Coming off of my recent success at RIW, I was riding high into Sandusky, expecting a performance similar to my previous ones. My maindeck still felt perfect, and I had some new sideboard technology that I was itching to try out. Plus, I had a brand new shiny red Goblin Charbelcher Association shirt to model.
Plus, and this is more important: I’d be able to hang out with my friends and play Magic for an entire day. And then enjoy some good food with those friends afterward.
I was planning on playing Belcher, which has become my usual choice in the past three months. It’s a strong deck that forces opponents to interact on turn one or lose. Generally, it’s not as fragile as people expect, though it does have some Achilles heels—namely Spheres out of Workshops and combo decks that field lots of counterspells.
Here’s the list I ran, the same maindeck as always:
4x Goblin Charbelcher
4x Empty the Warrens
1x Memory Jar
1x Wheel of Fortune
2x Living Wish
4x Goblin Welder
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyroblast
5x Moxen
4x Tinder Wall
4x Rite of Flame
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Land Grant
1x Black Lotus
1x Lion’s Eye Diamond
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Grim Monolith
1x Chrome Mox
1x Channel
1x Taiga
4x Street Wraith
It’s a great feeling to go into a match feeling like you’re pre-sideboarded against it. And that’s why I leave the red blasts maindeck. Being able to play through a Force of Will or an Echoing Truth because you have extra mana and a red blast or a Welder is just awesome.
Also, never ever cut Channel. Ever.
Here’s the sideboard; it’s something special too:
4x Caustic Wasp
3x Jester’s Cap
2x Tarmogoyf
1x Storm Entity
1x Ingot Chewer
1x Taiga
1x Mishra’s Workshop
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Bazaar of Baghdad
Though I wonder about the utility of Bazaar since I’ve never Wished for it, the only underperformers in that sideboard right now are Tarmogoyfs. They seem slow against combo and control; they’re awkward to Wish for; and they aren’t powerful enough against Workshops. Tarmogoyf will likely not be in my sideboard for the next event.
Likely it will be replaced with more mana, which is helpful against both Stax and Combo. Probably Seething Song, though I’d like to find something better.
Caustic Wasp was immensely pleasing (as you’ll see), and I still have high hopes for Jester’s Cap as an answer to combo.
I arrived at the Hero Zone around 11:30 to find other players already there. I hung out, wrote up my deck list, and waited for others. Unfortunately we didn’t start play until almost two, but we did have 21 people by then. Pretty good!
Round 1 – Justin Morford – MUD
Justin has been kicking ass and taking names with MUD, recently, all over the Ohio and Pennsylvania region. Since his deck runs Spheres and Chalices and lots of big, scary creatures, I was not looking forward to this matchup. Still, he’s a fun opponent, so losing to him would be a pleasure nonetheless.
He won the die roll (a trend for this tournament) and opened with a couple of lands and a Chalice at zero. Unfortunately, my super gassy hand started with Lotus and a Mox. I drew a Mox for my turn and played two Goblin Welders, sometimes a trump against the Workshop archetype. I got a couple attacks in before he shut me down with Tangle Wires and began making gigantor artifact dudes. Okay, he made a Juggernaut and stuck a Sword to its head. I died in short order.
I mulled, then he mulled to start game two. The hand I threw back had the ability to cast two Tarmogoyfs on turn one, but those are weak against Workshop aggro. I wanted something better and got a first-turn version of my super-secret tech: Caustic Wasps.
Caustic Wasp – 2G
Creature – Insect
Flying
Whenever Caustic Wasps deals combat damage to a player, you may destroy target artifact that player controls.
1/1
Justin was stunned. Play stopped all around as everyone came to gaze upon the little insect that could. In fact, he did. Caustic Wasp got in for six damage and completely foiled my opponent’s ability to play his deck. Unfortunately, my deck did not take advantage of this opening and could only draw non-mana, nothing that would allow me to play the Memory Jar (or any of the other threats) in my hand and win.
