When I show up at a tournament, everybody knows what I'm playing; Dragon. But not this time, I felt I needed to mix it up a little so people won't make the same plays against you all the time. So I roamed this site in search of some new ideas that would fit with the cards that I own and I stumbled across this thread;
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=28267.0. I really like the idea even though I questioned it's strengths.
After a little testing this is the list I came up with;
Maindeck1 Black Lotus
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Illusionary Mask
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Phyrexian Dreadnaught
1 Pithing Needle
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Artificer's Intuition
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
1 Misdirection
2 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stifle
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
2 Flooded Strand
5 Island
2 Polluted Delta
3 Seat of the Synod
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
Sideboard1 Aether Spellbomb
4 Arcane Laboratory
1 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Pithing Needle
1 Platinum Angel
1 Stifle
1 Tormod's Crypt
Some notes on the list;
- The Stifle in the maindeck seems awfully random and it is. It was one of thost last minute changes I made to my deck. I cut a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in favor of this card because of the 'comes into play'-effect on the Dreadnaught. I'll get back to that one later.
- Muddle the Mixture is insane in this deck. It was originally included as a tutor for the Mask and a shuffle effect for the Top, but the ability to counter instants is often much more useful and it is also able to transmute for Echoing Truth.
- The deck doesn't have a lot of carddraw but I don't think it is really needed because you are going for quality and pin-point answers to threats.
- There are four Arcane Laboratory in the sideboard because over here in the Netherlands there are a LOT of storm-based decks.
Well, my list was finished but there was a problem... my order wouldn't be in on time so I was one mask short of a deck. I tried a lot of people I know, but none of them had Illusionary Masks or they left them in Australia. There was one guy who offered me to lend me his but it was very uncertain if he was going to the tournament. So I took my Dragon deck with me as well.
My brother and I hitched a ride with Martijn, Jasper and Jos and the five of us set of on a 90 minute drive to Eindhoven. Yes, that is a new record... we didn't drive around in the city for 40 minutes but almost directly to GameForce arriving 30 minutes early. Good thing for me, because my deck still wasn't complete. Five minutes before the tourney 25 people show up, but not the guy that would lend me his Mask, luckily Hero (Pyromaniac) had his T4 pile with him and I could borrow his. He really is a Hero...
I hand in the list presented above and the tournament starts.
Round 1 vs. René (my brother) with R/G BeatzOhw goodie... it is the first round and already I'm up against my brother playing our 'anti-power'-deck. I'm slightly worried as the deck is designed to fight artifacts.
Game 1I win the roll and chose to start. But before we do he mulligans down to five before keeping a hand. I fetch an Island, play a Mox and play an Illusionary Mask. I have a FoW as backup so I can take that risk. He fetches a mountain and plays a MoxMonkey. I let it resolve because it can't eat creatures and my Dreadnaught comes down on the second turn. He never finds an answer to it and two turns later it is all over.
Sideboard; -1 Pithing Needle, -1 Stifle, -1 Artificer's Intuition, +2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, +1 Platinum Angel.
Game 2He starts the game with another mulligan and just plays a land on the first turn. I'm of to a slightly better start but he quickly subdues it with his Hearth Kami, Strip Mine and Wastelands. We are both manascrewed now and I play a Mystical Tutor for Ancestral Recall, hoping to get some land. Ancestral is very nice to me and gives me a loads of mana and I cast Kira, Great Glass-Spinner. By now he as a Rancored Jungle Lion but I can play a Tinker for the big man. He has two Artifact Mutation on hand but the first one gets countered by Kira and the second by the three counterspells I'm holding.
Matches 1 - 0
Games 2 - 0
Round 2 vs. Rudy (rvs) with Workshop AggroRudy informs me that I'm already 1-0 up because he received a gameloss. I believe it was something with his decklist. So I'm 1-0 up, but somewhere I think it is a shame it has to start that way.
Game 1He leads with a Workshop, a Mana Crypt and a Razormane Masticore. Pretty impressive but not as good as my land, double Mox and Tinker for the big man. He takes damage from his Crypt before casting Karn, Silver Golem and passing the turn. On my turn I attack with Colossus for eleven and pass the turn. He takes another three from his crypt before attacking me with his Masticore. He casts another Masticore and passes the turn.
