The Mountains Win Again!
Mountains Splits for a Mox Pearl
Our story begins on Friday, December 1st while preparing for the first Vintage tournament at Gateway Comics in East Wareham, MA, organized by ELD. I’d been looking forward to this event for some time. We have an event at Myriad Games on December 9th, but I will be hosting rather than playing, so it was nice to have a chance to go play on my day off. The Mountains has been in systematic development status ever since the Myriad Games tournament on November 11th. After about fifty test games over the course of three weeks, coupled with a hefty amount of discussion and consideration, the deck arrived at its latest version.
The Mountains Win Again version 24.3
1x Mountain
3x Plateau
1x Badlands
1x Scrubland
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Flooded Strand
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Jőtun Grunt
2x Grim Lavamancer
2x Kris Mage
4x Dark Confidant
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Magma Jet
4x Hide and Seek
3x Pyroblast
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Sacred Ground
1x Pyrostatic Pillar
1x Null Rod
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Goblin Bombardment
Sideboard
4x Red Elemental Blast
4x Duress
4x Shattering Spree
2x Grim Lavamancer
1x Pithing Needle
Changes from version 23.4 include the removal of the Darkblast, addition of the Pithing Needle, testing of Mox Jet, removal of Goblin Welders, testing of Duress between the main and sideboard, adding a fourth Confidant and slightly adjusting the mana base to support the additional Confidant and improve the overall consistency. The Shattering Sprees replacing Goblin Vandals in the side were another experiment. As you’ll see later on, the test results came back overwhelmingly positive.
Tournament: ELD’s Mox Tournament, Gateway Comics, East Wareham, MA
Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Introduction
Sara, Mike, and I enjoyed a hearty breakfast before piling into the vehicle that would convey us to our destination some 1.5-2 hours away. I suited up for another stylish day of professional Magic and we got on the road. On the way there, we discussed the metagame, deck choices, and various and sundry other topics of interest. As we got closer to our destination, our directions indicated that we should follow a certain Rt. 6 East, which we dutifully did, being right and proper navigators. We passed by many Christmas Tree Shops and uncovered their plot to slowly take over the world by selling cheap, mostly worthless junk. We reached the end of our directions and were no where near the end point indicated, so we called Gateway Comics and were informed that we were in fact supposed to follow Rt. 6 West rather than East. Apparently the roads had been redone recently and our directions were no longer valid. After some back tracking and wandering, we arrived at our destination. We went inside, paid our entries, turned in our decklists, greeted the fellow players, and then headed out to satiate our hunger at a nearby eating establishment. We reveled in the savory goodness of Subway cookies and sandwiches of a submarine variety while listening to Styx on the radio. We headed back to the venue to arrive promptly at the start time, noon. Naturally Feinstein was holding up the tournament to finish his borrowed $4,000 Solution. After Dave finishes up with his list (about two minutes after we arrive), he sleeves up and tests against Sara’s deck. I also challenge him to a duel and break out Trogdor the Burninator, only to have my burnination stopped by Chalice and Sphere of Resistance with an eventual Crucible-Strip lock. During the game, I conversationally ask Dave about his reasoning behind why Gifts should be restricted. He says it’s very simple, competent players who play Gifts will not lose. Then he poses the question, “Is Gifts better than Fact or Fiction?” I assert that it is because rather than getting five cards at random to be split, Gifts gets four very specific cards to be split. Due to the high level of recursion in the format, when an astute player makes the right choices for Gifts targets (and that shouldn’t take more than a minute), they gain a huge amount of specific card advantage. Around 12:30, the decklists are all in and pairings go up for the start of the round at 12:45. I notice at this point that there are several players on the list who have no last names, just a single letter of their surname. As someone who is generally verbose and prefers to take detailed notes, this was somewhat of a hindrance, but nothing that could not be overcome by simply asking my opponents their names – more interaction that way at any rate. I wonder who these celebrity players are, that they have taken to using single letters for their surnames. One of them is a mysterious David F. Another is Ryan M, who happens to be my first round opponent.
