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When I arrived to the tournament, the first thing I noticed was that there were a lot more people than we’d had for the previous two.
This promised to be a good day, with more than 20 people (22, in fact!) eager to win the prize of an unlimited Time Walk. I chatted with some players about decks and how dorky everyone was for wanting to spend an entire day playing cards, and then noticed that the store had been reconfigured – I could no longer use the space I’d been using, thanks to the presence of a new (though empty) rack for RPG books.
The offending rack.
Round 1: Luis Scott-Vargas (TPS) v. Jeff Nielsen (TPS-hating workshop)
Luis (left) and Jeff (right)
These two are a pair of some of the best players in the tournament. Luis has won several of the store’s events, but has been unable to attend the last few, so I wanted to feature him in the first feature match of the day, especially playing against Jeff, who has done quite well recently.
Game 1: Luis wins the die roll and selects to play first, keeping his seven-card hand. Jeff does likewise. Luis begins the game with a Dark Ritual, Duress (seeing Tolarian Academy, Strip Mine, Goblin Welder, Crucible of Worlds, Sphere of Resistance, Mox Sapphire), and the Sapphire takes the fall. He finishes up with a Dark Confidant with his extra 2 mana. Jeff plays Strip Mine, go, and Luis draws a Brainstorm with his Confidant. Jeff plays a Chalice of the Void with no counters, his Tolarian Academy, and another Chalice (1 counter), which runs into a Force of Will. Luis draws a free Island, and then some more extra cards via Ancestral Recall. A duress (sphere of resistance) later, he is done. The players pretend to have no playable cards for a couple turns, but Luis never stops attacking with The Great One. A while later, Jeff is down to 12, and Luis plays Mana Vault, Dark Ritual, Dark Confidant, Black Lotus, Force of Will (targeting Lotus), Tendrils of Agony (12 life loss). Game Score: Luis 1, Jeff 0
Game 2: The players comment about the importance of the die roll in this matchup, and Jeff wonders what will happen when he gets to play first. Only time will tell.
Lo and behold, Jeff has a turn 1 Chalice of the Void (1 counter) off of a Sol Ring, and a turn 2 Sphere of Resistance. Turn 3 sees Intuition for three Mishra’s Workshop, and Luis has a Dark Confidant. Jeff plays and activates the wrecking ball that is Jester’s Cap, and removes Tinker and two Tendrils of Agony. Luis loses 11 life for drawing Darksteel Colossus. The players run draw, go for a few turns, and Luis loses 6 for Mind’s Desire. He then plays Rebuild, re-plays Mox Sapphire, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Mana Crypt, Tendrils of Agony. Thanks to a few attacks with the walking Necropotence, the sub-20 spell is lethal. Game Score: Luis 2, Jeff 0
Round 2: Marco Barreno (TPS) v. Jonathan Pearlman (TPS)
Marco Barreno
Game 1: Marco wins the die roll, and jokes that the players should continue with game 2, but Jonathan refuses to lose that easily. Marco mulligans to 6, and then to 5, and then to 4, without seeing a single mana source. He winds up keeping Tolarian Academy, Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, Mind’s Desire. His first turn is the land and the artifact, and Jonathan plays land, go. Marco Brainstorms into Forbidden Orchard and Necropotence, which runs into Force of Will. Jonathan Vampiric Tutors up an Ancestral Recall, which he draws with Dark Confidant, and then draws 3 more cards. Tolarian Academy plays Wasteland, and Marco is still unable to play anything. Game Score: Marco 0, Jonathan 1
Game 2: The players remark that they aren’t very familiar with the match-up and comment on the inadequacy of Marco’s 4-card hand as they shuffle and sideboard and suffle some more.
