So Many Insane Plays – The Fastest Deck in Vintage: Waterbury Day 2

Although the Waterbury is one of the biggest and most prestigious events of the American Vintage calendar, the Day 2 portion of the event is not taken as seriously as the first. It’s not as large, and the first day steals most of the thunder and attention.

It’s rare that I have an opportunity to play Vintage just for fun, with nothing at stake (no new deck to test, no deck to prove, etc). If I had a good Day 1 performance, it would be easy to just play something fun on Day 2. If I did poorly, I might be tempted to try something new or compelled to test some tweak to my Day 1 deck as a way of satisfying my curiosity about the viability (and as a way to hopefully prove the validity) of my Day 1 choice. Fortunately, things went well, and I was free to play a deck I hadn’t playing in a tournament in three years: Grim Long!

I made Top 8 three times at StarCityGames.com Power Nine events with Grim Long in 2005 and 2006, including the breakout tournament for Portal, which had just become legal in Vintage in time for SCG Chicago in the fall of 2005. Last June, I wrote that Grim Long could actually have survived the restriction of Brainstorm, and suggested a possible list.

Part of the motivation for playing Grim Long at the Waterbury was the assumption that the Northeast is a sea of Mana Drains. I figure that if I can face Tezzeret decks all day I should have little trouble crushing them just as I used to beat Mana Drain decks back in 2005 and 2006 (when Drain decks were much faster). Grim Long seemed like a great choice in the Mana Drain field. But more than that, it just sounded like a ton of fun.

It’s one of — if not the — fastest viable deck in Vintage. Its turn 1 goldfish rate is around 20%, even with Brainstorm restricted, on account of the high density of Draw7s and explosive mana acceleration. I believe it’s even faster than Belcher. Grim Long led on turn one with a Draw7 almost as frequently as it led with Brainstorm, and it played a Duress or Xantid Swarm most often on turn 1. The essential Grim Long game plan was turn 1 Duress or Draw7, then turn 2 Draw7/other broken card, and turn 3 Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will, until something resolved.

However, as I prepared for the Waterbury in the week leading up to the event, I decided that I didn’t want to play the list I threw together last summer. Instead, I dug up my old Grim Long lists from 2006. For example, I wanted to take full advantage of Xantid Swarm, which meant I’d rather run Elvish Spirit Guide than Simian Spirit Guide. But Brainstorm was still restricted, and I’d have to find cards to replace them. Ponder was an auto-include, but what beyond that? I agreed with my decision last summer to run 4 Grim Tutor.

Essentially, the game plan for winning most directly involves tutoring up Yawgmoth’s Will. This is accomplished with Grim Long’s unrestricted cards by using Grim Tutors and Dark Rituals. Here’s how it works:

10 Storm:

1 Dark Ritual
2 Grim Tutor for Black Lotus
3 Black Lotus
4 Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will
5 (Cabal/non-Cabal) Ritual
6 Yawg Will
7 Black Lotus
8 Dark Ritual
9 X Ritual
10 Tendrils of Agony

This pattern is actually most powerful if you run Fetchlands, since the 2nd Ritual for your 5th storm can be Cabal Ritual with threshold and give you even more mana if you are able to break fetchlands and/or two other spells first. In any case, the basic idea is that with two Grim Tutors you can pair them together to find Black Lotus and Yawgmoth’s Will. Since Grim Tutor and the Rituals are almost the only unrestricted cards left in the deck (aside from Duress, which is always played on a different turn), this gives you the most consistent path to 10 storm and a lethal Tendrils.

Empty the Warrens seemed weaker in this metagame. It might have been amazing back in 2006, but I didn’t want to play it today. But I still needed to find one other card to include. Based on the diagram above, I included the third Cabal Ritual. In retrospect, I wish I had played a Thoughtseize instead. I think the deck needs that bare minimum 30 business spells.

Just in case someone brings it up, yes, Burning Wish is a good card to run, in theory. The problem is it eats up too much vital sideboard space in this metagame. At a minimum, you’d want a Warrens, a Tendrils, a Balance, and a bounce/removal spell. With the need to address Ichorid, Workshops, and have Xantid Swarms, there just isn’t room.

