[Results] Central NJ Timewalk - July 6th

[Nomad]

Moderate turnout of 24 players, not as many as we've had sometimes, but enough to buy the Walk (which I've owned since maybe early '95), and to stretch to something for 2nd (box of Morningtide) and minor 3rd-4th prizes.

AJ Grasso came in 2nd with his 5th consecutive final or something at my tournaments; Joe Davis beat him for the win.  Well done guys.

We managed a 10 man draft after the T8 started with Demetri taking the top spot.

Standings (and meta) {and handles}:

North Brunswick Type 1, Standings after round 5, 7/7/2008 12:23:30 AM
 
         Op-Match   PL-Game   Op-Game   Matches
Rank   Name   Points   Win%   Win%   Win%   P/W/D/B
  1   Fulmer, Allen    13   60.0000   88.8889   62.5641   5/4/1/0  (Grim Long) {XxtSundaybxX}
  2   Davis, Joe           13   57.3333   100.0000   55.6263   5/4/1/0  (Grim Long) {ashiXIII}
  3   Sorin, Roman    10   61.3333   58.3333   60.9713   5/3/1/0  (Workshops)  {The Boy Noodle}
  4   Folinus, jeff    10   54.6667   58.3333   56.1111   5/3/1/0  (Grim Long) {Gekoratel}
  5   Bilarczyk, Andy    10   53.3333   70.0000   52.3450   5/3/1/0  (Rock)
  6   Blake, John    10   52.0000   66.6667   49.6061   5/3/1/0  (GAT) {Ultima}
  7   Shelley, Dan     9   64.0000   58.3333   65.1026   5/3/0/0  (Bomberman)
  8   SucksJoe, AJ the 3rd     9   57.3333   54.5455   58.6667   5/3/0/0  (Slaver) {TD}
  9   Glackin, Ryan     9   49.3333   50.0000   51.3535   5/3/0/0  (R/G beats) {King Squee}
 10   Hartwell, Josh     9   46.6667   53.8462   48.2308   5/3/0/0  (Slaver)  {JoshuaD}
 11   Portizo, Jae     7   50.6667   53.8462   50.4444   5/2/1/0  (Grim Long)
 12   Unni, Dave     7   44.0000   55.5556   44.7086   5/2/1/0  (Oath)
 13   Xenidis, Demetri     7   44.0000   45.4545   46.5035   5/2/1/0  (Slaver) {Demetri X}
 14   Parisi, Bernie     6   58.6667   46.1538   55.9713   5/2/0/0  (Grim Long)
 15   Cooper, Harriet     6   57.3333   40.0000   59.9091   5/2/0/0  (Gobbs)
 16   Magyar, Pete     6   56.0000   36.3636   61.8687   5/2/0/0  (Mask)
 17   Carey, Brian     6   54.6667   46.6667   54.7692   5/2/0/0  (Workshops)
 18   Nowakowaski, Stephen     6   46.6667   50.0000   48.5354   5/2/0/0  (Grim Long)
 19   Anthony, Shawn     6   38.6667   41.6667   41.7778   5/2/0/0  (Workshops)
 20   Meinders, Brian     4   41.3333   41.6667   44.1414   5/1/1/0  (Mono-U Angel)
 21   Coss, Nick     3   50.0000   33.3333   48.1481   3/0/0/1  (Rock) {Iron Chef}
 22   Lewis, Bill     3   50.0000   27.2727   48.8782   4/0/0/1  (Grim Long)
 23   Monday, Jason     3   49.3333   30.7692   51.6667   5/1/0/0  (Bomberman) {Feyd}
 24   Parisi, Matt     0   50.0000   20.0000   55.0000   2/0/0/0  (Affinity)

T8:
Joe beats Dan
AJ beats Allen
Roman beats John
Jeff beats Andy
-------
AJ beats Jeff
Joe beats Roman

Props to:
- Everyone who showed up
- Ultima for the venue and stuff, and his wife for all the fans
- Iron Chef for the tables
- Harriet for her patience
- Joe Davis' Game Win %

Slops to:
- Hot weather and poor AC
- All the people who implied they'd be coming and then didn't
- Me for not running this sooner!

