ELD's Mox, August 30, First Place with Control Painter

[The Atog Lord]

ELD's Mox
August 30, 2008
21 people
1st Place

Another ELD event means another fun Saturday of card playing, and it seems a fine way to bid farewell to the summer of 2008. So, Mike Lydon and I made the trek from Norwood, MA to Still Point Comics. Twenty-one people arrived to compete in Eric's latest event, this time for a Mox Ruby. Eric's events are marked by being well-run and enjoyable, and this was no exception. Thanks to Eric for running this; without dedicated tournament organizers like him, New England Vintage would not be the amazing experience that it is.

Having made third place at Ray's latest event, I decided to give Painter another try. I was happy that Painter is more resilient to graveyard hate than Control Slaver. My concern going into this event, however, was that Painter would be hated out, having done well at the previous event. Therefore, to overcome whatever combination of Gaea's Blessings and Colossi were being included post-board, I decided to enable myself to transform into a Control Slaver deck. I had missed Library of Alexandria at the previous event, and that made its way into my list. Deep Analysis seems good in a field full of Red Blasts and Duresses, and I decided to try running Academy Ruins based on how much Oli has liked it. All that taken into account, here is the list I ran. You'll note that my plan against Combo was hoping to avoid the match altogether. This may not work in your region.

// Lands
    3 Flooded Strand
    3 Island
    2 Polluted Delta
    1 Tolarian Academy
    2 Underground Sea
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Library of Alexandria
    1 Academy Ruins

// Creatures
    3 Painter's Servant
    1 Darksteel Colossus

// Spells
    1 Ancestral Recall
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Brainstorm
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Fact or Fiction
    4 Force of Will
    3 Grindstone
    1 Mana Crypt
    3 Mana Drain
    1 Merchant Scroll
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Ponder
    2 Pyroblast
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Sol Ring
    4 Thirst for Knowledge
    1 Time Walk
    1 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Tinker
    1 Deep Analysis
    1 Sensei's Divining Top

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Ingot Chewer
SB: 2 Extirpate
SB: 1 Trinisphere
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation
SB: 1 Gaea's Blessing
SB: 1 Platinum Angel
SB: 1 Mindslaver
SB: 2 Goblin Welder

As you can see, losing the mirror match was not at all my plan. Gaea's Blessing, Welding in Platinum Angel, and recurring artifacts via the Ruins; these are all ways whereby I hoped to avoid being destroyed by the Grindstone plan. I remember hoping that other players would not be boarding in this much hate; it would make things far more difficult. I expected more hate to be directed at Control Slaver in the form of graveyard removal; that said, at least one must actually draw or search for Control Slaver hate for it to be effective. Such is not the case with Painter hate, which need only be in the deck. These thoughts made me more comfortable with the Control Slaver Transformation plan.

Now, a note on writing style. A certain Mage, of the Medding variety, has suggested that I write my reports with less play-by-play detail and more in a manner which captures the overall high-level events of a given game. So, I'm going to try that in this report. Instead of my usual detail, I'm going to simply give a brief account of each game. Please let me know how you like the result.

Round I: Nate Steele with Ichorid
Game One Nate opens with Chalice at Zero, which I force. His second Chalice at Zero resolves, buying him plenty of time to win. In the second game, he mulligans and I am able to extirpate his bridges, meaning that my Tinker for Colossus has enough time to win the game. In the third, Nate again opens with Chalice and Bazaar. I had mulliganed my first hand which had no colored mana, and my second hand contained only two Moxen for mana. So, this was a quick and ugly game.

Round II: Andy Farias with Control Slaver
I get out a first turn Library in the first game, which I can ride to victory over a lengthly game. In the second game, I am able to get out a Painter and Red Blast the only land Andy has played in the first three turns of the game. However, Andy eventually gets three Goblin Welders into play off his Mox Ruby. Andy has a full hand while I have been mana flooded, so I activate the Grindstone combo out of desperation when he is starting to make land drops and bury me in card advantage. However, Andy had boarded in a Platinum Angel, which he can Weld in through Tormod's Crypt. The Angel beats me to death before I can find a way to remove it. We go to time in the third game, putting me at 0-1-1. Not a great start.

