The European StormAs most of you know I made my "claim to fame" so to say with playing The Perfect Storm. After piloting it for the better part of a year and a half I felt it was time to mix things up a little more and I dived into the think tank with fellow RnD member and Vintage Legend Rich "The Atog Lord" Shay to brew up something special.
I knew November would be a very busy Month for me packed with tournaments, having my own event on November 1st and the Dutch Vintage Championship on the 14th together with another Vintage event in Hengelo in December, I wanted enough time to tweak and prepare the deck. It started way back in September with the first rough outlines posted on our team boards, soon Rich picked up on it and the idea just took off. Today I'll break the deck down for you guys and write down how it performed for me during my own event to give you an idea about it's viability.
Searching for the draw engine that could...Since the DCI deemed "cheap" blue draw to be the mortal enemy it's been harder and harder to find something that helps blue decks "outdraw" the opponent. Most decks have converted to running Dark Confidant as a draw engine because it offers a steady stream of cards, the life loss is manageable through the very little manipulation we have left but it opens you up to a whole slew of other problems. Ever since Thirst for Knowledge got restricted our team boards have seen a wide range of possible draw engines, I've covered
some of them here.None of the draw engines really worked the way we wanted. I was messing around with a lot of different stuff and then it struck me, as I was walking down memory lane reading tournament reports of past and current events, it suddenly hit me like lightning. Repeal offers the best of both worlds in being a bounce spell and a cantrip and the fact that it's cheap also counts for something. Looking at the stuff most decks run to "fix" their draws the obvious choice was Sensei's Divining Top, a staple in Legacy and Extended and a card that's been making the cut in Vintage for some time now. It can potentially give you "Ancestral" like amounts of cards when combined with shuffle effects. Combined with Repeal this could potentially give you a very robust drawing engine.
Here's how it works:
With a Top in play you can pay 1 mana to look at the top 3 cards (if need be) then you can activate the top, with the trigger on the stack you play Repeal for 1U targeting the top. When this resolves Repeal bounces the top (drawing you one card from Repeal) and then the top trigger resolves (drawing you a second card and not putting the top on top because it's now in your hand) This gives you +3 cards in hand (2 cards drawn and top) for just 1U (or 2U if you want to look at the top 3 or play the top this turn) which basically equals Thirst for Knowledge with an artifact in hand (draw 3 discard 2 unless you discard an artifact) and the best part is you don't even have to discard so you can just replay the top and repeat it all the wile maintaining an amount of top deck fixing by using the Top.
Along with being able to draw a huge amount of cards Repeal can be used to bounce Null Rods or opposing Confidants (effectively outdrawing them in the process) so it's never a dead card, something other engines also suffer from. The second or third Confidant is usually pretty dead once you have one already in play unless the opponent removes it. Making it sit useless in your hand, some might feel a bit lucky and risk playing the second one but this gets increasingly dangerous when facing decks with Null Rod as you have no means of manipulating the top deck (with top rendered useless and Brainstorm / Ponder being restricted) you can die to flipping Force of Wills and Inkwell Leviathan (not to mention all the other expensive spells Drain decks usually run) pretty fast when the opponent has a Tarmogoyf crashing into the red zone every turn. Repeal solved all of those issues, because it's never truly dead it offers a flexibility that's unmatched by other options. Filling out the rest of the "draw" package with most of the restricted list was fairly obvious and something we can't escape from.
I still felt the need to include Dark Confidant in the deck because it gives you an added way to deal with Stax a match up that from the get go seemed like "bad" because of the low mana cost cantrips and Stax historic dominance over decks running such tricks. The entire package is very well suited to either bounce opposing permanents (drawing a card in the process) and drawing even more with Confidant or drawing a huge amount of cards when you don't need to bounce something and can just combine Top, Repeal and Confidant into a very huge stream of cards. The draw package was rounded out by Fact or Fiction which has the ability to give you complete broken piles and Frantic Search. Now, it' s a controversial pick to include frantic search as you don't actually "gain" cards you just merely swap the top 2 cards of your deck with 2 others in your hand (putting them in your graveyard) for free. It's a good way to filter or untap lands when facing stuff like Choke which has seen more play in Beats type decks, it was certainly something that I wanted to try.
