New Jersey Old School Championships - *1st place*

The Sylex Slam, AKA the New Jersey Old School Championships, was held Saturday February 10th at Time Warp Games in Cedar Grove NJ. 30 players showed up, proving that if you name your tournament a Championship, they will come. Every state should try to run one. This was my fourth time participating in event at Time Warp. Nick and Reggie have done a great job building the community up, and I was excited to participate again.

The Deck

I played Workshops with White. I haven't played the White version before, and I wanted to give the Howling Mine package a try. I expected Mine to be good as the field is usually a lot of Hymn to Tourach decks. Overall I maybe wanted another Winter Orb or Armageddon, and maybe the Blue Elemental Blast I cut at the last minute. The second City in a Bottle is probably overkill, and Animate Dead might not be strong enough to be a sideboard card. 

The primary goal was to keep the people from NYC from winning and ensure the trophy doesn't cross the Hudson. The secondary goal was winning, with a third goal of having some fun.

The Tournament

With 30 players, the tournament was run at Swiss Minus One : four rounds with a cut to top 8. After the Swiss, players would draft the donation cards and play for the champion Golgothian Sylex trophy.

Round 1 - Nick M on UB Shops

I played Nick a few months ago in a Premodern 1K and encouraged him to get into Old School when he expressed interest. Here we are a few months later and playing in round one. I start with a Howling Mine and Strip Mine for his Workshop. He has a second Workshop and continues to deploy Juggernauts and Triskelions, but my own Su-Chi and Triskelions trade to keep the board mostly clear. Eventually I Copy the Howling Mine and get two Icy Manipulator plus Relic Barrier in play. I win with the card advantaged generated. I don't remember much about game two besides me winning. I know I had Divine Offering for his first threat and then maybe a Braingeyser to pull ahead on cards. 

1-0

Round 2 - Eric Pallone on StasisVault

Game one he counters my first Juggernaut. I play two Howling Mine for lack of anything else to do. He does get a Time Vault in play, but I have Chaos Orb and Copy it twice to keep any Twiddle shenanigans from happening. He doesn't have enough mana and a couple of robots take him out before he draws out of it. Game two I don't have much pressure at all, but I do have Relic Barrier to stop his Howling Mine. He has a Black Vise which does 6 damage to me before I can get my hand down. He goes for a play of Hurkyl's Recall on my entire board one turn, so I'm forced to Mana Drain. He then draws Ancestral. I have a Triskelion and Winter Orb to apply pressure. He has a second Black Vise but hasn't drawn much else. After I play a Su-Chi, he uses Twiddle to tap the Winter Orb, getting his mana back. He then plays Stasis, locking up most of the board. I still have Su-Chi to attack him to 10 and play a Copy Artifact on the tapped Trike. He is forced to use another Hurkyl's to stay alive, which lets me Strip Mine his last blue mana to kill Stasis. I win easily by casting Triskelions when I get to untap.

2-0

Round 3 - David Third on GhostShipDisco

Game one I play a turn one Timetwister and he doesn't have any land. I use Relic Barrier to stop his only mana source, a Mox Emerald, but he does get an Ivory Tower out. I find a Triskelion and Su-Chi to beat down easily. Game two I'm stuck on three mana without much going on. He Amnesias me and I'm never really in it. Game three I have a turn one Su-Chi. the Robot attacks for 8 before getting Control Magic. He has UU untapped but I decide I have to cast Ancestral on my turn for best possible chance to win. He doesn't counter, so I assume he's repping Power Sink. I play a Triskelion with enough untapped, and the following turn play Armageddon with enough to pay for a Power Sink. We trade Trike for Su-Chi, and I play a Factory. He does have a Mox and Ivory Tower, but the Factory gets him low enough he's forced to play out cards from hand in hopes I have no follow up. I find another Su-Chi and do the last points.

3-0

Round 4 - Brian P on BlackWhite Deadguy

Game one I have turn one Juggernaut and turn two Su-Chi. He Hymns my land, but I have plenty of Mox in play... until he casts Nevinyrral's Disk. I'm only able to get him to 2 life before he Disks. He has two Factories to start attacking me. My only land is Workshop. I draw a second Workshop and take 2 mana burn to cast Su-Chi and Icy, but never draw a mana to activate Icy. He finishes me off with two Drain Life. Game two I come out too fast and he dies to a Su-Chi despite early Demonic Tutor Black Lotus Mind Twist, he was just too far behind on board. Game three he plays Swamp go. I play two Mox, Copy a Mox, and cast Time Walk. On turn two I can either cast Timetwister or Juggernaut. I only have three cards in hand after, so decide I need to Twister now to avoid a Hymn. I draw into two Factories, Strip mine, Copy, and some more mana. I elect to Strip his Swamp to protect my Factories in hand. He just has Swamp go again. I play Factory and Copy it. He has PLains and Demonic Tutor. I play another Factory and attack for 5. He has Black Lotus and Nevinyrral's Disk. I play another Factory and attack for 7. He uses Disk to get all my Mox and my Copy Factory. I attack with two Factory and he Disenchant one, I pump the other. The next turn he uses Mind Twist to empty my hand of lands and plays a Maze. I attack with two Factories, he Mazes and goes to 3 life. THen he has Sinkhole for a Factory. I draw another land and can no longer attack. He has Sengir Vampire. I draw land. He plays Hypnotic Specter, while I play Howling Mine. He attacks for 6 and passes. I draw two more land. He then attacks with the fliers and kills me with Drain Life. I have three Triskelion in my top 4 cards when I die with him at 3 life.

