That say's it all. I made Christopher Walken, Auriok Salvagers at work and I basically had to play them at that point. Otherwise, it was a waste of time.
So my dilemma was to either play Keeper, a list I came up with that actually satisfied me, or Salvagers. Both were difficult as hell to play, but I decided I feared the draw bracket a million times more with Keeper/4cc.
So after cold Pizza and Beer in the morning heres my list...
3x Christopher Walken (Auriok Salvagers)
4x Trinket Mage
4x FoW
4x Drain
4x Brainstorm
4x Thirst For Knowledge
3x Leak
3x Aether Spellbomb
2x Cunning Wishzorz
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Pithing Needle
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
7x SoloMoxen
5x Island
1x Plains
4x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
1x Strip Mine
1x Library Of Alexandria
4x Tundra
SB:
1x Misdirection
1x Brain Freeze
1x Orim's Chant
1x Fact Or Fiction
2x Disenchant
3x Meddling Mage
3x Energy Flux
3x Swords To Plowshares
So there she was, I knew how to play it and it was fairly solid. Sometimes I did stall out and flop on myself sadly against Feinstein and Jon Smithers.
Roland, Josh, James, Luis, and I ride up and off I go, I don't remember many names some details are fuzzy but in general it's accurate.
Round 1 Confidant Tendrils
G1: We build up mana sources slowly, he counters a Salvagers and we both enter topdeck war, he counters my junk and rip's Yawgmoth's Will. : (
G2: I board in Meddling Mages and take them to town on all his key cards locked, Tendrils, Accumulated Knowledge and Echoing Truth. I see almost no resistance.
G3: The first of two time's comboing off. First turn Walken, Emerald, Ruby, Lotus, Tundra, and Cunning Wish. That's all she wrote. Generate infinite storm wish for Brain Freezies!
1-0
Round 2
Stax
G1: His first turn consists of Chalice zero, Wasteland, Top. I play a Sol Ring and pass. He tops on upkeep and doesn't see a land. I play a Trinket Mage getting Pithing Needle, lay it down, he exclaims "Wasteland right?" I respond, “No Top,” and he scoops it.
G2: He lays down a turn one Crucible, begins to Bazaar through his deck and his Welder see's an STP from me. Trinket Mages go the distance with massive amounts of permanents.
2-0
Round 3
Oath
Dan Crap? Or Carp? People told me different name's wasn't sure.
G1: A turn one Oath comes down, I develop some mana, Strip his blue source and play a Trinket Mage. Mage gets a Spellbomb and bounces Razia. He scoops it up, I assume he had Akroma and Blessing in hand.
G2: I get a Meddling Mage down after a brief counter war and name Oath. Colossus comes up and stomps me.
G3: This was slaughter; he did nothing after I cast Force Of Will on his Ancestral. I even drained a Darksteel Colossus.
3-0
Round 4
Roger? With EBA (Top 4)
G1: We trade guys back and forth, Trinket Mages and Meddling Mages trade with each other. He gets a Chalice for zero, one, and two. At that point its over for me and Negator eats me for brunch.
G2: His early board position is Tundra, Mox Pearl, Underground Sea. I strip the Sea and Auriok Salvagers aggro out.
G3: He lays a turn one Confidant that meets a turn one Trinket Mage and Swords To Plowshares. I end up being two steps ahead of him all game, even after a resolved Yawgmoth’s Will from his side.
4-0
Round 5:
Dave Friggin Feinstein with G/R BEATS
G1: He takes a mull and lays down a Meddling Mage on Force Of Will. My hand was Black Lotus, Salvagers, and Cunning Wish. Knowing he won’t Force I actually combo out.
G2: Land light hands plus Null Rod does me in forcefully. He see’s like a billion STP’s and I see none.
G3: Very similar to Game 2. We trade early guys. I can’t establish control and he eats me alive with dogs.
4-1
Round 6:
Jon Smithers (Previous Waterbury finalist) with AK Tendrils
G1: I get my infinite mana combo going, only problem I just had a Lotus and Salvagers, nothing else, nothing more. He goes down in the red zone after he Plows my Salvagers. I bounce a Colossus and he rips Yawgmoth’s Will.
G2: An early Darksteel Colossus smashes the hell out of me, and I had another very land heavy hand.
4-2
Round 7:
Can’t remember nameWith U/W Fish, looked exactly like Ryan Lichards build.
G1: Azorious Guildmage renders Engineered Explosives useless, I never really get in the game.
G2: Mana Leak pwns some early threats. I eventually establish board control with my own Meddling Mages and Salvagers.
G3: It looked GRIM AS HELL. An Azorious Guildmage with a Jitte had me on 4. Aether Spellbomb combined with Engineered Explosives did the trick. Christopher Walken picked up the pieces.
5-2
Round 8:
Tommy Kolowith (Rochester Rematch)
G1: I lay down THREE Trinket Mages. Tommy can’t get in the game as I deprive all his tempo with Spellbombs.
G2: He puts down a first turn Dark Confidant and I plow it. I Misdirect an Ancestral Recall. He gets mana flooded and can never get in the game. Sad times. I’d like to play SS all day if I had the option.
6-2
I squeek in at 14th place as the second member from “DP” in the top 16. But I find some grim news. I have to play DAVE FEINSTEIN. We were discussing on side, that I rather play ANYONE in the top 16 over him. And he agreed. My confidence was extremely high and I had to face off with him first.
Top 16:
G1: He plays a Savannah Lions. I Strip his Plains and begin bringing down Christopher Walkens. He RECOVERS with ZERO lands by ripping White sources paired with Swords To Plowshares. I die to Savannah Lions and Isamaru….
G2: This was another episode of shenanigans. FOUR MEDDLING MAGES. Well of course four will take me down.
So it’s over for Christopher Walken. But I feel you don’t have to be Canadian to do well with the deck. I played a vast variety of decks and put up good results vs. many good players.
It also got me thinking, that the combo is probably useless. And maybe more traditional control decks are much more playable then people expect. Trinket Mages are the bomb though. But the aggro route was always more prevailant.
PS:
If you ever play it I think you need something for Fish. Balance or this may sound noobish. I WISH I WISH I had Meloku, The Clouded Mirror. Very often I had the mana to cast it. It would have demolished, Feinstein, EBA, and Kolowith in like two turns. Next time I play this deck if ever two are going in the board.
Props:
Christopher Walken for making Suicide Kings
Breaking the Elias curse (ask around)
ICBM for giving me massive amounts of food
Donkey Punches and all that give them
Slops:
Feinstein being good at this game
Not having Christopher Walken on the playmat
Mud Butt, got paranoid after round 2
