Flusterstorm is really a back breaking counterspell in blue matchups and functions as a good trump in any counter war. If you played Spell Pierce over it, you'd be lowering your percentage against the rest of the blue decks in the field. I won't deny that Spell Pierce is good, I did manage to pierce a Jace during the event, but Flusterstorm was better for half the field. If the only reason Spell Pierce would be better is countering Jace, it's not enough of a reason to run it instead. I didn't lose any games to Jace, and I played Flusterstorms main, and a Spell Pierce in the side. Anecdotal experience, I know, but still.

As for Dredge, in game one, are a massive underdog to start with, so siding out Flusterstorms for relevant sideboard cards is easy enough. Against shops, you are lucky if you can put them under the gun to resolve spells into your counters. At least 50% of the time, you are using Force and paying an additional mana for a Sphere if you are lucky enough to have open mana. Flusterstorms can still be pitched to FoW in game one, and sided out afterwards.

There are good arguments both ways, but I agree with his choices.

The top eight was untimed but all of the rules still apply to untimed games, including playing at a reasonable pace. It's one of the first things the judge said.

Good job Blaine and great report. I had a turn two win ready in the top four if you didn't have that revoker for the Time Vault in game one, but you crushed me solidly. Looking forward to next year already!

Cheers,
Mike

With some persuasion from some of the Gatineau-Ottawa Vintage crowd, Mondes de Jeu decided to host a vintage event on an open Saturday. With limited advertising, there were 11 people who came out to do battle for equivalent store credit to the entry fees.

It was a surprisingly competitive field with the following decks:
2 Ad nauseam Combo
2 Tezzeret
1 Manaless Ichorid
1 MUD
1 Red WS Aggro
1 Dark Times
1 RB Goblins
1 SuiBlack
1 Bomberman

Top 4 Matchups:
Mike Gouthro (Ad nauseam) vs Ben Moir (Manaless Ichorid)
Maxime Cantin (Tezz) vs Xi Chen (Tezz)

Finals:
Mike Gouthro vs Maxime Canton

Top 4 Decklists:

1st: Mike Gouthro

3 Ad Nauseam
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
3 Chain of Vapor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Timetwister
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Chrome Mox
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
1 Island

SB:
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Extirpate
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Smother
1 Darkblast
1 Island
1 Swamp

2nd: Maxime Cantin

3 Tezzeret, The Seeker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Wil
1 Tinker
1 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Island

SB:
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Pithing Needle
3 Sower of Temptation
2 Echoing Truth
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Wipe Away
1 Trinisphere

3rd/4th: Xi Chen

4 Dark Confidant
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Darkblast
1 Fire//Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Spell Pierce
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island
1 Snow-covered Island
1 Swamp
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand

SB:
1 Magus of the Unseen
1 Echoing Truth
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Pyroclasm
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Yixlid Jailor
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Extirpate

3rd/4th: Ben Moir

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Serum Powder
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Narcomoeba
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dread Return
4 Street Wraith
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Bridge from Below
4 Ichorid
4 Golgari Thug
2 Flame-kin Zealot
1 Cephalid Sage
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths

SB:
4 Contagion
4 Reverent Silence
3 Emerald Charm
2 Windswept Heath
2 Tropical Island

Thanks to Mondes de Jeu for hosting their first ever Vintage event. Hope to see it happen again, but with more people next time!

Cheers,
Mike

I'm glad you created this topic as recent tournament entry fees have dissuaded my team from attending or planning to attend events. We travel roughly 5 hours each way to attend events in a certain city where the entry fees have been trending upwards for the time period you have indicated.

At $25, it was reasonable for an unlimited P9. At $30, it was for a premium prize like two moxen, or a beta P9, or a Lotus. Still, fairly worth it and the tournaments were well attended, so additional prizes were added. Now, the latest three events, not all by the same organizer, are listed at $40 and based on a certain attendance. At this point, it's getting overly costly as two of them are for a Lotus, which used to be a $30 entry fee. Furthermore, this price point is likely pricing the casual/non-vintage regulars out of the event, and has priced people who are traveling long distance to said events.

So, to answer your questions:

The cutoff when the price is too high is over $30 for less than multiple pieces of power/P9.

The prize support would be too low if I had to drive longer than 2 hours for anything valued at less than $200, with an entry fee greater than $15.

Right now, of the examples you provided, Batterup comics has a great deal. Obviously some of the options from 2005 look great, but I give them a pass as the economics of the game have probably changed. Better yet, there's now a store in less than 2 hours of driving with both monthly Vintage and Legacy events for $15 a pop. The prize structures are great too, with recent prizes being a Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, Bazaar/Library, Mox Emerald, and have great 2-4 prizes valued anywhere from $60-$200 per slot. (playset of FoW, 4 Blue Duals, Tolarian/Vamp/Yawg's Will, Dual + Fetch)

As for feedback to tournament organizers, this next one is mostly aimed at stores that run events. I'm only an organizer, and not a store owner. When I run an event, I'm not getting my prizes at store costs, but closer to full cost. I'm also not getting 30-40 people in a place where they wouldn't normally be, and selling product to them. I'm not getting free advertising as a result of an event for product on my shelves. I'm also not selling drinks or food either. These are benefits that a store gets. An event run by a store should not be considered a separate financial event, and all of these factors should be considered for a break-even point. This would allow for making the entry more reasonable and the store can add prizes to the event if there is a large turnout at their discretion.