[John Jones]

What did the top 8 look like?

[XxtSundaybxX]

Top 8 was:

Joe Davis-Grimlong
AJ Grasso-Control Slaver
Jeff Folinus-Grimlong
Roman ?-Guilded Claw
Allen Fulmer(me)-Pitchlong
?-GAT?
?-Bomberman
Andy ?-UBG Aggro Control

[TD]

Yeah, that T8 looks about right. I thought Roman was playing more of a shop aggro style deck but workshops none the less. John Blake made T8 with a GATish style deck with 4 dryads and 4 Bob.  At least 3 Long variants made T8 and obviously I had to play all 3. Quarter Finals VS. Allen, Semi’s VS. Jeff, Finals VS. Joe.
Another Finals split for Team 0-2 Drop. Joe and I played mostly for fun, bragging rights, and for the 2nd place prize (we split the Time Walk) in the finals. Joe crushed me and made me look like a sorry scrub. It was pure carnage.
The metta was almost 1/3 Grim Long with 7 of 24 players playing it.

[Nomad]

What did the top 8 look like?

Finished the first post with all the rest of the info I wanted to put in.  I think Shawn or Allen left with T8 decklists to post.

[Demetri X]

Thanks for having the tournament Simon. I had a great time playing type 1 as always, although I didnt do as well as I thought. I should have tested Control Slaver more than I did.

I just wanted to suggest you continue having it on Sundays because this way PTQs and whatnot won't interfere (And I have work every Saturday :p)

The draft was a great time, I'm glad I smashed face with mono blue control in limited...

I'd really like to see the "GATish" list if the creator can post that. GATs what I had been playing for a while and I was really bumbed out after the restrictions. Good to see it did well.

Until next time,

Demetri

[The Boy Noodle]

Na i was really playing my varied build of Claw . . .it just didn't seem like it because, sadly, i did not draw some of those colored bombs. . .but the deck is essentially the same .. good games too everyone and thanks to Simon for giving us another enjoyable day in the lives of us T1 players

[JoshuaD]

Thanks for running the event Simon.  The heat was wicked, but otherwise it was a good time.   You can put my handle next to 10th place, that was me.

Does 6th place wanna post up his deck list?  I'd love to see a winning tog list.

[Gekoratel]

I think that Shawn was planning on posting the decklists at some point but I figured I'd post the list that I ran.

GWS Long 2.0
3 Street Wraith
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
3 Duress
1 Pact of Negation
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Night’s Whisper
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Grim Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

SB:
2 Empty the Warrens
4 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Scrubland
3 Orim's Chant
1 Duress
1 Extirpate

The maindeck was pretty good but I was slightly unimpressed by the Whispers I'd prob turn them into some combination of 2nd Cabal Ritual, Imp. Seal, or Windfall.  The disruption package was solid and the bounce suite was also very good for me. 
In the tourny I played:
R1: Grim Long (W)
R2: Pitch Long (L)
R3: Bomberman (W)
R4: Gilded Claw (D) - unintentional
R5: Grim Long (W)
QF: UGB Fish (W)
SF: CS (L)

The silly thing is both Long matches I won were on the draw and the loss was on the play but Pitch Long does have a substantial edge in the psuedo-mirror.  My loss against CS was due to a misplay in G3 when I went for Jar with B floating no land for the turn when I should have just played a Necro at 12 life.  I fizzled the Jar and then proceeded to give him a juicy yard to Will for the win.  As usual Long is very strong and a lot of my losses were from mistakes not the deck.

[TD]

This is the list I played. (split in the finals with teammate)

AJ Grasso
Control Slaver
// Lands
    2  Flooded Strand
    2  Island
    1  Library of Alexandria
    3  Polluted Delta
    1  Snow-Covered Island
    1  Tolarian Academy
    3  Underground Sea
    2  Volcanic Island

