Emerald City

Man, tournaments are a draining experience.

I woke up at 9 this morning because I had a weird dream. I dreamed I was running a marathon, which is hilarious. My girlfriend was there, but for some reason she was ignoring me, so I was going to run this race with a guy I knew from high school, James. We started off and the pack sort of ran away from me (big surprise) and soon I was running by myself next to a very metropolitan looking park. I took a left into a museum, ran through two exhibits, and took a right through the giftshop. I was going to cut through the giftshop and hit the streets again, but when I jumped over the turnstile, they locked the door and called security on me.

I was like, “Are you kidding me!” and told them I was just running through. The giftshop matron talked to security on the phone and told me that they were, in fact, kidding me.

When they opened the door and I was about to leave, an old lady who worked at the giftshop was like, “Wait; I’ll walk out with you.”

I tried to tell her that I’m kind of busy, being in a marathon and all, but she insisted. We walked to the corner and she sat down on the sidewalk and wouldn’t stop talking to me! As soon as I could get a word in, I said, “Well, I’d better get going,” and took off again.

I was running south, or at least I was supposed to be, but I noticed the sun was on my right. This confuses me as it was supposed to be afternoon, and I suddenly thought I was running the wrong way. I spun around twice, looking around me, trying to figure out which way to go, and I woke up consternated and confused. Then I realized I had been going the right way in my dream.

If anyone has any thoughts on what this dream means, please feel free to contact me.

I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I watched Boondocks Saints, made myself a sandwich, ate a leftover egg-salad sandwich and some pretzels and yogurt and an orange, and took a shower. I got directions to Bell, Book and Comic online and told Jeff I was on my way over to pick him up so we could head to Dayton.

On the ride out, it was pouring rain but the conversation was light. We talked about strategies for Jeff’s deck, changes I’d made to mine, and general things to look for against an opponent. Neither of us expected to win, but we were both looking forward to a fun experience.

We stopped for gas in Springfield, and I saved $3 on my fill-up because I have the hookup on good gas prices.

We found the place without too much trouble, and I was surprised by how small it looked. A guy was at the front counter buying some cards, so I tried to help out by telling him what sets some things are from. He was looking for Grim Tutors, so I said they’re from Starter and usually pretty expensive, and he said they’re not and I’m thinking of Imperial Seal. Jeff and I signed up for the tourney and anted up the $25 to get down.

We asked the Grim Tutor guy if there are tables anywhere, and he pointed us to the back and showed us a stack of Trinispheres for Roland Chang to alter. Jeff and I headed to the back to do some pre-game gaming, and I listened to “My Fist, Your Face” by Pint Size to get pumped. Jeff’s games went badly, but I’m still excited by the prospects of playing some good players.

After a while, Jeff pointed out that it was 2:09 and there still weren’t many people there, so, well, crud.

Anyway, I registered this deck:

3x Swamp
3x Island
2x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
3x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
4x Mishra’s Factory
1x Mox Sapphire

4x Chalice of the Void
4x Aether Vial
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
1x Crucible of Worlds

4x Force of Will
4x Standstill
4x Dark Confidant
3x Withered Wretch
3x Dimir Infiltrator
2x Waterfront Bouncer
1x Rootwater Thief
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Echoing Decay
1x Echoing Truth
1x Darkblast
2x Arcane Laboratory

And this sideboard:

4x Energy Flux
4x Duress
2x Darkblast
2x Rootwater Thief
1x Diabolic Edict
1x Arcane Laboratory
1x Waterfront Bouncer

And the tournament began…with eleven people.

Eleven! Ugh, how disappointing. It meant we were only going to play three rounds. Jeff and I drove an hour and a half and paid $25 to play three rounds. That’s like paying $8.33 to lose two games.

“So it’ll be you, me, some other guy, and the top 8,” said Jeff.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “That’s probably about how it’ll go.”

I was really, really hoping there would be more people at this tournament. I mean, I’d like to win, but I was mostly just looking forward to playing a bunch of competitive Magic today, and instead I got three rounds. The store won’t even make the money back on their Mox Emerald. Not that I care about that.

