On the behalf of my good friend Vin Forino - Congrats on yet another strong, yet unorthodox, finish!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi!
It felt good to be back, as I have had a retrieve of over a year. It wasn’t the changes to the restricted list or the metagame – just too many other things going on to be able to concentrate on Magic.
The Deck
Bob’s WW
7 Sack lands
5 Plains
2 Scrublands
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
4 Aether Vial
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Dark Confidant
3 True Believer
3 Icatian Javelineer
2 Whipcorder
1 Ramos Sergeant
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Children of Korlis
SB
3 Children of Korlis
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
3 Seal of Cleansing
1 Disenchant
1 Jotun Grunt
2 Crusade
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Ronom Unicorn
1 Kami of Ancient Law
How the deck started….
Well I was looking for a Magic project, something that would be interesting and allow me to get back into the game. It just so happens that the owner of our local card shop wanted to play White Weenie…. In Type 1. Most laughed at his deck and said it wasn’t viable…. Pure Aggro sucks in our game. I however have a responsibility; you see I taught Allen Biren (the owner of the Comic Book Depot) how to play MTG over 10 years ago… and I seemingly didn’t do that good of a job as his list sucked. It had shadow creatures, flyers, and tithe (WOW tithe is BAD) to give you an example of how much of a hole I was in. I cut everything, and I mean everything except the cute little Kithkin called Figurine of Destiny. I don’t know why I didn’t cut him, something seem viable about him even though I like my creatures to have abilities - I quickly added Vials + good creatures and waited for feedback.
I would also have to mention I was looking for a way to play a
deck, I wanted a change from Sui and though White would be nice; being as I am a student of Theology. I figured a Parfait-ish deck would be good considering that Mox Diamond was unrestricted, however Steve Menendian beat me to a list (which looks good by the way!) and I was forced to look elsewhere for an area of the game to develop.
The Tournament.
So on Wednesday my brother Ralph decided he was going to Traviscon II so I needed to throw the deck together… I was able to borrow the “Type 2” cards from Allen and proceed to get about 10 play test games before Saturday. I did beat Nick (who split 1st/2nd at the Tournament) and killed the extended Elf deck with Type 1 cards added for speed, which surprised me.
So Saturday comes and I take my usually routine of Ginkgo Biloba. I also add B12 to the mix, off the suggestion of fellow MTG’er and friend Mike Lupo, as it is suppose to increase mental energy. He uses it to recover from hangovers. So I’m driving up on more performance enhancing substances than Barry Bonds….
If you read a match you played against me in, please jump in the thread – I am bad with names and did not have notes, so unfortunately I don’t remember who exactly I played.
1st round
Mono R Shop Aggro
Game 1
I win the Roll, open with a vial – he see’s a plains so he open COTV @ 1 to keep me off plow. I drop land, vial out out a Figure and grow it - he cast Juggernaut and passes. I drop a 3rd land and swing with Kithkin – he decides not to block (which was the right play) and I pump Figure some more and vial out a Samurai, on his turn he swing with Jugg and casts Solemn and a Thorn, I believe. On my turn I Waste a shop, resolve a Confidant and control the game from there.
In
+3 Seal
+1 Disenchant
+1 Grunt
Out
- 5 creatures
Game 2
He leads with Lotus, mox for Solemn (fetching a Mountain) and passes. I see he didn’t drop a land for turn so I Strip him first round and drop COTV on 0 to stop any more moxes. Turns out this was the right play he had 2 Welders in his hand. I drop Samurai next turn, then cast Isaiah 2:4 along with some more guys and overwhelm him quickly.
2nd round
Bomberman
I won the die roll and open with a Vial, he drops Tundra on his turn. I waste him and Pass. He goes land go, next round I resolve a confidant via vial and next trun draw into a COTV and play it @ 0. I resolve a second Vial. He gets his 4th land down and cast the Salvager, I EOT out a Whipcorder and Waste a land my turn, tap down the Salvager and beat with Confidant. His turn he cast E. Explosives @ 2 but doesn’t have the mana to pop it. Seeing this I beat for two more keeping the Salvager tapped down. His Turn he destoys my guys, I vial out a Samurai and Javelineer EOT. I proceed to beat as he can’t block Samurai and has to wait for next turn to return the EE to hand. I believe I swarm him within a Grunt and Figurine.
In
+1 COTV
+1 Jotun Grunt
+2 Seal of Cleansing
-4 Creatures
Game 2 is much of the same. He opens with Aether Capsul, I open with COTV @ 0 and I believe a Figurine. I beat with it and and waste him, He gets down a Cannonist and I get down a second Figurine. I don’t hit a third White mana so I keep attacking and we trade. I send his next creature plowing and cast dudes, he is stuck on 3 mana I swarm for the through being bounced. I believe I resolved a Vial in somepoint in the game…
3rd Round
Tezzeret with Tog
I lose the roll, He leads with Library go and cast vial. He works the Library but missed his second land drop, apparently he kept a 1 land had (with the one land being a Library it is usually a good play). I vial out concecutive Kithkins, cast a COTV at 0. He makes some land drops and casts a Psychatog!!! I didn’t see that coming, I swing with my 4/4 Figures and he eats one, I play a Samurai and plays another Tog which I plow (he elects to pump a bit to get life). My board proves to be too much as he had to expend too many resources dealing with the Figurines (I noted he had a Volatic Key so I put him on some type of Tezzet/ Time Vault deck).
