Vintage For Cash in Vacaville! Resultslistspics!

[LotusHead]

12 people showed up, so 4 rounds of swiss and cut to top 4:

Frankie Mach (Runescar Demon Oath) vs Danny Friedman (Grislebrand Oath)
Stephen Menendian (Gush Pyromancer/Delver/Clique) vs Jeff Neilson (Control Slaver)

Danny and Stephen meet in the finals and

Congrats to Danny Friendman!


1st Danny (Stripminer)

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Rong
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Snow-covered Island
4 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea's Blessing
2 Grisselbrand
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
1 Noxious Revival
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 yawgmoth's Will
1 Show and Tell
1 Time Walk
1 Abrupt decay
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Swan Song
3 Flusterstorm
3 Mental Mistep

Sideboard
1 Show and Tell
1 abrupt decap
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Nature's claim
3 Ravenous trap
3 Steel Sabotage
2 Toxic Deluge

2nd Stephen Gush Delver

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Preordain
4 Gush

4 Force
4 Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Misdirection

3 Bolt
1 Fire/Ice

1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll

3 Island
8 Fetchland
3 Volcanic Island
1 Ruby
1 Sapphire
1 Blotus

SB:

4 Cage
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline
1 Mountain
1 REB
1 Pyroblast

 3rd/4th Jeff (LotusHead) - Control Slaver

// Lands
    1  Island
    1  Library of Alexandria
    2  Polluted Delta
    4  Scalding Tarn
    3 [RS] Underground Sea
    3 [RS] Volcanic Island
    1  Tolarian Academy

// Creatures
    3 [PC2] Baleful Strix
    1  Myr Battlesphere
    1 [V10] Sundering Titan
    3  Goblin Welder

// Spells
    1  Black Lotus
    1 [JGC] Mana Crypt
    1  Mana Vault
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Nihil Spellbomb
    1 [CMD] Sol Ring
    1  Time Vault
    1  Voltaic Key
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1 [DDJ] Brainstorm
    2 [V13] Fact or Fiction
    4  Force of Will
    1 [MMA] Gifts Ungiven
    1  Thirst for Knowledge
    3  Izzet Charm
    3  Mana Drain
    2  Mental Misstep
    1 [V09] Mystical Tutor
    1  Vampiric Tutor
    1  Mindslaver
    1 [DDC] Demonic Tutor
    1  Merchant Scroll
    1  Time Walk
    1 [V09] Tinker
    1  Yawgmoth's Will

Sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Dismember
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Swan Song
1 Spell Snare
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Steel Sabotage

3rd/4th Frankie Mach Oath

4 Oath of Druids
4 Force of Will
3 Rune Scarred Demon
3 Flusterstorm
2 Mental Mistep
2 Duress
2 Jace, The Mindsculptor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tuturo
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Regrowth
1 Noxious Revival
1 Recoup
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Underground Sea
2 tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest

Sideboard

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
2 Nature's Claim
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Leyline of Sanctity

Lemme know if anything doesn't add up.


Matt Salts and I have to play round for, as one of us will get bumped by the AAHZ/StripMiner game.


Dredge vs Pyromancers


Danny seriously tries to convince himself to untap his time vault, BY SKIPPING HIS OWN TURN. (Aahz at 1 or 2 life w/double Bob out)


Stephen beating me down with his 1 land hand.  I fight the good fight, but he really just deals with it.


Danny's money shot G2 vs Stephen in finals.


Blaine playing some pre-tourney OLD SCHOOL MAGIC!


Alex Bloch (left) on his 2nd Vintage tourney since his retirement age 16.  He's original Team Vacaville.


some establishing shots. What's going on here?


He's going the distance!


I assume this was one of my awesome hands...


That is not a bong.


Classic No Proxy Dredge Pimp Edition vs Storm.dec Pimp Edition.


Frankie my only loss in swiss. Mostly cuz he kept getting half of Vault/Key combo in oppening hand or by turn 2, and just tutoring for the rest turn 3. Grrr... :/


Salts made day 2 last week at GP Sac (2 pro-points!) and decides to just go for turn 1 Tezz of of Lotus/Crypt.
Does not end will this game.


Oath vs Storm had embarassingly long numbers of Draw, Go turns. or Land Go turns. or topdeck Windfall (score!), cast, sac Lion's Eye Diamond In response...),

[Smmenen]

I had so much fun playing UR Delver.  It felt like what it was like to play Grow before Onslaught and the Fetchlands were printed.  

