Winter Derby 2023 - Top 8

Over the past month, I participated in the 2023 Old School Magic Winter Derby. I played TrollAtog and finished in 8th place. I learned a lot more about the deck and had a great time doing it.

I had never played in any Derby before this. After a year full of Old School, I decided I would finally participate. I've come to enjoy webcam Magic a bit more after playing in so many Middle School leagues. 

The Deck

I had already decided to play TrollAtog in the Derby before I played it at Eternal Weekend. There was a confluence of events that led me to last minute going to EW, so I grabbed the deck I had on hand.

4 Atog

4 Sedge Troll

4 Black Vice

1 Jalum Tome

2 Copy Artifact

2 Relic Barrier

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Psionic Blast

1 Wheel of Fortune

1 Timetwister

1 Time Walk

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Chaos Orb

1 City in a Bottle

1 Mind Twist

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Sol Ring

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Pearl

1 Black Lotus

4 Strip Mine

4 Mishra's Factory

4 Volcanic Island

4 Badlands

4 Underground Sea

1 City of Brass

1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard

1 Falling Star

1 Earthquake

2 City in a bottle

2 Shatter

3 Copper Tablet

2 Gloom

1 Terror

1 Shatterstorm

1 Braingeyser

1 Blue Elemental Blast

I made a few updates from the EW list. I cut the Fireball from the main for another Copy Artifact,a nd I cut a Shatter in the sideboard for a Blue Elemental Blast. I wanted another cheap card in the main, and I expected to play against more Blood Moon decks and wanted a way to remove / counter it. 

The Derby is played in two batches of four matches. The pairings here are listed in the order I played them, but opponents records could vary from when I face them.

Batch One

Round 1 - Dave Gura on MonoBlack Nether Void Sinkhole Hymn

Game one he plays turn one Swamp into The Rack. My seven is three land, Demonic, Troll, Mind Twist. I draw Mox Sapphire for turn and decide to Tutor for Black Lotus. His turn is just Sinkhole on my land, so I'm able to Twist him for his hand. I stick a Troll and then Copy his Rack and win the race. Game two I mulligan to five cards but it has land Lotus Mox Mox Wheel and he only has turn one The Rack. I Wheel into Shatter plus Vise, but he has Ritual into Mind Twist hitting almost all my mana. I play a Troll which is Paralyzed but then I draw Twist to put us both empty handed. I draw Atog into Timetwister into Time Walk though and he takes too much damage from the Vise and I win

1-0

Round 2 - Koen Haak Disco Troll

Game one he plays Badlands and passes. I play turn one Vise. His turn two Hymn hits my two other lands and I never play another spell. Game two I mulligan to five and have turn one Atog with Demonic Tutor in hand if I draw black source, but it doesn't matter as he has turn one Time Walk and then Hymn for my last two cards in the extra turn. A follow up Sinkhole and Energy Flux destroy the remainder of my mana and eventually he finds a Juzam to kill me with. Two games and I played two spells.

1-1

Round 3 - Carson Morell MonoRed Moon Flare Candlelabra

Game one he has two Howling Mine and my draw a bit clunky but he never gets a Blood Moon or a Shivan and eventually I deploy all my Atogs and Trolls and win after I Tutor for Sapphire and Copy it so I could survive potential Moon. Game two he has Blood Moon turn three but I have Blue Elemental Blast. I follow up with Timetwister and Black Vise to do six damage. He has Mana Flare to enable Fireball to kill my Atog. I Tutor for Ancestral but he has REB. Eventually he finds another Blood Moon and Shivan Dragon and Dragon Whelp. My hand is Terror, BEB, and a bunch of red cards but only mana is a Sapphire and an Emerald because of his previous Strip Mines. I take a 5 point hit from Shivan to re-evalute next turn. I find Strip Mine, which is conveniently a mountain so I can Bolt his Whelp and play an Atog. I then decide I have to use BEB on the Shivan and lock myself under Blood Moon. He has Shatter to kill my Sapphire so now I'm only on red mana. Atog does a bit of damage but he has Lightning Bolt for my Troll. I draw Chaos Orb to maybe get out of the Moon but he's empty handed after Fireball my second Troll. I decide the best plan is to Wheel and use Orb to kill the Mana Flare to prevent him from killing me. I do that and all he manages is a 4 point Fireball on Atog but I drew two Lightning Bolt off of Wheel and he was at 5 life so I win.

2-1

Round 4 - Joe Singer on TrollAtog (surprise mirror?!)

Game one he plays turn one Mox factory I have Mox Mox Badlands. I can wheel but instead I develop my Relic Barrier and Sedge Troll. He has Strip Mine for Badlands and for my follow up Volcanic so Wheel is stranded. However, Troll is doing damage each turn and Barrier keeping his mana constrained. Eventually I land a second Troll and Atog and Strip his Island so he never has colored mana. I sac my Moxes to win. Game two was insane. He plays Mox Mox Land Vise Copy Artifact turn one, and my hand was such that I kept 7 cards with just Library and Factory as lands, no colored sources. I decided the best way to win is to dig for colored mana instead of playing out my own Vise to get under his. I take 6 damage twice but he Strip Mines my Library. I play my Vise and then his Factory and Vise hit me down to 4 life. I use Copy on his Sapphire but I'm still at 5 cards in hand. He attacks with Factory so I go to 2 life and then uses Bolt, but I have BEB off the Copied Sapphire to counter it and go to 4 cards in hand. Over the next five turns he draws no burn spells and I manage to hold off his Factory and Atog with my own Bolt, Atog, and two Trolls. Eventually my Trolls start attacking and I throw two Bolts at his face. He bricks one last turn and I attack with five creatures and win.

