Disappointing finish @ ICBM Open (top 8 report)

[M.Solymossy]

This tournament starts out just like the last.  I'm certain that I am going to play Tezzeret, but which list?  The question is easily answered, by modifying my list from the Xtreme Games tournament last week.  I knew that the tournament would have insane Competition, and I was right.

Players in attendance:
Tommy Kolowith (worlds2k6 and 2k8, SCG champion, numerous SCG Top8's)
Jamison Bryant (SCG champion)
Jeremy Seroogy (SCG Champion)
Brian Fisher (SCG Champion)
Jimmy McCarthy (Worlds2k8 and numerous SCG Top8's)
Owen Turtenwald (worlds2k8, SCG Champion, Pro player)
I@n DeGraff (SCG Top8er)
plus others, obviously.
 

The list I played was as follows:

4 banana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Echoing Truth
1 Factory Fiction
1 Gifts which were not yet given
1 Mystic Tutor
1 Vampire, also a tutor
1 Demon, the best Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Vault
1 Voltron's Key
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Yawgmoths Will
1 Trinket Mage
1 Tinker
1 Sensei's Devine Top
1 Misdirection
3 Underground Sea
2 Volanic Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
3 Island
4 Delta
2 Strand
1 Academy
8 Artifacts (no mana vault)
1 Tezzeret, who seeks Time vault
1 Sundering Ben
---
2 propaganda
2 sower of temptation
2 fire/ice these were actually 2fireSPOUT, I typed it wrong.
1 duress
1 trinisphere
1 tormods crypt
1 relic of progenitus
2 red elemental blast
1 viashino heretic
1 rack and ruin
1 Hurkyls recall



I decided to play real cards this week, so no more Cryptic Command, and no more Courier's Capsule.

Round 1:  Ryan "Duby" DuBois: King James Oath
Game 1: Duby elects to play, and the game is relitively unexciting.   Eventually, we have a Drain war over Chalice @ 1, just because I had Time walk and Tezzeret in hand, and he wins the battle.  It is moot point though, because I drop Tezzeret, and find Voltron's Key.  Next turn, I start him up.

In: Duress, Rack and Ruin
Out: Trinket Mage, Mystical Tutro

Game 2:  Game 2, he needles my Voltaic Key, and FoW's my Recall.  Eventually, I rack and ruin his chalice @ 1 and Needle, and draw a bunch of cards via Yawgmoth's Will.  It gets too absurd, and he can't keep up with my drains. 

1-0, 2-0

Round 2:  Lawrence something or other:  RGW Aggro
Game 1: I elect to play, and open Pearl, Island -> go.   My play is trumped by his when he has Lotus, Emerald, Goyf, Goyf, Plateau, Kird Ape.   I am less than impressed at his 3 power worth of dudesweats, and I play a delta and ship back.  This get's a little scarier as he plays SKullclamp, equips it to goyf, and then smashes for 4.  I decide it's now or never, and cast a TFK and then on my turn Demonic tutor for tinker.  I forgot for a moment that I played Sundering Titan over Donksteel,
and when he swings at me for 11, and  puts me to 4, I'm in some hurt.  I untap, and decide to mise a TFK.  I thirst into a land and Time Walk, and cast the walk.  I untap with 5 mana, and draw Voltaic Key. I believe this is where Doug Lynn exclaims "EXODIA!".  Tinker find's Time Vault, and it's off to game 2.

In:  2 Propaganda, 2 firespout, 2 Sower of Temptation, 1 Viashino Heretic
Out: Merchant Scroll, Misdirection, 3 Thoughtseize, Mana Crypt, Gifts Ungiven

Game 2:  Game two he opens turn 1 goyf.  I dont' do anything, and he has a turn 2 goyf.  His turn 3 cannonist starts to get irritating, and I Firespout his team.  He plays a Nacatl, and i return with a Propaganda.  This does slow him down, as he plays a Gaddock Teeg and Clamp.  The game is unexciting when he bashes me with a clamped Nacatl, and I'm forced to Demonic for it, and then firespout again.  He for a 3rd time responds with another Nacatl, but I have a Sower.  I then Hardcast Sundering Titan, blowing up both his lands.  He plays a land and a goyf, and passes back to me.  I then tinker for Lotus, cast will, recast lotus, cast Demonic Tutor for Sower, and Sower his goyf, leaving my board:  Sower, Sower, Nacatl, Tarmogoyf, Sundering Titan, to his 0 creature board.

