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LSV
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« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2010, 02:49:04 am » |
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As I was building Tezz last night, I realized I wasn't looking forward to playing it at the tournament, and that was no good. Vintage is awesome, and there is no reason to play something that bores you. I also realized I hadn't cast Necro in over a year, so I had a new plan! I knew I wanted to play Bobs, Duresses, and Tendrils, so I started to search for some inspiration. As usual, the Atog Lord had a sweet brew, and that's kind of where I started.
I basically took Rich's list from his last tournament and made a few swaps:
-1 Impulse
-1 Sleight of Hand
-1 Cabal Ritual
-1 Swamp
-1 Gifts Ungiven
+3 Duress
+2 Preordain
Impulse and Sleight of Hand seemed worse than Preordain (and Sleight of Hand is just strictly worse), and I definitely wanted to get some Duresses in the main. I expected a ton of Tezz, based on past events, and Duress is awesome. It felt odd even playing less than 4, actually. Gifts is a card I have disliked for a while, and I would rather play Jace almost any time instead. The Cabal Ritual and the Swamp may have been greedy, but looking at my old lists I saw that the mana count was about the same, so I felt ok (and Preordains help, right?).
The final list:
4 Dark Confidant
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ponder
4 Force of Will
3 Duress
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Necropotence
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mind's Desire
1 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Timetwister
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
2 Island
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer (The Dredge Package: don't leave home without it!)
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Tinker
1 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth (the extra Rebuild and Truth were because I was worried about Stax w Leyline of Sanctity, and didn't want too many Hurkyl's)
1 Duress
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Island
1 Swamp
The sideboard was pretty typical. I cast Tinker once on the day (for Sensei's Top), and didn't really use the rest all that much. Then again, there was infinite Tezz, and TPS is pre-boarded there (though the matchup isn't as good as it was in the pre-vault key and spell pierce days). The basics were awesome, as they always are vs stax. I find it pretty funny that BASIC land is a powerful sideboard option in Vintage, and think that it shows how well-designed the game is.
A recounting of my matches:
Round 1 vs Lotushead, MUD of course
He won the roll, and played a Trinisphere, which I forced. I dropped a Bob, then another Bob, though he was able to slow me down with Tangle Wire, Null Rod, and Thorn. I make a bad attack around turn six or so, when I hit with two Bobs. That lets him Mishra's Factory me for two, which could easily have spelled doom. I manage to live at 3 life for around three turns (though one Bob died partway through), which more than makes up for the flipped Desire earlier. Chain of Vapor bounces Thorn and my Bob at his EOT, and Ritual Ritual Tendrils is enough to finish what Mana Crypt started.
I side in lands and bounce spells, taking out crappy Duresses and expensive cards.
He mulls to six and opens with Chalice 0, Mox, Ghost Quarter, and Mana Crypt into Lodestone Golem (not necessarily in that order, of course). I FoW the Golem, and Ancestral (nice hand!), then play out a pair of Bobs. He finally draws a Juggernaut on turn five or thereabouts, but it's not nearly fast enough, since I get to take a hit and Rebuild EOT, then go off at my leisure.
1-0
Round 2 vs BC, Mono-Red Stax
Game 1 was ugly. My hand was Preordain, Bob, Lotus Petal, Timetwister, 2 Fetchlands, and Yawg Will. I was on the play, and I decided to go fetch->basic, Petal, Bob. A good start by any measure. He led with Strip (I always feel cheated when they have Strip Mine. I'm playing all these crappy basics for a reason!) and after some thought, Chalice for zero. While I certainly had no moxen in hand, Bob might draw me into them, and by Stripping my land he keeps me off any powerful plays. I of course draw Lotus on my turn, which would have been game without Chalice. I Ponder into nothing of note, play a land, and pass. He unfortunately has Workshop into Crucible, and my next turn fails to yield either a land or bounce spell for Chalice, so I'm promptly locked out.
