all your report are belong to us

What a great weekend! What a great community! What a great run!

I ended up making it all the way to the semifinals of Sunday's Vintage event. I
felt a great support from my friends and the community as they supported and
cheered me on throughout the day. A big thank you in particular to Nick Detwiler
and Tom Dixon for their words of wisdom and support throughout the day.

Overall, the Eternal Weekend was an absolute blast. This event far surpassed my
expectations. Nick Coss, thank you for helping to make eternal Magic as fun and
special as it is in Northeast America. I don't know a single person that didn't
have a fantastic time. I can only hope that you continue to have this
opportunity in the coming years. There isn't another person that could do it
better.

I thought it might be fun to share one or two "beep beep boops" from every one
of my rounds in the 2013 Vintage Championship. I'm not one to typically memorize
the happenings of entire Magic: the Gathering matches, but I did have a moment
or two in most of my matches that ended up being noteworthy or otherwise
intriguing to the Vintage enthusiast.

For those that do not know me, I was playing Oath of Druids. Oath of Druids has
been my favorite deck to pilot dating all the way back to 1999's Extended
format. (Abundance and Sylvan Library, yeah!) If you take away the one event in
2009 in which I was hilariously slinging Phyrexian Negator, Nantuko Shade, and
Hypnotic Specter, Oath of Druids is the only deck I've ever played in Vintage.

4  Forbidden Orchard
2  Island
2  Misty Rainforest
2  Polluted Delta
1  Strip Mine
2  Tropical Island
3  Underground Sea

2  Griselbrand

2  Abrupt Decay
1  Ancestral Recall
1  Black Lotus
1  Brainstorm
1  Demonic Tutor
2  Flusterstorm
4  Force of Will
2  Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1  Mana Crypt
3  Mana Drain
1  Memory's Journey
4  Mental Misstep
1  Mindbreak Trap
1  Misdirection
1  Mox Emerald
1  Mox Jet
1  Mox Pearl
1  Mox Ruby
1  Mox Sapphire
4  Oath of Druids
2  Show and Tell
1  Sol Ring
1  Time Vault
1  Time Walk
1  Vampiric Tutor
1  Voltaic Key
1  Yawgmoth's Will

Sideboard:
1  Abrupt Decay
1  Forest
4  Leyline of the Void
3  Nature's Claim
3  Nihil Spellbomb
2  Pithing Needle
1  Show and Tell

In nearly every round, I made a play or two that encapsulated what I love about
the Vintage format. I'll share some of them in chronological order.

Round 1 - Shawn Stroke - Merfolk - 2-0

In game two, I was in a bit of trouble, because Shawn had resolved a Waterfront
Bouncer that he brought into play with a Cavern of Souls naming "Merfolk." He
then proceeded to cast a Phantasmal Image with a Cavern of Souls naming
"Illusion." He was going to copy Waterfront Bouncer and make the game incredibly
rough for me to deal with from that point on. I almost didn't realize that an
Abrupt Decay could wildly solve this problem. I had been holding back on an
Abrupt Decay in my hand which I responded with, destroying his Waterfront
Bouncer before the Phantasmal Image had a chance to copy it, therefore coming
into play as a 0/0.

Round 2 - Joel Lim - Merfolk - 2-0

In game two, Joel's board featured a Lord of Atlantis and a Silvergill Adept
that had been beating me down. I have plenty of Islands, so these creatures were
quite unblockable. I had finally Oathed into a Griselbrand that turn, but I was
at three life. Similarly to my last round, I was saved by a clutch Abrupt Decay
again. Joel went to cast another Lord of Atlantis, but I countered it with a
Force of Will through pitching a blue card and going to 2 life. I had one last
card in my hand. Joel attacked with the unblockable Adept, and I cast Abrupt
Decay on the Merfolk lord that was granting his creature Islandwalk. I proceeded
to block the Silvergill Adept with my Griselbrand, gain 7 life, and take the
game over from there.

Round 3 - Patrick Henry - U/R Landstill - 2-0

In game two, Patrick and I each had our own copy of Jace, the Mind Sculptor in
play. On the turn that my opponent cast his, he used the "Brainstorm" ability to
find a Lightning Bolt which he cast, targeting my Jace which was down to three
loyalty. I removed a blue card in my hand to cast Misdirection, switching the
target of the Lightning Bolt to his Jace, also with a loyalty of three. He
responded by casting Mana Drain. I removed another blue card in my hand to cast
Force of Will, which he responded to with a Flusterstorm. I cast Mindbreak Trap
for free, winning the counter-war, and leaving him with only lands and no cards
in his hand, while I retained my Jace. What a battle. The game was over from
there.

Round 4 - William Kirkwood - Martello Shops - 2-0

In game two, I had a Griselbrand out with my opponent at around 17 or so life.
This game had gone on for a long time and featured everything from a Staff of
Nin being Mana Drained leading to my casting of a Jace, the Mind Sculptor; a
Spine of Ish-Sah killing that very Jace; my Abrupt Decays killing a Chalice on 1
and a Chalice on 2; and many other wild back-and-forth plays.

Finally, my opponent casts a Blightsteel Colossus with a Cavern of Souls on
Golems. I think for a moment and cast Mana Drain on it, failing to counter it,
but successfully netting me 12 mana for my following turn. William had out three
sphere effects, one of which being a Lodestone Golem, so I certainly needed all
of that mana to somehow not lose the game. I drew 7 cards with Griselbrand. I
had a very thin library at this point, so I figured I'd be able to find
Yawgmoth's Will, which was not in my graveyard. I did find it, alongside a Time
Walk, which I did not realize was still in my library. With the boon of 12
colorless mana, I had enough to cast Time Walk, Yawgmoth's Will, and then Time
Walk again to attack for lethal. Beep beep boop.