3-1

We draft the donation prize cards based on Swiss standings. I end up in 3rd place and take a Psionic Blast. 

The top 8 is:

1. Casey on Goblins plus Chains of Mephistopholes (the only 4-0)

2. Jordan on his URB Burn deck with Serendibs and Trolls

3. Myself on UBW Shops

4. David Third on MonoU DiscoShip

5. Bryan Manolakos on UWR AngelTrike

6. Parker Boab on UWR Lion Bolt

7. Jesus Mansilla on UWG Lion Pixies

8. Chris G on MonoBlack

Top 8 vs Parker Boab on UWR LionBolt

Game one I keep hand of two Mox, two land, Mind Twist, and two Triskelion. I play land and two Mox and pass. He plays turn one Library and passes. I draw Time Walk and cast it. ON the extra turn I draw another Triskelion. I fire off the Mind Twist for three cards. He uses Library in response. On his turn with six in hand he decides to pass and get Library back on line. I rip Mishra's Workshop though and play a Triskelion. I play another one each of the next two turns and all he can do to answer is play Psionic Blast, which leaves him dead. Game two I play turn one Sol Ring and Copy it. ON turn two I play Triskelion, but he has Mana Drain. All he can do though is play Shatterstorm for my mana and burn for 4. However, I don't draw anything good and he gets a Lions plus Factory to start attacking me. Eventually I find my own Factory, but he has Serra Angel and that's the game. Game three I keep seven and stop him from mulliganing to six cards, since I'm going to be playing Timetwister turn one. He only has land go. I decide to play Icy over Trike on turn two to cut off his mana. He has second land, but I draw Strip Mine for it while playing out Trike. He has a City of Brass for his second land again, but I have the City in a Bottle. I also Copy the Trike and when he finally gets to three mana for Psionic Blast he's dead.

4-1

Turn one Timetwister in game 3 of the top 8.

Top 4 vs Jordan on his URB deck (video will be here eventually thanks to Jesus's YT channel)

I have Library active turn one and trade some cards before Mind Twist him. He finds Timetwister shortly after though. I draw Mind Twist again off the Timetwister and never face any danger. Game two is interesting as I have turn one and turn two Su-Chi. His turn two he plays Demonic Tutor for turn three Energy Flux. I sac one Su-Chi to pay for Mox and the other, and then play Factory and Copy it. He doesn't have fourth land so I use City in a Bottle to take out his City of Brass, but let it die the next turn. He has a Psionic Blast for my Su Chi and his follow up is Mox, City of Brass and a Serendib Efreet. I have Triskelion and he's forced to Psionic Blast that as well. At this point, he's too low on life from the Blasts and Trike to attack with Serendib while I have to Factory available. We play draw go for a few turns while he takes 1 a turn, but I find Icy Manipulator and win.

5-1

At this point, I'm in the finals while Mano and David Third are in game two. Hoping for no game four shenanigans like at Glorycon, I join Parker outside for some parking lot beers.

Mano over David, then Mano over Chris

Finals vs Mano on URW Angel Trike

Mano is playing the Copy Artifact / Fellwar / Triskelion / Bolt / Swords deck we brewed together in the car ride back from GloryCon. He's also there with his daughter who managed to go 2-2 for 14th place in her first Old School event with RUG Aggro. He's looking to not play so they can go have a family dinner, so we make a deal: I get the title of NJ OS Champion and the Sylex Trophy, he gets the actual altered Golgothian Sylex card. I let him know if he ever wants to challenge me for the title he can, but he must ante the card in whatever future match we play. 

Do NOT let Mano claim to be "co-champion" or anything like that, the title is mine alone!

The top 2

The Spoils

I'm happy to add the NJ Old School State Championship to my other State Championship titles in Texas, South Carolina, and Hawaii.

Props / Slops

Props:

Time Warp for hosting

Nick for setting up and advertising the event

Reggie for stepping up and running the event when Nick had life come up

Reggie for being reasonable and running the event as Swiss Minus One with Top 8

All my opponents for being fun to play against

Mano for running the Angel/Trike brew to 2nd place

Jenna for 2-2 as the youngest player in the event

New Jersey for showing up and keeping the title in the state
Whatever Casey was doing to get 4-0

My wife for her love and support

Slops:

Mano for being afraid to miss with Falling Star so much, that he elected to Mana Drain a Hypnotic Specter while the opponent had a Black Knight in play. If you aren't going to cast the card, don't put it in your sideboard!

Seth for leaving without David

RUG Tempo in Winter Derby 24 *Top 16*

I competed in the Winter Derby recently and finished in the top 16 with RUG Tempo. 

I'm callling it RUG Tempo because instead of the normal 12 Bolt burn package, I'm playing some more creatures and instants like Scavenger Folk and Giant Growth to go with the three Counters. I dislike Chain Lightning, in Old School, especially in Swedish when there are fewer Orders to target. I find the Falling Star out of the sideboard to be plenty of anti-aggro to supplement the maindeck Lightning Bolts.

Things I liked about the deck:

Scavenger Folk - I think cutting a Shatter for the 3rd Folk is a no-brainer at this point.

Counterspell - A third Counterspell might be good enough to include. It helps against Bottle and is just a better card than Artifact Blast after sideboard.

Falling Star - This deck might actually want a third Star in the sideboard because of the lack of Chain Lightning. Its a bit awkward with only three Mox in the deck though. 

