[report] Mox Ruby Tournament in Utrecht 14th place with Slaver

[Marske]

So today there was a non-proxy vintage event (organised by Bram) in Utrecht for a Mox Ruby and this is going to be a great day for getting familiar with Control Slaver a deck I've been wanting to play for a while now.

I get up at around 7 in the morning and pack all my stuff  and head out to Breda where the rest of the gang is waiting. I didn’t know what to expect from sanctioned vintage in holland so I just tried to prepare for the most random of things.
This is the deck as I played it:

Marius van Zundert – Control Slaver

Creatures
3x Goblin Welder
1x Triskelavus
1x Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1x Duplicant

Instant
4x Force of Will
4x Manadrain
4x Thirst For Knowledge
2x Intuition
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Brainstorm
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Fire // Ice
1x Ancestral Recall

Sorcery
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Merchant scroll
1x Tinker
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Time walk

Artifact
2x Mindslaver
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mana crypt
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Sol ring
1x Sensei’s Divining Top

Land
3x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
3x Underground sea
3x Volcanic island
5x Island
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Academy ruins

Sideboard
2x Pithing Needle
2x Shattering Spree
2x Rack & Ruin
1x Engineerd Explosives
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Echoing Truth
1x Yixlid Jailer
1x Triskelion
1x Platinum Angel
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Jesters Cap
1x Fire // Ice

I pick up the gang and during the drive to the event we discuss our decks and different strategies for the day.

Sebastien is playing  U/W Fish and Sybrand is playing 7 land Stompy so we all are trying out other decks than usuall.

After registering we chat a little with the familiar suspects and get ready for the first round. Because there are 18 people we are in for a 5 round toernament with top 4.

I didn’t take detailed notes with starting hands and boarding plans so this report is going to be a short overview

Round 1: JP Pover playing Noughty Painter

I’ve met JP a couple of times now and he’s a moderator at the manacrypt.nl so facing a familiar face round one could be a good thing. I also have a good idea about what he is playing and this little piece of info could also prove usefull.

Game one
I keep all his threats off the board with manadrain and fow and he dies to his own manacrypt getting 3 damage every turn. So game one goes to me without even dealing 1 point of damage.

1-0-0

I Board in rack and ruin and another fire // ice and out 1 slaver, 2 intuition because this is to dangerous a strategie with him running Extirpates and I know for sure he is going to board them in against me.
Game two
He gets some early threats that I counter but also gets a magus of the moon on the board and starts beating away. I’m not able to get rid of the magus and die to beats and we move on to game 3

1-0-1

Game three
I chooses to start and get a turn one welder online, but during his turn he plays a dreadnought without using any artifacts so I’m not able to weld the thing out. He passes the turn and my hope lies in a Tutor or a rack & ruin topdeck but all I get is land so I play the land and pass the turn. He plays a Pithing needle naming Welder and plays his own welder and beats with the Dreadnought.

My turn three I’m able to get a Meloku into play but its to little to late, I’m able to stall and grab me some turns (tapping his nought with fire // ice) but I’m not able to find a tutor or R&R and lose to the dreadnought.

1-0-2

This first game doesn’t give me much hope for the rest of the day because during our round I was able to look at the table to see what’s being played and the overall meta was loads of Fish and Aggro.

Round 2: Carl Devos Playing  Control Slaver

When I see my pairing I know I’m facing the mirror and somebody who has a lot more expirience then me playing this deck (Carl was First during our last vintage tournament in breda with this deck) He’ s a nice guy and we get ready for our first game.

Game one
Carl mulles to 5 cards and when we finally start I get a turn 2 tinker putting triskelavus into play and beat him to death without him being able to put up a fight.

2-0-2

My boarding plan was in 2 Rack and Ruin, 1 Jesters Cap, 1 Fire // Ice Out 1 slaver, 2 intuition, 1 thirst

Game two
He chooses to begin and plays some things I don’t remember and didn’t write them down and passes the turn.

