To those of you who don't know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Nick Coss, and my job is Magic. Not playing Magic on the Pro Tour, but as a vendor and Tournament Organizer (and soon to be Brick and Mortar store owner, w00t!). I have run the Philadelphia area "Blue Bell Game Day" events for the past year and a half as well as operating as a vendor for Nick Detwiler's NYSE Vintage tournaments. This, along with the fact that I am one of Gray Matter Convention's four vendors for their events, means I don't get to play much competitive magic. On the other hand, my life is immersed in magic's ebb and flow on a daily basis, so by no means am I out of the loop. When I get the chance to play, I want to enjoy myself, and because of that I 100% stay away from the frontrunner or "best deck". I tend to choose Tier 1.5 or Tier 2 decks that are powerful (but not always consistent) and somewhat under the radar.
Leading up to Gencon I was working with friends on an Oath deck based on recurring Time Walks with Rune-Scarred Demon, but the concept, while very strong, hadn't been coming together the way I wanted it to in testing and tournament play (I set up as a vendor AND played in the last NYSE; not something for anyone who likes free time at events). at the NYSE, I went 0-2-1, losing to decks in a variety of painful and unique ways (Demon being the last card in my deck after boarding out Gaea's Blessing, Chalice on 2, milling Time Walk, Regrowth, Yawgmoth's Will, Noxious Revival, but not Gaea's Blessing, and MORE!). So I mentally shelved the deck, but without another replacement still found myself on my way to Gencon with Demon Oath sleeved up and ready to go.
Still unhappy with how Demon Oath played, I decided to switch back to what I had played the last time I played in a Vintage event (5 months prior), Demonic Attorney's "Minus Six" (primer
here). I am a BIG fan of Worldgorger Combo, especially with many people trying to incorporate Mental Misstep into their decks to fight opposing 1 mana spells. Minus Six only plays ten spells that cost 1 mana.
Main Deck: 60 cards4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Dark Confidant
3 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Duress
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Necromancy
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal (last minute change from Mystical Tutor)
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
2 Read the Runes
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Sideboard: 15 Cards
4 Mana Drain
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolarian Academy
Here's a vague, surely incomplete, and probably filled with inaccuracies Tournament Report. If I played against you and I got stuff wrong, please correct me. I lost my notes on most of my matches and this is all strictly by memory.
Round 1 vs. Jon Medina playing Dredge
Jon and I know each other casually, since meeting and trading with him at GP: Atlanta. He's a nice guy, and we sit down and pleasantries exchanged, start to play. Jon says that this is his first match ever played with Dredge, and while he has the basics down, misses a few of the key interactions that make the deck the 800 lb. guerrilla it is.
Game 1
I win the Die Roll. I remember Jon not using his Bazaar during his upkeep, and because of this not being able to make full use of the Grave-Troll that he had. I have the 2 turns needed to set up a win with a mox, sea, bazaar, WGD, and animate. One of the bonuses about playing 3 different animate spells is the added resiliency against Cabal Therapy (and Meddling Mage).
Game 2:
I sb as follows:
-4 Duress
-1 Read the Runes
-1 Island
+1 Tinker
+1 Blightsteel Colossus
+1 Time Vault
+1 Voltaic Key
+1 Gifts Ungiven
+1 Tolarian Academy
The logic behind this choice is that I need to stay WGD combo in order to beat dredge. The Tezzeret board isn't fast enough. I bring in 2 additional "combos", Gifts, and Tolarian to add the potential for a more explosive opener.
Jon opens on the play with Bazaar, but discarding no dredgers. At one point I have the potential to win but would lose to a timely Nature's Claim or Chain of Vapor. I choose instead to Gifts, trying to play around the hate I put him on, because why else would he keep a hand with Bazaar and no dredgers, and pass the turn with 1 mana up and 1 card in hand instead of trying to continue to win. It turns out he didn't have either, but the Gifts got me Vault Key and I got there.
My Record: 1-0
Round 2: ?? playing Dredge
Game 1:
I'm surprised when he announces a Turn 0 effect: Leyline of the Void. I know I'm in trouble when he plays a Bazaar of Baghdad and Chalice of the Void on zero after that. Thankfully, he doesn't have a dredger, and I have Sol Ring. I have enough time to play turn 2 Intuition for Imperial Seal, Vamp, and Demonic. He gives me Seal, and I tutor for Echoing Truth. On his turn 3 I Truth the Leyline and proceed to untap and Animate Dragon after playing my own Bazaar. Did that really happen?
Game 2:
Same SB plan as round 1
I remember Tinkering for Blightsteel Colossus. This is one of those fuzzy moments.
My Record: 2-0
Round 3: ?? playing Cat Stax Fever
Game 1:
I lose to large robots and not being able to play spells. He knows to wasteland my Bazaar.
