First and foremost, I'd like to thank Calvin for running a stellar event. Constant giveaways and deep pay outs in conjunction with free side events for those who had some misfortune in the main event kept people at the store playing Vintage for quite awhile. It was definitely worth the three hour drive and I intend to make it down there again.
That said, my choice of deck and deck construction could not have been more off for the event. I was looking at this event as a tune up for the large event on 6/15, and built a deck I wanted reps with it in a tournament setting. My predictions about that field were nothing like what this field presented. About the only thing I did correctly was cut the Thorn of Amethyst's, as the field was fairly fishy. However, replacing them with Null Rods was probably the worst thing I could have done, as there were several decks that were only playing 2-3 Moxes and no Mana Crypt/Sol Ring. Additionally, removing the Serum Powders because of the Null Rods meant that I lost consistency, and the splash value of Phyrexian Revoker was largely irrelevant throughout the day (though when it was relevant is was game changing). I was quite fortunate in some of my matches to have great hands and draws, though that happens to the best of us I suppose.
Deck: Neo Espresso
Artifacts that don't make mana: 34
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Null Rod
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Duplicant
1 Trinisphere
Artifact Mana: 8
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
Lands: 18
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
Sideboard:15
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Duplicant
2 Triskelion
I cheated a little on mana, so I made sure to note that in my mulligan decisions.
Round 1: BUG Fish (Mr. Ferrante)
Game 1: I won the die roll and lead with a Chalice for 0 and a blind Phyrexian Revoker calling Jace the Mindsculptor. He plays a land and passes, and I drop down a Tangle Wire and get in. He has some strong cards, including a Steel Sabotage as a counter for a Lodestone, and Abrupt Decay for the Revoker. He finds a Deathrite Shaman, but I have another Revoker waiting for it. I get him back under a Wire, and add a Stack. It gets one permanent before it is Snapcaster -> Sabotaged back to my hand. My lack of resistors enables a lot of plays for him. Dark Confidant joins the party. He draws a Strip Mine and adds a Trygon Predator, but that was after he revealed a Force of Will. Knowing that I wasn't going to resolve any threat, I played a card to bait FoW, costing him a life from 4 to 3. He attacks in but allows me to block with my Mishra's Factory (he thought his Strip was tapped, but it was just hidden in his land clump) and I end up at 2 instead of dead. I get in for 2 with a Revoker since he has no blockers and he flips a Vampiric Tutor to Dark Confidant and I feel quite lucky to escape this game.
Game 2: My hand is much more oppressive and I put together a Crucible lock on him, and he plays no basics. He fights hard, but it just wasn't very fair.
Round 2: Merfolk (Justin Kohler)
Game 1: I get the mulligan bug a bit, which is unfortunate. He has a Misstep for my Sol Ring and my mana is off and he puts me down with a Reejery -> Phantasmal Image (Reejery) -> Lord of Atlantis untap two lands, Lord of Atlantis tap your blocker and untap a land attack for 5. Needless to say adding two Lodestones to my board (with Metamorph) simply wasn't enough to come back.
Game 2: Mulligan again to the mana issues and Justin has an awesome hand. FoW, Steel Sabotage, plenty of Lords, and 2 Wastelands. Unfortunate to lose a favorable match up so one sided, but Mulligans beat match ups every time.
Round 3: Noble Fish (sorry I forgot your name
)
Game 1: I know he is on Noble Fish so name Pridemage with a blind Revoker. The game gets long and drawn out, and he plays Exalted creatures and doesn't care about Null Rod. I lose fairly one sided despite Tangle Wire and Smokestack making appearances.
