in his deck, so it wasn't replacing a ritual. He plans on playing Seal in the future, though. I think Seal is 100% correct in this deck.

As for Necro, here's Soly's opinion:

"Necropotence is such a liability. If you don't resolve it on turn 1 or turn 2, then you're basically gambling a card against Lodestone Golem, Young Pyromancer, Lightning Bolt, and Tendrils of Agony.  Necropotence isn't the strongest in this deck because the deck plays at the speed of the old Lotus Cobra Decks from years ago, but the rest of the format is designed to be much more brutal."

I would agree that I don't like Necro in this deck. If you're playing 4 rituals, it might be right since you can more reliably cast it on turn 1, but if you're not it's much less effective.

One of the large benefits of this deck is definitely being able to go fast when you need to and having the ability to slow down the game when speed isn't necessary. I had multiple turn 2 wins during the tournaments on Friday and Saturday, including a match late Saturday where I only gave my Pyromancer opponent 3 turns in the entire match, but I also had a few games easily go past 10 turns.

Deck with magic cards in it = Steve's deck. 

I enjoyed Soly's report, but probably not as much as I enjoyed the picture of Kevin getting Serious.

I only played against one Pyromancer deck on Saturday, but it was probably my easiest match all day. He only got 3 turns in the entire match, Doomsday rolls over that deck.

As for the Oath sideboard, I wouldn't run it again. I only played against shops twice on Saturday(both Twaun), and I didn't win a single game. Maybe his deck was better positioned since he ran dismembers, though. It needs to be tested more.

Ya, it's the Genesis Chamber affinity deck. His list was probably identical to the one he top 8'd with on Saturday that's up on EC.

I've got a jump on the competition with my tech.

I think I might have really enjoyed the hatred in this episode. Quite entertaining.

Ya, I think Saturday would definitely be a better day. It's about a 3 hour drive from Columbus, so working the next morning would not be ideal. I also agree that $30 would be a much more reasonable entry fee. What would the rest of the prize support be? Cash, store cred, or duals/othercards?

Competition looks pretty tough. Looks like I might have to avoid this one...

Game 2 in the semi's against me he had it in his hand, but he couldn't draw a red source in time. Probably would have blown me out since I just had artifact hate in hand.

I think the deck is perfectly fine without any Trygon Predators. For the most part, I agree with what Soly said in his primer how they are just too slow and you don't have enough acceleration to make it effective. It's really not necessary, either. I feel that the odds are already in your favor game 1 against shops. Spell Snare was decent, but by no means amazing. I only used it a few times throughout the day. I played RUG Delver again tonight at a small event in Columbus and Snare was really good against Oath. That's probably the main reason that I'd included it, but the slot could potentially fluctuate.

Having won the last TSO, I had to really bring my A game and make sure I played a good deck for this event. In the week leading up to this tournament, I was planning on running Pitch Long with Landstill as my second option. Why Long? Well, I’m kind of a combo junkie, and everyone thinks combo is dead, but it was either testing really well, or really shitty, so I wasn’t confident in playing it. While I was at work on Friday, Soly texted me and suggested I play RUG Delver. Against my better judgement, I took his advice and sleeved it up the night before the tourney without any experience with the deck.

Here’s a link to Soly’s RUG Delver primer on Eternal Central: http://www.eternal-central.com/?p=3076

He suggested I add Annul to the list to help fight Oath, so I cut 1 Flusterstorm and 1 Steel Sabotage to make room for 2. I also added another Cage to the side since there was a lot of Dredge last time. Here’s the list I played:

First -- Sam Krohlow -- RUG Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Tarmogoyf
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendillion Clique
4x Force of Will
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Gush
1x Brainstorm
1x Ponder
3x Preordain
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Time Walk
2x Flusterstorm
2x Spell Snare
2x Mental Misstep
2x Annul
1x Steel Sabotage
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
3x Scalding Tarn
3x Misty Rainforest
3x Tropical Island
3x Volcanic Island
2x Island
1x Forest

Sideboard
4x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Nature's Claim
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Mountain
2x Ingot Chewer

I rode up to Sandusky from Columbus with Nat and Alec, so at least I didn’t get a speeding ticket this time. We stopped for breakfast and to meet up with everyone before the tourney, and then it was game on.

