Yes Yes, I made it to the finals to face my first Workshop match up. There were a good portion of Forgemaster/Metalworker combo Workshop decks present but my day went fairly shopless until the very end.
First of all I want to start with the Exava and Notion Thief moments. I went into this tournament with 2 things in mind. I want to brutally pound in with my Exava and surprise my opponents with her speed and power. And I wanted to at least set up 1 game were I steal Jace's brainstorm. I succeeded in doing both. This is for me the biggest upside of the entire tourney. I killed an opponent on the spot with an haste Exava, it came out of nowhere for him. He was counting the total damage and it was exactly lethal. Without Exava I could have lost, he had a Time Vault and many cards. The Thief was a (if I may say it myself) brilliant setup from my part. I start with a Duress seeing 2 Jace, Bob and Clasm. I have a Thief and 2 Deathrite. I take the clasm and play deathrite. He only has 3 mana so he needs to topdeck land. It doesn't happen and I get another land and play the second Deathrite. This was game 3 of the quarter finals, he lands Jace and announces the 0 ability of brainstorm. I tell him to hold up and respond with brutality. I take 3 cards, he puts 2 back.
After describing some dream scenarios, I ll give a quick report from what I still remember:
Oh before I start:
24 players
5 Swiss rounds
Top 8 finals
List I played:
5C Humans
4 Cavern of Souls
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 City of Brass
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Duress
1 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
1 Ancient Grudge
4 Mental Misstep
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Notion Thief
2 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4 Dark Confidant
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Batterskull
SB: 3 Ingot Chewer
SB: 1 Oath of Ghouls
SB: 1 Wasteland
SB: 1 Snuff Out
SB: 1 Stoneforge Mystic
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Stony Silence
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Vampiric Tutor
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Karakas
SB: 1 Rest in Peace
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
Round 1: I get paired against Delver. This is not an easy match up but then again, I do have the Decays and a couple Stoneforge to make life hard on them.
In game 1 there is an early Delver on his side and a Dark Confidant on my side. He immediately reveals a Lightning Bolt and shows my Bob the way to the graveyard. I try to stabilize with Caverns, Thalia and Decay but he soon after has a Snapcaster to replay Bolt and follows it up with more threats. He had his run, time for revenge!
Game 2 I side in Stoneforge #3 and Batterskull #2. I have all my stuff, mana dudes, decays, thalia, stoneforges... At some point the board is double batterskull and he crumbles away even with grudge and steel sabotage tricks.
In game 3 I have a very similar game, but this time I have only 1 Stoneforge but I already am holding a Batterskull and tutor up the second. I also have an early Thalia, preventing him from grudging at will. Yes this game also ended with me gaining a lot life while he was bleeding to death.
Good start, a 2-1 match win against RUG Delver!
Round 2: I face a BUG Fish deck that has many similarities with my 5C Human deck. His deck is built very nicely and I think it was one of the best decks at the tourney.
In game 1 there is a battle of who can keep his Bob alive. We both can not because we both run Decays (good card!). The game goes back and forth and I am eager to topdeck an Exava but she decided to be absent. Instead Stoneforge shows up and steals the show. A couple of Batterskull with Noble behind it beats and the game is mine. It was not an easy game, but his 5/5 Ooze was just not enough against the big muscle.
In game 2 there is an early Dark Confidant. I try to keep up with Duress and Ancestral Recall (I duress away a Misdirection). The problem is he also has a Force of Will. His Dark Confidant does give him a lot damage but then I let a Deathrite Resolve. I was completely blacked out at this point, I had a Misstep but somehow I didn't see the Deathrite resolution. This happens to all of us I think from time to time, distraction and fatigue. The next turn I was like " where did that drs come from? " on which my opponent responded with " I cast it last turn ". Now it was not completely my fault, there was a guy talking and commenting the entire time, it was a rather informal atmosphere and then a player can miss things. I also do not know if it would have mattered since I still had to deal with Dark Confidant. I lost the game a bit later.
So we are going to a game 3 with me on the play. This is not bad, and I do open with Duress seeing Sea, Wasteland, Fetchlands, Bob, Drs, Snapcaster and Lotus. The Lotus hits the graveyard. The problem is that he has a good hand. He starts with Deathrite Shaman and passes the turn. I decide to Wasteland and play my Dark Confidant. But sadly he draws the critical removal spell and soon after he time walks with dark confidant and then uses snapcaster to walk again and so on.