Killing the opponent...With our draw engine rounded out it looked like this deck was going to be playing a lot of spells during a single turn, since we obviously will want Black in the deck for Yawghmoth's Will, Demonic Tutor and so on it seemed very logical to include a single copy of Tendrils of Agony. It can be played to give you some much needed life when Confidant flips have put you low taking a chunk out of the opposing player in the process. The fact that confidant also beats and this deck draws huge amounts of cards (playing cheap spells in the process) makes a Tendrils "Lethal" much sooner compared to Dark ritual based storm decks, although you will never be as fast, a storm count of merely 5-6 can be enough to win the game, it seemed a very natural fit in this deck.
As all decks need a plan B should their plan A fail it was fairly obvious it would be Tinker - Robot (which has been the classic plan B since ages), I believe (barring some Dark ritual based storm decks) all other decks only have 2 real options as a robot. Sphinx of the Steel Wind (awesome tech found by Mike Solymossy from GWS fame) and Inkwell Leviathan. I opted for Sphinx because of the ability to race multiple goyfs and shutdown entire decks disabling them from racing or removing it.
My first list contained only these 2 kill condition and I was fairly happy with the way this deck handled itself, after some discussion on the Team boards it became clear that the deck could and should support Time Vault and Voltaic Key as a Kill condition as well. Naturally we're going to draw into this combo much sooner then most and Voltaic Key interacts with the draw engine as well making it even more nuts.
Better safe then sorry, use protection....This deck looked increasingly mana hungry with a huge potential of using any colorless mana one could gain, adding Mana Drain to the deck was a no-brainer along with the obvious 4x Force of Will. This deck already had a lot of Bounce spells in Repeal but I felt like It really needed to max out on possible solutions so I added Hurkyl's Recall and Rebuild to the mix, both meant for the more clear purpose of bounce opposing permanents while keeping your draw engine (Repeal) intact enough. Rebuild offers some draw via cycling and both it and Hurkyl's can help upping the storm count for a lethal Tendrils (a trick borrowed from older Drain Tendrils lists) With all this going on squeezing in any kind of hand disruption like Duress or Thoughtseize was next to impossible.
Better go find what you're looking for....Besides "naturally" drawing into your kill having ways to search it is what defines Vintage. Beyond the obvious suspects like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor and Merchant Scroll I felt this deck needed something different. At first I had Minds Desire and Gush in the decks to take a bit more out of the Drain Tendrils book. After testing this configuration for some time Minds Desire kept being pitched or when cast flipping only more disruption. Unlike decks like TPS this deck doesn't have a high bomb density and you'd need a much higher storm count to actually make Desire lethal and flipping a bunch of Repeals after you've tapped out to play desire effectively removing them wasn't great either. The match ups in which Desire shines (against control) were already strongly in this decks favor because of the draw engine so it seemed logical to just cut it. Gush while great in theory is just a shell of it's former self. Without multiples or at least Fastbond in the deck the card just really doesn't make the cut. This meant I had some room to play with and with the deck working the way it did it seemed very logical to add yet another Vintage Oldie to the mix rounding out the flow of the deck. I'm off course talking about Gifts, this card as a one off has been a staple in most Blue decks and Storm decks alike. With everything going on in the deck I knew I wanted to make it 3 colors to give myself a better game 2 and 3 against Stax so naturally Red was the first color on my mind opening up Recoup which also seemed to naturally fit the flow of the deck.
