[Report] Myriad Games July - with Shop Combo

[Harlequin]

Shop Combo - "The Rules Nightmare"

4 Workshops
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Academy Ruins
5 Mox
3 Lotus, Sol Ring, Mana Crypt

3 Basault Monolith
4 Metal Workers

4 Staff of Domination
4 Umbral Mantle
4 Rings of the Brighthearth
3 Time Vault
3 Karn, Silver Golem

4 Sensie's Top
2 Thrumming Stone

1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Triskelavus
1 Avarice Totem
1 Trinisphere

//Sideboard//
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Culling Scales
3 Masticore (the saga one, not razormane)


Some deck choices: 
2x: Thumming Stone - Well of Knowledge - Serum Powder
I've tested all three cards in this two-of slot, and each card has it's own purpose.  Well and Stone are for the "late game" advantage where I need to recoup after a big loss. Well I find is not very good because I need alot of mana to recoup, and if I'm hurting on mana it's worthless.  Also it's much more symetrical with Thorns religated to the board.  Powder is good if I want to try and ensure there is no late game.  But ultimately after testing it in hundreds of gold-fishes as well as some field testing I just didn't feel like it did anything for the deck. 

Thrumming stone was totally the right choice if for no other reason that ELD proclaiming "I can't even begin to immagine the purpose this card is in your deck...so I have to counter it..."  This was actually the only time I saw Thurmming stone and I'm confident it would have won the game hands down if he let it resolve.  I already had 2 tops on the board.  The only other times I drew it I won the game without it.  However there were games that I lost where I -could- have drawn it to get back in the game but didn't.

Balancing act - Ubral Mantle :vrs: Academy Ruins
After some waffling I decided ultimatly on a 4:2 split giving me a full set of 8 cards that win off metalworker alone.  I can confidently say that this was the right choice.  I won more games durring the day with Mantle than I did any other card in my deck.   I never returned a card with Academy all day (partially because I was only running 2).

Sideboard option: Defense Grid or Thorn
I went with Thorn because I was afraid my long match was too poor.  If there was more slaver/drain decks in attendance I think the grid would be a good choice.  I'm again glad I went with thorn as it won me at least 1 game where defense grid would have done nothing.

Sideboard option: Razormane Masticore - Masticore - or other dude.
I had 3 slots in the deck that were my anti-fish cards.  I really like Razormane as a card, but I have been disapointed with him in the past with this deck.  The problem is that if they hold thier removal until after I discard durring my upkeep ... then razormane doesn't do crap.  Masticore can atleast mow down the board as he leaves.  Masticor can also kill welders as soon as he resolves which can be relevant.  Lastly the regeneration is relevant when facing down shattering spree or Rack and Ruin. 

===================================================================

Matches:

Round 1 - Sensei-Sensei / egg deck?  WIN 2-0

Game1: I win the roll and play 2land-mox turn 1 Worker, I have mantle + other relvant cards.  He plays Island, AEther Spellbomb and passes.  I reveal my hand and drop the mantle, he has no response - I swing lethal on my turn 2.

I have him pegged as bomberman so I board in 3 Masticore. I board out Jar, Timevalt, Umbral Mantle.

Game2: He plays Forest, Mox, Lifespark bomb, Pyrite bomb.  I play Metalworker, Shop Worker, Mox Top.  I don't have a win in hand, but I have Masticore and Thuming Stone.  He pops both the bombs to draw cards and drops a land and another pyrite.  I look with top durring my upkeep and see Umbral mantle as card 2, quick flip before the draw ends game 2 just like game 1 - swing letal turn2.

Rounds 2 - Grim Long~ish - WIN 2-0

Game1: He has a shakey start.  He duresses me a whole bunch of times over the first few turns.  I have top and I think rings on the board.  He's not doing too much of anything - his hand is someone small.  He tutors for what I presume is Tinker and Tinkers for Darksteel.  He then hits me for 11.  I have staff in hand but only 6 mana in play.  I look with top to find the missing Monolith Tap the draw, play it with 2 availbe to go infinite mana and drop the staff.  He scoops.
~ I think that's how this game went.  I know he tinkered for DSC, I forget how I won though.