My first turn and I draw a Tinker (with Crypt, Mox Sapphire, island, Volcanic FoW, Drain, Goblin Welder in hand) I drop the Mox, crypt and the  Volcanic island  tap the island and cast welder it resolves and I pass the turn. Carl again does nothing interesting and keeps 2 mana open to pass the turn.
At this point I decide to take the risk and walk into a drain and having to fight a counter war over it so I play the Island, and tap the mox and crypt to cast tinker (which resolves)  Looking at my library I decide to put Jesters Cap into play and use it. I remove his Slaver, Titan and Tinker and pass the turn. During his turn he again does nothing but play a mox and passes the turn again, at the end of his turn I welder back the Cap putting the Crypt into my graveyard. I start my turn drawing Manadrain and Cap him again.. With no kill left in his deck (and the only thing missing is Triskelavus) I think he either boarded it out or has it in his hand.. either way it doesn’t matter because I can always stop it or welder it out.

At this point I make a crucial mistake and take out his 3 trinket mages instead of his 2 darkblasts and 1 tormod’s crypt thinking that the beating from the Trinkets could be a problem.

During my EOT carl cast Vampiric. Draws a card with his Loa. During his turn he plays a fetch and fetches a Underground and plays darkblast. We fight a counterbattle which he wins because I don’t have 2 blue open for drain and he does and I’m kicking myself in my head because of this stupid mistake.

During his second mainphase he casts Triskelavus with drain mana and the mana left open and my defeat is a few turns away because I’m never getting back into this.

2-0-3

Game Three

Still frustrated about the stupid mistake costing me last game I don’t know anything else in my sideboard that could be of use to me. So I decide to do nothing.

Carl starts this game and I hold a hand with 2 drains, 1 slaver, 1 thirst, 1 sea, 1 Delta

Thinking this is a nice start. We play draw go for a few turns and we go into time. With our last 5 turns just a few minutes away I try and force something by casting slaver (which he Drains) and from this point on I’m a gonner he gets triskelavus out of drain mana and is able to beat me to death within the 5 turns. With his Loa keeping his hand full of counter magic at all time.

Nice playing by Carl but I totally scrubbed game 2  letting him get into this but I feel a little better knowing this should have been my round playing this deck for the first time against such a experienced player and losing on a play error is something I’m taking with me in the future. This day was ment as a learning experience and I’m doing just that learning a lot from the mirror. Carl is a nice and good player so i’m glad I played the mirror against him.

2-0-4

 
Round Three: Sebastien van Kaam playing U/W Fish

So I get paired against a teammate, we both know each others decklist so with this knowledge we start our first game.

Game 1

I get out a turn 2 Tinker putting triskelavus into play… this gets me the game because he’s not able to get rid of this and dies to beats.

3-0-4

I board in 1 DSC, 1  Platinum, 1 Fire // Ice taking out 1 slaver, 1 crypt, 1  Duplicant

Game 2

I get a turn 3 tinker for Platinum Angel and a turn 4 yawgmoth’s will getting me tinker again for DSC this is to much and he dies to beats next turn.

4-0-4

It’s to bad that the first game I finally get into playing this deck is against a teammate and I walk over him but I’m feeling a bit more confidant with the deck so it’s all good in the end.

Round four Robin (didn’t write down you’re last name sorry !) playing Cold Rock

I have seen his deck when I was looking at other match-ups and he calls it Cold Rock.

Game one
I get a triskelavus into play on turn 3 with drain mana and some artifacts and this gets me the victory because he doesn’t find a way to get rid of it.

5-0-4

I board in like I did last round. Thinking that if it works fine against fish it works fine against Rock I played a lot with rock type decks in extended and with the info I got from watching his other match I know his deck is a slow start and has a problem dealing with things like platz and DSC.

Game two
He begins with Bayou casting Duress… I have kept a decent hand and he takes Mana drain and passes the turn. I drop the Volcanic and a mana crypt and passes the turn. He plays another land and a mox and a lotus to pass the turn. I topdeck a gifts with only a land and crypt out (so it’s useless) His third turn he casts a Spiritmonger and passes the turn. I don’t grab a land or mana artifact for the next 4 turns which gives him the win.

5-0-5

Game three
Goes like game 2 and I’m left with 2 lands and a mox and nothing that’s castable.

5-0-6

Round five Sybrand Everts Playing 7 land Stompy

Again I get paired against a teammate and I know from testing a very hard matchup for slaver because of the sheer speed this deck has.

Game one
He’s just to fast for me and I die because of little green man beats.