Here is what I ended up playing:

The sideboard is intuitive. I ran the Leylines for Ichorid, the bounce suite and Islands for Workshops, and the Swarms for control decks.

Paul Mastriano and I played a few tune-up games the night before, and the deck was about as fast I remembered! I had a pair of turn one kills in a half dozen games, and was beating him on TPS 5-1 before he called it a night. We arrived at the tournament site, and about 50 or so players showed up for Day 2.

Round One: Dave (?) playing Grow

My opponent’s nervous energy morphs into annoyance as I find my seat. As I soon discovered, he tried to build the deck I was playing the day before, and probably suspected that this was a mirror match. I told him to relax, and that I was just here to have a good time.

My opening hand:

City of Brass
Vampiric Tutor
Brainstorm
Duress
Dark Ritual
Grim Tutor
Regrowth

I was pretty excited that he had to mulligan to 5.

I’ll admit debating how to open this game, but ultimately decided to lead with turn 1 Duress. Here is what I saw:

Force of Will
Ancestral Recall
Gush
Sleight of Hand (?)
Polluted Delta

I cross-referenced his hand with my hand and tried to map out the right play. My turn 2 play was probably going to be Brainstorm, which could open up a whole world of new options. The fall back plan was to tutor up my own Ancestral and then Regrowth it. I took Force of Will to deny him the ability to immediately stop whatever it is I wanted to do. As I sit here writing this recap, this seems like the wrong choice. If I take Ancestral, I should have little trouble overpowering his mulligan to 5 hand, even though it has Force of Will and Gush.

On his turn, he played Polluted Delta and broke it for, oddly enough, Tropical Island, and cast Ancestral Recall, drew three cards, and passed the turn.

Turn 2:

I drew Dark Ritual on the turn, joined by visions of going nuts this turn. Old memories flooded my skull.

I tapped my City and cast Brainstorm. I didn’t think very deeply about this play. The alternative was to hold up mana to play Vampiric Tutor. Brainstorm is the play that serves your early game development the most. Even if I were to wait to Vamp for Ancestral, if it were countered, it would be at least two more turns before I’d be able to Regrowth it. I was not surprised to draw:

Gemstone Mine,
Chain of Vapor, and
Grim Tutor

I wasn’t sure where I wanted to take this hand just yet. I began working through the puzzle but I was lost in the maze of possibilities. I knew that I wanted to use one of my Grim Tutors to find Black Lotus. But from there, I wasn’t sure what to do. I recognized the chance that he could have drawn another Force, and so I figured that the second tutor and the Regrowth seemed like backup plans in case he countered me out of the gate. I put back Chain of Vapor. Chain wasn’t going to be very useful in this match, particularly since I didn’t draw any Moxen to generate storm and mana. Regrowth seemed like the slowest of the backup plans, so I put it on top too.

My hand now looking like this:

Gemstone Mine
Grim Tutor
Grim Tutor
Dark Ritual
Vampiric Tutor
Dark Ritual

And like a Rorschach blot or one of those Magic Eye posters, a new hand popped out at me:

Gemstone Mine
Dark Ritual
Grim Tutor
Dark Ritual
Grim Tutor
Vampiric Tutor

And then I realized that my Vampiric Tutor could have been Regrowth. The play is:

Gemstone Mine into…
Dark Ritual (Storm 1)
Dark Ritual (Storm 2)

BBBBB floating

Grim Tutor for Black Lotus (Storm 3)
Black Lotus (Storm 4)
Sacrifice Black Lotus for GGG

BBGGG floating

Regrowth Black Lotus (Storm 5)
GBB floating
Replay Black Lotus (Storm 6)
Sacrifice it for BBB to play Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will (Storm 7)
Play Yawgmoth’s Will (Storm 8)

No mana floating.

Replay Black Lotus. (Storm 9) Sacrifice it for BBB.
Replay the Rituals (Storm 10 and 11).
Seven black mana floating.
Play Grim Tutor for Tendrils of Agony to win the game.