Round III: Kerwin with Ichorid
Given the number of cards I have for this matchup, I was determined not to lose it for a second time. Kerwin Powders and Mulligans to five cards in our first game, and I am able to drop a Painter and REB his Bazaar on my second turn. This buys me the time to find a Grindstone and win. In our second game, Kerwin has Bazaar, Chalice, and Unmask on the first turn. I Ingot Chewer his Chalice. I  find Tormod's Crypts with the draw spells, and buy just enough time to Grind him out before Zombie tokens kill me. I win at one life, dead on the next turn.

Round IV: Mike Lydon with MUD
Mike and I are friends and teammates, and the loser is certainly knocked out. So, we agree to split our prize and start. Neither of us had ever played this match before. I win the die roll and end my first turn with a Sol Ring, Island, Grindstone, and Painter in play. In the second game, I am able to slip a Tinker past Mike's wall of Spheres and Colossus ends things.

Round V: The Brass Man with Painter
I start the first game with a Deep Analysis. Brassy REBs it the first time, but the second time nets me two cards. I'm ahead of him in cards all game and win from there. In the second game, he mulligans to six and I to five. My six card hand involved Academy Ruins and Ancestral Recall. Were the Ruins instead another fetchland, I would likely have won the game. Instead, Brassman is able to get ahead in cards and force through the Painter combo. Since I had not seen the combo in the first game, I had not boarded in Gaea's Blessing. In the third game, I again have a first turn Deep Analysis, and Grindstone. I was really impressed with Deep Analysis this match, but Brassman's first turn Tinker for Colossus was even more impressive. On my second turn, drop Mindslaver and go to a low life total on Brassman's turn. I then Slave Brassman, and am able to combo him out on his turn. Once again, Mindslaver saves me from an otherwise certain doom.

Top Eight: Paul with Duress Painter
Paul Duresses my seven card hand, taking Thirst, leaving me five land and a Merchant Scroll. However, I can get my draw engine online and REB counters his attempts to draw cards. I remember thinking during the match how much better REB is at halting draw than Duress. In the second game, I mulligan, and Paul bombards me with triplex Duress. Paul uses his resolved draw spells to assemble both halves of the combo. Gaea's Blessing saves the day for me, and I am eventually able to find my own Grindstone which wins me the game.

Top Four: Brass Man Again
Brassman Mulligans. I REB his early Ancestral, we trade Forces, and we both get Grindstones out. I Drain Brassman's Thirst, Scroll for my Ancestral, and get ahead on cards for the win. In the second game, Brassman Mulligans again. We play Draw/Go for a while until I get a Goblin Welder out. I make a lot of land drops and Brassman has 7 cards in hand to my 2. Brassman gets out Ingot Chewers, and beats me to six life. Then I hardcast Platinum Angel, which stops the Ingot Chewers while my Welders draw cards off Top. I win from there.

Finals: Jeff Carpenter with Flying Man Fish
Jeff's deck involves Arabian Night's Flying Men, which are awesome. However, in our first game, he saw only a Meddling Mage and a Mishra's Factory for offense. The Meddling Mage crashed into a Red Blast, but the Factory knocked me to four life while Null Rod halted my deck's progress. At two land, I finally found Painter's Servant, and Force of Will made sure he resolved. From there, I could Red Blast the Null Rod and explode. In our second game, Jeff drops a first turn Null Rod which certainly slowed me down, but Jeff had no pressure to follow it. The one creature he tried to resolve that game, a Sower of Temptation, was Red Blasted. Tinker for Colossus won this for me.

Thanks to Owen and Oli, whose lists for Control Painter were helpful to me in creating my own. Thanks to Eric and to all 20 other players who came together for a great event today. Mike, thank you for driving. If you think this style of report writing is better than how I usually write reports, or if it is worse, please let me know for future reference. Thank you for reading.

Rich

[Nefarias]

Now, a note on writing style. A certain Mage, of the Medding variety, has suggested that I write my reports with less play-by-play detail and more in a manner which captures the overall high-level events of a given game.

I'd figured Emperor Cube was the high-level event of the entire day.

