Slaver [Still] Rules: Myriad Games Top 4 Split

A sad fact of life is that outside obligations tend to interfere with pursuits we enjoy. For the better part of the past year, my life has been no exception to this principle. I think I've played competitive Vintage four times this year, most recently at SCG Boston. All the while, I've been keeping rough tabs on TMD, as the site's moderation needs required. Every month, I'd keep a tournament date in the back of my mind, only to be forced to scrap plans to attend because of this meeting at school or that professional seminar, or this interview out of state, or that plan with other people in my life. Finally, I reached a firm resolve to try and break into Vintage once more this past weekend at Myriad Games.

I felt a little like how an older-generation professional wrestler must feel, preparing to re-enter a competitive arena that had evolved beyond the Vintage world I once knew in the time I'd been away. Not only was I arguably behind the curve of the changes in the format, but I was bringing a deck that was virtually identical to the list that brought me within 1 game of top 8 at SCG Boston. I laughed to myself along the solitary 2 hour drive through the mountains of New Hampshire en route to the venue, thinking that a gimmicky slogan like Hulk Hogan's would be appropriate: "Control Slaver [Still] Rules!"

I arrived with precious little time to scout the metagame or analyze which players would present the toughest competition. Not that that really mattered anyway; all the cards I brought were my 60 card deck, and my 15 card sideboard I'd put together on Thursday afternoon. I hastily filled out my deck registration sheet, and took advantage of the few moments before Round 1 to socialize with ELD, Brassman, and the voice of ICBM on the TMD forums, Dave Feinstein. A few announcements later, we were underway.

Round 1 vs. Suicide Black

My opponent is a personable older gentleman who was playing his first Vintage tournament that day, as a way of involving himself in his son's pursuits. I told him I admired his parenting philosophy, and I won the roll.

Game 1: I mulligan to 6, and keep a hand with Library of Alexandria, Vampiric Tutor, Mox Sapphire, Brainstorm, and an Underground Sea. He opens with: Lotus, Ritual, Ritual Swamp, double Hypnotic Specter, Umezawa's Jitte. Welcome back to Vintage, DA. I brainstorm off the Sapphire, finding mana sources and a Drain. I put back some off color Moxes and use Vampiric Tutor to shuffle, getting Tinker. On my turn, I Tinker out Sundering Titan, taking Jitte out of the equation unless he can draw 2 swamps soon. We trade hits with Specters and Titan, and I draw into Wipe Away in the process. He leaves one Specter back to block at 6 life, and Wipe Away hastens the inevitable.

Game 2: This game was not quite as close. He opened with Swamp, and Duress, taking Time Walk out of a hand that featured a Mox, a fetch, and a Night's Whisper. Whisper gets me ahead on cards and allows my control base to come online, but I didn't really need it due to my opponent's difficulties in finding additional mana sources. A hardcast Trike came down around turn four, and my opponent ritualed out a Negator on his next turn. After losing all his permanents as a result of this decision, the game was basically over.

Match Record: 1-0, Game Record: 2-0

I attempted to watch 2 matches at the same time, one of which featured Dave Feinstein against SSB, the other being a Gifts mirror involving ELD. I didn't see anything too surprising out of either of their decks, and reassured myself that the format hadn't become unrecognizable to me in my absence. I approached Round 2 feeling a little better than I came into Round 1. Sadly, I wouldn't be leaving the round with those high spirits.

Round 2 vs. Gifts

My opponent is Pat Broderick, a very talented control player from the Massachusetts area with whom I've had several epic battles in the past. I wasn't completely sure if he was running Gifts or Slaver, but it wouldn't take long for me to find out.

Game 1: I mulligan to 6. On the play, his opening his: Mox, Mox, Mox, Island, Gifts Ungiven for Force of Will, Mana Drain, Lotus, and Time Walk. I have a very slow hand, and give him the control cards in the hopes of slowing his gameplan down long enough to get into the game. On my turn, I dropped a land. On his turn, he played Ancestral Recall and another land. On my turn, I looked dismayed at my two permanents and smaller hand size. At the end of my turn, Pat played a second Gifts for the win cards, and proceeded to win.

Well, I didn't remember that happening last year! I sideboard into my anti-Gifts configuration using the following: +1 Boseiju, +2 Duress, +2 REB, +1 Mindslaver, -1 Triskelion, -1 Razormane Masticore, -1 Mystical Tutor, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Island, -1 Memory Jar.

