Nordic Vintage Championships (plus some points on Keeper)

Beyond Dominia: The Type One Magic Mill: Tournament Archive -- ALL TOURNAMENT REPORT THREADS GO HERE: Nordic Vintage Championships (plus some points on Keeper)

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By CF (Cf) on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 07:02 pm:

I'll try to make this short.

47 contestants, 3 BDers (Gnu, Sonny Nielsen and myself). All 3 of us made top 8, all 3 of us played keeper (they with red while I was with green)! There were many full-powered decks there, with 4-5 color control and various beatdown variants being the main metagame. A couple monoblue, a couple monoblack.

I made one playing mistake and one deck construction mistake and possibly one strategy mistake. The playing mistake cost me the match in round 2 (mirror). The strategy mistake came in round 6. I was paired up against the only 5-0 player (the rest was 4-1 or less) and I wanted to draw, because I knew it would mean top8. He hesitated and we started to play. As I was about to win the first game, he finally suggested a draw (after many attempts by me). I figured that this would place me in 8th place and him in 1st, which would mean that I'd play him in the quarterfinals. I accepted, no such luck -> I made top8, but was paired against Sonny. Sonny won and made the finals, but lost to the guy I drew with.

Keeper:
The strategy mistake: I play no red, and thus have no blasts. I played 3 Duress SB and as a surprising and fun tech, I included 3 Disrupt. I love that card, but it turned out to be a flop, unlike what I've experienced it to be in the BBS SB. If I had chosen 4 Abeyance instead of those 3 Disrupts and the 1 Ebony Charm (which can be good, but you never have room to fit it in), I would have the edge against red keepers, since they usually have less than 8 blue counterspells after board (siding in 4-6 blasts). Against Sonny, I should have a _clear_ advantage game one because he played Swords, Abyss, Moat and Mox Monkey main (Monkey is good, but not if I play an early Oath). Anyways, he didn't draw to shabby and I lost 0-2. BTW, I think he plays only 25 or 26 mana sources... I had added a 3rd Wasteland because I knew he and Gnu played few mana sources... ;o)

OK then... it was quite fun and now I know _each and every card_ I would play main and SB in an unknown metagame. This includes, but is not limited to:

2 Oath
1 Holistic Wisdom (this card is so amazing, you can't even begin to imagine)
2 Sylvan Library
1 Gaea's Blessing
1-2 Morphling
1 Masticore

This engine just rocks! With 2 Oath and 1 Blessing, you basically get complete creature control (neutralize opponent + get a win condition out) fast and efficiently. Sylvan is GOD versus EVERYTHING as long as you shuffle once in awhile and play FoFs. I played red in keeper for a long time, and I will _never_ go back. In fact, this keeper engine is so cool, that I am pondering about making a new type of control deck, based around this and other... amusing cards. If FoF gets the axe, watch out ;o)

Blah, I am tired... I'll try to make some more points later when I am... awake.

--
Chris


By Asmus Löwenhaupt on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 07:38 pm:

What do you do with the oath engine against OSE. I win most of my games with Mishra's, and I won't activate them during your upkeep.


By Andrew, the Sphinx Slayer (Andrew) on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 08:55 pm:

Why only 1 blessing? Isn't there a serious risk of it getting into your hand and never being able to oath again?


By CF (Cf) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 07:46 am:

Andrew: How am I not able to Oath with the one Blessing in my hand? I have 3 creatures which means I'll get a creature before I run out of cards in my library. Multiple Blessings is mostly for recycling Spike Weavers, but there are no need to recycle Morphling cause he just doesn't die ;o)

One Blessing works just fine.

--
Chris


By Gnu, the Lightbringer (Gnu) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 11:20 am:

I ended 3./4. (it was 5 in the morning, so we just splitted the prize...) with my Keeperdeck (lost to the guy CF drew with in the semifinals) also note that he's lucky as s**t!)
Actually, both Sonny & I felt that we needed more mana sources, so we went up to 27 before the tournament, but I AM satisfied with 26.

Also is the Masticore needed in your Oath ? Isn't
it enough with the Morphlings, you'll beat agro anyway with Oath.

Also I'm very impressed by the Holistic Wisdom, that thing is almost like a permanent Y. Will!

For some strange reasons I didn't bring my Dwarven Miners, and that costet me a game or two.

I went 4-1-1 in the swiss, I only lost to a Old Skool keeper (with Tome, Icy, Earthquake and Sacred Ground!!!) in round one. Game one I made a mistake by playing too aggresively, so he could get a Morphling.
Game 2: I started with: Mox Saphire, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Balance, REB & a FoF, I started by playing the moxes and said go, he played LoA & I balanced and REB'ed his FoW... after 5-6 turns I had control & won.
Game 3: I was manascrewed in the start, but even though I Ancestraled, Willed my Ancestral, Misdirected his Ancestral & Misdirected his Geyser for 3 AND he played a Wheel of Fortune I still couldn't get anything good, so he won!!!
The next 4 rounds I won against a URW-Zoo, BW-Pox, Pandeburst and a Keeper. The last I drewed, as I knew it was a BBS-deck & we were both sure enough to go to the top8...
In the quarters I meet the BBS deck I just drew with, so I win 2-1!
In the first game I thought I was loosing, as I only had 1 Morphling left in the library, and max 8 cards !!!
But after a turn or two, I draw it and plays him when I have 5 cards left (praying as I didn't have ANY counters...) I get him through and win!!!
Second game, I get 4 lands and a Sol Ring the WHOLE game (& he Kegs and Waste twice) so I loose, even though I get a Morphling down, kicking him to 3 (then he gets a Morphling himself...)
Game 3, I get a broken Will & draws 5 red blasts :D

