The Mountains Win Again Jagged Poppet Takes Vintage by Storm!
Jagged Poppet: Ogre of Champions!After many verbose (and hopefully entertaining) tournament reports, I’ll try to keep this concise (and hopefully still entertaining), since we’re covering so many events in one report. We begin with a Top 4 finish at Feinstein’s August 12th and conclude with a 10th place finish at Vintage Champs at GenCon on August 18th with a summary of three smaller GenCon events in between. Five tournaments for the price of none!
Our tale begins with inspiration on the drive down to Feinstein’s tournament on August 12th. I sometimes feel like I’ve considered most options between combinations of red, white, and black Vintage decks that fit the mold of TMWA. I was planning on running Goblins with maindeck Leylines and a splash of black for Duress. After deciding that Goblins wasn’t really my style (yes, I know, it’s odd seeing as I idolize red and all), I decided to just combine a bunch of accelerated playables in black and red and see how it turned out. I got some Top Secret Tech from Fox with Jagged Poppet and Strength of Lunacy, and we threw the deck together that morning at Myriad Games on the way to Rhode Island.
Feinstein’s 1st Vintage Tournament – Disposable Heroes , Johnston, Rhode Island
The Mountains Win Again version 38.04 Simian Spirit Guides
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Jagged Poppet
4 Bloodfire Dwarf
3 Gathan Raiders
3 Putrid Imp
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Duress
4 Unmask
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Strength of Lunacy
4 Polluted Delta
4 Badlands
5 Swamp
2 Sulfurous Springs
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
Sideboard4 Pyroblast
4 Shattering Spree
3 Greater Gargadon
2 Mogg Fanatic
2 Cruel Edict
This version was a radical departure from previous R/W prison builds, three colors builds, Magus of the Moon Trinket Mage builds, and a host of other previous incarnations. One of my favorite parts about designing, developing, and testing The Mountains Win Again is that the deck constantly changes and evolves. It keeps the play experience fresh and entertaining. I usually do as much testing as I can fit in before events, but this event would be different. This time, I was going in with a deck I’d constructed in an hour. Luckily I had some Simian Spirit Guides looking out for me.
Round 1 Marc Tuttle
TMWA vs. Flash Ah, the Future of Magic. We meet again! After some initial banter over how I know exactly what Marc is playing because he picked up the cards at Myriad Games the day before, we begin.
Game 1 goes on for a solid twenty minutes while I discard a bunch of his relevant spells and he counters a bunch of mine. I get a Poppet to stick. He hardcasts a Protean Hulk and has more Mountains in play than I do, courtesy of Magus of the Moon. I slowly beat down and eventually force through lethal damage after removing the Hulk with a 2/2 and the fiery wrath of Pyrokinesis.
Game 2 begins with a pre-game show featuring Leyline of the Void but my wily opponent will not be outmanned. He fearlessly fires off a first turn Echoing Truth, clearing the way for Flash the next turn. My Mogg Fanatic stalls the kill for a turn, but his noble sacrifice does little else. This game was over in 6 swift minutes.
Game 3, Marc mulligans to 6 on the draw, and I lead off with a Leyline and Duress away a Mox Ruby, resolving another Bloodfire Dwarf to stop him from Flashing. Bloodfire Dwarf, Magus of the Moon, and Mogg Fanatic take it home.
Record: Matches (1-0), Games (2-1)
Round 2 Chris Caravello
TMWA vs. Flash Take Two!
Chris mentions that he made Top 8 at a PTQ recently. I congratulate him and we begin
Game 1. I’m not sure what he’s playing, so I decide to find out quickly by Unmasking him. I take a Flash. I see Karmic Guide as well, so I know exactly what I’m facing. I Duress Echoing Truth and play a Poppet while Chris draws cards off Ancestral Recall courtesy of Merchant Scroll. Chris was my only opponent all day to immediately recognize the awesome power of Jagged Poppet. I imbue my willing Poppet with the Strength of Lunacy and he clears out the blue mage’s hand and ends the game in short order. Chris begins
Game 2 by mulling down to 5 on the play, never an enviable position. I Duress thrice over the first couple of turns and then lock the game up with Magus of the Moon and a Bloodfire Dwarf.