// Creatures
    3  Goblin Welder
    1  Sundering Titan
    1  Triskelion

// Spells
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Brainstorm
    1  Deep Analysis
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Echoing Truth
    1  Fact or Fiction
    1  Fire/Ice
    4  Force of Will
    1  Gifts Ungiven
    1  Lotus Petal
    1  Mana Crypt
    4  Mana Drain
    1  Mana Vault
    1  Merchant Scroll
    1  Mindslaver
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mystic Remora
    1  Mystical Tutor
    1  Rack and Ruin
    1  Sensei's Divining Top
    1  Sol Ring
    4  Thirst for Knowledge
    1  Time Walk
    1  Tinker
    1  Tormod's Crypt
    1  Yawgmoth's Will

// Sideboard
SB: 2  Arcane Laboratory
SB: 1  Darksteel Colossus
SB: 1  Engineered Explosives
SB: 3  Extirpate
SB: 1  Jester's Cap
SB: 2  Pyroclasm
SB: 2  Rack and Ruin
SB: 3  Thorn of Amethyst

This is the same list I played at Blue Bell the week before with some minor changes.
-1 Ponder
-3 SB Yixlid Jailer

+1 Mystic Remora
+2 SB Arcane Laboratory
+1 SB Jesters Cap

I knew of at least 5 players playing Long going into the tournament so I wanted to be prepared for it. I had to play Joe Davis in RD1 and lost to him anyway. The Next 4 rounds of the swiss were aggro creature style decks. The Changes paid off though, because I had to play Long in all three rounds of the T8.

[ashiXIII]

My first place list:

4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Moxen
1 Lotus
1 Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Grim Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind's Desire
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Gush
1 Time Walk
2 Tendrils of Agony

SB:
1 Swamp
3 Island
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Extirpate
1 Jester's Cap


The second Tendrils in the main was a last minute addition right before the tournament begin because I had an open slot and there was a ton of Long there. Normally I hate having two win conditions. The Merchant Scroll was easily the weakest card in the main all day, and I loved the rest of my list.

Out of my sideboard, the only cards I never used were the Leylines and the Jester's Cap. The Cap was there for the mirror, but despite my planning for it, the only time I was paired against it was round 5 and we were both 4-0 so we drew. The Leylines never came in because I never played Dredge, obviously.

I think my list is really solid and the only change I might make is to cut the Scroll for the 8th Duress. But I do like Scroll post 'board to find bounce, so we'll see. Anyway, I must've done something right with a 7-0-1 match record, and a 14-0-0 game record.

[XxtSundaybxX]

Well if everyone is going to post therye list...why not

Pitchlong(The better long deck)-5th Place

4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
3x Underground Sea
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
4x Dark Ritual
2x Cabal Ritual
4x Force of Will
2x MisDirection
1x Duress
3x Grim Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timewalk
1x Brainstorm
1x Ponder
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Imperial Seal
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Rebuild
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Timetwister
1x Tinker
1x Memory Jar
1x Minds Desire
2x Tendrils of Agony
3x Street Wraith

SB:
3x Extirpate
3x Daze
2x Thrashing Wumpus
1x Chain of Vapor
3x Hurkyls Recall
1x Duress
1x Island
1x Swamp

heres a mini report from what i remember

Round 1
Stephen K-Grimlong
G1-I open with turn 1 bargain and i know hes playing grimlong with no forces so i bargain does it
G2-I dont quite remember what happens but he comboes me out with will-->tendrils
G3-He plays timetwister,doesnt win, I  play timetwister but my twister does it for me
2-1

Round 2
Jeff Folinus-Grimlong
G1-Jeff unfortunatley has to mull to 4 and opens with lotus for wheel of fortune, I have to force, 3 turns later he goes for ancestral recall but i have the misdirection, i win next turn
G2-Jeff and I both keep our hands, I dont really remember the beginning of this game but jeff goes for tinker for jar but doesnt crack because he is out of mana and has already played his land, I combo out with tinker for lotus,grim tutor,will
2-0

Round 3
Roman-Varied Guilded Claw
G1-I win the roll...thankfully, i open my first 7 and see, Lotus petal,flooded strand,mox emerald,mana crypt,demonic tutor,grim tutor, mindsdesire. Desire for 6 revealing chain of vapor, cabal ritual(threshold), tolarian.twister,jet,delta? ritual,Cov my artifacts, cast grim tutor that was in my hand for tendrils
G2-Roman goes chalice at 0 and another threat i forget what it was., i play land sol ring go, he plays a thorn i think, i draw,play a land and Grim tutor for thrashing wumpus, play draw go, eot hurkyls plus lotus petal and wumpus, he replays chalice i believe and something else then next turn he goes for tinker but he drew his sundering titan off his bazaar so he tinkers for Juggs, i eot rebuild and mini tendrils for 10 and swing for 3 since he is at 13
2-0