Stone Rain / Ice Storm - Maybe should be two Ice Storm, but the different mana costs did come up. Both were solid.

Things I disliked:

Giant Growth - I'm not sure this card is worth it. You get some extra bluff equity, but I've only had it be great one time and below average every other time. 

Shatter - In general its fine, but drawing two and having no targets is not ideal. Scavenger Folk much better.

Artifact Blast - two is too many for sure, but I still think one is worth playing

Sylvan Library - Nice to have, not worth a sideboard slot.

I also think this deck needs a Control Magic and a Tranquility in the sideboard. Playing a Fireball or Disintegrate might also be an option to make up for lack of reach from Chain Lightning without giving up the flexibility this version has. I've yet to seriously consider the black splash, but will probably give it a look when I play RUG again in the future. This deck would like an extra Mox and I don't think Fellwar does enough to be that substitute.

Batch One

Frantisek Vecernik - UWR Land Tax Serendib Djinn

Game one I mulligan to five. I Bolt his first Lion and play a Scavenger Folk. Turn three I have Timetwister and he Bolts the Folk so its about parity. I play two Kird Ape in the following turns to shut down his Factory and Lions. He has Land Tax but is flooding out. I hold off the ground with another Ape and swing with a Serendib Efreet in the air for enough turns to win. Game two he starts with Sol Ring. I play Factory, Lotus, and Serendib turn one. He plays Lions and Serendib Efreet turn two. I attack with my Dib on my turn two, he blocks with his. After combat, I play Factory Mox Ruby and Falling Star to clear his board. He's behind so he goes for the yolo Serendib Djinn. I decide to race with my Factory, Efreet, and Pixies but it is close. I end up winning the race at 5 life.

1-0

Nate Shue - UWR LDB

Game one I have turn one Library but he has turn two Serendib and turn three Serendib and I never find an answer to either. I try to race but he has Bolt and Psionic Blast to win. Game two he only draws Tundras and Factorys and my two Argothian Pixies do the full 20 damage I think. Game three I mulligan to five. He has turn one Library. I have turn one Library as well, but I'm two turns from activating it. I decide to go for it and do nothing for two turns. All he is doing is drawing off Library and developing mana so I'm not under significant pressure. After I get my Library going, I deploy a Kird Ape. He has Swords to Plowshares for my Serendib, but I have REB for his. Eventually he comes off Library to play multiple creatures, which I'm able to answer. He uses Braingeyser to get back into Library Range, but I haven't drawn additional threats besides the Ape, which at this point has him down to 10 life. He does find Mind Twist to empty my hand and turn off my Library. I get him down to 6 life with Factory and Ape beats. All he has is a Serendib for defense and is losing 1 life a turn. Despite his active Library, he can't find a way to stabilize and the bleeding is catching up to him. He goes for a desparation Wheel of Fortune, discarding two more Serendib and two Psionic Blast that were mostly dead due to his low life total. I find Psionic Blast off the Wheel to kill him.

2-0

Tim Atwood - Banding White Weenie

Game one I stop his ground assault with multiple Kird Ape, but flood out as he kills me with two Mesa Pegasus in the air. Game two I get a three for one with Falling Star and my Kird Ape beats get him low enough that I can burn him out after he finds City in a Bottle. Game three on the draw I keep a hand with Library, Falling Star, two Kird Ape, Lightning Bolt, Wheel of Fortune, and Psionic Blast. I think this hand is probably a mulligan, but decided to keep when he kept seven cards. His turn one is just Plains go. I draw with Library and discard Wheel, having found no other mana. He plays turn two White Knight. I activate Library again and only find Strip Mine. He plays Crusade and no other land. After taking three, I take a turn off of using Library to Strip his Plains and play a Sol Ring, still without any other mana. He doesn't have a follow up and attacks me down to 14. I find a Tropical Island off Library and Psionic Blast his White Knight. He has no plays. I find a Taiga and use Stone Rain on his only plains. All he can do is play Pendelhaven and pass.  Eventually he has Factory and City in a Bottle for his turn. With my Library gone, I can only use Scavenger Folk to destroy the Bottle and play a Kird Ape. He plays a Pikemen, but I play Ape and Su-Chi. The next turn he has a White Knight. At this point though, I've found Time Walk and Falling Star to close the game out.

3-0

Frederic Plats - MonoBlack Underworld Dreams

Game one I have Kird Ape and Scavenger Folk. He has Lotus and Mind Twist for my hand. My next draws are Serendib and Factory, so I think I might be able win. He has Maze of Ith and Juzam to stop my beats, and a Dreams to finish me off. Game two I mulligan to five. I play land go for first two turns but don't have a third land. He has Underworld Dreams turn three, which I Mana Drain. I draw land for turn and can cast two Serendib off the Drain mana. He has a Maze to slow the beats and a Black Knight. I get in some attacks and he plays a Hypnotic Specter. I have Falling Star to clear his board and keep attacking. Eventually, I get him to 13 life and I'm at 11 myself from the Seredibs. He has two Factory that haven't been able to attack because of the Seredib that gets untapped by Maze. So when I attack him, he declines to use Maze putting him at 7. On his turn he attacks with both Factories to put me to 7, and then goes for Time Walk. Unfortunately for him, he had to tap City of Brass to do this and I had two Lightning Bolt in hand. Game three I have turn one Pixies, but he has turn two Juzam. I attack into it, but he does not block. His turn he has Strip Mine for my Tropical, my only blue source. I decide I need to use my Psionic Blast now, and target him. This leaves us both at 13 life after he attacks. He plays Black Knight as follow up. I play a Chaos Orb but don't have the mana to activate. He Drain Life the Pixies for one and attacks for 7, putting me me to 6. I use Orb on the Juzam and pass. He attacks with Black Knight and Factory, but I Bolt the Factory. I'm at 4. I draw and play Kird Ape. He attacks with Knight and Factory again, I block Factory. Now I'm at 2 and he only has two Badlands plus Black Knight. I still have only Red and Green mana, and only three mana at that. I Falling Star his Knight and attack him to 11. He has no play. I draw Factory and play Su-Chi, attack him to 9. He draws Underground and plays Dreams. I go to 1 in my draw step but find another Factory so I can attack him for exactly 9 the turn before I die. 

