all your report are belong to us

A few weeks ago, instead of going to play in a pPTQ or a 5k  over the weekend I
decided that I would take a trip down to Lafayette, IN to play in a Vintage
tournament with first place being a Time Vault.  Now I have four Vintage decks
built at the moment and have yet to play one of them in a tournament strictly
because I feel it's not a fun deck, despite it being the bane of the format. 
However, Saturday would be the day that I would finally sleeve it up and give it
a whirl.  The deck I'm talking about is Shops.

4 Lodestone Golem
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
4 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Duplicant
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Sundering Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tangle Wire
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Sphere of Resistance
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Trinisphere
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Crucible of Worlds
2 Dismember
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Pithing Needle
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Triskelion

The list is extremely stock, but the sideboard is all over the place.  The
Tormod's Crypt are strictly for Dredge, the Crucible of Worlds are there for
mirrors and Control matches and everything else is basically there to overlap
things I thought I would see.  I chose Dismember and Ratchet Bomb because I knew
I would see some Monastery Mentor decks floating around, but the Dismember also
serves well in the mirror.  The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is something that
overlaps in any creature match up, especially against Dredge and Mentor decks. 
The Ghost Quarter is something that I can bring in against the mirror and
Dredge.  The Pithing Needle is another way to shut off abilities from
planeswalkers, Griselbrand and Bazaar of Baghdad.  Finally, the Triskelion is a
card that I thought I could play against the mirror, Mentor matches and Dredge
as a way to exile their Bridge from Below.  The only deck I really didn't have
covered was Oath and in my experience it's a lousy match up anyway so I just
chose to ignore it.

Despite the tournament being an actual sanctioned event, I was quite surprised
that 14 people managed to show up with a deck with some amount of power to
battle.  Here's how the day went:

Round 1: W 2-0 v. Merfolk

Game one starts off with my opponent taking a mulligan to five and leading the
game off with a Wasteland while I have a quick start of Sphere effects and a few
men.  He scoops after three turns of no land draws.  This leaves me with no clue
as to what he's playing, but I have played him in Legacy before and he was on
Merfolk, so I went with what information I had on the player and it paid off.  I
would bring in the 2 Ratchet Bomb, Triskelion, 2 Dismember, Tabernacle at
Pendrell Vale and 2 Crucible of Worlds for the 4 Thorn of Amethyst and 4 Chalice
of the Void. 

Game two he would start off with a Vial.  I would start my game with a Mox, Sol
Ring and Strip Mine his Island.  The next two turns he would Strip Mine and
Wasteland my land while building the counters on his Vial.  I would finally be
able to play a Crucible on my turn 4 and follow it up with a Kuldotha
Forgemaster on turn 5 which would allow me to stop his onslaught of merfolk
lords by getting a block in and tutoring up a Wurmcoil Engine the following
turn.  The turn after the Wurmcoil hit play I would be able to tutor up a Steel
Hellkite to wipe away his team of 2-drop merfolk to finish the game.

Round 2: W 2-1 v. Dredge

Game one I get super lucky and find a Wasteland in my opening hand allowing me
to get rid of his Bazaar of Baghdad.  From that point I would be able to set up
a few sphere effects and play some men to end the game. 

Game two I get to keep a sweet hand with a Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb in
hand.  He plays a Bazaar and I play my Needle naming it.  With the draw from it
he's able to find two Ingot Chewers for the Pithing Needle and a Lodestone Golem
I play.  After my second turn the well went dry as I wouldn't find any action
other than another Ratchet Bomb to make any headway in the game. 

Game three would be much like game one where I have the Wasteland in the opener
to get rid of the Bazaar and I'm able to take control of the game after that
point.  My sideboarding for this match was to take out the Chalice of the Void,
Tangle Wire and the Phyrexian Metamorph for the 2 Ratchet Bomb, 4 Tormod's
Crypt, Ghost Quarter, Pithing Needle, Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and
Triskelion.

Round 3: L 0-2 v. Shops

There's not much to say about this match as it was absolutely terrible on my
end.  My opponent was able to land Crucible and Wasteland on turn 1 in the first
game to lock me out quickly as I didn't draw any fast mana to unload my hand. 

Game two saw us both mulligan, but I was unable to get past the Ancient Tomb and
two Moxes I had in play to get to a much needed Forgemaster.  He was able to
beat me down quickly after playing Lodestone Golem in three consecutive turns. 
My boarding for this match was taking out the Chalice of the Void and Thorn of
Amethyst for the 3 Crucible of Worlds, 2 Dismember, Ghost Quarter, Triskelion
and Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale in case of me being able to Wasteland lock him
out of the game.

