Lobstercon 2023

This is my Lobstercon report.

Thursday

I take the train into Boston. Only slightly longer than driving, plus I'm able to get some work done while travelling. I get to the AirBNB which is a two minute walk from the venue (props to Will for booking!). I meet Svante for the first time. We discuss our decks while I take my deck photos. Will and Lucy show up and we then Uber over to DFB's house for the evening. It was a lot of fun, but not much to report besides some photos. 

Photo credit to DFB's daughter

When the sun goes down, the ante decks come out

My cube draft deck with the full Opposition plus Blinding Angel lock to deck Aaron Dicks through his Worship

The Uber ride back featured an extremely cute copilot

Friday

For Premodern, I did not do as much preparation as I would have liked. In the end, I decided to play Land Tax before it gets banned. I also have these sweet Land Tax from [redacted] event that I wanted to use. I didn't have any practice with it, so my main goal was to avoid any draws. Here is my list:

CounterParfaitOath

After playing four rounds, I think that the Counterspells were there worst part of the deck. Gush and Foil are great, should have played more Foil. I don't know what the best way to build the Parfait deck is but I think it has Oath and probably fewer counters, if not zero like Lanny's top 8 list.

Round 1 - Joshua Nyer on Mono Blue StifleNought

Game one he has an early Dreadnought that I cannot answer. I have Oath of Druids into Ancestor's Chosen for enough life to make it interesting when combined with my Ivory Tower. He has a second Dreadnought and I don't find an answer to either and die. Game two I have Annul for the first Dreadnought and Swords to Plowshares for the second one. I then resolve two Meddling Mage on Dreadnought and Boomerang and he concedes. Game three goes very long. I answer a the first Dreadnought with Annul and resolve a Meddling Mage. He has Null Rod to stop my Scroll Rack and Mox Diamond. I have Land Tax plus Sylvan but he's avoiding the Tax. Eventually he uses Powder Keg along with Vision Charm on his Null Rod to remove the Meddling Mage. I find another Meddling Mage after Swords on his Dreadnought. Time is running low when I find second Mage. He's at 16 life when time is called on his turn. I need to find third Mage to play on turn one of extra turns to kill him exactly. He tries to tell me his turn was turn one, but I don't fall for the trick (weird angle shoot?). I do find the third mage and my hand of three Counterspell plus Foil is able to stop his last ditch effort to mill me with two Vision Charm plus Stifle on my Blessing trigger. I attack for exactly lethal on turn five of extra turns. 

1-0

Round one at table one.

Round Two - Roland Chang on Mono Blue Dreadnought

Game one he has Foil for my Land Tax but I resolve a Scroll Rack. A Gush on my turn after I Rack end of his turn was going to let me play Swords on his Dreadnought with Counterspell backup, but I somehow dexterity errored the Mox Diamond I needed to the wrong part of the top of my library. Game two my deck did not do much and he was able to stick a 12/12 before I had Counterspell up.

1-1

Round Three - Tino Galizio on MonoRed Goblins

Game one I have turn two Oath of Druids that hits Ancestor's Chosen for 31 extra life. Eventually I'm able to win. Game two he has no plays until turn three Sulfuric Vortex. I have hard cast Shard Phoenix and Ancestor's Chosen to try to get aggressive. He uses Pyrokinesis plus Lightning Bolt to clear my board. I have an Engineered Plague and a Hydroblast for the Vortex. Eventually I find Oath of Druids for Akroma and win in short order.

2-1

Round Four - Joel Bowers on Sligh

Game one I mulligan to six and bottom Shard Phoenix. I have turn one Oath if I draw a land but I miss. I play the Flooded Strand in my hand. Turn two I draw an Island for the Mox Diamond but have to shuffle in order to play Oath. This means I'm no longer guaranteed to hit Ancestor's Chosen and indeed I hit Phoenix. It is useful but not enough against his follow up Ball Lightnings and Browbeats. Game two I keep a very bad hand in retrospect with Island, Ivory Tower, Land Tax, Oath of Druids but no other mana. I play turn one Tower but he has Black Vise. I don't find any more mana and he has turn three Sulfuric Vortex to lock up the game.

2-2

Me with my round four opponent, aka Coach Beard and Trent Crimm

After the poor play of round four, I decide to drop from the event. I think Premodern is in a weird spot and I wasn't convinced on playing any deck in particular. Maybe by next Lobstercon I'll have a better idea about what I want to do.

The rest of Friday involved a cube draft where I went 3-0 6-0, but my team lost so I had to ship Mano $20. Then there was excitement in birding the ante 40k matches where a Savannah, Taiga, Chaos Orb, and Mishra's Workshop all exchanged hands. Finally there was the Old School themed Cards Against Humanity that was a great time. Plus the bartenders made an extra extra strong Jack and Coke that made the night better.

