I am posting this report on behalf of Peter who can not post here himself. He did well and it is always nice to see Dragon do well in a nice size tournament. I was there and will post a metabreakdown as well as the top 8 list of the tournament. I will also write a report myself later. In the meantime have fun with this one.
[Report] Leiden Vintage Tournament January 22nd (T8)
It has been a while since I wrote a report for TMD. Mostly because I’ve had nothing interesting to report. A few failures in Legacy and a single Vintage tournament in Eindhoven last week where I went 2-3. But the Eindhoven tournament was a test case for the tournament I went to yesterday and I guess the testing has paid off, but we’ll get to that later.
I woke up at 07:31 and began the daily ritual. Then I come down to the living room where my brother is sitting (in the dark) and he tells me that there won’t be any trains in our region until 10:00. I’m not a morning person, but not being able to make it to the tournament still registered as a bad thing. Luckily, he had already arranged transportation with a friend of ours who was going with his car. Thank you Martijn!
While we wait for him I make my decklist because I know I will have little time for it later, I also adjust my sideboard based on last week’s testing. Here is what I wrote down;
Maindeck
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 Animate Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
1 Time Walk
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Compulsion
3 Intuition
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Lim-Dul’s Vault
1 Eternal Witness
3 Xantid Swarm
4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Island
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
Sideboard
2 Defence Grid
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Verdant Force
3 Energy Flux
2 Mana Maze
3 Duress
2 Null Rod
It is the list I always run, but based on last week, I put Defence Grid in my sideboard (again, thanks Martijn!) while taking out the third Mana Maze and a Caller of the Claw. I’ve thought long and hard on that sideboard and although it is nice, it isn’t really what I want. A lot of cards in there improve the Stax matchup which A) isn’t bad to begin with, and B) doesn’t seem to be around as much anymore as it used to. The rest is pretty solid stuff but maybe I’ll add another Null Rod or Defence Grid.
Martijn and his brother Jasper arrive and we set out to make the road a little bit less safe. In Leiden we make a quick stop at the local McDonalds for a cup of coffee before we pick up Rudy from the trainstation and head over to the venue. We arrive ten minutes before it is supposed to start and there are already quite a few familiar faces there. We register and I go and say hello to some people and watch some casual last-minute testing.
The judge posts the first pairings and as it turns out there are 46 people today. The tournament is DCI sanctioned with six rounds of Swiss plus a T8 and has a LoA as first prize with other singles for the rest of the T8. There is also a prize (a dual) for the highest (non T8) unpowered deck, which my brother is hoping to win with his R/G Beatz deck.
Round 1 vs. Twan with Dragon
I’ve met Twan several times before but I’ve never played Vintage against him (just some Extended testing) and I’m not sure what he is playing, although I do know he doesn’t have any power.
Game 1
He wins the roll and chooses to start. He does so by putting a Bazaar of Baghdad into play and dropping a Shivan Hellkite in his graveyard. Well, at least I know what he is playing. I also open with a Bazaar and activate it. Over the next few turns we are both trying to build up some mana with lands.
After a few turns I’m all set to go but neither one of us has a Dragon in the graveyard. Then he casts Lim-Dul’s Vault and after thinking about countering it (with the FoW I just got from my Vampiric Tutor, I didn’t want to be tricked so I didn’t get a Dragon), I let it resolve and assume a more passive game. He goes for it on the next turn. He casts Animate Dead and I respond with Necromancy. He casts FoW, I cast FoW and we are on to game two.
My sideboarding; -3 Xantid Swarm, +3 Duress
Game 2
The early game is defined by Duress and card advantage. I open with a Bazaar and a Squee on hand, topdecking another Squee gave me a huge advantage early on but I couldn’t capitalize on that just yet.
He casts a Duress taking away my Lim-Dul’s Vault over my Chain of Vapor and Duress, then I crack open a Black Lotus to cast a Duress and the Animate Dead I just topped but I see both a Chain of Vapor and another answer (forgot what it was). I then take his Mana Crypt so he can’t cast his Intuition and I take two mana burn as I wait and see. He then casts another Duress taking away my Animate Dead and then I cast another one taking away his Chain of Vapor.
