Eudemonia P9 Mox Pearl Results 8/30/2009

[dkao]

http://community.eudemonia.net/content/p9-mox-pearl-2009

Congratulations to Cory Redmond in taking home a Mox Pearl.  Top 8 has been posted and the decklists are being inputed at this moment.  Hope to see everyone back at the next event.

[LotusHead]

Well that was certainly quick!

25 or so people showed up to battle it out for a Mox Pearl.  Notably absent: Webster, LSV and JeffTheFob, who knows who will win today!

The field was about 50% Tez/Time Vault and the rest stax, shops, goblins, ichorids and some fish. Oh, and Nick Weed's classic toploader Belcher deck.

Top 8

Brett Allen (Tez) vs Charles Gordon (Tez)

Alex Block (Crushing Chamber) vs Christiaan Royer (Tez)

John Anzaldo (Tez w/green) vs Dave Petterson

Cory Redmond (Steel City Vault) vs Galen Lemei (Mana Ichorid)

Top 4

Christiaan vs Brett

Cory vs John


Lawnboy (right) invades our meta from the heartlands to see what the fuss is about!


Cory getting some swiss ichorid action.  I believe he actually took game one vs Galen


My sick field! Titan came down the turn after Tinker for Inkwell happened! Lucky me!


Campee vs Brett.  Most of my games went to time, so I only have so many pics, folks.


Cory's games often went to time too, so he gets face time! Helm/Leyline won a LOT of games for Cory.  Cory got turn 0 of extra turns. and turn 1 and turn 2 and turn 3 and turn 4.


Alex is a little miffed that his deck crushed 3 Tez decks in a row, then faces this opening play by Christiaan turn 1 of top 8.


Top 8 Dave Petterson soon gets a Swords for that nasty Goyf.


Top 8 Tez mirror! Brett vs Charles! Best pic I could get w/zoom.


At least Alex got a turn 2...


Galen rocking the facestitcher tech...


John's deck seemed wierd. Goyfs, Drains and Timevault/Tez main, I think.  It did well though!


Christiaan fixes the situation soon with a Pyroclasm.


More zoom action.  Hopefully at an exciting time!


And Rack and Ruin deals with the Enforcers. Sad times for Alex, happy times for Christiaan.


Galen fighting for his life with 2 cards left in the Library, and Helm of Obedience in play. (Cory untapped it with Voltaic Key to get 2 seperate activations happening.)

My camera was full after that, so no pics of top 4 action! My mini-report later.

[jeffthefob]

Wow super quick!

My story of not being there was quite amusing... Originally going to meet up with Luis and Web at Eudo.  I got there early (yes, I was the first one 'registered'), and called Luis and turns out Luis and Web are still at LA (for a PTQ, which Web won).  Was kind of frustrated since I didn't get a memo.  Also because my sister is moving to DC on Monday and today was the last day of her being in the bay.  If I stayed and say... "did well," then it will be like fucking 7pm....  So I decided to drive back to the bay.

My day kind of end up better because I was able to have lunch with my sister.  Crushed a type 2 tourney with the first place getting the FtV: Exiled.  And have dinner with my sister and family.  Got paid regardless of not playing vintage.

Lots of Tezz there obv... and 25 is a nice turn out.  Should had been 28 though :-p

[LSD25]

I was kinna scared when i looked at the last power tourney results poster and david ochoa (mispelled im syure) and LSV were on there, but when i didnt see their names on the pairing (not sure what they look like and didnt want to ask... hey are you david or scott-vargas) i was very releaved... until I had to play dredge, which was my worst pairing, next to the welder deck that got me 0-2 in finals (damn you 2nd turn vault (worse than the 2 turn 1-2 tinkers in my first pairing) and welder-jar to fow)

the goyfs in my main deck are stax/fish hate, which i played against about 3 times tonight... kinna weird.  was debating going red with rack, fire/ice, welder etc, since welder does a good job vs. stax, but the meta has more red hate than green... and infest/darkblast/pyroclasm doesnt work on goyfs like they do with all the utility creatures people play hate against.

I had tons of fun, except that fow time vault tribunal in game 2 of top 4... but nice people, and this is the first time ive played in a vintage tourny since oddysey, so i was happy to be able to do well.  good players, deck and people for sure.

highlight was me and dredge mulling to 4 together... and me not getting the leyline and swingin with 2 dark confidants while I fow 1 necrocrombie and diabolic the other... then with turn 0 of the clock on the dredge i get vault/key online and turn 4 tez and turn 5 alpha squad artyz

did have a nice start.  first hand of the day was something like fow, ar, tinker, mana crypt, ub fetch, uw fetch, toughtseize... but not once did i play a tezz deck... played 2 stax, 1 fish, 1 dredge, steel city and ID'd twice...

[Vegeta2711]

Yeah, everyone awesome was down in LA at the PTQ. Except Dave Petterson, who still managed to LOSE. jk<3udave.

