Superstars Results! Pics! LISTS NOW!

[LotusHead]

Top 8

Jeff (Tog-Remora) beat Ron (Oath)
Sam (Burn.dec) beat Alex (Crushing Chamber)
Dave (Bob Tendrils) beat Dan (WRB Hide/Seek BobSkuller etc)
Galen (TPS) beat Webster (Mono-R Shops)

Nice meta, eh?

Pics and lists soon.  Team Vacaville had to leave early so I'll leave it to others to post the final situations.

Webster acquired decklists so here ya go folks!

Jeff Huang – 1st Place
Remora

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Mystic Remora
4 Meditate
3 Commandeer
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Psychatog
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sol Ring
1 Swamp
6 Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Echoing Truth

Sideboard:
1 Threads of Disloyalty
3 Smother
2 Thoughtseize
3 Energy Flux
1 Pithing Needle
1 Yixlid Jailer
4 Leyline of the Void

Sam Sherman – 2nd Place
TMWA

6 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Ruby
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Null Rod
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Price of Progress
4 Jackal Pup
4 Grim Lavamancer
3 Goblin Cadets
3 Mogg Fanatic
2 Gorilla Shaman

Sideboard:
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Volcanic Fallout

Galen Lemei – 3rd Place
TPS

4 Force of Will
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Rebuild
1 Timetwister
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Tinker
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Mana Crypt
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Grim Tutor
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Necropotence
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Time Walk
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Ponder
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Memory Jar
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Imperial Seal
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard:
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Pithing Needle
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Massacre
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer
3 Dimir Cutpurse

Dave Petterson – 4th Place
TPS
4 Polluted Delta
1 Blodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Force of Will
1 Grim Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Memory Jar
1 Misdirection
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
1 Necropotence
1 Gifts Ungiven
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Rebuild
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
2 Massacre
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Yixlid Jailer
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Dark Confidant

Jon Knadler- 5th Place
Progenitus Oath

1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Hellkite Overlord
4 Oath of Druids
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
2 Lim-Dul’s Vault
2 Mana Leak
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wipe Away
1 Progenitus
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Island
2 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
4 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Empyrial Archangel
1 Echoing Truth
3 Oxidize
1 Duress
2 Massacre

Dan Mossineo- 6th Place
RWB Hate

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
3 Windswept Heath
2 Chrome Mox
1 Plateau
1 Badlands
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Dark Confidant
4 Goblin Welder
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Hide//Seek
4 Jotun Grunt
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Red Elemental Blast

Sideboard:
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle

David Ochoa- 7th Place
Workshop Aggro

4 Magus of the Moon
4 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Triskelion
2 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
1 Memory Jar
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra’s Workshop
7 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Sphere of Resistance
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Duplicant
2 Viashino Heretic
4 Tormod’s Crypt

Alex Bloch- 8th Place
Workshop Aggro

4 Ornithopter
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Arcbound Ravager
1 Arcbound Crusher
1 Triskelion
1 Duplicant
4 Cranial Plating
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Skullclamp
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Memory Jar
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra’s Workshop
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard:
3 Duplicant
3 Triskelion
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Trinisphere

[jeffthefob]

So....

Top 4 briefly discussed about a top 4 split, but I refused .  And Jeff (Remora) beat Galen (TPS) 2-0 in the semi while the Sam D. Sherman beat Dave, don't know the game count.

At this point Sam refused to split and in the end, yours truly beat Sam after dropping the first game and took home first place :-p

Never, play, Remora, again.  I started 0-2 losing to  WBR Fish and "Crushing Chamber" Affinity.  H.I.D.  But then racked up 6 match wins in a row, that is some justice after I got tie-breakered out of of top 8 in a Standark 1K event yesterday in SuperStars.

Report will come later.  Time to sleep. 

[LotusHead]

Jon sits by helplessly (I think) as Galen goes all combo...


Sam's Null Rod and dudes are no match for DSC.  Unless Junior fucked it up. 
I think Junior fucked it up.


