John Jones couldn't be here today, but he left this rambling message on my voicemail. I've transcribed it here for you.
Grim Vault aka Turbo TezzFirst and foremost, I would like to give a big thank you to Josh Butker for helping develop and test the many iterations of this deck. I would also like to thank Will MaGrann for Sb advice, Nick Coss, Nick Detwilier and Shawn for running vintage tournaments in the tristate area. Without you guys… I'm sure there would be someone else but I'm glad its you guys!
That being said…
This article is going to be more than just a tournament report; it is going to be about how one can take a deck idea and continually evolve it to perform well. I will go through the various iterations and changes we made to the deck to show how the deck evolved from tournament to tournament. For those of you not interested in the history, feel free to skip to the primer at the below.
I don’t really remember the very early days of creation. Essentially it involved something along the lines of this:
1) Get done work/school
2) Go to Josh’s
3) Start playtesting random decks. While playtesting start looking though boxes of cards.
4) Get an idea
5) Run with that idea and build a deck
6) Test that idea and deck
7) Talk to josh about the deck
8) Make changes where necessary and test new options
9) Evolve the deck
10) Take deck to tournaments
11) talk about tournaments and mistakes
12) Rinse and repeat
So what was the idea I had? Well, I really liked the idea of an unrestricted grim monolith. I used to play twiddle desire and thought that it was possible to use voltaic key as the new twiddle. I always fancied the interaction of top and key. As a result, I thought I could also get there with futuresight/helm/top That being said, the initial version looked something like:
No No Nullrod / Go Go Get there
4 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Minds Desire
1 Time Twister
1 Time Spiral
4 Helm of Awakening
3 Future Sight
1 Inkwell Levithan
4 Thoughtcast
4 Sensei's Diving Top
4 Force of Will
4 Gilded Lotus
4 Grim Monolith
1 Jet
1 Ruby
1 Emerald
1 Saphire
2 Mox Opal
2 Seat of the Synod
3 Mishras Workshop
2 Ancient Tomb
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
The idea of this deck was to use fast mana to accel into a draw 7 or future sight/timevault key. I enjoyed the little draw engine of key and top, but the real diamond in the rough was Thoughtcast. I always seemed to have either 4 artifacts or at least enough to cast it. As you can see, the initial version of the deck was simply doing too many things. While testing this version against TPS, ANT, and Espresso Stax, it was clear that some games I just drew dead or I completely and utterly blew them out. There was no middle ground.
Eventually, we realized that resolving a Tezz quickly would essentially win the game or at least force them to try and go off. Another thing that I knew before designing the deck was that basic lands are really good against Stax, and this was also evident. I did not have to worry about fetching for duals because I didn’t have any. I didn’t have to worry about myself getting caught in a waste lock, and I never had to worry about mana costs unless it was about managing blue mana, which is pretty easy.
I also noticed a “deck speed”; it seemed like I could draw hands with two completely different tempos. The first being some ridiculous mana accel into nothing or a game win (I say nothing because early versions of this deck sometimes drew dead), or they were filled with counter-magic and draw spells which would slow the game down.
In this version, Thoughtcast seemed to be batshit insane, while the draw 7’s were subpar. A lot of the time it was paying U for 2 cards because I had so many artifacts. Mox Opal seemed to be showing up too much in two's and Gilded Lotus was a little overkill on the mana base. The deck was also inherently weak against Null Rod. So, we decided to tweak the numbers, take out the tightsight combo out and arrived at this:
GCV As of 10/14/10
4 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
3 Tezzeret the seeker
1 Tinker
1 Inkwell Levithan
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Mana drain
2 Preordain
1 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Jace The Mindfucker
4 Thought Cast
4 Sensei’s diving top
1 Brainstorm
3 Grim Monolith
1 Jet
1 Ruby
1 Sapphire
1 Pearl
2 Mox Opal
1 black lotus
1 Mana vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Seat of the Synod
4 Island
1 Academy
4 Delta
SB
3 Hurkyls
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Echoing Truth
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormods Crypt
1 Relic of Progenetus
This was the original base list that Josh Butker and I drafted up. Originally, the Lodestones in the sb were for control as a way to get early pressure and just beat face while slowing the opponent down. We dropped a couple of the Lodestones realizing that they weren’t really affecting the game that much, and decided to focus more of the sb on Shops. Eventually, grim vault was taken to its first tournament where it placed fourth.
