3rd place in Maastricht. Dutch Vintage Tournament 8.

[Cyberpunker]

So, in my last days here in Holland I decided to bid the country farewell by attending a tournament in a southern city called Maastricht. The Dutch metagame is very well developed and its Vintage players are very experienced. And having been in 2 Dutch tournaments previously, I knew more or less what to expect. Today, I will entertain you guys with an epic report about my initial success and ultimate failure in my last Dutch Vintage tournament. Remember guys, everytime you play a tournament, be disciplined and keep your head alert and attentive.

Match 1 Brenda Schurkens with Bomberman/White Weenie
Game 1
She starts off with a Mother of Runes followed by a Kataki War Mage. I start off with multiple Night's Whispers and a Dark Confidant. Looking back, I think that she made a mistake a big mistake by not attacking with her Kataki because my Confidant/Night's Whisper/and Fetchlands got me down to 8 life...I tinkered in a Platinum Angel and she destroyed it with her Aura of Silence. I made note of that and decided to side out the Angel next turn. I eventually Sowered her Kataki and started attacking with Sower. She tries to Swords my Sower and Confidant but I have a counter for all 3 attempts. I drew into a Sensei's Divining Top and she eventually played another Mother of Runes. She gave up on witholding her Mothers and attacked with both. I Sowered 1 of her tapped Mothers on my turn and the game was soon over.

-Platinum Angel -1 Time Walk + 2 Smother

Game 2
She leads off with a Gaddock Teeg. I Night's Whisper and I think I also Ancestral Recall myself. Then I got enough mana to Sower her Gaddock Teeg. She played an Aven Mindscensor that got countered and another 2/2 that got countered. On my turn, I used my Mana Drain mana to tutor for KeyVault combo. She made a mistake by not playing Aven Mindcensor in response and lost.

Match 2 Marcel Gelissen with Bomberman 
Game 1
I have seen Marcel play in Mol and he is very familiar and experienced with Bomberman. Which made me force myself to be extra alert during this match. My strategy coming into the game was to counter all his card draw while drawing cards of my own. I was planning to let him attack my life down to <8, then stabilizing with a Sower/KeyVault/Platinum Angel. But I drew a super hand and Ancestral Recalled myself and countered almost all his creatures. I let an Aven Mindcensor through and Sowered it on my turn. He tries to draw cards but I counter everything. My flying creatures win the game.

-1 Vampiric Tutor -2 Misdirection -1 Time Walk -1 Yawgmoth's Will -1 Fact or Fiction +2 Smother +3 Planar Void + 1 Tormod's Crypt
Due to my inexperience as an opponent to Bomberman, I assumed that Planar Void and Tormod's Crypt were problems he could not handle.

Game 2
I got lucky and my horrible sideboarding did not affect me at all. He let me draw almost all my cards and I think let a Confidant resolve also. He tries to play creatures which I counter. I remember not countering a Trinket Mage. He fetches Black Lotus and plays Auriok Salvagers. I thought crap... but I noticed I had a Repeal in my hand. In response to him tapping his last mana for Salvagers, I repealed the Salvagers. He scoops.

Match 3 Benjamin Van der Broeck with TPS
Game 1
Before the match, I noticed that he had a Zombie tokens out. Even though I saw his Necropotence before the match, I still told him that he should not let people see his tokens . He says that its no problem and that everyone already knows. That gave him away and I knew from then on that he was 100% playing TPS. Anyway, he starts off with double Dark Ritual and Demonic Tutor. I say Okay. He plays Yawgmoth's Will. I show him my Force of Will and from then on out, I counter everything and play a Tinker--->Platinum Angel for the win. I was very low with my Confidants and Night Whispers.

-4 Sower of Temptation -2 Islands +1 Trinisphere + 1 Strip Mine +1 Tormod's Crypt +3 Wasteland

Game 2
He starts off with Dark Ritual-->Necropotence. I show him my Force of Will. I play a bunch of Nights Whispers and then I play a Trinisphere and a Platinum Angel off a Mana Drain targeting a Duress. He tries to cast Rebuild but I Mana Drain. And he dies to Platinum Angel.
After the game he told me that he should not have gone with the first turn kill in game 1. I agree because if he had instead Tendriled me, I might have died to my Confidant.