So with this all in mind I present you:
The European StormA deck suggested by M. van Zundertinstant [21]
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Force of Will
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Repeal
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Frantic Search
Creatures[4]
1 Sphinx of the Steelwind
3 Dark Confidant
sorcery [7]
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Recoup
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
artifact [14]
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
land [15]
3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
Sideboard:
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Thoughtseize
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Extirpate
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Old-Man of the sea
2 Pithing Needle
1 Dark Blast
1 Pyroclasm
1 Empty the Warrens
The sideboard was aimed to deal with Fish, Stax and Ichorid which proved to be difficult match ups, one of the weak spots this deck has is that it's a full turn slower then TPS although a lot more stable. Making it vulnerable in the Storm Mirror something that cannot be easily solved because the very nature of this deck makes this a fact. The only thing one can do is add hand disruption and graveyard hate and win with tight play. This meant adding Thoughtseize as it's potentially very useful against Fish as well (Gaddock Teeg is still a speed bump one must navigate) combined with the obvious Extirpate and Tormod's Crypt for Dredge this should be enough.
Empty The Warrens is a card very few people carry solutions for and it's the bane of Stax and Fish players alike, with this in mind and the knowledge I'd be running red this seemed like a logical sideboard choice to replace Tendrils of Agony in those match ups. Empty has an even lower threshold for being good with only 2-3 storm needed to create enough tokens to give those match ups a hard time. I rounded the Stax hate off with Ingot Chewer as it's a massive thread which can dodge chalice and pose a very real thread when you hard cast it. Together with Darkblast (dealing with Welder) and Pithing needle which also has a place against Fish and Ichorid this rounded out the hate to deal with shops. I chose Old-Man of The Sea over Sower because of the added ability to keep stealing creatures against fish if they Edict you or you chump block a goyf with the stolen creature. Against decks like Selkie this proved very strong as they have no real way to effectively deal with the old-man once you can protect it a bit. Combined with Sphinx, ETW, Darkblast and Pyroclasm Fish decks have a very hard time beating you post board.
On to the tournament reportI took very little notes and most of this is by memory so if I make mistakes I'll just apologize in advance, I'll just do a short recap. I played this deck during
The Dutch Vintage IX yesterday with 40 people battling for an Unlimited Time walk and Mana Drain for second place. As I'm part of the organization I'm usually busy with all kinds of stuff like setting everything up or even judging. This time around my friend and Teammate Arjan (Zieby) took the task of all the days operations so I merely had to show up and play for a change. After arriving at the tournament center and catching up with all the usual suspects I see Duncan and Guus (Mantis) entering the hall with Duncan sporting a cast on his left arm (he broke his wrist, get better soon bro !)
We joke a little about how he's going to shuffle and have some laughs catching up again. He's sporting RnD's own "Minus Six" which is a Bob Dragon list with a transformational sideboard (boarding to Tezzeret) first
piloted by fellow RnD member Chris "Demonic Attorney" Browne a while back. Guus says he's bring Meatberts Sharuum Dredge to the table (which explains why he needed my bazaars and half of the deck) Arjan is sporting his own take on TES which is UB. The entire day for me was centered around the final testing gauntlet for the deck I've been working on for the past 2 month's win or lose isn't very interesting at this point it's all about finding out if the decks able to perform in a 6 round tournament setting and what needs to change.
Round one - Mathi Leanarts playing Oath.I know Mathi and we've battled before, I've got a positive streak against him beating him in the previous TDV event and in Mol with TPS. I also know he's a very solid player and since I've not played Drains or anything slower then TPS or Dredge since Slaver was the deck to beat I'm very excited to find out if my rusty skills are still good enough. We start off with some friendly chats because Mathi is a really relaxed player not into trash talking or banter. He's got a wicked cold which keeps him sneezing and grabbing tissues during our entire round so I ask if it's got the swine flu and if I should be worried but he says it's just a regular cold and we both shrug and shuffle up.
Game 1I win the die roll and my opening hand is good enough (at this point I'm kicking myself for not writing down starting hands) My notes show I opened with Library of Alexandria having it active for the entire game effectively outdrawing him every step of the way. I don't see anything interesting from him and most of his actions show he's playing a Drain deck or at least something of that ilk. I generate enough storm and Tutor for Tendrils to win the first game without much hassle.