4-0

Batch Two

Sam Black - TaxTowerLibrary

Game one he chooses to draw. I mulligan two hands with mostly burn spells into a five card hand of Emerald, Library of Alexandria, Scavenger Folk, Volcanic, Tropical, putting Strip Mine and Taiga on the bottom. I play Emerald and Folk turn one. He plays Library turn one and I regret putting Strip on the bottom. Maybe I should have just waited to get my Library going before playing my Scavenger Folk? The rest of the game goes fairly to his plan. Eventually I try to set up a turn where I can Time Walk and play multiple creatures and hope to draw Regrowth, but he has Power Sink for the Time Walk. Game two I choose to draw. He has turn one Fellwar, but my turn one is Scavenger Folk and Kird Ape. He Chaos Orb the Folk, but my next turns are two Serendib Efreets. He has Drop of Honey, but I have Time Walk to win the race. Game three I'm on the play and start with turn one Pixies. He has turn one Tax. We play draw go for a few turns while Pixies gets in for 6. He plays Ivory Tower and I Mana Drain, but he has Counterspell. I plan on playing Timetwister, but I draw Serendib for the turn and play it instead. He then Mind Twist my three cards away. I still have 5 power of attack against his TaxTower, and I draw another Pixies to add to the clock. He has Serendib Djinn and the REB in my graveyard is mocking me. I do draw Wheel of Fortune, but only draw a bunch of Su-Chi and Counterspell and die to the Djinn in four turns.

4-1

Aaron Patten - The Library - video here

Game one I mulligan to six and he has Mind Twist for four turn one. I'm left with a land and Timetwister so I keep playing, btu he has three Factories and I never draw the mana for Twister. Game two I have turn one Sol Ring and Black Lotus. I don't have a threat though. He has turn one Demonic Tutor. WE play draw go for a while, but eventually I put Ape and Pixies into play. He goes for Ancestral Recall finally, but I've had Counterspell up the whole game. I have a lot of options but when he gets to 12 life I'm able to Psionic Blast, attack for 4, and Regrowth the Blast for the win. Game three he has turn one Ivory Tower, but I have turn one Library. I don't have other lands so I get aggressive, discarding to hand size a Wheel of Fortune. I do find Ruby and Factory and get a Kird Ape into play. When he gets to four mana he casts The AByss, but we didn't catch that the Fellwar Stone didn't tap for any mana. We back up, but I'm forced to play a colored land the next turn anyway to try to Shatter the Ivory Tower. He Counterspell and then resolves Abyss. I have Factory and my Library still drawing cards so I keep playing for long game. He doesn't have any follow up threats and I Regrowth Shatter to take out Tower. Eventually I find Strip Mine, which along with a Shatter on his Fellwar cuts of his white mana. This lets me attack with Factories and meanwhile I draw three Psionic Blast. I manage all this with UU open for Counterspell and he doesn't find white mana soon enough before I burn him out.

5-1

Dan Cowling - MonoGreen splashing White

Game one we trade Strip Mines and Scavenger Folk on some Factories. I have a Serendib to hold off his Dragonfly and Pixies, but I can't afford to attack. I eventually draw Ancestral and Regrowth to get ahead on cards and use two Psionic Blast to kick start the race. He has to chump with some of his flyers and I have Counterspell, Giant Growth, and a Lightning Bolt to ensure I win the race. Game two he has turn two City in a Bottle and Swords to Plowshares for my Scavenger Folk. I have three Lightning Bolt for his early creatures though. Once again, I find Ancestral Recall and Regrowth leading to two Su-Chi. He has Maze and Scavenger Folk, so I'm not doing any damage. Eventually I get my own Pixies to also get around his Factory and chip in for two damage. I draw a bunch of Arabian cards at this point. He is drawing only land for a while. He draws some 1/1s to go with Pendelhaven to stop my Pixies beatdown. After he plays a few more, I use Falling Star to take out three of them. I still only have him down to 7 life and no real end in sight. I draw Braingeyser to dig six card deep and discard my dead Arabian cards. A Time Walk and a Lightning Bolt let me win the game.

