So this is my first tournament report in a long time. It is also the first time I have played Magical cards since April. Studying for my final semester of law school classes and the bar basically forced me into a hermit like existence. Not lots of fun. I have basically had to sit by while the Age of Aquarius (Fish domination of Vintage) began. Needless to say I had ZERO, absolutely no playtesting in prior to the small tournament in Westboro.
I dropped of my wife at MIT and picked up WildWillieWonderboy from the Mana Drain. Willie is taking classes for high school at Harvard, so picked him up at Kendall Sq. I also brought my camcorder, which I just got two days ago, to the tournament. Hopefully we can get some video footage up. I am going to try to edit it a bit so that it is not so jumpy.
I prepared for a Fish dominated metagame based on the following three premises: 1) that Fish is the cheapest competitive deck in Vintage; 2) that its recent success would convince many to play it over other, pet decks; and 3) given the small size of the event and the fact that this was the first event held at this place there would be a high number of budget/scrub players that would likely choose Fish if they were anywhere near being in the know. With these premises I designed this deck:
4 cc Tog:
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 REB
3 Tog
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Fire/Ice
2 Pernicious Deed
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Intuition
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
7 Solomoxen
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Seas
3 Tropical Islands
3 Volcanic Islands
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
SB:
1 Berserk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 REB
1 BEB
2 Smother
1 Fire/Ice
1 Naturalize
1 Oxidize
1 Rack and Ruin
3 Tsabo's Web
The general idea of the deck was to a) return Tog to its control roots seeing as its attempt to go the combo/control route has not been successful recently; b) majorly hate out Fish given the three premises I was operating under. I cut the Mana Crypt because, as a more controlling deck, I was afraid that the damage would add up too quickly. I decided that the REBs would be a good swap for the Duresses or MisDs as an homage to Weissman's original build and after a conversation with Samite Healer. The SB was a bit janky as I would have rather had Artifact Mutation instead of Oxidize, but I could not get one before the tournament started. How lame am I? Not ONE Artifact Mutation but 4 Aura Mutation....ugh.
Round 1: Corey, Control Slaver
Corey is definitely on TMD, I just can't remember his TMD name. He was playing a version of Control Slaver. I did not see much of his deck either game. This match consisted of me drawing an Underground Sea and a Mox Pearl and no draw the first game and an Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, and a Mox Emerald with no draw. Both games I drew no counters. If a Tog deck gets little mana, no card draw, and no counters it is a really AWFUL deck. I drew exactly one action spell--Fire/Ice which could have killed a Welder but I was dead the following turn by a Pentavus.
0-2, 0-1
Round 2: Steve, FCG
The first game I get virutally the exact same hand as the first game I got against Corey, no mana, no draw, no counters. I drew a Deed and cast it turn 3, but he gets the chain to go off and wins before I can pop the Deed. He almost flubbed it, attacking prior to chaining out, but he gets enough stuff to kill me with Sharpshooters. It was close. He was like 2 points of damage away from not going off, at which point my Deed would have wiped his entire board.
The second game I get a good hand consisting of a Mox Sapphire, an Underground Sea, an Intuition, a AK, and a Mana Drain. This is an ass whoopin' hand. He and I play lands under his third turn. He tried to cast Food Chain and I Mana Drain it. The next turn I cast Intuition with part of the Drain mana, and I cast one of the two juiced AKs in my hand. He casts a Piledriver. EOT his turn I cast another AK bringing my Library on line for the first time. Over the next couple of turns I get some crazy card advtange from the Library which for some reason Steve chooses not to waste. He wastes a Volcanic Island instead. Whatever. Finally he has two PDs and a Ringleader in play. I have a lone Tog and a slew of artifact mana. I Mystical for a Will at the end of his turn. I draw the Will and cast it. Funny thing was part of the studio audience comments on how Will is not that great. The refrain seems to be "...people on TMD think this is best card ever. It really is not that good." I proceed to cast Ancestral, Time Walk, and 2 juiced AKs. I win the next turn, a Time Walk turn. Oh yeah...Will is amazing (more on this later). It IS that good.
