My second Vintage tournament (Breda): 11th with Thoughtcast Painter

Yesterday (April 5th, 2009) was The Dutch Vintage 7, and it was my second vintage tournament. I was unable to play in tournaments because my sundays were occupied with rugby competition. Hopefully, I'll get to play a lot more in the upcomming months because, like with the previous tournament, it has only increased my thirst for competitive vintage. Anyway, enough of the boring part, on to deck I played. It is basically Thoughtcast Painter as found in this thread by Demonic Attorney. Here is the list:

Mana (23):
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Seat of the Synod

Spells (37):
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Thoughtcast
3 Mana Drain
3 Painter's Servant
2 Grindstone
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Tinker
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Darksteel Colossus

Sideboard (15):
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Pyroclasm
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Old Man of the Sea
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Pithing Needle

Initially I chose the deck because it was the only one that I would be able to play within the Proxy and my budget limit. I definately like the deck though, as I love to play control games, and this deck just gives you that in plenty. While playing the original list from Demonic Attorney, I found that Seat of the Synod spent most of it's time in my hand waiting to be pitched to Thirst for Knowledge, and was hardly ever useful. In addition, Thoughcast tended to clutter my hand a lot and either force mulligans, or be terrible to find in a mulligan hand. Less cards in hand means fewer artifacts which means that the expected mana cost of thoughtcast increases when you mulligan, making it even worse when you're going to 6 or 5 cards. Therefor, I made 2 maindeck changes which are pretty straightforward, and I have never looked back really.
1) -1 Seat of the Synod, +1 Lotus Petal. It serves the same purpose for Thirst for Knowledge, Thoughtcast and when facing Null Rod. On the upside, it improves your chances of a 1st turn mana drain, and helps with Tolarian Academy and Yawgmoth's Will as well. Finally, it fixes colors in a 3 color deck with some mana issues.
2) -1 Thoughtcast, +1 Ponder. Drawing 2 or digging 3 is relatively similar (and at the same time, worlds apart). However, Ponder is better in mulliganed hands and on turn 1. In addition, it's an extra shuffle effect for Sensei's Divining Top. It basically played out as a retail Thoughtcast most of the time, which makes it superior over the 4th Thoughtcast for me.

The sideboard was a mixture of what I read, and what I had in terms of cards. I expected to face a lot of Workshop and Slaver builds, so the Old Man would be really nice, but I only had access to 1. I fixed this up with pyroclasm which also helps out against Confidants and other random non-Tarmogoyf aggro elements. Demonic Attorney mentioned Empty the Warrens in his report which seemed like a good idea. I initially had 2, but later cut to 1 to make room for Chalice of the Void to improve my combo matchup. On the day before the tournament, I realized I had 1 proxy space left, and changed a Leyline of the Void into a Pithing Needle. I figured it was more versatile and could also be boarded in against Ichorid anyway to at least stop Bazaar.
With the deck set, I was picked up by my friend Frank and we drove to Breda where the Tournament was held. When we arrived we found that there were 60 people attending, which I believe a new record for The Dutch Vintage (although I could be mistaken). Vintage is very much active in The Netherlands and Belgium. Before I go to the matches, I would like to say that the atmosphere was really friendly and competitive. In addition, most of my opponents, when they saw me write down my hands asked if I was making a report, and when I replied yes they generally agreed to wait patiently for me to finish writing. So thanks very much. I would have missed a lot of information if it wasn't for your kindness.

Match 1 versus Mathijs with B/G Aggro
Game 1 (Loss)
Hand: Island, Library of Alexandria, Underground Sea, Thirst for Knowledge, Grindstone, Pyroblast, Force of Will
He winns the dice roll, and elects to go first. I keep my hand because of Library of Alexandria and Force of Will, which is good against most opponents I figure. In addition, I can start drawing cards from turn 1 on if I don't need the Force. He opens with a Bloodstained Mire for Bayou, a Mox Sapphire, and plays Tarmogoyf, which I probably should have countered. However, I was still having Library of Alexandria activations in my head, and I wasn't willing to pitch my only other gas spell (Thirst for Knowledge). I fail to draw a Painter's Servant, and he start beating down. He adds a Dimir Cutpurse to the board and I again fail to force it because I am now hoping to fire off Thirst next turn, and combo out quickly. Cutpurse and Tarmogoyf starts bringing in the damage and I later counter another Tarmogoyf. I don't get enough turns to find either a tutor or a Painter to combo out, and he is on full tilt with an active Cutpurse and a Tarmogoyf for damage.