Much better than normal CAH

Saturday

I had a particular deck in mind for several weeks, but I realized last week that the deck I wanted to play was Swedish legal so I decided to hold off on it for a different time. Instead I switched to Shops, since I've only played with my Shops one other time since acquiring them. I wanted to play Atog but I didn't want to play White for Armageddon, Swords, or Disenchant. I was going to play Winter Orb instead of Armageddon but a last minute conversation with Will Magrann convinced me to play Blood Moon instead. In the end, my deck looked like this:

AtogMoonShops

I think this deck is very good. I really like playing impactful permanents like The Abyss, City in a Bottle, and Blood Moon instead of reactive cards like Swords to Plowshares and Red Elemental Blast. The Atogs were only okay throughout the day. I think I would want to play another mana source over Braingeyser and a Shatter over an Atog. The extra artifact creatures were also only okay. They were nice to have when playing both Blood Moon and The Abyss but I don't know if all four were necessary or what the correct mix is. I could also see reworking the manabase to fit some basic Islands in as I was siding out Copy Artifact in almost every matchup where I brought in Blood Moon. 

Round One - Nicky Scars on LionDibBolt

Game one I keep a hand with Black Lotus, Fellwar Stone, Su-Chi, Chaos Orb, Blood Moon, City in a Bottle and Mishra's Workshop. Except when I start my turn one, I realize the Shop was instead a Factory. I play turn one Su-Chi but never find another mana source and die. Game two I have a turn two Timetwister and then plays multiple Su-Chi plus an Ancestral Recall. He tries to race with Serendib and Serra, but I also have Time Walk and win with the Su-Chis plus three Factory. Game three I have The Abyss for his Serendib and then Blood Moon. I Wheel of Fortune into Black Lotus to Demonic Tutor for Mox Sapphire and Timetwister. He can't really beat the Blood Moon

1-0

This Shatterstorm was not enough for my opponent

Round Two - Ryan Rudolph on MotiSummer

Game one I have two early Su-Chi that attack him to 8 life before he resolves Balance. After the Balance, I resolve an Icy Manipulator which lets me resolve a Triskelion. He has a Serra and a Moti but misses the lethal line of Recall on Time Walk because he didn't realize I had taken 8 mana burn from the Su-Chis. I'm able to win exactly with two Factory and Triskelion damage before he can kill me. Game two I have turn one Blood Moon but he has Plains and Disenchant. My Clay Statue is met with Swords to Plowshares but I have Mana for his Jayemdae Tome. I then Timetwister and pass with four mana up. He tries to Mind Twist my hand, but I have Mana Drain along with Ancestral Recall and Red Elemental Blast to stop it. I then play another Blood Moon and some Su-Chi and win. I had Abyss in play most of the game which he never could answer because he has to hit the Blood Moon instead.

2-0

Round Three - Tim Atwood on Siren's Call

Game one he has a Will-O'-The-Wisp but light on mana. My Icy plus Relic Barrier for his Factory let me get some beats in and a Copy Artifact on Icy taps his Sengir and he never does much of anything. Game two I have him mostly locked out with Mind Twist and The Abyss but my hand doesn't have a way to win. I decide to go for Blood Moon + Timetwister to close the game out. He plays a Disk but I have Chaos Orb. His second Disk clears the board and he has Library active. I'm running out of time when I topdeck Disintegrate for exactly lethal.

3-0

Round Four - Will Setzer on The Deck with Serra

Game one I'm firmly in the lead but struggling to close the game out against his Serra Angel and Factories. My Icy can hold off the damage but not making any progress. Eventually I find Copy for the Icy and get him in range. He plays out two more Serra and I'm still short. The next turn I have lethal but instead I Mind Twist him, which doesn't leave me enough mana to activate all my Factory and kill him. After my attack he finds Time Walk after using Tome in upkeep and Sylvan in draw step and I die to the Serra Angels. Game two I have Blood Moon early but he has Disenchant. The Abyss takes out a Serra but he has Moat to stop me from attacking. I play a Wheel discarding Time Walk and Timetwister to try to get something going but he has a second Moat. We play draw go for several turns while he has Counterspell for my Icy's and Blood Moon. We end up at a spot where he has two cards left in his deck and he goes for Timetwister. I have Red Elemental Blast, but he has the last Counterspell. If I could have found another Blood Moon, Mana Drain, Braingeyser, or Ancestral by this point I would have decked him. I concede as we head into turns since I'm down a game. Punished for throwing away game one.

3-1

Round Five - Phillip Keffer on LionDibBolt

Game one he has turn one Lion and I have turn one Library. He attacks and plays Time Walk turn two but no follow up threat or third mana source. I play a Workshop and a Mox and go for a Triskelion on my turn three, but he has Power Sink! He still has no follow up mana so my second Triskelion resolved. He plays Swords to Plowshares on it, so I shoot the Lion and gain 3 life back to 15. I then resolve a Su-Chi and he finally gets third mana for Serendib. I Copy the Su-Chi and start attacking. He tries to race with two more Serendib but I have Triskelion and another Copy to win the game. Game two I have turn two Icy and then a Su-Chi which is countered then a Clay Statue which is Swords. He has no threat besides a Factory which I keep locked down with Icy. He Mind Twists me for three cards when my hand is Ancestral, Icy, The Abyss, and City in a Bottle. I'm left with the Bottle, which I use to take out his two City of Brass. He is lacking red mana at this point and I draw Strip Mine for his Plateau when he draws it. I chip in damage with a Factory for several turns before eventually resolving a Triskelion. He has a Serendib to make it interesting but I finally draw the red source I need for Blood Moon and he concedes.

