12:05 and I’m sitting in traffic on I-80 when call from teammate Mat Endress to see how far I am from the tournament venue, College of Dupage. I tell him that I’ve moved 2 miles in 45 minutes and to register me even if I miss my first round. I’ll concede my first match and win out.
45 minutes later I arrive with a scribbled down decklist that I did while parked on toll-way. Here’s what it said:
URBana fish
Mana 25
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Usea
3 Volcanic
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
Creatures 15
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Ninja
3 Waterfront Bouncer
4 Dark Confidant
Draw/stuff 3
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical
Disruption 17
4 FoW
3 Chalice
3 Daze
2 Remand
1 Mana Leak
1 Pyroblast
1 Rack and Ruin
2 Duress
SB 15
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Reb
2 Planar Void
3 Fire/Ice
2 Arcane Lab
2 Shred memory
I’ve been really busy with finals so I never got around to testing any changes since I posted the deck in the Vintage Open Forum here on the TMD. I did goldfish about 5 games and found that 3/4 Duress in the maindeck put too much stress on the manabase, so I opted to go with 2. I also decided to run 3 Daze, since I felt that being a free spell in the deck is crucial since you tie up your mana early playing threats. I went with the 1 Pyroblast/1 Mana Leak/2 Remand configuration for the randomness that makes fish a pain to play against.
Somehow the tournament hasn’t started at this point. I registered and pairings went up promptly.
Round 1: I@n Degraff (I@n) with ICBM oath
From recent tournaments I put I@n on either gifts or oath. I think he won the dice roll. I see an opening hand including a duress, waterfront bouncer, a daze, 3 mana sources (including a wasteland), and some other stuff. I decide to keep since all those spells are great vs. both of those decks. I@n mulls to six and seems content with his hand.
Game 1:
I start the first to turns with a with Duress (which gets FoW’d) and a waste on his Usea. He ends up dropping an orchard and oath. My bouncer resolves though, and keeps me alive. I@n scoops after a Pyroblast on a brainstorm while he was holding both angels.
-1 Rack and Ruin, -1 Mox Emerald, -1 Ninja, +3 Reb
Game 2:
I@n keeps a solid control hand that lacks oath this game. He drops a needle on wasteland, which I follow up with a mox monkey that goes to town. I end up winning by simply riding tempo the rest of the game.
1-0, 2-0
That match went really quick, so I catch up with some teammates and ICBMers while waiting for the next round to start. I show them an action figure that a friend at school bought me because it looked exactly like me.
Round 2: Jacob Riehm (polynomial p) of OGRE with Dawn of the Dead
Jacob is a great player that has won a considerable amount of power, but he is yet to top 8 at a large even like SCG largely because he has only gone to 1 or 2. I’m not scared though, since I’m 2-0 vs. him in tournament play, but I’m not particularly looking forward to this matchup. Fortunately, I win the dice roll and draw the nuts game 1.
I start the game with a turn 1 bob and a chalice for 0. He duresses and takes a FoW. Bob flips up a time walk, which I play and then flips up another time walk (remand). Jacob plays a ZI which I remand, and then waste his land. Sorry Jacob, I drew the nuts.
-1 Mystical Tutor, -1 chalice, -2 Duress, -1 Pryoblast, -1 Rack and Ruin
+3 Fire/Ice, +2 Planar Void, +1 Shred Memory
Game 2 I again get an early draw engine online, I think it was a ninja. I counter his 1st blocker and ride the cards to victory.
2-0, 4-0
Round 3: Leo Human (PucktheCat) of OGRE with Gifts
Leo and I go way back. Well, only about 4 months or so, but we manage to play each other 5 times in maybe 4 tournaments. He 4-0’d me in one tournament, I 4-0’d him in another, and we drew the other time (actually we split in the finals). We chat for a while about our rivalry and start the game.
Game 1: I don’t remember much about this game other than duressing to see needle, tinker, and recoup. Then bob dropped me to 5 life with one last card to flip, I reveal daze and swing for lethal.
-1 Mana leak, -1 Rack and Ruin, -1 MT, -1 Island, -1Chalice
+3 Reb, +2 Planar Void
Game 2: Leo gets darkblast going and kills all my dudes. I manage to cast a ninja off the top of my library and I ride him to victory.
3-0, 6-0
Round 4: Dan Carp (AngryPheldagrif) with ICBM oath
The tournament is 32 people and 5 rounds so we can draw in.
ID
3-0-1, 6-0
Round 5: Phillip Schmitt (moxlotus) with GWS oath
He is 3-1 so I concede to him, so he makes t8 for sure and I will likely make it as well.
3-1-1, 6-0
Top 8: Rich with UW landstill/fish hybrid
Rich’s deck was very interesting, he ran 4 meddling mages, 4 drains, 4 FoW’s, 5 strips,
X true believers, X waterfront bouncers, X lions, X STP’s, tinker, X BS, X standstill, and X chalice. It seemed solid vs. storm combo, gifts, and oath however the deck looks like it would get crushed by slaver and stax.
