Chalicious Combo at Myriad Games (8-16-08)

I haven't played Vintage in a while, so I'm rusty.
Actually, the last time I played Magic was a two person 10th Edition draft.
Unfortunately, hate-drafting will not help me in Vintage.

Leading up to the tournament, I did minimal testing when time allowed.
Originally, I planned on playing Jagged Poppet Aggro-Combo,
but my build lost to every common Vintage threat.
It was bad.

So the morning of, I decided to build an unspeakable abomination that should never see the light of day.

The following list was created:

Chalicious Combo
AKA
Hammerhead Shark; Attack of the Bad Deck:
You Are No Longer Safe at Islandhome

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Perilous Research
4 Repeal
4 Street Wraith
4 Manamorphose
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
4 Thoughtseize
4 Dark Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
3 City of Brass
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands

Sideboard:

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Artifact Mutation
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Storm Entity

Mistake #1: Eating a hurried breakfast, and rushing the morning of.
Remedy #1: Eating a hearty breakfast the morning of, collecting myself, and planning when to eat and drink during the day.

Mistake #2: Prepare a deck the morning of.
Remedy #2: Prepare a deck in advance.

Mistake #3: Playing a deck without proper practice.
Remedy #3: Practicing after the deck is prepared in advance.

Mistake #4: Playing combo with only an aggro-control background.
Remedy #4: After preparing the deck in advance, and practicing, practice more to become familiar with the necessary mindset for the archetype.

The deck concept is to cycle through the deck and create a huge Empty the Warrens on turn one or two.
Chalice allows consistent use of Repeal and builds storm while comboing. It also serves as additional disruption.
Perilous Research allows the deck to play Chalice at one, and then sacrifice it at an opportune time.
Repeals and Manamorphose are all fantastic when Will is cast.

Crypts replace Chalices in the Ichorid matchup after boarding.
Against Workshop.dec, Spirit Guides and Mutations come in.
Storm Entity is meant for Aggro, and any deck that I need more threats against,
but it should probably be Pyroclasm, Massacre, or some other creature wiping effect.

Round 1: Jonathan with Storm Combo

Game 1:

Jonathan comments that he hasn't played Vintage before,
but it looked like fun, so he thought he'd give it a try.
I go first and open with Rituals, Will, and a Chalice at zero to back up 22 goblins.
Welcome to Vintage!
Jonathan had a chance to come back, but my Chalice stopped him.
Before I swing my Thoughtseize reveals his hand of Moxen, Lotus, Will, and shenanigans.

Game 2:

Jonathan plays a first turn Necropotence, and then draws ten cards.
I set a Chalice at one, in hopes of getting lucky,
but he combos off on his turn with Cabal Ritual and Will for exactly lethal storm.
I ask if Jonathan afterwards if he had Force backup for his first turn Necro,
and he confirms it. Crazy games.

Game 3:

I drop an early Warrens for six goblins with Chalice for zero backup.
The Chalice slows Jonathan down, and a second Chalice set for two gives me enough time to win.

These games were pretty ridiculous. I'm always happy to see Magic players give Vintage a try.

Round 2: Sara with Belcher

Game 1:

I mulligan to a bad hand. Sara has double Goblin Welder beats for me, and after a few turns, she gets a Charbelcher active.

Game 2:

My first hand can play a first turn Chalice at one and two, but nothing else,
so I ship it back.
My second hand is worse, with Chalice at one as it's only tight play.
I don't want to go to five, so I keep and drop a Chalice at one.

Sara Shattering Sprees my Chalice and starts playing mana and Welders.
As I struggle to find business, Sara plays a Belcher, and I'm forced to bounce her Sol Ring in response to stay alive.
I start constructing a game plan with the cards in my hand, which consists of doing the same thing next turn,
in hopes of casting an Artifact Mutation on the Belcher at some point, but Sara just drops more mana and Belches me.

Round 3: Robert with Confidant-Tendrils

Game 1:

Robert is another Vintage newcomer. It's always nice to see someone trying a new format.

