Here's a mini-report and small primer on the ideas in the version of Humans I was working on this past month and took to T8 in Lancaster yesterday.
Grand Vault (60)
Artifacts (13):
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
Critters (16):
4 Dark Confidant
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Trinket Mage
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Notion Thief
1 Eternal Witness
Instants/Sorceries (7/4):
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Mental Misstep
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Brainstorm
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Planeswalkers (2):
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Land (18):
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Brass
4 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest (I subbed a W. Heath at this event though cause it was nowhere to be found)
1 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
1 Bayou
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
Sideboard:
2 Mindbreak Trap (Storm, Broken Blue, some Shop)
2 Grafdigger's Cage (Dredge, Oath, Broken Blue)
2 Rest in Peace (Dredge, BUG Fish)
1 Tormod's Crypt (Dredge, Gush, Snapper)
1 War Priest of Thune (Oath, Humans [Stony Silence])
1 True Believer (Oath, Storm)
1 Notion Thief (Griselbrand, Broken Blue, Landstill, Gush, Storm, Skullclamp)
1 Ethersworn Canonist (Storm)
1 Disenchant (Shops, Oath, Null Rod)
1 Path to Exile (Shops, Humans, Fish, swap w. StP against Griselbrand)
1 Abrupt Decay (Shops, Humans, Oath, Vault)
1 Karakas (Oath, Humans [Thalia, Exava], Delver [Vendilion Clique], Shop [extra land, also Karn])
The idea is to maximize the latitude offered by Grand Abolisher's protection to resolve game ending bombs rather than simply using him to prevent another Fish creature or Swords to Plowshares from being countered as is done where he usually sees play. In that sense, he is a cheaper version of Teferi's best ability and comparable to Xantid Swarm, except that you don't have to pass the turn to attack and he himself is usually protected from countermagic by Cavern of Souls.
Unlike the approaches Guli has been using that draw from Landstill's "utterly humiliating negation of the opponent" approach with its extreme denial and removal, this deck plays out like a broken blue Bob/Jace deck, but with a more moderated control aspect in favor of greater acceleration and higher threat density. Cavern of Souls is used offensively here to force through a game win rather than to resolve a control element that prevents a game loss. The Stoneforge package rounds out Shop/aggro matches and is essential to help offset the inherent suicidal features of running Dark Confidant, City of Brass, fetchlands, and Mana Crypt. You don't want to take infinite turns and then die during one of them. That would be embarrassing.
Mini-report:
Somehow I missed the exit for the shop and ended up lost in Lancaster for over an hour. As insult to injury, the browser on my "smart" phone was showing an error message and wouldn't respond to anything I typed. I didn't want the event to wait for me so I called a friend there and said I'd just take a Round 1 Loss, which I did, and that meant I had to do very well to get into the Top 8. Fortunately I won all my matches.
Round 1 v. Stoneforge Jace Vault
I saw a Tundra, Trinket Mage, and Sensei's Divining Top and wasn't sure if he was playing Bomberman or Blue Angels. It didn't occur to me he was playing a variation of the list that came in first place at Lancaster last month, which ironically meant it was my own list from August I didn't recognize. The opponent playing was a friendly guy named Ryan who usually plays Legacy and said he always wanted to see if Stoneblade was viable in Vintage and since it did well last month, it piqued his interest in our format. Apparently a lot of people playing other formats have been turned on to Vintage because of the events in Lancaster which yield multiple fresh faces every month. I understand Calvin actively recruits people and spends a lot of time helping them with design & strategy so kudos to him for helping to grow Vintage and contribute to its second renaissance. So I did the rudest thing ever in game 1 which was to Notion Thief (via Cavern) his draw with Sensei's Divining Top in the early game which yielded such a huge tempo swing I won soon thereafter. I think it actually ends up being a 3 for 1 rather than the 2 for 1 it seems at first glance, because I draw, he doesn't draw, but then his Sensei's Divining Top is on library and he can't use it to draw anything the following turn. At some point, he plays Balance which does a great deal of damage to me though I still pulled through. I comment how I had played Balance maindeck last month with good results and compliment him on his card choice.