Round 1 – Ryan Marek with Gifts
I recognize Marek’s name from TMD posts in this tournament thread and he mentions that he hasn’t played in a while. I play first and lead with a Bloodstained Mire and a decently solid hand. He leads with Underground Sea, Mox Pearl, Mana Vault, Fact or Fiction (revealing Tinker, Sol Ring, Force of Will, Misdirection, Flooded Strand). Hmmm. Something doesn’t seem balanced here. I separate into Tinker + Sol Ring and the rest, not wanting to give him what is surely more counters to add to the Drain that’s certainly in his hand and looking at the Hide in my hand, knowing that if he Tinkers out next turn, he won’t have the mana for a Drain. He wisely waits a couple of turns while I scry for backup. He gets some more land over a couple of turns and Tinkers for The Big Man. I wait another turn to see if I’ll draw Pyroblast backup for my Hide, but I don’t. He predictably Drains my Hide / Seek and then Time Walks with Force Backup. All those carefully calculated odds are just thrown out the window when faced with double counter backup. Even if I had the Pyroblast, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Game 2 I have a much better matchup after sideboard, so I’m relatively confident, leading with a Scrubland and a 1st turn Duress. He Forces pitching Mana Drain; not a good sign. He lays and Island and says go. I consult an Enlightened Tutor on my upkeep for a Mox Ruby as I have no other red sources in hand. It resolves as does the Ruby shortly thereafter. I pass and he attempts to cast Mystical Tutor at the end of my turn. Mystical Tutor, meet Pyroblast. He Brainstorms and then fetches with a Flooded Strand for an Underground Sea to cast Mana Vault. I bide my time, drawing and playing a Bloodstained Mire and passing back to him. He draws and passes. I Waste his Underground Sea and he attempts to cast Gifts off that and the Vault. Gifts, meet Pyroblast; I believe your friend Mystical Tutor has already been introduced. At this point, he has one card in hand, a tapped Mana Vault that he cannot untap, and an Island. I have 4 cards in hand and all the mana I need. In short, I have him on the ropes. I get a Confidant online with a Jötun Grunt showing up shortly thereafter. He drops a Mox Sapphire and a land, Chain of Vaporing my Grunt before it gets a chance to do any damage. He casts Gifts and pulls up Recoup, Burning Wish, Lotus, and Yawgmoth’s Will. I consider his mana situation and give him Burning Wish and Lotus, knowing that he’ll need to have two more mana sources in hand to Recoup the Will. I Seal of Cleansing his Mox Sapphire to delay him. He drops Crypt and Jet, followed by the Lotus to Recoup Will and Burning Wish for Tendrils. Well, that’s that. I countered two of his major enablers and he just kept drawing more – that’s solid deck construction and good drawing. Ryan is a very nice fellow and I wish him the best of luck. We have about 10 minutes left in the round, so I converse with Master Tap, Mike, and Sara, as they finish their games.
Record: 0-1
Round 2 – David Charudini with Gifts
Round 2, Fight! David C seems like a nice enough fellow. Like my previous opponent, he informs me that he hasn’t played in a while and will likely make mistakes as he’s a “bad player”. I tell him not to worry about it. In my opinion, there are only better players and worse players. That relative skill differential can easily be overcome by the right combination of cards and luck, particularly in a volatile format like Vintage. Usually the people who say they’re bad players aren’t actually that sub par – it’s the ones who don’t recognize and rectify their mistakes that fail to improve. We shuffle up and start. He leads with a Flooded Strand and Lotus Petal, and I like the Pyrostatic Pillar in my hand all the more. I have other threats, so I go for the early Pillar to draw out a counter. Sure enough, the mana is Drained right out from under me. He can’t use all the mana next turn, so he just Time Walks and burns for one. He plays an Underground Sea and passes back to me. I attempt to summon up a Grunt, but he has another Drain. I Strip a land after he gets another Underground Sea and he burns for another 2 off the Grunt-Drain. He casts Vault, which will give him exactly five mana after it resolves. I wager that he doesn’t have another Drain in hand, but he may have a Force to hard cast. I respond to the Vault my casting Seek. He asks what it does and I read it to him and show him the card. He reads it and says that’s fine. I check out his deck and see Tendrils, Burning Wish, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Darksteel. At this point I’d rather have the extra life padding, so I take the Colossus. He’s at 14 life; I’m at 18. He says “so I go to 25?” I explain that
I gain the life, going to 29, rather that him. He re-reads Seek…. “Oh,” he says. I get a Confidant on board, Seal the fate of his Vault (no response), and he casts Merchant Scroll the next turn. I Pyroblast, fearing the Almighty Ancestral. I was right to have feared – he casts Ancestral in response to the Pyroblast and lets the Merchant Scroll get countered. I draw a Null Rod from the Confidant and it resolves. He casts Gifts. I Seek again in response, taking Yawgmoth’s Will. He takes four minutes to Gifts and gets some stuff that doesn’t really matter at this point since he’s so far down on mana and his Will is gone. Dark Confidant and Grim Lavamancer take it home. I sideboard, adding in some secret Shattering Spree tech in addition to going to 7 REBs and 4 Duress.