Record: Matches (2-0), Games (4-1)
Round 3 Joe Bernier
TMWA vs. Uba Stax I begin
Game 1 by Duressing away a Sphere, seeing Smokestack, Goblin Welder, Chalice, and a healthy bunch of mana. I Unmask his Welder and he plays Chalice at 1. He draws a Tinker and sacrifices his Mox Emerald to create a Sundering Titan (following the Transformers’ rules for conversion of mass). I see Null Rod and Crucible as the 7/10 Devastator beats me down to negative 2. I lead off with a P-Imp in
Game 2, followed by Lotus for Magus of the Moon. Joe mulled to 6 and leads with Chalice at 0, Bazaar Mountain and Goblin Welder. I beatdown for the win, happy to be surrounded by my natural environment: Mountains, Mountains everywhere!
Game 3 is more drawn out than the previous two. Joe’s on the play, but I start the game with Leyline in play. Joe casts Ancestral and I Unmask, taking something juicy, but leaving plenty more solid stuff in his hand. I suspend Greater Gargadon. Joe casts Uba Mask and the next turn reveals Bazaar. Duplicant takes out my P-Imp and I take some beats from a 1/1 Artifact Zombie Imp Shapeshifter. I Duress away a Chalice. I miss a crucial play with Gargadon when he has a Sphere down and I have a land in play and one counter on Gargadon. He casts a second Sphere and I don’t see the opportunity to remove the last counter and pay the one for the existing Sphere in response. Instead, we both draw a ton of land, Joe moreso than I. A Shattering Spree eventually wrecks his board and another P-Imp goes the distance.
Record: Matches (3-0), Games (6-2)
Round 4 Brendan Boyle
TMWA vs. TMWA Feature Match at Table 1I’m ecstatic to have a Mountains Mirror at Table 1. Brendan and I discuss his modifications to the list I’d piloted at SCG Roanoke and we begin, confident that The Mountains will indeed, win again. Oh, how wrong we were…
Game 1 I lead with Bloodstained Mire and pass. I fetch out a Swamp and cast a Magus. Brendan plays a Plains and plays Magus. I play Jagged Poppet and, as with most opponents, he reads it. At this point, we realize that there are two Magus of the Moons facing off at Table 1 and Feinstein is called over for a photo op.
The Mountains Win Again!
I beat down with P-Imp, Jagged Poppet, and Bloodfire Dwarf, through Magus and a late-game Windborn Muse. Brendan leads off
Game 2 by mulling down to 6. I suspend a Gargadon, lose a Poppet to the fray, and gain 9 life when I bring in Gargadon some turns later and forget to Unmask beforehand to prevent him from going farming. Man, that would be some massive plow. I resolve Gathan Raiders, but I eventually get beaten down by Windborn Muse and Exalted Angel.
Game 3 begins with me following Brendan’s example and mulling down to 6 on the play. I lead with Bloodfire Dwarf and P-Imp. I follow up with some bigger beats and bring Brendan down to 1 thanks to 8 damage from his own lands (Ancient Tombs and Flooded Strands), but I can’t quite kill him during the five turns we’d been allotted, so we draw.
Record: Matches (3-0-1), Games (7-3-1)
Round 5 Devin Blau
TMWA vs. U/W/G Grow I lead with Leyline
Game 1 and Duress away a Merchant Scroll, seeing Daze, Echoing Truth, and Dryad. He drops Tarmogoyf a short while later and it’s thankfully 4/5, since he has no graveyard. He swings into my morph and I introduce him to Hellbent Gathan Raiders! 5/5! I beat down with Raiders and a P-Imp for the win.
Game 2 starts off with Leyline as well and Devin mulled to 5 on the play. I take some beats from Grunt before he expires and drop a Magus. A turn or so later he Forces my Jagged Poppet, pitching Force. He Echoing Truths my Magus and plays Fastbond, but he doesn’t have enough gas to do anything relevant and my Magus comes back down from the aether to take another game for The Mountains.
Record: Matches (4-0-1), Games (9-3-1)
Round 6 Ross Merriam
TMWA vs. Flash Ross and I agree to draw. It was a nice change of pace knowing that even if I had to play and I lost, I could still make Top 8. The last time I made a reasonable place at a Vintage event was at the beginning of the year, so I was happy to draw in to the Top 8 as in 4th place, without losing a match all day. I spent that round talking with folks and concocting a list of Vintage players to match up with the cast of
Homestar Runner.