4-1

Round Six - Andres Hojman on Four Color Black

Game one he has Mind Twist for six on turn two. I resolve a Su-Chi but then misplay by not using Strip Mine on his only white source, allowing him to Swords it and beat with a Troll and two Factory. I wanted to save my sixth mana in case I drew Triskelion but I don't think that was correct. I can't recover and lose. Game two my first hand has no mana, my second hand is Workshop, Workshop, Badlands, Time Walk, Icy, Blood Moon, and The Abyss. I think for a while and decide to mulligan but I'm still not sure. My five card hand is Workshop, Workshop, Library, Factory, Lotus, Mind Twist, Tetravus. I decide to put the Library and Factory on the bottom and Twist for two on turn one. I then play a turn two Tetravus but he has a Disenchant I can't really recover.

4-2

Round Seven - Simon Christie on Green Aggro with Black and Blue

Game one he has some early beats with Scryb Sprite but I resolve a Timetwister and then a Time Walk. There is some confusion about whether his Scavenger Folk was active on my second turn in response to a Blood Moon, but we play it as it wasn't active. This ends up doing additional four damage to me from mana burn as he uses it to kill my Su-Chi on his turn instead of my. However, I have two Triskelion by this point and an Icy for his Pixies and I win. Game two he has Library turn one so I get aggressive and play Factory Copy and Atog turn one. A second Atog lets me stay aggressive but he gets several Pixies. At some point I'm flooding out and I draw Demonic Tutor and search up The Abyss, but I'm too far behind and he has Whirling Dervish plus Crumble for my Icy to win. Game three I keep him off blue mana with Chaos Orb and Copy Artifact. Eventually I resolve a Blood Moon and some Atogs do enough damage to win.

5-2

The 2HG team must face each other

Round Eight - Colin Smith on MonoRed Goblins

Game one he has turn one Black Vise but my turn one is Lotus Workshop Triskelion. I Copy the Trike on turn three to wipe his board and avoid any Goblin Grenades and win easily. Game two he has turn one Vise once again. My turn one is Factory, Lotus, Copy the Factory, Copy the Factory. Turn two I play another Factory and a Su-Chi so I have four Factory in play on turn two. He does have Blood Moon to somewhat mitigate this. He then goes for a Wheel of Fortune but I have more Su-Chi and Atog plus Falling Star for his Goblins. A Disintegrate plus Atog finishes him off.

6-2

Four Factories on turn two

I finished 21st place. Misplays in round four hurt me, but the misplays in round six probably didn't matter. I really like this deck and continue to think that Workshops is the best thing you can do in Atlantic. I might play it again for Summer Derby with a few updates. I learned that Shatter is really good in conjunction with Blood Moon. I also think I need at least one more REB.

After the event, we found some tacos at the only place that was still open. We ran into the central PA crew there and joined tables for a nice dinner. Afterwards, everyone went to State Park bar for shenanigans and ante matches. However, my foot was in extreme pain somehow so I went home early to sleep it off. I'm sorry I didn't get to hang out with everyone after the fact but I had a blast all weekend.

Props / Slops

Props:

Everyone involve for putting on the event.

Will Magrann for setting up the lodging and helping me with my list

Simon for everything despite the confusion in round seven

Andy Baquero for finally getting me a Sisters of the Flame shirt

Andy Blaufarb for getting me a Philadelphia Old School shirt

Money drafting still rules, even if I had to pay while going 3-0

The Houston Falling Stars

The Sisters of the Flame

Alter Ante Report

I recently played in the Alter Ante Tournament hosted by Old Order Old School in York, PA. The format and event were fantastic and I wanted to share some stories from the weekend.

Format Overview

Quick summary: Build a deck between $4k and $7k according to the official values posted. Reprints are okay. Matches will be best of one for ante. You don't lose cards from your deck, but you make a proxy card for the winner that can be added to their deck. 

The cost restrictions made for an interesting brewing process. Black Lotus was banned as it was over $7k by itself. Other cards like Time Walk and Timetwister cost more money than they were probably worth. Deciding to include Ancestral Recall, or Mishra's Workshop, or any Mox would significantly restrict the rest of the deck.

Brewing Process

I built a spreadsheet that would auto-calculate the value of various decks. In preparation I made about 15 tabs on the sheet of different decks. Most of these weren't serious contenders, just thought experiments to see what was possible. A few truths emerged almost immediately: every deck would probably play the three restricted Black cards (Demonic Tutor, Contract from Below, and Mind Twist), and Fellwar Stone was a reasonable replacement for Moxen and would also usually count as a Black source.

I don't have any experience with regular ante formats, but my impression was that they are somewhat slow and grindy in nature. With that in mind, I identified Braingeyser as the potential "most valuable card" at only $60. Wheel of Fortune and Library of Alexandria also stood out as being undercosted. Overcosted cards like Serendib Efreet and Juzam Djinn would not be making an impact.