Game 2 didn't start much better. We both mulled to five, and I kept Flooded Strand, Lotus, Hurkyl's Recall, Sol Ring, Dark Ritual. A ton of mana at least, so any gas and I should be good to go. Sadly, it didn't work out that way. He didn't have a blazing fast hand either, and my midgame Hurkyl's bought me a ton of time, but I never saw any sort of action spell. Usually when you have near-infinite mana (I ended the game with Lotus in play and double ritual in hand, vs his board of Chalice 2 and Smokestack), you are good vs Stax, but you do need something to get the ball rolling.
1-1
Round 3 vs Matt Young, Dredge
He mulled to 2, which isn't all that bad since he still found Bazaar. I kept a speculative hand (Mystical, Merchant Scroll, Lotus Petal, Duress, FoW, lands). Basically the nuts vs anything BUT dredge (which I knew he was). Still, I was on the play and had t1 Scroll for Ancestral with FoW to slow him down. As it turned out, my Ancestral found me Ritual and Lotus, so when I Mystical'ed for Will the game was over (I even had a FoW to try and mitigate any potential Cabal Therapy'ing, but he didn't get that far).
My opener had Leyline g2, which bought me at least a few turns. It also had a ton of mana, so when I drew Timetwister turn 3 I was able to play a bunch of moxes, rituals, Tendrils for 16, and then Twister. I didn't kill him that turn, but Twister found me that Tinker for Top I mentioned, which dug up a Tendrils on the following turn. Even with a hand of 7, he still had to waste his turn dealing with Leyline and putting the first few dredgers in the bin, and couldn't mount an offense.
2-1
Round 4 vs Michael Lewis, TPS
My opponent led with an Imperial Seal t1, then on t2 Mystical'ed for Ancestral. I had t1 Top t2 Bob, but his t3 Ancestral into Lotus into Ritual into Will into kill me kind of trumped it.
I kept a risky one game 2: Lotus, Duress, Duress, Bob, FoW, Yawg Will, DT. Powerful, but if he had Force for Lotus (and the read), I was sunk. Luckily, his six card hand had Mis-D, not Force, so I was able to Duress his Gifts and let Bob find me lands before he could really do anything. At one point, he did tutor for Tinker and summon a Darksteel Colossus, but Vamp for Jace was a perfect answer to that. At this point, running any target but Inkwell in the main seems insane, since Jace is everywhere. After that, another two Duresses cleared the way for a nice Yawg Will turn.
I thought I was in a little trouble game three, since I kept a hand with no Force. It was an awesome hand, but it looked like he was going to do a bunch of stuff. He led with land, Lotus Petal, Mana Vault, Gifts. I was a little less worried, since unless he had Lotus in hand, he was probably shipping the turn. He pulled out Tinker, Lotus (whew), Sadistic Sacrament, and Demonic Tutor. I gave him Tinker and Sad Sac, and he passed the turn. Situations like that are why Gifts doesn't impress me much. Sure, when you have a ton of lands or a tutor/Will in hand, it can be awesome, but I want my four mana spells to just be awesome, period. Jace has so far accomplished that with flying colors, acting as a Brainstorm machine with the side option of bouncing their monsters, and maybe even fatesealing them (though rarely).
My hand was pretty nice: Duress, Dark Ritual, 2xBob, Demonic Tutor, Lotus, Delta, Sea. Drawing the second Bob was neat I guess, but I didn't end up casting either of them. I led with Duress, and saw Tinker, Sad Sac, Swamp, and 2 Cabal Rituals. I took Sad Sac, though I wasn't even all that worried about it, figuring I would be able to find Fow. I figured that since my next play was to go Lotus, Ritual, DT, Necro, and Necro for 9. I did indeed find FoW, though I didn't need it, and after another round of Necroing I was able to go Will->Tendrils.
3-1
Round 5
ID with Jack, playing Depths Hexmage of all things.
3-1-1
Top 8 vs Tom Raney, Tezz
Tom started with a turn one Bob, which is never a pleasant sight. I had a kind of slow hand, and spent my first couple turns Pondering and Preordaining. I eventually Brainstormed into some restricted cards, and went Time Walk into Ancestral, with Lotus in play. I then Duressed him, and saw that he had no counters but a few action cards. I settled on taking Brainstorm and leaving him with Vamp and Tinker. As predicted, he Vamped for FoW and Tinkered into Inkwell. I had a Rebuild, and figured I just needed to draw an action card in the next two turns. He FoWed my Rebuild and hit me to 5 after I missed, leaving me with one draw step. I peeled Jace, which dug me into Yawg Will, which I luckily had enough mana for (since that's all I had drawn thus far). Yawg Will with Lotus, Ancestral, Walk, and cantrips in yard was easily lethal, as the Recall even found me Tendrils immediately.
