SCG P9: Rochester Report *Top 4*

I played Grim Long this weekend, and made Top 8 at the third major consecutive SCG P9 event with this deck. I debuted this deck at SCG Chicago last October, when Portal finally rotated into Vintage. I then played this deck at SCG Richmond in March. It was a forgone conclusion that I’d play it again.

I was a little concerned going into Day 1 that my mind wasn’t in the right place. I think goldfishing Grim Long is a dangerous proposition. In my recent article on skill, I analyzed the difference between the major components of skill: forward thinking and pattern recognition. Goldfishing Grim Long will facilitate improper pattern recognition. If you win a particular way, you’ll be more inclined to follow that path again, should the situation arise. This is problematic. My great experience with the deck can be as much of a handicap as inexperience. Preconceptions are a dangerous thing in a deck with as many options per turn as Grim Long.

Grim Long is the most nonlinear deck in Magic. Imagine a game of Magic where there are several key decision points. Each decision point is a fork in the road. You could go down different avenues of play. Each line of play ends in a different result. Grim Long has uncountable lines of play. Each fork leads to numerous other forks. Analyzing each line of play is so difficult that the Grim Long player, for ease of mind, is inclined to simply rely on pattern recognition rather than a full blown analysis. This is very bad. For example, I almost never tutor for Time Walk. Yet, in hindsight, I’ve encountered situations where that is the correct play. The fact that I’ve so rarely done it makes it less likely that I’ll think of that play. You may wonder: if you are going to tutor, why wouldn’t you just look through your deck and consider each option? Ha! If only it were so simple. Often you must plan turns in advance what you are going to tutor for long before you actually do it. You have to formulate and implement plans from the very first turn that may not actually bear fruit until the end game.

The point is that I wasn’t confident in my ability to play a technically proficient game, despite the fact that I literally created this deck from scratch. I just wasn’t feeling properly focused. I’ve noticed in testing that I am usually very focused in the first three games, but then I start making play mistakes.

Grim Long’s capacity to win is directly and completely proportionate to the pilot’s skill. Here is a general rule of thumb I follow: If you only make one play mistake in a match, you’ll probably still win. If you make two play mistakes, you could win or lose. If you make three play mistakes, you’ll definitely lose. I’m talking about play mistakes per match – not per game. An incorrect sideboarding decision, for example… sideboarding is what often separates the men from the boys with Grim Long. An incorrect decision to not mulligan. The wrong tutor target. Improper bait. A subtle psychological suggestion that backfires. These are the kinds of mistakes I’m talking about. Make three per match, and you lose for sure. Make two, and you are putting your life in your opponent’s hands. Make a single mistake per match, and you’ll likely still win.

On Saturday, I played Grim Long, but my average number of mistakes was 2-3 per match. That’s why I didn’t make top 8 (I intentionally drew against a teammate, drew against Stax, and then lost a match). On Sunday, my average number of mistakes per match was 1-2. That’s how I made Top 8 (with only one loss in the Swiss).

I wasn’t feeling the focus I needed on Saturday to really do what had to be done. As I said, I am very focused in the first three games I play at any event. After that, my mind begins to mush unless I can really keep it together.

Grim Long wears on the pilot. It will give you the auto-win hand when you aren’t looking for it. But every time you make a Hail Mary and hope for a set of cards that is just going to demolish your opponent, you play a draw7 and find that it is, instead, a Mensa puzzle. The deck rarely gives you the obvious “win” when you are asking for it. I find that I want to the easy way out not because it’s hard, but because it’s taxing. Over time, your brain just wants relief.

Throughout the tournament, there was a prevailing misconception that Grim Long matches would be short. They are short in terms of turns — but they are often excruciatingly long. Grim Long rarely draws simply because the five additional turns are an eternity. For example, in my untimed Top 8 match, game one against Bomberman was five turns for each player, but it was longer than the entire match for several of the other Top 8 competitors in the quarter finals. For this reason, although there aren’t many turns in Grim Long, you have all of the decision trees, if not more, compressed into fewer, and much longer, turns.

Saturday, Day 1:

Round 1: Morgan with ICBM Oath

My metagame prediction forecast a good deal of Oath. In the early rounds of Day 1, Oath appeared to be even more rampant than I thought it would be. I was not surprised to face it in round 1. I was surprised to face such a fierce opponent.

