Eudemonia Mox Ruby Results!

[LotusHead]

22 Players, I left during mid-top-8

Philip Yam (???) vs Lin Chang  (Tez)
Webster (Bob Tez) vs Aardshark (Arcane Denial/Bauble.dec)
LSV (Bob Tez) vs Morgan Brewer (Bob Tez)
Hiryu (Vroman Oath) vs Walter Shatford (Remora)

Pics soon (I have errands to do for now) and more content on www.Eudemonia.net/p9 (Potato will give better link most likely for top 8 features and his own tourney report).


Dr. Tongue vs Potato.  Adnauseum vs Stax. Classic!


Gambit vs JeffTheFob.  Jeff DID have that Mana Drain for Gambit's Gargadon!


Charles with dick vs Walter's yawgwill.


Webster grabbing FOW off his Merchant Scroll.  Looks bad for Hiryu.


Time Vault vs GWB Hate Deck


Aardshark rocks the Double Bob openning vs Vroath.


Webster vs Hiryu.  You TMDrs don't even know how tense these games are.  Both are really good players.


Potato gots like 3 prison pieces down, which is about 2.5 more than AdNaus can handle.


I think Aardshark won ALL of his Swiss Games in turn 5 of extra turns. (ok, maybe turn 3 for one match)


JeffTheFob vs Aardshark


Dr. Tongue's favorite matchup: Webster!


Hiryu's time is running out, but we get an Oath Activation at least!


Ummmmmm.... Hiryu miscounted his mana.


There were four Shop Decks today.  Two 5c Stax, 1 MonoRed, and my crappy MudFinity netdeck (4 maindeck Sculpting Steel!)


Aardshark's Ichorid deck plays Islands, moxen, and... oh. YawgWill.


Nadles on the wrong end of the Oath War (check out Fairy Conclave Tech!)


Potato eventually plays and resolves Tangle Wire, but JeffTheFob somehow gets in one last swing like 6 turns later. (which was enough!)


Web's got the mana, but Walter's got the draw...


Apparently this was Klemic's Bloodghast holding down the fort against Charles' Jailor, even though it can't block.  Reading is tech!
Charles did get the Tendrils with Storm 4 in the end!


Top 8 slot was really really close.  There were at least six "six pointers" vying for the slot.





Top 8 pics before I left.

[jeffthefob]

Luis is playing Brett Allen in the finals right now.  They are playing it out I think, I am sitting at the computer playing StarCraft.

Potato is giving doing a coverage, so guess wait for him for the details... not that much people care :-p

[hiryu]

Luis and I split in the finals.  I wanted to get food and he had an article to write...

Extra-mini report:

I almost skipped this one because of the Bay Bridge falling apart, but fortunately Campee agreed to drive us the long way around.

I haven't been a big fan of Oath decks in Vintage, but after reading Matt Elias's article I was convinced that Iona is the real deal.  And I was tired of Tezz, so I ran the last-minute audible.

Round 1 vs Tezz: 2-1
Round 2 vs Tezz: 1-2
Round 3 vs TPS: 2-1
Round 4 vs mono-R: 2-1
Round 5 vs Tezz: ID
Top 8 vs Remora: 2-0
Top 4 vs Tezz: 2-0
Finals: split

My changes to the list were mostly terrible, but I had some pretty lucky draws.

Looking forward to potato's top 8 coverage!

[potato]

I tried to play in this one but scrubbed out due to a pair of critical play errors costing me two matches - I was distracted and unfocused, probably partially due to being unaccustomed to taking notes as detailed as I had to in order to be able to write it up.

Anyways, I have a lot of typing to do. I'll have my report up tomorrow evening.

[Dr_Tongue]

 Well I can say I got to play at the Eudemonia P9 series finally. I did the old 1-2,1-2,1-2 aka 0-3 drop. I was paired vs. the 2x 5 color Stax decks during those 3 rounds and did a big boo-boo opting to leave a Hurkyl's at home thinking I wouldn't see alot of prison. Instead I rounded up some Karakas (to bounce an Iona or Marit Lage token) thinking these might be popular, oh well. Did see alot of different decks though with Bloodghasts, Ichorid, etc.

 Nice to meet you potato, thanks for helping me out pre reg with my proxy/alter questions etc. (Ryan R as well) .Thanks for the gg's as well, as I was hoping to steal that g3 against you with Y.Will next turn but got Tangled in Wires! instead.

I did have one small bit of luck on the day though.  I bought some nice crisp sleeves and it was under the $10 min ATM purchase so I grabbed a pack of Zen to push it over the edge and cracked a Scalding Tarn. Still needed 2 more so it was a score.

 Hopefully I'll get to bring another deck down another time!

[LSV]

I played the same tezzeret list I have been playing for a while, with some minor alterations. Still not sure about Fof v Gifts, although FoF was pretty good today. I expected a fair amount of vroman's oath list to show up, and there were indeed like 3 people playing it, which is a reasonable number. I figure I'll post a brief report, even though I do talk about the deck in my article on channelfireball today for those interested.

