Four men, each in a dark suit and sunglasses, step down from the plane and survey the landscape. Breathing in the somewhat stale air, they hoist their backpacks and begin the trek to the convention center. Gencon 2004: Team Short Bus has arrived...

I am David Allen (thorme online), one of the members of Team Short Bus (TSB). TSB sent 4 Vintage players to Gencon 2004 for the Vintage World Championships: myself, Josh Reynolds, Shane Stoots, and Marc Perez. Each of us has numerous top finishes and tournament wins under our belts, and you would be hard pressed to find a stronger Vintage team.

Last year, we four had dominated the Gencon 2003 Type 1 scene. Shane and I made Top 8 of the championship event (Shane getting to the finals), while Josh and Marc had completely owned the other large Type 1 event, splitting in the finals.

In the months leading up to Gencon, TSB had done much testing... primarily in preparation for the StarCityGames.com Power 9 tournament in Richmond. For that event, we had prepared our deck, 7/10. The deck is named for the Sundering Titans that it plays out with Goblin Welders, Thirst for Knowledge, Mishra's Workshops, and Gilded Loti. At that event, we learned several important lessons. The deck was too susceptible to Null Rod, did not have sufficient maindeck answers to opposing Goblin Welders, and was extremely inconsistent. These lessons were furthered by the strong finish of The Man Show, a deck piloted by TSB affiliate Eric Miller.

With these lessons, I developed a new Aggro-Workshop version that I call 5/3. Here is the list I took to Gencon:

5/3
===
4 Juggernaut
2 Su-Chi
1 Triskelion
1 Duplicant
1 Sundering Titan
4 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman

4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Memory Jar
2 Fire / Ice
3 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Volcanic Island
3 Shivan Reef
2 Polluted Delta

Sideboard
=========
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Trinisphere
1 Sundering Titan
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Hydroblast (a bit of vanity I allowed myself...my BEB's are not Black-bordered)

I played the above list in the Friday morning tournament which had almost 80 people. I ended up going 6-0-1 and winning the tournament outright. Needless to say, I was quite pleased with how the deck ran, and I already considered my Gencon a success.

Josh and Marc played in the $250 event, and came back late Friday night letting Shane and I know that there were several solid builds of the Dragon combo deck being played by strong players and doing well.

With this in mind, I played the above decklist in the Saturday main event with the following change:

Sideboard
=========
- 1 Sundering Titan
+ 1 Tormod's Crypt

Forgive my lack of description in some of these matches. I did not take notes during the tournament, and instead jotted my memories down the following day.

Let the World Championships Begin:

Round 1: Roy T. with Aggro Workshop
====================================
Roy is a member of the contingent of Dutch players who flew across the Atlantic to join in the Type 1 fun. He was one of four players to split in the finals of the $250 the night before, so I know he is a strong player.

I win the die-roll.

Game 1: I get a quite broken start. Turn 1 Mishra's Workshop, Mox, Sol Ring, Memory Jar. He plays a Wasteland on my Mishra's Workshop. My second turn, I Memory Jar into Trinisphere and Crucible of Worlds, and he never really has a chance to get in the game.

Game 2: Memory fails me, so I may or may not be making up the fact that he lays a turn 1 Mishra's Workshop and Crucible of Worlds. I soon get out my own Crucible of Worlds, and my Juggernaut is able to go all the way backed by a timely Rack and Ruin.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: MeddlingMage with Drain Slaver
========================================
I do not know my opponent's real name, but he is known as MeddlingMage on The Mana Drain.

Game 1: I play a turn 1 Juggernaut and begin swinging on turn 2. It gets him down to eight, and I lay a second one to kill next turn. Unfortunately, he has Cunning Wish for Rack and Ruin, and I lose both Juggernauts. He lays a Platinum Angel down shortly after, and I do not draw an answer in time.

Game 2: I lay an early Su-Chi and start the beats. We trade some removal spells in each other's welders. I have a Juggernaut in hand, but knowing he has Rack and Ruins in the deck after sideboarding, I hold back until I can get rid of his Red sources. I Wasteland three of the four Volcanic Islands in his deck, and thinking it safe, lay the Juggernaut. Alas - he has the fourth Volcanic Island and does indeed Rack and Ruin my beaters. Again, his Platinum Angel finishes me off.

Record: 1-1

Round 3: ? with Rebuild-Tendrils
=================================
A nightmare match for me. Normally, my full compliment of Chalices of the Void and Trinispheres creates a great game against combo after sideboarding, but this particular deck plays a full set of Rebuilds in the maindeck to help him get the storm count up. However, this also means that once he gets to three mana, he can Rebuild during my end step and go off on his turn.