Round 4
Bernie Parisi-Grimlong
G1-Bernie needs to win or asks me to concede, i would have conceded but i was worried about my next round and my teamate needed me to win for his breakers so we both draw our hands...bernie goes dark ritual, duress,thoughtseize wrecking my hand...i draw force on my turn play a land and say go. i think he played a bomb but i had the force that i drew for my turn. i win with necro.
G2-Bernie goes for turn 1 windfall i think?? i have the force. it comes down to me having 3 cards in hand with 2 lands on the table, Dark ritual, bargain,Yawgwill. Bernie duress's taking will, i play bargain and win
2-0

Round 5
Joe Davis-Grimlong
We ID into top 8 sitting in first and second place

Top 8 :
AJ Grasso-Control Slaver
AJ wins the die roll, I mull to 4 and keep a hand of swamp,imperial seal,mystical tutor,timewalk. Aj goes for ancestral turn 1. I draw misdirection for my turn...just a hair to late, i play swamp and iseal for island(i was worried about sundering titan...leaving the underground seas in my deck would allow me to draw them later in the game if he would resolve a fast tinker. I play mystical for recall on end step which aj forces or drains...i misdirect, i draw rit,necro,crit,pretty good. Play necro, it resolves. Aj mysticals for tinker on upkeep which he got from his gifts ungiven. He plays mystic remora, i think and i see if he plays tinker and he get slaver and activate so i let it resolve and i force of will the tinker. Now this is where i make a mistake. I start comboing out and he draws a card for every non creature spell i play. resolve lotus,rit,grim,will,lotus again,then i crack lotus for UUU play a duress, he drains, i mystical for tendrils, i cast ancestral, he drains...I had enough mana to hardcast my FoW or Misdirection in my GY but i didnt have my second blue source because i tapped my island instead of my swamp when i first started comboing out...oh well
G2- i play land, vault go holding mystical,tinker,usea,X(after i mulled to 6)...say go...Aj plays arcane lab, i then realize i boarded out my chain of vapor for hurkyls for thorns out of his board... i concede to AJ...Good Games AJ

Other than my mistakes against AJ in the quarterfinals i am very pleased with the deck, it was a monster all day, only losing 1 game going into top 8 in first place with only joe beating my with losing 0 games, well done joe

I believe Force of Will was better than duress in every situation all day
I am considering changes to the list...cutting SW for CoV #2 and cabal ritual #3 and possibly windfall even though its bad,,,maybe even scroll but thats also bad with draw 7's. Rushing river will be going into the board for the CS matchup since it bounces to things for 1 spell.

Congrats to Joe and AJ

Allen

[The Boy Noodle]

here is the build that i ran for third place. . . a few minor but meaningful changes to the main . . .if anyone wants to know why i made the changes or to argue with me on them check out the thread on the deck

Main Deck

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
2 Triskelion
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Sundering Titan
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Memory Jar
1 Crop Rotation
1 Balance
2 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
4 City of Brass
1 Coalition Relic

SB

3 Duplicant
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Jester's Cap
3 Shattering Spree
2 Smokestack

Ill start with my side board:
Everything was pretty good except Smokestack . . .they wound up there because i had two empty slots and no idea on what to run otherwise. . . shattering spree was pretty lackluster as there was no aggro shop match up for me so that seemed dead, Dup, Cap, and Sphere were sided in almost every game . . .they just all seem good in the current Meta

Now to the main:
Let me just start by saying that even though there was NO dredge in the meta leylines maindeck were CLUTCH! . . .they make tendril decks work at combo crazy with  will being useless, there good against CS because it shuts down their welder shenanigans, obviously against icorid that deck just scoops on turn zero and you both move on to game two with it in your opening hand, the only deck that in testing it was sided out against was oath, OH! and it stops bomberman which was clutch game five!