This match was really not easy, I lost 1-2 fair and square.
Round 3: I have to win, or I can forget a top 8, I feel the pressure. Good times.
I win the die roll this time and I lead with a Cavern and Noble. A very decent start and I am holding a Misstep and Thalia for any combo shenanigans. My opponent reveals he is on Noble Fish. I have a Stoneforge, which is good here and I do some tempo plays with Wasteland and Thalia before I begin my Stoneforge plan. When I finally go in with a Batterskull he plays a Hurkly's Recall. His plays so far were Pridemages and more Pridemages. I managed to keep a Dark Confidant alive thanks to Misstep and used Decays to get rid of the Pridemages. Eventually I topdeck Exava and well, I just swing with Exava putting me in a huge lead in the race. He can not recover, knowing I also have a Batterskull, he goes to game 2.
In game 2 I again get access to my Stoneforge package and back it up with Missteps, Decays and so on. The game went in such a way that he just could not put a lot pressure and I slowly took over the board. I think this match up is hard for Noble Fish.
Not bad: I am 2-1 and only 2 matches to go for a top 8!
Round 4: I am facing a friend of mine and he is on Oath. I have 4 Decay and 2 Cages main deck and I feel very nice about this.
Sadly game 1 is a disaster for me. He plays Lotus, mox, land and time walk. Then he plays some other firggin artifact (top ^_^) and time vault. and follows it up with a Balance. I haven't done a single thing and I have to discard to 2. He does lose a land but he quickly lands another land. He passes the turn with a big smile. But what did I keep? Lets analyse:
I have:
What would you keep?
Scroll down ...
a bit more ....
this is just an anti spoiler don't be bad at me
And I kept ...
Scrubland and Abrupt Decay. I debated this for a while and decided on this because I wanted black for the Decay or a Deathrite and white for a potential Thalia? At this point he was also on topdeck mode but he had a Top so yea it was a hard start.
I topdeck a Catacomb and play it. I pass the turn with a soft and disappointed voice. He finds an Oath and puts down orchard too. I am like wtf, this is getting insane. But I did keep the Decay and I pass the turn with Decay mana. He makes the token and I Decay the Oath. I am still not in this game yet, but getting closer with tiny little plays.
Then I do find a Dark Confdiant while he is digging. At some point later on, he was obviously setting up something big with Top. He has a loaded graveyard and a Time Vault. This is the critical turn for me. If I topdeck a Cage, I might still win this game. But I topdeck a Batterskull (no hard feelings, Batterskull has won me many games so far) and then another land. Turn later he goes off like a madman with a huge Y Will.
I want blood! I quickly sideboard and draw my new 7, which I intend to use this time. I start with Cage and turn 2 Thalia. I have the Wasteland (yea baby!) and he misses a land drop. At this point I know I am ahead and I do some beatings with Thalia holding Misstep and Decay. He scoops rather fast but this was understandable, he kept missing a land drop and the life total was very low and I have Dark Confidant and Thalia beating for 4.
Game 3 I fear for a big blowout (much like game 1). I brought in the trap here, because his Oath list runs Gushbond, Tyrant, Blightsteel, a lot of broken things all together and explosive openings. He does start off with Moxes and lands but doesn't have something threatening (yet). I get in a Cage and Thalia again, ingoring the Oath for now. I do not want to over commit, and play carefully until I have a 1 turn clock. Exava enables this, and suddenly a slow game became a game were he has only 1 turn. He can't find an answer.
Yoohoo! I win 2-1 versus Oath.
The final round is against Landstill and we decide on a ID. The landstill player is someone I know from cockatrice and we went to Bom twice together. It was a no brainer. We went out to get a drink and relax. We earned it, our decks made it, great feeling
TOP 8:
QUARTER FINALS:
Grixis versus Humans
A spectacular game, vintage at its finest. He has a Dark Confidant, I get rid of it, I get a Dark Confidant, he Bolts it. I find a Thalia and have a Noble. I have a decent clock, he keeps passing, not able to do much untill he finds another land. I speculate he has a Snapcaster and wants to fire off that Bolt and then proceed with Jace. I did have a low hand size and felt the pressure a bit. Then he executes his plan with Snap Bolt and Jace follows. However he is at 6 life. In response to his bolt I decide to path to exile his Snapcaster (his turn) and he has no mana. He can not counter because of Thalia. He loses Snap but gets an island, my Thalia goes away. But I am holding Exava and another Thalia. So then I have choice, to kill Jace or to bring him at 1 life. He also has a mana crypt in play. What would you do?