Now I make the worst play in all the tournament. I attack with my Colossus and he double blocks with Karn and the Razormane. I assign all the damage to Karn and go to my second mainphase. I play my Phyrexian Dreadnaught and Stifle the 'comes-into-play'-effect on the Dreadnaught. Rudy informs me that I can't do that and we call over the judge. He also tells me that I can't do that and that I have to sacrifice my Colossus in an attempt to pay for the Dreadnaught. I also get a warning for making an illegal play. DOH! Whoever said that reading cards was tech was sadly mistaken... reading the oracle wording of cards is tech!
Luckily for me he is only on three lives and he can't kill his own Crypt because I killed Karn. He gets another turn in which he can only afford a single Masticore and he attacks me for five more before dying to the Crypt.
How lucky for me... I had no business winning this.
Matches 2 - 0
Games 3 - 0
Round 3 vs. Jasper with OathBefore we start he tells me that this is his first tournament. I already know he is playing Oath because I watched him play earlier and from this statement I guess he is playing unpowered.
Game 1He casts an active Oath on turn two and I let it resolve because I wanted to protect my own plays and I wouldn't win the counterwar anyway (I knew he had a FoW because he accidently flashed it). On my turn I cast Ancestral and he lets it resolve reading that I was trying to bait him. I also cast a Tinker which he counters and I FoW back and the big man comes into play. He Oaths up Razia and casts a Brainstorm and passes the turn. The minute I start playing he realizes he forgot to attack and now faces the big man which he blocks with Razia soaking up six points of damage. The next turn he Oaths up Akroma and passes the turn again. He hits himself for not attacking again and this time it cost him the game. I counter a Mystical Tutor because I'm not sure what he'll get (could be a FoW) and he scoops. He wanted to get Rushing River and win from there.
Sideboarding; -1 Engineered Explosives, -1 Pithing Needle, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Aether Spellbomb.
Luckily he gets his act together in the next game and we have a much more interesting game.
Game 2He starts with an early Oath which I counter. Aside from my Sensei Top and hitting with a spirit token I don't do much either. He casts a Null Rod which I counter and the beats continue for a few more turnw while we play draw-go. I then play a Tolarian Academy which he tries to waste, I Stifle, he Brainstorms and then FoW's the Stifle. I Tinker for Colossus and he casts a Rushing River on it. He gets another Oath in play but I have an Aether Spellbomb which bounces Razia on the Next turn. He then Oaths up Akroma which I manage to bounce with an Echoing Truth. Neiter of us are getting anywhere and we go into the extra turns. One more detail to this match is that he now has only three cards left in his library because his Gaea's Blessing didn't show up he draws it and casts it so he doesn't draw himself to death. But on turn three I get a Dreadnaught in play which manages to kill him on turn five.
Matches 3 - 0
Games 5 - 0
Round 4 vs. Bart with The Mountain Wins AgainI would have offered him an ID but I'm the only one with nine points so it wouldn't really do him any good. While we get deckchecked we talk a little about our earlier matches and I comment on one of his earlier matches vs. Staxx which I would have played differently. The judge gives us back our decks and makes a little comment on the state of my power... nice, I get deckchecked and rated all at once
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Game 1I win the roll and go completely broken on him. I cast Ancestral on the first turn while getting both a Mask and a Dreadnaught in play on the second turn. Right now he has nothing in play other than a Tormod's Crypt which won't do you any good against my deck. I attack him with the Dreadnaugt and put an extra one into play. He has a Disenchant but I Misdirect it to my Mox (a little mistake there because I could have directed it to his Crypt).
Sideboarding; -1 Artificer's Intuition, -1 Engineered Explosives, -1 Sensei's Divining Top, +2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, +1 Platinum Angel.
Game 2He leads by playing a mountain and passing the turn. On my turn I go completely broken and cast a Sensei's Top, Mox, Lotus and Tinker. He ReBs and I FoW. He never manages to find an answer to the big man and Kataki has nothing on an 11/11 guy. I also had a MisD on hand should he decide to get funny.
