MobsterCon 2024 - *1st place*

MobsterCon 2 finally happened! 

Periodically prodding Mano to run the Team Unified Scryings event in central New Jersey finally paid off. I helped behind the scenes in the planning process. By "helped" I mean I visited several restaurants and breweries in the area to scout for the right location. Eventually I remembered that Village Brewing Company had extra space, including a downstairs area, that might be able to host. Once Mano vetted the place, he finalized the location and my part of the planning was over.

The second step for me was to find some teammates. In the past, I've had the fortune of plenty of players I'm happy to team with. I've always said that teammate selection is the most important part of a team event. At first, I tried to get Simon Christie to team with me, but he had too much other travel planned. I also asked Wheel, but he refuses to play Scryings. 

It was also a given that I would be trying hard to win, or at least develop decks that gave me the best shot. For me, half of the fun of Magic is the process of getting a deck ready for the event. Even without playing any games, I'll spend probably four times the amount of time just thinking about all the cards I could play and what the best strategy would be.

For those reasons, I was hoping to find teammates that would want to try to win close to a similar amount, and also would either be willing to put up with my non-stop tinkering, or just leave me to make the deck building decisions. At the very least, I can always use my network of collaborators in the brewing process and have different people play the games with me.

At the recent Spike Summit, it came up that Will Parshall did not have a team yet either. I told him he could team with me, which gets a great player on my team while simultaneously removing a great player from the opposing player pool. We spent a week trying to find a third and eventually his friend Dan Miller agreed to join us. I had the cards to build most anything so I would provide the cardboard. 

On Scryings

Just three quick notes on Scryings:

1. I still love Scyrings. The games are way more interesting and less frequently decided by whoever draws more power or factories. This is even more so in team unified.

2. Scryings does struggle to get people in the door because its so hard to remember which cards are in and which are out. This is probably the biggest turnoff, but I think its worth the effort.

3. Specific to team unified, a lot of the cards in Scryings seem to operate under the assumption your opponents will be playing fully powered decks, or have the option to. The amount of Moxes you play against in team unified is reduced by 1/3, so many of the cards lose their potency. I think there could be a better designed set of cards for team unified, and I understand this wasn't designed necessarily to support that.  This is an extremely minor complaint.

Building Decks

Two main constraints in building team unified decks:

1.    How to divide the restricted power cards

2.    How to divide the dual lands / City of Brass / Mishra's Factories / etc

Additional for MobsterCon, you had to consider if having access to as many Savannah as you wanted to play actually mattered for anything.

Both issues can be solved at "level 1" by just dividing up the colors, splitting the Moxes and power cards by what can be cast, and avoiding overlapping colors between decks. This is similar to the "basic" strategy in Atlantic or Swedish unified where the colors don't have enough depth to support multiple players. However in Scryings all the colors have much more depth and can easily support two players if you are building decks not just piles of good cards.

The other issue with dividing the power cards, and the Moxes in particular, is that they are much better the more you have. A single Mox in your deck doesn't increase your deck's power by all that much. Ancestral is probably the strongest in this regard, but still represents a small power increase over 225 cards played. Cards like Mind Twist, Timetwister, and Balance are much better with all of the Moxes, and Demonic Tutor is better with those particular cards in your deck as well as with Time Walk and Ancestral. 

This leads to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the restricted cards should be in one deck. Which deck that should be felt obvious to me. The difference between Twiddle Vault and other fully powered decks is that your best draws actually win you the game, and 4x Recall let you abuse the fact that you have all of the power. 

I started thinking about how decks without 7 SoLoMox could compete with the acceleration those cards provide. If a deck can compete on that level, it will have a leg up against decks that do not have acceleration. With a mind to the color distribution, I centered on Dark Ritual and mana creatures. 

For Dark Ritual, we were drawn to Reanimator right away. Replacing Moxes with Rituals is not quite the same for the plan B, but the plan A was very strong. Bazaar with Krovikan Horror and Ashen Ghoul make up for whatever clunkiness you could otherwise experience. There is only one Strip Mine available, and other land destruction is too slow to stop Bazaar from doing its thing. I did not expect as many City in a Bottle as the power level of creatures is improved enough that the Arabian creatures don't necessarily outclass everything.

For mana creatures, we first looked at a GW only list. Even with only 4 Savannah, there was enough intriguing to me with Tithe, Empyrial Armor, and Quirion Ranger. Then maybe combine it with Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves to power out an early Armor and Berserk to finish the job. Our spikey nature though prevented us from playing things that would too easily lose to single removal spells, and we were back looking at options with just good creatures. RGW Aggro was an option, but the creatures like Wildfire Emissary and trump cards like Stormbind didn't play well with what we thought was the best disruptive card in Armageddon. We really wanted a solid 3-drop creature to play off of turn 1 Birds, but nothing was exciting compared to Serendib Efreet. With Tropical Island tied up in the Twiddle Vault deck, I wasn't sure it was possible to play GWu. However, with 4 Tundra, 4 Tithe, and 4 Birds of Paradise, that in theory should be enough sources. Undiscovered Paradise could also play a role.

With these starting points, it then became a matter of adjusting the cards that multiple decks wanted in order to maximize the impacts, while also considering what decks we expected to face. A list of decks we thought people would play:

Twiddle Vault

Power Artifact

Reanimator

MaskNought

TaxTower Control

Various Tithe Aggro, Midrange, and Control decks

MonoGreen aggo

MonoRed Goblins

Various RG Jokulhaups decks

Other

I did not think much into how the lineups would exist, but just about which decks would be good or bad matchups for our decks. The biggest takeaway is that the top two decks both played City of Solitude, so whatever card we wanted for that matchup needed to work well as a sorcery. I had already earmarked Energy Flux for the Reanimator sideboard, but decided it would be more potent with Birds to accelerate and Armageddon to back it up.

It was also around this time I discovered that through Dan we had access to four copies of Chains of Mephistopheles. This card is a very potent sideboard card, and even has some maindeck potential with Anvil of Bogardan. I spent maybe a few days iterating all sorts of Chains/Anvil lists, but nothing that was as exciting as our current configuration. If deck choice was solely on my and not my teammates, I would have played Twiddle Vault, White Weenie, and Jund Chains/Anvil Aggro. However, this was banking a lot on people actually bringing the decks we expect.

In the end, we stuck with the original lineup and put the Chains in the Reanimator sideboard, even though its not the best with Bazaar. We had versions with a couple of Anvil in the maindeck to set up a lock after board, but it sacrificed too much of the explosiveness. 

The Reanimator deck was the hardest to build. There are so many options for discard outlets and large creatures, as well as plan Bs. It also doesn't work like a normal Magic deck, so balancing mana and spell ratios was tricky. Without playing any games, just some goldfishing, I think we did a solid job. There was room for improvement and I think Tom Swindell had a better strategy for it in Team Unified. A last minute debate about Mishra's Factory vs Thawing Glaciers meant we ended up without any Factories in our 225. A sad situation for me as it is my favorite card. However, I was getting to pilot the deck with all the power so I can't really complain.

Here are our decks:

Twiddle Vault

Derelor in the sideboard since Erhnam in the GWu deck, but it does have some upside (and some downside).

GWu Tempo

8 Savannahs. Not the most in the room, but it feels like 12 with Tithe. (*edit* actually we have the most in the room!) Sideboard is almost entirely blue cards. Two Lat-Nam's Legacy were cut for the 2nd Sylvan and 3rd Memory Lapse near the last minute. We played zero Lat-Nam's Legacy in our 225.

Reanimator

Shivan and Deep Spawn so that REB/BEB don't hit both targets. All Hallow's Eve is a good plan C. Played as many duals as we could afford, but not enough to support other colors much. Glaciers good in that regard.