Game 1:

I win the dice roll. My opening hand was:

City of Brass,

Duress,

Dark Ritual,

Dark Ritual,

Mana Crypt,

Grim Tutor,

Lion’s Eye Diamond

This is a turn 1 win hand. I play City of Brass: Ritual, Duress. He Force of Wills my Duress, pitching Force of Will. I think the way is clear to go off. I play Grim Tutor and sacrifice my Lion’s Eye Diamond. He plays Force of Will #3. I burn for six. He eventually resolved Null Rod. I, however, find Imperial Seal for Hurkyl’s Recall. I draw Elvish Spirit Guide and DT. He Wastelands my second land, but I am able to bounce the Rod and then Play Demonic Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will and win. The reason I won was because he Vampiric Tutored for Oath instead of more disruption. He played the Oath, and that was when I went for the win.

Game 2:

My opening hand had:

Tolarian Academy,

City of Brass,

Grim Tutor,

Mana Crypt,

Mox Emerald,

Dark Ritual,

Dark Ritual

He played turn 1 Duress and took the Grim Tutor.

I drew Imperial Seal. I tapped the City and said: “I guess I’ll just play the Recall game” — implying that I was tutoring for Ancestral Recall. I looked through my deck and put Mind’s Desire on top of my deck.

Turn 2:

He played land and Null Rod!

I untapped my City and played:

Mana Crypt,

Mox Emerald,

Dark Ritual,

Dark Ritual

I tapped my Academy for UU and I played Mind’s Desire for five.

Suffice to say, I won.

I won game 1 through triple Force of Will and Null Rod, and game 2 through Duress and Null Rod. Not bad!

Round 2:

I sit down against my close friend and good teammate, Paul Mastriano. We intentionally draw for several reasons: first, we can scout. Second, we get to relieve our brains to recharge for round 3. Third, we are teammates and we both want each other to make Top 8. Our draw here cost us dearly later on. Paul went on to only lose to Ugo Rivard’s friend, and was unable to draw in the last round where he lost the Grim Long mirror.

Round 3:

I sit down against Ryan, who is a very nice guy playing an IT variant.

Game 1:

I think he played first and played Sapphire, Brainstorm.

I Duress him and he Brainstorms again, and I see:

Mox Pearl,

Brainstorm,

Underground Sea,

Underground Sea,

Bloodstained Mire,

Black Lotus.

I take the Black Lotus.

I combo killed him on turn 3, but I don’t remember how. That’s all my notes say.

Game 1:

He makes a turn 1 Island.

I Duress and he Brainstorms, and I see:

Mox Ruby,

Duress,

Duress,

Dark Ritual,

Cabal Ritual,

Polluted Delta

I don’t remember anything else about this match except that he played a desperate Frantic Search, which yielded nothing but card disadvantage. I won.

Round 4:

I’m paired again Ryan Austin, who made Top 8 at the first Gencon Championship with Stax. He seems to be in a bad mood and predicts that I’ll win. I know he was playing “RFG: The Jester” and get myself in the proper mindset.

I mulligan to six and I’m locked out of game 1 entirely.

Game 2:

I win game 2 despite his Chalice for four, Chalice for zero, and Chalice for two. I later found out that Chalice for 4 doesn’t counter Tendrils’ copies. I didn’t even have to bounce that Chalice to win. He made a play mistake, I think, at some point.

Game 3:

An extremely tense game.

I Force of Will his turn 1 threat. My opening hand is:

Tolarian Academy,

Mox,

Land,

Tinker,

Force of Will,

Brainstorm,

Cabal Ritual

I Force of Will his turn 1 threat, and then I play land, Mox, Brainstorm, and pass.

He doesn’t do anything relevant, and suddenly he passes the turn with under a minute to go.

The clock is 40 seconds. 35 seconds. I untap and draw and play my land. I play Cabal Ritual and announce Tinker. 25 seconds.

What do I get! Time is about to be called. I think quickly. If I get Darksteel Colossus, I’ll have three turns to kill him. He’ll be active player when time is called and I’ll be turns 1, 3, and 5! I opt for Colossus over Memory Jar and burn for one. He Vampiric Tutors on his upkeep, for what I guess is Balance. He plays Crucible of Worlds and Karn. I attack with Colossus. He animates Crucible and blocks with both. He then Balances on his turn.