I'm still getting used to this camera (hand me down) after my last one got jacked.


Team Vacaville's Alex Bloch puts his foot up JeffTheFob's ass.

Wait.  Maybe this was the game where Tinker for Leviathan got there.


Dan vs someone playing something.  I don't recall Dan ever actually netdecking except during TPS's highdays pre-gifts dominance.  Since then, he was the first in our meta to maindeck Bloodstained Mire AND basic mountain in a Dimur Cutpurse/Bob deck.


No clue here. Flash wasn't working.


Christiaan Royers (UbaStax) fighting the good fight against Oath. 


Laugh all you want, Crushing Chamber is a CLOCK!


Merchant Scroll under Thorn of Amethyst.  So good!


Campee resolving stuff versus blue deck


Vintage being played


Team Vacaville's Junior vs Team Vacaville's Alex.  Junior decided to play a deck (FOB's deck) with 16 proxies.  He made it happen by borrowing 2 Psychatogs and subbing 4 Drains for 4 Negates.  Then faced Artifact Aggro deck.


Dylan (Mono R Jugg Aggro) vs FOB (Energy Flux).  Reminds me of the happy guy at the beginning/end of the movie Memento!


MUD Aggro vs Mono-Red Burn. Bets anyone?


Oscar Tan's Vintage Bible: Step one: Do This...


I'm not exactly sure of the gamestate, but FOB is holding Yawgmoth's Will...


ShopsVsBurn: Alex is kinda smiling.


Oh My Frikkin God!  I think Galen (Aardshark) keeps that saying on eternal loop.  Facing down Ochoa's Fire/Ice nightmare!


Dave P vs Dan M. I don't know beyond that.


Jon's Wasteland don't mean dick. DT on stack.


Galen finally getting one over on Webster in a match that matters.  Don't know what's happening, but I'm sure Galen appreciates being able to relive the experience.


Jon's last card in hand was Wipe Away.  Not good enough after FOB drew like 20 cards from Remora.


I discover this camera has a Zoom feature for dramatic pics of wiping away Tog attack!


I never saw any of the action here, just one player or the other pondering the gamestate...


Nothing distracts their attention from the game. NOTHING.


Near as I could tell, Sam's burn deck proved quite problematic for many game plans. (In this case, Bob Combo)

My mini-report soon.

I play pretty much the same deck I did last time. The Gilded Claw w/LeylineHelm combo.

I put 3 Damping Matrix in the Sideboard because I assumed I would be wading through Tezzeret Decks with Time Vault.  I was wrong.

5 Shop Decks, 2 Oath, 3 or so Storm Decks, 2 Remora Decks (that I didn't face) and a few fish.

Round 1: Vs Team Vacaville's Alex.

Game 1: I probably won the die roll, but my deck hands me Welders, Intuitions, Jar's, Tinkers, Shops, everything that I want.  Karn takes it down eventually. I think 5 waste effects happend by turn 4 total.

Game 2: More of the same for me.  My deck gives me the cards I put into it.
At some point, I weld in or hardcast duplicant to take out a pesky Myr Token.  Dumbfounded as to whether or not my duplicant dies (like it would if I duped Arcbound Crusher), I asked Webster (playing shop on shop action next to us), Web says "You can dupe tokens?"
Apparently not! Reading is tech!

Round 2:
Dylan with MonoRed Shop Aggro.

Game 1: He plays first dropping a welder.  So do I. We stare at each other.  I swing my welder, he takes it. I drop another.  Then he drops 2 juggernauts and I die 2 turns later.

Game 2: I get all the goods (welder, Lotus, maybe Shops and Smokestacks). He scoops eventually.

Game 3: I play Leyline of the Void, emerald, lotus, shop, DT,  helm, activate win. Turn 1 Win with Stax! (ok, he loses on his turn 1 draw step.)

3 Games, 10 minutes.

Round 3:

Dan Messiano BWR Fish

Dan's Deck is pretty awesome.  Dark Confidants, Tidehallow Skullers (or whatever their called), Aven Mindscensors. Goblin Welders. Hide/Seek. Thoughseize. Top.