Game 2 David mulls to 6 on the play and plays a Sapphire and an Ancestral without drawing any lands. I play a Bloodstained Mire and REB his Repeal (targeting his own Mox) to keep him off mana. I drop a Confidant (Francis) and Waste the Academy he drops the next turn. I play Mount Fuji and drop Confidant #2 (Eunice). He plays Ruby and Fires both my Confidants (I totally walked into that one)! He Merchant Scrolls for Brainstorm, still desperately trying to find some mana. He Merchant Scrolls again for Force of Will the turn after I Vamp for a card. I draw out his force with the Null Rod I tutored for and then Seek him. He has seven cards in hand still; he Brainstorms in response. He doesn’t find a Force and I take Yawgmoth’s Will after considering his board and the fact that it’s about the only card that can get him out of this since he only has 2 mana sources in play, neither of them black. I drop a third Confidant (Dudley) and he scourges the board with Pyroclasm. I E-Tutor for Pyrostatic Pillar and it gets countered as well. I Waste his land and attempt to cast a Grunt. He Drains it., drops Lotus Petal, Mox, Mox, Sol Ring, Recoups Merchant Scroll for Mystical, Mysticals for Tendrils and kills me.
Game 3 There are 2 minutes left in the round, not even enough time for shuffling. We shuffle relatively quickly and I resolve to keep a hand with enough disruption to stop him from winning, since I certainly can’t win in 5 turns. I don’t see what I need in my opening hand (Mishra’s Factory as one of two lands isn’t going to cut it here, though I would have loved it last game against all those counters) so I mull to 6, pile shuffling rapidly. Just as I finish drawing my opening hand, they call time so the match is a draw. We play it out for fun. I open with a land and pass. He opens with Ruby, Jet, Crypt, Island off a Flooded Strand, followed by a Demonic. I E-Tutor for a Pyrostatic Pillar that resolves. He loses all four consecutive Mana Crypt rolls as I beat down with a faithful Mishra’s Factory that I draw into as well as going on a Shattering Spree against his Moxen. He Repeals the Ruby to save it and takes some more damage from spells courtesy of Pillar. I wish David the best of luck and get ready for Round 3.
Record: 0-1-1
Round 3 – Sara Yarrington with The Elvish Inquisition
We play against each other again! We had to play each other at the YMG tournament and we naturally test against each other frequently, so it wasn’t exactly a mystery matchup, just frustrating. I start by mulling down to 5 on the draw. Sara keeps and leads with a Scrubland. I lead with a fetch for Mount Fuji, powering out Kris Mage. She drops another Scrubland and passes back to me. I fetch my own Scrubland and drop a Confidant and she sends both my dudes farming. Next turn she Wastes my Scrubland and the turn after that she Wastes my Plateau. I’m so frustrated at this point that I forget to the pay the upkeep on my Jötun Grunt. She resolves a Confidant and her own Grunt and starts swinging. She takes some damage from Confidant but kills me in short order. And as an added kicker, the last two cards she draws before she kills me (one off Confidant and one for the turn) are Mishra’s Factories. I hope to draw better next game and not face double Swords + double Waste.