Tinker into Titan owns all . . .thats all i will say on that

first turn balance on the draw after playing artifact and before dropping land was pretty good as it made my opponent strip out and discard down

crop rotation was great allowing me to grab a bazaar and discard threats with an active welder

In general the deck was pretty amazing. .  . if i knew how to cap better and not be a terrible player i might have done better

The only card in the main that im a little bit on the fence about is Memory Jar . . .it seems pretty scary against tendrils if i dont have a Leyline as it just fills their grave to go off with Will . . .and when i did get to seldomly crack it it was pretty late game where i basically had the win anyway . . .so i might play around with that slot . .then again it is a 5/5 beater with Karn lol

I pretty happy with the games. . .Both me and Jeff top 4ing was nice . . . and Simon is the man like always. . .cant wait for the next one

[ashiXIII]

Let me just start by saying that even though there was NO dredge in the meta leylines maindeck were CLUTCH! . . .they make tendril decks work at combo crazy with  will being useless,

I have to disagree with this. I faced Leylines several times during the day (twice from you in the top 4) and it just never mattered. In fact, I was usually happy that my opponent had 4 Leylines in their deck instead of 4 cards that would be more threatening.

[Ultima]

Because it was requested and since Shawn forgot to pick up my list after he asked me to write it down,

GAT 08 PR

4 Quirion Dryad
4 Dark Confidant
1 Tendrils of Agony

2 Daze
4 Thoughtseize
4 Force of Will

1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Yawg Will
1 Gush
1 Fastbond
1 Sensei's Top
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Echoing Truth
1 Cunning Wish
3 Sleight of Hand
3 Dark Ritual

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
3 Moxen
5 Fetchland
3 Island
3 Tropical
4 Underground Sea

SB
1 Berserk
1 Darkblast
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Naturalize
1 Oxidize
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Hideous Laughter
2 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Duress
3 Pithing Needle

The SB wasn't what I wanted it to be because when I was shocked as to how many people showed up playing Grim Long, so I threw out a few things to stick Duresses in.  Interestingly, I didn't play Long all day.  The first round was Bomberman.  I don't know why but there was actually a couple Bomberman decks and I had no idea the deck was getting that popular.  Apparently if you just play Needle naming Salvagers, they can't beat you if you have something with toughness 3 on the board.  Then it was just a couple of the named aggro decks like R/G beats and Deez Noughts, none of which can handle an early dryad. 

The only card I would probably change is Daze.  It wasn't bad during the day, but mid game anything else could have been better.  Joe was telling me that Duress is better than thoughtseize now MD, but I think that deserves some games first. I will say one thing for sure.  Tendrils of Agony is way too good not to play in this build.  Its so much better than Tog, ETW, and pretty much anything else.  In round 2 against RG Beats, I was at 3 from a x2 clamped goyf, when I played ancestral into gush, sleight, scroll holding tendrils and just stormed off for 22 right there.  I don't think any other card would have won that game right there.  There were at least 2-3 other games where my opponents used all their resources to stabilize from my threats, only to be hit by a small tendrils and die.  Its defintely the direction i think the deck should go.

John

[M.Solymossy]

Roman, I never got a chance to tell you in CT that it was nice to meet you.  Good to see you did well!   Gilded Claw is a beating for a lot of decks.

[KingSquee]

Hello everybody, I'm Ryan, the 9th place finisher... 

R/G Beats is my favorite Type 1 deck and I'll continue to run it until Wizards restricts Lightning Bolt and Tarmogoyf (should be any day now... )

Here's the list I ran:

Main Deck:

4 Dead/Gone
4 Kird Ape
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Seal of Fire
4 Tin Street Hooligan
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Aether Vial
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
3 Skullclamp
1 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
4 Taiga
2 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:

3 Faerie Macabre
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Gaea's Blessing
2 Seal of Primordium

Summary:

Round 1 won vs. Bill Lewis (Grim Long)
Round 2 lost vs. Ultima (GAT)
Round 3 lost vs. TD (Control Slaver)
Round 4 won vs. Dave Unni (Tyrant Oath)
Round 5 won vs. Brian Carey (Shop Aggro)

Having missed out on Top 8 on breakers I joined the side draft. I drafted probably my most broken deck ever... Incremental Blight, 2 Firespouts (!), Wilt-Leaf Liege and Boartusk Liege. Unfortunately I messed up the manabase and scrubbed out with a 2-2 record. I failed to draw Forests in each of the critical game threes.