Those are my thoughts. Honestly, I love this game. I'd travel to Rochester again in a heartbeat for a SCG P9, or any P9 event. I even drove to Boston for the one there. Outside of the fluctuations in the game via restrictions and unrestrictions, I've been fairly happy to attend any event I can while ignoring people trying to state that Mana Drain decks are now Force of Will decks.

Beta: Complete P9 (although the Timetwister is hiding right now), 4 Seas, 4 Volcs, 4 Trops, 2 Tundra, Demonic Tutor, Wheel of Fortune, Balance, Berserk, Sol Ring, Mana Vault

Other bigs: 4 Bazaar, 4 Workshop, 3 Grim Tutor, English Seal, Library, Tabernacle, 4 Drains, Time Vault

Live in Canada.

I understand your point. My point is that I'm not going to mess up my main deck by playing substandard options IN CASE the good cards that I run can't handle my opponent's strategy. I mean, hey, let's splash white to get Ray of Revelation while we're at it. Why don't I run a Painter's Servant as well, so I can run REBs to blast Oath as well? Sure that may be completely over the top, and that's the point. I don't feel like Curfew is in any way, a good card to run as you are already losing the game at this point.


And the point still stands. The Oath decks didn't run just one SSS at SCG Rochester. If Oath was activating, you were losing the game most of the time. By the time they had enough mana to cast SSS, it meant that you should be winning the game and they were desperate.


Of course, there is a trade off, but it's not something that I see as so bad in comparison. It's not like Fish decks are just running 1- and 2-power creatures anymore. Tarmogoyf, Jotun Grunt, and Master of Etherium give Fish decks a much faster clock. The extra life doesn't seem like as much of a deal as it did a few years back. However, given that mana denial is a frequent component of Fish decks, ramping up their mana also has a negative trade off. I guess it depends on the style of Fish deck you are trying to build. Point being, STP is nowhere near a dead card and completely replaced by Path to Exile.

1) I tend to disagree. I've used STP to avoid losing games to Tendrils decks via targeting my own creature. It's a handy little surprise that works on occasion. Also, given some Fish strategies are about mana denial, giving them an extra land drop would seem to be counter productive for those.

2) Because none of those decks like Oath might run cards like Thirst for Knowledge or Lat-Nam's Legacy (at least in a one-of)? I think you overvalue this bounce spell. People jumped all over Curfew at SCG Rochester when the Simic Sky Swallowers were coming in from the board  from pretty much all of the Oath decks there. It didn't really do much then either. I think that most Oath players will tell you they win an overwhelming majority of the time Oath resolves and is activated. Hence, play spells to prevent that from happening. Just a thought...

I wasn't about to weigh in on this at all, but this constant defense of this play is what's laughable. I'd never do the same and have corrected storm players on exactly what is in their mana pool. When someone cracks a lotus for GGG, taps an island, and then casts Trinket Mage, which resolves, that player has G left in his pool no matter what is said after. How is that even up for debate?

Anyone have any info whether this will be back at Gencon Indy or somewhere else?

I'd have to disagree with that. Shuffling the Time Vault away means that you have to do a lot more work to assemble your combo. Having the Time Vault on the table enables any one of many cards you draw to win the game on the spot. If your opponent then chooses to search out artifact removal, then you are forcing your opponent to change his gameplan first. At which point, you are no further ahead then when you shuffled the Time Vault away. If they destroy it beforehand, well, at some point you are going to have a juicy Yawg's Will.

I just don't see the value in stating that you'd rather shuffle away one of the two pieces of a combo you need to win. Especially not given there's no special circumstances involved.

Sure, Brainstorm is a great card and is also restricted. Thirst for Knowledge is a functionally different card as it will put 1-2 cards into your graveyard and not your deck. That may or may not be important due to graveyard hate and the actual game plan for the deck you play. Given Yawgmoth's Will, Goblin Welders, etc, that can be pretty important.

Also FYI, Lat-nam's Legacy will draw the cards at the next turn's upkeep...not just your own upkeep.

Honestly, I find the idea of this thread moronic. We just had a slew of restrictions that have made many decks look like we're playing highlander. The metagame has barely settled into a semblance of 2005 and already people have been talking about what should be restricted next in both this thread, tournament reports, and in their own crusade threads.

I recall reading one of Smennen's articles that had a reference to what people thought should be restricted. In there was Weissman's thoughts on the matter, and virtually every card that could beat his deck was listed as something he thought should be restricted. Flash forward (no pun intended) and we have our most recent round of the B&R list. Shockwave's crusade to have Flash restricted may or may not have influenced the decision to add Flash to the restricted list. Since then, there's RaleighNCTourneys and Clark Kant trying to make a very public case against various cards in Ichorid.

You know why I gave up playing G/R aggro? (sorry Kird Ape) Because it had very few good matchups. That's the thing about each archetype. You are going to have unfavorable matchups with any deck you choose. You accept that some matchups are going to be bad. You attempt to address that by both metagaming and selecting the appropriate cards in your sideboard. If it's still a bad matchup, well then, hope you don't hit your bad matchups in the event you are playing. You know what? If you are playing Landstill, Ichorid is going to be your bad matchup. If you are playing Stax, pure aggro is going to bust your chops, etc, etc, whatever the bad matchup may be. It's immaterial to the point. No one should expect the metagame to be so balanced that any deck has at least a 50/50 chance against everything in the field. Nor should we be pressing to restrict cards until it gets to this point.

