ELD's Mox XXVIII - Decklists and Pics

[ELD]

Decklists added.  I'd like to thank Heather Carpentier (HungryHungryHeifer) for typing up the decklists!  

Thank you to everyone who attended.  It is your support that determines if we have these events.  I believe that New England Vintage is going through a rebirth, and I hope we break into 6 rounds before the end of 2010.  The more people who participate, the better the prizes!  Below is a pic of the many choices the Top 8 were presented with. 


The Prizes!

Standings after Swiss

           Op-Match
Rank    Name    Points   
  1   Andy Probasco    11   Tezzeret
  2   Keith Carpenter    11   Red Shops
  3   Craig Dupre    11   MUD
  4   Matt Macauley    10   Noble Fish
  5   Demonic Attorney    10   Oath
  6   Dan Cunningham    10   Jace
  7   Oliver Beaumont     9   Tezzeret
  8   Michael Lydon     9   MUD
  9   Bill Copes     9   MUD
 10   Jesse Martin     9   Tezzeret
 11   Elliot Wolchecky     8   Mountains Win Again
 12   Adam Levesque     7   Tezzeret
 13   Nick Linsey     7   Red Shops
 14   Brian Schlossberg     6   MUD
 15   Kyle Del Paggio     6   MUD
 16   Geoff Prugh     6   Tezzeret
 17   Bill Rosa     5   Tezzeret
 18   Adam Brennan     4   Dredge
 19   Michael McGeachie     3   TPS
 20   Patrick Crane     3   SEX
 21   Jeff Rodgers     3   Tezzeret
 22   Micah Greenbaum     3   Painter
 23   Brad Ruxton     0   MUD

Top 8 (Winners in Bold)
 --------------------------------
  1 ( 18) Andy Probasco - Tezzeret
 8 ( 16) Michael Lydon - MUD
 --------------------------------
  5 ( 20) Demonic Attorney - Oath
  4 (  5) Matt Macauley - Noble Fish
 --------------------------------
  3 (  8) Craig Dupre - MUD
 6 ( 21) Dan Cunningham - Jace
 --------------------------------
 7 ( 10) Oliver Beaumont - Tezzeret
  2 (  7) Keith Carpenter - Red Shops
 --------------------------------

Top 4 Split left to right Mike Lydon Oliver Beaumont Matt Macauley Dan Cunningham


Matt Macauley - Noble Fish

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qusali Pridemage
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Meddling Mage
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Trygon Predator
4 Null Rod
1 Rebuild
1 Path to Exile
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Spell Pierce
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Stifle
3 Wasteland
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
Sideboard:
3 True Believer
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Nature's Claim
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Preacher
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Dan Cunningham - Jace

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Drain
1 Time Walk
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Brainstorm
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Dark Confidant
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
2 Thoughtseize
2 Mystic Remora
2 Duress
4 Force of Will
Sideboard:
3 Nature's Claim
3 Seal of Primordium
3 Yixlid Jailer
1 Mystic Remora
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Forest
1 Krosan Grip
1 Massacre

Oliver Beaumont - Tezzeret

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
2 Dark Confidant
1 Sen's Triplets
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Ponder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Rebuild
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
2 Sensei's Divining Top
5 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Negate
1 Infest
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Darksteel Colossus

Michael Lydon - MUD

4 Wasteland
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Scupting Steel
1 Memory Jar
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Smokestack
1 Mana Vault
4 Tangle Wire
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Trinisphere
1 Mox Pearl
1 Expedition Map
1 Strip Mine
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Ruby
Sideboard:
3 Null Rod
4 Bujuko Bog
3 Razormane Masticore
1 Phyrexian Tour
2 High Market
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Crucible of Worlds


5th Andy Probasco - Tezzeret
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
3 Impulse
1 Inkwell Leviathan
4 Island
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Mystic Remora
1 Polluted Delta
2 Repeal
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Spell Pierce
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Time Vault
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voltaic Key
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Sideboard:
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Nature's Claim
1 Perish
2 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer


6th Keith Carpenter - Red Shops
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Barbarian Ring
3 Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
4 Goblin Welder
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Smokestack
4 Null Rod
4 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere
1 Memory Jar
Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Jester's Cap


7th Craig Dupre - MUD
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Metalworker
3 Staff of Domination
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Triskelion
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Arcbound Ravager
1 Trinisphere
1 Duplicant
1 Memory Jar
1 Jester's Cap
Sideboard:
3 Duplicant
2 Jester's Cap
4 Razormane Masticore
2 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crpyt
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Crucible of Worlds

Picture withheld upon request
8th Demonic Attorney - Oath
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Drain
4 Oath of Druids
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Terastodon
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 See Beyond
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Krosan Grip
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Library of Alexandria
Sideboard:
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Pithing Needle
1 Yixlid Jailer
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Thoughtseize
1 Forest
1 Bribery
2 Oxidize



The EDH Side Event

[Commandant]

Copes NOOOOOOOOO! Sad I had to miss this.