Record: Matches (4-0-2), Games (9-3-1)
Top 8 Josh LaloTMWA vs. U/W/R Mountains I meet my opponent for Top 8 and he informs me that he has to leave in about 20 minutes to make the ferry back to Long Island. I assure him that I generally play with some expedience, and this will be no exception.
Game 1 I lead with Bloodfire Dwarf. Josh leads with Mana Crypt, Delta, Trinket Mage into Lotus into Magus of the Moon. Another Mountains deck in Top 8! I see a Tundra and I’m a bit worried that he’s running Salvagers, but my fears are unfounded. Seeing as Magus doesn’t really impede either of our mana bases much, I just take beats from a bunch of 2/2s until a Jagged Poppet Lunatic shows up. Trinket Mages are no match for the awesome power of a 5/5 Jagged Poppet!
Game 2 Josh says that he has to go soon, so he’s just going to see his opening hand and go from there. I mull to 6 and he keeps a shaky 7. He leads with Lotus into Merchant Scroll. I Pyroblast the Scroll pitching Simian Spirit Guide (play of the day!) and then realize for the tenth time that Merchant Scroll only gets blue instants (d’oh!). Doesn’t make a difference in this case, since he has the Force to protect the Scroll or the Ancestral it shortly becomes. He draws his cards off Ancestral and scoops after he doesn’t find the land he was seeking.
Record: Matches (5-0-2), Games (11-3-1)
Top 4 Nate Pease
TMWA vs. GroATogI am not pleased to have to play against someone who, in my professional opinon, shouldn’t even be at the event. I
am looking forward to having a chance to finally play against GroATog.
Game 1, I mull to 6 on the play and handily lose to an active Library drawing at least 8 extra cards, according to my tally. A Fastbond powered Dryad finishes me off.
Game 2, I mulligan down to 4 on the play, seeing unplayable hands (no mana, off color mana, etc.) each time. Nate makes an offhanded comment that he must be really good at cutting. The astonishing part of this game is that, after that dreadful opening, I nearly win by locking all his lands under Magus of the Moon. Unfortunately, Mox Emerald showed up to get a Dryad down and Magus and Dryad swung back and forth for many turns, a race I was happy to win, until, on the last possible turn, Mox Jet showed up off the top to cast Demonic Tutor, Snapback took out my Moon, and Yawgmoth’s Will finished me off in short order.
Final Record: Matches (5-1-2), Games (11-5-1); 4th Place out of 48 Players
Overall I was very happy with how this haphazard, unpolished version of the deck played. We began discussing changes throughout the event, during dinner, and on the ride home. It appeared that I finally had settled on a build of Mountains for GenCon.
And now a brief interlude…
Vintage Homestar Runner!
Strong Bad: Steve Menendian (Smennen)
Strong Mad: Dan Gacioch (Gagooch)
Strong Sad: Dave Feinstein (Dxfiler)
Homestar Runner: Dan Yarrington
Marzipan: Sara Yarrington (Ms. Mana Cookie)
Bubs: Travis Laplante (JuggernautGo)
The King of Town: Rich Shay (The Atog Lord)
Pom Pom: Tommy Kolowith
Coach Z: Justin Timoney (Outlaw)
Poopsmith: Andy Probasco (Brassman)
Homsar: Stefan Ellsworth (T00L)
The Cheat: You Know
Trogdor the Burninator: Mark Trogdon
Eh! Steve!: Steve O’Connell (Zherbus)
Limozeen: Team ICBM
The Cheat Commandos: Team GWS
Marshie The Marshmallow: Jeremy Seroogy
Senor Cardgage: Dana Renfrew (Master Tap)
Saddy Dumpington: Brian Demars
Teen Girl SquadThe Ugly One: No one wants to be the ugly one
So and So: Andrew Fox (Top Secret)
What’s Her Face: Kid with Glasses (Glix)
Cheerleader: Ray Robillard (IamFishman)
The Mountains Win Again at GenCon August 16th – 18th, Indianapolis, Indiana
We arrived at GenCon without incident and settled into our hotel, which was within easy walking distance of the convention center. We picked up our badges, registered for our events, and took care of some business before settling into four days of playing Vintage. The build developed over the course of the weekend after input from the members of Team Ball & Chain who were in attendance, notably Oliver, Chad, and Sara. We solved the problem of too little removal in the main deck, removed the hilarious but terrible Strength of Lunacy, cut the P-Imps (in spite of how much fun they are to pronounce), removed the Therapies, adjusted the mana base to be more stable and support Snuff Out, and increased the number of “free” spells in the main deck to 18. After seeing the plethora of Workshop decks in attendance (It seemed like I played against one every other round in the early side events), and after realizing how good the Flash matchup was, we cut the Bloodfire Dwarves and replaced them with Goblin Vandals in the main. It was good to have them back. I even got my playsets of Magus of the Moon and Goblin Vandal signed by the artist, Franz Vohwinkel, along with two Foil Blood Moons.