If anything, we should be pressing for unrestrictions. Instead of taking a more cautious approach to the B&R announcements, we received a thrashing of blue cards. Who knows how degenerate Flash, Gifts, or Gush would be without Merchant Scroll? If still broken, then take the further steps to restrict Brainstorm and Ponder. Lacking the consistency that those cards provided, would that have slowed the fundamental turn of those decks by 1-3 turns? Would that have been considered fair? Would Flash still be able to produce turn 1 kills with two counters as backup?

I advocate a much more moderate approach that the gangbusters job that happened and the further lobbying by others. I didn't think there was a massive problem that couldn't have been addressed that way. You don't drop random bombs on formats that are called ETERNAL. Shape it over time.

The way this has all played out has driven several people out of vintage altogether with some people selling out. I did a fun check of all the tournaments run since the B&R announcement to see that there has been a lower average turn out for a lot of events that normally pull people in...by a lot. Vintage Worlds had a good number out there...but less than it did when held at Gencon. I believe it was regularly around what...125? Canadian Nats dropped the Canadian Vintage Champs altogether. Supposedly, there wasn't enough interest in vintage. I'm hoping Vintage as a format recovers from this loss of interest in it. It's the only reason I play magic in the first place. I'm not interested in a format where I can play KirdApe.dec and have a 50/50 matchup against the field (sorry Legacy). I want to play a completely swingy format with cards that are overpowered and that can win a game in the blink of an eye.

Keep on going with these threads and others asking for restrictions, and we get closer and closer to Weissman's wish. One Deck that can beat anything. Of course, every deck would be roughly the same...probably 30-40 restricted cards, 5-6 metagaming cards, and mana. That will be the day that I quit once and for all.

So keep on plugging for unrestrictions rather than restrictions....one day Dream Halls, one day!

Yeah, it does make more sense...in the manner that it's more likely to be the US Vintage Championship as there's unlikely to be much of a non-US contingent. I'm sure the title "World Champ" will mean as much as the Boston Red Sox claiming they are the baseball "World Champs", or the Spurs claiming they are the basketball "World Champs".

Wow. I'm flabbergasted. I'm not American. I was planning on going to Gencon. I'm not planning on attending a foreign Nationals to play the Vintage World Championship that's being held as a side event. Does Wizard's honestly expect the 120-130 fully powered vintage players to divert from Gencon to US Nationals this year for some reason? Not to mention the overlap between many vintage players and the Nationals event as well. Is it unreasonable to predict maybe half the number to play in this event at best now?? Am I off-base to suggest that this will kill the Vintage World Champs?

As for the random game convention remark, it's been held there how many years in a row? Does it sound random now? How about making the champs into a sideshow and not a main event as benefiting a World Championship in that format? I consider this more than a light slap in the face of vintage.

Please note the date change due to the holiday!

On Saturday, May 24th, we're hosting a Vintage proxy event at the Wizard's Tower in Barrhaven (Ottawa) for an Unlimited Time Walk. Details:

Date: Saturday, May 24th, 12:00 noon
Location: Wizard's Tower, 3350 Fallowfield Road, Ottawa
Type: Vintage, 10 proxy. More proxies permitted at $1/ea. after 10.
Cost: $20. Kids 15 and under, as well as girls, can play for free.
First Prize: Unlimited Time Walk
Second Prize: FBB Nether Void


The tournament will be an appropriate number of rounds of Swiss, cutting to a top 8.

Next time for sure! Hopefully there won't be a blizzard for the next event in Montreal too!

The one Thirst surprised me as well. Justin has been playing Bomberman pretty steadily over the past two years. It might be specifically tuned to the normal stuff we play here in Ottawa, but as you can tell from the top 8, it's pretty diverse here too.

Heh, there were enough chairs at the store, but Rene wanted a bit of space from the rest of the players so they moved to one of the counters. Probably bored of sitting for 5-6 hours.

Congratulations to Justin Fischer and Rene Villeneuve! Justin and Rene made it to the finals and decided on a prize split.

The tournament was a lot of fun, with only 2 Flash decks spoiling the fun. We had 23 players competing for the Jet, Drain, and dual lands. After 5 rounds of swiss, here's how the top 8 shaped up:

1. Xi Chen - Stax
2. James Benning - GAT
3. Matt Hensley - WGD 2K8
4. Kevin Swan - Hulk Flash
5. Andrew Noworaj - Bob Tendrils
6. Jeff Krueger - Mono Black Control
7. Rene Villeneuve - Red 9Ball
8. Justin Fischer - Bomberman

Quarterfinals:
Justin (Bomberman) defeats Xi Chen (Stax)
Kevin (Flash) defeats Andrew (Tendrils)
Jeff (Mono black control) defeats Matt (WGD)
Rene (9Ball) defeats James (GAT)

Semifinals:
Justin (Bomberman) defeats Kevin (Flash)
Rene (9Ball) defeats Jeff (Mono black control)

Finals:
Justin and Rene agree to a split

Pictures:


The prizes!


Vince was our judge for the day.


Robbie (playing Tyrant Oath) squaring off against Paul Morin's Ichorid deck.


Kids under 15, and girls, play for free in our tournaments.  While Ben has long taken advantage of the "under 15" rule, this was the first time we had a girl participate.  Laura played a mono-red deck that was a little overwhelmed, but I heard she had fun.