Game 1: He won with Grunt, I belive
Game 2: I won with Trike, and maybe Platinum Angel, I belive
Game 3: He beat me raw with Jotun Grunt, held my Graveyard at bay with 2 tormod crypts, his own welder and there was triking to be done, and Hideing to be done, and a "standoff" happened with our life totals in the teens each.
We both try and race each other.  When things look bad for me, I finally topdeck KARN and eat one of his moxes.  Then fail to eat his other mox (forgot it was in play in plain sight), and forgot to waste his land asap, and even under Trinisphere and/or Sphere of Resistance, I let Dan cast at least 3 hurtfull spells that got him there (like Win Conditions).  Had I been paying attention, I feel I could have locked him out of a few turns worth of relevant plays.  I suck and Dan's deck is frikkin sweet.


Round 4:

Galen Lemei TPS
Game 1 Happens  (You know, Trinisphere, Smokestack at 1, Chalice at 0, Crucible, and a timely topdecked land.
Game 2 He Eot Dark Rituals into Gifts Ungiven, which I REB. Be he has Double Force and DT in hand.
Game 3 I have all sorts of goodness in play (sphere, Chalice for 0, Active Welder, Gilded Lotus, etc) and Galen had just EOT Mysticaled for Yawg Will during a Jar Hand.
For some reason (Karn in hand) I decide to weld out chalice for Helm of Obedience, but Galen has Echoing Truth for my artifact in play (would be nice milling his Yawg Will ).  So on my turn, I weld out Sphere of Resistance for Sundering Titan so I could hardcast Karn and eath his moxes up (he had 2 swamps and 2 Islands and some jewelry in play).
I suck.  I knew his graveyard had only so many plays of action with sphere on the board, but gosh was it hot that day, and me with no cold soda/caffeine and little practice against good players anymore.  I should have welded in a 2nd Sphere and make him conjur up a win (YawgWill under Sphere, Ancestral Under Sphere, Hope for Best).
I weld in titan, kill 2 land and a few moxes and pass the turn.
Galen fails to make the wrong plays and gets his storm count to 10 and tendrilizes me.


Round 5:

Ron Knadler Oath
Game 1: Turn 1 he plays 2 moxes, Oath and Fetch.
At end of my turn, (in response to chalice for 1) He vampiric tutors. I scoop
Game 2: He thoughtseizes my hand, wastes my land, thoughtseizes my hand, oxidizes my Gilded Lotus(or crucible or whatnot) AND tinkers up his Leviathon and swings twice (I think)
I, like a champ, topdeck necessary mana to play my Platinum Angel, and he fails to produce Oxidize/answer for next five turns.
Game 3: Much like game 2, but when my Platz is in play (and I at negative life due to Inky Beats), I was sitting on a REB.  He topdecks a brainstorm and casts it.  I say "Sure" or "Resolves" or "Ok, go for it" or "I am totally willing to throw this game away while sitting on a REB against a player with Brainstorm on stack and 1 other card in his hand because I LIKE making the wrong plays. Again. "
In his next three, he finds Oxidize and I lose.
I almost NEVER do this, but after conceeding, and explaining that I really should have REB'd his Brainstorm but inexplicably didn't REB his brainstorm, I looked at the top card of my deck.  It was Chalice of the Void. Which I would definately have set at 1.
I suck.

2-3 for the day, but I am thrilled that my deck didn't fail me.  I produced lots of locks, threats, plays, options, outs and so forth.  I just failed to make the right plays.  (This is my 2nd time playing Vintage in person this year. )

I went home happy!

[HuntedWumpus]

I was happy to see Sam make the finals with sligh; it was fairly neat considering how the days started.

Sam: "Anyone have an extra vintage deck" to mostly empty room at superstars an hour before the event started.

Me: "Yah"

I had an extra Bomberman, for my friend who couldn't make it at the last minute, as well as the Sligh build that James Lee had played at the TMD Open (-1 fanatic + 1 chalice). Sam, being what appeared to be a bit disgusted with the idea of Bomberman went for Sligh.