[hiryu]

Super-mini report:

Threw together a random Tezz deck with an assortment of creatures and a last-minute Library of Alexandria as the 61st card.

Round 1 vs Cory (Steel City Vault)

Cory scoops both games when I play Yawgmoth's Will with a very stacked graveyard.

1-0

Round 2 vs Patrick (BUG fish)

Patrick's hand was crazy good in game 1... I kept thinking I could take control, but he always had the answer.  Then he didn't have the answer to Sower on his Tarmogoyf.  In game 2 I Repealed his Null Rod, had a crazy Will turn, and bashed with Inkwell.

2-0

Round 3 vs Alex (crushing chamber)

Alex vomits his entire hand on the table turn 1, including Thorn of Amethyst, Skullclamp, Cranial Plating, and dudes.  I can buy time with Fire and Hurkyl's Recall, but don't draw anything.  Game 2 I mull to six and draw only land, while he drops a million dudes.

2-1

Round 4 vs Eric (Tezz)

Eric starts with a Time Walk and plays a ton of mana.  When I finally get a turn, I start with Island, Lotus, Duress, planning to follow up with Dark Confidant.  But when I see his hand of Darkblast, Tezz, and more mana, I have to go with a new plan.  Fortunately, I have Thirst for Knowledge and I can edge ahead in card advantage in spite of his double Top and eventually combo out.  Game 2 is back and forth a bit.  He's beating down with Bob, but he's down to 6 life.  I play an Empty the Warrens for six dudes (could have been eight if I'd played correctly).  He counters one copy and Darkblast/blocks the rest away.  With Eric at one life, I'm drawing to many outs, but the one I end up with is the funniest: Viashino Heretic!  His Soul Ring kills him, though I suppose attacking would have also worked.

3-1

Round 5 vs Charles (Tezz)

We ID and do an Alara Reborn Winston draft.  My deck sucks and I am summarily crushed by triple Breath of Malfegor.

3-1-1

Top 8 vs Charles (Tezz)

Time for revenge for that Winston draft.  I'm in a deep hole early in game one, with my hand reduced to just Sower and Vampiric Tutor.  However, Charles is tapped out, so I vamp up a YawgWill and play it for value (getting Ancestral and some other stuff).  I Tinker for Inkwell and find the error of not playing Darksteel Colossus when he bounces it after two swings.  Fortunately a Fire finishes him off.  Game 2 I play turn 1 Library of Alexandria.  It is good.

In another quarterfinals match, Cory is in rough shape.  His Dredge opponent only has two cards left, but it will be enough.  However, Cory uses the little-known Helm of Obedience + Voltaic Key combo (no Leyline) to mill the last two cards for victory!

Top 4 vs Christiaan (Tezz)

Christiaan mulls to 5 and I have a turn 1 Ancestral.  I don't draw any action, but I can counter anything for many many turns.  Eventually I play Tezz and win.  Game 2 I play turn 1 Library.  Did I mention it is good?

Finals vs Cory (Steel City Vault)

A rematch from round 1!  However, Cory can use the Pearl so we split.

Props to Eudemonia for another great event.

[credmond]

Here's the list I used to make it to a split finals with Brett Allen.

2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
3 City of Brass
1 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Goblin Welder
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Time Vault
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Force of Will
1 Fire/Ice
1 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Regroth
1 Wheel of Fortune
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Voltaic Key
1 Rebuild
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Memory Jar
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Windfall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Tinker
1 Intuition
1 Darkblast

Sideboard:
1 Volcanic Island
1 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroclasm
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Naturalize

It's basically the restricted list, aka Steel City Vault.

Normally I play nasty little decks like landstill, Red Workshop Aggro, MUD, or Dawn of the Dead, but this time my testing showed that the Steel City Vault deck was really hard to take down with hate strategies. I was considering giving Vroman's BR bazaar stax a try since that deck really performed well in my testing and is a real sweet deck once you learn the hidden strategies of the bazaar (and I do mean hidden, not the obvious ones), but I couldn't figure out a way for it to overcome the Steel City Vault deck so I decided to sleeve that one up. BUG and MUD were still strong choices but I didn't want to play either of those. Brett Allen in our first match commented something to the extent of "I am surprised to see you playing something so mainstream."

The deck has real solid matchups versus stax and dredge and a reasonably solid matchup versus fish. I was worried about the control matchup more than anything so I traded some dredge hate for an extra red blast.

I also found in my testing that you have to be comfortable playing the deck aggressive and be prepared to accept defeat when your aggressive gambles don't go your way. The deck will give you hands that are simply "all-in" that will usually win or lead to wins if you don't get countered and, its those same hands that will usually lose if you can't smash past the counter wall early. I can see why this deck is somewhat controversial since it trades protection and disruption for restricted bomb after bomb after bomb and demands proactive play with no hesitation and high risk.