So I know he has one more answer, Intuition and his random topdeck and he knows I have Chain of Vapor and no other relevant cards. But neither of us are in a position to do anything right now. My Bazaar gives me two more Squees and with two Bazaars in play I out-draw him and look for a blue card for Force of Will. I Time Walk into an obscene amount of cards and on the next turn, I drop a boat-load of moxen and cast Dance of the Dead. He counters it but my notes don’t show what he used. It doesn’t matter, I cast a Necromancy, he casts FoW, I cast FoW and we shake hands.
“You hit your Squees, I didn’t.� was his comment at the end of the match, which is a pretty good description of that match. His library was more than twice as big when we finished.
Games 2-0
Matches 1-0
During my match my brother came to see how I was doing and informed me that he had met his worst nightmare already; Oath. He lost… bad.
Round 2 vs. Michel with Uwb Control
Game 1
I had never met Michel before so I had no idea what he was playing. I win the roll and keep a rather good opening hand.
I lead with Polluted Delta for a Tropical Island and cast a Xantid Swarm. He decides to counter it with a FoW. I then start digging with my Bazaar as his manabase develops with blue and white. I cast Intuition for Animate Dead and two Dance of the Dead. He gives me the Dance and I realise it was a mistake to do this so early as he casts a Meddling Mage naming the Dance.
After refilling his hand with Skeletal Scrying he casts Tinker for Colossus while I sit and do nothing. The mage and his big friend beat me down to three when I draw a Lim-Dul’s Vault. I cast it and I go down to one life and decide to have on last go at it. I cast Mana Crypt and Necromancy. He casts Ancestral Recall and produces a Mana Drain which was already in his hand.
My sideboarding; -3 Force of Will, -1 Time Walk, +2 Duress, +2 Defence Grid.
Game 2
My notes on this game are a bit fuzzy. I know I cast a Mana Crypt and an Intuition giving him two Duress and a Bayou to chose from (I already had everything in place quite fast). I remember him being a bit puzzled and then giving me the Bayou. I play a Xantid Swarm from the mana it gives me and he doesn’t counter.
He plays a Tinker and I’m a bit concerned because I can’t counter. He Tinkers up a Platinum Angel and win while he can’t cast any spells. Maindeck bounce is pretty solid in Dragon.
Game 3
He leads with a Tundra and I answer with a Polluted Delta for a basic Island (because his is playing 5 strip) and an Ancestral Recall which isn’t countered. I play a Mox Emerald and pass the turn. He passes the turn back after playing a land. My Bazaar gives me a Tropical Island and I hardcast the Eternal Witness (retrieving Ancestral Recall).
The next turn he destroys my Bazaar and plays a Meddling Mage naming Necromancy. I recast my Ancestral Recall and decide not to attack and instead let the Witness function as a Moat. He refills his hand with a Skeletal Scrying for three so I know he is very likely to have an answer.
I decide to play around it because by now I have a lot of mana on the table from Moxen and a Sol Ring. I play a Defence Grid which doesn’t get countered. I still need a second black mana to win this turn, so I activate my Compulsion. It gives me a Dragon the first time and the second activation gives me a Bayou. I cast a Dance of the Dead and it is all over.
A bit lucky with the second black mana, especially because he showed me the Cranial Extraction which he was going to cast next turn.
Games 4-1
Matches 2-0
My brother informes me that he had once again been paired against Oath and lost… bad.
Round 3 vs. Floris with Control Slaver
Floris was my first round opponent at the Dutch Open Vintage back in October. He told me that this was his first tournament since then. He was playing TPS back then and when he sat down I figured he would play the same deck. Wrong…
He wins the roll and opens with Polluted Delta for a Volcanic Island and a Mana Vault. I open slowly with a Bazaar and pass the turn. On his next turn he fetches an Underground Sea which he uses (along with his Mana Vault) to cast Demonic Tutor. He casts a Goblin Welder, takes two burn and passes the turn. I play another land and do nothing. He takes a damage from the Vault, casts a Thirst for Knowledge and discards a Darksteel Citadel. I still do very little. On his next turn he resolves Yawgmoth’s Will and draws a lot of cards from the two Thirst for Knowledges. He doesn’t really find anything useful though because he can’t discard his win-conditions (they’d be removed from game). I win on the next turn because he doesn’t have the counter.