In short, I was so focused on Regrowth as a way to recur Ancestral Recall, that I forgot that it can also function to generate a mana with Black Lotus.

As it stood, I decided to Grim Tutor now for a Black Lotus to save myself a mana next turn. Unfortunately, my opponent double Duressed me on his next turn, stripping both tutors. I prayed for a topdeck, but saw all mana. In the next couple of draws I drew Cabal Ritual, Land, Dark Ritual, and a Duress before he cast Yawgmoth’s Will and I scooped.

Game 2:

I sideboarded in Xantid Swarms for Windfall, Cabal Ritual #3, and Chain of Vapor. I quickly pile shuffled, and when I was through my opponent was still agonizing over his sideboard. I thought about the Chain of Vapor, and swapped the Windfall back in. He started to shuffle his deck, and I thought about it once more, and put Chain of Vapor back in, tucking Windfall into my sideboard.

I fanned open my hand and was stung to see Chain of Vapor instead of Windfall, which I could have played on turn 1 with a Mox Sapphire, Dark Ritual, and a land. The rest of my hand was Vampiric Tutor, Grim Tutor, Duress and another land. Instead, I was forced to lead with Duress, and felt a whole new level of irritation when I saw:

Mox Sapphire
Mox Jet
Duress
Ancestral Recall
Disrupt
Sleight of Hand
Thoughtseize

The best antidote to hand like this is a draw7 effect. The problem was that in spite of its apparent fragility, there is no choke point. Taking Mox Sapphire could cut him off of Ancestral Recall, Disrupt, and Sleight of Hand, but he can still attack me with multiple Duresses. I’ve learned through brutal experience to take the business spell over the mana source in situations where there is a choice between the main arterial mana source or a broken restricted card. Taking a Duress is out of the question, since he has two. Taking Mox Jet is equally silly since he’ll likely draw into a black mana source. That narrowed it down to Ancestral Recall or Mox Sapphire. Mox Sapphire allows him to play Disrupt and Duress on his first turn. I felt like I had no choice but to take Mox Sapphire, which is what I did.

Of course, he drew Polluted Delta as soon as I passed the turn. He Duressed my Grim Tutor, and Ancestral Recalled himself.

On my upkeep I had to decide what to Vamp for. If I got Necropotence and he countered it, he would also be taking my Dark Ritual. If I got something else, the I would still have Dark Ritual in hand to use later on. I decided on the latter plan, and tutored up Xantid Swarm. It resolved!

On his turn he played Dark Confidant.

This was the opening I needed to draw some business spells. However, I drew two Dark Rituals and a land consecutively. He played a Dryad, and it grew to three on turn three when he played Sleight of Hand and Duress (taking a Ritual).

I was attacking with Swarm every turn, but couldn’t topdeck anything to take advantage of it. The turn I drew Mystical Tutor, he Chained my Swarm in my attack step. I replayed the Swarm, but he Forced it. I played Mystical Tutor for Mind’s Desire, which resolved, but he double Duressed me on the next turn, stripping out my Rituals.

I tapped all of my mana and played Desire, revealing Ponder. I Pondered and that was the end of the game.

This match was fascinating, but illustrated the sheer number of critical decisions that need to be made when piloting Grim Long, decisions that I fumbled over. The decisions like what to Duress away, what to tutor for, and what to Brainstorm back on top of the library were critical in this match. Had I kept Regrowth rather than putting it on top of my library in game 1, I could have killed him on turn two (he had no Force). Had I Vamped for Necro instead of Swarm, I probably would have won game 2. There was a lot of rust, but there were a lot of tough choices too.

Round Two: Arik Progibinsky

Arik and I faced on Day 1, and this was our rematch. He knew what I was playing, and I figured he was playing the same thing he played on Day 1.

Game 1:

We both mulliganed to 6. My hand had at least two lands and a Duress and a Grim Tutor in it. It was pretty slow.