6-1

Michael Simpson - RUG Atog 12 Bolt

Game one I have Ancestral into Library of Alexandria. I also manage to Mana Drain one of his Atogs. I get him down to 14 with two Kird Ape before he plays some stabilizing creatures, but my hand is now two Bolts and two Psionic Blast and I burn him out. Game two he has turn one Vise. I have Sapphire and City of Brass to hold up Mana Drain, but he has no follow up play. I take 2 from the Vise for a few turns before getting down a Scavenger Folk, which gets Bolted. I manage to Mana Drain a Pixies on his turn and deploy a Su-Chi on mine. He has Atog which trades with Su-Chi along with Vise and Factory, plus my Bolt. I get some damage in with my Factories, finally catching up. He has Demonic Tutor and passes, so I use Regrowth on my Mana Drain and play an Ape. He tries to bait the Drain with BEB on the Ape, but I let it resolve and continue to beat down with Factories. He rips Mind Twist to take out the Drain and then resolve Ancestral, but mostly bricks. I topdeck Psionic Blast to finish him off when he's forced to Psionic Blast an attacking Factory.

7-1

I finished the batches in 6th seed.

Top 16

Nicolas Imwinkelried - DiscoTroll

This matchup looked to be extremely bad for me. He has three maindeck Control Magic and three maindeck Maze of Ith, along with the standard Disks and Trolls. His sideboard also includes two City in a Bottle and two Terror. I decide I'm going to have to get lucky to win. My sideboard plan will be mostly artifact removal and the land destruction package, hoping to keep him from getting to four mana. Game one I have Kird Ape into Pixies, but he has turn one Library and a Bolt for the Pixies. I don't draw the third land I need for Serendib even after cycling a Time Walk. He has a Troll to stop my Kird Ape attacks. I finally draw third land for Serendib, but now he has mana for Control Magic and regeneration. I do draw Black Lotus so I can double Bolt him down to 8 life and Wheel of Fortune. I don't draw much gas off Wheel, just a Bolt and Giant Growth to go with some extra Mox. He attacks me to 14 and plays a disk. I attack back, using Bolt to clear his Factory. He's now at 4 life from the Serendib and attacks me to 8. I draw Timetwister but he has Mana Drain. However, he's forced to use Disk without regeneration because of my Giant Growth. With the board clear, I topdeck a Kird Ape, but he has Braingeyser and Time Walk and deploys a Factory and a Troll which finish me off after a Fireball. Game two I mulligan to six and keep Ruby Sol Ring Ancestral Factory Artifact Blast and Blue Elemental Blast, bottoming a Taiga. I draw Kird Ape and Pixies for first few draws, and think I probably should have put the Sol Ring on the bottom. I never find blue mana though, and he plays two Trolls which kill me in short order.

I really enjoy playing in the Derby because the metagame seems more defined and competitive. I'm looking forward to the next one. 

Glorycon 2024 Report - *1st Place*

This past weekend I traveled to Gettysburg Pennsylvania to take part of the 3rd Glorycon presented by the Old Order Old School group. The weekend was a great time and complete success, including winning the main event on Saturday.

The Journey

I departed central NJ around noon on Friday. I stopped to pick up Mano and we headed towards Gettysburg. We took a small detour to get some cheesesteaks at his favorite spot in the Philly suburbs,  Mama's Pizzeria. It was a pretty good cheesesteak with an interesting blend of cheese including mozzarella. I would recommend trying it, especially if you like yours cheesier than usual.

8.5/10 Cheesesteak

We then continued the journey, arriving to Gettysburg around 4:30 and experiencing the bizzaro 68F weather. It felt like the first day of summer. Everyone was out walking about, the stores had the windows wide open. After dropping off Mano's stuff, we headed to the Upper Crust pizza place where the evening festivities would be.

Upper Crust was the perfect spot for the hangout. The venue itself was huge, the beer selection very good, and I heard the food was solid. I did not eat anything, as I was still full from the lunch. 

One nice thing about an event that's so far out of the way is that more people show up the night before, since making a day trip Saturday is not as easy. There must have been close to 50 Magic players there Friday night, including people from all across the country. The Falling Stars had a mini-reunion, as Winston was in town for the event.

Check out https://falling-stars.com/

After the first few beers and saying hi to everyone, it was time to start gaming. Most people were battling some form of Ante, either 40k or AAA. Jared Doucette and I had other plans. We played what is probably the first in-person games of the bleeding edge new format Millennium. Elevator pitch: everything after the reserved list, before mythic rares (Masques to Eventide).

Little did we know we'd face each other in the finals in 24 hours

After getting some good data on what decks might be good in this brand new format, we drafted Jared's Premodern+ cube. I ended up with a UW big mana Tinker deck. I played a match against Andy Blaufarb that took almost two hours. However, he did end up getting three draws the following day in the main event, so maybe he's just slow. I managed to win my first two matches but people were leaving and I did not get to play the finals against Shane Cota. I think I would have lost, but who could say.

After the bar closed and everyone scattered, I headed out to where I was staying just outside of town to get some sleep before the main event the next day.

The Deck

I played Twiddle Vault. I looked at possibly playing some other decks, but didn't find brewing with Gentleman's Rules to be that interesting. In the end, I decided to go with the least Gentlemanly thing I could think of.

Some changes since last time: Cut Library of Alexandria for another Sylvan Library. Cut the Mind Twist for another Counterspell. Cut an Underground Sea for an Island. Cut a Tranquility in the sideboard for a Control Magic. The Control Magic probably not necessary, and I would like to have maybe a second Fireball in the sideboard if I played again. Also would consider a maindeck Hurkyl's Recall if I played again, just to have more outs against Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra game one.