3-1 

Some really intense games and some lucky spots. Winning the second game in the fourth match was particularly sweet!

Batch Two

Round 5 - Stephen Adams on Tax Edge WR

Game one I lead on Vise and Troll but he has STP. I have a Wheel but flood out and take a lot of damage from a Savannah Lions and a Javalineer. I draw too many lands but eventually find Twister into two Atog but I'm so low I have to just hope he either doesn't block or doesn't have the Bolt to kill me on the backswing. He does both. Game two I lead with turn one Vise Time Walk but don't have red for the follow up Wheel. Eventually I draw a Timetwister as he's done not much besides play CoP Red. My first Gloom is Disenchanted, but the second one sticks. He plays Land's Edge so his shields are down for a turn and I get some damage in with Troll. I have just enough lands in hand next turn to kill him and Earthquake for the remainder while staying above 0 myself. If he had one more land in hand the game would have been a draw. Game three he chooses to draw first. I have turn one Vise but his mulligan to 6 mitigates the damage. I have Atog and some Factory beats. Bolt and Strip for his Factories constrict his mana development, but he does find a CoP Red. He's at 5 and I'm at 18 when I find Gloom and the following turn I Earthquake for 5 after he uses CoP to stop my Atog.

4-1

Round 6 - Gaten Lemei on DiscoTroll

Game one I have Vise into Copy Artifact and he's at 9 before he stabilizes. I Demonic Tutor for Ancestral and briefly consider using on him to go with the Lighnting Bolt in my hand, but it's too much of a risk if he draws any instants. I draw into a Psionic Blast and that plus Bolt plus his Serendib let me win the game. Game two we both have early Ancestral and his Ivory Tower blanks my Black Vise. He counters my first Troll but I resolve a Timetwister into another Troll. He has Disk and Bolt to take out the board but I rebuild with another Vise and Troll. He has Maze for the Troll and I let him Strip my Strip to keep up double black mana for Troll, probably not necessary. I draw additional threats of Atog and two Factory that let me attack through the Maze. He has around six cards in hand but all he manages is Shatterstorm to blow up the Vise. I draw Demonic Tutor and go for Strip Mine to play around any countermagic, and I Strip the Maze and attack him to 1. He draws Demonic but couldn't find a play to get out of the situation as one of his key mana sources is City of Brass. He dies with at least two Red Elemental Blast in his hand.

5-1

Round 7 - Ben Rovell on Bazaar All Hallow's Eve

Nothing really to say here. I drew 6 spells 13 mana in game one. Game two was similar with 8 spells 12 mana, but I was in it a bit more with my City in a Bottle locking cards in his hand for double Vise until he found Balance. I was 5 points short of winning when I died to his Triskelion.

5-2

Round 8 - Seth Roncoroni on 12 Bolt

Game one he plays City of Brass and Savannah Lions. I have turn one Sol Ring and City in a Bottle. His only follow up lands are Strip Mine, which set me back but not before I land a Troll. Troll and Lions stare at each other for a while, but my Black Vise starts to do some damage. Eventually I draw some colored lands to Bolt away the Lions and attack and he dies only with Factories and a City of Brass stuck in his hand. Game two I mulligan to six on the draw but have turn one Library which he never finds an answer for. He gets some beats in with two Lions but I Earthquake for one and play two Trolls to finish him off with the advantage from Library.

6-2

At this point, I'm early to finish my matches. I'm ranked 12th, with the top 16 making the playoff. The math I had done led me to think that only four or five players with 6-2 record would make the cut. There were still plenty of players left who could finish at 7-1 and jump me, as well as better 6-2 tiebreakers. Over the last few days, I slowly fell in rankings, but my tiebreakers were constantly changing. Before last matches were reported, I was down to 17th. The last reports must have gone my way, as I finished in 16th place on the 3rd tiebreaker! I think I've only seen the 3rd tiebreaker come into play one time in 25 years of playing Magic tournaments. I'm quite fortunate to benefit from this.

Top 16 Playoff

Top 16 - Will Parshall on Bant 8 Lion

Game one we both mulligan to six. He plays land Mox Time Walk into Serendib on turn three. My turn two I have Strip Mine and Badlands in play but no other mana in hand. I elect to Demonic Tutor for Mox Sapphire to cast Ancestral Recall instead of trying to go for the KO with City in a Bottle. He plays another Dib and I'm forced to spend a few turns using two Psionic Blasts to take them out. He has follow up with two Ernham Djinn and I somewhat regret not getting Bottle. He has Swords for my Troll but nothing for my Atog and he's low enough its almost lethal if I have a Bolt. He has to Armageddon to turn off the forestwalk and one Ernham chumps the Atog while the other one attacks me down to 1 life. I Bolt him at the end of turn to set up a win if I draw any artifact while he is tapped out. I draw Timetwister and find multiple ways to finish the game. Game two we both mulligan to six again. He has Savannah Lions and Argothian Pixies. I Bolt the Pixies and Lotus into Sedge Troll. He has Swords for the Troll and starts attacking for 4 with Lions and Factory. We trade some Strip Mines and neither player has more than three mana available. Eventually I find Terror for the Lions but I'm at 4 life. Meanwhile, I resolve a Bottle and three Black Vise and he's drawing nothing but Arabian Nights cards or white cards after I Strip his only white source. He has six in hand for three upkeeps and dies.