This was a mistake on my part. I could have assigned all the damage to the Crucible, and hoped to draw a blue card to pitch to Force of Will to stop Balance I knew was imminent. I didn’t do that, but it wouldn’t have mattered because I drew a land.

Turns run out and it is a draw. My record is now: 2-0-2. Ugh. Not good. I should have Tinkered for that Jar and just tried to win in turns! I would have probably won that game.

Round 5: Peter Magus playing Confidant Control

At this point, my brain is mush. I think I’m playing against IT and I incorrectly resolve Brainstorm. I keep a threat heavy but disruption light hand. I would have otherwise kept more utility if I had known it was a Drain deck. I somehow lost after resolving Necropotence (my brain is fried). Game 2 I lose to the fact that he has double Mana Drain in hand when I Duress. I can only take one, and the other counters my Cabal Ritual.

I drop from the tournament, so that I won’t be going nuts.

The draw against Paul just killed me. And it hurt him as well. We should have either played, or one of us should have scooped. Paul deserved to make Top 8. He had some of the most amazing plays I’ve ever seen in Magic.

In the last round of contention, Paul pulled off the most amazing psychological stunt I’ve ever seen. He looked and his hand and started laughing. His opponent, Jimmy (who got second place with Grim Long) looked at his hand and thought for a moment. Paul inquired: is that hand good enough to beat this monster? Etc, etc. Jimmy mulled to six, and looked at a mediocre hand that had Duress, Mystical, and two lands. Jimmy mulled to five. Then to four. Then to three. And finally to two.

Paul’s hand was unkeepable, but the fear of Paul was so strong that he won a game before it even started. Amazing.

I go out drinking with Paul, and we get a good five hours of sleep. I finally feel ready to play some solid Grim Long.

Sunday, Day 2:

Round 1:

How ironic, it’s Peter Magus playing Dark Confidant Control again! I start Sunday where I finished Saturday. My redemption was at hand.

My opening hand was:

Elvish Spirit Guide,

Xantid Swarm,

Mox Jet,

Mox Pearl,

Dark Ritual,

Timetwister,

City of Brass

Turn 1:

I played City of Brass and Xantid Swarm. It resolved.

Turn 2:

I draw Tolarian Academy. I attack with Swarm. Covered in bees! I Play Ritual, Mox, Mox, Academy, and Timetwister. I win that turn.

My sideboard plan:

– 2 Elvish Spirit Guide

– 1 Regrowth

+ 3 Xantid Swarm

Game 2:

My opening hand is utterly nuts:

Black Lotus,

Mind’s Desire,

Ancestral Recall,

Xantid Swarm,

Mox Sapphire,

Duress,

Forbidden Orchard

He Duresses me twice on turn 1, using Underground Sea and Lotus Petal, and takes Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall.

I Duress him and see Chain of Vapor, Dark Confidant, and Mana Drain.

I take the Chain of Vapor, since I plan on playing Xantid Swarm next turn.

He ripped Black Lotus. I play the Swarm, and he Drains it. He plays Dark Confidant.

I see Grim Tutor and Imperial Seal in the next two turns. I decide to Tutor up Swarm and Seal for either a Draw7 or Yawgmoth’s Will. He Duresses the Seal and I play Swarm, and he Drains it. I draw Brainstorm and I see Sol Ring, Tinker, and Time Walk. I put back a land and Tinker, and I play Sol Ring. He plays Fact or Fiction, and I split an insane Fact:

Yawgmoth’s Will and Force of Will

versus

Three other good cards.

He takes the Yawgmoth’s Will pile and passes. I play Time Walk and Tinker for Memory Jar, and I win the game.

Round 2:

I play against Rian Litchard, my teammate playing a deck similar to the one that won Day 1, except with plenty of Grim Long hate. He beat a Grim Long player that made Top 8 on Day 1, and he beat me in this round and Paul Mastriano in the next round. Rian found a deck that owns my deck!

I don’t remember much of games 1 and 2, except that they were lopsided.