Props to both the finalists.

[toor]

First of all a thanks to Andrew for lending Sam a deck. He isn't really comfortable playing Force of Will when he can play 2/1s for 1 and maindeck REBs. For anyone interested in the sligh deck going forward, Sam and I are pretty sure it would be correct to move to a green splash for Kird Ape (over goblin cadets) and Goyf, with PoP becoming Fireblast. It also makes students from berkeley more likely to come down to participate in the 1Ks if we know we can mise decks.

Unfortunately due to being paired down in the last round and having the same breakers as Jeff (both dead last), I knew going into round 5 that I would be the only 9 pointer to not make it.

I played over Ad Nauseam over TPS due to proxy constraints, and I played ANT over GWSx, because I really didnt like the deck in testing. I think that in a field of Drains (TEzzerets and Remoras) I would much prefer ANT.
Xantid Swarm was absolutely insane and allowed me to beat both blue decks that I faced. Unfortunately I overloaded on Ichorid and skimped on Shop Cards (There were obviously 4-5 shops and no ichorids).

Dan Messino's deck had a neat interaction with welders and scullers. The last deck in the metagame was another copy of Remora.

Thanks to Superstars for hosting, it was a pretty awesome being able to play some constructed tournaments after going into withdrawal.

[jeffthefob]

Here is my "long" report:

LSV called me around 9:30pm Sunday night asking me how things went.

LSV: Hey, how did it go?
Fob: Sucks, I 0-2’ed and Web top 8’ed.  But lost to Galen in the quarters.
LSV: ** Something ‘unintelligent’ **
Fob: H.I.D.
LSV: So who won?
Fob: So yeah, only 17 ppl showed up, kind of small and Sam D. Sherman was in the finals with Sligh against some guy playing Remora.
LSV: Oh, wow.
Fob: That Remora dude won after dropping first game.  And I got like 175 bucks cash.
LSV: ….
Fob: Yeah that Remora dude is me.  I went 0-2 and then racked up 6 wins in a row, justice to make up for Saturday. 

The weekend started pretty rough for me.  SuperStars had a standard 1k tourney the day before and I decided to play in it since the future PTQs and GP: Seattle will be standard.  The best part is, I didn’t do much preparation for the deck, thanks to some duder, which is very rare considering it is always the other way around. 

Long story short, 6 rounds I was 3-2 after losing round 1 and 5.  But my tie-breaker is surprisingly high, played against the guy who is 8th, and I was 7th I think.  My B/W Tokens brutalized his Dark Bant and I was pretty anxious.  Well, it turns out Orie, who had lower TB than me squeaked me out in the 8th place after round 6.  Pretty fucking owned. 

Going home that day feeling rough beat I had no idea what to play.  Was thinking audible to Oath the other day because Web and I suspected a lot of Fish and there will be at least 2 Workshop decks there [and there actually 3 Workshop decks].  But ultimately decided to run Remora.dec because I have it sleeved up and I swore to myself never playing Oath, twice.  Was thinking about Mono Red Workshop, but Web ended up playing it ^^

So, after “coincidentally” met Web at Starbucks we went to SuperStars.  Some old faces didn’t show, Mike Klemic was sick, Charles was busy, and LSV also couldn’t make it.  However, some of the Berkeley crew showed up and Vacaville also showed up to makeup the numbers.  Well, the number was still kind of weak… only 17 total.

That 17 total made Eric, the head judge announce 5 rounds cut to top 8. 

Round 1 – Dan Messineo with RWB Fish.

Game 1 My hand was pretty okay.  Had Key, Mox, Ancestral, Commandeer, and X.  Unfortunately I lost the die roll and Dan started off with Lotus, Mox, Jotun Grunts, Bob, and Bloodstained Mire.  When I went for the turn 1 Ancestral he REB’ed it.  Nice 6 cards.  Then he Duress me the turn after and it was a brutal beating. 