4th - John Jones
Grim Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
2 Mox Opal
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Grim Monolith
2 Seat of Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tropical Island
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtcast
4 Mana Drain
3 Voltaic Key
3 Tezzeret, the Seeker
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Preordain
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Rebuild
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Vault
1 Regrowth
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Echoing Truth
SB:
3 Trygon Predator
2 Nature's Claim
1 Forest
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Lodestone Golem
1 Precursor Golem
1 Duplicant
2 Ravenous Trap
This list maximized Tezzeret, abused Thoughtcast, and had amazing synergy. The lack of TFK is because I realized early on that I never wanted to play it. Anytime that I did want to play it, I could have just as easily cast Fact or Fiction and see more cards. Plus, I rarely wanted to discard an artifact. So, I replaced it with other stuff (not really sure what it was replaced with) Early on, the deck was underperforming against Null Rod (orly? Yah rly!). The board was supposed to deal with that as well as Shops and worked pretty well. The lodestones though were just a bad call. Precurser golem as well didn't do what I wanted it to do.
TOURNAMENT REPORT FOR THIS DAY
I top 8'd, I can't find my notes/ I have like 6 pieces of paper with match results but no dates… sigh
I took a similar list to the next tournament, but replaced the green with white for access to StP because the deck was still underperforming against Null Rod aggro. This board was too weak against in general, and I didn’t place. I don't think this was so much as whites fault, but white just wasn't good enough. Balance only did so much (a main reason I was running white) and I was kind of drawn to it because I could then hard cast the sphinx which I thought I needed against fish. Very early on, I was afraid of fish however at the same time it was seeing more play than it is currently.
Grim Vault
Mox Emerald 1
Mox Jet 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Mox Pearl 1
Black Lotus 1
Mana Crypt 1
Mox Opal 2
Mana Vault 1
Grim Monolith 2
Sol Ring 1
Seat of Synod 2
Tolarian Academy 1
Strip Mine 1
Tundra 1
Island 4
Flooded Strand 4
Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1
Voltaic Key 2
Time Vault 1
Tezzeret, the Seeker 3
Mystical Tutor 1
Tinker 1
Trinket Mage 1
Thoughtcast 4
Jace, the Mind Sculptor 2
Preordain 2
Ancestral Recall 1
Ponder 1
Time Walk 1
Brainstorm 1
Divining Top 2
Swords to Plowshares 1
Force of Will 4
Mana Drain 4
Balance 1
Hurkyl's Recall 1
Sideboard
Plains 2
Relic of Progenitus 3
Ravenous Trap 2
Spell Snare 2
Disenchant 3
Swords to Plowshares 1
Pithing Needle 1
Hurkyl's Recall 1
I then took a list with a completely different sb option, which I felt wasn’t as strong. I ended up top 8ing a 22 person event in Bloomsburg on 11/27/10 using this:
4th - John Jones
Grim Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
2 Mox Opal
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Grim Monolith
2 Seat of Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tropical Island
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtcast
4 Mana Drain
3 Voltaic Key
3 Tezzeret, the Seeker
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Rebuild
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Vault
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Nature's Claim
SB:
1 Misdirection
2 Forest
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Oath of Druids
1Empyrial Archangel
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Duplicant
1 Terastodon
This transformational sb ended up being so terrible that I only used it in one match, and it didn’t even matter. The idea was to simply sidestep Shops and Fish by dropping Oath and taking advantage of their creatures to trigger. That, however, didn’t really work as I planned, and I ended up playing most of the games with no board at all. That being said, this list had Nature’s Claims in the main that were very nice. Though, something still didn’t feel right. I then top 8’d again on 2/5/11 with this list:
Quarter-Finalist - John Jones
Tezzeret
1 Timetwister
1 Rebuild
1 Echoing Truth
2 Preordain
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Tezzeret, the Seeker
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
1 Myr Battlesphere
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Mox Opal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
2 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
4 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
SB:
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Mountain
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Echoing Truth
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Lightning Bolt
The black seemed to be particularly good. If you don’t understand why Vamp, Yawg Will, and Demonic would be good in a control deck designed to go and get vault as quickly as possible, then you probably shouldn’t be playing vintage. That being said, there was some skepticism about Yawg Will from Josh about not having enough gas in the yard to make it worthwhile. Additional testing proved otherwise. The red in the sb also seemed to be really good. The REB’s were a suggestion by Will Magrann, and the Bolts were a pseudo-catch-all against Fish, Jace, and Metalworker MUD. That being said, the Bolts weren’t all that good; I didn’t like that I had to use a mountain to support them against Fish because of Wastelands.
