In the months leading up to Richmond team GWS and I began tearing up the Midwest vintage scene with an all new storm combo deck, that split for 6 of the last 8 pieces of power to given away since the start of the new year (including a lotus). I personally piloted it to 4 mox splits and 6 top 8’s in the 6 power tournaments that I went to with the deck. Here is the list I decided to run for day 1
Intuition Tendrils – I.T. aka GWS secret deck
Land 14
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
Accel 16
8 Sol-lo-moxen-crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
Protection 10
4 Duress
3 Force of Will
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Rebuild
Business 20
4 Brainstorm
3 Intuition
2 Grim Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Perplex (functions as a blue grim tutor)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Timetwister
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Necropotence
1 Ancestral Recall
SB 15
4 Dark Confidant
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Hymn to Tourach
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Massacre
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Swamp
1 Coffin Purge
First off, a primer written by Mat Endress has been submitted to Starcity games about playing the deck. The build in the primer is our standard build, however I have tuned this according to my play style and predicted metagame. I’ll address a few things now
The deck plays a lot like both gifts and TPS. If you play it too aggressively, then you’ll probably lose.
3 FoW’sI know your saying that can’t be right. I really think that the 4 duress and 4 FoW’s are just a little too much disruption. Our team has agreed that Duress is better than FoW most of the time, so 1 FoW got the axe for the very flexible merchant scroll.
8 fecthes and 5 fecthable landsThe mana base is a little more vulnerable to stifle and stuff like suppression field, however the large number of fetches help you find the basic land you need vs stax all while preventing color screw vs. drains. I’ll say this over and over, I have never lost a game to only having 5 fetchable lands, however I have one countless do to its stability. Plus, fetchlands help contribute towards threshold as well as provide shuffles after Brainstorms.
1 Swamp on the SBThe reason I run a land on the SB is because I’ve found 15 lands to be the optimal number of lands vs. stax, so I bring 1 in when I sideboard.
1 Hymn to Tourach on the SB Our team tested Hymn against gifts and slaver to some success, however several of us still preferred cabal therapy. Hymn was good though, since it is effective vs. other ritual combo decks, unlike therapy. So I found that in combo mirrors I would have 3 cuttable cards and only 2 worthwhile things to bring in (-1 necro, -2 bounce spells, +1 tendrils, +1 coffin purge, +1 Hymn). So vs. slaver and gifts instead of bringing in 4 therapy I would now just bring in 3 therapy and 1 hymn.
There will be much more on SBing and how dark confidant is the nuts in Endress’ primer.
Fast forward to Friday, March 18th, “The Almighty” Brain Fisher and the self proclaimed “Immortal Sex God” Mat Endress arrive at my apartment in Champaign Illinois at 3am, to be followed by the man that tore up the vintage draft scene Ryan “Rhyno” Spindler. I insist on showing them the most ridiculous fountain sitting in the middle of my living room that I built one weekend, when one of my roommates went home, solely for the WTF factor. After a quick tour and some cheesy bread we start the 1,000 mile trek across the country to Richmond.
The 13 drive went about as well as we possibly could have hoped. Endress and Fisher slept for a few hours, while Rhyno and I discussed IT and talked sports for a while. The drive went by pretty fast and included incredible views of the mountains, a “ninja” bridge, several Food Lions, and an accident that occurred less than 100 feet away from us (more about this in Endress’ report). Anyways, we arrive in Richmond at about 6 pm and get some food with teammate “Heavy Breath” Matt Morrison at an Applebee’s located next to a Food Lion. Upon returning to the hotel we find out we are at the same hotel as Meandeck and “That Douchebag” Mike Scheen (jk Mike, you’re cool). I hit the sheets around midnight after chillin’ with team, JD, and Mike for a while.
Nothing too eventful happens before the tournament. I talk with the always crazy ICBM crew to hear some of them would be running IT as well. So the following would be running the deck
Me
Mat Endress
Rhyno
I@n Degraff
Mike Solymossy AKA the Salad (13Nova)
Pairings go up on time and so goes the action.
