I've always been in favor of starting off any decklist with four Force of Wills and four Brainstorms. On rare occasions I've played shops or Grim Tutors, even making top 8s, but it never felt right. However, after my first tournament with the new restrictions, I have come to the conclusion that the new king of Vintage is Duress. Without Brainstorm protection, it's so good.
The next logical step from there is that it's better to have a good card on top of your deck than a good card in your hand. And so, after Web's victory with Grim Long at the last Eudemonia event, I too decided to join the dark side and play Grim Long. I waffled between Becker's and Menendian's list, eventually choosing the latter. Partly for the variety, and partly because I'm just not a fan of Street Wraith. As usual, I took a perfectly good list and janked it up by adding some random crap. I also added in a small anti-fish component to the sideboard, since Fish is pretty popular in these parts.
Round 1 vs Eric (Bomberman)
Eric and I usually carpool together, so this is an unfortunate round 1 pairing.
On game 1, I lose the die roll and mulligan to 6. I turn 1 him anyways.
On game 2, I again mulligan. We play draw-go for several turns. At one point I cast Duress, and he casts Orim's Chant in response, then shows a hand of Orim's Chant, Mana Drain, Force of Will, Auriok Salvagers. Also, he has a Lotus in play and Spellbomb in the yard. Bad times. Eric asks, "Onto game 3?" and I shrug and take one of his counterspells. With the win in hand, Eric makes extra-sure by casting a main phase Chant on his turn. I respond with... Extirpate! Without a spellbomb, Eric "just" has infinite mana and I'm still in it. He also drew a Trinket Mage, getting Tormod's Crypt, so my yard is gone every turn.
On my turn, I play a Timetwister, which Eric counters. He attacks for 6 and passes it back. Now I can resolve Yawgmoth's Bargain. I draw nine cards, putting me to 1 life, but I don't get enough mana to win. I cast Tendrils for four and draw three more cards, including Black Lotus and Chain of Vapor. I bounce all my artifacts and his Tormod's Crypt, which takes my Tendrils away. My Time Walk is also gone, so the best I can do is make twenty-four Empty the Warrens tokens and pass the turn. Eric shows me the Echoing Truth and Engineered Explosives... from his sideboard.
1-0
Round 2 vs LSV (Grim Long)
I don't remember much about game one, except that I lost the die roll and somehow still won.
On game two, I double mulligan. Some Duresses fly around and I'm at least I haven't lost, even if I'm not winning. Luis plays a Vampiric Tutor and then cycles Street Wraith, his last card, to draw the tutored card. In response I cast Extirpate on his Duresses for the shuffle effect, losing my Lotus Petal in the process. Luis gets a random card from the cycling and ships the turn. This was perhaps the most masterful play of the day. I figured that if he had drawn something gassy like a draw-7, he would have played it right away and won. If it had been a close call, he probably would have had to think a little. Thinking a little could also indicate a bluff, but in fact he just passed the turn right away. So I concluded that his one card must be a blank or a minor spell like a Mox, and didn't cast Duress on my turn. It turns out he drew Grim Tutor, and when he drew Ritual on his next turn it was all over.
Facing down a player of superior skill, I did the only thing I could and killed him on turn 1 in game three. It started with a turn 1 Time Walk off Lotus Petal. Luis commented that it wasn't as good as the turn 1 Time Walk off a Mox that he had last game. But in fact the Lotus Petal was better, because I played Yawgmoth's Will on my extra turn.
2-0
Round 3 vs Phil (Fish)
I loaned Phil a bunch of cards for his deck. His hateful, hateful, anti-combo deck.
In game one I had to go for an early Memory Jar with BR floating and some artifact mana available. The only spells I could cast off the Jar were Duress and Pyroblast. Fail.
In game two I mulliganed down to four cards: Mox Jet, Cabal Ritual, Necro, Mana Crypt. I passed the first turn without playing anything. Then I ripped an Island and landed the Necro. I'm back in it, baby! My first hit of nine cards or so kind of sucked, and there was now a Null Rod to contend with. I cast Duress and had to take his counterspell, leaving Echoing Truth. Which sucked because I was holding Empty the Warrens. I think I got a Timetwister off, and I'm one black mana off from the win. Though it turns out that even if I had the mana, he twistered into Stifle with Force backup.
