Feature Article - Play By Play at the Great Britain Vintage Nationals 2008

This year, the Vintage Championship was an integral part of the GB Nationals, with its own Trophy as one of the five hand-crafted prizes to be given out this year from the Organisers.

Many Magic players find Vintage fascinating because of the range of cards are available, which creates the most complex interactions in the game. Magic now stands at around 9000 cards available in the card pool; so, inevitably, there was more than passing interest at the Vintage tables, as many of the Nationals players came to see the most powerful decks in Magic battle it out for the title of Great Britain Vintage National Champion 2008.

Once the Swiss Rounds were completed, the standings were as follows:

1. Paul Graham – Tyrant Oath
2. Jim Underwood – Welder
3. Lee Wood – Fish
4. Kevin Rogers – Grindstone / StifleNaught
5. Lewis Samuel – Slaver
6. Patrick McDonagh – Ichorid Dredge
7. Matthew Edwards – Black/Green Oath
8. Calum Stephenson – Red Stax

Quarter Final 1: Paul Graham (1) versus Calum Stephenson (8)

Paul is an experienced player from Manchester, UK, and Calum’s most recent performance of note was just missing out on the UK Nationals title by losing in the 2006 final to StarCityGames editor Craig Stevenson. Both Calum and Paul have been playing for a long time, and both like their Vintage.

Game 1
Calum had a strong opening, depriving Paul’s manabase with an early Strip Mine and a Wasteland, but Paul Ponders into Oath of Druids. Needing only two mana to cast the powerful enchantment, he managed to land a Tidespout Tyrant. Calum was too tight on mana to be able to play any threats, and the Tyrant combo kicked off, with Paul rotating Mox-for-Mox to build up the necessary mana count, but more importantly, a high STORM count to enable a Brain Freeze to burn Calum’s library away.

Game 2
On the play, Calum had a much stronger opening with an Ancient Tomb and Mana Vault, playing Karn, Silver Golem and a Chalice of the Void set on zero. Paul looked at his hand with three zero-mana artifacts (two of them Moxen), and he was unable to get into the game at all from Calum’s strong opening. Calum followed up with a Goblin Welder, and the game came to a swift end.

Game 3
This was a much tighter game than the previous two.

By the mid-game, Calum has only a Tolarian Academy, a Mox Diamond and a Lotus Petal in play, but Paul has already developed into a board position where he plays his second Forbidden Orchard… He taps both to play Oath of Druids, creating 2 spirit tokens at the same time.

Calum sees the sudden change in board position, and how swiftly things can move into the Oath player’s favor. Paul passes the turn.

Calum responds by playing a Tangle Wire, although this does nothing but to tap Paul’s manabase out. Paul then resolves his Oath by putting a Tidespout Tyrant directly into play.

Calum plays Metalworker on his turn, passes the turn, and Paul goes through the motions of tapping out his manabase, activating the Oath, but this time putting a Blazing Archon into play, (that he had previously side-boarded in). Paul jovially asks if there is anything that Calum has to be able to handle the Blazing Archon that is now in play; but Calum continues by drawing another card to take his hand to four (Tangle Wire, Triskelion, Metalworker, and Null Brooch). He taps the Metalworker in play, revealing all the four artifact cards in hand, and is able to cast his entire hand (along with the mana from the Tolarian Academy) minus the Metalworker he just pulled.

Paul now has to deal with double Tangle Wire, a total of 6 counters, so he taps out everything and passes the turn, choosing not to resolve the Oath trigger.

With a turn delayed, Calum stacks and resolves the Tangle Wire triggers in an order to benefit him the most, only tapping 4 permanents. He plays the second Metalworker and a Thorn of Amethyst.

Again, Paul is forced to tap out and pass the turn, but Calum draws only into a Strip Mine

Once the turn passes to Paul, he only has to tap two permanents, Calum’s developed board position doing nothing to stop the fast â€˜clock’ that Paul has created with two fat flyers, and a couple of swings from the 5/5 Tyrant and 5/6 Archon ends the match, with both players drawing lands for their last turns.