Marco plays first, and his turn is Gemstone Mine, Mox Pearl, Cabal Ritual (!), Duress, Lotus Petal, Wheel of Fortune, Mox Jet. Jonathan plays Underground Sea and Cabal Therapy (Brainstorm), which hits. Marco plays Xantid Swarm and Time Walk, and Imperial Seal (Timetwister). On his extra turn, he plays Gemstone Mine and Timetwister. He draws and plays 2 Duresses, and takes out Jonathan’s newfound Ancestral Recall and Cabal Therapy. Jonathan rips Dark Ritual, and then Brainstorms. An Underground Sea, Mox Jet and Lotus Petal later, he is done.
Marco attacks with his 0-power creature again, and Brainstorms, once again, into Necropotence. He sets aside 6 cards (dropping to 11), and is done.
Jonathan plays Swamp, Dark Ritual, Yawgmoth’s Bargain. He draws 19 cards, one at a time, and then Moxes Sapphire, Emerald, and Ruby. He taps the Emerald to play Mana Vault, and the Mana Vault with the Sapphire and Ruby, and then plays Rebuild. He replays his 6 pieces of artifact mana, and then plays Hurkyll’s Recall on himself. The 6 artifact mana friends come back into play, and he makes enough mana to play Mind’s Desire for 21 cards. Game Score: Marco 0, Jonathan 2
Round 3: John v. Brian Woo (counter-slaver) (guest-written by Tyler Wishnoff)
Brian Woo
This is the ultimate matchup. Brian Woo, the legend, coming out of retirement for a year! 12 months! A 10th of a decade! A 100th of a century! He has come out to prove that he is still the king in his own right! The champion of the type one tournament series thing!
After downplaying his horrible defeat in round 1, Brian offers his deck up to be cut. And so does John. Brian woo is cheating, so we should disqualify him.
Game 1: The players draw their cards. Brian, eager to see the **** that was in his hand, gives us the thumbs up. John seems okay as well. With that same stupid grin on his face, Brian Woo rocks back and forth, holding what he hopes to be the ultimate hand. Which it isn’t.
Brian Woo plays Volcanic Island and taps it for Goblin Welder. Imperial seal from John. This also shows how nice a guy John is for playing an Imperial Seal in the language Brian Woo speaks fluently. Chinese. Chalice of the void hits the table. Brian woo plays a Brainstorm. I’m still not seeing any cards that are any good, since most of his deck is complete ****. Ooh, strip mines the underground sea.
(At this juncture, Tyler is needed by the store ownership to do something at the counter, so I’ll resume writing in his place.)
Brian plays a Darksteel Citadel and then a Mox Sapphire, which gets countered. The play is Land, go, for a couple turns, until Brian Woo responds to Duress with a Fact or Fiction, which runs into Force of Will from John.
Brian, cheater that he is, rips Thirst for Knowledge and discards Mindslaver (surprise surprise). Moments later, his opponent finally draws a second land and plays Oath of Druids. Brian attacks for 4, and John activates Oath of Druids, eventually hitting Razia, Boros Archangel, which attacks. Brian Mana Drains John’s Time Walk (wow, that’s a lot of capital letters), plays Triskelion, and attacks and activates Triskelion for the win. Game Score: John 0, Brian 1
Game 2: John begins by going from 7 cards to 6, but he keeps those. Brian keeps his first 7, and is Duressed on John’s first turn. He is forced to discard Demonic Tutor, but that is all, and there is little action for a few turns, as John appears to be stuck on 1 land and a mox, and Brian has lost his only proactive card. John plays a Ground Seal, which Brian does not wish to counter, and then an Oath of Druids on his next turn, which finds Brian’s Mana Drain. John attempts a Force of Will on the drain, and Brian forces back.
Brian spends his extra mana and taps 4 lands to play Mindslaver. He uses his newfound Black Lotus and remaining untapped land to activate the Mindslaver. On John’s next turn, he makes the truly awful play of Oxidizing his own Mox Jet and playing a superfluous Mana Crypt. A couple lightning bolts to the dome later, the game is more or less over thanks to Brian’s token action. Game Score: John 0, Brian 2
Round 4: Pro Tour Legend Mark Chalice (TPS with Recoup) v. David Ochoa (TPS)
David Ochoa.