Round 1: Bird Shit (Brian Rozzero), I recognized the name, and knew what he was playing.
Game 1: I win the dice roll. I open up with a nice hand involving Vamp, Duress, Intuition, Usea, Yawgwill, and 2x cards. I duress and take a MD tormod’s crypt over ancestral. He chooses not to waste my sea and opts for ancestral instead. On his EOT I vamp for Lotus. Then on my turn, I Intuition for 2x Dark Rit, and a Demonic Tutor. Turn 2 kill.
Game 2: I bring in like 3 confidants and 2 Massacre. I play a turn 2 Bargain, which he FoWs, I FoW back, and he FoW’s again. The following turn I rip confidant and ride it all the way to the win, with him stuck without white mana for his STP and Orim’s Chant.
1-0
Round 2: Rian (of meandeck) with BW confidant
Game 1: His disruption seems to great for me initially. I tutor up ancestral and play it. I finally sculpt a good hand with grim tutor at 7 life while taking 4 a turn. On his turn he forgets to pay 1 life to untap carnophage during his upkeep. I win at 2 life, how lucky.
Game 2: He gets a Leyline starting in play. His deck works and does its thing, but somehow I manage to tendrils him to 4 life. The following turn I play a grim and massacre his board and he has a sacromancy in play, however he vamps for withered wretch ftw at 1 life.
Game 3: This game is kinda fuzzy. I think I bounced a null and comboed him out.
2-0
Round 3: UGw Tog
Game 1: I mystical for ancestral, which gets Forced. Then I lost.
Game 2: I bring in the confidants and therapies. At some point I play a twister with U1BBB left in pool only to duress and drop 2 confidants. A few turns later I play an Intuition for 2x cabal therapy and a lotus. He gives me lotus, and then I take down counters via flashback and win.
Game 3: We didn’t have much time, and end up with the draw
2-0-1
Round 4: Cody with Metalworker/Ravager Combo
Game 1: He wins the role and opens with 2 moxen and at Chalice at 0. He doesn’t do much for the rest of the game while I intuition for rituals and locate a yawg will.
Game 2: He opens with ancient tomb, lotus and memory jar witch I force. He proceeds to do nothing of relevance for the next 2 turns and I kill him on turn 3.
3-0-1
Round 5: Jesus Roxas (reflection) with Control Slaver
Jesus and I go to school together and test about once a week. We both know that we’ve got to play it and that the matchup is about 60-40 in IT’s favor.
Game 1: I keep a hand that was something like a turn ¾ protected kill, however he resolves a maindecked tormod’s crypt and I lose.
Game 2: I draw a nutty hand and serve him quickly.
Game 3: He plays his new tech from his buddy Rich Shay, dropping an early chalice at 1. I didn’t see this coming, and have a hand consisting of +4 1 costers. He’s got a mana crypt on the board and I eventually rip a confidant. I damage from confidant and crypt made tendrils lethal at 1 storm.
4-0-1
Round 6: Steve Menendian (meandeck) with Ichorid
Game 1: I think he wins the dice roll and plays a therapy naming BS and whiffs. I rip duress and play it fearing a chalice at 1 next turn, and am forced to hit Darkblast. He dredges and plays a bazaar. On my upkeep, I vamp for lotus after some combo math, only to be told by steve that I don’t have it (he knew my entire hand). I check the math again and win on turn 2.
Game 2: He keeps a strong hand with bazaar, tcrypt, null rod, and mana. My hand consisted of 1 dark rit, 1 cabal rit, a mana crypt, tendrils, BS, and 2 lands. On turn 2 I BS’d into Demonic, but can’t do a whole lot with rod in play. Turn 3 steve drops bazaar with rod and crypt on the table and things start to look bad for me. Then on my turn I draw a my card and proceed to think for about 2 minutes about my plays. Steve calls a judge (how ironic) and I come up with the play. He is at 18 and here is what goes down
Dark rit -> DT for Chain of vapor -> mox + mana crypt -> chain of vapor the mox, crypt, and his null rod -> mox + crypt -> cabal rit -> tendrils for 18
Shortly thereafter Brian Demars congratulated me with a handshake and a revised dual. Thanks Brian.
