The Mountains Win Again!

[Myriad Games]

I've decided to start a chronicle of my Vintage experiences. Since my Vintage experience focuses around the deck that I've been designing and supporting during the entire time that I've been playing Vintage, this chronicle will be dedicated the swath of decks known as The Mountains Win Again, in all its various incarnations.

You can locate the discussion threads for TMWA here, here, and here. Please feel free to comment and discuss in the latest discussion thread.

First, an introduction, for those who may not be familiar with The Mountains Win Again.

The Mountains Win Again started as a humble Ankh-Sligh-Burn deck, developed into Mono Red Control, added white to formally become The Mountains Win Again, transformed into three color by adding black, and has experimented with a variety of other combinations and strategies since then, with contributions and developments from a host of different players and deck builders. There have been prison builds and aggro builds and burn builds and even control builds, but most fall under the tempo moniker. I'll be consolidating all my tournament reports here, posting one every so often, in chronological order. You can also find a plethora of my tournament reports The Mountains Win Again by doing a simple search for "Mountains Win Again" and/or "TMWA" in subject topic only.

The title of this deck came from the Blues Traveler song The Mountains Win Again.

The Mountains Win Again, abbreviated as TMWA, has come to refer to a wide variety of decks, much like the Fish title has been applied to most creature based strategies that utilize blue. Mountains is perhaps best described as non-blue tempo or aggro-control. I believe this type of non-traditional Vintage deck development opens up a wide variety of design space by not limiting deck building to pre-existing archetypes. The deck constantly evolves and changes to suit the current metagame. There have been a variety of decks created and championed by other players that fit into this category.

My own development of The Mountains Win Again began in June of 2005 and version 1.8 debuted in 9th place at the 40 Dual Land Tournament in West Springfield. I use a new version number for each event I play in and I'm currently working on version 43.x. I always have a blast developing and testing the deck and traveling about to champion the cause of The Mountains at various events.

I like to think of TMWA as a lovable rogue. It's the underdog that has posted better results than detractors admit and is, most importantly, a ton of fun to play when you enjoy this style of deck. I've even issued a bounty on tournament victories with The Mountains Win Again, to encourage more players to pilot it and discover the joy of winning with Mountains. Any version of TMWA that makes Top 8 at a tournament with 24 or more players will be eligible for a special prize (foil, foreign, etc) from Myriad Games. Prizes will be customized to suit the individual winners tastes. This bounty applies to all events posted on The Mana Drain until further notice. If in doubt about whether or not your concoction will qualify, simply PM myriadgames and I'll review your list. Once you experience The Mountains Winning Again, simply PM myriadgames with your tournament results and we'll arrange for your prize.

And now, without further introduction, I give you ...... The Mountains Win Again Chronicle!

[Myriad Games]

Tournament: The Beanie Exchange, West Springfield, MA
February 19th, 2006

Friday Night, February 18th, 2006

The Mountains are prepared, the latest incarnation being v. 9.70 with plans for a subtle adjustment to 9.80 the following morning. I'm not sure exactly what metagame to predict, but I'm fairly certain there will be lots of artifacts and plenty of blue spells, so they should do fine. I get a good night’s rest with visions of magical cards dancing in my head.

Saturday Morning, February 19th, 2006

   The slumbering Mountain spirit stirs at 8:00, showers in the refreshing morning mist and lumbers to the car with all his gear in tow: deck, decklist, match note pages, binder, cash, bottled water, snacks, a delicious lunch prepared by the Muse, and a determination to have a good time regardless of how much I win or lose.
    I get a call from my fellow travelers, Mike Spencer and Derek “Mac”Atavey, as they are en route and about 5 minutes from the rendezvous point at Myriad Games. I meet them there are 8:45 and jaunt inside to print out my updated 9.80 deck list and make sure I have everything. Mac already has directions printed out, so we leave promptly at 9:00 for the next leg of the journey, to The Beanie Exchange. This is the first time we’ve been here and we take a few excursions on the way. Being the resourceful chaps we are, we get back on track without too much difficulty and arrive at the venue around 11:00.
Entering the Exchange and passing the bags o’ baby beanies and glass items, we see the proprietor of this establishment, Dave (who I recognize from the 40 Duals tournament where the Mountains began). We also cannot help but notice the presence of Hatch, who is as boisterous as ever. There are about 18-20 players in attendance when we arrive. More than a dozen more will arrive over the course of the next hour for a total of 36 players.
   After registering, I hang about assessing the metagame and chatting with various players. I catch a glimpse of some foil Lavamancers, looking rather Grim. I enquire as to what monetary means it might take to acquire this set of four shiny wizards and consider it over a few minutes. I eventually convert an Arabian Nights mountain and some cash into a the set of foil Lavamancers, including a French fellow (sinistre lavamancien). Content with the improvement to the deck, I await the start of the tournament.
   We find out that Corey Fraser’s car has broken down on the expressway and Pat Broderick and Nick Marinelli are with him. Hatch arranges for Mac to function as a taxi to pick up Nick and Pat while Corey has his car towed. These two unfortunate chaps receive 1st round losses and Mac gets a 1st round bye and free lunch for his efforts. I join in with a half a dozen other players make an hilarious Oath deck for Brassman to play when he arrives. Suffice to say it includes Duskmantle, House of Shadows.
While waiting I overhear many complaints about the Power 9 tournament in Baldwinsville, NY the day before, including confirmation of the online allegations I had uncovered the night before: guaranteed prizes were not awarded. The TO, one Amrod, instead disposed of the power at some point during the event (as only about 53 players showed up), and instead offered the players a small amount of cash as prize or power within 3 months. Many of the players who won are in attendance today (including Kowal who took 1st place) and they are anything but happy about the arrangement.

Saturday Afternoon
Round 1
Pairings go up and I find my first opponent for the tournament, one I’ve faced (and beaten) before, but one who has a fair amount of experience at playing against The Mountains. Kowal. This should be an interesting match. I have no doubt he’s playing Gifts. I lead off with a 1st turn visit to the Crypt of Tormod and call a Goblin Vandal to help me blow stuff up. Unfortunately the Vandal gets neutered by a Pithing Needle and is reduced to simply attacking. At some point a rogue Tinkerer turns a Mox into a Darksteel Colossus that doesn’t seem to care much about my 2nd Tormod’s Crypt. I attempt to send the indestructible machination farming, but alas he has a strong Force of Will. Our second game begins with a Sinistre Lavamancien appearing and turning the ashes of past spells into burnination. Each time he burns things he chortles, “hon, hon!” in a very Gallic way. Toward the beginning of this game, possibly during a Brainstorm, we lapse into The Muppets “MaNaMaNaH!” which will be a recurring theme song throughout the rest of the match. After bashing things around for a bit with Mishra’s Factory and a Hearth Kami, Kowal has been reduced to 7 life. I do several bits of match and determine that I will need two more turns to kill him. I reduce him to 4 the next turn and that same singular Tinkerer shows up and makes another Darksteel Colossus. I again attempt to send him farming and this time Kowal lets it resolve, seeing as he has to in order to survive. He jumps up to 15 life and I continue the beatdown. After a couple of turns he’s back down to 3, one turn away from toast. He instead finds a Vault full of Flames (without the assistance of the Will of Yawgmoth) and kills me the turn before he’s dead. Hardly an auspicious beginning to the day. Regardless, I am determined to soldier on as a good sport. I congratulate Kowal on the win and wish him best of luck for the rest of the tournament.

Round 2
The next round begins and I find I’m facing another accomplished player that I have played against before, Justin “Outlaw” Timoney. Even following a 1st turn Trinisphere I bludgeon him down to 4 before he gets me locked down and gets Karn online to finish me off. The 2nd game I keep an unstable hand with a Plateau as the only mana source and a Goblin Vandal. I figure if he Wastes my Plateau I can draw another red source (I have plenty of them in the deck) and start blowing things up with the Vandal. He does indeed Waste my Plateau 1st turn. This nefarious outlaw then drops an early Gorilla Shaman which then calls for reinforcements a few turns later. I proceed to draw 2 Mishra’s Factories that aren’t the red mana I need. Both of these bastions of industry fall into decline and become barren wastelands after the Crucible of Worlds forges his graveyard into a recursion machine. He slowly eats away at my life total with Team Gorilla Shaman, always keeping one untapped in case Goblin Vandal decides to get fresh and blow up this various abusive artifacts (including another Trinisphere). Eventually a Barbarian Ring shows up along with Goblin Welder to finish me off. At this point I know I have a minute chance of actually making the top tables, but I’m still determined to have a good time and get some testing in. Enter Jason Cleveland.

Round 2.5
I played against Jason at Waterbury VIII, day 2. He is a very methodical player and a very friendly guy in general. As we both found ourselves done with our matches early, we decided to test the prowess of our decks against each other again. We’re both playing the same basic decks we were at Waterbury, so there are no big surprises. In the interest of time, we play all our games unsideboarded. Game one I mulligan to 6 cards and lose to full lockdown in a few short turns. Game two Vandal explodes Trinisphere like it’s his job (I mean, he is a professional Vandal after all).  The Mountain Spirit shows up and destroys him even after he brings Balance to the board making me lose two creatures and a land. Game 3 Vandal, always the consummate destroyer of worlds, has a heyday with the field of artifacts that litter the opposing side of the board. At this point Hatch decides that he needs to play against these stolid Mountains. He asks Jason if he can play his deck against me for a game and Jason agrees. This game is the tale of 2 Chalices of the Void, some flying lava, a bunch of broken artifacts, and a Ring of the Sun that was wisely destroyed by the Vandal at an opportune moment to prevent any resistance to the life erosion provided by Mishra’s Factories and the masochistic damage of Cities of Brass. Round 2 is over, so we stop these extra games, but they were by far some of the most amusing I’ll play all day.