Mark Chalice.
Me: “So, Pro Tour Legend Mark Chalice, what do you have to say for yourself?” Mark: “This weekend is the first Type 1 I’ve played in for 8 years, and it’s really changed.” Me: “What was type 1 like 8 years ago?” Mark: “Well, there were a lot more aggressive decks, focused purely on dealing damage to your opponent early, and there were still combo decks, but they were a lot shakier. Prosperity and the like. Actually, the last time I played type 1 was in Dallas.”
Game 1: Mark wins the die roll, and elects to keep his first hand of 7. David considers for quite a while, eventually saying “all right.” Mark kicks of the game with Underground Sea, Mox Emerald, Dark Confidant, which is countered by David’s Force of Will. A Duress from David takes out Mark’s Mana Vault, stranding a Yawgmoth’s Bargain in his hand, unplayable. Mark draws a Polluted Delta and is done, and David plays Sol Ring, go.
A turn later, David topdecks a savage Tolarian Academy and plays Ancestral Recall targeting himself, to which Mark responds with a Hurkyll’s Recall, which he quickly realizes is “kinda dumb.” David replays Sol Ring, casts Dark Ritual, and then plays Tendrils of Agony for 10.
Eventually, Mark finds a couple more lands and is able to cast Gifts Ungiven on one of David’s end steps. He finds Yawgmoths’ Will (graveyard), Black Lotus (graveyard), Mana Crypt (hand), and Recoup (hand). Then, on Mark’s turn, he untaps and plays Duress, which makes David discard Vampiric Tutor though he retains Mox Emerald, Mana Crypt, and Brainstorm.
David’s turn is Mox Emerald, Mana Crypt, Brainstorm. When he reveals the Mind’s Desire in his hand, Mark packs it in. (picture: David) Game Score: Mark 0, David 1
Game 2: At this juncture, the Pro Tour Legend remarks that he has one more thing to say. Me: “And that would be?” Mark: “Web (David) is a better player than I am, at least right now.”
Mark decides to keep his 7-card hand, but David chooses to mulligan. On David’s first turn, Mark counters his Brainstorm with a Red Elemental Blast. The players develop their mana for a few turns, and Mark gets in a Brainstorm, and a little later, David uses Vampiric Tutor to get Necropotence, which runs into Mark’s Force of Will for 5 mana. Mark plays a Vampiric Tutor of his own, for Ancestral Recall, and David plays Dark Confidant. Mark, not to be beaten so easily, Demonic Tutors for Darkblast and destroys the Great One.
David, now stuck with no cards in hand, mises a second Confidant, which mills 3 cards off of Mark’s library. Mark plays his own Confidant, dredges Darkblast, draws some extra cards over the course of a few turns, and eventually reveals a Yawgmoth’s Will for a loss of 3 life. A Dark Ritual later, it is David’s turn to pack it in. (picture: Mark) Game Score: Mark 1, David 1
Game 3: I remark that this is the first feature match today to go to the full 3 games, and that this makes me very sad. . The players briefly discuss agreeing to a draw, but David is adamant. Since he has the advantage of playing first this game, it is an easy decision to play it out.
The first play of the game is David’s second-turn Dark Confidant, which Mark destroys with his second-turn Darkblast. On Mark’s third turn, he Dark Rituals a Grim Tutor, and on David’s turn, he plays another Confidant. Mark plays a (countered) Ancestral Recall, and then Darkblasts David’s new Confidant. David responds to a Duress with a Mystical Tutor that runs into Red Elemental Blast, and discards Dark Ritual in a choice between it and a Tendrils of Agony, leaving David with just 1 card in hand.
