Vengeur Masqué in Duelmen

[carl]

Hello,

This weekend was quite busy as T1 in Western Europe is concerned. There was one tournament in Paris on Saturday, the monthly tourney in Castricum, and then there was Duelmen. My initial plan was to go to Paris. But I got late home on Friday evening and so decided to go to Duelmen instead. This would be the big test I was fearing for Vengeur Masqué. After my loss in Mol against Tools 'n Tubbies, I tweaked the sideboard to have better chances in games 2 and 3; this is especially important for Duelmen where you can watch the biggest concentration of Mishra's Workshop in the world. I got several suggestions ranging from Woodripper to Callous Oppressor, but opted for Magus of the Unseen and Withered Wretch, as Anger and Squee are the engines that make TnT deadly with Survival of the Fittest.

Vengeur Masque:

4 Birds of Paradise
2 Quirion Ranger
1 Nantuko Vigilante
4 Survival of the Fittest
3 Wall of Roots

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

1 Ancestral Recall
3 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Gilded Drake
2 Misdirection
1 Time Walk
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Voidmage Apprentice
3 Volrath's Shapeshifter

1 Black Lotus
4 Illusionary Mask
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

1 Flooded Strand
4 Forest
3 Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
4 Tropical Island
1 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
1 Elvish Lyrist
1 Genesis
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Withered Wretch
3 Back to Basics
1 Magus of the Unseen
1 Morphling
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Masticore

I picked up Alex at 7:15 am at the underground station. Swap was missing, so we waited 15 min. for him then left. On the way to the highway, I am driving at 100 km/h as usual when I notice that the car behind us in actually a police car. Uh oh, the limitation is 50 km/h, so I subtlely drop to 80 and they don't stop us. Pfew! There will be nothing to stop us going there since this time I bought a map of Germany to make sure we don't get lost as last time.

We arrive 40 min. before the tournament is supposed to start, I try to screen the field but few people have their deck or list in front of them, so I don't change anything and put Squee as the 15th slot in the sideboard as expected.
There are a lot of regulars missing: Benjamin Rott, Oliver Daems, Benjamin Ribbeck, Carsten Koetter, Swen Weinhold. Still we are not far from 80 players.

Round 1: Steffen Heinz - U/G Oath
Duelmen starts like it ended last time, with Steffen. He was playing Suicide black and I was with TnT and beat him 2-1 in a close match. Hopefully the outcome will be the same today.
I loss the die roll and pick a hand with only one mana source, an Island. But I also have Misdirection, Force of Will, Gilded Drake and Voidmage Apprentice to pitch and Wall of Roots. So I keep. Steffen starts with Island, so he is not playing the same deck. Fine, I have some time to set up if he plays control. I fail to drop a land on turn 2 but get one on turn 3 to play Wall of Roots. Steffen doesn't do much besides dropping land. Turn 4 I drop Survival, he drains, I misdirect it, he forces as I do. Survival resolves. He drops a Powder Keg I get out a Shapeshifter. Oath of Druids hits the board. I attack for 13 (Shapeshifter-Dreadnought and Quirion Ranger). I then change the Shapeshifter to a Tradewind Rider, untap it thanks to Ranger and bounce his Oath. He activates his Powder Keg at 3 counters, I tell him that it doesn't do much since the VS as a converted mana cost of 4 since it's copying a Tradewind Rider.He scoops.
Second game, I get good turn 1 with land, Mox, Mox, Mask that Steffen counters with Force of Will. I then play Elvish Lyrist which resolves. Steffen is stuck at 2 lands for some time while I don't do much. He finally gets his lands, casts Fact or Fiction at the end of my turn. I respond with Ancestral, he forces, I force and he forces again. He taps out for a Morphling. Unfortunately, I don't have my Gilded Drake handy  I play Genesis, then Tradewind Rider (hitting with Genesis to make sure he spends his mana defending with Morphling as he is at 9 thanks to the Lyrist). When he taps out to cast Brainstorm, I bounce his Morphling. Flip the Voidmage Apprentice (paying 2UU since I have no Mask out) to counter his Powder Keg and finish him off with Genesis.
2-0, 3 points.

Round 2: Alessandro Ciuchi - U/b/g Mask
Alessandro has read my report from Venice, he knows how to play against me.
His version is more a GroMask since he only has 4 Dreadnoughts as creatures and a lot of search and draw (Gush, Sleight of Hand, Brainstorm). I haven't seen any green cards but I suppose he was running Fastbond to get along with Gush.
He gets out a Mask and a Dreadnought. I kill the 12/12 with Nantuko Vigilante but can't stop the second one.
In the seconde game, I keep a hand with only 1 Island. When I Brainstorm, there is no other land and I am stuck for several turns (about 6 I think). In the meantime, Alessandro gets out Cursed Totem, which cripples my mana developpment even more (Birds of Paradise and Wall of Roots which I am both holding). He duresses away my Mask and drops his combo which I can't resist since I am way behind when I get extra mana.
0-2, 3 points.