Here's what I played:

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Preordain
4 Gush

4 Force
4 Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Misdirection

3 Bolt
1 Fire/Ice

1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll

3 Island
8 Fetchland
3 Volcanic Island
1 Ruby
1 Sapphire
1 Blotus

SB:

4 Cage
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline
1 Mountain
1 REB
1 Pyroblast

The maindeck is soft to Oath, but it can be managed if you play right.  It may need Spell Pierce or Spell Snare in the Steel Sabotage slot if you have a heavy oath field to not be overly reliant on post-board tools.  

I've been working hard on the third edition of my Gush book in the last two months, and in the course of writing it, I really wanted to get some experience in with Delver decks.  I really hated the Delver decks out there.   Delver decks with less than 4 Preordain don't make any sense to me.  The foundation of the deck is virtual card advantage with Gush.  

I decided that Goyf is just worse than Pyromancer, and that there really aren't compelling reasons to run green.  Trygon Predator is nice, but weak maindeck, and worse than sideboard options.  Nature's Claim is great, but Cage is just as good against Oath, and once you start building the sb, once you realize you need at least 5 cards for Dredge, and 5-6 cards for Workshops, you realize that can all be accomplished with existing tools.  

I consider Soly's black splash, but I don't want 4 Thoughtseize here, and I just don't think black is where you want to be.

This maindeck felt just about perfect.  The 3 Bolts were perfect. I never wanted to draw 2 in an opening hand.  The Fire Ice was awesome.

I played the Delver mirror in Round 3, and my  opponent played T1: Delver, and I played T1: Island,Lotus, Clique. He Forced my Clique.  I Mis'd his Force, and He Forced it again.  My hand was Force, Volc, and Fire/Ice.  I decided to not Force protect it, even though he had just one card in hand.  He untapped and played 2nd Delver, and I untapped, drew another Force, played 2nd land, and Fired both Delvers!  BOAM!   Next turn I Pondered into 3 Delvers, then after playing them all, revealed Bolt, which flipped them all, and killed him on the spot.  

I lost the finals in horrendous fashion.  In the first game, I played T1 Preordain, Turn 2 Time Walk, then Turn 3 Gush, replay a land, and instead of playing another Preordain and leaving a mana up to maximize my counteragic, I decided to play pyromancer.  That left me with just Force of Will in hand to counter a potential Oath, and he played T2 Oath with Flusterstorm protection.  I still would have won I believe had he not Griselbranded into Time Walk because when he Griselbranded, that put him at 9, and I could have Iced his Griselbrand (with fluster, misstep protection) and attacked for 9 and even Snapcaster either Ice or Time Walk again.

In game 2, my opening hand had two Grafdigger's Cage.  He MIssteped the first cage, and played Emerald, Orchard, Oath.  I played a second Cage, and he countered it. I counter-backed, and he had a third counter.  I Gushed, but couldn't find another counter.  Next turn I would have drawn a 3rd cage.

Had I played properly, I would have won game 1 I believe, and the match.  Game 2 his opening hand was apparently Emerald, Orchard, Oath, Island, MIsstep, Force, Brainstorm, and he drew 2nd Misstep.   V. difficult to defeat.

I loved the fact that I can win games with this deck with a 1 land the entire game with Delvers, Missteps, Bolts, Flusterstorms, Forces, etc.  This deck is really sweet, and my experience basically reinforced all of my beliefs about what this deck is capable of and how it should be designed.  

UR Delver > RUG and Grixis Delver.  

[LotusHead]

Lists are up. Lemme know if there are any problems with the lists. Pics will come later, as well as my mini-report.

My maindeck, was from a Control Slaver thread I read on TMD a few weeks back (but can't find now).

[msg67183]

I had so much fun playing UR Delver.  It felt like what it was like to play Grow before Onslaught and the Fetchlands were printed.  

Here's what I played:

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Preordain
4 Gush

4 Force
4 Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Misdirection

3 Bolt
1 Fire/Ice

1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll

3 Island
8 Fetchland
3 Volcanic Island
1 Ruby
1 Sapphire
1 Blotus

SB:

4 Cage
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline
1 Mountain
1 REB
1 Pyroblast

The maindeck is soft to Oath, but it can be managed if you play right.  It may need Spell Pierce or Spell Snare in the Steel Sabotage slot if you have a heavy oath field to not be overly reliant on post-board tools.  