Justin finally drew the mana he needed in the form of three lands, a Mox, and a Mana Crypt, and made a Triskelion to shoot my Wasps and my Welder and take control from there.
Angel was watching over our game and missed the sudden change in the game, so we replayed it for him. I had to watch my trump card get shot down twice. Aww…
Games – 0-2-0
Matches – 0-1-0
Round 2 – Josh Carney – Platinum Oath
Josh is from Sandusky and is now studying at OSU after a hitch in the Navy. He and I rode up to the last Hero Zone tournament, and he’s a good guy. As soon as he gets back into the swing of things Vintage Magic-wise, he’ll be pretty good. Today he was playing a version of Paul Kim’s Platinum Oath deck from the previous tournament.
Josh won the die roll and opened with a Brainstorm. On my turn, I made a 5/5 Storm Entity off of a Living Wish and held a Force of Ape in my hand. In another two turns I made a Belcher and attacked him down to nine after a Fetchland. I countered an Intuition on his turn, then swung again and fired Belcher for the win.
I boarded out a Goblin Welder and two Empty the Warrens and brought in three Jester’s Caps. The idea was that I could activate Cap, get all his angels, and leave him helpless while I found a win condition. Plus, Empty the Warrens can’t help but turn on Oath.
I mulliganed to six for game two, and Josh opened with a first turn Null Rod off of a Strip Mine and a Mox. Sometimes Null Rod is crippling to Belcher; sometimes it’s not. Today it was, especially since I foolishly sided out Empty the Warrens. The starter mana in my hand was Chrome Mox, and my finisher was a choice between Belcher or Jester’s Cap. Josh ran this game. After Intuitioning for AKs and for Oaths, he made a Platinum Angel. I scooped when he Duressed my Living Wish.
I sided back in the Empty the Warrens for the two Living Wishes, I think.
On turn one I Emptied the Warrens for eight tokens and never looked back. Josh did some digging for an answer, but couldn’t produce one in time. On his third turn, before my lethal attack, he Demonic Tutored for an Engineered Explosives that he wouldn’t be able to activate. He scooped.
Don’t side out Empty the Warrens, I guess.
Games – 2-3-0
Matches – 1-1-0
Round 3 – Paul Mastriano – Drain Tendrils
Paul Mastriano is just so damn proficient at playing combo decks in general, and it’s a rare case that he doesn’t take his deck to the top. I was surprised to be playing against him in the 1-1 bracket, in fact. Unfortunately, what I’ve discovered is that playing against Tendrils decks that also run Force and Duress is quite a challenge. If they stop my early play, they can usually win fairly undisrupted.
Paul won the die roll and opened with a Mana Vault off an Underground Sea. I played Mana Vault and Rite of Flame to make a Belcher with a red mana open. He Forced Belcher, but I backed it up with a Welder and would be able to win next turn if Welder went active. Paul drew a lot of cards with a Thirst for Knowledge and Scrolled for Chain of Vapor, but he lacked the mana to play it. I Welded in Belcher and won during my next main phase.
I sided out Living Wishes and a Welder for three Jester’s Caps. Generally, Living Wish for a Storm Entity would be weak against a deck with such disruption and a quick clock, so Jester’s Caps can come in as another, slightly easier to activate win condition.
Paul opened with a Mana Crypt and a Mox Sapphire into Thirst for Knowledge and Duressed my Land Grant off an Underground Sea. Land Grant was my starter mana, so things looked bad until I drew Black Lotus with the Street Wraith in my hand. Lotus led to Belcher, but I wouldn’t be able to activate it in the foreseeable future. Paul stormed to six and Mind’s Desired into garbage, giving me, somehow, another turn. Unfortunately, the mana that was supposed to be there, was not. Paul Scrolled for Gifts, Time Walked, and had plenty of resources to kill me.