Anyway, as I see I’m already well onto the third page, I suppose I will go to:

Round 1 – Matt playing Stax, probably 5 color

Matt was pretty cool, but we didn’t get to talk a lot during the round. I think since I was less nervous I was also quieter. He traveled only two minutes to be at the tournament and was not the “some other guy” who didn’t make top 8.

Game 1 – I won the roll but mulled to six because I’m a nice guy and wanted to give him every advantage. My first turn was a fairly broken Polluted Delta for Island, Aether Vial. He got out a Sphere of Resistance but really never got any other lock parts, mostly, I think because of lacking a Mishra’s Workshop. I managed to Force of Will a Crucible, but he got a Welder through a turn later and welded it back in. By then it was too late, though, as I got a Jitte onto a Confidant and it carried me through for the victory. Active Jitte makes me smile.

Game 2 – I again discarded my first hand for the one containing one fewer card. He tried for a first turn Tangle Wire (sided in against my mad aggro strats, no doubt) but I Forced it, knowing that I’d never be able to crawl out from under that. His Goblin Welder matched my second turn Dark Confidant, but by Welding in the Tangle Wire he really took control on the third turn and got down multiple Smokestacks in the next few turns. Chalices of the Void and other free spells kept me in the race long enough to force the match into the draw after I lost game two. The thing that killed me: my favorite fatty ever, Sundering Titan.

Jeff played against Grim Long. From over my shoulder in the first game, I heard “Necropotence. Draw 8?” and knew he had already lost that one. He lost the second one too. A dragon just ain’t what it used to be—Shivan4Eva!

0-0-1 match; 1-1-1 games

At this point I was happy to have a not-losing record, but will that stand up as we go to…

Round 2 – David playing what he says is Control Slaver

I said, “what he says is Control Slaver” because I saw neither a lot of control nor any Mindslavers. This was David’s first Vintage tournament (like Jeff!) but I bet his went better than mine. Oh well. I’m pretty sure David is skipping work to be here, which makes him that much more hardcore.

Game 1 – I got out two Mishra’s Factories but there wasn’t any clear division between winner and loser at this point. He said something about having a lot of mana but nothing to do with it, so I decided to Force of Will his Thirst for Knowledge, hoping to keep him without threats. Unfortunately, he topdecked a Tinker that went through for Sundering Titan. I hold him off for two turns with Mishra’s Factory and another turn with a Dimir Infiltrator, but eventually succumb to Biggie-T.

Game 2 – Having the first third turn gives me one of four sided-in Energy Fluxes. He admitted later that should have been game. Instead, Withered Wretch has to go all the way, removing his library in the face of his Goblin Welder. Actually, that’s not true, Withered Wretch went most of the way, but on his last turn alive he played Yawgmoth’s Will and a land and Fire/Ice to kill the Wretch. I eventually run him through with an Assembly Worker. I really wished this game had gone longer so we could have not gone to game three.

Game 3 – I hit myself early for three with fetch lands and won a Force battle to kill his Goblin Welder with Echoing Decay. Instead he Tinkered again for Biggie-T. I got out a second Mishra’s Factory and play Crucible of Worlds to hold out for the really long game (and the draw, as we were already in extra turns) of blocking his non-trampling Titan with lands that keep coming back into play. Unfortunately he hardcast a Triskelion and Goblin Welder, and Nat was sad for the rest of the game, which was exactly one turn.

Jeff played against another Tendrils combo deck. From my right in the first game, I heard “Cunning Wish for Stroke. Stroke you?” and knew he had already won that one. He won the second one too! Dragons freaking rule—Worldgor the Combonator for Ever! (It’s Vintage, so you have to be dignified.)

0-1-1 match; 2-3-1 games

When you look at that games record, it really doesn’t look all that bad, eh? I mean, except for a misplay first game and some bad luck third game, I would have won that match.