5-0-7

Game two
I actually get into this and find some way to survive 4 turns for turn 4 tinker getting platz into play. With him not grabbing one if his 2 naturalizes in his deck and me having 2 fow and 2 drain back-up The platz beats for the win.

6-0-7

Game Three
I get a turn 3 tinker getting platz into play and a turn 4 meloku to stop everything and ride them both to victory.

7-0-7

This was a little bit of a surprise because we tested this match-up a lot and I always came in second because of the sheer speed of his deck. Just bad luck (again against me like the last The Dutch Vintage Tournament)

Overall I learned a lot playing this deck and I had a really nice day we stay and watch the top four matches chatting with the rest of the guys and eventually start the drive home.

I just wanted to share my experience with you guys and get some feedback about the plays and decklist I used during the tournament (if at al possible)

Props
Carl for playing a good match against me and by doing so teaching me a lot about slaver
Bram for the great tournament and great location !

Slops
The onsite card dealer and food / drinks at the bar being a bit expensive.

[zeus-online]

Hey, just wanted to comment on your list

I'd deffinetly cut the 2 intuitions, i never really liked them in slaver, they're pretty much only good when you have a welder in play or a will in hand...And that's just too narrow for me.
I'm not sure why you're playing with meloku, you shouldn't really need anything more then 1 DSC/Titan and 1 Triskelavus/Triskelion/Duplicant to finish the game.
Academy ruins seems rather useless to me, any particular reason you're running it? Only colorless lands i'd consider would be strip mine or LoA.

A couple of cards i think you should play with:
1 Mana vault - This card is really good! There's no reason not to
2nd sensei's top - Top is awesome for this deck, you can draw cards with it with welder, dig for good cards or just pitch it to thirst.

I think you made a huge SB error against slaver:
Jester's cap really ain't great here, i have no idea why you boarded it in.
You should probably never SB Thirst out, it's the engine, the most important piece of the deck

Well that's all i guess, good luck with slaver though

/Zeus

[Marske]

Thanks for the Tips Zeus.

I ran the Meloku because I suspected lots of Stripe / wastelands and Aggro decks and it really proved to be a good card all day when it hit the board (lots of people can handle a DSC or Triskelavus with artifact hate) so it was based on me guessing to see lots of aggro / wastelands. (worked out well in the end)

The intuition is something I just wanted to try out, they are great at times and other times total crap but they are going out for something else. The academy ruins is somehting I also wanted to test it helps out putting things like a lotus back ontop of you're library (which can be insane with Top out) it's slower then having a welder but if the welder is useless (pithing needle, Dark Blast) you can still have some sort of artifact recursion. A LOA would be a better option in this slot but like I said this was something I just wanted to test.

The jesters cap was something that I grabbed on a whim and it actually almost won me the game.... (doing unexpected things can pay off sometimes)

I think you are right about top and thirst and I couldn't find a space for the Vault so.. I would like to comment on my report by saying that  I was using this tournament as a testing ground for slaver (to see iif I liked the deck) and if I could make some crazy plays so some of the choices I made are part of me being a total newbie with slaver and drain decks haha

[frolll]

Yop
I was there with Ichorid, actually, the sole Ichorid player, I took 5th because I am too stupid to think about an ID in last round, well, that was a nice tournament, even with the very low turnout.

Props to Bram !

I played against Urw Landstill (he ended up 6th IIRC), a painters deck, another painters deck, a storm combo, an anopther painters deck... 3-2 going 5th with the best OGW, I should have really really do the ID in the last round to lock in 4th.
/quit whinig ^^

Oh, and there was massive Ichorid hate.

[T00L]

Oh that marske he's dreamy! /me swoons

[carl]

Round 2: Carl Devos Playing  Control Slaver

When I see my pairing I know I’m facing the mirror and somebody who has a lot more expirience then me playing this deck (Carl was First during our last vintage tournament in breda with this deck) He’ s a nice guy and we get ready for our first game.

Game one
Carl mulles to 5 cards and when we finally start I get a turn 2 tinker putting triskelavus into play and beat him to death without him being able to put up a fight.

