First place with "The Deck" @ First Brussel Vintage Championship

[Ulthrion]

Last sunday I made my first top8 in vintage ever, and won the 41 man tournament (First Brussel Vintage Championship) to recieve my second piece of power: Mox Sapphire!

I started vintage because of The Control Players' Bible, and my friend Frank convinced me to play it because it fits my playing style.

Anyway, I took the list from MirariKnight (as posted here), and made some changes. I knew I wanted Balance, so switched the 4th city in for the snow-covered Island. I dropped the Sowers because I didn't have them, and initially wanted to play Control Magic in it's place. Instead, I opted to drop Sadistic Sacrement as well (too hard to cast with triple black), and go for the Oath sideboard, as the sowers were mainly there for beatdown matchups anyway. There are precious few win conditions game 1, and sometimes I wanted a faster clock, but in the end I never lost a game where I got control.

All in all, this is what I played:

The Deck:
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 City of Brass
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand

1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Sundering Titan

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven

1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Mind Twist
1 Balance
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Timetwister
1 Fire//Ice
1 Regrowth

Sideboard:
3 Oath of Druids
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Rebuild
1 Oxidize
1 Extirpate
1 Pyroblast
2 Greater Gargadon

I didn't make any notes, but some comments anyway:
After 5 rounds of swiss I was in first on tiebreakers (4-1). I got 1 bye, defeated tezz, vampires and selkie strike, losing to TPS.

Quarter-finals vs. Mirror
The first game he opens on Library and gets to activate it three times before I can force him to drop under seven cards. I open of Gorilla Shaman that continues to beat down for the next twelve or so rounds. I do win a counter war with a mana drain, and use that mana to mind twist his hand away. He topdecks ancestral, finds some mana and a fact or fiction and is almost back in the game. I have assembled Crucible/waste/shaman however, and after he lets my demonic resolve, I show him the Strip mine I search for and he concedes.

The second game starts with a classic draw-go style play from both of us, keeping eachother's mana in check. I resolve Crucible, and he mysticals for ancient grudge. He cast ancient grudge of his volcanic and emerald, which I force and destroy his emerald the next turn with my own grudge to prevent a quick flashback. He concedes when I cast demonic for Strip Mine again.

Semi-finals vs. Painter
Game 1 I keep an insane hand with sea, ancestral, sol ring, crucible, wasteland and two other cards containing at least 1 permission spell. He apperently kept a risky hand with painter + grindstone. I open with sea and sol ring, he opens with volcanic, mana crypt, sol ring and painter, keeping volcanic open. I waste his volcanic and safely cast ancestral finding another wasteland. I keep destroying his mana, but he only fails 1 of his six mana crypt rolls, so keeps beating with the painter. I resolve crucible as soon as I run out of wastes, and find strip mine a few turns later. I tinker for titan and seal the game.

In game 2 we both play control, but my shaman and wastes keep his mana in check. He does get an early painter online. I extirpate force of will, and see that he has pyroblast for my yawgmoth's will, so I continue to build mana until I can cast it with protection, but I topdeck Tinker at that moment. I tinker for titan and destroy all but 1 of his lands. He mysticals for rack and ruin and destroys my titan and his own sol ring (the only artifacts in play were titan, and his sol ring and painter). This destroys his last land. I quickly find crucible, and after a demonic tutor for strip mine he concedes.

Finals vs. TPS
This is the guy I lost my only swiss round to.
He opens on duress and sees my yawgmoth's will, force of will, brainstorm as the only buisiness spells. He takes brainstorm and passes the turn. I topdeck drain and play a land. He draws and does nothing (no land drop), and I topdeck a second mana drain. He vampirics at the end of my turn and tries to go off on his. I force the yawgmoth's will, he forces back, and I drain the force. He is momentarily perplexed as he had only counted on one unknown card in my hand. We continue the draw-go plan and I draw the remaining two mana drains in the next three draws. I ride the card advantage and land destruction to a big yawgmoth's will turn which I still had from turn 1, and cast regrowth for sundering titan and time walk from my graveyard. On the walk turn I hardcast titan (I would have lost 3 duals if I had cast it on the will turn), and get the remaining three force of wills in my hand to ride out the game.

In game 2 I mulligan to five and keep a mediocre hand. I do get a gorilla shaman out to beat him down, and he doesn't get much out. He only topdecks forces and eventually casts timetwister. This gets my back in the game as he had a better hand and a small mana development advantage prior to the twister. Next turn he tries to go off again, but only manages to cast necropotence. He necro's 8 cards and passes the turn (he doesn't get anything useful though). Gorilla shaman keeps beating, and he vampirics on my end step for sadistic sacrement. He necros 2 more cards, putting him at 1 life, and sad sacs me. He removes helm of obedience, sundering titan and time walk. I point out that I have my win condition on the battlefield already, and he concedes.