Game 2I boarded like I would against Tezzeret taking out Frantic Search, Sphinx (because it's not that good in the mirror) adding 1 Extirpate and 1 Empty the Warrens for added pressure.
I start this game with Land, Sol Ring, Sensei's Top and take it from there. At one point after some calculations I realize the gifts I just drew of the top is lethal with every piece still in my deck. During Mathi's end of turn I announce Gifts with Drain backup and it resolves without a counter. I grab the following pile:
Time Vault, Voltaic Key, Recoup, Yawghmoth's Will.
he looks at the pile and gives a frustrated sigh as he sees whats coming. I have Mox Sapphire, Ruby and Sol ring in play (tapped to play gifts) and 2 basics and 2 Underground sea. With Ancestral, Time walk, Polluted Delta and a Repeal in my graveyard this pile spells doom. After some minutes he settles on giving me Yawghmoth's Will and Voltaic Key sending Recoup and Time Vault to the yard. I untap and draw Lotus Petal. I play the petal and announce Yawghmoth's Will using a Underground Sea and Sol ring. At this point the obvious fact that I can sac and replay the petal escapes me, he lets it resolve (I still had the Mana drain) and I proceed to sac the petal to replay Ancestral Recall (?!) I then proceed to play the Time Vault using the the 2 Moxen and the Voltaic Key. At this point I activate the key to untap the time vault and Mathi announces Ancient Grudge (tapping him out) I look at the board seeing: 2 moxen (tapped), Solring (tapped) 2 Underground see (2 tapped) 2 Island (1 tapped to activate the Key) and the lonely Mana drain stuck in my hand with the Ancestral not giving me a Force I have to let it resolve. I facepalm myself in my mind for this obvious greedy mistake (no sense in playing Ancestral or not to sac the petal to play Will) and try to remain my cool, very rusty indeed.... It doesn't matter in the end because the ancestral gave me Rebuild, Lotus, Tendrils so I proceed to pass the turn receive it back and combo out with no hassle but it could have been a potentially fatal mistake.
Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0Round two Thomas Hendriks playing ANTAgain a familiar face, Thomas is sporting the same ANT list I once pioneered and the one that has brought him a few top 8 finishes to date. We've played each other before during Vintage and PTQ's and we jokingly banter about what matters most, I indicate I've never lost to him in Vintage competition and he points out the fact I've never beaten him during an Extended PTQ. Thomas ended up winning the event (Congrats on the finish !!) and he's featured in the Video that will be up soon. This match is trademarked by a lot of banter going both ways as we both jokingly take verbal stabs at each other all in good sports because we have a mutual respect for each other.
Game 1I win the die roll and keep a good opener with a turn 2 Mana drain or Confidant so I open up with a fetch land and pass the turn. Because Thomas has played a wide range of decks from BUG fish to ANT I have no clue what he's on today but the hand looks solid enough unless he has a turn 1 kill. From my vast experience in pioneering and playing ANT I know what the decks capable off and barring the mythical first turn Kill I should be able to manage the matchup if he's sporting it although it's nowhere near favorable or even close to being decent for me. I should have noticed that small twinkel in his eyes as he announced he'd keep his opening seven as he ecstatically exclaims he'll finally have his revenge beating me in the storm mirror (he put me on TPS) having the first turn kill. He goes about the normal ANT stuff doing lots of broken shit and resolving a turn 1 Ad Nauseam, I'm nowhere near scooping because I know with the build he's running he has the potential to kill himself so I tell him to earn his victory and play it out. He flips the first card: Ad Nauseam (goes down to 13) he flips another Cabal Ritual (11) he flips another Ad Nauseam (6) in desperate search of anything that would lead him to cast the Cabal ritual or find a tendrils to keep going he flips another card: Tendrils of Agony (2 life) not content with just passing the turn and going next turn (probably in fear of a quick TPS finish) he flips another card: Demonic Tutor.... So I win the first game, phew what luck...(Thomas if you read this, bad beats happen dude)
Game 2Our banter continues (to much entertainment of the onlooking crowd that has gathered at this point) as I jokingly point out to this very unfavorable match up going my way again denying him his revenge and him claiming it's not over.