7-2

Top 8 - Rich Shay on The Deck

Game one early Vise he only has Undergrounds so I attack with Factory. I Strip his City to continue to do damage with Factory. I send two Psionic Blast to his face. He finds Fellwar Stone but I only have Underground Sea so he's still just on UB mana. I attack him down to 3 life and then use Strip Mine on my own Underground Sea to turn off his Fellwar from producing blue  mana which lets me resolve the lethal Lightning Bolt. Game two he starts with Ancestral plus two Mox and a Lotus. I have land Lotus Demonic Tutor for Ancestral but don't have any Mox so only play a Black Vise with two more in my hand. His turn is Time walk plus Recall for Ancestral and Time Walk. After the second Ancestral and Time Walk resolve, he Mind Twists my entire hand. I still manage to make a game of it with a Copper Tablet and Strip Mine on his Factory but he finds Fireball before I can chip him down. Game three was the best game of the three. My opener is Factory, Strip, Ancestral, Demonic Tutor, Gloom, Lightning Bolt, Black Vise. I lead with Vise into Strip to keep him off white mana. He has a Counterspell for Demonic Tutor but I do resolve Ancestral. He taps out for Jayemdae Tome and I'm able to resolve Gloom and then further restrict his mana with a City in a Bottle and another Strip Mine. He gets two Ivory Tower going but my Vise and Tablet are keeping up. I have a window where I attack with Atog and two Factory into his two untapped Factory. He's able to use Swords through Gloom on Atog and take no damage from Factories. He goes to 7 in upkeep and I have two Lightning Bolt in hand but never could get the last point of damage through and eventually he gains enough with Ivory Tower and I fail to draw another Vise, Tablet, Shatter, or burn spell to finish him off. 

7-3

Thoughts on the deck

With ten more matches under my belt, I can make some better conclusions about the list. I look at Old School deckbuilding as there are three classes of (non-mana) cards: Good Cards, Cheap Cards, and Meta Cards. Chain Lightning is a card that I would classify as Cheap, but not good. When mana is tight like it is in a 4-strip format, I prefer my Cheap cards to be either Good as well, or colorless like Black Vise. 

Cards that have impressed me more than I thought since I started playing this deck: 

Gloom (I would likely play a third next time I play this)

Black Vise

Copper Tablet (took over twenty matches to actually get a chance to play this, but glad to finally have data)

Blue Elemental Blast (I like it way more than Red Elemental Blast, but may be coming around on REB)

Cards that have not been impressive:
Jalum Tome - A pet card of mine that has no home in a deck without at least 10 burn spells. It should be either Braingeyser or Fireball in the main deck, depending how greedy you want to get with the manabase. 

Relic Barrier - it's nice to have something you can easily choose to side out. I still think I prefer it to Ankh, especially in this more midrange build.

City in a Bottle - This card is great, but having one main and two in the sideboard is probably one too many

Conclusion

Props to DFB for running the Derby. My first one was a great experience. I'm happy to meet new people that have passion for Old School.

Props to whoever ends up winning the event. Maybe I'll get a chance to be on the stream for a match before it's all over.

Birds in Scryings at the Scry Hard 2 Tournament

This past Saturday, I played in the Scry Hard 2 tournament put on by Andy Baquero in Saddle Brook NJ. Scryings is a fun variant of Swedish rules old school which uses many additional cards to create new strategies or improve existing strategies. I last played Scryings as part of the Winc0n event, and I was eager to play more.

There were some additional rules put in place by Andy for this event. We would be playing Gentleman's Rules, thus no Library of Alexandria or Mind Twist. Also, your deck had to contain at least eight Scryings cards at all times. 

The Deck

4 Duskrider Falcon

4 Freewind Falcon

4 Osai Vultures

3 Soraya the Falconer

2 Wild Aesthir

1 Sacred Mesa

4 Crusade

3 Disenchant

3 Swords to Plowshares

1 Moat

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Time Walk

1 Timetwister

1 Chaos Orb

1 Power SInk

1 Demonic Tutor

4 Tithe

3 Mox

1 Sol Ring

1 Black Lotus

4 Scrubland

4 Tundra

7 Plains

1 Kjedoran Outpost

Sideboard

1 Blue Elemental Blast

2 Armageddon

1 Disenchant

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Moat

2 Power Sink

3 Tormod's Crypt

1 City in a Bottle

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Balance

1 Sacred Mesa

I had originally planned on playing Power Artifact - Basalt Monolith combo, with Magma Mine and Lat-Nam's Legacy as my Scryings cards. However, I played that combo in the Jawncon event and didn't want to repeat myself. I was digging through the spoiler for Scryings and noticed the support for Bird tribal. Many of these Birds are white creatures. When creature tribal decks get two lords, they can do a lot of damage very quickly, so I thought of adding Crusade. I did a search for other White Birds I may have missed, and I found Osai Vultures. This provided a solid base of twelve two-mana Birds to go with four Crusade and three Soraya. Wild Aesthir rounded out the creatures and was much better than expected (it might be better than Osai Vultures, which basically have no text besides Flying).

To go with the flying army, I included two Moats. Eventually one moved to the sideboard but it did mean I would not play Mishra's Factory. The deck already required a lot of white mana, and not playing Factory meant I could play a really low land count. I ended up on 15 actual lands supported by four Tithe, three Mox, Lotus, and Sol Ring. I wanted about 15 and half lands to make sure I always had one for Tithe. I think the 16th land would be better going forward with the Outpost counting as the "half" land with regards to casting Tithe.

Tithe lets the white deck basically free splash any color. I was still mindful of Blood Moon and the other non-basic hate in Scryings like Dwarven Miner, so I thought it best to limit the splash to two additional colors. With four duals and four Tithe plus a Mox, you have about nine sources of a splash color, more than enough for some of the powerful spells. Blue was an easy choice for the blue power cards. Time Walk in particular is really strong with the snowball effect of tribal lord attacks. I considered playing red as a third color for Fireball or Earthquake and maybe some REB in the board, but didn't think it was powerful enough. Black for Demonic Tutor let me move the second Moat from the main to the side, as well as giving better access to some good late game cards like Kjeldoran Outpost, Circle of Protection Red, and Sacred Mesa. Unfortunately, Mesa doesn't make Birds or it would be four of in the main.