The other major constriction was dual lands. The cheapest dual lands were still over $300, and deciding to try to play a three-color mana base would take up the entire budget. Undergroud Sea cost twice the amount of City of Brass. I also decided that playing any Moxen was probably not worth it, but this may have been a mistake.

There were two lists I seriously considered. The first was a RW Atog list with Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra to exploit the lack of Moxen, and Savannah Lions plus Armageddon to close out games as fast as possible. I've played Atog a lot recently and decided to skip it this time. Instead, I ended up on a UW Skies list with Serra Angel, Mahamoti Djinn, and Control Magic. It was designed to be a tap-out style of control deck and I wanted to minimize targets for Disenchant and Divine Offering by not playing Jayemdae Tome.

Here is the deck I started the event with ($6927): 

The Weekend

My wife and I went down to York early Friday evening. We had dinner and some beer at Collusion Tap Works. I had one of the best hamburgers I've ever eaten. The Ghost Pepper Burger:

The next morning, we checked out the market where the event would take place later in the day. I had a delicious Crab Cake Grilled Cheese for lunch:

The rest of the afternoon before the event we spent walking around York and seeing some of the historic spots. It's a small enough town that it didn't take too long and soon it was time to begin the tournament.

The Event

Each player was assigned a pod. You had to play everyone else in the pod plus five wild card games from outside the pod in order to get a final record. The best record in each pod would make the top four. I figured a 9-2 record would be a lock for top four, 8-3 would be mostly safe, and 7-4 may come down to tiebreakers if you made it at all.

I was in the Balance pod and you can see my scorecard here:

It is a lot harder to remember details from matches when they are single games. I played sixteen games total on the day, but each was against a different opponent. My brain is not used to that, so the best I can do is maybe remember what deck each player was on. I didn't play these in the order here either.

Geoff was on a RW Tax/Edge deck. I think I stuck a Mahamoti and had Counterspell for his Wheel of Fortune for the win. I won a Planes.

Nate Shue I don't remember this one. Maybe this was the game he tried to double Giant Growth plus Berserk into my Swords to Plowshares.  I won a Demonic Tutor I think.

Jason Beaupre was on a RG deck with Channel and Fireball. I had Mind Twist for five on turn four and it wasn't really a game. I won a Taiga.

Chris Zach beat me with turn two Sinkhole and turn three Hypnotic Specter and I never found a white mana source. I gave him a Mahamoti Djinn.

Don was on UW and had turn one Library of Alexandria, but I was able to play enough big fliers to kill him before he could recover from a slight mana stumble. I won a Recall.

Mike R was on a UW deck with Copy Artifact and Su-Chi. My fliers won the race against his artifact army. I won a Jayemdae Tome.

I don't remember what Jeremy played, but I think I won Sedge Troll. *edit - this was the game I won Pixies and also the game where opponent went for double Giant Growth plus Berserk*

I don't remember how I lost to Ryan but I lost another Mahamoti Djinn.

Stephanie was on GW Enchantress and never drew more than two mana. I won a Strip Mine fittingly.

Mike M was on RG and I think I won Argothian Pixies. I won Sedge Troll but don't remember the game. 

Nate G beat me with multiple Fireballs on my Serra Angels and I lost an Island.

My record was 8-3, but I could still play games to try to win more cards. Also, at three losses you could donate $10 to add a Mox to your deck so I added a Mox Sapphire.

I beat Mark with Serra plus Spirit Link on turn five. He made a sweet Armageddon for me: 

Mike the third - I don't remember but I lost a Serra Angel I think.

I beat Dan but don't remember the game. He made an Italian Wheel of Fortune for me.

Mase beat me with Mind Twist into Contract and had Fireball before I could finish him off with my Factories. I think I gave him an Island.

Ian beat me with Atog and Black Vise. I didn't have double blue mana for Counterspell when he had Contract. I don't remember which card I drew for him.

Somewhere in there, dinner was served. Excellent food from the Italian place in the market. The macaroni and cheese was delicious.

Here are all the cards I "won" in ante:

After all was said and done, I won the Balance pod with the 8-3 record. The other pod winners were Ian on Red Atog, Levi on UW Aggro (with three Sol Ring, six Mishra's Factories, and five Su-Chi), and Mano on mono-white Howling Mine deck. Mano and I had the same record and hadn't played each other, so we high rolled to see who would be third seed vs fourth seed. I lost and had to play against Levi in the top four. At this point, my deck looks like this:

Levi made short work of me in the top four with a never ending stream of Factory beats. He won a Balance from me that he would want to use in the finals against Ian. Mano lost almost as quickly as I did, but then claimed that we didn't need to play for third place since he already won the die roll. I had already played the most games of anyone on the day but wouldn't have minded playing one more, but I guess the small amount of value for picking third on the prize cards was not something Mano wanted to risk in a game of "Ante".

Ian won over Levi in the finals after some mistakes were made despite being Mind Twisted for four on turn three. Congrats to Ian!

The patch is great. Erg Raiders for most games played was a nice bonus!

