So I haven’t picked up a magical card since January, mostly since I live in the magic void of Connecticut, can’t drive myself yet, and have a ton of extra stuff to do (Crew, pit band, to name a few). However, on Monday I was plesently surprised to find out I actually had nothing to do on Saturday. Crazy talk, any vintage touraments? Myriad you say? Probably can’t get a ride, but might as well ask. After a quick talk with pops, turns out I get to play and he’ll go with my brother to Boston for the day. Sweet deal.
First tournament in 4 months, haven’t really payed attention to vintage for that time… What should I play? Gifts? Been there, done that. Combo? Too much thinking, especially for not having played in a while. It also can be very demanding on playing well throughout a tournament. So what then? To the tourney report forums! Lets check the meta: Fish, Gifts, Fish, Gifts, other random stuff. What beats fish and gifts? Scroll down a bit, some top eights with bps? Interesting. Hey, wasn’t there some terrible deck that won SCG a while back? Hey, that looks interesting. Lets check how CODY’s been doing. Top eighting you say? Good games against fish and gifts you say? Hmmz. Open up PM to Mr. Vinci; quick summary of my pm: “You’ve been doing good, tell me what you think of various card choices and my sb or die!” After about two pms with him, he gives me some helpful advice and some links to decklists for me to try out. I build the deck the night before the tournament, goldfish with it a few times, seemed fun, to say the least. I ended up with the following list:
UBR Control
Teh Win (2)
1 Tendrils
1 Empty the f’in Warrens
Broken shiznat (6)
1 ban Yawgmoth’s Will
1 D-Tutor
1 M-Tutor
1 V-Tutor
1
No, you don't get to call it that. Try calling it "Timewalk."1
Ancestral Denial Cards for Me = Good (15)
4 Storm of the Brain
4 Accumlated “lol, who runs that” Knowledge
2 Intuition
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gush
Cards for You = Bad (11)
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor
Supa Fast Manaz (11)
1 D-Rit
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
Regular Manaz (15)
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 S-C Island
1 Island
SB:
2 Tink/Big Man
2 T-Crypt
3 Blast (1 Reb/2 Pyro)
3 Duress
1 Darkblast
2 FTK
1 Clasm
1 Massacre
Quick Deck Analysis:
I’ll spare you guys a long introduction, as Cody has written literal pages on this archetype, and my deck is pretty similar to his last builds. I just want to reiterate, this deck really is NOT gifts. It looks similar, but plays a very different game. This basically plays end of turn, draws cards, and just tries lots of times to win small while keeping up defenses and recuperation, as opposed to the all out Gifts “all in” strategy. This really pays off in the Gifts matchup. The deck has tons of little tools, that all add up.
Some card specific comments:
The Ak Engine: This is often scoffed, but was very good for me all day. Worst case, AKs cycle. But much more than that, they attract grave hate that really should be attracted elsewhere. Fear of AK drawage cost Laplante a match, in fact, and extirpating AK let me will for the win antoher time. This also allows, unlike gifts, to go for a very slow and reliable, and very well deafened win. Furthermore, the engine is much more flexible, with both parts being useful elsewhere.
The FoF slot: Honestly, I don’t know what should go here. The card was pretty good, although I’m still not sold on it. Should it stay FoF, become scrying, scroll, something else? I have no idea. Cody told me to run it, but I wasn’t convinced. I eventually just had my dad (who had no idea how magic works at all) to tell me what to run, and he said FoF, so FoF it was.
Merchant Scroll: This was advised against by Cody, but I liked it almost every time I drew it. It pitched to fow once, got me ancestral twice, and AK number 4 once. I usually board it out, because its not amazing game 2, but it was very versatile games 1.
The wins: I would never switch. I used both about evenly, and both were very strong.
The Board: Amazing all day. The clasm/massacre never came into play, but I want them in case of tmwa or whatever. The rest was great, especially colossus games 2, and the duress/blast split.
The name: Brassy had been talking about how stupid all the arguments over deck names was, so I just called it the most generic defining name I could think of. Whatever anyone says, whatever anyone calls it, it IS URB Control. The funny part was that Dan read off the names of the top 8 decklists, so basically everyone knew what everyone was playing by the descriptive names but me. Kyle, in fact, was convinced I was playing Gifts, despite me informing him I wasn’t, so he asked Dan, who confirmed I wasn’t. Ironically, this led him not sideboarding in truth, which lead to him dying game 2.