I wasn't sure what to expect for the metagame when building my sideboard. I settled on Power Sink to cover a variety of possibilities, as well as three Tormod's Crypt to be good against Reanimation and Time Vault combo. I probably didn't play enough artifact hate, but I couldn't decide what was best between Dust to Dust and Energy Flux. In the end, I decided to play City in a Bottle over both of them. One last card I considered for both main and side was Sleight of Mind. This would be useful with the eight protection falcons, as well as with CoP: Red. Additionally, it was a non-white answer to the scary cards of the format: Gloom, Wildfire Emissary, and Ihsan's Shade. It wouldn't do anything against Flashfires, but who plays that?

The Tournament

The event was held at The Plank Pizza Co. Beer Parlor in Saddle Brook. This was about an hour drive for me, fairly easy on a Saturday morning. The food and beer selection were quite solid. The tournament was held in the upstairs area, which was quite pleasant once the music was turned down (no one wants to be blasted with "Cotton Eye Joe" at loud volume).

There were 20 people at the event and we played five rounds with no playoffs (more on that in a future post).

Round 1 - Jason Beaupre on Pox Reanimator

Game one he has early Choking Sands and a Pox but I have two Tithe to mainly stay in it. He also had Dwarven Miner which is annoying but I'm able to get enough basics to get around it. Eventually I end up with two Birds and a Crusade and make an attack that puts him on one-turn clock unless he draws Lightning Bolt to kill me, which he does. Game two he has a turn three Gloom and I had boarded out all my Disenchant. I do have the Chaos Orb which takes care of it and I have Sacred Mesa to win the game after as he doesn't draw much action. Game three he has turn two Gloom before I can Power Sink, followed by Buried Alive and Animate Dead on Ihsan's Shade. I'm forced to play Outpost and make a guy for a few turns but I do continue to draw mana including Mox Sapphire and Black Lotus. Lotus lets me Demonic Tutor for Ancestral which finds me the land I need to Disenchant the Animate Dead. I start attacking with two Soldiers but I'm forced to Power Sink a Pox and use Disenchant on first Gloom in response to the second Gloom to stay relevant. As a result, my clock isn't great and he soon finds another Animate Dead for the Shade. Right on time I draw a third Disenchant for the Animate Dead, and then make another Soldier to continue the beats. He finds Pox, but it's not enough as it puts me to 2 and him to 3 and I'm able to make another Soldier an attack for the win. 

1-0

Round 2 - Jelani Johnson on RGW Empyrial Armor

His deck is cool with Empyrial Armor and Undiscovered Paradise along with Birds of Paradise. He also has stuff like Kird Ape and River Boa. Game one we each play Timetwister twice so four total Twisters. I'm able to get ahead by having two Time Walk in there somewhere as well as Moat to stop his attacks. Game two he has Birds into Armor but I have Disenchant. He has second Armor but I have Swords. I also have two Birds plus Soraya and Crusade and he's under too much pressure to recover.

2-0

Moat doing some work

Round 3 - Mano on Power Artifact

Game one I have a Duskrider Falcon and ready to hold up Disenchant when he plays Timetwister. My new seven has two Mox, Lotus, and Demonic Tutor but without Mind Twist in my deck I can't punish him. Instead I set up fastest clock by playing Soraya. On his turn he just manages to play Sylvan Library and Monolith in a spot where I was tapped out and he wins if he has Power Artifact. I decide to put him on two turn clock and play Crusade plus another Bird and leaving Demonic Tutor in my hand to get Time Walk for lethal on the next turn if he fails to find Power Artifact in top three cards from Sylvan. He does find it though and I die. Game two I have Sol Ring so I'm able to deploy some Birds plus Soraya while holding up Disenchant. He's forced to go for it as he's dead to a second Crusade if I have it, and I Disenchant the Monolith in response. I do have the second Crusade and win. I don't remember much about game three other than attacking with some Vultures for several turns but flooding out and he eventually combos me.

2-1

Soraya plus Crusade plus Time Walk can kill out of nowhere

Round 4 - Eric Pallone on MonoBlue Power Artifact

Game one he mostly goes off unimpeded by me. I think I kept Plains Sol Ring and never found another white source. Game two I have aggressive start and Disenchant his Monolith when he plays Amnesia. I think I draw into Crusade plus Time Walk to win before he can assemble the combo. Game three I Power Sink his first Amnesia, but am forced to double Disenchant two Monolith when he has second Amnesia. He has Reconstruction for a Monolith and I draw Chaos Orb. He goes for Power Artifact and I activate Orb, and he Boomerangs the Monolith. All the while I have two Vulture attacking every turn. At this point he just needs to find second Power Artifact or a Recall to win. I draw Disenchant and Power Sink though so I continue to do two at a time. Eventually he tries to Time Walk and I tap him out with Power Sink and win.

3-1

Round 5 - Sammy Haghour on RG Stuff

Game one I'm stuck on three mana with Moat in my hand and taking some beats from Ape and Boa. I have to use Swords to Plowshares on his Cockatrice that is so good against me. Eventually I stick Moat but he has Emerald Charm and Lightning Bolt to kill me right away. Game two I play two Freewind Falcon and two Crusade and he can't even try to race. Game three I'm flooded but have Outpost to kind of stay in the game. He draws Cockatrice for the third game in a row so once again I'm forced to Swords it. He uses Emerald Charm on my CoP and I just need to draw Moat or some other way to stop his Boa plus Ape. He draws Flashfires first and I'm devastated and he wins easily from there.

3-2

I was not prepared for Flashfires.

I finish in 5th place, highest of the 3-2s. 