The real strength of the deck is playing 4 Recall. I spoke with DFB after the Swiss while waiting for the top 8 to begin to get the reasoning behind allowing this deck to exist. He explained the philosophy behind the ATL rules to be allowing the most decks operating at their fullest capacity, which is a perspective I hadn't considered before. I don't think this deck is particularly fun to play against when it's doing its thing, but it also doesn't show up in numbers to where that is a big problem. I do think unlike Workshops or The Deck, this deck is much easier to beat with sideboard cards, just no one actually plays them. It may be tough to fit in Energy Flux or Tormod's Crypt into your sideboard, but you were probably over-sideboarding for other matchups anyway. Perhaps the right answer is 2x Recall in the 2PAC format.

The Games

Round One - John Gehrling UR Counter Burn

Game one is draw go for four or five turns turns, but then I tutor for Mana Short and go off. Game two I have turn three Lotus Timewister and find Twiddle and Transmute and he doesn't get another turn.

1-0

Round Two - Mark Evaldi on Reanimator

Game one in what begins the trend of the day, my opening hand has Ancestral Recall. I Ancestral and Braingeyser so I'm up seven cards and win easily from there. Game two I also have Ancestral amnd Geyser but have to pass turn with Howling Mine in play before I can win vs his Trike and Deep Spawn. He has Crumble for Time Vault but I have Chaos Orb for the Deep Spawn. I find Timetwister on the next turn and draw enough gas to kill him through another Crumble.

2-0

Round Three - Will Magrann on Bant Lions

Game one I counter his Pixies twice, but he has two Mishra's Factories to pressure me. He never finds blue mana, but I never find card advantage. I Mana Short and rebuy it with Recall to try to live a few more turns but eventually run out of ways to stall. Game two I have Ancestral and Braingeyser once again and win easily. Game three I mulligan to five he has Disenchant for my turn one Sylvan. He follows that up with Armageddon and I'm facing two 2/1s. I do have Black Lotus and Falling Star, but he topdecks Erhnam. By the time I get enough mana to cast and activate Chaos Orb, he has Divine Offering and I die. 

2-1

This was the first time I had lost a match playing this deck.

Here we have lunch break. Food was fine, and it was nice to have a break. Also was when I started drinking for the day, having two Troegs Blizzard of Hops Winter IPAs with my meal.

Round Four - James Mitchell on White Weenie

Game one I have turn one Mox Mox Volcanic into Timetwister. I win easily from there. Game two I have turn one Mox Mox Mox land Erhnam, and turn two Timetwister. He does have a Dust to Dust for my first Time Vault, but I'm still too far ahead from the power and win easily.

3-1

Round Five - Ben Katz on Merfolk with Black

I don't remember what happens game one, but I don't remember it being close. Game two is a bit more interesting as he gets me pretty low with some Factories and a Psionic Blast, plus I've had to tap my City of Brass a few times. I end up casting Control Magic on his Serendib, but still taking about two damage every turn. I do find Demonic Tutor which I use to find Time Walk and swing with Erhnam and Serendib while he's at 14. He takes it, but after I Time Walk he has to chump the Erhnam. However the Dib puts him to 4 and I have just enough mana to Fireball him for the win without dying to my own City of Brass.

4-1

Round Six - Tim Moran on UR CounterBurn

We discuss the possibility of drawing here, but the way the pairings are it looks like that would only guarantee one of in. Also, I've had Tim's number in our recent matches and he wants revenge. Game one I have a strong start with a Mox and Fellwar Stone plus Ancestral Recall. He mulligans to six but has turn one Balance to equalize the cards in hand. After a few more turns, I'm at 8 life when he plays Ankh of Mishra. I have to go for it here, and take 6 damage from Ankh as I build up resources over three extra turns. I do find Transmute for Chaos Orb to take out the Ankh and continue building up mana for Fireball. Tim is a bit tilted at this point. Game two I have turn one Erhnam off of Black Lotus. He has turn two Chaos Orb, but when he misses the flip he concedes and goes to the bar. He makes me promise to win the event to make him feel better.

5-1

Standings before top 8:

Quarter Finals - Erik Herter on MonoBlue Flyers

He's on the play as the higher seed. Game one he has a steady stream of flyers starting with Serendib into Phantom Monster. I have a lot of mana and not much to do with it so I Fireball to take out both. He has a follow up Air Elemental. I don't remember how the rest of the game goes but I manage to win without too much trouble from him. I think I had Counterspell for his only Counterspell and then he was tapped out. Game two we both have some early Mox and Fellwar Stone, but he has to go for Energy Flux. A few turns go by before it takes out all the mana. He's stuck on just two Island, but I keep drawing lands of my own. He has Mana Drain for my Tranquility which lets him cast Air Elemental. I have Erhnam though, and we start to race. He Counters my second Erhnam, but that lets me resolve Demonic Tutor which I use to get Control Magic. The nex turn I use Recall for Ancestral to bait another counter, and the following turn resolve Control Magic and win from there.

6-1

I have to wait almost an hour and a half as Mano and Jimmy Coony are playing so slowly, but also end up playing a game four after a Psionic Blast draw. Eventually we move to the brewery for the after party to finish up the top four. At this point, Jared has already defeated Will in the other semi final and will have almost two and a half hours before the finals.