Round 1 vs Mike Klemic

Mike decided he wanted to go for the top unpowered prize, which I knew because all his power and drains were in his binder when I was looking through it for sideboard inspiration. I wasn't sure what he was running, but I was told it was quite the brew.

Game 1 and 2: Turns out he was BG loam/smallpox/bloodghast/cabal therapy disruption.dec, except the disruption stayed home in our match. I think he cast like one Thoughtseize and one Extirpate in the match, which pretty much gave me free reign to cast broken Blue spells.

1-0

Round 2 vs Cory Redmond

Cory was playing Vroman oath, complete with Spell Pierces and all. I actually had been reading the thread on oath the night before, and one credmond posted in it, so I figured he was running oath.

Game 1

He has turn 1 Island, Ruby, Key, Lotus Petal on the play. I could Thoughtseize him, but I have a Pearl, which means I can cast t2 Thoughtseize and pay for Spell Pierce. It ends up not mattering, because he Vampiric Tutors for Time Vault and just wins on turn 2 when my Brainstorm fails to find a Force of Will.

Game 2

It's my turn to mise a win, as my Turn 1 Ponder nets a Mana Crypt, which lets me go t1 Time Vault t2 Key. Nice combo etc.

Game 3

We get to have at least one close game, as it turns out. He plays a Library and a Mox Sapphire on his turn 1, which is a dead giveaway. Playing the Sapphire means he has to have either Spell Pierce or Negate in hand, since he won't get to 7 cards next turn. I lead with a Pearl, which I will gladly get countered, but he doesn't bite. I then go Jet, land, Ponder, playing around Pierce. After Pondering I play a Lotus, then a Dark Confidant. He doesn't play anything on turn 2, now hoping to get Library online. My Bob flips the Thoughseize that Ponder left on top, and I'm able to sculpt a nice turn.

I cast Thoughtseize, and see Spell Pierce, Negate, 2 Forbidden Orchard, Mystical Tutor, and another land (i think?). I take the Mystical, then go to Repeal his Sapphire, which is his only source of Blue. He Spell Pierces the Repeal, and I don't pay. I then crack Lotus, cast Yawg Will, and replay Repeal, Ponder, and Thoughtseize. I actually like the Will for value over the game-ending Will, since it is so much more satisfying. I mean, either way you win the game, but when you Will for value you even get to play for a while longer!

Unfortunately, Bob decided to make this game alot closer than it should have been. The turn before I was to Tinker for DSC, I instead flipped the Iron Giant and took 11, down to 4. Cory was still playing spells, so I kept having to counter Oaths and whatnot, which meant I wasn't able to find a way to kill him that rapidly. It came down to my Bob and 3 orchard tokens with him at 5, and me at 1. He (correctly) Krosan Reclamation'ed me, forcing me to shuffle, since I had a Sensei's Top out and a 0 casting cost card in the top 3. If I missed in the new top 3, that was that. I Topped and saw Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize...Island! Phew, dodged a bullet. I flip the Island to Bob and bash for the last 5 points.

2-0

Round 3 vs Lin Chang (Tezzeret)

Game 1

Neither of us has a particularly fast start, but my draw is pretty sweet. We get into a counterwar over my Dark Confidant, which I decide to let go, since it leaves me with Force, Force, blue cards, Fact or Fiction. My Fof is pretty nice, and he had to use double Force in the previous war, so I end it quickly.

Game 2

I mulligan to six, and see a hand of: Tezzeret, Force of Will, Red Blast, Thoughtseize, Sol Ring, Voltaic Key. After some deliberation, I keep it, as I often do with sketchy hands. I do miss one land drop, but then draw a Mox Jet, and am able to play Mox, Ring, Key, untap Jet, Thoughtseize. He drains the Thoughtseize, then plays a Time Vault to go with his Voltaic Key. I obviously Force, and that gets Red Blasted. I get one draw step to hit my one outer (Black Lotus, since I drew a different Blue card to pitch to Force earlier, leaving me with Tezzeret still, and Lotus + Sol Ring + Key + Jet + Tezz would be exactsies). No dice, unfortunately.

Game 3

This is a tough one. I keep Drain, Force, Force, Mox Pearl, lands, and he mulls to six. His turn 1 Ponder leads into a t2 Bob with double Force backup, leaving us both with almost nothing. I draw another Force, and have to decide whether it's worth playing Mana Crypt in order to keep Force up. He has one card, and will see two new ones on his next turn. I figure that there are very few cards he would cast mainphase, so I don't play the Crypt. One Tinker for Inkwell later, and I have only two draw steps to hit something pretty good. I don't and that's that.