Paul Graham 2-1 Calum Stephenson

Quarter Final 2: Kevin Rogers (4) versus Lewis â€˜Charlie’ Samuel (5)

Lewis (â€˜Charlie’) was playing a U/R Strategic Slaver deck with Welders, and Kevin had elected to construct the recent innovation and combo of Painter’s Servant with Grindstone into his Stiflenaught deck. Both decks are hybrids. (This match report comes from notes by Jim Brophy).

Game 1
Kevin wins the roll and has a strong opening of Black Lotus, Mox Emerald, and Tormod’s Crypt. He resolves a Painter’s Servant, setting it to Blue. This has the added advantage of being able to pitch redundant card, including lands to a Force of Will. It also allows him to use his Blasts as a one-mana Counterspell and Vindicate, if needs be.

Charlie draws and passes the turn.

In his turn, Kevin Mystical Tutors to put Ancestral Recall on top of his library. His hand is now Force of Will, Pyroblast, and Echoing Truth.

Charlie plays his own Ancestral Recall, but this is countered by Kevin’s Force of Will.

Kevin plays and resolves Ancestral Recall, casts Demonic Tutor, and finishes off the game by casting the Grindstone that he tutored for, activating it with the Painter’s Servant still in play.

Charlie scoops rather than allow Kevin to see the contents of his deck burnt into the graveyard.

Sideboarding
Charlie: -1 Crucible of Worlds, -1 Tormod’s Crypt, +2 Rack and Ruin
Kevin: -1 Phyrexian Dreadnaught, -1 Engineered Explosives, +2 Duress

Game 2
Charlie is on the play. He opens with Lotus Petal, Sol Ring, and Tolarian Academy.

Kevin replies by playing a Volcanic Island and a Mox Jet in his own turn.

Charlie casts Goblin Shaman.

Kevin Mystical Tutors up the Ancestral Recall at the end of Charlie’s turn, and casts it on his own turn to draw Force of Will, Misdirection, and a Strip Mine.

Kevin Strips the Tolarian Academy.

On Charlie’s next turn, his Ancestral Recall is countered by Force of Will, as it was in game 1.

Kevin closes the game out by casting Phyrexian Dreadnaught, Stifling the sacrifice ability, and swinging with the 12/12 trampler on subsequent turns, without reply, to end the match.

Kevin Rogers 2-0 Lewis Samuel

Quarter Final 3: Lee Wood (3) versus Patrick McDonagh (6)

Lee Wood won the Vintage event at the GB Nationals in 2007 with his Fish deck (against most American metagame thinking), but was out to defend his title, as last year it was not truly classed as an â€˜official’ championship. This year a trophy was up for grabs, and it’s officially the National title. The Irishman Patrick McDonagh is known to be one of the toughest and most experienced Vintage players in our region.

Game 1
After steady initial openings, Lee has a True Believer in play (preventing Patrick’s Dredge deck from targeting him with Cabal Therapy and Unmask). Patrick decides to cast Cabal Therapy on himself to discard a Golgari Thug.

Lee follows up his True Believer with another White creature, this time a bit more aggressive… a 4/4 Jotun Grunt.

At this point Patrick has 8 cards in his graveyard, but with no Bridge from Below, the position looks a little weak.

Patrick dredges into nothing, and the most he can do is to play an Ichorid, but with the creature disappearing at the end of every turn, Lee’s attack force of utility men soon had him 1-0 up.

Game 2
Again, slow openings from both players see Lee cast a Meddling Mage (set to Cabal Therapy).

Patrick’s early dredges see him accumulate only one Bridge in the bin by this time, which is an improvement on zero, but not by much. The frustration sees Patrick accidentally dredge an extra card, and the game state has to be rectified by the Vintage head judge, Oli Bird.

Back to Lee’s turn, and he sculpts his hand with an Ancestral Recall, pulling 2 Portent and a Tundra. His hand is now 3 Force of Will, 2 Portent, 1 Tundra.

Patrick starts to pull himself back into the game by slowly filling his graveyard with dredge activations, but Lee is only beating Patrick down with a 2/2 Meddling Mage, so the Fish Player is giving the Dredge player time to come back. Lee explained after the game that he had no room to give over to 4 Leyline of the Void in his sideboard, and had to trust to other tools to beat Dredge.