Props

Double props to Andy for putting on such a great event.

All the players that showed up with sweet Scryings decks. 

Scryings for having sweet cards.

Sammy for winning

The venue for solid food and beer and atmosphere

Slops

"Cotton Eye Joe"

Mano for punting away the perfect record in round five, and finishing deservedly in second place

Flashfires

Bonus fun story I didn't know where to include elsewhere:

Dom was playing against Darin Weisner who was on WB Protection from black Pestilence deck with 18 pro-black creatures. Many of these have just one toughness, but he had Angelic Voices in play to buff the creatures. This meant Dom's Simoon was no good... until he drew Living Plane, which also turns off the Voices and let him Simoon Darin's creatures and lands!

Year in Review: 2022

Back in the days of the forums of TexasMagicZone.com, I would usually write a year-end recap of my Magic events. They never made it to the blog and now, like most of my other writing in that forum, they are lost forever. The closes I've come on this blog was a 2016 Resolutions post that I didn't achieve nor ever revisit.

I don't know if I will do these every year going forward, but this seemed like a good year to do it. For past years, I hope the ongoing PWP project will eventually include some year-by-year analysis, but that is not happening any time soon.

Some of the important non-Magic events of the year can provide context. First, I completed my Masters program and graduated in December of 2021. This meant I was no longer balancing work with school and had more free time. My wife and I moved from Texas to New Jersey. COVID is still out there, but with vaccines, boosters, and milder strains, it's not a hinderance to me personally enjoying things in a manner like the before times. 

I'm going to review this year format by format, as I think it paints the best picture of where I'm at currently with Magic.

Old School

This was the year I fully committed to playing Old School. This is because of a few factors. One, moving to New Jersey put me close to many more players and events than Bryan Texas. Two, the competitive play offerings for non Old School no longer had a sizeable advantage over Old School events. The "path to the Pro Tour" was maybe a bit more clear, but the value not the same as previous. The Star City Games circuit also no longer seemed worth travelling very far for. Finally, some fortunate travel plans meant I was going to be in Europe for the WinC0n Old School World Championships and I wanted to make sure I was prepared and doing it right.

The first event I played was an online event put on by the Canadian clubs. I played Atog as part of the non-Canadian Outsiders team. I went 4-1 and helped the team achieve 2nd (or 3rd?) place. I don't know why I didn't write this one up, but I'll put my deck photo here:

The next event I played was the Philly Tournament for Balance where I finished 3rd place. I went 4-2 with AtogShops. You can read the report from that here.

Because of fortunate travel plans, I ended up in Italy for the OS Championships. I played all three events and managed to top 8 the Scryings event. Read about it here.

Next up was the Buffalo Stampede at the end of October. I went 5-1 to finish in 3rd place. link

Simon and I teamed up for TwoHeaded Giant at JawnCon and once again finished in 3rd place.

Lastly, the NAOS Cup at Eternal Weekend, where I broke the 3rd place trend with a 2nd place finish.

So over those eight events and six-ish formats, my record was 32-14. I'd call that a solid showing, and I'm looking forward to improving on it if I can. Mano and Mason said I was the clear "Rookie of the Year" on All Tings Considered. I supposed I'm a rookie as I only played some local Texas events and only one a year from 2019-2021. So if that counts, I don't know who my competition would have been. The criteria of "Mano said so" is easier to understand than Major League Baseball eligibility rules. This feels much more like Dennis Quaid than Thomas Ian Nicholas to me though.

Middle School / Premodern

I played three Romancing the Stones Middle School leagues, one Philly Old School Premodern league, and one IRL Premodern event in New Jersey. I managed to finally top 8 the RTS league after two years of close (and not close) calls. I even made back to back top 8s and almost won one!

February - Dance Party - I played Mesa Enchantress. I thought I wrote about this, but it must have been overlooked in the move. I went 4-2 and lost in the top 8 to MasaH on Parallax Tide Replenish. Here's what I played:

August - Summer School - I played Abzan Aluren and finished in 2nd place. Read about it here

October - Fall Semester - 3-3 with Naya Zoo. link

For Premodern, I played NightmareWhale for both the Philly OS League and the local 1K in New Jersey. I went 1-4 at the local event, but I did win the league. I'll be playing something else in the new year.

I've been trying to withhold judgement, but I now feel like I'm close to forming an opinion on which is better. I'm going to probably focus on Premodern to prepare for Lobstercon and save my final verdict until then, but as of now I think Middle School is better in the areas that matter most.

Modern / Pioneer

In March, I did a blind deck swap with Collin Rountree at the Hunter Burton Memorial Open in DFW. He gave me Amulet Titan, which I had never played before. I killed myself with Summoner's Pact on turn two on camera in round one, and the rest of the event was not much better. Also involved in the blind deck swap was Will Lowry. I cost him a match by accidently swapping his lands for his sideboard so he played a game with no mana in his deck. Oh well, those are the perils of blind deck swap I guess.

The only other Modern event I played was the RCQ I won with Merfolk. I still think Merfolk is sweet and hope I can play it in the upcoming HBMO.

Pioneer was limited to two events, the RC in Atlanta and the side event the day after. If winning the RCQ was my Magic highlight of the year (I don't think it is, but it was the only event I won), then the 0-4 at Atlanta was the lowlight. The side event was fun enough to not turn me off of the competitive circuit play for good, but I'm less excited about future RCQs and RCs for now.

Vintage / Legacy

My only Vintage experience was playing a side event at the Hunter Burton event. I think I went 3-2, with Doomsday, missing out on top 8. I love that they offer sanctioned Vintage at this event every year, and will continue to bring my deck when I attend.

