My quest for the right to be called the Midwest Type 1 Champion was set on its course about a month and a half ago. I heard through the grapevine that Crazy Cards and Comics in Stickney, Illinois was hosting a huge 32K sanctioned Type 1 tournament in Chicago - the largest Type 1 Tournament in the United States in recent memory. Opportunities like this don't come along very frequently for us hardcore Vintage players, so I managed to schedule some work in Chicago for that weekend, and then found some super cheap airfare from sunny San Diego to my original hometown. For a few weeks, I contemplated what to play - but after seeing the growing popularity of Psychatog, I knew that I would have to play a deck that would beat Dr. Teeth to stand a shot at winning the tournament, or even making the top eight.

(Ouch! That sounds like it just came out of the mouth of a Type 2 player.)

When I arrived at the site on Saturday, I found tons of people milling around and playing. Crazy Cards had scheduled a JSS and a number of other sanctioned side tournaments for that whole weekend, so there were quite a few players of all ages present (props to Crazy Cards for putting on a first-class event, by the way). A cursory check of the dealers and all Type 1 players I could find netted me exactly zero Chains of Mephistopheles, which I needed for my sideboard, so I made a quick substitution to my original game plan (adding a couple of Powder Kegs in the board in place of the aforementioned Chains). After registering my super secret high-tech deck list, I wandered around the room to watch some of the games being played before the tournament began, and it seemed like literally 50% of the people were playing Psychatog or TnT. That's fine with me, because I had assumed this prior to the tournament - which is, of course, why I built the deck I played. It is primarily designed to neuter decks that rely heavily on the graveyard or non-basic lands. More on that later, but the final numbers rang in at only ten players running 'Tog out of the ninety-person field, and about five going at it with TnT. Below is the deck as I registered it, and it is named appropriately because if certain cards like Blood Moon, Planar Void, Oath of Ghouls, Triskelion, Goblin Welder, or Jester's Cap hit during certain matches, That's Your A$$ Right There!

Creatures (17)
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
3 Su-Chi
2 Masticore
3 Triskelion
1 Karn, Silver Golem

Other Spells (16)
4 Duress
3 Jester's Cap
3 Oath of Ghouls
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Memory Jar
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Chainer's Edict
2 Terminate

Mana Sources (27)
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Badlands
2 Swamps
2 Mountains
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault

Sideboard:
4 Planar Void
4 Blood Moon
2 Viashino Heretic
2 Terminate
1 Masticore
2 Powder Keg

The tournament finally kicked off a little after 1 p.m., and I am pitted against Matthew Pety in the first round on table ten. He gets things going by winning the die roll and playing a Withered Wretch and Nantuko Shade in the first couple of turns, and proceeds to swing beats. I lay a few lands, including Mishra's Workshop, and stabilize by playing a Triskelion, which ends up owning his Shade and Withered Wretch - but not before he's gotten me down to fourteen life and removed most of my graveyard with his bloody Withered Wretch. The fact that he has played a Bayou alerts me to the fact that he's splashed green for Pernicious Deed, which lands in play a couple of turns later and destroys everything on the board. In the following turns I proceed to play another Triskelion and Karn, and quickly reduce his life total to zero in a few turns.

The second game starts much like the first, with him dropping an early Withered Wretch and Nantuko Shade. I follow suit by playing a Juggernaut and Su-Chi, which battle his creatures for a few turns before everything is reset by his Pernicious Deed. I play some more lands as well as Memory Jar, and on my next turn I activate the Jar, which allows me to play Triskelion, Jester's Cap, and Goblin Welder all in the same turn. I then activate the Cap and remove his Yawgmoth's Will as well of both of his remaining Pernicious Deeds, which leaves him with very few answers to my deck. I think I recur the Jar and Triskelion with Goblin Welder in the ensuing turns, and that pretty much sealed the deal.

As a quick note, I really liked Matthew's deck, and was actually considering running a slightly different version of it for this tournament. Withered Wretch and Pernicious Deed are really powerhouses in this environment.

1-0 matches, 2-0 games

In round two I square off on table six against Michael Simister, who I quickly find is playing a mono-black version (?) of Worldgorger Dragon. After winning the die roll, he drops a Worldgorger Dragon into his graveyard, but is low on mana for the first couple of turns. I take advantage by playing two early Juggernauts, which bring him to ten life. He has one turn to live and has no win conditions in his hand, so he proceeds to play Dance of the Dead on his Worldgorger Dragon, thus inducing an unstoppable loop, which equals a draw for the first game. Good old Worldgorger.