[waywreth]

Great event Eric!  Good prize support, venue was nice, nice crowd of players.
Ended up being the only fish player in the room (that I saw) which worked to my advantage.  True Believer won me my top 8 match vs. Chris's Oath deck.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Oath lost to Noble Fish?  Seriously?  Tell me more; it's kind of hard to believe, considering that it's one of Oath's best matchups.

[madlucas]

Oath lost to Noble Fish?  Seriously?  Tell me more; it's kind of hard to believe, considering that it's one of Oath's best matchups.

I guess Magic is a cardgame that involve different factors:
skills,luck,deckbuilding,...moreover Oath vs Bant is not a 100/0 matchup so both decks can win and lose.

[TopSecret]

Oath lost to Noble Fish?  Seriously?  Tell me more; it's kind of hard to believe, considering that it's one of Oath's best matchups.

Tha Gunslinga, I think that there must have been some way you could have prevented this from happening.

[Bill Copes]

DA didn't have an answer to True Believer.

Thanks for hosting another great event, Eric!  Looking forward to the next one.

I'm not too bummed about 9th place -- I didn't play well yesterday and didn't deserve to be in the top 8.  I was actually on tilt a few times.  My apologies to anybody that was bothered by it.

[Fortune]

Show and Tell seems good against True Believer.

[waywreth]

Show and Tell seems good against True Believer.

Very true, although I didn't see him play one in any of our 3 games.  Game 2 was either a 1st or 2nd turn Oath, with a True Believer from me as the response.  He tried to tinker, which resolved for Sphinx, but I had the Path to Exile (and counter backup).  Game 3 ended when he tried to cast Gifts when I had True Believer out (although I did have pierce and daze as well).

[Tha Gunslinga]

Show and Tell seems good against True Believer.

As does Jace.  And Massacre.

[Demonic Attorney]

Since Noble Fish hadn't been played in New England in months, I didn't include any answers to True Believer.  Obviously that won't happen again. 

[M.Solymossy]

Since Noble Fish hadn't been played in New England in months, I didn't include any answers to True Believer.  Obviously that won't happen again. 

This isn't a cut at all Chris, just more of an observation since I haven't seen your list:  Don't you think with Noble Fish winning events out east, and taking like a billion top 8 spots in every European tournament ever, you'd be prepared for people to pick it up out there?

[Demonic Attorney]

Since Noble Fish hadn't been played in New England in months, I didn't include any answers to True Believer.  Obviously that won't happen again.  

This isn't a cut at all Chris, just more of an observation since I haven't seen your list:  Don't you think with Noble Fish winning events out east, and taking like a billion top 8 spots in every European tournament ever, you'd be prepared for people to pick it up out there?

That's a fair question.  To be honest, no.  I try to narrow my preparation for the metagame I expect to encounter, not the metagame I think would represent the best competitive options in the format.  For example, TPS has been performing pretty regularly in other regions, but I haven't seen more than one TPS deck in a New England tournament in months, and I think a Shop-intensive metagame is pretty hostile to combo generally.  So, I didn't include any combo hate in my deck.  My thinking is, if I did include combo hate, I'd be at a disadvantage against the tournament field, because I wouldn't get much if any mileage out of those SB slots.  

Similarly, I couldn't even remember seeing a True Believer in a New England tournament result post, and hadn't seen Noble Fish in New England in forever.  For the same reasons, I was concerned about having dead SB slots against Fish if I invested in Fish hate only to not encounter any Fish.  Furthermore, since Noble Fish wasn't represented in the metagame, even if it did crop up in ELD's tournament, I think it was safe to assume its numbers would be reasonably small and I might be able to dodge the matchup.  At least far as that assumption went, I think I was right, since there was 1 Noble Fish deck out of the 23 player turnout.  In fact, if I'd been paired against Noble Fish at pretty much any other time in the tournament, I would have been able to absorb the loss and win out.  My odds of running into the deck in the top 8 were 7:1.  