Tourney Report for 2-5-11 Bloomsburg
Top 8 Sam Shaw – Playing Oath – Shaw wins
I took the same list, or something very similar (different fetches I think and vulc in sb) and almost top 16'd (17th missing on breakers) at NYSE. Here is that tournament report:
So Nyse happened and I missed top 16 on breakers.
Nyse - 17th place – Record 5-2
Round 1- Will Trinks – Playing trygon tezz Win 1-0
Intro: Will and I came together so we both know what we’re playing against.
Game 1 – He vamped early, I forced something, I resolved Tezz Game over
Game 2 – He Fetches, thoughtseizes, fetches, plays a bob, plays a force on something, flips over trygon with bob, then flips Jace, then spell pierce, then natures claim, Somwhere in the midst of all this I Tinker into battlesphere and attack for the win.
Round 2 – Vinny Forino – Playing GW aggro Win 2-0
Intro: I expected Mr. Forino to be running something with workshops, I was clearly wrong.
Game 1: I think he played 2 Kami of WW that removes graveyards and stuff, then I think I win?
Game 2: I have life totals as 20 -19 then I wrote Vault Key. Win
Round 3 – Mark Hornug – Playing dumb dredge Loss 2-1
Yeah… eff this deck.
So game 1: I may or may not have made a misplay for casting twister. Regardless, this was turn 1 and he only had a few things in his grave. That being said I pass the turn and he kills me with creatures when I was expecting to untap and win. Yeah… eff the graveyard.
Game 2: I side in, see very little if any sb cards and lose to Iona.
Round 4 – Mike Schriber (sp) – Playing Rector Combo??? Win 3-1
Game 1 – I have an early Battlesphere w/ force backup that wins the game
Game 2 – I assume I vault key him because I didn’t even write anything down.
Round 5 – Ray Jones (may have been round 4) – Playing 1999 MUC Win 4-1
Game 1 – He has like a bajillion counters, eventually I tezz into key and win the game
Game 2 ¬- Rebs are brought in, FoW for his counter and vault key wins it.
Round 6 –Ray Rubillard – Playing shops with progenetus portal Loss 4-2
Game 1 – I think I quickly win via vault key, not really sure.
Game 2 – I lose pretty quickly to lodestones. Multiple Lodestones.
Game 3 – I lose to something. I think it was a combo kill not sure.
Round 6 – Josh Potuchek – Playing nemesis landstill Win 5-2
This is not a good matchup in anysense of the imagination. It not only runs null rods but it also runs lots of counterspells
Game 1 –Lol… So I mull to 5, and go something like turn 1 win via Tezz +Vault. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know.
Game 2- I side in Rebs, have double force, and eventually die to mishras Factory beats.
Game 3- I see 2 of my 3 Rebs, 2 FoW, 1 spell pierce and 1 drain. He attempts to do things that don’t work out. I get a tezz +vault though.
So by this point, I realized the deck was at least good enough to keep playing.
Bluebell Win 1st Place
Note this tournmanet is may or may not be 100% accurate in what actually happened. I have terrible notes. The list I played is as follows
2/26/11 – NYSE – Win 1st place
Decklist
1 Yawgmoths Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Mystical
1 Rebuild
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Timewalk
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
2 Jace
3 Tezzeret
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Drain
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Timetwister
1 Time vault
2 Grim monolith
2 Voltaic Key
3 Sensei’s diving Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Mox Opal
5 Moxen
1 Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Misty Rain Forest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Underground Sea
4 Island
SB
3 Hurkyls Recall
3 ReB
1 Volcanic island
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Lighting Bolt
1 Echoing truth
Round 1 – Jeff Folinus - Playing UBG Deck - 1-0
Game 1 – This game I think he was holding back drains but I made it apparent that hand was butt. It wasn’t completely, however I had only had one counterspell (force) and I had to resolve my tezz knowing his deck was at least blue. This I knew, because I knew this, I also assumed he had at least one counterspell. If he had more than 1, my force was nullified. He vamps, then plays a jace I force, he forces back leaving him tapped out. Next turn I take a risk on casting a tezz without backup. I resolve the Tezz and get vault ending the game.
Game 2 – Life totals 20 – 20 Therefore I think I tezz vault early and it wasn’t able to be stopped. Not really sure.
Round 2- Mike Noble – Playing noble Fish w/ Revoker 2-0
Wow so my notes are terrible.
Round 1 – We both have forces, It looks like my life gets down to 6 and I lose the game.
Game 2 – My life is down to 8, I think I assemble vault key.
Game 3 - My life is down to 7 I think I resolve tezz into a vault.
Round 3 – Mike ______?– Playing U/W Control??? 3-0
Game 1 – I vamp, a little later I vamp again (I guess I will?) I force a few times, get vault and win.