Oh yeah something I've been wondering for a while as somebody fairly new to competitive Type 1... why is Gilded Claw called Gilded Claw?

[TD]

Oh yeah something I've been wondering for a while as somebody fairly new to competitive Type 1... why is Gilded Claw called Gilded Claw?

I don’t know the exact origin of the title but I know when the deck first started showing up it ran 2-3 Gilded lotus. I can only assume that is where the name came from. I can remember someone saying that the reason Players no longer play with Gilded Lotus is because Coalition Relic is just better. I guess I agree here. Anyway here is a link to an old Dan Carp Claw list. http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/9329.html

[feyd]

I was one of two people who showed up playing bomberman.  The other guy playing bomberman made top 8 and I would be very interested in knowing what his matchups were like and how he did/what plays he made.  My matchups were 1 Gat-like deck, 2 long decks, and some wierd mono-blue platinum angel deck.  I beat beat one long deck and lost the other three rounds (I lost to gat by making an enormous play mistake in game three).  The deck appears weak to gat on paper but it really isn't as bad in practice.  If the deck can counter a few key things and just play control pretty well early the beats from your creatures add up, especially if you have a mindcensor on board/cast mindcensor in reponse to a tutor or fetch. 
     Aven mindcensor worked terrifically for me in all my rounds messing up the math and decisions of nearly everyone.  With the weak ass manabases it was a house in response to fetches.  The downside of bomberman as of right now is that its clock seems slow in comparison to some of the faster/more cutthroat deks like long.  In one game against Jeff I countered five of his spells in a row with mindcensor in play and he, with zero cards in hand, topdecked either wheel or twister and won right there. 
     Seeing that I had brought my own builds of three different decks (bomberman, grim long, and mono red workshop aggro) Bomberman was the safest choice and yet lacked the explosiveness I needed to win some key games. 

[Gekoratel]

Feyd in our games I don't believe you ever cast a Mindcensor, also while you did counter a lot of spells in our games I don't believe all the ones you countered were necessarily correct.  For example when I had minimal mana in play you countered a Vamp or Mystical when you should have just waited for the spell (prob Recall).  Countering the topdeck tutor lets me draw a card for the turn and keeps the threat in my deck.  Another example would be when I put DT on the stack and sacced LED instead of countering DT just wait for the threat I was going to get. 

Also in none of the scenarios where you countered tutors was Desire a threat which is the one main things that Drain players need to be suspicious of against Long.  I did get a little lucky G2 by drawing so many threats but with how much counter magic you saw that game I feel like you would have won if they were used a little more judiciously.  Regardless good games.

[feyd]

I'm pretty new at vintage.  This was my 4th tournament and I have no real practice outside of me playing against myself with decks I build myself.  I think that I am learning a lot in the tournaments I play in.  This includes not only rules knowledge from asking other players/judges questions but actual scenarios in-game where I can gain my own experience/knowledge.  I don't intend to insinuate that I have any solid grip on vintage but I think that I could have done much worse and that I am improving.  The only thing I don't appreciate is people making snotty remarks about me or my playskill considering I am new at this and I don't have the staggering knowledge of the game that others possess.  I ran into a few instances of experienced vintage players saying snotty/downgrading things to me at this past tournament and all the others that I have participated in.  This isn't, in my opinion, any way to entice new players, or to keep the few who venture into vintage, in the game. 
     Of the three decks I brought I think that bomberman was the worst choice for me.  I brought grim long, bomberman, and red WS aggro.  I think that I do much better playing aggro or combo decks because I don't exactly which spells to counter or which cards to snag with duress effects.  Vintage is a game of finess which I am still learning the ins and outs of.  I plan on doing some more testing on my own (I don't have MWS) and figuring as much out on my own as I can.  I appreciate all the people who helped me learn about vintage (mostly John) and I give a lot of props to the folks who gave me a ride to the train station (my bike broke from the 4+ miles I had to ride to get there).  I look forward to my next vintage tournament.  Thanks again Simon and John for putting together such a successful event. 

