Gassy Again? That's Like 3 Tourneys in a Row!

Good thing there are Magic tournaments to report on or I might never have updated this site ever again. Even now I realize that, not only did I take terribly sparse notes, but I also left my notebook at work so I don’t even have those to work off of. Oh well, I guess.

Plus, my roommate is playing Guitar Hero III, and really all I can think about are bright colors! Cool songs! Yeah! I wanna rock and roll all night and not really write this report!

So, right, last Sunday Team Meandeck and the Soldiery decided to close out the Vintage year with a full-proxy tournament, here in lovely Columbus. The weather cooperated and we had 24 players show up to play for the cash. It was a good turnout for Columbus recently, probably because so many people were home from school or otherwise had vacation time for the holiday. Excellent as usual.

I played Belcher again, on the recommendation of Jerry Yang, who continues to proclaim its awesomeness against the current metagame. It was a fine choice, and if I’d had more practice with the sideboard I went in with, I would have done better.

Here’s the list. The maindeck is the same as I’ve been playing in tournaments, though the sideboard has some significant changes I’ll go into:

4x Goblin Charbelcher
4x Empty the Warrens
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Rite of Flame
4x Tinder Wall
4x Land Grant
4x Street Wraith
4x Goblin Welder
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyroblast
2x Living Wish
1x Channel
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Memory Jar
1x Lotus Petal
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Grim Monolith
1x Chrome Mox
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Taiga

Sideboard
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Ingot Chewer
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Storm Entity
1x Taiga
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Mishra’s Workshop
1x Bazaar of Baghdad

The only change that got made to the maindeck from my build in Chicago was to drop a Pyroblast in favor of the fourth Goblin Welder. That change seems to be correct since Welder is powerful against both blue and workshop decks and has awesome synergy with Lion’s Eye Diamond, Wheel of Fortune, and Memory Jar.

In the constant quest to give Belcher some life against Stax and 9-Sphere Workshop Aggro, the sideboard changed quite a bit. While it used to be a mishmash of artifact disruption, I decided that could be cut down to the best options, which currently happen to be Ingot Chewer and Ancient Grudge. Ingot Chewer is great because it’s cheap and unaffected by Thorn of Amethyst.

In future builds, Ancient Grudge may get cut in favor of something cheaper, like Oxidize or Shattering Spree, or something more threatening like Artifact Mutation. The benefit to Ancient Grudge is that it doesn’t take up space in the hand before you have to cast it since it works out of the graveyard and you can discard it at end of turn. We’ll see.

Tarmogoyf gets the nod as well, as a threat that doesn’t take quite as much effort to cast or protect as Warrens or Belcher. In testing so far, Goyf has proved more than admirable against Stax and Fish as it provides a fast enough clock against the generally slower decks. Plus, why would I not want to have a $300 sideboard?

Anyway, the other glaring omission to the sideboard is, no doubt, Tolarian Academy. It’s gone for a couple of reasons: First, now that there are eight pretty well set cards in the board, there’s not enough room for it. Second, there are really very few times that it’s better than or even equal to either Workshop or Tomb.

Currently there are 18 artifacts maindeck meaning there are 2.1 artifacts in every seven cards, and an average about that in every opening hand. Discounting the Charbelchers and the Memory Jar that we’d generally like to accelerate into, there are only 1.5 artifacts in an opening hand. Without more than three artifacts, Academy is generally worse than Workshop (though there is something to be said for being able to fire Belcher), and without more than two artifacts, Academy is worse than Ancient Tomb. Plus, remember that it takes two mana to even get to Academy. Basically, it’s poop.

Finally, after I arrived late and described my deck and sideboard to everyone in attendance, the tournament was ready to begin.

Round 1 – Willie Milton – Control Slaver

I don’t remember ever having played Willie in a tournament setting before, though we did play a few test games on day one in Chicago when my regularly scheduled opponent didn’t show up for our match. Though a good Magic player, he’s probably better known for being extremely tall, a feature enhanced further by the height of his hair.

This is one of two matches that I have extensive game notes on, and since I’m writing this now more than a week after the event things might be somewhat sketchy elsewhere. I apologize in advance for anything I get wrong.

I’m fairly sure he wins the roll and opens game one with land, mox, Lotus, go. I Empty the Warrens to the tune of 10 goblins through hardcast Force of Will and the race is on. Willie tries to dig with Thirst for Knowledge but it’s too late. He scoops at eight life with no answers to the teeming horde.

