After some twisting and turning I finally settled on a list + sideboard and was ready for the event. I wanted to test some things like inkwell out and I cut the mire for a 4th Delta because nobody plays Needle on Delta anymore.
// NAME: The Perfect Storm
// Lands
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
2 Swamp
// Creatures
1 Inkwell Leviathan
// Spells
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Memory Jar
1 Brainstorm
1 Timetwister
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
2 Grim Tutor
1 Mana Vault
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Tinker
4 Dark Ritual
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Sol Ring
1 Ponder
1 Necropotence
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Mox Jet
4 Force of Will
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Duress
1 Lotus Petal
1 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Hurkyl's Recall
Because I took hardly any notes regarding starting hands I'm not going to try and recreate them, I wanted to write down more detailed info for a real report but I dropped that in favor of concentrating on playing. So if I make any mistakes I apologize in advance, this isn't going to be super detailed.
Round 1 - Bagus Bender Confidant, Tezz with Remora.
I've seen Bagus around at other events and I can remember talking to him a bit a while back but I have no clue what he's playing or what kind of player he is. I know he isn't somebody who has been racking top 8 finishes so it's a nice start to this event not being put up against a high profile player. I see the field and I recognize a lot of the top players in our country and I was rather glad with this.
Game 1
My notes show me I played Fact or Fiction turn 2 of Jet, Island, Ritual and this gave me Ritual, Land, Will, Lotus with a tutor already in hand which was game at this point. A nice little start for this event. I saw a confidant and duressed him seeing a drain so I put him at Tezz with confidant.
Game 2
He dropped a turn 1 confidant followed by a Remora and draws into his TV / Key eventually without ever seeing a card from the fish. He did go down to 14 life in the process but I just didn't draw enough to push anything through.
Game 3
I boarded in Needles for 1 Grim and 1 Twister game 2 and leave them in, some would say boarding anything is wrong because you're basically faster. But this strategy proved golden. I drop a early needle naming Time vault and he shrugs and mentions he boarded out all his bounce. He does nothing and I land a turn 2 Necro we fight over it and it sticks, Necro brings me the game in the following 2 turns (drawing from 18 to 11 refilling my hand) I build my board and Vamp for Will next turn with dark ritual, cabal, FoW, Ponder and a Grim stuck in hand lotus on the board, I announce I would like to draw 1 card of necro (taking me to 8 ) He untaps and tries to play a Remora which I Force, I get to untap and go nuts with Yawg. Will and end up playing Grim tutor for Tendrils.
A nice start to this event and I'm overall pleased with the way I played in this first round. I talk to Arjan who lost his first round along with Dennis (XdeckX on TMD) who's also a teammember and standing at 0-1 playing his take on Painter with Spell snare. He faced a revamped Landstill deck and lost.
Round 2 Remco van Stein Callenfels Confidant, Tezz (as can be seen in top 8 )
I know him from other events and I know he's a solid player. I've never faced him myself so I'm curious to what he's playing. This is going to be a great matchup. Remco is a really relaxed player and takes his time playing which helps me slow down and think. We chat a bit about how the new names and changes will affect Vintage and agree on the fact it will probably all turn out for the best.
Game 1
My notes show very little on this game only that he mulled twice and I kept my opener. I do remember losing this game because of a huge play error. With a Swamp, Pearl in play 10 cards in my graveyard (among them rituals and a tutor) a Cabal ritual in hand and a resolved tinker I decided Inkwell would probably take me to victory when obviously floating BBBBB and grabbing Jar would have sealed that game a lot faster. I ended up settling for Inkwell and Arjan who was at this point watching (the first game took us a long time) almost facepalmed himself when seeing this error from me. Remco shrugged and decided he could do better by tinkering his DSC. that combined with the Dual bob's he had just won him the game after I was in a clearly winning position. I was to anxious in trying out Inkwell and I can't explain this gaping hole in my logic at this point other then "it seemed like a great plan at the time" excuse.