In 4 Thorns, 3 Tormod's.  Out 2 stones 1 top, 1-2 Timevaults, Avarice Totem (knowing triskelavus can handle plats), possilby Jar, possible Karn, possibly acad ruins x1.

Game2 I keep an ok hand, it has Tormod's Crypt And a turn 2 kill.  My Combo get's duressed/countered away.  My opponent tutors for Necro, and casts it and draws 7 and passes.  I throw another good card down but it gets Forced.  He can't win because he had to pitch brainstorm so he draws down to 4 life and discards 2 forces EOT.  I topdeck Trinisphere when he only has 2 undergrounds as his only mana.  He thinks for a momonent decideds he cannot win with sphere on the board.  I don't have a win, but Necro+Trinisphere hard locks him so he scoops it.

Round 3 - BUG Agro/Control - WIN 2-1

Game1 he has turn 1 birds.  I get an infinitely large Metalworker on the board, who get's chumpped for a few turns.  But the momentum of an infinitely large attacker is too much for the stompy deck.

Board in 3 Masticore.  Board out... I don't really remeber 1-2 Timevaults, possible basault monolith, possibly avarice totem, possibly 1 umbral mantle.

I get a stable base going, I have Masticore in play.  He has no dudes, He lets me discard and swing.  I don't play any threats.  He EOT oxidizes Masticore.  I'm super excited because I get to regenerate him but alas.... Oxidize cannot be regenerated.  Fail.  On an interesitng note: I had two cards in hand Basault and Staff I decided to discard the Basualt and then topdecked the rings.  Oh well.  I get top online and find a worker. I play the worker and he Deglamers it.  WTF!?  what is this anti-regeneration.dec?  He still doesn't really have any dudes.  I start to reastablish, culling scales is involved, and I get a Karn down.  He has a tarmogoyf but I'm not that worried.  He cast witness and returns the oxidize and owns my Karn.  Then as I'm setting up for a win he Hurklys me - drops a 2nd witness and returns the hurkyls.  With that he gets two uninterupted swings which kills me.

I re-board to bring in 2 Tormod's crypts. and take out more cards listed above.

Game 3: I have turn 1 top, turn 2 culling scales.  This is a good opener.  With Top-Scales I can basically control the entire game because I "abyss" trick the Top (by targeting it, and responding by drawing a card).  He decides to Oxidize my Scales.  I look with top.  I have Umbral mantle in hand, and I see Worker, Staff, X.  I tap to draw Worker and stack my deck with Top,Staff.  I play worker and Mantle and equip it (I only have 1 artifact in hand-Thrumming stone).  My opponent last turn fetched for a basic island and ended up leaving himself with only 2 green mana this turn.  He is able to cast Witness and return Oxidize with 1 open mana but no green.  He is hoping to chumpblock the Metalworker and oxidize to repair his mistake.  Instead I draw top and gain infinite mana with Worker/Mantle/2cards in hand.  Then I play top (look to make sure Staff is still there) and tap to draw into the staff.  Now I can tap down his witness and swing. 

Round 4: ID for 10 points

Round 5: ELD Slaver - LOSE 0-2

At this point I have 10 points and even if I lose I'm auto-in Top8.  Jer is currently 2-2 with 6 points -and- has the highest tiebreakers of all the 6's and 9's (with like 75% or something).  I am paired against ELD with 9 points and fairly bad breakers.   I decide to play because If I win and Jer wins he will probably make it on breakers.  If I lose I'm still in top8.... so nothing to lose.

Game1: I keep an ok hand with two Tops and a Turn 3 Thrumming stone.  I also have Rings.  Its a shakey keeper against a good player but I hope I can get there.  I play down top and look to find Vault.  I play Vault on turn 2 and we talk about what it does.  On turn 3 I try for the rings and we talk to a judge.  After the win is confirmed Rings is promptly countered.  Later I cast Thrumming Stone and ELD laughs and reads it a few times and says somewhat jokingly "I can't even begin to Immage how good this is in your deck...so I think I have to counter it."  He counters it and later slaves me.  My deck is doing poorly anyway so I don't even really care.  He doesn't do much more than deal me a bunch of tomb damage.  He wins with ETW beats I think.

Board in 2x Masticore, 2x Tormod's Crypt, 4x Thorns - Stones, 1 top, Umbral mantle, timevault, academy ruins, Jar. 