Game 2 – I early tinker for battlesphere and get there.
Round 4 – Rich ________? – Playing Metalworker Mud – Lose 3-1
Game 1 – I force something then proceed to get beaten down by a hellkite.
Game 2 – I win quick assembling vault key.
Game 3 - I think I lose. I am pretty sure I do. I have my lifetotal continually going from a revoker and a lodestone.
Round 5 – Seth – Playing a UB deck? Win 4-1
Game 1 – We both fetch twice. That’s all I wrote. I think I get tezz into vault.
Game 2 – My life total goes from 19 to 17 to 14. So -1,-2,-3 from the previous thing. So it is probabaly a fetch, vamp, mana crypt roll? Not sure. But I won, once again assuming on the back of vault.
Round 6 - Draw with someone into top 8… were there even 6 rounds?
Round 1 of top 8 – Paul Mastriano – Playing Gush tendrils
Game 1 – My life total is at 19. I think this game he combos on my face really quickly.
Game 2 – I think I manage to resolve a tezz for the win.
Game 3 – He forced something. Lifetotals are both at 18. I think once again I resolve a tezz.
He has in his report found here
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=41919.0John Jones apparently has the distinction of being total a terror online. I found this to be pretty funny, and we had a pretty enjoyable match. In game 1 I combed out really quickly and won. Game 2 and 3, though, I got bent over by his sideboard. I saw his deck after the tournament and I think he had 4 REBs, I didn’t really expect him to have so many! Those REBs really caught me at some critical points and allowed him to get ahead on cards and run away with the games.
Round 2 of Top 8 - Keith Seals
Game 1 - I resolve an early tezz that gets into a vault key. Turns 1-2 of the game.
Game 2 – He eats my brains.
Game 3 – Life totals are 20/20. I assume I just get there.
Keith has in his report found
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=41966.0OP 4 John Jones with turbo expresso tezz allover the place, tezzcast
This round ,like my report, was a fucking mess.
game 1 I punt , he wins
Game 2 he punts ,I win.
Game 3 I mull to three ... unmask ,unmask, bazaar... He has turn one tezz. He wins1
Round 3 of top 8 – Finals - Rich Sim – Playing metalworker mud
I apparently don’t have notes. So… I am Hijacking Rich Sims report notes located here
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=41913.0As posted by Rich Sim
Finals: Ok, this is getting ridiculous.
Finals vs. John Jones
John's playing Tezzeret, and he wins the die Roll here, and gets out lots of mana really early. He's playing Grim Monolith main deck, with 2 Keys, and I believe he told me later he had 3 copies of the namesake card, Tezzeret, the Seeker. My resistors are slower than his mana, and Force of Will kills any pressure I may have had. He lands Tez, tutors up Time Vault, and I don't get another turn.
I board in the Revokers again, and play out some artifacts turn one, but forgot to drop the Chalice of the Void in my hand on 0. He proceeds to play a Mox and Lotus, ugh. and we have a long game, where Revoker (naming Time Vault) and Mishra's Factory deal a few points of damage. He draws into two Hurkyull's Recalls after he casts the Time Vault and uses the Yawgmoth's Will to reuse his graveyard, and has the Tez to take his turns, and I scoop 'em up, with a Mox Pearl's value to be spent to start making the dack I just played.
YAY I WON A MOX/credit which I partially used for a twister and still have some left over for when I need random things. That being said, I take the same deck, this time replacing twister (I know right…) with jar because I figured another tinker target might be good to randomly get there. The deck and report are as follows.
2/26/11 – NYSE – Win 1st place
Decklist
1 Yawgmoths Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Mystical
1 Rebuild
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Timewalk
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
2 Jace
3 Tezzeret
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Drain
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Memory Jar
1 Time vault
2 Grim monolith
2 Voltaic Key
3 Sensei’s diving Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Mox Opal
5 Moxen
1 Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Misty Rain Forest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Underground Sea
4 Island
SB
3 Hurkyls Recall
3 ReB
1 Volcanic island
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Echoing truth
Ahh so, now a win with actual notes because I realized that in order to make my life easier writing this Primer/article I should keep better notes (Note: I hesitate to say primer because I'm not sure if this deck actually warents a primer, while fundamentally different than other tezz decks, it still is a vault key blue deck… although that won't stop me!),. That being said, I woke up at 6:30, waited for Jay Koresko to arrive, picked up Will Magrann, and drove to Josh Butker’s house to go to NYSE. It was a 3 hour car ride, and we mainly talked about sb strageties. Jay had decided to run a similar version of this deck; however, he used Mystic Remora and made a few other changes. Will Magran and Josh Butker were taking similar Espresso Stax lists with differing side boards. Will ended up playing the entire car, I played Will to get into the top 8 and Josh knocking him out in the quarter-finals.
