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So Many Insane Plays – A 2008 Vintage Championship Report, Part 1 *Top 16*

Read Stephen Menendian every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, August 5th – At last weekend’s U.S. Nationals, 2007 Vintage World Champion Stephen Menendian attempted to repeat his victory of last year. Unfortunately for Stephen, he fell at the final hurdle… but he answered a variety of questions on the metagame along the way. Today’s So Many Insane Plays is part 1 of an epic-length tournament report… enjoy!

This year, the Vintage Championship was a part of the grand celebration of Magic’s 15th birthday, held at U.S. Nationals. Holding the Vintage Champs at U.S. Nationals rather than GenCon may have hurt attendance a bit, but it offered an opportunity to turn eyes onto the format that may not have normally been paying attention.

When most Magic players see top Vintage competition in action and really get a sense of what’s going on, it’s hard to turn away. Anyone who loves Magic is sure to find Vintage fascinating because of the breadth of card interactions and depth of the card pool, once they overcome many of the misconceptions people hold about the format (“isn’t it all turn 1 kills?!”).

This report is going to be enormous, not just because of all of the amazing tournament action (I have three tournament reports over a 7 day period to report, play-by-play), but also because of all of the other interesting tidbits and minutia I have to report. However, for those of you who aren’t interested in my play-by-play tournament experience and the process of refining and tweaking Pitch Long, I am going to do a quick run-down of the key moments of the weekend.

1) What I Played

I played The Perfect Storm (very close to Pitch Long). My article last week shows an earlier version of the deck. Here is what I ended up playing:


A discussion of the tweaks and changes I made from tournament to tournament will be included in this tournament report.

2) How I did

I had only one match loss going into the last round of the swiss, fighting for a Top 8 slot. Normally, in that position, I would just draw into Top 8. Unfortunately, there were too many X-1s since the tournament was just under the cusp of 8 rounds.

Even worse, I was paired against one of my best friends and a college buddy, a guy that basically brought me back into Magic in 2001 (I wouldn’t be writing this article, let alone playing Vintage, if not for him), Paul Mastriano. If you look into my article archive far enough, you’ll see that the very first two articles I wrote for this site, a primer on Mask and GroAtog written in 2002 and 2003, were co-written by Paul. I wasn’t confident that people would find my articles interesting, so I asked Paul to co-write those pieces with me. Paul is also the creator of Type 4 (as we know it), a format we developed in college together. Paul and I go way back.

After reviewing the swiss standings and pairings, we realized that a draw would risk neither one of us making it in (although I had a chance at slipping in at 8th place). Paul I and I were 8th and 9th in the swiss standings, and in the middle of the 15 point pack. There were three people at 13 points and my opponent match win percentage was better than all of those, but Paul’s were not. In any case, those stats could change after this round.

We had to play it out. The good news was that at least one of us was going to make it, and we were both playing the same deck.

After an epic set of 3 games that was concluded in the five additional turns that followed the 60 minute round, Paul finally got me. I knew after Paul beat me that he was going to be an unstoppable force, but I don’t think he quite realized it yet.

3) Paul Won!

Paul won the 2008 Vintage Championship with Pitch Long. Yes, Mr. Type 4 is now the 2008 Vintage Champ. Another Meandecker takes it down. Even though I couldn’t repeat this year, I couldn’t be happier that Paul won.

4) Strategic Planning

Our team made a significant advance to Control Slaver this weekend. Our Meandeck Slaver list ended up constituting half of the top 4 at Vintage Worlds.

Here’s what happened.

On the drive to Chicago, Brian DeMars, awakening from a deep thought, turned to me and asked if this card would have a profound impact in Vintage:

1U
Sorcery
Draw 2 Cards

I have a small Magic collection of Vintage playables that fit into one short box, two binders, and two deck boxes. I packed my collection for some car ride reorganization. When I arrived at the hotel room, I finished moving some cards around and I stumbled across Strategic Planning. Brian was testing some Control Slaver matches against a roommate and I suggested that Brian try a Strategic Planning. What made me think of it was his question several hours earlier.