I led with turn 1 Duress and saw:

Force of Will
Mystical Tutor
Mox Ruby
Mox Pearl
Flooded Strand
Tropical Island

I struggled here, too. If I take Force of Will, then I can be assured that my spells will resolve for the next couple of turns. He’ll be able to Mystical Tutor for something, but won’t be able to play that something until turn 3. If I take Mystical Tutor, there is a better than 50% chance that he’ll be unable to Force of Will me on turn 2. I took Force of Will, and prayed that my Ponder turned up a hot spell next turn.

Arik played out his Moxen and a land. He broke Flooded Strand for Underground Sea and cast Demonic Tutor! He then passed the turn.

I untapped and played Ponder, but saw only garbage. My hand was full of lands and cards I couldn’t immediately use. But I felt that I had time. I shuffled my library, and drew nothing of note. I played a second land and cast Xantid Swarm.

It didn’t matter, however. Arik had apparently tutored for Tinker, a very greedy play against Grim Long. He cast Tinker for Inkwell Leviathan and then played a land.

I untapped, played another land, and struggled to do something of value. On his endstep, he Mystical Tutored for Time Walk to nearly kill me. At that point, I was cut off from playing the Tutors in my hand, and all I could do was scoop.

I knew he would bring in Trinisphere, so I brought in a land and a Hurkyl’s Recall for the 2 Cabal Rituals. I also brought in a second Xantid Swarm for something I don’t recall.

Game 2:

The circumstances of the early game were this: I was constrained to two lands and a Mox Jet in my attempt to resolve a Necropotence. I played Vampiric, resolved to get a Duress/Swarm to try and clear the way for my Necropotence the following turn. However, when I played Vampiric Tutor, I got a read that he didn’t have a Force. My gut said that he didn’t have a Force. I tried to get more information. I said: “You’re a bad bluffer,” and nothing more. He blinked and said “what?” At this point, I was certain he was bluffing. I Vamped for Black Lotus instead of Duress. I untapped and cast Necropotence. I was stunned when he met it with Force of Will, pitching Rebuild. Arik brilliantly tricked me into thinking he didn’t have a Force.

From there, I never made it back into the game. I Duressed him and saw a bunch of business spells and countermagic. He resolved a Tezzeret and plopped a Trinisphere into play. Rather than build up his Tezzeret again, he sacrificed it to find Voltaic Key. Soon he assembled the Time Vault combo and I scooped.

My second match felt like a repeat of the first: bad decisions with Duress and poor tutoring. Ray had set up a small side event for players who had dropped from the main event. I decided to give Grim Long one more spin around the block, and signed up for the side event.

The side event had 21 players sign up. In order to squeeze the format into single elimination mode, there was a play-in round where most of the players received byes, including myself.

Quarter Finals: Kyle with Elves!

I met Kyle earlier in the day, and I knew he was playing Elves. I couldn’t have been happier. This is my goldfish round I figured. Rather than a relaxing, confidence boosting blowout, this was a tense sprint to the finish.

I kept a mid-speed hand with Duress. I led with Duress and saw:

Skullclamp
Wirewood Symbiote
Wirewood Symbiote
Nettle Sentinel
Taiga
Grapeshot
Birchlore Ranger

I entertained the idea of taking Grapeshot, but couldn’t pass up Skullclamp.

Kyle led with turn 1 Taiga, Birchlore Ranger.

Turn 2:

I played Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, land, Ancestral Recall. However, it drew me garbage: like a land, Duress, and a Grim Tutor. Far from the explosive acceleration I was hoping for.

Kyle played Nettle Sentinel, then used the Ranger and the Sentinel to empty his hand and Grapeshot me for 9 that turn.

He had me dead on board next turn.

I untapped and considered my situation. I went for a desperation draw7 with Black mana floating, but only drew relevant blue spells. He untapped and overran me with Elves.

I couldn’t believe it! Even through my Duress, he managed to outrace my deck! Was Grim Long just outdated? I wondered…

Game 2:

I kept a slightly better hand this time, and Duressed him on turn one to see this:

Summoner’s Pact
Forest
Quirion Ranger
Birchlore. Ranger
Nettle Sentinel
Heritage Druid
Glimpse of Nature

This hand was worse than the game one hand! He had a likely turn two Goldfish with that hand. I took Glimpse, knowing that I still had to win quickly.