[T00L]

Now, a note on writing style. A certain Mage, of the Medding variety, has suggested that I write my reports with less play-by-play detail and more in a manner which captures the overall high-level events of a given game.

I'd figured Emperor Cube was the high-level event of the entire day.

That was an awful abortion of an idea.

[Mdizzle4life85]

Congrats rich, taking home the gold after a 0-1-1 start is pretty impressive, given my college and work schedule hopefully i make an even one day... lol!

[Rock Lee]

Sofar as Tournament report writing style, I personally prefer as much detail as possible without boring to death. Detailing 12 turns of draw-go would be a nightmare. Details of 12 turns of careful counter management, pivotal draw spells, anticipation and reflection is enthralling.

[FadeToBlack]

Congrats on the Win, especially after the pretty rough start. And as for writing style, I don't think that a bit more detail would hurt rather than just being like "I get ahead on cards and win". Good report though

[andrewpate]

Congrats on the win.  What did you end up taking to the bank after the round 4 split?

As for the writing, one of the things I least like to see in a report is "Game 1:  I make a Smokestack and Juggs takes it home," even if those really are the key plays of the game.  I read reports to be entertained, to stay abreast of developments, but also to get better at playing.  A chance to see, play-by-play, what makes a tight player like Rich Shay tick in terms of permission use, economy of draw spells, even mulligan decisions... this is a major component of my favorite tournament reports overall.  And while this report was still better than many I've seen, I have never complained about the meticulous detail I'm used to seeing in your reports.

[yangtime]

Congratulations Rich.  It doesn't look like you ran into trouble with drawing dead this time around.  Do you think that this is attributed to the changes you made or just the normal variance that comes up?

With regards to tournament report styles, I'd like to second what 'andrewpate' said in his post.  I'd especially like to know the types of hands you kept and what hands you threw back.

[Smmenen]

You'll note that my plan against Combo was hoping to avoid the match altogether.

That does not seem like a very good plan since TPS won Vintage champs this year.  Why do you think there are so few TPS pilots in the NE at the moment?

Now, a note on writing style. A certain Mage, of the Medding variety, has suggested that I write my reports with less play-by-play detail and more in a manner which captures the overall high-level events of a given game. So, I'm going to try that in this report. Instead of my usual detail, I'm going to simply give a brief account of each game. Please let me know how you like the result

Rich, I went back and perused older reports.

In terms of both the length and content, there is almost no distinguishable difference.   The only major difference is formatting.   You provided about the same amount of information in this report that you do in your other reports.  If anything, there is more information here than in previous reports. 

For example:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36223.0

Round III -- Joe B with Stax
Game 1: Joe plays a Chalice early. I Duress him, then resolve Bargain and win.
Game 2: Chalice locks me out this game, and Sphere helps it out. I'm in bad shape for the whole but manage to get the win.

Hardly a "play-by-play."  My tournament reports actually are play-by-play.   

[The Atog Lord]

Thanks for the feedback.

Steve, Long-style decks have never been very popular in New England. We really enjoy our Mana Drains here, and I'm not quite sure why. That said, ignoring the combo match isn't a plan I recommend in general, but I thought it was right for this event.

Jerry, Library and Deep Analysis did a great job helping in that regard. There were a couple of games where my draw was very mana-heavy, but contained Library or DA. In those games, I was able to leverage one of those cards and did not feel like I was going to run out of gas. So, yes, the measures taken to avoid mana flood did help. Would those cards be as good in a metagame with Dark Rituals? Likely not, but they were good in New England.

T00L, Farias: Cube Emperor Drafting was amazingly fun. I had Mindslaver, Goblin Welder, Counterspell, Mana Leak, Remand, Forbid, Gush, Merchant Scroll, Timetwister...that is a great format

As for the writing style, I appreciate the feedback from you all. Striking a balance between boring everyone and omitting interesting details can be tough to do, especially given that taking notes while playing in a tournament might not always lead to the notes being exact. I'll think about what you've all said.

[Puinsai]

Hi,
Thank you for the report, it's nice to read it.

I have question to know when it's best to leave in mode Slaver with this control Painter deck list.
And if it's possible to give the planside to the deck vs shop, long, fish, slaver, ichorid, and mirror

Thanks you.