Thoughts on Things

The venue was great. The hosts were great. The tournament structure was good until I couldn't play a game to try to win third place. The format was a lot of fun. I don't think it makes me want to play actual ante though. 

Some tweaks I would consider for the format: 

1. Make Chaos Orb $1. I felt bad for not playing Orb in an Old School event, but didn't think I would miss it that much compared to it's $840 price tag when I had Disenchant and Swords to Plowshares and Counterspell in my deck. I think everyone should be playing Orb whenever possible and this would make it so.

2. Un-restrict the non-Contract ante cards. The best part of the event was seeing which cards you could get. Since no one is losing the cards for real, there isn't any feel-bad from Darkpact or Tempest Efreet, and I'd love to see people trying to use them more often.

3. Un-restrict Mishra's Workshop. The base format is Swedish so its restricted, but the price could be prohibitively expensive and it isn't possible to play more than two anyway. The same argument could be made for the Moxen as well.

4. Originally, I thought putting all dual lands to the same price would be a good change. I was worried that the best deck would be RWB that could utilize the cheaper dual lands. I no longer think this should be the case, but could be worth considering.

My deck was fine. I misidentified how good the blue cards would be. The mana was a bit rough even though I went to great lengths to make it better. Maybe I didn't need Factory since it rarely won me any games and didn't do much blocking. Land Tax and Ivory Tower would have been better than Control Magic and Factory I think. The format was a bit faster than expected as people were more willing to play expensive cards than in normal ante.

Overall, it was an A-plus event. I'm always excited to brew a new format.

Props and Slops

Props:

Mike Frantz for everything he did to put on the event.

Levi and rest of Old Order Old School for being great hosts.

Ian for winning the event.

All the opponents for making fun proxy cards.

All the great food.

My wife Beth for coming along and exploring York with me.

Slops:

Levi for punting in the finals.

Mano for not battling me for third place.

Me for not remembering match details like I normally would. 

Food Chain Goblins in Middle School

Over the past two months I've been playing in the latest Middle School league run by Romancing the Stones. For this league, I played a twist on a common deck: Food Chain Goblins. For various reasons, I wanted to have a deck that was both Premodern and Middle School legal.

Back in 2003-2005, I almost exclusively played Goblins in Onslaught Block, Standard, and Extended. I've had enough reps that I didn't feel the need to play a stock-ish list, but then I was hit by intense nostalgia. My wife bought a space heater for our bathroom, and the smell of it triggered memories of sitting on my bedroom floor goldfishing Food Chain goblins (with no Lackey or Recruiter, but with Chrome Mox) in the winter of 2004. I remember thinking the deck was good enough back then, though I abandoned it for Aether Vial when Darksteel came out. Neither of the powerful artifacts are legal in Middle School though, so I thought I'd revisit Food Chain and see if there was anything there.

The Deck

4 Goblin Lackey

4 Mogg Fanatic

1 Skirk Prospector

1 Sparksmith

4 Goblin Piledriver

4 Goblin Matron

4 Goblin Warchief

2 Goblin Sharpshooter

4 Goblin Ringleader

1 Goblin Pyromancer

2 Gempalm Incinerator

3 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Food Chain

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Karplusan Forest

1 Forest

12 Mountain

1 Mossfire Valley

Sideboard

3 Pyrokinesis

4 Naturalize

2 Goblin King

4 Tormod's Crypt

2 Goblin Tinkerer

Food Chain Goblins in Premodern/Middle School is missing the other key card, Goblin Recruiter, but that doesn't mean the card is without application. Having a combo kill that can go off with no prior board presence besides the enchantment can be good against sweepers and Oath of Druids. It can also be a more consistent turn four kill when you are trying to be as fast as possible. Goblins can kill as early as turn three, but generally is in the turn four to turn five goldfish range.

To enable the combo, I played one Goblin Pyromancer to search for. This is usually enough damage to kill with just three other hasty goblins. It also means you are less reliant on continuing to find Matron and Ringleader when comboing. Sparksmith is a card I think is underplayed in goblins in general but I could only fit the one copy in. I played one Prospector because some combo lines with Sharpshooter require a sacrifice outlet but I'm not a fan of it in general.

I did not play any Rishadan Port or Wasteland and played only 22 land. This is probably too few by one. The deck needs some kind of mana disruption in post board games when you aren't trying to combo. I would lean toward Port over Wasteland. Mossfire Valley was better than City of Brass in one game, but significantly worse in another and I would not play it again. Nine green sources is probably enough anyway.

The Games

Round 1 - Robert on Ponza

Game one I stick early Food Chain and he doesn't have a good way to stop me from casting a bunch of goblins with it. Game two I keep a three land Food Chain hand with several Ringleader but he has turn one Black Vise and turn three Stone Rain to set me back. I die before I can play anything. Game three I keep hand with two land and Food Chain but fail to draw the third land in time and he has multiple Stone Rain to stop me and I die.

0-1

Round 2 - Rajah on the Rock

I don't remember this match too well. I do know game three I have Naturalize for Plague and draw all four Mogg Fanatic as well as Gempalm my own creature in response to a Spinning Darkness to do just enough damage to win.

