stsung's picture
By: stsung, Ren Stefanek
Jun 21 2016 9:14pm
0
Login to post comments
2454 views


During 11th to 13th March Prague Eternal was being held in Prague, Czech Republic. The site - Centrum Pohybove Mediciny - is a heaven and provides us with luxury most Magic players can only dream of. Those that came for the weekend could participate in different kinds of Magic tournaments. There was Vintage, Legacy and Modern Main Event and some side events (the same formats) and an EDH tournament. I decided to participate and play some paper Vintage because I usually play online. The Magic Online Vintage players seem to be pretty nice people so I was looking forward to meeting some of them in person and I wondered if I can remember my triggers and see if my opponents can do that too. (I found out that I can do that better than I thought and that I also have a bit more insight into Magic rules even in situations that did not occur to me online yet).

I expected higher competition among the players (since more of them was supposed to gather and we could win better prizes) so I decided to play the deck I pick for Power Nine Challenges on Magic Online - URw Delver. Why did I choose this deck in the first place? When I started playing Vintage after some time I simply needed a deck that would allow me to see what the format looks like - in other words it needed to be good enough so I could play a game but it did not need to be anything highly competitive. A Pyromancer deck seemed as a good idea so I bought part of the Power Nine, Dack Fayden and Mental Missteps and I was ready to try the deck out. I was playing mainly against Shops decks at that time and they certainly were annoying me a lot with their Chalices of the Void (at that time not restricted). I tweaked the deck a bit so I could have a relatively fair match up with these decks and then I tried entering the Power Nine Challenge with it. To my surprise the deck performed pretty well and that is why I decided to stick with it. In the meantime I play with other decks but I have way more experience with this deck than any other.

The deck went through some changes and in the end I added white so I would have access to Containment Priest, Rest in Peace and possibly Path to Exile. This improved matchups with some decks but made the Shops matchup a little bit worse.

Screenshot of the deck I played follows (I tried hard taking a photo of the deck but I terribly failed at it).

At the site I registered for the tournament and waited for it to begin. It took a while until the tournament actually began (we started with about 30 minutes worth of delay and then there were problems with printing pairings). Seatings were posted and decklists were collected. Thiim whom I know from Magic Online was sitting next to me but I did not recognize him. He recognized me though so he introduced himself and told me about his trip from Denmark (far far away). I wondered what deck he would play - whether some Shops deck or his Standstill brew and expected him to end up in Top 8.

Round 1 - BUG
In the first round I kept a hand with Delver of Secrets, Young Pyromancer, Lightning Bolt, Force of Will, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm and a fetchland. I decided to keep. Depending on what my opponent's hand would show me I would either start digging for a land or just play Delver. My opponent's hand comprised of Mana Drain, Polluted Delta, Strip Mine, Underground Sea, Trygon Predator. I very highly doubted that my opponent would Strip Mine my land (since he most probably wanted to play his Mana Drain and Trygon Predator later) so I played my Delver of Secrets. It did not really flip but at least dealt some damage. My opponent played Null Rod and was quite surprised that I did not bother about it and followed it with a Trygon Predator. I played my Pyromancer right into the Mana Drain that I wanted to counter with FoW. After I got rid of his counterspells I killed his Predator and my Pyromancer(s) could do rest of the job. No Toxic Deluge, no more Abrupt Decays (Delver died to it) and I won. In game two I sided in Mountain and Pyroblasts. My opponent's hand was something like Polluted Delta, Mox Emerald, Notion Thief, Abrupt Decay, Wasteland, Strip Mine...and something irrelevant. My hand consisted of four lands, Pyromancer, Pyroblast and Delver. I let my Delver die to Decay and let my lands be destroyed. Then I played my Pyromancer and wanted to keep it in play. I managed to draw quite some counterspells but I couldn't play my Ancestral Recall while still being able to counter the Thief. But it came down to my opponent being forced to play Notion Thief and Snapcaster Mage as blockers but I countered one and destroyed the other and that was it.

Round 2 - Forgemaster Shops
In the following round I was paired against Andreas with whom I speak online. So I knew what he would be playing - Shops. In the first game I couldn't do a thing and was soon overrun by artifact creatures. I couldn't deal with Kuldotha Forgemaster immediately and a tutored Sundering Titan did not really help things on my side much since my deck runs very few fast mana and 15 lands. Game two though was completely different I had all the artifact hate I sided in (except Stony Silence). My opponent played a threat after a threat but I could smash it to smithereens with my Ingot Chewers or Wear/Tear. When Sundering Titan showed up I did not expect to win the game. It destroyed four of my lands but I still could keep a Mox. I had a land in my hand to play a Chewer so I got rid of that card (there was also Tangle Wire in play which meant I wouldn't be able to play anything for a while). Then it was about our top decks. I know that Shops decks usually top deck bad. My deck has way better chance to find something. Luckily for me I managed to draw and flip Delver when my opponent's draws were Metalworker followed by another Metalworker. Game three...was erm...not really fair so I rather took a picture.