[Shean]

I ran into a few instances of experienced vintage players saying snotty/downgrading things to me at this past tournament and all the others that I have participated in.  This isn't, in my opinion, any way to entice new players, or to keep the few who venture into vintage, in the game. 

I ran into this quite a bit when I was new as well.  I don't think people consciously downgrade the new people, they just get frustrated when they lose to someone new.  I agree with you that veteran vintage players should encourage new players and attempt to help them improve.  It's not like we have a huge influx of new T1 players.

While I'm not condoning this behavior, if you want to get better, your best bet is to keep your head down and keep trying.  You commented that you don't have MWS.  Why not?  MWS is free ( link to MWS ).  When I was first starting out, MWS helped immensely.  While you can't count on your opponent being of a high skill level, you can at least get an idea of the different decks' engines and abilities from playing them.  Also, it's almost worthless to goldfish a Mana Drain deck, because you have no idea how countering a spell will effect the opponent and/or when to save your drain for a bigger spell to get more mana.  For example, I'm sure you've seen/done this before, but a common play against a deck playing FoW is to use a FoW on their spell to get them to FoW yours, then Mana Drain their FoW for the 5 mana.  While this is a very simple example, it's very hard to initially learn this play while goldfishing.

I hope this helps.  Good luck!

[Anusien]

Also, it's almost worthless to goldfish a Mana Drain deck, because you have no idea how countering a spell will effect the opponent and/or when to save your drain for a bigger spell to get more mana.  For example, I'm sure you've seen/done this before, but a common play against a deck playing FoW is to use a FoW on their spell to get them to FoW yours, then Mana Drain their FoW for the 5 mana.  While this is a very simple example, it's very hard to initially learn this play while goldfishing.

I find goldfishing control decks is a great tool I use to learn a deck.  I tend to draw sketchy hands and get to play them out to see how often they get there.  Combined with some stats, I can see how often I can keep the one land Brainstorm/Ponder/Top hand, or whatever.  Plus, once you've played Drain decks, you're only ever comparing them with each other, so you have an idea of how the matches might play out.

[XxtSundaybxX]

Feyd, Im sure I'm one of the players you are referrng to about calling out your mistakes and such. However I think your only seeing one side of the picture, not every player is criticizing you to necessarily make fun of you. When I was new to vintage I too made alot of mistakes, and I still do (look at my match with AJ in the top 8). I prefer someone to bring my mistakes to my attention if I dont see them myself, because it helps me learn how to correct my mistakes and improve my playskill. So dont be so quick to assume every experienced vintage player is trying to make fun of you.

[Ufactor]

I'm sorry I couldn't go due to transportation issues.  It was also hard to manage on a holiday weekend.

24 Total decks

7 Long variants ~29%
3 Slaver ~13%
3 Shop (???) ~13%
2 BUG Aggro (???) ~8%
2 Bomberman 8%
7 Miscellaneous ->29%

GAT
RG Beats
Oath
Goblins
MUC
Affinity
Mask (???)

There are still a couple of ambiguities as far as the metagame goes.  BUG Aggro... Does that mean Deeznauts or other?  "Workshops"...  Were all of the Shop decks Gilded Claw variants?  Stax?  Welder MUD?  Mask...  Does that mean Ninja Mask, Riddler, or (again) Deeznauts?

[personalbackfire]

The BUG aggro deck was a BUG fish deck. The deck that top 8ed this event was the same player as the one who top 8ed the last bluebell event with a similiar list.
Atleast 2 out of 3 shop decks were gilded claw decks. I am not sure what the other shop deck was.

[Ufactor]

@John - Did you find Dark Ritual to be dead weight in any matches?  It seems like they're there only to support Tendrils :\

[Shean]

@John - Did you find Dark Ritual to be dead weight in any matches?  It seems like they're there only to support Tendrils :\

While this question isn't directed at me, I would say that it also supports a Turn 1: Land, Rit, Duress/Thoughtsieze, Bob.