My first match of the day which was versus Brett Allen is a case in point. My turn 1 windfall was drained which led to a quick game 1 win by Brett. Game 2 was effectively over just as quick when he was able to fend off my turn two tinker into a time vault with voltaic key already in place.

So my tournament was not off to a good start with such a bad initial first match. However I stuck to what my testing results indicated and that was that this deck just needs to always hit hard and fast and keep the control decks on their heels with all the bombs going off. You will lose hard sometimes though.

My next matchup was against Stax. Game 1 was long where I managed to break free of a Stax strangle hold with a rebuild followed by timetwister that gave me enough juice to control the match from then on out. With 5 minutes left in the round we started  game 2 where I managed to get leyline + helm combo assembled (turn 0 leyline, turn 2 tinker to helm).

My third matchup was versus Confidant Tezz.  Lots of Confidant Tezz at this tourney. I can't fully remember my first game but I do remember my opponent expending his resources to put a sphinx out there to my helpless 1/1  welder and establishing  a 2 turn clock to victory if I dont do anything. However my bombs eventually break through any counters to a fully assembled time vault combo with the help of welder. He had me play it out and show him the inkwell leviathan that I would eventually use to islandwalk past his nasty sphinx. Game 2 was a game where we both stalled out. He eventually drew some business before me - a merchant scroll which led to mystical tutor and then to tinker for the sphinx again. I then topdecked my own mystical tutor which I used for Yawgmoth's will and the resulting assembly of the vault key combo.

My fourth matchup was versus Dredge. Game 1 he gets a brutal start with a full grip of 7, turn 0 leyline, and turn 1 chalice and bazaar, the unbeatable trio of manaless ichorid. I don't sweat the turn 1 losses versus dredge even though this deck can often steal a few turn 1 victories. Game 2 I mull down to a scary 4 but the four wind up being leyline, land, mox and ancestral. With leyline in play I eventually find the helm of obedience needed to seal the deal. Game 3, welder and timetwister were critical in this last game. Welder managed to swap chalice for serum powders so I could get moxen and timetwister online. This game managed to go to time and I wind up getting some serious crazy shenanigans assembling the key vault combo during turn zero of the 5 countdown turns and doing multiple timetwisters and assembling the leyline helm combo.

I have to play round 5 (the last round of Swiss) since I lost my first matchup of the day. My fifth matchup was versus Stax (Jeff Nielsen/LotusHead). Game 1 I assemble a turn 3 tinker to key vault combo after I kill his active welder with a merchant scrolled fire/ice on turn 2. Game 2 I have a turn zero leyline but he has shaman online and chalice for zero both of which are a pain for this deck to work around. His deck stalls out and I manage to get a welder out and eventually assemble the Helm Leyline combo even though his shaman was really making it tricky.

I will add more to this post later . . . .

[vroman]

I was considering giving Vroman's BR bazaar stax a try since that deck really performed well in my testing and is a real sweet deck once you learn the hidden strategies of the bazaar (and I do mean hidden, not the obvious ones)

smiles knowingly

I like SCV also. my test build is a little different from demars, but its seriously the first time Ive ever been tempted to play force of will in vintage.

[forests failed you]

Cody, the decklist looks really inconsitent and I am pretty sure you can never beat TPS.  The fact that you won the tournament probably cruxes on the fact that you are an amazing player and you just outplayed everybody with a bad deck. 

Nice finish and nice report. 

[korgano]

Round 2 vs Patrick (BUG fish)

Patrick's hand was crazy good in game 1... I kept thinking I could take control, but he always had the answer.  Then he didn't have the answer to Sower on his Tarmogoyf.  In game 2 I Repealed his Null Rod, had a crazy Will turn, and bashed with Inkwell.

Indeed, I was pretty stoked about that hand and subsequent draws game 1, but that sower was truly discouraging! I don't recall what I dures'sed game 2, I think it may have been a Demonic Tutor, which perhaps should have been the yawgmoth's will (I think your hand was Yawg, brainstorm, inkwell, 2 lands, dtutor?) since you ended up pushing through with it. Enjoyable match though! Unfortunately it left me 1-1 fighting japanese goblins round 3, which was a blowout for him pyroblast, piledriver > vendilion clique & trygun.

Glad that Eudo events are back, and nice to see SCV hit a first place again (was this a split or a win outright?)

[LotusHead]

I brought this pile, backed only by intuition and MWS testing when possible.  I was gunning for Time Vault decks.