Sideboarding: +1 Old Man of the Sea, +1 Empty the Warrens, +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Leyline of the Void, -1 Thirst for Knowledge, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Pyroblast, -2 Thoughtcast
As a side note, I really had no clue what to side out. Pithing Needle was going in because I expected Wasteland. Old Man of the Sea could take over a Cutpurse, and I expected a Dark Confidant as well. The Leylines would help keep Goyf down, so Old Man would work against them. Empty the Warrens just helps stalling the game against his lack of evasion. The parts I removed have no real reason behind them. In fact, I was at quite a loss at wat to remove. Sideboard is a part of the game I should really get more practice in, and this tournament really hammered in that fact. Why didn't I add pyroclasms if I expected Dark Confidants and Dimir Cutpurses? I don't know.

Game 2 (Loss):
Hand: This is the only hand I fogot to write down. I mulliganed a slow hand away to keep a terrible one along the lines of 4 lands and no turn 1 play.
I play land-go and he opens with Mox Sapphire into Ancestral Recall. From then on he is ahead of me all the way. He lands a Tarmogoyf again, a Dark Confidant, and a Dimir Cutpurse. Duress and Hymn to Tourach keep me at topdeck mode, which is mostly mana. His creatures go all the way while his hand it full of threats.

After the game he told me that this was his first match at a Vintage TOurnament, as he is usually a Legacy Player, so congratulation on your first match and first win! He had a really consistent deck, and probably something he would be used to playing with or against from Legacy, which makes it an even better choice for him to play. I hope you get to play more.
Also, I really wasn't in a tournament mindset and I was feeling very unfocussed on the game. Luckily this was the only match as I regained my focus except for the sideboarding, which remained a problem throughout the tournament.

Match 2 versus Marcel with Bomberman
Game 1 (Win)
Hand: Mox Emerald, 2x Thoughtcast, Painter's Servant, Demonic Tutor, Lotus Petal, Thirst for Knowledge
I Mulligan this hand away because of lack of mana. I note that Lotus Petal gave this hand some plays, where Seat of the Synod would not. Still, it's not good enough.
Hand: Underground Sea, Sol Ring, 2x Grindstone, Thoughtcast, Relic of Progenitus
I win the roll, go first, and open with Underground Sea, Sol Ring, Relic of Progenitus and Grindstone. He reponds with a Pithing Needle on Grindstone and dispatches of my Relic of Progenitus. At this point I wonder what he might be playing as I see a blue-based control-like deck playing needle and wanting to get rid of a Relic of Progenitus. I fail to identify this as Bomberman because I have never played against it before. We both end up in topdeck mode quite quickly until he lands a Tinker and puts Darksteel COlossus into play. I draw a Red Elemental Blast, which is a turn too late for Tinker, and be beats me to 8 on his turn. I topdeck Painter's Servant, play it, Use Red Elemental Blast to destroy the Pithing Needle and have enough mana open to activate Grindstone for the win.

Sideboarding: +1 Red Elemental Blast, +1 Empty the Warrens, -1 Relic of Progenitus, -1 ?? (forgot, probably the other Relic of Progenitus)
This is again an example of uncertain sideboarding. I figured at least some control-like matchup, for which Red Elemental Blast came in. Empty the Warrens was going to make it's first test spin, because I figured he'd have answers for the Painter combo (in fact, I had seen the Pithing Needle).

Game 2 (Win)
hand: I mulliganed a hand having only 1 island as a mana source
hand: Island, Underground Sea, Brainstorm, Yawgmoth's Will, Thirst for Knowledge, Force of Will
We both have a slow start, and he is the first to make a move with trinket mage for a Black Lotus. He later adds a Seal of Cleansing and another Trinket Mage for an Aether Spellbomb, making both my COlossus and Grindstone wins highly difficult. He beats down, and when I reach 6 life, I manage to get through a small Yawgmoth's Will which ends in 10 Empty the Warrens tokens and a fixed hand. He bounces his own Trinket mage in order to search for Engineered Explosives I guess. I Have Red Elemental Blast for his Trinket Mage, He have Force of Will, but so do I. On my turn I cast Time Walk which was left in my hand from the Yawgmoth's Will turn, and with another Red Elemental Blast for his Trinket Mage, he concedes. I have 2 life left.