So I would play Twiddle Vault, since I've only lost one match with it to this point. Will would play the GWu deck that is very similar to other decks he plays in OS. Dan would play Reanimator.

Pregame

Friday before the event, eight of us played round of golf at Makefield Highlands Golf Club. It was a lot of fun. Mano, Flint, Jeff Liu, and Will Larson crushed the team of Dom, Katz, Cliff, and myself. Personal injury and property damage was kept to a (non-zero) minimum. Afterwards we had a BBQ at Mano's house as more out-of-towners rolled in. The food and drink was great, the pool was refreshing, and the people were awesome. I was too exhausted from being in the sun all day so I left just as the draft was starting to go home and sleep.

The nice thing about local events is being able to sleep in. I made the 25 minute drive to the site to meet up with the team and finalize our decks. More importantly, we finalized our team name. After a week of brainstorming, we could do no better than the first team name that Will came up with:

Zur's Weirdos.

We even won prizes for having the second best team name!

Main Event

I'm seat A, Will is seat B, and Dan is seat C. Because of this, I don't see much of Dan's matches and can't recap them as well as the others.

Round One - Illuminati (Michael Scheffenacker, Seth Roncoroni, Tom Swindell)

Me vs Scheff on Twiddle Vault- He plays turn one Island. I play turn one land Mox Howling Mine, Lotus, Wheel. I can't do much else, and since he's also on Twiddle Vault he easily wins turn two.

Dan vs Tom (reanimator)- Dan gets game one after Tom uses Bazaar turn two and didn't know Dan also on reanimator. Dan Animate Dead it and the tempo was too much. Games two and three looked like terrible messes and I don't know what actually happened, but Dan ended up losing. 

Will vs Seth (RWG Jokulhaups) - Game one is very close. Seth does enough early damage with Wildfire Emissary that when Will finally stabilizes with an Armageddon, he can Chain Lightning his Rukh Egg to fly over for the last damage. Game two Will is on the offensive and both players have Sylvan when Seth has to Jokulhaups. Will pays 8 life in order to recover faster and a few Savannah Lions and River Boas off the top finish it off. Game three they do not finish, but it was a spot where Seth was probably 90% to win (he thought only 60% since he didn't know Will boarded out the Armageddon). Either way, Mano decides to give the win to the Illuminati

0-1

Round Two - Don's Goblin Raiders (Don Perrien, Ian Hendry, Ben Katz)

Me vs Don (UW Flyer Control)

Will vs Ian (UB Robots) - Game one Ian has a turn two Triskelion and Will can't really do much. Game two Ian has Icy and Maze shutting down Will's army, but Armageddon lets Will breakthrough. Will races a Juggernaut after using Disenchant on The Abyss. Man-o-War turns the tempo up while also providing body for the second Abyss, and Erhnam plus Serendib do enough damage to win.

Dan vs Ben (Simoon Living Plane) - Dan is in a losing position in game three when we win the other two matches.

1-1

Round Three - Murder of Stormcrows (Geoff Zeiger, Joel Lopez, JeanPaul Bascelli)

Me vs Goblins - He plays a turn one Goblin Vandal, so I have to delay my setup. I play draw go with a Library while taking 3 damage a turn, but eventually have enough to go off in one turn when I'm at 8 life. Game two I use Falling Star and Derelor to win easily.

Will vs Mono Black - Will is never really in trouble. Serendib keeps the Hypnotic Specter from doing any damage until Erhnam can win the game. Game two is similar, but with Man-o-War to help out.

Dan vs UW Control - They don't finish game one.

2-1

Round Four - Scry Me A River (Jonathan Lai, Brian Popkin, Darin Wiesner)

Me vs Jonathan (Mono Green)- Game one I force him to use Scavenger Folk on a Time Vault since I have a second one. He gets multiple Whirling Dervish and I never find a source of card advantage to combo with and lose. Game two I miss with a Falling Star, but do kill three River Boas with a Fireball a few turns later. I finally stabilize at 5 life. He then draws River Boa with plenty of mana to regenerate and I cannot race it.

Will vs BrianP (WW with Land Tax and Armor) - Will is able to win games one and three with some flyers and River Boa blocking the first strike army. Man-o-War keeps Empyrial Armor from doing anything dangerous. Brian does steal game two with a surprise Wrath of God. 

Dan vs Darin (UR Counterspell) - Game three Dan is able to resolve Animate Dead through Counterspell thanks to REB and the opponent's Blood Moon. A second and third animation spell end the game quickly. 

4-1

Round Five - Hamburgers of Bogardan (with awesome diner themed playmats) (Billy Jannen, Bryce Menard, Mark Tocco)

Me vs WBR Underworld Dreams - Game one he leads on turn one Mana Vault. I Twiddle it to buy some time. He never finds triple black, so when I Twister plus Mind Twist a few turns later he concedes without showing me the Dreams. Game two he has turn three Dreams, but I have to just take 7 and play Wheel. He plays another Dreams, but I manage to find Emerald Charm and Recall to take them out and combo off.

Will vs UWG TaxTowerOrb control - Will loses game one, but wins game two and three easily with Disenchants and Armageddons. 

Dan vs RUG Aggro- I don't remember if they finished match or not.

4-1

This is so good

Round Six - Scrybabies (Jeremy Marcus, Nick Christie, and Jordan Rosales)

Me vs Jer (RG Aggro) - Game one I have explosive start but somehow only one blue source. He turn four Creeping Mold it, and I'm forced to Regrowth it. He hits it again with a Strip Mine, and I draw another one. Eventually I find Emerald Charm to take some extra turns without spending blue mana, and find second blue source to Transmute for Howling Mine and win, but it was close. Game two he does not have much interaction at all.

Will vs Nick (MonoBlack) - Game one winds up as a race of Erhnam Djinn vs Black Knight (with Forestwalk) and Underworld Dreams. Will makes an attack to put Nick to 1 life, but on the backswing Nick takes Will also to 1 life. Will's plan of using Swords to Plowshares on his freshly played Llanowar Elves to stay alive is thwarted by Funeral Charm. Game two Nick assembles several Juzams and Hypnotic Specters while Will has dead Disenchants in hand.

Dan vs Jordan (UWR Control) - Going into game three, we tell Dan to bring back in Deep Spawn and take out Shivan since we think my opponent would have REB and his opponent therefore would have more BEB. Jordan keeps a hand with just lands, Library, and Disenchant, but that gets disrupted by the turn two Hypnotic Specter. The Hyppie also gets rid of a Balance, and the coast is clear for Dan to reanimate Deep Spawn. Time is running out, but Mano says to keep playing to natural conclusion. Jordan plays Circle of Protection: Red and we internally high-five at taking out Shivan. A Buried Alive for Ashen Ghouls makes enough attackers to kill Jordan before he finds his second white source for Wrath of God.

5-1

CoP: Red

Top 4 Teams after Swiss:

1. Impossible Burger (featuring Jon Finkel)

2. Zur's Weirdos

3. Scrybabies

4. Boomer and the B Dots

Semifinals - Scrybabies - Jer, Nick, and Jordan (rematch from round 6)

Me vs Jer (RG Aggro) - Same as previous round, though he does win game two when we both mulligan to five cards. Game three he also mulligans to five and I have Mana Drain on his Primal Order and win easily.

Will vs Nick (MonoBlack) - Will recovers from the loss in previous round and wins with some well timed Armageddons in two games.

Dan vs Jordan (UWR Control) - Dan I think won game one before the match was over but Will and I finished before it mattered.

6-1

Finals - Boomer and the B Dots (Ben Farkas, Jeff White, Chris Manning)

Will vs Jeff (Mesa Control) - This match isn't close. Jeff counters / removes everything and plays Sacred Mesa to cleanup. Game two he gets the Abyss out and Will cannot recover.