Round 3
Heading to one of the lower tables, I next face off with Jordan Davis who informs me before we begin that his deck is a Type 2 deck converted to Type 1. I find this interesting and begin the match curious. Grim Lavamancer shows up 1st turn followed by a Kami of Ancient Law on turn 2. My opponent has thus far played an island and another island. Mishra’s Factory shows up and I keep swinging with little guys to create a pile of accumulated damage. And then it happens…the most unexpected card I can imagine…Mimeofacture. I’ve seen this sorcerous magic before, but I still have to read the card to see what it does. Given the choice between my two creatures, Jordan chooses the Kami of Ancient Law who is reduced to ashes by the Lavamancer in short order (come to think of it I think the Lavamancer was a short order cook in a previous life time – that would explain his dour attitude and incessant need for burnination). The next turn, after some predictable beats by my forces, another unexpected occurrence: another Mimeofacture! And here’s the real gem of this play: Jordan looks at the same combination of creatures in play and decides to grab another Kami of Ancient Law. Unfortunately for him there are only two in my deck, one in play and the other in my graveyard, killed my his allied Lavamancer. After looking through the deck again, he proceeds to take a few more turns of damage and we go to game 2. This game is even more one-sided than the first, when Genju of the Spires shows up very early and swings several times, even through Electrolyze, to whittle down the life total of my opponent to nothing. Niv-Mizzet makes an appearance, but the multiverse’s most intelligent dragon falls prey to a Lavamancer and a jet of Magma (must be a volcano around here somewhere). We fill out the match slip and play another game for fun. This time Niv-Mizzet shows up twice and both times he’s charred to pieces by the fiery environment. Curiosity is no where to be seen. My opponent is discouraged and I do my best to console him by wishing him the best of of luck.

Round 3.5
Since this round was again completed quickly, I find myself watching other people’s games and feeling optimistic about my chances at still placing higher in the tournament. Jason is again finished with his games early so we play another couple of games before Round 4 begins. In game one of this demi-round, Kami of AL, Goblin Vandal, and Mishra’s Factory join forces to fight the evil monopolistic tendencies of the Smokestack strewn cityscape. Game 2 does not progress so smoothly with Karn showing up early to teach me about golem pain.

Round 4
My opponent this round is one David Lee, who I recognize from our February 11th tournament. I greet him and we begin to battle with magical cards. Mishra’s Factory, Hearth Kami, and Goblin Vandal go the distance in game one and I determine that he’s playing Gifts or Control Slaver. I’m hoping it’s the latter as the matchup is much better. Tormod’s Crypt does it’s job by keeping Yawg Will in his hand where it belongs. Game 2 we both mulligan to 6 cards, I E Tutor for T’Crypt and play it on my send turn. I drop 2 Grim Lavamancers (but alas no Sinistre Lavamancien) and start swinging. A couple of Mishra’s Factories show up to assist in the assault. I attempt to Disenchant a Pithing Needle that’s disabling my Factories, but once again his Force of Will is strong. He untaps and gatling guns me to death with a Flaming Fusillade before I can finish him off. Game 3 I again E Tutor for T’Crypt 1st turn, playing it on my second. My early Vandal gets offed by a dreaded Darkblast. I foolishly Crypt it away, trying to keep my other weak creatures alive. A couple of turns later he exacts the Will of Yawgmoth for a few minutes. He actually Tinkers for a Lotus and then Tinkers again after the Yawg Will for a Colossus. I do not have an answer for the Big Man and I lose in short order. I wish David all the best and resign myself to a couple more rounds of testing before I find out if Mike and/or Mac have a chance at Top 8.

Round 5
I’ve been using the restroom (which is less than pleasant) and drinking lots of water throughout the day as per my usual modus operandi. At this point I decide that I should supplement my previous four rounds of occasional snacking with something more substantial so I retreat to the Pathfinder that brought us to retrieve my custom made sandwich, a yogurt, and an apple. I sit in the car and enjoy the quiet, knowing I only have a few more minutes until the next round begins. As I walk back in to the store, I see that all the other players are seated and I hurry to the pairings sheet to find my opponent. I find I have already triumphed over this BYE fellow and I wander about for a while, returning a couple of voicemails that have accumulated during the last couple of rounds.

Round 6
As they post the pairings for round 6 is becomes apparent that no one really has the intention of playing if they’re not in contention for Top 8. I find this unfortunate as I came to play regardless of how well I did. Hatch announces that they’ll be doing another tournament and many people sign up for that. I decline since I know that if Mike and/or Mac don’t make it into Top 8 we’ll be heading out shortly. It’s currently around 19:00. I confirm with my opponent that he’s effectively conceding since he would prefer not to play and I wander around for a bit more, scoping out some of Mac’s game and Mike’s game. They end up 10th and 11th after all the results are reported. I came in 22nd. Mac just finished eating some Wendy’s, but Mike and I retire to the Italian eatery next door. I have a meatball sub and use the considerably cleaner facilities there before I leave. We head back to the Exchange and check out a couple of the finals matches before leaving around 22:15.

Saturday Night, Rounding Off
On the drive home, Mike is pretty tired so he sleeps most of the way. Mac and I discuss sportsmanship in general and tournaments in particular. We arrive back and Myriad home base around 23:00 and the fellows go inside to use our restroom before continuing on to the Seacoast. Mike expresses his disappointment at not having picked up something new during the day and decides to buy a couple of singles. I thank Mac again for driving and I head home, arriving there around 23:25. As I reflect on the day on my way home I realize that I enjoy playing against certain people much more than I enjoy playing in general. I resolve to do all that I can to encourage more players to be good sports, supportive of new players and the entire ecosystem that is the tournament environment for Magic. I look forward to the next tournament I can attend, even realizing that I will never want to invest the necessary time in order to become a top-level player. I’m content with crafting my own unique contribution to this Vintage game and tracking its progress across the international metagame. I do not wish to become one of the numerous players obsessed with winning. We all have Spike-ish tendencies, but I’d rather make my own player type that simply enjoys the fun of playing whatever game I happen to be playing with friends, rather than playing the game at the expense of my life and friendships. Here’s to fine company enjoying our intermingled lives and the experiences that lay ahead, just over the Mountains.

[Myriad Games]

Tournament: Batter Up, Tewksbury, MA
April 29th, 2006

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

The Mountains are ready the latest incarnation being v. 14.95 and over 81 games played the various 14.x versions. I predict a mixed metagame with less Gifts as people adjust for the Time Vault errata. I’m fairly certain I’ll see a decent bit of Tendrils, which is why I’m happy to have 4x Pyrostatic Pillar between the main and the side. As long as there are plenty of artifacts and lots of blue spells, Mountains should do fine. I get a good night’s rest and look forward to final preparations tomorrow.

Friday, April 28th, 2006

   I go to work in the afternoon as usual after morning preparations with Sara. I hope to leave on time this evening (by midnight) to get a decent amount of sleep before the tournament. After working throughout the day and preparing directions, deck lists, and decks, I end up leaving work around 1:30 in the morning. We plan on getting up at 8:30 to be ready to leave by 9:15ish. I sleep relatively well considering the short amount of time (I’m used to at least 8 hours of sleep as opposed to the 6.25 I get that night).

Saturday Morning, April 29th, 2006

   I wake up around 8:00 thinking about Magic card interactions and realize that there’s no point in going back to sleep. I get up and shower (zestfully clean!) and prepare to leave. We head to our local automotive repair shop for an oil change while we eat breakfast at a nearby bagel shop. After munching down a satisfying omelet sandwich and imbibing some piping hot beverages, we head back to pick up the car. We head out around 10:10 and travel toward Tewksbury. We’ve been to Batter’s Up before, but use the directions to navigate through some construction en route to arrive at Batter Up (no “’s”) and show up around 10:40. A bearded smoking fellow requests that we not park in front of the store but rather along the street to avoid being towed. I find it rather odd that we would be towed since we’re parked in front of Batter Up where we’re attending an event, but we comply and head inside. A certain Samite Healer is there, setting up his wares, and we discover that the bearded smoking fellow is actually Ben Caless from NEMG, who is apparently also running the event and focusing on selling more Standard singles as opposed to the Vintage items that Jeff is offering. There are perhaps a dozen people in attendance when we arrive, but no indication that anyone is signed up yet. The venue includes a large number of tables and many chairs, a few of them broken. The place is generally a disaster area with garbage all over the place(a disturbing trend that would increase as people left their junk around throughout the day). I search for a table not covered in gunk and find one eventually so that Sara and I can test away from the rest of the group so as not to give away our super secret tech. I recognize most of the players in attendance including more as they arrive. As we try to use the bathroom in this establishment, we discover that one of the people who used it earlier today broke the handle off so in order to flush it you must reach into the tank and pull the chain manually. The sink and floor are also a mess and there are no paper towels.  I eventually go downstairs and get some paper towels from the store, since there is no indication that any of the tournament organizers are going to take care of that little detail. What bothers me most is that most people don’t care about the state of disorder around the place. Later on in the day, neither of the bathrooms are working due to a sewer issue but it is soon rectified. Still later on in the day, the upstairs toilet overflows leaving a lovely mess. At any rate, at the beginning of the event, we go to a corner with three couches and hang out while waiting for the round to start. Travis the Juggernaut is there with a very loud shirt and shiny new glasses.  Ray, Waterbury Legend is in attendance, explaining that soccer is not the same as Frisbee and hackey-sack and commenting that my Bored? Games! shirt does not have complete sentences on it. Mike Spencer is there, patiently waiting for the start of the event. Ray eventually breaks out a Type 4 stack and we begin playing while waiting (it is around 12:20 at this point and the tournament has shown no signs of starting). Eventually, it is announced that we have 39 players and pairings for round 1 go up. It is 12:38.