Round 1-Paul Blakeley playing Affinity
Trogdon supplied and registered Paul with an unknown deck, so he didn’t know what he was playing until he saw his opening 7.

Game 1: He won the die roll and pooped out pretty much his whole hand turn one, which included lotus, recall, and a cranial plating. I didn’t have a Force for the plating. I got a delver out and had a few lightning bolts to slow down his attack. I got his life total down to 6 in increments of 3 before I was overrun by steel overseer. I brought in the claims, chewers, and the grudge.

Game 2: I think he mulled to 5 and I started with a recall that got me a delver and a bolt. I bolted a vault skirge with a plating on it and Delver flew in a couple times to get him down to 13. I Snapcastered the bolt to his face, then threw two more bolts at him on my turn while delver finished the job.

Game 3: He got out 2 Vault Skirges early along with a signal pest. There was some Ravager shenanigans, too, but in the end I had 2 really big Goyfs and a bolt to finish him off in turns.

Matches: 1-0, Games: 2-1

Round 2: Alec Capas playing BUG Fish

Game 1: I expected to be playing against some sort of red shops, but on his first turn he played 2 Birds of Paradise...unexpected. I got out a goyf and took his life total from 20 to 16, 10, 4, 0 while he played 3 wastelands and a strip. I think I just brought in the REBs.

Game 2: He Thoughtseized on his first turn to see my Force, Snare, Walk, and 4 lands. He took Force. I drew into a goyf, but he matched it with his own goyf alongside a Bob. He vamped and I cliqued him during his draw step after he drew his tutored recall. He let it resolve and then recalled in response to the ability. Mistake. he drew into a daze, but it didn’t matter now. He didn’t have anything relevant in hand, so I let him keep it. I bolted his Bob and then Clique took him from 13 to 0.

Matches: 2-0, Games: 4-1

Round 3: Duane Haddix playing Forgemaster MUD

Game 1: Ancient Tomb dealt him 6 points of damage throughout the game, Delver and a Bolt did the rest. At one point, he resolved a Forgemaster and I topdeck my maindeck Ancient Grudge to answer it on my turn. Without that, I’m not so confidant that I would have won this game. He doesn’t play wastes, so I just bring in my 6 hate cards.

Game 2: I have a decent hand with a delver and some counters. I keep ahead of him and get out a clique to get rid of the duplicant that he just drew and then counter the myr battlesphere he tries to play. I either counter or destroy what he plays and get in enough damage for the win.

Matches: 3-0, Games: 6-1

Round 4: William Rosa playing Jace Vault

We are the only 3-0’s and ID.

Matches: 3-0-1, Games: 6-1

Round 5: CJ Moritz playing MUD
Since there are 17 people in the tournament, it’s 5 rounds with a cut to top 4, so we have to play.

Game 1: He names Lotus with a Revoker and deals and gets in a few times, but his Tomb + my Delver = 20. Brought in my butt load of hate.

Game 2: His Revoker and Factory get me down to 1 and my Clique got him to 8 before I had to chump block to stabilize. He plays a Crypt so that he has enough mana for Razormane Masticore, but I have a counter for it. He rolled a couple odds and his Crypt brought him to 2 life. He gets out a big guy and I topdeck a bolt for the win.

Matches: 4-0-1, Games: 8-1

I’m in 1st place going into top 4 along with Nat, Trogdon, and William Rosa. We all want to split, but William doesn’t...just like last time. He won’t agree to an even split because he believes that his deck and mine are clearly better than the other two, so it looks like we’re playing.

Semi-Finals: Mark Trogdon playing Welder Poop

Game 1: I start with Black Lotus into Vendilion Clique, which by the way is really good. He has two welders in hand and I think I bottomed a Lodestone. He plays Welder and Faithless Looting on his turn and bins a Lodestone. He gets out the Lodestone on his next turn and I get out a Goyf and a Delver. I bounce his Lodestone and quickly close out the game. The hate comes in.

Game 2: He opens with a Revoker on Black Lotus and a Pithing Needle on Misty Rainforest. I have neither of those in my hand, so I’m fine with that. I get out a Delver and Nature’s Claim something he played, I think a Lodestone. My hand is full of hate this game. I even Brainstorm away Mystical Tutor because I don’t need it. Delver swings a few times and goyf joins the party to help finish the job.