Me vs Chris (Goblins) - Game one I start with Sapphire Island into Mana Drain his one drop. Then turn two I play two more Mox and a Timetwister and win easily from there. Game two he has turn one Vise and it does 10 or 12 damage. I burn some Twiddles trying to get below the Vise before deploying two Derelor. They have to block until I draw a Twiddle and attack with one. He still doesn't attack so I attack with two, but I'm dead to any burn spell and he finishes me with Goblin Grenade. Game three I play Mox Time Vault on turn one. He has Goblin Vandal. I decide to Falling Star, but hit a corner and bounce of the table. He destroys the Time Vault. The next turn he plays a Goblin King and attacks for two damage. I have a second Falling Star and this time I hit both. He has Blood Moon but my Mox Jet lets me cast Derelor. I draw another Time Vault and some Twiddles to attack him down to 7. He plays a blocker but doesn't block and goes to 3 life. He then plays another Goblin King and one drop. I draw Island which lets me cast Recall for Falling Star and I can win if I hit all three. I only hit one, and then trade with the two goblins. His only follow up is a Black Vise which does nothing. I draw Ancestral Recall and he uses Fork. I eventually draw a Lotus and two Emerald Charms which I use to take an extra turn and blow up Blood Moon. He has the REB for my Braingeyser so I don't get very far. He has a Goblin Tinkerer which he uses to trade with my Time Vault.  He builds up to six cards in hand threatening to get his Library of Alexandria online. I draw Regrowth and have three choices: Derelor and hope he can't kill it to attack for the win, Mind Twist to buy some more time, or Ancestral Recall to dig for Lightning Bolt or Fireball or other good stuff. Ancestral would lose to REB so I decide against that, and also decide Mind Twist won't hit many good cards as I assume his hand is mostly REBs, Vises, or land. I grab Derelor, play it, he doesn't find an answer and I win! Crazy last game.

Dan vs Ben (Mono Blue Flyers) - Game one Dan wins easily. Game two he gets a lot of creatures in play but cannot race the flying army and loses. Game three I'm not sure how it ended up there but a Zur's Weirding that attempted to cut Dan off of mana backfires as he has Thawing Glaciers to play out his hand. Ben meanwhile draws too much land and can't attack through Shivan Dragon. Eventually Dan casts Buried Alive to get four Ashen Ghoul in the yard and win!

7-1 

1st Place

Best

We did it! The Zur's Weirdos defeated actual Zur's Weirding in the final game of the finals to win MobsterCon!

Zur's Weirdos

After

I ordered some food since eight rounds of Twiddle Vault taxes you mentally, even the easy games. I played on game of 40k vs Jeff Liu and won a Birds, helping him on his retirement mission. I stuck around to watch the draft, but once again was too tired to go all night. I stopped by the LGS across the street to buy a box of the new set for some future endeavors, and headed home uneventfully.

I had a great time at this event and hope that something like it happens again at some point in the future.

Props:

Mano and Family for great event

Village Brewing Company for good food and drink

Team Unified Scryings and everyone who showed up to play

Dan and Will for being great teammates and putting up with my constant tinkering and brewing

Man-O-War - probably our surprise MVP all day

Thawing Glaciers, I guess

Beth for all the love and support as always

Slops:

People who don't like Scryings

My Falling Star flips. I've got to practice more or they'll kick me out of the club.

New Jersey Old School Championships - *1st place*

The Sylex Slam, AKA the New Jersey Old School Championships, was held Saturday February 10th at Time Warp Games in Cedar Grove NJ. 30 players showed up, proving that if you name your tournament a Championship, they will come. Every state should try to run one. This was my fourth time participating in event at Time Warp. Nick and Reggie have done a great job building the community up, and I was excited to participate again.

The Deck

I played Workshops with White. I haven't played the White version before, and I wanted to give the Howling Mine package a try. I expected Mine to be good as the field is usually a lot of Hymn to Tourach decks. Overall I maybe wanted another Winter Orb or Armageddon, and maybe the Blue Elemental Blast I cut at the last minute. The second City in a Bottle is probably overkill, and Animate Dead might not be strong enough to be a sideboard card. 

The primary goal was to keep the people from NYC from winning and ensure the trophy doesn't cross the Hudson. The secondary goal was winning, with a third goal of having some fun.

The Tournament

With 30 players, the tournament was run at Swiss Minus One : four rounds with a cut to top 8. After the Swiss, players would draft the donation cards and play for the champion Golgothian Sylex trophy.

Round 1 - Nick M on UB Shops

I played Nick a few months ago in a Premodern 1K and encouraged him to get into Old School when he expressed interest. Here we are a few months later and playing in round one. I start with a Howling Mine and Strip Mine for his Workshop. He has a second Workshop and continues to deploy Juggernauts and Triskelions, but my own Su-Chi and Triskelions trade to keep the board mostly clear. Eventually I Copy the Howling Mine and get two Icy Manipulator plus Relic Barrier in play. I win with the card advantaged generated. I don't remember much about game two besides me winning. I know I had Divine Offering for his first threat and then maybe a Braingeyser to pull ahead on cards. 

1-0

Round 2 - Eric Pallone on StasisVault

Game one he counters my first Juggernaut. I play two Howling Mine for lack of anything else to do. He does get a Time Vault in play, but I have Chaos Orb and Copy it twice to keep any Twiddle shenanigans from happening. He doesn't have enough mana and a couple of robots take him out before he draws out of it. Game two I don't have much pressure at all, but I do have Relic Barrier to stop his Howling Mine. He has a Black Vise which does 6 damage to me before I can get my hand down. He goes for a play of Hurkyl's Recall on my entire board one turn, so I'm forced to Mana Drain. He then draws Ancestral. I have a Triskelion and Winter Orb to apply pressure. He has a second Black Vise but hasn't drawn much else. After I play a Su-Chi, he uses Twiddle to tap the Winter Orb, getting his mana back. He then plays Stasis, locking up most of the board. I still have Su-Chi to attack him to 10 and play a Copy Artifact on the tapped Trike. He is forced to use another Hurkyl's to stay alive, which lets me Strip Mine his last blue mana to kill Stasis. I win easily by casting Triskelions when I get to untap.

2-0

Round 3 - David Third on GhostShipDisco

Game one I play a turn one Timetwister and he doesn't have any land. I use Relic Barrier to stop his only mana source, a Mox Emerald, but he does get an Ivory Tower out. I find a Triskelion and Su-Chi to beat down easily. Game two I'm stuck on three mana without much going on. He Amnesias me and I'm never really in it. Game three I have a turn one Su-Chi. the Robot attacks for 8 before getting Control Magic. He has UU untapped but I decide I have to cast Ancestral on my turn for best possible chance to win. He doesn't counter, so I assume he's repping Power Sink. I play a Triskelion with enough untapped, and the following turn play Armageddon with enough to pay for a Power Sink. We trade Trike for Su-Chi, and I play a Factory. He does have a Mox and Ivory Tower, but the Factory gets him low enough he's forced to play out cards from hand in hopes I have no follow up. I find another Su-Chi and do the last points.