Game 1: Rich opens up with a number of dudes and factories. I try to keep the game under control with a bouncer and reappearing ninja that kept trading with his guys, however I just can’t keep up.
+3 Reb, +3 Rack and Ruin, +3 Fire/Ice
-3 Chalice, -2 Duress, -1 MT, -2 Remand/mana leak, -1 daze
Game 2: I’m not exactly sure on the details of this game. I remember he STP’s 2 of my guys. I also rack and ruin a factory and random artifact 3 different times. I end up grinding out a W.
Game 3: This turned out to be one of the closest blowouts I have ever been involved in. I start the game with an early confidant followed by another and another and then a 4th. That’s right I played all of them. Here was the situation. I was holding 3 Fire/Ice, 1 reb, 1 rack and ruin, 1 mox monkey, and something else, but I couldn’t draw a red source. At this point I had seen +20 cards and still none. So I played all 4 bobs and a waterfront bouncer so I could attack for lethal, assuming I hit a red source for my Fire/Ice. So here is what happens
I Fire twice and attack for exactly enough to drop him to 0. I win the game at 1 life (I fetched dropping to 1 for ReB backup for my lotus).
Top 4: Joe with IT
I had met Joe earlier that day and talked with him about IT. He made a number of comments about how the deck had some major design flaws and he “fixed” them. He cut a fetch, merchant scroll, and a card for Usea, time walk, and rushing river. I thought all those changes were bad however he continued to rip into the so called flaws. He was also very cocky about beating 2 of my teammates this tournament. So, going into this match, I was about the most focused and determined to win as I have ever been in a match of magic.
IT is a rough matchup for fish in general. Game 1 is about even for URBana fish, however post board can get really ugly assuming they bring in confidants. I carefully designed the deck’s sideboard in preparation for this matchup though.
Game 1: I win the dice roll and see an interesting opening hand of
Volcanic, fetch, waste, ruby, bouncer, and FoW
I decide to keep this fairly solid hand. I really didn’t want to mull it. I decide that it will be critical to gain card advantage by eating some of his jewelry so I lead with volcanic and pass. Joe plays a Usea and passes. I play a ruby, waste his land (BS in response), and drop the monkey. Joe plays a jet, island, and a dark rit which I FoW (I’m planning to eat the jet and lock him out on mana) but he plays a mana crypt and twister. His twist nets him a lotus petal, dark rit, and necro. He necros down to 9 life and I eat his jet. Twister gave me a hand consisting of remand, strip, and stuff. I strip his land and attack him down to 8. He wins the crypt flip and eat it promptly. Joe drops 2 moxen and a land and attempts to cast intuition which I remand. He necros down to 5. On my turn I eat his moxen and ninja him to 3 life. He scoops.
Between games I comment on the Usea that he played turn one. I asked him if it were a fetch would he have won? I’m sure he would have if he could have grabbed a basic early on.
-1 ninja, -1 MT, -2 Remand, -1 Chalice, -1 Mox Emerald, -3 Daze, -1 Bouncer
+2 Arcane Lab, +3 Fire/Ice, +1 Planar Void, +2 Shred Memory, +2 Reb
Game 2: I fan open a hand of
Planar void, chalice, Reb, duress, mox, 2 lands
I think for a while about this hand and decide to keep. I figured that my disruption should be able to hold off him for a while, unless he’s got a confidant, in that case I lose. He kept his opening seven with little hesitation. I figure that the chance that he brought in Bobs is about 80% and it’s a 40% that if he did, he’s got one. So it’s a 32% chance that I lose and a 68% chance that I’ve got lots of game.
Joe leads off with a swamp and duress taking my duress. I draw a land, drop the mox, planar void, and chalice at 0. Joe plays a ritual into therapy (naming reb) and bob. I think oh snap, I lost. I rip a shred memory and transmute it for my own bob and pass. He reveals a rushing river swings and passes. I play bob. He flips BS and swings with Bob. I happily trade, only to have him drop another Bob. I rip and cast a waterfront bouncer to keep his Bob at bay. Joe draws a mana crypt and a Usea over the next 2 turns. On the second of which he cast rushing river on my chalice at zero, does some math, plays a mox and a mana crypt and passes. I’m assuming something went wrong there. I cast the chalice at 1 and it resolves and then I bounce his bob. I’ve decided that I’m gonna have to kill him with mana crypt and bob since he was at 15, however he can’t see more cards until I get some too. The game doesn’t really progress over the next few turns, but his mana crypt drops him to 6 after about 5 rolls. He plays a tendrils for 6 which drops me to 9. I rip an arcane lab and play it to tie up the game. I fire him FTW several turns later.
Dan Carp quickly offers me a split which I am happy to take since I really wanted to get home. I end up with a bunch of duals and a Beta Wheel of Fortune for my efforts.
Props: My very own action figure, Mr. Extreme
Mat Endress for playing the worst deck ever (metal worker draw7)
TO’s for waiting for me
Team GWS for being the nuts
ICBM and OGRE for being fun to hang out with between rounds
Slops: I-80 for a 50 minute traffic jam
Joe the IT player
Jesus Roxas for not making the trip with me