Game 2 he mulled ^_^ But also started with Lotus, land, Duress, Welder x2, and Top.  With the 2x Welders he had he was able to gain a card per turn slowly.  My hand had 2x Force, DT, Echoing Truth, and that was pretty much it at that moment.  He was able to Duress my DT out and two turns later he got a Tidehollow Sculler in play.  With Welders he about about to go work on my hands.  I had the FoW, but I decide to Echoing Truth the Welders since I ripped a smother and can potentially counter/Smother the Welders.  Well, he weld in Lotus and REB’ed my Echoing Truth.  So I tried to FoW the Sculler and he obviously REB it too.  And his Sculler resolves with ability on the stack and just worked me over.  Some decent draws for Dan, even he admitted it afterwards.  Oh well.

Round 2 – Alex Bloch with Affinity.

Game 1 on the draw >_< he led off with Blinkmoth Skullclamp which I FoW.  He then played a turn 2 Craniel Plating and I FoW the Cap.  Pretty nice with the 2x FoW start, but yeah… doesn’t look good there.  My next draw was Inkwell Levithan and I proceed to hardcast him 3 turns later.  Must, not, be nice.  It wasn’t.  And he ran me over as my deck served me 3 mana sources after Inkwell.

Game 2 turned out lot better as I resolved a quick Tinker and was able to set up a Yawg. Will for Time Walk. 

Game 3 he ran out Frogmite and Myr Enforcer quickly and I wasn’t able to answer it along with a Thorn in play.  I eventually got off a Hurykl’s Recall but was down pretty low at 5 with Vampiric in hand.  And I went for Ancestral off the Vamp. and it didn’t really got me anything and I just died to affinity. 

My thoughts at that moment: H.I.D. x100.  Well, Web is doing well and I might as well as stay and play.  Considering that last weekend and the next weekend I probably won’t be playing Vintage, might as well get my games in.

Round 3 – Zach with BUG Fish.

Must be nice, hitting 3 out of 3; played against 3 creature decks in a row: H.I.D.  Good news in Game 1 was that I finally won the die roll.  But the bad news is that I mulled to 5 on the play.  Another good news is that my opponent probably kept a greedy hand and he his deck didn’t cough him any black source as I eventually out drew him.  Very lucky indeed.

Game 2 was very back and forth.  He mulled but resolved a Null Rod through FoW.  But he was unable to get anything.   I resolved a FoF and Meditate but didn’t get anything… and he eventually landed a Bob.  I cast Sower to try to steal it, but he had the Stifle.  He had 4 Bob activations but turns out he kept on hitting mana sources and a Trygon Predator.  My last ditch Meditate was pretty godly.  Got both Yawgwill + Echoing Truth.  Cast Truth for Rod and went nuts with Yawg. Will.  Got Vault and Key and cast the Time Walk in my yard to negate the Meditate ^^ Yee-Haw.

Round 4 – Andrew (HuntedWumpus) with Oath.

Unfortunately I don’t really remember the details of this 2-0 match.  All I know is that I resolved Remora and was being able to sit on it for a long time with Meditate and I drew a lot of cards.  The game got dragged out bit long game 2, but yeah, I was up on so many cards that I don’t think it was really losable.  Perhaps if Andrew remembered the details he can fill us in. 

Round 5 – Dylan with Mono R Aggro Workshop.

My TB was abysmal, but whatever, no reason not to play.  Game 1 I won the die roll! Ya—y.  Don’t remember I got off a Remora this game but I was able to hit land drops and counter lock pieces.  He got a Solemn Simulacrum beating me, but with no Sofi, Jens was unable to give me too much pressure.  Eventually he topdecked a Razormane Masticore and I was happily Sowering it.  And I made sure I paid the upkeep cost of the Masticore and I 7’ed him for 3 turns. 