3-0

Round 4 - Brian P on BlackWhite Deadguy

Game one I have turn one Juggernaut and turn two Su-Chi. He Hymns my land, but I have plenty of Mox in play... until he casts Nevinyrral's Disk. I'm only able to get him to 2 life before he Disks. He has two Factories to start attacking me. My only land is Workshop. I draw a second Workshop and take 2 mana burn to cast Su-Chi and Icy, but never draw a mana to activate Icy. He finishes me off with two Drain Life. Game two I come out too fast and he dies to a Su-Chi despite early Demonic Tutor Black Lotus Mind Twist, he was just too far behind on board. Game three he plays Swamp go. I play two Mox, Copy a Mox, and cast Time Walk. On turn two I can either cast Timetwister or Juggernaut. I only have three cards in hand after, so decide I need to Twister now to avoid a Hymn. I draw into two Factories, Strip mine, Copy, and some more mana. I elect to Strip his Swamp to protect my Factories in hand. He just has Swamp go again. I play Factory and Copy it. He has PLains and Demonic Tutor. I play another Factory and attack for 5. He has Black Lotus and Nevinyrral's Disk. I play another Factory and attack for 7. He uses Disk to get all my Mox and my Copy Factory. I attack with two Factory and he Disenchant one, I pump the other. The next turn he uses Mind Twist to empty my hand of lands and plays a Maze. I attack with two Factories, he Mazes and goes to 3 life. THen he has Sinkhole for a Factory. I draw another land and can no longer attack. He has Sengir Vampire. I draw land. He plays Hypnotic Specter, while I play Howling Mine. He attacks for 6 and passes. I draw two more land. He then attacks with the fliers and kills me with Drain Life. I have three Triskelion in my top 4 cards when I die with him at 3 life.

3-1

We draft the donation prize cards based on Swiss standings. I end up in 3rd place and take a Psionic Blast. 

The top 8 is:

1. Casey on Goblins plus Chains of Mephistopholes (the only 4-0)

2. Jordan on his URB Burn deck with Serendibs and Trolls

3. Myself on UBW Shops

4. David Third on MonoU DiscoShip

5. Bryan Manolakos on UWR AngelTrike

6. Parker Boab on UWR Lion Bolt

7. Jesus Mansilla on UWG Lion Pixies

8. Chris G on MonoBlack

Top 8 vs Parker Boab on UWR LionBolt

Game one I keep hand of two Mox, two land, Mind Twist, and two Triskelion. I play land and two Mox and pass. He plays turn one Library and passes. I draw Time Walk and cast it. ON the extra turn I draw another Triskelion. I fire off the Mind Twist for three cards. He uses Library in response. On his turn with six in hand he decides to pass and get Library back on line. I rip Mishra's Workshop though and play a Triskelion. I play another one each of the next two turns and all he can do to answer is play Psionic Blast, which leaves him dead. Game two I play turn one Sol Ring and Copy it. ON turn two I play Triskelion, but he has Mana Drain. All he can do though is play Shatterstorm for my mana and burn for 4. However, I don't draw anything good and he gets a Lions plus Factory to start attacking me. Eventually I find my own Factory, but he has Serra Angel and that's the game. Game three I keep seven and stop him from mulliganing to six cards, since I'm going to be playing Timetwister turn one. He only has land go. I decide to play Icy over Trike on turn two to cut off his mana. He has second land, but I draw Strip Mine for it while playing out Trike. He has a City of Brass for his second land again, but I have the City in a Bottle. I also Copy the Trike and when he finally gets to three mana for Psionic Blast he's dead.

4-1

Turn one Timetwister in game 3 of the top 8.

Top 4 vs Jordan on his URB deck (video will be here eventually thanks to Jesus's YT channel)

I have Library active turn one and trade some cards before Mind Twist him. He finds Timetwister shortly after though. I draw Mind Twist again off the Timetwister and never face any danger. Game two is interesting as I have turn one and turn two Su-Chi. His turn two he plays Demonic Tutor for turn three Energy Flux. I sac one Su-Chi to pay for Mox and the other, and then play Factory and Copy it. He doesn't have fourth land so I use City in a Bottle to take out his City of Brass, but let it die the next turn. He has a Psionic Blast for my Su Chi and his follow up is Mox, City of Brass and a Serendib Efreet. I have Triskelion and he's forced to Psionic Blast that as well. At this point, he's too low on life from the Blasts and Trike to attack with Serendib while I have to Factory available. We play draw go for a few turns while he takes 1 a turn, but I find Icy Manipulator and win.

5-1

At this point, I'm in the finals while Mano and David Third are in game two. Hoping for no game four shenanigans like at Glorycon, I join Parker outside for some parking lot beers.

Mano over David, then Mano over Chris

Finals vs Mano on URW Angel Trike

Mano is playing the Copy Artifact / Fellwar / Triskelion / Bolt / Swords deck we brewed together in the car ride back from GloryCon. He's also there with his daughter who managed to go 2-2 for 14th place in her first Old School event with RUG Aggro. He's looking to not play so they can go have a family dinner, so we make a deal: I get the title of NJ OS Champion and the Sylex Trophy, he gets the actual altered Golgothian Sylex card. I let him know if he ever wants to challenge me for the title he can, but he must ante the card in whatever future match we play. 

Do NOT let Mano claim to be "co-champion" or anything like that, the title is mine alone!

The top 2

The Spoils

I'm happy to add the NJ Old School State Championship to my other State Championship titles in Texas, South Carolina, and Hawaii.

Props / Slops

Props:

Time Warp for hosting

Nick for setting up and advertising the event

Reggie for stepping up and running the event when Nick had life come up

Reggie for being reasonable and running the event as Swiss Minus One with Top 8

All my opponents for being fun to play against

Mano for running the Angel/Trike brew to 2nd place

Jenna for 2-2 as the youngest player in the event

New Jersey for showing up and keeping the title in the state
Whatever Casey was doing to get 4-0

My wife for her love and support

Slops:

Mano for being afraid to miss with Falling Star so much, that he elected to Mana Drain a Hypnotic Specter while the opponent had a Black Knight in play. If you aren't going to cast the card, don't put it in your sideboard!

Seth for leaving without David

RUG Tempo in Winter Derby 24 *Top 16*

I competed in the Winter Derby recently and finished in the top 16 with RUG Tempo. 

I'm callling it RUG Tempo because instead of the normal 12 Bolt burn package, I'm playing some more creatures and instants like Scavenger Folk and Giant Growth to go with the three Counters. I dislike Chain Lightning, in Old School, especially in Swedish when there are fewer Orders to target. I find the Falling Star out of the sideboard to be plenty of anti-aggro to supplement the maindeck Lightning Bolts.

Things I liked about the deck:

Scavenger Folk - I think cutting a Shatter for the 3rd Folk is a no-brainer at this point.

Counterspell - A third Counterspell might be good enough to include. It helps against Bottle and is just a better card than Artifact Blast after sideboard.

Falling Star - This deck might actually want a third Star in the sideboard because of the lack of Chain Lightning. Its a bit awkward with only three Mox in the deck though. 

Stone Rain / Ice Storm - Maybe should be two Ice Storm, but the different mana costs did come up. Both were solid.

Things I disliked:

Giant Growth - I'm not sure this card is worth it. You get some extra bluff equity, but I've only had it be great one time and below average every other time. 

Shatter - In general its fine, but drawing two and having no targets is not ideal. Scavenger Folk much better.

Artifact Blast - two is too many for sure, but I still think one is worth playing

Sylvan Library - Nice to have, not worth a sideboard slot.

I also think this deck needs a Control Magic and a Tranquility in the sideboard. Playing a Fireball or Disintegrate might also be an option to make up for lack of reach from Chain Lightning without giving up the flexibility this version has. I've yet to seriously consider the black splash, but will probably give it a look when I play RUG again in the future. This deck would like an extra Mox and I don't think Fellwar does enough to be that substitute.

Batch One

Frantisek Vecernik - UWR Land Tax Serendib Djinn

Game one I mulligan to five. I Bolt his first Lion and play a Scavenger Folk. Turn three I have Timetwister and he Bolts the Folk so its about parity. I play two Kird Ape in the following turns to shut down his Factory and Lions. He has Land Tax but is flooding out. I hold off the ground with another Ape and swing with a Serendib Efreet in the air for enough turns to win. Game two he starts with Sol Ring. I play Factory, Lotus, and Serendib turn one. He plays Lions and Serendib Efreet turn two. I attack with my Dib on my turn two, he blocks with his. After combat, I play Factory Mox Ruby and Falling Star to clear his board. He's behind so he goes for the yolo Serendib Djinn. I decide to race with my Factory, Efreet, and Pixies but it is close. I end up winning the race at 5 life.