Vintage Side Event: Thursday at 13:00Round 1 Scott Hughes
TMWA vs. Staxless Stax These games are pretty interesting.
Game 1 I get Magus down and have a Gathan Raiders and Leyline in play to shut off Welder. I even get to Snuff Out a Tinkered up Platinum Angel through Trinisphere.
Game 2 I mull to 6 and lose to Karn and his Army of Intelligent Artifacts including Orb of Dreams. My Bloodfire Dwarf was no match for Karn, though he did get to block the 0/8 Planeswalker-to-be a few times. We start
Game 3 with plenty of time, 17 minutes. I’m on the play and we both keep our opening 7. I play Bloodstained Mire and pass. He says “this hand is really good” and plays Workshop, Lotus, Mox Ruby, Goblin Welder, Trinisphere, Tinker (Ruby) into Sundering Titan. I proceed to fetch, play a land, and Shattering Spree his Trinisphere and Titan, pitching an SSG for the extra red needed. To top it off, I immediately Pyrokinesis away his Welder before it gets active. His massively awesome opening is entirely counteracted and we’re both down to just a couple of cards. He hardcasts Triskelion and I Snuff it out. I get a Magus down shutting off most of his lands, and the game grinds to a halt. We end up drawing the match, but this had to be one of the most enjoyable games all weekend.
Record: Matches (0-0-1), Games (1-1-1)
Round 2 JD Knerr III
TMWA vs. U/W FishI win 2-0 after squeaking past a couple of Meddling Mages due to a skipped Grunt upkeep and the beefiness of Gathan Raiders. Gargadon, Magus of the Moon, and Bloodfire Dwarf make appearances in Game 2.
Record: Matches (1-0-1), Games (3-1-1)
Round 3 Mark Trogdon
TMWA vs. Uba StaxI lose 0-2 to first turn Trinisphere and Karn. I had a blast playing against Mark and seeing lots of Mountains and red cards on both sides of the table.
Record: Matches (1-1-1), Games (3-3-1)
Round 4 Kevin Roscoe
TMWA vs. 5C StaxI lose 1-2 against 5 Color Stax. Spree and Moon continue to shine. I wish I had Goblin Vandal instead of Bloodfire Dwarf.
Final Record: Matches (1-2-1), Games (4-5-1) 19th Place
Vintage Championship Prelim: Friday at 13:00Round 1 Ian DeGraff
TMWA vs. 5C StaxI lose 1-2. Game 3, his deck just has too many threats for me to deal with. I remove about 4 serious threats, but he always has another one to follow it up. I recall that Ian had Tinker into Triskelion in two of these games.
Record: Matches (0-1-0), Games (1-2-0)
Round 2 Robert Vroman
TMWA vs. Uba StaxI lose 1-2. An interesting situation arises during Game 2 when a judge comes over and points at my notes asking “Is this your card?” pointing at my note which reads “Gargadon” (to indicate that I had suspended it that turn). I confirm that those are my notes and that’s my Gargadon, and he tells me to bring him our match slip after the match. Both Vroman and I were confused by this. Turns out my official Magic sleeves featuring Squee (which I’d specifically checked with the head judge the day before) were no longer legal in this particular event, so I had to purchase some new ones. It was nice meeting Vroman and having him suggest Grim Lavamancer for the deck. You’d think I wouldn’t need any convincing to add that card back in, given how much I love Grim Lavamancer. The next day I checked out the deck that he was playing in Champs and it has very similar card choices to many TMWA builds. Rich Shay plowed through both of us consecutively on his way to the top, and commented that after playing Vroman, he was worried about facing another Mountains deck. Ah, Mountains, scourge of quality players everywhere.
