Top 4 - 2013 Vintage Championship - Philadelphia, PA

[Greg]

What a great weekend! What a great community! What a great run!

I ended up making it all the way to the semifinals of Sunday's Vintage event. I felt a great support from my friends and the community as they supported and cheered me on throughout the day. A big thank you in particular to Nick Detwiler and Tom Dixon for their words of wisdom and support throughout the day.

Overall, the Eternal Weekend was an absolute blast. This event far surpassed my expectations. Nick Coss, thank you for helping to make eternal Magic as fun and special as it is in Northeast America. I don't know a single person that didn't have a fantastic time. I can only hope that you continue to have this opportunity in the coming years. There isn't another person that could do it better.

I thought it might be fun to share one or two "beep beep boops" from every one of my rounds in the 2013 Vintage Championship. I'm not one to typically memorize the happenings of entire Magic: the Gathering matches, but I did have a moment or two in most of my matches that ended up being noteworthy or otherwise intriguing to the Vintage enthusiast.

For those that do not know me, I was playing Oath of Druids. Oath of Druids has been my favorite deck to pilot dating all the way back to 1999's Extended format. (Abundance and Sylvan Library, yeah!) If you take away the one event in 2009 in which I was hilariously slinging Phyrexian Negator, Nantuko Shade, and Hypnotic Specter, Oath of Druids is the only deck I've ever played in Vintage.

In nearly every round, I made a play or two that encapsulated what I love about the Vintage format. I'll share some of them in chronological order.

Round 1 - Shawn Stroke - Merfolk - 2-0

In game two, I was in a bit of trouble, because Shawn had resolved a Waterfront Bouncer that he brought into play with a Cavern of Souls naming "Merfolk." He then proceeded to cast a Phantasmal Image with a Cavern of Souls naming "Illusion." He was going to copy Waterfront Bouncer and make the game incredibly rough for me to deal with from that point on. I almost didn't realize that an Abrupt Decay could wildly solve this problem. I had been holding back on an Abrupt Decay in my hand which I responded with, destroying his Waterfront Bouncer before the Phantasmal Image had a chance to copy it, therefore coming into play as a 0/0.

Round 2 - Joel Lim - Merfolk - 2-0

In game two, Joel's board featured a Lord of Atlantis and a Silvergill Adept that had been beating me down. I have plenty of Islands, so these creatures were quite unblockable. I had finally Oathed into a Griselbrand that turn, but I was at three life. Similarly to my last round, I was saved by a clutch Abrupt Decay again. Joel went to cast another Lord of Atlantis, but I countered it with a Force of Will through pitching a blue card and going to 2 life. I had one last card in my hand. Joel attacked with the unblockable Adept, and I cast Abrupt Decay on the Merfolk lord that was granting his creature Islandwalk. I proceeded to block the Silvergill Adept with my Griselbrand, gain 7 life, and take the game over from there.

Round 3 - Patrick Henry - U/R Landstill - 2-0

In game two, Patrick and I each had our own copy of Jace, the Mind Sculptor in play. On the turn that my opponent cast his, he used the "Brainstorm" ability to find a Lightning Bolt which he cast, targeting my Jace which was down to three loyalty. I removed a blue card in my hand to cast Misdirection, switching the target of the Lightning Bolt to his Jace, also with a loyalty of three. He responded by casting Mana Drain. I removed another blue card in my hand to cast Force of Will, which he responded to with a Flusterstorm. I cast Mindbreak Trap for free, winning the counter-war, and leaving him with only lands and no cards in his hand, while I retained my Jace. What a battle. The game was over from there.

Round 4 - William Kirkwood - Martello Shops - 2-0

In game two, I had a Griselbrand out with my opponent at around 17 or so life. This game had gone on for a long time and featured everything from a Staff of Nin being Mana Drained leading to my casting of a Jace, the Mind Sculptor; a Spine of Ish-Sah killing that very Jace; my Abrupt Decays killing a Chalice on 1 and a Chalice on 2; and many other wild back-and-forth plays.

