TwiddleVault at the Stream of Life Tournament *1st Place*

Sunday November 12th I played in the Stream of Life tournament put on by Phil and Sunny of the Sisters of the Flame at the Endless Life Brewery in Brooklyn. I played Twiddle Vault and went undefeated to win the event. The event was a blast and I wanted to share my experience here.

The Deck

I picked up two CE Time Vault a few months back and I have been looking for an excuse to try them out. I played a couple of games at a local meetup against David Third and quickly realized this is not the deck to bring to a casual hangout. The deck was far stronger than I imagined and disproportionately wastes your opponents time as they watch you combo off. I decided to relegate it to only tournament play after that. The question was, which tournament?

I considered playing it for Spike Summit back in September, but realized it would probably not be very good against what I expected people to show up with. When the Stream of Life event was announced, I decided it would be the perfect time to play it. The tournament was low enough stakes that if I crash and burn spectacularly, I wouldn't be too upset. The player base was expected to mostly be NYC locals. I knew most of them and figured they wouldn't complain about it too much. They are already expecting me to show up with something extremely Spikey anyway. 

As for the specifics of the list, there isn't much to talk about. I copied some lists from Danny Friedman and Jim Allen Wallace and picked what I liked about both. A few comments on some card choices:

Mana Short - I don't think this card is needed in the main if you are playing Mind Twist. Really just want one effect to either set up the combo or stop their interaction in the middle of comboing. Two was overkill, and obviously Mind Twist is the stronger card on its own.

 

Strip Mine - I was able to use this as a pseudo Mana Short in a few games and kept people honest with their Libraries. There is enough generic mana costs in this deck I don't see a good reason for not playing it.

Fireball kill - I considered the main deck Erhnams, but wanted to play them along side Fireball for winning fair games anyway. So with Fireball in the deck, I think it's just better to leave them with dead cards in the first game and possible make the Erhnams stronger after sideboarding when they take out their creature removal.

Erhnam Djinn - Pretty much the perfect creature for this transformational plan. Cheapest threat that kills in the fastest number of turns balanced with how hard it is to kill with the direct damage that players more likely to leave in. Does make you a bit more susceptible to City in a Bottle, but not enough to where I'd want to play Shivan Dragon or Mahamoti Djinn. 

Glasses of Urza - What happens when you tap to look at their hand and they have the answer? Now what? I'll pass. 

The Event

Mano picked me up on his way to Brooklyn Sunday morning. We were excited about the tournament, but the real priority was the cheeseburger.

We got to Emily at 11:45 with plans to get the first burgers we could when they opened at noon. Luckily it was only 4 minutes from the tournament location. The wait time was only 10 minutes after we ordered.

The burger was solid. Mano liked it more than I did. I thought the meat was a bit too salty, which made the rest of the burger bland by comparisons. The bites from the inner part of the sandwich were less salty, but I still feel the flavor was too concentrated in the meat and not distributed throughout the onions, cheese, and bun. Fries and fry sauce were very good. Overall I'd rate it 7.5/10.

Definitely the best burger I've had from a pizza restaurant.

The beer at Endless Life was pretty good. They made a special sour for the event. I don't normally like sours, but I enjoyed that one. I had a couple of the dark beers before switching to the tap old fashions. Each drink would get a stamp on your Stream of Life and the person with the most at the end of the day would win a prize. 

No pictures of the beer, but this cocktail was nice.

5 drinks for 5 stamps. 

The Games

Round 1 - Noah Keating - Guardian Beast

I didn't see much of Noah's deck in game one. We both exchanged small Mind Twists for two. His mana was just Volcanic and Tundra so when I countered his Balance, I used Strip Mine on his Volcanic to prevent him from Lightning Bolt while I combo. This let me use Sylvan and City of Brass more freely. Game two he had several Factory and Sage beats, but I drew two Erhnam Djinn which I cast off City of Brass so I didn't have a Forest. He tried to push through enough damage but eventually I found enough extra turns to swing back for the win.

1-0

Round 2 - Claudia du Lac - UR Burn

Game one was wild. She plays first and has a Mox plus a land but no other play. I use Strip Mine and Black Lotus to Timetwister but don't have a follow up. She has Blood Moon, Ironclaw Orcs, and Time Walk. She follows up with another Orcs and a Serendib. I just play out some Mox and Mana Vault and my only blue is Sapphire. I use Recall to get back Timewister. She attacks for 7 to put me to 11 and after combat plays Chain Lightning. I copy it back on an Orc, she copies back to my face, and I copy to the other Orc. She's out of red mana so I'm now at 5 life.  On my turn, I cast Timetwister. I don't find anything useful so I have to Fireball the Serendib. The following turn she plays another Serendib. I'm forced to play Recall for Timetwister and Fireball. She counters the Fireball and attacks me down to 2 life. Another Serendib means I need to answer both, or win the game. I can Recall for Fireball and cast it on both, but I don't think that gets me anywhere closer to winning, so instead I play Timetwister yet again. Yet again, she does not draw any instant speed burn or countermagic. I find Time Walk and some Islands, so I start trying to combo. I'm worried I'm going to have to use Timetwister one more time, but I manage to chain together enough turns and finally find Black and Green Mox to Demonic for Regrowth and set up two Fireballs to kill. Game two I get an early Erhnam and take just enough turns to win.

2-0

Round 3 - Jelani Johnson - 4 Color Hymn

This one was on stream (shout out to Andy Baquero). Game one he hit me with two Hymns and three Disenchants to keep me from doing anything relevant. Game two he's stuck without White mana and I manage to win easily. Game three I have a turn one Sylvan, and then have the perfect cards on top to pay 8 life and go for turn "two" kill. Several untaps later, I'm successful.

3-0

My only picture from the games.

Round 4 - Matt Marmorato - Serra/Moti Deck

Game one there is a lot of draw go. Eventually he uses Recall to get back Counterspell with one other card in hand. I cast Mind Twist, forcing him to tap out of his Black Lotus to counter. After that, I'm free to combo that turn. Game two he has Counterspell for my turn two Howling Mine, but my turn three Erhnam resolves. He doesn't have any creature removal left in the deck. I manage to Twiddle to block a Factory along the way, but easily win after a few attacks.

4-0

Round 5 - Shaun Cole - The Deck

I don't recall much from game one, but I won through not much resistance. Maybe I had Mind Twist or Library. Game two I mulligan to six and keep Tropical, Lotus, Ruby, Sapphire, Mana Drain, Erhnam. Erhnam resolves and he reacts the way someone without any creature removal left in the deck would. He does have Chaos Orb, but I have the Mana Drain and he concedes. He shows me he boarded out not only Swords to Plowshares, but also Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and Preacher.

5-0

The Aftermath

Final Standings

My first place prizes:

It feels good to win an event again after all of the 2nds and 3rds in the past two years of Old School. I'm ready to play the next one.

Props:

Phil and Sunny for organizing everything.

Endless Life for hosting.

Paul for helping run the show.

Jared and Andy for making the stream happen.
Mano for driving, being a burger buddy, and a great finish with extra spicy deck.

All my opponents for being good sports while I took all the turns.

Everyone that came out. Great to see familiar faces and meet new ones.

My wife for all the love and support.