November
Sweden 11/06/04 (48 Players)
1) Stax
2) 7/10
3) Stax
4) Stax
5) U/R Fish
6) TPS
7) Tog
8) Stax
Eau Claire, WI 11/12/04 (40 Players)
1) Oath
2) Oath
3) Bazaar Madness
4) Workshop Aggro
5) Workshop Aggro
6) Workshop Combo
7) Oath
8) Workshop Aggro
Karlsruhe, 11/13/04 (35 Players)
1) 4cControl
2) Control Slaver
3) Goblins
4) Oath
5) Workshop Aggro
6) UBControl
7) LongDeath
8) RGw Aggro
Eindhoven, 11/28/04 (32 Players)
1) The Tinker Deck
2) The Tinker Deck
3) 4cControl
4) Oath
5) Stax
6) Oath
7) Workshop Aggro
8) Oath
Mol, 11/04 (31 Players)
1) The Tinker Deck
2) Oath
3) Bazaar Madness
4) TPS
5) Control Slaver
6) Green LD
7) TPS
8) URW Fish
Hadley, 11/13/04 (35 Players)
1) Cerebral Assassin
2) Stax
3) Tog
4) 3cPhid
5) Control Slaver
6) 4cControl
7) Mono-U Belcher
8) Oath Salvagers
Moers 11/21/04 (32 Players)
1) Affinity
2) The Tinker Deck
3) LongDeath
4) MUD
5) Affinity
6) Combo Oath
7) Stax
8) TPS
UK Champs 10/15/04 (48 Players) *
1) Food Chain Goblins
2) Tendrils
3) Stax
4) Tog
5) Mono-Blue
6) Mono-Blue
7) 4cControl
8) Suicide Black
Looking at this last Top 8, one would wonder “How does TPS lose to Food Chain Goblins? I have the first-hand account of the TPS player below.
“Hi, I’m Barry Horwood the guy that lost to FCG playing TPS in the finals. I’ll try and sort of explain how and try to keep the rambling to a minimum by telling what I remember which isn’t much.
Yes, I inged up on the Necropotence, wow that was simple. Now here’s the background.
…
Final – FCG – Ian Garret
So here we are after all this time and we’re all completely bushed. I think there’s two points I’d like to make. One, FCG is 100% easier to play at this time in the morning than TPS, it has far fewer decisions to make, not that this is an excuse its just part of it. Second and a sort of more personal rant is Judging, I’ll say this now to get it out of the way I’m not in the least bit bitter about the loss of the game due to procedural error, I made as many in that game than I did in the entire tournament. but when all the judges are hanging round the last game and are looking for any misdemeanor it becomes a three player game, If an agreement can be arranged between players, when an infraction is made then a judge should never need be involved. Rant over.
Right, I never thought the Necro was a Yawgmoth’s Bargain, because of the late hour I was adding up how many cards I was going to Necro for and didn’t realize I was drawing them one at a time. I was focusing on the life count and was adding up Ian’s next attack damage which I think would have been 5 so I decided to Necro to 9 but then I realized my calculations mean I could sit pretty on 8, but as I fully know now, the extra cards besides the BEB lost me the game, though they had zero effect on the board situation, an underground sea and a polluted delta if I recall.
Anyway Ian is deserved champion, I just wish we could settle this some other time because in my mind it was left 1-1.”
First off, Barry was a very good sportsman for being so accepting of the decision. By not being bitter about his loss, it speaks volumes about our Vintage community. Secondly, I want to mention that this was at the very end of a tournament where mistakes are more likely to happen. We should all strive to play perfectly even under severe cases of duress and mental fatigue, but the fact remains that we are all human thusly prone to the human condition.
That said it looks to be a nicely rounded environment. Suicide Black made its mark, which is a rarity. When I see a fluke like this, I wonder what the field looks like. Thankfully for Luke Twigger, I am able to accurately see a snapshot of the field as it was that day.
UK Champs 10/15/04 (48 Players)
4 Mono U
3 U/R Fish
3 Food Chain Goblins
3 Suicide Black/ Nether Void
3 Ravager Affinity
3 Red Deck Wins/ Goblins/ Sligh
2 Hulk Smash
2 4cControl
2 Mono Red Burn
2 Belcher
1 U/W Control
1 U/W/R Control
1 Army of Squirrels
1 Stacker
1 TNT
1 TriniStax
1 Budget Dragon
1 Storm Tendrils
1 Death Long
1 WTF
1 Oath
1 Stasis
1 Reanimator
1 Discard
1 B/R/W Jank
2 Rogue Mono G
1 Rogue Mono R
Here, I count:
3 Workshop Decks, a boat-load of aggressive decks (about 15, it’s hard to tell for sure, so we’ll leave semantics and exacts out of this), considerably less control decks (about 10), and 5 combo decks. The Suicide deck didn’t run Null Rod, but it ran Skullclamp instead. I have no idea how it made Top 8 without a report. It had strong creature removal in the sideboard, so my guess is that it beat Mono-Blue and aggro all day until it ran into the brick wall that is TriniStax.