I've been working hard on the third edition of my Gush book in the last two months, and in the course of writing it, I really wanted to get some experience in with Delver decks.  I really hated the Delver decks out there.   Delver decks with less than 4 Preordain don't make any sense to me.  The foundation of the deck is virtual card advantage with Gush.  

I decided that Goyf is just worse than Pyromancer, and that there really aren't compelling reasons to run green.  Trygon Predator is nice, but weak maindeck, and worse than sideboard options.  Nature's Claim is great, but Cage is just as good against Oath, and once you start building the sb, once you realize you need at least 5 cards for Dredge, and 5-6 cards for Workshops, you realize that can all be accomplished with existing tools.  

I consider Soly's black splash, but I don't want 4 Thoughtseize here, and I just don't think black is where you want to be.

This maindeck felt just about perfect.  The 3 Bolts were perfect. I never wanted to draw 2 in an opening hand.  The Fire Ice was awesome.

I played the Delver mirror in Round 3, and my  opponent played T1: Delver, and I played T1: Island,Lotus, Clique. He Forced my Clique.  I Mis'd his Force, and He Forced it again.  My hand was Force, Volc, and Fire/Ice.  I decided to not Force protect it, even though he had just one card in hand.  He untapped and played 2nd Delver, and I untapped, drew another Force, played 2nd land, and Fired both Delvers!  BOAM!   Next turn I Pondered into 3 Delvers, then after playing them all, revealed Bolt, which flipped them all, and killed him on the spot.  

I lost the finals in horrendous fashion.  In the first game, I played T1 Preordain, Turn 2 Time Walk, then Turn 3 Gush, replay a land, and instead of playing another Preordain and leaving a mana up to maximize my counteragic, I decided to play pyromancer.  That left me with just Force of Will in hand to counter a potential Oath, and he played T2 Oath with Flusterstorm protection.  I still would have won I believe had he not Griselbranded into Time Walk because when he Griselbranded, that put him at 9, and I could have Iced his Griselbrand (with fluster, misstep protection) and attacked for 9 and even Snapcaster either Ice or Time Walk again.

In game 2, my opening hand had two Grafdigger's Cage.  He MIssteped the first cage, and played Emerald, Orchard, Oath.  I played a second Cage, and he countered it. I counter-backed, and he had a third counter.  I Gushed, but couldn't find another counter.  Next turn I would have drawn a 3rd cage.

Had I played properly, I would have won game 1 I believe, and the match.  Game 2 his opening hand was apparently Emerald, Orchard, Oath, Island, MIsstep, Force, Brainstorm, and he drew 2nd Misstep.   V. difficult to defeat.

I loved the fact that I can win games with this deck with a 1 land the entire game with Delvers, Missteps, Bolts, Flusterstorms, Forces, etc.  This deck is really sweet, and my experience basically reinforced all of my beliefs about what this deck is capable of and how it should be designed.  

UR Delver > RUG and Grixis Delver.  

I have a question about your Sideboard: what do you board out for the Workshop matchup? I count 8 cards minimum (4 Misstep, 3 Flusterstorm, 1 Misdirection) and only 5 cards to come in. Am I missing something?

Otherwise, nice list I've been looking at Delver for awhile, this kind of sparked my attention.

[LotusHead]

Pics finally up.

[Smmenen]

I have a question about your Sideboard: what do you board out for the Workshop matchup? I count 8 cards minimum (4 Misstep, 3 Flusterstorm, 1 Misdirection) and only 5 cards to come in. Am I missing something?

No, that is correct.  It's possible that I don't need all of that Dredge hate, and could cut Leylines for maybe 1-2 more Dredge cards, and 2 more anti-Workshop cards (Crash anyone? ). 

Also, the board should have 2 Pyroblasts, and not a Red Elemental Blast.  I could have won a game a turn sooner if I had Pyroblast, as I could have generated a token to win the game sooner with Pyroman.

[Soly]

and 2 more anti-Workshop cards (Crash anyone? ). 

With this deck, I would actually try to put the mountain in the main (Lightning Bolt, Fire/Ice, and Young Pyromancer really want to be cast against Non-Workshop Wasteland decks, too.

With that, I'd probably go to 7 fetchlands.   I'd play PULVERIZE[/U].


I like the Red version against metagames that don't have Oath Decks.  I like black much better against Oath.  However, you could easily just play Goblin Bombardment against that deck since they usually don't have a real way to remove it...  that card could really be cute with YP.  So could Greater Gargadon.

[Smmenen]

Mountain doesn't work with Gush, but it could be a 15th land.  I have a Mountain in the sideboard.  