Game 2
My notes show me he got TV / Vault going turn 3 with me losing a counter war over it.
Ok this game sucked and I got frustrated with my clearly stupid way of thinking, I'm trying to shrug it off by doing a small bathroom break and drinking a bit but with us almost going into time with our second game I have very little time to mentally put myself back on track.
Round 3 Mathi Lenaerts, Tezz
I know Mathi from the Belgium events and from our events. He's a solid player as far as I know and I already know he's playing drains because I saw him slinging them before the event started and talking over boarding plans with his teammates.
Game 1
My notes show me he ended up winning at 4 life because of his own mana crypt and vault giving him huge amounts of damage and he got TV/ key active before I could do anything about it. I'm starting to get a bit bummed with my performance but I have the luck I didn't see a single duress from him or a Sea so I hope he isn't running black. I haven't done anything myself so unless he's seen me play he should have no clue what I'm running.
Game 2
I board in 2 needle for Grim and twister and see him struggling to think about what to board against me (he didn't have a clue nice) this gives me a clear edge in our game 2. My notes show me I took the win on turn 3 after floating a bunch of mana and resolving Grim tutor for Will after he was duressed. I can tell from his behavior he didn't expect this and was frustrated with his boarding plan and loss.
Game 3
He opens with Tormod's Crypt and a land, I open with Needle naming Vault. He drops another land and does nothing, I remember my hand being Garbage with Tormod's Crypt out and seeing as I got Tinker and Crypt + Duress to protect it I'm betting on Inkwell to get me there. I draw a card (something blank) and I announce the crypt it sticks, I announce duress and see he's got a Reb as his only counter (but no Volcanic or fetch) and some TFK's and nothing relevant. I take a TFK and announce tinker which brings me Leviathan.
As my notes show me I beat him from 19 to 12 with leviathan with him playing TFK after TFK he finally gets a Tezzeret to stick grabbing Vault I untap and beat down the Tezz with Inkwell. He does nothing for his turn and after I beat him down to 5 he finally gets something good while I've been drawing blanks except my duress grabbing his tinker and at my EOT he announces Mystical tutor. I mentally suffer a blow because I feel a Rebuild or Hurkyl's coming with no way to stop it with the single Ritual I grabbed. (along with Yawg Will which is also pretty dead) he searches for some amount of time and then says in a laughing matter: Oh man I boarded out all my bounce because who plays that vs combo !! And he says he'll just grab Brainstorm instead (having played Ancestral already) he untaps and grabs the brainstorm, he brainstorms and then announces Lotus which sticks, my nerves begin to tingle because if he got Vault / Key with the mana he's got I'm still losing this. After pondering for a while he throws a bunch of mana into his pool and announces his own Inkwell leviathan obviously it sticks and he says Pass. I untap, he reads his own inkwell and decides to scoop.
Although Inkwell won me this game, DSC would have won it a turn earlier which could have proven vital because with all his draw he could have easily hit Key or a bounce spell in time for him to still win this game. We joke a bit about the fact he didn't read inkwell and he takes it like a champ shrugging it off and giving me credit for still winning this. I was satisfied with the way I played this round and it was the most fun round I played all day with intense play and tension with us both trying to grab the game with our poor hands and eventually a funny finish.
Well It turns out Arjan is on a losing streak we're both on a 2-0-2 spot, Duncan is going strong at 3-0-1 at this point and could possibly draw into top 8, non of the Dutch are going really great. So when we hurdle together we decide to just try and sneak one of us into top 8 with a 4-0-x record which could prove to be enough. So all we have to do is win 2 more matches or scoop, ID a bit strategically.
Round 4 Ilja Berukof Painter (home build)
I know his list from Antwerp because he played it there and said he was going to play it again in Breda, I've seen him play during the event and we both know what the other is running. I'm very excited to be playing against him, Ilja is a great guy and a good player. I seem to be facing some pretty though competition in my last 3 matches so sneaking into top 8 is going to be a challenge to say the least.