// Lands
    4  Mishra's Workshop
    3  Wasteland
    1  Strip Mine
    1  Tolarian Academy
    3  Gemstone Mine
    3  City of Brass
    1  Bazaar of Baghdad

// Creatures
    1  Triskelion
    4  Goblin Welder
    1  Gorilla Shaman (1)
    1  Sundering Titan
    1  Karn, Silver Golem
    1  Platinum Angel

// Spells
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Mana Crypt
    1 [JGC] Sol Ring
    1  Mana Vault
    2  Gilded Lotus
    2  Jester's Cap
    1  Memory Jar
    2  Intuition
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Tinker
    2  Chalice of the Void
    3  Sphere of Resistance
    3  Smokestack
    2  Crucible of Worlds
    1  Trinisphere
    1  Mindslaver
    2  Ancient Grudge
    2  Tangle Wire
    1  Balance

// Sideboard
SB: 1  Triskelion
SB: 1  Platinum Angel
SB: 2  Chalice of the Void
SB: 2  Ancient Grudge
SB: 1  Duplicant
SB: 1  Helm of Obedience
SB: 2  Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4  Leyline of the Void
SB: 1  Pyroblast

When making this MWS list real, I realized I had actually NOT put in Black Lotus,
I decided Black Lotus was indeed better than Wasteland #4.

Round 1 Christiaan (Tez)
Game 1: I'm pretty sure I lose the die roll, but I could be wrong.  Christiaan plays some land and moxen. I try for Gorilla Shaman. (Force!). Soon, I try for Goblin Welder (Force! or Drain).  Next, Jester's Cap hits the field and I take BobVaultInky leaving him with 3 Bobs as winconditions. (actually, I play a 2nd Welder that resolves and perhaps welded this in).  Soon the beats come and we are off to game 2.
Game 2: Christian leads with Mox Mox Land  Bob Top. I never really recover and scoop before the game is really over (I survived a yawgwill, but there is only so much time in the round).
Game 3: He gets early bob, I get early Shaman and Cap on BobVaultInky.  We have a stalemate that lasts forever.  Eventually, I get lots of fun stuff on the field, but time is up.  I mindslave turn 5 of extra turns, but I cannot win.  Christiaan won't scoop (even though I pretty much had the game locked in), but time is time.
0-0-1

Round 2: Nick Week (Belcher)
Game 1: He does some stuff, but doesn't say, play and activate Goblin Charbelcher.  Eventually, I get Trinisphere going and he scoops.
Game 2: I mull to 5, and he eventually goes aggro with DOUBLE INGOTCHEWER hardcast.
Game 3: I play Mox Mox Demonic Tutor for Trinisphere Shop Trinisphere. Time for pics!
1-0-1

Round 3: Dave Petterson with ???
Game 1: I win the die roll, and keep awesome 1st turn Tinker into Jester's Cap w/activation cost and see...
UWB FISH?!?!?!?!?!
He pwns me pretty bad, but at some point a Trike hits the field, taking out 1 of his to Meddling Mages (both naming smokestack )
And the standoff continues until I get to 1 life.  He doesn't get a finisher (I think I capped his bobs, and/or fliers) and somehow stabilize and win game 1.
Game 2: He lays on the beats and wastes my stuff and I don't recall being in this game.  I do remember my math being off and my city takes me to 9 with his Inkwell and 2/2 beather on the field when I passed. Doh!
Game 3: I fight as hard as I can, and make life difficult, but at some point, I get something cool onto the field (like SUNDERING TITAN), but he chump blocks for several turns, builds his mana base, VT's for something, THOUGHTSEIZES my Pyroblast, and then Sowers my Titan for the win.
DOH! GG
1-1-1

Round 4
Brian Wilson w/ Tez
Game 1-3: I lose the die roll and he starts with Mox Jet Tolarian Academy.  I play Jet, City, Welder.  It resolves, then he DARKBLASTS IT!!!  Gaaaah! I had Mana Crypt and Intuition all ready to go too!.  I think he forced and drained a bunch of my stuff game 1, but I eventually got something going on (Hardcast Titan I think) and ended it. Game 2 he Tezzed me, seached for TimeVault and I had 1 turn. Game 3, I got some locks/wastes early on, and he couldn't do much.  At some point, he did tinker for Inky, but I guess I tinkered for Titan, and we has a stalemate.  I think this was the game where I welded in his Time Vault because it didn't produce mana.  Eventually Welder, and Memory Jar gave me a way to break through...
2-1-1

Round 5: Cory Redmond (Steel City Vault)
We both have to play.  There was a repairing, and apparently I totally misread the standings after round 4.  I thought I got paired UP against Cory who could scoop to me to get us both in.  I was wrong.  Cory's fun and always plays wacky decks.  I knew he was playing SCV today, and I felt my deck had a shot (considering I tweaked it to beat Time Vault)
Game 1: I lose the die roll (him 3 on a 20 sider, me 1 )
He plays Mox  Tolarian Go.
I play Welder.
He plays Merchant Scroll for Fire/Ice, Fires my guy, Voltaic Key. Then Tinker's for Time Vault next turn. Doh!
Game 2: I get shaman early, and keep him off moxen.  But my deck doesn't give me much mana for the next 8 turns or so.  He got me with Leyline/Helm eventually.