1-1

Round 3 - Paul on Psychatog

Game one I play Lackey into Warchief Lacky Piledriver. All he plays is an Island and concedes. I board like he's on Dreadnaught. He catches me a bit off guard with turn three Engineered Plague, but I still manage to play a Warchief and a Ringleader. Hoping to draw a Naturalize. He has Cunning Wish for Tsabo's Decree and I concede. Game three he has Force SPike Hydrobalst and two Force of Will so he's able to stop my early plays while being stuck with just two Islands. I slightly flood out and can't punish him while he's mana light and eventually he gets two Psychatog in play and follows up with Intuition for Wonder to fly over and kill me. Really needed Port or Pyroblast for this matchup.

1-2

Round 4 - Lorien on a not very good deck

Game one he has StP for my Lackey. I follow up with Piledriver into Matron into Ringleader. All he has is a morph, but his four lands are Plains, Wasteland, Wasteland, Factory so he can't flip it. I find a Gempalm Incinerator but use it on the Factory when he tries to block since I have Goblin Pyromancer in my hand to beat a potential Exalted Angel. He misses a land drop and concedes before I can play it. Game two he has turn one Mother of Runes which I use Fanatic to kill. He follows up with Meddling Mage on Ringleader and a morph, but I force a trade of Meddling Mage with my Goblin Warchief and get damage through with a Piledriver. He is stuck on three land so plays another morph. I then play out two Warchief and the following turn a Ringleader and Piledriver. He never finds a fourth land and concedes. 

2-2

Round 5 - Chad on GW Threshold Wayfarer

Game one he plays to Nimble Mongoose but doesn't have threshold. I only have one land but have Fanatic and Prospector to hold off attacks. He plays two 2/2 Terravore but I still can't find second land. I draw it finally and Gempalm one Terravore and trade Fanatic for the other. Now he has threshold and plays out two Weathered Wayfarer. I draw third land and can resolve Food Chain before he Wastelands my Karplusan Forest. He attacks me down to 5 but I untap and play Warchief, exile prospector for a Matron, find another Warchief and play a Ringleader. Ringleader finds another Ringleader and a Matron, and it is easy to kill from there by playing out hand and finding Pyromancer. Game two he once again has two Nimble Mongoose but no Mox to speed up his development. He has Swords for my turn two Piledriver but I follow up with two Warchief and two Sharpshooter. A Ringleader finds a Piledriver. He has CoP: Red to mitigate some of the damage but its not enough when I have Fanatic and Gempalm on my own creature to untap the two Sharshooters several times.

3-2

I finished in 13th place, not particularly close to top 8. 

Takeaways

Food Chain won me two games that no other card would have and that I would not have won otherwise. I left it in after sideboarding in round one and round five, but I don't think they are common matchups. The base Goblin cards felt very strong without Food Chain. I think it could be something to further explore given a particular expected metagame. I will continue to work on this and its a possibility for LobsterCon.

Pyknite in Original Six NEOS Monthly

Throughout February, I've been playing in the New England Old School Monthly event. This month was the first to use what has come to be called as "Original Six". This means the first six Magic expansions are legal: Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires, and Ice Age. Another way to look at it is Atlantic with core set ABUR replaced by Ice Age.

The format was fun to prepare for and I'm excited to explore it more. Here is a bit about my process and the games I played.

The Brewing Process

I started brewing in a familiar place: 8 elves. I knew without Moxen that mana Elves would be much stronger. Pyroclasm was a concern, but Pendelhaven was enticing. I knew from All-Ice constructed that Pyknite was actually playable, and even more when you can pump with the land. I love playing with Borderland Ranger and Silvergil Adept, and if you squint, Pyknite almost looks the same.

Side Story about Pyknite

I was in sixth grade and just turned 13 years old. The only cards I owned were a Blue-White "preconstructed"* deck of mostly Revised cards, a 4th Edition gift box, and the Ice Age Starter deck that was my first Magic purchase. I had these cards with me at school and during lunch another student** wanted to see what I had for trade. He thumbed through my Ice Age cards and pulled out a Pyknite. He asked me if I would trade him the Pyknite. I read the card several times but couldn't figure out why anyone would ever want this card. But since I was still mostly new to the game, I assumed I was missing something. I told him it wasn't for trade. He asked again, telling me all the ways that the card wasn't good. This further increased my suspicion that the card was secretly good, so I again refused. He then changed strategy, saying that it was actually really good and he offered me any card from his deck for it. At this point, I think I figure out I'm just being messed with, so I once again refuse. He finally admits he's just messing with me, and tells me that the card is indeed as bad as I thought. Then he asks if I would give him the card. Clearly, this was part of a con, and I'm no sucker, so I refused for a fourth time. Eventually he left me alone, but I would now always associate Pyknite with this day. Ironically, the card's power level was probably better than the average card in either of our decks, but I don't know how many people in the world at that time would have even known.

*Back then, stores would sell a somewhat playable pile of commons, uncommons, and basics for $10 or $20 bucks to new players.

**Funnily enough, this person still plays Magic occasionally and I've ran into him at various stores in the Houston area over the years. I doubt he would remember this story though. Hi Travis, if you're reading this!