Saturday Afternoon
Round 1
Table 15: I’m paired against Tim Greenfield first round, which is a name I recognize from a previous Myriad tournament. I greet him when we sit down and we shuffle up and start playing. I remind myself that at the start of each round and after each time I need to mulligan I will pile shuffle and riffle shuffle my deck to help avoid land screw. It’s a good ritual, regardless of whether or not it works. I keep a hand with a Mishra’s Factory, Waste, and Strip Mine, a shaky hand but playable. He plays 1st turn Tundra and I grin. I waste it and drop Mishra’s Factory. He wastes it and drops a Flooded Strand the next turn. He gets out Kataki the turn after I draw a Mox Ruby for my red source. I strip his island and he drops a Lotus, powers out Ninja for Kataki, burning for one from the extra mana from Lotus, and replays Kataki off another Tundra. I go from 12 to 8 to 4 to Scoop when I realize that I’ll lose next turn. I still feel fairly good since I’m playing against U/W fish which is generally a good matchup and I grin as I side in Sacred Ground, REBs, and PBlasts and side out TCrypts, Kami of ALs, and some Disenchant effects. I start game two with Wooded Foothills for Mount Fuji! and Goblin Vandal. Goblin Welder joins him next turn (which elicits a “huh!?” from Tim) and they slowly beat down. I get a steady stream of land to power out my spells and waste his Tundra. He Force of Wills something threatening (a Pillar or Genju I believe) and Team Goblin keeps up the minibeats. I Pacify a Ninja of the Deep Hours that was hardcast and send a Stormscape Apprentice farming when he’s at 5. I swing in for the win a few turns later. We head to game 3 and he leads off with a Flooded Strand for Island followed by Savannah Lions. I drop a Flooded Strand as well and pass. He drops another Flooded Strand followed by Lotus, swings with the Lions and pops Lotus during combat to Ninja in a Deep Hours and Ancestral himself. He drops Kataki off his two lands after combat and Force of Wills my Grim Lavamancer. I get a Mishra’s Factory and start swinging. I get removal for his guys (including a time when he swings into my untapped Mishra’s Factory that pumps itself) and get out a Welder to commence the beats. At this point in the game I get 3 Mishra’s Factories and keep 1 back to block using one to swing and another to pump it when he doesn’t block. I remember rotating the Mishra’s Factories so that a different season attacked each turn. He eventually decommissions one of my factories and turns it into some sort of agricultural enterprise and I squeak out the win thanks to the other 2 Factories. I wish Tim luck and replies in kind and we head on to next round. It is 13:15.

Round 2
Table 3: I’m paired against Rich Meyst this round and I remember playing against him at the last Waterbury (Day 2) when he was playing U/W Fish. We begin at 13:30. I get Goblin Welder on the table right off the bat and start swinging. He Merchant scrolls for AK and casts it. I Magma Jet him in response. He Forces my Pillar of Roaring Flames and I get a Mishra’s Factory and Hearth Kami active for some more beats. He Ancestrals and Tinkers out DSC after Chain of Vaporing Welder. He predictably uses his Force of Will to counter the Welders return and I swing with Mishra’s Factory and Hearth Kami to bring him to 2. He has Drain mana open but I have the perfect answer. I cast Swords targeting DSC, he Drains it (the last card in his hand) and I cast Lava Dart with him at 2. Game 2 he Drains Vandal and Mysticals for Ancestral. Alas, I have a 1st turn Mount Fuji and it brings forth a Hearth Kami with the help of a pair of Mishra’s Factories. I get a Welder on board shortly thereafter and he Forces something to bring him to 1. He pops Lotus to Brainstorm and ends up dying to a point of mana burn. I wish him well when we finish up around 14:05. I go and talk with Samite for a brief moment, considering my options for trading some pieces of cardboard for other pieces of cardboard, including 2 shiny Cunning Wishes that Oliver requested.

Round 3
Table 1: I’m paired against Brian Rozzero which is a name I recognize, but I can’t recall from where. I get 1st turn Mount Fuji and cast Genju of the Spires, which should be enough to seal the game right there. I get a Grim Lavamancer and Kami of Ancient Law down as well, bringing him down to 14. He Intuitions for 3x AK and Mysticals for another one, Duressing away my Pillar. He Tinkers for DSC, Vampiric Tutors for another one, and Ancestrals himself for 3 cards. I make plans to stave off the DSC for another turn so that I have a chance to draw an STP, but I miscalculate the math and end up dying that turn. At 14:50, I mull to 6 and keep a hand with double Pillar. I resolve one 2nd turn after he Ancestrals himself during my upkeep. I cast a Goblin Vandal and he gets Jet, Duress (he takes the other Pillar), Sol Ring. I get a swinging Mishra’s Factory and he Intuitions thoughtfully for Night of Souls’ Betrayal, Demonic Tutor, and Mystical Tutor. I decide to make him take the maximum amount of damage and give him the Mystical. He Mysticals for Tinker, casts it and I STP the DSC the next turn through Force of Will with PBlast backup. He goes back up to 16 giving him more life to play with. I keep swinging with Goblin Vandal and Mishra’s Factory and he keeps casting spells and taking damage. At the end of the game he casts Mana Crypt into Pillar while at 2 and we go to game 3. We both mulligan to 6 cards and keep. He goes Polluted Delta, Vampiric Tutor, and Tinkers out DSC on his second turn. I don’t have an answer and end up dying in short order. He admits after the game that if I had any disruption (Blast or STP) if would have been much different, since he wouldn’t have any cards left after blowing his whole hand to power out DSC. We wish each other good luck throughout the rest of the tournament. It is around 15:15.

Round 4
   Table 5: Feature Match vs. Ray Robillard. For this “Battle of the Tournament Organizers”, we head to the couch corner with the feature match table. I’m sitting on a much shorter couch, so I need to reach up to be at table level. As we’re shuffling, I notice that Ray is using 7 piles while I’m using my standard 8. I inquire as to why he does that and he explains that it’s more difficult to cheat using 7 piles. I try it out and find it easy as using 8 piles so I keep using this format throughout the rest of the day. We begin at 15:45. We both mull to 6, and I mull to 5, and then to 4 (no land). I keep a hand with 2x Tormod’s Crypt, STP, and Plains. I also have Goblin Vandal but that doesn’t really matter. Ray gets Chalice for 2 and Tolarian right of the bat. I Waste Tolarian only to him him Crop Rotate it for City of Brass. I draw another Tormod’s Crypt and play it. He eats all of them with Karn. I sac 2 out of 3 in response and remove his graveyard from the game. He then proceeds to Ancestral himself, get out Karn, and attack with an indestructible Darksteel Ingot. I eventually get a Plateau down and Goblin Vandal swings in toward Karn. He blocks and I send Karn farming (+0 life!) This hilarious part of the game made this uphill battle worth playing out. He gets Trisk, kills Vandal, and swings away. I don’t scoop until he casts Tangle Wire. It’s 15:58. We start game 2 and again we both mull to 6. This time we both keep those hands and he starts with Lotus, Mox, Sol Ring, Gemstone Mine for Karn. I STP Karn (at the end of his 1st turn) and drop a land. He casts Trinisphere and I try to catch up with lands to be able to cast anything. He gets Seal of Cleansing on the table so I cast Vandal and decide to hope he doesn’t get Trisk. He gets Sundering Titan instead and then swings in blowing up my lands and killing my Vandal with something else (most likely Trisk). I wish Ray good luck – we actually go back and forth wishing each other good luck a few times.

Round 5
Table 11: I’m paired against Corey Fraser, another player I recognize from several of our previous tournaments. Mike Spencer warns me to watch out for him since he’s a good player. I have no idea what he’s playing, but at this point I need to win out in order to win, so I go all gung ho. We begin at 16:35. He Dazes my Grim Lavamancer and Forces my STP trying to remove his Quirion Dryad from the game. I Lightning Bolt the Dryad instead and cast Kami of AL to start swinging. I eventually get Goblin Vandal on board with the anti-life crusade and at 16:50 it’s all over. The next game starts off looking promising with Mount Fuji! He angers the spirit of the Mountains by strip mining Mount Fuji for its precious minerals. I swing with Mishra’s Factories and Goblin Welder (which makes him go “huh!?!”). I have 3 Blasts this game (1 REB, 2 Pyroblast) to stop his key protection spells. I just keep whittling away at his life with Welder and Factory. When he’s just a few turns away from death, he casts Werebear with a graveyard chockfull o’ cards. I have Tormod’s Crypt on board and a Lava Dart in hand, but I decide to Pacifism Werebear instead. Next turn he drops Quirion Dryad. I attempt to cast a Plateau on the Dryad from my hand, to which he responds by saying “that’s a Plateau” and which I respond to by revealing the card I actually intended to reveal – Lightning Bolt! I swing in over the next few turns to win. I do make a swinging error which prevented me from killing him a turn earlier than I could have (I forgot that my 2nd Goblin Vandal had come out the previous turn instead of that turn). I wish Corey good luck and tell him I’ll hope to see him at our future tournaments.  I head up to Samite’s table since he’s announced that he’s leaving in the next 20 minutes and negotiate a cardboard stock exchange, securing the 2 Foil Cunning Wishes for Oliver. I await our next round of pairing and use this time to inform Ray and Brian that they’ve each won Myriad T-Shirts since they defeated me at the event. They can pick them up next time they come to Myriad Games.

I’ve been snacking on granola bars and water during the day and I’m not really hungry. I enjoy being swept up by the game and not really noticing the passage of time. One thing I do notice (call it organizer-sense) is that there are several rounds where all the players are done and there is what I would consider an inordinate delay in starting the next round. This is due to the lack of organization on the part of both the players (in not reporting their results) and the organizer (in not requesting results from the players). I estimate at this juncture that about 45 minutes of time was wasted during the event in this fashion and the time between round 5 and 6 was the biggest culprit. While that may not seem like a lot of time, there are a plenty of things you can do with an extra hour and it makes a bigger difference during a long day. The standings go up and I realize that I have a very slim chance of making it in. I decide to plan not to get in and be pleasantly surprised if I do.

Round 6
Table 7: I’m paired against David Lee, who I’ve seen at our Myriad Games events and played against previously at a Beanie Exchange tournament. He is a nice fellow and we begin our match promptly at 17:50. I ascertain early on that he’s playing Control Slaver and I’m happy with that since I haven’t had a chance to play it in person all day. I remember to use end of 1st main phase timing tech that Chad had reminded me about the day before, including one instance where I ask him “are you going to burn for the extra 2 from the Drain mana?” when he hadn’t cast a drain (which he politely informed me of) I get the Hearth Kami, Mishra’s Factory, Goblin Vandal beat machine going and eat a bunch of his artifacts. He casts gifts and gets a bunch of stuff I really don’t care about since he’s at 5. I Lightning Bolt him down to 1 and make sure he never gets an active Welder and that’s pretty much game. Game 2 begins shortly thereafter with a 1st turn Crypt and Lavamancer (killed my Fire with the extra point going to me). He plays a 1st turn Welder which I attempt to kill (he Forces) and then I successfully kill it with Magma Jet (go massive amounts of removal!). I REB Thirst and swing with team Mishra’s Factory for several turns, keeping 1 land open for REB. He gets down to 5 and Force of Wills my STP for his Welder. At this point I cast my own Welder and he does the best double take of the day – looking at the Welder in his graveyard and then back at mine before Lava Darting my Welder away. I swing bringing him down to 2 and he has no cards left. I reveal my own Lava Dart for the win and my opponent congratulates me and heads off to Burger King with his compatriots for greasy goodness. We await the final standings and I stand near the laptop that Jeff’s using for the tournament.