2-1

Round 4 vs Campee

Eric is playing Tezzeret with Bobs

Game 1

We both get bob into play, and both of them live, which is kind of unusual. I have a Sensei's Top going, but he drew his Lotus, so he is pretty far ahead in mana. The key turn is when he goes for Yawg Will (wait, that's the important turn in this Vintage format?). I Force, he Forces, I Drain his Force, and he Forces again. I am down to just Echoing Truth and Yawg Will in hand, so I spin my Top. I find a Force of Will, and counter his Will for the third time. He is a little surprised, and reluctantly Demonic Tutors for what I assume is a Mana Drain afterwards. He didn't expect triple counter out of 5 cards and 3 mana, which is pretty understandable. I find Tinker on my turn, which he has to Drain, since I have a Key in play, then I go Will into Tinker again, Vamp for Repeal to bounce my Bob just in case, and use Vault plus Key to take a few turns. Key turns, if you will.

Game 2

Not really a game; he mulls to 5 and I have turn 1 bob, t2 thoughtseize + drain, t3 tinker.

3-1

Round 5

ID with Brett Allen

Top 8 vs Morgan

Morgan always has something brewing; today it's Tezzeret, recently completed with zero proxies, which is sadly more than I can say. I got rid of my Time Walk 3 years ago, and have been too lazy to get another, mostly because I could burgle my former roommate's.

Game 1

We trade cards, but he manages to stick a Bob. I have a nice Brainstorm, and end the turn with Vault plus Key in play, but no mana to activate. He has Bob, one card in hand, Underground Sea, Sol Ring, Mox Ruby, and Time Vault. On his upkeep, he Mysticals for Tinker with Bob on the stack, meaning that his draw step needs to yield either the Voltaic Key or a blue source for Tinker. He flips it, and it's Underground Sea. Boooo!

Game 2

I Merchant Scroll for Recall on t1, but don't have a force or a 2nd land. He plays a t1 Bob, which I am more than fine with, since I have Smother and Fire/Ice in hand. I peel Force on my turn, but don't end up ever using it, since he never draws any of his. My recall resolves, I find a Sea and a Delta, kill two Bobs in a row, then resolve Fact or Fiction and other assorted action spells.

Game 3

He mulls to six, and I keep a slow hand of Thirst, Brainstorm, Drain, Pearl, lands. Luckily, we draw-go for like 6 turns, which is a rarity in Vintage. We both have a bunch of lands out, but my hand has to be better. I am sitting on Force, Force, Drain, Drain, Thirst, Fof, Brainstorm. He doesn't counter my Thirst, which I actually would have preferred, since I end up discarding Bob and a land to it. He then plays Vault, which I allow, then Tezzeret, which we battle over. His Force pitching Force is met by my own, after I cast a Fact or Fiction in the meantime. Between Fof, Brainstorm, and the five Drain mana I have floating, I manage to find a way to win the game.

Top 4 vs Lin Chang

Game 1

My hand is pretty sick: Tinker, Force, Force, Island, Volcanic, Sol Ring, Time Vault. Sadly, I'm on the draw, but it still is a nice one. He Ponders on t1, and I just play land, Sol Ring, Vault. He Thoughtseizes on t2, which I Force (of course) and he Forces back. This leaves me with 2 land in hand, so I need to peel something. One Ancestral Recall later, and I am setting up a lethal Yawg Will. This is why we play Vintage, amiright?

Game 2

This hand is somehow better than the last, and he has a relatively slow hand. He does have t1 Sol Ring, Top, but he has to tap Top on t2 to draw a Thoughtseize, and he doesn't play a 2nd land. I Force the Thoughtseize, then go nuts on my t2. I Ancestral, play Lotus, play Yawg Will, Ancestral, and Brainstorm again. I could have Merchant Scrolled instead of Brainstorming, but I hoped to hit a mox off the Brainstorm and do both. He has a Dark Confidant on his turn, which won't nearly be enough. I actually can't kill him quite yet, but I DT and play a Key, with Vault in hand. He doesn't find anything, and when I have Thoughtseize + Red Blast to protect the combo, he scoops.

Finals

Brett and I work out a split, which is good because I have to finish up my article and he wanted to grab dinner. Plus, he had destroyed a bunch of Tezzeret already, so I don't even know if the matchup was any good at all for me.

I enjoyed being back at Eudo, and look forward to the next ones!

(also, so much for a "brief" report)

[liberalbias]

I played Menendian's TPS list, basically card-for-card, from this article:

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/17980_So_Many_Insane_Plays_The_Perfect_Storm_Revisited.html

I started playing Vintage a year and a half ago, and TPS was one of the first decks I tried. Unfortunately the Bay Area was having a Mystic Remora love-in at the time, and TPS is kold to a resolved Remora. I hadn't seen a Remora in a few tournaments, so I figured it was safe to break out the rituals again...

Round One: Walter w/ Remora

Game one: I'm on the play, with a turn two Necro and some counter backup, so I just drop a land and pass. Walter naturally goes: Island, Remora? Ugh. I have the FoW, he doesn't, so phew. I drop Necro, it does it's thing, I win.

Game two: I goofed this one. I opened with Time Walk, Misdirection, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Fetch, Fetch. He opens on Island, go, I drop a land (don't recall what I drew) and pass. He island, goes again. On my second turn, I make a fatal mistake and go for Time Walk (without having drawn another blue card). He Ancestral's in response and then Comandeers my Time Walk! Ouch. Good game. He wins it with a turn three Empty the Warrens for eight dudes. I consulted with LSV, and the right play was to Ritual, DT for Necro and play it with Misdirection backup.