Round 3: Michael Mueller - Psychatog
Michael is playing the Bazaar/Squee engine and a control version.
Game 1, I top deck a Mask after Michael casts Duress on me picking Force of Will. I drop a Dreadnought. He impulses to find a solution and plows my 12/12.
I get a second one he can't stop.
I gamble in game 2 with another one land hand. Michael strips, then Vampiric Tutor for Wasteland to keep me low on land while hitting me with a Meddling Mage (naming Illusionary Mask) soon followed by a second Pikula (on Survival of the Fittest). I can't recover.
Game 2 I get out turn 2 Mask and turn 3 Survival. He plows a masked Drake then a Voidmage Apprentice (that I counter). Not seeing any of his 4 Seal of Cleansing, he concedes.
2-1, 6 points.

Round 4: Daniel Huszar - Keeper
Like my other opponents today, Daniel is very friendly. He speaks a good English which is good seeing my level of German
Game 1 is a bit blurred but I think I get out a Mask and Dreadnought with is plowed then another one at which point Daniel Concedes.
Game 2 starts rather good for him as he REBs my Back to Basics, Strips one of my lands, duress my Survival, cast Merchant Scroll to get Ancestral Recall which resolves. On turn 4, he attempts a Fact or Fiction which resolves. I open wide eyes when I see another Strip Mine, check my notes then his graveyard and show him the 2 Strip Mines. Daniel is horrified, explaining it must have been one of the 16 Antiquies Strip Mines he just acquired that must have been mixed with his sideboard that he then put in his maindeck. Fortunately, his deck is correctly registered, so Daniel gets a game loss. Not a nice way to win most probably lost game, but the first strip gave him a big advantage early on...
2-0, 9 points.

Round 5: Gian-Pietro Ferri - Alluren
I have seen his deck going in the previous round and it's an original one: based on Survival of the Fittest and Academy Rector, Gian-Pietro's deck breaks Yawgmoth's Bargain to cast Alluren, gains life with Soul Warden and kills with a couple of Junk Divers and Goblin Bombardment. It has no blue
I know I have to stop the Rector to prevent him to go off.
Game 1 goes well with early Mask and Survival. I go for Voidmage Apprentice to be able to counter his Rector. I then attack for 25.
Game 2 starts well for Gian-Pietro with a first turn Survival which resolves. I start with Elvish Lyrist. Turn 2 Wall of Roots. I kill his Survival when his is tapped out. Then play my own Survival and get out a Withered Wretch. When Gian-Pietro sacrifice his Rector to High Market, I make sure that I can respond to the Rector activation by removing it from the game to prevent the tutoring for an enchantment. The judge checks with the head-judge, Justus Roennau, which confirms it works. Gian-Pietro didn't know it and asks to take back which I politely deny him. Know the cards you are playing with. I then drop a  Shapeshifter and kill him.
Later on, we have had a nice chat together about our decks.
2-0, 12 points.

Round 6: Friedrich Kopper - Keeper
Friedrich has been playing blue-based control decks for a long time now with much success placing regularly in the top 8 in Duelmen. It has evolved from mono-u to U/w, U/b/r and was today 4 colours (no green), which looks a lot like Keeper with Mishra's Factories.
Game 1, he casts Ancestral on my upkeep turn 1, I misdirect it, he Forces, I force back. He counters 2 Volrath's Shapeshifter. Survival resolves. He scoops
soon after.
I have to mulligan down to 5 in the second game. He get turn 1 Sol Ring. I top deck a Survival, play Lotus and Survival, get Squee and drop a land. He plays a land and Nevinyrral's Disk. I Force of Will it. He grabs Ancestral through Mystical Tutor, then casts Demonic Tutor. He sacs his Lotus to play Fact or Fiction and take 2 Mana Drain and Strip Mine while Balance and Time Walk go to the graveyard. He disks everything away, I put Squee and Genesis in my graveyard, but he has Tormod's Crypt to prevent me from recurring creatures. I drop a Back to Basics that is countered, then another one suffers the same fate. This allows a Mask to go through. I play a Dreadnought he is at 11. I reveal the Dreadnought and want to attack (big mistake). He Ice it holding 2 cards. I Force of Will since there are slim chances that he top decked a counter. He casts Rack and Ruin that resolves, getting rid of Mask and Dreadnought. He finishes me off with a couple of Factories.
Game 3, he is struggling to stabilize with his Factories, time is called when he is at 3 life but I don't have anything to kill him on the board.
1-1-1, 13 points.

