I had the chance to enter my first ever Vintage tournament yesterday in Eaubonne, France.
I played Tezz Oath with 3 targets + Vault/Key. That may not have been the best choice for the meta, but it's a deck I feel comfortable with, and which I love playing. I didn't take any notes (instead trying to concentrate on avoiding stupid misplays, of which I still did a good lot). My SB was full of Dredge hate, a couple cards for Fish/Random aggro, and some Nature's Claims for MUD and the mirror.
The tournament had 25 registered players, so we did 5 rounds plus Top 8.
1) AK Madness (draw 1-1-1)
The first round was against a Bazaar-powered control deck using Accumulated Knowledge. When he saw me dropping an Orchard, my opponent obviously knew my game plan, and was pretty confident for a quick victory in 20 turns bashing me with the Token. I lost two battles for putting an Oath into play in the early turns, but won the third one using Regrowth. Iona entered the fray on my following turn (naming Blue), and sealed the deal quickly.
Game 2 was another story entirely, and I was soundly beaten.
On the last game, I kept a strange hand that had only Lotus and Crypt as mana sources, but dual Oath and Pithing Needle. I resolved one Oath (second one got Forced), and the Needle on Bazaar. My opponent then Nature's Claimed my Oath on his first turn. We then went into Draw/Go for a long time, with me drawing barely enough countermagic to stay in the game, but not enough mana to play my business spells, and my opponent being a bit mana flooded with his draw engine turned off by the Needle. When mana started coming for me, it was already too late and we went to time.
2) Elf Combo (Win 2-0)
My opponent on this round was playing for the nice Budget deck reward of the tournament. I played a land, passed the turn, and he started with Forest->Llanowar Elves. I played an land and Oath, keeping a Force ready in case he started the combo on his second turn. He chained a couple mana dorks, but didn't go off big time. Oath brought up Iona on Green, dumping about 40 cards of my deck in the process. Terastodon followed on the next turn, destroying my opponen't White mana sources to limit the risk of topdecked Swords to Plowshares.
Because so many cards were wasted in the process of Oathing, my opponent thought I was on a Graveyard abuse plan, and sideboarded in his graveyard hate, weakening his main plan. Game 2 was more or less a repeat of game 1, with me resolving Oath and Emrakul early (exchanged with Terastodon from the sideboard, as I reasoned Terastodon can't destroy creatures, and doesn't have any evasion so it can be blocked by mana dudes all day long). I drew a Massacre, but didn't need it.
3) Goblins (Win 2-0)
Another unpowered deck. Game 1 was uneventful, with me tutoring up Tinker and resolving Sphinx of the Steel Wind on Turn 2, which went the distance.
I relaxed a bit in Game 2, and that could have proven absolutely fatal as I didn't develop my mana base in a safe way, trying instead to be greedy with Moxen and fetching dual lands instead of Basics. My opponent played a lot of hate, and only him being a bit mana screwed allowed me to squeeze a Tinker for Sphinx and resolving an Oath (in case he dealt with the Sphinx) as backup before finding myself under Chalice, Null Rod, and Blood Moon. Resolving Oath before being denialed was a good idea, as my Sphinx then felt victim to a Shatterstorm. He still had a Goblin on the table, and Oath won me the game after that.
4) Bob deck (2-0)
I'm not sure what game plan my opponent was on. I kept an hand choke-full of counter magic with decent mana, and topdecked an Oath early on, which is why I let my opponent resolve a Bob. I'm evil that way. After resolving Oath, I punted badly when the first activation turned Terastodon, which I tried to use to destroy my opponent's Top. My opponent of course bumped Top to safety on his library, and saved it this way, but my mistake was not enough to cost me the game.
Game two was relatively uneventful, as I resolved an Oath extremely quickly against an early Confident, and Iona followed cutting him from Blue.
5) ID
The Top 8 was already determined after the 4 first rounds, so everybody IDed.
Top 8) DJ (Drain Jace) Loss (1-2)
On game one I auto-mulliganed (two Oath targets in first hand), and kept a hand with solid mana and some business, but few countermagic. My opponent was on a roll, and started off with a first turn Time Walk, followed by Merchant Scroll for Rebuild as he thought I was playing MUD. He then proceeded to get a Jace out, which he then used to lock me out of the game. I managed to get a fetchland, and then get a non-fatesealed draw out of it, which revealed... a Jace of my own. I tried to Legend-rule his Jace, but he had a counter and my hand was depleted. His Jace went ultimate on the following turn.
On game two, after a slow start on my side (land Sol Ring), my opponent spent his first turn playing (again) a Time Walk, followed by Ancestral Recall, which resolved, and after which he Tinkered for Inkwell Leviathan. On my upkeep I Mystical Tutored for Show&Tell, which I drew and resolved, putting Sphinx of the Steel Wind into play. Sphinx won the life race against Inkwell.
The last game was once again a mulligan for double Oath target in first hand (I need to calculate the probability of those). This time my opponent had a first turn Dark Ritual + Necropotence, which he used to draw 10 cards. He played a couple spells and destroyed my hand with Duress on his second turn, and went broken the turn after, hitting Mind's Desire for 10 followed by Tendrils for 15.
I ended 6th place, winning a NM Revised Savannah, and pretty happy for my first Vintage tournament. I was also happy to meet the great people of the French Vintage community. I must admit that I was lucky to hit some good matchups (two opponents playing creature-based budget decks), but I should have been better prepared for combo decks. I could curse my Top 8 opponent's extremely powerful openers, but I will instead blame my own mulligan decisions as well as my general lack of preparation against Combo decks (few test games, no sideboard slot, decision to cut Top from the game that made me vulnerable to Duress). Better luck next time !