Patrick eventually goes for the win casting Flame-Kin Zealot, but this is Force of Willed.

Later on in the game, Patrick is able to Contagion the Meddling Mage and re-cast the Flame-Kin Zealot, with a much better graveyard filled with Bridges, and swings to level the scores at 1-1.

Game 3
Both players start as aggressively as they can, Lee following up a turn 1 tundra with a turn 2 Jotun Grunt, and Patrick filling his graveyard from Bazaar of Baghdad from turn 1. After no time at all, Patrick starts to activate his Bazaar during upkeep, and is dredging Stinkweed Imp and Dakmor Salvage as replacement-draws to dredge. He rubs salt into the wound by removing Street Wraith to dredge back a Golgari Grave-Troll, and the graveyard fills faster than at any other time in the match. The crowd sees Sickening Shoal dredged away (some sideboard tech from Patrick), but Patrick plays a second Bazaar to consolidate his board position.

Patrick casts Cabal Therapy, naming Jotun Grunt, and hits one in Lee’s hand.

Patrick passes the turn, and Lee Wastelands one of the Bazaars away, but it seems too little too late at this time. When the turn passes back to Patrick, the Dredge deck moves up a gear, and Patrick activates his Bazaar, dredging back two Trolls for 12 cards, putting two Narcomoebas into play, and also resolves 2 Ichorid (removing 2 Golgari Thug) in his upkeep to have 4 creatures in play.

He moves into his main phase and flashbacks another Cabal Therapy, naming Force of Will, and Lee has a copy of Force of Will in hand… and one colorless card! Nooooooo !

The Force is discarded (which it would have been anyway). With the threat of counter-magic removed, it opens the way for Patrick to flashback Dread Return on his Flame-Kin Zealot. With Bridges aplenty in the graveyard, Patrick sent 30+plus damage over to seal the match.

Patrick McDonagh 2-1 Lee Wood

Quarter Final 4: Jim Underwood (2) versus Matthew Edwards (7)

Jim came to the tournament with a beautiful set of power cards and impressive bling such as 4 Foil Chalice of the Void for his Red Welder / Workshop deck. In contrast, Matt had built his own Black/Green Oath deck, heavy on the discard (using Duress and even Hymn to Tourach).

Game 1
Jim’s opening was Mishra’s Workshop and Mox Pearl, casting a Chalice set to two.

Matt replied with initial discard spells, and after a while, Jim has cast a small creature force of 2 Metalworker and a Goblin Welder, using them to beat down Matt, unable to cast Oath of Druids.

Matt is unable to cast Hymn to Tourach, and leaves the run of play to Jim, who casts Karn, Silver Golem and eats Matt’s Mox Jet. He then seals game 1 with a Sphere of Resistance, which proves fatal to Matt’s low manabase in play at this point.

Game 2
Matt is on the play and opens with a Duress.

Later in the game Jim manages an early Sphere, but looks nervous as the games progresses, and with good reason. Matt uses 2 Wastelands on Jim’s Mishra’s Workshop and Volcanic Island. Matt also manages early discard, including a Hymn to Tourach, The Sphere looks to be working against Jim at this point, as he has been subjected to the worst kind of disruption himself.

A couple of turns later, Jim finds and casts a Crucible of Worlds to get him back into the game.

Jim only has a Tolarian Academy in play, but manages to re-play his Mishra’s Workshop from the graveyard, and casts Karn, Silver Golem. It’s all too late though, as Matt Enlightened Tutors up an Oath of Druids, plays a Forbidden Orchard, and casts the Oath (creating a token on Jim’s side). Soon Matt has one of his big creatures on the table to swing for the game, levelling the match.

Game 3
Jim is on the play, and both players develop mana, but Matt repeats game 2 by Wastelanding Jim’s Volcanic Island, and proceeds to Thoughtseize, Duress and Hymn Jim on subsequent turns.

Jim’s graveyard is now filling with discarded cards (including Volcanic Island, Chalice of the Void, Echoing Truth, Mana Vault and Mishra’s Workshop).

Matt chooses to Extirpate Jim’s Foil Chalice of the Voids from the game.