2-0, 4-0

Round 3: Derrek Wochinski.  Reconstruct Timevault Combo
Game 1:  He elects to play, and leads Ruby, Jet, Sapphire, Land, Demonic Tutor.  I force, removing Tinker.   I return fire by playing Thoughtseize on him, and then Lotus into Trinket Mage, finding Sensei's top.  His life literally goes 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0.   Yes, Trinket Mage beatdown.

In:  2 Red Elemental Blast, Duress, relic of Progenitus
Out: Merchant Scroll, Engineered Explosives, Trinket mage, Mystical tutor.

Game 2:   He obliterates me.  Lotus, Crypt, Voltaic Key, Demonic, play Time vault, and Pass.   I play a land, and then we're onto game 3.

Game 3: I first turn Thirst off Sapphire and Emerald and an Island.  The game doesn't go very fast, and eventually we get down to him having 2 cards in hand to my3.  I cast a Demonic Tutor, and he responds with Intuition.  I red Blast, and he forces back.  He gets Reconstruction, Reconstruction, and Time Vault.  I give him the Reconstruction, and realize that stopping him from "going infinite", and I demonic for a relic, play it, play my last card (a U.Sea) and hit it to remove his Graveyard.  He is left with Reconstruction, and I cycle Thoughtseize.  He draws, and passes back, and then I draw gifts.  I Thoughtseize him, and then gifts for Recall, Reb, Vampiric Tutor, and Tinker.  He gives me Reb and Recall, and eventually, I just out resource him, and win.  My notes don't say how. 

3-0.   6-1.

So opporation clean sweep didn't go so well.  oh well, I still top-8!

Round 4:  Danny Friedman ID
Round 5: Jimmy McCarthy ID


Top 8:  Peter Smutke:  Tezzeret
Game 1: I sit down t o play my opponent, and I know he's playing Tezzeret.  Game 1 goes well, as we both mulligan, and he elects to play.  However, he plays a sea and vamps, and I play a Sapphire, Emerald, Voltaic Key, and Tolarian Academy.  He goes akll in on Tezzeret, which I drain.  He forces back with his last 2 cards, and I force.  Two turns Later, a key and a vault on my side say GG to him as I swing for 10 turns with Trinket Mage.

Game 2:  This game should have been over long ago.  He drains my TFK, and I tinker, leaving him with jet and Sapphire in play.  He has academy and a Top, and assembles echoing truth + Fow backup.  I draw 9 mana sources in a row.  At one point, I vamped for Recall because Tezzeret was thoughtseized early in the game, and a Yawgmoth's Will wouldn't get there.  My thought process is that one draw spell can easily chain multiple, and I'd overrun him with card advantage.  I was wrong.  At one Point, I had 7 cards in hand to his 1, but all of them were mana.  I die to tinkered out Colossus, while he's at 1.

Game 3: I die to mana Crypt.  I shit you not.  I had my opponent buried.   I hardcasted Sundering titan, I countered EVERYTHING relivent he tried to do, but unfortunately, my life total went 19, (delta),  17 (thoughtseize), 14 (Crypt), 11 (Crypt), 8(crypt) 5 (crypt) (2) crypt  (-1) crypt.  I lost 6 out of 7 mana crpyt rolls, and AGAIN lose the game with him @ 1.

Better lucky than good.

[marcb]

How did you like playing 3C tez? Did you miss ancient grudge, regrowth, or the sb options for green (tarm or oath)? I'm just asking because I've noticed you've tried several variants of Tez lately, and I was wondering if you're coming to any conclusions about the different builds. Thanks.

[LotusHead]

I very much enjoyed your report.

It's only so dissapointing making top 8 tho, yes?