The only Legacy I played was the Legacy Championship at Eternal Weekend. Legacy used to be my favorite format, but now that seems like so long ago. It still looks like it could be fun, but there hasn't been any reason to play. Maybe I will check out the local scene.

Standard

L.O.L.

Other Events

Probably my favorite event of the year was the Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse draft that Andrew Webb hosted in Austin shortly before I moved away. The event also featured IPA Block Constructed, which was a great time as well. I went 3-0 in Draft (see below) and 2-1 in Constructed (with Naya Panther, an inspiration for the MS Zoo deck I played later in the year).

Loot

I believe these are all the fun cards acquired at these events:

Looking Ahead

2022 was a great year for me at finding new ways to enjoy the game I love. I played the least amount of MTGO of any year in probably decades, and almost zero MTG Arena, and still had a great time.  

For 2023, the only event I'm committed to attending is the Scry Hard 2 Scryings event in NJ in January. I am strongly considering both LobsterCon and the HBMO. I would like to plan on attending Eternal Weekend again, if only there was a date to save!

The rest of the schedule is still open. I probably won't be flying to Europe to play Old School, but I haven't ruled it out completely. I may try to play more online webcam Old School events starting with the Winter Derby, but beyond that it will depend on how much I enjoy that one.

Also the Gathering part was great! I met so many new people this year, and they were all great! Some are even greater, but the tier list is a secret.

Until next year,

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

-Ty

White Initiative at Eternal Weekend Legacy Championships

This is already a week later than I wanted, but I had match notes so going to still get it out. Not a lot of deep analysis here though.

As previously mentioned, the only events I got to play at Eternal Weekend were the Thursday Old School event and the Legacy Championships on Saturday. I hadn't played Legacy in over three years, but assumed I would still be playing whatever the current flavor of Blood Moon was. 

Turns out, the current flavor is White and doesn't involve Blood Moon at all.

The Deck

I ordered the Initiative white creatures early enough that I would have them, even though I still didn't know what they did. As the week of the event approached, I finally read all the rooms of the Undercity dungeon and printed out a copy to use. 

Collin Rountree and Jacob Nagro were advocating for a Once Upon a Time build with Mox Diamond and more lands instead of Chrome Mox and Emeria's Call. They also were less interested in the lock pieces of Chalice and Thalia and instead wanted to speed run the dungeon. At the time, this sounded reasonable, but I'm not sure it is the correct approach overall. I went with their advice and played this:

4 White Plume Adventurer

4 Seasoned Dungeoneer

4 Solitude

4 Anointed Peacekeeper

4 Elite Spellbinder

1 Palace Jailer

4 Once Upon a Time

4 Mox Diamond

4 Lotus Petal

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Touch the Spirit Realm

4 City of Traitors

4 Ancient Tomb

4 Cavern of Souls

2 Karakas

2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire

6 Plains

Sideboard

1 Gemstone Caverns

3 Chalice of the Void

1 Containment Priest

2 Cathar Commando

1 Dismember

4 Faerie Macabre

3 Archon of Emeria

Just a few notes here:

Once Upon a Time is strong and lets you find the Cavern of Souls and Initiative creatures way more frequently. It also does the same with important sideboard creatures like Palace Jailer, Containment Priest, and Faerie Macabre. With 4 Mox Diamond and 4 Lotus Petals, we decided that a basic Forest was not needed, and I'm glad that decision was made. Dismember was great and I had two up until the last minute. Should have stayed with two as it answers Empty-Shrine Kannushi, but probably should have also had a Walking Ballista for that since it can also be found off of OUAT. I managed to use Gemstone Caverns twice in eight rounds and lost both games, so maybe it's not worth the sideboard slot. 

The Games

(opponent names taken from MTG Melee)

Round 1 - Adam Prusa on 4-Color Yorion Spellseeker

Game one he had to Force Petal on turn one facing my Cavern opener but the turn two Orc still won easily. Game two I had two Swords to Plowshares and a Dismember to stop his Spellseeker for Ephemerate Shenanigans.

1-0

Round 2 - Mark Kitchenman on Elves
Game one I mulligan to five cards and only have turn one Peacekeeper on the draw. I manage to slow down his development by naming Quirion Ranger but eventually he found a Cradle and Natural Order to kill me. Game two is similar as I have turn one Chalice but he has two Elvish Visionary to continue development. My Archon of Emeria probably isn't doing much but he does Zenith for Grist to kill it, and then Natural Order for Craterhoof kills me again.

1-1

Round 3 - Chad Maurer on Jeskai Miracles

Game one I use Peacekeeper on his Flooded Strand which prevents him from being able to miracle the Triumph of Saint Katherine (yes, I had to read it). He draws some spells which don't interact with Initiative and I win. Game two I get initiative and keep him from using Snapcaster to get it back, but he does miracle Entreat the Angels. At this point, he's too low on life to race so I attack with an Orc with some counters on it to kill one angel. Eventually I kill him with the Undercity. 

2-1

Round 4 - Bryce Morgan on 4-Color Loam
Game one my hand does nothing and he has Swords for my only guy and his creatures win easily. Game two I have turn one Initiative and he didn't have Force of Will. He gets too far behind. Game three I again have turn one initiative and he Brainstorms in response but doesn't find the answer. I have Containment Priest in play when my dungeon reaches the end so that non-bo happened but I was so far ahead that it did not affect the game.

3-1

Round 5 - Brandon Chang on MonoWhite Initiative
Game one I have first initiative but he has Jailer to try to swing the tide. I also have Jailer and being both Monarch and the one with Initiative was too much. Game two he has turn one Empty-Shrine Kannushi so I can't go for Initiative right away. I hold up mana for Eiganjo but he doesn't swing into it. Eventually I play the Orc to get Initiative and try to win the race. I manage to do so by using both Eiganjos after I reveal one to Explore and that with Solitude and a Swords to Plowshares meant I kept Initiative from that point on and won.