He reads the top 8 names from 1st place down with most of the players already knowing they were in (including Ray who beat me in Round 4). It turns out that Brian Rozzero (the other fellow who beat me – in Round 3) squeezed into the 8th place spot and I came in 9th. Jeff informed me that I came in 9th with a look that implied that he semi-expected that but that he was still surprised I did that well. We say our farewells and head off to meet friends for dinner and more games.

Saturday Night

We decide to hit Piccadilly Pub, which is phenomenally greasy and somewhat delicious, and I have fish and chips with a large bread bowl of clam “chowda” and a Caesar salad. We finish up dinner and walk back to the car at Batter Up and I decide to swing inside and see how the Top 8 is progressing. It turns out that in the short hour or so that we were gone they’ve already completed quarterfinals and semifinals and Travis and Ray are starting the finals match. I congratulate them both again and tell them we’ll look forward to seeing them again soon. We head back to a nearby house in Tewksbury for a game and a half of Shadows Over Camelot and then leave from there around 10:40 to get home at a reasonable hour. All in all it was an enjoyable day and I feel that I have improved my playing skills through steady practice and that I still have a long way to go. I’m looking forward to some minor modifications to the Mountains and the next chance I have to play it (which will likely be in June). I’m tempted to try to do well at the 4 Workshops Tournament hosted by Hatch and Dave because it was almost a year ago at the 40 Duals Tournament hosted by Hatch and Dave that the mono red control deck that eventually became The Mountains Win Again had its beginning. What with Slaver back in the metagame in force and a super-powered-by-errata Goblin Vandal leading the mountain forces, I think it could be a force to be reckoned with.

[Myriad Games]

And now we ring in 2008 with a classic report from 2006.

The Mountains Win Again!
Three Vintage Power Tournaments in 8 Days
   
Friday, June 16th, 2006
Our tale begins with weeks and weeks of preparation for the heavily anticipated 4 Workshops tournament in Enfield, CT. Since its initial debut as Mono Red Control at the 40 Duals Tournament in June 2005, I’ve played over 1,000 games with various incarnations of The Mountains Win Again. During the past year, I’ve spent thousands of hours testing, refining, and analyzing TMWA and tracking its progress, so I felt that I was well prepared. This weekend would give me a good indication of whether or not all this time and effort refining the deck had been effective in making it more competitive. I’ve had a ton of fun learning about the format through in depth analysis in preparing a metagame dependent deck and exploring the competition.
This week in particular, on Thursday and Friday, I spent a good portion of time with Chad performing a comprehensive analysis of the metagame based on the SCG Rochester results. We formulated our estimated changes to the metagame based on that analysis and assigned weighted qualitative values to each card in the TMWA main deck and sideboard based on their estimated effectiveness. We ended up making just one slight adjustment before arriving at version 16.4 which I would proceed to play during the next three tournaments I played in over the next eight days.

Mana (14)
1x Mountain
4x Plateau
1x Plains
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl

Mana / Removal (5)
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

Mana / Beats (4)
4x Mishra's Factory

Beatstick (1)
1x Genju of the Spires

Team Artifact Destruction! (10)
3x Goblin Vandal
2x Gorilla Shaman
3x Goblin Welder
2x Hearth Kami

Damage / Removal (13)
4x Grim Lavamancer
3x Swords to Plowshares
3x Lightning Bolt
1x Disenchant
2x Seal of Cleansing

Disruption (8)
3x Pyroblast
2x Pyrostatic Pillar
3x Tormod's Crypt

Search (5)
1x Enlightened Tutor
4x Magma Jet

Sideboard: Disruption & Protection (15)
4x Red Elemental Blast
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Goblin Vandal
1x Goblin Welder
1x Pyrostatic Pillar
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Null Rod
1x Sacred Ground
1x Seal of Cleansing
3x Disenchant

We also whipped up a different version of Mono Red Control during the preceding week, which I affectionately titled “Trogdor – The Burninator”. The plan was for Sara to play this deck since it would easier to pilot that TMWA and a ton of fun to play. After some deliberation, Chad decided to play Sullivan Solution aka Erayo Fish aka SS, so we put in a good dozen games or so testing The Mountains against SS. We determined that the matchup was favorable for Mountains and this was entirely pre-board. Little did I know how much this testing would come in handy over the coming weekend. We prepared two copies of Trogdor so that Katie could play as well and Chad whipped up his copy of SS sporting 15 stylish proxies including uncommon cards like Planar Void.

We planned to meet the following morning around 8:45 and drive out to Enfield to arrive in plenty of time for registration. We’d made reservations at the Marriott about a mile from the event location and planned to stay overnight and attend the Day 2 Mox Ruby tournament at the Beanie Exchange in West Springfield, MA. I went to work to finish up some final preparations and returned not too late that evening to get to bed at a reasonable hour in order to be well rested.

Tournament: 4 Workshops Tournament, Enfield, CT
Saturday, June 17th, 2006

We began with a scrumptious breakfast of egg sandwiches and blueberry muffins, after piling into Katie’s high tech Toyota Prius and entering our destination coordinates into the built-in navigational GPS. Chad drove and we raced along the shortest of our route alternatives. While traveling we talked about Magic, politics, Magic, social issues, Magic, economic considerations, and Magic.

We arrived at our destination without incident, parked behind the lodge where the event was being held, and walked inside to see a large room with one side full of tables and chairs and another half almost entirely empty save one small table with a chair on one side. As we approached the registration and dealers’ tables, we were greeted by Derek (head judge), Hatch & Dave (event coordinators) and Samite Healer (dealer extraordinaire).  It seemed that preparations were coming along, though Hatch informed us that the lodge had neglected to make all the tables available, which is why half the room was empty. The small table with one chair was for Dan Gagioch who had recently had surgery on his foot and was therefore the feature match table for the day. Samite had just added some awesome looking customized Psychatogs to his case, a playset featuring all four of the legendary Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These were much ogled, throughout the course of the day. We delivered our donation of Myriad Games Mana Cookies to be given out as door prizes throughout the tournament.  They had a good reception all the throughout the day with everyone who won one enjoying their delicious Myriad Mana goodness. We also left a pile of Myriad Games pens next to stacks of flyers for our next Myriad Games tournament on July 15th.

We registered our decks, made much easier since our deck lists were all handily preprinted the day before. We did discover that our paper printed proxies were not allowed today and spent about 20 minutes customizing basic lands using the multicolored Sharpies I always bring along for foil land customization. Between 11:00 and noon, more players trickled in, most of whom I recognized from previous events.  I performed a series of quick head counts over that hour and realized that there were only about 54 players in attendance, far short of expectations that between 80 and 100+ players would attend. We sojourned to the Dunkin Donuts next door so that the caffeine addicted could get beverages and had smoothie samples. Apparently I was the only one who could successfully down a frosty smoothie without freezing my brain – must be all that hot magma floating around in my innards. Around 12:30 Hatch made initial announcements including that there were 54 players (I guessed right!) which was later updated to 55 after one player was discovered missing from the roster. Hatch confirmed that the prize structure was guaranteed, though it was evident that they would be taking a huge loss on the event. This prompted discussions throughout the weekend regarding the effects of guaranteed prize structures on the long term viability of a continued series of events for the Vintage community in the area. Anyone who has discussed this topic with me knows my stance. If you do not and would like to engage in conversation, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Round 1 began at 13:05 and I was paired up against Scott Jensen aka Ink Eyes, who I recognized from previous tournaments at Myriad Games. We both knew what each other were playing and I felt fairly confident in The Mountains ability to handle Suicide Black. We both mulled to 6 and Scott played first. I’ll note now that I did not win a single coin flip or die roll during the entire day to determine who played first. We exchanged blows from Mishra’s Factories before I blew his up. Genju of the Spires came online and swung twice putting him at 6 life when he exercised his option to concede. The first game took us all of 8 minutes. Game 2 he led off with Black Lotus for Dark Confidant. I proceeded to get Gorilla Shaman and Grim Lavamancer online followed by Mishra’s Factory and Goblin Welder. He cast Demonic Consultation for Ink-Eyes and got it in hand, but I killed him too quickly. The second game lasted for 9 minutes. We then played an hilarious subgame where my only win condition was killing Ink-Eyes who was triply regenerate-able thanks to 6 mana sources in play. I chump blocked and removed my creatures from the graveyard with Lavamancer to prevent the unearthly effects that ninja body thief and in the end I sent Ink-Eyes farming with Swords to Plowshares. Scott was quick to point out that Ink-Eyes had not died and we had a good laugh before signing and turning in the match slip including a special note from Scott indicating that I had won the subgame. I used the restroom facilities, which were acceptable if a bit cramped, and prepared for the next round.

Round 2 I ended up at table 1 versus Will Clair, who I did not recognize. He led off with a Flooded Strand and I was hopeful that he was playing U/W Fish. Unfortunately, he was playing Oath and my Goblin Vandal was no match for his 2nd turn Oath / Orchard followed by Akroma & Spirit of the Night. Our first game was done in 8 minutes. I sided into all my Oath answers including 7 total Disenchant effects and kept in the Swords to Plowshares even though I wasn’t sure if he was running Simic Sky Swallower (SSS). I mulled to 6 and led off with a decent hand including Pyroblast, Magma Jet, and Wasteland. Unfortunately, I only had one fetch land, so I could either take a chance on fetching out a Plateau (and potentially being entirely screwed out of white if he had a Waste) or going for Mount Fuji and using the P’Blast to stall him while I dug with the Jet. I opted for Mount Fuji. Unfortunately for me, he had a 2nd turn Oath & Orchard followed by Time Walk. He did forget to attack one turn, and I was able to delay his Oath by a turn since I Jetted the token while his Orchard was tapped and I only had one token. Unfortunately, I didn’t turn up a white source and my Jet revealed Sacred Ground and Seal of Cleansing. Guess I should have taken the chance on Plateau. Akroma & Spirit of the Night were all too eager to finish me off and I wished my opponent good luck.