I had a blast.  I should probably mulligan better as I kept a few mana full hands with less actual disruption that I would like.

My teammate Alex piloted Crushing Chamber going 4-0-1 (ID round 5) crushing Goblins and Tez x3.
No prize for top 8 though.

[credmond]

To continue my report . . .

So basically after the thrashing I got round 1 of the swiss from Brett Allen, my deck kicked in and sailed through the other 4 matches, beating 2 5c stax decks, an ichorid deck, and a tezzeret deck. All of the decks I beat were solid decks and were piloted by good opponents (who were also good sports - so kudos to you guys). The Steel City Vault deck seems uniquely strong at giving ichorid and workshops especially their worst nightmare, a resilient combo deck that is hard to put down and only needs a narrow opening to break free and steal the match. I managed to beat my second matchup with a Tezzeret deck with agressive and proactive play.

My first match of the finals was against Galen piloting mana ichorid which is bad breaks for him to get matched right off the bat with his worst. He mulls to 5 or so and a bazaar and gets his ichorid thing going. I am able to in a couple of turns to get a key on the board and kick off a timetwister to reset his machine and buy me the time to assemble the rest of the combo. Timetwister is crazy maindeck against ichorid. Galen also makes me play out my deck to a win so he can make the most out of his sideboarding. Game 2 he mulls to 4 and I have a cluttered hand with only tormod's crypt to slow him down and helm of obedience to maybe pair up with a hard cast leyline later for the win. I let him slow roll his baaars for while until about a 3rd of his deck is gone and a narcomaeba is on the stack to pop into play before I pop the crypt. By the time he gets his machine back into high gear and likely lethal next turn I have a voltaic key and helm on board with force back up in hand and Galen has gotten himself within perilous milling distance of the helm should it not hit a creature. I stack two activations of the helm and counter his chain of vapor that could have disrupted my combo. I had enough mana though to cast timetwister and likely secure another juiced up turn (no ichorids coming back from the dead for lethal) should my milling have failed.  

The second match of the finals was against John Alzado, another solid player and good sport. I steal game 1 with rapid assembly of the key vault combo. His desperate ancestral didn't manage to find the force. Game 2 is a pretty epic match where he gets pithing needle naming vault into play in answer to a key I have on board already. He also gets a bob going while I fire off a few bombs (windfall I think) to keep pace on the card advantage. Bob is not very nice to him and flips him 5 damage fireballs in the form of force of wills. My pyroblasts keep some bombs he tries to fire off at bay while he pays more life to pitched forces of will. I go for tinker which he lets resolve because he has a diabolic edict in hand (I know this from him flipping it to bob) and thinks (I assume) I am making the big blunder of putting inkwell or some other robot that is easily answerable by edict out there (like any old tezz deck would do). Instead I put a memory jar into play. Memory Jar goes nuts for me the rest of the game allowing me to flash in forces to resolve welders and wheel. We get to a complex game state where he has tezzeret on board with 5 counters and enough artifacts to attack for lethal but only 3 or 4 life and 2 confidants in play on his side. There's a bit of confusion where I think he consents to a hard cast timevault with a shrug and some muttered words and when I proceed to weld out his pithing needle for some other artifact in his graveyard he wants to back up the game to having time vault on the stack. I call the judge and since the interaction was half nonverbal coming from John and my concentration was elsewhere I don't have the clearest recollection of what exactly was communicated by John. The judge rules in his favor legitimately since I really should have gotten an explicit and clear okay from him and we back up and his force of will goes on the stack. I then welder memory jar into play and draw 7 into force of wills to keep vault in play, use key to untap sol ring to have just enough mana to regrow time walk and reset welder who could then clear the pithing needle for unlimited turn shenanigans. John takes the loss gracefully and is a real good sport since as it turns out he would have died to bob flips anyway (he was at two life and two bobs in play). Go, go memory jar.

Brett and I decide on a split rather than duke out a rematch.

The coolest thing about the day was that the players at Eudemonia are solid and generally very good sports. The tournaments are friendly and fun and well run by a very competent and fair judge.


The Steel City Vault Deck is a blast to play. The deck generates some wild and complex game states, largely thanks to timetwister and memory jar and welder, where you can assemble a win out of seemingly nowhere.

[Tobi]

Thanks for the lists, and hooray for Crushing Chamber making top 8 once more! 

Missing cards report:
Alex' deck misses one card MD
Charles' deck misses one card MD

[LotusHead]

I had tons of fun, except that fow time vault tribunal in game 2 of top 4... but nice people, and this is the first time ive played in a vintage tourny since oddysey, so i was happy to be able to do well.  good players, deck and people for sure.

From 10 feet away, I was waiting to see if Cory got to finally untap (rounds in Vintage take FOREVER sometimes...).

He got his welder in play, with a bunch of juicy stuff in play (and I might have seen his hand, I'm not sure), but I knew if he untapped, he would likely win.