Round 7: Kai Lange, mono-black reanimator
Kai also has 13 points, he was watching the end of my previous match and would have preferred to be paired against Friedrich. Good from me.
He is playing the Bazaar of Baghdad version with Squee and Krovikan Horror.
He goes turn 1 Swamp. Not knowing what he plays, I just play an Island, holding my Brainstorm against discard. At the end of my turn, he casts Vampiric Tutor.
His turn 2 consists of Entomb on Visara and laying a Bazaar of Baghdad. I drop Birds of Paradise. He lays another Bazaar, I play a 3rd land and drop Tradewind Rider, he winced. His 4th turn is quite good with Reanimate on Visara followed by another Reanimate on Verdant Force. On my 4th turn I drop Quirion Ranger and a morph creature. I bounce Visara and untap the Tradewind. He attacks with the Verdant Force, I untap a 3rd creature and bounce The Best Fatty Ever. Kai concedes.
Game 2 he goes turn 1 Entomb on Visara again, turn 2 Bazaar. I play a second turn Survival. He plays Exhume on his turn 3, Visara hits. I untap and play Gilded Drake on Visara. Kai reanimates Akroma and hits me for 9. I kill the Drake and get Waterfront Bouncer with Survival and play it. Kai is using his 2 Bazaar hoping for a black card to cast Contagion on the Bouncer, but none of the 5 cards he sees is black. I then bounce Akroma and play Voidmage Apprentice under a Mask to make things sake. He casts Dark Ritual and Consultation which I Force of Will. That's game.
2-0, 16 points.

My 5-1-1 record grants me 6th place out of 78 players, getting Ice Storm. I am quite happy about the result, but I am angry about myself for spoiling the 2nd game against Friedrich Kopper. Anyway, Vengeur Masque proved it's viable in a varied field, even though I didn't face any GroTog nor Workshop deck (TnT or Ducktape both of which were played).

Roland Bode managed as 7-0-0 with 4 colour GroAtog (no white). He added red for Fire/Ice and sideboard stuff (REB, Flametongue Kavu). My round 2 opponent, Alessandro, also placed in the top 8.

[Smmenen]

Well done.  

Just out of curiousity, has anyone called for there to be a top 8?  Or do people not want there to be one?

Steve Menendian

[carl]

Quote (Smmenen @ April 15 2003,16:16)Well done.

Thanks

Quote Just out of curiousity, has anyone called for there to be a top 8?  Or do people not want there to be one?

You mean top 8 single elimination?
I don't think the TO wants one since the swiss rounds are over round 8 pm already. I don't think the players want one either, more swiss rounds would probably be preferred. That way, everybody can enjoy more T1 instead of just 8 people. I like it that way and hope it will stay like it is.\n\n

[Smmenen]

That was my impression.  7 rounds can be grueling.  

However, don't you want the chance to actually see with greater certainty which deck might actually be best, by having them go head to head, rather than taking the chance that the top key decks miss each other by swiss pairings?

I see the advantages, but find a lack of a top 8 often frustrating.

Steve Menendian

[Fever]

I find the deck itself quite interesting. Is there any chance you could start a thread about it Carl?

[Fishhead]

Congrats to Carl on doing well with an interesting new deck!

Quote However, don't you want the chance to actually see with greater certainty which deck might actually be best, by having them go head to head, rather than taking the chance that the top key decks miss each other by swiss pairings?

Do you think the T8 changes things that much?  Theres still a huge element of luck in the T8 - as you can tell by watching the T8'ers root for certain pairings or certain results once pairings have been announced.  Lol.  

I rather like the Dulmen system - I don't see any of the things I dislike about the T8 system, particularly ID'ing.  The top decks generally end up playing each other towards the end of the tournament as well, so that all works.

[carl]

Quote (Fever @ April 15 2003,19:23)I find the deck itself quite interesting. Is there any chance you could start a thread about it Carl?

Well, I plan to write an article about the deck. I hope it will be out before the end of the week. But there is no need for me to start a thread if someone feels like talking about the deck of course...

Quote However, don't you want the chance to actually see with greater certainty which deck might actually be best, by having them go head to head, rather than taking the chance that the top key decks miss each other by swiss pairings?

Well, if you have enough rounds, the best should face each other.
The thing is that most of the time, there are too few rounds.
For the 78 players last Sunday in Duelmen, there should have been 9 rounds (n + 2, where n is the number of rounds to get no more than one undefeated player). But that would mean that we would have finished round 10:30 pm, which is too late. If the TO was willing to start on time, we could probably fit one more round, but I am not sure most of the players want to tournament to become a marathon.\n\n

[Fever]

Well, the reason i wanted you to start a thread is because i have a few questions about the deck, and more ppl would see the deck in the Vintage forum. Here is what i would like to know:

1) Wall of Roots: If they are simply for more acceleration, wouldnt more Moxen be superior? I know that they are creatures, and therefore have synergy with Survival, but by the time you get Survival going you should have enough mana.