Game2:  I have thorn out early, and I get a bit stuck on mana.  I get a Karn Down so I can swing in with some damage.  I get him to where my Karn-dudes are lethal next turn.  He has had monkey down fending off Karn.  My only mana is Shop, Mox, Ancient Tombx3.  So my life is low.  He thinks for a while long while and decides to do a bunch of stuff that Shatters 3 things leaving me with only rings in play.  I have only top in hand.  He swings me down to 4 life.  I play rings and look useing the mox with 2 shop floating, no cards in hand.  The top of my deck is Basault Monolith.  I think long and hard, but no matter how I slice it I need to tap two tombs to win -or- burn for 2 mana this turn and take a monkey to the face... leaving me with no ancient tomb mana.  Basically If I was at 5 life, I could have tapped top and copy the ability to draw Monolith and Top.  Then Play Monolith, go infinite and draw my deck with Top. 

Dead.  0-2. 


Top-8: Goblins -- Win 2-0

Game1: Won on turn 2 with Metalworker+Mantle
Boarded in Masticore - out stuff.
Game2: Won on turn 3 with I think Worker+Staff
Game2: I forgot, I had the "outside Combo" With Karn + Monolith + Mantle. 

What a beating.

Top-4: Slaver -- Win 2-1

Game1: He counters/duresses everything of relevance.  I get some Karn damage in but  We have some fun Interaction with Monkey and Avarice Totem... but at the end of a yawg turn he has Welder+Monkey Online with counters in hand.  I get slowly beated down from 18 while he is at 4 life.

Smaterter this time: 2 Masticore 2 Tormods.  Takeing out a few combo pieces and jar.

Game2: Blowout with Turn 1 Worker AND Mantle.  He plays Library Go. Turn2 swing lethal.

Game3: He has another turn 1 library.  I play turn1 Trinisphere and he counters it removing tinker, which brings him to 5 in hand. One or two turns pass while he trys to get back on library.  I drop A worker and tap it to play Karn and Masticore.  Swing for 8, then swing for 10 is game.

-- Finals --
Game 1: I have the Timevault Combo and topdeck Jar for the turn.  I run out the infinite turn-2's and it get's forced bringing him down to 4 cards in hand.  I play Jar.  He tinkers for Jar and Vamps, he has only lotus in play and has not played a land for turn.  When he cracks his Jar I respond by cracking my jar in the hopes that:
- He tutored for Will, and it gets trapped in "Jeff-Jar-Hand"
- He didn't tutor for Will, but that I randomly Trap will.
- Or I randomly trap his one tendrils.

At any rate, no such luck.  I flush away some junk and he Jar's into Yawg on his 2nd hand which promptly loses me the game.

On a side note, In the 7-hand I would have ended up with after th Active-Player-Non-Active-Player crap was sorted out, I had tons of mana  Rings Monolith and Karn.  So I felt fairly confident that If he whiffs on his turn I was in the clear.

Board In: 4 Thorns, 3 Crypts.  Board out: Jar, Stone x2, Topx1, Academy ruins, Timevault (or 2)...maybe 1 mantle.

Game 2 I have an ok starter.  I have Shop, Top, and Mox, which means I really hope to see a thorn in the top3 cards.  I also Have rings which means If I see a timevault I win on turn 2, If I see Monolith I win on turn 2 or 3 depedning.  I play top and look with 2 shop mana floating, and sure enough see the thorn.  Drop that, and Rich appears displeased.  He draws a card and passes the turn ... no lands.  Well to make a long story short, I eventually hit monolith and drop it to go infinite mana.  Now I can draw my deck with top. (much to pleasure of the crowd). So I draw some cards, play Umbral Mantle.  I try and animate the Monolith to go infinite but Rich (somewhat jokingly) that Monolith is summoning sick. So instead I animate the Thorn of Amethist, Play Staff and Mantle.  Equip the mantle.  Tap Thorn with the staff, and untap it with mantle.  this gives me an infinitly large thorn of amethyst to deal the final damage with.  GLOWRIDER-2.0!

