1st Place: NEV 4

[Samoht]

Once again this report starts the night before. After FNM, the clarion calls to draft come out, and once again I make the responsible decision to head home so that I can be well rested for the tournament today. My wife stays with my son most of the night, and I get in several solid hours of sleep, and don’t wake up and bust my foot. Things are already improving. I meet up with everyone around 10am and we head on our way. After a slight misplay on my part on Nichols Road we end up at the venue right around 11:15. We start setting up our decks and I play some practice funsies games with Nick Coss. He wins them all on TPS and I’m essentially sold to not play Snapclamp today. I know it will be a Blue/Shops dominated meta, with a sprinkle of dredge and storm thrown in. I expect no hate bears or fish style decks, and build a deck on the spot. I take a friend’s list, Brian Smolin, and tweak it a little bit based on my perception of the field and playstyle. Here is the final 75:

Main Deck:
4 Force of Will
2 Mental Misstep
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mana Drain
1 Mindbreak Trap
4 Gush
1 Fire//Ice
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmowth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Scavaging Ooze
1 Trygon Predator
1 Blightsteel Colossus
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Fastbond
3 Mystic Remora

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault

2 Island
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Flusterstorm
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Volcanic Island
1 Trygon Predator

Not having Hurkyl’s was a huge misplay. I thought it was in the deck but apparently I forgot to put it in. This luckily never came up but I did want it. The Green Sun’s Zenith package was developed by us, with the intention of freeing up MD space for cards we felt were necessary to combat the field. It also allows for some interesting plays to come up (IE green sun for 3 to get Goyf under a Chalice 2). I wanted a 4th Chewer in the board as well as a Xantid Swarm, but was unable to find them all. Looking back on it, I'm not even sure it would have been correct for either card if I wasn't going to reduce my Dredge hate. The other decision that is glaring was that I chose to omit Ponder in favor of Preordain. This was done intentionally, as I prefer the built in card selection of Preordain to seeing the extra card and needing a shuffle effect if I don't some of the three.

I also start up a big trade with Mike Bauer for some very pretty Bazaar of Baghdad’s. He’s goes through my boxes and pulls out a bunch of Legacy staples and Standard cards. He gives me Ebay pricing on all of them and undervalues his Bazaar’s a little bit, so I was very happy with this situation. I hope he can move it all soon, because I definitely did well on my end.

Round 1: Mike Hejduk – Blue (I didn’t see enough cards to be more descriptive, as he had to mulligan and I had nuts hands.)
Game 1: I think he’s on Shops so I keep a 2x Force Misstep/Flusterstrom Fetch A. Recall Sol Ring hand. Turns out he is blue and was trying to get by with a mox and sol ring. Misstep ate a Ring and he was way too far behind me. I end up with a Blightsteel and he ends up infected.
Game 2: This time I end up taking all of the turns with Vault and Key after winning an early counter war.

Round 2: David Ata – Ubg Remora Gush
Game 1: We drove in together so we know what’s going on. We both have decent hands, but he manages to stick a Bob before I can do anything of note. I eventually stick a Tarmogoyf, but he ends up getting a Blightsteel. He makes a mistake and I end up taking the game. Probably should have lost it.
Game 2: He has a turn 1 Bob, and a turn 4 Bob. He takes 0 damage from Bob flips all game with absolutely no selection effects. Was very impressive as the game wasn’t short. I still have several chances to take all of the turns because he kept flipping lands/moxes. Unfortunately, I don’t and he gets there.
Game 3: I have a solid blue hand headlined by Ancestral and protection. I win shortly thereafter by taking all of the turns.

Round 3: Raf Forino – Kudoltha Shops – Feature Match
Game 1: I lose the die roll, and Raf does what Shops does. I play several cards but hide that I have Red. I get to find out he’s on Kudoltha.

Game 2: I’m on the play, and have a sketchy hand that is reliant on a Brainstorm. I elect to keep knowing that I have 16 lands and all the cards I want in the opener. The game goes a long time because I sort of got what I needed, but he had strong action to open. We end up in top deck mode and I get there. I still haven't revealed that I am on red.