I love the 8 fetchlands because you can use them with Delvers to get virtual card advantage.  

Tactically, I'm not sure that either GG or GB really work.  What's the plan?  Wait until you resolve Cage?  Eh. 

What's your experience with Spell Snare in these decks?

[Mith]

These Delver lists without green are pretty soft to Oath even post-board... more so without any discard.

Spell Snare is one possibility perhaps, but relying on Cage is a mistake as most of these decks are running Abrupt Decay in multiples. You need a way to remove Oath...

[Smmenen]

I don't think that's realistic for UR.   I would be happy to play more Misdirection though, or even Divert, to deal with Abrupt Decay.  

I think I'd run at least two more counterspells maindeck that can counter Oath -- perhaps Spell Snare -- more likely 2 Spell Pierce.  If I survive past turn 2 without an Oath resolving, they shouldn't be able to resolve Oath again because of my superior virtual and real card advantage.  

EDIT: It's also not hard to find more than 1 cage.  By the time they remove a cage, you should have the card celerity to find another. 

[msg67183]

I have a question about your Sideboard: what do you board out for the Workshop matchup? I count 8 cards minimum (4 Misstep, 3 Flusterstorm, 1 Misdirection) and only 5 cards to come in. Am I missing something?

No, that is correct.  It's possible that I don't need all of that Dredge hate, and could cut Leylines for maybe 1-2 more Dredge cards, and 2 more anti-Workshop cards (Crash anyone? ). 

Also, the board should have 2 Pyroblasts, and not a Red Elemental Blast.  I could have won a game a turn sooner if I had Pyroblast, as I could have generated a token to win the game sooner with Pyroman.

Have you considered Smelt? Also what do you side out to bring in the Pyroblasts? I'm unfamiliar with side boarding for non oath blue decks.

[Smmenen]

Although Smelt is an instant, I'd rather play Shattering Spree for its potential to hit more than one card.  I wouldn't actually play Crash, although it could be really good at times

I typically sbed out the 2 Steel Sabotages for 2 Pyro/REB.  

[msg67183]

Although Smelt is an instant, I'd rather play Shattering Spree for its potential to hit more than one card.  I wouldn't actually play Crash, although it could be really good at times

I typically sbed out the 2 Steel Sabotages for 2 Pyro/REB.  

I see, do you tend to leave the Sabotages in against Tinker decks, or just try to counter the Tinker altogether and just "scoop" to an in play BSC? I currently play Merfolk and I like having answers to an in play BSC and was wondering if this deck played similarly. I've also wondered if you thought Surgical Extraction could be in this decks Sideboard as the additional Dredge Hate, since you could also bring it in against Oath, counter their Oath then remove them.

[LotusHead]

I spent the last week with insomnia, and have barely recovered enough to make an appearance at the VFC in Vacaville.

I followed a thread about a Control Slaver build, and kinda liked it (I really want Thirst back) and loaded it up on MWS for some games.

ON the day of the tourney, I ran this deck mostly cold (I did have 1 game on MWS a few weeks ago, if I recall), but I haven't touched mouch magical cards lately due to life, etc.

So there I was, surrounded by Oath decks. I faced 3 Oath decks in 4 rounds of Swiss.  For some reason I didn't expect MUCH Oath, but it felt really weird being the Control Slaver player in a field of Oath Decks.

I played Oath Salvagers during season one of Eudemonia's series (2005), and Control Slaver was still a thing for years after.

Anyways, I punt away several plays in G1 vs Danny, but somehow take down g2 and g3.

R2 I play against a delver deck that draws the "meh" vs me hoping what I do works. It does.

R3 I play against Frankie (Oath) who has a vault/key peice in hand at beginning of the game, which kinda dictates how he plays the rest out. It works for him in super close/fast games.

R4 I defeat Matt Salts. I have no recollection of this, but Tinker is a probable card.

Top 4: Stephen with his Gush Deck:
G1 he drops a Delver and rides it Gagnam Style until it gets there. He was stuck on one land all game, but somehow dealt with everything I through onto the stack.

G2 he outplays me be making it completely obvious that he has done and re-done the math, and if I try to resolve my TINKER, it will be dealt with by whatever answer he has in hand, that he checked and checked and checked.

I cast Tinker. I have Goblin Welder Active, and Black Lotus in GY as only artifact, and a mox in play.  He flashes in Snapcaster, flashes back Flusterstorm, points to my Tinker, Snapcaster, and Flusterstorm and says, Flusterstorm for three.  I'm like "sure", weld mox for lotus, pay 3, not realizing (cuz I'm a shop player) that I need 4 mana to resolve my Tinker. I suck, and I lose.