1-0

Nate Shue - UWR LDB

Game one I have turn one Library but he has turn two Serendib and turn three Serendib and I never find an answer to either. I try to race but he has Bolt and Psionic Blast to win. Game two he only draws Tundras and Factorys and my two Argothian Pixies do the full 20 damage I think. Game three I mulligan to five. He has turn one Library. I have turn one Library as well, but I'm two turns from activating it. I decide to go for it and do nothing for two turns. All he is doing is drawing off Library and developing mana so I'm not under significant pressure. After I get my Library going, I deploy a Kird Ape. He has Swords to Plowshares for my Serendib, but I have REB for his. Eventually he comes off Library to play multiple creatures, which I'm able to answer. He uses Braingeyser to get back into Library Range, but I haven't drawn additional threats besides the Ape, which at this point has him down to 10 life. He does find Mind Twist to empty my hand and turn off my Library. I get him down to 6 life with Factory and Ape beats. All he has is a Serendib for defense and is losing 1 life a turn. Despite his active Library, he can't find a way to stabilize and the bleeding is catching up to him. He goes for a desparation Wheel of Fortune, discarding two more Serendib and two Psionic Blast that were mostly dead due to his low life total. I find Psionic Blast off the Wheel to kill him.

2-0

Tim Atwood - Banding White Weenie

Game one I stop his ground assault with multiple Kird Ape, but flood out as he kills me with two Mesa Pegasus in the air. Game two I get a three for one with Falling Star and my Kird Ape beats get him low enough that I can burn him out after he finds City in a Bottle. Game three on the draw I keep a hand with Library, Falling Star, two Kird Ape, Lightning Bolt, Wheel of Fortune, and Psionic Blast. I think this hand is probably a mulligan, but decided to keep when he kept seven cards. His turn one is just Plains go. I draw with Library and discard Wheel, having found no other mana. He plays turn two White Knight. I activate Library again and only find Strip Mine. He plays Crusade and no other land. After taking three, I take a turn off of using Library to Strip his Plains and play a Sol Ring, still without any other mana. He doesn't have a follow up and attacks me down to 14. I find a Tropical Island off Library and Psionic Blast his White Knight. He has no plays. I find a Taiga and use Stone Rain on his only plains. All he can do is play Pendelhaven and pass.  Eventually he has Factory and City in a Bottle for his turn. With my Library gone, I can only use Scavenger Folk to destroy the Bottle and play a Kird Ape. He plays a Pikemen, but I play Ape and Su-Chi. The next turn he has a White Knight. At this point though, I've found Time Walk and Falling Star to close the game out.

3-0

Frederic Plats - MonoBlack Underworld Dreams

Game one I have Kird Ape and Scavenger Folk. He has Lotus and Mind Twist for my hand. My next draws are Serendib and Factory, so I think I might be able win. He has Maze of Ith and Juzam to stop my beats, and a Dreams to finish me off. Game two I mulligan to five. I play land go for first two turns but don't have a third land. He has Underworld Dreams turn three, which I Mana Drain. I draw land for turn and can cast two Serendib off the Drain mana. He has a Maze to slow the beats and a Black Knight. I get in some attacks and he plays a Hypnotic Specter. I have Falling Star to clear his board and keep attacking. Eventually, I get him to 13 life and I'm at 11 myself from the Seredibs. He has two Factory that haven't been able to attack because of the Seredib that gets untapped by Maze. So when I attack him, he declines to use Maze putting him at 7. On his turn he attacks with both Factories to put me to 7, and then goes for Time Walk. Unfortunately for him, he had to tap City of Brass to do this and I had two Lightning Bolt in hand. Game three I have turn one Pixies, but he has turn two Juzam. I attack into it, but he does not block. His turn he has Strip Mine for my Tropical, my only blue source. I decide I need to use my Psionic Blast now, and target him. This leaves us both at 13 life after he attacks. He plays Black Knight as follow up. I play a Chaos Orb but don't have the mana to activate. He Drain Life the Pixies for one and attacks for 7, putting me me to 6. I use Orb on the Juzam and pass. He attacks with Black Knight and Factory, but I Bolt the Factory. I'm at 4. I draw and play Kird Ape. He attacks with Knight and Factory again, I block Factory. Now I'm at 2 and he only has two Badlands plus Black Knight. I still have only Red and Green mana, and only three mana at that. I Falling Star his Knight and attack him to 11. He has no play. I draw Factory and play Su-Chi, attack him to 9. He draws Underground and plays Dreams. I go to 1 in my draw step but find another Factory so I can attack him for exactly 9 the turn before I die. 

4-0

Batch Two

Sam Black - TaxTowerLibrary

Game one he chooses to draw. I mulligan two hands with mostly burn spells into a five card hand of Emerald, Library of Alexandria, Scavenger Folk, Volcanic, Tropical, putting Strip Mine and Taiga on the bottom. I play Emerald and Folk turn one. He plays Library turn one and I regret putting Strip on the bottom. Maybe I should have just waited to get my Library going before playing my Scavenger Folk? The rest of the game goes fairly to his plan. Eventually I try to set up a turn where I can Time Walk and play multiple creatures and hope to draw Regrowth, but he has Power Sink for the Time Walk. Game two I choose to draw. He has turn one Fellwar, but my turn one is Scavenger Folk and Kird Ape. He Chaos Orb the Folk, but my next turns are two Serendib Efreets. He has Drop of Honey, but I have Time Walk to win the race. Game three I'm on the play and start with turn one Pixies. He has turn one Tax. We play draw go for a few turns while Pixies gets in for 6. He plays Ivory Tower and I Mana Drain, but he has Counterspell. I plan on playing Timetwister, but I draw Serendib for the turn and play it instead. He then Mind Twist my three cards away. I still have 5 power of attack against his TaxTower, and I draw another Pixies to add to the clock. He has Serendib Djinn and the REB in my graveyard is mocking me. I do draw Wheel of Fortune, but only draw a bunch of Su-Chi and Counterspell and die to the Djinn in four turns.

4-1

Aaron Patten - The Library - video here

Game one I mulligan to six and he has Mind Twist for four turn one. I'm left with a land and Timetwister so I keep playing, btu he has three Factories and I never draw the mana for Twister. Game two I have turn one Sol Ring and Black Lotus. I don't have a threat though. He has turn one Demonic Tutor. WE play draw go for a while, but eventually I put Ape and Pixies into play. He goes for Ancestral Recall finally, but I've had Counterspell up the whole game. I have a lot of options but when he gets to 12 life I'm able to Psionic Blast, attack for 4, and Regrowth the Blast for the win. Game three he has turn one Ivory Tower, but I have turn one Library. I don't have other lands so I get aggressive, discarding to hand size a Wheel of Fortune. I do find Ruby and Factory and get a Kird Ape into play. When he gets to four mana he casts The AByss, but we didn't catch that the Fellwar Stone didn't tap for any mana. We back up, but I'm forced to play a colored land the next turn anyway to try to Shatter the Ivory Tower. He Counterspell and then resolves Abyss. I have Factory and my Library still drawing cards so I keep playing for long game. He doesn't have any follow up threats and I Regrowth Shatter to take out Tower. Eventually I find Strip Mine, which along with a Shatter on his Fellwar cuts of his white mana. This lets me attack with Factories and meanwhile I draw three Psionic Blast. I manage all this with UU open for Counterspell and he doesn't find white mana soon enough before I burn him out.