2-0-2

My boarding plan was in 2 Rack and Ruin, 1 Jesters Cap, 1 Fire // Ice Out 1 slaver, 2 intuition, 1 thirst

Game two
He chooses to begin and plays some things I don’t remember and didn’t write them down and passes the turn.

My first turn and I draw a Tinker (with Crypt, Mox Sapphire, island, Volcanic FoW, Drain, Goblin Welder in hand) I drop the Mox, crypt and the  Volcanic island  tap the island and cast welder it resolves and I pass the turn. Carl again does nothing interesting and keeps 2 mana open to pass the turn.
At this point I decide to take the risk and walk into a drain and having to fight a counter war over it so I play the Island, and tap the mox and crypt to cast tinker (which resolves)  Looking at my library I decide to put Jesters Cap into play and use it. I remove his Slaver, Titan and Tinker and pass the turn. During his turn he again does nothing but play a mox and passes the turn again, at the end of his turn I welder back the Cap putting the Crypt into my graveyard. I start my turn drawing Manadrain and Cap him again.. With no kill left in his deck (and the only thing missing is Triskelavus) I think he either boarded it out or has it in his hand.. either way it doesn’t matter because I can always stop it or welder it out.

At this point I make a crucial mistake and take out his 3 trinket mages instead of his 2 darkblasts and 1 tormod’s crypt thinking that the beating from the Trinkets could be a problem.

During my EOT carl cast Vampiric. Draws a card with his Loa. During his turn he plays a fetch and fetches a Underground and plays darkblast. We fight a counterbattle which he wins because I don’t have 2 blue open for drain and he does and I’m kicking myself in my head because of this stupid mistake.

During his second mainphase he casts Triskelavus with drain mana and the mana left open and my defeat is a few turns away because I’m never getting back into this.

2-0-3

Game Three

Still frustrated about the stupid mistake costing me last game I don’t know anything else in my sideboard that could be of use to me. So I decide to do nothing.

Carl starts this game and I hold a hand with 2 drains, 1 slaver, 1 thirst, 1 sea, 1 Delta

Thinking this is a nice start. We play draw go for a few turns and we go into time. With our last 5 turns just a few minutes away I try and force something by casting slaver (which he Drains) and from this point on I’m a gonner he gets triskelavus out of drain mana and is able to beat me to death within the 5 turns. With his Loa keeping his hand full of counter magic at all time.

Nice playing by Carl but I totally scrubbed game 2  letting him get into this but I feel a little better knowing this should have been my round playing this deck for the first time against such a experienced player and losing on a play error is something I’m taking with me in the future. This day was ment as a learning experience and I’m doing just that learning a lot from the mirror. Carl is a nice and good player so i’m glad I played the mirror against him.

2-0-4

Here are the notes I took...

Game 1: I mulligan twice into 3 lands, Force of Will, Pithing Needle. You play Tinker on Triskelavus and I can't stop it.

Game 2: I have turn one land, Mox, fetch Ancestral Recall with Merchant Scroll. You cast your own Tral on turn 1, I force, you force back. On my 2nd turn, my Tral goes through. You then Walk and Y's Will, getting Tral and Walk, Mystical Tutor on Tinker. On your extra turn, you cast Tinker on Jester's Cap getting Titan, Mindslaver and Time Walk (I am holding Y's Will and Triskelavus). You noted Tinker, but I think it was Walk, which is a bad target (if I'm wrong sorry about it). Next turn, you cap me again, getting 3 Trinket Mage. I Mystical Tutor getting Dark Blast (I don't play Vampiric Tutor) to get rid of your Welder, so you can't cap me anymore. I get Welder online, drop Triskelavus in the bin thanks to Thirst for Knownledge and beat you to death.

I think you shouldn't have tinkered for Jester's Cap, but for Titan. I also don't get why you side Mindslaver out.

Game 3, I get a first turn Library of Alexandria. You can't put enough pressure to drop me below 7 cards in hand and win from the card advantage you can't match.

Nice games.

Cheers,

--
Carl

[Marske]

@Carl
I play 2 slavers and cut one slaver for the cap so I stil had a slaver left. I didn't play a titan in my list so I couldn't tinker for it
I totally agree with the rest of you're views but for a first time playing with the deck I learned a lot playing against you and the other match-ups and i really like the deck even with all the errors I made.

Thanks for the reply !