Hell, I made top 8, faced LSV who turn 1 pwned me with good cards, outplayed him g2 (or not, it was long ago, I'm being optimistic) and g3 kept awesome hand that would totally make him take new career turn to something other than Professional Magic Player, except he killed me turn 1.

Making top 8 in a solid field is never a dissapointment, unless you really fucked up yourself.... I might not know your pain only because I've never brought Yawg Will to the table.

[M.Solymossy]

yeah I'm more dissapointed because I had the game wrapped up, and died to my own card (Mana Crypt).  If I would have made it to top 4, I would have played Jimmy McCarthy in a VERY epic drain mirror, and then I would have wanted to play it out with TK, primarily because I want to play out a finals and actually have *Winner* in my tournament reports.

Always top 8, never finish first, though.

[strip miner]

Always top 8, never finish first, though.

You're telling me!  I got to the first round of T8 with Tommy and got essentially turn 2'd by Stax twice! I hate being on the other end of that, reminds me why I love Stax so much. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride... ech, I mean "Always top 8, never finish first."

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Always top 8, never finish first, though.

You're telling me!  I got to the first round of T8 with Tommy and got essentially turn 2'd by Stax twice! I hate being on the other end of that, reminds me why I love Stax so much. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride... ech, I mean "Always top 8, never finish first."

your at like 6 in a row now, right?

[M.Solymossy]

How did you like playing 3C tez? Did you miss ancient grudge, regrowth, or the sb options for green (tarm or oath)? I'm just asking because I've noticed you've tried several variants of Tez lately, and I was wondering if you're coming to any conclusions about the different builds. Thanks.

To answer your question, Marcb, I've just been switching up Tezz builds at almost every tournament, to give a new look.  I've done UBg, UBr, UBGR, UBGRW, and So far, this build was the best.  The oath board is somewhat overrated, since you only want to find 4 of your 7 board in's.  The propaganda/sower/firespout board worked out well.    I do like the 5 color build, but it depends on the meta I expect to see.

[Suicideking]

This thread has started me thinking.  I top8d a ton of tourneys ranging in size from 16 people to over 200, and i felt like I was always on the edge of breaking through. I think its easy to top8 and most people are content just getting there, but they let their focus slip while theyre waiting for top8 to start.  I think its much harder for people to stay focused on winning top8 matches then the swiss.  Whether this is because they get too tight with there plays or too relaxed, I can always notice a difference in body language between good players who can top8 and players that expect to win every event they play in like Tommy or Owen.

Congrats on the top8 Soly, I was pretty bummed to only lose once and not be in there with you but it happens.

[Malkizid]

I agree with you James, I definitely got lazy and didn't mull some hands I should have against Jimmy in top 8.  But, this makes 4 top 8's in a row for me, and I will definitely be more focused in the future.  Getting close is making me hungry.  Along with renewed focus, and some fairly major changes to my deck, I won't be satisfied with anything less than a finals appearance next time.

[M.Solymossy]

The problem for me wasn't that I wasn't hungry for a win.  I wanted NOTHING more than to have an EPIC Tezzeret mirror in the semifinals against Jimmy, and then battling it out with TK.  I still owe TK for him beating me at Vintage Champs last summer.  As for Jimmy, I just want to beat him so he can't talk about how he would "outplay Soly" if we had to play.  I literally lost 5 mana crypt rolls in a row to take my life from 17 to -1.   Anyone who watched that game knows I played it well,   When my opponent is out of cards, and I have 7, and STILL lose thanks to his tinker, force, blue card draws and my drawing every mox and every artifact in my deck.  It just wasn't in the cards.  Then Mana Crypt proves to me it's "Shitter" status, in game 3.  I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said. 

[smutko]

[Disclaimer: this post is not meant to be offensive, but to defend myself and my play.]
My name is spelled Smutko.
I'd ask: what would have made the semi's epic in a way that the quarters were not?  They were both Tez mirrors, in which the small mistakes were the ones that decided the match.  It also took a while.  it even came to coin flips in the end.  i thought it was okay on the epic front.