Matches 4 - 0
Games 7 - 0
Round 5 vs. Roy (ANCESTRAL) with some Tendrils deckWe comfortably draw into the top 8 as the numbers one and two.
Matches 4 - 0 - 1
Games 7 - 0
I'm first in the Swiss and feeling pretty good about my deck right about now.
Quarter-finals vs. Jasper with TPSJasper is the guy I drove here with, he is a nice guy and I would have gladly ID with him if we weren't in the elimination stages of the tourney. We scout a little to see what our next match would be but neither of us really fears Staxx or Workstop Aggro and we decide to just play the match.
Game 1I get to start and keep a shaky hand that manages to go broken anyway. We both play a land and I topdeck a mox and play an Illusionary Mask which he tries to counter. I counter back and it resolves. He tries to resolve tinker but I counter it and a Dreadnaught comes down on turn three. It attacks while he sits on one land. On his last turn he casts a Dark Ritual and I counter it with the Muddle the Mixture I just topped... how lucky.
Sideboarding; -1 Echoing Truth, -1 Engineered Explosives, -1 Pithing Needle, -1 Artificer's Intuition, -1 Darksteel Colossus, +2 Arcane Laboratory, +1 Stifle, +1 Platinum Angel, +1 Tormod's Crypt.
Game 2He starts slowly and I go completely broken again with a second turn Dreadnaugt. He tries to counter it and I FoW back, I didn't like having to pitch a Stifle but I knew I just had to go for it because I was already comitted. He drops three Moxen and casts Gifts which gets Mana Leaked a turn later. I cast a Tinker for Platinum Angel and he gets one more turn. He manages to topdeck Yawgmoth's Will but he is one mana short of killing me with a Platinum Angel in play.
Matches 5 - 0 - 1
Games 9 - 0
Semi-finals vs. Hero (Pyromaniac) with Workshop AggroGame 1I win the roll and sadly have to mulligan down to five. What a time to start drawing crappy hands. I finally keep a hand consisting of 2 Artificer's Intuition, a Mana Vault, an Island and a Mox. I lead with an Artificer's Intuition. He plays a Skullclamp on his turn and I fetch a Pithing Needle to neutralize it. I just can't let him get any more cardadvantage than he already has. He then drops a Myr Servitor and two Cranial Platings which ensure the game for him.
Sideboarding; -1 Muddle the Mixture, -1 Stifle, -1 Misdirection, +2 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Platinum Angel.
Game 2We both start relatively slow because I kept only a semi-good hand and I think he kept his hand on a Viashino Heretic which I counter. Unfortunately for me he has another one and when I finally get a Dreadnaught in play I can't use it because of the little bastard. I'm holding Engineered Explosives and a Black Lotus so any Mox (except for the blue one, which was already in play) would win me the game. Also, Pithing Needle or Echoing Truth would be fantastic. But I don't manage to draw any of them and I get beaten by four Myr Servitors.
Matches 5 - 1 - 1
Games 9 - 2
Martijn points out to me that boarding Arcane Laboratory against his deck would have been better, especially with the Hurkyl's Recall. I'm still not quite convinced on that but I hope you people can comment on this. If you need Hero's list you can find it here;
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=28369.0Too bad not more people showed up so the prize-support got downgraded a little and was made very top-heavy. Ohw well, at least my entry fee for the next tournament is covered.
On the way home Martijn teaches me how to play Vintage. The answer to Welder? BARGAIN! The answer to Oath? BARGAIN! The answer to FoW? BARGAIN! I guess I'll try playing Bargain some time in the near futureÂ
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Props to;
Martijn for driving us to the tournament (again).
Hero for lending me his Illusionary mask and for winning the tournament, congrats!
Kenny for lending me his Platinum Angel (nope, I don't have one).
Richard for running a good tournament. It's refreshing to see 50 minute rounds last 50 minutes and actually starting on time.
My deck! It was ment to be a fun deck but it performed much better than expected.
Slops to;
My deck for crapping out on me in the semi's.
DCI reporter for pairing our little group up with eachother all day long.