Round 3 - Grixis Time Vault/Key
Whenever I play against Grixis Control I wonder what will be the card to kill me. Either Darksteel Colossus/Sphinx of the Steel Wind or Time Vault/Voltaic Key. Playing against this deck is pretty tricky from my point of view and I never know what the correct decision is. I always try to counter those spells like Tinker or Time Vault rather than trying to instantly remove/destroy them.

I kept a hand with more counterspells than I would want. I don't usually like hands without a creature or cantrip so I wasn't particularly happy about it (unless I know that I face a combo deck). But since I had no idea what my opponent was playing there was no reason to mulligan since I could face DPS for example. My opponent started with a blue fetchland so I knew that at least I was not against Shops or something. After his first Thirst for Knowledge I got the idea of what I'm up against. At that time two copies of Dack Fayden already gathered in my hand. When my opponent played Time Vault I prepared for a counter battle that I was fairly sure to win unless I would get Flusterstorm'ed. I won the battle. Later on I played my Dack finally finding Young Pyromancer. I created some tokens and won a few turns later.

In game two I managed to screw up a few times. The first thing I screwed was countering my opponent's Flusterstorm (or rather its copies), I counted the Storm wrong and that meant that I lost precious cards and mana that I knew I would certainly need later. Then I managed to mess up Preordain that showed me Lightning Bolt and Delver of Secrets. In order to play the Delver I had to fetch thus losing the Bolt that I expected that I would need for Notion Thief or Snapcaster Mage. There was also Dack Fayden in play that I needed to get rid of that had 4 loyalty counters. I played the Delver after all, wondering if it would resolve and survive for few turns so I could deal with Dack Fayden. Luckily my opponent did not have an answer. I killed Fayden with the help of Lightning Bolt and flipped Delver with Treasure Cruise (you know when you shuffle your deck and top deck the card you just sent away? In most cases it makes me go 'AARGH' but this time it was nice to draw it). I managed to draw Pyroblast, Wear//Tear and Pyromancer later. I played the Pyromancer and hoped it would stick. It did (since Delver was still in play). My opponent tried to swing the game by playing Tinker but I countered it with Pyroblast. My opponent tried to Misstep it but I also had my own Misstep for that occasion. Next turn he played Time Vault. I let it resolve waiting for Voltaic Key but my opponent passed the turn so I destroyed the Vault with my Wear//Tear. Next I drew Dack Fayden and I was sure I can't lose if that card resolves. It resolved and my army of Elementals with Pyromancer in the lead finished off my opponent.

Round 4 - Doomsday
Round 4 was the fastest match I played during the tournament. My hand consisted of Lightning Bolt, Force of Will, Gitaxian Probe, Delver of Secrets, Preordain and two land cards. I played my Probe and saw a hand with Laboratory Maniac, Force of Will, Time Walk, Flusterstorm, Ponder, Underground Sea and Misty Rainforest. So I was facing Doomsday obviously, what other deck would be playing Laboratory Maniac. My opponent started with Ponder that I tried to counter with Mental Misstep I drew (since I did not see Dark Ritual in his hand I decided to try countering the spell). His first draw was also Mental Misstep though and he decided to play it on my Misstep. On t2 he played Time Walk, followed by Night's Whisper in his extra turn. He played a few more spells and then Tutored something. Next turn I expected Doomsday. My hand only consisted of Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile that I could play. So my only chance of winning was that my opponent would either screw up (not likely) or tap out completely (he still had Flusterstorm in his hand) while not having FoW in his hand (he did not have that) so I could kill his Laboratory Maniac. Unfortunately one of the cards he had after he played Doomsday was Duress so I scooped. In game 2 he just got everything he needed to kill me by turn 3 and I on the other hand had nothing. I think it was better that way because if I had anything I could play to try to stop him from playing Doomsday it would get countered and I would feel even worse.

