Report - Dutch Vintage Champs

Report - Dutch Vintage Champs – Top 8

Hi all, this weekend we all battled in Eindhoven to take the title of Dutch Vintage Champ. I managed to get a seat for the quarterfinals but unfortunately this was also the last stop of my journey for the title.
We were with 39 competitors and this was my weapon of choice:

Maindeck
4 force of will
3 mana drain
1 time walk
1 time vault
1 black lotus
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 mox ruby
1 mana crypt
1 ancestrall recall
1 mox jet
1 mox sapphire
4 misty rainforest
2 thoughtseize
2 scalding tarn
1 brainstorm
3 underground sea
2 tropical island
1 volcanic island
2 jace the mindsculptor
1 island
1 snow-covered island
1 forest
1 tolarian academy
1 merchant scroll
1 voltaic key
1 sensei's dvining top
3 spell pierce
4 dark confidant
2 trygon predator
1 tinker
1 inkwell leviathan
1 sol ring
1 hurkyll's recall
1 demonic tutor
1 yawmoth's will
1 mystical tutor
1 gifst ungiven
1 nature's claim
1 vamperic tutor
1 darkblast

sideboard:
3 nature;s claim
1 pyroblast
2 red elemental blast
2 mindbreak trap
1 sower of temptation
1 extirpate
1 relic of progenitus
4 yixlid jailer

Round 1/6 - MUD
I won the die rol and leaded with an island. My opponent played a mox and tried to cast his sol ring. I spell pierced the sol ring. This seemed a very good choice there my opponent didn’t had any other mana source and he stayed on just one mana for the remainder of the game. The second game I drew enough hate and was able to quickly assemble my combo for the win.
=> Win : 1-0

Round 2/6 – Gush combo
My opponent for this round was Zieby, someone who’s known to be a very skillful vintage player who was probably playing a combo deck. He kept while I mulliganned and accidently showed him my Jace. He told me he was happy that he kept this hand because this should give him a very decent fighting chance. Actually to be honest, I don’t recall much of this game except for the fact that I drew more counters for the counter war than Zieby and this gave me the game. Game 2 I opened with a Dark Confidant followed by another one. I rode this card advantage with an attacking body to victory by assembling also Vault – Key and tutoring for a Jace in the infinite turns.
=> Win : 2-0

Round 3/6 Portal MUD
In this round I played Steven Vanderbulk. I knew he was playing an experimental deck and decided to keep a decent hand with 2 dark confidants but no black mana. My first 5 draws were my other black cards (I only lacked the Darkblast) and lost the game due to the inability to cast any of these spells. The second game I led with a first turn Inkwell Leviathan (Tinker + Tolarian Academy and Mana Crypt). He was able to cast enough creatures to block and kill my Leviathan while I never drew another land.
=> Loss : 2-1

Round 4/6 5c Stax
Peter Reynders, my travel and team mate was my opponent for this round. I opened very broken, setting me up for a second turn kill. Peter opened even ore broken and was able to stop me from winning the second turn by casting a Tanglewire which I forced, and tinkering for a Sundering Titan, killing my black mana source which I desperately needed in my upkeep to win the game on turn 2. I played another Underground Sea in my turn but also here Peter had the necessary wasteland to prevent me from winning fast enough to escape the death by Titan. Game 2 I can’t recall anymore, but he also won that one. No need to say that he walked home …
=> Loss : 2 - 2

Round 5/6 WG Beats
At this point I already abandoned all hope for the top 8 but decided to play on to see how far I could get. I opened the game with a Voltaic Key and passed the turn. My opponent played a land and passed. I did the same. Bart played Null Rod. This made me decide to use my mystical tutor to tutor for Tinker. I Tinkered my key into an Inkwell Leviathan and rode him to victory. Somewhere in between I also killed a summoning sick Mother of Runes with my Darkblast. The second game was a lot more fun there I opened with a lot of artifact mana which got shut down by Null Rod. I managed to keep his bord clear of creatures for some time until I drew one of my nature’s claims which freed my mana and gave me the ability to assemble my combo through a Yawgmoth’s will.
=>Win : 3 – 2

Round 6/6 Homebrew U/R Control
I saw the standings and the only way I could make T8 was when Peter and another friend of mine drew there game. They would never do this intentionally because this meant that they also lost their chance on hitting the T8. At this time the TO announced that there would be prices handed out to everyone with 12 points or more. I decided to give my opponent a run for his money and started the game with a first turn Trygon Predator of a Black Lotus. Afther some turns of attacking my opponent stole my Trygon with a Sower of Temptation followed by a Trinisphere. My graveyard grew bigger and bigger. At some point I managed to cast a Jace and I bounced the Sower of Temptation, returning my little servant to his owner. My hand contained some counterspells, a Will and a Gifts. The will on its own would secure me the game so I needed to make sure this one resolved. At this point my opponent tapped 3 mana whiche resulted in him having only 5 mana available to cast a tinker into an Inkwell. At the end of this turn I tried to use my gifts with he happily countered, leaving him at 2 mana. In my first mainfase I casted my will which he couldn’t counter due to his own Trinisphere. Next I attacked with my trygon killing his Trinisphere, which allowed me to replay my lotus, mox emerald and 2 Tutors into Vault – Key, giving me the game. While sideboarding the TO announced time which meant I won this round also.
=> Win : 4-2

I went to Peter asking what he did and he told me his game went into a draw. I wasn’t hoping anymore on a T8 spot, but then the TO told me “Benji, Nicely done” and he showed me the 8-th place with my name next to it Very Happy

.

quarterfinal Portal MUD
Again against Steve. I drew my opening seven and saw 2 Trygon Predator and 2 lands. I decided that since I was playing some sort of MUD this hand would give me a nice opportunity to win if I drew a land so I kept. Needless to say this third land never showed up… Game 2 he opened with 2 chalices, cutting me off my spells in hand and I also lost this one.

Afther all this had been a very nice tournament and I enjoyed it a lot.