Mini report--4th at black gold

[pierce]

I did not playtest enough. I did set aside time too, but that was spent playing peasant highlander with Travis Spero. Also, he and I got distracted by an epic journey for a "water pipe" with his stripper friend. Fun times. But not enough playtesting. Next time, I'll have to do that.


I played cards nobody else wanted to play, as it was zero proxy. My deck definately missed the time walk and sapphire.

4 goyf
2 trygon predator
3 vendillion clique
4 dark confidant
4 daze
4 force of will
mystical tutor
ancestral recall
echoing truth
diablic edict
ponder
brainstorm
demonic tutor
vampiric tutor
1 darkblast
1 mox jet
1 mox emerald
1 black lotus
1 lotus petal
3 null rod
4 duress
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
4 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
1 bayou
1 island
3 tropical island
3 underground sea

SB:
3 krosan grip
2 energy flux
1 diabolic edict
3 planar void
2 sower of temptation
2 umezawas jitte
2 stifle

RD1 Dredge
G1 I waste his bazaar. He does not climb out of the hole, goyfs finish him
G2 I do the same. He punishes me, playing petrified field and going nuts
G3 I drop turn one planar void, and protect it.

1-0

RD2 Oath
G1 I mull to five on the play, as I know what he's on. I find a strip mine based hand, draw Ancestral off the top, FoW his Ancestral, and beat down with two goyfs.
G2 I have the nuts all game, with diablic edict and krosan grip in hand, and a bob and goyf quickly entering the battlefield.

2-0

RD3 Steel City Vault
Its a friend, and a playtesting partner. Hes the state champ, and won a ptq this year. Sweet. Should be good games!
g1, I turn one duress, turn two draw black lotus and use it do drop two goyfs in play. Steel City Vault is resiliant, but not faster than two goyfs.
g2, This game goes long. I eventually wasteland him out of lands, and find a null rod when his board is all 5 moxen, sol ring, sensei's top. He couldnt find an imperial seal for the event, so played top instead. This won me the match.

3-0

Rd4 Oath
G1, I drop a turn one goyf on the draw. He goes for the oath, I have FOW and possbily daze, i don't remember. Anyway, it gets countered and I win.
G2, He Forces through an early oath, pitching a tidespout tyrant. I diabolic edict the second one. He activates oath, and decks himself. Emabrrased, he admits that he forgot that he cut blessing, and blanked on pitching the other tyrant to FOW. Christmasland etc.

4-0

Rd5 5c Stax
I beat him with an early goyf both games.

5-0

We had a disapointing 20 people, so we were not playing for a mox sapphire anymore. Such shit! I can think of four people who could have come and played. Oh well. We go to top four due to this and play for $$$. The other three people want to split, but I like my chances, as half the t4 I've bested in the swiss, so I decline.

t4 5c stax redux
Same guy as before. Pleasant opponent, and strategically keen. He played stax very well, and he deserved the match after I tried to crush him out of t4 in the last round.
g1 turn one goyf, dead stax player follows.
g2 He squeezes the life out of me, turn by turn.
g3 I keep a suspect hand, and miss six land drops. I get a couple of shits countered with Daze and FOW, and get him down to low life with a goyf. Double tangle wires stall me, and double spheres stall me more. Finally, i drop a two casting cost black lotus, a land, and pass priority with diablic edict in hand for his welder. He KROSAN GRIPS MY LOTUS!!!! I lose quickly thereafter.

So I go 5-0 in the swiss, then get dominated by split second. Sweet. lol.

I would not go back to Esper fish/fae. Goyf is very, very good. I don't know why I didn't play BUG before.

My friend on Steel City won in the finals, so all ended well. In fact, I thought the other t4 players were all pretty cool guys.

Props to Carl, for hosting the event. Hopefully more will come to the next one. Must have been a bad weekend.
Thanks too for those who lent me cards so that I could play this event. I do not own nearly enough vintage playable singles on my own.
And to Demars/Linn/Mastriano for showing me peasant highlander. The vintage guys in CO all thank you, as we are all hooked.

Slops to the asian place in the food court. Dont eat there. I spit out some orange chicken mid bite, it was not pretty.

[Caselogik]

1st Place: Danny - Steel City Vault
2nd Place: Brian Grewe - 5c Stax
3rd Place: Alex Smith - Steel City Vault
4th Place: Steve Golenda - BuG

As Steve mentioned, it was a disappointing turn out. After delaying 30 minutes, we had about 20 people ready to play Vintage. I was playing 5c Stax and there was only 1 other person at the event who also played Stax.

Opponent 1: Adam Ramsay - Tyrant Oath

Now, preparing for this tournament, I knew people would be running oath, so I main decked and sideboarded a Jester's Cap.