Round 5 - Shops
In order to end up in top 8 I needed to win this match. My opponent asked me if an intentional draw was fine with me but I told him that I have to play. Since table 1 and 2 were not playing their last match people gathered around our table (3) and watched us play. That made me nervous and I completely managed to mess my first game up. I did not know what I played against. My hand consisted of Stony Silence, one Mox, Force of Will, Brainstorm and Tundra. Mulligan to five wasn't a good start against any deck. Anyway I played Stony Silence turn 1. Andreas sitting at table 2 noted that I play against another Shops deck (which I did not know at that time). My opponent played Mox, Black Lotus, Tolarian Academy and Phyrexian Revoker. Here my confusion started. I did not want to counter the Revoker since it would most probably name Dack Fayden anyway. I couldn't use my Mox so I needed to draw some lands. I let it resolve and drew Delver of Secrets. I decided to play it hoping to flip it or draw a land at least. I have no idea if that was a good decision. Delver flipped Lightning Bolt. When my opponent played another Revoker naming Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and then I realized with fear that my opponent played Mishra's Factory. The game did not continue well I started looking for a source of red mana. My opponent though played Crucible of Worlds and Ghost Quarter and that did not help me much. The lands I drew weren't fetchlands so playing any of the lands I had in my hand did not really help me and fetching a basic was even worse since the number of lands would become even lower.

In game two I sided in all I had against Shops and hoped for the best. The game took ages and I was on tilt already. Trying to concentrate was difficult. I had to counter some lock pieces but then I had no answer to Lodestone Golem which was even worse since it attacks for 5. Luckily I managed to deal with it soon and then Tangle Wire showed up destroying my hopes again. That alone wouldn't be a problem. It was joined by a creature swinging for two (I was down to 10). I had Delver in play that was tapped for ages due to Tangle Wire. But I hoped to survive for few turns, untap and block the creature with flipped Delver (that still had to flip). My plan had to change though when my opponent played Smokestack. I had a Mox (that was named with Revoker), two lands and Delver of Secrets. That did not look good at all. I sacrificed my Mox thus and hoped my lands would stay in play. Next turn I would have to sacrifice two lands or Delver + Land. I had Bolt in my hand and I drew Wear/Tear off the top that could miraculously help me. But I wasn't so sure about it, I still had to survive one more turn because my permanents were tapped. Next turn being down to 2 I finally destroyed the Smokestack and Phyrexian Revoker faced the same fate next turn. Then neither of us could do anything. A top deck war began. I needed more lands so I could play Dack Fayden or draw a creature that would win me the game. My first draw was Dack Fayden. That was followed by Force of Will that I couldn't cast due to being at 1 life (as I needed to fetch earlier). Next draw was also Force of Will. I did not expect to win the game but than I drew STRIP MINE! I played it and victoriously played Dack Fayden hoping to draw something. I did not hit anything relevant but I saw more cards than I would with my normal draws. Next turn I drew a creature and that won the game!

I'd like to make a note here. We had 13 minutes left for our deciding game. I kept a hand with Black Lotus, Mountain, Stony Silence, 2x Ingot Chewer and the rest was irrelevant because I couldn't play it no matter what. I kept and wondered how many Workshops and Sol Lands my opponent has. He started with a Mox and Mishra's FACTORY so I was glad about that (I'm not sure what he played but I destroyed it a turn later). On my turn I played the Lotus, sacrificed it for WWW and played Stony Silence. I played the Mountain as well and passed the turn. My opponent played something that I again blew up a turn later. We exchanged few more cards but my opponent was stuck at two mana sources and couldn't draw Workshop. I played Delver, flipped it and won few turns later. I ended up in top 8 seeded 5th. Thiim was just above me so I knew I would face him in next.

Round 6 - Landstill/Depths
In the top 8 I faced Niels Thiim as expected. A person I really wanted to meet in person and I was glad I could talk to him in between rounds.

During the tourney we were playing next to each other for majority of time so I saw that he was playing his Standstill/Depths deck he brew recently. He once asked me to play a game on MODO and I showed him some seriously broken Black Lotus turn 1s.

But we should go back to the paper tournament. In game one I couldn't counter his Standstill so I  wasn't particularly happy about it. I had to break it relatively fast though. After that he drew yet another three cards but did not look particularly happy and let my creature resolve. Niels managed to find Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths though. That meant for me that it was about time to find a white source. I had a counterspell or Lightning Bolt for Vampire Hexmage but I couldn't deal with those two lands (I only run Strip Mine and the odds of drawing it were low). I also had Path to Exile but I couldn't play it. My opponent played Dark Depths and created Marit Lage not waiting for me to draw Strip Mine. I did not draw a white source nor a cantrip but my Delver was flipped already and could hopefully chump block. This gave me one more draw in which I could find what I needed. That time I was more lucky. I drew Preordain. I played it immediately. I hoped to hit the white source because I did not even have other blue mana to play another cantrip. I smiled when one of the lands was a fetchland! I exiled the token. My opponent did not object so I was relieved. But still I needed to find a new creature. I drew Delver soon and that finished the job.