Match 4 Bram Patelski UBR Tezzeret
Game 1
He starts off with early Tinker-->Leviathan and I did not have a FoW in my hand . I try to stabilize but end up 1 mana short of casting my Platinum Angel.

-3 Sower of Temptation -2 Island +4 Wasteland +1 Strip Mine.

Game 2
We start off both drawing cards and playing lands. I start missing land drops unfortunately. And I am stuck with black cards but no black mana. He Duresses me twice and takes both my Force of Wills. And I topdeck a Lotus and make a fatal misplay. I casted Night's Whisper and had it double countered. He plays Tezerett on his turn with a Time Vault already out. I wanted to kick myself because that was a novice mistake that I had trained countless times not to do.

Match 5
All of us agree to Draw and I make Top 4.

Match 6 Peter Reijnders with GWSx
Game 1
I play everything right and countered his essential spells while resolving a multiple draw spells to draw cards. He plays a Confidant too and we even off. Then comes the crucial mistake. I was very nervous and forgot I had a Voltaic Key in my hand. I Tinkered and I planned to look for Time Vault. But something weird happened. You Dutch guys call it "Jedi Mind Tricks." I Jedi Mind Tricked myself and forgot that I was looking for Time Vault. I tinkered in Platinum Angel. He bounced it and killed me. I could not pay for Force of Will because I was at 0 life. I forgot to use my spare mana to top. I felt like taking my deck and throwing it out the window ><.

-4 Sower of Temptation -2 Islands +1 Trinisphere + 1 Strip Mine +1 Tormod's Crypt +3 Wasteland

Game 2
Again here is my biggest regret of the day. I perhaps could have won both Game 1 and Game 2. But I simply fucked up. My mind blanked out. Maybe you Dutch guys really do have Jedi Mind Tricks. Because we were both drawing cards and I laid down a Platinum Angel after he Tendriled me to 1 life. He bounced Angel. I replayed it AND TAPPED OUT WHILE I HAD A FORCE OF WILL. He topdecked bounce and it was good game.

Okay. This was the most horrible match of the day. I could have won both games and I had him trapped both games because I had KeyVault and Platinum Angel with counter backup. But I just blanked out and forgot about everything that I learned as a player. It is like your first football match and you forget everything your coach ever taught you. This match was exactly like that. But I will say this. My opponent played stellar. He was very good at playing his cards right and took advantage of the two major opportunities that I gave him. Crap!

Okay. To make up for it. I challenge Bram Patelski to play a match for an honorary 3rd place. He was in Top 4 and also lost. He agreed.

Match 7 Bram Patelski with UBR Tezzeret
Game 1
He combos out with KeyVault after winning a counter war over my draw spell. I mentally slap myself and focused.

-4 Sower of Temptation -1 Island +4 Wasteland +1 Strip Mine.

Game 2
I slow play him and played my Dark Confidant with Drain and Force back up. He double Counters and I double Counter. He runs out of cards and I waste his lands. My confidant gets me more cards. I cast Tinker for Platinum Angel and he gets overrun. He scoops to overwhelming beatdowns.

Game 3
He starts off with land go. I do the same. We play DrawGo for a while until I cast a Night's Whisper off a Black Lotus. He says okay. I cast a Dark Confidant. He counters, I force. Confidant goes all the way. I topdeck a Sensei's Divining Top and stay alive. I counter everything he does and he does not resolve a spell that could help him.

Total Record: 4-2-1.

3rd Place and I received my 5th Wooded Foothills ><.