I now have doubled my number of power cards and added a mox sapphire to my ancestral recall. All in all, I love how The Deck plays, but it is a bit slow. Crucible of Worlds was instrumental in nearly every game, and gorilla shaman is a true underestimated win condition. I never believed he could be the 20-turn clock you need to win, but now I know that he can realistically go all the way in addition to being an increadible card advantage machine. Titan is definately the robot of choice for me at the moment. There are still some things to tinker about with this deck (I think a glen elendra archmage would be a really cool addition to The Deck as a clock + card advantage + permission).

[marriedwithchildren]

Congrats on the top finish!!  How was the Oath transformation side?  What did you bring Greater gargadon in against?  Lastly how were Mind Twist and Balance in the deck?  Any changes you'd make if you could go back?  Why Crucible and not Life from the Loam?  Sorry about all the question just trying to get more insight.

[OmniStrife_101]

I myself am playing The Deck with the inclusion of the following:

1 Painter
1 Grindstone

Given this, and the issue of The Deck having a slow clock, I am not sure as to the reason why the Painter-Grind combo can't be included in place of the Obeyline combo slot. 

[bosoxdave]

I myself am playing The Deck with the inclusion of the following:

1 Painter
1 Grindstone

Given this, and the issue of The Deck having a slow clock, I am not sure as to the reason why the Painter-Grind combo can't be included in place of the Obeyline combo slot. 

If you were going to put a set of two cards into the deck, why would you choose Painter/Grindstone over Vault/Key? 

[OmniStrife_101]

I myself am playing The Deck with the inclusion of the following:

1 Painter
1 Grindstone

Given this, and the issue of The Deck having a slow clock, I am not sure as to the reason why the Painter-Grind combo can't be included in place of the Obeyline combo slot.  

If you were going to put a set of two cards into the deck, why would you choose Painter/Grindstone over Vault/Key?  

Deck synergy perhaps?  With Painter you can maindeck even 1 REB, can block Dark Confidants and Blood Ghasts.  Grindstone destroys top deck tutors.  TimeVault is a dead card on its own ( except when facing opposing Smokestacks ).  Voltaic Key can untap Mana Crypt.  

[carl]

Last sunday I made my first top8 in vintage ever, and won the 41 man tournament (First Brussel Vintage Championship)

31 players I believe.

[Ulthrion]

Congrats on the top finish!!  How was the Oath transformation side?  What did you bring Greater gargadon in against?  Lastly how were Mind Twist and Balance in the deck?  Any changes you'd make if you could go back?  Why Crucible and not Life from the Loam?  Sorry about all the question just trying to get more insight.

The Oath transformational sideboard was a bit of a mixed bag. I think it can be powerful, but wouldn't opt for it as the standard. I didn't have the sowers, so I wanted something else for the beatdown matchup. Lack of testing with the Oaths made me make some mistakes I shouldn't have made.
Greater Gargadon remained in the side all day, but it was fantastic against Oaths during playtesting. One of the better sideboard cards in that matchups because they pretty much need pithing needle to have a chance of going off quickly.
Mind Twist and Balance were both great. In fact, Mind Twist has contributed to at least 4 wins over the course of the tournament. Mainly off a mana drain, butt the beauty is that you can go all-in if you're not facing forces, or you have backup, because they are immediately in topdeck mode after it resolves. Balance is awesome in creature matchups, as expected, but it's also quite nice if you get a good mox-loaded hand as a semi-twister. I never used it as a armageddon though. It also seems great with greater gargadon, but the problem is that you don't really want both in the deck against the same opponent.
Crucible is so much easier to play than life from the loam. It doesn't cost you a draw step, and I really hate cards going to the graveyard for nothing. They are still accessible, but cards in the library are much easier to reach, and often it's quite comforting to know that certain cards are still in your library. It comes down to style of play though I think. I often used tutors to get crucible/strip out, and almost never went for yawgmoth's will if I had a choice, because with Will still in the library, you have the tool to come back in any game. The same goes for cards like balance and timetwister to a lesser extend. Also, I play very aggressively with my wastelands, so I'm usually in a good position once I decide to cast the Crucible. Often mana drain helps with protecting it. In any case, playing wastes early, and dropping crucible late, I never lost a match where I got crucible down, and I never had crucible destroyed once it was in play. The uncounterable aspect of loam didn't come into play in my matches.

The cards that made no impact this tournament were misdirection and fire//ice. Timetwister was also a little too dead for my taste. In case of fire//ice though, it's a matter of matchups, and misdirection is still a great inclusion I think. Mana Crypt and Tolarian Academy weren't all that great either, although the academy does give some good mana at times, the deck really has too little or consistent artifacts in play to really make this useful. Mana crypt was mainly for tinker, other than that, games go too long for mana crypt to be really worth the risk. Sometimes, like ac ademy, it just helps you close the game that much faster with an early tinker + protection. Luckily, Gorilla Shaman can get rid of it as well, which makes it easier to play, and then it can help with getting a crucible down (in which case you are in a terriffic position).
Thirst was also mainly used for digging, and like tolarian academy, it suffers a little from the low artifact count.