2) Nantuko Vigilante: This guy seems a little slow, costing you 5 mana for the Naturalize effect. Has it been that useful in your testing?

3) No Incarnations: It seems like Wonder would be nice in here, allowing you to fly over Togs and the like. I know the Dreadnought has Trample, but i dont see any harm from added evasion.

Again, i really like the deck, it seems extremely fun to play. I just had a few questions.

[Gabethebabe]

Fever: allow me to reply. I don´t know the deck of Carl, since I lack the Masks, but I have quite some experience with FEB.

1) Wall of Roots is amazing. You need GREEN mana to fuel survival and green you get. G in your turn, G in your opponents turn. And Moxen don´t laugh at Su-Chi´s.

2) Nantuko Vigilante costs 4 mana for its disenchant effect under a Mask. Survival decks usually have Lyrist (Monk Realist) and Uktabi in the SB. Now there is a creature that can do both, unmisdirectable and under a Mask uncounterable. I would say that is worth an inclusion maindeck in enb environment filled with nasty Enchantments/Artifacts.

3) I have been testing Wonder in FEB and found that I never survivalled for it. You hardly ever need it. Survival decks are tight, because there are so many nice creatures that you can play that can prove valuable from time to time and Wonder just hasn´t done it for me. Besides, if you can get Wonder in the graveyard it means you will mostly have Survival on the table and that means you are doing well anyway.

[carl]

Thanks gabethebabe.

I've answered Fever's questions myself here

[bebe]

I really like your deck. Dicemanx created a similar version which is in an article that Zherbus is yet to post ... It was a take on FeB as well. It plays much more blue than yours however. For instance ...
3x Brainstorm
3x Mana Leak
3x Mana Drain
1x Ancestral
1x Time Walk
It also uses three Dreads only, a Palinchorn, Reya, Phage, Hypnox, Morphling and Squee. Four Shifters are used. This is a potent mix that allows for a fast combo win.

The mana base is also a bit different as well as we use BoPs, Walls and 5 Moxen. I'm not sure why you do not.

We found it a very good mix. It seems in some ways less focused but I think it is more difficult to defend against. It is like counter FeB.  

That said, I like your deck as well and your results are great.

[carl]

Quote (bebe @ April 17 2003,04:03)I really like your deck. Dicemanx created a similar version which is in an article that Zherbus is yet to post ...

I can't wait to read it.

Quote It was a take on FeB as well. It plays much more blue than yours however. For instance ...
3x Brainstorm
3x Mana Leak
3x Mana Drain
1x Ancestral
1x Time Walk

Well, I also have 3 BS, Ancestral, Time Walk and 6 counters.
Actually, I play with 17 blue spells main deck and 6 in the sideboard.

Quote It also uses three Dreads only, a Palinchorn, Reya, Phage, Hypnox, Morphling and Squee. Four Shifters are used. This is a potent mix that allows for a fast combo win.

And Mask?

Quote The mana base is also a bit different as well as we use BoPs, Walls and 5 Moxen. I'm not sure why you do not.

Because I run few mana source (17 lands, 3 artifact mana). I also have 4 BoP, 3 Walls and 2 Rangers.
Playing with off-colours moxen means having more mana sources.

Quote We found it a very good mix. It seems in some ways less focused but I think it is more difficult to defend against.

Well, the problem with FEB is that without Survival out, it's difficult to win. The boost Vengeur Masqué gets with Survival is huge, but I've won my share of games with Mask and Dreadnought in the first few turns. Mask is also what makes the deck fun to play, not to mention the bluff (vs Fire/Ice for example).

It is like counter FeB.

Well, the original FEB already had 7 counters: 3 counterspells and 4 Force of Will (see article

If DicemanX's deck has all what you said and 4 Force of Will, I wonder how many creatures he is playing. I have found that 20-21 is fine for Survival.

Quote That said, I like your deck as well and your results are great.

Thanks. I still think the sideboard can be optimized. Staying U/G, I think the main deck is not far from optimal (hopefully someone will prove me wrong on that).

Still, I am curious to see this new version of FEB.

Thanks to everybody for the input.

[bebe]

Check my article for reviewe in the vintage forum. Your deck is featured under FeB.

[MikeR-]

Have you ever thought about cabal therapy in this deck? as a way to get rid of pesky bops or walls that dont mean as much?!

roche-

[Fishhead]

Quote Have you ever thought about cabal therapy in this deck? as a way to get rid of pesky bops or walls that dont mean as much?!

He'd have to cast them off the BoPs, there is no regular source of black mana.  Duress would probably be better if you had Black anyway.  Also, the deck is relatively tight as is, I'm not sure what you could cut.