Finally, here is the decklist:

"Chronomage"

4 Sower of Temptation
4 Dark Confidant
1 Platinum Angel
1 Tinker

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection

4 Night's Whisper
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Yawgmoth's Will

1 Timewalk
1 Brainstorm
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Repeal

1 Swamp
5 Islands
6 Fetch
5 Moxen
1 Lotus
4 Underground Sea
1 Library of Alexandria

S/B
3 Planar Void
3 Yixlid Jailer
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Smother
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Trinisphere

[punki]

Hi

I'm Peter Reynders. If it makes you feel any better about the last game, I had Y will in hand so it would not have mattered if you had kept mana open for the FOW on my bounce. And I'm not Dutch, I'm Belgian.   

I was wondering about the strip mine and wastelands in the sideboard. It's the first time I see this. What's the reasoning behind it?

Anyway, good luck in America.

[Cyberpunker]

Hi

I'm Peter Reynders. If it makes you feel any better about the last game, I had Y will in hand so it would not have mattered if you had kept mana open for the FOW on my bounce. And I'm not Dutch, I'm Belgian.   

I was wondering about the strip mine and wastelands in the sideboard. It's the first time I see this. What's the reasoning behind it?

Anyway, good luck in America.

Hey man. Well it still might have mattered. It depends if you had enough mana to recast the bounce. Nevertheless it was GG. And I will remember that you are Belgian next time .

The Strip Mine and Wastelands are for the Control Mirror, Combo, and Stax matchup. Basically, against Stax E-Flux has 1 crucial flaw.  mana against a deck with Wastelands, Crucible, Spheres, Tangle Wires, and Smokestacks means that you will almost never cast 1. By the time you do, they have enough mana to get around it. And so the next best thing you can do in response to a first turn Sphere is to Waste their Workshop. It hurts more than you think because Stax relies on their Workshop to play around their own Spheres. You could end up locking them up in their own prison if you play your cards right.

[OwenTheEnchanter]

At first glance I would think you run too many expensive spells for a deck with 4 Dark Confidant.

[Phele]

At first glance I would think you run too many expensive spells for a deck with 4 Dark Confidant.

.. plus 4 Nights Whisper.

I had the same impression. Didn't you have life problems many times, even though you have Platz and Senseis?

[Cyberpunker]

That is true. I have lost games to my own Confidant. And later in the game, Night's Whisper becomes a dead draw. It is just that I cannot find a good replacement for Confidant and Whisper. Thirst for Knowledge is too heavy in terms of cc. And this deck does not run that many artifacts. And the ones that it does run, you usually do not want to discard. That is a big factor into including 2 Sensei and 1 Platinum Angel in this deck. But the games that you win because of the card advantage coming from the Night's Whispers and the Confidants outweigh the disadvantage of having them. Plus, realisticallly, you should be able to stablize with a Sower/Platinum Angel/KeyVault/Sensei at the end of the game. Or else you would already lose anyway.

I like the AK engine. But the problem about the AK engine is that the first AK sucks really hard and sets you back. If you have a hand with just 1 AK, it is like having a Lonely Sandbar. It is very useless. Plus, if you pitch AK to Force, the second AK becomes useless...etc.

Impulse does not give card advantage. Meditate/Remora is good but makes this deck too vulernable to creature based decks. Plus the Vintage community is learning steadily how exactly to best play around Remora.

I tried out Meditate and found that it does help but is too situational to be consistently reliable.

Another solution is Standstill or Thoughtcast.

Thoughtcast would require Seat of the Synods. And that would further make this deck vulernable to Wastelands and Null Rod (the reason for the high basic land count and low artifact mana count in the first place).

Standstill would require the addition of Manlands. And that is something I have yet to test and am planning to do so.

Do you guys have any other thoughts for a draw engine?
 

[Phele]

Remora instead of Whisper could be an option. You have a stable manabase and you do profit a lot by winning time and getting in the Sower zone. Remora gives you that time. Or it gives you cards which is often even better. Otherwise you get a Confidant out. Coupled with Remora you get time and cards or you get cards and cards Confidant and Remora is a VERY good couple in different deck lists.