My sideboarding: -3 Force of Will, -1 Time Walk, +2 Null Rod, +2 Duress
The Duress may not be such a hot card against CS, but I really wanted to attack his carddraw to put him at a disadvantage against a Bazaar deck.
Game 2
His opening was very good considering I didn’t have any counters. He opened with Volcanic Island, Goblin Welder, Mox Sapphire, Mana Crypt, Thirst for Knowledge. I play a modest Bazaar while having ripped the sole Force of Will from the top. On his next turn he plays Mana Vault and Intuition, which I counter (at first I didn’t want to, but it hit me that I would definitely lose if I didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t see it immediately because I have tested against similar decks quite often). So instead of having something useful to do he just attacks me with he Welder.
On his next turn he hardcasts Mindslaver but he can’t activate it just yet. This means I have only one more turn and I still need a Dragon in the graveyard in order to do something. He doesn’t have any cards on hand so if I manage to find it I will win. I give a little tap on my deck hoping it will give me the goods. Hmmm… an Island. Pretty good, but I think I’ll need to do better. I activate my bazaar and get a Dance of the Dead and my last card is… a Dragon! Eureka!
Games 6-1
Matches 3-0
Nine point out of three rounds. I only need to win one more for a place in the top 8. Although that isn’t certain because there are quite a few matches ending in draws. Well, that is something for later… right now I’m just happy I’m doing so well.
Round 4 vs. Barrie with Oath
Barrie came with Michel (my opponent from round 2) so I also had no idea what he was playing. He wins the roll and leads with a Forbidden Orchard. That is a pretty good clue right there.
I play a Bazaar and activate it, discarding one Squee. On his next turn he plays Phyrexian Furnace, removing the bottom card and sacrificing it to remove my Squee. Darn… maindecked? I’m not prepared for it yet. I discard another Squee on the next turn and he again casts a Furcace, removes my bottom card and sacrifices it to remove Squee. Two of them? I hope isn’t playing a full set (turns out he was only playing two).
I play a Xantid Swarm but it gets countered and when he gets an Oath in play I’m feeling like giving up. My token guys are going damage, but not enough. He Oaths up a Platinum Angel on his next turn so I’m not attacked yet while still at a healthy 18 lives. I send in the guys again and beat him down to 11. He then Oaths up Big Mama and hits me for 10 (I would have been dead if he had played Akroma/Razia and this makes a strong argument in favor of those two, methinks).
I fetch an Underground Sea and cast Chain of Vapor on the Platinum Angel (figuring I would either win this turn or at least buy one more turn to try and win then) but he doesn’t counter it. I then play Necromancy on a Dragon and I win. I didn’t expect it and I don’t think he did either.
My sideboarding; -3 Force of Will, -1 Time Walk, +2 Null Rod, +2 Duress
While we are sideboarding he realizes his mistake. �I should have waited with the Furnace until you targeted the Dragon.� Well, that is how we learn, put it to good use in game 2.
Game 2
He chose to start and did so with and Island, Mox, Mox, Time Walk. Then on his extra turn he played two Phyrexian Furnaces and passed the turn. I answered with Island, Mox, Null Rod and he couldn’t counter it. Because of the Rod he was manascrewed the remainder of the game. I quickly found all the pieces with a Bazaar and won soon after.
Games 8-1
Matches 4-0
Hurray! I only have to convince somebody to accept the draw and then enjoy my stay in the top 8. But between rounds I was looking at the other players at the top tables. The only player who could get to 12 points (if he won) was an unpowered FCG player. Everybody else had already drawn a game and could get 10 points at best. That didn’t help my intentional draw plans. So I was secretly hoping FCG would beat CS (I wouldn’t draw that match because unpowered FCG is an almost auto-win for Dragon). He got beaten however with about 14 pentavites and I faced somebody with 10 points in round 5.