5-0-1
Round 7: Mat Endress (GWS) with IT
Endress is 5-1 and I’m 5-0-1. I concede so he can draw in, then if I win next round I will still t8.
5-1-1
Round 8: 5cuba stax
Game 1: I resolve a thresholded cabal rit over a chalice at 1 and play bargain. I barely win via bad cards and me sucking.
Game 2: He get crucible strip and 3sphere quickly. I scoop.
Game 3: All I remember is an opening hand with demonic and intuition. Seems good.
6-1-1
Top 8: Mat Endress (GWS) with IT
Mat and I running similar maindecks except he didn’t run a scroll and something else for tinker and jar.
Game 1: Mat ends up playing an intuition for twist, tinker, and necro on turn 1 or 2. I give him jar since my hand is nuts and don’t want to lose it. He proceeds to jar -> will -> twister -> into nothing and he discards his hand bringing it to 0 cards. On my turn have intuition up and pass. Endress proceeds to rip jar and activates (he’s got +5 artifact accel on the board). He gets a hand with intuition, FoW, U card, and tendrils. He plays intuition for bargain, rebuild, and card. I give him rebuild which he plays which I FoW, he FoW’s and I then I BS into FoW. He then discards his only tendrils and concedes.
Game 2: I draw a hand of: Jet, hymn, 2x land, intuition, lotus, vamp. I play turn 1 hymn and turn 2 kill him.
Top 4: Jeff Anad with CS
Game 1: I win the dice roll and mull to 6 for a hand with turn 1 necro with FoW backup. I necro for 11 into just stuff, and sculpt a hand with land, mox, FoW, U card, ancestral, DT, and something else. On my turn 2 I play mox, DT for will, and necro for 4 more. I ancestral on his upkeep and win the next turn with 2x FoW backup.
Game 2: He gets turn 1 welder. Turn 2 drain up. Turn 3 tinker and activate slaver FTW.
Game 3. I keep a hand with ancestral, BS, island, academy, and 3 other cards. I attempt ancestral on his upkeep which is Forced. We go on to trade academies, and I can’t hit a black source for my life, because I BS’d into nothing and drew nothing for +5 turns. I eventually draw a black source and he counters my ritual. He then rips tinker off the top and proceeds to slave me the turn after I rip a black source.
I end up with a Time Walk and Endress takes a Ruby. I go back to the hotel and talk with a bunch of people about IT. I come to the conclusion, that its time to run type 2’s gayest card, Remand. Remand is always nuts vs. drains and good vs. shops on the play. Against drains I usually end up remanding my own spell to fizzle their counter as anti-tempo, but card advantage all while pulling out counters. So, I ran the above list with the following changes
-1 Perplex
-1 Hurkyl’s
+2 Remand
SB
-1 Massacre
+1 Hurkyl’s
Round 1: Ben Carp (ICBM) with Oath
Game 1: He drops a chalice at 1, however I cabal rit over it and resolve bargain for the win.
Game 2: He mulls to 4. I keep it short.
1-0
Round 2: Mike Scheen with 5c Grim Long
Game 1: He goes off and I lose
Game 2: I play turn 1 duress followed by a turn 2 hymn and combo him out shortly thereafter.
Game 3: He plays a turn 2 wheel and I discard a coffin purge which he didn’t see. I purge a ritual in response to his will and he fizzles.
2-0
Round 3: Jeremy Seroogy (ICBM) with 5C stax
Game 1: He wins the dice roll and opens with mox monkey and mox. I drop a land and pass. He follows that up with a sphere of resistance. I vamp or mystical for rebuild and continue to drop basic lands and play brainstorms. On turn 4 he drops crucible and waste my fetch, since he knows that I only run 3 basics and I’m sitting on them and a fetch, so I fetch for Usea in response, which he wastes again, but I float mana from to play an intuition for fetches. The next turn I play an EOT rebuild and win. This is a great example of how IT destroys stax.