Game 3:  I open a hand that's turn 1 thorn, turn 2 thorn, turn 3 Karn.  I decide to keep it.  Rich drops double mox, Tolarian on his turn.  I go for Thorn and it sticks.  On his turn he drops a land and passes.  On my turn I drop thorn #2, and EOT he has exactly enough mana to Rebuild durring my endstep.  Then spells fly and before I know it I'm Done.  My mana curve was 3 on turn 1 (tomb-mox), 5 on turn 2(+city), and tenchically 7 on turn 3 (with another city) which means I could have eaten both mox on turn 3.  That would have been HUGE if he didn't have enough to rebuild.  If I had dropped Karn on turn 2 I would have not had mana to eat on turn 2 so I think I still played it right.

All in all the finals were very satifing.  I don't think I made any mistakes, stole game 2, and easily could have won either game 1 or 3 if Rich's hands were slightly worse or if he had played differently.

[Smmenen]

That deck is insane.  Amazing work dude. 

[IthilanorStPete]

When you go infinite with Metalworker + Mantle, how do you sink the extra mana

[Webster]

When you go infinite with Metalworker + Mantle, how do you sink the extra mana?

Reveal fewer than two artifacts with metalworker. Rinse. Repeat.

[The Atog Lord]

Congratulations on doing well with an original and really different deck. This deck is proof that innovation is alive and well in Vintage.

[maatn]

Let me just start by saying that I like this list. It looks and I feels - I can imagine - really fun to play.

I'm a bit confused though, about this passage in your report:

Rounds 2 - Grim Long~ish - WIN 2-0

Game1: (..)I look with top to find the missing Monolith Tap the draw, play it with 2 availbe to go infinite mana and drop the staff.  He scoops.

I must be missing something, so could you - or someone else - please fill me in on this? How do you go infinite here?

Edit:
And I'm back: nevermind...

Results For "Ask The Virtual Judge" At StarCity
Your Keyword: "basalt monolith"

Q: Do Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth work together to create an arbitrarily large amount of mana, as long as I have two free lands to start the cycle?

A: Yes. You start by activating the Monolith's non-mana ability and tapping itself to pay for this ability. This will trigger the Rings' ability. When this ability resolves, you can pay two mana to put a copy of the Monolith's ability on the stack. When the copy resolves, the Monolith will untap. Before the original activation resolves, you can tap it for three mana again. Finally, the original activation will untap the Monolith again. At this point, you have three mana in your mana pool and only need two to start the process again; this is a net of one mana. You can repeat the process over and over, adding one mana to your pool.

[wiley]

I've been having a lot of fun testing this on MWS and have begun tracking down pieces, thank you for such an amusing and powerful deck.  Your primer on it has been invaluable so far.

What other choices did you consider for the masticore slot?  Would you keep in the academy ruins?  If not then what would you replace them with?  I noticed you didn't run into anyone with null rod all day, are you confidant that the scales are enough to handle them or did you scout the area?

Was there anything to do against the fish player recurring hurkyl's recall?  It doesn't look like there is any defense against that except a timely crypt activation.

Awesome report, it was a really fun read.

[waywreth]

Great report Jeff!  The deck was fun to watch the whole day, especially the confused looks as you dropped Umbral Mantle.

I recall another interesting ruling in the finals as well, when Jeff activated his Memory Jar in response to Rich Shay activating his Memory Jar, and which hand they'd end up with.  To those wanting to play this deck - be sure you have a firm grip of the current rulings, particularly the triggered/replacement effects of Time Vault. 

[MrJolly]

Top-8: Goblins -- Win 2-0

Game1: Won on turn 2 with Metalworker+Mantle
Boarded in Masticore - out stuff.
Game2: Won on turn 3 with I think Worker+Staff

What a beating.

At least you made it quick against me. Game 2 was a combonation of Monolith, Karn, and Mantle. Congrats Jeff.

[yangtime]

Congratulations on the performance.  It seems like your opening hands were consistent and powerful.  Did you run into consistency issues in testing?  What did you think about Sensei's Divining Top?

[Harlequin]

What other choices did you consider for the masticore slot?

Razormane was up there.  Also more Triskelavuses, Pentavus, Karn #4, Duplicant... Also Plague Boiler is another card like Culling Scales that can remove Null Rod.  Honestly, I was very happy with Masticore.