Finally, my opponent casts a Blightsteel Colossus with a Cavern of Souls on Golems. I think for a moment and cast Mana Drain on it, failing to counter it, but successfully netting me 12 mana for my following turn. William had out three sphere effects, one of which being a Lodestone Golem, so I certainly needed all of that mana to somehow not lose the game. I drew 7 cards with Griselbrand. I had a very thin library at this point, so I figured I'd be able to find Yawgmoth's Will, which was not in my graveyard. I did find it, alongside a Time Walk, which I did not realize was still in my library. With the boon of 12 colorless mana, I had enough to cast Time Walk, Yawgmoth's Will, and then Time Walk again to attack for lethal. Beep beep boop.

Round 5 - Steve Menendian - Burning Long - 2-1

In game one, Steve played a Necropotence and used it to draw 7 cards at the end of his turn. He likely had a win set up for his following turn. I stumbled upon an opportunity to assemble Time Vault and Voltaic Key, but I had a Mana Crypt out. I lost four or five die rolls in a row, but right before I had an opportunity to lose another one and lose the game, I was able to get Griselbrand out and start gaining life. Phew!

Round 6 - Lance Ballester - Dredge - 2-1

I don't have too many specific memories about this match outside of an absurd amount of countermagic used to protect my hate-pieces.

Round 7 - Erik Pentycofe - Dredge - 2-0

In game one, I won the die roll. Knowing my opponent was on Dredge, I was pleased with that. Erik proceeds to mulligan down to just one card, and it turned out that it wasn't a Bazaar of Baghdad. My hand of seven was the best one I'd had all day. Black Lotus; Mox Sapphire; Mox Ruby; Ancestral Recall; Jace, the Mind Sculptor; Mental Misstep; and Force of Will. Wow. Even before he continued to mulligan, I felt like I could win, even with it being a "game one against Dredge." My Jace was used to "Fateseal" five times, allowing me garner a lopsided game one win against Dredge.

Round 8 - Benjamin Marleau Donais - RUG Delver - Draw

We drew.

Round 9 - Kevin Cron - Keeper - Draw

We drew.

Quarterfinals - Erik Pentycofe - Dredge - 2-1

For my top 8 match, I was matched against Erik and his Dredge deck again. Game one was a slaughter in his favor, featuring a duo of Bazaars in his opener.

In game two, I had a Leyline of the Void in my opening hand alongside a Nihil Spellbomb. The only problem was that I had one land and it was a Forbidden Orchard. Oh well, here we go! I begin the game with Leyline of the Void in play. He Chain of Vapors it back to my hand. I use Vampiric Tutor to find Black Lotus, allowing me to recast the Leyline of the Void. He killed it with Nature's Claim. I cast my Nihil Spellbomb, and at this point my many Spirit tokens are really hitting me hard. I find an Oath of Druids, bringing Griselbrand into play. My opponent attacks with the now five tokens he has. This play confused me initially in the moment, as I'd be able to block with my Griselbrand and net myself more life than I'd lose. I knew something had to be up, but what?

Before damage, he attempted to Darkblast the blocked token. I have three cards in my hand, two Force of Wills and a Mana Drain. I'm fearful of where this game is going, so I really don't want to give my opponent another token, (which I'd have to in order to cast the Mana Drain), so I decide that I'll Force of Will his Darkblast, but can't decide if I should lose the Mana Drain or the other Force of Will. After some deciding, I correctly choose the other Force of Will. He reveals a second Darkblast, targeting the blocked token, which I thankfully saved the Mana Drain for. I could not believe that he was holding on to a second Darkblast and actually had another mana-producing land to cast it. It was even crazier that I had another counterspell, too.

I gained life from blocking the token, bringing me to exactly 7 life after the Spirit token damage was applied. Erik passes the turn to me. I draw a card for turn, and it's everybody's favorite "time to turn this game around" card: Yawgmoth's Will. However, I only have a Forbidden Orchard and a Mox Sapphire. I attack with Griselbrand and then draw 7 cards. The first five were not mana sources, but there it was: Mox Pearl. I cast Yawgmoth's Will and assembled Time Vault and Voltaic Key with the aid of a multitude of fast mana. That was a close call.