Phil Whicher, long absent from the Ottawa vintage scene, made a triumphant comeback.  I heard he was 1-3 after round 4 (with the lone win being a bye).  Thanks for playing, Phil. 


Paul Morin and James Benning, with Nick Sirman looking on.


In a fit of lameness, Dan Lanthier decided not to play in the tournament.


Matt Larivee, displaying his best "come hither" look for Don Campbell.


James Benning, in the quarterfinals against Rene's MUD deck.


Rene, slowly locking James out of the game.


Justin beat me in the semi-finals, drawing Black Lotus in his opening hand both games, and flashing in a Mindcensor, utterly neutering my Flash deck.


Phil and his dad drove down for the tournament.


Ben was disappointed that I didn't lend him my Ichorid deck again for the tournament.  Strangely, everybody else at the tournament felt exactly the opposite.


Jeff and Rene, in the semifinals match.  Rene would eventually win the match.


Decklists:

Justin Fischer - Split for 1st
Bomberman

4 Trinket Mage
4 Aven Mindcensor
3 Auriok Salvagers
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
1 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Aether Spellbomb
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tinker
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
4 Tundra
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
2 True Believer
2 Energy Flux
2 Trickbind
2 Sacred Ground
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Swords to Plowshares

Rene Villeneuve - Split for 1st
9Ball

4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
6 Mountain
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Triskelion
2 Duplicant
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Arcbound Ravager
1 Jester's Cap

Sideboard
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Pyroblast
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Magus of the Moon
2 Tormod's Crypt

Kevin Swan - 3rd
Hulk Flash

4 Protean Hulk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Thoughtseize
2 Summoner's Pact
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Body Snatcher
1 Reveillark
1 Body Double
2 Carrion Feeder
4 Force of Will
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Pact of Negation
4 Flash
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Ponder
4 Brainstorm

3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard
---------
4 Reverent Silence
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Misdirection
1 Tinker
1 Platinum Angel

Jeff Krueger - 4th
Mono black control

4 Mishra's Factory
1 Maze of Ith
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
5 Swamp
4 The Rack
4 Hypnotic Specter
2 Extirpate
4 Mind Twist
4 Dark Ritual
4 Dark Confidant
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
1 Mox Jet
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard
2 Cursed Scroll
2 Extirpate
3 Damnation
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Nether Void
1 Haunting Wind
1 Chains of Mephistopheles

Xi Chen - 5th
Stax

1 Black Lotus
3 Bottle Cloister
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
2 Duplicant
4 Metalworker
1 Sundering Titan
2 Triskelion
2 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard
3 Jester's Cap
4 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Duplicant
3 Razormane Masticore

James Benning - 6th
GAT

4 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Volcanic Island
4 Gush
1 Tinker
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Quirion Dryad
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Mana Drain
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fastbond
3 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Oxidize
1 Stifle
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Berserk
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Submerge
2 Yixlid Jailer

Matt Hensley - 7th
Worldgorger Dragon

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
2 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
2 Island
1 Tundra
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Eternal Witness
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Cunning Wish
3 Read the Runes
3 Deep Analysis
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Intuition
3 Necromancy
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Entomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Duress
4 Force of Will

Sideboard
1 Sundering Titan
1 Platinum Angel
1 Tinker
3 Abeyance
2 Echoing Truth
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Stroke of Genius
4 Kataki, War's Wage

Andrew Noworaj - 8th
Bob Tendrils

4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Confidant
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
3 Grim Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Necropotence
1 Echoing Truth
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Polluted Delta
2 Badlands
3 Underground Sea
3 Swamp
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard
3 Pithing Needle
3 Energy Flux
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer

On Saturday, March 29, we're hosting a Vintage proxy event at the Wizard's Tower in Barrhaven (Ottawa) for an Unlimited Mox Jet. Details:

Date: Saturday, March 29, 12:00 noon
Location: Wizard's Tower, 3350 Fallowfield Road, Ottawa
Type: Vintage, 10 proxy. More proxies permitted at $1/ea. after 10.
Cost: $20. Kids 15 and under, as well as girls, can play for free.
First Prize: Unlimited Mox Jet
Other Prizes:
If we get 20 players, second prize will be an Italian Mana Drain.
If we get 24 players, then third and fourth prizes will be a Revised Tropical Island and a Revised Tundra (winner's choice).

The tournament will be an appropriate number of rounds of Swiss, cutting to a top 8.

Hmm...so Mana Drain is terrible in the deck, yet a necessary evil. I'm going to make the assumption that it's a necessary evil due to the fact that it's a hard counter. Also, you state how the deck wins slowly. How many times would you say that resolving a Mana Drain gives a boost to your game rather than burning for mana? It doesn't seem like it really does much for the deck as there's not exactly much explosiveness to the deck. If that's the case, Mana Drain is essentially functioning as Counterspell most of the time.  Rather than supplement/replace with Mana Leak, maybe Counterspell should be shown a bit of love here instead? I'm just saying that each life point can make a difference...

As a player, I'd be thrilled to be playing in an area where there's regular tournaments. I don't much care who the organizer is, or who the judge is, as long as whatever rulings are fair and correct. All the player whining is usually from people who live in an area where there are several TOs and they get to choose multiple events they will play each month.

There's been four vintage events in my area in the last two years. Of those four, I've organized two and you're damn straight I played in both of them. It's the only reason I'd ever organize anything. How I place or whether I make money is none of your business. If someone in my area has issues with that, they are more than welcome to organize their own events and I'll play in them.

