Tournament Report Winchester, Virginia Mox Jet

I decided that this would be the perfect venue to test my Flash deck. I have been working on the board for some time and decided on the following list.

Sliver Flash
5 moxen Side Board
BLotus 2 Hurkyl’s Recall
MCrypt 3 Duress
4 Merch 4 Leyline of the Void
4 Force of Will 3 Reverent Silence
1 Misd 3 Tarmogoyf
1 Acall
1 Time Walk
4 Bstorm
1 Vamp
1 DT
4 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner’s Pact
3 Protean Hulk
4 Virulent Sliver
1 Heart Sliver
1 ESG
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Flash
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Islands

Due to the tournaments late start, the Meandeck Pittsburgh crew, Paul, Justin, Josh and I were able to leave much later than usual. The car ride seemed to drag on. I noticed how awesome the countryside looked glistening with snow and mistakenly commented on said scenery. This of course followed with my passengers calling me many names.

Upon our arrival, I was greeted by a young woman “Hi, you must all be from Pittsburgh, I’m Hannah.” Hannah was truly the nicest store owner I have ever met!

I hurriedly completed my deck list and turned it in. Kevin, Hanna’s boyfriend, works in the store as well. He was a very nice fellow and enjoys German Magic cards almost as much as myself, almost.

With a few moments to spare, I decided to play a pick-up game. I found this odd fellow sitting in the corner. He was wearing a battered leather jacket. Next to him was his girl friend. Apparently, in Virginia, it is vogue to bring girls to Magic tournaments. Winning must be some form of aphrodisiac. I figured if he dropped a Lotus, her panties would soon follow. He introduces himself as Alfred and offers up a quick casual game.

I shuffle up my casual foil merfolk deck. We begin our game and he starts off with Underground Sea, mox. It takes .02 seconds to realize he’s playing GAT. I spend several turns drawing out the game so our crew can see his deck. Within moments, a crowd began to form. Someone asked if this deck was what I would be competing with. I said, “Sure is.” I could see their mouths watering with the thought of beating my casual pile. These poor, poor sheep I think to myself.

Hannah announced that the tournament would begin and I scooped up my cards.

Round 1
I was paired with Josh. We immediately ID. I spend the remainder of the round scouting. My scouting report was as follows, Red White Seismic Assault, Foodchain Goblins, Slaver, Mensa Combo, MonoBlack Discard, Land Distruction, Flash.
Needless to say, it was a diverse and VERY difficult meta.

Round 2 I am paired with Hannah. Black Discard/ Marlen.
I fear this match up.

Game 1
Hannah wins the die roll and opts to play. We both keep our hands.
She plays Swamp, duress and takes my vampiric tutor.
I play delta, go.
She plays swamp, Thought Seize. (a turn after seeing Misd in my hand?)
I respond with Misd and see Drain Life, Dark Ritual, Rack and Extirpate.
She discards the rack and passes.
We play draw go for about 2 turns as I think of ways to get around extirpate.
Finally, I top deck a merchant scroll, casting it for Ancestral. I mutter under my breath, “I should not have played that! She has extirpate!”
Hannah takes the bait, she extirpates the Scroll and I go off.

Game 2
I decide to side board in my Tarmogoyfs.
She plays turn 1 Thought Seize and takes a Protean Hulk, which breaks up my combo on turn 1.
I play Fetch, Petal, Goyf.
She plays Ritual Hymn, Thought Seize (In that order!!!) I could not be happier about this as it pumps my Goyf further.
I keep swinging, somewhere in there she extirpates a flash, at least it made her look content.

Hannah explained that she is fairly new to the game. She plays mostly Type 2. We chatted for a bit and discussed possible deck changes in design. Though many of the players were casual, they all had a willingness to learn the format further and we gave them oddles of advice.

Round 3 Brian playing Land Destruction

Game 1
He wins the die roll and opts to play.
Brian plays Mutavault and passes the turn. At this point I weigh out my options. I’m sweating nervously as I think he could beat me down in ten turns.
I ask, “Are you sure? Like, really sure?!”
I play Blotus, Flash, Hulk

Game 2
We both decide not to dip into our sideboards
He plays Mutavualt, and says go.
I play Fetch, Mana Crypt, DT => Hulk, Play Saphire, flash.
At flash, I ask, “same as before?” and he scoops up.

He sits there for several moments trying to figure out quite what happened.
I apologize to him. It really does stink to have someone go off turn 1 twice in a row when your game plan involves sinkholes and stone rains.

Round 4

Game 1 Chad playing Mensa
I didn’t take notes on this game. He played something irrelevant and then I flashed out on turn 1.

Game 2
I side out my pacts of negation and bring in leylines. He sides in Pacts of Negation.
He plays Land Grant, revealing Sol Ring, Pearl, Pact of Negation, Spoils of the Vault, Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual.
I FOW pitching Chain of Vapor, leaving me with another FOW but no blue cards.
He Pacts my Fow. He gets Underground Sea, casts ritual, spoils for Yawgmoth’s Will. 16 life later he finds it. He casts Cabal Ritual and Will’s. He has enough mana and storm to be lethal. He casts Spoils naming Tendrils. Four flips later he dies. Paul, who had been watching, flips the fifth card, Tendrils.

Top 4
I get paired to Justin. Paul gets paired to Jamie playing a weaker build of Flash.
Moments later we are taking home the top 3 prizes: Mox Jet, Volcanic Island and $20 store credit. Josh, Justin and Paul debate briefly over what to spend the credit on. I suggest using it for the last 5 packs of Future Sight in the store. Ripping the packs as if we were looking for a golden ticket, Paul grips goyf.

In closing, I would like to say that Mind Games is an awesome shop with even better players. These guys are like family. They welcomed us into their store and were the friendliest players we've ever encountered. Though many of them were not serious vintage players, they had a willingness to learn. One fellow, Ryan was the most stoic individual I'd ever met. I thought he was acting silent to get into my head in case we played. However, when I mentioned it he began to loosen up, laugh and joke. Great shop, great people, we couldn't ask for a better time!

Props: The whole Mind Games crew for being good sports, Hannah and Kevin, Josh Morford for being the sacrificial lamb that positioned the top 4

Slops: The price of gas, Getting paired against teammates