1st place ETW TEZZ report The Player's Guild, Council Open #5

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

So after winning Blue Bell #14 I decided to play a very similar deck again for the Bloomsburg tournament, I call the deck Empty the Warrens Tezz. I felt that the deck I played at Blue Bell was slightly inconsistant at the game plan and wanted to make it more broken and reduce the crap draws. So I made a few changes and they were the following and won the bloomsburg event of 21 ppl quite small but I played against good decks/players.

-1 gifts ungiven
-3 nights whisper
-1 tinker
-1 blightsteel
…
+1 (2nd) sensei’s top
+3 dark confidant
+1 imperial seal
+1 tezzeret the seeker

Thoughts behind the changes were pretty easy. I first decided to cut tinker and blightsteel for tezz and imperial seal. Tinker in the hand a lot of times can win the game, but so can imp seal and tezzeret. And at blue bell even though I won, I felt like a lot of times I was afraid to tinker just to have it answered and then I would lose. Plus on top of that when you have tinker in your hand you need protection after the fact most of the time bc there are so many cards played to stop blightsteel. And secondly I would rather draw imperial seal or tezz instead of blightsteel in an opening grip. The concept may sound weird to some ppl but it REALLY smooths the deck out a lot. Partial props go to Vito Picozza (spelling may be off). I saw him run a gush deck when phyrexian metamorph just got printed and he didn’t run tinker guy either so I wanted to test it and as he said it makes the deck run a lot more smooth. My deck is not a gush deck but it smoothed mine out as well. Finally I Present ETW Tezzeret v.2.0 (much much better then the old version)

4 force
3 drain
2 pierce
2 seize
3 bob
2 top
1 imperial seal
1 tezzeret
1 jace
1 key
1 vault
1 will
1 demonic
1 vamp
1 mystical
1 scroll
1 recall
1 walk
1 brainstorm
2 chain
1 hurkyl’s
1 rebuild
2 empty the warrens
5 mox
1 lotus
1 crypt
1 vault
1 sol ring
4 delta
1 rainforest
1 tarn
1 swamp
2 islands
1 snow-island
3 sea
2 volc
1 tolarian

SB
1 volc
2 reb
1 pyroblast
2 chewer
3 hurkyls
4 leyline
1 jailer
1 pyroclasm

That’s the deck and here is the report…

Rd 1 – Shawn Griffiths (Espresso Shops)
Game 1
I put Shawn on Oath bc he always seems to play that and I havent seen him play lately so im expecting that. He powders and mulls to 6 I believe. I keep a hand with… island, scroll, fow, recall, bob, brainstorm, pierce. Something like that. He is on the play and leads with workshop crucible I believe. I fow afraid of strip/waste and always hate getting locked by that card. I then pierce something and recall, land a bob and procede to win after hurkyl’s his board etc.
Game 2
He gets a really good hand and I get blown out bad
Game 3
I mull to 5 but have…lotus, pearl, 2 bob, pierce…I lead with double bob and he has a controlling hand with no creatures and all ancient tombs. Bobs end up getting there. A huge game changins play of the game was late game I was at 10 life and had 2 bob out and crypt on table losing more life off crypt compared to the bobs surprisingly enough, so eot on shawns turn I chain one of my bobs to hope to survive to kill him. On my turn I lose crypt roll putting me at 7, flip fow off bob putting me at 2…and the card I drew was drain. If I hadnt bounced bob I would have lost. It was a nail biter but I won

Rd 2 – Sean Duffy (Dark Depths Helm Combo)
Game 1
 I get a pretty good hand I end up getting like turn 3 or 4 etw for 14 assuming I just automatically win. And I was holding chain of vapor in case he gets his depths combo off. He plays dt for deed and ruins my life. Then a turn later consultations for hexmage and puts 20/20 out…I chain it, and in the process of using consult he removes his helm. So he has terrible draws after exhausting his resources and I end up drawing better cards and win late game
Game 2
He plays turn 1 lotus thoughseize, hexmage, depths….i had turn 2 tezz, but he was more broken and I didn’t have double fow
Game 3
I have a really good hand of like mox, land, brainstorm, force, scroll, demonic, empty…I end up setting up a huge mid game empty for 20 involving will and lotus shananigans…knowing that he can win at any moment with how his deck performs and I have counter for his turn and he loses