5-1

Dan Cowling - MonoGreen splashing White

Game one we trade Strip Mines and Scavenger Folk on some Factories. I have a Serendib to hold off his Dragonfly and Pixies, but I can't afford to attack. I eventually draw Ancestral and Regrowth to get ahead on cards and use two Psionic Blast to kick start the race. He has to chump with some of his flyers and I have Counterspell, Giant Growth, and a Lightning Bolt to ensure I win the race. Game two he has turn two City in a Bottle and Swords to Plowshares for my Scavenger Folk. I have three Lightning Bolt for his early creatures though. Once again, I find Ancestral Recall and Regrowth leading to two Su-Chi. He has Maze and Scavenger Folk, so I'm not doing any damage. Eventually I get my own Pixies to also get around his Factory and chip in for two damage. I draw a bunch of Arabian cards at this point. He is drawing only land for a while. He draws some 1/1s to go with Pendelhaven to stop my Pixies beatdown. After he plays a few more, I use Falling Star to take out three of them. I still only have him down to 7 life and no real end in sight. I draw Braingeyser to dig six card deep and discard my dead Arabian cards. A Time Walk and a Lightning Bolt let me win the game.

6-1

Michael Simpson - RUG Atog 12 Bolt

Game one I have Ancestral into Library of Alexandria. I also manage to Mana Drain one of his Atogs. I get him down to 14 with two Kird Ape before he plays some stabilizing creatures, but my hand is now two Bolts and two Psionic Blast and I burn him out. Game two he has turn one Vise. I have Sapphire and City of Brass to hold up Mana Drain, but he has no follow up play. I take 2 from the Vise for a few turns before getting down a Scavenger Folk, which gets Bolted. I manage to Mana Drain a Pixies on his turn and deploy a Su-Chi on mine. He has Atog which trades with Su-Chi along with Vise and Factory, plus my Bolt. I get some damage in with my Factories, finally catching up. He has Demonic Tutor and passes, so I use Regrowth on my Mana Drain and play an Ape. He tries to bait the Drain with BEB on the Ape, but I let it resolve and continue to beat down with Factories. He rips Mind Twist to take out the Drain and then resolve Ancestral, but mostly bricks. I topdeck Psionic Blast to finish him off when he's forced to Psionic Blast an attacking Factory.

7-1

I finished the batches in 6th seed.

Top 16

Nicolas Imwinkelried - DiscoTroll

This matchup looked to be extremely bad for me. He has three maindeck Control Magic and three maindeck Maze of Ith, along with the standard Disks and Trolls. His sideboard also includes two City in a Bottle and two Terror. I decide I'm going to have to get lucky to win. My sideboard plan will be mostly artifact removal and the land destruction package, hoping to keep him from getting to four mana. Game one I have Kird Ape into Pixies, but he has turn one Library and a Bolt for the Pixies. I don't draw the third land I need for Serendib even after cycling a Time Walk. He has a Troll to stop my Kird Ape attacks. I finally draw third land for Serendib, but now he has mana for Control Magic and regeneration. I do draw Black Lotus so I can double Bolt him down to 8 life and Wheel of Fortune. I don't draw much gas off Wheel, just a Bolt and Giant Growth to go with some extra Mox. He attacks me to 14 and plays a disk. I attack back, using Bolt to clear his Factory. He's now at 4 life from the Serendib and attacks me to 8. I draw Timetwister but he has Mana Drain. However, he's forced to use Disk without regeneration because of my Giant Growth. With the board clear, I topdeck a Kird Ape, but he has Braingeyser and Time Walk and deploys a Factory and a Troll which finish me off after a Fireball. Game two I mulligan to six and keep Ruby Sol Ring Ancestral Factory Artifact Blast and Blue Elemental Blast, bottoming a Taiga. I draw Kird Ape and Pixies for first few draws, and think I probably should have put the Sol Ring on the bottom. I never find blue mana though, and he plays two Trolls which kill me in short order.

I really enjoy playing in the Derby because the metagame seems more defined and competitive. I'm looking forward to the next one. 

Glorycon 2024 Report - *1st Place*

This past weekend I traveled to Gettysburg Pennsylvania to take part of the 3rd Glorycon presented by the Old Order Old School group. The weekend was a great time and complete success, including winning the main event on Saturday.

The Journey

I departed central NJ around noon on Friday. I stopped to pick up Mano and we headed towards Gettysburg. We took a small detour to get some cheesesteaks at his favorite spot in the Philly suburbs,  Mama's Pizzeria. It was a pretty good cheesesteak with an interesting blend of cheese including mozzarella. I would recommend trying it, especially if you like yours cheesier than usual.

8.5/10 Cheesesteak

We then continued the journey, arriving to Gettysburg around 4:30 and experiencing the bizzaro 68F weather. It felt like the first day of summer. Everyone was out walking about, the stores had the windows wide open. After dropping off Mano's stuff, we headed to the Upper Crust pizza place where the evening festivities would be.

Upper Crust was the perfect spot for the hangout. The venue itself was huge, the beer selection very good, and I heard the food was solid. I did not eat anything, as I was still full from the lunch. 

One nice thing about an event that's so far out of the way is that more people show up the night before, since making a day trip Saturday is not as easy. There must have been close to 50 Magic players there Friday night, including people from all across the country. The Falling Stars had a mini-reunion, as Winston was in town for the event.

Check out https://falling-stars.com/

After the first few beers and saying hi to everyone, it was time to start gaming. Most people were battling some form of Ante, either 40k or AAA. Jared Doucette and I had other plans. We played what is probably the first in-person games of the bleeding edge new format Millennium. Elevator pitch: everything after the reserved list, before mythic rares (Masques to Eventide).

Little did we know we'd face each other in the finals in 24 hours

After getting some good data on what decks might be good in this brand new format, we drafted Jared's Premodern+ cube. I ended up with a UW big mana Tinker deck. I played a match against Andy Blaufarb that took almost two hours. However, he did end up getting three draws the following day in the main event, so maybe he's just slow. I managed to win my first two matches but people were leaving and I did not get to play the finals against Shane Cota. I think I would have lost, but who could say.

After the bar closed and everyone scattered, I headed out to where I was staying just outside of town to get some sleep before the main event the next day.

The Deck

I played Twiddle Vault. I looked at possibly playing some other decks, but didn't find brewing with Gentleman's Rules to be that interesting. In the end, I decided to go with the least Gentlemanly thing I could think of.

Some changes since last time: Cut Library of Alexandria for another Sylvan Library. Cut the Mind Twist for another Counterspell. Cut an Underground Sea for an Island. Cut a Tranquility in the sideboard for a Control Magic. The Control Magic probably not necessary, and I would like to have maybe a second Fireball in the sideboard if I played again. Also would consider a maindeck Hurkyl's Recall if I played again, just to have more outs against Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra game one.

The real strength of the deck is playing 4 Recall. I spoke with DFB after the Swiss while waiting for the top 8 to begin to get the reasoning behind allowing this deck to exist. He explained the philosophy behind the ATL rules to be allowing the most decks operating at their fullest capacity, which is a perspective I hadn't considered before. I don't think this deck is particularly fun to play against when it's doing its thing, but it also doesn't show up in numbers to where that is a big problem. I do think unlike Workshops or The Deck, this deck is much easier to beat with sideboard cards, just no one actually plays them. It may be tough to fit in Energy Flux or Tormod's Crypt into your sideboard, but you were probably over-sideboarding for other matchups anyway. Perhaps the right answer is 2x Recall in the 2PAC format.

The Games

Round One - John Gehrling UR Counter Burn

Game one is draw go for four or five turns turns, but then I tutor for Mana Short and go off. Game two I have turn three Lotus Timewister and find Twiddle and Transmute and he doesn't get another turn.