Game 2 my invisible ally aka: Workshop’s manabase decide not to give him a playable 7 or 6 cards hand.  He went to 5 and led off with Needle.  I could had FoW it, but I let it resolve.. thinking he would name Time Vault but he named Delta.  Okay, good play.  I didn’t had any, but my hand was land light, Mox, FoW, blue, and Brainstorm.  He then turn 2 played another Needle and I was SO SURE he would name Vault.  Nope, he named Flooded Strand.  Wow, this might turn things around.  The funny thing is, Dylan was like, “Maybe I should had named Vault on this one…” Man, wish he did lol.  But honestly, he definitely made the right play trying to hit my lands considering he mulled to 5.  My Brainstorm next turn showed: Energy Flux x2 and Flooded Strand.  Wow, H.I.D.  But I still have FoW in my hand and it was still okay.  During this time he got a Crucible and I landed a Tog (Thank you Thorn).  He kept on bashing Mishra’s Factory into my Tog eating cards, but that was okay with me since I ain’t casting much.  Eventually I drew out of it and landed a Energy Flux on him, then another one next turn.  ^_^ But he topdecked a Welder the turn I played the 2nd Flux and game got bit tricky.  I Sowered his Morph (Gaithan Raider) but his Factory prevented the Gaithan Raider to bash.  I chipped away at his life with Sower as Tog and Raider faced his Solemn, Welder, and Factory.  Then I drew Hurkyl’s Recall and attacked with everyone.  He animate his Factory and after that resolves I Hurkyl’ed him and that was it. 

So Eric decide to read the whole T8 from top to bottom and I was very surprised that I got in the 8th place.  I was pretty psyched and happy, very glad that I just made it to the top 8 especially when I felt like I got bit robbed yesterday.

Quarterfinals was John with Oath. 

Pretty sure he is playing the Blue Bell Oath list and my opener was sick.  FoW x2, blue, Remora, Ancestral, and 2 lands.  He won the die row and went Lotus, Mox, land, DT, and Tinker.  I FoW’ed and that was… pretty much it.  I resolved a Remora, sat on it for 6 turns, and drew another Remora the 7th turn after.  I was able to hit my land drops while he didn’t and I got pretty far ahead.  I landed a Tog and Tog beats him down slowly while I had like infinite cards to his 2 cards in hand.  Oh, he Wipe Away my lethal Tog after he Echoing Truth my Togs…

Game 2 he mulled, got turn 1 Oath out with no Ochard.  That kind of sucked for me.  But even sucked more for him because he wasn’t able to find an Orchard to go with it.  And honestly, that was it.  Throughout this time I was building up my hand and I Commandeered his LimDul’s Vault to prevent him getting Ochard and I found a pretty favorable 5 cards with Brainstorm + Fetchland being part of them.  He then proceed topdeck a Ochard eventually but I then went for it and got Vault/Key going. 

Semifinals against Galen with TPS.

I declined a top 4 split at this point.  Hoping karma wouldn’t hit me and it didn’t.  His turn 1 wasn’t impressive as my turn 1 Remora.  And we sat on on it for couple turns and I eventually drew another one, and another one.  He then decide he got to play something and I drew cards off from sweet sweet Remora.  He tried to resolve a Necro and I FoW’ed it, he FoW back, and I decide to Commandeer the Necro at 17 life.  I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to Commandeer the Necro because I never did it before and don’t really know what will happen.  But I figured with 17 life my odds were goods.  That 12 life I paid for Necro got me there.  I also Commandeered a Vampiric Tutor and that found a kill condition to go along with my cheap combo. 

Game 2 I mulled to 6 and it was pretty bad, but I had turn 1 Thoughtseize and that is pretty much it.  Web said I should had mull afterwards and I definitely should had.  But… yeah… I was just thinking I don’t know if I can get anything going if I went to 5.  Turns out he was really afraid of Remora and went for turn 1 Desire for 4.  And… he missed.  But his Duress next turn kind of ripped the only action I have, Fact or Fiction while I suck on 2 mana out.  He then commented, “this may not be a blow out, we might got a game going.” Indeed we did.  My next couple draw steps were nice, I drew 2x FoW in 4 turns and I cast a Sower I had in opener deciding that I had enough cards and time to pressure him.  He then cast Dimir Cutpurse and I cast the 2nd Sower I drew (in that 4 draw sequence where I drew 2 FoW) and I finally was able to “cut” someone first time ever! And best part was, I wasn’t playing Fish.