Game 1: I lay a turn 1 Juggernaut and pass. He lays out a bunch of artifact mana and plays a Demonic Tutor. As he is searching through his deck, I begin some polite conversation designed to distract and keep him from searching optimally. I compliment him on his pretty signed Beta Demonic Tutor, and chat about GenCon in general. He puts a card face down in front of him, and presents his deck to me to cut. I cut and return the deck to him. He picks up the card he has tutored for and...curses! He has inadvertently grabbed the wrong card (in no small part to my Jedi mind tricks I imagine).

Instead of his Timetwister, he has tutored for Time Walk. His Time Walk gives him a mana source, and he must pass. I beat down with Juggernaut for a few turns, and in combination with his Mana Crypt, get him to three. During his upkeep, he wins the Crypt-flip, and I opt to use Ice on his Mana Vault. He attempts to float the three mana and tap a Mox Jet to untap the Mana Vault. I inform him of the fact that upkeep effects like Mana Vault are now triggered at the beginning of one's upkeep, and he cannot untap it now. We call a judge, who agrees with him. I inform the judge that I would like to see the Oracle wording, and he gets the wording, consults the Head Judge, and reverses his ruling, and does not allow my opponent to untap his Mana Vault. This is key, since he topdecks Future Sight and has enough mana to play it with two mana left over. He displays the top card of his library... Tinker. He is one mana short of casting it for Memory Jar and going off. Great game!

Game 2: He gets a turn 1 Tolarian Academy and several moxen out, then passes. I have what I consider a God-hand against combo. I play a turn 1 Time Walk and Goblin Welder. During my Time Walk turn, I play both Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void for zero. He plays land-go. I play a Su-Chi and pass. He plays Rebuild at the end of my turn, and on his turn he rebuilds, lays his artifact mana, rebuilds again, lays his artifact mana, and plays Tendrils for twenty.

Game 3: I get the turn 1 Trinisphere going first. As he has only nine lands in his deck, this is bad news for him. He does manage to get two lands out, but when I lay Crucible with a Wasteland in the grave, it is game-over.

Record: 2-1

Round 4: GreenKnight with 4CC
============================================
GreenKnight was a extremely friendly opponent, and I really enjoyed chatting with him during our match. Unfortunately for him, he does not get to play a single spell in the match, and I only know what deck he is playing since he let me look through it after game 2.

Game 1: I get turn 1 Juggernaut, turn 2 Trinisphere, turn 3 Wasteland against him, as all he does is try to play lands. Juggernaut finishes him before he casts anything.

Game 2: He mulligans to six and keeps a hand with Wasteland as his only land. On my first turn, 1 Wasteland his Wasteland. He draws a card and says"go". I play a Trinisphere, and on my next turn, I Tinker for Crucible of Worlds. Game over.

Record: 3-1

Round 5: Pat P. (TracerBullet) with G/B Void
============================================
Another ManaDrainer, and an all-around fun fella to be around.

Game 1: I win the die-roll and play first. This game is close, with me starting strong and Pat always being within a turn or two of stabilizing. My artifact beats do him in.

Game 2: He annihilates my hand with Duress and Hymns to Tourach. Afterwards, he gets two Withered Wretches on the board, and they go all the way.

Game 3: I get to go first, and I am able to lay out some first turn artifact mana and a Trinisphere, setting up for a turn 2 Wheel of Fortune. I get a good draw with a few artifact men and a Goblin Welder. He is never really in the game.

Record: 4-1

Round 6: Giovanni (Akuma) with R/B Workshop (Pseudo Man-Show variant)
============================================
Gio is a great guy, and playing a solid Workshop aggro variant that ditches Blue in favor of Black for some brokenness, and the ability to use basic lands.

Game 1: He goes first and lays a turn 1 Juggernaut. I am able to get a Goblin Welder out and active pretty soon, and he gets a Juggernaut in the graveyard as well as on his board, and I am able to swap them around during each of his combat phases. Soon after, he has Juggernaut, Goblin Welder, and Gorilla Shaman on the board to my Goblin Welder, Gorilla Shaman. He also has a Chains of Mephistopheles out, making the Thirst for Knowledge in my hand look less attractive. Eventually, I cast the Thirst for Knowledge anyway to try to get a good artifact in my graveyard to Weld in. No such luck. Instead, I end up with a Wheel of Fortune in hand. I decide to use it, knowing that it is a two-way Mind Twist (with Chains).