Play passes to Jim, and he plays a lone Goblin Welder.

The turn passes, and Matt draws, and now holds Mana Crypt and Null Rod. He plays both.

A turn apiece later, and Matt plays a second Null Rod. Jim continues to attack with the Welder.

Later on in the game, Jim wastelands a Bayou, but Matt is holding a Forbidden Orchard in his hand that he has purposely been holding (so it didn’t get Wastelanded).

Jim casts Ancestral Recall, drawing a Time Walk amongst the 3 cards, and continues to attack with the Welder. Play passes to Matt, and he draws Dark Ritual. Jim attacks for 1. Matt then draws a Vampiric Tutor — his first business card for what seems like ages. Jim attacks for 1.

Matt chooses to cast the tutor at the end of Jim’s turn, for Oath of Druids. On his own turn, he plays the Forbidden Orchard and casts Oath, so that Jim now has a 1/1 Spirit to accompany the Welder. Play passes back to Jim, who swings for 2 and brings Matt down to 8 life. Jim then plays the Time Walk that he has had in hand. He draws into Bazaar, and digs for cards, including putting a Duplicant in the graveyard. Jim now holds only 1 card (a Trinisphere).

Play passes back to Matt and he elects to activate the Oath, putting an Akroma into play.

Jim wryly activates his Goblin Welder, choosing to exchange one Mox for a Duplicant, which removes the Akroma and creates a 6/6 Duplicant to attack with next turn.

Jim Underwood 2-1 Matthew Edwards

Semi-Final Line-up

SEMI-FINAL 1: (Tyrant Oath) versus (Painters-Servant-Grindstone with StifleNaught)
SEMI-FINAL 2: (Welder) versus (Dredge)

Semi Final 1: Paul Graham versus Kevin Rodgers

Game 1
Kevin wins the roll and draws a hand containing Force of Will and Stifle, but only one land — a Strip Mine. He throws it back and draws a better hand with 3 land in it, including a Stifle

Kevin plays Volcanic Island, and passes the turn.

Paul draws a balanced hand and plays an Underground Sea, using it to cast Imperial Seal, and fetches an Ancestral Recall to put on the top of his library.

Kevin plays an Underground Sea for his turn.

Paul plays a second land, Kevin Brainstorms at the end of Paul’s turn.

Paul plays Island, go.

Kevin plays Volcanic Island to add to the two U/B Seas in play. He casts Demonic Tutor, Paul Ancestral Recalls in response, pulls a Force of Will, but allows the Tutor to resolve.

Kevin then casts the Ancestral Recall that he has just tutored for, but this is Forced by Paul, pitching an Echoing Truth.

Play passes back to Paul, who then plays a Mox and casts Oath, but there are no creatures in play.

Kevin plays Phyrexian Dreadnought in his turn, and Stifles it. Paul Brainstorms at the end of turn.

Paul then addresses the Oath trigger, since there is a creature in play that all the crowd can see, but Kevin casts Stifle on the Oath trigger. Paul responds by countering Stifle with Mana Drain. The Oath trigger now resolves, and Paul has a Tidespout Tyrant in play by the end of his upkeep.

In his main phase, Paul plays a Forbidden Orchard, and casts a
second
Oath of Druids – purely to bounce the Dreadnaught back to hand, and create a 1/1 spirit token on the opposing side. Kevin looks at his 1/1 token, which is a poor substitute for the 12/12 that was there a moment ago.

Play passes back to Kevin, and he draws and casts a Sol Ring. Paul casts Krosan Reclamation to put cards back in his library, and bounces one of Kevin’s lands. He goes to his own turn, draws Flash of Insight and elects to cast Accumulated Knowledge, bouncing the Mox in play. He has a Mox in hand, and now plays Mox-on-Mox, generating 25 mana. He casts Flash of Insight to fetch Yawgmoth’s Will from the Library. Kevin asks which cards he is removing, but Paul explains that he is using the casting costs and the mana produced to dig into this library. He then casts the Yawgmoth’s Will and generates an infinite mana loop yet again (settling on 100 mana, for clarification) through the bouncing Moxen, to re-cast Flash of Insight and finishes off game 1 with a Brain Freeze.