Finals against Sam D. Sherman WITH SLIGH

Galen told him to dream crush and not split.  And Sam came out saying he wanted to play it out before I had anything to say.  Okay, time to dual it out.  Despite the deck being a joke, this is definitely not a good match up for me.  Between his Null Rod, Chalices, Gorllia Shaman, and post board REB/Smash to Smithereens I can’t really combo off too well.  I have to land dorks and all of them get raped by REB.  Commandeer is sexy, but so is REB against it.  Yes, the deck is still a joke [sorry, no offense] but I guess the power of mountains can just get you there sometime.  And to be honest, Sam is a good player and we had some nice “trash talking” between us. 

Game 1 he landed a Gorilla Shaman and Chalice turn 1.  I FoW’ed his turn 2 Jackal Pup.  I got beat by that Shaman for a while and eventually out of gas and fired out a Meditate.  He Lightning Bolted me twice and I drew 4.  He resolved Grim Lavamancer which he drew on the Meditate turn.  Before it became active I was able to Sower it.  Then Commandeered his Lightning Bolt to his Shaman and started beating him.  We were both out of gas at that time but he outdrew me and able to REB my Sower.  And I didn’t draw anything miracle and died.  Ouch.

Game 2 was all about resolving Tinker.  And yeah, despite having Leviathan out my life was pretty low.  Good thing he didn’t have much and my Tog held the ground.  Some interesting points of the game, I Commandeered his Smash to Smithereens to his Null Rod that 3 damage was very sweet.  I also started off the game with a Smother on his Goblin Cadet which saved me a lot of damages.   

The rubber game, I mulled to 6.  It was weak 6, had a Smother but no black source.  Have Mox, so hopefully won’t get screwed by Chalice or Rod.  And had Yawg. Will in hand but isn’t a card I really want to see at that point.  He went right out of the gates and played two 2/1 guys turn 1.  I drew Delta and got me a Swamp, played Mox, and Smothered one of them.  Good thing he didn’t have Chalice or Null Rod ^_^ and he passed turn 2.  I put him on Reb + Bolts/PoP, and I drew a Merchant Scroll.  Pretty nice, I went for the Ancestral and it obviously got REB’ed.  That is expected, and he played a Smash to Smithereens on my Sapphire.  I drew another land and decided to cast Yawgwill just to refuel my hand instead.  Luckily, I hit a Lotus and was able to play BOTH Merchant Scroll and Smother.  Is.  Simply no other word can describe that moment than, “Is.”  On the retrospect, I should had waited for a turn to play both Smother and Ancestral off from Yawgwill, but whatever, my deck delivered and I sacked out.  Oh, that Ancestral hit me 2 creatures, and be assured they are different creatures and no 7/11 Trampler was involved.  That Merchant Scroll gave me a FoW obviously and my Sower and Tog got me there.  Sam offered his congrats to me and 7 hours had passed for a 17 man tourney.

Obviously I was happy winning, especially after mising that 8th place.  But wow, I would never play Remora again.  I think the 2 month I played it was its life span, Top 4 split in March and 1st place in April, but April was a tough fought battle.  I lost to “multiple” types of aggro strategies.  Lost to a “homebrewed” Dan Messineo Fish (btw, nice deck, it is really synergistic and awesome ^_^) and lost to Affinity.  I played BUG Fish twice with this deck and some luck was definitely involved.  But it is also because BUG Fish played the LEAST amount of creatures.  Like, wow, against RGW Zoo, Goblins, Elves, and etc. probably will just beat the deck fucking raw.  I made a joke with LSV and Web a while ago outlining my Vintage evolution as the following: “Savannah Lions (okay, more like Null Rods) to Mana Drains, and finally to Dark Rituals.  And right now I am at that Mana Drain stage.” It may be soon I will shift to Dark Rituals.  But man, when I Comanndeered that Necro in Semifinals it gave me DI headache.  Who knows... Vault/Key is so good sweet not to play ^^

Many props to Eric, the head judge.  SuperStar’s AC is not installed, staying in there for like 8 hours.  To Web whom treated me dinner ^_^ and that 17th guy who signed up for the tourney. 