In the semifinals I meet a strange UWB-deck with Finkels, 'Cores Morphlings. Game 1 I kick his ass with a Morphling and win.
Game 2 for some reason I can't get my 2. white mana for the Moat in my hand, and a SB'ed Negator kills me...
Game 3, after a Balance and Mind Twist from me, he starts to topdeck, after a couple of turns he topdecks 3 times in a ROW!!! And I loose to a Negator (can't seem to get ANY creature removal)

After Sonny lost in the finals, we walked to the hotel, and was there 6.25 or 7.25 (we started the tournament at 21 the night before...)


By CF (Cf) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 04:01 pm:

There was a pandeburst there? Shit, I should have talked tech with him. I know I got some pandeburst fans when I finished 2nd in a 1.x PTQ in Gothenburg with the deck. I think I met these decks:
1 - W(urb) Weenie (Oath for the win)
2 - Keeper (miscount for the loss)
3 - White/Red Sligh (Oath for the win)
4 - Keeper (simply outplayed him)
5 - Ernham/Scuta.dec (Birds of Paradise sucks when I play Oath)
6 - Draw against Uwb control (beat him game 1, crushed him in the next game which we played for fun (had already drawn)
7 - Sonny and Keeper (outdrawed for the loss)

Masticore is indeed needed as I have no Moat (I replaced Moat with Masticore to have 4 win conditions). Morphling is GOD, but he's no moat. Masticore stops rancored things, responds to giant growth, ball lightning and mother of runes.

If I had only had 3 Abeyance in the SB, I would have had an even matchup versus you and Sonny post SB, as opposed to having a good matchup pre SB and a tough one after SB (not that it would have mattered with a draw like the one(s) Sonny had ;o)

--
Chris


By Andrew, the Sphinx Slayer (Andrew) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 04:31 pm:

Yes, but when you oath, you usually want to *hit* a blessing so that it shuffles your g/y into your library. If you ever draw the blessing, do you have any way to put it back into the library?


By CF (Cf) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 05:36 pm:

Andrew: you just don't get it. I don't really want to hit a blessing unless I am seriously low on cards. With Yawgmoth's Will and Holistic Graveyard, a full graveyard is even better than having it in Odyssey limited! One Blessing is fine maindeck. If I expect to Oath alot in a particular matchup, I side in an extra Blessing.

--
Chris


By Andrew, the Sphinx Slayer (Andrew) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 11:03 pm:

CF: I actually do get it. I just don't think oath is worth it for control if your not planning to use it, generally.


By Rakso, Patriarch & Rules Ayatollah (Rakso) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 03:52 am:

Oath is strong, and even the threat of Oath is strong.


By CF (Cf) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 06:14 am:

I plan to use it once in most games, maybe twice. For that amount, 1 Blessing is perfect. If I have Blessing in my hand, I can bless in Y.Will, HW and another card (probably a Sorcery to use Time Walk with HW or Time Walk itself) if these are put into the graveyard by Oath.

As it is now, I have 2 Oath, 1 Blessing, 1 Edict and 1 Balance. That's 4(5) cards for creature control. However, the flexibility of Balance and Blessing actually makes it 3 cards. Other keepers will usually run Moat OR Abyss, Fire/Ice, Balance and Edict. That's 4, with two flexible cards. I run one extra card, but when you consider that Oath is a Morphling for 1G if they have a creature AND that Oath is not completely dead versus Morphling like Abyss and Moat is (think of Keepers playing Mox Monkeys, how mean is Oath versus them?), I'd say I stand better prepared against both the Mirror, monoblue and aggro. Against creatureless combo, I have 3 dead cards as opposed to their 2, but I can live with that as metagames are usually made up by aggro and control and not combo.

--
Chris


By Sonrik (Sonrik) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 01:59 pm:

Hi

Yep, I had some pretty good draws against you.

I was playing 27 mana sources.

I actually had 14 counters after sideboarding against CF (added 6 REB).

I support Gnu in the fact that the guy who won had the best topdecking skills that I have ever seen.

Anyway we were back at the Hotel at 7.25 in the morning.

L8R
Sonny


By CF (Cf) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 05:24 pm:

I had 14 against you too ;o)
I did not see the guy topdecking, so the best topdecker of the tourney that I saw... would be you I guess ; ) Too bad I didn't catch you later on Sunday, I sold betas for 850kr to some random Swede and wanted to buy a couple of Tropicals... oh well, another time.

--
Chris


By Sonrik (Sonrik) on Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 11:54 am:

Hi

He was a waaaaayyyyyyy, better topdecker than me.

Anyway, if you want the Tropicals, Im sure we can work something out.

L8R
Sonny


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