Game three: This one wasn't particularly close. He had an early Remora, with FoW backup, and at some point had two of them, and used Repeal to keep them going. TPS just can't beat that.

Round Two: Dylan w/ Stax

Game one: Dylan is a regular and nearly always plays Stax, so I know what to expect. I get an early Necro down in this game, after FoW'ing an early Trinisphere. The skull does it's thing.

Game two: He gets an early Sphere of Resistance followed by a Crucible with Strip mine. Good game.

Game three: I FoW something early and land a Bargain. I end up going all the way down to one, having forgotten that he already did two damage to himself with Barbarian Ring (I was looking for a zero cost spell or ritual for the 10th copy of Tendrils). I don't find a ritual or artifact mana, but realize he's at 18 and win.

Round three: Brett w/ Oath

Game one: Turn two Necro goes the distance.

Game two: He has turn two Orchard plus Oath into turn three Iona. I have Ancestral on my turn two, but can't find an answer to the Oath.

Game three: I mulligan into a fairly weak hand and Brett has the turn one Ancestral. That is pretty much game, but it takes him a while to find an Oath.

Round four: Mike w/ ??

Game one/two: I don't recall a lot about these games. My notes say I played Vampiric and Grim Tutors in game one, so I assume I Yawg Won that one. Game two was him with Null Rod and some Wasteland/Life from the Loam action, I think.

Game three: This is the one where I could have won two turns earlier if I realized that Bloodghast couldn't block. Reading cards is so overrated.

Round Five: Josh w/ Mono-red Stax

Game one: He wins this one, but I don't remember the details.

Game two: He gets an early Sphere of Resistance, but I manage to duress and FoW his real action, and he's a little mana light. After some turns of draw/go, I manage to get off a Timetwister, which gets me a Chain of Vapor and a Hurkyl's Recall. That, and a Time Walk (timely!) is enough for the game.

Game three: He had Jester's Caps in game two, so I bring in some Negators (despite him having Barbarian Rings). I manage to play one on turn two. He has a Tangle Wire to slow it down for two turns, but I draw nothing but permanents, and win pretty quickly from there (turns out he has a hand full of red spells and no red mana sources, which helps).

So I went 3-2, which puts me in 10th place (in a very close three way tie; Web had me beat by 5/10's of a percent on PGW%).

TPS is a lot of fun, and can do some really dumb stuff. I'm bummed that I didn't get a chance to play against Tezzeret on the day, since I'm very curious about how that matchup goes. The Oath matchup seems like it should be favorable, but Brett had good draws, and I did not. I dropped the Chain of Vapor from Menendian's sideboard for more dredge hate (it's fairly popular here), but may add it back in now to combat Oath. Remora continues to be virtually unwinnable, barring a very fast draw, or the right disruption at the right time.

[personalbackfire]

TPS is a lot of fun, and can do some really dumb stuff. I'm bummed that I didn't get a chance to play against Tezzeret on the day, since I'm very curious about how that matchup goes. The Oath matchup seems like it should be favorable, but Brett had good draws, and I did not. I dropped the Chain of Vapor from Menendian's sideboard for more dredge hate (it's fairly popular here), but may add it back in now to combat Oath. Remora continues to be virtually unwinnable, barring a very fast draw, or the right disruption at the right time.

In my experience, I played the deck straight for like 4 tournaments and did well all but once, the matchup goes something like this...
Game 1 I believe TPS to have an edge if played correctly. The reason is, as Menendian pointed out in an article,  Tezz lost TFK and they are relying on Bob to draw them into answers, which is slow.  Game 2 and 3 get a bit harder since TPS really does not have much to bring in, where Tezz can potentially bring in Trini, Glen Elendra, and Arcane Lab. If the game goes that long and they can get down a Glen or Arcane it becomes rather hard to win. Also, Tinker becomes a must counter since you don't know if they are going to get a Trini, or just a robot, which you would have a few turns to win.

The oath matchup, pre Iona wasn't bad at all. I haven't tested against Vroman's list but I imagine if you can win before they oath up Iona its going to be pretty easy since you just have to play around Spell Peirce. If Iona comes out and they name Black, you still have a fighting chance since you can Chain of Vapor it and hopefully win.

[potato]

My official Eudemonia coverage is up! I attempted to play in this one, so if you enjoy reading about bad magic players losing totally winnable games, you'll love this!

You'll also like it if you like LSV's habit of graffitiing anything people leave open on unattended laptops.

Read it here: http://community.eudemonia.net/content/p9-mox-ruby-2009#comment-314

[SilverRocket]

I played Confidant Control:

Creatures (8)
4 Dark Confidant
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Inkwell Leviathan

Other Spells (34)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force Of Will
1 Gush
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
1 Darkblast
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Regrowth
4 Sleight Of Hand
3 Thoughtseize
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Sensei's Divining Top

Mana (18)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Island
3 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea

Sideboard:
4 Leyline Of The Void
1 Ravenous Trap
3 Bitterblossom
1 Darkblast
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island

I took the list from Menendian's article, swapped an Imperial Seal for a Darkblast and tried a different sideboard.

Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2 vs. Stax: draw.  I was in a losing position at the end, but was playing for a draw at that point since there was no way I could win in time.  If I'd played for a win, I might have been able to pull it out with more time by bouncing Smokestack and countering it.
Rd. 3 vs. Dredge: won in 3 games, when he decked himself in game 2, and I had Leyline backed up by Forces and Drains in game 3.
Rd. 4 vs. Tezzeret: lost to Bob.
Rd. 5 vs. Tezzeret: won with Bob.
QF vs. Tezzeret: lost to Bob.

Probably not playing this deck again...

Phil

[LotusHead]

I just noticed there are no top 8 lists, and I haven't been able to navigate www.eudemonia.net/p9 well enough to find them.  Do they exist?

My mini-report:

Round 1: Josh piloting ???

I don't know this guy, and I assume he doesn't know me.  I pilot MudFinity (from some European list w/4 Sculpting Steels maindeck)
As I fill out my deck list, I realized that the list I tested was modified from what I sleeved up 3 weeks prior.  Apparently I have 2 Orb of Dreams and 61 cards maindeck. ?

Josh is piloting 5c Stax and demolishes me with Maindeck and SB superiority.

Then I face I think Campee w/TezzVaultBob

Game 1 I win 7/9 Mana crypt flips off my mana crypt after he forced my first two non-manacrypt threats. Factory beats took it down.
Game 2 and 3, he got me.  Game 2 probably by a blowout, and game 3 because me\y creatures (including 4 Frogmyte and 2 Enforcers) stayed hidden.

Round 3 Patrick with TPS (Tendrils, Inkwell, had stuff like Timetwister, Minds Desire, etc)
Game 1, he wins die roll and goes broken with turn one tinker for Inky, Time Walk.
Turn 1 me I go Sculpting Steel (Inkwell) and sit on it until other lock pieces come down and get beats through somehow.
Game 2 He does all sorts of broken stuff after i cap his ass for Will, Tendrils and (uh...) Hurkyls Recall
He has Inkwell in hand, gets tons of mana, casts it, then swings, then plays Bargain, then Twisters, then hardcasts Memory Jar and either passes the turn or breaks with my Chalice for 0 in play doing nothing.
At some point, I noticed that he was at like 7 life, while I had a comfortable 13, a factory and a frog or two in play.
Since he did like 13 damage to himself on his own, I was able to get the last few beats in somehow.  Chalice for 0 was the right play, apparently.

Round 4 Orie with ???

He mulls to 4, THEN Exiles Serum Powder (and a few Dredge Cards).  I kept the 2 strip hand and won.
Game 2 (same thing, but this time with Relic of Progenitus)
My first time winning against Dredge in combat (although it killed itself).
Orie borrowed the deck for the tourney (I guess he has not vintage cards) and was gunning for the Non-Powered prize (as were Klemic and Sherman).  Orie realized that in the future, he could probably borrow cards/a deck from me as I've been flying solo lately.

2-2 (I CAN make top 8 with 3-2 record, but after top 8 is posted, I am in the suxxor position amonst 6ish people fighting for 1 or 2 top 8 slots.)
I pair up against Credmond (who also has little chance).  We duke it out.

Somehow, I won both games.  I don't know how.  Oh yes, that's right.  Jedi Mind Tricks and following the lead of Ochoa, LSV, Aardshark of NEVER GIVING UP unless time is a factor, and hoping that somehow, against all odds, something cool happens.  (I was playing MUDfinity, so only so much cool stuff can possibly happen).

I leave details for now to Credmond if he wishes to elaborate, but Not Giving Up sometimes works (with Jedi Mind Tricks).

[SilverRocket]

The top-8 lists aren't in their usual spot, but I found them here.

[Tobi]

Some missing cards in top 8 lists:
Brett: 59 MD cards
Lin Hua: 59 MD, 13 SB
David: 13 SB
Galen: 13 SB

--> http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1158

[SilverRocket]

I'm guessing the missing cards are Time Vault from Brett's list and Time Walk from Lin Hua's list.

[Tobi]

I'm guessing the missing cards are Time Vault from Brett's list and Time Walk from Lin Hua's list.

Makes sense... added those.

[potato]

The top-8 lists aren't in their usual spot, but I found them here.

Looks like one of my co-eudemonites posted the ruby top 8 lists in the emerald thread...

Looking forward to the Jet! I'll get the management to post the announcement ASAP since it's not currrently scheduled.

[LotusHead]

I'm guessing the missing cards are Time Vault from Brett's list and Time Walk from Lin Hua's list.

Makes sense... added those.

There's also a pretty good chance that Ochoa's Diabolic Tutor in the SB was actually Diabolic Edict.

[Aardshark]

First, apologies for the delay in posting this; life is crazy busy these days.

