I've known about the weekly wednesday tournements at Golden memories in Mastic for a long time, but have never had the oppurtunity to go, because of school, inability to drive, etc. fortunatly, i had the oppurtunity yesterday and i get to go. I've recently learned that the top rated vintage player in the world, plays there, so i'm excited to go. I'm playing trix similiar to the one westredale posted.
3 illusions of grandeur
3 donate
4 academy rector
1 necro
1 yawgmoth's bargain
4 cabal therapy
4 duress
4 force of will
3 brainstorm
1 yawgmoth's will
1 cunning wish
1 lim dul's vault(this tournement is the 1st i'm using it, but i didn't draw it once.)
1 demonic tutor
1 ancestral recall
1 timewalk
4 underground sea
2 scrubland
5 blue fetchlands
4 gemstone mines
4 mox ( I don't own emerald)
1 lotus petal ( i don't own black lotus, if you wanna sell, mail or PM me)
4 dark ritual
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 phyrexian tower
Game one Round one Brian ritter (Scaldmonger) playing groamask (or whatever it's called)
This pairing upsets me as in the beginning i'm paired up with this kid who just looks like an easy win, but than the pairings get messed up and i'm paired up against brian, I know what he's playing and I know this matchup is a good one for me, but still, playing someone you came with first round is never fun..
Game 1
I get a decent opening hand of a cabal therapy, a fetchland, a rector, a phyrexian tower, and some other stuff i don't remember. I open up with a therapy that reveals no immediate threats (although as usual i guess wrong with therapy) so i figure i'll take this one. Unfortunatly neither my brainstorm nor about 6 turns of topdecking reveals another land, so i die to a dreadnaught , ouch.
Game 2 (no sideboarding)
once again i get a similiar opening hand to the one in the first game, with the ability to force instead of a therapy but wih a rector , but this one has mana accelaration in the form of a mana vault. I'm excited, I play a mana vault and pass the turn. Brian then mystical tutors for a force of will, I know what's coming. On my turn I play the rector and pass. Brian plays a mask, I force, he forces a face down 1 cc creature comes into play, damn. Next turn I play a land and untap my vault. On his turn he attacks with his 0/1, i block, it turns out to be a 12/12 trampler. With my killed rector I go fectch a bargain, on my turn i cast illusions and donate. On his turn he attacks and i go down to about 18. On my turn I cunning wish for a disenchant and end this one.
Game 3 (no sideboarding)
I get an opening hand with a mana vault, a rector, a cunning wish , and other stuff i can't remember . On his turn he plays a face down 12/12 creature (damn) my only option is to go get a disenchant from the sideboard for that 12/12. unfortunatly , doing so leaves my vault tapped and with it my only hope for an early rector ( i doubted i could do that craziness of game two again) i play the disenchant after a hit from tbe naught brings me to 6 (fetching helped too). i played some discard to nail the rest of his hand and figure i have this game won. But on his turn he topdecks yawgmoth's will, goes crazy, and gets another dreadnaught from a tutor, I lose.
Round two, Some kid whose name i don't remember .
Game one
He wins the roll , goes first and plays some weird invasion land that comes into play tapped. Now, me being the arrogant jerk i am , assume this means a match win for me. In my opening hand i have the capability for a 3rd turn illusions donate, and I go right for it, (my opponent had played some more weird lands, so i figured i was safe) Lo and behold my donate gets mana leaked, and i look dumb. fortunatly next turn i spend all my nice artifact mana on a yawgmoth's bargain and take this game.
Game two ( I didn't sideboard once this tournement)
I promise myself this turn to slow down and not be dumb (although this would be my undoing later) I get off the really nice opening of first turn duress+ therapy, and mess up his hand, next turn i therapy again for some other stuff I liked. A rector follows, which gets my bargain, which draws me into cards that allow me to win the game.