Brian hadn’t seen the card before. Brian stuffed it in his deck for Sensei’s Divining Top, which he scoffed at, shuffled up, and incredibly enough drew Strategic Planning in the first game, playing it on turn 1. Brian’s reaction had me rolling. Strategic Planning was incredible. In game after game, Strategic Planning proved more and more ridiculous, finding key outs, putting large robots in graveyards, finding that needed land or just building up a massive Yawgmoth’s Will. Pretty soon, Brian was saying that all he ever wants to do is just draw Strategic Planning.

When Portal became legal in Vintage in 2005, I made sure to acquire a bunch of cards I thought might be Vintage playable, including Strategic Planning. Although it crossed my radar every once in a while when I was riffling through my small collection, there was never a time where I seriously entertained it in one of my decks. Now that Brainstorm and Merchant Scroll are restricted (along with Ponder), Strategic Planning is actually the best turn 1 play with an unrestricted card in Control Slaver. It’s just insanely synergistic.

After some more testing, Brian decided he wanted to play 2 in the Prelim tournament the next day. I let him borrow mine, and by the end of the day, Brian had decided he wanted to run 4. He got some Strategic Plannings off some dealers.

By the end of the weekend, my $15 Strategic Plannings had matured in value to $100, according to some of the local dealers thanks to Brian.

The Meandeck Slaver is actually the most potent Control Slaver deck ever constructed. The tournament results prove that. Brian DeMars is a Vintage visionary.

5) According to Richard Garfield, Time Vault was Intended to Work with Twiddle

I had the opportunity to talk with Richard Garfield this past weekend. A month ago, I wrote an article asking that the Rules Team finally remove power errata from Time Vault and restore its original ruled functionality. A few years ago, I wrote an article with Rich Shay calling on Wizards to remove power errata. Aaron Forsythe agreed, and the result was Flash. However, in the article announcing the removal of power errata, here is what they say about Time Vault:

Time Vault — The big one. Our current wording makes some assumptions about printed intent, that’s for sure. The printed text is slightly ambiguous about how untapping Time Vault is supposed to work. The key question we asked ourselves was, “When this card was made, was the intent that it be incredibly easy to skirt the drawback?” We went with “No.” Does that make the card feel weak? Yes, but we feel that initial intent is captured, regardless of how people have been playing the card for the past several years.

Unfortunately, they are wrong. When I asked Forsythe about it at the Magic Invitational last year, Forsythe said that they asked Garfield, but that he couldn’t remember.

I wanted to verify that. Richard Garfield said, unequivocally, that Time Vault was intended to both store turns to untap it, but also work with cards like Twiddle. Here is exactly what he said: “Alpha was designed with as many combinatorial possibilities as they could include.” (Specifically refuting the notion that design intent behind Time Vault was that its drawback couldn’t be skirted easily).

I followed up by saying: “So, Time Vault was supposed work with Twiddle?” I wanted to be crystal clear. Answer: “Yes.” This actually led Mr. Garfield onto an interesting tangent about modern game design (and systems theory principles!) that I’d be happy to share in the forums if readers are interested.

In the forums to my recent article on Time Vault, many players felt that Time Vault should never untap unless you skip a turn. They argued that it was a “store of turns.” The obvious rebuttal is that Mana Vault is also a store of mana, but that is not the only way you can untap it. However, we now know the truth. Those forum responders are wrong.

I told him that I speculated that perhaps they anticipated the Twiddle + Time Vault interaction, but perhaps not the Animate Artifact + Instill Energy combo that eventually got Time Vault banned, and he said that they probably anticipated that combo as well. In his view, power level was not a concern, for many reasons. It was not thought that people would ever actually have access to all of the cards, and when the DCI was first instituted, the thought was that power level was best policed by banning or restricting rather than anything else.

I told Erik Lauer, of Wizards R&D, about my discussion with Richard Garfield, and he thought it was obvious that Time Vault was intended to work with Twiddle. I told him that in Aaron’s article they made the opposite conclusion about design intent, and a puzzled look fell over Erik’s face.

6) Magic’s 15th Anniversary!

Wow! Can it be 15 years already? I hope the next 15 are as awesome and interesting as the first 15. To celebrate, Rich Hagon hosted a sweet quiz show, Wizards made a thousand birthday cupcakes, and high-value prizes were given out all weekend. And to top it off, Kenji was there!