Game 2: I keep a Library hand on the play with a second turn Duress in my hand. I implement this plan, only to have Pat play Ancestral the turn after I Duress him. No, the Ancestral was not in his hand when I Duressed him. Soon thereafter, he finds Library and begins to expand his manabase at a faster rate than I can keep up with. I find Will, but his Tormod's Crypt forecloses any offensive strategies I can quickly implement. I work to get as many counters online as possible, but he manages to punch a Gifts through two counters and run away with this one, too.

Match Record: 1-1, Game Record: 2-2

Dejected at my loss, I wondered if Gifts really had supplanted Slaver as the premier blue-based control deck in the format. I was simply overwhelmed by Gifts' offense, and couldn't catch up in time in either game. Determined to stay in until the bitter end, I approached my next matchup with a sense of resolve.

Round 3 vs. Mono-Green Stax

My opponent this round told me this was his first Vintage event in several years, and I said this would be a comeback tournament for both of us. He didn't have a TMD account, and his deck was unsleeved, so I wasn't quite what to expect.

Game 1: He wins the roll and leads with Forest, Eladamri's Vineyard. I put the mana towards fueling a Demonic Tutor, and find Tinker. On his turn, plays a mana Elf. On mine, I Tinker for Razormane Masticore and hope to finish this one off quickly. On his turn, he plays Smokestack. Now, this is more problematic than one might think, because I had very few permanents in play, and no ability to weld out Smokestack because he seems to be playing no other artifacts. I shoot off his Elf, discard Trike to Masticore, drop Welder, and begin to watch my board disappear to Smokestack while he continues to crap out permanents.

I weld out Razormane for Trike when he attacks with a Treetop Village and block. In the end, I'm left with one Welder and no other permanents, and he's left with some land. He drops another Treetop Village, and attacks me to 4, but I find land to fuel my Brainstorms, and use those to find a Mox. That was really all I needed, since my Mox turns into Razormane Masticore through the magic of Goblin Welder, and he's unable to sustain any other creature.

I implement my other main sideboarding plan and bring in my anti-aggro cards. +2 Flametongue Kavu, + 1 The Abyss, -1 Tormod's Crypt, -1 Mindslaver, -1 Goblin Welder

Game 2: My memory of the opening is fuzzy, but I remember we found ourselves with lots of land and little else by turn five, when I drop The Abyss. He answers with Steely Resolve and makes Elves untargetable, which makes my Abyss not as good as I was hoping it would be. I get a counter base online and actually have to use it to head off a few threats like Rancor. I continue to go through card drawing spells, but find precious few threats I can use. Eventually I tutor for Yawgmoth's Will and he can't answer Trike, Razormane, and Sundering Titan with two Time Walks cast.

Match Record: 2-1, Game Record: 4-2

I'm not sure how valid a predictor that match was, since my opponent was not exactly representative of the format, unless things have REALLY changed in my time away. I try to head next door to Dunkin' Donuts for a nutritious pick-me-up, only to find they had closed. In the midafternoon. On a Saturday. I plan on writing a letter to Fred The Baker to tell him that weekend afternoons constitute Time To Make The Donuts. For that afternoon, I played my next mirror on an empty stomach.

Round 4 vs. Gifts

My opponent this round is Stefan Ellsworth, a local player who does consistently well in tournaments. We played last at the Beanie Exchange Open, with him winning in three games by going off with WGDX through Pithing Needle the turn before I could activate a Mindslaver.

Game 1: I mulligan to 6. He wins the roll and builds a control base, while I do the same. I get Library online a couple of turns into the game, but have trouble finding a black source. We fight over Tinker, with him winning and getting a Colossus. I try to answer with a Welder, which is countered, as well. I dig for black mana to fuel the Vampiric Tutor in my hand, in an attempt to find Wipe Away. It doesn't come in time.