Roudn 1 – Brian Rottenberg – Playing Dredge NOM NOM NOM NOM LOSS… and im in the losers bracket.
Game 1 – I turn one tinker into battlesphere. Apparently that’s not enough.
Game 2- I open with like land mana crypt, sol ring, key & some other stuff and then tutor for tinker and tinker into battlesphere turn 2. He goes serentity. Kills all my stuff and then proceeds to nom nom nom nom nom my brains out. DUMB DREDGE! I HATE IT! IT'S NOT MAGIC IT IS JUST MOVING CARDS AROUND! Lol jk…
Round 2 – James Hangley – Playing Cobra gush? – Win 1-1
Game 1 – He forces an early brainstorm. I have in my notes that Memory jar got there into tezz vault.
Game 2 – He turn 1 thought seizes, I force he forces. He takes something. He vamps, I then am somehow able to demonic into vault with a key out.
Round 3 – Sam Bearse – Playing Welders baazars and shops Win 2-1
Game 1 – I force something, mystical into tinker, tinker into vault key.
Game 2 – I fetch, force twice and then resolve tezz. Tezz finds vault vault ends it.
Round 4 – Pat Albergo – Playing something blue (I think later he tells me its oath) – Win 3-1
Game 1 – I kept a lotus sapphire mana crypt jace hand with no backup. I try and go turn 1 jace, he forces I am a sad panda. It is draw go for a little bit. I think he assembled vault key as my life total wasn’t below 14. I also remember not showing him that much stuff. I didn’t see any oath stuff.
Game 2 –There is an early coutnerwar on jaces, then I resolve my jace. I then I tinker into battlesphere for the win.
Game 3 – He vamps and fetches, I force the vamp? Not sure. But I resolve a quick tezz for the win.
Round 5 – Visna – Playing Metal woker mud with transform into leyline helm. Win 4-1
Note: Visna got paired down against me, and at the same time, I have a round 1 loss and therefore terrible breakers. He was knocked out of top 8 placing 9th on breakers.
Game 1 – Game 1, I force a chaclice and tinker into battlesphere. He sculpting steels my battlesphere and the duplicants my battlesphere. Needless to say I lose.
Game 2 – I assemble timevault key but have a mana vault and mana crypt in play that I have to deal with. No cards in hand, you get the idea. I manage to get there using hurkls on myself.
Game 3 - Lol… this matchup. So I keep a hand of 3 forces a preordain a land a sol ring and a hurkyls. So essentially what happens is I force a bunch of times. He brought in Leyline helm and I was worried of the quick death. Either way, He has two spheres out and I cast tezz getting vault.
Round 6 – Will Magrann – Playing Espresso Stax - Win
Will and I came in the same car. I am pretty familiar with the espresso stax matchup and am heavily tested against it. There were some things with the standings, and it turned out that I had to play, but at the same time will had a chance to make top 8 if I lost and someone else lost. As a result, we played and I won.
Game 1 – I quickly resolve a vault key and win the game.
Game 2 – So long story short, he has a smokestack on 2 a chalice on 2 (stopping hurkyls in my hand), a chalice on 1 (stopping random things), and I had rebuilded early in the game using that up. A few turns before this, I forced a chalice on zero beucase I didn’t want to be stuck without the ability to play moxen and perhaps get myself out of what was happening. So I play a tezz, find lotus, crack lotus for will, replay lotus, recast rebuild and then play vault key for the win.
Round 1 Top 8 - Josh Butker - Playing Espresso Stax – Win
Josh and I also came together and like will was playing stax. He is the guy who I usually test with and who also helped a lot during the deck design process.
Game 1- I force pitching jace to coutner a trini. I vamp getting rebuild, rebuild, then play vault key for the win.
Game 2 – He turn 1 pithing needles misty rainforest shutting of 2 of the 3 lands in my hand. Needless to say I get beat down with lodestone.
Game 3 – I turn 1-2 tinker into battlesphere. It’s enough to get there.
Round 2 Top 8 - Jon Adessa – Playing Ichorid Nom Nom Nom
Game 1 – He dredges a bunch, I turn 1 key. Turn 1 eot vamp into vault, Turn 2 Vault key win.