Round 1 (Brassy w/ Aggro Scroll)
Well, this is disappointing. On the upside, I know his list almost it its entirety, despite its “Super Secret Tech” status, as he essentially discussed every slot on the IRC over the last few days, especially last night. On the down side, it should have a good matchup against my type of deck. We shuffle up for game one.
Game 1: I keep an okay hand, and force an early confidant, but he eventually gets a grunt down and does his little merchant scroll/infy recall shenanigans with multiple counterage backing it up and takes the game.
Boarding: IN: Tinker/Bigman, 2 Blasts, 2 Duress, 2 FTK, 1 D-Blast, 1 Massacre; OUT: Disadvantage tutors, scroll, fof, gush, rebuilds, ritual
Game 2: He gets me down to 4 with grunt BEATZ, when I desperation brainstorm into… ETW?!?! LOL BRASSMAN, EAT YOUR OWN TECH. He drops some confidants, I beat him down to 3 with tokens, leaving enough up to block confidants, and he flips up 3 cc’s with of creatures, despite extirpateing HIMSELF twice on daze and grunt. Srsly, that card sucks.
Game 3: See game 1.
Matches: 0-1, Games: 1-2
Not a good way to start off the day, but what the hell, I didn’t drive two and half hours not to have fun!
Round 2 (Some Kid with Draft.deq)
Oh man, I felt bad. My opponent wasn’t even playing with sleaves, it was a bad b/g draft deck. Honestly, it was a buy, except I had to demoralize a newcomer to the format. Sad faces =(. I really hate doing this, cause it just feels mean. I don’t even counter any of his spells, and I just etw for a billion and drop the big man game 2. This doesn’t make me satisfied, but I go around, see some shenanigans like tarpan beating the shit out of gifts (sorry Jeff)! What an awesome format. Jank Golem, you rock.
Round 3 (Sarah with Belcher)
Hey, a Yarrington! TMWA? Belcher? Who knows.
Game 1: She wins the roll and goes turn 1 mox, sphere. Blecher, eh? I lucksack like a NOOB in this game though. My hand becomes almost perfect, I draw into FoF, which draws into the NUTZ, and eventually I push through for the win.
Boarding: IN: Bigman Plan, 1 Crypt, 1 D-Blast, x Duresses; OUT: Gush, FoF, slow blue cards.
Game 2: Mox, sphere. Hey, this seems familiar. I get an early colossus out though, and back it with some gobo tokens to which she scoops, despite having like 8 herself.
I drew PERFECTLY in that match, and Sarah knew it. That FoF, especially, was amazing.
Round 4 (Stefan with Gifts)
Uh-oh… Brassy’s disciple. Can he live up to his master?
Game 1: He plays some stuff, I counter some stuff, and eventually drop some goblin tokens. I eventually win with a barely lethal tendrils, however.
Boarding: IN: Tinker/Bigman, 3 Blasts, 3 Duress, 1 Crypt; OUT: Disadd Tutors, Gush, FoF, Rebuilds, Scroll, Ritual, something else (bs I think, not sure).
Game 2: This plays perfectly into my game plan against gifts. I do an early colossus, he bounces it, I tfk it away. I counter some early stuff, we both counter business (we both missed drain mana, actually, and burned like nubs) but I have infy counters and eventually go eot intuition, ak, ak, drain infinite cards, cast some shit on my turn, will, and reveal triple counter backup in my 16 card hand, and he scoops. At one poing he almost went off, but he was relying on a post will mystical into tendrils, brainstorm for the win. I blast the bs, and he’s done.
This matchup is exactly as Cody described it. Early game, you can lose to it going off, but once you last a few turns, you just exist in the eot step, draw a trillion cards and slow play them. The best part is that, unlike gifts, you do NOT have to go all out to win. For instance, my game 2 I was able to tinker with fow backup, and even though he stoped that, I was no way out of it, and was able to draw myself to a win.
Round 5 (nataz w/ ICHOROID)
I had watched two of his games so far, so I knew exactly what he was playing. Ichorid, without breath (or might as well have been because he didn’t see the god damned card in his yard, which gave him instant wins in both matches I saw for some reason, although he still one both through completely unnecessary shenanigans).
Game 1: His game goes perfect, unmasking my shit and ripping my hand to shreds while smashing my face in.