Two games in which I win in the very last possible turn, and two very nice control on control games which are my favourite. Also, it was my first casting of Empty the Warrens in this deck, and it was precisely what I needed.

Match 3 versus Hero 't Mannetje with Belcher
Game 1 (Win)
Hand: Polluted Delta, Mox Emerald, 2x Painter's Servant, Mana Drain, Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast
I don't have many notes about this game, but I play Painter's Servant and destroy his Goblin Charbelcher with a Red Elemental Blast. He destroys my Painter, but I have a second one, and continue to control the game with mana drain and Pyroblast until I find Grindstone and combo for the win.

Sideboarding:+2 Pyroclasm, +1 Empty the Warrens, +1 Viashino Heretic, +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Ingot Chewer, -2 Relic fof Progenitus, -3 Thoughtcast, -1 Red Elemental Blast, -1 Pyroblast

Game 2 (Win)
Hand: I mulligan a hand with Mana Crypt and Sol Ring as my only sources of mana. I do have Painter's Servant, but I would have to topdeck very well to get any further into the game.
Hand: Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, Merchant Scroll, Ancestral Recall, Force of Will, Empty the Warrens
Turn 1 he starts building mana and storm with alternating Tinder Walls and Manamorphose. I suspect Empty the Warrens, so I Force his Tinder Wall that would bring him to 4 mana. He burns 2 and I play Ancestral Recall on my turn. I don't draw business and have to let a Memory Jar resolve which he immediately actives. Luckily for me, he has to tap out for it and can only play a Goblin Welder from the Jar hand. However, Ancestral Recall had given me Pyroclasm, so I wasn't too worried about this.
At this point, he made a comment that I had a very bad sideboarding strategy. I don't know where this came from, possibly frustration that I had the answer for his welder, but even though he may be right in general, I am bad at sideboarding, I think pyroclasm would be very good against belcher, as I thought that the Empty the Warrens kill was quite popular in the deck. Am I mistaken here?
Anyway, I get 8 Empty the Warrens tokens into play and next turn get a Painter's Servant + Grindstone into play. He has Red Elemental Blast for my Painter in response to the Grindstone activation, so I start beating down with the 8 tokens. I get to play beatdown for the win with double mana drain as a backup.

Match 4 versus Twan Koperberg with Manaful Ichorid
Game 1 (Loss)
Hand: I mulligan a hand with Mox Emerald as the only mana source to find 6 cards with no mana source. I settle for the next 5.
Hand: Brainstorm, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Darksteel Colossus, Thirst for Knowledge
He opens with Bazaar, and drops some dredgers. I have never played against Ichorid, so this is another new matchup for me. I draw a land and have to chose between Brainstorm and Thirst for Knowledge. I chose to cast Brainstorm becase I figure that I pretty much need an active Relic next turn to win, and Thrist for Knowledge would tie up too much mana. I don't find the Relic and he combo's out with Reveillark for Flame-kin Zealot and Golgari Grave Troll, along with 6 zombie token.

Sideboarding: +3 Leyline of the Void, +2 Chalice of the Void, +1 Pithing Needle, -1 Red Elemental Blast, -1 Pyroblast, -2 Mana Drain, -1 Thirst for Knowledge, -1 Thoughtcast
I'm not entirely sure about what I sided out here. I sided in the Chalices of Void, because I figured that locking out Cabal Therapy would slow him down. I forgot about Chain of Vapor, which incidentally is also stopped by Chalice of the void at 1.

Game 2 (Loss)
Hand: Leyline of the Void, Island, Volcanic Island, Pyroblast, 2x Thirst for Knowledge, Painter's Servant
I start with Leyline in play and begin with a massive Error. I open with Island instead of Volcanic Island because I am afraid of Wasteland and figure that I will need the mana to actually do something. He opens with a Mox Sapphire and has the Chain of Vapor for the Leyline, after which he plays Bazaar and discards three Ichorids. Volcanic Island would allow me to Pyroblast the Chain and keep Leyline in play. I topdeck a Mox Pearl, play the Painter's Servant and Pyroblast his Bazaar. He has a second Bazaar but again fails to find dredgers. I play Thirst for Knowledge, find Grindstone but no mana sources. He again fails to find dredgers. I don't topdeck a mana and play Grindstone with 2 mana open. He finds a dredger and comboes out. After the match he said that he had a second Chain in his hand, so even if I would have countered the Chain, he would have continued with it the second turn, and have 2 active bazaars. Still it was a massive play error on my part.