Archetype | Finish | # | Percentage |
Oath | (1,2,7,4,4,6,8,2,8,6) | 10 | 15.63% |
Stax | (1,3,4,8,5,2,7,7) | 8 | 12.50% |
Tendrils | (6,7,4,7,2,3,8) | 7 | 10.94% |
Workshop Aggro | (4,5,8,5,7) | 5 | 7.81% |
4cControl | (1,3,6,2) | 4 | 6.25% |
The Tinker Deck | (1,2,1,2) | 4 | 6.25% |
Tog | (7,3,6) | 3 | 4.69% |
Control Slaver | (2,5,5) | 3 | 4.69% |
Affinity | (1,5) | 2 | 3.13% |
Madness | (3,3) | 2 | 3.13% |
Goblins | (3,1) | 2 | 3.13% |
Random Control | (6,4) | 2 | 3.13% |
Random Aggro | (8,6) | 2 | 3.13% |
Mono Blue | (4,5) | 2 | 3.13% |
U/R Fish | (5,8) | 2 | 3.13% |
Workshop Combo | 6 | 1 | 1.56% |
Cerebral Assassin | 1 | 1 | 1.56% |
Mono-U Belcher | 7 | 1 | 1.56% |
7/10 Split | 2 | 1 | 1.56% |
Suicide Black | 8 | 1 | 1.56% |
MUD | 4 | 1 | 1.56% |
(21 Archetypes over 8 tournaments)
How the mighty have fallen
Here is how 4cControl has performed since I started keeping track:
4cControl (10, 5, 5, 5, 4)
It’s been dying off, but slowly. With the increase of importance on the first few turns, 4cControl has yet to prove it can keep up and this is evidenced by its decline in the Top 8 appearances. If our format full of Mishra’s Workshops, Dark Rituals, and Trinispheres gives us an overall fundamental turn of 1 or 1.5 and 4cControl is to remain as a fundamental turn 2 deck, this is the result we can expect. The only surprise here is that it’s not dropping off the map as fast as I’d expect.
Control Slaver (5, 3, 4, 1, 3)
Control Slaver suffers from many of the same downfalls as 4cControl. The major differences here are that it packs Tinker (Platinum Angel) and with the extra acceleration, basic lands, and redundancy, it’s a more consistent turn 2 deck.
How the mighty have… been mighty?
Stax (3, 7, 2, 9, 8)
The numbers here remain impressive. While the numbers are a little lower than last month, they are still high enough to retain its dominant reverence.
Tendrils (1, 5, 1, 4, 7)
Tendrils has few variants which fluctuate in popularity. We don’t count Belcher in this archetype, though I’m thinking maybe we should. It’s the Dark Ritual people care about, not the win condition.
How the mighty became mighty
Workshop Aggro (0, 1, 2, 2, 5)
Workshop aggro (mostly known as Stacker, TnT, or 5/3) has been on a steady rise. It’s been making waves in the over-50 range as well. There is much to be said of the attraction of landing a turn 1 Trinisphere, ending the game in 4 turns with a Juggernaut, and spending the remaining time of the round playing Type 4.
Oath! (0, 0, 0, 1, 10)
Well there you have it, hot of the heels of SCG: Richmond where Team Meandeck put 4 Oath in the Top 8, this deck has had a lot of appeal. It’s not only this month’s most popular Mana Drain deck, but the most successful deck over all.
How the mighty were born
This month the Dutch put four “The Tinker Deck” into my stats for the month, hot off the drawing board. We all knew Kl0wn, a.k.a. Bryce Reynolds was working to break Transmute Artifact as Tinkers 2-5, but the Dutch are showing the results.