He played Birchlore Ranger and passed the turn.

I untapped and cast Grim Tutor, setting up a turn three Tinker for Memory Jar with Black Lotus in play.

He played all of his creatures on turn two. To facilitate this, he played a Summoner’s Pact for, I think, another Nettle Sentinel.

I untapped, Tinkered for Memory Jar, and broke it with UUBG1 floating. I had removed an Elvish Spirit Guide and used a Dark Ritual to have that combination of mana. With it, I could play virtually anything in my deck.

I drew:

Elvish Spirit Guide
Sol Ring
Vampiric Tutor
Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual
Mox Pearl
And a land.

What could I do?

I played the Spirit Guide, Sol Ring, and Vampiric Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will and passed the turn.

Kyle paid for Pact on his upkeep, but drew another. He used it to tutor up Regal Force, but then changed his mind. Unfortunately for him, he could only generate 7 mana to play Regal Force. Kyle was one mana short of being able to kill me!

I untapped, drew Will, and killed him.

Whew, that was close!

Game 3:

This game was pretty insane.

Kyle led again with a turn 1 Elf. However, on his second turn, Kyle was able to dump a bunch of men on the table and grapeshot me to 10 life.

I had Mox, Mana Crypt, a land in play, and Gemstone Mine and Yawgmoth’s Bargain in hand. I untapped and won the Mana Crypt die roll. I drew a Dark Ritual, which allowed me to play turn two Yawgmoth’s Bargain with a black mana floating.

I drew two Rituals and Ancestral Recall in the first three draws. I then drew further down to 4 life, seeing nothing of note on the way down.

Here was the question:

Should I play my land and cast Ancestral Recall or draw more cards off of Yawgmoth’s Bargain, saving my Blue mana source? Predictably, I made the wrong decision again. I did some quick math about remaining outs in my deck, and most of them were black. I drew one more card, and it was Imperial Seal! I played the Rituals and cast Imperial Seal, going to 1 life. I played my land and cast Ancestral Recall, drawing Tendrils of Agony, and winning the game.

I was very lucky to make the wrong decision there and still emerge victorious! Had I just played Ancestral, I would have been able to cast Imperial Seal and draw the Tendrils with Imperial Seal. I did make the right decision to draw down to 4 life, knowing that that was the critical threshold with all of my Grim Tutors. My Mana Crypt roll had to succeed there as well, for me to win this game. By the skin of my teeth I defeated Elves.

I have to say, Elves is a lot faster, more consistent in the face of disruption in Vintage than I was giving it credit for…

Hopefully my next match would be easier.

Top 8: Joe Davis with the mirror!

Joe was playing the fetchland version of the same deck, from what I could tell.

I rolled a 2, and he rolled a 1. I elected to play!

My opening hand was this:

Lion’s Eye Diamond
Mox Sapphire
Mox Ruby
Mox Jet
Windfall
Grim Tutor
Grim Tutor

How insane! Ah, good ole Lion’s Eye Diamond. This was the first game I drew her.

The plays here are obvious. If my Windfall is countered, then I am very close to being able to play a Grim Tutor. And a single Grim Tutor here resolving is going to go lethal. If I topdeck a Ritual or a land on turn two, I can play Grim Tutor for Black Lotus, and then Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will, and respond by breaking Lion’s Eye Diamond to play it. Also, almost every single card in my deck is playable with this combination of Moxen.

I play Windfall, but it resolves! I see by his graveyard that he is also playing combo.

I drew:
Black Lotus,
Tolarian Academy
Wheel of Fortune
And irrelevant junk

I played Black Lotus and Tolarian Academy. I tapped Academy for five blue, and sacrificed Black Lotus for three red mana. I cast Wheel of Fortune, and broke Lion’s Eye Diamond in response, with UUUUUBBB floating.

Wheel of Fortune drew me Demonic Tutor, which was all I needed to win the game.

Turn 1 kill!

Game 2:

I sideboarded in Tormod’s Crypt for Xantid Swarm.

Joe led with this play:

Turn 1:
Polluted Delta into Underground Sea, Imperial Seal.