Would you keep in the academy ruins?

Yes, If I had more slots I would like to run 3:3 for Ruins and Seats.  It just doesn't have it.  2:2 will have to do.  They were not relevant for me durring this tournement but in testing, they can be as good as a draw-engine because it means you draw the win EVERY turn.  Control decks just can't keep up most of the time.

I noticed you didn't run into anyone with null rod all day, are you confidant that the scales are enough to handle them or did you scout the area?

Scales are likely not enough.  But I don't want to overboard for a matchup I will probably lose anyway.  If you expect to face Null Rod then this deck is probably a poor choice.  I know that best players in my area are going to be in the combo or slaver end of things.  So I was fairly confident that so long as I could avoid the X-1 tables I would be nullrod free. 

Was there anything to do against the fish player recurring hurkyl's recall?  It doesn't look like there is any defense against that except a timely crypt activation.

Against that situtation, Crypt is about it.  Really the deck generally doesn't fear mass removal because it can recoup from it so quickly.  With a few lands in play the right combination of cards (rings+basault) means you can still combo out immediately after a rebuild.   
Rebuild followed by a win will always be trouble for shops.  In this case it was beatdown - but rebuild followed by tendrils is more common.

It seems like your opening hands were consistent and powerful.  Did you run into consistency issues in testing?

The deck mulls like butter.  So don't be afraid to throw a 7 hand back if it has no clear shot to victory.  I wish I had recorded how many times I won on turn 2 off a 6-hand.  I know against ELD in Game2 that was off me mulling to 5... and I was 1 life short of pulling a win off that hand. 

What did you think about Sensei's Divining Top?

Running Thrumming Stones makes Top an Auto-4-of.  Its a good card, and I don't think the deck is hurt by running 4.  But If I didn't run stones I have been known to run only 3.

[Sean Ryan]

Great innovation!  I picked up the pieces for this immediately.   

Any plans to write a more in depth primmer?  I know I would appreciate it. 

Another option could be the Trike/Ravager machine gun. 

Juggs in the SB is another option for Fish, especially if you can find room to cut for Spheres maindeck.

[TopSecret]

Congratulations on your finish and thanks for the report!

Thrumming Stone... In Vintage?!
That seriously made my day.

[meadbert]

This deck is awesome.  Thrumming Stone is some tech, but I would still prefer Powders.
Sweet job on this innovation!

[Mdizzle4life85]

this deck is completely insane i love it, its really neat how metalworker interacts with the mantle, i mean since when does metal worker block dsc?! congrats jeff on the finish.

[NicolaeAlmighty]

-- Finals --
* More to come leaving work and ill post it when I get home.

... Well come on already!

[Harlequin]

Done, I added it to the Opening Post.

[carl]

Congratulations for an excellent performance with a incredible deck.

Your deck is 59 cards, I guess the missing card is Tolarian Academy.

Thanks for the report.

--
Carl

[Cavius The Great]

Can someone clarify how Thrumming Stone works in the deck? I assume it's used with Divining Top tricks but I'm too lazy to think right now. Oh and gratz on your finish.

[meadbert]

With two Diving Tops out you can activate the draw ability of both.  First you draw a new card and put one Top back.
Then you draw the first Top and put the second Top back.
Now you can pay 1 to play Top and because of Ripple you play your other Top as well.
The result is that for 1 mana you just drew 1 card.

Also it helps filter with just a top out since you can top and then if you do not like what you see you can just play a mox or something and then use top again.  This digs very quicly although there is no card advantage involved.

Let me know what I missed.

[Harlequin]

This is correct.  But slightly more crazy than that.

2 tops -- : draw 1 cards, ripple 7 deep for top#3
3 tops -- : draw 2 cards, ripple 11 deep for top#4
4 tops -- Ancestral recall that costs colorless and has buyback (meaning : draw 3 cards)

Also as stated, the deck doesn't have any shuffle effects.  So with it in play it almost says "everytime you play a spell shuffle your deck."  which is really relevant if you only have 1 top.

So long story short, I think it's best draw-filter engine the deck has.  I've tested Serum Powder and Well of Knowledge in this spot and overall I like stone.

[Clint_NZ]

Is it not even crazier???

Can you stack the ripple affect?