This time, my boarding strategy is different. +2 Duress, +2 REB, + 1 Boseiju, +1 Tormod's Crypt, -1 Razormane Masticore, -1 Triskelion, -1 Mystical Tutor, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Island, -1 Welder

Game 2: I have an early Duress which takes a Gifts out of a hand that could have been nuts fast otherwise. I also drop Tormod's Crypt once I'm sure it won't be countered, and sit back to enjoy Slaver's main strength: the long game. Unfortunately, I couldn't put this one away until the really, really, really long game, due to our inabilities to draw cards that weren't lands. To give you an idea how long this game was, Stefan hardcast Colossus twice into a counter in this game. At one point, Stefan played two Gifts in one turn to get 2 lava darts into his graveyard, which took out my two welders which were beating him. At another, I mindslavered him to find Recoup, Mana crypt, and Tendrils of Agony. I had him play his Mana Crypt, and this wound up killing him over the course of many, many turns. I couldn't use Recoup because at that point he had no red sources, and couldn't use Tendrils because he had no second black source. I countered a Dark Ritual which would have fueled a Tendrils for 6, enough to take all 4 of my life points. After this, the mana crypt finished the job.

Game 3: We have less than five minutes for game three, which tilts the odds sharply in Gifts' favor. As it would turn out, the game ended with me one turn away from victory. He Duresses me on my first turn, taking Night's Whisper out of a hand featuring Mindslaver and several mana sources. I draw another Night's Whisper, which I play and pass. He drops a land and passes, and I hardcast the Slaver with counter backup on my turn. Stefan dedicates his next turn to damage control, and I Slave him on my turn and drop a Tormod's Crypt. Time is called, and I have Yawgmoth's Will in hand. On Stefan's turn, his hand is dead, so I tap him out and proceed to do as much damage with Will as possible, including double Time Walk, followed by a hardcast Sundering Titan. We end the game with Stefan at 7 life, with no lands, and a dead hand, against me with a full grip and a Sundering Titan. While it went into the record books as a draw, I count this match as a victory for Slaver for the purposes of determining whether it can stand against Gifts.

Match Record: 2-1-1, Game Record: 5-3-1

Feeling better about my chances against Gifts, although disappointed at the outcome of my match, I have no time for respite as the next round begins immediately.

Round 5 vs. Sullivan Solution

My opponent this round is a guy named Brendan O'Donnell. He doesn't have a TMD account, but I mention him by name because I don't want anyone else to be taken aback by his inability to accept defeat gracefully if they face him in a tournament. Vintage, and Myriad Games, both boast a healthy complement of sportsmanlike players; the sad fact is, there will always be exceptions to this general rule.

Game 1: I open with an Underound Sea, holding a Mox for a Thirst next turn. He follows suit, and I keep Drain mana up on his turn, not sure if he's another Gifts pilot. At the end of his turn, I TFK into some quality cards, Tinker being among them. On his turn, he drops Dark Confidant, which I let resolve, only to feed it to Triskelion after I Tinker on my next turn. Trike gets in a good bit of damage while he's having trouble finding answers, and by the time he does, my control game is there to seal the deal.

Anti-aggro plan: +2 Flametongue Kavu, +1 The Abyss, -1 Tormod's Crypt, -1 Mindslaver, -1 Memory Jar

Game 2: He has another slow opening, and my hand is mana-heavy. This enables me to hardcast Razormane early, which he never really finds an answer for. His annoyance at the game is apparent, and probably understandable, but after the match he is reluctant to shake my hand and tells me that I am wrong in saying "Good match." He walks away muttering about my lack of dead cards and seemingly perfect draws. My advice to people who find themselves in Mr. O'Donnell's position is to 1) invest less in the outcome of a game of Magic, or 2) find a deck that can handle a lack of dead draws on the opposing side.

Match Record: 3-1-1, Game Record: 7-3-1

I do some math and estimate I'll be decently high in the standings coming into the final round, but will probably have to play all the way through the swiss. Sure enough, I come into Round 6 in 6th place, and am paired up against a 4-1 player.

Round 6 vs. U/W/B Fish

My opponent, Arik, has been spending a lot of time talking to Dave Feinstein throughout the day. In light of this, Brassman's guess that he's playing Fish seems on-target, and I plan accordingly.

Game 1: I win the roll and lead off with Pearl, Jet, Island, Demonic Tutor for Tinker. He drops a land on his turn and I Mystical for Ancestral, hoping to bait with the third most powerful card in my deck, only to follow up with the second most powerful. As it would turn out, both resolved. I went for Razormane, because Titan would have damaged our mana bases equally and I figured he was running at least some StP's. He has trouble mounting offense, and I Drain an StP aimed at Razormane in the later turns.