7) Large Type 4 Game Ever

We played a 10 man Type 4 game at 2am Saturday night, which Patrick Chapin won at 6am! I was the first man murdered. I had Obliterated the board to get rid of Patrick’s Legacy Weapon, Reito Lantern, and an assortment of other annoyances, such as a Bosh and Grinning Totem. Patrick returned the favor by attacking me with three Crush of Wurms tokens.

Several hours later, Patrick eventually won the game by copying Inferno to wipe the remaining players out of the game.

Preparing for the Vintage Championship

My story begins where my article last week left off. After deciding to play Pitch Long, I had to figure out which way to go with the decklist: more aggressively or more controlling. The questions I posed last week were the right questions, but I wasn’t sure I had the right answers.

I had scheduled a small local tournament on Sunday, July 27 to help us prepare for the Vintage championship. Sixteen players showed up. Here is what I played:

Pitch Long
Stephen Menendian

3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Timetwister
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Windfall
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Memory Jar
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Necropotence
4 Duress
2 Grim Tutor
1 Tendrils of Agony

Sideboard:
1 Bayou
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Dark Confidant
4 Yixlid Jailer
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Xantid Swarm

I decided to take the list in a slightly more aggressive direction, using Lion’s Eye Diamond to increase the frequency of turn 1 kills and Windfall to do the same. The results were mixed. Here is my brief tournament report and then analysis.

Round 1: David Earley

David posted his tournament report here. His report is 99% accurate.

He won the die roll and elected to go first.

My opening hand was:

Mox Jet
Mana Crypt
Dark Ritual
Vampiric Tutor
Duress
Duress
Tendrils of Agony

It was a risky hand to keep, especially if he has a Duress. But I want to see what happens.

David opens the game with: Bloodstained Mire into Underground Sea, Duress.

He looks at my hand and contemplates his options. He eventually settles on the Vampiric Tutor. Afterward, we debate the merits of this play. If he had taken the Mox Jet, there is only a 20% chance that I’ll draw a Black mana source on the next draw. Depending on how aggressive his hand is, I think that taking Mox Jet is probably the right play.

Of course, I topdeck a Swamp. I play Swamp, Duress, seeing:

Tendrils of Agony
Yawgmoth’s Will
Sol Ring
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby

This isn’t a difficult decision. I take Yawgmoth’s Will.

David topdecks Brainstorm and plays it. He plays another land, Dark Ritual, Mox, Sol Ring, Tendrils of Agony for 10 life, sending me to 10.

On my second turn, I draw Hurkyl’s Recall, which I cannot use or play.

On his third turn, he draws a Bloodstained Mire and plays it.

At this point, I draw Polluted Delta into Underground Sea. I consider playing a miniature Tendrils here. I can play Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, Duress (nothing), Hurkyl’s both my Mox and my Mana Crypt and cast Tendrils for 14 damage. I decide against it.

David draws a card he had put back, and passes the turn. I draw Force of Will. At that point, I won’t be able to play either Hurkyl’s Recall and a mini-Tendrils because I’ll need it to pitch to Force of Will.

David draws dead for one more turn and passes.

I topdeck another Delta into Sea and pass back.

At this point David sees a fresh face. He goes for Yawgmoth’s Bargain, which I Force of Will.

I untap and decide to play a very tiny Tendrils with my remaining resources. I cast Mana Crypt, Tendrils for 4 life, sending me to 11.

David draws dead. I untap and draw Cabal Ritual. Mana Crypt sends me to 8.

David draws Tinker and plays it for Darksteel Colossus.

I draw Yawgmoth’s Bargain. Mana Crypt sends me to 5.

I play Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Yawgmoth’s Bargain and draw three cards. The last one down is Demonic Tutor, which I play for Yawgmoth’s Will and handily win the game.

Game 2:

I sideboard in 1 Tormod’s Crypt.

My opening hand is:

Force of Will
Force of Will
Time Walk
Tinker
Underground Sea
Polluted Delta
Polluted Delta

David mulligans to 5.

He opens with Tormod’s Crypt, go!

This game is over very quickly.