Matches: 5-0-1, Games: 10-1

Nat beat William, so he ended up getting less money than he would have if we would have split. Nat and I then agree to split with me getting 1st place. We each get 120, it’s now time for the post-tourney meal, and there is much high fiving.

Now, what about the deck? Looking back, I’m extremely glad that I chose to play RUG Delver. I’m not just saying this because I won, but because I really like how the deck played. I hate playing against shops, and I’ve never felt like I was in a good position against the deck. RUG Delver changes that completely. I played against 3 shop decks throughout the tourney and have never felt better about the matchup. I would say that that is probably one of the biggest reasons to play this deck. I also like how the deck doesn’t care about most hate cards. Phyrexian Revoker and Pithing Needle do almost nothing against you.

Now some card choices:

Annul was added at the last minute to help fight Oath, which was completely irrelevant since nobody played it. The bounce effect of Steel Sabotage would have been much better, but the Oath matchup is definitely a concern.

As for the creatures, I don’t think I would change anything. Delver is an auto 4-of. Snapcaster is good, but more than 2 would probably clog things up too much. Same with Goyf. He is amazing at closing out games and putting on some serious pressure, but if you wanted to, 4 would probably be fine, though. The number of Clique’s could possibly change, though. It’s really good, but with more than two, I feel that the legend rule would become a problem.

Play 4 Lightning Bolts. The only thing that I wish it could kill is Forgemaster. I would almost consider adding a Fire/Ice in addition to these.

The manabase is great, don’t think I’d make any major changes.

Mystical Tutor is definitely a card that might not be necessary. I didn’t cast it once throughout the tourney. I still feel that it’s good, but mainly for the reason that it allows you to tutor for utility and answers. I would never tutor for ancestral with it.

The counters were pretty solid, but if you need space for something, those are probably the flexible slots.

Now on to Gush. Personally, I really liked it in the deck. It gives you something to do with your mana after you hit 3 lands. It also adds to your blue count to help out with Force, which is a little relevant. If I weren’t playing Gush, I would probably be playing Wastes, which at times I wish I had in the deck. I haven’t tested Wasteland at all, but it just might be worth trying to squeeze into the deck.

The artifact hate in the side is pretty solid, I probably wouldn’t change it at all. I didn’t play against Dredge at all, so I can’t really say how the grave hate worked. I think Cage is pretty good in the side since it also helps against Oath. I never had to play against Oath, but I can see it being a little problematic. There should probably be something else to help the Oath matchup, but there’s really not a whole lot of great options.

All in all, I really like how the deck played and plan on playing it again, mainly because of how good the Shops matchup is while still having a good shot against the rest of the field.

Great event and it was nice to see everyone again. Until next time,

Sam Krohlow

I'll be up in Milwaukee for the weekend, but I shouldn't have a problem getting back in time.

Ya, the list should definitely run at least one artifact hate card main. I ran into issues with null rod g1 against goblins because I didn't have it. The list I ran had one merchant scroll to find a few things, but no mystical tutor. Mystical, might be an option, but there really isn't a whole lot of room to work with in the list. I would add Tinker to the maindeck if I were to play the deck again, and in that case, I would try to squeeze a Mystical in to help search for that.

Disempower seems legit. The trinket mage package is definitely the main reason to run this deck. Honestly, though, I wouldn't paly the deck right now. Being able to trinket mage for cage is great game one against dredge, but you need fast mana for it to work, which can be tough. Shops can be a pretty tough matchup up, also. There are just better decks to run at the moment.

Having just moved to Ohio a few weeks ago, I felt that it would be a good idea to get into vintage since there seems to be a better scene for it here than in Wisconsin. I decided to make my Ohio vintage debut in a town with really fucked up streets called Sandusky. As you may have been able to figure out from the title, my serious skills (pun intended) got me all the way to first place.

Here's the list that I ran for reference:
(Also, props to Jeremy Seroogy for making me play Bomberman and helping me tune the list a little.)