As for your play attitude / hunger, I think you assumed that my not having played vintage before would make me a bye for you.  I think it made you play sloppily, as you didn't top aggressively enough, and vamped for a draw spell for no reason.  It then put you on tilt when you realized things weren't going right.  I'd put it down less to hunger and more to (a) getting more experience playing more than 7 rounds in a day, which few vintage players have probably ever done in their lives, and (b) being able to get out of your own head and play the way you think you should regardless of round, opponent, or anything else.

Game 1: I mull to 6 and my hand requires that I go for turn 2 tinker, with FoW backup.  The hand has no long game potential, but I'm on the play, which means to beat it, you have to have double FoW, or mana drain mana turn 1 + drain + FoW.  Unfortunately, you had the latter (keep this in mind for later in the match when your luck went the other way).  I was then out of cards, and lost.
sideboarding: out - mana crypt, mana vault.  in - control magic, extirpate.

of note: if the game lasts longer than 6 turns (3 per player), it becomes a control mirror in which vintage experience is pretty mediocre, and knowing your way around magical cards in general, control mirrors in particular, is what will win for you.  I mulliganed aggressively for hands that would do that - survive an early attempt at comboing, and then be good for the long game, i.e. lots of mana, play an attrition war.  Mana crypt and mana vault are in no way useful for this strategy, and if you expect the game to go long (and you should), you should side them out.  If you keep them in, and then lose to mana crypt damage because (surprise!) the game went long, you can't blame luck.

Game 2: This was the game where my inexperience with vintage shined through.  I mana drain a thirst in order to deprive you of cards and cast tez on my turn with counter backup.  You cast tinker, and I incorrectly assumed you'd be getting DC.  If your tinker-brobot was a DC I would have won on my turn.  Instead, it was a titan, and you nuked my lands, so i couldn't cast tez.  But, i still had business in hand, and when i truthed the guy back to your hand, you then (a) discarded it to thirst, and then (b) got a do-nothing with your vamp.  oops.  You let me get back in the game, so I did, and tinkered for the win.

Game 3:  I didn't take match notes or anything, but my memory of the game is this:  We both kept double duress, lands, e truth hands.  mine had a third duress, yours was short on mana and had two drains.  you played mana crypt early, and not for any sort of big effect (top twice for no reason often?).  the game went long, and near the end, we both had depleted hands (due to all the duressing), but you had a top.  You topped into and played the titan with me at 15 (1 fetch, 2 thoughtseize).  i had 3 turns before i'd die to titan beats.  You were at 8, i believe, from the crypt.  I had fetch to get a black source (titan took mine) and a vamp in hand.  you had 0 cards, or maybe 1 but i knew it was irrelevant, i'm not sure, but a top and a fetch.  I did the math:  you had drawn 2 drains, 1 FoW, leaving you with 5 counters left in your deck, minimum (you could have negates, or all sort of shenanigans).  After that many turns, you had ~40 cards in your deck.  top + fetch = 6 looks.  6 * 5/40 = .25 chance what i tutor for resolves, and i've taken a turn off my life to do it.  If i do nothing, and wait for crypt, i have to have it hit two turns in a row = .5 * .5 = .25.  Same chances, but if i sit, i can still topdeck on my next turn.  I played to my outs.

lastly, as for losing with your opponent at 1, i don't think that means you got particularly close.  tez isn't a deck that wins by incrementallly affecting your opponent's life total.  my life total is nearly irrelevant, except for how many turns it'll take your tinkerbot to kill.
Was it unlikely?  sure.  [must be nice.] yeah, it fucking is.  i dont think that means you "played better than me," and I didn't see much of the 'good' you'd so willingly trade for luck.  If you're serious about getting past the quarters next time you top 8, don't look to blame your loss on coin flips on the mana crypt that shouldn't have been in your deck, much less in play for that long.  I'd recommend playing some non-vintage formats.  Seems to help Owen.

[Smmenen]

[Disclaimer: this post is not meant to be offensive, but to defend myself and my play.]
My name is spelled Smutko.
I'd ask: what would have made the semi's epic in a way that the quarters were not?  They were both Tez mirrors, in which the small mistakes were the ones that decided the match.  It also took a while.  it even came to coin flips in the end.  i thought it was okay on the epic front.