Game 2: I have the Shops on the play hand that everyone dreads. Mox, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Sphere of Resistance, Shop, Lodestone Golem. He has several Wastes, but I keep laying Lodestones (real and Metamorphed) and keep attacking. This was very skill intensive
Game 3: He has an early Pridemage, but I have Revoker. I put together a Smokestack, Crucible, and Tangle Wire. I play a Metamorph with the intention of Cascading through his Shardless Agent, but after closer inspection that triggers on cast not CitP, so instead I copy his Pridemage and start attacking. The game gets pretty tight as Revokers don't block 3/3's very well. I find some Factories and eventually eat a Nature's Claim to gain 4 life and end up winning the race as I push the stack to a volatile level against his depleted board.
Round 4: Bye
Not sure how a 2-1 got the bye here other than the bottom 8 players dropped out to play in a side event. This locked me up for top 8, so I wasn't about to argue too hard.
Quarterfinals: Mayor Fish (Brian Kelly)
Game 1: I'm a little fuzzy on this game as the next one was a doozy, but I believe there was a Tanglewire and Crucible that created a strong board. The death knell was either a LSG or Smokestack.
Game 2: He leads out with a turn 1 Mayor off a Mox and Cavern. I have the ability to play turn 1 Lodestone or Smokestack, but would lose the ability to play two spells behind it, so I just play a Crucible and pass, knowing he will likely want to just play a land and pass to flip his Mayor, and if he Wastes/Strips my Shop I just rebuy it with the Crucible. This is precisely what happens, and so when I draw Phyrexian Metamorph I am quite stoked. I copy his Mayor and add a Mox to the board, giving me quite an edge. Brian, not to be outdone, adds another Mayor for himself and a Thalie, so this game starts to get even more interesting. I elect to Waste him and add another Crucible to the board to prevent his Mayors from flipping. He quickly passes back and gets his flips, and then my play of Smokestack and Chalice 1 flips them back. I stall a little bit and he starts making a lot of wolves. My Stack gets up to 3, and my 2 free permanents match his, but I keep adding to the board and eventually reflip his Mayor. I also double block his Thalia at one point to kill her. I Stack him out of the game after finding a Duplicant for his second Mayor. The game was quite intense.
Semifinals: UBr Welder Walkers (Mark Kinney)
Game 1: I have a Chalice 0 and a Crucible, which gets Forced. He has a turn 1 Goblin Welder. I play Tangle Wire which lands. He passes back without using his Welder to swap, being afraid of my mana denial game (which was spot on as I was holding Strip Mine back). I lay a land and Lodestone, and the game gets out of hand fairly quickly, as he either has to give me a Crucible or a Golem, and if he tries to play with my Wire he has to give me both. I push him out of the game fairly quickly and feel very lucky to beat a turn 1 Welder.
Game 2: He has a fast Tinker for Myr Battlesphere and I don't have a Metamorph or Duplicant.
Game 3: I have a turn 1 Smokestack, but he has a Chewer for it. I put down a Crucible of Worlds that I found off the top of the Library and that pairs well with the Strip Mine in the hand. He eventually finds a Sol Ring and later on a Voltaic Key. In the interim I find some lands, a Tangle Wire, Lodestone Golem, and lastly a Phyrexian Revoker for the Sol Ring that put the game out of reach.
Finals: SuperShawn.dec (Shawn Griffiths)
Game 1: Our boards get a little intense, but his Vendilion Clique threatens me pretty strongly. I'm on a 3 outer (2 Metamorph, 1 Duplicant) and find it (Duplicant) at 3 life.
Game 2: Shawn has some early men and a Gitaxian Probe that gets Snapcastered. I'm never in a position to race and his Time Walk and Serenity combo puts me to dead fairly quickly.
Game 3: I have the most insane hand I've seen in a long time at the perfect time. Lotus, Mox, Lodestone Golem, Mox, Shop, Lodestone Golem. Holding Revoker, pass. My friend tells me afterwards that I should have played Revoker on Lotus instead of the second Lodestone Golem to turn off Serenity(which we saw in g2) as an out, so I'm glad that it was the second card in Shawn's library and not the first, as he has Lotus, but uses it for Devout Witness which I get to Revoker and that as they say was that.
Great to meet some new people and see some old friends. Can't wait to get cracking next week.