Mark eventually draws a third land which allows him to cast a second Grim Tutor, and David continues to have no nonland plays. Mark plays and sacrifices Black Lotus, tapping his lands as well to play Yawgmoth’s Bargain, but he declines to use it just yet. On David’s turn, he plays Brainstorm, Mox Jet, Tendrils of Agony (6 life loss), reducing Mark to 7 and carrying David up to 24.
On Mark’s turn, he takes himself down to 1 life to draw 6 cards, and plays Mox Jet, Mox Emerald, Mox Pearl, Sol Ring, Mind’s Desire. The 5 revealed cards are: Lotus petal, Brainstorm, Duress, Mystical Tutor, Tendrils of Agony. Mark plays Duress for free, (Hymn to Tourach), Brainstorm for free, Lotus Petal for free, Dark Ritual (from his hand), Dark Confidant, Dark Confidant, Mystical Tutor for free (finding Burning Wish), and Tendrils of Agony for 26 life loss, sealing the game. Game Score: Mark 2, David 1 (picture: Mark)
Round 5: Tyler Daykin (TPS) v. David Ochoa (TPS) I chose this match even though David, one of the venue’s best players, has already been featured, because Tyler really wanted to be in a feature match today, and who could turn down a cute little baby face like his. I mean, really. So David had to pack up his stuff and move over to the feature match area after he’d already set up. I told him to blame Tyler and to take out his anger on him by casting Tendrils of Agony after 24 other spells. He didn’t think I was very funny, so I did the honors. Game Score: Tyler 0, Me 1 Tyler rocks out a little too fast for my camera.
Game 1: Tyler wins the die roll, decides to play first, and keeps his 7-card hand, as does David. Tyler’s first turn is land, Brainstorm, and David plays Mox Sapphire without a land backup. Tyler plays a couple moxes (the sapphire of which finds a Force of Will from David), a land, a Dark Ritual, and a Yawgmoth’s Bargain. A great many cards later, he casts Tendrils of Agony for 20. Game Score: Tyler 1, David 0
Game 2: Tyler, once jovial, is now all business. David, always business, is, well, still all business as the two shuffle up for the second game of the series. David kicks the game off with drawing some extra cards for 1 blue mana, and Tyler has a first-turn Dark Confidant. David, fortunately, has a Darkblast at the ready, followed up by a Confidant of his own.
A turn later, David plays Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Hymn to Tourach (!), Tolarian Academy, Black Lotus, Tormod’s Crypt, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, and is done. Tyler has no plays, and David untaps. Dark Confidant reveals a land, and then attacks. David takes himself down to 2 to draw 15 cards, and plays Brainstorm. After two dark rituals, a Mox Emerald, and a Duress, David plays a pair of Tendrils of Agony for lethal damage. Game Score: Tyler 1, David 1
Game 3: Tyler’s turn 1 Dark Confidant is once again countered by David’s Force of Will. On David’s Turn, he plays Duress, making Tyler discard Imperial Seal, and revealing a pair of Dark Rituals and a Force of Will. Soon, David has summoned a Dark Confidant of his own, which draws him extra lands. The action is slow, the players primarily putting out lands with David drawing an extra card every turn, and David’s Hymn to Tourach (!) is countered by Tyler’s Force of Will. Eventually, David takes 3 for a Yawgmoth’s Will and Vampiric Tutors for Black Lotus. Using floating black mana, he Duresses away Tyler’s Stifle, replays his Black Lotus, Vampiric Tutor, Brainstorm, and Tendrils of Agony. Game Score: Tyler 1, David 2