2-1
Round 4 vs Cory (5C Bazaar aggro)
I keep a hand of Ritual, Ritual, Land, Lotus, Duress, Thoughtseize, Vamp Tutor. I'm not sure what he's playing, so after a lot of consideration, I lead off with a seemingly safe Ritual, Duress, Thoughseize, Vamp for Timetwister. However, it turns out that his hand is irrelevant. What is relevant is the Duress he peels off the top, taking the Lotus that I greedily kept in my hand. So I have to draw the Twister and pass, and then I draw a draw another Dark Ritual. He Duresses me again and takes a Ritual instead of the twister! That gives me four or five more turns to draw any blue source and be ok, but I do not. He got very lucky, but it was my own misplay that cost it.
Game 2 I kill him on turn 1. This deck is not fair.
In game 3, I thought I was all clever, having my one Tendrils in my opening hand so that he can't Hide/Seek it. Unfortunately he has double Duress plus Leyline. However, he chose not to take the Tendrils or my Yawgmoth's Will. I had Thoughtseized away his Goyf, so he doesn't really have any pressure. Eventually I draw Chain of Vapor and win. Cory said afterward that he figured I had more than one Tendrils, so there was no point in taking it. I did have Empty the Warrens, so I wouldn't have been cold to the lost Tendrils, but it probably would have hurt.
3-1
Round 5 vs Web (Grim Long)
ID, 3-1-1
Top 8 vs Phil (Fish)
Aha, a rematch! This time I don't mulligan and victory is mine. The only play I remember is in game two. He has an Isamaru and Savannah Lions out, and I cast Massacre for free. He Forces. That means I'm free to resolve Yawg Will and Massacre again. I can't quite go off that turn, but I draw a bunch of cards and set up to Tinker out Colossus.
Top 4 vs Web
I cannot, offhand, recall a situation where Web has not made the finals of a power tournament. This is going to be a tough one.
I won the die roll, and then mulliganed to 4 (seeing no on-color mana in my first three hands). I kept Sea, Duress, Thoughtseize, Mana Crypt. I Duressed his only mana source (a Mox), and he had no plays on his turn. Then I Thoughseize and for some reason took Ritual over Timetwister. Somehow I thought he wouldn't have enough mana for a good Twister, but that was absurd because I obviously had no pressure on with my crappy hand. So that was a colossus punt. I was must have been on tilt from the mulligans.
In game 2 I mulliganed once and had a very quick kill.
Game three I kept a sketchy hand (three lands), but we just ripped up each others hands in the early game. We get to the point where he has lots of mana and a Mana Crypt in hand. I have three land in play, and a hand of land, land, Dark ritual, Dark Ritual, and Grim Tutor. My yard has only a Time Walk, Duresses, and land. He's at 16. I can rit-rit-grim-yawg will, replay land, rit-rit-grim, but that leaves me two mana short of killing him. I can also rit-rit-grim-necro. That's probably the best play, but I was worried about going too low on life, since even a small tendrils could kill me or stop me from replaying grim tutor. My hand would have been completely spent, so I'd have to Necro for a bunch. Instead I play rit-grim for Ancestral and play it. I draw Academy and two artifact sources, so I just play a land and pass the turn.
Top-deck mode. Web peels a Brainstorm; how broken. He puts two cards back and then casts Tendrils for four life. Hmm, well, that's either really good for me, or really bad. I can make a ton of mana, so I'm basically drawing to any kind of gas. I savagely rip the gassiest gas of them all, Yawgmoth's Will. I tip over my hand and Web just runs the stare-down, attempting to make me lose using only the power of his mind. It almost works, but I manage to make the fairly elementary plays required for victory.
And yes, Web apparently did have the kill next turn, with a Timetwister on top of his library.
Finals vs LSV
I know Luis must be thirsting for revenge from round 2, but he offers the split. The mirror is very coin-flip-oriented anyways.
So yeah, this deck is the nuts. I mulliganed twelve times in six played rounds, and it was ok. I was definitely very lucky, but the deck really does have the sickest rips in the format. It sure seems to be dominating here. Grim is harder to play than Flash, but is it better for the format? I don't know.