As for your play attitude / hunger, I think you assumed that my not having played vintage before would make me a bye for you.  I think it made you play sloppily, as you didn't top aggressively enough, and vamped for a draw spell for no reason.  It then put you on tilt when you realized things weren't going right.  I'd put it down less to hunger and more to (a) getting more experience playing more than 7 rounds in a day, which few vintage players have probably ever done in their lives, and (b) being able to get out of your own head and play the way you think you should regardless of round, opponent, or anything else.


lastly, as for losing with your opponent at 1, i don't think that means you got particularly close.  tez isn't a deck that wins by incrementallly affecting your opponent's life total.  my life total is nearly irrelevant, except for how many turns it'll take your tinkerbot to kill.
Was it unlikely?  sure.  [must be nice.] yeah, it fucking is.  i dont think that means you "played better than me," and I didn't see much of the 'good' you'd so willingly trade for luck.  If you're serious about getting past the quarters next time you top 8, don't look to blame your loss on coin flips on the mana crypt that shouldn't have been in your deck, much less in play for that long.  I'd recommend playing some non-vintage formats.  Seems to help Owen.

Wow.

I've mulled whether to give you feed back Soly, but this guy nailed it.     I quoted the most relevant portions.

[Isaac85]

It happens man but on the positive side at least you topped. I haven't had any luck in Chicago and even though I did better than my last show it still wasn't that great. Keep your head up as there will always be a next time.

[LordHomerCat]

It happens man but on the positive side at least you topped. I haven't had any luck in Chicago and even though I did better than my last show it still wasn't that great. Keep your head up as there will always be a next time.

On the one hand, that is true.  There's always more events.

But on the other hand, there's nothing wrong with striving for excellence.  I am disappointed in myself for not doing better as well and there's nothing wrong with that.  That hunger to do well can be an extremely good motivator, and just being satisfied with a top 8 can often make it psychologically very hard to do better.  If you are satisfied with your top 8, then mentally you often aren't in the game anymore and don't play like you have to in order to advance.  I am never satisfied with anything but winning; that doesn't mean that anything else is a failure of course, but it does mean that every finish that isn't first makes me that much hungrier to win it all the next time.

I'd ask: what would have made the semi's epic in a way that the quarters were not?  They were both Tez mirrors, in which the small mistakes were the ones that decided the match.  It also took a while.  it even came to coin flips in the end.  i thought it was okay on the epic front.

Personally, I was excited at the thought of playing Soly there too.  I don't mean it as any kind of slight, as you proved that you have a pretty good grasp on what you're doing even in a format you've never played.  It is definitely more personal; Soly and I have attended a lot of events together but have played only on extremely rare occasions.  I haven't gotten a chance to play a Tez mirror against him in tournament play so it was something that seemed pretty exciting.  Plus it had the added thrill (for us at least) that we almost got to play in the top 4 at Worlds this past year as well, so this would have been sort of a "what if" for that as well.

Again, you proved to me that you were definitely one of the fiercest Tez players in that room, and I'm pretty sure that looking back on our match I would rather have played any of them rather than you or Soly given the choice.  The "epic match" is more of a friendly rivalry thing between Soly and I, with the added bonus of a match against TK awaiting the winner (who I have played a ton of times in some pretty big matches and Soly has been playing with forever, not to mention his chance for revenge from Worlds).

[M.Solymossy]

edit: "Then Mana Crypt proves to me it's "Shitter" status, in game 3.  I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said. "It was brought to my attention that I actually had not deleted that from my post before submitting it like I had originally thought.  I was still on tilt from losing 6 straight crypt rolls, and for that I appologize to you, Mr. Smutko, as it was uncalled for and definitely not something I want someone new to the format to think is normal behavior.

[The Atog Lord]

This:

"I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said."

Is not up to the community standards that we have here at The Mana Drain. And listing your historic top eights doesn't make you any more or less correct about whatever else has been said here.