Game 2
Kevin’s luck doesn’t improve, as he is forced to mulligan to 5 cards, and Paul keeps 7.

Kevin opens with a land and a Mox Emerald, and casts Brainstorm.

Paul opens with an underground Sea and Ancestral Recalls, but this is countered by Force of Will (removing a Stifle).

Kevin plays Island, go.

Paul plays Forbidden Orchard and a Mox Jet.

Kevin plays Time Walk, and after a non-productive extra turn, Paul casts Accumulated Knowledge (for 1 card). On his own turn he casts Oath of Druids through the Forbidden Orchard to ensure that a 1/1 spirit exists. Paul passes the turn, and little happens apart from an attack from the 1/1 spirit. Paul AK’s for 2 cards (this time) at the end of Kevin’s turn.

Paul addresses the Oath trigger and a Tidespout Tyrant comes into play. Before the end of the upkeep, Kevin casts Red Elemental Blast on the Tyrant, obviously shipped in from the sideboard – but this is met with a Mana Drain. A small gasp is heard from the crowd. Paul moves onto the main phase and plays AK for 4 cards now, using up the floating mana from Mana Drain. This also allows him to bounce Kevin’s one and only remaining land in play, a Volcanic Island.

When Kevin gets his turn, he replays the Volcanic Island, and casts another Red Blast at the Tyrant, and Paul hard-casts Force of Will, much to the amusement of the spectators. He also bounces the Volcanic Island yet again due to the Force being cast and the Tyrant trigger. Kevin can do nothing now, and when play passes back to Paul, he plays Mox Sapphire, bouncing the Mox Jet to create an infinite mana loop combo again, choosing this time to make 4 Black and 6 Blue. Paul casts Yawgmoth’s Will and casts Thoughtseize to assure him of securing victory.

Kevin reveals his hand and I consists of 1 Island, 1 Volcanic Island, and a Yawgmoth’s Will. Paul moves to take the Will; but Kevin offers his hand in resignation instead.

Paul Graham 2-0 Kevin Rodgers

Semi Final 2: Patrick McDonagh versus Jim Underwood (with a match report taken from notes by Jim Brophy)

Game 1
Jim keeps a full hand, whilst Patrick chooses to mulligan to 6 cards.

Jim opens strongly with Shivan Reef Mox Pearl, Mox Jet, and casts Goblin Welder, followed by Sphere of Resistance. Paddy plays Bazaar and immediately activates it, dumping 2 Trolls.

Jim plays a
second
Sphere of Resistance and swings with the Welder for 1 damage.

Paddy activates the Bazaar in upkeep, and dredges 2 Golgari Grave Trolls for 12 cards into the yard, including three Bridge from Below, and even manages to get an Ichorid into play. Jim has little to do on his turn, and when play passes back to Paddy, he dredges 2 Stinkweed imp for 10 additional cards, discarding 2 Trolls to the Bazaar, creating an army of Zombie tokens. Jim is now down to 7 life, and Jim has no response to the lightning fast start from the dredge deck. 1-0

Sideboarding
Patrick (Dredge): -4 Leyline of the Void, -1 Flame-Kin Zealot, -1 Dread Return
+2 Contagion, +2 Reverent Silence, +1 Darkblast, +1 Bayou

Jim (Welder): -3 Chalice, -1 Duplicant, -1 Wheel of Fortune, -1 Mindslaver, -1 Tinker
+2 Powder Keg, +2 Tormod’s Crypt, +2 Pyroclasm, +1 Earthquake

Game 2
Jim has worse luck with his hand this time, and mulligans to 5. Paddy keeps a hand of 7.

Jim opens with Wasteland, and casts a Sensei’s Divining Top.

Patrick opens with a Bazaar and activates it immediately, putting a Bridge from Below, Stinkweed Imp, and Golgari Grave-Troll into his graveyard. Jim Wastelands the Bazaar on his turn and passes. Paddy plays a second Bazaar of Baghdad on his turn.