I took a calculated risk and it didn't pay off.  I won't make the same decision in the future.  But was it a mistake to take the risk going into ELD's?  I don't think so.  Based on the information available, I didn't see much reason to expect the deck.  If I'd been preparing for a Waterbury or a Traviscon, I'd have expected a more diverse metagame and brought Fish hate.  But looking at recent (and even not-so-recent) trends, it seemed a safe bet to focus more on Shops, Tez, Oath, and Ichorid.

[TheBrassMan]

I don't see where Noble Fish is supposed to be a good matchup for Oath.  Noble fish runs 8 to 16 cards maindeck that a resolved Oath cannot win through, many of which stop Vault+Key as well.  Post board can improve things greatly, but you run into the dredge problem of needing a dramatic game 2 to compensate for a bad game 1.  Between the last two tournaments in New England, Matt was the only fish deck period (and he didn't run fish last week).  Chris not expecting Fish makes perfect sense to me.  Personally I love the mass Show and Tell plan against Shops and Fish alike, but if you're not on that, I can see where it wouldn't make much sense to over prepare for fish here.  You *can't* prepare for everything, especially with dredge killing sideboards, so you have to pick your battles

[ELD]

I saw most of the discussed match, and having access to a SB plan would not have been enough to win G3.  Matt had Path, Nature's Claim and double back up.  Chris was able to vamp to find his answer, and his life total was 1 afterward.  If he had Show and Tell, it would have been countered, and even if resolved, he still would have needed to show a monster that could deal with that situation.  It was a grim situation. 

[waywreth]

I tried to play a list that would prey on Tezz and have a respectable match vs. Oath and Shops.  I did not expect to face aggro or combo, and I feel that Dredge is at best a coin-flip match.  My sideboard plan for Oath was OUT:  Stifle, Mindcensor, 'Goyf; IN:  Seal of Cleaning, Preacher, True Believer, Nature's Claim.  I was waffling with the idea of Curfew vs. either Path or Mystical, but ended up cutting it.  When I play this deck again, I will play one main, and at least one board (over Teeg).

My list in case you're curious.  
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Meddling Mage
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Trygon Predator
4 Null Rod
1 Rebuild
1 Path to Exile
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Spell Pierce
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Stifle
3 Wasteland
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra

SB:
3 True Believer
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Nature's Claim
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Seal of Cleaning
1 Preacher
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Umezawa's Jitte

[voltron00x]

Preacher's an interesting choice.  You weren't concerned about the WW mana being an issue?  Most people would play either Seasinger or Sower in that slot, as they have the added benefit of keeping your blue spell count up.

[voltron00x]

I don't see where Noble Fish is supposed to be a good matchup for Oath.  Noble fish runs 8 to 16 cards maindeck that a resolved Oath cannot win through, many of which stop Vault+Key as well.  Post board can improve things greatly, but you run into the dredge problem of needing a dramatic game 2 to compensate for a bad game 1. 

I don't think it actually is a good match-up at all, and I'm not sure why these boards are suddenly full of people that think it is. 

I can only assume that there's a lot of overconfident Oath players that have, for some reason, convinced themselves that it's a match-up they don't need to worry about, when in fact, a prepared Noble Fish deck is tough to beat if the pilot is at all competent.

[waywreth]

Preacher's an interesting choice.  You weren't concerned about the WW mana being an issue?  Most people would play either Seasinger or Sower in that slot, as they have the added benefit of keeping your blue spell count up.

Preacher answers every Oath creature except Inkwell, which in this case I knew Chris did not play due to game 1.  I also liked the fact I could put Preacher down even with an Oath out, and it doesn't die to Perish.  Never thought of using Seasinger though, might make it in future iterations.  The WW cost wasn't an issue since my sideboard cards are mostly white based, fetching double Tundra is often the play route.  However in this case of Saturday's event, Preacher never made an appearance.

[Meddling Mike]

Great event, had a great time, was good to finally get a chance to see everybody at a Vintage tournament again!

MUD was very good again and grabbed me a share of the top 4.

[ELD]

Decklists and pics added.  Thank you to Heather Carpentier (HungryHungryHeifer) for typing the decklists! 

[LotusHead]

absolutely wonderful pics of the prize support. I wish we had that kind of stuff out here.