Game 2 – This game we both make some mistakes, he could have killed me if he would have dread returned his gravetroll first instead of his flamekin. He attacked leaving me at 3 life. At the end of turn I just didn’t top. I just got caught up in the moment and forgot. So if I would have done that, I could have drawn the mox I would have needed to play tezz, find vault, and use a key to untap it. Too bad I was one short.
Game 3 - I resolve an early relic of progenitus. He attempts to claim and I sac it in response removing a few trivial things. He proceeds to start baazaaring and I am slow rolling a ravenous trap. As he dredges he only gets to one therapy which I counter. He plays a non baazar land and triggers his blood ghasts in response to the trigger I trap him. Next turn I resolve a Relic and he just mills the rest of his deck until he is at 3 cards left in his library. I wasn’t really sure if there was anything tricky in his deck so I play tezz, vault key out and then end up attacking multiple times with tezz and 0/0 artifacts to get rid of his hoardes of zombies and then attack him for the win.
Round 3 - Finals – Jake Gans – Playing Worldgorger
Game 1 - Instead of waiting to top, I top on my own turn and shut myself off the 3 spell pierces in my hand. Granted I did have a force, but that wasn’t enough as he did some stupid worldgorger bs.
Game 2 - He rolls a dice to see what sb option he is bringing in. Thank you Jake. That was nice. Lol. That being said, I just have a w with a circle around it. Early on he duresses the natural vault key in my hand and takes vault. Later in the game, I do some shennagians where I play tezz and search for 2 (instead of pumping up 1 b/c I had like 6 artifacts out). I then get into will and use it to replay the vault in my yard for the win. He apparently had the win next turn.
Game 3 – Lol so long story short, we are in draw go mode and I top decked three times to win the game. Granted he arguably also topdecked. He runs out of cards and passes the turn. I draw a card its drain. He draws a card plays vault (key in play) , I drain. I draw a card and play vault off drain mana. He draws and tinkers into blightsteel. I Draw and tinker into vault for my key.
As you can see, GCV is solid. It might not be the best, but it is certainly capable of performing well. In the past 6 months, I have had 5 top 8’s and 2 wins. That being said, I still don’t think it is optimized. We have been playing with the slot of Memory Jar/Twister, and I still don’t think either are the right choice. Perhaps the right choice is another bot? Not sure...testing needs to be done. We are also still solidifying the sb. For the last tournament, I replaced the two Bolts with two Sowers and didn’t bring them in at all. Of course, this doesn't mean the sowers are not effective, though I must admit they are not tested.
DECK ANALYSIS
SB Plans for the meta as I see it (rough, they change based on what cards I am playing against/see)
Espresso Stax - +3 Hurkyls +1 Vulc, -1 Opal, -1 jace, -1 preordain, -1 echoing truth
Metalworker mud - +3 Hurkyls +1 Vulc +2 Sower -1 Opal, -1 jace, -1 preordain, -1 echoing truth, -1 Tezz, -1 Spell Pierce
Tezz & gush +3 REB, +1 Vulc, -1 echoing truth, -1 preordain, -1 spell pierce, -1 island
Oath & Dragon, +3 REB, +1 Vulc, -1 Tezzeret, -1 preordain, -1 spell pierce, -1 island
Fish - +2 Sower, +1 Echoing truth, +1 Vulcanic Island, +2 REB,, -3 Spell Pierce, -1 Mox Opal, -1 Rebuild, -1 Tezz
Dredge +1 echoing Truth, +3 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Rav Trap, -2 Jace, - 2 Mana drain, -1 Rebuild, -1 jar
This is how I usually sided or something similar to this. I don't acutally have a sb plan and really never have. I just take out the cards I think are bad and put in the ones I think are good.
CARD CHOICE
I’m not going to go into the details of each card like Force and recall. If you don’t know why they are in this deck go play with bears. That being said, I am going to tell you why the numbers are the way they are now.
Thoughtcast: This card was initially a four-of. Then, it got dropped to a three-of. Eventually, it was decided that the card wasn’t needed, and it was dropped altogether. When we decided to add Spell Pierces, the deck slowed down a bit. We also wanted to make the deck a little more consistent by removing Seat of the Synod for basics and reducing the Mox Opal, Top, and Key counts. This also slowed the deck down. In doing so, the aggressive but risky draw capabilities of Thoughtcast became less important. That being said, this card is still awesome and needs to find a home.
Counter package - 4 FoW, 3 Pierce, 2 Drain: The counters used to be 4 Drain and 4 FoW. We wanted to open up more options on the early turns for 1-mana spells at sorcery speed. So, 2 Drain were replaced with 2 Spell Pierce. I think a Thoughtcast was dropped for the other pierce.