I topdeck Mana Crypt, which allows me to play turn 1 Tinker. Normally, I might go for Darksteel Colossus, and that would probably be the correct play, except I don’t because I think I sideboarded him out for Tormod’s Crypt. How insane would it have been with Time Walk!

Lesson learned.

Instead, I put a Jar on the table and pass.

David draws a land and plays it.

On my second turn, I play a land and cast Time Walk. On my upkeep, I Mystical Tutor for Ancestral Recall. I play it and draw three cards. I play another land and cast Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and cast Yawgmoth’s Bargain!

David plays Force of Will pitching Merchant Scroll. I Force of Will backup, pitching Force. I pass the turn.

David does nothing relevant and I actually draw up about 10 cards, play Academy and a half dozen artifacts, and cast a monstrous Mind’s Desire for about 10. That gets me enough spells that I can just Tendrils him despite his Tormod’s Crypt.

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2: Olwen Wee, playing Goblins

This match is a total blow out. I got annihilated.

Olwen wins the die roll.

I open:

Force of Will
Misdirection
Underground Sea
Underground Sea
Polluted Delta
Mox Ruby
Black Lotus

This is a questionable hand, at best, and I foolishly keep it.

Olwen opens with turn 1 Goblin Lackey, which I Force of Will, pitching Misdirection.

I draw a land and play a Delta into Island.

Olwen plays turn 2 Mox, land, Goblin Warchief and attacks me to 17.

I Duress him and see Earwig Squad, Duress, Wasteland, and other annoyances.

Olwen attacks me with Warchief and then plays Earwig Squad, which would Jester’s Cap me, except that I concede instead.

Game 2:

I sideboard in Tarmogoyfs and more land. Unfortunately, I open with a one land hand that can play turn 1 Tinker with Mox and Lotus Petal.

I go for it. I play Tinker for Jar and pass the turn.

Olwen Wastelands my Sea and plays Mox Jet. I draw for the turn and pass, with Jar in play. Olwen plays Extirpate on my Underground Seas.

Olwen plays a Mountain and Goblin Lackey.

I decide to break the Jar and draw no lands. I am forced to discard everything relevant.

I never see another land and soon am locked out by a horde of Goblins.

1-1 (2-2)

Round 3: Yuri playing MUD

Yuri wins the die roll and elects to play first.

My opening hand:

Island
Ancestral Recall
Tinker
Imperial Seal
Dark Ritual, and two other cards I can’t recall.

Yuri opens with Mox Sapphire, Wasteland, Thorn of Amethyst.

This game is somewhat comical. Yuri can’t draw another mana source for several turns, giving me time to out maneuver him. He eventually gets down a Mana Vault, but when he goes to play Metalworker, I Force of Will it. I eventually Hurkyl’s him and then Duress him, seeing:

Metalworker
Mana Vault
Thorn of Amethyst
Staff of Domination
Staff of Domination
Sphere of Resistance
Smokestack
Smokestack
Mox Sapphire
Crucible of Worlds

I cast Dark Ritual, Necropotence.

Yuri replays the Sphere. I get down enough mana that I can play threshed Cabal Ritual to fuel Yawgmoth’s Will and Hurkyl’s Recall on him again. I then win.

Game 2:

I sideboard in my Bayou, 1 Hurkyl’s Recall, four Goyfs, and 2 Dark Confidants for 4 Duresses, 1 Grim Tutor, and other junk.

My opening hand is:

Polluted Delta
Imperial Seal
Tarmogoyf
Force of Will
Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual, and something I can’t remember.

Yuri opens with:

Mishra’s Workshop, Thorn of Amethyst

I topdeck a Polluted Delta, and play it.

Yuri plays another Thorn of Amethyst on his second turn.

Imagine my amusement when I play turn 2 Island, and break the Delta for Bayou and cast Tarmogoyf.

Yuri is holding a third Thorn. The Goyf goes all the way.

(2-1) (4-2)

Round 4: Fish!

This match was a pitched battle. I did not inscribe my opening hands after the match, so I am working from memory here.

I was happy to win the die roll. My opponent had 7 points to my 6. He only needed a draw to make Top 4. I needed a win.

I had plenty of mana in my opening hand, but only one land. I had Dark Ritual, Mox Jet, and a Black Lotus. I wanted to lead with Black Lotus, perhaps to bait.