[BelcherWinsGames]

Props to the top!
@ Steve. Thank you for the report. The fire/ice play seemed to be a blast,any room for a second?

[xouman]

I cast Tinker. I have Goblin Welder Active, and Black Lotus in GY as only artifact, and a mox in play.  He flashes in Snapcaster, flashes back Flusterstorm, points to my Tinker, Snapcaster, and Flusterstorm and says, Flusterstorm for three.  I'm like "sure", weld mox for lotus, pay 3, not realizing (cuz I'm a shop player) that I need 4 mana to resolve my Tinker. I suck, and I lose. Smile

I don't understand why you had to pay 4... fluster for 3 means you have to pay    , right?

[Smmenen]

I cast Tinker. I have Goblin Welder Active, and Black Lotus in GY as only artifact, and a mox in play.  He flashes in Snapcaster, flashes back Flusterstorm, points to my Tinker, Snapcaster, and Flusterstorm and says, Flusterstorm for three.  I'm like "sure", weld mox for lotus, pay 3, not realizing (cuz I'm a shop player) that I need 4 mana to resolve my Tinker. I suck, and I lose. Smile

I don't understand why you had to pay 4... fluster for 3 means you have to pay   , right?

That's not even close to what happened.  LOL.

Here's what happened.

Jeff had 3 mana in play, a Goblin Welder, and a Voltaic Key.   I had used Clique to put Time Vault on the bottom of his library a turn before, so that he couldn't assemble the Key Vault combo.  But he had a land, DT, Vamp and Lotus in his graveyard, among other cards, including Thirst.  

My board was 4 mana (Volc, Volc, Island, and a Mox), and Clique, and possibly another threat.

My hand was Red Elemental Blast, Gush, Snapcaster Mage, and irrellevant spells.  

My graveyard had about 8 spells, including Fire/Ice and Flusterstorm.

On my endstep, Jeff played Mystical Tutor.   I debated casting Red Elemental blast, but decided against it for two reasons.  I wanted to have 4 mana up to Snapcaster Fire on his Welder, if needed.  Secondly, I had Flusterstorm in my GY as well.  

So, I let him resolve Mystical, and he found Yawg Will, not Tinker.  I expected him to Weld in the Lotus and use it to play Will.

Instead, he messed up and simply cast Will.  If I just let Will resolve, he can't Weld in Lotus, and I can Flusterstorm any Tutor he plays out of his yard, as well as play REB.  If Will resolves, he can play a land, and Lotus, and play DT and or/ Vamp, but I don't want that to happen, and I can't counter both. So I decide instead just to counter Y Will. I cast Gush, Snapcaster Mage, and Flusterstorm.  In response, he Welds in Lotus, and tries to pay 3, but storm is 4.

[d8dk32]

you must take crazy detailed notes when you play. or you downloaded extra RAM for your brain.

[Smmenen]

you must take crazy detailed notes when you play. or you downloaded extra RAM for your brain.

Lol. Photographic memory?

I don't write down any notes.  But after every match I dictate audio to my iPhone. 

In this case, I recalled the game from memory.

[LotusHead]

I cast Tinker. I have Goblin Welder Active, and Black Lotus in GY as only artifact, and a mox in play.  He flashes in Snapcaster, flashes back Flusterstorm, points to my Tinker, Snapcaster, and Flusterstorm and says, Flusterstorm for three.  I'm like "sure", weld mox for lotus, pay 3, not realizing (cuz I'm a shop player) that I need 4 mana to resolve my Tinker. I suck, and I lose. Smile

I don't understand why you had to pay 4... fluster for 3 means you have to pay   , right?

That's not even close to what happened.  LOL.
Here's what happened.

I'm sure Stephen's totally correct. I have had minimal sleep for the last week (insomnia) and I don't even remember how I won the games that I won.

[xouman]

Thank you, that makes totally sense

[Onslaught]

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Preordain
4 Gush

4 Force
4 Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Misdirection

3 Bolt
1 Fire/Ice

1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll

3 Island
8 Fetchland
3 Volcanic Island
1 Ruby
1 Sapphire
1 Blotus

SB:

4 Cage
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline
1 Mountain
1 REB
1 Pyroblast 

This is a work of art, it's really beautifully complex in how "simple" it is. This is basically the platonic ideal of aggro control, and it feels even more MTGish somehow since it's a clean two color list.