When the round finished the judge posted the tie-breakers and mine were a whopping 47,9%. I was in first place with 12 points, but my percentages were the worst of all the people in the top 12. Maybe drawing wasn’t really an option after all.
My brother wasn’t doing so well as he just got back from his third Oath match in four rounds. Poor guy… he was ready to destroy pretty much anything except Oath.
Round 5 vs. Daniel with Ichorid
Daniel couldn’t draw yet because he needed to win one more match to be certain of T8 so he chose to give it a try. He is playing an Ichorid deck with Ashen Ghouls but apart from the power, bazaars and the Ghouls, it looks a lot like the extended deck that has done well at PTQ’s all around the country.
Game 1
I open with a Bazaar, drop a Dragon in the graveyard and pass the turn. He opens with a Swamp and a Putrid Imp. I play a land and pass the turn. At the end of my turn he discards three creatures and animates an Ashen Ghoul during his upkeep. He attacks me down to 15 and I win on the next turn.
My sideboarding; -3 Xantid Swarm, +2 Null Rod, +1 Verdant Force
I didn’t really know what I should board here because I don’t really have answers to his deck. The Null Rods came in because I didn’t know if had something like Tormod’s Crypt and the Verdant Force told me he was feeling left out so he came in (he could also be a win after I get hit by a Cranial Extraction).
Game 2
He mulligans down to four on the play and that is all there is to tell. I combo on turn 3 or something. He offers me an intentional draw with the Animate on the stack but I refuse. The win is very welcome because it ensures me a place in the top 8 despite my crappy tie-breakers.
Games 10-1
Matches 5-0
It turns out he didn’t board in any graveyard-hate, nor any Cranial Extractions so my sideboarding was pretty useless.
Round 6 vs. Steffen with a Cerebral Assassin variant
Because my DCI ranking is so insanely bad (Legacy hasn’t been nice to me) Steffen doesn’t really want to ID and we decide to play. I won’t go into the details because a very confusing game ensued which involved the animation of two Dragons and me holding my entire graveyard in my hand with only one card in my library. We didn’t really bother figuring it out and we just ended the match in a draw after all.
Games 10-1-1
Matches 5-0-1
That ensures my first place after six rounds of Swiss and I play the number 8 in the quarter final. But for now I’ll just go and see what my Brother is doing. He is finally in his element as he has met Erik de Koning playing fully powered Uba-Stax. The look on my brothers face tells me he is winning, the look on his opponents face is one of pure confusion as he is getting hit by Rancored Elvish Spirit Guides and Gorilla Shamans while half his board is being destroyed by the hate.
Although he went 2-4 in the tournament we are both pretty pleased with the way the deck functioned. There were quite a few Oath decks at the lower tables, but running into the deck three times in four rounds is just unlucky. The prize for the highest (non-T8) unpowered deck went to the FCG player. But anyway, thank you TMD.com for most of the ideas for that deck!
I go over to BigMac to see how he is doing and he informs me that he has just won he last match despite his deck not living up to it’s potential all day long. He did somehow manage to get into the top 8 though and I’ll be playing him next.
Overall the T8 looked something like this (not in this order, BigMac will post the results / standings / decklists / analysis somewhere else);
Peter, Dragon
Steffen, Cerebral Assassin
Marco, TPS
Gert, unpowered Fish
Iain, unpowered Fish
Barrie, Oath
Daniel, Ichorid
Gwen, Control Slaver without Slaver
T8 vs. BigMac with TPS
He knows what I play and I know what he plays. We didn’t really need to see each other’s decklist for that, but it is nice to know the specifics.
Game 1
I win the roll and choose to play, he mulligans to six. I open the game with a Mox Pearl, Sol Ring, Black BigMac Duresses my Force of Will and casts a Sensei’s Divining Top.