Record: Matches (0-2-0), Games (2-4-0)
Round 3 Kyle Scerena
TMWA vs. OathSo at this point I’ve resolved to play this round and then drop to play in the next Vintage side event. Kyle is in the same position, so we’re basically playing for fun. I lose 1-2. I Unmasked his Oath in Game 1, but he just drew another one the following turn. My crowning achievement in this match was winning while Kyle was at 20 life after locking him under Magus and having 3 Gargadons suspended, holding off his Oath from triggering and queuing up to smash face one after the other. Game 3, Kyle just blows me out going first with Ancestral and Oath.
Final Record: Matches (0-3-0), Games (3-6-0) 45th Place
Vintage Side Event: Friday at 21:00Round 1 Matt Hazard
TMWA vs. FlashIgnore the evidence that Matt could be an actual Duke of Hazard and focus on the fact that he was a very amicable opponent. I lead with Duress taking Flash. He Scrolls for another Flash. I lock him under Magus and follow up with Poppet. Game 2, I Duress away a Flash, but he Mysticals for another. I burninate a bunch of Slivers with Pyrokinesis and then resolve Magus again to take this one 2-0. I wish Matt the best of luck and hope I play against more Flash.
Record: Matches (1-0), Games (2-0)
Round 2 Josh Hoffman
TMWA vs. GoblinsJosh mulls to 6 on the play and leads with Lackey. I Snuff him Out before he hits me. He gets a Warchief down, but I have more removal than he does along with bigger guys. Game 2, we both mull to 6 and trade Pyrokinesis blasts. He Sudden Shocks me to death after many beats from the usual rogues gallery of Goblins. He completely runs over me Game 3 as well.
Record: Matches (1-1), Games (3-2)
Round 3 Aaron McLean
TMWA vs. Flash I start with Leyline in play, drop Lotus, Duress away his Ancestral, and drop Jagged Poppet. Gathan Raiders and Poppet finish him off without a hiccup. Game 2, He Duresses away my Blood Moon and I Unmask his Flash. We have a counter war over a Jagged Poppet and I take some poison before kicking it Alliances-style some Contagion and Pyrokinesis.
Record: Matches (2-1), Games (5-2)
Round 4 Nathan Reed
TMWA vs. Flash I win 2-0 with Duress, Jagged Poppet, and Pyrokinesis.
Final Record: Matches (3-1), Games (7-2) 4th Place
Vintage World ChampionshipThis is it, the big day, the tournament we’ve all been waiting for…time for The Mountains to Win Again!
Round 1 Alan Eckert
TMWA vs. U/W Fish I begin
Game 1 with a Ruby and Badlands and pass. Alan had mulled to 6 and just drops a Flooded Strand. I drop a morph and it resolves. Alan fetches an Island and Brainstorms. I morph Gathan Raiders and Snuff Out a creature. Unmask a Vial and ride the Raiders to victory.
Game 2 Alan leads with a Flooded Strand for Island. I Duress and he Dazes it. I play Vandal and blow up his Vial. Later on I see a Serra Avenger and 3 Magus of the Tabernacle in hand with no other mana sources. I resolve another Gathan Raiders and get them Hellbent for victory!
Record: Matches (1-0), Games (2-0)
Round 2 Todd Taylor
TMWA vs. Uba StaxWe both mull to 6 in
Game 1 and Todd leads with a Wasteland. I Unmask him, nabbing Crucible and Contagion his Welder. I resolve a Poppet and Snuff out his big artifact dude. He’s none to happy about losing. He’s especially upset about losing to a pile of cards that does not qualify as a “real” deck. Todd starts off
Game 2 with Barbarian Ring, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Sphere of Resistance. I drop a Goblin Vandal with the assistance of Simian Spirit Guide. A few turns later, after staving off his artifacts with that silly Goblin, I drop another one and follow up with a Magus of the Moon to make sure his Barbarian Ring doesn’t become problematic once he gets Threshold. I wish Todd luck and prepare for Round 3.
Record: Matches (2-0), Games (4-0)
Round 3 Manuel Fernandez
TMWA vs. U/W/B Fish Manuel seems like a tacit kind of guy. We get deck checked after we present our decks, so we have an 8 minute extension.