Well, after than 10-15 minutes, he untapped, played his Time Vault.  From 10 feet away (on the other side of the other top 4 Tez on Tez match), it LOOKED like Cory played his Time Vault, and then you pointed to your own Pithing Needle (on Time Vault) and shrugged like "I give a shit, I got Pithing Needle), then Cory also shrugged and proceeded to weld it out for something like a mox (digging through your graveyard), and THEN you proceeded to go "whoah! not so fast, FOW that Time Vault".

But our judge is hardcore impartial.  He sided in your favor since neither of you haven't played tourney Vintage in a while, but most of the "pros" here usually talk through the simplest of steps. (untap, upkeek, draw? Spell X, resolve?(if no obvious "sure" signal) etc.

I was amazed that Cory had a solution even with the Time Vault still being on the stack.  SCV is hardcore, I've noticed. (just got of of MWS, pitched Inky to force, and had both welder's Spellstruttered. Yawgwill brought it home.

[LotusHead]

Thanks for the lists, and hooray for Crushing Chamber making top 8 once more!  

Missing cards report:
Alex' deck misses one card MD
Charles' deck misses one card MD

For Crushing Chamber, that would be Mana Crypt...

For Charles, I would guess Mana Vault, but one cannot be to sure...

[LSD25]

I had tons of fun, except that fow time vault tribunal in game 2 of top 4... but nice people, and this is the first time ive played in a vintage tourny since oddysey, so i was happy to be able to do well.  good players, decks and people for sure.

From 10 feet away, I was waiting to see if Cory got to finally untap (rounds in Vintage take FOREVER sometimes...).

He got his welder in play, with a bunch of juicy stuff in play (and I might have seen his hand, I'm not sure), but I knew if he untapped, he would likely win.

Well, after than 10-15 minutes, he untapped, played his Time Vault.  From 10 feet away (on the other side of the other top 4 Tez on Tez match), it LOOKED like Cory played his Time Vault, and then you pointed to your own Pithing Needle (on Time Vault) and shrugged like "I give a shit, I got Pithing Needle), then Cory also shrugged and proceeded to weld it out for something like a mox (digging through your graveyard), and THEN you proceeded to go "whoah! not so fast, FOW that Time Vault".

But our judge is hardcore impartial.  He sided in your favor since neither of you haven't played tourney Vintage in a while, but most of the "pros" here usually talk through the simplest of steps. (untap, upkeek, draw? Spell X, resolve?(if no obvious "sure" signal) etc.

I was amazed that Cory had a solution even with the Time Vault still being on the stack.  SCV is hardcore, I've noticed. (just got of of MWS, pitched Inky to force, and had both welder's Spellstruttered. Yawgwill brought it home.

hella over it.  galen saw what he saw.  i saw what i saw.  cory saw what he saw.  judge heard what he heard. like i said, only time it wasnt interesting or fun was the tribunal...  everything else kiktazz.

my version:  he played vault, i pointed to pithing, he pointed to welder, he reached for my graveyard, i said wait and played force of will, he called judge.

really dont want to get into it.

[LotusHead]

I had tons of fun, except that fow time vault tribunal in game 2 of top 4... but nice people, and this is the first time ive played in a vintage tourny since oddysey, so i was happy to be able to do well.  good players, decks and people for sure.

From 10 feet away, I was waiting to see if Cory got to finally untap (rounds in Vintage take FOREVER sometimes...).

He got his welder in play, with a bunch of juicy stuff in play (and I might have seen his hand, I'm not sure), but I knew if he untapped, he would likely win.

Well, after than 10-15 minutes, he untapped, played his Time Vault.  From 10 feet away (on the other side of the other top 4 Tez on Tez match), it LOOKED like Cory played his Time Vault, and then you pointed to your own Pithing Needle (on Time Vault) and shrugged like "I give a shit, I got Pithing Needle), then Cory also shrugged and proceeded to weld it out for something like a mox (digging through your graveyard), and THEN you proceeded to go "whoah! not so fast, FOW that Time Vault".

But our judge is hardcore impartial.  He sided in your favor since neither of you haven't played tourney Vintage in a while, but most of the "pros" here usually talk through the simplest of steps. (untap, upkeek, draw? Spell X, resolve?(if no obvious "sure" signal) etc.

I was amazed that Cory had a solution even with the Time Vault still being on the stack.  SCV is hardcore, I've noticed. (just got of of MWS, pitched Inky to force, and had both welder's Spellstruttered. Yawgwill brought it home.

hella over it.  galen saw what he saw.  i saw what i saw.  cory saw what he saw.  judge heard what he heard. like i said, only time it wasnt interesting or fun was the tribunal...  everything else kiktazz.

my version:  he played vault, i pointed to pithing, he pointed to welder, he reached for my graveyard, i said wait and played force of will, he called judge.

really dont want to get into it.