[Cyberpunker]

Yeah it is a subject of test. In my testing, Mystic Remora has the following problems:

1. It does not give you cards right away.
2. It ties up your mana base.
3. Opponent can play around it by waiting until they have creatures or until you run out of mana.
4. Opponent can have creatures, in which case Remora becomes -1 card advantage and a free Tangle Wire for your opponent.
5. Your opponent dictates when you draw cards and it could be too situational too. Sometimes you will only draw 1 card with Remora after paying 4 mana for it at your upkeep.

Btw we have played several games on MWS. My name is Winner. What did you think about my deck then? Any problems? It did not do too badly if my memory serves me correctly.

[Phele]

Oh yeah, I remember these games. You did pretty well. I do play a Confi-Remora-Tendrils deck in the moment, so Sower is very good against both of my draw engines. It is an interesting approach and you obviously already had success with it. But as said, I wouldn't love to play a deck, that hurts you by itself so much.

I have to agree, that Remora isn't very good against decks full of creatures. But: Don't underestimate the factor turns, Remora gives you. I love Remora for helping me to develop my manabase and proactively playing cheap threats meanwhile. As said, Confidant works very well with Remora. And it is good, to have a strong combo kill in the deck. So when people try to play around Remora and give you too much time, you just kill them right away. The deck is very strong against all kind of control and still pretty good against combo and Workshop decks. But I wouldn't play it in a meta full of Fish and Goblins.

[Evergreen]

Congratulations on the finish man, don't beat yourself up too much about the play mistakes, it happens to the best of us.  I feel this deck has a lot of potential, and your list looks better every time I see it. 

One of the more interesting choices here seem to be the wastes and strip in the side.  How did these work out for you, and would you play them in the future?  I see you sided them in against TPS and 3 color tezz, which makes sense as game 2 it would be reasonable for your opponent to auto fetch underground sea instead of island based on not seeing wastes game 1.  However, if you went to game 3 these decks might have enough basics to effectively play around your wastes. 

I see that your main and side do not seem well equipped to handle workshops (with the exception of sowering welders), and I assume this was a meta call.  How would you build this deck differently to handle a large influx of shops, or would you play a different deck entirely? 

Lastly, do you feel that racing with key vault, and platinum angel were sufficient to handle inkwell leviathan, or would you consider playing rebuild/hurkyl's recall in the future?  This would also give you a silver bullet against workshops.

[Cyberpunker]

Thanks man,

This deck does have problems with random Aggro. But only the aggro with Burn. The ones without burn dies to Sower or Angel. Remora is good. Especially against Combo. It takes the deck in another much more reactive position. We shall see how it plays out.

I am still thinking if Standstill can work.

[M.Solymossy]

To be fair Confidant Tendrils (GWSx) is a REALLY hard match for literally ANY deck that plays Mana Drain.  As for your build of this deck, I honestly see no reason to play this over a regular Tezz build.

My questions are this:

What specific Matchups do you feel your build is better in, that normal Tezz is worse?

[Cyberpunker]

Soly:

Well I had GWSx both games until I just messed up. Forgot to tinker for Time Vault, Tapped out when I had a FoW.

But to answer your question, this deck is better vs Fish because of the Sowers and the fact that you can outlast Fish because you draw more cards. Vs Control you outdraw them. This has around the same chance vs Combo as Tezz does except better. If you counter their early threats, you can refill your hand and control them all the way. Tezz IMO is just a tutor for Time Vault and/or Voltaic Key. As a win condition, it is iffy because it is vulnerable to creatures and random burn. And by the time you have KeyVault, you have won already and just need to wait until you draw a threat. So Tezz as a win condition is secondary. The only thing good about Tez is that it can also untap Time Vault in addition to Tutoring for it. And that is the reason why it is so good. I choose not to run it though because of its high cost and the fact that I can run more card advantage (basically a win condition in itself).

Vs Workshop decks, the Wastelands in the s/b IMO are the best answer to early Spheres. If you side properly (don't side out your land). You can effectively match Stax in Mana count and then lock them down under their own Spheres.