Dear TMDers!
Just as last year, a group of friends and me travelled from Berlin (Germany) to Hanau (also Germany) where at the end of each year a vintage tournament is organized next to other formats. Instead of last year’s 63 players, only 38 competitors gathered. (The vintage format seems to be in some kind of vicious circle. I feels as if it is drying up.)
I registered with the very same “White Trash” list, which I maneuvered last year to a perhaps surprising 4:2 (see
here and the following posts). I simply didn’t have the time to bring myself up to speed regarding vintage and to be innovative. Here it is:
Maindeck:
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Leonin Arbiter
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Dryad Militant
3 Student of Warfare
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
3 Path to Exile
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
13 Plains
1 Karakas
2 Chrome Mox
Sideboard:
1 Rest in Peace
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Stony Silence
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Serenity
4 Abolish
Unfortunately, I appear to have thrown away all my notes. So I am very sorry to mess with important details or mix up the names of my opponents, who have all been exceptionally nice. So, here is only a short and sketchy version of how I fared in the six rounds of vintage:
Round 1: against MUD (Patrick)
He wins the die roll, immediately mulls to six, does not look too enthusiastic about his hand. Not knowing what deck my opponent plays, I keep a reasonable seven with a Wasteland, two Plains, and some two-drop critters. He starts by playing an Ancient Tomb and a Grim Monolith. Given nothing else, I waste his sol land. He proceeds with Strip Mine into the horrible Lodestone Golem. I play a Plains. He looks confused. The golem is joined by another sol land and a Thorn of Amethyst and the golem delivers the beats. I accumulate mana for another round, but he appears to be out of gas. Luckily he does not strip one of my two plains and waited for something more worthwhile. I am at 5, play a Karakas and a hungry Leonin-Relic Warder dismantles the golem. Thalia and the cat take the game from there.
In game two he opens with a sol land into Sphere of Resistance. I waste the sol land. He continues with Mishra’s Workshop into the second sphere. I strip the Workshop. He is locked for now. I accumulate mana. His mana is soon tied down by a Stony Silence. I avoid playing my Kataki, War’s Wage. Beats by a student and a cat are enough to bring this game home.
That’s 1:0 (2:0)
Round 2: against some combo deck (Joseph)
I do not remember much of this match anymore. In the first game, I put down a first turn Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with the help of a Chrome Mox (discard Student of Warfare). He plays a Polluted Delta. I’ll test the waters with a Leonin Arbiter who meets Force of Will. But I soon manage to play a stony silence and a second anti-search creature. He scoops. So, I put him on some combo deck.
In game two, he plays a first turn Necropotence, goes from 20 life to 12 and 8 in his turn afterwards. I manage to beat him down to 4 life but eventually the lock is not hard enough and he easily takes my life with a Tendrils of Agony off a 8ish Mind’s Desire.
Game three is lock and beatdown mode again. I manage to take home the win, but do not remember much else.
That’s 2:0 (4:1)
Round 3: against Doomsday (Tobias)
Tobias and me apparently get paired every year and so he was already smiling when I came to the table. “Combo again, Tobi?” “Some new form of fringe Deck, Sven?” Anyway, naturally he wins the die roll and I mulligan to six. Tobi starts with a Polluted Delta, Mox (Jet?) and an Ancestral Recall. Well, thanks for reminding me what White Trash cannot do, Tobi. I proceed with a Plains and ship the turn back to him which is also the time where he combos me out with Doomsday and Laboratory Maniac. Oh Path to Exile! Where have you been?
The second game evolves differently. I bring some lock components to the board and beat him down to two life. So, in his characteristic sympathetic and calm fashion Tobi says: “Hm, either now or never. So far I only have a storm count of eight. Let’s see what happens. There is every reason to make this gamble”. Well, it turned out to be very fine… But it was the nicest match so far. Always a pleasure, Tobias! Still undefeated but I’ll go for your throat next year!
That’s 2:1 (4:3)
Round 4: against Painter Grindstone (Jiri)
Similar to our group from Berlin, there is a group of Czech players every year and Jiri is one of them. It turns out, Jiri plays blue-red Painter Grindstone. I do not remember everything but Kataki pretty much seals the deal in game one when Jiri had two Seat of the Synod, a Grind Stone, and a Sensei’s Divining Top.
During the second game, I successfully cast one of the stony silences after Phyrexian Revokers, Kataki and Thalia get countered. From there it was only a matter of time to be faster than Jiri finds a bounce spell.
That’s 3:1 (6:3)
Round 5: against Steel City Vault (Ralf)
I also met Ralf before. But we have not been sure what we have been playing; probably Tezzeret versus Christmas Beatings. The first game -- which Ralf starts -- is finished relatively fast after his Ancestral Recall on my first end step. He proceeds in his second turn with some stuff (Sol Ring, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm, Time Walk), plays Jace and goes from there with a 6ish Minds Desire which finally assembles the key vault combo after some intense tutoring.
In stark contrast, I control the second game in a more or less dominant fashion with Stony Silence, Thalia and a level 7 Student of Warfare who convincingly delivers the final beats.
Now the final game was intense and I was too excited about the 4:1 prospect. I made a couple of minor errors. Being a good guy, Ralf just reminded me to do this properly and did not get upset. But here is a major misstep. I had three Plains and a Ghost Quarter and wanted to play Thalia and a Leonin Relic-Warder, while knowing that Ralf did not have any more counter spells. But, oh well, I played Thalia by tapping two Plains and then wanted to play the cat with the mana left. I had all worked out in my mind and was convinced to win. But this mistake lead to a eventually tinkered-up Blightsteel Colossus, which was eaten by the aforementioned cat instead of a Sol Ring. I had Ralf on six life and he would have died next turn but he found the Echoing Truth, played it on my end step. So the colossus came for visit while I had no blockers…
That’s 3:2 (7:5)
Round 6: against BUG Fish (Marcus)
Well, White Thrash does not like fish style decks. BUG Fish is certainly no exception. In the first game, I manage to beat Marcus down to 6 life and then he stabilizes. And he clearly dominates the second game as well. Nothing more to say. (I also don’t remember a lot apart from True-Name Nemesis, Deathrite Shamans, and a lonely Trygon Predator dominating the sky.)
Final result: 3:3 (7:7).
Usually, I play rarely more than once a year and I made quite some embarrassing mistakes, which might have cost me at least one game. Simple things really that are just a matter of practice. And a deck like this is not forgiving when even small mistakes are concerned. But this separated the “boy from the man” and who knows what I would have faced if I had won against Ralf in round 5.
However, I like playing this list for the simple reason that I have so much fun with it. During the last round, a spectating fellow tournament participant mumbled something like: “Was that a ghost quarter? Who plays ghost quarters in vintage?” And I answered: “Well, as far as I remember you played Demon Oath last year and I crushed you 2:0”. This lead to a heartily laugh from the other spectators, some of which I had played earlier this day. And the young chap smiled too, admitting last year’s defeat.
And if you may enjoy being “the guy that plays basic plains” at a vintage tournament, you should give it a try.
Still, the deck does not feel to be at its full potential. It feels to be at disadvantage against fish-style decks. I am not sold on the Dryad Arbor. However, I do not see another one-drop that might take the spot in Vintage. I am also contemplating fitting in 4 Chalice of the Void. I do not know yet and any suggestion is more than welcome.
I am also wondering if this threat belongs in the “creative” section. It is more like “null rod based aggro”. And in the latter, TMWA and Christmas Beatings are discussed which are quite comparable to this deck, I think. What do you think?
EDIT: spelling and grammar mistakes (there are certainly more in there)
Please don't necro old threads - start new ones.
-Godder