Round 3, I faced off against Matt McNally who I recognized from previous events. He mulled to 5 game 1 and Enlightened Tutor-ed for Pyrostatic Pillar which was promptly countered. I beat down with Goblin Welder, Mishra’s Factory, Hearth Kami, and killed one Auriok Salvagers only to have another one show up but to no avail. It was a close 15 minute game. Game 2 did not include any mulligans but did include a pair of Salvagers racing through a Pyrostatic Pillar and a ton of burn with counter backup. Game 3 began with another mulligan down to 5 on Matt’s side of the table. I played first with a ridiculous 1st turn Pyrostatic Pillar. Matt took eight damage 1st turn by casting Lotus and three other spells, seriously depleting his hand. Hearth Kami came online next turn and beat down with Mishra’s Factory for the win. All in all the match took about 35 minutes.

Round 4, I was paired up against “Null” Rob D’Alfonso playing old school Gifts with Goblin Charbelcher. Game 1, Darksteel Colossus came online early via Tinker through Pyrostatic Pillar. I attempted to put The Big Man to hearty agricultural use, but the sheer Force of Will of his industrial controller kept him in play, beating me in the face for two turns. Game 2, Rob started off with a Lotus and Flooded Strand. I attempted to cast Seal and he Drained it, casting Goblin Charbelcher and Strip Mining one of my lands. I got a Mishra’s Factory online and started swinging with that and a late Goblin Welder. He Belched over four turns, always for 2 or 1, once failing to kill my dude by flipping a land as the top card. I managed to get him down to 4 before he Rack and Ruined by Mishra’s Factory and Tormod’s Crypt which was playing Yawgmoth’s Will watch. It was a close game. The entire match lasted for 40 minutes.

Round 5, I proceeded to play against Ryan Bakes, a younger fellow playing U/W Fish. After dealing with a Meddling Mage and a persistent Cloud of Faeries turned into a Ninja, I ended up breaking Standstill for a Grim Lavamancer who in turn cleared the way for a couple of Genju swings. I ended up at 6 before I dispatched of the junior wizard across the table, so it was a decent game. Game 2 he turned my Assembly Worker into a permanent resident of the agricultural community and I was forced to get another Factory followed by another to pump him up and go the distance. I wished Ryan luck and made sure he knew about the Mox Ruby event at the Beanie Exchange the next day. This match was completed in about 30 minutes.

Round 6 I was pretty sure I wasn’t in, but I still had a very slim chance and I wanted to play it out anyway, since it was only 18:30 and I’d come to play. I ended up being paired against a fellow that I’ve played against twice previously, Rich Meyst. Rich commented that he didn’t like this matchup, by which he meant that he thought The Mountains would defeat whatever he was playing at present. When he started off with an early Erayo, I concurred. This was actually a very close game with lots of back and forth. I ended up at 2 when I finally finished him off. After sideboard, the matchup wasn’t quite so even, with a pair of Mishra’s Factories and a handful of removal taking care of opposing ground troops. Hearth Kami joined in the fray and it was over in a matter of minutes. I wished Rich the best of luck in all future events and caught up with Sara and Chad to see how they were doing.

Sara ended up going 3-3 and Chad hadn’t done great, but we all had a good time. We decided to wait for the final standings in case I happened to miracle my way into the Top 8 and then head out to dinner. We got directions to the area where the eats were and awaited the results. After finding out that I came in 17th, we headed out with Katie, who had returned from relaxing at the hotel during the tournament. We drove down the strip and stumbled upon Olive Garden. We were all in the mood for tasty Italian dinner, so we put in our names and walked around the restaurant while waiting for our buzzer to notify us that our table was ready. We headed in and ordered dinner, enjoying a leisurely meal before heading back to the hotel. No one was up for swimming before bed, so we ended up just hanging out in the room, relaxing, and watching a documentary on Robert McNamara.

Tournament: Beanie Exchange, West Springfield, MA
Sunday, June 18th, 2006

We awoke the next morning and prepared for the next tournament. I used the hotel computer to check in on TMD to see the results of the 4 Workshops tournament the day before. We enjoyed a quick breakfast of muffins and Myriad Games Mana Cookies before piling into the trusty Prius and heading to the Beanie Exchange for another day of Magic. We arrived and greeted Hatch and Dave, turned in our decklists and enrolled. I’d been to the Beanie Exchange once before but unfortunately this time the air conditioning unit was apparently inoperative; it was suspected that it might be out of Freon. There weren’t too many people here either, just 19 players at 12:45, when the announced start time was 12:00. It was a very hot day and we went back and forth throughout the day as to whether it was hotter outside or inside. Suffice to say, it was stifling, but I’ve never been one to let a little Stifle slow me down.

We started at 13:05 and I faced off with one James Mankins in Round 1. We discussed how he and his friend Jesse had been at the PTQ in Boston the day before, which likely contributed to the low attendance for the weekend’s events. I didn’t manage to resolve much during Game 1, due to the seemingly never-ending stream of land and counterspells from his gigantic deck. I started with two Wastelands taking out two Tundras, but he just kept playing lands every turn, discussing how he really liked old school U/W control. I Swords to Plowshared a Stalking Stones, but eventually succumbed to Morphling backed up by about 8 more lands. Game 2, I started off with an early Mishra’s Factory and just swung and blew up artifact mana all the way to victory. Gorilla Shaman and Goblin Vandal are extremely effective in this regard. Game 3, I started off with slow beats from a Vandal and a couple of Magma Jets to get me some real threats. I committed 2 creatures to the board and they promptly died to the Wrath of God. I eventually found a Mishra’s Factory and kept swinging in. He cast Rainbow Efreet and I used the single best white removal spell in Vintage to send it packing. Once again, Mishra’s Factory went the distance. The match lasted for 33 minutes. We discussed some various cards to improve James’ deck including fetch lands and awaited Round 2. I happened to hear that his friend Jesse, who was sitting near us, was playing Tooth & Nail, and that he actually won, defeating Ryan Bakes who I’d played the day before.   

As luck would have it, Round 2, I faced off with one Jesse Robinson. Knowing that he was playing something green that attempted to cast Tooth and Nail to win, I came in with a simple game plan – don’t let him do that. I opened with a hand of lots of removal and figured that should do the trick. He opened with a Birds of Paradise which I promptly Magma Jetted. The Llanowar Elves that showed up last turn had a change of heart and went back to tending the fields. Genju of the Spires showed up and started swinging. Then a potentially problematic Elvish Piper showed up, promising fat beats in the near future. Luckily it was also the bucolic type and was easily convinced to leave in exchange for some life. Mishra’s Factory showed up and helped finish off what the Genju started, swinging past an unsuspecting Kiki Jiki. Game 2, Jesse mulled to 6 and I put in some early beats with Goblin Vandal & Hearth Kami. Then Goblin Welder showed up and joined the party. About 20 minutes total elapsed during the course of this match.

Round 3, I was paired up with Chad. We were the only two players with 6 points so we discussed drawing for several minutes, doing mathematical calculations on the pairing sheet. There were 19 players and 5 rounds, so even if one of us lost, we were in as long as we won one more match between Rounds 4 and 5. So we played. We had some close games. Game 1, I mulled to 6 and Chad led with Underground, Ancestral, Confidant, Mystical. He got a Cutpurse online next turn and another one joined it soon after. He revealed a chain of 1 casting cost cards with his shadowy advisor and paid 4 life for Chain of Vapor, Stifle, and 2x Duress. I lost to Cutpurse beats in short order. Game 2, I beat with Hearth Kami and got a Gorilla Shaman on board as well. He beat down with Cutpurse, but I managed to get a defending Mishra’s Factory to stop that nonsense. He got Erayo and started swinging in the air but I eventually removed to squeeze out the win with little dudes. Game 3 was ridiculously close and went to time. We had a lot of back and forth including an opening Lotus on Chad’s part and lots of Stifles and burn going back and forth across the table. It came down to the last turn where I was at 1 life and had no one to block his Dark Confidant. He had about 10 cards left in his library and was at 3. Either he would flip Force of Will or Cutpurse and die to Confidant or swing for the win. He went to his upkeep, picked up the top card of his library, and revealed… Force of Will!

Round 4, I faced off with Jason Cleveland who I’d played against at the last Waterbury and again at the last Beanie Exchange. I always enjoy playing against Jason. He’s a methodical player, a true gentleman, and a pleasure to play against, win or lose. Last I knew, he was playing Stax, including when I saw him at the 4 Workshops tournament the day before. This time however, I was in for a surprise. I start off with a Flooded Strand and a Wooded Foothills over the first couple of turns. When I attempted to fetch with one of the lands, he played Shadow of Doubt! Using sheer Force of Will against something like Pyrostatic Pillar, he got a Cutpurse on the table and swung for four turns, bringing me down to 10. I eventually for a Mishra’s Factory and swung back after Plowing the Cutpurse. He got an Ancestral when he was at 10 and a Dark Confidant online. He then Strip Mined my Factory and swung in with Confidant for the win. Game 2 I led off with three fetches to stabilize my mana base. He Forced an STP attempting to remove Erayo and ended up flipping into Erayo’s Essence. I ended up playing a spell into the Essence and Pyroblasting that pesky Erayo. Grim Lavamancer showed up to save the day and play crowd control only to be dispatched by a Darkblast. Goblin Vandal showed up later after I Crypted away the Darkblast. Pillar did most of the damage this game, including plenty to me. I had enough removal to deal with his guys. We were at time after Game 2, but we played the first 5 turns of Game 3 just for fun, since there was really no way that either of us could win that quickly.

Round 5, I was paired up against Nate Pease playing Gifts. We had a pretty straightforward Game 1 including Tinker for Darksteel Colossus with Force of Will backup. Game 2, I sided in all my Blasts, but failed to see any of them over the course of a long game. Goblin Vandal lay on the slow beats along with some fetch damage and Force of Will. Goblin Welder came out later to protect against Darksteel Colossus only to fall prey to Darkblast again. I worked Nate down to 3 with just mini beats and then he cast Darksteel with about 3 cards in hand. I had the STP, but that brought him back up to 14. I kept up the pressure and increased it a bit with Mishra’s Factory. I had 2x Tormod’s Crypt and a Null Rod on the table when he cast Yawgmoth’s Will and Repealed my Null Rod. At the first available opportunity, I Crypted away his stockpile of once used resources. He Ancestraled himself out of his graveyard in response, and I Crypted again. He had a ton of spells played that turn, but was stuck at one mana, so he needed to draw Lotus. He did and then Mystical-ed for Tendrils for about 38 or something ridiculous. Nothing a well timed REB couldn’t have handled, but I didn’t see any all game. I make a mental note to avenge my thrashing in a later duel.
 