Brewing Continued-

I then began to get a sense for what the bulk of the deck would be. Early mana creatures and Pyknites to smooth draws. Midrange beaters like Erhnam Djinn and Spitting Slug. Thermokarst, Stunted Growth, and Icy Manipulator for disruption. Triskelion as the high end, possibly with Hurricane, to close out games after drawing lots of land. And Arena, because its awesome. 

The last time I tried to play Arena, I found out it was not legal after winning a particularly great game with it. This time, I made sure to double-check before the event:

I don't know if it was ever "officially" made legal, but that wasn't going to stop me at this point. Some grey area between begging forgiveness and asking permission. Here was one of the early drafts:

I went back and forth on the singleton Mishra's Workshop. Maybe with Su-Chi it would be worth it. Nature's Lore isn't very great, but does give the deck some stuff to do in the early turns when the mana Elves don't show up, while also letting the deck play like it has fewer lands in it. I was really excited to play Johtull Wurm with Arena. I only owned one Ifh-Biff at the time. The deck probably needs Giant Growth as well.

It ended up being surprisingly similar to the classic Legion Land Loss*** deck that Raphael Levy won a GP with in 1997. I hadn't seen the decklist in years, and was shocked to see a lot of the same ideas I had when I looked it up. Triskelion and Icy I assumed were concessions to the Old School format, but apparently they were strong enough in Extended back in the day!

***Coincidentally, about a week ago Levy shared the link to the decklist and a quick story of the history. Be sure to check out some of the original tournament reports in the comments of that link! Really cool!

Nature's Lore and shuffling had me thinking about Sylvan Library. I decided to see if Ice Age had any other cool shuffle effects, and I found a great one in Altar of Bone. This meant I could play a second color. Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant would give the deck a lot more interaction early game before hitting three mana. Disenchant in particular was enticing because of the expected Land Tax / Ivory Tower decks. Untamed Wilds was about the same as Nature's Lore, and let me play just enough white sources. Also, Brushland, Plains, and City of Brass are not Forests for Erhnam Djinn, something that actually came up in one game.

There weren't any great Silver Bullet targets for Altar of Bone really. It did justify the singleton Ifh-Biff, and Lhurgoyf would likely be a better Johtull Wurm with sacrificing. Mostly it meant having two extra Triskelion in the deck.

I wasn't sure if Swords to Plowshares needed to be maindeck or not, but I'm glad I played some. Seraph and Spirit Link mostly fun meme cards, though I did get to put Seraph into the Arena once. The card I was most scared of now was Maze of Ith, since I no longer had Thermokarst or Icy Manipulator to answer it, and Armageddon was not legal. Otherwise, I think I had most of the bases covered.

4 Fyndhorn Elves

4 Elves of Deep Shadow

4 Pyknite

4 Erhnam Djinn

1 Lhurgoyf

1 Iff-Biff Efreet

4 Triskelion

4 Untamed Wilds

2 Altar of Bone

2 Sylvan Library

3 Swords to Plowshares 

3 Disenchant

1 Arena

3 Pendelhaven

4 Mishra's Factory

1 Strip Mine

7 Forest

4 Brushland 

2 Plains

2 City of brass

Sideboard

1 Disenchant

2 Hurricane

1 Essence Filter

1 Spirit Link

1 Library of Alexandria

3 Whirling Dervish

3 Stunted Growth

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Seraph

1 Arena

After playing the rounds, I think I'd like to have one more Sylvan Library. It was very strong even with just six shuffle effects. The games seemed a lot slower and plenty of opportunity to pay 4 life to dig a bit deeper. Pyknite can dig you through some more cards as well. I'd also reconsider not playing Library of Alexandria main, and find room for some way to beat Maze. Thermokarst  as a way to beat Maze and Library could get back in the deck.

The Games

Round 1 Jared Doucette on Black splash red

Game one he plays Hymn and some Orders/Knights. I'm holding him off with Pendelhaven and Pyknites and then I draw Triskelion to win. Game two he turn two Consults for Juzam to cast it off Dark Ritual, but I have the Swords to Plowshares. I have Pendelhaven plus Elves and Pyknites along with Arena to keep him off of Orders. I kill him with Erhnam I think

1-0

Round 2 Casey Evan Herndon on WW with Green splash

Game one we both have Pendelhaven so his Tundra Wolves beats stop early. I have Sylvan going and eventually find Triskelion to take care of his team and kill him with Erhnam. Game two he has two Javelineers which I'm forced to Swords to resolve some Elves. He draws three Aeolipile to take care of the Elves anyway. He only has two mana though so I get in some attacks with Factories. He once again gets Tundra Wolves plus Pendelhaven but I find two Triskelion to take over the game. I pay 12 life to Sylvan over the game so I'm in Hurricane range but I find Spirit Link for Seraph and stabilize so he can't topdeck to kill me.