I played Black Lotus, and my opponent played Force of Will pitching a Stifle.

I played Polluted Delta and broke it for Island, immediately so that I could avoid getting Stifled. I played Mox Jet and passed the turn.

My opponent opened as follows:

Strip Mine your Island.
Black Lotus
Mox Sapphire
Sacrifice Black Lotus for WWW
Icatian Javelineers
Savannah Lion
Meddling Mage

I untapped, drew dead, and passed the turn.

My opponent played and Island and Null Rod shortly thereafter, swinging for 4 damage a turn.

I was dead within a few brief turns.

My opponent emptied his entire hand on turn 1.

Game 2:

This game was far more interactive.

My opponent opened the game with two successive Meddling Mages.

I managed to get a Tarmogoyf down on turn 2, after Meddling Mage on Tendrils and Chain of Vapor had already entered play. Then, just as I was setting up a huge Desire, my opponent played a third Meddling Mage, this time naming Tarmogoyf.

I played a Mind’s Desire for 8, which revealed mostly mana and two Tarmogoyfs.

Nonetheless, I was able to continue to attack with my Goyf because my opponent didn’t want to lose one of his Mages.

I managed to dig up Dark Confidants, which helped as well. Eventually, my opponent had to block a Bob. At that point, I was able to play the final Tarmogoyf in my hand and eventually win the game.

Game 3:

This game was over before it began because we started turn 1 and time was called. My opponent actually Time Walked, as well, so I never got a third turn.

Draw.

Final record: 2-1-1 (6-2-1)

Lessons Learned:

1) Our Mana Base was Poop

Although the Green splash was quite good, it cannot come at the expense of not having four basic lands. Paul got blown out even worse than I did for not having four basics. At this point, I am forced to reckon with the reality that we must cut Tolarian Academy for a basic Island, an ironic and uncomfortable switch.

2) Tarmogoyf is Good

I was sideboarding in Tarmogoyf in almost every match I played. It is a large creature, and the absolute best card you can play when someone plays Thorn of Amethyst against you.

3) Lion’s Eye Diamond was good, but probably not good enough

The fundamental problem is that it doesn’t help the matches that matter. The hardest matchups are the “hater” matches where people play Null Rods, Chalices, and Spheres. LED is a great card, but a stable manabase is more important.

4) Windfall is Not Good

I pushed the deck in the wrong direction. I tried to make it faster, but I realized that this really isn’t Pitch Long anymore.

It’s TPS.

Why do I say that?

Pitch Long is the ancestor to original Long.dec, Death Long, and Grim Long. Tommy played Pitch Long in the 2006 Vintage Championship finals.

Long has several markers:

1) a strong tutor engine for Will (Burning Wish, Death Wish, and multiple Grim Tutor)

2) Lion’s Eye Diamond

3) a significant turn 1 win percentage

Although this deck has (1) by default (although not as many as Pitch Long lists in the past), it lacks (2) and (3). This deck actually has a very low turn one win percentage, well under 10%. Long decks are at least 25% on the goldfish.

Pitch Long is brutally fast and only used pitch magic as disruption (over Duresses and Swarm).

TK’s reinvention of Pitch Long is actually a souped up TPS.

That realization actually guides a number of deck choices.

I went back into the Vintage annals and looked at old TPS lists from back in 2004 and 2005, during the height of the Trinisphere era, and they looked very similar to what Tommy had put together, with 4 basic lands, both 4 Duress and 4 Force, and two Tendrils.

My early assumption that this metagame most closely resembles the Gifts metagame, but with Gifts excised out of it, may have been mistaken.

What if this metagame actually most resembles this one, outlined here and here?

The recognition that this is actually TPS, not Pitch Long, led me to make some very different decisions that informed my next iteration of the decklist, which I played at the Vintage Prelim tournament.

Vintage Preliminary Tournament, August 1, 2008

Here is what I played:

The Perfect Storm
Stephen Menendian

3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual

1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister
1 Mind’s Desire

1 Memory Jar

4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
2 Grim Tutor

1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Necropotence

1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Darksteel Colossus

Sideboard:
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Massacre
4 Dark Confidant
4 Yixlid Jailer
2 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Phyrexian Negator

Although Goyf was amazing, I couldn’t figure out how to include it and keep 4 basic lands. Thus, it was cut.