Thanks for reading.

[LotusHead]

I don't know how to pester the Superstars guys to get the lists up.

I wish they would let responsible ManaDrainers take the lists home.

my mini-report in 3rd post is finished.

[maatn]

@Lotushead: nice report + great pics.

Gilded claw seems to me like a cool deck to try out some time...
The list you played is pretty much the same as the one posted somewhere here on TMD?

[tomjoad]

I don't know how to pester the Superstars guys to get the lists up.

I wish they would let responsible ManaDrainers take the lists home.

my mini-report in 3rd post is finished.

Here's the list I piloted to top 4 (just TPS, no Bob's in main):

1 Academy
2 Sea
4 Delta
1 Mire
2 Island
2 Swamp

1 Inkwell

1 Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 ManaVault
1 Petal
4 Dark Rit
2 Cabal Rit
1 DT
1 VT
1 MT
1 Grim
1 Scroll
1 FoF
1 Gifts
1 Necro
1 Bargain
1 Jar
1 Will
1 Desire
1 Tendrils
4 FoW
1 MisD
4 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Tinker
1 CoV
1 Rebuild

SB:
2 Massacre
3 Bob
2 Jailer
3 Tormod's
2 Pithing Needle
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Hurkyl's

I wrote about half a report for this little event. By the time I got to round 4 I realized that my notes (as usual) were mostly nonsense, and I didn't trust everything that I remembered about individual games. Also, I realized that the whole reason I was writing it was to tell the story of what a brutal top decking savage I am, and how this fact manifested in the Quaterfinals. Therefore, I'll just skip the swiss and tell that story.

1/4 Finals v Dan Mossineo, WRB Fish

Game one was what I expected both our games to be like. He had either Duress or Thoughtseize on turn one, Sculler on turn two, and more Scullers plus some Goblin Welders to follow up. I was never in the game after turn two. Mind Twist is enough of a beating. Getting attacked for 2 by a Mind Twist is a total blow out.

Game two I was on the play. I don't recall the exact details here, but the relvent situation was that he tapped his only Red source in order to get down a Goblin Welder. Knowing that he had a grip, plus had been spinning a Top for a few turns, I knew he was likely to have an REB. Sensing that this was my only opportunity, I bounced his Sculler to get back some good card, played a few Rituals and busted out Timetwister. My hand went from trash to victory in short order. He told me later that his top card before the Twister was in fact a Red Blast.

Game two was just brutal. He had, I believe a Top on his turn one. I drew, played an Island, and Recalled myself. I then counted things up, played a bunch of artifacts and a Ritual, and Tendrils'd him for 14. I didn't have any tutors to finish it or anything like that. What I did have, however, was a whopping 8 mana in play for the next turn. Also, the cards in my hand were another land and....Inkwell Leviathan!! Yes, America, I was going to hardcast a 7/11 to win.

His next turn brought a Tidehollow Sculler, and Dan can add to 9, so he took the Inky. Sadly for the little Sculler who could, my deck really wanted me to play that Inkwell. Therefore, my next draw step served up a Massacre. I got the big guy back and won after some chump blocking bought Dan a couple of turns, but nothing to answer such an enormous creature.

Without some amazing luck for me I can probably never win this match-up. That, I guess, is why we play the games.

[LotusHead]

@Lotushead: nice report + great pics.

Gilded claw seems to me like a cool deck to try out some time...
The list you played is pretty much the same as the one posted somewhere here on TMD?

Yes, cosmetic changes if anything.  I had 3 Damping Matrix in the side expecting a glut of Tex/Vault, but I saw neither.

[LotusHead]

Webster sent me decklists which are now in original post. Enjoy!