In game three, I kept an opening hand that thoroughly impressed me. Leyline of the Void, Underground Sea, Mox Ruby, Mox Pearl, Demonic Tutor, Mental Misstep, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I began the game with Leyline of the Void in play. My opponent was on the play, leading with Bazaar of Baghdad. On my turn, I drew a fetch land. I knew that I was going to use Demonic Tutor, but I wasn't quite sure for what. Nihil Spellbomb crossed my mind, but then it hit me: Pithing Needle. This card would likely be the nail in the coffin for this situation. I cast it on the same turn. I then drew into a Leyline of the Void. I broke my fetch land, found an Underground Sea, and cast it. This was too crippling for Erik to recover from. I then used Jace, the Mind Sculptor to eventually exile his entire library.

Erik was a gentleman and a great sport in both of our matches. Congratulations on your top 8 finish, Erik.

I was almost positive that I was going to lose game two, so I was thoroughly surprised when I turned the match around and moved on to place in the top 4.

Semifinals - Joel Lim - Merfolk - 1-2

In game one, I got out to an incredible start. Joel kept a hand with only one basic Island, because it also contained a Cursecatcher and an Ancestral Recall, which he later informed me. He led with the Cursecatcher and passed the turn. I used my Strip Mine to destroy his lone land. He never saw another. I cast an Oath of Druids that he attempted to Force of Will. I used a Force of Will back at him, which he expectedly attempted to halt with his Cursecatcher. That resolved, but I, like a robot, had the second Force of Will to get my Oath of Druids into play. The game was quickly over as Joel was left with no permanents outside of one Spirit token.

My luck was soon to run out, though. As most of you know, Joel ended up winning the next two games with ease. It's funny, Joel was my only loss of the day and I was his only loss of the day. It was disappointing to miss out on the finals, but I am very glad to see such a great person from our community take the trophy home. Enjoy it, Joel. You earned it, buddy.

[Samoht]

Greg,

I enjoyed your run more than my own last year (that fell one win short of t8), or even Raf's(that made it as far as you). Seeing you perform so well made me proud to get BEEP BEEP BOOPED by you all the time. I was pulling for AJ and Joel all the while, but you were my number one hope being from the same play group/region. I'm glad the support and insights were helpful to you. That's the best part of the tournament scene, being there for our friends. Next year the East Coast has to defend our crown and I know you'll be there doing your best to see it happen.

Tom

[fendog]

Congrats on your run and sharing bits of the experience! It was a good read.

[KrauserKrauser]

Greg,

So glad to see you get as far as you did.  You may not have ended up with the trophy, but you played some great Magic.  Reading the one island on Round 1 of the semis was epic.

[poggydude]

Your landstill opponent's name was Patrick henry, a carmate of mine.  He was just given power literally ten minutes before the player's meeting.  Sounds like you savaged him... 

Great job on the finish! 

[Demagoguery]

Great report, but in round 1 doesn't the Phantasmal Image choose what it's copying as it goes on the stack so responding by killing the chosen permanent for clone effects doesn't actually stop it from entering as a copy of that?

[Prospero]

I started going to Mark's Comics back in 1998, after my local shop closed.  Greg is one of the guys that I met there.  Of all the other players who played back then, only one other is still actively playing, and only Greg plays Vintage.  

Greg, I'm really glad that you're playing Vintage.  Having one of my oldest friends around, playing, is a great thing.  You've come a long way from Suicide Black at Brothers Grim...

You had a phenomenal day and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing one of my closest friends go so far.  I would have loved to have seen you win, but a top four finish is something that few people can claim as theirs.  You should be exceptionally proud of the accomplishment.  

Congrats, buddy.

[Chubby Rain]

Great report, but in round 1 doesn't the Phantasmal Image choose what it's copying as it goes on the stack so responding by killing the chosen permanent for clone effects doesn't actually stop it from entering as a copy of that?

No, Phantasmal Image starts with "As Phantasmal Image comes into play...". You choose a card after it resolves, and you cannot choose cards that entered the battlefield simultaneously (i.e. from Show and Tell, Living Death, etc.).

On topic, congratulations Greg and thanks for the report. It's pretty awesome to see players I've been losing to over the past couple of months completely dominate the top 4.