Don't worry, all of us aggree on the same thing! My perspective was just 10 feet away.  I trust Ryan to be uber judge and fair.  and he sided with you.  others can learn from this and make sure stuff resolves when they play!

All good. Glad to have you in meta! Nice deck.

[tomjoad]

I can't believe I ever play anything other than Fish....

I started playing T1 because I was attracted to the Gifts Ungiven decks (especially Ritual Gifts). Sadly, I'm not always on top of my game, and I make it difficult for myself to win. But, I'm played Null Rod/Bob/Vendilion in two tournaments and top 8'd both of them.

This time, I went in with exactly zero playtesting. Should be fine...creatures are easy, right? Here's the list:

4 Null Rod
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Meddling Mage
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Dark Confidant
4 Force of Will
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Daze
3 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Plains
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

SB:
3 Relic
1 Disenchant
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Darkblast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Sower of Temptation
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

If you recognize this list, it's probably because it's the exact 60 from pierce's VERY LONG Fishless Fish post (it's the last of the dozen or so suggested decks). I cut a couple cards from his sideboard and added the Sowers and the SoFI. I played my first game with it between cigarettes about 20 minutes before round 1. I assumed that the deck would be strong v. Tezz and I had Sower, Mage, and equipments v. other animal decks, which I assumed would be the two most popular decks in the room. I didn't get much of those match-ups, though...how unlucky.

What was lucky was the news that Jeff had for me just before we signed up. He was leaving (which is a bummer, as he's a good man), but he was only leaving because Web and LSV wouldn't be there. It's amazing to be able to compete against some of the best in the country, but it was my birthday, and I wanted to win. Wrapter being the only ringer there makes winning more likely.

Round 1 - John Knadler w/ Magus of the Unseen Tezz

Some well timed Dazes and some opportune Meddling Mages (stranding cards like Mana Drain and Pyroclasm in his hand) made this one pretty easy on me. I assumed that he would steam roll me before we started, as I know he usually plays Oath of Druids. I was happy to learn otherwise and was feeling good about my metagame prediction.

1-0, 2-0

Round 2 - Alex Bloch w/ Crushing Chamber Affinity

Despite a first turn Lotus in both games, I'm crushed. He makes loads of guys, draws cards with Skullclamp, draws and plays running Myr Enforcers...It doesn't help that he had a Wasteland for each of the fairly few lands I draw in the match.

1-1, 2-2

Round 3 - Lotushead w/ Red Shops

Game one was amazing. As he mentioned, he has a turn one Tinker, which would cold me most weeks. He gets Jester's Cap, probably putting me on TPS. He takes a pair of Bob's and Inkwell, but I had a few creatures in hand already. If my second Meddling Mage had been naming Trike, I don't think I can lose this match. Unfortunately, he plays Trike and Crucible and has me down to zero permanents while sitting at a precarious 1 life. I can never win, since any creature I draw (even if I hit the Lotus to cast it) will be dead on sight from Trike pings. I scoop in hopes of having time for two more.

Lotushead's summary of games two and three is spot on. Game two went exactly according to plan, and in game three I was able to bleed all of his answers to Sower of Temptation while taking as little damage as possible from big 7/10.

2-1, 4-3

Round 4 - (Sorry, I don't know the name) w/ Landstill

I have an early Recall to put myself head, but I don't have a counter for his, or for the following Standstill. I have Wasteland for his first two Factories, but am forced to break his Standstill when he has manland #3. Even after that, though, my Bob's and Meddling Mage's were able to recoup the card advantage and Duress and Daze were enough to protect them.

Game two saw me taking some beats from Factories. I destroyed one with a Seal of Cleansing and the other with Wasteland. Then I attacked a Mage into a Factory, which pumped itself before damage. He had two Volcanic Islands untapped after that. I proceeded to sac a Lotus to Tinker, which he Drained, which I Dazed, which he Misdirected. I still had a FoW, though so after all that, I had a 7/11 Islandwalker which wrapped it up.

3-1, 6-3

Round 5 - ID w/ Galen

QF - John Anzaldo w/ Goyf Tezz

I don't want to sound like sour grapes or anything, but I could (and arguably should) have gotten the win before even shuffling up for this match. I didn't argue for it, so...I don't know. I have nothing to complain about. I will say this though: Bribery is 100% unacceptable in tournament Magic. Don't even mention the possibility of it. That I was lax in arguing for the enforcement of the rules should not be taken as an acceptance of this kind of behavior.

This first game was the real heart breaker of the day. I took Goyf beats down to 9 before tutoring for an StP. So the situation was that he had lands in play versus my Dark Confidant and Meddling Mage (on Tarmogoyf), with me at 9 and him at 15. Three turns later and I have a Null Rod in play, which is canceling out his Time Vault and Tezzeret the Seeker. However, I had flipped Force of Will, Null Rod and Brainstorm to Bob. I wasn't able to finish him off before Bob finished me. My game one v. Lotushead was rough, but flipping Force is, I believe, the only reason I lost this game.