Round 1: Steve playing Control Slaver

Game 1:

I mulligan a weak hand into a solid hand of six.

I won the roll and got a turn 1 Dark Ritual, Necro to stick. I Necro away 11 cards.

Steve opens with Mox Sapphire and Seat of Synod.

I Duress Steve and see:

Demonic Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Gifts Ungiven
Thoughtseize
Mana Drain
Sol Ring

I take his Drain and go off. I play some Rituals, tutor up Black Lotus, cast Yawgmoth’s Will and it’s all over.

I brought in four Dark Confidants for some junk.

Game 2:

Steve begins, again, with Seat of Synod.

I play Mox Jet, Duress, seeing:

Pyrostatic Pillar
Sol Ring
Mana Drain
Mana Drain
Tolarian Academy
Island

I think I took a Drain.

I play Underground Sea, Mox Emerald, Dark Confidant.

Steve plays Tolarian Academy and taps his Seat to play Sol Ring.

I untap and Bob reveals a Dark Ritual.

I play Ponder, and Steve Mana Drains it. I realize that he’ll have enough mana to actually play Mindslaver next turn. Since I’m going Bob route, he probably thinks my hand is slow and he’ll get a Slaver activation in, probably winning the game. He’s wrong.

I play Dark Ritual, Necropotence. I Necro a fistful of cards into my hand and pass the turn.

Steve untaps and actually casts Platinum Angel. It’s irrelevant.

I untap, Duress him, seeing that he now has a Force of Will, and take it. I tutor up a Chain of Vapor, generate a ton of mana and cast Yawgmoth’s Will and win the game.

Round 2: Three-Color Control

Game 1:

My opponent opened with Mox Pearl, Underground Sea, Dark Confidant.

I played Sea, Duress, seeing:

Sensei’s Divining Top
Gorilla Shaman
Polluted Delta
Polluted Delta

I took the Top.

My opponent revealed Force of Will and played Shaman.

I decided to go for it anyway, since it was unlikely he had another Blue spell.

I played Brainstorm, putting back Gifts and Jar. I played Mox Jet, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Mox Emerald, Sol Ring, and Yawgmoth’s Bargain with one black floating. I drew to 10 life and Imperial Sealed for Yawgmoth’s Will to win the game.

Game 2:

My opponent opened game 2 with turn 0 Leyline of the Void.

Unfortunately, I had to mulligan to 4. Even though he had turn 2 Dark Confidant and turn 3 morphed Exalted Angel, I somehow managed to climb back into the game with Jar, Twister, and even Gifts. It was mostly desperation plays, however, and I lost soon enough.

Game 3:

This was more of a blowout. My opening hand was:

Black Lotus
Mox Sapphire
Mana Vault
Brainstorm
Force of Will
Force of Will
Grim Tutor

I Brainstormed and saw Dark Ritual, Polluted Delta, and something irrelevant. I ran the math and couldn’t win on turn 1 without Force of Will. Lotus and Ritual would give me five mana, but the Vault would only add up to 7, enough to Grim Tutor for/and Will with one floating, but not enough to Grim Tutor Tendrils unless I used the Fetchland, which would mean I’d have to have a Force shuffle away.

So I put back the irrelevant card and a Grim Tutor and played Delta. I figure that if I play the fetch now it will give me another land next turn within Will as well.

My opponent plays a land.

I untap, draw Grim Tutor. I break the Fetchland for Underground Sea. I play Mana Vault, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual. BBBBB3 floating. Storm is 3.

I cast Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will and play it. Storm is 5. BB floating.

I replay the Lotus and the Ritual. Storm is 7. BBBB BBBB floating. I replay the Fetchland and break it for another Sea.

I play Brainstorm for storm. Then I Grim Tutor and Tendrils for 20 damage.

He didn’t have a Force anyway, even though I had Force of Will backup.

Next week I will report the rest of the prelim tournament and the main event.

Finally, I recorded a play-by-play of the finals match! Most importantly, you want to be here to read the battle between myself and Paul in the last round of the main event.

Don’t miss it!

Until next time…

Stephen Menendian