For games two and three I mistakenly side in Tarmogoyfs. Against a deck like Slaver, I should have remained as combo as possible and probably sided in nothing. The mistake ended up costing me games two and three as my opening-play Tarmogoyfs (Tarmogoyves?) weren’t a fast enough clock to keep Slaver from winning.

In game two, I play Tarmogoyf and try to Wheel my opponent into garbage and myself into some more gas (powering Goyf in the process). A few Goyf attacks knock Willie down to four life, but he has Pyroclasm for my second-turn Empty and is able to go broken with Yawgmoth’s Will, Ancestral Recall and Tinker for Slaver to end my chances. The Welder he gets is able to Weld my Belcher in under Slaverlock to kill me.

Game three played out similarly. I played Memory Jar with some mana floating, but the only thing that came out of it was a 5/6 Tarmogoyf—very unfortunate; I would much have preferred a Goblin Welder. Again, the little Lhurgoyf that could got down to one hit away, but on the back of four Thirst for Knowledge and Yawgmoth’s Will, my opponent found his win. I guess I should have countered one of them, eh?

So yes, errors on my part—a big one and a little one. Jerry Yang had to remind me to play like a combo deck, not like a Fish deck, and I knew not to side in Tarmogoyfs against everything.

Match 0-1-0; Game 1-2-0

Round 2 – Justin Morford – GATr

I don’t think I’ve played against Justin in a tournament before either, but I hear good things about him coming out of the Pittsburgh metagame. GAT is a tough but interesting matchup. The scariest part of the deck is the Duress effects, since I actually have more opportunities to have Red Blasts in hand than they do to have Force of Will.

My notes page on this match is blank except for the header. From what I can recall, I Emptied the Warrens once again for the win in game one.

Interesting Tidbit 1: Most wins with Belcher come off Empty the Warrens rather than Belcher, which is kind of disappointing.

Interesting Tidbit 2: I did not lose game one all day. Woot.

I sided in Ancient Grudges, expecting Pithing Needle, but it was ineffective. He had Pithing Needle first turn to lock me out of my early Belcher and was able to ride card advantage to victory. My only out towards the end was to use my Lion’s Eye Diamond and Welder to get Memory Jar from my hand into play and perhaps get rid of his needle. Unfortunately it was too late in the game to get that done, and he countered the Grim Monolith I would have Welded anyway. I’m not sure I would have been able to do anything from the position I was in, but that was a wisely spent Force of Will on his part.

Game three saw my favorite combo of Channel and Lotus in hand with Belcher, but I had to Land Grant to get there and he saw he could stop me. It also didn’t help that Justin only had to mulligan to five to find a working Force of Will. I frantically tried to rebuild as he tried to find a first land to work with, and he got there first. From there, it was GAT all the way.

In the future, Ancient Grudges will probably not come in against GAT. As Jerry pointed out, “You’re bringing in two cards to combat the two cards [Pithing Needles] they bring in. You’re the more threatening deck.” Touché.

Match 0-2-0; Game 2-4-0

All right, let’s get this train back on the tracks.

Round 3 – Josh “The Late JC” Chapple – UR Phid

I remember when Josh Chapple owned the only Forces of Will I’d ever seen and he’d play them all the time in the only really synergistic deck I’d ever seen, UG Madness. How far we’ve come, eh, Josh Chapple? Anyway, with the amount of control in Phid and the access to it via the eponymous one-eyed snake, this should be a challenging match.

Good thing I won it in two games.

I have no recollection of how that happened. I think one game I got to Weld in Belcher and win that way, but I can’t be sure. Either way, total drubbing—sent Josh Chapple to 0-6 in games on the day.

Interesting Tidbit 3: The chances of having a Welder, Lion’s Eye Diamond, a Weldable cheap artifact, and Belcher in your opening hand of seven cards is approximately 0.8%.

We played some fun games after that since we still had another forty minutes or so, and I think he won three out of four there, including playing a crippling Chalice of the Void with four counters in one game. That deck always seems so good; I can’t believe it doesn’t show up more often.

Oh, I’m pretty sure I didn’t side in Tarmogoyfs for game two. I may have not sideboarded at all.