Semi Finals - Jimmy Coony on UR Merfolk Burn

Game one he has a fast start with a Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, River Merfolk, and Lord of Atlantis. I have Ancestral Recall, and cast it a second time after playing Recall. I also have a Time Vault in play, but die before I ever find a Twiddle. Game two he does not have as fast a start, but I don't have a lot going on. I play two Howling Mine and pass. He plays out two Lord of Atlantis and passes with Sol Ring and Mox Ruby untapped. I find Timetwister and cast it, and he taps out of relevant mana to Lightning Bolt me in response. I manage to find enough action off the Timetwister to win easily from there. Game three he starts with a Mox and an Merfolk of the Pearl Trident. My start is land Mox Sol Ring Chaos Orb. He attacks with his Merfolk and then tries Shatter on the Orb. I activate in response on his untapped land. I wanted to Transmute the Orb for Time Vault. I draw Howling Mine so I'm able to Transmute and Twiddle. On the extra turn, I cast Wheel of Fortune. It was the best Wheel I've ever cast. I drew Twiddle, Twiddle, Twiddle, Braingeyser, Recall, Recall, Land and he never got a third turn. 

7-1

Best Wheel of Fortune of my life

Finals - Jared Doucette on RUG

Game one he mulligans and has turn two pixies but no other threat. He throws some burn at me but I had Ancestral in my opener and start taking some extra turns with Howling Mine and Sylvan in play and he concedes. Game two I have Ancestral in the opener again and manage to cast it at least four times. Ancestral, Regrowth, Recall for both play them again. He baits my REB with Serendib so he can resolve Energy Flux, but I had the second REB. Its still close because he has Shatter for my Time Vault, but I slow his attacks by Strip Mine his Forest for Kird Ape and my Erhanm starts to race. I find another Time Vault plus another Erhnam and a Twiddle and win the race.

8-1

1st Place

Voyeuristic shot of the finals

Collection of swag and spoils

I'm really happy to have won the tournament, and can probably put away the Time Vaults for a while now. I'm sure I'll play it again, hopefully when everyone least expects it. 

Props:

Franz, Levi, Nate Shue, and everyone else who put on great event

Franz for being willing to run an event with a Top 8 and with draws. I think it was done exactly the right way, but I may be biased.

Dobbin House, Upper Crust, and Fourscore Brewing for being great venues with good drinks and food

Will, Pez, Shawn for being good housemates, despite what the review might say

Everyone who flew across the country to get here. Really glad I got to see Andy Baquero and Winston

Mano for road trip company and cheesesteak recommendation

Vince for the multiple Channel Fireball kills

All my opponents for putting up with me doing this nonsense. I know its not fun and I hope I put you out of your misery as quickly as I could.

Andy for recording the matches for a future upload. I hope I get this report out before the videos.

My wife for all the love and support. 

Slops:

Everyone that missed crucial Orb flips. You know who you are. I'm glad you got to feel some pressure though.

Quarterfinal matches that take almost two hours.

Rain on the drive back. At least it was only 3 hours not 6 hours from Eternal Weekend

Eternal Weekend 2023

It's been a busy holiday season, but I've finally found time to finish the report from Eternal Weekend 2023. This happened December 7-10 in Pittsburgh. I drove six hours from New Jersey to play in several events. I really love events where I can play in a different tournament every day.

Thursday - Old School

Atog Shops

I played Atog Shops. The event was Eternal Central rules, and I hadn't played Workshops in a 4-strip format before. I played Atog because I wanted a cheaper threat than Juggernaut and I also wanted to have Red sideboard cards instead of White.

Round 1 - Brian Vesgo - Atog

Game one he has multiple Black Vise and Timetwister. Game two I have turn one Chaos Orb for his Orb. I follow up with multiple Icy Manipulator for his Serendib Efreet and City of Brass. I eventually kill him with Atog and Fireball. Game three have two Su-Chi and he only has Hurkyl's Recall to delay the beatdown. Instead of replaying a Su-Chi, I play Atog and Chaos Orb to stay under Vise. He Timewisters at some point and played Library of Alexandria. He was never able to activate it though due to my pressure and never used the mana. He died to Atog when he didn't have colored mana up.

1-0

Round 2 - Ward Crane - Esper shops with Hymn and Jade Statue

Game one my Icy and Su-Chi beat his Su-Chi.  Game two I have Strip Mine for his turn one Library and follow up with my own Library on turn two. He has Strip Mine for it, but I do get one activation. However, he has another Strip Mine and I never draw a fourth land. He draws enough lands to kill me with a couple of Su-Chi.  Game three I have Library again but he has turn two Hymn. I build back up to seven cards in hand but then he has Balance. I draw a bunch of mana after the Balance and he draws all removal. It takes him a long time to kill me because he doesn't have extra mana to activate Jade Statue but eventually he draws out of it.

1-1

Round 3 - Brendan McBain - 12 bolt 

Game one I Mind Twist for two turn one and Strip Mine his next land. He never recovers. Game two he has turn one Library. I play two Atog turn one and then Demonic Tutor for City in a Bottle to shut off his Library. I draw Workshop and kill him exactly with Triskelion plus Copy plus Atog.

2-1

Round 4 - Thomas Swindell - RUG

Game one I have a turn one Icy which I use to disrupt his turn one Library. I activate in upkeep a few times to keep him from having the extra cards. I have Atog doing some beatdown against his two Kird Ape but he has no Forest. I then stick Triskelion to take out both Apes and win easily from there. I think on the critical turn I even Icy his Library in his draw step. Game two I have Ancestral and Mind Twist early, but he topdecks Timetwister to get back in it. I find City in a Bottle of the Twister though and win with Triskelion and Copy Artifact.