Game 3 I should have won, but I made a play mistake: actually, I made two. The first mistake was that before I play Timetwister, I play a land. The chance of drawing Tolarian Academy is non-trivial. I do in fact draw it off the Twister and the fact that I played a different land cuts me off from a far more insane series of plays. This same play recurs twice more throughout the tournament. Another mistake I make was trying to induce him to copy my Chain of Vapor in response to Twister on the stack. The hope was that he’d bounce my Mana Crypt. Earlier in the game, I wanted him to copy my Chain on his Leyline of the Void to my Xantid Swarm, so I could also bounce another one of his permanents. He didn’t take the bait. Instead, this time he did, but it backfired. He bounced my Swarm. After my Twister, I have to pass the turn without Swarm in play. Rian then goes:

Tap land, Ancestral Recall.

Mox,

Mox,

Mox,

Mox,

Black Lotus

And he still had five cards in his hand.

I baited with Memory Jar off Crypt, Mox, and Academy. He countered the Jar. I then played Cabal Ritual; he countered that as well. He then killed me with Dark Confidant. My play mistakes cost me this match, despite all the insane hate.

Round 3: Don Ray, playing Stax

I win the dice roll.

Game 1:

I mulligan into:

City of Brass,

Gemstone Mine,

Demonic Tutor,

Grim Tutor,

Grim Tutor,

Duress

I play turn 1 Duress, seeing:

Sphere of Resistance,

Smokestack,

Mana Vault,

Mox Pearl,

Tolarian Academy,

Vampiric Tutor,

City of Brass

I think for a while and decide to take the Mox Pearl. I reason that if I take the 2Sphere, he could just play turn 1 Stack. If I take the Stack, he’ll have turn 1 2Sphere. And I don’t think he’ll play 2Sphere off of Mana Vault. That seems like a poor play.

His turn 1 play is:

Land, Mana Vault, pass.

I topdeck Mox Jet and play Grim Tutor. He Vamps on his upkeep for Mishra’s Workshop (because he thinks I may have maindeck Force of Wills if he gets Lotus). He plays Stack and Sphere, I think. I wish I could remember the details of this game. I don’t even remember what I tutored for, but I know that I ended up winning.

Game 2:

Don wasn’t even in this game. I had Force of Will and a turn 2 kill.

Round 4: Zack playing GWS Oath.

This was an insane match.

Game 1:

I win the die roll and my hand is really slow. My hand has double Duress, and I drew a third one in my first couple of draws.

I seem to recall that Zack Force of Willed my first Duress, to protect his Brainstorm and one-land hand.

My notes indicate that an early Duress sees:

Oath of Druids,

Oath of Druids,

Demonic Tutor,

Force of Will,

Rushing River

I think about it and decide to take the Force of Will. I don’t think I ended up playing the third Duress. I think that I played an early and somewhat weaker Yawgmoth’s Will, and then set up a Tinker for Memory Jar.

My memory here is confused, but let me tell you what I remember.

First, I remember that Zack played Oath of Druids with Forbidden Orchard.

Second, I remember that I broke a Memory Jar the turn after he played Oath. I was unable to go off because he draws the third Force of Will. Ironically, he drew both Razia and Akroma inside of the Memory Jar.

Third, He Oaths on his next upkeep and has to reveal his entire deck and Gaea’s Blessing. I look through it and that’s when I figure out he is playing GWS Oath. He has no Force of Wills in hand, but there is only one Null Rod. I figure out that he is holding the other one.

Fourth, He plays Null Rod and passes.

The problem is that I also remember he played Chalice for 2 at some point after the Rod, but after I played Mystical for Demonic Tutor. I thought after I played Timetwister, I drew all mana and Mystical Tutor and I Mystical Tutor up Demonic Tutor and put it on top of my deck. I should have fetched Yawgmoth’s Will.

However, I can figure out how it all makes sense, because I remember having a hand that was:

Imperial Seal,

Demonic Tutor,

Duress,

Ritual

I was going to Seal for Chain of Vapor, and then DT for the win somehow.

I had Academy in play and a million artifacts, but his Rod stops them all. I also have just one City of Brass.

I also remember that he Oathed up Akroma and attacked me.

I remember that I was going to scoop, but I realized that there was a small chance he drew the second creature in my Timetwister. He did. He only attacked me for seven and then I won the game, miraculously. I wish I could remember how!

Game 2:

He makes an Island and says go.

My hand is utterly ridiculous:

Force of Will,

Force of Will,

Brainstorm,

Grim Tutor,

Black Lotus,

Dark Ritual,

Mox Sapphire

I drew a third Force of Will. I easily win on turn 1, through Force of Will.

