Open wide for Paper Vintaaaaage!

Tournament Write up is over on themanadrain.com.

My Tournament Report (from looking at my notepad)

Round 1 – Dredge – WW
2-0, 1-0

G1: I’m on the play for G1. Looks like he attacked with an Ichorid and Narcomeba twice and forced something before I tinkered for Citadel. I cast 5 spells off top looks like. Win.
G2: He’s on the play. On 7 cards, he powders away some stuff. Mulligans his powder hand and starts with 6 cards. This game was weird, I brought in my sideboard hate artifacts. The last turn before I would die, he Creeping Chilled me and then brought back 2 Amalgams plus having 2-3 Ichorids ready to roll for next turn.

On my turn, I did a lot of shenanigans, using Teferi x2 to bounce the Amalgams, ending with a Sphinx of the Steelwind in play. We played one more turn, where I gained a bunch of life from Sphinx, then cast DT for Lantern. He scooped when I exiled his graveyard. Win.

Round 2 – Tinker Breach – LWL
3-2, 1-1

Max loves his Grixis piles! Something with Tinker I’m sure.

G1: I won the die roll. Tinker / Breach / Urza list was pretty strong. He won G1 via Brainfreeze / Breach after some battles. His maindeck Pyroblasts pulled their weight here; my Ancestral got blasted! Loss.
G2: Tinker for Citadel on my side actually netted real cards. I did have to pass a turn or maybe two with Citadel in play but I was able to bury him with cards. Win.
G3: His opener was the stone cold nuts. He leads with Land, Jet, Sapphire, pass. I Probe him and see: Vampiric Tutor, Force of Will, Flusterstorm, and Tinker. I pass it back and Vamps for Ancestral on my end step, then casts it on his upkeep. Then casts Tinker for Citadel and GG. Loss.

Round 3 – Infect – LL
3-4, 1-2

Jon getting really 1000 percent with Infect!

G1: He has Blighted Agent on the play. I take a hit from Poison and then make Mentor plus a token on my turn, thinking I’m covered. On his turn he casts Scale Up and attacks for 7 poison, putting me at 9 Poison counters. I don’t have enough action to make my guy’s big enough to win. Loss.
G2: My only action is Citadel. I need him to use his Nexus and go all in on pumping so I can Hurkly’s it. He instead gets a Blighted Agent down (which is still unblockable BTW). He forces my Citadel. Vines of Vastwood -> Berserk kills me. Loss.

Round 4 – Metalworker Prison – WLW
5-5, 2-2

Trogdon doing Workshop things, of course. Loved having him try to read my cards through the signatures. My sideboard cards did their jobs.

G1: He’s on the play. Don’t recall exactly how it went but IIRC he kind of flooded out. His threats weren’t super threatening. I took 1 or 2 at at a time. Finally I break through with some creature and his Crypt kills him. Win
G2: He’s on the play again. I bring in my shops package, including Mystical Tutor and Blightsteel. He is using Expedition Map to find Wasteland, then Sphere’s / Strips me out. Revokers turning off various Moxes. Loss.
G3: I’m on the play and have to mulligan to 6. I have an opener of Land, Mox, Mox, Mentor, Mox Opal. His Turn one, he casts Revoker on Jet and Sapphire. I have several Hurkly’s in hand but just need to navigate through. Looks like I went to 12 life in the process, but ended the game via a Hurkyl’s of his board, and attacking with a bunch of monks. Win

Round 5 – Ravager Shops – WW
7-5, 3-2

Dave found us via the Internet, then came and smashed everyone. We play swiss plus one, and he was 4-0 at that point so he had to “prove it” against me. I think he was locked for first either way based on how things had played out, but my win bumped me up to a final placing of 3rd overall.

G1: He was on the play and came out fast. I had to mulligan but my six had the one of MD Hurkly’s and also Snapcaster Mage. Using these I was able to navigate through his onslaught, and finally was able to stabilize via Karn turn off his activated abilities. With an active Sensei’s Divining Top, I was able to animate it with Karn, block and then flip the Top onto my library; I had an infinite blocker! Next turn, Karn got Revoker’ed but with a Snapcaster flashback on Hurkly’s to clear the way, I PO’ed my way to many, many Monk tokens. Win.
G2: He’s on the play again, coming out fast. My hand is slowish but I have Merchant Scroll and 2x Hurkyl’s. I’m looking for a quick Tinker -> Bot line. Using Hurkyl’s to buy time, I take 8 damage before I Scroll for Tinker and pass. He scoops, showing his hand of some potential blockers, but no way to make enough power to survive and attack me. Win.

Deck Notes
Since we are playing full proxy, this gives me an opportunity to flex some cards that won’t otherwise see play, like artist proof paintings.

Artist Proof Paintings
5 Moxes – Dan Frazier Mox Proofs painted on Ice Age Cards of matching color. Sapphire is Mesmeric Trance, Jet is Fire Covenant.
Time Walk – Amy Weber proof painting on a Crystal Rod.
Ancestral Recall – Dan Frazier – A nice take by Dan on this classic. Very nice colors! This is on a Yavimaya Gnats.

Non-Sanctioned Signed Cards
Blacker Lotus – Christopher Rush – A new addition to my collection. Will see play usually as my Lotus in the Crackin’ Boosties (Booster Tutor) format.

Artist Alters
Balance – Mark Poole – Revised
Sol Ring – Mark Tedin – UNL
Mana Crypt – Mark Tedin – Book Promo – New Pickup from a signed card collector friend!
Mox Opals – Volkan Baga – Original Printing artist alters. New ones for me!

Not Artist Alters
Signed Then Altered, Revelen’s Light (Zack Cart):
Force of Will – ALL
Hurky’s Recall – 5ED
Tolarian Academy – USG
Flooded Strand – ONS
Misty Rainforest – ZEN
Polluted Delta – ONS
Scalding Tarn – ZEN
Tundra – (Kate Cart) – 3ED
Underground Sea – 3ED

Signed Then Altered, MTGAlterGirl/StumpProject
Ponder

Altered, Then Signed, IzzetStar:
Paradoxical Outcome – Nils Hamm

Notably NOT SIGNED!
Dress Down – 🙁
Teferi, Time Raveler – ACCOUNTED FOR: He’s a hot commodity. I’ve been back and forth on sending him in, but then we got the SLD Teferi. That one is out being signed now, so this will be resolved. I was able to pick up one of the WAR versions from the signed group before my event; I’m sad to say that I did have to cast the unsigned one at least once.
Yawgmoth’s Will – ACOUNTED FOR: I tried not to cast this one also but the game state required that I do so. This one is with Ron for a few years. Someday it will be back and altered. I’ve considered picking up a signed copy to use until then.