Game 2 My hopes are dashed as I’m forced to mull to 4 on the play with no land at 7, one colorless land at 6, and no land again at 5. This in a deck is one-quarter colored mana sources. Unlikely, but it happens. I keep and lead with Wasteland. She leads with Lotus and Confidant. I drop Sacred Ground to stabilize my mana base since I’m working with just a Plateau. She gets a Crucible as her card off Confidant. I Magma Jet the Confidant. She drops a Grunt. I drop a Grunt. She sends my Grunt to the fields, Hides my Sacred Ground, and locks me under Crucible + Waste. Before she wins, we discuss our records and I explain our options. She’s 0-2, going to be 1-2 with a slim chance of making Top 8 if she wins the next two rounds. I’m 0-1-1 and would be 1-1-1 if I won, which would mean that would almost certainly make it in if I win the next two. There are a lot of “ifs” involved and we keep playing (I toss down a Grim Lavamancer as a token defender) while we discuss and consider. I tell Sara it’s up to her and I’m going to keep playing either way, whether to try to make it into the Top 8 or shore up her tiebreakers to try to help her get in. In the end, she decides to concede that game and the next one to put me at 2-1 for the match. We turn in the match slip and joke with Mike about how funny it would be if I got paired against him, since he was 1-2. We mill around for a bit, use the facilities, and wait for Round 4.
Record: 1-1-1
Round 4 – Mike Bergeron with The Mountains Win Again
At Table 8, in Round 4, it’s a Mountains mirror match. Specifically old-school Mountains, played by Mike, vs. cutting-edge Mountains version 24.3 played by yours truly. Sara has the bye. After we get done laughing over the fact that we were actually paired, Mike concedes so that we can play a three-way Vintage showdown between TMWA (played by Me), Trogdor the Burninator (played by Sara), and Oshawa Stompy (played by Mike). We enforce a 30 second turn limit to keep things going quickly and things get ridiculous pretty quickly with an opening Ankh from Trogdor, some burnination tossed around and some early Arrogant Wurms from Stompy. I get a Crucible on board with Mishra’s Factory and Wasteland, Hide the Ankh and kick start the engine while Arrogant Wurms attack Sara under a sky chock full of burn aimed at both myself and Mike. It gets to the point where both Sara and Mike are each at two life. In true red mage fashion, I send a Magma Jet each way to finish them off simultaneously. Good times all around. We then proceed to engage in a raucous game of Type 4 with Ray. Sara is a bit stymied by all the customized cards at first, but we get into the swing of the game with me Slaving Ray’s turn away and having him cast Eureka. We all put a bunch of permanents into play except Ray, who surprisingly passes priority every time he has the option to play any of the juicy permanents in his hand.
Mike is the first to go out, hit by a kickered Urza’s Rage from Sara. I’m next, after being attacked and having my removal countered. After Sara establishes card control between an Oath of Lim-Dul and Planar Portal, she barely finishes off Ray through some solid playing. We all had a good time this round and they call Round 5 just as we finish up.
Record: 2-1-1
Round 5 – Dan Katz with 5-Color Fish
The last time I played another fellow named Dan, I didn’t fare so well, but I was optimistic going into this match. We were actually seated at Table 6, just next to my first round opponent (Marek) playing against my second round opponent (Zygon) in a Gifts mirror – I’m sure that must have been loads of fun. At any rate, at the Dan-Dan table, we introduce ourselves and we shuffle up and play, both keeping at 7. I lead with a land play a turn 2 Confidant which gets countered by sheer Force of Will. Dan gets some Mishra’s Factories online and starts swinging. He casts Standstill. I cast a Seal of Cleansing which resolves and he drops Hidden Gibbons the next turn. He keeps swinging with Factories and I drop a Sacred Ground. He gets a Grunt online and I seal his Hidden Gibbons and send his Grunt packing for a stay at the country house. He drops another Standstill … *blink* … *blink* … I break the second Standstill to deal with some imminent threat via consulting with a Vampiric Tutor. He draws the cards, lets it resolve and on his next turn drops a Dark Confidant followed by a third Standstill… *blink* … *blink* … *blink*… I still don’t have a Pyroblast in hand, so it resolves. I break the third Standstill to get a defensive Grunt down while I’m at 3 and Dan turns the Grunt into a plow-horse. He hard casts a Ninja drawn off Confidant, casts a Meddling Mage and Gorilla Shaman and swings in for the win with Ancestral feeding his hand. Well, that was fun! During this 25 minute game, we discuss points and tiebreakers and he kindly offers to concede if he has no chance of making it in, but he still wants to play. I definitely want to play as well, so we proceed to
Game 2. I keep on the play and Dan mulls to 6. I lead with a Kris Mage powered by Fuji! He leads with a Sapphire and Ancestral, drawing three and then playing a Tundra. I assume that he was digging for land since he seemed very hopeful when the Recall resolved. It turns out, that wasn’t the case. He had plenty of land, just not enough other good stuff. He STPs my Kris Mage and drops a Confidant. I drop a Confidant. We trade Strip Mines for opposing lands. I remove his Confidant. I get a Vamp Tutor. He gets a Time Walk. I STP his Jötun Grunt, he takes beats from Confidant. I draw another Confidant off the Confidant. He scoops in the interest of actually playing Game 3.
