Hello all, it's refreshing to find a forum/place devoted to a format that I found when I first started playing magic, but truly discovered over the course of this last weekend. I'd like to go over a couple things, explain my deck choice, and tell a couple stories of how I won my first piece of power this weekend. My name is David P. Williams (not related to the poker champ/pro player) and I came in third place at this lovely event.
I live in College Station, Texas. It's a small college town. Our only place to play Magic outside of casual play is at a place called BCS Books & Comics. Although, there are rumors that a new store might emerge soon. In this store, we only draft and play standard, everyone here is generally "card poor" besides two or three individuals that fuel our extended, legacy, and in the case of PT Austin, Vintage. William C. Herdman and Andy C. Swaffar are two of those individuals that I mentioned previously. Their charity in lending cards is the only reason I was able to pick up Manaless Ichorid and play in that tournament. So they are the real stars here. I believe Billy (William) did really well at the tournament as well, playing LSV in Round 3, and then getting knocked out of contention for top 4 in round 5.
Two weeks ago, I asked Billy what he was playing in. He told me he wanted to hit up the Vintage tournament with a powerless deck. His power had been stolen at GP Denver awhile ago, along with many other cards that may take him a long time to replace due to the price tag. I always liked the idea of getting into Vintage, but the cost of it is pretty steep. Billy informed me he would lend me the cards if I found a deck I liked. I did some research and I picked Manaless Ichorid. Mostly because it seemed like the best powerless deck. I'm not sure if I was informed correctly when making this judgment, but it felt like I made the right choice. I mentioned this to Billy in passing, and did a little testing on magic work station but not nearly enough to make me fully versed in the nuances of the deck. Luis Scott-Vargus told me as I was standing after my loss to him that I should have stacked Ichord's trigger before activating my Bazaar. I hadn't done that the whole tournament. The first time physically touching the cards was 30 minutes before the tournament writing out the deck-list. I didn't even know I was going to play.
My first two rounds are a blur.
Round 1 however I do remember playing against John Pagani's entomb list. It was very good, besides of course the absence of Leyline in the sideboard. It had a few mana problems, and I remember that is what got him in our first game. In our second game, I recall that we were faced with an awkward board situation, leading to him asking me a vital question, "Can you win if you cannot attack?". I was facing down a Blazing Archon that had been animated by animate dead, and a Platnium Angel that had been Reanimated. I looked in my yard and saw three dread returns, three bridges, two cabal therapy's, and Angel of Despair. I had two Narcomeba's, an Ichorid, and three zombie tokens in play. I could not attack. I knew that I would have to Dread Return angel of despair twice by cabal therapying it the first time. I ended up winning the game off that.
Before I go on, I realize that Dredge isn't the most interesting recap. It's mostly "I did some stuff, activated bazaar, and won" and that's really what happened. I got incredibly lucky some games. Other games I aggressively mulligan-ed and did my best to start the game with as big an edge as possible.
Round 2 I played Michael A. Bennet. His bant deck was quite interesting but we didn't really interact very well. Game one I won from the usual dredge stuff. It was interesting however because he tried to keep me off my early win by stifling my trigger off Bazaar twice. I liked this, it was something I hadn't thought of and it impressed me. In my rush to side, I don't remember what I sided in/out against him, I do remember though, making a large mistake. I did not side out my Leylines of the Void. So, I draw my 7, and there it is staring at me in the face. An amazing hand except Leyline is right there, laughing at me. I could play it at the beginning of the game, incase he has some way to bring back something from the yard. I wasn't going to let myself lose because of my embarassment. I say keep, and before laying it down I think for a second and he lays down his fetch and cracks it. My opportunity to play Leyline is gone. My heart sinks a little bit, but then I notice Unmask hiding behind one of my cards. For some reason with the deck I was so focused on having a hand to get me a win I forgot about the little things that let me disrupt them from taking the win from me. So my first turn, I lay bazaar, do some discarding, and then I play unmask removing leyline. I felt a little embarrassed to tell you the truth. I was mostly disappointed in myself. His hand revealed Wheel of Sun and Moon, which I chose, and I went on to win the match.
Round 3 I played against Daniel A. Bragg. This guy definitely knew his way around vintage far better than I. I had read an article or two in passing. But he was ready to smoke me I could tell. He had the edge on knowing what I was playing before we sat down. A small edge as he wasn't pre-boarded, but an edge none the less. Our deck check took awhile, and we joked about the possible number of one ofs in his deck. I knew what he was playing then and I hoped I could offset his advantage of power by getting an early chalice. He won the dice roll and my heart sank. I knew the match up came down to who played first so badly. I
needed the chalice to hit his power to slow him down enough so I could get my turn 3 win. It turns out I didn't mulligan aggressively enough. His hand was beautiful, and led to a turn 3 Inkwell Leviathan to shut me down completely. I wanted to confirm what I was playing 100% and to see a couple more cards in his deck, so I played a therapy and he showed me mystical tutor into time walk for the win. Game two was uneventful, his beginning of double Leyline of the Void hurt me so bad. He would be the first person with Leylines I would play against that day, but obviously not the last. I lost this round. Thinking about it, his deck was brutal. It felt so "powerful" and I felt like I did the best I could. But, I don't feel that way now. I know now that there were several decisions that I didn't do that I should have. This feeling would come back after playing LSV in the Semi's.