I decided to just go for him and give him that 1 brainstorm. There is also a 50% chance that he simply loses the game on his upkeep. He wins the die roll, brainstorms Jace putting back Blighsteel from his hand (learned this after game) and finds Tinker. This is hilarious of course. He tinker and he then has 3 mana left with 2 cards in hand. He passes. I can simply swing in with Exava and Thalia, but does he have another bolt? Or does he have a creature with Flash? I decide to simply go for it and swing in for lethal. He has the Snapcaster. I could have also played the bob in my hand and pass the turn. But I don't know if that would be smart, he does have a Jace and that Snap will still be able to come in later. Would you have gone for it, calling his bluff? Amazing game.
Then in game 2 I have a hand with Scrubland, Mox Ruby, Stony, Ancient Grudge, Vampiric, Noble and Ancestral Recall but no second land. I keep this anyway and start the game with a Stony Silence. It was the right call, he had no lands and 2 Mox. I vampiric for a Cavern to put Noble in play giving me access to blue and 3 mana next turn.
Game 3 is the game were my notion thief steals his jace draws. I explained this game in the introduction. No need to repeat myself. It was all about setting up the Thief after I did Duress. This game also launched me to the Semi Finals making the Thief even more epic!
SEMI FINALS:
I have to play the same Oath deck I played in the swiss rounds. I want to keep this short, because the games were rather short. In both games I find Cage, Decay and other good stuff and was able to deny mana with Wasteland and Thalia. In game 1 however, Exava was again the card that made the clock tick fast. Game 2 was also about too few mana for him, and me having the Cage, Thalia, Bob, Decay, etc. There isn't really much to say here, he never got a chance to Oath or do something broken. I remember doing a Duress somewhere, discarding a Time Vault while he has Tinker and Y Will with Cage in play.
The Finals:
Forge/Metal/Staff Workshop with Time Vault, Blightsteel and other big threats. The deck is insane. But I have the outs and if I draw them I have a good chance. Game 1 he begins without even rolling a die. I find this rule disgusting. He had more points and he can start. This is really not helping Vintage for fair games, especially with the Workshop match up. Anyway, he has a Metalworker and I can not destroy it in time. GG (djeez...) If I would start, I would have drs/waste/decay and I probably just win.
Game 2 I destroy him with Dark Confidant, mana, Stone Silence, and removal. He really didn't do anything threatening in my opinion. Death to Workshop!
Game 3 I have a dream hand, with Ingot, Taiga, Grudge, Deathrite, Fetchland and Wasteland (i mulled to this hand). I even topdeck a second grudge. The problem however is that he opens with Shop, Mana Vault and Greaves. I waste his Shop and pass. Then he has an Ancient Tomb and casts a Forgemaster. I can't believe my eyes, I have everything I need against Workshop, but he is on the Tinker/Blightsteel plan because he just got all the peaces in the final game of this tournament.
I play a deathrite shaman hoping to topdeck that Path to exile (only out). But he topdecks a dismember and poisons me to death. My mistake was probably to waste his Workshop, Should have simply used Ingot on Lightning Greaves and then the next turn hope that nothing all too broken happens and use my Grudges. Another possibility was to play Ingot on Mana Vault, this would force him to play a non wasteland land in order to play the Forgemaster and he would not have 3 artifacts (unless he is sandbagging a mox). My play was not correct in my opinion. And it costed me the finals.
Last year, I also was in the finals (10 man tournament - top 4) facing the same deck but another pilot. I could not get my reconciliation. The peace was not restored and the Workshop walked away with 2 mana drains and 2 byes for Bom. I won 1 Bye for Bom and a Tropical Island.
So I played 3 tournaments with this deck and got 2 top 8's. The one that I did not top 8 was in Bom Paris last summer. Which is of course a larger event and it is harder to get through 9 - 11 rounds and make it to the top 8. But it is very possible. I love this deck so much.
Cheers!
Guli
