I want to thank all the people who showed up to this event, with a PTQ in Edison, and a SCG open in baltimore there were worries that attendance would be low. Instead 25 people showed up to battle and it was a great time.
Weeks ago i wound up playing against PETER FLUGZEUG ( Jonas Bischof ) on cockatrice. I was playing a control style deck with bobs while he was playing the deck he and his brother created (
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=42294.0). I won our match overall ( bob hurts remora quite a bit ) but I was very impressed with it, and thought it would be a good fit for our area as Bobs are not terribly popular, and workshops are kind of on the decline. I first tried it out at the last NYSE, but mistakes were made, as i cut the vendilion clique and i wound up only going 4-2 finishing 13th. Overall i was pretty happy with the deck, and fully intended to play it at BBGD #16, but i chickened out and audibled to a Paul Mastriano list the morning of the event and got smashed all day long, finishing 3-3.
So for Bloom, i decided to go back to the painter deck, this time include the vendilion clique, and see what happened.
Round 1 Chris Kemple
G1
As i sit down i introduce myself to Chris and he says he knows who i am, as we had physics together at Wilkes University the past semester. So i am pretty shocked to find another vintage player partly from our area. We talk about our teacher and other magic players from Wilkes while shuffling up, then its time to battle. I win the die roll and choose to play having no idea what Chris is on, and keep a hand that looks like land mox lotus sol ring jace reb something else. so i go land, mox into sol ring, lotus into jace with reb back up, and he doesn't counter anything so i brainstorm and pass. he plays a workshop and a thorn i think, then passes. he never gets any pressure going, and looking at our life totals, i vamp at some point then combo him out.
G2
Chris is naturally on the play, and my opening hand is land land sol ring mindbreak trap and 3 other good cards. he opens with a ruby, an ancient tomb, a chalice on 0 which i let resolve, then a metalworker which gets mindbreak trapped. he never finds a second land and can't play any of the bombs in his hand, and i slowly just take control of the board.
1-0-0
Round 2 Allen Fulmer
G1
Allen knows that i am on painter as we were talking about it before the tournament, and i know he is on the deck he helped build with Shawn Anthony ( the empty gush deck ) so i feel pretty good about my chances this matchup as painter is a bitch for storm style decks. And of course when i feel like that the opposite happens, and Allen blows me out game 1.
G2
i keep a combo piece filled hand of land sol ring grindstone, painter painter, cards i can't cast. things seem to be going well and i am about to combo out when Allen lays down a pithing needle i can't answer. the game drags on and on with me beating him to 9 life with painter beats, and him stabilizing with an empty for 6 goblins with me at 15 and a second pithing needle. at this point i only have one painter, so i feel allen should probably start to swing, as i go from 15 to 10, then to 6, then to 3, then to 1, then dead, but we just stare across the board at one another for a few turns. the critical moment in the game comes when i play a yawg will, and Allen looks at my gy and sees i have the missing combo piece and my hurkyl's in the gy and concedes thinking that its over. As soon as the game is over Shawn who was watching suggests that i didn't have enough mana to do all the things i needed to go and that his concession was premature. As we try and reconstruct the game state as i had started shuffling we come to the conclusion that i did not in fact have enough mana to win that turn, and my will wasn't even terribly good otherwise as i didn't have a lot of bombs in the gy. Allen looks at his next card, and it is also Yawg Will, which would have blown me out.
While we shuffle for game 3 i remember that i had a mana drain in the gy, and i figure out that i could have cast an inconsequential spell from my gy, forced it, then drained the force, then moved to second main for the extra mana that i needed, trying to make Allen not feel so bad for the concession.
G3
I don't remember much of what happened in this game, except that Allen's life didn't drop below 18, so i imagine i was able to assemble the combo and combo out quickly.
2-0-0
Round 3 John Richards
I don't think John and i have actually played a tournament game since Waterbury last year, though we did play some funzies games at GP providence where i got the best of him because i had maindeck ancient grudges. This match was going to nothing like that
G1
John wins the roll i think and opens up with a million mana and a juggernaught. so thats bad. turn 2 he plays a slash panther which i had just drain a counter for, then metamorphs his juggernaught. i can't possibly get out from behind that and quickly scoop up my cards.
G2
This was the first game were Clique shone. I open land mox pass and Again he opens up with a million mana but this time i have a counter for his slash panther. the game is not very exciting for awhile as i am just drawing cards and passing, and he is playing thorns and taking a bunch of dmg from his mana crypt. eventually i draw my clique and pass, then clique him in his draw step, and the clique combined with the crypt does him in.
G3
My opening hand this game was ingot chewer, land land, ingot chewer, lightning bolt, something something. and of course John ruins all my fun by opening up with a trinisphere. then throwing three consecutive slash panthers at my face.