Boarding: IN: 2 Crypt, 2 Tinker/Bigman, Darkblast; OUT: FoF, 1 Rebuild, 2 Drains
Game 2: Turn one crypt. Draw some cards. Drain ancient grudge. Win with something eventually (tendrils by the look of it).
Game 3: He drops some early disruption, but has NO DREDGERS for the first like 4 turns. It was depressing. Because of this, he gets a really slow start, and in the meantime I tinker up the big buy and generate around 12 gobos to go with him. He concedes.
Wow, 4-1! I can just draw into the top 8. This is going pretty god damn well. I watch some other games, talk to various TMDers. My dad shows up and want to know if I want to go to dinner. I say sure, I’ll just id with my opponent, and we can go...
All of a sudden the wall is smashed to pieces as an unstoppable force smashes through them, leaving only ruble and dust.
Juggernaut: “GOTCHA' BITCH!!!!!”
Round 6: (Laplante w/… f’in awesome.deq)
Now I have to settle for microwaved pizza for dinner. DAMN YOU JUGGERNAUT! (juggs: he he)
Game 1: He plays shit, I counter for a while, but eventually he drops some stupid crap. I’m pretty sure I’m screwed, but when I AK for 2, he crypts a bit early, allowing me to pull a will-induced win out of my ASS (for exactly lethal tendrils). I guess he wasted all of his luck on those absolutely stupid desire’s he pulled last round.
Boarding: IN: Tinker/Bigman, 1 Crypt, 2 Blasts, 2 Duresses (he jugged me last time we played with a t-bind out of NOWHERE, I was not about to let that happen), D-Blast; OUT: 1 FoF, 1 Gush, 2 Disadd tutors, 1 Scroll, 1 TfK, 1 something else (maybe bs?)
Game 2: I am basically in complete control after a HUGE misplay on his part (which wasn’t obvious until the next turn). He played land and mox or something and passed, and I duressed. He reveals tinker, force, welder, shop, mana crypt. If he had played turn 1 tinker, I likely woud have lost. However, he wanted to steal one of my lands with a titan. Not sure what the right play was from his position, but his choice cost him. I stole tinker, established complete control, drew 16 million cards off intuition/ak/recall/ak, and went off (making sure to intuition for duress/tendrils/will w/ the win in hand. I won’t die to t-bind ever again!).
I seriously love Travis’s deck, and despite anything else, he really is very good ad the psychology of the game, particularly in the carrying out of a bluff, which is very scary when playing against him, as more so than anyone else he can look like he’s done, and then drop a t-bind, and pound a hole in it with his index finger while I cry.
I leave to check out some vintage draft SHENANIGANS, I go back over to the top tables to check out the brassy/oliver match when all of a sudden Kyle shouts: “Hey, kid with glasses! Take my place!” And I end up in a type 4 game, which apparently Travis won despite me having like 4 creatures, forbid and number crunch in hand, and orrery in play vs about nothing, and with one player dead.
We talk about a top 8 split, which at over 100 each seems good to me, but Kyle and Eric want to play it out.
Top 8 (Billiam Copes, w/ his trademark w/b stax)
Hey, I’ve heard of this guy. He seems like a really cool guy, and we talk a bit before a pretty casual top 8 match, imo.
Game 1: He gets turn 1 sphere, follows up with some more lock pieces. I don’t draw lands, and scoop to masticore of the razormane variety.
Looks like I’ll be going home early is what’s flashing in my hand after a rather disappointing game 1 from a purely strategical point. Ironically, he had hoped for an interesting match which resulted in like a stax at 2, a sphere and rod down, which seemed quite boring from where I was. However, I figured I’d give him a run for his money.
Boarding: IN: Tinker/Bigman, D-Blast, 2 Duress; OUT: FOF, Gush, Disadd Tutors, Scroll
I figured that aginst his deck, I really want to get rid of some of those big artifacts, and he didn’t have stuff like welder, so duress seemed alright.
Game 2: I play island, he goes turn 1 grid, forced, sphere (damn it, this seems familiar). I drop some lands, he plays some locks, eventually I set up for a rebuild combo, but he wastes my land, I rebuild in response (a play error on my part, I should have floated, and seen if he had played anything I could drain (which was in my hand). Regardless, the field goes up, and he makes a HUGE play error in casing confidant instead of sphere. Ecstatic, I untap, do some lotus/tutor/will shenanigans and tendrils his face. He comments that he noticed the error immediately, and had only dropped the confidant because that’s what he had been planning, pre-rebuild. Ah, well.