Match – 1-2-0; Game 4-4-0

Round 4 – Francis Hart – Stax MUD

I’m pretty sure Francis came in with the Pittsburgh crew, but I’m not sure. He was a newcomer to the Soldiery in that I don’t remember having ever seen him before. This was my first and only Workshop matchup of the day and it was very encouraging, especially for the sideboard games.

In game one, on the play, I keep a seven card hand with Living Wish on the hope that my opponent isn’t playing blue. Turns out he’s not, and a 7/7 Storm Entity hits play with a couple of moxes on board as well. My opponent drops Tangle Wire, but I play around it (by which I mean I wait for enough counters to fade off) and get in the other two hits to win.

Interesting Tidbit 4: That’s the first game that Storm Entity has won me in a tournament.

Four Ingot Chewers, four Tarmogoyfs and both Ancient Grudges come in. I may have put in the extra Taiga as well, but I don’t remember for sure. With the Taiga, I think it would have been five Red Blasts, four Street Wraiths, and two Living Wishes that went out.

In game two, I have a turn one Belcher, but I have sorcery speed activation mana and he plays a Tangle Wire to cut me off of it. By the time the Wire is gone, Null Rod is in play making my board worth approximately nothing. Two Juggernauts show up a couple of turns later to do a ten-ton jig on my face.

My opening hand in game three has two Tarmogoyfs and the permanent mana to play both of them, barring Null Rod. I drop the first Goyf alongside a Welder and wait. Of course Null Rod enters. Tangle Wire comes next turn, but it’s not enough to slow me down with the permanents I have. Tarmogoyf and Ancient Tomb damage finish off my opponent in a squeaker.

As he explained the loss afterward to one of his friends, “He played Belcher; he won the die roll.”

Match – 2-2-0; Game 6-5-0

Round 5 – Jerry Yang – Mono-R Sligh

Though I built my Belcher list pretty much by myself and have learned much on my own about how to play it, I should give some thanks to my round five opponent for helping me think better about playing it. I always seem to realize the lesson one game or match too late, but still, I’m better at Belcher because of Jerry Yang.

I suppose I should also give him some thanks for playing a deck that has almost nothing to stop me.

Anyway, at 2-2, before anyone checked the standings, I thought I might have a chance to get in to the top eight by winning this match. However, that turned out to be not true as the top eight was already decided after round four. Oh well. For honor then, Jerry?

I open game one with a Belcher but no activation mana for it. Jerry tries to help his situation with a Wasteland or something, but my topdeck is Mana Vault, so I win.

Suspecting him to be playing Shop Aggro, I think I brought in the whole gamut of anti-artifact cards, like I did against Francis in the previous round. Probably in the exact same way too, except I know for sure there was no second Taiga.

I won game two off of Belcher again, but I don’t remember exactly how that came about. The answer “through Pyrostatic Pillar” comes to mind, but that’s not very telling. I just know that when I belched I had to worry about whether there was one Taiga or two left in my deck. Turns out, just one.

Match – 3-2-0; Game 8-5-0

Looking back, if I had won just one more game in either of my first two rounds, I would have been in the top eight. That seems pretty good. I was pleased.

Anyway, I bring this all up because there’s another tournament next week in Sandusky, Ohio at the newly rechristened Hero Zone.

Second Saturday Vintage Tournaments

The Hero Zone (was Gamers Lounge)
127 E. Market St.
Sandusky, OH
419-621-0282
www.theherozone.com

All tournaments are full-proxy, and everyone who enters will get a free premium or signed card or proxy just for signing up!

January 12, 2008
Registration - 12 noon
Tournament - 1 pm
Cost - $15
Prize - Full cash payout of entry fees awarded to top four
1st: 50%
2nd: 30%
3rd: 10%
4th: 10%

Seriously, these are the best tournaments. Ever. I recommend that you all come out and have fun and meet the enviable David P. Baum, who joins the ranks of the players this time since he gave up running the store. Afterwards, enjoy poopcake or punch a sandwich.

I’ll be there. You should too.

Lastly, I’m still waiting to find out for sure, but I may have the opportunity to play in the Morningtide prerelease events on Saturday or Sunday two weeks from now. If I can, would anyone like to be my partner in some Two-Headed Giant awesomeness? It might be a tough fight to beat out my girlfriend (currently ranked 26th in the Columbus area in 2HG), but I’ll ask her permission for you if you’re interested.

See you this weekend!