Vintage Tournament at The Adventurer’s Guild

Vintage Tournament at The Adventurer’s Guild
Eau Claire, WI
11/12/04
Prize: Unlimited Mox Jet
Format: 5 Proxy

Well, after a quick stop at McDonalds for some double cheeseburgers, my friend Josh and I took off from Winona, MN. It was a short drive, and only one missed turn got us there with about 15-20 minutes to spare. I registered, submitted a deck list and patiently waited for round 1. I have been playing 4cc for a while now, and felt tonight was no night to stop. Here is a deck list:

Manabase
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald

Kill
2 Exalted Angel
1 Darksteel Colosuss
1 Tinker

Draw
3 Skeletal Scrying
1 Ancestral Recall

Counter
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

Search
2 Cunning Wish
4 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

Utility
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Gorilla Shamen

Just a quick note on the two major changes from my last tournament. I added the Tinker/Darksteel Colossus because that will just win you random games. My only fear is that I have been seeing heavy DSC hate, so this may not last for very long. Also, I add a couple more basic lands. Cruicible of Worlds is just such a powerful card.

Round 1
After a slight mishap on the pairings (just when we sat down to play, three more people from out of town showed up and we needed to all be re-paired), we sat down a second time to begin playing. Oh well, such is life. Round 1 found me sitting across from Wes Hunting. This was both of our first times at The Adventurer’s Guild. He was playing Fish. I hate Fish.

Game 1
Game one had him drawing four Force of Will’s. He countered just about everything I tried to do. Luckily for me, he used up all his counters, so when I cast Tinker, it resolved, and there isn’t much Fish can do about 11/11 beef, and I won. I sided in all my tarter sauce (Fish Hate), REB’s and Fire/Ice.

Game 2
Game two had him getting early men out. He beat me up pretty good, until I was able to Tinker out a DSC again, his next turn was a top decked Maze of Ith! I never saw it coming. He passed the turn and I sat there staring at my DSC and his Maze. He continued to beat on me with flying fish for a turn. Next turn I top decked a Wasteland and began swinging away with Mr. DSC.

Round 1 ended with me 2-0, not bad considering I hate Fish.

Round 2
After a good win over Fish, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Next round, I sat down next to Jayd Phelps. We shook hands and shuffled.

Game 1
Game one was a crazy Waste game. We both had a couple Wastelands and Dual Lands in our opening hands. The first three turns ended with neither of us with a permanent on the board due to the Wastelands. I was able to come back and get a face up Angel on the board. Jayd scooped. Again, I sided in my tarter sauce. I hate Fish.

Game 2
Jayd had the Stifles and Terifie’s Response’s to counter my Wastelands. Then he had a Crucible/Waste lock on me and beat the tar out of me with man lands.

Game 3
The only thing I remember from game 3 was at one point I had an face down Angel and when I flipped it over, Jayd tried to Stifle the Morph. Well, I knew it didn’t work, but he wanted a Judges ruling. I was content on waiting for the Judge to rule. Jayd was okay with the ruling and scooped a couple turns later.

Hmm, two rounds against Fish. Although Jayd insisted his deck was more Land-still than Fish, it was running Lavamancers. They are pretty hard to tell apart. I still hate Fish.

Round 3
Round three had me playing against Travis Sven playing Welder/Workshop.

Game 1
Game one saw me with little action. I believe he Tinkered out a Sundering Titan and it wrecked my manabase. Then he beat the hell out of me with 7/10. I brought in three Rack and Ruins for the next game.

Game 2
The only thing I can tell on Game two from my notes is I hit him once with a DSC and he scooped. Sorry this game wasn’t more interesting.

Game 3
This game was a stupid game. I beat on him for like four turns with a Gorilla Shamen before he STP’d it. Then I got a face down Angel, but was never able to flip the Angel. However, I was just able to beat on him with a face down Angel and he scooped.

Match record is 3-0, Game record 6-2. Man, I am feeling good. Now for the darker side of the tournament…

Round 4
This time I was playing Tim Bauer, playing another Welder/Workshop.

Game 1
Tim had a very early 3spher out, but I was able to get a Tinker under it. I had Mr. DSC out, but he Swords him, and got a Crucible/Waste lock going. I scooped to a Juggernaught.

Game 2
I Forced a couple early threats, but got the hell beat out of me by a Juggy and a Welder. At one point, he had a Welder out and I sacked a Lotus to cast a Crucible. Man was I stupid… I think that was my worst misplay of the day. I don’t think it cost me the game, but it was still pretty dumb.

Tim did a really good job of owning me. I can’t really say much. I really don’t like 3phere. I still hate Fish.

Round 5
This time I am playing Matt Hannafin playing, yup, you guessed it, Workshop.

Game 1
Game one was a back and forth game. I beat him down and then need to STP a Juggy or Masticore, then I beat him down again and then need to STP another threat. I did this three times. He ended up getting another threat on the board and I didn’t have an answer.

Game 2
This was probably the best draw I could hope for this match up. I had 2 Moxen, a Volcanic and 2 Rack and Ruin. I spent the first couple turns smashing everything he cast and then Tinkering out a DSC. He scooped.

Game 3
I ended up Parising down to five cards. My five-card hand wasn’t bad, still had no lands, but I did have a Sapphire, Sol Ring and Tinker, so my turn 2 was looking pretty good. Well, Matt played a first turn Chalice for zero and that absolutely destroyed me. I never saw another land in like 5 turns and a Juggy beat the hell out of me, again.

All in all, I went 3-2, game record 7-6. I ended up taking 12 place out like 38-40. Although I didn’t make Top 8, I was pretty happy with my showing. The Tinker/DSC was great, it worked out for me quite few games. The extra basic lands also helped me a little bit, but the Crucible/Waste still was pretty brutal. Maybe I should run more basics and Fetches… Hm, I am not sure though. A couple changes I am thinking about is a main deck Rack and Ruin and another Crucible maindeck.

Finally, I wanted to say thanks to all the guys at the Adventure’s Guild. My first time there was very enjoyable.