After I sided in Pyroblasts I wondered what my opponent would side in. I expected some mix of Echoing Truth and Engineered Explosives but honestly it could have been anything. In the deciding game my opponent played Standstill t1. I countered that because I wanted to play Delver then and deal some damage as fast as possible and in the meantime look for some PTE and/or Strip Mine. The Delver was countered though because in the previous game it managed to win the game. The pitched card was Echoing Truth though so I was quite pleased about that. In this game I've seen quite some Dark Depths (and Crucible) but I always found an answer. It was a long game and my opponent had to pay mana to get rid of the counters. In the meantime I had enough time to find something. Since my opponent already played his Ancestral Recall and Dig Through Time I did not expect him to find something faster than me (it doesn't change the fact that he could have just top decked it). So while he was taking counters of Dark Depths I found both PTEs and Strip Mine. Sometime later Delver flew for the victory.

Round 7 - Shops
Next we were moved to feature match area. I chose my spot so people could not see me that well and hoped not to screw up big time. I shuffled my deck and managed to scatter it on the ground (just partly) and looked forward to a game that would probably end up badly for me. I hoped a judge wouldn't look too closely at what I do, which I tried to ignore as much as I could in the previous match but it did not really work much. My opponent was the top seed,  so it was up to him to start. He started with Wasteland (I think?) into Sol Ring that I countered with Misstep which does not really have a use in the deck against Shops except for this particular card or being pitched to Force of Will. That is why I do not usually play Sol Ring unless I really have to in early turns of the game while being on Shops. On his second turn he played Chalice of the Void for 1. I played my Force of Will because I wouldn't be able to cast anything with Chalice in play. Then I played Delver and hoped it wouldn't be Dismember'ed or something. My opponent was able to outrace me though and I lost. In the following game I countered the very first spell. I destroyed my opponent's Workshop or what it was but he top decked a second Mishra's Workshop. Lodestone Golem came out of it. I managed to Bolt that but soon I was facing Trinisphere and Thorn of Amethyst. Another Golem followed. I played Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and next turn I flipped it and Bolted the other Golem. I played Young Pyromancer hoping to create some tokens later so I could block and kill another Golem but I did not even realize that I don't have enough mana for that (because I forgot to count the Golem). I let Jace die (since the only thing in my graveyard was Force of Will) and I did not want to lose my only hope - Young Pyromancer. I did not draw what I needed though in time because another Thorn of Amethyst followed and then I was simply screwed and I extended my hand.

After the tournament I came to the TO and our Head Judge to collect my prizes. I did not know what I would receive so I was nicely surprised.

On my way home I had a lot of time to think about the games and cards I had to face in the tournament. Since more than one deck played Mindbreak Trap I realized how annoying the card is. I managed to get to a situation in which I needed to play few spells and I couldn't play the third because it would get countered and I really needed it to resolve. So I had to wait a turn which delayed me and I wasted some mana. I also forgot in some games that I have Jace in my deck so I managed to remove Ancestral Recall from my graveyard and I had to facepalm myself because of that later. I'm not sure if my opponent noticed, but since then I was careful not to remove cards I could possibly need.

During the whole tournament I wasn't missing my Probes but that also may be to the fact that I often had it in my opener. But I don't usually have those post-board in my deck so I think 2 is ok. As far as Lightning Bolt goes. The card did not really have too many creature targets but performed rather well, the card that I would want to have in my hand instead of it was most of the time Pyroblast. The card does not do much against Shops though. So for the time being I'll keep 4 Bolts even though it seems like a lot especially when there are 2 Path to Exile in the deck as well. I'm very content with Path to Exile in my deck, I could most probably do without it but I wouldn't switch it back to Swords to Plowshares. The lifegain matters a lot and even in this tournament it was crucial for me that my opponent did not gain any life so I could race back. The additional land I gave to some of my opponents meant that they could hardcast Force of Will or Mindbreak Trap but I could live with that. The possibility to fetch for a second Island on rare occasions is actually a good thing as well.

The tournament was nice because all the players were cool and nice people. I did not have to listen to anyone complain about something and all problems got solved easily and calmly. My opponents were requesting oracle text for my cards quite often (my cards are mostly in Japanese). Stony Silence is obviously a card that is not ingrained in Vintage players' minds the same way Null Rod is.

Thanks for reading and see you in next Power Nine Challenge or in person at MKM Series in Frankfurt!