Round 4 I played against Michael A. Speriosu. His bob/tezzeret combo was interesting. Game one, I draw my 7... it has a Serum Powder but too many vital cards. Two bridges, two Narcomebas, etc. I decide to Mulligan. 6 cards shows me terrible and no vial. I mulligan again. Five cards shows me terrible but a powder. I use the powder. I draw another 5 with another powder, and mostly lands that aren't bazaar, I powder again. The next five show me double bazaar, grave-troll, bridge, and Chalice. I couldn't have gotten a better hand. I knew that he was playing power in his deck, and I was on the play. Needless to say, I ended up winning on turn three. Game two, he had three bobs on the board towards the end of the game and he worked hard on topping and shuffling until in the end he did not die to them (I believe he was at two). It was my only way of winning at that point because of a hardcasted Leyline about halfway through the game (turn 5 or so). I tried to Chain of Vapors it, but he had the mana drain for it. Game three we handled mulligans and as soon as I played my Bazaar, time in the round was called. I had three turns to kill my opponent. I managed to do it, but in turn three of turns I was phased by being asked to hurry up during turns. I understood that people were waiting on us, so I started to rush and I missed my Ichorid triggers. This almost cost me the game. I dredged down to my last Narcomeba and ended up winning anyway, but I was very angry at myself for forgetting. It wouldn't be the last time I forgot the triggers though, and I felt that I was definitely one of the lower caliber players at the tables at this point. I knew then th at what someone later said was true, the deck truly was better than me.
Round 5 I played against Richard Dong. Sitting down, I knew his deck was goblins. I didn't know to the extent his other splashes were, but I knew it had Aether Vial and Warren instigator/lackey and I knew that it would be an interesting battle. His deck was one of the most interesting rogue decks there (save the one running sower of temptation
) and I was amazed in game one when I got hit by the daze. Regardless. I was on the play and managed to win game 1 from a good mulligan and an explosive start. Game two, he got the Leyline down and aggroed me to death. I wasn't liking my chances. I was nervous, his deck had so much potential that I couldn't really race it with a resolved leyline.
Game three, we go into it. I tell him I am going to take a mulligan, he hasn't looked at his cards yet. I look at him intently, and he furrows his brows a little. He decides to keep, I resolve my mulligans and then also keep with a good hand. It has bazaar, and vapor, and a city of brass. I knew I could race a single Leyline. But he doesn't drop one. I play Bazaar, do my thing, and pass. He opens with turn one warren instigator then passes. I think about it for a bit, get more cards in my graveyard, and then drop city of brass and decide to try bouncing his Instigator on my turn. This was a decision that was probably ill-made, I did this before dredging actually and wanted to do this incase a narcomeba came up. I think that I probably made the wrong decision as I could have done it on his turn. Either way, he looks frustrated and has resigned himself to losing. I end up getting a look at his hand the next turn and see a Earwig Squad and several lands. It turns out his idea was to get my bridges with Earwig Squad giving me no way to win. Anyway, we proceed to play. In the next ten or fifteen minutes of me trying to seal the deal, I proceed to get two warnings. One for failure to discard off Bazaar (i was too excited and forgot) and one for forgetting about the Bridges triggering when I killed his instigator (another mistake). A bystander saw that we both missed the trigger off the Bridges. I felt so stupid, my face was burning. I thought I was going to get DQ'ed for sure. My opponent was gently pushing for it, as it was his only out to win. I couldn't believe i had forgotten. I knew that I had barely touched the cards, and I didn't play when Dredge was in standard, but I had no excuse. When the judge asked me what I was doing missing the trigger. I told him the truth, it was the first time I had touched the cards outside of casual play, and I forgot about it. I was not trying to cheat. I didn't need the bridges at this point to win. But I still felt horrible.
The judge gave me a warning. I ended up taking the win. I didn't want to see my opponent. I felt he had been playing for me to get disqualified that entire time and I had never met someone that did that. I needed to walk. I walked away and I believe we were the last match waiting to be resolved. I walked a crossed the tourney grounds and got a drink of water. I calmed down. Later I reflected upon it, and I knew this was another wall I needed to get over when playing magic. I decided that I would have to learn to play the deck perfectly. This was not before my match with LSV though.
When I came back, they were discussing who made it in. I was third place on breakers and I knew that I was a shoe-in for the Timetwister if the other guy without power lost to Daniel. I knew Daniel was confident and I knew he would probably win. Although I wasn't sure how close their games were.
When I sat down in front of LSV I was much calmer. He is a great guy and I think that he was quite funny during our match. There were some excellent highlights but I think I will let Abe tell you about our match. I just wanted to thank everyone (Abe especially) for treating me nice even though I felt like the opposite was true. I really enjoyed my first Vintage tournament, and I won't forget the lessons I learned. Even though apparently, Bazaar is pretty much just like having Power in your deck
-David P. Williams