Game 3: I play a few early mana, but don’t draw much else. However, I’m sitting on like 3 drains and infinite draw. Eventually I eot discard b-s. He comments on how strange that seems, but when he duresses me he changes that comment to how screwed he is. I eot bs into the NUTS, however, allowing for tinker w/ double force backup. He lets a grunt die, hoping to draw balance. No such luck.
Oliver is done, and asks about top 4 splits. 195 dollars seems damn good. I go over to tell Kyle, who is on the phone, and I overhear the following: “I’ve got two more rounds to win. I didn’t drive this far to split.” Ah well, I tell him the split, and he immediately refuses. Meh, I’ll still get 75 “myriad money (lol)”.
Top 4 (Kyle w/ Pitch Long)
I’m not too happy. Kyle has been playing really well all day long, is really good with the deck, and has been commenting on his good control game. Oh well.
Game 1: He mulls twice, tries to go off, but I am able to counter his bomb and tendrils him out after some ak shenanigans.
Boarding: IN: 3 Duress, 2 Blast, 1 Crypt; OUT: 1 Scroll, Vamp, Gush, FoF, Scroll, TFK.
Perhaps leaving mystical in was a mistake, but it did win me the game.
Game 2: He mulls, plays some early mana, which meant force or something. I drop a land and pass, he drops land and passes, I end of turn mystical into recall. I draw recall and maihphase target myself. He hardcasts mis-d. I force, draw perfectly off recall, and pull of a complex series of weird shit involving d-tutoring for will, casting it, pyroblasting a land, and ETW with a storm of 9, with a mana left over even! I’m sitting with 20 goblins, and pass the turn. Kyle comment how that was “so much pulled out of my ass, it was like ripping open my asshole with the f’in jaw’s of life!” Dan seems to disapprove of such talk, but it was funny as hell. He draws and grim tutors with B floating. He searches his deck, and states blatantly: “Damn, I didn’t board truth in.” He gets recall, recalls himself, and reveals a hand of Ritual, Necro, Tendrils, with one black floating. If he had had one more mana, he could have won with tutor into will. I think the proper play was to play necro and necro for 16, and after some contemplation, he just scoops. Have to say, this was one of the most interesting matches, as in the middle he decided to quietly start singing “bitches ain’t nothin’ but hoes with tricks.” He seems a bit disgruntled at how much out of my ass that win was pulled, but hell, WhateverWorks! Honestly, I didn’t even realize it for a second. I went recall, we had the counter war, it resolves, I think, and just state: “storm of three, right?” and he just goes: “you have to be shitting me.” Awesome.
Anyways, I check out various side events going on, come back at various point to check on oliver/eld’s match. Eventually, while watching brassy’s team draft event, oliver just shouts: “hey, split?” And I just immediately spin around and responed: “sure.”
We both get around 320ish “Myriad Money”, which I convert directly, into a bunch of various pimpage, random cards I needed, and obviously, Super Secret Tech. My dad is waiting outside at this point, so we leave, stop to fill up our gas tank, where I bought a congratulatory Monster and bag of Yorks, and we make the 2.5 hour trek back home listing to Muse.
Overall, this was a great tournament, and apparently on the larger side for Myriad. I really wish I could get out more for Magic; it’s really a ton of fun.
Props:
Cody for all the last-minute advice, half of which I ignored, and half of which was true (tfk = really good adivce, gush really wasn't all that good for me)
Brassy for playing SUPER SECRET TECH
Travis for playing awesome.deq... again
Dan for the awesome tourny
Oliver for not making me play anymore
AK for being better than gifts
Ray for brining type 4 and coming through with another staxless stax top 8 (he's a damn wigger, white rigger that is)
Future Sight spoilers for being insane
Slops:
Car accidents on highways for making me almost late
Kyle for making me beat him
ELD for making Oliver beat him [EDIT: apparently I was misinformed, people just THOUGHT ELD wouldn't want to split, not the case, meaning me doing well rests soley on Kyle! Sry about blemishin' your rep lol!]
Jotun Grunt for smashing my face in mercililessly (and then having the audacity to not even top 8)
Me, for crushing the hopes and dreams of draft.deq players =(
Verbal Warning for using language we don't welcome here at TMD. 