No warnings on this one, but the tone in this thread can't continue. If you saw legitimate mistakes an opponent made during your match, it is perfectly fine to discuss those mistakes in a civilized way. It is not OK to insult your opponent for playing badly, or to flat-out say that you are better at Magic than your opponent. Discussing which play among multiple options is optimal is a fine discussion to have, but no one's Magic-playing skills should be put up on trial.

Feel free to continue, but please keep the tone civil and respectful.

Rich

[stormE 4 10]

Soly you may continue to whine, like the man said,

[swawagon]

There was some really good magic in the top 8 at this event. However it was not without mistakes, or judgement calls that failed to produce results.

Jimmy and I watching agreed, in game 3 Soly had an opportunity at 2 life to Sensei's Diving Top search, fetch land and Top search again seeing 6 cards, in an attempt to find his Tinker and Tinker off his unlucky, pink die assisted Mana Crypt, but he failed to take the opportunity. In game 2 he had 4 land, with Mana Crypt and Sundering Titan in hand and elected to pitch his Titan win condition to Thirst for Knowledge (a Thirst that also provided a Mox and Island - or 8 mana next turn) over trying to hardcast the Titan on his turn. Pitching Titan limited his win conditions to only go for Vault combo or ultimate Tez or possibly a nutty Yawgmoth's Will. Also in game 2 Soly had an opportunity to Tutor for Tez but found a draw spell of some kind instead.

And in the Smutko and Jimmy match there were many Mana Drain misplays (spells on first main phases) or missing mana and thus mana burn altogether, on both their parts.

Tez Drain mirrors are actually good matches to watch. Small victories gain momentum. And one observation I'd like to point out was Smutko played Sensei's Diving Top all the time and played it better than anyone. He sculpted his hand like a real pro and that alone was a huge advantage that was the difference in his Soly and Jimmy matches.

[M.Solymossy]

There was some really good magic in the top 8 at this event. However it was not without mist. In game 2 he had 4 land, with Mana Crypt and Sundering Titan in hand and elected to pitch his Titan win condition to Thirst for Knowledge (a Thirst that also provided a Mox and Island - or 8 mana next turn) over trying to hardcast the Titan on his turn. Pitching Titan limited his win conditions to only go for Vault combo or ultimate Tez or possibly a nutty Yawgmoth's Will. Also in game 2 Soly had an opportunity to Tutor for Tez but found a draw spell of some kind instead.

You are misrepresenting both of those games.  The titan play was sloppy, but at that time in game 2 I had no protection for it, and Didn't want to have Smutko drain my titan and then just obliterate me.    In game 2, I could NOT tutor for Tezzeret, as I mentioned before, because it had been thoughtseized previously.  I only play 1 Tezzeret, after all.    The sensei's top play we could argue back and forth with all day.  I didn't want to be greedy with it, as I was hiding counter magic.  Had I won die Rolls with my mana crpyt, I always had a counterspell, and often two, to stop whatever resistance Peter tried to put up against me.

[swawagon]

I'm not saying you messed up Soly, those were tough decisions, and could have been right. They just didn't produce wins. It is easy to Armchair Quarterback.

Soly you've beat me in 3 of 3 matches over the years and obviously have had many great plays. If i were in your position Sunday I may have made a different choice or 2 - That is all. I'm not calling you out, or trying to take anything away from your top 8. I like your deck and have long though Trinket Mage was cool in TEZ. You had some bad Mana Crypt rolls, we all agree.

[M.Solymossy]

I wasn't mad at you, so I apologize yet again if my tone seemed out of place.  I was just explaining the situation as my notes have it written down.  I definitely agree with you about the Sundering Titan discard.  I probably dropped the ball on that one.  My plan was to resolve Yawgmoth's Will, and I failed to do so.

[Suicideking]

I wasnt watching the match but Smutko your post is extremely well written.  I think you are spot on with everything Smemmen highlighted already.   