Game One:
Turn 1: Mishra's Workshop, Mox, Chalice to 2. Forced.
Turn 2: I rip a Cap off the top and play Ancient tomb, Jester's Cap, resolves - activate. I notice immediately that he doesn't have more than 1 Tyrant in his deck. It must be in his hand. Three turns later he brainstorms it back in and resolves his oath.

Game Two:
Turn 1: Workshop, Mana Crypt, Jester's Cap. Forced.
Turn 2: I top deck a Cap and he scoops. He was only running 3 creatures in the deck.

Game Three:
Turn 1: He drops pithing needle, naming cap.
Turn 1: I play workshop, crucible go.
Turn 2: Forbidden Orchard.
Turn 2: I drop Strip mine, taking the orchard. He plays a land and drops another needle naming Strip mine.

We continue to play, but on turn 5 I tinker for Sundering Titan, wiping his land base out under a 3sphere.

1-0.

Opponent 2: Ryan Hannigan - U/G Fish

Game one: I crucible lock him early with a smokestack.
Game two: we draw about 3/4 of our deck until he finally drops a 6/7 goyf with me at 6 life.
Game Three: I lock him out with crucible/smokestack on turn 2.

2-0

Opponent 3: Michael Williams - Tezzeret

Game one: I drop a lot of pesky artifacts that keeps him at bay until I can get my Razormane into play.
Game two: He blows up early, dropping a Tezz. He then proceeds to turn all his moxen into creatures and swing for the win
Game Three: I believe he misplayed. Turn 1, I resolve a Smokestack. Turn 2, I add a counter, drop a crucible and another land and pass.
He responds with setting up Vault/Key and activating it. Smokestack is still set to 1. I am currently holding Wasteland, Wasteland, Strip Mine. He can't draw a land to activate Vault and ends up passing the turn back to me. I set stack to 2, draw then drop a strip mine. Pass. He ends up sacking all his permenants and died very easily to Trike.

3-0

Opponent 4: Marcus Knox - U/R Stax

Game One: He locks me early with Smokestacks, Tanglewires and a crucible.

Game Two: I lock him out with about the same.

Game Three: 12 minutes left in the match I am at 8, he is at 2, we are in the final turns of overtime and  Marcus has Karn and a 7/10 duplicant on the table with a 3sphere, Tormod's Crypt, Sphere of Resistance. I have a 1/1 Triskelion and a Goblin Welder. Instead of swinging for the win, he swings with duplicant, which I block with my Triskelion. Tie'ing the match.

3-0-1

Opponent 5: Steve Golenda - BuG.

Game 1: He resolves a Goyf and stomps me quickly.
Game 2: Same as above. A disappointing loss that I didn't expect. Steve was very nice to talk to and seemed to thoroughly enjoy both the deck and the format.

3-1-1.

I win on tie-breaks and find myself making the top 4.

I play Steve again. As you read in the report, it went just as he explained. Losing Game 1, I sided:

-4 Smokestack
-1 Tangle Wire
-1 Sphere of Resistance

+1 Krosan Grip
+1 Balance
+1 Ancient Grudge
+3 Powder Keg.

Game 2: I start early with resolving a Welder and a tanglewire. I get a powder keg out, then a chalice, and start my swinging with Razormane. At 10 life, I tinker in a Platinum Angel and he scoops.

Game 3: I resolve welder, powder keg, crucible, chalice and every other piece of control that I possibly could and keep him at bay with welding tanglewires. With 2 spheres on the board, he casts Black Lotus. I've been holding Krosan for awhile, so I destroy his mana. Finally, I resolve a Triskelion and beat him down.

Final Match: 5c Stax vs. Steel City Vault.

I would give all the gory details of this match but I got murdered. Game 1 I get him to 8 life before he proceeds to kill my lock piece with a flashbacked Ancient Grudge.

Game 2: I have a Jester's cap in hand with enough mana to cast and activate it the following turn. He plays a bunch of spells, casts Yawg's will and tinkers for the win.

Grats to Danny for the win and thanks Carl for running a smooth Tournament. Maybe next time Eh?

[Duncan]

Finally, i drop a two casting cost black lotus, a land, and pass priority with diablic edict in hand for his welder. He KROSAN GRIPS MY LOTUS!!!! I lose quickly thereafter.

So I go 5-0 in the swiss, then get dominated by split second. Sweet. lol.

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

You could've used Lotus.

[the_lord_shaper]

I've been playing alot of BUG fish lately, and I noticed through many past tourneys, that Life from the Loam is so good. It plus Null Rod or a Trygon won me most games. Wasteland and/or strip every turn, turns out to be pretty hard too beat.