Anti-aggro sideboard: +2 FTK, +1 Abyss, -1 Tormod's Crypt, -1 Mindslaver, -1 Memory Jar

Game 2: My hand is slower, and I use the Brainstorm/fetch combo to dig for gas, while he drops Null Rod on his turn 2. That's a shame. I Vampiric Tutor for Tinker once I can defend it, and drop an Emerald and an Academy, then Tinker for Titan. I target all 4 of his lands with Titan, and he played a Stifle on the ability. Nice. I Brainstormed into Force of Will, and tried to stop the Stifle, because that would have meant the end of the game. He played another Stifle. Fair enough, I've still got my 7/10.

Or do I? On his turn, he plays draw spells into an StP and gets rid of the Titan. The good news is, he doesn't have a third Stifle. He loses most of his manabase, and I lose a Volcanic. I'm able to keep the gas coming with Night's Whisper into Thirst, and drop a Welder, which is also removed with StP. Another Welder follows, and is also removed. I hardcast a Triskelion, and later a Razormane.

Swiss Match Record: 4-1-1, Swiss Game Record: 9-3-1

I make into the top 8 as the fifth seed, paired against ELD, one of the best Vintage players around. We've played each other three times before, him winning our most recent encounter at Grand Prix: Samite 2-0 playing Slaver against me playing OathLong. I won our previous two matches, so this is his chance to even the score.

Game 1: I mulligan to 6 and keep a questionable hand. ELD comes out strong with Library, and things look bad. I find Ancestral and debate risking it for quite some time, and decide it's is now or never due to ELD's widening margin of card advantage. I play it with Force backup, only to meet with two Misdirections. Things only get worse from here.

Sideboard: +1 Boseiju, +1 Tormod's Crypt, +2 Duress, +2 REB, -1 Mystical, -1 Vampiric, -1 Razmormane, -1 Triskelion, -2 Welder

After Stefan had double Lava Dart, I wanted to minimize any anti-Welder sideboarding by ELD.

Game 2: ELD again finds Library early, but this time I'm not far behind. I draw into Boseiju but can't end the game with Sundering Titan because ELD has left most of his fetchlands intact. I use Boseiju to fuel card drawing spells and a Demonic Tutor, but ELD finds Strip Mine one turn before I can use Boseiju to its full effect with Tinker. However, by now I've accumulated a sizeable counter base, and manage to Force through the Tinker anyway, getting Mindslaver with one mana short of activation. ELD says a misplay kept him from winning with Will; because he conceded before I Slaved him, I don't know if this is definitely true, but I had at least something to keep Will from happening, so this may not have been decided entirely by misallocated mana.

Game 3: ELD reconfigured his sideboard, but I was happy with mine. I drop an early Tormod's Crypt and pull a Gifts out of his hand in the early turns of Game 3. The Crypt apparently did more damage than I had realized, because ELD boarded out the DSC kill. I used the extra time Crypt buys against Gifts to keep up a steady draw advantage.

We had several counter wars, one of which allowed him to resolve a Mind Twist for 5 against me, but he had little else after it hit, so I had the time needed to climb back into the game. I used Boseiju again, but ELD Vampiric Tutored for Strip Mine to eliminate it. However, my supplemental counter base would be the difference maker in this telltale game, with my REB's taking out a Gifts Ungiven, and then allowing me to take more risks with additional setup time. I got in a Mindslaver, which cleared the way for Yawgmoth's Will, and that was all she wrote.

The top 4 consisted of myself, Brassman, Feinstein, and another Gifts player who had claimed some impressive victories over talented name players in the Swiss. After some discussion, we agree to a 4-way split, each collecting 127.50 in store credit. As time was short for me, I left soon afterwards, having convinced Myriad Games, and myself, that yes, Slaver STILL rules.

Finally, here is the list I used. It's configured primarily to beat aggro, with most of the sideboard dedicated to Gifts. Also considered were combo and Ichorid matchups.

4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Goblin Welder
3 Night's Whisper
1 Mindslaver
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan
1 Memory Jar
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wipe Away
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus
1 Mana Crypt

Sideboard:

3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Duress
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Flametongue Kavu
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 The Abyss
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Energy Flux