Period.

True story. Maybe I was a bit "hasty" in reading that part.  :lol:

While I love my drains, I think that Duress is just as strong right now in protecting ETW. You get the information from his hand to plan your game, and force them to topdeck for answers. And it's not like you don't run 4 Force of Wills and 2 Misdirections either.

Perhaps that's just because I've been seeing Trickbinds after the board around here. People seem to be loving their Interrupts.

Okay, I'm trying to follow the logic here, but I see none. You believe a deck built solely around ETW would be resilient, but I see no supposed list. R/G Beats with ETW? I see no reasons why it would be better in drain based gifts decks than ritual gifts decks? A drained spell for 1 doesn't do much good, other than there was a spell countered. It doesn't provide storm, and frankly, Duress is looking to be a better and better card to have these days with all the split second cards. On the other hand, a ritual provides 3 mana and storm for ETW. Seems like a good deal to me and facing it seems reasonable too.


Isn't it already a good main win condition? Seems like it was one of the two main win conditions in Brassman's Gifts list that won at Waterbury. Going with the other points, Echoing Truth still is a decent bounce spell and will probably become more popular again, so ETW is only marginally better than the Collossus as the other bounce spells are less useful. Heh, I predict the savage tech of the Goblin Sharpshooter in sideboards now. As to haste, the Collossus never had haste either so it's no different from the tokens. Furthermore, unless I were storming out with Tendrils on the 1st or 2nd turn, I've rarely ever needed to get to 10 storm.


I tend to favour Burning Wish although in reality, I have to agree with ETW over it. It can be a back breaker for 3-4 storm on turn 1 or 2, while the Burning Wish is just mostly a dead, mana hungry card at that point.

It's a good option to test in the deck. I haven't done a lot of testing with the deck here, due to lack of test partners at the moment, but I'll try to run the gamut and let you know how it turns out.

Well, in theory you would seem to have answers to virtually all decks. Unfortunately I never had any experience playing any flavour of Parfait although one of my teammates could probably tell you why it just doesn't have the gas to compete. I'll try to make some observations anyway. It's duly noted that because it's not part of the metagame, there are probably a lot of players who have never seen it before and thus you could be getting a lot of wins via surprise factor.

1. Your prediction and experience with Storm-based decks should be spot on. Maindeck REBs are usually quite terrible against most of them because they don't really rely on a lot of blue spells. I've tested against Storm decks where I did have the REBs and they just were sub-optimal in that matchup.

With regards to Abeyance and Orim's Chant, they are both pretty decent. However, unless you have 2-3 of them in your opening hand, they become less useful. You can't rely on getting three turns to draw one. Also, if you look at how most good storm players play out their hands, you'll notice that they usually send out bait and don't commit everything to one big hurrah. The not-so-good players do that and generally speaking, they end up at the lower tables. That makes hitting the one chance you might have with the Abeyance or Chant sometimes a shot in the dark that you hope will stop them flat. But you already know this isn't a great matchup and I think most people beat this topic to death anyway, more so than they should.

2. Pithing Needle. It completely shuts off your deck, or am I wrong? Sure, you have Seal of Cleansing and a single Shaman. You then have to resolve one of them to get rid of the Needle. Frankly, I find Needles are in a lot of boards, and some decks run them maindeck (IE. Bomberman). Having to wait extra turns to be able to activate Scroll Rack and get some draw online might be ruinous to your game. The opponent could be so far ahead that you would never recover. Not to mention, a second Needle shuts off the Belcher. And a Needle is something that's easily cast on the first turn. Certainly, you could just cast Abeyance then resolve a Seal, but how many cards do you need for all of this? Scroll Rack, Abeyance, Seal, Land Tax. It gets to the point of saying if I had the perfect hand here, I could deal with it. Especially considering you don't have the greatest vintage filter in the deck, otherwise known as Brainstorm, I find sculpting the perfect hand to deal with that to be a bit hard.

To say that Pithing Needle isn't a factor is to disregard the results of decks running Bazaar are having. Look at the various builds of Ichorid and Dragon. Not to mention UbaStax and it's variants. Those are prime examples of why running Pithing Needle is good. If you don't see it, I'd be surprised.

3. What's the fundamental turn of your deck? The point where it's established it's game plan and is in the driver's seat? Is that turn 3-4-5? It doesn't seem fast enough. This seems to be the primary concern. While you do have answers to all decks in there, when do they all come online? If anything, vintage has sped up across the board.

4. Have you actually tested against Dragon or Bomberman? I'll champion those two decks as I'm Canadian! There are a couple of players that run Abeyance themselves. They are pretty heavy on the counterspells lately too, running 4 Force, 4 Drain, and 3 Leaks. In addition, they run Disenchant and Seals in various builds too. Plus a Pithing Needle in some mains, occasionally in the board. They are very heavy on the control side of things.

I can't speak for Dragon as much, I've only played it in a few tournaments, but when it wins, it usually fights through hate pretty well. I've often seen Dragon go off turn 2 and 3 with Duress or Force. I don't know, I'm just seeing you say that it should have any game versus Parfait, but no results?