Rd 3 – Josh Butker (spelling?)…(Demars Control)
Game 1
I get like turn 2 or 3 tezz followed up with a top and bob…he had grudge for my win, then casts jace, I slowly assemble my hand, and cast will then win. My hand and my deck in general is just more controlling then Demars control so I felt comfortable with this match.
Game 2
I forget a lot of this game and partially bc I take poor notes and have poor memory, but I did write down I just out controlled then won? Most likely included bob, top, and a lot of control

Rd 4 – ID
Rd 5 – ID

Top 8 – Josh again (Demars Control)
Game 1
I get a hand with like top, saph, pearl, fetch, mana vault, scroll , tezz…I again out control and fix draws insanely with top and land a tezz and end up winning.
Game 2
This is a long weird game I have a lot of control and I imperial seam for recall while sitting on a top the entire game, and we have a lot of back and forth countering. He then lands imp seal for a card…plays the card 5 turns later I assumed he made a misplay and got jace bc he cast that the turn after the imp seal but turned out that was a top deck and he was slow rolling the win for one big turn. He plays tezz, I win the counter war, then with 3 mana open plays vault and has key on board, activates key…but I was slow rolling chain of vapor so he stalls out and I had top on top of library with fetch in play and I fetch and re-top into fow and seize so he ends up losing shorly after.

Top 4 – Will McGrann (Espresso Shop)
Game 1
I lose. I believe I mulled to 5 bc of mana short hand and my 5 had recall, bob, bs, mox, land…But his hand was controlling and good.
Game 2
I mull to 4 bc my 7 had 1 land, my 6 had 0, and 5 had 0…and after sb I have 17 lands anyways I  have…chewer, island, volc, fetch. This game goes very long and in a game deciding moment he plays metamorph on his chalice on 1 that was in play. I assumed that meant it was on 1 also. So on my turn I draw lotus, and have bob in hand…not to mention he has wire and a fresh stax out…I play lotus, then bob, then pass the turn and he goes thru his turn then realizes that the metamorph should be at 0 and I assumed 1 and he didn’t say otherwise when I played my lotus so we both fucked up and I felt bad but ruling was that it happened and was missed. Sorry again Will. I end up winning this game in a poor fashion
Game 3
I have early bob and force, and he plays metamorph on bob, and wire. I Upk hurks resetting the board to try to get ahead, he keeps on ripping shops and fast mana like a boss, I reset again a few turns later after countering 1 stax and seeing a 2nd. I land a jace finally and a top…he is bobing away with metamorph, while I am fate sealing him leaving high drops up top to hope he kills himself. He lands a 3rd stax, sacking his bob, I chewer it then, he lands a 4th stax, and then I am at 2 life he is at 1 and I sack my crypt to his stax. I demonic for lotus and get a empty for 8 on table, and then I lose 1 life from vault and swing for the win.

Finals – Joe Pace (Dragon Breath Oath)
Game 1
I mull to 6 and hav… pierce, force, mox, lotus, saph, land. He is on the play and preordains I think…I have 2 counters for his turn 2…He tries demonic, I pierce, he forces, I force back after drawing a blue card. I end up emptying for 6 and winning as he had no green source and was topdecking
Game 2
I have a heavy control hand…reb, top, mox, land, chain, 2 drain…top into force and bob…and I control early game heavily, and then play bob and take over the game.

Props – The deck performed well and loved the changes compared to the blue bell win
Slops – The top 4 fuck up on me and my opponents mistake resulting in me eventually winning that game

I like this deck a lot and I DID NOT miss tinker big guy at all and would not make any changes! I would love feedback and thoughts thanks!!!

[Tha Gunslinga]

Looks good.  What was your SB?