In
+1 Grunt
+2 Seal
+1 COTV
Game 2
He leads with Island, mana crypt. I lead with land COTV @ 0, he TFK at end of my turn and discards a Mox. He missed his 2nd Land Drop (he had 2 moxes stuck in hand after discarding 1). Round 2 Resolve a Canonish which slows him down a bit. He proceeds to make every mana crypt roll and counter every singe threat I throw at him. After 4 rounds I finally have a second creature to beat with and he still hasn’t taked any manacrypt damage – EE for zero to destroy the mana crypt and COTV. On the 5 round I believe he cast M. Tutor at the end of my turn for Y. Will. He cast will and plays 3 moxes, mana crypt and EE @ 2 and blows my guys then cast a few draw spells. I proceed to Cast the Canonist I had been sitting and the game now comes him being at 3 life and finally losing a mana crypt roll.
4th Round
Mono R Stax (Ici Li)
Game 1
He wins the roll and leads with a Bazaar discarding three lands, then cast 2 moxes and Thorn. On my turn I lead with a Children of Korlis, his turn he cast Tangle Wire and, on my turn I drop a land and I believe cast a Mox. He Strips me and Bazaars looking for stuff. On my turn I drop a land and play Samurai of the P. which stops his strip Lock when he gets Crucible, I proceed to resolve a Javelineer which kills a welder, beats do the rest.
In
+3 Seal
+1 Disenchant
+1 Grunt
Out
- 5 creatures
Game 2
I come out fast however he gets down a Ensnaring Bridge at 5 Life, Once he gets his 4th spere/thorn down I realize I can’t win and in order to have time for a game 3 I scoop.
Game 3
I lead with Vial and COTV at 0, he plays bazaar he chucks some moxes/land – I start casting and vialing out guy and have the seal when he cast Ensnaring bridge – after I plow a welder this is over and I am in T8.
I I.D. in both round 5 and 6.
T8 (quarter finals)
Tezzeret (Joe “Jank” Davis) – I know Joe from the Blue Bells I have been to, good guy. We haven’t played previously however he and I have spoken a good deal regarding the game.
At this point in the day I am tired as possible and the year+ away from the game means that I don’t have much in term of my usually MTG panache, I miss two triggers in game one of the T8, thankfully they didn’t affect the outcome.
Game 1
He leads with Volc, Ponder, I waste and play Mox for Kithkin. He keeps playing draw spells looking for something and I keep play guys, strip lands and swarm him, Canonist was huge this game.
Game 2
He leads with Island, A. Recall, Mox, Sol Ring, Painter’s Servant Go. At this point I should have plowed it however I play it risky and play vial. He drops a land and thirsts, on my turn I cast Seal of Cleansing which gets Fow’d. On his turn he DT’d and Grinded me out. I think he had an out if I plowed the creature (FOW) but it would of made play for him more stress and hopefully force a bad decision.
Game 3
I lead with Vial and pass, he plays land mox go, I believe I resolve a Canonist my turn and he cast DT on his. I play land, vial out Confidant. His turn he Tinker into DSC. I play a Kitkin, and cycle a Horizon Canopy which gives me a Whipcorder! I eat 11 from DSC and vial out the Whipcorder EOT. I swing with some guy and pass turn leaving Whipcorder open however a Echoing Truth which he was sitting on ended my day… my next card on Library was Plow… and I had lethal on the board if I could of tapped the big guy for one round.
Overall, a fun day. It was good to mix it up with a different deck. I believe the deck proved it can be competitive even though it runs 27 creatures. Not sure what changes I would immediately make to it, the SB definitely needs some work. It would have been interesting to play the Combo match as I pack a lot of hate and have a good clock. The MVP was Figurine of Destiny, he was awesome and ended games when the other guys did there job. I didn’t get him up to an 8/8 yet, but was trying!
Well I hope you enjoyed my attempt at a tournament report, I do not expect that I will ever take notes, however if I do you can expect a better report. I expect to see lots of Kithkins in T1 soon!
On another note, I feel bad for Travis most of all. Organizing such a cool event seems like a lot of work; to lose money on such an endeavor must suck.
As for the state of T1, I seriously hope people don’t stop playing because of brainstorm being restricted… How damn fun is that card? I haven’t played one in years and haven’t felt like I have missed out of my wonder years.
-Vin Forino (v4ino)