4-1

Round 6 - Justin Ryan on Izzet Delver

Game one I have an Orc on turn two and he has Daze. Unfortunately for him, I also had Cavern of Souls. The loss of tempo was too much for him to recover from. Game two I have Chalice for one but he already has a Dragon's Rage Channeler in play. I take about 7 points from it before using Solitude to stop the bleeding. He follows up with Unchained Berserker (!!) and I'm in a tight spot. I draw enough Initiative creatures though to progress the Undercity to the point where I get a Skeleton to block with just in time. He has a Murktide Regent to threaten lethal but I draw Solitude for that. He only draws one-mana spells from that point and I win with Initiative.

5-1

Round 7 - Jeff Kinsey on MonoWhite Initiative

He asks if I played Vintage on Friday and I tell him no. I ask him if he played and he says yes. I ask him what he played and he said "I'd rather not say". Which is basically saying that he's playing Initiative, so I mulligan appropriately. Game one I have first Initiative but then draw five land in a row and lose. Game two I have turn one Dungeoneer and turn two Palace Jailer off of so many Lotus Petals and the advantage of both is too much. Game three I have Gemstone Caverns on the draw, but only have turn one Spellbinder. He shows me a hand with three Orcs and a Dungeoneer. I manage to slow him down but draw too many lands and eventually he can cast Dungeoneer and win. I had a spot where I could block and Dismember to keep iniative but I save my creature to attack back. This made my clock lethal if he doesn't find removal or flyer off of the end of his dungeon and also gave me more outs, but I drew another land. Maybe keeping him from initiative one turn to delay his end of dungeon was the better play.

5-2

Round 8 - Jeffrey Zhang on FiveColor Loam Zenith with Yorion

Game one he has Wasteland and Loam to slow me down but I eventually get some basics and Palace Jailer. Despite all his creatures, he can't get the Monarch from me so this game goes long, even though I'm so far behind from Wasteland I really don't think I can win. Eventually I get Initiative back after he forgets the trigger twice in his upkeep. I reach the end of the dungeon and reveal ten non-creatures off the top so I guess it wasn't meant to be. Game two I have turn one Spellbinder which takes his Abundant Growth and he can't cast any spells. Game three I use three Peacekeepers on the two Swords to Plowshares in his hand but can't find an Initiative card or any other gas to close the door. Eventually he uses Prismatic Ending on one Peacekeeper to unlock the two Swords and all my threats are neutralized. I just play along as he generates tons of value with Yorion and Karakas and I lose.

5-3

I was fairly confident that 7-3 would not make prize, especially after the 5-3 start so I elect to drop instead of coming back to play again on Sunday (which would have cost me another $20 to get on site, what's up with that?)

My Thoughts on Initiative

One of my better skills in Magic is the ability to identify a broken deck when I see one. I've done this many times over my playing career to great success. This event didn't have the success, but I feel the same about this deck as I did with Mythic Conscription, or Dungrove Ramp, or any of the other times I've done this. The following opinions presented with the caveat I have only eight matches of sample size, but on the other side of that coin, keep in mind that its clear to me after just eight matches.

Initiative feels like a weird combination of Eldrazi (for disruptive bodies that end the game quickly), True-Name Nemesis (for the inability to be interacted with), and CawBlade (for board state complexity and decision tree intensity). I think it is an issue and should be addressed. 

The best way to combat Initiative is to play your own Initiative creatures. I don't think the fast mana of Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors would be enough to stop the coming Initiative arms race. There are certainly decks that will improve in a metagame full of Initiative (I think Elves is a good candidate), but that does not mean Initiative is not an issue. There are always metagame decisions to be made when busted cards are around, whether they be Necropotence or Skullclamp or Treasure Cruise or Underworld Breach or whatever. 

There are so many initiative creatures that banning just the best ones might not be good enough. It probably is, but I'm not sure thats a risk worth taking. The only reason to fix the problem with a ban instead of a rules change is to maintain the playability in Vintage. The initiative deck in Vintage is probably good for the format as a whole, but I do not think it is good for Legacy.

Future Legacy

I don't know how much Legacy I'll play in the future. I'll try to play in Eternal Weekend again next year, but don't even know when or why I would play beyond that. Maybe there will be a team event where someone needs a Legacy player and I can join them.

Props:

Philadelphia Convention Center for being great place for big events

Reading Terminal Market 

My wife 

Slops:

Daily badge entry to event sites with only a voucher for side events included

2nd place with TrollAtog at Eternal Weekend North American Old School Magic Cup

This past weekend, Eternal Weekend took place in Philadelphia. I've wanted to participate in EW for a long time now, but have never been able to make it work except for the online version in 2020. This year, it would be only an hour away, so I wanted to play as many events as possible. Unfortunately, work and other commitments meant I would only be able to play in the Legacy Championship on Saturday. 

However, the plans I had on Thursday evening canceled at around 14:30, which left me just enough time to rearrange my schedule to get to Philadelphia and Love City Brewing for the 17:45 player meeting. Luckily, I already had a deck sleeved up in preparation for the upcoming Winter Derby. 