[Will]

Unless I'm reading this wrong you shouldn't have been able to have Dark Confidant in play off the Lotus.  This is from a WOTC Article (http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Infraction_Procedure_Guide_PDF2.pdf) "If the error is discovered after a turn cycle, continue the game without resolving the forgotten trigger. A turn
cycle is defined as the time from the beginning of a player's step or phase to the end of that player's next same step
or phase. If a turn cycle would end in a skipped step or phase (but not turn), the turn cycle expires when the step or
phase is skipped. No attempt should be made to rewind the game state to the point of the missed trigger."  Based on this we should have rewinded the game up to that point and I would have as Dave said almost certainly won that game.  

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Sorry I didn't know the ruling I went by what the judge said at the ruling. There is a good chance you would have won if confidant didn't land but who knows. I'm sorry it happened like that

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Looks good.  What was your SB?

Thanks Gunslinga...sideboard is updated can't believe I forgot that haha.

[Mr. Type 4]

"If the error is discovered after a turn cycle, continue the game without resolving the forgotten trigger. A turn
cycle is defined as the time from the beginning of a player's step or phase to the end of that player's next same step
or phase. If a turn cycle would end in a skipped step or phase (but not turn), the turn cycle expires when the step or
phase is skipped. No attempt should be made to rewind the game state to the point of the missed trigger."  Based on this we should have rewinded the game up to that point and I would have as Dave said almost certainly won that game. 

Pretty sure this essentially means, "if you move beyond whatever phase or step in which the trigger was missed, then the trigger is missed" from Josh's description above it sounds like this wasn't caught until after the deadline. 

Congrats to Josh on his win - nice one.  And wow, Joe Pace in the finals!  Congrats to him, too!

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Thanks Paul! Hopefully I will see you at NY and Blue Bell events coming up!

[minusblindfold]

Thanks paul. I like this deck, josh. This might be what I have been  looking for. I decided to play oath becuase I expected a ton of wierd aggro decks in bloom.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

Thanks paul. I like this deck, josh. This might be what I have been  looking for. I decided to play oath becuase I expected a ton of wierd aggro decks in bloom.

Thanks Joe, Yeah those weird aggro decks can be a pain, and obv oath has a solid shops matchup too. Thats why I always enjoy playing empty the warrens, good vs bad decks, and beats jace, often beats blue in general, and paired up with infinite bounce spells isnt too bad vs shops

[personalbackfire]

@Josh

Why only 1 Jace? I may be a bit removed from vintage, but Jace has been insane in everything I have played him in (including bobtendrils and drain style decks).

Also 2 Spell Pierce 2 Thoughtseize seems odd. As does 2 ETW and maybe even 2 Chain for that matter. Care to comment on the numbers?

On average do you want to be naturally drawing ETW?

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

@Josh

Why only 1 Jace? I may be a bit removed from vintage, but Jace has been insane in everything I have played him in (including bobtendrils and drain style decks).

Also 2 Spell Pierce 2 Thoughtseize seems odd. As does 2 ETW and maybe even 2 Chain for that matter. Care to comment on the numbers?

On average do you want to be naturally drawing ETW?

Well as far as 1 jace is concered, dont get me wrong he is great and all but he doesnt WIN the game. Plus that # is directly tied to the # of emptys I play, I feel that every blue player runs multiple jace in attempts to win games sometimes, and empty the warrens just smokes a jace right off the field. Ok you have a jace and I just emptied for 10+ and I have control in my hand. If I went to 1 empty I would be playing the 2nd jace. I like empty as a 2 of I know it may seem odd to alot of people bc its so out of the ordinary. My early lists only ran one but I felt like empty just wins the game in almost every matchup so its there as a 2 of so i have more consistant draws of getting it without having to waste a tutor for it. It beats blue decks very often, beats any bad aggro deck, and teamed up with bounce spells it beats shops. I feel like empty just beats everything and its a very underrated card. I win soooooo many games vs so many diff archetypes and decks off the back of etw

Regarding the 2 pierce/2 seize count. Again I am not much a fan of pierce as many ppl would agree but I feel it is just really good with mud in the format and is not always dead vs other decks including blue. I used to run just duress effects in my old lists and ended up going to the combo package as shops got better and better. Its just nice being able to counter there turn 1 play rather then duressing it and them still having a turn 1 play. If i werent running the pierces I would run 1-2 more duress effects. These are just preference slots really. Another cool thing about pierce is I can sit on island for pierce turn 1 and then have drain up next turn, where thoughtseize vs shops i want to fetch up a swamp vs shops so puts me off drain turn 2. But all in all I like to have some duress effects vs blue so its there.