5. Sacred Ground as the answer to Stax. You know, I thought this should be a cakewalk after resolving Sacred Ground too. I think that against a basic Stax deck, you might be more right. However, it does virtually nothing against UbaStax. I know this because after making it to 5-1 at Gencon World's, I ran into Vroman for the seventh round. He massacred me that round, and I'll admit, I sucked out on that one. Probably should have mulled better knowing what I faced. However, in game two, I thought a Sacred Ground would be good and I landed it like turn 2. It was complete garbage although it allowed my mana base to stick around and be useless. Under both Tangle Wires and Rishadan Ports. I can't say what would be better in the matchup though for this deck.

Overall, I'm of the opinion that it just looks too slow and you have to hope that you have the right answers in hand prior to getting your draw engine online. It's certainly quite good once that happens, I'm sure. It looks like an "Always the Bridesmaid and Never the Bride" type of deck. I'd rather play something that I know has the ability to win it all.

Good luck with it though. Keep on defying the unbelievers (including me!) until you have a win to shove in our face! :lol:

I agree that there are many successful lists that run 8 creatures. Does that mean it's the best creature count in every metagame or against any deck? The Bomberman deck that made top eight on day one at Rochester ran 8 creatures. Then he faced Tommy playing SS and got completely wrecked. There may have been many reasons why that happened. The guy piloting the Bomberman list is no slouch, having played it steadily for close to a year if not more. However, one of those reasons may be because he didn't have an extra threat that could have blocked the Cutpurse.

I know that the list I ran at Gencon worked quite well against the SS. I played it twice during the World Champs and defeated I@n 2-0 along the way. Maybe the Meddling Mage is pretty good. Post sideboard, the extra explosives can be great.


Awesome! Did you play in a mirror match at any point in time? I put in a lot of time testing against Long decks and only really expected to do 50-50 against them. For all the combo that everyone talked about there, I never really got to play a lot of matches against it though! For example, in the World Champs, I ran into 2 U/W fish decks, 2 SS, 1 CS, 1 UbaStax (pwned by Vroman), 1 EBA, and a strange Aggro/Workshop deck from Mark Trogdon. 



Yeah, I meant I resolved a Salvager and then the sequence proceeded from there. Granted, the sequence that I followed probably wasn't optimal, but this was close to mid-game and my life total had dropped somewhere around 10. I had something like: 2xTundra, 1xIsland, 1xFlooded Strand, 1xOff-colour Mox, 1xSol Ring. There was pressure on the table in a Dark Confidant. It had flipped a Sword once. I could get to dangerously low life since I didn't have a blocker and he has more creature threats than me in his deck. If my Salvager was good, I could have started recurring a Spellbomb to stabilize.  However, my opponent had just three mana open and I wasn't expecting 2 x Swords and a Stifle. My hand was pretty good, so I wanted to hold off on the Brainstorm until it could have been more critical. Hence, I followed that route and got plastered for it. Can't win them all!

In the end, whatever build of Bomberman you use is meta-game dependent and requires specific testing against the matchups you expect to see. There are advantages and weaknesses to running both a more combo-centric version of the deck and a creature-centric version. To me, Bomberman feels like CSlaver. It feels like it can handle playing against any deck and rarely is there a completely unwinnable matchup. If you can find a Tier 1 deck that can handle Bomberman easily and is good against the rest of the field, please let me know. There are times we'd just like to stomp the deck in the local meta!  :lol:

Questions are always good. Have you tested the matchup? Played against it in any tournament? Bomberman IS a fish deck, same as SS is a fish deck. They just use different tools. When you face a fish deck that runs 4 Swords/Diabolic Edicts and 4 Stifles. It can be a bit dicey. Their threat density is higher. Without the mage, Bomberman would run 8 creatures.

Against Fish, I've had the Trinket Mage's ability get stifled often. I've also had problems protecting the Salvager. In one sequence of plays, I cast a salvager. My opponent responded with Swords on the Salvager, I protected it with a Mana Drain. He responded by swording it again. I had a brainstorm in hand, so I decided to crack a fetch and brainstorm for a FoW. My opponent stifled the fetch, leaving me with no mana for the brainstorm. Cost him 3 mana. My plays cost me 6 mana and a destroyed mana source. If I can land a permanent which can make up to 4 of a fish player's cards useless, why not do it?

I've landed Meddling Mage quite often over the past two years against Fish decks and for me, it's always been a great play. So I guess the best argument for me is that I've done it and it works great.


Well, I did go 4-0 at Gencon versus both Grim Long and Pitch Long. Granted, it wasn't against Tommy or Steve, but not all of them were slouches either. I won't discount playing against these decks if their pilot isn't one of the top five combo players in North America. After all, that's the usual tournament experience.

I guess I disagree with this assertion that the mage is terrible against combo. At the very least, it's a blue card on turn one to discard to FoW.


Merchant Scroll is an interesting choice. As long as you have a mox, you can scroll up a FoW on your first turn. So really, the maindeck has two more possibilities for disruption. The only problem with the tutoring for the disruption is that it costs two mana. It basically relegates you to only doing FoW on your first turn whereas the versions in this thread could cast a Mana Leak and a FoW.

As for the sideboard, JR's list runs 4 Disrupt. Well, there was only a small amount of combo expected at this event, but there were a number of good options in the lists for sideboard disruption of combo.

- Chalice of the Void
- Stifle
- Abeyance

However, I will put it together to test against Long decks to see if it performs that much better. Thanks for the list.

Hey, I'll make a stab at answering some of your questions.


