TDG 4/20 - A (very brief) T8 Report

[voltron00x]

Some people asked me to write a tourney report from last Saturday at Top Deck Games, so here goes.  Warning that there's not a lot of detail about the tournament itself.

So the last time I played a non-Dredge deck in a tournament was Landstill at GenCon.  I haven't been playing much Magic at all, especially since last fall, due work being brutally busy during the winter among other reasons.  I just barely missed going to the last TDG Vintage due to work as well, but did come late and got maybe six or seven games in with the most recent Burning Long deck list I could find.  I won about half the games, but the deck seemed pretty sweet.  More consistent that I expected and shockingly easy to play.  

The night before the tournament I threw all logic and reason and moral resistance to the wind and sleeved up the deck.  I goldfished about 15 hands.  Thinking back to the few games I got to test with, I decided a few things:

1 - The deck seemed liked it might want one more land
2 - Key/Vault seemed miserable
3 - Tinker seemed mostly miserable
4 - Given that I expected decks with cards like Stony Silence, Null Rod, Trygon Predator, and Chalice of the Void to be popular, I wanted somethin flexible to deal with them all while still working in the spirit of the deck

Long story short, I cut Key, Vault, Tinker, and Windfall for a 3rd Gemstone Mine, 4th Burning Wish, and 2 Repeal.  With the extra land, I moved Windfall to the sideboard and cut an Ancient Tomb.  I debated cutting Memory Jar or replacing it with Windfall and putting something else in the board, but I liked that Jar gets around Flusterstorm and can be played off Show and Tell.  Cutting Tomb is almost certainly wrong, but, I wasn't expecting to do well anyway, frankly.  The last time I played, in January, I was tired, rusty, and played some of the worst Magic of my life.

Before the tournament, I got to test some with Steve "Tiger" Nowakowski playing a deck with CB/Top, and was immediately glad I had Repeal in my deck.  Pairings went up and I was up against Josh Potucek.  Now, Josh has a good win streak going against me, and I had him on Landstill, so I was not happy with this at all.  As it turns out, Josh wasn't on Landstill.  Brief recap below, names omitted to protect the innocent.

Deck:

1 Black Lotus
2 Chrome Mox
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Opal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
2 Griselbrand
1 Necropotence
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
2 Repeal
4 Oath of Druids
4 Burning Wish
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy


Sideboard (15):
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Laboratory Maniac
3 Nature's Claim
1 Shattering Spree
1 Show and Tell
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Windfall

Rd 1 - Win 2-0 vs Empty Gush (two quick Oaths into two immediate wins, both games I won on turn two)
Rd 2 - Win 2-0 vs Reanimator (game one was a turn two win, game two took longer only because I wanted to use Will to Duress three times on turn one as that was the safest play)
Rd 3 - Win 2-0 vs Grixis like the Champs deck (game one I win on turn 3, game two I have to beat a turn one EE on 2 plus Cage, so on turn 3 I play Show and Tell into his Jace and combo off thanks to Time Walk and friends)
Rd 4 - ID
Rd 5 - Win 2-0 vs Merfolk (Joel and I were locked in at #1 and #2, but I figured I'd take a shot at first, and won both games reasonably easily via Oath)
T8 - Lose 1-2 (see below for game 1 which I won, game 2 we go into top deck mode with my Oath against his hand full of creatures, he draws Jace TMS and takes over the game, game 3 I mull to 4 and am never really in it)

Game 1 in top 8 requires more space.  So my opening hand is so-so, basically all-in on a Wheel of Fortune, but I figure hey, Mark won't have the Force.  He doesn't.  So I dump some fast mana, LED, ritual, Wheel.  From there I don't exactly remember except that I got to use Jar and Timetwister and didn't actually win that turn but ended up with like 10 permanents including Orchard and Oath and a Time Walk in my hand.  Shockingly (ha!) I won the next turn.  I could've won on turn one if I had a Tendrils in the deck, which is notable only in that it's the second game where this was the case.

So, I didn't get to play against Shops at all, but I did test it briefly (four games at the March TDG) and went 2-2 preboard, so I know it isn't unwinnable, at least.  As far as the match-up against blue decks that aren't Landstill, the deck seemed really solid.  I was drawing liquid fire all day though, tons of turn one Mox/Orchard/Oath or Duress/Recall etc etc.  

I loved Show and Tell, it was great all day.  I loved playing a deck with Mind's Desire.  I saw the changes Seth made - cut Key, Vault, moved Desire to the sideboard, added a Tendrils, a Thoughtseize, 4th Burning Wish - and found this interesting.