1. Sam Krohlow - Bomberman

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
2x Auriok Salvagers
3x Aven Mindcensor
4x Trinket Mage
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Aether Spellbomb
2x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Mental Misstep
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Misdirection
2x Spell Snare
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Flusterstorm
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Time Walk
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Cavern of Souls
3x Tundra
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Library of Alexandria
4x Flooded Strand
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Plains
3x Island

Sideboard
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Tinker
3x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Steel Sabotage
1x Pithing Needle
1x Tormod's Crypt
4x Swords to Plowshares

I'll go through a little report on the day first and then discuss a few changes that I think would improve the deck.

In order to prepare for tournaments, I like to get plenty of sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast, and leave with plenty of time. Well, things don't always go as planned. I ended up getting completely hammered the night before and getting up late and driving 2.5 hours from columbus feeling like a bag of shit.

About halfway there, I end up getting pulled over by a state trooper while I was going 70 in a 55. He comes up to my window and asked "Why are your eyes so bloodshot?" For a split second I wanted to be a smart ass and say that I've been smoking a lot of weed, but I go the honesty route and tell him I'm super hungover. He has me get out of the car and walk back to the cop car with him. He is clearly watching how I walk to see if I'm still drunk. He pats me down and has me sit in the passenger seat. He says that he can't smell any alcohol on me so I'm good to go for that at least. He then says I can just wait while he writes out my ticket, so I proceed to bullshit with him and say how this is my first time sitting in the FRONT seat of a cop car and shit like that. Other than the $123 ticket that I got, he was a relatively nice guy and I enjoyed chatting with him.

Alright, I get to Sandusky and eventually to the store with enough time to fill out my list and what not. Pairing go up and the show is on.

Round 1: (Forgot his name)-RDW
He is very new to vintage and his deck has a few good spells and power, but for the most part, not a lot of action.

Game 1: He played Solemn Simulacrum, Blood Moon, and Vexing Devil and a few other things before I combo out with salvagers. I don't think I even sided anything in.

Game 2: This game was a little more interesting because he tried to cast a couple Strangleholds, but I ended up countering them each time. I was trying to draw a trinket mage for most of the game so I could just combo out, but it never came. He got my life total dangerously low with some beats and burn, but I ended up killing him in the 5th turn of turns with the beatdown plan. I think I ended at 2 life or something like that.

1-0

Round 2: William Rosa-Tezzeret
We're shuffling up and he realizes that he has 61 cards and it's supposed to be 60, so he counts it over and over and eventually goes up to the counter to review his deck list. He figures out the extra card and comes back. Shuffles up and realizes he only has 59 cards. We both count it to make sure. He goes back up to the counter and eventually finds that he dropped his Yawg Will last time he was up there. We're finally ready to start and there's maybe 20-25 minutes left on the clock and we weren't able to get an extension, so he offers that if we go to time, he will give me the win in that game. Seems fair enough so I agree.

Game 1: I had a pretty decent hand and I was able to get salvagers out fairly quickly with a lotus and then use top and Engineered Explosives to draw my deck and do broken things. I think I just brought in Tinker, Blightsteel, and Pithing Needle.

Game 2: I keep a hand without force hoping he doesn't have the nuts. He has the nuts and gets out tez turn one and gets Time Vault. I'm unable to get a trinket mage out to get pithing needle and he gets it.

Game 3: I get an early trinket mage this time and name Time Vault with Pithing Needle. It goes to time and e is unable to close it out by the end of turns so he gives me the win like we agreed.

2-0

Round 3: (Forgot his name, too)-Goblins

Game 1: He mulls to 4 and gets out an early Tinkerer and Piledriver through Cavern of Souls so my hand full of counters sucks balls. He ate my moxes and did 6 damage with Piledriver over 6 different turns. I slow him down with Mindcensor, but can't combo by the time he starts dropping Nullrods. I bring in Tinker, Blightsteel, Swords, and Steel Sabotage.

Game 2: He has a more explosive draw this time, but I'm able to counter his null rods. I'm topping for a few turns looking for a lotus or trinket mage so I can combo out. He gets my life low enough where I need to combo out this turn. I top and see lotus, gg.

Game 3: I had a turn 1 or 2 tinker and he can't stop Blightsteel.

3-0

Round 4: Duane Haddix-Forgemaster MUD

We id. Play a few games for fun and I think he beat me more than I beat him.