The Deck

4 Atog

4 Sedge Troll

4 Black Vice

1 Jalum Tome

1 Copy Artifact

2 Relic Barrier

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Psionic Blast

1 Fireball    

1 Wheel of Fortune

1 Timetwister

1 Time Walk

1 Ancestrall Recall

1 Chaos Orb

1 City in a Bottle

1 Mind Twist

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Sol Ring

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Pearl

1 Black Lotus

4 Strip Mine

4 Mishra's Factory

4 Volcanic Island

4 Badlands

4 Underground Sea

1 City of Brass

1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard

1 Falling Star

1 Earthquake

2 City in a Bottle

3 Shatter

3 Copper Tablet

2 Gloom

1 Terror

1 Shatterstorm

1 Braingeyser

This is the next iteration of the BottleAtog list I played in Buffalo in October. Once again, the idea is to use City in a Bottle to destroy City of Brass and use the 4x Strip Mine to further constrain the mana. This time I opted for Black instead of White as my support color. This gives access to Demonic Tutor, which means multiple Bottles main deck is no longer necessary. This also gives Mind Twist, which just wins games.

For supplemental threat, I went with Sedge Troll. I was already planning on playing the full eight dual land Swamps, so it was a natural fit. As it is more of a midrange card, I didn't think playing Chain Lightning was necessary. There are no turn one Savannah Lions to clear the way for, and a lot of the creatures that Chain kills are blanked by having a Troll in play. 

The other strategy in the main deck was to not have any non-restricted cards that couldn't be converted into damage. So instead of Shatter or other reactive cards, I played artifacts like Relic Barrier that could be sacrificed to Atog for damage. 

The sideboard options in black aren't quite as good as with white, but they are serviceable. Earthquake is always a consideration when you don't play Savannah Lions and it works fine with Troll. Terror is a reasonable Swords to Plowshares replacement. There isn't an answer to The Abyss or Moat as good as Disenchant, but Gloom does a good enough job at stopping Circle of Protection: Red which is significantly better against the increased red threat count.

The Event

I believe 50 or so players showed up. The brewery was very nice. There was a small hiccup where the bartenders thought it was open bar, but it was sorted out quickly enough before round one to not be a total disaster, and most people ended up with a free beer or two from the mix-up. 

I don't have great notes or full record of pairings, so some names and events might be slightly off.

Round 1 - Jason Castonguay

He did not show up, so I win this round. Lucky

1-0

Round 2 - Brett Attmore - UR Atog

He had basic Island and basic Mountain. Game one he has an early Ankh of Mishra, but is stuck on two mana so while I take 6 damage from it, I'm never in danger of dying and I think I burn him out. I don't remember game two, but it might have involved Mind Twist.

2-0

Round 3 - Andy Callaghan? - MonoGreen Aggro

Game one I have turn one Timetwister but I'm on the draw so its parity vs his land and Llanowar Elf. He has too many cheap beaters to follow up and I don't have enough removal. Game two I think I land a Black Vise and Strip Mine him twice and he's never really in it. Game three he has two Scryb Sprites and an Argothian Pixies, but they get swept up by my Falling Star. I think I have Mind Twist the following turn to ensure the game is locked up.

3-0

Round 4 - Michael Scheffenacker - RUG 12 Bolt with Kird Ape

I win game one with a Demonic Tutor for City in a Bottle to get his City of Brass and Serendib Efreet. Game two he has two Argothian Pixies but I have Earthquake for 1 and then Demonic Tutor for Relic Barrier to stop his Jade Statue. I think I also have Library going for a few turns this game. Eventually I draw some beaters to kill him as he floods out.

4-0

Round 5 - Will Parshall - Atog

Game one he has early Vise and Ankh, but is losing to my board presence. I'm two points short of killing him with Atogs when he draws Ancestral to find the burn he needs to kill me. I maybe could have avoiding playing one land, but I'm not sure. Game two I don't remember but I think I win quickly with Vise and Timetwister. Game three I keep a hand with Lotus, Time Walk, Badlands, Factory, Atog, Demonic Tutor, Psionic Blast. He has turn one Vise so my first turn is Badlands Lotus Atog Time Walk to avoid Vise damage. I have drawn City in a Bottle for the extra turn but no other mana source. I play City instead of Demonic Tutor in order to wait for more information and to have protection for my Atog from a bolt. He has Chain Lightning which I sacrifice the Bottle to save Atog. He also has Strip Mine for my Factory. I never draw another mana source and die to his Vise and Factory shortly after. There is some debate whether to tutor for a Mox, or to mulligan the hand, but I'm not sure either play is better than taking the occasional loss to Strip Mine.

4-1

Round 6 - I don't remember who I played this round - Shops

Game one I'm ahead with some Vise and Atog damage. He has two Icy holding me down, but then draws the sixth mana to play Triskelion. This gives me a turn to Timetwister into another Vise and two Lightning Bolt which is enough to finish him off. Game two he has an early Su-Chi and Copy. I have turn one Library so I start digging. I use Shatter to kill one and then Mind Twist to get the two Trikes in his hand when he's on five mana. I manage to get Relic Barrier to stop the other Su-Chi beats. Eventually Library finds me enough burn to end the game before he can find any more threats.

5-1

Will Parshall ends up the lone undefeated for first place. I have the best tiebreakers of the 5-1s and take second place. I select the Winter Orb for my prize.

Conclusion

The deck performed about as expected. I don't think this build is the best way to build Atog but I think it has unique advantages. I've still yet to face anyone on The Deck with these builds so the viability there is still just theoretical.

The event was a great time. Thanks to Jimmy for putting it on with short notice.

Props:

Love City Brewing - beer was fine, but rolling with the open bar / cash bar mix up was nice. The venue was a great spot for event

Philadelphia parking - I've shit on Philly parking and road layout previously, but this area was very easy to get to and I didn't struggle to find street parking. Probably not good enough for a true "prop", but in the interest of fairness I'll put them here

My wife Beth for allowing me last minute to go to the event after our other plans fell through

Slops:

Strip Mine - just when you think 4 Strip is no big deal after 10 rounds of it, Strip Mine is there to remind you who the boss is. (I've got nothing against 4 Strip formats, just salty about the round 5 loss)