Rebuild & Echoing Truth: Originally we only had one Hurkyl’s main. Since the sb changed to have 3 Hurkyl’s, the Rebuild was added to the main. The Truth came from wanting a catch all that dealt with dredge tokens, Null Rods, and random annoying permanents. Echoing Truth comes in handy a lot, and Rebuild can always cycle, so it’s never dead.
Grim Monolith: The namesake card. This used to be a 4-of, but it was quickly apparent that 4 were not needed. It dropped to 3 then to 2 where it has stayed. This card is a very subtle card; it has many uses that fly under the radar, but it should not be underestimated. It can power through Spheres and Lock Pieces. If you get Tanglewired, you can float mana, then tap down your permanents to the Wire, then untap the Monolith with the floated mana giving you the option to play a land and have Hurkyl’s up on your opponent’s next turn through two spheres. It also allows for crazy shennagians with Key resulting in hard-casting Myr Battlesphere or dropping an early Tezz.
Myr Battlesphere: Originally, Sphinx was in the list. Then, it was switched to Inkwell, which was then switched to this. We think that this is the best bot right now because of the prevalence of Shops. It is also able to win the game pretty quickly, and it can easily be cast.
3 Tezzeret: The idea behind this one is instead of casting something like FoF or Gifts or another 4-5 mana draw spell, you could just play Tezz, get Vault, and win the game. Originally, FoF and TFK were in here, but they were dropped for 2 more Tezz. Every time I cast TFK, it seemed like I didn’t want to pitch an artifact or couldn’t pitch an artifact, especially after we slowed the deck down and dropped the artifact count. Either way, it just didn’t seem necessary. Anytime I had 3 mana, I had 5 mana, and TFK/FoF were used to look for stuff to play.
2 Key: It’s very synergistic with a lot of the deck. It can do fun stuff with Tops, Monoliths, and Opals (untapping an Opal usually catches people off guard for Drain mana). Oh, and of course, it wins the game with Time Vault.
Vamp, Demonic, and Will: Originally, we had a splash in the board and I didn’t want to go multiple colors for consistency issues and to help against wasteland. However, I wanted to test these, so out came the 3 Thoughtcasts. They haven’t left since.
Twister/Jar: Originally, neither of these were in the deck. A slot then opened up and we used it for Twister as a main deck anti-dredge card and another go-go-get-there card. The latest list is trying Memory Jar as an additional Tinker target, though I must admit, I don’t foresee myself keeping this in the deck either.
4 Islands: These as well as keeping the deck nearly mono blue was so that Shops wouldn't hurt us as much. I hate getting Wastelanded. I hate not having colors. So, why not just ignore it? That’s exactly what we did.
Tips and Tricks
1) Use Keys to untap moxen and the like to cast drains and forces when they are unexpected because you don't have double blue.
2) Use Keys and Tops to draw multiple cards a turn.
3) When afraid of your Vault dying to something, don't hesitate to get a Key first with a tezz then go get the vault. This way, you are at least guaranteed 1 turn. Now, sometimes it is better to just untap 2 artifacts then next turn use Tezz’s ultimate and swing for 20+. This catches many people off guard, especially if you play it as though you are misplaying and start running out spells in an attempt of "trying to go off".
4) Have balls, blue is very forgiving. The fact that this deck tries to maximize "getting there" with Vault means that you can usually dig and get there eventually. I have also kept many questionable hands by most people. For instance, I would keep a Lotus only hand if I had a Recall because I would assume I would draw into at least one useful card, at least one mana source, and something else. I also tend to keep hands where I have many mana sources because of the prevalence of shops and the idea that if I have a bunch of mana I can play whatever I draw. Well, in a deck with 3 Tezz, 1 Tinker, 1 bot, & tutors, the cards I draw should at the very least be decent if not they are absolutely insane.
5) Play tight… While blue is very forgiving, forgetting to Top at end of turn, or pitching the wrong card to Force could be very detrimental. There were a bunch of times where I thought I may have made the right play in the moment, but if I hadn't missed a Top a few turns earlier, I would have had the additional one mana I needed to "get there". Most notably this was in two of the top8's at bloomsburg that I punted.
6) Use random fetches. Since you are essentially a mono blue deck with 2 blue duals, you can use differing color fetches to mind screw the opponent. Many players who see Misty assume you are running Trygon/Claim in the main/board and as a result tend to mess up their board strategy.
9) Assume that they don't have it because if they do you lost anyway. It’s called the philosophy of Belcher. Got force? No? Ohh well. Too bad. Got force? Yeah? Ohh well. I guess I lose my Tezz/Vault/w/e. Luckily, instead of playing a bunch of cards that don't do anything like Belcher, I am still playing blue and blue is awesome in the game because its powerful.