I lose the next game to a FCG "classic" hand on turn 3. Attack for 48 or something. This is one time when I really, really would have rather had Duress over REB. It was the first time of many today.
1-2, 0-2
Round 3: Jesse, Virtual Madness
Virtual Madness is one of my favorite decks of all time. I love aggro and this is clearly the best pure aggro deck in Vintage. I think that it would be better, but it is so expensive to build that few people play it and test with it and as a result there is not that many brains thinking about V. Madness problems. The deck can be a bit inconsistent, but it certainly fast enough. I played Andy Lambe about a year ago at a small RI tournament and he whupped me with V. Madness.
The first game was a really bad game for me. I got no acceleration and a Deed. But I had no time to cast it. I was dead by turn 4. Rootwalla and Mongrel beatdown commence. I did Force a first turn Arrogant Wurm. Otherwise I would be dead on turn 2.
The second game I win on a stupid, stupid Will. Jesse totally had me on the ropes and my hand was in the air to tap out (he may have even had me in the Figure Four Leglock) but I drew Yawg Win and well...won. I showed him the Cunning Wish and he scoops. I hate winning like that. Oh yeah, WILL IS THAT GOOD.
The third game I drew a weird hand and I think I misplayed it. He gets a ton of acceleration and hard casts a Roar of the Wurm. I have no response whatsoever so I Mana Drain it. The next turn I draw nothing and I have to decide to Will (with only 2 AKs in the 'yard) or wait. I decide to wait and burn. Then Jesse flashes back the Roar. I could Drain it again but after the previous turn I decide not to. I draw a Cunning Wish and get a Smother. I never see a Tog though and I get burned out with Fiery Tempers. They are awesome in that deck.
1-2, 0-3
Round 4: Ethan (who I owe $3) aka Frappe, FCG
Ah, a Stok soldier. Ethan is a really nice guy and by this time I am pretty mellow realizing that no playtesting and playing like a 'tard is not going to win me a Library so we play a few relaxed games. At this point I am just trying to figure out what all the new cards do.
I don't remember a lot of detail here. I win in two games straight with Fire/Ice saving me a few times and the game ending on a HUGE Will. I think a drew nearly my whole deck. I did cast a Fact or Fiction one game. Here was the scenario: Me: 1 Tropical Island, 1 Volcanic, no permanents, 5 cards in hand (including Fire/Ice); Him: 1 Prospector, 1 PD, 1 Mox Emerald, 1 Taiga, 1 Mountain, 1 Wasteland. The pile was this: 1 Strip Mine, 1 Deed, 1 Tropical Island, 1 Mox Sapphire, 1 Fetch. How would you divide the pile? Frappe did this: 1 Deed, 1 Sapphire v. 1 Strip, 1 Tropical Island, 1 Fetch. I am not sure if this is the best split, but I am positive that no other split would be dramatically worse. I took the land pile seeing as I had so little mana. I win the game and the match, but I am just curious what other people would do. Lots of play errors here by me, but Ethan being nice and the sheer power of Will let me win despite them.
2-0, 1-3
Round 5: Keith, Belcher
Seeing as I have not played since April I have not had the experience of playing against a Belcher deck. Both games I lose on turn 2. I have one land in play each time. I did draw a Force of Will on one of my Jar hands the second game and another on my third Jar hand of that turn, but neither are enough. Keith gets some really good hands with tons of Rituals. I think he drew all four Rituals each game. That is some good in Belcher. I really never have enough land to make in game losing play errors. Duress, however, would have been hugely helpful here. REB was about as helpful as a dick stapler today.