Game 3 he has to mull to 6 again, this time on the play. I send his opening dude farming and he takes some beats from my guys. I get a Grunt online and start swinging and he doesn’t find an answer in time. I thank Dan for playing and we fill out the slip and await the Top 8 pairings.
Record: 3-1-1
I slip into the Top 8 in 8th place, and I’m paired against the 1st seed, one Chris Thompson. After consulting with people who know who Chris is, I discover that he’s playing Feinstein’s U/W Fish Deck. I also learn that he’s a competent and skilled player, a fact that will be underscored during the following match.
Top 8 – Chris Thompson with Dave Feinstein’s U/W Fish Deck
We get seated at a nice spacious table that I declare to be Table 1. Dave is sitting next to us playing against Stefan and he boisterously states that if Chris wins, it will be like he has beaten me. He says that he’s beaten all my disciples but never me. I don’t plan on letting today be that day. He laughs and hits his head on the metal pole behind him, exclaiming, “Why do I have to have such a big head?!” Chris, in comparison with Dave, is quiet and confident, all business as he sits down. I manage to crack a smile in his stony exterior as we thoroughly shuffle up and get started. He’s on the play and I mulligan down to 6. He opens with Tundra, Lotus, Ancestral. Sure, that’s fine. I haven’t played anything yet and he’s already up 3 cards. He drops Kataki, burns for 1 and passes to me. I attempt to drop a Grim Lavamancer only to find it unable to resolve due to an opposing Force, and I don’t mean a Force of Nature. He Wastes my Plateau and I’m stuck without any land. He plays a Meddling Mage naming Grim Lavamancer. Sure, that’s fine too. I just have one more Lavamancer in my hand, that’s all. I eventually draw another fetch and get a Plateau to STP his Mage. He Dazes it. I drop another land and pump his Mage full of hot Magma, putting two less-than-ideal cards to the bottom of my library. He swings in with Kataki putting me to 1 and for a second I think I’m going to recover, casting the Lavamancer next turn and making a startling recovery. That is, until he casts Time Walk. Sure, that’s just peachy. Ten minutes in and I’m down a game. I unbutton my top suit coat button, something I make a habit of when I’m down a game. Someone comments again about how this match will never ever go to time, even if we weren’t playing in untimed rounds.
Game 2 I’m in the play and we both keep at 7. I lead with Kris Mage off a Plateau. He leads with Tundra into Isamaru. I Waste the Tundra and drop a French Grim Lavamancer. He swings with Isamaru. I take it and swing back with Kris Mage. I get Lavamancer active and kill Isamaru. I attempt to resolve Confidant and he Brainstorms and then Forces. He sends my Lavamancer back to his native French agricultural environs and sends my Kris Mage after him the following turn. He Wastes my Scrubland and I drop another Lavamancer. He has another Isamaru down and a Savannah Lions that starts swinging. Then he drops the Jitte, you know the one, that Legendary weapon that Toshiro Umezawa is always carrying around and then inexplicably lending to creatures that can’t even carry a jitte, let alone wield one properly. I mean, c’mon, how is a Lion carrying a jitte. My argument doesn’t seem to have any positive effect on either my board position or life total. That was one card I didn’t want to see – at all – ever – in any matchup. All is not lost yet as I have an active Lavamancer. I burninate his Lion in response to the activation of Jitte but then I’m out of cards in my graveyard. I attempt to Magma Jet his Isamaru in response to the hound trying to pick up the fallen Jitte, only to have it Misdirected at my Lavamancer. Zing! Chris drops Kataki. He dutifully pays the upkeep for his Jitte, waiting an opportunity to strike. I’m still relatively safe, courtesy of my Jötun Grunt Bodyguard Brigade and lots of food around to feed them, and I tutor for a Pithing Needle and set it to “Jitte”. He gains four life before letting it resolve. I eventually remove his Isamaru and get another Grunt down before swinging in several times for the win. A half an hour after the start of the 2nd game, I’m still in the match. We shuffle up to start
