Vintage Masters Qualifier 1: Results and Report

Back again guys.

Yesterday (2nd February), we held our first qualifier for Vintage Masters 2013. Overall it was quite a success and we had 4 great rounds with a cut to top four and an all fish final. We had a bigger  prize than normal with a Underground Sea for first and a Force of Will for second as well as the top two players receiving free entry to Vintage Masters 2013. We had ten players show up which was great because I had many people message me back indicating that they were not coming in the couple of days previous to the event which had me worrying. About this time last year we were getting about 4 people for vintage at Next Level Games.

This event makes 4 in a row with 10+ players.  With all the people who said they could not make it (at least 6 players) I think I can classify yesterday as a "bad" turnout. Last year that would have been inconceivable. Vintage has really grown at it really is thanks to Next Level Games, sticking with holding these events in our down time and all the players who are working tirelessly at selling the format to other players and now we are seeing the results of this hard work.

But onto the Results

After 4 rounds and a cut to top 4 playoff our standings looked like this:

1) Andy Horne - Walking Fish
2) Bill Murphey - Noble Fish
3) Joshua Butler - Turbo Tezzeret *
4) Brett Hughes - Grixis Control *
5) Michael Lau - Mangara.dec
6) Luke McCandless - Espresso Shops
7) Zac Crowley - Dredge
8) Jimbo Dowling - RUG Delver
9) Lee Greaves - Cerebral Assassin
10) Graham King - Terra Nova Shops

* Undefeated in Swiss

For Decklists of the top 4 you can go to http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=44988.0

While it is still early, I believe that a "Next Level Meta" is forming which is dominated by dudes. Not that the dudes are winning (though they did in this particular event) but they have a much heavier presence than elsewhere.  Out of a possible 20 Decks, (from previous 2 events) 8 are running more than ten creatures (with the deck designed to cast them e.g. no Dredge or Cerebral) and very few with under 4. Graham King's performance in this  tournament really brings to light this upscaling of creatures. He brought a deck which is designed to beat up on the big mana Blue decks and the combo decks and ran into a wall of creatures he was not properly equipped to deal with and subsequently lost pretty hard.

We have many different flavours of dudes in the meta, from mono-coloured (Dark Times, Merfolk, Magara.dec), multi coloured (Walking Fish/Noble Fish) and even non-coloured (Martello Shops) which is good because it means one cannot just put 4 x card N in your board and have the problem dealt with.

This upscale in creatures is coming at the cost of our traditional U control deck with only 3 decks in the past 2 events (Grixis x 3). To that we can add the Delver, Tezzeret and Merfolk decks (though they are hardly traditional control decks) and we still dont achieve parity with the number of Creature decks.

Maybe it is time to start running Pyroclasm as a catch all vs general creature decks or maybe something a little more dedicated like bounce vs Dark Times, Pyro vs Fish  or a variety of Paths and Swords. I am thinking that as we go forward, Bomberman may be a good deck choice as you have creatures to trade with theirs including a 2/4 wall, main deck removal and a combo finish to which they are generally weak to.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


My path up until the tournament was a winding road of different decks. I had built in the week previous to the event no less than 3 different decks and was considering asking Andy for a different deck. At first I thought I would be playing the Burning Long deck which I took to 1st place in the January event but my crushing defeat in the early rounds of GP sydney (0-2 in two rounds, 2-2-1 final standings) had put me off the deck and was looking at playing something different. My first thought was Dragon (which I wrote about in the last post) as it would be unexpected and if I bought a few cards I would be able to play it at 10 proxies. I was testing it out and while I was getting decent results, they were not fantastic by any stretch. I did my duty, bought the few cards I needed to make it under 10 proxy and kept on testing until a few days before the tournament when I found out that in addition to shops decks, there would be a Noble Fish player, a Mangara.dec player and this coupled with the universal Dredge hate made for a Meta I did not want to be playing a deck that needed to fight GY hate as well as creature hate and was not the most consistant to boot.

I felt that I did not have the time to design a new deck but knew I wanted basics and did not want to rely on creatures too heavily myself. With all the wastes/strips/ghost quarters I would be facing having a high basic land count would be awesome. However, Landstill was out as the deck loses pretty hard to creatures. I then thought of the 2011 Bazaar of Moxen finalists  (Turbo Tezzeret)  and after goldfishing a few hands I knew that was the deck I wanted to play. I had good game against the mana denial decks and a fast enough clock to beat the onslaught of creatures that would be coming my way.