1-0

Round Two - Mark Evaldi on Reanimator

Game one in what begins the trend of the day, my opening hand has Ancestral Recall. I Ancestral and Braingeyser so I'm up seven cards and win easily from there. Game two I also have Ancestral amnd Geyser but have to pass turn with Howling Mine in play before I can win vs his Trike and Deep Spawn. He has Crumble for Time Vault but I have Chaos Orb for the Deep Spawn. I find Timetwister on the next turn and draw enough gas to kill him through another Crumble.

2-0

Round Three - Will Magrann on Bant Lions

Game one I counter his Pixies twice, but he has two Mishra's Factories to pressure me. He never finds blue mana, but I never find card advantage. I Mana Short and rebuy it with Recall to try to live a few more turns but eventually run out of ways to stall. Game two I have Ancestral and Braingeyser once again and win easily. Game three I mulligan to five he has Disenchant for my turn one Sylvan. He follows that up with Armageddon and I'm facing two 2/1s. I do have Black Lotus and Falling Star, but he topdecks Erhnam. By the time I get enough mana to cast and activate Chaos Orb, he has Divine Offering and I die. 

2-1

This was the first time I had lost a match playing this deck.

Here we have lunch break. Food was fine, and it was nice to have a break. Also was when I started drinking for the day, having two Troegs Blizzard of Hops Winter IPAs with my meal.

Round Four - James Mitchell on White Weenie

Game one I have turn one Mox Mox Volcanic into Timetwister. I win easily from there. Game two I have turn one Mox Mox Mox land Erhnam, and turn two Timetwister. He does have a Dust to Dust for my first Time Vault, but I'm still too far ahead from the power and win easily.

3-1

Round Five - Ben Katz on Merfolk with Black

I don't remember what happens game one, but I don't remember it being close. Game two is a bit more interesting as he gets me pretty low with some Factories and a Psionic Blast, plus I've had to tap my City of Brass a few times. I end up casting Control Magic on his Serendib, but still taking about two damage every turn. I do find Demonic Tutor which I use to find Time Walk and swing with Erhnam and Serendib while he's at 14. He takes it, but after I Time Walk he has to chump the Erhnam. However the Dib puts him to 4 and I have just enough mana to Fireball him for the win without dying to my own City of Brass.

4-1

Round Six - Tim Moran on UR CounterBurn

We discuss the possibility of drawing here, but the way the pairings are it looks like that would only guarantee one of in. Also, I've had Tim's number in our recent matches and he wants revenge. Game one I have a strong start with a Mox and Fellwar Stone plus Ancestral Recall. He mulligans to six but has turn one Balance to equalize the cards in hand. After a few more turns, I'm at 8 life when he plays Ankh of Mishra. I have to go for it here, and take 6 damage from Ankh as I build up resources over three extra turns. I do find Transmute for Chaos Orb to take out the Ankh and continue building up mana for Fireball. Tim is a bit tilted at this point. Game two I have turn one Erhnam off of Black Lotus. He has turn two Chaos Orb, but when he misses the flip he concedes and goes to the bar. He makes me promise to win the event to make him feel better.

5-1

Standings before top 8:

Quarter Finals - Erik Herter on MonoBlue Flyers

He's on the play as the higher seed. Game one he has a steady stream of flyers starting with Serendib into Phantom Monster. I have a lot of mana and not much to do with it so I Fireball to take out both. He has a follow up Air Elemental. I don't remember how the rest of the game goes but I manage to win without too much trouble from him. I think I had Counterspell for his only Counterspell and then he was tapped out. Game two we both have some early Mox and Fellwar Stone, but he has to go for Energy Flux. A few turns go by before it takes out all the mana. He's stuck on just two Island, but I keep drawing lands of my own. He has Mana Drain for my Tranquility which lets him cast Air Elemental. I have Erhnam though, and we start to race. He Counters my second Erhnam, but that lets me resolve Demonic Tutor which I use to get Control Magic. The nex turn I use Recall for Ancestral to bait another counter, and the following turn resolve Control Magic and win from there.

6-1

I have to wait almost an hour and a half as Mano and Jimmy Coony are playing so slowly, but also end up playing a game four after a Psionic Blast draw. Eventually we move to the brewery for the after party to finish up the top four. At this point, Jared has already defeated Will in the other semi final and will have almost two and a half hours before the finals.

Semi Finals - Jimmy Coony on UR Merfolk Burn

Game one he has a fast start with a Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, River Merfolk, and Lord of Atlantis. I have Ancestral Recall, and cast it a second time after playing Recall. I also have a Time Vault in play, but die before I ever find a Twiddle. Game two he does not have as fast a start, but I don't have a lot going on. I play two Howling Mine and pass. He plays out two Lord of Atlantis and passes with Sol Ring and Mox Ruby untapped. I find Timetwister and cast it, and he taps out of relevant mana to Lightning Bolt me in response. I manage to find enough action off the Timetwister to win easily from there. Game three he starts with a Mox and an Merfolk of the Pearl Trident. My start is land Mox Sol Ring Chaos Orb. He attacks with his Merfolk and then tries Shatter on the Orb. I activate in response on his untapped land. I wanted to Transmute the Orb for Time Vault. I draw Howling Mine so I'm able to Transmute and Twiddle. On the extra turn, I cast Wheel of Fortune. It was the best Wheel I've ever cast. I drew Twiddle, Twiddle, Twiddle, Braingeyser, Recall, Recall, Land and he never got a third turn. 

7-1

Best Wheel of Fortune of my life

Finals - Jared Doucette on RUG

Game one he mulligans and has turn two pixies but no other threat. He throws some burn at me but I had Ancestral in my opener and start taking some extra turns with Howling Mine and Sylvan in play and he concedes. Game two I have Ancestral in the opener again and manage to cast it at least four times. Ancestral, Regrowth, Recall for both play them again. He baits my REB with Serendib so he can resolve Energy Flux, but I had the second REB. Its still close because he has Shatter for my Time Vault, but I slow his attacks by Strip Mine his Forest for Kird Ape and my Erhanm starts to race. I find another Time Vault plus another Erhnam and a Twiddle and win the race.

8-1

1st Place

Voyeuristic shot of the finals

Collection of swag and spoils

I'm really happy to have won the tournament, and can probably put away the Time Vaults for a while now. I'm sure I'll play it again, hopefully when everyone least expects it. 

Props:

Franz, Levi, Nate Shue, and everyone else who put on great event

Franz for being willing to run an event with a Top 8 and with draws. I think it was done exactly the right way, but I may be biased.

Dobbin House, Upper Crust, and Fourscore Brewing for being great venues with good drinks and food

Will, Pez, Shawn for being good housemates, despite what the review might say

Everyone who flew across the country to get here. Really glad I got to see Andy Baquero and Winston

Mano for road trip company and cheesesteak recommendation

Vince for the multiple Channel Fireball kills

All my opponents for putting up with me doing this nonsense. I know its not fun and I hope I put you out of your misery as quickly as I could.

Andy for recording the matches for a future upload. I hope I get this report out before the videos.

My wife for all the love and support. 

Slops:

Everyone that missed crucial Orb flips. You know who you are. I'm glad you got to feel some pressure though.

Quarterfinal matches that take almost two hours.

Rain on the drive back. At least it was only 3 hours not 6 hours from Eternal Weekend

Eternal Weekend 2023

It's been a busy holiday season, but I've finally found time to finish the report from Eternal Weekend 2023. This happened December 7-10 in Pittsburgh. I drove six hours from New Jersey to play in several events. I really love events where I can play in a different tournament every day.

Thursday - Old School

Atog Shops

I played Atog Shops. The event was Eternal Central rules, and I hadn't played Workshops in a 4-strip format before. I played Atog because I wanted a cheaper threat than Juggernaut and I also wanted to have Red sideboard cards instead of White.