To kill the suspense, I went 3-0 in swiss, drew the last two rounds, and lost to Web playing confidant-tez in the top 8.

The story begins at 1:30 a.m. November 1, when I arrive home rather inebriated from partying on Halloween, spread the deck I haven’t looked at since my last tournament, and realize that there’s no way I have the time, energy, or functional brain cells to put together something that doesn’t suck.  Fast forward to 9:45 a.m. when I wake up with a bursting bladder and modest headache, but realize I have an extra hour due to the time change. I take a second look at my deck, make some snap-judgment tweaks (e.g. + top and repeals, - vault package and baubles), pick up a smoothy from safeway to rehydrate, and start off from Sacramento to Berkeley.  

Here’s what I played:

Arcane storm:

3 Underground Sea
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Dark Confidant
4 Arcane Denial
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
2 Repeal
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tinker
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Urza's Bauble
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Vault
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Sensei's Divining Top

Sideboard:
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Darkblast
2 Energy Flux
1 Hurkyl's Recal
1 Island
1 Infest
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Thoughtseize

The deck is inspired by Meadbert’s stumping for arcane denial (AD), as exemplified in the following threads:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38527.0
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38790.0

I’ve been testing AD on MWS for a while, and played a variant in the Eudo tournament last tournament (to an uninspired 2-3 finish).

Meadbert’s versions all play 8 baubles. I cut one early on, but still felt like was drawing too many baubles and lacked room for business spells. My inspiration the morning-of was that repeal functioned much like a bauble in that it cycled and was deniable (at instant speed no less), but also dealt with creatures and other permanents, which had been a problem.  I went with bobs as the base draw engine because they are low cc (the deck cheats on a land or two in reliance on cantrips) and function as a win condition. I might have played a second scrying if I had one (maybe for a bob o r repeal?), but I don’t, so I didn’t.  I strongly considered both gifts and FOF, which in addition to being some of the best draw spells ever printed make my yawgwills more broken (see infra) , but I was afraid of bob damage and not being able to cast quickly or consistently enough with my light mana count.

In the last tournament I squeezed in a tez package, including tezzerette, vault, key & iseal for two bobs, a repeal and the top (with some other tweaks as well). The problem was, for the games that I won, I had an embarrassment of options of how to seal the deal; at other times I’d lose games because my hand was cluttered with combo pieces and win conditions that didn’t do anything on their own. I never found myself in a position where vault-key was the only path to victory, although these situations would certainly come up (in one game I would have won had my timevault resolved, but it did not and I consequently lost). It’s possible that vault combo belongs in the deck, maybe in lieu of tendrils, but it didn’t feel right to me (and having tendrils, which actually wins the game on extra turn 4 or 5 is a very nice feature for someone playing control at my speed).  

The thoughseizes were a list minute addition to the sb when I perceived there to be little dredge in the room right before the tournament (I think there was one). I intended to use against combo, but I ended up bringing in against Tez and they pulled their weight – I’d like to find a way to make room for two of these if not all three.  The Energy flux is (and remains) untested against workshops, which I had trouble with last tournament.  The problem with the bounce plan is that I’m not always in a position to y-will out after a timely bounce (see general comment below about mana constraint under yawg will. Bounce may still be the better plan though, as Flux could be tough to cast, or maybe  I need red or green for i-chewer/rack and ruin/oxidize.

On to the tourney:

Round 1, John ? with Vroman Oath:

I wasn’t surprised to face this deck, which was getting a lot of attention on the drain the days before the tournament. I might have played it myself if I’d owned an iona and a k-rec, or misty rainforests.

Game 1 one I'm beating down with bob when John twisters in desperation into the nuts and is able to force through an oath. I have Y-will in hand for a lethal tendrils as long as John names blue iona, which I'm optimistic he'll to since my deck is predominately blue.  Unfortunately John is a good player and names black, which prevents me from stealing the game.

SB: in 2 thoughtseize, 1 edict; out 1 repeal, 1 rebuild & 1 bauble. Game 2 I establish control with bobs and am beating down. John eventually resolves oath, which I repeal. By the time he replays its too late, and John dies to my attacking bobs. Game 3 I counter an early oath and establish control. I draw two bobs but decline to play them to avoid making oath a threat (he hasn't drawn orchard yet). Time is called and I continue to play slow and safe, winning with a lethal y-will into tendrils with countermagic backup.

Round 2 v. Jeff H. (aka Fob) with Tez (I think)

Game 1 Jeff and I counter each other's spells, but he eventually is able to force through vault key he has in hand.

SB: in 3 thoughtseize; out 1 repeal, 1 rebuild, 1 bauble. Game 2 I tinker turn 1 into DSC ftw. Game 3 I manage to resolve bob and establish control. When bob damage starts to become a threat I resole a non-lethal yawg.  I mangle the yawg will somewhat, but gain enough advantage to tendrils him out the following turn after I successfully dodge dsc on the bob flip.