10) Unless you are going to play it in the next 2-3 turns for sure, pitch that card to Force. Mainly, I am talking about Tezz, but I’ve used this same idea with Jaces and Rebuilds and such. The reason you can pitch Tezz safely is because you don't care about it. You have 2 more. No harm done.
11) Don’t forget that Mox Opal has Metal Craft.
13) Stop Chalice on 0,1,2. This card is just annoying and usually means you lose a lot of umph. That being said, sometimes the Chalice doesn't matter. If your hand has a bunch of 2 -5 drops the Chalice on 1 might not be that bad. Chalice on 2 post board is bad b/c it shuts down your Hurkyl’s. Good Stax players will realize this and play accordingly. That being said, you still have a Rebuild to help.
14) Stop null rod. You will lose if you see this card in play. It’s not 100% because I have won with a Rod in play, but more often than not if I see a Rod, I lose.
15) You can safely handle 1 Sphere. 2 Spheres is possible. 3+ You will usually lose the game.
16) Use Timevault’s alternate untap ability to mess with the Stax player.
19) Tap out a lot. When not in a position to bluff, just advance your position as far as possible. Pretty fundamental, but in a scene of shops it's better to be safe. Most of the time turn 1, you don't sit on the counter.
20) Before the tournament, count your sb. If you have 17 cards in it there is a problem.
Josh adds, because I don't actually feel like splicing it I'll just add it.
Grim Vault is obviously a Tezz deck, but it’s not as similar to traditional Tezz lists as it appears. The biggest differentiating characteristic is its level of synergy. Grim Vault maximizes the synergies between cards extremely well. There is no card in the deck that is dead in hand. Keys are useful even when you don’t have Time Vault. Battlesphere can be hard-cast. Tezz can even be pitched to Force. Rebuild can be cycled or even used to generate additional mana.
Like most blue decks, the main win condition is Time Vault/Key, but most blue decks don’t use Key for anything else. Grim Vault does. Key can provide extra mana with Grim Monolith, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring. It can filter colorless mana into colored mana. It can turn Top into an actual draw engine.
Grim Monoliths and Keys allow Grim Vault to generate a lot of mana, which can be used to cast Tezz, Jace, Tinker, and Will more easily, or even to hard-cast a robot. Grim Monoliths, Keys, and Tops all help to increase Grim Vault’s percentage against Shop decks by increasing the deck’s mana and permanent count.
Using Top as an actual draw engine comes with the ability to see a lot more cards between shuffle effects. This makes Tezz in higher numbers more desirable. It’s very easy to simply find Tezz with Top and Key. Top is also a great way to make use of the extra mana from Grim Monolith, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring, and you can use them for one mana without it being a waste because Key can simply untap them with the extra mana.
Top, Key, and the extra artifact mana are not only good against Shop decks because of what they do, but because they are all cheap artifacts. This allows Grim Vault to get around Lodestone’s sphere effect and helps to power out Tezz. There is no real need to run Trygon, which allows the deck to run more basics further increasing its game against Shop decks. This also opens additional slots in the sideboard for other decks.
In addition to being synergistic, Grim Vault is very flexible. It can very easily take on the role of the control or the beatdown. Top can find accelerants, tutors, or Tezz, or it could find counter magic and draw spells. You can spend two mana to drop a Grim Monolith on turn 2 for a turn 3 Tezz or leave the two mana open for Drains. There are numerous lines of play with this deck, and all of them are powerful.
Of course, this flexibility is also what makes this deck difficult to play. The deck generates a lot of mana, but it also uses a lot of mana. Very often this mana can be used for very different reasons, making the right play difficult to see. For example with 2x Island, Grim Monolith, Top, and Key in play, You could tap for 3, spend 1 to look with Top, tap Top to draw, spend 1 to untap Top, then tap Top to draw again. You would then draw a card and Top and get to look at the top 3 cards effectively seeing 4 cards, and you could even replay your Top afterwards. However, you could have also tapped for 3 and looked with Top. Seeing a Tezz, you put it on top and draw with Top. Then, use Key to untap Grim Monolith and get the extra mana needed to play Tezz right then. It’s a small difference, yet a game-changing one.
Grim Vault takes a lot of practice, a lot of feel, and a lot trust. You will see a lot of cards and have a lot of options. That’s what makes this deck so powerful, yet tricky. You have to plan ahead, but be very flexible. However, mastering the subtleties of Grim Vault can definitely lead to good results.