Round 1 - Brian Vesgo - Atog

Game one he has multiple Black Vise and Timetwister. Game two I have turn one Chaos Orb for his Orb. I follow up with multiple Icy Manipulator for his Serendib Efreet and City of Brass. I eventually kill him with Atog and Fireball. Game three have two Su-Chi and he only has Hurkyl's Recall to delay the beatdown. Instead of replaying a Su-Chi, I play Atog and Chaos Orb to stay under Vise. He Timewisters at some point and played Library of Alexandria. He was never able to activate it though due to my pressure and never used the mana. He died to Atog when he didn't have colored mana up.

1-0

Round 2 - Ward Crane - Esper shops with Hymn and Jade Statue

Game one my Icy and Su-Chi beat his Su-Chi.  Game two I have Strip Mine for his turn one Library and follow up with my own Library on turn two. He has Strip Mine for it, but I do get one activation. However, he has another Strip Mine and I never draw a fourth land. He draws enough lands to kill me with a couple of Su-Chi.  Game three I have Library again but he has turn two Hymn. I build back up to seven cards in hand but then he has Balance. I draw a bunch of mana after the Balance and he draws all removal. It takes him a long time to kill me because he doesn't have extra mana to activate Jade Statue but eventually he draws out of it.

1-1

Round 3 - Brendan McBain - 12 bolt 

Game one I Mind Twist for two turn one and Strip Mine his next land. He never recovers. Game two he has turn one Library. I play two Atog turn one and then Demonic Tutor for City in a Bottle to shut off his Library. I draw Workshop and kill him exactly with Triskelion plus Copy plus Atog.

2-1

Round 4 - Thomas Swindell - RUG

Game one I have a turn one Icy which I use to disrupt his turn one Library. I activate in upkeep a few times to keep him from having the extra cards. I have Atog doing some beatdown against his two Kird Ape but he has no Forest. I then stick Triskelion to take out both Apes and win easily from there. I think on the critical turn I even Icy his Library in his draw step. Game two I have Ancestral and Mind Twist early, but he topdecks Timetwister to get back in it. I find City in a Bottle of the Twister though and win with Triskelion and Copy Artifact.

3-1 

Round 5 - Evan DeWitt - Grixis Hymn

Game one I have early Icy and Trike. I'm pretty far ahead so I don't cast the Wheel in my hand. He does find Hymn to take out my Wheel and then answers for both Icy and Trike. Now that we are at parity, I cast the Timetwister I draw and find Trikselion to kill him.. Game two he Hymns into Hyppie and Troll and I die without colored mana. Game three I Lotus into Su-Chi turn one and Copy Artifact on turn two. He is too far behind and two Strip Mine seal the game.

4-1

Round 6 Daniel Mowaf - The Deck / Some type of Tome Control

Game one I have a turn one Triskelion. He has turn one Chaos Orb but misses his flip. He draws three City of Brass takes too much damage. Game two he has Disenchant for first two Su-Chi and then I resolve Blood Moon. We play draw go for several turns. Eventually he finds Pearl and casts a third Disenchant on Moon. Now with white mana, he can Divine Offering on Trike. I have Mind Twist with double REB backup at this point and win from there.

5-1

I finish in 3rd Place and got this prize cards:

Friday - Vintage

I've always wanted to play in the Vintage Championships and this was finally my first time. I played UW Lurrus and went 2-3 before dropping to find food. I didn't really take any notes on the rounds. I think failing to eat breakfast contributed to dropping early because I would have liked to play all the rounds. Vintage is always fun when I get a chance to play it. I did manage to win game three of round one despite missing three Bauble triggers. I'm really not on top of my game outside of Old School anymore.

Saturday - Middle School World Championships

This was the event I was most looking forward to, and it delivered on the hype. For those that aren't aware, Middle School is a format covering the cards released in the years between Old School and Modern. The card pool is similar to Premodern, but the ban list has some major differences. Its only played in a few local pockets of America, but also Japan. The events are sporadic so still a lot of discovery and a more casual atmosphere.

About twenty people showed up to the Sly Fox brewery south of downtown Pittsburgh. It was a lot of people in town from Austin and Cleveland. I got to meet several people I'd only ever played against in the online leagues. The vibes were reminiscent of my first Old School event. 

I played what I believe to be the strongest deck in the format:

4 Worldgorger Dragon

1 Ambassador Laquatas

4 Animate Dead

4 Dance of the Dead

4 Entomb

4 Intuition

4 Careful Study

4 Whispers of the Muse

4 Frantic Search

3 Abeyance

2 Cunning Wish

4 Gemstone Mine

2 Undiscovered Paradise

4 Polluted Delta

1 Swamp

2 Island

4 Ancient Tomb

1 Underground River

2 Dromar's Cavern

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Adarkar Wastes

Sideboard

1 Capsize

1 Chain of Vapor

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Abeyance

1 Enlightened Tutor

2 Duress

1 Disenchant

1 Stroke of Genius

2 Necromancy

1 Funeral Charm

I made some changes since the last time I played this deck. Because you need both a creature and an enchantment to combo, this deck is susceptible to all forms of interaction: graveyard hate, creature removal, enchantment removal. I could not find a good way to counteract all of these at first, and had cards like Null Rod that don't even do anything. However, Abeyance stops all the reactive cards nicely while also being able to be cycled when you don't need it. The major issue would be getting enough white sources in the deck. I think I managed to do it though. Moving them to the main over Duress or Force of Will worked out even better than I was hoping. Adding white also gives access to Swords to Plowshares as a good answer for Meddling Mage (I even considered playing my own Mages but couldn't come up with a reason why I'd want to).

The tournament was going to be five rounds of swiss, no cuts. That meant I would need to 5-0 to be the Middle School World Champion.

Round One - Steve M on UWG Survival

Game one I play like eight or nine turns without finding a Dragon or Entomb and die without my opponent even knowing what I'm playing. Game two I probably misplay by wish for Funeral Charm but immediately draw two discard outlets and only one Animate and it gets countered. Wishing for Abeyance would have won easily. After he counters I draw nothing but land and he had all spells and I die.

0-1

Round Two - Eric on RG Oath (Firecats and Ball Lightnings I think)

Game one I win on turn two. Game two goes long but he let's an Intuition resolve and I get Abeyance so his Pyroblast, Furnace, and Naturalize are all stopped.

1-1

Round Three - Angelo on Fires

Game one I win on turn two. Game two I win on turn four with Abeyance protection.

2-1

Round Four - Stu on RDW

Game one I mulligan to four and don't draw second land for the turn two kill. He has Wasteland and I never draw more land to get back in. Game two I draw the game on turn two. Game three I win on turn two. Game four I draw the game on turn three. Game five I play three Frantic Search in a turn and just need to draw a colored mana source to win the game but miss. I took too much damage from Ancient Tomb and die. 

2-2

Round Five - Patrick on Landstill

Deck performs great. Win with Abeyance backup pretty early both games, maybe turn four game one and turn six through a Seal of Cleansing game two. Abeyance is great.

3-2

I think this record got me a back door Top 8, but the results truly didn't matter. Everyone at the event was there because they loved the format. Most people skipped playing Legacy Champs or other events at the actual EW site to be there. The vibes were great, the beer was great, the food was pretty good. 

All the Middle School World Championship Competitors

Props:

Jimmy for running the OS Event on Thursday.

Collin for sharing room and meals

Eric for putting on MS Worlds

Pittsburgh seems like a nice town

My wife for all the love and support

Bryan for winning MS Worlds and 2nd at Vintage Champs

Slops:

Pittsburgh traffic. Guess when the roads are just bottlenecked by bridges everywhere you can't expect much better. The train was not running on the weekend for construction. 

Weather on Sunday.