My rationale is that he has superior board position, it is my only card, while he has three cards in hand, and I'm still hoping for something good in my graveyard to weld. Alas, when I Wheel of Fortune and we both put our next seven in the graveyard, he gets Triskelion in the grave, while I get nothing but a useless collection of Trinispheres and Crucibles of Worlds. He finishes me off with his Juggernaut (I cannot weld it or he will weld it out for Triskelion in response and kill my board).

I side out my Trinispheres, but also my four Thirsts for Knowledge to make his Chains dead. Indeed, having seen them be effective in game 1, he leaves the Chains in. In comes some artifact and Goblin Welder hate.

Game 2: I get an amazing starting hand with a turn 1 Tinker for Triskelion. He plays land, and on my second turn, I play a Su-Chi and Time Walk. This game is over soon after it begins.

Game 3: Playing first, he lays Mishra's Workshop, Black Lotus, a mox, Sol Ring, Juggernaut, and Wheel of Fortune...all before I get a turn! This is gonna be rough. On my first turn, I play a Time Walk. Then, I take my legacy turn, and Mystical Tutor for Tinker during my upkeep. I draw Tinker and play it for Duplicant imprinting his Juggernaut. Over the next several turns as I attack with my 5/3 Duplicant, he lays multiple Goblin Welders. Each time though, I have an appropriate answer, and his Goblin Welders die to Hydroblast, Hydroblast, and Fire/Ice. He finally kills my Duplicant, but I quickly replace it with a Su-Chi, and he is out of answers.

Record: 5-1

Round 7: ? with Dragon
============================================
Game 1: He wins the roll and plays first. Turn 1 Xantid Swarm. That is not good, as it means he is playing Dragon, and I do not have a very good game against that deck. I play a Su-Chi on my turn. He lays land and plays nothing else. Here's my opening. I attack with Su-Chi, then play Trinisphere and Wasteland on one of his two lands. He plays a Bazaar of Baghdad and passes. I win the game when I play a Crucible of Worlds with a Wasteland in the graveyard (since I have Trinisphere out and he is at two lands).

I sideboard in the Tormod's Crypt that I had added to the sideboard the previous evening, in addition to several other cards.

Game 2: The Magic Gods smile upon me, as my 1 Tormod's Crypt appears in my starting hand, along with Wasteland, Volcanic Island, 2 Goblin Welders, Crucible of Worlds, Thirst for Knowledge. He plays a land and a Mox and passes. I play Tormod's Crypt and Goblin Welder. On my second turn, I wasteland his land, and draw another Wasteland. I still have the Crucible of Worlds in my hand, but no third land appears. He Intuitions for 3 Worldgorger Dragon, and two go to his graveyard. He lays a Bazaar of Baghdad and uses it, discarding Squee, Goblin Nabob, Worldgorger Dragon, and Ambassador Laquatus. He tries to bait me into using my Tormod's Crypt saying something like"I guess you'll probably wipe out my whole graveyard now", but I am wise in the ways of the Jedi, and I do not walk into Necromancy. I finally draw a third land and play Crucible of Worlds with two active Welders on the table. During his turn, he casts Animate Dead on his Worldgorger Dragon. I respond with a Tormod's Crypt activation. He responds with Necromancy, but I weld the Crucible out bringing the Tormod's Crypt back into play and use it. He scoops.

Record: 6-1

Round 8: Steve Menendian
============================================
We check the standings, and are ranked number 3 and 4. We ID into the Top 8.

Top 8
============================================
You can find coverage of the Top 8 matches here.

In short:
vs. Steve Menendian with Mono Blue - Win 2-0
vs. Mike Simister with Belcher - Win 2-1
vs. Mark Biller with Control Slaver - Lose 0-2

I am amazingly pleased with my result, and although I was not victorious, I'm quite proud of having made back-to-back Top 8's in the Vintage World Championships. Gencon as a whole was a wonderful experience, particularly getting to meet many of the folks that I had previously only known online or by reputation.

I was also surprised at the quality of players and decks in the field this year. Last year, I played against many sub-optimal Suicide and Sligh decks in the early rounds. As you can tell from the above report, I didn't play a single weak deck or opponent all day. To me, this truly felt like a World Championship.... I can't wait until next year!

Props:
- All my opponents for making the matches enjoyable
- The judging staff's focus on running the events succinctly
- The online community of Vintage players that I got to meet at Gencon - wonderful group of people
- Mark Biller for winning the event and being our World Champion
- Fellow members of Team Short Bus - you guys are the best
- Steak and Shake, meals 1 through 20... great stuff

Slops:
- Those complaining about the state of Vintage...I found the Top 8 variety to be encouraging
- The judging staff's rules knowledge - particularly concerning Vintage
- Steak and Shake, meals 21 through 235623784... sure got old
- The cesspool of a room that we stayed in