Well, fine I thought, he probably has a turn two kill. I’d just have to win first!

My opening hand was this:

Underground Sea
Dark Ritual
Mana Crypt
Time Walk
Duress
Grim Tutor
Mind’s Desire

Take a look at this hand for a moment… What lines of play pop out?

I was thinking about my options when I drew Mox Pearl for my turn, which focused and clarified my thoughts. One line of play became obvious. I ran the math, and it worked. I ran it one more time, just to double check, and it still worked.

What math? Watch:

I played Underground Sea, Mox Pearl, and cast Dark Ritual. With a black mana floating, I played Grim Tutor for Black Lotus. I played Mana Crypt and Black Lotus and cast Mind’s Desire for 6 storm!

Despite having utmost confidence in Grim Long Desire flips, I was a little bit nervous when the first three Desire flips were:

City of Brass
City of Brass
Tolarian Academy

I was more relieved to see:

Brainstorm
Cabal Ritual
And finally Tinker

I Tinkered away the Mana Crypt for Memory Jar.

I broke the Jar and saw Yawgmoth’s Bargain, which I didn’t even need to play on account of the Demonic Tutor I drew as well. I played Cabal Ritual with Threshold and cast Demonic Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will to win the game.

Poor Joe. He only had one turn that entire match!

Top 4: Lewis Gentile with Oath

I had no idea what my opponent was playing.

I fanned open:

Mox Sapphire
Ponder
Grim Tutor
Grim Tutor
Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual
Vampiric Tutor

And decided to keep it. If I were on the play, this could turn into a turn one kill, but more likely a powerful turn two victory. The biggest danger is if my opponent Duresses my Mox.

He won the die roll and played turn one, Polluted Delta into Underground Sea, Thoughtseize, taking my Mox Sapphire.

I drew Yawgmoth’s Will on my first turn, and passed the turn back.

On his second turn, Louis played a second land and passed the turn back.

My nerves were a bit tight when I peeled Mox Jet!

I played Mox Jet, questioningly, and was a little surprised when Louis let it resolve.

I played Dark Ritual, to play Grim Tutor, which resolved. I tutored up City of Brass, the most stable, versatile land in my deck. I chose City since it would allow me to play Swarm or Wheel of Fortune if I drew either of them.

I played Ponder and passed the turn. Louis played a third land and passed the turn.

I played Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, which I was surprised to see him Negate. I wish I had led with Duress. I played Duress and saw:

Oath of Druids
Forbidden Orchard
Hellkite Overlord
And Island

I took Oath of Druids. I was peeved that he topdecked another. He played Oath of Druids.

I drew a card that was not a land, and had to pass the turn.

He Oathed through a bunch of cards before he flipped over Inkwell Leviathan. Unfortunately, he drew a Wasteland, which he played on my City of Brass. Shucks!

I untapped and drew another five color land.

He Oathed again, but there were no creatures left in his deck, he just shuffled his graveyard into his library with Blessing trigger. He attacked me for 7 with Leviathan sending me to 8. I was more disappointed when he Thoughtseized my Yawgmoth’s Will.

I drew an Elvish Spirit Guide and played Tinker for Memory Jar. I passed the turn. He attacked me to 1 and passed the turn.

I broke Jar and fanned open a new hand. I Duressed him and was very disappointed to see two Force of Wills. I took one, but he was able to easily counter my attempt to Regrowth my Yawgmoth’s Will. I untapped and he killed me.

I sideboarded in a pair of Islands and a bounce spell.

Game 2:

This game was long and very involved. My opening hand was Necropotence, Grim Tutors, Imperial Seal and a limited amount of mana. It was playable.

Being on the play, I decided to lead with Imperial Seal to fire off a turn one Necropotence. If he had Force, I’d just have to throw something else out there. If it stuck, I’d win.

I led with turn 1 Gemstone Mine, Imperial Seal.

He played turn 1 Underground Sea.:

I fired off Necropotence off of a Dark Ritual and he played Force of Will. My Gemstone Mine had one countered left on it. I was disappointed, but undeterred.