Match 5 versus Alex with RGB Aggro
Game 1 (Loss)
Hand: Volcanic Island, Polluted Delta, Mox Emerald, Mana Crypt, Thirst for Knowledge, Relic of Progenitus, Merchant Scroll
I open the game with Mana Crypt, Volcanic Island, Thirst for Knowledge discarding Mox Emerald, playing Relic of Progenitus. He plays a Tin-Street Hooligan from a Taiga and Mox Ruby, destroying the Relic of Progenitus. We both continue to draw mana sources. Thoughtseize picks out the only gas spell I had in Yawgmoth's will, and his goblin beats down along with my own Mana Crypt. We both see no business spells and apparently Aggro decks like it when you are dealing 9 damage to yourself with a mana crypt.

Sideboarding: +2 Pyroclasm, +1 Old Man of the Sea, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Empty the Warrens, -2 Relic of Progenitus, -1 Red Elemental Blast, -1 Pyroblast, -1 Vampiric Tutor

Game 2 (Win)
Hand: Lotus Petal, Black Lotus, Volcanic Island, Painter's Servant, Old Man of the Sea, Red Elemental Blast, Force of Will
Prepare for the strangest game of magic I have played in a while...
I decide to take a gamble here and keep the hand. I open with Volcanic, Black Lotus, Lotus Petal, and sacrifice both for an Old Man of the Sea and a Painter's Servant. I have Force + Red Blast for Emergencies and Red Blast for turn 2 and after. He plays Thoughtseize and picks out Red Elemental Blast, I beat down and he draws nothing but a Null Rod which locks his own two moxen out. We continue doing this while I draw another force, a Pyroblast and some blue cards to pitch. I always have an answer for his spells, and Old Man of the Sea and Painter's Servant go all the way. Beatdown on the beatdown with two creatures clearly not meant for that task ... very strange indeed.

Sideboarding: +1 Viashino Heretic, -1 Mana Crypt

Game 3 (Win)
Hand: Tolarian Academy, Mox Ruby, Mox Jet, Volcanic Island, 2x Thirst for Knowledge, Ponder
Warning: My first Jedi Mind Trick in a vintage tournament comming up
He opens with Thoughtseize and picks Ponder to deny me 2 spells on my first turn. I play the Mox Ruby and Mox Jet along with Tolarian Academy and Thirst for Knowledge. He plays nothing of note while I continue to dig and failing to find much in terms of combo. He taps his wasteland for a Dark Confidant. I play Time Walk, Sensei's Divining Top, and Pyroclasm. In the walk turn, Top finds Tinker for COlossus, and I Needle the Wasteland. He has Dead/Gone for the Colossus and I am left with a small hand. He plays a Tin-Street Hooligan, which I let resolve as I am still at 20 life. Pithing Needle is destroyed, and Wasteland takes out Tolarian Academy destroying any dreams of hard-casting the Darksteel COlossus. I continue to draw nothing but Mana and Red Elemental Blast + Pyroblast. He adds 2 Mogg Fanatics and starts beating me down to 4 life. I draw and see Old Man of the Sea and let out a sigh of relief. I honestly thought for half a second that this would save me, however, the two fanatics would be able to shoot the last damage to me anyways, so I had lost. I played the Old Man though, and explained to him what it did. He didn't like it and as the attention was focussed on the Old Man, he attacked with everything, I blocked the Hooligan and he sacrificed one fanatic to take out the Old Man of the Sea. If he had shot both at my life total, I would have lost the game. I topdecked Painter's Servant as a blocker for the remaining Fanatic. We both draw nothing for a few turns, then I draw Sol Ring and Empty the Warrens back-to-back and make 4 Empty the Warrens tokens. Red Elemental Black, Pyroblast and 2 hardcasted Force of Wills are enough to keep him at bay while the tokens beat down for the win.