He elects to play first and opens broken enough to Demonic Consultation for Ad Nauseam and have the mana floating to cast it when he finds it. I *sigh* in frustration as it looks like he'll get his first turn kill after all... He flips the fist six : Tendrils of Agony, Black Lotus, Yawgh. Will, Swamp, Fetch, Necro... well that's a beating but he's still fine... He continues flipping and promptly flips his remaning 2 Tendrils of Agony removing them from the game before he could find Ad Nauseam leaving him with no kill left he scoops.
The entire crew busts out in laughter and they offer their sympathy for Thomas, he shrugs and shakes my hand claiming he'll have his revenge soon enough and I say well bad beats but we'll see another time.
Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-0Round three Martijn van der Vaart playing Drain TendrilsI do have a knack for facing familiar faces as Martijn is one as well, we've both been avid supporters of running TPS (his with a red splash and mine being UB) and I'm rather excited to see if I can come out on top. The last time I faced Martijn was a TPS mirror with him coming out on top so I'm both eager to see if my decks up for it and if I can have some revenge. This match up looks hard pre-board but post board should change a lot with me adding graveyard hate. Martijn is a very solid player and overall very nice guy, again this is a player content with just playing the game and not throwing a lot of banter so I adjust accordingly and leave the mind games at home.
Game 1We both start off mimicking like we're playing the TPS mirror, imagine my surprise when I'm still alive turn 3 and he forces a Dark Confidant into play with a Drain to protect it. I switch gears and immediately assume he's running his crews Bob Tezzeret list which should be tremendously in my favor. I play a Top revealing my true nature and get my own confidant into play. Again I'm hugely surprised when he proceeds to use his drain mana to fuel all kinds of Shenanigans with Rebuild, Moxen, Sol ring and a lethal Tendrils to the dome. Oh god great minds do think alike and just like we've both been supporters of running TPS he now made the switch to Drain Tendrils on the same day I premier TES (which resembles DT a lot but isn't quite like it)
Game 2Being a bit flabbergasted with this change I board in Extirpate and Darkblast taking out Sphinx and Frantic Search. In retrospect I should have boarded Thoughtseizes but at the time it didn't even cross my mind. He opens with LoA and second turn Bob and I never catch up. Another lethal Tendrils seals the deal.
We both joke about how we assumed to be facing TPS and how funny it is we both switched to similar decks and we both wish each other luck as we were both undefeated until this point I jokingly say I'll see him in the Top 8 (which he did manage to reach)
Matches 2-1 Games: 4-2Round four Twan Koperberg running Uba StaxAgain a very familiar face as Twan is part of the same crew Martijn is and I know those guys from all the Vintage and PTQ's we've seen each other at. I know Twan's a very solid player and I've not seen him play so I have no clue what I'm up against.
Game 1He wins the die roll and opens with turn 1 Chalice of the Void for zero and Goblin Welder..... Ah finally, Stax.... With only a turn 2 Mana Drain and a Repeal in hand I'm not to worried so I let it resolve and during my turn bounce the welder setting him back another turn and drawing a land. Eventually this game boils down to him getting me locked before I could Hurkyl's him for the second time. I knew this was a hard game pre-board so I scoop it up in order to save the time and proceed to game 2.