I have no idea if this deck is actually as good as it played, or if I go  t lucky dodging Shops and drawing insane hands all day, but it was at least fun.   Windfall in the board seemed not worthwhile.  Balance might be a nice Wish target.  A Tendrils main might be worthwhile.

Long story short, sweet deck, fun tournament, more people need to play.  GET OUT AND SUPPORT VINTAGE!

[d8dk32]

I've never played the deck, but I've goldfished it a bit and found it to be pretty inconsistent. Hell of a lot of fun to play though. I've heard very mixed reviews about it. Some people claim it's fantastic, and others say it's pretty bad. I think not playing against shops makes the deck much better. But nice job anyway! How many people were in attendance?

[voltron00x]

26 players.  I'll admit that I was drawing well and the field was definitely set up great for this deck on Saturday.  Looking back at some recent events that were 50% Shops or overrun with Fish decks, the results may have been different.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

In our match in round 1 you got me with a quick oath in g1. In game 2 I had a quick pair of cages holding down the fort. And an empty for 12. I countered your lotus knowing you were going for desire. With lethal on board the nex turn you top decked hurkyls and bounced your board for desire at 6 and it got there...lol nevertheless I lost haha

[voltron00x]

In our match in round 1 you got me with a quick oath in g1. In game 2 I had a quick pair of cages holding down the fort. And an empty for 12. I countered your lotus knowing you were going for desire. With lethal on board the nex turn you top decked hurkyls and bounced your board for desire at 6 and it got there...lol nevertheless I lost haha

That's right, game 2 was good!  I can't remember what else I had in my hand before I drew Hurks but I want to say it was Memory Jar and Desire, and I drew Hurks changing my plan from Jar to Desire.  I think that was maybe turn 3?  Long game!   

[PeAcH]

Thanks for sharing both the minireport and the comments on the deck Matt

It´s good to see you back both playing and writing a little bit.

[Ruboonia]

Thanks for the quick report. I think your deck is very solid. I do request your opinion on a few cards.

1. Mana Vault: I've always hated this card. What's your experience? I often find that I would prefer another colored source (e.g. a Mox Opal) since you need a relatively high number of colored mana to begin your storm rampage. Opal is especially nice since you can add black one turn and blue the next (assuming you go past turn one ).

2. I noticed you have 2 Chrome Mox and 1 Mox Opal. Any reason it's not 1/2 or 2/2 split? I find that I usually put the Mox on black with a Duress or something. Are you worried about drawing two Opals or do you not feel it's just not as good as Chrome?

3. Did you miss Windfall?

Thanks.

[voltron00x]

Thanks for the quick report. I think your deck is very solid. I do request your opinion on a few cards.

1. Mana Vault: I've always hated this card. What's your experience? I often find that I would prefer another colored source (e.g. a Mox Opal) since you need a relatively high number of colored mana to begin your storm rampage. Opal is especially nice since you can add black one turn and blue the next (assuming you go past turn one ).

2. I noticed you have 2 Chrome Mox and 1 Mox Opal. Any reason it's not 1/2 or 2/2 split? I find that I usually put the Mox on black with a Duress or something. Are you worried about drawing two Opals or do you not feel it's just not as good as Chrome?

3. Did you miss Windfall?

Thanks.

1.  Mana vault is quite good in this style of deck, I was always happy when I drew it in my opener.

2.  Mox Opal is pretty good in the deck, and a 2nd might make sense (and may be better than the 3rd Gemstone I added in all match-ups except Shops/Fish).  I think as configured I was quite happy, you don't always have Opal active on turn 1 or turn 2 and that can be an issue as in some match-ups you really want to slam a turn one play, whereas Chrome Mox is actually almost as good as Opal when you have Griselbrand out as you usually have plenty of extra chaff to imprint (and if you're building storm via Hurks/Repeal, or in general, you can just play w/out Imprint), and you don't have the Legendary issue.

3.  No.

[mr.grim]

Congrats man ! It was very nice to see you and get some games in last month.

I have 3 questions for you.
1. How were the repeals?
2. What did your boarding look like?
3. Was tinker missed? I like it more for jar and lotus, then key/vault.

[voltron00x]

Congrats man ! It was very nice to see you and get some games in last month.

I have 3 questions for you.
1. How were the repeals?
2. What did your boarding look like?
3. Was tinker missed? I like it more for jar and lotus, then key/vault.

1.  Repeals were very good in the actual games and in testing.  I was happy with them.  I had tested Nature's Claim but it's too reactive.  Chain of Vapor would also make sense, but Repeal is a pet card of mine that I've been wanting to play for a while, and fit the role I was looking for.