Match 6 versus Steven with a Metal-Fish type deck.
Game 1 (Loss)
Hand: Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Mox Pearl, Lotus Petal, Mana Drain, Thirst for Knowledge, Thoughtcast
We both play draw-go for a turn, then he lands a Painter's Servant. I decide not to counter it, as I hope to find my own Grindstone and use that against him. I feel that I am in a good position here. He choses Green for the Painter here. I draw nothing, and when we start a counter-war over Grindstone which he wins. I have 1 topdeck left and enough mana for a grindstone + activation, but I find Darksteel Colossos on top.

Sideboarding: +1 Viashino Heretic, +1 Hurkyll's Recall, +2 Ingot Chewer, +1 Red Elemental Blast, +1 Empty the Warrens, -2 Relic of Progenitus, -3 Painter's Servant, -1 Vampiric Tutor

I side out the Servants, as he had not seen any of the combo pieces in my deck. In addition, I don't want to be the player to spent mana on the combo piece we are both going to use.

Game 2 (Win)
Hand: Island, Mox Sapphire, Mox Ruby, Sol Ring, Grindstone, Viashino Heretic, Brainstorm
I open the game with Island, Mox Sapphire, Mox Ruby, Sol Ring, Viashino Heretic. He opens on Island, Ancestral Recall, but has to discard a card for holding 8 cards. I draw nothing immediately useful like Ingot Chewer, and he plays a second land and then stops playing anything until after some turns he plays Mishra's Factory. Finally he opens with Etherium Sculptor, Ethersworn Canonist, Master of Etherium and another Ethersworn Canonist. I use Viashino Heretic on the Master of Etherium at the end of his turn, and play Ingot Chewer in my turn on a canonist. He concedes.

Game 3 (Win)
Hand: Polluted Delta, Seat of the Synod, Underground Sea, Sensei's Diving Top, Pyroblast, Tinker, Thirst for Knowledge
He mulligans down to 4 cards as his 6 and 5 card hands contain no mana. He opens with a Mox Ruby, but I topdeck Ingot Chewer and Polluted Delta into Volcanic Island allows me to destroy the only mana source he has. I draw Darksteel Colossus for my next turn, so I spend a turn using Thirst for Knowledge to get rid of it. He concedes after I tinker for Colossus on turn 4. He does have double force of will, but I have Pyroblast and a Force of Will of my own.

It later appeared he had also sided out the entire combo, so the Grindstones in my deck were actually dead weight.

Final Result: 4-2

I finished 11th and received the foil alternate art Woolly Thoctar, and foil DCI Hypnotic Specter, along with 2 boosters of conflux which had a Blood Tyrant, Foil Sphinx Summoner and the Ancient Ziggurat to finish my playset on one, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in the other. So that was very nice.
I stayed around to watch the finals match, which was recorded, so I'm sure Marske will get that up if everything goes well.

Finally, some positive notes:

1) I am now very certain that I need to find a way to playtest against more different decks, and especially sideboarding strategies and sideboarded games. I felt that to be the biggest negative impact on my game, as it also drains a lot of time and mental energy trying to sideboard on the fly instead of having a clear plan you can adjust to the situation.
2) The Opponents were great. Especially the positive comments about my notes and the fact that they generally didn't mind waiting for me to finish writing.
3) Organisation was good. Microphone failures aside, I think that the event went smoothly from a player's perspective, which is definately a result of the good organisation.
4) A lot of first times for me: First Jedi Mind Trick. First game against Ichorid, Bomberman and Belcher. First time calling a judge (explanation on the amount of counters on a Golgari Grave-Troll being Reveillarked into play). Go go experience!
5) Rudy's Backpack magic for having an awesomely big selection of cards, decent prices, and generous prizes for the top 16.
6) Empty the Warrens. I followed the suggestion from Demonic Attorney that it probably deserved a playtest, and I can definately say that it has been an all-star in my tournament. It has won me many games, and I was generally always happy to see it. Casting it for 4 token even won me a game. If I'm playing a version of this deck again, I'll most likely try to find a maindeck slot for this card. It is that good.
7) I brought plentyful food, fruitjuice and two apples. They kept me fresh during the day and I had little trouble with mental fatigue because I would go outside and eat and drink some after every game and feel refreshed. Preperation was key here.

As with the first tournament I went to, this tournament has only reinforced my belief that I want to play more vintage, and that Vintage is a long way from being dead (as some doomsdayers will say). In short: Fantastic tournament, I hope to be there for the 8th edition.