After a while of doing nothing I cast Intuition for three times Necromancy and try to cast one. He responds with a Mystical Tutor and he draws the FoW using his Divining Top. My Necromancy gets countered and my only realistic chance of winning is gone.
Because he is slowly accumulating cards, I decide not to go for the Animate effect with my Vampiric Tutor but for a Bayou to cast my Xantid Swarm. My reasoning was that there are three animate effects in my deck and only two green sources so the odds of drawing a green source were smaller. I completely forgot about Mox Emerald though… or maybe it was in the graveyard, I don’t remember. So I get my Bayou and cast my Swarm. It didn’t get countered but it didn’t matter anymore. He then procedes with something like; Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Yawgmoth’s Will and I concede.
With hindsight it didn’t really matter. He would have responded to my Animate Dead with a Hurkyl’s Recall sending all my mana back to my hand, ending the game in a draw. On the other hand, a draw is infinitely better than a loss…
My sideboarding: -3 Xantid Swarm, -2 Force of Will, -1 Time Walk, -1 Ambassador Laquatus, +3 Duress, +2 Null Rod, +2 Mana Maze
Game 2
I decide to play first and keep my hand. He then mulligans down to five. I open the game with a Polluted Delta for a basic Island and a Black Lotus. I sacrifice the Lotus for three black and cast Lim-Dul’s Vault, which isn’t countered. I then drop a Null Rod in play and pass the turn.
As it turns out he kept a hand with some power in it and he can only play a Gemstone Mine and a Brainstorm. My turns don’t really bring me a lot either because I have to wait until I get up to three mana to cast my Necromancy. He does use a Force of Will in the meantime but my notes don’t show what he countered.
I decide to take a big chance and go for it the next turn. He uses a Chain of Vapor on the Dragon and my board goes on vacation. Everything after that was just a formality. I do manage to get back up to three lands, but Bob Maher and his twin brother were hitting me while being backed up with Sensei’s Divining Top and Brainstorm to avoid damage.
Games 10-3-1
Matches 5-1-1
Because I came first in the Swiss I am fifth overall and I get to choose between a few cards for my prize. I end up taking a foil Fact of Fiction over a foil Nantuko Shade, Yawgmoth’s Will, Demonic Tutor, Birds of Paradise, Sacred Foundry and Overgrown Tomb.
It is a pity that my first loss had to come in the elimination part of the tournament but I had fun anyway. BigMac is a very good player and while I normally don’t really fear TPS, it is a very good deck in his hands. He made the finals with it where he lost to Steffen with Cerebral Assassin in a match that could have gone either way (although I think BigMac made a mistake that cost him game two and maybe a mistake that cost him game 3, I’m not certain about the latter though).
YAY!
-Â Â Martijn, for driving us to the tournament! And the Defence Grid won me a crucial game against a difficult matchup.
-Â Â Jasper, for making me laugh.
-Â Â Rudy, for selling nice cards at a good price.
-Â Â Vincent, for organizing the tournament.
-  Arjan, for judging. You’re a bit strict, but a good judge.
-Â Â Me, for finally doing well at a decent size tournament.
-  My brother, for playing Jungle Lion. Tournament entry fee; $10, Jungle Lion; $0.50, the look on the opponent’s face when you cast it; priceless. “Does ‘can’t intercept’ mean that it can’t be blocked?�
-Â Â The 46 people who showed up to play Vintage during the pre-release weekend! Especially the kid with his T2, Royal Assassin deck, I hope you had fun.
NAY!
-  Oath. Rudy was sick of the deck after playing it for one day, it didn’t work out for Jasper either and my brother was sick of the deck all together.
-  My Mana Maze tech. It was only good in one match and I didn’t see it then. I’m not giving up on you just yet, but Null Rod and Defence Grid are strong competitors for your spots.
-Â Â The bloody Time Walk. Sometimes it is just stupid good with the Bazaar, but the other times it just sucks. I ended up boarding it out a lot.
Cheers and I hope to see you all soon!
-UR