Round 4: W 2-0 v. Gush Storm

This match went much easier than I thought it would.  Game one I whittle myself
down to 6 life via Ancient Tomb while chipping away at his life total.  He's
able to Hurkyl's Recall my at one point to reset, but it wasn't enough as he
didn't have much of a hand a I recast the Chalice in my hand on two to stop him
from being able to play Snapcaster, Time Walk, Demonic Tutor or Merchant Scroll
from his graveyard.  Once the Chalice was set I found a Sundering Titan to end
the game.  For this match I would side out a Wurmcoil Engine and a Sphere of
Resistance for 2 Crucible of Worlds as he showed me he was very vulnerable to
land destruction by cracking his fetches when he didn't need to.  This strategy
wouldn't really matter though as in game two I would land a Lodestone Golem on
turn 1 followed by a Trinisphere one turn 2 and Tangle Wire on turn 3 to quickly
shut him out of the game.

After the round I found out that I would be in a "3-way tie" for 1st place as
the top three players all had a 3-1 record, each of us beating the other along
the way, so tiebreakers would decide seating for the top 8.  Once the top 8 was
posted I found out I would be on the play throughout the elimination rounds as I
earned 1st in the Swiss portion.

Quarterfinals: W 2-0 v. Gush Storm

This match went down much like it did in the last round of Swiss.  I was able to
land many sphere effects game one to lock him out and eventually Forgemaster a
Sundering Titan into play to seal the deal.  In game two I was able to sculpt
the game the way I wanted by keeping him off his colors via Wasteland and Strip
Mine and then setting a Chalice of the Void at one and two to keep him off any
bounce he may have.  Sideboarding went the exact same as it did in the Swiss.

Semifinals: W 2-1 v. UWR Mentor

Game one I feel like I'm able to steal despite being on the play and my opponent
taking a mulligan to five as he's able to land a Jace, the Mindsculptor on turn
1.  Luckily for my I had a Phrexian Revoker in my hand and was able to take
Jace's loyalty down before he was able to answer the 2/1.  After that the match
went almost as expected for me as I was able to land some sphere effects and
Sundering Titan to end the game.  For this match I brought in 2 Ratchet Bomb, 2
Dismember, Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Triskelion for 4 Chalice of the Void
and 2 Phyrexian Metamorph. 

In game two I wouldn't get much reprieve as my opponent would be able to land a
Monastery Mentor on turn 1 and quickly build up an army to attack me to death
via Preordain and Time Walk all while keeping my at bay by way of Ingot Chewers.


Game three I keep what I feel is a sketchy hand of just a Workshop for my only
mana source with a Tangle Wire, 2 Lodestone Golem, Sphere of Resistance, Ratchet
Bomb and Forgemaster.  I kept the hand because I was on the draw and any Mox
enables me a shot at a turn 1 Golem and any land will make the hand as well.  I
draw an Ancient Tomb for the turn and lead with the Workshop into the Sphere
which meets a Force of Will.  My opponent proceeds to play Mox Ruby, Mox Jet,
Island and Dack Fayden on his turn one.  He plays a Mox Pearl from his hand and
loots with Dack pitching a Tundra and another card I can't remember.  My turn
I'm able to untap cast a Ratchet Bomb and blow out all of his Moxen leaving him
with just an Island.  From there I had to build my mana and threats in hand to
be able to deal with Dack stealing my creatures.  I would be able to land two
Lodestone Golem in the same turn.  He would steal one with Dack and I wold
Duplicant the one he stole and swing at Dack with the other to finally seal the
game.

Finals: L 0-2 v Fenton Oath

Sadly I play this match pretty sloppy and that's strictly because I have no
experience with it.  I've played a few games on the combo Oath side of the board
and know the role of that deck, but I haven't gotten to play the control deck
role.  Game one mulligan a hand of Sphere of Resistance, Strip Mine, Ancient
Tomb, Mishra's Workshop, Mishra's Factory and 2 Moxen.  I'm not sure if I'm
supposed to keep that hand, but after thinking about it more and more I feel
like I should have as I could land the Sphere on turn 1 and follow it up with a
Strip Mine all while putting pressure on him with the Mishra's Factory.  The six
card hand I chose to keep wasn't much better, but did have a Phyrexian Revoker
in the hand which I foolishly named a random Mox when it hit play instead of
Griselbrand.  This would allow him to cast a Show and Tell putting the
Griselbrand into play and making sure it would stay in play as he could
continuously draw from it when the situation presented itself.  I would bring in
the Pithing Needle, Triskelion and 2 Dismember for 4 Chalice of the Void. 

I feel like I screwed myself out of game 2 as well as I was able to land a
Forgemaster on turn one.  He played an Oath on his turn 1 and on his turn 2 put
the trigger on the stack and attempted to Nature's Claim my Forgemaster.  I
would respond by activating it and put myself in a situation to choose between a
Phyrexian Revoker and Sundering Titan.  I chose the Revoker, but after
recollecting on the game taking the Titan was probably the better choice as it
has a bigger butt than Griselbrand and allows me to blow up some of the land he
has in play.  But that's all it really took for my opponent to win as he was
able to Abrupt Decay my Revoker and make short work of me.

I collected some cash for my efforts, but not the Time Vault I wanted.  I
definitely had a ton of fun playing a format where it's hard to find players
willing to play.  I hope the store continues to have some events like this in
the future as a few of us gave him few suggestions on how to get some more to
come if he decides to.

Thanks for reading