I was pretty laid back after Round 3 when I played Chad because I knew that no matter what, I was in Top 8. Since there were, at our best estimate, 7 Erayo Fish decks out of 19 players and about 4 in the Top 8, I was feeling good about my chances to secure a Mox Ruby with The Mountains Win Again. Such a victory would only be appropriate I told myself. So before too long the quarterfinals begin and I’m facing off with Chad (again!). He starts with Ancestral and Time Walk into a Dimir Cutpurse and I attempt to kill it. He Forces and I take a hit, attempting to kill it again next turn, succeeding this time. I get Grim Lavamancer on the board and start burninating. Gorilla Shaman shows up and does his job like the professional he is, beating down all the while. Game 1 lasts a satisfying 15 minutes. Game 2 begins 5 minutes later after some thoughtful sideboarding. It’s almost academic at this point since we’ve played this matchup almost 20 times over the past few days. I lead with three fetches and convince Dark Confidant that the farm life is more suitable for a fellow of his persuasion. I resolve a Pillar and enlist the awesome power of Mishra’s Factory to lead the assault. A Cutpurse shows up when Chad is at 8 and attempts to stave off the beats but gets removed without too much trouble. After we’re done playing, I watch Jeff Greene playing against Nate Pease from a distance. I note that they’re both playing Gifts, but don’t get much more information.

Jeff Greene ends up winning against Nate which means that we’ll be playing off. Jeff was really tired at this point and noted that considering he was thinking about dropping after Round 3, he was doing really well to be in the Top 4. He made one major misplay each game which I was fortunate and aware enough to be able to exploit to pave the way to victory. Game 1 Genju and Gorilla Shaman did their job and I saw a Psychatog and Intuitions. I side in all my REBs and side out Lightning Bolts as subpar against Dr. Teeth. I get an early T’Crypt in Game 2 and 2x Goblin Welder to stop DSC. I also resolved Pyrostatic Pillar and beatdown with the Welders. Mishra’s Factory shows up to seal the deal and we were done with our match in 13 minutes. As usual, I sincerely wished Jeff the best of luck in all his future games.

Just as we were finishing our match, Jason Cleveland finshed up his quarterfinals match against Chris Kitzmiller. He got up triumphantly and I mistakenly thought that he’d just won his semifinals match. It turns out he just won his way into the semifinals and will play off against Marc Tuttle. However, they are both playing SS, so it’s looking good for me either way. Sara, Chad, Katie, and I go outside to get some fresh air, munch on snacks, and get fresh beverages. Jason comes out in a bit and informs us that he won that match and asks if I’d like to split. I explain that I’d like to play since I’d like to win the Ruby for The Mountains. He says he’s just interested in trading either prize he wins for Drains. I’m fairly confident in this matchup, so I still resolve to play it out. We continue to exchange pleasantries as we shuffle up and begin playing. I’ll say it again, Jason is one of the most gracious opponents I’ve played against. I’m always happy to play against him as I know I’ll have a good time regardless of the outcome. As we begin to play, he notes that it’s his first time making Top 8, after playing for years. I explain that I’ve only made Top 8 once before, so we’re about on even footing. We wish each other luck and begin…

Game 1, Jason opens with Lotus, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor. I take some early beats from Dark Confidant and get a few fetches to breakthrough his wall o’ Stifles. He has 2 Force of Wills to backup his early game intentions and gets another Confidant turned up from his onboard Confidant. He gets Erayo out and swings for several turns in the air and then flips it and casts another Erayo. Mishra’s Factory is guarding the ground all the while and eventually has to block Dark Confidant who attacks to stop the pain from his nebulous knowledge. Most of the damage he takes this game is from Confidant and he gets all the way down to 4 before he finally kills me with minibeats from Erayo.
Game 2, I’m feeling a little less certain since I’m down a game and still hoping to win that Mox. Luckily my deck works like it should in this matchup as I get an early Sacred Ground on the table protecting my Factories. He Duresses, and I Bolt in response, showing him a hand full of land and creatures. He Diabolic Edicts when all I have are Factories and I sacrifice it, and then return it to play – thank you Sacred Ground! He hits himself for being stupid and my Mishra’s Factories beat down for a few turns to finish him off.
Game 3, I get another Sacred Ground thanks to Enlightened Tutor. He gets an early Vamp and I get a Pillar on the table since I have a Mishra’s Factory in hand. He gets Cutpurse and I Pyroblast it. He takes a few more damage from spells he casts and I Bolt a Confidant to keep the field clear on the way to victory.

We finish up in about 40 minutes, comment on how it’s nice to be done with a tournament early and that we’re both happy to have won. I find out Jason is getting married on July 29th/30th so he won’t be attending the next Waterbury. I congratulate him and naturally invite him to swing up to Myriad Games for one of our tournaments when he can. We collect our prizes and head out. We walk next door to have dinner at the nice Italian place, but they’ve just closed since it’s about 9 o’clock. We hop back in the Prius and search for restaurants on the GPS. We find a Ground Round about a mile away and on our way back home, so we decide to stop there. As we drive, we pass an IHOP and Chad mentions that he likes that place. We arrive at our destination, where the Ground Round should be, only to find a different restaurant. Realizing we’ve been misled by out-of-date data, we resolve to go back to IHOP for some breakfasting dinner. We find out they’re open until 22:00 on Sundays, and as it’s about 21:15, that should work out just fine. As we enter, we see a large yellow sign that proclaims “Sunday Night Special – 6 PM to Close – Buy 1 Omelette, Get 1 Free!” or something of that sort. I loudly proclaim that this is in fact the best deal ever and we get seated promptly. We discuss dinner options and I decide that I’ll order a celebratory milkshake, vanilla please. I order two omelets, amazed that we actually get two sets of sides as well. The waitress warns us that they are rather large, but I am not intimidated by the impending banquet of food that awaits us. Sara gets two omelets as well and Chad orders some regular breakfast meal. Katie hadn’t quite decided what to get yet, but we managed to convince her to get a couple of omelets as well (best deal ever) and we realize that we won’t have room on the table for all our food. The truly American portions arrive before too long and we begin devouring them, having not eaten much else today. After I polish off my first omelet, toast, and hashbrowns, I decide to save the pancakes and other omelet for tomorrow’s breakfast. Sara did the same and Katie packed hers up as well. We ride home to the sounds of They Might Be Giants podcasts and arrived in record time thanks to Chad’s capable driving skills. We say our goodbyes after getting dropped off and head inside to get to bed and ready for the coming week. All in all, a most enjoyable weekend.

During the following week, basking in the relatively minor glory of my first victory, I decide I’d like to attend the upcoming Battleground tournament on the 24th. I’d like to go partially just because it’s a new place, partially to play again, and partially to acquire more data, to find out if my relative success the previous weekend was a fluke. Unfortunately I’m scheduled to work that day and it doesn’t appear that I’ll be able to get anyone to cover for me. As such, I resign to working, telling myself that I’d just played Magic for an entire weekend and given that I usually play in tournaments every 3 months, I wasn’t due for another good long while. At the last minute, on Friday, I found that I would be able to attend and have someone else cover for me at work, so I called up my friend Tim who had expressed interest in attending and made plans to drive down the next day. It was impromptu, spontaneous, and entirely too enticing an opportunity to pass up.

Tournament: Battleground Games & Hobbies, Abington, MA
Saturday, June 24th, 2006

I’d previously corresponded with Derek, the owner of Battleground, via email about cross promoting our events, so I knew a little about the store. Tim and I headed out not too early after a decent night’s sleep. The trip down to Abington, MA was pretty straightforward – just shoot down 93 for about an hour and another 5 miles off the exit. We got a bit confused toward the end since the numbers counted down to the town line and then back up from there. On the trip down, I’d prepped Tim on Trogdor since he was borrowing Sara’s copy to play. He’d practiced some the day before. We eventually found the store, arriving at 11:00 and registering our decks. I was impressed with the store since it was clean and well organized. The bathroom was missing paper towels when I used it at first, but that was quickly remedied as soon as I notified one of the employees. Tim and I played casually with a couple of his old Mirrodin Block era Type 2 decks. We played 3 hilarious games of White Weenie with Equipment vs. Memnarch Blue Control while casually scouting the decks of those around us. A few players got lost on the way there and arrived late. Once the tournament got started around 12:30, the event proceeded without a hitch. Between rounds, I got a chance to meet and discuss things with Derek and his mother who was also working there as well.

Round 1, I was paired with Tim Greenfield who I’d narrowly defeated in Round 1 at Samite’s last tournament when he was playing U/W Fish. We signed the customary foil lands from my binder and he inscribed “It’s not U/W Fish” on my mountain. Tim began with a Flooded Strand and I made some sort of joke that it was actually U/W Fish. I started with Goblin Vandal off a fetched Mountain Fuji. He got a 2nd turn Orchard and Oath and I tutored for a Seal of Cleansing which he Mana Leaked. Akroma showed up and punched me in the face, vengeful as she is. I attacked with tokens and Goblin Vandal bringing him to 15 and he Oathed again, turned up Razia as his last card and with Gaea’s Blessing stuck in his hand. He proceeded to his draw step and lost before Akroma and Razia could swing and finish me off. Game 2, He got SSS online and my Swords to Plowshares sat useless in my hand. I got him down to 13 before 2x SSS beat me into submission. Game 3 I decided to race as Chad always intoned that I should and responded to his Time Walk by beating him in the face with my Spirit tokens. I managed to resolve a Disenchant to take care of his Oath that came down about turn 7. I just kept beating with tokens until I won.

Round 2, I played against Matt Shea playing Stax. I got a Plateau to STP his 1st turn Goblin Welder. I then dropped Factory and cast Hearth Kami. He dropped Trinisphere and I wasted his Shop next turn. He wasted my Factory on his next turn and I wasted his Tendo Ice Bridge the turn after that, locking him under his own Trinisphere. Hearth Kami continued to beat down all the way to the win. When he was at 4, I dropped a Lavamancer to ensure the kill. A 6 minute game through Trinisphere.
Game 2 he got an early Juggernaut with Time Walk. I got a Vandal on board and then another, taking care of his Juggernaut when I was at 3 after he dropped Slaver. He Slaved me, drew a Wasteland, and Wasted my own Mishra’s Factory. All the while he was taking damage off Mana Vault. He said he knew what he had to get and he did indeed draw Triskelion which wrecked my board. Not even a Mishra’s Factory could save me after that. Twenty grueling minutes later, we went to game 3. He mulled to 6 and kept what I gathered was a suboptimal hand. I led with Hearth Kami and a Welder. He Tinkered up Trisk before the Welder got active and blew them away. I ate away at his life total with a Factory and kept the graveyard under control with T’Crypt.