Marco Kiewit, The Tinker Deck (First place, Mol – 11/04)
2 Mountain
3 Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra’s Workshop
2 Flooded Strand
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Gilded Lotus
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Memory Jar
1 Triskelion
1 Mindslaver
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Fire / Ice
4 Su-Chi
4 Transmute Artifact
4 Goblin Welder
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
Sideboard:
1 Rack and Ruin
2 Uba Mask
3 Trinisphere
2 Ashnod’s Altar
1 Jester’s Cap
1 Memnarch
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Old man of the Sea
I’m excited to see how this archetype proves itself in the future. Transmute Artifact is one of those cards we always look at to break, but the deck just never presents itself. Basically, it runs of the already broken speed of Workshop and runs a silver bullet type deck by getting expensive artifact bombs into play via Transmute Artifact or Tinker. For example, transmuting a Su-Chi for a Sundering Titan would be paid for in full with a colorless mana still remaining.
//Bonus Section
The Canadian Excuse – REVEALED!
The Canadian metagame has gone largely without posting results, which has left DrSylvan and I without any real feel for how to dissect the great north country. This became especially difficult when trying to discuss metagame issues and comparisons with them because it was as if they played a totally different game than those of us in the North East U.S. and Europe. For the results of this tournament, there were close to 60 people actually.
401 Games, Toronto (60 players)
1) Stax
2) Control Slaver
3) Tog
4) Stax
5) Oath
6) Oath
7) Suicide Black
8) UG Madness
Most of the decklists can be found here:
http://www.401games.ca/features/type1nov212004.html
The Tog list and the Slaver list were withheld. It sort of puzzles me as to why since they sort of stick to their own pod up there and those players have already seen the super-secretness that is the hidden decklists. Either way, it gives us a fair view into the crazy Canadian insanely wacky metagame… which isn’t at all crazy.
Somehow Suicide made the Top 8, but the same thing happened in the UK Champs. It’ll happen every so often, but there’s only so long that Suicide can go before it gets wrecked by Suicide hate, which I’ll reveal in a moment. Outside of that little oddity, that Top 8 looks pretty damned standard to me. So why is there a rift between the players of the great north and the U.S. players?
Throughout the forum discussions, especially those regarding the banned/restricted list and what decks are “good”, it seems that discussion participants have fallen on “things are different in Canada”. Based on this tournament, I’m going to cry foul!
//End Bonus Section
132 Island
25 Mountain
23 Swamp
15 Forest
0 Plains
55 Black Lotus
55 Mox Ruby
55 Mox Sapphire
54 Ancestral Recall
52 Mox Jet
52 Mox Pearl
50 Mox Emerald
50 Time Walk
47 Sol Ring
44 Strip Mine
39 Tinker
38 Mana Crypt
35 Tolarian Academy
29 Demonic Tutor
27 Mana Vault
27 Memory Jar
25 Mystical Tutor
25 Vampiric Tutor
23 Yawgmoth’s Will
16 Timetwister
15 Library of Alexandria
14 Lotus Petal
13 Fact or Fiction
10 Balance
10 Mox Diamond
9 Wheel of Fortune
8 Gush
8 Necropotence
8 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
7 Windfall
6 Chrome Mox
6 Grim Monolith
5 Lion’s Eye Diamond
5 Mind Twist
5 Time Spiral
4 Frantic Search
3 Crop Rotation
3 Regrowth
2 Burning Wish
2 Copy Artifact
1 Dream Halls
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Fastbond
140 Force of Will
137 Wasteland
126 Brainstorm
97 Goblin Welder
94 Volcanic Island
89 Trinisphere
88 Mishra’s Workshop
87 Mana Drain
86 Thirst for Knowledge
85 Polluted Delta
73 Flooded Strand
67 Chalice of the Void
62 Crucible of Worlds
59 Red Elemental Blast
58 Duress
55 Underground Sea
53 Accumulated Knowledge
53 Rack and Ruin
49 City of Brass
48 Energy Flux
47 Tangle Wire
46 Mana Leak
45 Forbidden Orchard
44 Blue Elemental Blast
40 Intuition
40 Oath of Druids
40 Smokestack
37 Fire / Ice
36 Dark Ritual
36 Triskelion
35 Swords to Plowshares
33 Gemstone Mine
31 Cunning Wish
30 Tormod’s Crypt
30 Tropical Island
26 Sundering Titan
26 Tundra
25 Impulse
24 Ancient Tomb
22 Blood Moon
22 Misdirection
21 Deep Analysis
21 Ground Seal
21 Shivan Reef
20 Back to Basics
20 Darksteel Colossus
20 Juggernaut
20 Stifle
19 Ray of Revelation