Round 3, another name i can't remember, playing FEB (i've never seen the full english breakfast before, so i'm both excited and frightened)
Game one
Game one sees my opponent get out an early survival ( we saw this deck before the tournement started , and i was told , whatever you do , stop the survival) which i can't stop. Fortunatly the academy rector i got out last turn helps me out with a topdecked way to kill her (i can't even remember that, there's got to be something wrong with my head) but fortunatly I draw alot of cards, some of which happen to be the combo.
Game two
An early duress shows me two shapeshifters a fact or fiction , and some other stuff, but no survival.He plays out both shifters, i counter one, but one gets through . I play a rector on, i think my 3rd turn. I sac it to get a bargain out, but don't have the mana to do the combo, and settle for what i hope will be a quick win next turn. Unfortunatly, he topdecks Phage, and attacks. I draw the max amount of cards i can, but can't find an answer. To be fair, i don't think i had a way to stop the shifter I was really just drawing out of shock.
Game three
Some early disruption shows shapeshifter and Phage in his hand. Fortunatly this time I have a boatload of disruption, and make sure to put his fact or fiction, on top of his phage. With my opponents hand messed up, I go off unimpeded.
Round four , I think this guy looks like Damian Lewis. playing R/G with land destruction cards.
I see this guy's black bordered lotus and I am jealous
Game one
my first turn Sapphire gets pillaged ( i left a fetchland out) but i get out a ritual-Necro. This quickly draws me the cards i need to win.
Game two
My early discard nails his land destruction. A cabal therapy followed by an academy rector gets out my bargain, and my combo gets donated a turn later.
T8 Brian Ritter (Scaldmonger) again, damn apparently we love getting paired up to each other.
Game One
a first turn duress, 2nd turn necropotence . He can't deal unless he topdecks a force. which he hasn't . I quickly draw the necessery cards and win.
Game two
A similiar game , early disruption and a rector give me a bargain, the bargain gives me the win.
(Sorry for the quick game reports, i think my memory started fading at his point.
I'm sorry to see brian go out like this , as he had a great shot at winning the tournement, and this was his only loss of the night.
T4 Some kid with a Zoo style deck
I can feel it already, I see the best rated player in the world, playing keeper a few tables away in the other semis match. I want a finals match against him.
Game one
I got a first turn Cabal therapy , which as usual , misses. He gets out a couple creatures , couples with a treatop villlage. I drop a rector, but decline to kill it as I want to save myself some life. Next turn he attacks only with a boa, which due to my underground is unblockable, I think he didn't realize I could kill the rector anyway. next turn i sac the rector to therapy and go get bargain. My 13 life only gets me 11 cards Which i cast an illusions with,. Next turn sees me lose alot of life to creatures, and I am frightened. On my turn I draw 10 more cards, which also don't want to be donates. At this point i'm scared I cast another illusions , draw 20 more cards, and timewalk, as his men would have killed me. I pay the 6 upkeep required, and donate an illusions with requires him to pay 6 , which he can't.
Game two
This match is going to go with me to my grave. Basically, he had me at 10 life. and i had a rector, plenty of mana, a tower on the table, I had a force and two donates in hand. I decide to go right for the illusions ( which was a bad move, but after that 1st game, i wouldn't put it past my deck to not give me an illusions or a rector in the next 9 cards.) Unfortunatly , he had two disenchant effects I force one, and i lose 20 life.
Game Three
He comes fast out of the gate, and my deck declines to cough up some more land. I die a quick screaming death.
So my dreams of playing the top-rated vintage player in the world are crushed. I'm still happy with the decks performance, as my losses were mostly to mana screw or judgement calls that turned out bad.
Thank you to the following
lotus petal- you were pretty awesome to me, i think even after i get a black lotus, you're staying in my deck
Anthony and brian- you gave me a ride and without you i wouldn't be able to go.
Trapper keeper- I played every game that night on a trapper folder, and told people i was playing trapper keeper, I attribute every victory to trapper keeper.
You suck
My deck- I'd like you to more consistently give me colored mana draws, jerk.
Pairings system- getting paired up against the same person twice is not cool , especially when it's someone you know.
Anyone who wants to sell/ trade their lotus or whose match i messed up on, PM or mail me at
Klutchman7@aol.com