[oneofchaos]

I still think the fact that soly's opponent got 5 rolls in his favor in a row is quite lucky.  I've beaten stax players by having crypt on a table, but it usually takes me 10 turns to let them die to it.  5 flips in a row is quite ridiculous and unlikely, a 3.125% chance.  Had soly won one of those 5 flips he would have won.  I wasn't there but from both reports I can see Soly played better.  I've been outplayed and still won, and yes as you can easily figure I've outplayed my opponent and still lost. 

[Suicideking]

But thats the risk you take.  I had a top4 a long time ago where my opponent needed to go to 1 life of necro in two different games with mana crypt on the table for lengthy periods of time and i missed on something like 15 straight rolls.  Had I one any of them I would've one but I didn't.  Theres people who've said he didnt aggressively top for tinker, or that he really didnt need to play it when he did.  Granted its improbable that that would happen but you dont know how many other small decisions he could have made better to win.       

[God_Campbell]

Mana Crypt flips can be lucky or unlucky, it just happens, heck when I played Shay at nationals on the Sunday I missed a crap ton of flips that would have made the game alot closer but alas luck does play an element in the format.

[Anusien]

I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said.

I'm curious, can you point to any particularly awesome decisions you made?  I'm not trying to be offensive here, but I keep hearing people equate "outplaying" with "beat" and in Vintage more than any other format, I'm not convinced it's true.

Smutko: Did you consider boarding out the topdeck tutors?  I've heard of people boarding out Mystical especially and Vamp far before they would some of the accelerants because they are also -cards.  At least Mana Crypt and Mana Vault stick around after you use them.

[OwenTheEnchanter]

I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said.

I'm curious, can you point to any particularly awesome decisions you made?  I'm not trying to be offensive here, but I keep hearing people equate "outplaying" with "beat" and in Vintage more than any other format, I'm not convinced it's true.

I've already told Soly this, but to anyone who uses the line "I played better than my opponent, and lost." Get used to it, thats pretty standard.

[LordHomerCat]

I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said.

I'm curious, can you point to any particularly awesome decisions you made?  I'm not trying to be offensive here, but I keep hearing people equate "outplaying" with "beat" and in Vintage more than any other format, I'm not convinced it's true.

Smutko: Did you consider boarding out the topdeck tutors?  I've heard of people boarding out Mystical especially and Vamp far before they would some of the accelerants because they are also -cards.  At least Mana Crypt and Mana Vault stick around after you use them.

For the record I board out both Mystical and Vamp in Drain mirrors.  Drawing those cards past the first turn is so bad, and drawing them on the first turn is also often pretty bad unless you're on the play with no other action ready.

[The Atog Lord]

For the record I board out both Mystical and Vamp in Drain mirrors.  Drawing those cards past the first turn is so bad, and drawing them on the first turn is also often pretty bad unless you're on the play with no other action ready.

I didn't even include them at all in my most recent Drain build. I hate losing a card to them; it basically undoes the hard work you've put into getting card advantage by casting your draw spells. Even if you Vamp for your Ancestral, you've just managed to build a Night's Whisper, assuming there is no Misdirection involved.

[M.Solymossy]

I played better than my opponent, and lost.  Better lucky than good, like I said.

I'm curious, can you point to any particularly awesome decisions you made?  I'm not trying to be offensive here, but I keep hearing people equate "outplaying" with "beat" and in Vintage more than any other format, I'm not convinced it's true.
[/quote]

I made this statement based on my opponent's first turn mainphase vampiric tutor, which made no sense to me.   However, I'd rather just drop the statement, as I said I was on tilt, and I don't feel like the long discussion on this.

Did you consider boarding out the topdeck tutors?  I've heard of people boarding out Mystical especially and Vamp far before they would some of the accelerants because they are also -cards. 

I know this isn't directed at me, but I figured I'd respond: 

My board actually for the matchup was -1 Engineered Explosives, -1 Mystical Tutor, and -1 Merchant Scroll for +2 Duress and +1 Red blast.  I think a Relic may have been there, but that was the board as I remember it.  I dont' board out Vamp because on End Step it just can get any bomb and win the game.  I hate Merchant Scroll in Drain mirrors because it's sorcery speed, and makes your Ancestral Recall way too overcosted.