Game 1 I lead with Vandal on the play. Manuel mulled to 6 and played Strand. I drop Vandal #2. He Wastes my Badlands. I keep dropping land and get a Magus down. He floats white in response and sends it farming. He Dazes my Pyrokinesis targeting some of his dudes. He Forces my hardcast Simian Spirit Guide and Gathan Raiders. I just keep beating and slowly whittle him down.
Game 2 I mull to 6. Dark Confidant lands on his side of the table and he takes a hit off Force of Will. He Forces my removal twice to protect his two Meddling Mages (one on Pyrokinesis and one on Magus of the Moon). He ends up at 7 life when I succumb to wizard beats.
Game 3 I mull to 6 on the play and Duress away his Duress. He has no creatures but does have STP, Daze, FoW, and Stifle. I hold off on my fetch since I’m light on lands and he’s wisely keeping Stifle mana open. I Snuff Out a Mage and Contagion another creature. I resolve a Magus and beat down to another Mountainous victory.
Record: Matches (3-0), Games (6-1)
Round 4 Jeff Rieck
TMWA vs. Rector Flash Welcome to Round 4 at the top tables, a decent place to be. Another deck check and time extension. After our interlude, during which we play random dice games to pass the time, I elect to play first in
Game 1 and Jeff mulls to 6 on the draw. I lead with Unmask nabbing Demonic Tutor and see that he’s playing Rector Flash. He does a bunch of crazy stuff involving Merchant Scroll and Flash, Rector and Bargain, but my Magus of the Moon prevents him from having the right mana to win with the cards he draws off Bargain.
Game 2 Jeff mulls to 6 again, this time on the play. I play Blood Moon. He plays Time Walk, Mystical, and Ancestral. I hardcast Leyline and resolve Magus, slowing him down with Unmask. He hardcasts Platinum Angel and I commend him for his efforts. I Pyrokinesis the Angel and he shakes his head, surprised that I kept them in (I thought he might board into the Sliver kill).
Record: Matches (4-0), Games (8-1)
Round 5 Alex Franson
TMWA vs. Grim Long Game 1 Alex leads with Underground Sea and responds to my Unmask with Vampiric Tutor. I drop a turn 1 Magus via the power of two Simian Spirit Guides. He draws five cards, one for each turn that I beat down with Magus. He cycles Street Wraith and draws Lotus. Memory Jar joins the fray and gets him up to exactly 9 storm for 20 damage with the Tendrils (and no mana remaining).
Game 2 Alex starts with Ancestral. I don’t provide much resistance and my Unmask reveals a very good hand. I take a Wheel of Fortune, but he just creates a bunch of Goblins and beats my face in. At least red creatures won the game.
Record: Matches (4-1), Games (8-3)
Round 6 Rich Shay
TMWA vs. GroATogRich just finished an elongated victory over Vroman running a very Mountain-esque deck, but I don’t generally have good luck against Rich and this time was no exception. That and he’s a ridiculously good player.
Game 1 In the first few turns Duress and Unmask him, dropping Magus off a Lotus while he Brainstorms and gets Lotus and Mox Emerald. I get a Poppet but he does his whole Gush, Yawg Will thing and takes it home. By the end of this game, he had all three Moxen, Lotus, and 2 Islands to power Gushes. Wise man say “prepare for the coming of the Blood Moon” and Rich Shay heeds his wisdom. Despite my optimistic note that this would be game 2 of 3,
Game 2 is a blowout. Rich has a Psychatog, Vampiric, Misdirection, Rushing River, etc. I have Duress taking his Vamp. He Smothers my Poppet. I Snuff Out his Dryad. I Unmask another Smother. I attempt to Pyroblast away his Tog (which keeps pecking away at my life total), but he Misdirects it to my Badlands. This game went on for a relatively high number of turns and I had almost every land in my deck in play (5 Swamps, 3 Fetches, 4 Badlands) by the end of it. I was literally drawing land nearly every other card. So that’s the end of my chances to make Top 8, but I still resolve to place as well as possible and have a good time doing it. I wish Rich the best of luck and continue to soldier on.