Still, despite the clue from Balance, I side against him Game 2 as though he's on Bomberman/Angels. He hardcasts Batterskull and I get puzzled. I Notion Thief his Jace-storm putting him at 1-2 cards in hand and me with a full grip including Demonic Tutor IIRC. Then he plays Balance again and hardcasts Tezzeret the Seeker. Suddenly it becomes clear he's playing the Stoneforge Jace Vault list and I feel awkward. Since I sided out Abrupt Decay I was defenseless against Tez into Vault with Batterskull blocking for the Tez so I concede.
Game 3, I Notion Thiefed his Snapcaster on Ancestral and used Jace + search to assemble Vault Key. It was either at time or going to time and Ryan was gracious enough to concede once the combo was assembled.
Notion Thief is the real deal and seems to be online in this list by Turn 2 almost all the time because of the heavy accel package + Nobles.
Round 2 - BUG Fish
Game 1, he played a Turn 1 Confidant and I had to burn my Demonic Tutor to find Abrupt Decay to get rid of it. I find it's impossible to beat BUG Fish if they have that thing up and running all game. The game was very long and grindy. I had Jace, he had a Trygon Predator and he kept whacking me instead of Jace and gobbling Moxen. He also had an active Shaman. I was one mana shy of Eternal Witness -> Vault (Cannot be eaten by Deathrite, hallelujah) + Key + Activate the turn before lethal because he had gobbled my Emerald.
Game 2, I opened with Cavern, Noble Hierarch, pass. He played a Shaman I believe and some acceleration. Turn 2, I play Grand Abolisher with the Cavern, Mox Sapphire, Time Walk. Untap, play Voltaic Key, play Time Vault, and take infinite turns with no possibility of interference on his part.
Game 3, my hand had 1 City of Brass, Sol Ring, 2 Mox, Black Lotus, Mana Crypt, and Thirst. I baited a Misstep with the Sol Ring so that if I drew into Ancestral or Key, they'd be a bit safer. I have an old habit of pretending to be mana screwed to nefariously influence opposing decision trees. He Misstepped the Ring. I didn't play my land that turn because I didn't want it Wasted. My play sequence was a bit risky because I didn't want to channel right off the bat how reliant I was on Thirst resolving since it was the only business spell in opening hand. He Vamped and played Trygon Predator onto a board with no land and 1 Mox, but I busted out next turn, Thirsting into 2 Jaces discarding Mana Crypt, resolved the second one, Demonic Tutored for Abrupt Decay, drew Swords, killed his Shaman and Predator, and then played Yawgmoth's Will and he conceded.
Round 3 - Aggro Humans
Game 1, I had no idea what he was playing. My hand had lands, a Cavern, Black Lotus, Grand Abolisher and Jace. I debated being conservative and playing Abolisher first in case he was on FoW, but decided to just go for it and played Land, Lotus, Jace, Jace-storm. Jace found Key and Demonic Tutor. I felt good, and then he played his turn of Cavern of Souls, Mox Pearl, Black Lotus, Thalia, Knight of the Reliquary. Uh oh. Things just got hairy. I played Abolisher and Brainstormed again looking for some accel because I knew he'd start Wasting me w. Knight. He attacked Jace w. Thalia, I chump blocked and then he swapped a Savannah for a Wasteland and hit my land. I played Voltaic Key (2 mana), Jacestorm, pass. He killed Jace. I played land Demonic Tutor (2B) for Vault, pass. Fortunately he didn't get another Wasteland or Savannah into Wasteland via Knight, so though he got me down to 1 life ultimately, I was able to play the Vault for 3 mana and play another land to untap it and win.
Game 2, I opened with Bob and I believe he did also. I had Jace then and he had a Pridemage that needed to be dealt with before I could combo out. I Decayed his Bob and played an Abolisher causing him to sac his Pridemage on my Key. Next turn, I played Yawgmoth's Will and he conceded.
By then the Top 8 was locked so we all ID-ed the last round.
Top 8, v. Josh P on Blue Angels.