After boarding in my four Planar Voids and two Terminates I feel pretty confident in this match. I mulligan aggressively down to five cards until I find a nice hand that includes Planar Void. I end up dropping two Planar Voids on the first turn, and that pretty much spelled doom for my opponent. He manages to actually hard-cast a Worldgorger Dragon using his Lotus or something, but I have one of my four Terminates in hand ready to take out his Dragon and the rest of his permanents (comes in to play effect on the stack, Terminate Worldgorger, it's been fun). His life is quickly reduced to zero by a barrage of Juggernauts and Su-Chis to the dome.

We start game three with about fifteen minutes left in the round, with me leading the match 1-0-1. I play an early Jester's Cap and after activating the Cap I see that he already has one Worldgorger in his hand, so removing those would be pointless. I instead opt to remove all three of his Diabolic Edicts and play a couple of Juggernauts. He then proceeds to use Lotus again to hard-cast the Worldgorger Dragon he was holding. This is unfortunate, as I am not holding a Terminate, but I think I have a shot at beating him with my fat creatures on the table. I manage to bring his life total down, but he kills me the turn before I would have dealt lethal damage to him - so the match is drawn. Good old Worldgorger.

1-0-1 matches, 3-1-1 games

My opponent for round three is Chris Byrnes at table eleven. After winning the die roll, Chris manages to Paris down to an opening hand of four cards. I lay a first turn Su-Chi, followed by a second turn Su-Chi and go to town. This game wasn't even really fair, and was over in just a few short turns.

I didn't even really manage to see what Chris was playing the first game, so after fondling my sideboard and deck to make it appear as if I'm siding some cards in, I actually don't side anything in at all. I quickly find out what he is playing however, when on the second turn he plays two Cloud of Faeries and another random Fish-style creature. He counters my first couple of plays (both Goblin Welders), but finally Triskelion resolves, allowing me to stabilize a little bit. I then cast Duress to clear another counter out and follow up with an Oath of Ghouls. After he gets me down to three life with a Psionic Blast I shoot his creatures to hell, and somehow I have three Goblin Welders in my graveyard at this point so Oath of Ghouls will not be activating for either player just yet. Next turn I play the Yawgmoth's Will I've been holding, and play all three Goblin Welders from my graveyard. Three Goblin Welders to recur my Triskelion means game after just the next couple of turns.

2-0-1 matches, 5-1-1 games

The next round I face off against Travis Hopkins on table six. Travis is one of the nicer players I met all day, and manages to drop a first-turn Quirion Dryad. I know he isn't playing Psychatog however, when he fetches a Tundra with his Flooded Strand. His first turn Dryad manages to go the distance and takes all 20 of my life points, as he either counters or doesn't care about every threat I play the first game.

I figure he is playing a blue-green-white Super Gro variant, and doesn't seem to have any non-basic lands. Blood Moon loves non-basic lands, and I love Blood Moon. I side in eight cards against him, including the Blood Moons, Powder Kegs, and Terminates (figuring he will side out his Misdirections). I keep a decent hand and play a first-turn Duress, picking (I believe) a Force of Will from his hand. I then play a second-turn Blood Moon, and after a few turns he scoops. Big creatures like Juggernaut coupled with an active Blood Moon are just too much for Super Gro or Psychatog to handle.

The third game I think he got another first-turn Dryad. I think I manage to kill it with Terminate and play a Juggernaut, which he proceeds to Swords. Neither of us really do anything inspiring until I play a few creatures and get the recurring Triskelion/Goblin Welder action going and eventually win the match.

3-0-1 matches, 7-2-1 games

Before I even get to the pairings for round five, my good buddy and former Cali Agent James Phelps grabs me and says we're playing each other, so we head over to table three and start shuffling up. I know he's playing Psychatog, so I smile, while he frowns, knowing that my deck has lots of stuff that is great against his deck. I cast a few early threats which all manage to get countered by Daze, Mana Drain, or Force of Will. I do manage to resolve a large creature or two, while James manages to resolve a creature or two as well, which unfortunately meet an untimely death due to my Terminate. Then an Oath of Ghouls resolves on my side, and this is where the trouble starts for James. I keep recurring threats and finally manage to kill him with a Juggernaut in what was the longest game I played all day.

My deck and sideboard are tuned to beat Psychatog, so I sideboard in twelve cards, including Blood Moons, Planar Voids, Powder Kegs, and Terminates (again, figuring he would side out Misdirections). Game two, I keep a decent hand with mostly disruption and only one creature. As he should, James took this match very seriously, but managed to crack a smile when he dropped a first-turn Library of Alexandria. That was quickly changed as I played first turn Strip Mine and Duress away a counterspell of some sort (with mana courtesy of Mox Jet). I Strip his Library and say go. He doesn't do much and I play a second-turn Planar Void, which severely crimps the style of the Psychatog he is about to play. I have a Karn out to hold off his Psychatog, and we slowly get into a stalemate. He casts a bunch of Gushes and other random spells, but can't get rid of my Karn, but he eventually manages to get out a Quirion Dryad a turn or two before time is about to be called for the match (yes, in the middle of our second game). I really haven't done much at all this game and the only damage that is done to him this match is by his Fastbond and fetchlands. In the ensuing five turns, I am pretty sure I can hold him off, and a timely Duress shows me that even with all of his card drawing and everything he hasn't really drawn any gas. A couple of onlooker's faces lit up, as on turn 5 he topdecks a Berserk. I am at seven life, and his Dryad, that I cannot block has three counters on it. He attacks with both his Psychatog and Dryad, and I block Psychatog with Karn, leaving the Dryad unblocked.