Game 2:
I SB all 15 cards in, removing the following:
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Necromancy
1 Intuition
1 Read the Runes (the non-foil one; yes, I'm that guy)
He plays turn 1 Mountain, Welder, go. I play Turn 1 Sol Ring.
Turn 2 he plays Bazaar, activating it discarding Welder, Mana Vault, Trinisphere. He plays a Mox and welds in Trinisphere (a questionable play in my mind, considering I have 3 mana and he does not). I untap, play my 2nd basic island, and play Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Jace bounces welder and effectively Trinisphere locks him. The advantage Jace gains me puts away the match a few turns later after I Mana Drain a Lodestone Golem and do broken things (I think Tinker for Blightsteel).
Game 3:
No change
I lose to (as I vaguely remember it) large robots killing me and not being able to cast any spells.
My Record: 2-1
Round 4: Mike playing Cat Stax Fever
Game 1:
I don't remember how this played out
Game 2:
I sideboard the same as Round 3 (-15, +15)
Fog of war (can't remember)
Game 3:
He opens with Leyline of the Void and Leyline of Sanctity (hooray for transformational SBs)I remember him playing a first turn Slash Panther off Mana Crypt and Ancient Tomb, which I Fow because my hand is slow. I play a Dark Confidant, and for a few turns it's draw-go for both of us, him with a Chalice on 0 that's stopping over half my hand, and him with lots of mana. Lots of it. He plays a Metamorph on my Bob, and for a while there we exchange Bob hits, going lower in life as we go. I flip a FoW and go to 6, and decide to hold back and see if he'll block. His Mana Crypt and Meta-Bob have dealt him at least 12 damage at this point. He attacks, and we trade "Bobs". His Mana Crypt finishes him off. At the end of the game, he was stuck with at least 3 Leylines in his hand, again demonstrating the potential power of the Tezzeret SB not giving a crap about Graveyard hate.
My Record: 3-1
Round 5: ?? playing John Donovan's GW Hate.
My opponent knows me, from both of us being friends with John. He's playing something based off John's deck from 2009's Vintage Champs (link
here). This matchup should be very good for me, as long as I avoid Swords or Path (or a Qasali Pridemage).
I win on the first turn, Animating Dragon.
Game 2 I transform into Tez.
I counter his Leonin Arbiter and Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus. This match was over quickly, to say the least.
Record: 4-1
Round 6: Steve Menindian playing Gush/Bob (Steve is 5-0, I am 4-1 and was paired up)
Here's his excerpt from his Tournament Report (a much better read then mine, I'm inclined to believe)
Round Six: Nick Coss – WGD Combo
I play really tight in game one and keep control long enough to combo. In game 2, I play Bob instead of Time Walk, and it costs me as he has turn two Key Vault. I was greedy.
In game three, he plays Swamp, Imperial Seal. My hand is nuts: Force, Bob, Clique, Reb, and some other good stuff. I decide to play turn two Bob + holding Volcanic untapped for REB, instead of Clique on his draw step. He goes: Duress (my Force), Lotus, Key + Vault. I untap and do a bunch of stuff, including Time Walk, but can’t get there. I’m actually one mana short of being able to Yawg Will after Gushing, but I lose to Key Vault. I should have played Clique, but got greedy again.
5-1
This pretty much sums it up. Both times I was able to resolve turn 2 Time Vault + Key, without the mana to untap Vault. Both times Steve's following turn he was unable to dig for an answer, despite game 3's turn/s seeing him about 15 different cards between Top activations, gushing, fetching, and Time Walking with 2x Bob in play. I tried my best to punt by playing a Dark Confidant as my win condition, it chewing away at my life total before finding a Jace to bounce it and win at a more leisurely pace.
Record: 5-1
Round 7: Andy Farias playing UR Magus of the Moon.dec
Game 1:
Andy counters an early Dark Confidant of mine and proceeds to play Magus of the Moon. Fortunately, I have not only Mox Jet, but an Island in play. I draw a Force, and with a hand full of animate enchantments, choose to counter his 2nd Magus. I then Dance of the Dead it and use it to hold off his attackers quite well. Eventually, I draw a Read the Runes, which enables me to draw 2 cards and discard 2 Dragons that were in my hand. Then, I draw another Read the Runes. I tutor for Lotus, so I can play 2 Animate Deads the same turn, and combo into infinite mana and Read the Runes my whole library into my graveyard, switching to Oona and RFGing his library. He scoops in response, hiding the rest of his deck. I made a mistake this match, forgetting about the Dark Confidant that had been countered. I definitely should have Animate Dead'ed the Confidant asap, since the card drawing would have likely gotten me there that much quicker.