Game 1
Imagine my suprise when he opens with Fetch into volcanic, Lotus, Sac lotus announcing Arcane lab...... I counter he Reb's... Ugh this is going to get ugly I didn't expect him to be playing Maindeck Arcane lab he did telegraph his REB a bit but I thought it could also be a bluff so I decided to try it. He plays a turn 2 painter followed by a turn 3 trinket mage for Grindstone. I'm trying to get a tutor or draw into Chain of Vapor my only answer to the Lab. My hand is pretty nuts and I'll likely win if I can just get rid of the lab. I fail at grabbing the Chain and he gets Grindstone to stick for the win.
Game 2
I open with a hand with 2 duress and some land / moxen / rituals and a FoW seeing.... 2 Arcane labs, Island, TFK, Top, Reb, Painter... oh man I decided to take a lab and pass he plays island into top and passes. I rip a mox from the top and pass, he uses top in his upkeep and puts Mana crypt on top which he ends up playing followed by painter which all stick and he passes I rip another Duress and take the second lab (he still had no gass or anything and I got nothing that will let me start forcing my own win) I pass he grabs a card, draws a card with top and plays a island. He then jokingly says to me, don't laugh I feel sorry for you... and announces... ARCANE FRIGGIN LAB... at this point I'm getting a bit frustrated... luckily my draw gave me tinker and with the fact that I know he doesn't have a counter which he can play I decided to play the Mox and try to get a tinker to stick next turn. Because he has top on his library it's all going to come down to his top 4 cards not having a pitch counter or volcanic in it. I untap and announce tinker.... it sticks !! there is hope for me yet, obviously my Inkwell can go the distance because he can't stop it even if he got a painter out. He untaps, draws, Plays top and passes. I draw blank and attack him down to 13, he EOT tops untaps and does nothing, I draw another blank and attack him down to six he EOT tops again, untaps and plays Grindstone and that's game. If only I had DSC instead of Inkwell I would have won this match.
Because i'm now not able to do anything regarding finishing in top 8 I decided to ride it out one last round in hopes of maybe helping a teammate by defeating somebody or scoop when paired together. This doesn't happen but I get paired with a guy I've seen playing next to me and I know he's sporting some sort of 5c Storm deck. I love the chance to finally play a storm mirror and see if my skills have improved in this matchup (my only losses during my top 8 finish where against the mirror and I've been working on improving that) I put him at 5c TPS a deck Marco (known as BigMac on TMD) has been sporting for some time now, it's not as fast or resilient as my deck because it lacks Fetches and thus can't shuffle their deck as often making then a bit slower imo.
Round 5 Onno Versluijs Grim Long as suggested by Stephen Menendian,
Onno is a nice guy and he says this is his first Vintage tournament in a few years and he's making his come back. You can read all about what happend in this matchup
here I basically put him at a wrong deck and having to mull to 5 game 1 didn't help either. The fact that I was talking about our overall lousy performance with Dennis and joking with Onno at this point meant I was in for a superb botch of a match.
I end up with nothing but a great day of magic and manage to trade some stuff I was missing and a Imperial seal. Dennis sticks around for some 1 on 1 action with his painter deck which I decided to utterly crush during our "casual" games... we switch up decks because he's never played combo and have some great laughs with him trying to figure out if a hand with Rit, Rit, Grim, Will, land, Mox, Mox is keepable. I even get in some games versus Duncan something we rarely get to do IRL because he lives on the other side of the country. He manages to defeat me some more with his Tezz list and I decide it's just not my day today and let Onno play with TPS. He fails in winning the Booster Duncan put on the line for the person being able to defeat him and they start their trip back. After the event I end up breaking down everything with Bart (Ancestral_Recall on TMD) and cleaning up the venue We join the judge staff and Rudy (the trader we work with) at the local Micky D's for some well deserved food and more magic until they finally decide it's time to throw us out because it's past closing time for them.