Game 3: I have to try and break serve, and I have a great hand with multiple Chewers and a Grudge. I also have solid lands. This puts me in the control seat, and I play that role. I take it down because of all the artifact hate. I think at one point I discarded a Grudge to ensure I could flashback under spheres + port + wire. That was the only play I made that was spicy. Having the second Grudge in hand made it a lot easier to do.

Round 4: ID w/ Mono Red Shops.

Round 5: Mud Shops(Espresso)
Game 1: I have the play and a turn 1 Trygon. I find out that I’m playing to try and knock him out to keep two other shops players in. Seeing as I don’t actually knock out a Shop deck from top 8 (which was the point in me playing) I draw with him.

Quarterfinals: Mud Espresso
Game 1: Lol same guy. Wish I could have that game 1 start back. Oh well. He was on the play and fed my Mindbreak Trap. I then stick Library and go to town for several turns. His hand is too slow, and I win this with Tarmogoyf and counters.

Game 2: He’s on the play and has artifacts that do things. Lasted like 4 turns. Love playing against Shops on the draw sometimes.

Game 3: I lead out with an Island. He plays Null Rod. I run out Time Vault. He plays a Thorn. I Evoke Chewer and eat the Thorn off a Volc. I EoT fetch turn 4 and then spike a Voltaic Key. I use the other Chewer on the Null Rod instead of his newly minted Lodestone, and take all of the turns.

Semifinals: Jake Gans – Ubg Remora Gush
Game 1: Jake Mulligans, I have turn 1 Library on the draw. Other things happen, but that was the essence of the game.

Game 2: Jake Mulligans, I have early Remora. This allows me to draw cards and lay down lands. I get there after we have a FoW battle over my Sower. He mistakenly Forces my Force on his Ancestral that was in response to my Sower. I allow Ancestral to resolve, he whiffs, and then I use my untapped Time Vault (so good to do this under Remora) to go again and eat his Remora with his Trygon. Even if Jake does this correctly and let's Recall be countered to stop the Sower from landing, I stick a 2nd Sower and use Time Walk to eat his Remora with his Trygon anyway.

Finals: Raf Forino – Kudoltha Shops
Game 1: This was fixing to be an epic battle, and G1 didn’t disappoint. Several awesome plays happen here, including using Voltaic Key to untap a Time Vault that was Revokered so that I have a permanent to tap for Tangle Wire. Also, later I Fire’d said Revoker to force a Forgemaster activation into another Revoker as opposed to a better card. Raf and I talked it out afterwards, but despite Forgemastering into Steel Hellkite later on he ends up losing to the Ancient Grudge in my GY that I played on T1 in response to his Revoker on my Lotus. I drew the fetch on my last turn before dying to get the G. I then lay down a Trygon and take it down. Ancient Tomb killed Raf here more than anything else.

Game 2: Unfortunately Raf has to mulligan and I have Chewer’s galore and then a Trygon. Jace essentially makes it academic and Raf concedes when I fateseal him. He mistakenly boarded out Sphere and left in Thorn. He laments it afterward when he recalls our first match, and my running Chewer’s.

Overall I was happy with the deck. I’m glad to finally take down an event. It might not be much considering the low turnout, but for the most part all of the best players were there. Missed Hornung, Mastriano, Elias, and a few others but overall it was one of the tougher 25-30 men events I've seen assembled. I definitely avenged my terrible sequencing against Paul at the Grudge Match in Round 6 for our(well his) win and in. I suppose every now and again things can go right when you don't constantly punt %'s away.

[mikekilljoy]

Congrats on the win.

And believe me, I didn't undervalue the Baazars as much as you think. We both made out fine.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Hold them up to the light and you will see they are laser-jet printed on a pokemon card.  Your first clue should have been that Bazaars don't come in foils.  You got PWNED!!!

And congrats on the win!

[Samoht]

Hold them up to the light and you will see they are laser-jet printed on a pokemon card.  Your first clue should have been that Bazaars don't come in foils.  You got PWNED!!!

And congrats on the win!