Robert gets Confidants online while I make 12 Goblins.
Robert casts a mini-Tendrils to buy some time, but he can't find enough gas to remove my goblins in time.

Game 2:

I mulligan to a hand with Street Wraith for business.
Robert fetches out an Underground, so I decide to go to town and hardcast a first turn Swampwalker.
Robert gets Confidants active again, but he does draw combo material quick enough.
I start beating down and start doing math.
After some thought I decide to try and combo out by Timewalking and casting Demonic for Will.
I start to combo out to cast Tendrils, but then I realize that the only land left in my deck to fetch is Volcanic Island,
and I need black mana for Ritual. 'Doh!

Mistake #5: Counting fetchlands towards mana in future turns without double checking which lands I can fetch, and subsequently tapping mana wrong.
Remedy #5: Double checking mana and which lands are available to fetch while doing combo math.

I cast Time Walk again, and hope that's enough to get there.
Robert takes damage from Confidants leaving him at one life on his turn.
He casts Timetwister to find an out, but he doesn't have any outs that don't require using his fetchland.
Street Wraith goes all the way.

Round 4: David with Slaver

Game 1:

I have ridiculousness with first turn Warrens for 14 with Time Walk backup.
David has an Echoing Truth on his turn, and then follows up with Tinker for Colossus while I try to find a Tendrils.
Ouch.

Game 2:

This one takes a long time, with a lot of draw go. From an early Thoughtseize, I know David's hand is full of counters,
so we each wait until the other blinks.

Eventually, David Tinkers for Colossus with counter backup.
I have a hand full of mana, Will, Artifact Mutation, and other things.
At the end of Davids turn I draw out a counter with Artifact Mutation,
and after drawing out another counter, I'm free to combo out.
This takes a bit, though, as we're the last people playing, and I'm not used to the pressure.
I sloppily combo out with Will into Tendrils after fumbling around.
It's lethal, but I could have cast a Thoughtseize before the Tendrils if I have played it correctly.

Game 3:

David sets up an early Slave Lock, and I have a few options.
I can make about ten goblins and let him slave me, I can bounce his Welder to delay the lock while I look for gas,
or I could be a monkey and play Chalice at two.

At this point, I overthink the situation, and I let the pressure get to me,
so I be a monkey and play Chalice at two.

Mistake #6: Overthinking the situation and letting pressure get to me.
Remedy #6: Not making all the other mistakes listed would likely prevent the situation, but relaxing and going on my first instinct would have been good, too.

Time is called, so we both cast Time Walks into the Chalice while failing to killing one another.
I was not slaved when I cast Time Walk into Chalice.

Mistake #7: Casting Time Walk into Chalice.
Remedy #7: Not casting Time Walk into Chalice. Being observant of Chalice. Respecting the power of Chalice. Practicing playing with Chalice.

Round 5: Robert with UW Fish

Game 1:

I make ten goblins and Repeal an Isumaru to prevent blocks.

Game 2:

Awesome, fun shenanigans begin.
I mulligan to a hand that can't combo out.
I start playing Storm Entity and Spirit Guide for blockers.
The best draw go ever ensues as Paul drops more combo-hating creatures and I play more blockers.
Paul has lethal on the board for a few turns, and I somehow non-verbally convince him that I'm holding Wing Shards in hand with Manamorphose to up storm count.
Paul gets wise to my plans and sends in lethal damage.

Game 3:

I have the choice to either drop six dorks first turn, or play Chalice for two.
I opt for the six dorks, and it gets Stifled. Nuts.

More awesome, fun shenanigans occur,
resulting in more draw, play dorks, go.
Eventually, Paul gets enough guys on the board and I can't combo through the hate.

Mistake: Packing Storm Entity instead of Pyroclasm, Massacre, or other creature sweepers.
Remedy: Packing Pyroclasm, Massacre, or other creature sweepers.

My final record is a Kitchen Finks,
so I should be back for another tourney, thanks to persist.

Props:

Everybody I interacted with during the day.

Slops:

I would give me slops for being a monkey,
but I think I may have learned, it's okay.
Hopefully, I'll get it right next time.