Round 3, I played against Scott Jensen for the 2nd time in two weekends. He complained about getting paired down since we both had 6 points, but he was at table 1 last round and we were at table 4 now. I whittled away at him this game with Goblin Welder and Goblin Vandal. He Darkblasted the Welder but I Crypted away the D’Blast before it could do more damage. At one point during this game he cast Phyrexian Negator with 5 permanents on the table. I was almost giddy with excitement since I was holding two Bolts. I only had to cast one before the Negator went away. The other Bolt took care of a Withered Wretch. I kept eating away with another Welder and he cast Sarcomancy which my Grim Lavamancer deal with readily. I Magma Jetted and ‘Manced him for the win. Game 2, I sideboarded my usual anti-creature suite and removed a bunch of his stuff. He beat down with Withered Wretch. He Demonic Tutored for Sickening Dreams to take out my Goblin Vandal and Gorilla Shaman who did a sublime job of keeping him off mana. He Demonic Consulted for Ink-Eyes (again!) and got it. I got savagely lucky, drawing Swords off the top to once again send Ink-Eyes farming. Goblin Vandal and Gorilla Shaman (a new pair) came out and were joined my a Mishra’s Factory for the win. Scott wished that I would be set on fire and die, which I informed him was not very sportsmanlike. At this point we had a conversation in which Ray Robillard established that I was the opposite of the Holocaust, which I took to be a compliment.

Round 4, I was paired against Rich Shay at Table 1. I knew Rich was playing Dragon since he was sitting at a table near me earlier in the day. Naturally Rich knew what I was playing as well. We had a very good back and forth match game 1 during which I failed to draw any threats to apply pressure, but had a ton of answers that he was eventually able to win through by sacrificing life for cards via Deep Analysis. Game 2 I had a massive hand of answers including T’Crypt, 2x STP, Disenchant, etc. Unfortunately I couldn’t apply any pressure due to only having one colored mana source for the first 12 turns of the game. Then Rich’s secret sideboard tech was revealed – Zombie Infestation and Basking Rootwallas. Luckily my defensive Mishra’s Factory held off hordes of zombies attacking and we kept going back and forth until Rich drew the game with Dragon and no other creatures in his graveyard since I’d STPed his Eternal Witness earlier in the game. Since we were at time, Rich ended up winning the match 1-0. We played out of the five turns of game 3 and I had an equally strong opening of T’Crypt and removal / REBs, but nothing impressive happened. I made a few misplays during the first two games that if executed properly could have slowed his progress, but I still feel that this matchup is a strong one for The Mountains.

Round 5, I was paired against Alexand “Arik” Pogrebinsky, a gentleman of Russian origin. It was pretty cool to play my Russian Sacred Ground and have my opponent read it and indicate that he thought it was misspelled. Turns out Arik was playing Stax, and our game 1 went something like this: Lightning Bolt, Magma Jet, Goblin Vandal, Hearth Kami, Goblin Welder, Scoop. This was over the course of 28 minutes, coming back from a ridiculous opening hand on the part of Arik which included assembling his entire Uba Mask Bazaar Chalice for 0, etc on the first two turns. Witness the awesome power of Team Artifact Destruction. He just shook his head after this game and couldn’t understand how he’d lost. Game 2, Arik kept a hand he shouldn’t have (including 1 Mountain, Goblin Welder, 2x Karn, Triskelion, etc) and I dispensed of one of his two Goblin Welders, controlling the other one with a T’Crypt. I got Vandal on board, Mishra’s Factory, 2x Goblin Welder, and he conceded. We then proceeded to play out the rest of the game making up rules as we went along. Rules like: Barbarian Ring gains the controller one life rather than the controller taking one damage and Fetch lands get two lands. Fun times.

Round 6, I’m up against Ray Robillard with his powerfully underrated Staxless Stax deck. Last time we met, Ray thoroughly trounced me, so he felt he had a good matchup. Either way, Ray was definitely in Top 8 no matter what and I was likely in as well, so we decided to play it out. Game 1, Ray took a bunch of damage from Cities and Barbarian Rings. That coupled with Grim Lavamancer on Welder patrol and Mishra’s Factory caused a relatively quick demise.  Game 2 was not so cut and dried with a 1st turn Sensei’s Divining Top leading into a Triskelion that wiped out my dudes, Trinisphere and Wastes / Strip to keep me from casting all the excellent removal spells in my hand, and Karn to finish me off. Game 3 I led with Goblin Vandal, followed by a Welder, then another Welder, then another Welder. I realized by the time I played the 3rd Welder that I had entirely overcommitted to the board, but I figured at the time that I had the game locked out. Even after Trisk showed up, he could only blow up three of my four members of Team Artifact Destruction, and the remaining member was able to finish the job. Mana Crypt ended up doing 6 points of damage this game, including the killing blow. Just before we went to that turn, Ray revealed a pad of paper on which he’d written prior to the match “I plan to offer Dan the draw” before we began playing. As is only polite in such an instance, I reciprocated the offer before the lethal Mana Crypt flip took place and we officially went 1-1 before I cleaned up the third game. One my favorite moments playing against Stax happened during this match during one Tangle Wire met an end of turn Disenchant, another was destroyed thanks to a Seal of Cleansing, mana in general was eroded thanks to Wasteland and then Goblin Welder proceeded to Weld out Ray’s pertinent artifacts for more Tangle Wires to keep him locked down while I was casting things and activating abilities during my upkeep. At the end of the game, there were 3 Tangle Wires out as the only permanents on Ray’s board with at least 2 counters on each. I just kept welding out Tangle Wires for other artifacts and then for fresh Tangle Wires. Tricksy Welder.

Top 8, I was paired up against Pat Broderick who has always played Control Slaver in my realm of experience. I was relatively happy to have this matchup and had fun during the match. I led with a Hearth Kami in game 1 that swung for a couple of turns before Tinker DSC showed up with Force of Will protection from my Swords to Plowshares. Pat also notified me as we were sideboarding that he’d also had another Force and 2 Mana Drains in hand. Not much I can do in that case. Game 2, I kept a shaky but playable hand since I was on the play and didn’t want to lose too much card advantage. I had a Vandal, Ruby, T’Crypt, Pyroblast, and Red Elemental Blast but no land. I beat down with Vandal and on turn 2 he dropped his 2nd land followed by Mox, Mox, Mana Crypt to give him enough to cast Triskelion and take care of Goblin Vandal. Then, to seal the deal, he Tinkered through Pyroblast (thanks to Mana Drain this time) to grab Sundering Titan and take out my only white source – Plateau so that I couldn’t use the Enlightened Tutor in my hand to get a Seal to take care of Trisk. All in all a very short match, totaling about 17 minutes. Pat explained that this was to make up for all the times he’s lost to Mountains, not necessarily with me piloting it, but other people playing it. I said fair enough and wished him luck.

   I collected my prize for placing 5th-8th and said goodbye to Derek and the rest of the folks at Battleground. Tim and I jumped in the car at 19:00 and headed back home to meet Sara for dinner. All in all, reflecting on the event, I felt that I did very well considering the only two people I lost to came in 1st and 2nd. It reaffirmed my belief that the Stax matchup is very preferable as long as you don’t make a major play mistake, and definitely reminded me that I have a blast playing this fiery deck of mine. Thanks again to everyone involved with the development and refinement of The Mountains Win Again and thank you to all the good sports I play against. We do this for fun and maintaining a positive attitude is a primary prerequisite for ensuring that people keep having fun while playing competitively.

   Until next time, may The Mountains Win Again!

[Myriad Games]

Tournament: Beanie Exchange, West Springfield, MA
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006

Our tale begins at Myriad Games in sunny Salem, NH. I met up with Derek “Scoops” McAtavey and we headed out toward the Beanie Exchange. Derek brought his friend Keith as well which was a pleasant surprise, since it’s always nice to have a group of people to go tournaments with…solidarity and all that. They were running a few minutes late due to a key-locked-in-running-car incident, but we left without much further adieu and proceeded toward West Springfield. We discussed various topics on the way there including personal reactions to Coldsnap and our decks for that day. Keith was playing Uba Stax. Derek was playing TMWA as well, so I made sure I had all the cards he’d need for the latest build, 18.5, which includes one particularly awesome card from Coldsnap, Jotun Grunt (pronounced yOten). Here’s the list we played, which had been refined and tuned during the previous week.

Mana (14)
1x Mountain
4x Plateau
1x Plains
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl

Mana / Removal (5)
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

Mana / Beats (4)
4x Mishra's Factory

Beats (4)
1x Genju of the Spires
3x Jotun Grunt

Team Artifact Destruction! (10)
2x Goblin Vandal
2x Gorilla Shaman
4x Goblin Welder
2x Hearth Kami

Damage / Removal (11)
2x Grim Lavamancer
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Lightning Bolt
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Goblin Bombardment

Removal / Damage / Search (4)
4x Magma Jet

Search - Silver Bullet (1)
1x Enlightened Tutor

Disruption (7)
2x Pyrostatic Pillar
1x Null Rod
3x Tormod's Crypt
1x Crucible of Worlds

Sideboard: Disruption & Protection (15)
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyroblast
2x Goblin Vandal
2x Grim Lavamancer
1x Seal of Cleansing
2x Kami of Ancient Law
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Null Rod
1x Sacred Ground

We arrived at the Beanie Exchange around 11 AM and greeted Dave and Hatch as well as the dozen or so other players who had already arrived. I turned in my deck sheet and enrolled, then retired to a nearby table to procure the cards Derek needed to borrow for his copy of the deck. We talked with Kyle Leith a bit regarding Magic-related activities and then Dave Feinstein meandered in, chastising Brassman’s irregularities for anyone who would listen. He then proceeded to ask if anyone had Tundras he could borrow, which elicited much startled confusion from the crowd. “Kird Ape doesn’t come from the Tundra!” After some fun test games between Keith and I, the tournament began.