Aw snap! They don't? I guess I'm bi-losing instead...

Thanks.

Congrats on the win.

And believe me, I didn't undervalue the Baazars as much as you think. We both made out fine.

Thanks. It was more the era of cards involved I was worried about.

[H]

Congrats on the win, sorry I couldn't be there but a family emergency meant no Magic for me for the next week or two...

[Samoht]

Congrats on the win, sorry I couldn't be there but a family emergency meant no Magic for me for the next week or two...

Family > Cards. I hope everything turns out well in the end for you. We'll talk soon.

[Mr. Type 4]

Congratulations, Tom-  Way to get there. Doesnt look like you had too much trouble beating Shops without playing Hurkyl's main.  Forgetting a card like Hurkyl's happens sometimes when you build at the last minute, but it still looks like calling the audible was the right call.

I definitely avenged my terrible sequencing against Paul at the Grudge Match in Round 6 for our(well his) win and in. I suppose every now and again things can go right when you don't constantly punt %'s away.

It also looks like you were playing a better deck at this one.  Interesting counter package. 

[Samoht]

Congratulations, Tom-  Way to get there. Doesnt look like you had too much trouble beating Shops without playing Hurkyl's main.  Forgetting a card like Hurkyl's happens sometimes when you build at the last minute, but it still looks like calling the audible was the right call.

I definitely avenged my terrible sequencing against Paul at the Grudge Match in Round 6 for our(well his) win and in. I suppose every now and again things can go right when you don't constantly punt %'s away.

It also looks like you were playing a better deck at this one.  Interesting counter package. 

Thanks Paul. The audible was right, but I should have had the Hurk's. Probably would have cut Scroll for it.  Remora Gush is certainly more established, and better against U/Storm/Shops. I'm not entirely certain it's better against the entire field than SnapClamp, but it was definitely better against this field. I was trying to limit the blow out counters to 1 because of their awkward presence in other match ups. In general I was tutoring for the one I wanted to protect my action. Just a different approach to their application.

[Yukon Cornelius]

Congrats on the win Tom. The list is interesting to say the very least. From what I saw you played really tight.

[Samoht]

Congrats on the win Tom. The list is interesting to say the very least. From what I saw you played really tight.

Thanks, getting past Raf twice was quite challenging.

[cvarosky80]

Thanks Paul. The audible was right, but I should have had the Hurk's. Probably would have cut Scroll for it.

If I may ask, why would you cut Merchant Scroll from a Gush deck? I certainly understand the inclusion of the Hurk's, but just would like to know why that would be the card to take out is all. I remember Pikula's 4-3-2 list not running Scroll as well and am just curious what the reasoning is.

Anyways, congratulations on the victory. Especially having to go through Kuldotha twice! Impressive.

[Cruel Ultimatum]

Thanks Paul. The audible was right, but I should have had the Hurk's. Probably would have cut Scroll for it.

If I may ask, why would you cut Merchant Scroll from a Gush deck? I certainly understand the inclusion of the Hurk's, but just would like to know why that would be the card to take out is all. I remember Pikula's 4-3-2 list not running Scroll as well and am just curious what the reasoning is.

Anyways, congratulations on the victory. Especially having to go through Kuldotha twice! Impressive.

Not to speak for Tom or Chris, but their decks are control decks, so they are looking to get ahead of their opponent by gaining incremental advantage. Because of this, they are less focused on chaining gushs together or anything like that.

[XxtSundaybxX]

I'm pretty sure, control deck or not, cutting Merchant Scroll from a gush deck is flat out wrong. Even looking past the obvious of scrolling for gush, you have FoW, and Hurkyls recall to a quick tinker as well as ancestral recall.

[Samoht]

Thanks Paul. The audible was right, but I should have had the Hurk's. Probably would have cut Scroll for it.

If I may ask, why would you cut Merchant Scroll from a Gush deck? I certainly understand the inclusion of the Hurk's, but just would like to know why that would be the card to take out is all. I remember Pikula's 4-3-2 list not running Scroll as well and am just curious what the reasoning is.