Edit: Text is wrong on Phantasmal Image - that was my mistake. I didn't have the card in front of me. Also, "resolve" is not the correct word to use. Thanks for the people who clarified it below.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Great job Greg!  I wish I could have been there.

[mr.grim]

Props on a great run !

[Demagoguery]

Great report, but in round 1 doesn't the Phantasmal Image choose what it's copying as it goes on the stack so responding by killing the chosen permanent for clone effects doesn't actually stop it from entering as a copy of that?

No, Phantasmal Image starts with "As Phantasmal Image comes into play...". You choose a card after it resolves, and you cannot choose cards that entered the battlefield simultaneously (i.e. from Show and Tell, Living Death, etc.).

No, the wording is "You may have Phantasmal Image enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, ..." which is the same wording as every clone has in the game. Didn't a similar issue happen at last years BoM in a Shop mirror where Metamorph chose Triskelion and the guy used the last counter to kill his own Triskelion as a response but the Metamorph still came in as a Trike?

As for Show and Tell, the fact that it doesn't work with them would make me think it is more like I think it is than something like Phyrexian Revoker which reads "As Phyrexian Revoker enters the battlefield..." and can shut off a Griselbrand being put into play off the Show and tell, prior to the Griselbrand player having a chance to activate it. Cards that have comes into play abilities can also target cards that enter simultaneously, such as Leonin Relic-Warder hitting a Omniscience.

Edit: Ok, asked a judge friend and it does work, which is rather cool. Basically the choice happens upon resolution of the spell, so you need to kill it when the clone goes on the stack and before they've made a choice. Responding to it after they choose doesn't do anything.  Good to know.

[d8dk32]

Great report, but in round 1 doesn't the Phantasmal Image choose what it's copying as it goes on the stack so responding by killing the chosen permanent for clone effects doesn't actually stop it from entering as a copy of that?

No, Phantasmal Image starts with "As Phantasmal Image comes into play...". You choose a card after it resolves, and you cannot choose cards that entered the battlefield simultaneously (i.e. from Show and Tell, Living Death, etc.).

On topic, congratulations Greg and thanks for the report. It's pretty awesome to see players I've been losing to over the past couple of months completely dominate the top 4.

I don't think this is quite right either. You choose the creature it's copying AS it's resolving. No player can respond to it once they know what you're choosing, since a spell is in the process of resolving (this may be what Chubby Rain is trying to say). However, as I understand it, the play in question in Round 1 is perfectly fine, since it sounds like the Waterfront Bouncer was the only creature on the field. If that's the case, he just Decays the Bouncer when the Image still on the stack, and it enters as a 0/0 since there was nothing to copy.

Anyway, nice report, nice playing. I wish I could have gone to this event.

[DubDub]

Great report, but in round 1 doesn't the Phantasmal Image choose what it's copying as it goes on the stack so responding by killing the chosen permanent for clone effects doesn't actually stop it from entering as a copy of that?

No, Phantasmal Image starts with "As Phantasmal Image comes into play...". You choose a card after it resolves, and you cannot choose cards that entered the battlefield simultaneously (i.e. from Show and Tell, Living Death, etc.).

On topic, congratulations Greg and thanks for the report. It's pretty awesome to see players I've been losing to over the past couple of months completely dominate the top 4.

You choose the creature to copy as it's entering the battlefield it's resolving. No player can respond to it once they know what you're choosing, since the choice is made as the creature enters the battlefield, which does not use the stack a spell is in the process of resolving (this may be what Chubby Rain is trying to say).

There wasn't anything incorrect in what Rain wrote, I don't think.  I think you read too much into his words and unnecessarily backed up from 'as ~ enters the battlefield' to during resolution of Image as a spell.

[d8dk32]

You choose the creature to copy as it's entering the battlefield it's resolving. No player can respond to it once they know what you're choosing, since the choice is made as the creature enters the battlefield, which does not use the stack a spell is in the process of resolving (this may be what Chubby Rain is trying to say).

There wasn't anything incorrect in what Rain wrote, I don't think.  I think you read too much into his words and unnecessarily backed up from 'as ~ enters the battlefield' to during resolution of Image as a spell.