For example, 2 SDT and a Thrumming stone in play.
tap the 1st SDT draw, tap 2nd SDT to draw the first SDT.
pay 1 to play the freshly drawn SDT, ripple to reveal the SDT that was put on top, triggering another ripple effect.
Stack ripple tap 1st SDT to draw a card. resolve ripple, rinse, repeat draw your library???

or am I missing somthing in the rules???

[wiley]

Ripple

Ripple is a triggered ability of a spell that works when you play that
spell.

Surging Dementia

Sorcery
Ripple 4 (When you play this spell, you may reveal the top four cards of
your library. You may play any revealed cards with the same name as this
spell without paying their mana costs. Put the rest on the bottom of
your library.)
Target player discards a card.

The official rules for the ripple ability are as follows:

502.56. Ripple

502.56a Ripple is a triggered ability that functions while the card with
ripple is on the stack. "Ripple N" means "When you play this spell, you
may reveal the top N cards of your library, or, if there are fewer than
N cards in your library, you may reveal all the cards in your library.
If you reveal cards from your library this way, you may play any of
those cards with the same name as this spell without paying their mana
costs, then put all revealed cards not played this way on the bottom of
your library in any order."

502.56b If a spell has multiple instances of ripple, each triggers
separately.

* When you play a spell with ripple, the ripple ability will resolve
before the spell does.

* If you choose to reveal cards, you may play any or all of the revealed
cards with the same name as the spell. Any cards you don't play,
including those with the same name, will be put on the bottom of your
library in any order.

* For each revealed card you choose to play, follow all the normal steps
for playing it, though you won't have to pay its mana cost. Any
additional costs are paid as normal. All cards played this way go on the
stack on top of the original spell, then all abilities that trigger when
you play the new spells (including their ripple abilities) go on the
stack on top of them.

* After you play the original spell with ripple, ripple's triggered
ability goes on the stack and you receive priority. But you don't
receive priority after you play a spell during a ripple ability's
resolution; after the ripple ability resolves, the active player
receives priority.

Unfortunately the ripple goes on the stack on top of top, so you have to resolve the ripple before top comes into play.

w/ 4 tops + stone in play you can do this:

Tap top1, draw a card.
Tap top2, draw top 1.
Play top 1, ripple4(1) revealing top 2, ripple 4(2) goes on the stack, IR tap top3, draw a card, resolve ripple4(2), reveal top3, ripple(3) goes on the stack, IR tap top4, draw a card, resolve ripple4(3), reveal top4, choose not to activate ripple.

You have now drawn 3 cards and the stack looks like this:
Top4
Top3
Top2
Top1

Let them all resolve and repeat until you have a combo in hand (it won't be long at all).

[Clint_NZ]

Reading ftw!!!

Thought it was c.i.p. not just when you play a spell.

Cheers for the clarification.

[heiner]

@harlequin: Would you do any modifications to the dec or would you play it again as is? It seemed as you sided out the TV's all the time. Are they worth playing?

Ancestral could also be an addition.

[Harlequin]

Timevault is the weakest of the combo's because it is the easiest to see comeing.  I wouldn't cut it from the main deck only because I want the maindeck to include as many differant combos as possible.  The timevault win is also the most suseptable to removal, so post-board when I need to make space for other cards It makes sense to cut the combo that is hurt the most by my opponent's sideboard.  I usually never remove timevault completely, usually just 1-2.

As for the rest of the deck, I don't think I'd change anything.  Possibly re-thinking maindeck Thrumming Stone.  I might decide to pre-board the Masticores in place of the 2 stones and 1 top.

[Masticor]

Great Deck    Workshop decks have always been my favorite choice and if they support Combos it is even better.

I just wanted to point out, there is another draw engine hidden in this deck. The one with Rings of Brighthearth and Sensei's Divining Top. You can copy the draw ability so you get to draw a card + your top. If you are in the infinity Mana Mode (with monolith + rings for example) you can draw your entire deck like this.

[Sean Ryan]

Going aggro seems to be your best option agasint Fish/Rod short of running red for Welders and Removal in the SB.

As much as you like old school Masticore, Razormane may be necessary for the main deck in the face of Null Rod.  Then you could bring in Juggs from the board as well.