Anyway…

Round 3 – Justin playing Grim Long

This isn’t the Grim Long player Jeff played Round 1, which means there’s an inordinate amount of Tendrils players at this tournament. Justin, JDizzle at TMD, is really talkative but not in a nervous way, just a compulsive way, I think. This is the first big-name player I’ve squared off against, and if I’m wrong about that, then your name probably has to be bigger.

Game 1 – Well, what can I say? I really like playing against combo because I think it’s really cool when it wins. He Duressed me first turn for my Force of Will. I did something fairly meaningless on my first turn. He won on his second turn. I believe it was Dark Ritual, mox, mox, mox, tap a land to leave a black floating, Yawgmoth’s Bargain down to four life, and win from there. I don’t remember what exactly happened here, but I didn’t ever get to refill my hand, so it wasn’t a Draw 7 of any kind. If I’m not mistaken, he Demonic Tutored for Black Lotus, Yawgmoth’s Willed, and Mystical Tutored (with Brainstorm) for Tendrils of Agony with a storm count of twelve.

Game 2 – I mulled a hand of not-blue land and Chalice of the Void for one containing a Force of Will; this may have been a mistake. This was largely like the first game only he didn’t duress me and I Force of Willed a Demonic Tutor to make him wait until third turn to win. I played a Rootwater Thief to hopefully remove his win conditions with one or two attacks. He had different plans and played a bunch of moxes and a Dark Ritual to play Mind’s Desire with a storm count of five.

His Desire? Land, three Dark Rituals in a row(!), Mox Emerald.

His reaction? “What the deuce?!”

My reaction? “Whew!”

His more calculated reaction? Play all three Dark Rituals and the Emerald and drop the Memory Jar in his hand (with four black floating!) to draw into both Tendrils and Yawgmoth’s Will. He decided to just cast the Tendrils for the win.

Seriously. Isn’t that awesome?!

Afterward, we talked about his deck a little bit. He runs three Grim Tutors, which seems to be the agreed upon amount by the pros.

He also has two maindeck Tendrils to combat sneaky things like, oh, I don’t know, Rootwater Thief. That was actually really cool to hear because when I make a Tendrils combo deck I always run at least two possible win contitions either two Tendrils or a Tendrils and a Burning Wish for the one in the sideboard.

He also runs a more basic-heavy manabase and an extra land to support Mox Diamond. The Diamond is an odd choice, I think, but one that I might have to consider for Workshop Tendrils. He said it’s good with useless fetch lands and with Yawgmoth’s Will (Diamond, Will, land), and that makes a lot of sense. Mox Diamond is a card that gets pooh-poohed by the pros a lot because it means the loss of a land. However, this doesn’t really matter in combo, since you’ll win before your card disadvantage matters.

0-2-1 match; 2-5-1 games

I’m not sure what the rest of the field was, but I’m pretty sure there were at least three Tendrils decks and three Stax decks, including an Ubastax. Jeff and I didn’t stay until the end, so I don’t know who played what or what won, unfortunately. But I’d be surprised if they still give out that Mox Emerald.

We did stay long enough to hear Justin advocate the printing of Uktabi Kong in a tournament legal set and redesign Land Grant to include abilities like, “Destroy target artifact,” “Search your library for a non-blue restricted card,” and “Take an extra turn.” The ride home was quiet and uneventful except for a stop at A&W for some rootbeer and burgers.

As for my deck, I would definitely try to fit in an extra Withered Wretch and a Mox Jet (probably in place of a Dimir Infiltrator and a Rootwater Thief) and the replacement of the two Arcane Labs with Energy Flux. I mean, I guess that’s a metagame choice for my deck. In Cleveland, I played against a bunch of MUC (Gifts and such), but in Dayton there was more Stax and Combo. Either way, I have a feeling that Energy Flux is better against anything except storm combo.

Really, though, that’s about it.

I would love, LOVE to go to Richmond next weekend for the double Power 9 Vintage tourneys, but alas, it’s not in the cards, so to speak.

It’s a pun…

But not really since it’s a cliché.

I’ll be back…