2-1-0
Round 4 Will Trinks
G1
I lose the die roll and proceed to get slaughtered by t1 land mox key, t2 land vault force back up. This combined with the loss last round immediately put me into "pissy mode" where i start bitching about how i never luck my way into blowout victories, and always have to work for them. This also assures that the rest of this match, regardless of the outcome is not going to be in any way fun for either of us.
G2
I don't remember the exact sequence of plays except that Will opens up with t1 land mox mox key, t2 land tinker. i was absolutely furious at this luck, basically nut opening hands 2 games in a row? fortunately i had a hurkyl's in hand so i wasn't worried about blightsteel, but he tinkers up a battlesphere, which i know he is just going to be able to recast eventually, so wtf. this was a long grueling game involving the battle sphere being recast, Will casting noxious revival on something and me finally coming away with the victory after finally being able to assemble painter + stone.
G3
I don't have any notes of this game, and i just remember being far too angry to remember anything not noteworthy. Life totals show Will going to 18 then losing, so i assume i was able to assemble the combo.
3-1-0
Round 5 Paul Mastriano
ID
3-1-1
Top 8 Paul Mastriano
G1
I draw my 7 cards and see ancestral, lotus, land, Jace, drain, pyroblast, something. I think thinking this is going to a sweet opener. However Paul's had was the most bonkers hand ever. During the game i could only sit and watch and await my doom as he opens with Lotus, Crypt, Petal, Underground, tap sea for brainstorm, crack lotus for blue, demonic, time walk, take time walk turn and tinker blightsteel into play with 2 cards left in hand. I open with land lotus jace, praying that his last two cards are not force and blue card, and jace sticks, i bounce his guy and proceed to just run away with the game with the active jace.
G2
This game was won with the painter beats. taking Paul from 16 to 15 to 14 to 13, then adding a second painter and beating him down to 0. I couldn't combo out, but i had enough control to keep paul from blowing me out.
This was a pretty good match overall. Afterwards we reconstructed Paul's opening hand from g1 and tried to see if there was a better line of play. His opener was Preordain, Black Lotus, Lotus Petal, Imperial Seal, Brainstorm, Mana Crypt, Underground Sea. his top three cards from the brainstorm were Mystical Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor. Allen Fulmer eventually came up with this line, Lotus, Petal, Crypt, Underground, Brainstorm, Demonic for Empty the Warrens, and Empty for 12 guys, which would have made my hand a bust.
Top 4 Shawn Anthony
Shawn has busted me in the last two tournaments i have played in, beating me at NYSE then beating me again the next weekend at Blue Bell. Just like at NYSE i feel that Bishops Painter has a good matchup against his empty deck due to the maindeck remoras, the mindbreak traps, and all the rest of the countermagic. I finally got my revenge and it was all due to the inclusion this time of the vendilion clique
G1
this was a fairly normal game, Shawn kept me off my combo, but i stuck a clique and a painter, and just beat him down to 3, where he finally emptied for 4 goblins. After i asked him if any of them flew, he realized i would kill him with the clique and conceded.
G2
I opened with a mana crypt and watched as it slowly drained my life. Again i stuck a clique and a painter and shawn played his own crypt. The critical turn comes when we are both at 6 life. Shawn duresses me, i reb my crypt in response, and Shawn empties for 6 goblins. He passes the turn, and i draw nothing helpful. I swing with the Clique putting Shawn to three, feeling secure that even if he passes his crypt roll , i can block one goblin, and survive at 1 life, having the clique deal the lethal dmg. There is a huge crowd watching the game by now and the tension as Shawn picks up his die for this crypt roll is palpable. Shawn fails his crypt roll, and i move on to the finals. We look at his next card to see if it would have helped, and it was demonic tutor, which would have allowed him to tutor up a removal spell for my painter, dealing me lethal.
Finals Sam Savage
Sam and i decide to split for credit as i don't need the ruby and he didn't seem interested in it. We play it out for the glory however, as well as a bye at the next NYSE.
G1
Sam blows me out with bazaars, ichorids, narco's andzombies. as to be expected g1 against dredge.
G2
Sam has to mull to 4 cards, and i just build a strong board presence. he concedes in response to a tutor as he knows that i am just going to lock him out.
G3
Same keeps his hand and is pretty excited, and i keep my hand. I have to remind him that there are pre game effects and i put a leyline into play, and he all of a sudden becomes less excited about his hand. He leads bazaar, activates, and discards some random stuff and plays chalice on 0. i draw and go land sol ring pass, i have a force for his t2 chain of vapor. We play draw-go for awhile and I stick a nihil spellbomb as back up in case he kills my leyline. Sam soon concedes as we have already agreed to split the prize, and he knows that he is locked out of this game.
So all in all this was a great event, i am happy that even with the SCG Open and and the PTQ, we were able to draw 25 players. Thanks to Paul and Shawn for the great games, thanks to John Richards for keeping the Slash Panther dream alive. Thanks to Shawn Griffith for hosting yet another great event.