After blocks are declared, he casts Berserk on the Dryad, which would be eight damage - which is enough to kill me. Being the savage mizer that I am, I top decked a Terminate a couple of turns prior, and his Unlimited Berserk is no match for my foil signed Terminate. The Dryad is buried, and I have won yet another round.

This is James' first loss of the tournament, and he goes on to still make the round of eight.

4-0-1 matches, 8-2-2 games

In round six I face Ben Balling on table two, who I quickly find out is playing Psychatog. He plays an early Quirion Dryad, which does eleven damage to me before my first creature actually resolves. He then proceeds to play a Psychatog and I die a turn or two later.

As mentioned earlier, I am able to board in twelve cards against Psychatog, and do so before heading to game two. I mulligan into a decent hand where I play a both Duress and Blood Moon on the first turn (courtesy of a fetchland and Black Lotus). He can't do anything about this, and when Su-Chi resolves a couple of turns later, he is on a five-turn clock. After five turns he has three lands in play and is dead.

Game three went much like game two. I resolve Blood Moon as well as Planar Void, and two Juggernauts finish him off in short order. He made an error here by not floating green mana in response to Blood Moon so he could cast Naturalize, but with two Juggernauts on the board and two more creatures in my hand I doubt this really would have made much of a difference. The only damage I took in games two and three were from my own fetchlands.

5-0-1 matches, 10-3-2 games

Standings go up, and after some talk between Nick Goddrey and myself, we decide to ID into the top eight. With time to spare, he plays his URPhidian deck that he won the tournament with against my four color AggrOath deck, and in front of a small audience I quickly dismantle his hand and everything he plays besides land, topped off by a ridiculous Yawgmoth's Will and Haunting Echoes to seal the game. It was a fun game, and we wished each other luck in the next round.

5-0-2 matches, 10-3-2 games

I hit the top eight without a loss and at 17 points seeded fourth. In the first round I am paired against Bill Dicks, who is sporting TnT. I start the game off by pulling his Survival of the Fittest away with Duress. He then proceeds to play a couple of fatties, which meet their untimely demise due to Terminate, and I stabilize with a Goblin Welder and Memory Jar. I activate Jar, and with two Mishra's Workshops and a Jar that can be recurred via Goblin Welder he is quickly overrun.

TnT is one of the decks my deck is designed to beat, so I feel pretty good about this match up. I side in four Planar Voids, two Powder Kegs, two Terminates, and two Viashino Heretics. He plays an early Survival, and I don't see any of my super sideboard cards. He quickly gets some huge creatures in play and goes for the throat, and I don't muster much of anything besides a Su-Chi, so we move on to game three.

This game went as quickly as the first two. I ponder whether or not I should keep a no-land hand that includes Black Lotus, Mox Jet, Viashino Heretic, Planar Void, Demonic Tutor, and some other irrelevant cards. I usually play my matches in a reckless manner, and I figure I should draw a land or two soon, right? Well, like an idiot I keep the hand, and drop my first turn Jet, Lotus, Viashino Heretic, Planar Void and pass the turn. Bill then proceeds to play a second-turn Flametongue Kavu, killing off my Heretic, which negates any possible advantage that my questionable hand had. I don't draw another land for two or three turns, and by that time Bill has played another Juggernaut or Su-Chi and swings beats. I am pissed at myself for keeping that hand, but wish Bill luck in the next round (he eventually falls to another TnT deck that would go on to get second place).

5-1-2 matches, 11-5-2 games

During and after the tournament, I heard a number of people refer to my deck as a Black/Red Stacker variant, but I don't think this is really on target. While it does share the Workshops, Welders and fat creatures, it is so much better because of the ability to (ab)use Duress, Terminate, Planar Void, Oath of Ghouls, or Triskelion. While I didn't win the tournament, my Vintage rating did go up quite a bit (I should be over 1850 now 0 yippee!) and I did have tons of fun meeting in person lots of great players that I talk to online regularly in forums such as themanadrain.com and others. Questions, ideas, and hate mail are all welcome (please send to bigballashotcaller@hotmail.com).

Until next time,

Jason Jaco
a.k.a. doublej20
a.k.a. bigballashotcaller