____________________ PoTaTo!
Posts: 213 | From: Berkeley | Registered: May 2004
And the top 8 is: 1) Luis Scott-Vargas 2) Jonathan Pearlman 3) Matt Benjamin 4) Leland Cerey 5) Blake Katanzano 6) Mark Chalice 7) Brian Woo 8) Michael Klemic
Quarterfinals: Luis Scott-Vargas v. Michael Klemic Game 1: Luis mulligans to 4, and Michael decides to keep his first hand. Luis manages a turn 2 Dark Confidant after Michael’s turn 1 Library of Alexandria, but the creature runs into Force of Will. Michael’s third turn is a tinkered Triskelion. After several turns of beatdown, Luis is at 7 when he plays Mana Crypt, Academy, Brainstorm, which runs into Mana Drain. Luis hardcasts Force of Will on the drain, and concedes upon looking at the three cards he will draw. Game Score: Luis 0, Michael 1
Game 2: Luis keeps 7 cards, as does Michael. Luis’ turn 1 Duress finds Michael’s Force of Will, and Michael’s turn 1 Ancestral Recall resolves. A second Duress takes away Michael’s Brainstorm, and on Luis’ next turn, he resolves Yawgmoth’s Bargain. After drawing 14 cards, Luis plays Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Vampiric Tutor, Chain of Vapor with some copies, Tendrils of Agony. Game Score: Luis 1, Michael 1
Game 3: This time, Michael mulligans to 5 and plays land, go. Luis keeps his first 7, and Duresses away Michael’s Thirst for Knowledge (the rest of his hand was lands and Darksteel Colossus). A duress 2 turns later takes out Michael’s newly-drawn Yawgmoth’s Will, and a Dark Ritual after an Ancestral Recall puts a Necropotence into play for Luis. Michael remarks that he’d like to draw “something cool,” and looks disappointedly at Volcanic Island. Luis plays Vampiric Tutor, Brainstorm, Mana Crypt, Tinker (Sundering Titan!), and uses Necropotence a few more times. With an attack, a Time Walk, another attack, and a small tendrils, Luis is through to the semis. Luis Scott-Vargas, semifinalist. Game Score: Luis 2, Michael 1
The other semifinalists are:
Pro Tour Legend Mark Chalice
Brian Woo
Blake Katanzano
Semifinals: Pro Tour Legend Mark Chalice (TPS with Recoup) v. Brian Woo (Control Slaver) Game 1: Mark chooses to play first, and keeps 7 cards. Brian keeps 7 as well. Mark’s turn is Dark Ritual, Duress (Mana Drain), Dark Confidant. On Mark’s second turn, he has a Mox and a Time Walk, and on his third (or second and a half?) turn, he takes out Brian’s second Mana Drain with another Duress. Brian plays a Time Walk of his own, and a Goblin Welder. On Brian’s second-and-a-half turn, he Brainstorms and Strip Mines Mark’s Underground Sea, and Mark fires back with a third Duress, removing Force of Will from Brian’s hand.
Brian topdecks a tutor, which finds ancestral, and draws 3 cards. Mark plays Gifts Ungiven for Dark Ritual (hand), Black Lotus (graveyard), Yawgmoth’s Will (graveyard), and Darkblast (hand), and then a pair of Dark Rituals, the Darkblast, his Mana Crypt, and a Tendrils (12). After attacking, Brian is at 0 life.
Game Score: Mark 1, Brian 0 Game 2: Brian is unhappy with his first 7, but keeps, and has a turn 1 Brainstorm followed by a Chalice of the Void (for free!). Mark has a very similar start, but sans Chalice. On Brian’s second turn, he has a Tolarian Academy and a fact or Fiction, which earns him Gifts Ungiven and Darksteel Citadel. Mark resolves a turn 2 Dark Confidant, and Brian tutors up an ancestral. One turn later, Dark Confidant is met with a blast of dark. During Brian’s end step, Mark plays Hurkyll’s Recall on him, and Brian responds with a Gifts Ungiven for Thirst for Knowledge (hand), Force of Will (graveyard), Mana Drain (graveyard), and Brainstorm (hand), and then a Mana Drain on the Hurkyll’s.