And now the match you were all waiting for.

Round 5: Rich Shay playing Control Slaver

This is why I come to Vintage events — to play the big names. I get really focused against them, and I play my best Magic. I feel invincible at such times.

I remember this match vividly and play-by-play.

I win the die roll.

The psychological banter is intense. Last time Rich Shay and I played, I knocked him out of the tournament with the same deck. I won on turn 1 and 3. As a consequence, Rich put Leyline of the Void in his sideboard.

We size each other up. My intention is to “get inside” his head. I hope that I have a turn 1 kill — I figure that if I turn 1 kill him again, he’ll go on tilt. Rich holds his own in the War of Words, and we draw up.

I exclaim that my hand is quite good, and try to do what Paul did. It doesn’t work. Rich keeps his hand.

I mulligan into:

City of Brass,

Mox Emerald,

Mana Crypt,

Ancestral Recall,

Tinker,

Regrowth

Turn 1:

I play City of Brass, Ancestral Recall.

He plays Force of Will, pitching Echoing Truth. I pass the turn. Only now, as I am writing this report, do I realize that that is a mistake. I could play Regrowth on Ancestral right now. I should have Regrowthed Ancestral on the spot, I suppose.

Anyway, he takes his first turn:

Polluted Delta for Volcanic Island, Goblin Welder, and Lotus Petal.

I untap and play Tinker, sacrificing Mox Emerald. I break the Jar and I see:

Lion’s Eye Diamond,

Lotus Petal,

Underground Sea,

Forbidden Orchard,

Mind’s Desire,

Yawgmoth’s Bargain,

Tendrils of Agony

I have access to three mana right now, and yet I drew the three most expensive cards in my deck aside from the Memory Jar I just broke. How unlucky!

I play a land, the Lion’s Eye Diamond, and the Petal, and move to my end step so that we can discard our hands.

I look and see that Rich will discard Mana Crypt, Mindslaver, Time Walk, and many other broken cards. He hints that he has Yawgmoth’s Will. And then I realize: my face down hand has Chain of Vapor. I ask the judge if there is a chance for me to play spells after the Jar discard had resolved but before I pass the turn.

If he untaps, his Welder is active and he can weld in Mana Crypt to get more mana for his Yawgmoth’s Will. I Chain of Vapor his Welder in my end step.

He draws a card, taking him to three cards in hand after he plays Island. He thinks for a moment. I know one card is Welder and another is Yawgmoth’s Will. He thinks, and then concludes that the correct play is to replay Welder. He has Island and Petal up. Look at what I pull off:

I untap. Remember, my hand was Regrowth. I draw Tolarian Academy. I play the Academy and tap it for UUU. I tap my Forbidden Orchard and my Mana Crypt and I play Regrowth, and respond by sacrificing the Lion’s Eye Diamond for BBB. I Regrowth the Yawgmoth’s Bargain and play it! I win! I handily draw some cards, play some Rituals, tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will, play it, and then tutor for Tendrils and kill him.

Rich Shay had two full main phases that game!

Game 2:

We both start to sideboard, which is really difficult for me. I take out all four Duresses, and the one Regrowth and two Elvish Spirit Guides. I bring in three Xantid Swarm and four Force of Wills. I think I sideboarded out Windfall for another Chain of Vapor. I may have sided in a third Chain of Vapor too. I knew Rich was bringing in Leyline of the Void.

We begin!

Turn 1:

His first plays are as follows:

Mox, Mox, Land, Thirst for Knowledge (discarding an artifact of some sort).

I untap and play:

Mox Emerald, Xantid Swarm. It resolves.

I play Mana Crypt, Land, and Time Walk.

I take damage from Mana Crypt.

I attack with Xantid Swarm. Covered in Bees!

I play Brainstorm and see: Lion’s Eye Diamond, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, and Chain of Vapor. I’m holding a second Brainstorm!

I put Forbidden Orchard and Yawgmoth’s Bargain on top of my deck.

I play Tolarian Academy and tap it for UUU. I play Chain of Vapor targeting my Mox, and then sac both lands to copy it to my Mana Crypt and my Lion’s Eye Diamond. I replay all of those artifacts. I have UUGG4 floating. I announce Brainstorm and respond by sacrificing Lion’s Eye Diamond for BBB. I discard Forbidden Orchard and draw into the Yawgmoth’s Bargain, which I play.