2-0

Round 3 - Mats Furby on RGb Land Destruction

Game one I keep a six land hand with three Factory and Sylvan Library. This works out as his first two Stone Rain don't set me back too much. He has an Erhnam attacking me down to 8 life and his own Sylvan, but I stabilize with two Triskelions so he can't pay life past 10 without dying to the Trikes. I find Altar of Bone to turn my Fyndhorn Elf into an Erhnam and he's force to give a Trike forestwalk. This 4 damage plus the 6 from the counters wins me the game. Game two he plays a turn one Library of Alexandria. I have a reasonable response with Elf into Sylvan plus Elf. He's only playing two cards a turn to keep Library active so I develop with Pyknite and Altar of Bone to find a Triskelion. He plays Orgg which I have Swords for then I destroy his three mana Elves and play a Lhurgoyf. I'm at 8 life from my own Sylvan so I need to kill him before he finds Lava Burst. Arena lets Goyf fight his Derelor and I attack him to 11. He plays a Icy to stop the Goyf beats but I get in with mana dudes to put him to 6. He has a second Icy and Stone Rain for Arena hoping to stabilize and get to nine mana for Lava Burst. I find an Altar of Bone to search up another Trike after attacking him to 3 so he doesn't get the chance.

3-0

Round 4 - Jeff Grasso WB Midrange

Game one I Disenchant his Land Tax and play some mana guys. He has an Icy and a Juzam and I'm racing but he draws Triskelion the turn before I can cast mine and my mana guys all die and I lose to Juzam. Game two I have Disenchant again for Land Tax and then spend a turn playing Sylvan Library to hopefully get my Library of Alexandria online, but he has Disenchant still in. I still manage to draw enough gas and he ends up on defense with a Juzam so I burn him out with Trikes and Hurricane. Game three he has turn one Factory and turn two Workshop into Icy against my mulligan to six. He doesn't have black mana though and the Factory is his only clock. Even with Strip Mine he's not aggressive in mana denial so I'm able to develop an Ernham and some 1/1s. I Swords his Factory and his Su-Chi and Disenchant his Icy. He has second Icy and Swords for my Whirling Dervish. He's down to one card which has to be a land or Disenchant so I play another Dervish. He immediately top decks Triskelion to decimate my team. I have another Disenchant but he then draws another Icy so my Ernham still locked down. I finally reach six mana for my own Triskelion but his last card is Divine Offering. My Trike trades with his and itself to prevent the life gain, but he then finds Juzam Djinn and I'm on a three turn clock. Next turn he gets Zuran Orb and I have no hope except to find a Swords or my Spirit Link which I don't and I die. 

3-1

Round 5 - Andres Hojman on Tax Tower something

Game one he has turn one Tower and turn two Tax but with two lands. I'm able to develop a bit with Elves and Pyknite. Eventually I find Disenchant for Land Tax and then play out lands with Ifh-Biff. He's holding off on lands to turn on Tower but I gain a lot of tempo with Strip Mine and kill him. Game two he mulligans to six and has turn one Library of Alexandria. I start with Fyndhorn Elves and then Strip Mine on Library gaining a lot of tempo. I get an Erhnam in play with two Factory. A Disenchant on his Tower is further tempo and he has no answer to any of my creatures. 

4-1

Round 6 - Martin Erne on Jokulhaups

Game one he's stuck on three land only but holding off my team with Rukh Egg and Maze of Ith. He plays a Stormbind but I Disenchant it. I eventually get out two Erhnam Djinn and use Arena to take care of the Rukh and get damage in. He doesn't find an answer. Game two he has a Pyroclasm for my first Elf and Pyknite but I have followup of each. I Disenchant his Stormbind but he then resolves Sylvan Library. I use Stunted Growth to set him back. I'm also on two Factory and doing a lot of damage. I play Erhnam and he uses the opportunity to Jokulhaups and he only has no cards in hand just Sylvan. I have three in hand including a land and my next draw step is Mishra's Factory which does the last 8 damage before he draws anything to recover.

5-1

Top 16 - Rich Shay on Pox

Game one I keep a questionable hand with two Disenchant I think may be important and he plays two Orders. By the time I play my first creature, a turn three Pyknite, he puts the game away with Hymn plus Pox and I lose. Game two I have turn two Whirling Dervish to try to pressure his turn one Library of Alexandria. I don't have a strong follow up despite using Stunted Growth to turn off his Library. He then deploys Icy and Maze to shut me down and his Rack plus Factories kill me.

5-2

My thoughts on the format

I think Original Six is a lot of fun. The deck building was fascinating and the games were surprisingly tricky. I had way more interesting decisions than I normally would in 93/94. 

The consensus seems to be that Land Tax should be restricted. I mostly agree, but mainly from a theory point. In the games I played, it did not do much, though I was prepared with Disenchant almost every time. I don't think unrestricted Land Tax would be too much of a problem, but there is no Black Vise. That also means there is no Vise to punish Library of Alexandria. The games involving that card felt very different from the rest of the games, and I think there is a good argument that it should be outright banned. Everything else, like unrestricting Necro or restricting anything else, should be "wait and see".

Also, I know its elegant to not allow Arena etc since they aren't "Original Six", but I like having it around. There should probably be an official statement one way or the other.

Props:

Pyknite

Pendelhaven

Arena

Slops:

Library of Alexandria

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.