Game two was much less close. His first turn Recall, second turn Tinker, with a counter for my Aven Mindcensor, was all it took.

Overall, good tournament, though. In fact, I feel good enough right now that I am going to do a first (for me).

Props:
Chris Pikula: I always assumed Meddling Mage sucked, but it was surprisingly good for me.
JefftheFob, Webster, LSV: Nice of you all to let somebody else win for once.
Jose and Wilson: I borrowed almost half the deck from these two. Sadly, I got zero prizes, so I have nothing to kick down to them.
Crepes-A-Go-Go: Best birthday meal ever.

Slops:
Jose and Derek: Nice decks, fellas.
Wilson: An actual nice deck, but did you forget to put the Drains in or something?
Vegeta: I haven't seen this guy since GP: Seattle, but he still has time to bash me in the forums AND he has yet to deliever on the sweet proxies he made me. What a bum!

[LotusHead]

Vegeta: I haven't seen this guy since GP: Seattle, but he still has time to bash me in the forums AND he has yet to deliever on the sweet proxies he made me. What a bum!

Dave's Mox Pearl and Mox Sapphires were awful.

They didn't make me lose or anything, but they were somehow worse than say, "Mox Pearl" and "Mox Sapphire" sharpied on the back of a normal magic card.

He did have his own jet tho, but sheesh.

Mox Pearl on a blue/white crap common? Mox Sapphire on a white c ard?

Congrats on owning me with Sower on Titan.  THis is the first time we've played against each other, no?

[tomjoad]

Vegeta: I haven't seen this guy since GP: Seattle, but he still has time to bash me in the forums AND he has yet to deliever on the sweet proxies he made me. What a bum!

Dave's Mox Pearl and Mox Sapphires were awful.

They didn't make me lose or anything, but they were somehow worse than say, "Mox Pearl" and "Mox Sapphire" sharpied on the back of a normal magic card.

He did have his own jet tho, but sheesh.

Mox Pearl on a blue/white crap common? Mox Sapphire on a white c ard?

Congrats on owning me with Sower on Titan.  THis is the first time we've played against each other, no?

Everything you say about my Mox proxies are true. However, my Time Walk proxy is amazing (even though I never drew it all day). Also, I keep expecting to see Josh, and I don't want to waste more Perfect Fits.

I know I've played Austin and Junior a few times each, and I seem to get slapped by CrushingChamber.dec every time I show up somewhere, but this may in fact be the first time we've played each other. Interestingly, I don't think I've ever played LSV or Hiryu (outside of a top 8) either. Swiss pairings are funny sometimes.

[lawnboy]

Thanks for a fun and well-run tournament. It was cool to meet LotusHead and the rest of the NorCal crew. You guys seem to be able to bring out good numbers when you have Vintage events, so I hope the scene continues to grow.

Unfortunately the Workshop gods were not with me on Sunday. I didn't draw one until the second game of my second match, and proceeded to draw mana when I needed threats, and threats when I needed mana sources. Regardless, it was a great time and I'm hoping to make it out to more of these events.

[potato]

I hope everyone is ready to play in the next mox tournament this coming sunday.

I'll be doing tournament coverage like I have for the last 3 series, but since I've recently decided to invest significantly enough to build most type 1 decks, I thought it'd be worth throwing out the possibility of writing a tournament report from a player's perspective instead of "feature match" stuff like I've done in the past.

Would people be more interested in that? What deck(s) would the community like to see played? Everyone I've asked so far says "anything without tendrils and vault/key."

[LotusHead]

I hope everyone is ready to play in the next mox tournament this coming sunday.

I'll be doing tournament coverage like I have for the last 3 series, but since I've recently decided to invest significantly enough to build most type 1 decks, I thought it'd be worth throwing out the possibility of writing a tournament report from a player's perspective instead of "feature match" stuff like I've done in the past.

Would people be more interested in that? What deck(s) would the community like to see played? Everyone I've asked so far says "anything without tendrils and vault/key."

Play whatever you can build and want to run!

You know I got the pics covered already

If I don't show up, feel free to Feature Match.

[potato]

Play whatever you can build and want to run!

You know I got the pics covered already

If I don't show up, feel free to Feature Match.

Well, I'll have to take pictures and post a long, detailed write-up, it's part of the deal. The question is whether to do it as a player or third-party.

[LSD25]

doing it as an observer will be more objective, and will provide you with more coverage.  As an actor, you will be able to tell us what you were thinking as you made certain plays, but restrict your coverage to just the games you play, and maybe ones that continue after your matches have completed.

If you do play, i wanna be surprised(meaning not oath, painter, stax, tezz, dredge or storm).  goblins, rogue, GW or B beats would be kinna nice.