0-2, 1-4
I hang around with Willie and get some good trades. Apparently people like the proxies that Jeff and Jacob and I made. They do look good. They can't pass the bend test, but I would never want to do something that is that dangerous. I also tape some of Kowal and Matrix's match, some of Moobius's match v. this guy named Shane (who told me, and I quote: "I don't ever need money." That was not taken out of context. I was trying to get a Volcanic before the event and he would not sell it to me. Kerz lent me one to save my ass, but still he did not even set a price. Nothing. Not even something absurd, which would have ended the conversation in a more realistic way. Apparently he is related to Bill Gates, because other than that, we all need money.). Corey was playing against what I thought was the more innovative deck of the tournament a U/r Fish style good stuff deck. It looked really cool. I am not sure how much better it is than Fish, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Willie and I had to leave because well...I had to go furniture shopping. Today was tax free day in Massachusetts and we were going to go get the final piece of furniture for our bedroom set. Tax free day kicks ass. It is like living in New Hampshire, but still with the oppressive socialism.
Final thoughts
First the deck was actually better than the record would indicate. I think against a field of Fish, this deck just might have a chance. The Fire/Ice are hugely helpful, but without any blue guys to REB the deck had some issues. I also really did not expect to play against 3 (!) aggro decks.
If I had to play over again here is what I would have played:
new cards4cc Tog:
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Duress (-2 REBs, -1 Deed)
3 Tog
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Fire/Ice
1 Pernicious Deed
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Intuition
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
7 Solomoxen
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Seas
3 Tropical Islands
3 Volcanic Islands
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
SB:
1 Berserk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 REB (+1 REB, -1 BEB)
1 Echoing Decay1 Firestorm 1 Naturalize
1 Artifact Mutation2 Tormod's Crypt3 Tsabo's Web
I also think that the good stuff U/r deck has some real potential. Why does Fish not run Serendib Efreet? This guy was and he obviously did well, placing in the Top 8.
Another interesting topic that Willie and I discussed was the fact that unlike other combo decks, Belcher never gets any closer to going off than it is after the first hand. Usually TPS and Draw7 can piece together wins, getting closer with each draw, but Belcher's all or nothing approach makes this impossible. Blecher is for real. It is, bar none, the fastest gun in the format. I was very impressed with its power. I thought that it would be less consistent, but a 2-0 win both on turn 2 makes me think otherwise. Though such a small sample size is probably not a good way to make a judgment.
Finally, I think that there is NO WAY to argue against Yawg Win not being one of the best, if not the best cards in Vintage. I would also say that since the release of Mirrodin, Tinker has gotten much, much better. Tinker is probably twice as good as Demonic Tutor right now. The most broken cards in Vintage right now are, in the following order: 1) Yawgmoth's Will; 2) Yawgmoth's Bargain; 3) Memory Jar; 4) Tolarian Academy; 5) Tinker. I think that if we ever see a card banned (though I am not calling for that to occur) it would be one of those 5 cards or Tendrils. Tendrils is an interesting case. I am certain that if (more like when) combo gets better Tendrils will be the kill. The problem with Tendrils is that it is restriction proof, meaning that in order to stop the deck WotC will likely have to restrict some other card (likely Dark Ritual) which is have HUGE collateral damage. I know that such things should not be an actual consideration, but restricting Dark Ritual is just so ridiculous. Tendrils was a HUGE mistake.
Props:
Kerz for lending me a Volcanic Island and being cool.
Corey for being a nice guy and humoring me the first match (letting me play and think I had a chance, when, in fact, he had the infinite turn lock)
Ethan for playing a relaxed game and selling me a Volcanic (I owe you three dollars)
Willie for listening to me yammer and being the color man
Moobius for playing a cool secret tech deck prior to the event and (maybe, hopefully) helping me find a host for the video.
Matrix for going Moneymaker with the sunglasses.
Kowal for being SUPER COOL, Jacob Orlove style
The Whiz, for running a good event.
Slops:
Me for making so many play mistakes and not playtesting
Shane for not selling me a Volcanic for ANY price.
The peanut gallery for saying that Yawg Win is not that good.