In the brief time between the swiss and T8, I quickly mowed some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that had half melted in my car and some of the chocolate dripped onto my playmat. Oops.
Game 1 We both played Mana Crypt on our first turn. I played Cavern -> Trinket Mage and got Top which resolved. I attacked him with the Mage to see if he was bluffing and he had an Angel, but I was fine w. losing the Mage since it was just a Grizzly Bear at that point and felt better having the Angel enter play not blinking a Mage or Clique. With him having 3 in the air, naturally, my Mana Crypt started to flip against more than his so I Tinkered it into Time Vault to prevent it from killing me. I played a Bob with Sensei Management but then he played Jace and bounced him every turn, until Jace ran out, upon which he played another Jace and fatesealed me for up to 5 more bounces of the Bob. It's a good thing he did that because I looked at the next cards under Sensei's and if Bob had one flip, it would have been enough to get both Abolisher and Key into the Top for the win. I died to the Angel.
Game 2 I had a pretty good hand w. Brainstorm, Sol Ring, Ancestral Recall, Thirst, Jace, Misstep, and played an Underground Sea. He slaps down Library of Alexandria with a full grip and I get out my camera to take a picture that I intend to caption "how I lost in the quarter-finals."
Fortunately though, instead of a blowout, I launched a valiant assault against the Library, Brainstorming at EoT into Cavern, Bob, and Academy and then baiting a Misstep with the Sol Ring, clearing the way for Ancestral which led to a Mox Pearl and before long the Academy was @ 4, Bob and Jace were in play, in addition to a Stoneforge Mystic & Batterskull. Josh was digging for more land, played a Trinket Mage for Lotus and killed my first Jace with an Angel. His strategy of simply riding Library for the win changed when I played a Trinket Mage fetching Voltaic Key and Bob flipped over Time Vault. He played Explosives @ 2 so I kept the Vault in hand and hit him with Batterskull at least twice bringing him eventually down to three life. After eventually cracking Explosives @ 2 to kill Bob and Mystic, he played one @ 1 which matched a Hierarch and Voltaic Key. He had been on Library all game so I was setting up a turn where I'd play Vault, expect him to counter or crack explosives (leaving him with only U open), bounce my Eternal Witness w. Jace, replay it w. Cavern, play Key again, expect that to also be countered and then play Yawgmoth's Will with Mindbreak Trap online. Mind you, this was all possible because of Nobles and the exceptionally broken amount of mana generated by Vintage's unsung hero, Tolarian Academy with a gazillion artifacts in play and Mana Crypt in hand I think. The strategy took a turn for the worse however when he Sower of Temptationed my Eternal Witness and we got a ruling clarifying that if he were to use Restoration Angel on it, the Witness would return to play under his control, not mine. I could not then bounce the Witness then because he had 4 mana open for Angel and he'd simply blink it.
On his turn, Josh played Angel blinking the Eternal Witness he stole with Sower, bringing back his Black Lotus to cast another Jace for and used that Jace to bounce my Noble Hierarch, by then the only remaining creature, to prevent me from equipping it with Batterskull and attacking.
None of these contortions would have been necessary if both Grand Abolishers weren't hiding in the 24 or so remaining cards in library. I still had Yawgmoth's Will in hand and Cavern. I spun the Top and it showed 3 land. Cracked a fetchland, spun it again, and it was 2 land and a wholly unnecessary Black Lotus. UGH. I had several turns left despite him having 8-10 damage on the table, because the early exalted Batterskull beats had me up to 38 life. I found a Dark Confidant w. Top, played it with Cavern but he was Plowed and then the Top got misstepped. Drew 3 lands in a row hoping the one under the Sensei's previous reveals was Abolisher FTW but again... land. And then land. I checked after the game, and there were still more lands and a Mox before any business spells. Such is life. On the bright side though, it reinforced to me how good of a card this Abolisher is considering it could steal a win against that board state and opponent's Jace + Library of Alexandria fueled full grip.
All and all, it was another great day in Lancaster. The deck is incredibly fun to pilot. That's all for now. -B