Game 2: He locks me out fast.
Game 3: I keep a slow hand including 2 duress, remand, a mox, and 3 lands. I remand his turn 1 chalice and duress it away. I then proceed to draw another remand and ancestral over a few turns. When I play the ancestral he Reb’d, so I remanded the ancestral, replayed it, and won.
3-0
Round 4: Jacob Orlove (meandeck) with BW confidant
Both games where total blow outs. Game 2 he had 2 leylines start in play, but I double tendrils him for 22 damage.
4-0
Round 5: Paul “the creator of type 4” guy (meandeck) with 5c Grim long
He gets a turn 1 necro. I drop lotus into 2x duress and then scroll up an ancestral. He brainstorms into the nuts and attempts to kill (via jar) but fizzles, but he does vamp for will, and necros down to 2 life. I play ancestral, land, and pass. He plays a dark rit and and yawg will, but remand blocks the will. And then I attack with a spirit token for the win.
5-0
Round 6: Mike Jones with Slaver
I should be able to draw in at this point, but I get paired down and have to play vs. the luckiest slaver player of all time.
Game 1: I destroy him, because the matchup is good.
Game 2: He gets turn 3 tinker into a slave that turn.
Game 3: I get the game exactly where I want it. I’ve duressed away all his counters and have total control of the game, plus I have a confidant in play. On about turn 4 or 5 and I’m 2 short on storm of winning so I pass the turn. All he has is a slaver in hand and about 5 mana sources on the table. He rips TFK, plays it, and draws DT, Lotus, and a land. He then goes onto play will, welder, time walk. He welds in slaver and kills me.
5-1
Round 7: Kowal ID
5-1-1
T8: Steve Menendian (meandeck) with Grim Long.
Game 1: I get a turn 3 kill on the play after a duress or two.
Game 2: We trade duresses. On turn 3 he attempts grim tutor for a yawg will, however I have an intuition in hand. I respond with some calculations and intuition for coffin purge and dark rits. I purge his lotus, however that’s not enough to stop him from winning. I’m not sure what happens, but he plays a will with 6 available mana afterwards with DT in yard, but doesn’t put it together, so he plays a draw 7 into a tendrils and wins.
Game 3: I duress a wheel of fortune out of his mulligan hand that is something like
Lotus, 2x dark rit, tendrils, mana crypt, and wheel
I end up making a misplay of not playing Demonic for Bargain, and get ancestral instead. Luckily, I ancestral into the nuts and win.
Top 4: Brian Fisher (GWS) with Slaver
Game 1: He gets a turn 3 slave here on the play.
Game 2: Removed.
Game 3: I play a turn 2 duress which he BS’s to in response. For some reason I felt the need to remand the BS so he had to bust his fecthland. This was definitely not the play, but it doesn’t matter. He plays BS again. He goes on to strip mine my Usea and I can’t draw a black source for the rest of the game. Fisher went on to beat Kowal in the Finals.
So I ended up 11-1-2 in 2 days of swiss. All of my losses came to slaver, despite it being a very favorable matchup. From previous tournaments, I was a cumulative 5-0 vs. slaver, but this weekend I went 1-3. GWS ends up taking 4 top 8’s for the weekend and wins the event day 2. So, our team ended up with a Lotus, Time Walk, Sapphire, and a Ruby for the weekend. With only 5 people in Richmond, we where 25% of the top 8.
Props:
Starcity for hosting another awesome event
Remand for being the nuts
Mat Endress and Brian Fisher for both t8ing
Rhyno for owning the Vintage draft scene and driving infi
Matt Morrison for his Five-Color, 250 card storm combo deck
Me going 5-0 vs. team meandeck and winning 2 pieces of power
Everyone who I hung out with on Saturday and Sunday night
Food Lion
Slops:
Slaver for turn 3 Mindslavers each match
The Café that wanted $3 for a muffin
Mike Jones for beating 4 midwest players on luck (while being a douche)
The lady who was FING crazy and slammed into the road barrier
What GWS stands for