Round 1
I’m paired up with the esteemed Dave Feinstein! I have an inkling of what he’s playing since Tundras and Dave’s style of play lend themselves toward a particular deck. Once I see a Meddling Mage and Isamaru, my suspicions are totally confirmed. He Forces my Grim Lavamancer and sends my Welder farming and then I burninate some creatures and start swinging with the best man lands of all time, Mishra’s Factories. Gorilla Shaman comes down, has a small snack, and starts swinging toward the scoop phase a few short turns later. Dave bemoans the matchup and assure him that I’m always happy to play against decks with creatures. Game 2, Dave leads off with an Isamaru. He Forces a Magma Jet and I teach the faithful hound how to use a plow. A short while later, a Kami of Ancient Law shows up and swings briefly before being sent away. I distinctly remember at some point during this game that we dueled over a spell quite fiercely. I cast it, he Forces, I REB, he BEBs, I REB again, leaving me with 1 card in hand and him with 0 and we enter top deck mode. We laugh and say that will be the play of the day. I accidentally lift another card while drawing and reveal it to Dave so that we both know what it is … Jotun Grunt. Dave groaned when he saw it (and hinted that he was running them as well), but not as loudly as when I played the card that I’d drawn … another Jotun Grunt! He STPed my first Grunt, knowing that the second one was coming. We discussed how the age counter selection works for Grunt’s cumulative upkeep, and the second one cleared the way for a Gorilla Shaman to beat down over several turns for the win. I wished Dave the best of luck and told him not to worry about losing since I’ll hopefully see him in the finals. As he mentioned in his tournament report, how true that almost was…

Round 2
Next, I was paired up against Justin Rahn. As soon as Hatch heard this pairing, he laughed aloud and said that he would love to watch this matchup. Thinking that was probably good for me I headed to Table 4 and someone else mentioned that he was playing R/G Beats. I thought it was interesting that I played the guy with R/G beats after just having played the guy who embodies R/G beats. Well, at least I knew all my removal would get a good workout this match. He leads off with a Mox and fetch and gets a critter on board. I STP it and start swinging with good ol’ Mishra’s Factory. I take some minibeats eventually he drops a River Boa with a Forest open to regenerate it. I summon up a Goblin Bombardment and ping the little snake, following up with a Bolt to make sure he doesn’t come back. I’m down to about 10 when I stabilize and then drop the hero of the day… Jotun Grunt! Our graveyards are both nice and juicy at this point, so he swings four times before running out of steam. I drop a Goblin Welder while he’s at 6 and whittle him down some more, eventually finishing him off with another Grunt and Mishra’s Factory. I side out my anti-control cards and we joke about how Null Rods are dead in this matchup and we both have them. He notes that he doesn’t have much to side in against me, and we proceed fairly quickly to game 2. He drops some stuff first turn and passes to me. I drop Mox Ruby, Mox Pearl, Wasteland, and a Hearth Kami. He drops Null Rod! I still have another land, so I drop it and eventually another Hearth Kami to join in the beats. He plays Pillar at one point and then a couple of turns later I blow up his Null Rod with a Kami to get my Moxen back in action. He then proceeds to drop Lotus, and River Boa. I top deck STP and send the Boa packing. Jotun Grunt comes out and swings once and then Hearth Kami goes all the way with him locked under his own Pillar at low life.

Round 3
I check out the standings and note that Jason Cleveland (the gentleman I faced in the finals of the last Beanie Exchange tournament) also had 6 points. I noticed at one point during the previous two rounds that he was back to playing Stax as opposed to SS. I joke that we’ll end up playing each other again in the finals. Instead, we end up playing each other this round. Game 1, Jason mulls to 5, and I keep a solid hand, Sealing away his Crucible to avoid him locking out my lands. Grim Lavamancer gets on board early and starts swinging, saving up my graveyard for the Jotun Grunt in my hand. I drop Grunt around turn 4 and swing thrice to basically seal the game. Game 2, Jason again mulls, this time to 6. I have a ridiculously strong hand including Gorilla Shaman, Goblin Vandal, Grim Lavamancer, and Goblin Welder. He drops 1st turn Chalice for 1 and 0 before I even take a turn. He takes around 10 damage from Ancient Tomb over the course of the next few turns and starts swinging with a Juggernaut. I kill a Metalworker with a Jet and summon up a Grunt to block his Juggernaut. I get another Grunt on board but forget to swing with it the first turn it’s able. I get him down to 2 (instead of the -2 he would have been at had I remembered to swing!) and we have an amusing game of dueling Crucibles with a Crypt stuck in my hand, Strip lock keeping the board clear of lands on both sides, and us both discarding excess cards that we can’t play. Eventually another Juggernaut comes down and puts me down to -2 over several turns. The round ends just as our 2nd game does, so we’re again 1-1. We wish each other the best of luck and prepare for Round 4.

Round 4
I’m paired up with Hatch who tries to feign that he’s playing a Shop deck, when I know right well he’s playing combo from having seen him demolish someone earlier in the day. Game 1, I resolve a turn 2 Pillar and he tries to win through it but miscalculates and dies to the inevitable scoop. During this game, he cast Ancestral Recall thrice!!! Game 2, I mull to 5 due to very shoddy hands with no colored mana. He Mysticals for Ancestral and gets some steam going. He then casts Bargain and I sit on the Lightning Bolt in my hand, hoping he’ll have to go down to 3 before he can win. As it happens, he only has to go down to 5 and he ends up winning in short order. Game 3, I have a slow start with Hearth Kami and he’s still at 16 when he drops Wheel of Fortune and just flat out wins after drawing Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Grim Tutor, and a few other ridiculous cards. He apologizes before he finishes me off. I wish him the best of luck and he reciprocates.

Thanks to Jason and I unintentionally drawing in Round 3, we each have 7 points, and we’re the only players with 7 points. We thereby effectively stop the 4 players with 9 points from drawing since if either of us wins, we’ll destroy them on tiebreakers. All this means that I need to win this match to make Top 8. If Jason wins his, he’ll be in as well.

Round 5
I’m paired up against Kyle Leith playing Mono Brown Stacker. I’m happy with the matchup since I have lots of cards that like playing with artifacts. Game 1, I mull to 5 and he mulls to 6. I STP a Metalworker and he gets Karn online and locks me down under Tangle Wire before winning handily. Game 2 he sets up a ridiculous hand with tons of Moxen and a Metalworker and I drop a Null Rod! During this game, I dispose of Karn with a Swords to Plowshares for the low, low cost of 0 life after swinging into him with a Gorilla Shaman. We play a few turns of drawing stuff before Kyle scoops to go to Game 3 in the interest of time (this game took all of 13 minutes). Kyle mulls to 6 and keeps a hand that empowers him to drop an early Metalworker and Triskelion. I have a Null Rod to slow the bleeding and I eventually stabilize with Goblin Vandal, Goblin Welder, and Gorilla Shaman. In the early part of the game, Jotun Grunt also beat like a champion because Triskelion didn’t feel like blocking seeing as his control was at 20 life still. It’s a nail-biting match as I stabilize at 2 life after many beats from Trisk and draw Welder in time to dispatch of the metal minion after chump blocking with Gorilla Shaman. Kyle wishes me the best of luck and goes to sign up for the side tournament.

I made it into the Top 8 in 7th place, with Jason sliding in at 8th place.

Quarterfinals
The next set of matches begin and I’m facing off with Nate Pease while Jason plays against Dave Feinstein at the table next to us. I know Nate’s playing Gifts and I play accordingly. Mishra’s Factory and Goblin Welder do their job in Game 1 until Nate Gifts up a pile and Tendrils me out while he’s still at 13. Game 2, I’m cautious, but still manage to eke out the damage over time by stopping his mana from getting out of hand and keeping up minibeats pressure from Goblin Welder and Gorilla Shaman. He fails to do anything significant as I erode his life total to 0. Game 3 he leads with a Flooded Strand, “Go”. I have a very strong hand including Genju, Wasteland, Fetch, REB, REB, STP, and Welder. I lead off with a fetch for Plateau and hold off to REB something. He plays another land and drops…Chalice for 1. I groan internally and visibly shrink, but I’m not out of this yet. I Waste his land to slow him down and draw a couple of Magma Jets to dig deeper for an answer to Chalice. Several turns later, Nate Gifts up a pile including Yawg Will, Tinker, Recoup, and Time Walk. I give him the Tinker and Time Walk with the assumption that if he sacrifices his only artifact (Chalice), I’ll be able to deal with DSC in a variety of ways (if I don’t just REB the Tinker first). He plays a Mox Pearl next turn and smugly Tinkers up DSC using the Pearl instead of the Chalice. I go to -3 two turns later.

I go up and thank Dave and Hatch for hosting and running the event, collect my Top 8 prize and wish everyone good luck. I note that Dave Feinstein beats Jason before I leave. I wish Jason the best of luck with his wedding next weekend (during Waterbury) and tell everyone else we’ll see them then. Derek and Keith are all set to go, so we head out around 6:30 and head for IHOP, hoping that they’re still having the awesome Buy 1 Get 1 Free Omelet Deal. We arrive at IHOP and I make an exploratory jaunt up to the door. Not seeing the large yellow sign that greeted us last time in such a friendly manner, I am a bit disheartened. We decide to eat here anyway and proceed inside. As we take our seats and get our menus, I consider my dining options and we discuss the days Magical events as per usual. Our waitress then comes over and casually informs us that the special tonight is… Buy 1 Get 1 Free Omelets!!! Keith and I each order a pair of omelets, while Derek has something more mundane but nonetheless tasty. We have a good discussion during dinner and head out from the restaurant shortly before 8 PM to head back to New Hampshire.
On our way, Derek drives through a Fast Lane instead of the normal toll lane and none of us catches it until we see the sign saying “This is a Fast Lane… do not stop.” Not really knowing what to do in this instance, Derek decides that we’ll just pay whatever the maximum fee is for having no ticket. I worry that it will be something like $10 as opposed to the $1.30 it usually is, but Keith offers to cover half of that. It ends up being just around $2.60, so it wasn’t bad at all. We drive slowly past an accident on the road while discussing various topics on the two hour drive back to Myriad Games. We arrive at Myriad around 9:45 and Derek and Keith come inside to use the restroom before continuing on the final leg of their journey. I head home and get mentally prepared for the coming week, visions of deck revisions dancing in my head in anticipation of the upcoming Waterbury Weekend.

Until next time, may The Mountains Win Again!