Jim then plays his own Bazaar and passes. Paddy uses his Bazaar at the end of turn, then in his upkeep retrieves three Ichorids during upkeep. He activates the Bazaar and dredges 2 Trolls for 12 cards, then flashback on a Cabal Therapy (naming Sphere of Resistance). Jim’s hand is (Sphere of Resistance, Pyroclasm, Platinum Angel) and the Sphere goes to the graveyard.

Paddy then casts Dread Return for its flashback cost, sacrificing the 3 Ichorids, and creating yet another army of Zombies from the Bridge from Belows, and returns the single Flame-Kin Zealot he left in the deck to play, and attacks for the win.

Patrick McDonagh 2-0 Jim Underwood

… After two classic semi-final matches, the crowd, that had now doubled in size, waited for the final. Surely it couldn’t live up to the quality of play that had just been witnessed? Since both semis were 2-0 wins, how would these two decks piloted by two expert players match up ?

The GB Nationals has only recently changed into a combined GB event from separate nationals, (from 2007 onwards), and the purpose of this was to create a better field for all the players; a larger venue and a larger event. The finals this year proved that the multi-nation states provides a better field, with a Scotsman and an Englishman contesting the Nationals final over in the (main) Standard/Draft portion. It was no different in the Vintage final, with Irishman Patrick McDonagh matched up against Paul Graham from Manchester, England. The final was table-judged by Oli Bird, a level 3 judge from Ireland.

Final: Paul Graham (Tyrant Oath) versus Patrick McDonagh (Ichorid Dredge)

Game 1
Patrick wins the roll, draws seven, and activates Serum Powder to take an alternative hand of seven. This is the first time many of the crowd have seen this, and the side-event staff explain that Patrick is effectively having a â€˜free’ mulligan for a better hand, albeit having to remove the original seven cards from the game. â€˜If they were just discarded, it would be TOO good,’ quipped Patrick. He throws the seven cards back and mulligans to six.

â€˜That’s just ridiculous,’ one spectator commented.

Patrick indicates to Paul that he is content with his hand of 6 cards, and then Paul also mulligans, then mulligans again to 5, happy once he has Blue mana sources in hand.

Patrick opens with a Bazaar, and immediately activates to draw 2, discarding (Golgari Thug, Serum Powder, and Ichorid). He then casts Unmask (pitching a Cabal Therapy), naming Oath of Druids, which he hits, and follows up with a Chalice on zero.

Paul looks at the 2 Moxen he has in hand, draws, and plays a Tropical Island.

Patrick activates the Bazaar in his upkeep, dredging back the Thug, filling his graveyard with 2 Bridge from Below amongst others, and brings the Ichorid into play (removing Golgari Thug). In his main phase, he attacks for 3 with the Ichorid, then flashbacks a Cabal Therapy, sacrificing the Ichorid, naming Accumulated Knowledge, which he hits as he knows what Paul’s hand contains, and he gets 2 Zombie Tokens from the Bridges. He passes the turn. Paul plays nothing and passes.

Patrick activates the Bazaar during his upkeep again and removes 2 Street Wraith to bring back 2 Ichorids into play. He replaces his normal draw with a Stinkweed Imp dredging for 5 cards, hitting a Narcomoeba along the way. After he attacks, the Ichorids die, and 4 more Zombie tokens are created. He passes the turn, Paul draws and scoops. He has been completely cut out of the game and there wasn’t any point that he actually could enter it. The Irishman means business. 0-1

Sideboarding
Paul: -3 Thoughtseize, -2 Mana Drain
+4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Blazing Archon

Patrick: -4 Leyline of the Void, -4 Unmask
+2 Bayou, +2 Sickening Shoal, +4 Reverent Silence

Game 2
Paul is on the play. He picks up a balanced hand, including Leyline of the Void.

Patrick takes 7, but the hand includes 3 Bridge from Below and 2 Serum Powder. He deliberates over this for a while, but he knows that to remove his hand would mean those Bridges gone from the game forever. I comment to him that Bazaars seem to be like English Buses — you wait for one, then three come along all at the same time . Patrick chooses to mulligan to 6. No Bazaar. He goes to 5. No Bazaar, He drops to 4 and again, a hand full of Black spells, but not playable. At this point I comment that when Craig Jones went over to play in Pro Tour: Hollywood, he lost a match to a Dredge player that mulliganed all the way down to 2 cards — such is the strength of the Dredge deck. Paddy opts to go to three, then two, and finally one (a Cabal Therapy).