2.  I didn't touch my sideboard all day outside of Burning Wish, because I didn't see Workshops.

3.  I can't say I missed it, but I'd have to play with it more to really say.  It isn't impossible that it might be better than the land I added, or one Repeal.

[personalbackfire]

Matt,
It was great seeing you out and definitely made going to the tournament a blast. It's always fun to play some games against you.

I'm sure it has been talked about elsewhere but is there any thought to cutting the duress (moving to board) and playing force over them to help in the shop match. I know you are kind of shy on blue cards to support currently but maybe you could find some space to add some blue cards?

Perhaps  could start at -1 Burning wish -1 LED (-1 Jar -unless you added tinker) + 2 preordain/gifts/windfall/tinker
.
That would get you to 16 or 17 blue cards which is probably fine.

[voltron00x]

Matt,
It was great seeing you out and definitely made going to the tournament a blast. It's always fun to play some games against you.

I'm sure it has been talked about elsewhere but is there any thought to cutting the duress (moving to board) and playing force over them to help in the shop match. I know you are kind of shy on blue cards to support currently but maybe you could find some space to add some blue cards?

Perhaps  could start at -1 Burning wish -1 LED (-1 Jar -unless you added tinker) + 2 preordain/gifts/windfall/tinker
.
That would get you to 16 or 17 blue cards which is probably fine.

Was awesome to see you too.  Hope you can continue to make it out to some events!  I'm trying to play more this summer. 

As far as Force, I think Steve Menendian could provide a better answer than I could on why Duress over FoW, but I would say in general in a deck this fast and one that needs to use all of its cards aggressively, Duress is favored over FoW everywhere except Workshops, I would think.  In particular, it is far better against Flusterstorm.  I wouldn't want to add Force just for the Shop match-up. 

However, I would consider a different or enhanced disruption package if the meta skewed heavily into Bomberman/Landstill.  Looking at Legacy, I'd probably play Cabal Therapy with Probe and possibly a couple Duress on top.  Therapy's ability to nuke multiple copies of a single counter can be great in those match-ups. If one were to play Probes, it wouldn't be impossible to use Force of Will in the sideboard for Workshops, but again, I'm still not sure if that's even better than a Hurks plan backed by Ancient Tomb.

[Worldslayer]

The maindeck Tendrils and all four Burning Wish are amazing. Throughout the day, it felt like I saw too few wishes rather than too many, and I'm playing the full set plus what they usually fetch. I missed Desire terribly, should not have boarded that. Did you ever find yourself missing Consult like I did?

Also, because I can't actually seem to come to a solid conclusion - despite the fact that we both cruised to an easy quarters finish with the deck (you probably having much more testing time than I did), is this something you'd play again? Is this something you'd play in a larger tournament? So much of the deck feels like slightly favorable dice rolling, so I'm leaning towards "yes" and "no" respectively, but I was wondering if you had a more holistic appraisal of the deck after having played it. I come back to "it's a zero or a ten" constantly, but making that mean something practical/useful is a little harder.

[PeAcH]

I went with Burning Long to the LCV today. We had 40something attendance. 6 rounds. I went 3-0 winning versus UBW bomberman, Izzet control and Italian Keeper. Then I lost to Almost Blue 0-2 (2nd game mull to 5 on the play) and lost to BUG 0-2 (mull to 3 on second game). I lost my 6th round match totally out of contention against Rest Obedience UW.  So 3-3 overall with mixed feelings.

Using this base:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=10071&iddeck=73395

I decided to take out Windfall and maindeck the 3rd Griselbrand on the reasoning that most of the time you only lose to your deck and playing with 4 BWish allows to play the Show and Tell plan with 3 Grisels + Bargain pretty consistently as a backup plan if Oath and Draw7s fail to accomplish.

I sided out the Tinker most of the times versus U decks applying Voltron00x approach and also the 3rd gemstone when playing versus non land destruction strategies.

All in all, I totally agree with Worldslayer on the fact that the deck is capable of the best and the worst.

It's strong and mercyless but sometimes unpredictable. If I would take it to a big tournament? I´m not mentally ready yet to get pass this. Sometimes the decks fails and you have to deal with it...thinking on all the 1st and 2nd turn kills  you get

What I have really seen is the power to put preassure on the opponents. If you win first match, people desperatelly mulligan into gas hands or they think they are out. It´s really amazing how your opponents apply themselves preassure when playing versus it.

What the deck grants you is a loooot of fun and the chance to play with MTG most powerful spells.