I bought the Tezzerets I was missing and sleeved up:

Land (15)
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Island
2 Underground Sea

Artifacts (20)
3 Grim Monolith
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault

Creatures (1)
1 Blightsteel Colossus

Planeswalkers (5)
4 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Sorceries (8)
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
3 Thoughtseize

Instants (7)
4 Force of Will
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Steel Sabotage
3 Dismember
2 Mental Misstep
1 Echoing Truth.

This deck, while not perfect suited me very well for the tournament and had what I wanted for the tournament. I had mana stability and a fast clock. The 5 Islands were fantastic all day as I never had to fear a wasteland.

R1-  Lee Greaves-  Cerebral Assassin

I dont really remember much about this round. My only notes are life totals so I will do my best

G1- I win the die roll and thoughtseize him revealing:
Ancestral Recall
Bitter Ordeal
Crop Rotation
City of Brass
Mox Emerald
Mana Vault
Myr Retreiver

Definitely Cerebral Assassin...

I take the Ancestral and he Crop Rotationed to try and find something when I casually cast Tezzeret T2 and take all the turns.

G2- He lands an early Revoker (naming Key) and I catch the early Blightsteel and have the force for his Hurkyl's. I was also holding Hurkyl's  and Tezzeret so I was not worried if he forced back.

1-0 (2-0)


R2 vs Bill Murphey (eventual 2nd place)
This is Bills first Vintage tournament and I know he is on Noble Fish.

G1- I lose the die roll and keep a turn 2 Tezzeret, AoB with a mana vault and key (T1 Land Mox, Vault, Key, SDT, untap vault). He lays a Stony Silence on his third turn and my Tezzeret jumps onto 5/5 Duty while I am on a clock due to my tapped mana vault. We both play dudes (his are creatures and mine are moxen) and I get down to 3 due to beats and Mana Vault but ultimate Tezzeret sending him to 2 life and he scoops.

G2- I do not remember the particulars of this game but I know he choses elects not to attack Tezzeret on his final turn putting me to 1 stopping any Force or Fetch Shenanigans when I rip the key off the top and use Tezzeret to find the Vault.

2-0 (4-0)

R3- Zac Crowley - Dredge

I had scouted the Dredge player earlier and know him quite well (through Dark Times talk) so knew what I was up against.

G1- I mulligan a hand of Force, Tezzeret, some draw and mana into
Mox Ruby
Island
Tezzeret the Seeker
Underground Sea
Demonic Tutor
Thoughtseize

I see the possibility and keep. I won the die roll so I DT for the Lotus and play without playing the mana source. He plays Bazaar and passes. I cast Tezzeret and Thoughtseize (taking Ingot Chewer) and go for the Vault. He Dredges madly for one of his 2 Ancient Grudges, can't find them and I take all the turns.

G2- He cuts me to a hand of 6 restricted cards and I take the turn 1 Key-Vault

3-0 (6-0)

R4- ID with Brett Hughes - Grixis Control

We are not using the play/draw rule so there was little to be gained from playing out the game. I know what he is on and he may at this point be unsure about my deck so we both ask for and receive the ID.

I made it to top 4 without dropping a single game (that mattered) and was feeling really good about my chances. The other pairings are not sure whether they can ID or not and the second table ID while the third table plays it out for the 3/4th spot. In the end the two players who ID'd make it in with the 4th placed player (Bill Murphey) making it in by 0.0001% on breakers.

Top 4 vs Andy Horne - Walking Fish

I know Andy is on Walking fish and while I have not tested the matchup I am still feeling good.

G1- He Mulls to 6... to 5 and keeps a no lander. I won the die roll and start by running out Land,  Ancestral... Misstep...pass turn. He draws and says go. I play Land, Sol Ring... Misstep... pass turn. Andy Draws and plays Scrubland for turn and I cast the Tezzeret the Seeker and find the vault and then the key.

Unlucky on his part, It was a good 5 vs my hand and the double misstep set me back alot.

G2-  I dont do much this game and he smacks me with dudes until I am dead.

G3- I needed to win this game to stay in and I manage a turn 2 Key and vault in play with no mana. He draws the black source he needs for his abrupt decay and my face is smashed in by a mixture of Thalia and Quasali Pridemages.

And so my tournament ended after I had resolved both Key and Vault and lost. I did conceede at two life and peeked at my next card which was Yawgmoth's will. By then I had packed away my hand and couldn't remember the contents and that may have saved me. I don't know if it would have but I know I conceeded too early.


Overall it was a good day and while I ended up in 3rd place, I was happy with my performance and would happily play Turbo Tezzeret again. I think upping the Agent of Bolas would help vs creatures and possibly adding bobs into it as I felt that if my opening hands play was countered I was up shit creek as I draw so many dead cards when I want action.

Keep Eternal Strong