They start their match, and much to Patrick’s dismay, Paul starts the game with a Leyline in play. Paul opens with Underground Sea into Ponder. Patrick does nothing for 4 turns other than draw, where Paul develops his manabase, plays AK, and finally plays Forbidden Orchard into Oath.

Patrick scoops rather than see the deck played out.

It is true that players have commented that you always have one match where you are mana-screwed or the deck just dies on you. This was that match, and not the one that you want to see in the Vintage final.

Game 3
Patrick is back on the play, and after a single mulligan chooses to keep the 6 – but again the hand is a strange one. This time, it includes 3 Bazaars of Baghdad, 2 Serum Powder and 1 Narcomoeba.

Paul also mulligans to six, a hand of 1 Mox Sapphire, 1 Mana Vault, 1 Brainstorm, 1 Force of Will, 1 Chrome Mox and, more importantly, 1 Leyline of the Void.

Paul starts the game with the Leyline in play. Patrick plays his Bazaar, which he immediately activates to dump the 2 Serum Powder. No loss there.

Paul opens with Brainstorm off Mox Sapphire (drawing Underground Sea, Mox Jet, and Brain Freeze). He plays the Underground Sea and Mox Jet. He puts the Mana Vault and Chrome Mox back on the top of his library. He then Brain Freezes himself to burn away the 2 cards (Mana Vault and Chrome Mox) so as to draw into better cards. Paul is off to a good start. With the Leyline in play, he should have enough time to develop into a winning position. Patrick continues to use the Bazaar to dig deeper and improve his hand, searching for a way to remove the Leyline and, from there, mount a game plan to win the match.

The game continues with Paul drawing into a Mana Drain, playing a Tropical Island; all the while, Paddy digging deeper into his deck to find an answer to the Leyline. He has a hand of Black dredge spells, but needs to save as many as possible. He has his Bazaars in play, ready to fire off and win in one turn if he can secure the enchantment removal.

Paul draws and plays Underground Sea.

Patrick continues to dig with the 2 Bazaars at an increased rate, and casts Unmask, but this is Mana Drained. The next turn, the Irishman plays Dryad Arbor and casts Reverent Silence for zero, but Paul has countermagic in hand by this point. He toys with the Force of Will and the Mana Drain, as this is his only Blue spell to pitch to the Force, and eventually replies with the Mana Drain. There looks to have been enough time for Paul to get the counter card he needed to ensure victory against the dredge deck.

With 6 colorless mana in his mana pool for his turn, Paul untaps and hard-casts Tidespout Tyrant, with a cheer coming from the crowd. He uses the spare mana to help cast an Oath of Druids, sending one tapped Bazaar back to Paddy’s hand, ensuring that it would not be used during the Irishman’s upkeep step.

Patrick draws nothing of significance, and plays the bounced Bazaar out again.

Paul attacks with the Tyrant.

Patrick starts to dig again, and passes the turn.

Paul attacks again. Paddy is at 10 life.

Patrick casts a second Reverent Silence, but Paul hard-casts Force of Will to stop the enchantment removal, and this is the closure of the match. Like in the semi-final, Paul’s opponent had 2 spells aimed at the problem card. In the semi it was 2 Red Blasts aimed at the Tidespout Tyrant, and in the deciding match of the Vintage Final, Paul had two answers to two Reverent Silence. Patrick scoops.

Paul’s hand shows he can combo off from this point, and the crowd would like to see, but he plays his cards close to his chest and says that he’d just attack with the Tyrant from that point to secure victory.

Paul Graham 2-1 Patrick McDonagh

Paul Graham is the 2008 Great British Vintage Champion, winning the first hand-crafted trophy for a Vintage Final in the UK for his efforts, bringing the trophy back to Manchester, England.
Well done, Paul !

Top 8 Decklists

Paul Graham
Tyrant Oath

4 Oath of Druids
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Thoughtseize
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Imperial Seal
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Flash of Insight
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Brain Freeze
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Tidespout Tyrant
4 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Chrome Mox