Game 3. Chris mulls to 6 on the play. I look at my opening hand including Mount Fuji, Plateau, Sacred Ground, 2x Grunt, STP, and Waste, and keep. I lead with Plateau, thinking that I can Swords a guy that he drops first turn. Major Misplay here, reporting for duty. Here’s a tip, courtesy of the fine folks at the Association for the Preservation and Improvement of Magic Players: If you’re playing against a deck with Wastelands and you only have one mana source in hand that powers most of your opening hand, you should probably protect that mana source. Naturally, I should have played Mount Fuji first, to prevent it from being Wasted, so that I could drop Sacred Ground on turn 2 with the Plateau and thereby preserve my mana base. Instead, I decided to walk right into a Wasteland from the other side of the table. I Wasted his Tundra as well, but he had more land, certainly enough to cast Grunt #1 (Larry) and swing for a turn. He followed up with Grunt #2 (Curly) and sent my Kris Mage back to Kansas, swinging for two turns this time before the giant ran out of steam. He cast Threads on my Dark Confidant, Stripped my Badlands, and I took some beats from my own Confidant, before condemning him to a fiery death for his disloyalty. I ended up STPing his Grunt #3 (Moe) to stabilize at 6. I Magma Jetted Isamaru out of the way and cast Grunt #4 (Gary Busey) along with another Confidant and Grim Lavamancer. Chris got a Jitte down, but had no creatures to equip it to. I drew 2 extra REBs off the Confidant and kept swinging, freshening up my Grunt supply by firing Gary and replacing him with Grunt #4 (Jean Claude Van Damme). I kept swinging in and went to 4 life from Confidant life loss. I was one turn from victory and had to reveal for Confidant. Chris was rooting for a Hide/Seek to finish me off. I took the top card off my library face down and slid it over to him to flip. It was Grim Lavamancer. Team Mountains took it home through the Red Zone and got their contract renewed for another season. I thanked Chris for the epic game and wished him good luck in all his future games. He revealed to me that he had two more Jittes sitting dead in his hand and had a dead one the previous game as well. He returned his deck to his manager, one D. Feinstein, who had just defeated Stefan to face off with me.
Record: 4-1-1
Top 4 – David I. Feinstein with Dave Feinstein’s Stax
We took a fifteen minute break to refresh ourselves since we’d both just played intense matches. After some introductory banter, we shuffled up and played, both keeping our opening hands. Dave explained how he had never won a Vintage tournament, always making Top 8 and getting knocked out. He was hoping to make this his chance, but first, in his words, he had to make it through Dan “The Mountain” Yarrington. Let’s see how it turned out.
I led with Wasteland and Mox Pearl before passing it over to Dave. He led with Wasteland, Black Lotus, Mox Jet, and Mox Pearl, Wasting my Waste and dropping Crucible off Lotus. That should be game, if it were not for a carefully calculated Plateau and a game of Hide and Seek. I’ll send your Crucible to hide and you count to 100 and we’ll see if we find it. Dave casts Sphere of Resistance followed by Trinisphere. He has a City of Brass, Workshop, and 2 Moxen for mana. I cast a Kris Mage through the Trinisphere along with a Dark Confidant. I take four from a revealed Hide and Seek which I use the next turn to Seek out Triskelion. Dark Confidant begins the beatdown. I cast Vampiric Tutor and think for about 45 seconds and decide to get a particular card. I put it on top of my library and draw it for my turn. Dave calls the Strip Mine before I even play it and asks what I’m targeting. I think that’s an odd question when the majority of the cards I’m concerned with have rather large casting costs (most notably Duplicant) and there’s a Sphere of Resistance on the board. I kill the Workshop. At the end of my turn, he Vamps as well, getting some mystery card, untaps and casts … Balance! I should have hit the City. I sacrifice two lands, discard three cards, and sacrifice both my Confidant and Kris Mage. The next turn, Dave casts a Shaman and attempts to eat my Mox Pearl. I don’t see anything I can do about it at the moment, so I go to one mana source, a solitary land. Someone watching the match notes that Dave cannot do that since the Shaman costs three to play through the Trinisphere, rather than just the two he paid for the Sphere of Resistance. Dave pays the extra one for the Shaman rather than using it to eat my Mox. It ends up mattering, as I draw a third mana source and pay three to Magma Jet his Shaman. I get a Grunt down and take it home through a couple of Welders. This was a pretty intense game and Dave was obviously upset about losing, fretting as he was about continuing his Top 8 record without splitting in the finals or winning. At this point, the Gifts mirror between Brassman and Pat Broderick had finished in Andy’s favor, so Dave was hoping to win here to split with Andy. I told him that I was sorry, but I would have to do my best to split with Andy myself. We were both very cordial during this match, allowing each other plenty of time to consider our options.