Meddling Mage is somewhat conditional. At SCG Rochester, they were replaced by another Mana Leak, Pithing Needle, etc. You really need to know how to use the mage to it's best effect. That's obvious in some matchups, but maybe it's not that obvious in Stax or Fish. One copy still nullifies any threat that you feel it's difficult to deal with, which frees your other counters for other things. Against Stax, it's certainly not that great. Against Fish, I've always found it to be very useful. It reduces the number of threats I have to face while either beating down or finding the combo. It's usually a good ploy to either name one of their creature types, or their removal spells to protect my Salvager. Furthermore, the more blockers you have against SS, the better.

I'll see if I can dig up the represented archetypes, but Stax, Fish, & Goblins were present at this tournament.


Chalice is not really a concern at all. It's very easy to remove via EE. There's seven sources of colourless in this deck - Sol Ring, Library of Alexandria, Strip Mine, Mana Drainx4. As for Null Rod, it's a bit more problematic, but it only impedes the combo win of the deck. At least 50% of the time, the win is achieved by beatdown. That's another reason why Meddling Mage is good in the main. It provides another locking mini-beater in addition to the ten counterspells.


It's hard to explain just how good that random Strip Mine can be. It has taken out a Workshop, Tolarian and Library. Those were all very important and led to the win in those games. However, it can also take out an important source of coloured mana of the opponent. Sometimes that swings the balance of the game. Reducing the mana that your opponent has available is important. Sure, a Pithing Needle shuts off the draw ability of the Library, but not the ability to add colourless mana. That random resource denial ability of the Strip Mine is what makes it superior to the Pithing Needle in my opinion. I'll grant you that it doesn't change every game, but the games it does change usually tilt in my favour after stripping a land. Plus, it also gives another colourless mana source for Engineered Explosives.


Actually, Cunning Wish is pretty good. I considered running it at this event, but didn't have the time to test it out enough. I don't know that I'd run two copies, but I might run one in the future just to have the Brainfreeze option available. The only issue I have with it is the three mana. At least half the games I play don't involve me having tons of mana available when the game ends. Do you run a similar manabase?


I can't say that I'd ever run Mana Crypt. Numerous games I've played come down to a fairly low life total and that would tilt the balance against me. In fact, there was one game in this event where I was Tendriled down to one (thanks to some countering of copies) and my opponent ended up at 35. I ended up winning that game (game 3) still at one life because my opponent emptied his hand and proceeded to draw nothing but land. This deck can already have problems with Null Rod and it plays the control role quite often. That means often going ten turns or longer. I don't think it's a good idea to add the crypt. However, feel free to test it out and let me know!


Extra explosives is always a good plan. However, Swords can be good against other decks too. I imagine that you'd keep at least one copy in your side to wish for in the case of DSC, Akroma, etc. Thus far, I haven't had to face a lot of Fish decks at any one tournament. The ones I have, I've generally won through counters, Meddling Mage, Spellbombs and beatdown. I've had Old Man and Seasinger in my board at different times, but generally haven't found the need to side them in.


The Mystic Remora was a piece of fun tech to bring against the combo matchup. We brought that to SCG Boston. It actually is quite interesting. Often, a single Mana Drain just isn't enough against a combo matchup. Furthermore, it's not online on your first turn very often. In one of the combo matches I've played against, I had it on turn one and it lasted through turn 6 at least. Meanwhile, the combo player is trying to decide whether to push through it or wait. Every turn you get against combo increases the chance of finding answers to when they try to go off. Alternatively, they also can give you the answers when they are trying to go through it. It's interesting to say the least. It's also an option to play versus any deck that doesn't play creatures - Gifts, Oath, etc. I don't know that it's a great card to play, just one that was unexpected.


It would have been tough to say the least. That's why the Serenity in my board was there. Global wipeouts are good at times!

Cheers!

Wizard's Tower Vintage Proxy for a Mox Emerald

1st: Unlimited Mox Emerald
2nd: Beta Sol Ring
3rd: 2 Packs Itl Legends
4th: 1 Pack Itl Legends

This time around, we partnered with the Quebec Vintage Championship series which attracted many players from Quebec. That meant the winner also received an invite to the 32 person Black Lotus Championship held in Quebec City. There was a big turnover from our last tournament with 15 different players showing up.

After 5 Rounds of Swiss, the final standings looked like:

1. Andrew, Tam
2. Bonneville, Martin
3. Swan, Kevin
4. Chabot-Laroche, Lany
5. Riverd, Ugo
6. Guerette, Simon
7. Gouthro, Mike
8. McRae, Simon
9. Leconte, Jean-Philippe
10. Beauchamp, Benoit
11. Patterson, Robbie
12. Whicher, Phil
13. Miller, Glenn
14. Russo, Rene
15. Wheatley, Barry
16. Smith, Ian
17. Krueger, Jeff
18. Beaton, Craig
19. Russo, Phil
20. Lanthier, Dan
21. Fischer, Justin
22. Davies, Avi
23. Bourque, Mattheiu
24. Bradford, Jon
25. Moir, Ben
26. Desroches, Joe
27. Lajeunesse, David

Top Eight:

Andrew, Tam vs McRae, Simon
Bonneville, Martin vs Gouthro, Mike
Swan, Kevin vs Guerette, Simon
Chabot-Laroche, Lany vs Riverd, Ugo

Top Four:

Tam, Andrew vs Riverd, Ugo
Swan, Kevin vs Gouthro, Mike

Finals:

As Ugo already was qualified for the CVQ Champs, Ugo and Kevin decided to split. Kevin took the Emerald & the invite, Ugo took cash and a beta Sol Ring.