Record: Matches (4-2), Games (8-5)
Round 7 Roland Chang
TMWA vs. FlashIn addition to being Vintage World Champion and Legacy World Champion, Roland is a polite and intent opponent, always kind and friendly. I pre-empt his first turn to put Leyline into play. He begins
Game 1 with an Ancestral on my upkeep. My Duress nabs something relevant. My Unmask takes something else relevant. At this point I think he’s playing GAT because I haven’t seen anything other than the usual suspects from that deck. That is, until he Force of Wills one of my spells, pitching Flash. I Snuff Out his Heart Sliver to stall a turn after he bounces my Leyline and Flashes, but don’t find the answer I need. Ach, the Poison! Roland drops a Tarmogoyf on me in
Game 2 and I use my Pyrokinetic powers with Pyroblast backup to take care of it before it becomes a larger problem. Vandal comes out and eats up his artifact mana. I go to 6 off another Goyf and get a Magus down to lock this up with Jagged Poppet serving as my Ogre Champion.
Game 3 looks dire as my Duress is Forced pitching Pact. Roland Flashes off while I’m stuck at 2 land after a bounced Magus (originally cast using SSG). My hand has five cards in it. One of them is Snuff Out and Roland only has one card left in hand. That card is not Pact of Negation. He’s unable to pay for his Summoner’s Pact and I win on his upkeep.
Record: Matches (5-2), Games (10-6)
Round 8 Jim Erlinger
TMWA vs. FlashGame 1 I mull to 6 and drop Leyline. Jim also mulls to 6 and leads with Lotus, Scroll, Ancestral. He gets a Sapphire down and we spend some turns developing. I attempt a Magus. He hardcasts Force of Will. I resolve a Moon and then a Poppet.
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2x Pyrokinesis and 1x Contagion. I just play the slower control game and let him Flash. I eventually beat him down with creatures. Jim hears the serenade of sweet remembrances calling him from the inside of a bottle and Vroman concurs. I thank Jim for the games and await the final results.
Final Record: Matches (6-2), Games (12-6) 10th Place out of 131 Players
In the end, I came in 10th place, not too shabby for my first Vintage Champs appearance. My two victorious opponents were seeded 1st (Alex) and 3rd (Rich) and I wish them both luck. Ray made Top 8 with Staxless Stax and was kind enough to recognize the awesome power of Jagged Poppet by indicating that it was the best card in Vintage when he completed his winner’s survey. He was also gracious enough to recognize The Mountains Win Again as tied for best Vintage deck with Staxless Stax.
This is the list I played at Vintage Champs including commentary on each of the cards (this report’s chock full o’ bonus features!)
The Mountains Win Again version 39.34 Magus of the Moon – Amazing in nearly every matchup
4 Jagged Poppet – Solid, pitches to any spell, ravages hands when properly utilized
3 Gathan Raiders – Questionable. Most likely replaceable with something else
4 Goblin Vandal – Only maindeck in a metagame with lots of Workshops
4 Pyrokinesis – Awesome all around
4 Duress – As good as everyone thinks it is
4 Leyline of the Void – In this environment it works out rather well
4 Snuff Out – Also awesome throughout the day. Frequently hardcast.
4 Unmask – Excellent backup to Duress in this accelerated metagame.
2 Contagion – Good, not great. Kicks the removal level up to critical mass.
4 Simian Spirit Guide – Acceleration, hilarious and sometimes relevant as a Grey Ogre
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
4 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
6 Swamp
The mana base was solid throughout the day. I can see adding a single Mountain to support a Vandal or Lavamancer in those matchups where mana denial is an issue, but the high number of fetches and Swamps is necessary to support the Magus of the Moon. I never felt the need for more than the on-color Moxen and the Lotus.
Sideboard4 Shattering Spree – Sooooo good against Stax.
4 Pyroblast – Could become REB. Ran these to help get Hellbent, but I think REB would find its way to the graveyard just as readily.
3 Greater Gargadon – Here against Stax, Oath, and creature decks. Performed as expected.
2 Blood Moon – The right number to complement the Maguses.
2 Cruel Edict – Misdirection-proof removal for the GAT matchup primarily. Never drew this in any of the two times I played GAT during these five events. It was still decent against stuff like Oath and Stax.
Most importantly, I had a great time during the whole weekend. Enjoying the atmosphere at a huge gathering of gamers like GenCon reinforces the fact that we play these games for fun. Thanks to all those people I met, talked with, and hung out with that made this trip and these tournaments a fun and remarkable time.
What a remarkable thing, this unremarkable life.
Until next time, may The Mountains Win Again!