He played a Thoughtseize and took Grim Tutor, leaving me with another in hand.

I drew Island, and played it to cast Mana Vault.

He played a third land and cast Demonic Tutor, getting what I suspected was Oath of Druids, and passed the turn.

I asked him if he found another Thoughtseize, intimating that he better had…. Silently, he passed the turn.

I had Island, Mana Vault, and Gemstone Mine with a counter on it. If I topdecked a Ritual, I should be able to win the game. I would then be able to Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will.

Guess what?

I snapped Cabal Ritual off the top of my library.

However, in my upkeep, Louis reaches across the table and physically taps my Mana Vault. I ask him what the heck he is doing, and he claims that my Mana Vault was tapped. Rather than make a big deal about it, I simply ask: on what? He looks around play area and realizes his error.

I tap Mana Vault and Gemstone Mine, killing it (as if on cue), to play Cabal Ritual and cast Grim Tutor to find Yawgmoth’s Will. Grim Tutor resolved. My life fell to 15.

I replayed Gemstone Mine to play Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual (without threshold), Imperial Seal (for Black Lotus), and then Necropotence. My life fell to 13. I felt that exchanging two life to put Black Lotus on top of my library seemed like a great deal, and probably (without putting much thought into it) the best card I could play post-Necro.

All of this resolved. I ended up replaying my entire graveyard except for the two Grim Tutors still there.

But how much life should give up? How many cards would I need? I thought about and thought some more. I only had 13 life. I wouldn’t be able to Yawgmoth’s Will, so I’ll need to go explosive next turn, or be able to play a Tendrils. I decided to go hog wild.

I marked off 9 life, going to 4 life. I set aside 9 cards and moved to my endstep to see:

Mystical Tutor,
Island,
Underground Sea,
Windfall,
Ancestral Recall,
Black Lotus (surprise, surprise),
Mana Crypt,
Duress,
And the venerable Time Walk

Which of these nine cards should I keep? Put another way, which two cards should I chuck? We can assume that my opponent just tutored up Oath of Druids. If so, what’s our plan?

Black Lotus, Mana Crypt, Underground Sea, Duress, Mystical Tutor, and Ancestral Recall all seemed like cards I’d want to keep. Time Walk seemed superfluous. Windfall seemed almost worthless too. And the second Island was probably unnecessary. But I had to pitch two of them.

I pitched Windfall and a basic Island.

Predictably, he untapped and played Oath of Druids off of a Forbidden Orchard, leaving two cards left in his hand, and quickly passed the turn back.

On my draw step, my opponent tried to send me to 3 life, when I told him that Mana Vault deals damage during the draw step. Necropotence, as you’ll recall, is in play.

Now I had to think about what to do! So Many Insane Plays!

What would you do? Your opponent has seen one new card.

Here is the dilemma:

I can Duress him and see what it is. But if I do, I’ll be one mana short from being able to play Mystical Tutor for Mind’s Desire, Ancestral Recall into Desire, and actually cast Desire. Between Lotus + Mana Crypt + Island + Gemstone Mine + Underground Sea = 8 mana. If I were to play Duress, I’d be a mana short.

Arg! The way this day had gone, I just couldn’t go about my business only to lose to a topdecked counterspell. What’s more, although he played Demonic Tutor the turn I resolved Necropotence and Yawgmoth’s Will, he could have had been holding a Negate.

Finally, I decided to Duress him. The risk was too great. Even if the Duress whiffed, I figured that there were still good odds that I could take this hand somewhere with Ancestral.

I tapped Underground Sea and cast Duress, seeing double Forbidden Orchard.

My heart sank. Play on though!

I played Black Lotus and cracked it for UUU.

I cast Mystical Tutor, with the intent of getting Mind’s Desire. My thought was that I only needed to draw one mana source off of Ancestral. It could be anything. It could be Elvish Spirit Guide or a Mox Pearl. Anything.

However, I realized that if I had sacrificed the Lotus for BBB, I could just get Tendrils. I thought about other options, then finally got Mind’s Desire.

I played Ancestral and drew…

Mind’s Desire…

Memory Jar…

And Timetwister…

Ugh. Great cards all, but not what I needed. Here I am, stuck on five mana.