Game 2 We both reference veiled threats of secret tech in our sideboards. While Dave’s shuffling, he accidentally tosses a card under the table at the opposite wall. He was reaching around for it under the table before I realized that it was behind my chair, against the wall, with the corner slightly bent. That normally wouldn’t be that big a deal if it weren’t a signed Alpha Balance borrowed from Brassman. I gingerly pick it up and return it to Dave who re-sleeves it after confirming that it wasn’t damaged. Dave leads with a Gemstone and a Welder, a foil one at that. Ooh, Shiny! I lead with Ruby, Bloodstained Mire, go. He drops a Workshop and Juggernaut and I take a couple of beats as Dave drops a Crucible. He Vampiric Tutors for a Bazaar, plays it and dumps a Wasteland, a Smokestack and something else in his graveyard. At the end of his turn, I Magma Jet his Welder. He welds out a Mox for a Smokestack and I scry. I drop another fetch off the scryed cards, fetch, going to 8 (he is the Juggernaut after all) and go on a Shattering Spree!
BAM!! Not today, Crucible!
POW!! Take that, Smokestack!!
KABLOOIE!! Juggernaut, you fiend!!!
I drop a Tormod’s Crypt followed by a Jötun Grunt and note the amazing synergy between the two. I follow up with a Null Rod, knocking out my own Mox and Crypt along with precious few things on his side of the table. He plays a Crucible and replays a Shop. I keep swinging with Grunt, removing juicy threats from his graveyard, including all his lands before he can replay anymore. I Seek out his Triskelion on his turn, ignoring the fact that I have a Null Rod in play (spectators were kind enough to inform me of this misplay after the match had completed). I follow that up later on by seeking out his Sundering Titan, which was previously put back on the bottom thanks to Grunt. He casts Duplicant and makes an improved copy of my Grunt, without such a voracious appetite. I send the mechanical abomination farming and drop a Dark Confidant, now that I’m back up from 2 life to a nice healthy 15 life. I start getting extra cards, most of which cost me no life and swing with Mishra’s Factory along with Dark Confidant. Dave casts Ancestral Recall, his secret sideboard tech and a very stylish hand-made proxy from this very event, and considers his newfound card options. Travis is sitting near by and heckling as usual. Dave is obviously upset at the prospect of losing and tells him to stop in typical Feinstein fashion. Travis, being Travis, continues. I ask him to stop as well. By this point, we’re drawing a crowd because we’re the only match going in the main event. Travis ceases his incessant taunting and everyone watches. Dave drops a Juggernaut and I consider blocking with my Factory to trade. Instead I decide to use the destructive power within me and go on another Shattering Spree!
SHAZAM!!! Who’s the Juggernaut now ?!?!
At this point, Dave is at 7 and two turns away from death. The next turn he goes to 3 and on his final turn, he Balances away the Confidant, taking a point of damage from his City of Brass and Mishra’s Factory swings in for the win next turn. We shake hands and wish each other good luck as Dave is going to play against Pat for 3rd/4th.
Top 2 - Split with Andy Probasco with Gifts
It’s now getting on toward 21:00 so we arrange an amicable split. I end up with a signed Mox Pearl and a black bordered Isola Vulcanica. We thank everyone involved with hosting and organizing the event, remind everyone about our next event at Myriad Games on December 9th and head out to get something to eat. We drive back from whence we came, looking for an eatery along the way. We find an acceptable vendor of quality comestibles and endeavor to savor their delectable goodness. Another fine Vintage event, another victory for The Mountains!
Until next time, may The Mountains Win Again!