Putting the creature onto the battlefield is part of the resolution of the creature spell. But the point I was trying to make was that the play, as written and as I understand it, was perfectly legal, and I was attempting to clear up the actual interaction. Demagoguery addressed it as well in an edit to his last post.

[Smmenen]

Greg, congratulations.  

I enjoyed our match, despite my blunders.

In game 1, we both mulliganed to 5, and I played Burning Wish, which you Forced, which allowed my Necro to resolve a turn later.  I only Necroed for 7, because you were completely spent.  Miraculously, you were able to assemble the Time vault combo the turn after I played Necro.  I think you played EOT vamp for Yawg Will, and then Yawg Willed to replay the Ancestral you played on turn 1 and the Vamp and Time Walk, which gave you the card advantage to assemble the combo.  

I struggled to detremine how much to Necro for.  I remember orally debating between 7 and 13.  I settled on 7 because I wanted to grind it out.In my Necro for 7 I didn't see a single counterspell despite running 9 pitch counters.  In my top 4 cards were multiple countermagic I would have been able to use to stop you.   If you had also lost the last die roll to Mana Crypt, I would have won the game, I believe    

I don't remember game 2, but I think I hardcast Griselbrand to win it.  I may have Burning Wished for Show and Tell.  

Game 3 was our best game.  I played an early Orchard, and started generating tokens. You kinda set up a trap because when I went to play Oath, thinking I'd be able to trigger it, you played a second Orchard you'd been holding, and then topdecked a third!   I was still in the game, however.  My Time Walk allowed me to keep up with your Orchard.  You had countered some threats, and expended your countermagic, so that I was able to resolve Burning Wish for Yawg Will with exactly one mana left.  I used that mana to play Dark Ritual, DT --> Lotus, Ancestral and Time Walk out of my graveyard.  I drew Griselbrand, City and a blank.  I had Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, multiple Moxen and 3 lands in play.   All I had to do was to play the City from my hand, and hardcast Griselbrand.  Instead, I played the Academy, and only had 3 black mana.  The top 7 cards of my library were more than enough to win, but I blew it.

I hope to play you again sometime soon.

[Chubby Rain]

Game 3 was our best game.  I played an early Orchard, and started generating tokens. You kinda set up a trap because when I went to play Oath, thinking I'd be able to trigger it, you played a second Orchard you'd been holding, and then topdecked a third!   I was still in the game, however.  My Time Walk allowed me to keep up with your Orchard.  You had countered some threats, and expended your countermagic, so that I was able to resolve Burning Wish for Yawg Will with exactly one mana left.  I used that mana to play Dark Ritual, DT --> Lotus, Ancestral and Time Walk out of my graveyard.  I drew Griselbrand, City and a blank.  I had Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, multiple Moxen and 3 lands in play.   All I had to do was to play the City from my hand, and hardcast Griselbrand.  Instead, I played the Academy, and only had 3 black mana.  The top 7 cards of my library were more than enough to win, but I blew it.

This quite simply is why vintage is awesome.

Edited: sorry Nick.

[Prospero]

Guys, if there are questions about card interactions, please post in the appropriate forum.  Clariax will be able to answer your questions there.

[Thecheese]

Great job greg

[Greg]

Thank you for the kind words, everybody. It means a lot to me.

In game 1, we both mulliganed to 5, and I played Burning Wish, which you Forced, which allowed my Necro to resolve a turn later.  I only Necroed for 7, because you were completely spent.  Miraculously, you were able to assemble the Time vault combo the turn after I played Necro.  I think you played EOT vamp for Yawg Will, and then Yawg Willed to replay the Ancestral you played on turn 1 and the Vamp and Time Walk, which gave you the card advantage to assemble the combo.

Ah, you're right, Steve. I forgot just how crazy that first game was. Thanks for sharing all of those additional details. I'm also now recalling my blind call of "Necropotence" with my Pithing Needle. Our entire match was one of the most exciting on the day.

[Will]

LOOK AT THIS GUY!!

Great job Greg, I'm glad that you did very well with your beautiful and powerful deck.

[bfeingersh]

Nice job Greg.