Chain of vapor. This is another card that is probabply an interchangable slot. Like for example, I could probably run 1 repeal over 1 chain, but repeal doesnt bouce, blightsteel, or none of the big drops shops plays so that is a huge turn off in my book. Also I like having it there for so many random situations like, a early planeswalker, a oath a bob, just random things not to mention its good vs fish. But the ultimate sweet part about chain of vapor it enables storm very well with empty the warrens. If i were to cut a chain, I would replace it with steel sabotage but again that card is restrictive and doesnt handle random cards it only handles shops

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

I guess the diff between what i play and traditional storm is pretty huge. Im not trying to ramp alot of storm to win in 1 turn I just want to empty for 8+ guys alot of times and just let the control ride the win there. But sometimes the longer games I gan empty for 14 to 20 goblins. Im not trying to exhaust all my resources to achieve a huge storm its there bc counters dont stop it, nor does jace, and teamed up with bounce spells shops cant beat it either

Further more on chain of vapor, I wanted a card that can easily enable a decent amount of storm for empty while still having a huge versatility to the field. if i have chain, mox, mox, empty in hand, I can easily empty for 12 tokens, and often times stealing the game even if my opponent has counters. And if they want to counter 2 copies im ok with that bc i will hold counters for there spells. But if chain is repeal....I can only empty for 10 depending on what i draw....maybe 12 if i draw a 3rd mox. So really i wanted a storm enabler but also a card that could bounce anything really with no restrictions so thats why I play chain

[Kameli0n]

Mr. Magrann,

If you read the ruling you provided, "If the error is discovered after a turn cycle, continue the game without resolving the forgotten trigger. A turn
cycle is defined as the time from the beginning of a player's step or phase to the end of that player's next same step
or phase. If a turn cycle would end in a skipped step or phase (but not turn), the turn cycle expires when the step or
phase is skipped. No attempt should be made to rewind the game state to the point of the missed trigger." - This ruling explains that you should not rewindthe game and should continue the game without resolving the forgotten trigger. IF what had happened was explained to me correctly on the date of the event when you and Josh called me to the table. You may pm me with any questions, comments, or concerns if necessary. Hopefully this helps. Sorry it happened that way for you.

[Will]

It's fine, I had experienced something similar at a Blue Bell in Top8 where my opponent cast Imperial Seal when I had a Chalice on 1 and found a Jace which would have won him the game had he not Brainstormed with it every turn.  The issue that I had was that Josh went Lotus Bob and then passed to me.  I untapped and did my upkeep effects and then drew, then realizing it.  That was at most 30 seconds but the game had already turned to my turn.  I was not sure if a turn cycle meant from Josh's main phase to his next main phase or from Josh's main phase to my main phase or what.  I'm still not sure if that is the case and after all I made the mistake by not realizing that my card should have countered the Lotus before it was too late but it couldn't have been more than a minute in actual time and although the rules seem to say that you should not go back in actuality it would have been a quick and easy fix with the only problem being that I know Josh has a Bob in hand which I didn't previously know about.  Having something like this happen to me twice where it does not turn out in my favor will only lead me to play tighter in the future.  Thanks for trying to clear things up though Shawn.  

Also this was posted in a WOTC article "For example, if a player misses a trigger at the beginning of his or her own upkeep and this is noticed during that player's next upkeep (presumably when the same ability triggers again), this is within a turn cycle."  That seems to prove my point that it is within a turn cycle but Mike Noble said that while the Lotus should have remained countered as it was within a turn cycle, the Dark Confidant would be failure to maintain game state and would be up to the judges discretion so you didn't do anything wrong. 

[Mr. Type 4]

Having something like this happen to me twice where it does not turn out in my favor will only lead me to play tighter in the future.

Word.  Be the boss of your Chalice!  When your opponent plays Black Lotus and you have chalice zero, triumphantly yell "countered!" and ship that sucker to the bin. 

Smokey says, "only you can prevent missed triggers" =)