I draw some cards, play some Rituals, tutor for Tendrils and kill Rich Shay. Another turn 1 win!

Round Six:

I sit down across from the highest ranked Grim Long player. By this point, almost all the other Grim Long players have been knocked out by my teammate Rian Litchard! It wasn’t like yesterday, where a number of Grim Long players were still in contention.

I win the die roll and I play turn 1 Duress.

I see: Sapphire, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Imperial Seal, Forbidden Orchard, and expensive spells. I debate whether to take the Seal or the Sapphire. I take the Sapphire and pass.

He plays Forbidden Orchard and passes the turn.

I play a turn 2 Brainstorm. I Vamp for Lotus on my next turn, and win.

Game 1:

This game was insane. I wish I could remember the details, but it was very complex. Here are the broad strokes:

His turn 1:

Land, Mox, Mox, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Windfall. He was going to break the Lion’s Eye Diamond, but I signaled that I had Force of Will.

Too late, I forced the Windfall without letting him sacrifice his Lion’s Eye Diamond first. He has two cards in hand and can topdeck his way out of this game, a game that I should have won on turn 1 right here.

I Duress him, and see land, and something irrelevant.

He takes his turn and passes.

I play Wheel of Fortune and my hand becomes:

Cabal Ritual,

Cabal Ritual,

Force of Will,

Mystical Tutor,

Yawgmoth’s Will,

And mana.

I play Cabal Ritual number 2, and the second Ritual becomes my 7th card in the graveyard. I play Yawgmoth’s Will. He Force of Wills, and I Force of Will. I was hoping he’d Force, so I could replay a Cabal Ritual with Threshold. Which I do.

I then replay all the good stuff in my ‘yard and cast Timetwister.

I debate whether to play a land in my hand before I Timetwister, or whether to bank on drawing Academy off the Timetwister. I play the land and play Timetwister. Indeed, I draw Academy.

My only business of the Twister is multiple Duress and a Windfall. My gas is an Lion’s Eye Diamond.

My earlier two mistakes come back to haunt me here.

I think about whether my opponent will be smart enough to know that he can sacrifice Lion’s Eye Diamond in response to Windfall so that we won’t draw cards — i.e. to fizzle my Windfall.

Fortunately, I bait with something and he plays Ancestral Recall and sacs the Lion’s Eye Diamond in response — so he draws 3 cards. If I had not signaled that I was Force of Willing his turn 1 Windfall, he would have ten cards right here for my Windfall! I’d win on the spot!

Also, if I had played Academy, I’d have been able to use this Mind’s Desire I drew in this Twister hand.

As it was, I’m forced to use my own hand for the Windfall. I Windfall away Academy, Duress, Duress, and an irrelevant card, and I draw:

Black Lotus,

Grim Tutor,

Lion’s Eye Diamond,

Dark Ritual

I play Black Lotus and he Force of Wills it. I tap a land and play Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, respond by sacrificing my Lion’s Eye Diamond, and kill him with Tendrils of Agony.

Round Seven: Intentional Draw

Top 8: Laney playing Bomberman (Auriok Salvagers Combo)

Laney had an enormous jar of pretzels. Periodically, he would reach into it and start munching. I was jealous. Laney was French Canadian, and he had his entire crew with him.

Game 1:

This game was a horrendous comedy of errors. Laney looks poised to combo in the early game. I Duress, and he Force of Wills it. My memory is a little sketchy at this point, but here is what I think happened:

He plays Black Lotus, Island, and Auriok Salvagers.

I remember that he had Force of Will and somehow got into a position where he could Brainstorm on his turn to look for a land, but instead he Brainstormed on my turn. I think he also got a Sol Ring into play.

Eventually he did get the White mana, but he couldn’t find a Spellbomb to draw his deck with.

This game was messed up. I played multiple Draw7s and they eventually all got removed from game, either because of Yawgmoth’s Will or because of his Tormod’s Crypt recursion. In all the Draw7s I played, he did not see a Spellbomb to combo me out with. As a consequence of his triple Force of Wills in the early game, my deck was very strangely positioned. I had almost no real business in my deck, or any way to accelerate into Storm.