I quickly regret not just getting Tendrils! It would have given me plenty of life to try to win again the following turn.

My window victory seems to be closing, but I remind myself that my cards are broken. All is far from lost!

With one Blue floating, I play Mana Crypt, and cast Time Walk. I debate whether to play Underground Sea, and decide to play it. I then tapped Island and Underground Sea and cast Timetwister.

I drew:

Dark Ritual
Brainstorm
Grim Tutor
Grim Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Forbidden Orchard
Mox Ruby

Ouch! I cringe. Okay, okay, I think. I can still win this, but my deck is making me play like an all-star. I can Grim Tutor for Tendrils assuming I win the Mana Crypt flip on my Time Walk turn.

I indicate that I’m moving to my next turn.

I untap my permanents and roll for Mana Crypt… … … … safe!

Whew! At this point, a small crowd is gathering. Paul Mastriano just completed the last round of the Day 2 main event, finishing at 4-3, coming over to watch this match wrap up.

To reiterate:

My board was: Necropotence, Island, Underground Sea, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault (tapped), and Gemstone Mine.

I played Orchard and immediately regretted it. The Orchard actually will prevent him from Oathing, but that’s not a reason to play a land just yet.

I tapped Underground Sea to play Dark Ritual and cast Grim Tutor. If it resolves, I’ll quickly find Tendrils and gain a bunch of life.

He is quick to counter it with Negate, tapping himself out (he tapped Orchard and a land to play Oath, and had two Seas untapped, which he played on turn’s one and two).

At this point, I’m not sure what to do.

My options have narrowed. I have Island, Orchard, Gemstone Mine, Mox Ruby, and Mana Crypt available. But my outs are fewer. I can play Grim Tutor, but for what?

I think about it, and decide to just Brainstorm and hail Mary.

The mother Magdalene heard my prayers.

I Brainstormed and in disbelief saw:

Sol Ring
Black Lotus
Something irrelevant.

I tapped Mox Ruby and played Sol Ring.

I tapped Gemstone Mine and Orchard and cast Grim Tutor for Tinker, going to one life. Tinker was my very last out.

I sacrificed Black Lotus for UUU and sacrificed Mana Crypt to play Tinker, summoning up Memory Jar, with UU floating.

Like the boy Aladdin making his third and final wish, only to discover that there were no more wishes left, I broke the Jar and drew:

Mind’s Desire
Tolarian Academy
Tendrils of Agony
Elvish Spirit Guide,
Duress,
Ponder,
And something irrelevant that I couldn’t play…

I cast Ponder, but it revealed nothing I could immediately use. I shuffled my library, drew off the top, to no avail.

I mana burned and died…

He wasn’t going to be able to Oath, but I had Black Lotus mana floating.

In this game I was foolishly winnowed my options until I boxed myself into the final corner. There were no outs left.

I win a draft set and head back onto the road.

By now, you can see a dozen places in this game alone where I could have played differently, and had a very different outcome.

Closing Thoughts

I learned and re-learned much about Grim Long in these tournaments. Despite my mediocre performance, I had a fantastic time. Grim Long is an endlessly entertaining deck to pilot. It’s broken; it’s fast; it’s a colorful assortment of Vintage’s best spells. Knowing exactly what to Duress out and exactly what to tutor for where among the biggest repeated mistakes I made. But even seemingly minor decisions like knowing when or, more importantly, when not to play a land can be decisive.

Although I only beat Elves in the mirror, the three matches I lost were very winnable, as the game logs attest. I do believe Grim Long is viable, but some tweaks are definitely warranted. First of all, this deck needs 30 business spells. Replacing a Brainstorm with Cabal Ritual was an error. That spot should probably be a Thoughtseize. I also think that this deck would benefit greatly by creating a functional 4c Fetchland mana base, but I am far from confidant in knowing how to do it. In the meantime, here is the deck I would recommend going forward:

Grim Long was challenging to play, but exhilarating. I hope to play it again, to better results, in the near future.

Until next time…

Stephen Menendian