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.