[aosquirrels]

For those of you wh care here is the metagame breakdown.

Oath - 3
Steel City Vault - 2
Stax - 2
Goblins - 2
B/U/G - 2
Ad Nauseam - 1
B/G Monstrosity - 1
Tezz - 1
Ichorid - 1
Affinity - 1
The Deck 2009 - 1
Hivemind / Pact combo - 1
U/G Standstill - 1
Painter / Grinstone - 1

This was by far the weakest turnout we have ever had.  The number of players was way too low.  Our last event had 38 players for essentially the same prize structure.

Props;
Daniel Bragg for finally winning one of my events.
The Mall for making sure the a/c was working.

Slops:
The Mall for not making sure the restroom was functional.
The individual or individuals who have let the word out that I am no longer running vintage tournaments.  THIS IS NOT TRUE.  I have never told anyone that I am stopping running vintage events.  There may be bannings from my store regarding this if I find out who it is.

I will be posting an October Proxy event in at BLACK GOLD very soon! 

[Caselogik]

Carl,

Are you posting deck lists from the top 4? I am interested in seeing what Dan beat me with.

Brian

[aosquirrels]

NOTE:  I have spoken with one person regarding the issue with the rumors that Black Gold is not running vintage events anymore and I'm glad to say that this issue is being dealt with in a positive manner.  

I'm currently having issues posting so I'll try to get the T4 lists up soon.

[aosquirrels]

Here are the T4 decklists.

1st Place - Dan Bragg
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol RIng
1 Timetwister
1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Regrowth
2 Goblin Welder
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Fire / Ice
1 Rebuild
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 TInker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
3 City of Brass
SB:
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Pyroclasm
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Naturalize


2ns Place - Brian Grewe
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
2 Darkblast
4 Smokestack
3 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Platinum Angel
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Razormane Masticore
1 Sundering Titan
3 Goblin Welder
1 Trinisphere
3 Triskelion
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Jester's Cap
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Tolarian Academy
SB:
1 In The Eye Of Chaos
1 Balance
1 Wispmare
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Krosan Grip
3 Powder Keg
2 Pyroclasm
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Pithing Needle
1 Jester's Cap


3rd Place - Steve Golenda
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Vedillion Clique
4 Dark Confidant
2 Trygon Predator
3 Null Rod
1 Darkblast
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Diabolic Edict
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Bayou
3 Tropical Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
SB:
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Stifle
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Krosan Grip
2 Energy Flux
3 Planar Void

4th Place - Alex Smith
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol RIng
1 Timetwister
1 Windfall
1 Memory Jar
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Regrowth
2 Goblin Welder
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Fire / Ice
1 Rebuild
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 TInker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Intuition
1 Time Vault
1 Darkblast
2 Voltaic Key
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
3 City of Brass
SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Pithing Needle
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Pyroblast
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Krosan Grip

[pierce]

see. thats the kind of stuff you learn by playtesting. things like how split second works.

fuck my life! I totally would have won that match had I known that one. thanks for the lookout ducan.

[Caselogik]

To be fair, I didn't know you could break a lotus in response to split second.

[aosquirrels]

To be fair, I didn't know you could break a lotus in response to split second.

Mana abilities don't use the stack.  Morph abilities are in that category too.

[NicolaeAlmighty]

To be fair, I didn't know you could break a lotus in response to split second.

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ts/202.jpg

Unless you actually read the card...

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Proxy tournaments? For ribs? Oh man, I might come out of hibernation for one of those!

[Caselogik]

To be fair, I didn't know you could break a lotus in response to split second.

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ts/202.jpg

Unless you actually read the card...

Well unfortunately, unless I go and learn chinese, more specifically how to read and translate s-chinese, that wasn't a possibility.

[Smmenen]

Steve: How was Darkblast instead of Loam?

[pierce]

Didn't see it matter in my rounds. I didn't play against another bob the entire day.
I had just to handle the attrition war that bob tends to cause when I have one in play, and so does the other guy.

Never tested with loam.

[the_lord_shaper]

Didn't see it matter in my rounds. I didn't play against another bob the entire day.
I had just to handle the attrition war that bob tends to cause when I have one in play, and so does the other guy.

Never tested with loam.

   Confidant damage can really get high sometimes while playing BUG. I've lost my far share of games just to Bob's life loss alone, but on the flip side, he won many games because of his card advantage. Loam has tested very well over the past month at our local tourney, there were many games in which I shouldn't have won, but did only on the account of Loam. One suggestion to test out is adding one to two Mirri's Guile to the deck. Just being able to control Confidants life loss makes this card more then worth it.