Round 5 - Steve Menendian - Burning Long - 2-1

In game one, Steve played a Necropotence and used it to draw 7 cards at the end
of his turn. He likely had a win set up for his following turn. I stumbled upon
an opportunity to assemble Time Vault and Voltaic Key, but I had a Mana Crypt
out. I lost four or five die rolls in a row, but right before I had an
opportunity to lose another one and lose the game, I was able to get Griselbrand
out and start gaining life. Phew!

Round 6 - Lance Ballester - Dredge - 2-1

I don't have too many specific memories about this match outside of an absurd
amount of countermagic used to protect my hate-pieces.

Round 7 - Erik Pentycofe - Dredge - 2-0

In game one, I won the die roll. Knowing my opponent was on Dredge, I was
pleased with that. Erik proceeds to mulligan down to just one card, and it
turned out that it wasn't a Bazaar of Baghdad. My hand of seven was the best one
I'd had all day. Black Lotus; Mox Sapphire; Mox Ruby; Ancestral Recall; Jace,
the Mind Sculptor; Mental Misstep; and Force of Will. Wow. Even before he
continued to mulligan, I felt like I could win, even with it being a "game one
against Dredge." My Jace was used to "Fateseal" five times, allowing me garner a
lopsided game one win against Dredge.

Round 8 - Benjamin Marleau Donais - RUG Delver - Draw

We drew.

Round 9 - Kevin Cron - Keeper - Draw

We drew.

Quarterfinals - Erik Pentycofe - Dredge - 2-1

For my top 8 match, I was matched against Erik and his Dredge deck again. Game
one was a slaughter in his favor, featuring a duo of Bazaars in his opener.

In game two, I had a Leyline of the Void in my opening hand alongside a Nihil
Spellbomb. The only problem was that I had one land and it was a Forbidden
Orchard. Oh well, here we go! I begin the game with Leyline of the Void in play.
He Chain of Vapors it back to my hand. I use Vampiric Tutor to find Black Lotus,
allowing me to recast the Leyline of the Void. He killed it with Nature's Claim.
I cast my Nihil Spellbomb, and at this point my many Spirit tokens are really
hitting me hard. I find an Oath of Druids, bringing Griselbrand into play. My
opponent attacks with the now five tokens he has. This play confused me
initially in the moment, as I'd be able to block with my Griselbrand and net
myself more life than I'd lose. I knew something had to be up, but what?

Before damage, he attempted to Darkblast the blocked token. I have three cards
in my hand, two Force of Wills and a Mana Drain. I'm fearful of where this game
is going, so I really don't want to give my opponent another token, (which I'd
have to in order to cast the Mana Drain), so I decide that I'll Force of Will
his Darkblast, but can't decide if I should lose the Mana Drain or the other
Force of Will. After some deciding, I correctly choose the other Force of Will.
He reveals a second Darkblast, targeting the blocked token, which I thankfully
saved the Mana Drain for. I could not believe that he was holding on to a second
Darkblast and actually had another mana-producing land to cast it. It was even
crazier that I had another counterspell, too.

I gained life from blocking the token, bringing me to exactly 7 life after the
Spirit token damage was applied. Erik passes the turn to me. I draw a card for
turn, and it's everybody's favorite "time to turn this game around" card:
Yawgmoth's Will. However, I only have a Forbidden Orchard and a Mox Sapphire. I
attack with Griselbrand and then draw 7 cards. The first five were not mana
sources, but there it was: Mox Pearl. I cast Yawgmoth's Will and assembled Time
Vault and Voltaic Key with the aid of a multitude of fast mana. That was a close
call.

In game three, I kept an opening hand that thoroughly impressed me. Leyline of
the Void, Underground Sea, Mox Ruby, Mox Pearl, Demonic Tutor, Mental Misstep,
and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I began the game with Leyline of the Void in play.
My opponent was on the play, leading with Bazaar of Baghdad. On my turn, I drew
a fetch land. I knew that I was going to use Demonic Tutor, but I wasn't quite
sure for what. Nihil Spellbomb crossed my mind, but then it hit me: Pithing
Needle. This card would likely be the nail in the coffin for this situation. I
cast it on the same turn. I then drew into a Leyline of the Void. I broke my
fetch land, found an Underground Sea, and cast it. This was too crippling for
Erik to recover from. I then used Jace, the Mind Sculptor to eventually exile
his entire library.

Erik was a gentleman and a great sport in both of our matches. Congratulations
on your top 8 finish, Erik.

I was almost positive that I was going to lose game two, so I was thoroughly
surprised when I turned the match around and moved on to place in the top 4.

Semifinals - Joel Lim - Merfolk - 1-2

In game one, I got out to an incredible start. Joel kept a hand with only one
basic Island, because it also contained a Cursecatcher and an Ancestral Recall,
which he later informed me. He led with the Cursecatcher and passed the turn. I
used my Strip Mine to destroy his lone land. He never saw another. I cast an
Oath of Druids that he attempted to Force of Will. I used a Force of Will back
at him, which he expectedly attempted to halt with his Cursecatcher. That
resolved, but I, like a robot, had the second Force of Will to get my Oath of
Druids into play. The game was quickly over as Joel was left with no permanents
outside of one Spirit token.

My luck was soon to run out, though. As most of you know, Joel ended up winning
the next two games with ease. It's funny, Joel was my only loss of the day and I
was his only loss of the day. It was disappointing to miss out on the finals,
but I am very glad to see such a great person from our community take the trophy
home. Enjoy it, Joel. You earned it, buddy.