18 Platinum Angel
17 Artifact Mutation
17 Counterspell
17 Su-Chi
16 Duplicant
16 Tendrils of Agony
16 Transmute Artifact
15 Hurkyl’s Recall
15 Powder Keg
15 Pyroblast
15 Seal of Cleansing
14 Naturalize
14 Null Rod
14 Pyrite Spellbomb
13 Control Magic
13 Gaea’s Blessing
13 Jester’s Cap
13 Old Man of the Sea
12 Bazaar of Baghdad
12 Chain of Vapor
12 Gilded Lotus
12 Oxidize
12 Rebuild
12 Skeletal Scrying
11 Arcane Laboratory
11 Hydroblast
11 Ophidian
11 Skullclamp
11 Taiga
11 Wooded Foothills
10 Bloodstained Mire
10 Diabolic Edict
10 Disenchant
10 Gorilla Shaman
10 Grim Lavamancer
10 Karn, Silver Golem
10 Mindslaver
10 Morphling
10 Sphere of Resistance
10 Waterfront Bouncer
10 Xantid Swarm
9 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
9 Eon Hub
8 Arcbound Ravager
8 Arcbound Worker
8 Basking Rootwalla
8 Claws of Gix
8 Cloud of Faeries
8 Death Wish
8 Echoing Truth
8 Elvish Spirit Guide
8 Goblin Lackey
8 Goblin Piledriver
8 Intruder Alarm
8 Mishra’s Factory
8 Psychatog
8 Solemn Simulacrum
8 Squee, Goblin Nabob
8 Standstill
8 Viashino Heretic
8 Wild Mongrel
7 Annul
7 Coffin Purge
7 Curiosity
7 Metalworker
7 Mind’s Desire
7 Pristine Angel
7 Propaganda
6 Cabal Therapy
6 Circular Logic
6 Engineered Plague
6 Eternal Witness
6 Exalted Angel
6 Goblin Vandal
6 Lightning Bolt
6 Maze of Ith
6 Treetop Village
6 Troll Ascetic
5 Careful Study
5 Darksteel Citadel
5 Glimmervoid
5 In the Eye of Chaos
5 Lava Dart
5 Meditate
5 Memnarch
5 Plagiarize
5 Pyroclasm
4 Academy Rector
4 Animate Dead
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Barbarian Ring
4 Carnophage
4 Chain Lightning
4 Damping Matrix
4 Decree of Justice
4 Food Chain
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Ice Storm
4 Incinerate
4 Kird Ape
4 Lodestone Myr
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Pentavus
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Plateau
4 Price of Progress
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 River Boa
4 Sarcomancy
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Temporal Cascade
4 Thermokarst
4 Trinket Mage
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wonder
3 Ankh of Mishra
3 Auriok Salvagers
3 Berserk
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Culling Scales
3 Cursed Scroll
3 Diminishing Returns
3 Elvish Lyrist
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Extract
3 Fiery Temper
3 Flametongue Kavu
3 Future Sight
3 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Iridescent Angel
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Meddling Mage
3 Nevinyrral’s Disk
3 Razormane Masticore
3 Rishadan Port
3 Roar of the Wurm
3 Rushing River
3 Seal of Removal
3 Skirk Prospector
3 Spirit of the Night
3 Staff of Domination
3 Terravore
3 Time Vault
3 Well of Knowledge
3 Winter’s Grasp
2 Ancestor’s Chosen
2 Anger
2 Ashnod’s Altar
2 Brain Freeze
2 Daze
2 Defense Grid
2 Demonic Consultation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Faerie Conclave
2 Fireblast
2 Firebolt
2 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Cadets
2 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Goblin Matron
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Hidden Gibbons
2 Hull Breach
2 Mana Severance
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Mind’s Eye
2 Mogg Salvage
2 Myr Moonvessel
2 Orim’s Chant
2 Rancor
2 Reckless Charge
2 Riftstone Portal
2 Sacred Ground
2 Savannah
2 Skittering Skirge
2 Stroke of Genius
2 Tsabo’s Web
2 Uba Mask
2 Underworld Dreams
2 Violent Eruption
2 Winter Orb
2 Woodripper
2 Æther Spellbomb
1 Aura Fracture
1 Blasting Station
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Bosh, Iron Golem
1 City of Traitors
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Divert
1 Ebony Charm
1 Gainsay
1 Gilded Drake
1 Hundroog
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Masticore
1 Moat
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Possessed Portal
1 Pulverize
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Scroll Rack
1 Slice and Dice
1 Sliver Queen
1 Snuff Out
1 Starstorm
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Teferi’s Response
1 Underground River
1 Vendetta
1 Wail of the Nim
1 Zuran Orb
Until next time,
Steve O'Connell
A.K.A. Zherbus
Owner/Admin of TheManaDrain.com
Team Meandeck
Eater of Planets
* Yes, I realize I promised them I’d do them in November’s article since I missed them for October.