Anyways, congratulations on the victory. Especially having to go through Kuldotha twice! Impressive.

I don't feel this to be a Gush deck in the traditional sense. It's a deck that plays Gush. I can and often do abuse the card, but am by no means reliant on it for anything. I even board some out on the draw against Shops. Scroll is often too slow, and really would only ever be used in an attempt to either a)get Ancestral, b) get Hurks, c) get a counter, or d) get Gush to try and chain them with a Fastbond. The problem with d) is that it requires a Fastbond to be a powerful play. Otherwise I'm barely even netting advantage by Gushing. b) is obviously resolved when Scroll becomes the Hurks. Sadly, in Vintage this also deals with the biggest boogy man in Blighty, so it often can resolve what I would need c) for. Basically, I'm trading being able to tutor for Ancestral or a counter to protect my own action with it for being able to not die to Blighty or Shops. I'm ok with that trade.

[chrispikula]

I think Merchant Scroll is pretty overrated in general- I'm not a big fan of sorcery speed where they get to see the card you get. It is even worse now with Mental Missteps everywhere. But, that being said, I think I would play it if I played Gush again. That 4-3-2 decklist was the first tourney I ever played in where 4 Gushes were legal, so I had never played with or against Gush before. 

[XxtSundaybxX]

How are you trading not dying to bsc or losing to shops? Are you referring that you wouldn't play hurkyls if you were playing scroll? Cuz that would also be wrong. You would definitely play both. I havent looked at your list but I'm sure I could find a card to cut so that you could play both.

And playing merchant scroll isn't about abusing gush. There are a ton of uses for merchant scroll. Giving yourself as many outs as possible to any situation at any point will give you the best chances of winning. Which is what merchant scroll does. I board  out a gush in the shops matchup as well and merchant scroll still gets the nod. I'm just saying I'm sure there's a card your playing that's more underpowered than merchant scroll.

[serracollector]

Im interested to know if gsz ior ooze were ever factors in games?

And why not a 1 of selkie in those 75?  seems as good as trygon in the right matchups.

good job on the tourney.

[Samoht]

Im interested to know if gsz ior ooze were ever factors in games?

And why not a 1 of selkie in those 75?  seems as good as trygon in the right matchups.

good job on the tourney.

Both cards were important in different matches. I used Green Sun's Zenith to get a Tarmogoyf into play through a Chalice of the Void on 2. That was pretty strong. I also used it under a Trinisphere to get a Tarmogoyf, at no additional cost. I didn't want to commit to 4 Tarmogoyfs, but still wanted the option. Zenith gave me both. Trygon was tutored for on occasion, and so was Ooze. Against a Snapcaster it does good things. Moreover, I used it to keep the lands out of a Shops players yard so he couldn't get value from his Crucible of Worlds. It worked very well for me. As far as Selkie, there just isn't room. Trygon is effective in several match ups, where as Selkie is really for blue, so I would have cut something that I would want for that. There just isn't anything I feel comfortable losing.

Not ignoring you Alan, just don't have the time to sort through a proper response.

[XxtSundaybxX]

Im interested to know if gsz ior ooze were ever factors in games?

And why not a 1 of selkie in those 75?  seems as good as trygon in the right matchups.

good job on the tourney.

Both cards were important in different matches. I used Green Sun's Zenith to get a Tarmogoyf into play through a Chalice of the Void on 2. That was pretty strong. I also used it under a Trinisphere to get a Tarmogoyf, at no additional cost. I didn't want to commit to 4 Tarmogoyfs, but still wanted the option. Zenith gave me both. Trygon was tutored for on occasion, and so was Ooze. Against a Snapcaster it does good things. Moreover, I used it to keep the lands out of a Shops players yard so he couldn't get value from his Crucible of Worlds. It worked very well for me. As far as Selkie, there just isn't room. Trygon is effective in several match ups, where as Selkie is really for blue, so I would have cut something that I would want for that. There just isn't anything I feel comfortable losing.

Not ignoring you Alan, just don't have the time to sort through a proper response.

Allen* and okay, fair enough. Merchant scroll aside, congrats on the win regardless.