Final standings in top eight for CVQ points:
1. Kevin Swan
2. Ugo Riverd
3. Tam Andrew
4. Mike Gouthro
5. Martin Bonneville
6. Lany Chabot-Laroche
7. Simon Guerette
8. Simon McRae


Decklists:

Kevin Swan, 1st/2nd Split
Bomberman

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Aether Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
2 Mana Leak
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Trinket Mage
3 Meddling Mage
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Island
1 Plains
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard

3 Energy Flux
3 Mystic Remora
3 Stifle
1 Disenchant
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Pithing Needle
3 Swords to Plowshares

Ugo Rivard, 1st/2nd Split
"Suicide Workshop"

4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Balance
1 Choke
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Dark Confidant
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Duplicant
1 Sundering Titan
4 Juggernaut
1 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Null Rod
4 Chalice of the Void

Sideboard:

1 In the Eye of Chaos
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Triskelion
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Tormod's Crypt

Tam Andrew, 3rd
Pitch Long

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Ritual
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Grim Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mind's Desire
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Windfall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:

2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Duress
2 Darkblast
3 Stifle
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Massacre

Mike Gouthro, 4th
Bomberman

4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Trinket Mage
3 Meddling Mage
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
3 Aether Spellbomb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Seal of Cleansing
4 Tundra
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Plains
4 Island
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard:

3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Serenity
2 Energy Flux
2 Kami of Ancient Law
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Pithing Needle

Martin Bonneville, 5th
Ichorid

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Brainstorm
2 Riftstone Portal
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
4 Ichorid
4 Ashen Ghoul
4 Golgari Grave Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Golgari Thug
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Putrid Imp
1 Crop Rotation
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Strip Mine

Sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Nether Spirit
3 Dread Return

Lany Chabot Laroche, 6th
Bomberman

4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Trinket Mage
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Tundra
1 Disenchant
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Island
3 Meddling Mage
2 Mana Leak
3 Aether Spellbomb
1 Plains

Sideboard

2 Exalted Angel
2 Kami of Ancient Law
3 Abeyance
2 Phyrexian Furnace
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Mana Leak
2 Stifle

Simon Guerette, 7th
Control Slaver

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Duress
3 Night's Whisper
1 Wipe Away
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mindslaver
1 Sundering Titan
1 Time Walk
1 Platinum Angel
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Goblin Welder
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Volcanic Island
1 Snow Covered Island
1 Swamp
1 Strip Mine

Sideboard:

3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Rack and Ruin
1 Duress
1 Triskelion
2 Darkblast
2 Abyss

Simon MacRae, 8th
Control Slaver

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Mana Leak
3 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan
1 Mindslaver
1 Wipe Away
1 Burning Wish
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt

Sideboard:

2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pyroclasm
2 Blood Moon
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Massacre
1 Shattering Spree

Cheers!

The next Power tourney in Ottawa!

Location:
Wizard's Tower
3350 Fallowfield Road
Unit 4A Nepean, ON
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=3350+Fallowfield+Rd,+ottawa,+on

Date:
Saturday, October 21st.
Registration 9:00AM - 10:50AM. Decklists will be required.
Start time is 11:00AM sharp! (Be there early.)

Entrance Fee:
Registration costs $20.00 per person which includes 10 free proxies. Each additional proxy used will cost an additional $1.00.
Registration for players 15 and under will cost $10.00 which includes unlimited free proxies.

Prize structure:
1st Place: Unlimited Mox Emerald
2nd Place: Beta Sol Ring
3rd Place: 2 Itl Legends packs
4th Place: 1 Itl Legend pack

These prizes are guaranteed regardless of attendance.

Format:
Current DCI Banned/Restricted list will be used.
The tournament will be Swiss style with a top 8 playoff, using DCI floor rules.

Proxies:
The event will permit proxies. All proxies must be declared on your deck registration form at the time of registration. The registration fee includes 10 free proxies. Additional proxies are permitted at an additional cost of $1.00 each. Players 15 and younger are permitted unlimited free proxies, and only pay $10.00 to register. Proxies must be written on basic lands and must include the spell's name, type, casting cost, and complete Oracle text. Proxies on peeled foils are permitted as well, but none of the "Power Nine" proxies, World Championship cards, or Collector's Editions are permitted. Proxies will be checked on player registration.

Any questions and pre-registration can be sent to magic@kombat.org

Come on now, it's not that bad! You managed to draw enough cards to beat me! In fact, in the two matches I played at Gencon, Dragon beat me with Bomberman both times. That was through a combination of three things I had too. Either counters + Swords + Aether Spellbomb + Tormod's Crypt. I might have been playing it a bit too conservatively, knowing that Dragon could go off at any time so I kept mana open for counters usually after turn two based on the Dragon player's board.

Of course, the two Dragon players I had to play against were you and Rich, so I don't feel that bad about the losses.

On the other hand, I would vouch for the Life from the Loam. That's the only way that Rich was able to generate enough card advantage to go through my Spellbomb, Tormod's and FoW. We went pretty far towards the late game and all the draw he was getting through it made the difference in the game. He was able to pull off multiple bounce spells and win game 3 in turns. Pretty impressive overall. That made me a believer in the LftL. Granted, it might not be ideal for a combo meta, but overall, it can generate massive CA.