Mark’s next turn is Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor (which runs into Force of Will from Brian, removing Brainstorm). Brian uses his drain mana on a Thirst for Knowledge, and Mark ponders his actions for a while during his first main phase, eventually settling on doing nothing at all. During Mark’s end step, Brian casts a second Thirst for Knowledge, discarding Darksteel Colossus, and then a Brainstorm followed immediately by the sacrificing of a fetchland.
On Brian’s turn, he plays and uses Strip Mine on one of Mark’s Underground Seas, to which mark responds by playing Intuition for Pyroblast (graveyard), Red Elemental Blast (hand), and Ancestral Recall (graveyard). Brian then drops a Goblin Welder and a Chalice of the Void (1 counter). Mark spends his turn playing Rebuild, which runs into Brian’s Mana Drain.
Brian spends his turn Dredging Darkblast, dumping nothing particularly desirable into his graveyard. On Mark’s turn, he plays Yawgmoth’s Will, Hurkyll’s Recall out of his graveyard, Mox Ruby, Black Lotus, Mox Emerald, Mana Crypt, Mox Sapphire, Ancestral Recall, Demonic Tutor, Tendrils of Agony. Game Score: Brian 0, Mark 2
Luis won his match 2-0 very quickly, making the finalists Luis Scott-Vargas and Mark Chalice.
For once, I get to actually cover a final match. Oh god, it’s been 9 hours and I’m still doing this. What was I thinking?!
Finals: Luis Scott-Vargas (TPS) v. Mark Chalice (TPS with Recoup) Game 1:
Luis keeps his first 7 and Mark mulligans to 6. Luis is on the play, and Duresses Mark, taking away his Yawgmoth’s Will.
On Luis’ fourth turn, he resolves Mana Crypt, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, draws 9 cards, plays Mox Jet, Lotus Petal, Duress, Duress, draw 5 cards, Brainstorm, Tendrils of Agony while Mark still has no permanents. Game Score: Luis 1, Mark 0
Game 2: Both players keep their hands, and Mark plays Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Dark Confidant, and Luis has land, go, and responds to Mark’s turn 2 Duress with Brainstorm, and discards Demonic Tutor. Mark follows it up with Swamp, Dark Ritual, Yawgmoth’s Will, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Necropotence. He sets aside 7 cards, and is done.
Luis Ancestral Recalls himself on his turn, and Mark takes 3 for drawing a Grim Tutor. He Duresses away Luis’ agony tendrils, and plays a fetchland for a Volcanic Island. He plays Ancestral Recall, attacks with Dark Confidant, and sets aside 4 cards (dropping to 4 life). Luis has Dark Ritual, Time Walk, Dark Confidant. On his time walk turn he Vampiric Tutors before his draw step, attacks for 2 (dropping Mark to 2), and Duresses Mark’s Burning Wish.
Unfortunately, the Wish is hidden behind the deck box.
During Mark’s upkeep, he responds to Dark Confidant’s triggered ability with Brainstorm, which Luis meets with Force of Will. Confidant fails to kill Mark, revealing an Underground Sea, which he plays and uses to cast Brainstorm. Mark finishes up by Darkblasting Luis’ confidant and attacking for 2, and Luis spends his turn playing Hymn to Tourach on the embattled Mark, who spends his turn Mystical Tutoring for Tendrils, which he sets aside. Luis has no plays, and Mark hits a spell with converted mana cost greater than 0. Game Score: Luis 2, Mark 0
Luis Scott-Vargas is the winner of Eudemonia’s Time Walk tournament!
Miscellany: the extra pictures that I just had to include.
quote:Originally posted by LotusHead: Damn. 2 tournies in a row with no top 8 decklists. 3 if you include recent Reno tourney. 4 if you include Pro-star's Lotus tourney. sigh.
I will make sure the employees working the next tournament understand that it is their responsibility to post decklists and do not throw them away after deck checks
Posts: 213 | From: Berkeley | Registered: May 2004
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