Game 2 was over pretty quickly. He led with a fetchland and passed. I went land, ritual, which resolved. I know Tom, and Tom likes value, so even if he had Spell Pierce he was likely to let Ritual resolve. I Duressed him, and lo and behold, a Spell Pierce! I don't think that it's necessarily wrong for him to let me Ritual, especially since he had a Brainstorm that he wanted to cast that turn. He let my Duress resolve, and I indeed took Pierce, and just hoped he didn't Brainstorm into Force, since I was dumping my hand. I played another Dark Rit, then a Cabal Rit, then DT'ed for Lotus, then played Yawg Will. Of course, he Brainstormed, but missed on Force of Will. Will let me replay 3 rituals and Lotus into DT for Tendrils, with storm 14 or something.
Top 4 vs Tom Martell, Tezz with Trygons
Game 1 I threw pretty badly. After a few turns with Bobs on both sides, he had a Jace and a Bob vs my Bob. On my turn, I Topped into a Delta, which would let me cast my own Jace to kill his, after which I was planning on playing Mystical for Will and attempting to go off. I decided to get tricky and attack Jace with Bob, hoping to force the trade, since I had just Duressed him and wanted to limit how many new cards he got. As expected, he traded, at which point I realized that I couldn't play Jace anymore, since I had neglected to account for the one floating Sol Ring mana going away. Awkward. Instead of me Willing and crushing him, he Jaced into Spell Pierce, which I paid for, though it limited me to just playing Ancestral. The game then went on for two more turns, and all the extra Brainstorms let him assemble Vault + Tezzeret in the same turn to murder me.
I started game two well, with Lotus into Brainstorm into Mox, Sol Ring, Merchant Scroll, Ancestral. With Ancestral on the stack, my hand was FoW, Mystical, Bob, Rebuild, so things were looking good. I had a mana floating and hadn't played a land, so all I needed to do was hit a black source. Unfortunately, I missed, and had to pass the turn after playing a Sapphire (to go with my Emerald and Sol Ring). Tom played a land and a Mox, then tried to Time Walk. I had a new plan, so I FoWed his Walk, and he passed. FoWing Time Walk in that situation is unusual, but my plan was to Mystical for Timetwister, so I didn't want him to play any more permanents. Twister resolved, and I immediately remembered why I never played Twister in my previous TPS decks. It drew me into 5 lands, a Mox, and a Tendrils, and Tom into a bunch of sweet blue cards and a Library of Alexandria. I died in short order, never playing another spell. It isn't that drawing a bad hand makes me think Twister is terrible, it is that there is always the possibility of such. I like my TPS decks to play somewhat controllish, and have a million Duresses and Bobs, so Twister just doesn't fit well. Twister is more at home in the faster and less stable combo decks, like Ad Nauseam, not the deck that sides into 6 basics and plays a bunch of Duress effects and whatnot.
Tom ended up beating Phil for the Mox, so Trygons took home another tournament. Nice card.
My Thoughts on Preordain: I was not impressed. The card just doesn't do enough, and I rarely felt like I was getting a mana's worth of utility from casting it. It really isn't that much better than Sleight of Hand, and Sleight of Hand was never a great card. I understand that combo is all about digging into broken plays, and that is why it always plays Ponder where Tezzeret doesn't, since it has Rituals and the like to get the mana back, but Preordain just didn't do it for me. I was hoping it would be sweet, but my first experience with it was not positive. I might give it another go, but if it isn't good, I'm not sure what to replace it with. It is hard to justify playing Storm instead of Vault Key, since now the "control" deck has a very fast kill and gets to play Spell Pierce and Mana Drain instead of Rituals, but I wasn't completely dissatisfied with the deck I played. If I can find something good to replace Preordains with, I will be happy, but I'm really not sure what that is. Also, Twister is probably going too.
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