Game 2:
I board into Tez, and am able to Drain his Magus of the Moon, and eventually we get to the point where I have Jace (fatesealing him) and 2x Confidants. I have a few counters in hand and can leisurely attack for a few turns, controlling his draws.
Record: 6-1
Round 8: Josh Rayden playing a rogue 4 or 5c deck with Bob, Vendilion Clique, and other good stuff.
I check the standings and even though Josh offers me the draw, I would certainly be knocked out of the Top 8 (I had the worst tiebreakers, and 1/2 of the deciding matches below us had already been decided by concession). So I found myself in the same position I was last year, x-1 in the final round, playing for the Top 8. Only this time, it wasn't a feature match, and Bob Maher was conveniently playing in Nationals and not against me.
Game 1 I don't remember much, but I did win, after winning a minor counter war over Animate Dead.
Game 2:
I SBed slightly differently this match, staying Dragon instead of switching, because Josh had been next to me or watching a few times, each of which I SBed into Tez for game 2.
I do however board in Vault Key.
I'm able to win game 2 by comboing out with Dragon. Josh shows me a hand of Rebs and told me that he sideboarded for Tez.
Record: 7-1
I enter the Top 8 as the 2nd seed and what a Top 8 it was
1) Rich Shay 7-0-1
2) Nick Coss 7-1
3) Joe Brown 6-0-2
4) Steve Menindian 6-1-1
5) Joe Bogaard 6-1-1
6) Ryan Glackin 6-1-1
7) Mark Hornung 6-1-1
8) Paul Mastriano 6-1-1
I'd like to take a moment and point something out.
6/11 - NYSE XV
6/18 - Blue Bell #16
6/25 - Bloomsburg #6
6/26 - TMD Open 14.75
7/16 - Blue Bell #17
7/23 - Baltimore Vintage AND Bloomsburg #7
7/24 - NYSE Lite
7/30 - NYSE XVI
It's clear that the PA/NJ/NY corridor supports the highest caliber of Vintage player anywhere in the world. There were NINE events in the two months leading up to Gencon, and let me tell you, they are not cakewalk. They are mostly 5, 6, or 7 round + T8 cut affairs that has you playing against the best, week in and week out. It makes perfect sense to me that 5 out of 8 of the Top 8 of Vintage Champs play in this part of the country. The maximum number of players advanced to the Top 4, making up 3/4 of the slots. The maximum number of players advanced AGAIN, pitting Paul against Mark in the finals. Add this to the fact that four more PA/NJ/NY players rounded out the Top 16, and it's clear that practice still makes perfect, at least for Vintage.
Back to the Top 8: Mark Hornung playing "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (Sun Titan Dredge)
Mark wins the die roll, much to my dismay. He and I both know this matchup is a race to combo out, neither of us expect any game to go past turn 2.
He wins on turn 2. I would have combo'ed off on my turn 2. Mark was a little bit out of his element here, playing in a feature match with a table judge. He got a warning for "missing" Bridge triggers, having resolved a Cabal Therapy before resolving the Bridge triggers. This shook him enough that he missed consecutive Narcomoeba triggers, and gave me more time then I should have had. Being that Mark is a friend, I made sure to verbalize Bridge triggers the rest of the match, not wanting any wins that would come that cheap way.
Game 2:
-4 Duress
-1 Read the Runes
-1 Island
+1 Tinker
+1 Blightsteel Colossus
+1 Time Vault
+1 Voltaic Key
+1 Gifts Ungiven
+1 Tolarian Academy
I keep the following hand: (I can only remember the relevant cards)
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Sol Ring
1 Time Vault
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 ?? (i think there was an Animate here)
1 ??
I play Bazaar, and activate. I don't hit a Mox, but I do hit an Underground Sea. I pass
Mark plays Bazaar and passes.
I play U. Sea, Sol Ring, Time Vault and pass. I have the chance to Bazaar during his turn and on my turn to dig 5 card to hit a mana source. Mark dredges and is able to Cabal Therapy me. He voices that he's choosing between Tinker or Vampiric Tutor. He ends up choosing Tutor (he says later this is because he lost to Vamp the week prior when he could have therapied it). I showed him Tinker, and once I hit the mana source I needed to, he scooped.
Game 3, I mulliganed to a hand that had some business, but had to use a Necromancy on Sun Titan to stop Mark from winning that turn (I had Mana Crypt + Underground Sea). An interesting aside; When that Sun Titan goes to the graveyard at Mark's EOT step, he gets Bridge tokens because it goes to his graveyard. Mark killed me the following turn (turn 3) when my Bazaar activation failed to hit 1 of 3 Dragons + and 1 of 4 Animates (hey, I had outs dammit
)
Congratulations to Mark Hornung, 2011 Vintage Champion, and all of the other Top 8 competitors.
