This is my Summer Derby report.
Deck
After playing Land Tax in Premodern at Lobstercon, I wanted to give it a try in Old School. At first, I was going to play the Randy Buehler TaxTowerLibrary list. However, I've also wanted to try playing a deck where the only win condition is Timetwister and Tormod's Crypt. Untimed Derby rounds would be the perfect time to give that a go.
After playing the deck for seven rounds, I have some notes. There is fundamental tension with Land Tax and Counterspell. Turn one Tax is awkward when you have to play a second land to turn on Counterspell turn two. I knew this going in, but I felt I needed Counterspell to ensure my win condition actually worked. These decks should have four copies of Swords to Plowshares. Ivory Tower goes a long way against aggro, but you can still be overwhelmed. Swords is a way to slow the assault without having to play out any extra cards from hand like you would for Abyss, Moat, or Wrath. Speaking of the four mana cards, Abyss and Moat were only just okay. I never drew Wrath, but I think it might be better than either of the other two. You do overload the opposing Disenchants, but you also give the opponents a chance to play perfectly against whichever enchantment or artifact is most problematic for them. Wrath of God does not provide them that counterplay. Final note - Rainbow Vale is not good at all in this list. It might be fine still in more traditional Buehler style, but there is too much tension with Counterspell yet again.
The Matches
Round One - Billy Jannen - Disco Troll
Game one I go Land Tax into Sylvan into Tower into Moat. He doesn't have much besides a Troll and a Factory. Eventually I Braingeyser to turn on Library of Alexandria and then hold Counterspell for his Disks. After the first Disk is Countered he conceded. Game two he has turn one Serendib followed by Mind Twist for two to turn off my Tower. I can only Mind Twist for two back. He finds Demonic Tutor for Time Walk but I find Swords for the Dib before he can resolve it. He then finds a Factory and a Troll, but I have Moat. I still haven't hit enough cards to turn on Tower but I do have Sylvan working. He finds a Disk and I Demonic Tutor for Disenchant. He gets another Disk off the top and I don't have an answer. Game three I have turn one Tower and he has turn two Serendib with Mishra's Factory in play. I have no second land but just Mox Sapphire. He has Time Walk to attack for 10. I have a second Tower and start gaining 2 then 4 then 6 but he finds two Lightning Bolt to finish me off with Mana Drain backup for my Mana Drain and I die right before I stabilize.
0-1
Sided out Land Tax and Counterspell to use Moat and Abyss with 4 Disenchant 2 Divine Offering to stop his Disk but I'm not sure it was right.
Chris Mason - Mono Green
Game one I have early Tower but he has a Strip Mine to take me off UU for Counterspell on his Chaos Orb. Orb takes care of Tower and I'm too far behind on mana I'm forced to Timetwister. I find Balance off the Twister and use it to almost stabilize, but a Mishra's Factory finishes me off. Game two is very similar including a key Strip Mine. He has Tranquility for Land Tax but that lets me resolve The Abyss. I take care of all his creatures except Factories and then he finishes me off with Hurricane.
0-2
Joel Bowers - UR Atog
Game one I have turn one Land Tax but he has turn one Disenchant. I have no other land and start taking some beats from a Serendib Efreet. I'm also facing Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra after a Wheel of Fortune. I do have Lotus into Recall for Lotus and Balance to stabilize. The Abyss takes care of his Atog and I have Swords for a Factory. I'm at 1 life but he has Black Vise so I can't use Tower to gain any. I don't find any further advantage or removal for the Vise so I die when he draws burn. Game two i have a turn three Abyss for his Serendib. Eventually he uses Huyrkyll's plus Balance to restrict my resources. He finds a Factory to attack and when I Disenchant he has Fork to take out The Abyss. Two more Serendib and another Factory kill me as I draw only mana.
0-3
Jaime Cano - MonoBlue Stasis Vault
Game one has some good back and forth. He has Stasis going but no Howling Mine or Black Vise. I'm content to play draw go with plenty of land in my hand thanks to Land Tax. Eventually he comes off Stasis but loses the counter battle over Twiddle on his Time Vault. This opens the door for me to Mind Twist his hand away. I set up Tower plus Library and start drawing tons of cards. He does manage to resolve a Timetwister, but I already had Tormod's Crypt a bunch of his good stuff. I had four Tower in play and he can't quite Braingeyser me for enough to kill me. A second Mind Twist and he concedes. Game two he has early Library. A few turns go by before I find Chaos Orb to answer it. He neglects to Hurkyll's in response, but does Twiddle his Library for some extra cards. He then uses the Hurkyll's with Timetwister to set me back on mana. I play out a Tower and Library of Leng to start gaining life. He has Howling Mine and Stasis though. There are another few turns of draw-go as the Stasis slowly constrains his mana. Eventually he decides to go for it. He casts Time Walk which I let resolve. He then hits me with Hurkyll's. I counter, he counters, I counter, he counters. Hurkyll's resolves, but he's now left without two mana to Boomerang the Stasis. The extra turn he just plays an Island and passes. I take 10 from Vise but can play some Mox and Sol Ring to redeploy my Tower. He has to let Stasis die and when I untap I Regrowth a Counterspell, Mind Twist his hand, then Divine Offering the Howling Mine. He concedes.
1-3
I get paired for batch two, but then see that my round one opponent has messaged me saying he had two Mana Drain in his deck. I retroactively get the win from that round. Also, one of my batch two opponents intended to drop and we did not get to play.
2-2
Round 5 - Will Parshall
He dropped.
3-2
Round 6 - Raja James on GW Prison with Living Plane and Tabernacle
He has early Icy Manipulator to keep me off Counterspell mana. Winter Orb joins and I'm in a tough spot. I do have Ivory Tower though so he isn't threatening to kill me. Many turns go by and eventually I find enough Disenchant to get out of the soft lock. A Sylvan Library when I'm at 50 life lets me close the door. Game two I'm never under much pressure. I have Disenchant for his first Winter Orb, and Counterspell for his Serra Angel (thankfully, as I boarded out all my creature removal). I Crypt and Timetwister early and he draws all lands and concedes.
4-2
Round 7 - Marc Flore on 4 Color Black
I don't remember these last two matches very well. I know in game two he had Golgothian Sylex to remove three of my Ivory Tower and then had Disenchant for my Moat to win.
4-3
Golgothian Sylex!
Round 8 - Ross Olson on UR Burn
Game one I have early Ivory Tower but he gets a lot of creatures in play to swarm. I draw only lands and lose. Game two he has two Energy Flux and I can't remove it so I'm unable to really do anything.
4-4
Conclusion
A 4-4 record would feel about right with this deck, but in reality it was 2-5. I'm glad I got this near-zero win condition idea out of my system and I promise I will actively try to win games going forward.