I’ve never seen a game state like that — where my deck basically just has Tutors and mana left. My only business left was Necro, Bargain, and Desire. There were virtually no Blue cards left in my deck, and all the Draw7s were used. The key play mistake that cost me this game was this: Before playing a Draw7, I played a land. As a consequence, I, of course, drew Tolarian and was unable to play it. I didn’t even get comboed out. I lost to damage I had dealt to myself, and his 2/2 dude.

My last shot out was a Desire for three, but it was two land and a Xantid Swarm. I lose.

Game 2:

He played turn 1 Mox Sapphire, Ancestral Recall. I played Force of Will. He played Black Lotus and passed the turn.

I played Black Lotus, Land, Dark Ritual, Mana Vault, and then I played Timetwister. In response, he sacrificed his Lotus for WWW and played Abeyance. I was Abeyed! I won the following turn nonetheless.

Game 3:

I remember that my hand was exceedingly broken. He went first, and I Force of Willed two cards that he played on turn 1: his Trinket Mage (so he couldn’t get Chalice or Tormod’s Crypt) and his Chalice that he played for zero. I won with Bargain in the last game when I was at 12 life. I debated whether to play Bargain with 12 life, or Desire for seven. I went for Bargain. When it resolved I was shocked. Next turn I built up a large Desire. The first card revealed was Tendrils of Agony.

Top 4: Spooky Kid playing ICBM Stax (Cron style Stax)

Game 1:

I mulliganed to two. I never played a spell.

Game 2:

My hand was:

Black Lotus,

Dark Ritual,

Mana Crypt,

Land,

Brainstorm,

Grim Tutor,

… and possibly something else good too.

Suffice to say, I handily won on turn 1.

Game 3:

He mulligans to five, and I keep this hand:

City of Brass,

Forbidden Orchard,

Mox Jet,

Mox Ruby,

Mox Emerald,

Dark Ritual,

Hurkyl’s Recall

He goes:

Turn 1 Gemstone Mine, go!

I freak out. I am wondering… how can this be? This is Stax. If that is his first turn play, he’s got either a good turn 2, or he just can’t risk a mulligan to four. Why did I keep this hand? What was I thinking?

I draw Elvish Spirit Guide. I decide not to play it.

I play Sea, Mox, Mox, Mox, and pass.

He plays Workshop and something irrelevant.

I draw another land and play it, and then I draw Chain of Vapor, Yawgmoth’s Will, and another land.

I drew no business at all in my top cards.

He plays Chalice for one, and In the Eye of Chaos, Crucible of Worlds plus Wasteland and other crap, and then Smokestack that ramps to one. I sacrificed a Mox, and then another.

Finally, I realize that I could Tinker away my Mox, pitching Elvish Spirit Guide and a land for Lotus, and then cast Yawgmoth’s Will and replay Hurkyl’s, which costs four, and then Chain of Vapor his In the Eye of Chaos… but then I’m out of mana.

If I had realized this a turn sooner, I would have had one additional mana – then I could have Chained my own Mox, sacrificing my land, and had two mana. I could have played the Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual in my hand, and followed it with Tinker for Memory Jar with BBB floating. From there, I should have little trouble winning.

I made three mistakes that match, and I lose. You can only make two mistakes per match with Grim Long and expect to win.

Playing through a Top 8 is essentially the equivalent of playing through half of another tournament. It is taxing and tiring. The fact that I remained focused for as long as I did has no doubt some relationship to the fact that I played against strong players all day. If you get sloppy, it can all come crashing down. You can also probably tell how tightly I was playing based upon my recall. The more vividly I remember the match, the better I was probably playing.

I see no reason to not continue to play Grim Long. Grim Long is exceedingly difficult. Its success is proportionate to the skill of the pilot. It is hard to hate out, since it will always be a very small fraction of the Vintage metagame, and for that reason it will always be good. The trick is to constantly stay ahead of the curve. My technology of this event was my Force of Will surprise sideboard, and my rack of Chain of Vapors. As the metagame continues to change, more technology will be required.

So, aim to excel with Grim Long — learn the deck, and learn how to play it, and you’ll have a great shot at lots of Vintage prizes. It isn’t just me making Top 8 with this deck. Two other players made Top 8 on Saturday, and many were in contention. They decided to play this deck of their own accord. I’m sure they have no regrets.

Best of Luck,

Stephen