3-1 

Round 5 - Evan DeWitt - Grixis Hymn

Game one I have early Icy and Trike. I'm pretty far ahead so I don't cast the Wheel in my hand. He does find Hymn to take out my Wheel and then answers for both Icy and Trike. Now that we are at parity, I cast the Timetwister I draw and find Trikselion to kill him.. Game two he Hymns into Hyppie and Troll and I die without colored mana. Game three I Lotus into Su-Chi turn one and Copy Artifact on turn two. He is too far behind and two Strip Mine seal the game.

4-1

Round 6 Daniel Mowaf - The Deck / Some type of Tome Control

Game one I have a turn one Triskelion. He has turn one Chaos Orb but misses his flip. He draws three City of Brass takes too much damage. Game two he has Disenchant for first two Su-Chi and then I resolve Blood Moon. We play draw go for several turns. Eventually he finds Pearl and casts a third Disenchant on Moon. Now with white mana, he can Divine Offering on Trike. I have Mind Twist with double REB backup at this point and win from there.

5-1

I finish in 3rd Place and got this prize cards:

Friday - Vintage

I've always wanted to play in the Vintage Championships and this was finally my first time. I played UW Lurrus and went 2-3 before dropping to find food. I didn't really take any notes on the rounds. I think failing to eat breakfast contributed to dropping early because I would have liked to play all the rounds. Vintage is always fun when I get a chance to play it. I did manage to win game three of round one despite missing three Bauble triggers. I'm really not on top of my game outside of Old School anymore.

Saturday - Middle School World Championships

This was the event I was most looking forward to, and it delivered on the hype. For those that aren't aware, Middle School is a format covering the cards released in the years between Old School and Modern. The card pool is similar to Premodern, but the ban list has some major differences. Its only played in a few local pockets of America, but also Japan. The events are sporadic so still a lot of discovery and a more casual atmosphere.

About twenty people showed up to the Sly Fox brewery south of downtown Pittsburgh. It was a lot of people in town from Austin and Cleveland. I got to meet several people I'd only ever played against in the online leagues. The vibes were reminiscent of my first Old School event. 

I played what I believe to be the strongest deck in the format:

4 Worldgorger Dragon

1 Ambassador Laquatas

4 Animate Dead

4 Dance of the Dead

4 Entomb

4 Intuition

4 Careful Study

4 Whispers of the Muse

4 Frantic Search

3 Abeyance

2 Cunning Wish

4 Gemstone Mine

2 Undiscovered Paradise

4 Polluted Delta

1 Swamp

2 Island

4 Ancient Tomb

1 Underground River

2 Dromar's Cavern

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Adarkar Wastes

Sideboard

1 Capsize

1 Chain of Vapor

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Abeyance

1 Enlightened Tutor

2 Duress

1 Disenchant

1 Stroke of Genius

2 Necromancy

1 Funeral Charm

I made some changes since the last time I played this deck. Because you need both a creature and an enchantment to combo, this deck is susceptible to all forms of interaction: graveyard hate, creature removal, enchantment removal. I could not find a good way to counteract all of these at first, and had cards like Null Rod that don't even do anything. However, Abeyance stops all the reactive cards nicely while also being able to be cycled when you don't need it. The major issue would be getting enough white sources in the deck. I think I managed to do it though. Moving them to the main over Duress or Force of Will worked out even better than I was hoping. Adding white also gives access to Swords to Plowshares as a good answer for Meddling Mage (I even considered playing my own Mages but couldn't come up with a reason why I'd want to).

The tournament was going to be five rounds of swiss, no cuts. That meant I would need to 5-0 to be the Middle School World Champion.

Round One - Steve M on UWG Survival

Game one I play like eight or nine turns without finding a Dragon or Entomb and die without my opponent even knowing what I'm playing. Game two I probably misplay by wish for Funeral Charm but immediately draw two discard outlets and only one Animate and it gets countered. Wishing for Abeyance would have won easily. After he counters I draw nothing but land and he had all spells and I die.

0-1

Round Two - Eric on RG Oath (Firecats and Ball Lightnings I think)

Game one I win on turn two. Game two goes long but he let's an Intuition resolve and I get Abeyance so his Pyroblast, Furnace, and Naturalize are all stopped.

1-1

Round Three - Angelo on Fires

Game one I win on turn two. Game two I win on turn four with Abeyance protection.

2-1

Round Four - Stu on RDW

Game one I mulligan to four and don't draw second land for the turn two kill. He has Wasteland and I never draw more land to get back in. Game two I draw the game on turn two. Game three I win on turn two. Game four I draw the game on turn three. Game five I play three Frantic Search in a turn and just need to draw a colored mana source to win the game but miss. I took too much damage from Ancient Tomb and die. 

2-2

Round Five - Patrick on Landstill

Deck performs great. Win with Abeyance backup pretty early both games, maybe turn four game one and turn six through a Seal of Cleansing game two. Abeyance is great.

3-2

I think this record got me a back door Top 8, but the results truly didn't matter. Everyone at the event was there because they loved the format. Most people skipped playing Legacy Champs or other events at the actual EW site to be there. The vibes were great, the beer was great, the food was pretty good. 

All the Middle School World Championship Competitors

Props:

Jimmy for running the OS Event on Thursday.

Collin for sharing room and meals

Eric for putting on MS Worlds

Pittsburgh seems like a nice town

My wife for all the love and support

Bryan for winning MS Worlds and 2nd at Vintage Champs

Slops:

Pittsburgh traffic. Guess when the roads are just bottlenecked by bridges everywhere you can't expect much better. The train was not running on the weekend for construction. 

Weather on Sunday.

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.