Game three was similar. My mana going into Belcher was tight, and Paul countered the Mox Jet that would keep me off of it for at least a turn. It’s likely he got lucky in this case, since he could have Forced the Land Grant or the resulting Rite of Flame to really drain my early mana. Anyway, I built up for a little while. He drew some cards and Drained my Goblin Welder. Then he was able to Drain Belcher and launch a game-winning Gifts.
Games – 3-3-0
Matches – 1-2-0
Round 3 – Josh “Elfman” Weber – Doomsday Combo
Perhaps I am just not meant to beat Elfman ever. I think I’ve only played against him twice, and each time he was able to beat me in the most humiliating way possible. Whatever. Jerk.
I won the die roll! My elation did not last, however, as my beautiful hand that could play through Force of Will by dropping a follow-up Goblin Welder was immediately shot down by not one but two Force of Wills. I was left with essentially nothing, while Elfman played a land and Brainstorms, and then played Necropotence on turn two. He drew 15 cards and Doomsday’d into a Gush-fueled win.
When he Doomsday’d, I looked through his deck and saw that I could take enough cards with Jester’s Caps to make the combo not work. As such, Caps came in like they did last round against Paul.
Going first in game two, I played a Memory Jar planning to crack it with red and green mana floating. He elected not to Force even though I knew he had it, and I drew absolute trash, nothing but Red Blasts. I was forced to pass the turn. Some turns later I played an Empty the Warrens for four, which he Echoing Truthed. Then I played Jester’s Cap without the mana to activate it. He won with Doomsday in the meantime.
There’s usually a point where the deeply tragic becomes comic. That never happened in this match.
Games – 3-5-0
Matches – 1-3-0
Round 5 – Paul Kim – Slaver
Yet another Paul. There were two Pauls and four Joshes at this tournament, and I played two of each. Not important at all, but interesting, I guess. Anyway, I have never seen Mr. Kim play anything but Drain decks. I know he’s always trying to get Slaver to work, and he dabbles in Oath and Bomberman as well. He’s a good guy, and we were joking about playing for the last place spot.
In game one, Paul opened with a Black Lotus and an Island (did I mention I lost another die roll?) and Drained my opening Belcher. Then he played a Mox and Tinkered for Darksteel Colossus, thus caving my nads in on turn four.
Game two as pretty much the same thing. Only he let my Storm Entity for four through. Honestly if I’d counted things up and realized that my Storm Entity would have been so weak, I would not have gone that route. Paul Mystical Tutored for Yawgmoth’s Will, drew a bunch of cards, and Mystical’d again for Tinker. Then he killed me.
To not lose the battle for last place, Paul declared that I won. I considered that a slap in the face.
I am the more pathetic loser!
Games – 3-7-0
Matches – 1-4-0
Oh well. I guess that’s how the game is played sometimes. One time I went 1-5-0 at an RIW tournament.
Granted there were a few plays I could have made differently, but I still lost one game to drawing nothing relevant for six turns and lost another to a hand with double Force of Will. There’s really not too much I can do about that.
Going into the Memory Jar against Elfman, I could have played one more mana out, but I wanted to have two colors instead. That kept me from making a play, but the Jar was weak anyway. And Paul Mastriano could have countered better choices and really kept me off the game.
Really, it just felt like not my day.
Perhaps the next one will be better. If work gets really busy when my boss’s wife goes on maternity leave, that next one will be a side event at the $400 Soldiery Standard Open:
February 24, 2008
Registration will be 12:30 p.m., Start time will be 1 p.m.
Cash Bar
Entry is $15, full proxy
Prizes will be $120 to first, $60 to second, and $20 to third
Cash Bar
Prizes will scale upward after 15 players are entered
Parking, food, and cash bar on site
The Vault
35 East Gay St.
Columbus, OH 43215
If work does not pile up and I’m able to, I will be in Washington, DC that weekend and my next tournament will be the March Hero Zone Second Saturday Tournament.
Second Saturday Vintage Tournaments
The Hero Zone
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!
February 9, 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%
I expect to see people and blow them up at at least one of these tournaments. Have fun!
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