As an aside, I struggled to make the most of my yawg wills all tournament. The fact that my build lacks dark ritual and lotus petal, as well as  gifts and fow to put artifacts in the yard made yawg will turns mana tight. Meadbert has written that one of the strengths of his 8 bauble build is synergy with y-will. He may have a point, though I don't know in the increased vulnerability to chalice and null rod is worth it.

Round 3 v. Walter with remora control.

Game 1 is tight. Walter resolves an early remora and pulls slowly ahead with meditate and other draw spells. I finally manage to resolve bob and think I might be able to catch up, but after a couple of turns Walter finds sower. Walter starts hitting me for 4 and drawing two cards each turn, but bob is chipping away at his life as well. My only chance to steal this game is to somehow mini tendrils him out.  I take my shot when walter is at 7 life and my hand is lotus, jet, mystical tutor. On upkeep I mystical tutor, offhandedly tapping my u-sea (leaving a second u-sea and islands untapped). He lets mt resolve (a mistake I think), and I find and draw tendrils. Mainphase I look with dismay at my tapped u-sea and play jet. He takes the bait and counters, at which point I quickly play lotus --> tendrils (fifth spell). He says nothing about lotus and casts meditate (twice?) in response to tendrils to find countermagic (if he counters the lotus I'm just dead obviously). He eventually counters/misdirects 3 tendrils copies to put him at 3 life. I take my extra meditate turn(s), and he flips commandeer for the loss. How lucky!

SB: same as round 2. Game 2 is much less interesting. Walter mulligans to 5 and I thoughtseize his only business spell (meditate). Bob comes down and puts me far ahead. When bob damage finally takes me down to a precarious life total I vt on upkeep for a lethal y-will.

Round 4-5: ID

Top 8 v. Web with Tez.

The truth is I was never really in these games. Game 1 web mulligans, but opens with ancestral. My hopes are dashed when web fires my bob and and forces through his own, followed by a second.  SB: same as round 2, + darkblast for another bauble. Game 2 web resolves an early Tez ftw.

So I go home empty handed. I guess I can't complain too much about going 3-1, losing only to the third best player in the world* player the best deck in vintage. (*As of writing the DCI ranks Mr. Ochoa as #3 in the word by composite ranking, though by eternal rating he was actually # 3 in the room, behind Brent (#1) and LSV (#2) -- of course most vintage tourneys aren't sanctioned, so Web's recent tear might not be reflected. Tough room.)

My jury is still out on arcane denial. Its definitely an interesting and flexible card. I'd say I used it about equally as a draw spell versus as a counter. Denying my opponents spells with bob on the board was also a very nice tempo play, since bob would maintain card parity.

That said, this build as a whole has some issues, e.g. there are limited uses for drain mana, and possibly too many counterspells overall. More importantly the overall power level isn't particularly high, and while no matchups are unwinable, I'm not sure any are particularly favorable either. Chalice and null rod can be real problems (though repeal helps with both), oath is tough to keep from resolving (and especially threatening with the bob engine), and dedicated combo can win before my countermagic comes online.  I'd have thought tez would be a pretty good matchup, but my games against Web and Fob, as well as subsequent testing, is proving this match tough also.  

In sum, I'm not sure what this has going for it over standard drain tendrils. I'm thinking the tempo advantage of arcane denial might make it better in a fish deck or variant of meandeck beats? That said, 3-1 is a reasonable result, so I'll probably try some variant of this at least once more.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

That said, this build as a whole has some issues, e.g. there are limited uses for drain mana, and possibly too many counterspells overall. More importantly the overall power level isn't particularly high, and while no matchups are unwinable, I'm not sure any are particularly favorable either. Chalice and null rod can be real problems (though repeal helps with both), oath is tough to keep from resolving (and especially threatening with the bob engine), and dedicated combo can win before my countermagic comes online.  I'd have thought tez would be a pretty good matchup, but my games against Web and Fob, as well as subsequent testing, is proving this match tough also.  

In sum, I'm not sure what this has going for it over standard drain tendrils. I'm thinking the tempo advantage of arcane denial might make it better in a fish deck or variant of meandeck beats? That said, 3-1 is a reasonable result, so I'll probably try some variant of this at least once more.

As a solution to the problems you have noted, have you considered possibly replacing the Drains with Spell Pierces?  It seems like it would help against Oath and Combo, or in countering Rod/Chalice, as well as protecting your own spells more easily.  See the posts made by Rico Suave and Vroman at the bottom of the following thread for more details: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39122.0

[Aardshark]

As a solution to the problems you have noted, have you considered possibly replacing the Drains with Spell Pierces?  It seems like it would help against Oath and Combo, or in countering Rod/Chalice, as well as protecting your own spells more easily.  See the posts made by Rico Suave and Vroman at the bottom of the following thread for more details: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39122.0

This is a fascinating suggestion. I wasn't impressed with spell pierce at first blush, but I haven't tested it at all so my opinion is uninformed. You (and Rico and Vroman) make excellent points about spell pierce's ability to answer early game threats, and Vroman is spot-on that in this list drain is only marginally better than counterspell much of the time.  An important exception, however, is that drain mana can be critical in setting up a game winning (or shifting) y-will and/or tendrils -- the key play for which drain tendrils is often building. I noted in my post that y-will turns were mana constrained; losing mana drain would exacerbate this problem.  