Game 2I've brought in the entire arsenal namely: ETW, 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Ingot Chewer and a Darkblast. I leave the confidants in the deck but I take out the expensive cards like Gifts (and with it Recoup), FoF, Frantic, Tendrils to make the deck curve the same as to not flip myself to death with Confidants. I elect to play and keep my opening 7. I lead with a turn 1 Fetch into Sea, Mana crypt Dark Confidant. He plays a sphere, I Flip a Tinker and Draw a Mox. I play the land I had in my opener and use it to cast the mox and use the Mox to pay extra for the tinker into Sphinx. Twan soon realizes he can't ever race this opening and scoops it up. My deck treated me nicely there.
Game 3This is the first game 3 I've played this day and I'm curious about my board because the previous game didn't show me anything (besides the obvious knowledge that turn 2 Sphinx completely wrecks Stax) This game was a complete joke as I open again with a turn one Confidant to face his Chalice on one. I feel fairly confident (pun intended) in winning this race as Dark Confidant if left unchecked will give me everything I need to win this. Twan sighs and proceeds to draw a card and play a sphere. This goes on for about 2-3 turns with me just flipping cards and losing life never hitting another land and his chalice for zero on turn 3 shutting down any moxen I would draw... eventually a few Tangle Wires further in the game he plays his trump card (Uba Mask) removing any hope I had left (and all cards) letting me die to my own Confidant.
I felt like my deck left me hanging dry with no land within all those cards but it happens... I shrug and shake Twan's hand an wish him luck.
Matches: 2-2 Games: 5-4Round five Arjen Ruiterkamp playing Uba StaxA quick look at the pairings and I see yet familiar face, Arjen has been on a roll and has won the Vintage side-event during the Dutch Nationals running Uba Stax his brother (Gerwin) and him are old time familiars from the Hengelo Crew, they are great guys and very strong competitors. a quick look at the standings show us that I have a shot at possibly making it into the top 8 if I manage to win this match but it looks bleak. Arjen getting up-paired and me getting down paired and with nothing left to win for him and the possible chance for me to make it in he looks at his teammates and if they would get into any trouble if he scooped which wasn't the case and he generously offers to try and scoop me into a chance for the top 8 spot. I'm very thankful and tell him about what I was playing and he says I wouldn't have stood a chance (which might be right) seeing as we both have been playing the entire day. we head out to the bar area and both enjoy our lunch at around 4 in the afternoon.
Round Six Goswin Zeeman playing Vroman Oath (adjusted a bit)Oh man, a quick look at the standings show us that we both have a small shot at making it into the top 8 at 8th place so we have to play it out. We take a look at the opponent and both laugh, Goswin is a familiar face (yet again) and a very solid player. We've shared a hotel room in Annecy during Bazaar of Moxen 2 including the entire 10 hour car ride and always hang together during tournaments. As Goswin lives way up North in Holland we only get to see each other during events but it's always lots of laughs.
We've been dying to face each other during a tournament so this match is going to be very fun and intense. A small crowd of people that have dropped gathered to watch it as Dennis (XdeckX) Bijkerk grabs a chair and sits next to us.
Game 1He gets a turn 2 Oath with Orchard into play and I can't believe it. I can't get rid of the Oath (or token) during my turn and I have to pass the turn hoping it's Tyrant or (Platinum) Angel Oath a deck his brother Zagar and he have been known to play. He starts Oathing and the first signs of trouble start showing as he flips a Time Vault, A key and finally a Darksteel colossus. I can't believe my luck and during my turn I frantically try to find a way to win or get rid of the Oath. I fail and have to pass the turn again he gives me another token and proceeds to Oath up Iona (Angel Oath indeed....) naming blue I can't possible win and scoop it up.
Game 2EDIT: Apparently I resolved TV and Key for the win.
Game 3Is basically the same as game 1 instead he now Oathed Iona first sealing the deal.
So I'm out and Goswin proceeds to sneak into top 8 (congrats, you did it again).
ConclusionOverall I was very happy with the way the deck handled itself and barring some rusty play and facing of bad matchups the deck is viable enough to be considered. I'll definitely keep working on this deck as it's very solid. I'll try and answer any questions you guys might have and offer tips if you want to run it yourself.