3-0-1

Round 5: Jon Neal-Dredge

We id and play one game for fun. I get a turn 1 or 2 Trinket Mage for Grafdigger's Cage and ten turns later Trinket Mage gets there.

3-0-2

Make it into top 8 in 2nd place.

Quarter Finals: Kevin Poenisch-Dredge
Him and Duane leave because they want to get back for a party, so they both scoop.

Semi Finals: William Rosa-Tezzeret

Game 1: I mulligan and keep 6 without a force. He punishes me for it and takes a million extra turns. I bring in Blightsteel, Tinker, Pithing Needle, and Steel Sabotage.

Game 2: I get out a turn 1 pithing needle on Time Vault. He eventually gets out a Bob. I know he has a Mindbreak Trap in hand so I need to play around it. I have Tinker and decide that I just need to go for it before he starts drawing too much with Bob. I sac the Pithing Needle to it and force his vamp tutor on his turn and Blightsteel gets there.

Game 3: I'm pretty sure that I just had an early Tinker that he Forced and then I Forced back and it got there.

Finals: Jon Neal-Dredge

I feel that this matchup is really in Bomberman's favor, and so does he. I want to go home, so I offer a money split with me getting the win and he accepts. We each get $120 and my speeding ticket is nearly paid for.

Alright, now for a few card choices and things I would change.

Mindcensor has been really good in testing, but his ability didn't really make a difference in the tournament. However, he helps to give you a clock when you aren't able to combo out. I guess it depends on what you plan on facing.

Trinket Mage is insane. It gets around pretty much all of the situational counters and finds whatever answer you need.

The Pithing Needle should have been mainboard. It stops so many things and I sided it in a lot.

I'm sort of thinking the same thing for Tinker and Blightsteel. I don't really have a way to search for it in this build, but I sided it in a lot and it won me a lot of games.

Engineered Explosives was initially a 3-of mainboard because I expected a lot of aggro, but I ended up putting one in the board. It would probably be fine as a one of in the main board. I really only used it to combo with top and salvagers.

Sensei's Divining Top was really good all day. 2 is probably the right number still.

The one of cavern was nice, it didn't come up a lot, but I feel enough that it warrants a spot. Only one, though, otherwise your mana gets a little rough for Drain.

I think I may want the Plains to be another Island or another Tundra instead, but I didn't really play against many wastelands, so that could be wrong.

There should also be one spell mainboard that can deal with resolved artifacts. Either Steel Sabotage or a Hurkyl's Recall I think. Just so you aren't dead to a Time Vault or Null Rod.

Other than that, though, I felt that the list was pretty solid and would consider playing it again with those few changes. If anyone has any questions about the list, feel free to ask.

It was pretty nice only having to play 4 rounds of magic in a 5 round, cut to top 8 tournament, though. lol I recommend it to those that haven't tried it.

Thanks to everyone from Team Serious for putting on a great event. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of awesome people from the area. I'll definitely be back.

Thanks again,

Sam

Hi, my name is Sam Krohlow.

I'm 23 and originally from around the Green Bay and Appleton area in Wisconsin. I went to school at the UW-Platteville for Mechanical Engineering and just recently graduated this last May.

I now have a job as a design engineer for Honda and just moved to the Columbus, OH area, more specifically, Dublin.

I've been playing on and off since about 7th edition and have been playing competitively since Lorwyn. Legacy is probably my format of choice since there was a decent legacy scene where I went to school. My main deck in legacy is Doomsday, which is about 5ish cards away from being all English foil/fbb duals.

I've played in a handfull of vintage events at Gnome Games in Green Bay and Extreme Games in Illinois in the past. I'm looking to get a lot more into vintage in the near future now that I'm living in Columbus, which seems to have more to offer in that respect. I don't have any power yet, but I plan to start to invest soon. I'm still trying to discover good stores in the area, so far the decent places to go close by that I've found are Comic town, the Soldiery, and Fog of Dusk(although its a newer store). I heard that there are Sunday legacy tourneys at comic town, so I'll probably try to hit those up whenever I can.

I have the same username on TheSource, The Storm Boards, and on Cockatrice.

If anyone in the area wants to play or is going to a bigger tourney and wants to carpool, shoot me a message.