Also, suppose for the sake of argument I did swap drains for spell pierce: you'd then have to ask if mana drain wouldn't be better than arcane denial, in which case I could swap the 5 baubles for land/ponder/gifts/fof/? -- in other words, a more standard drain tendrils list, with better uses for drain mana.

After reading these comments, my (untested) sense is that spell pierce is worth testing, but might push the deck away from storm and towards vault-key as a win condition.

Off-topic aside regarding the thread you cited (posted here since I can't post there): I'd have nominated this for the vintage improvement forum until Rico and Vroman belatedly chimed in with serious content.  I'd have hoped the vintage adept forum would have been reserved for article-style posts and discussion of controversial topics, as opposed to quibbling about posting styles.  It's a pitty this straightforward discussion on the merits of spell pierce wasn't initiated in the open forum, where rank-and-file users could flesh out the discussion with relevant tournament and testing experience.  

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

An important exception, however, is that drain mana can be critical in setting up a game winning (or shifting) y-will and/or tendrils -- the key play for which drain tendrils is often building. I noted in my post that y-will turns were mana constrained; losing mana drain would exacerbate this problem.  

Also, suppose for the sake of argument I did swap drains for spell pierce: you'd then have to ask if mana drain wouldn't be better than arcane denial, in which case I could swap the 5 baubles for land/ponder/gifts/fof/? -- in other words, a more standard drain tendrils list, with better uses for drain mana.

After reading these comments, my (untested) sense is that spell pierce is worth testing, but might push the deck away from storm and towards vault-key as a win condition.

When I was goldfishing AD a while back I found I could often win with lethal will on turn 3-4, even without drain mana.  The build did have 8 baubles, though, so that might have made a difference.  I would also usually try to tutor up Academy, which was obviously insane.  Adding 1-2 Rituals to the deck to help fuel lethal Wills is also a possibility.

I actually think that Spell Pierce has more synergy with the Tendrils plan, because it lets you play your draw spells more aggressively--for example, something like turn 2 play Bauble+Denial off land+Mox with Spell Pierce mana up.  The Tinker plan also means that your Wills don't necessarily have to be lethal: you can simply resolve an early Will for 4+ cards and then protect Colossus.  Even if you add Pierce I think Arcane Denial is better than Mana Drain in this deck, because it functions both as a draw spell and as a counter spell, all for 1U.

As a side note, I would probably run Gifts or FoF over Skeletal Scrying, since Scrying is only really good with 4 or more mana, in which case Gifts/FoF are better because they give you greater card selection and load your yard instead of thinning it.  Even without Drain I would still run Gifts, because it is so busted.

[Aardshark]

When I was goldfishing AD a while back I found I could often win with lethal will on turn 3-4, even without drain mana.  The build did have 8 baubles, though, so that might have made a difference.  I would also usually try to tutor up Academy, which was obviously insane.  Adding 1-2 Rituals to the deck to help fuel lethal Wills is also a possibility.

I actually think that Spell Pierce has more synergy with the Tendrils plan, because it lets you play your draw spells more aggressively--for example, something like turn 2 play Bauble+Denial off land+Mox with Spell Pierce mana up.  The Tinker plan also means that your Wills don't necessarily have to be lethal: you can simply resolve an early Will for 4+ cards and then protect Colossus.  Even if you add Pierce I think Arcane Denial is better than Mana Drain in this deck, because it functions both as a draw spell and as a counter spell, all for 1U.

As a side note, I would probably run Gifts or FoF over Skeletal Scrying, since Scrying is only really good with 4 or more mana, in which case Gifts/FoF are better because they give you greater card selection and load your yard instead of thinning it.  Even without Drain I would still run Gifts, because it is so busted.

Your points are valid. Spell pierce is definitely worth testing in this archetype.

I actually tested dark ritual (both as a one and four of), but found that it didn't quite do enough to pull its weight. Also, I didn't really want to lose a business speall, but felt I couldn't afford to drop a land or a mox because the mana is already tight. If anything, I'd consider swapping mox pearl for lotus petal before dark ritual (at least if I keep mana drains), or conceivably mana vault. Dropping mana drains and adding gifts might change the calculus, however.

Scrying is nice in that it (1) can be played for less than 4 mana (which I did once or twice this tourney), (2) only hits 1 from bob (cmc of the deck is already pretty high), and (3) can be acane denialed at instant speed (never came up this tourney although I did deny my own repeal). I'd like to make room for one more.  That said, I probably should run fof/gifts over my fourth bob. The only reason I didn't was because I was afraid of bob damage. But really the two extra cmc isn't that big a deal, especially weighed against the fact that the second bob will likely damage me more if I cast him. I do think playing both gifts and fof (over 1 bob and scrying) may be going to far for a deck with bobs and dsc. If I switched away from the bob engine these cards would definitely come in. (Now that I think about it, maybe 2 bobs, FoF & gifts is the right call?)