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About Bennie Smith: On the scene since Arabian Nights, this casual player's competitive side
flares up sometimes, once snagging the VA Champs title. Bennie writes
about casual & constructed formats.
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Name: Jeff Folinus (looking to snag a Mox Jet) Where are you from? I'm from central New Jersey. This is my first time coming down to Virginia. I played in the Syracuse SCP9. I'm affiliated with Team RIT for testing. How old are you? 20. What deck did you play? I played Chalice Oath by Team Meandeck. Where did your deck come from? Team Meandeck; those guys made it. I pretty much netdecked it off Menendian's article, though I may have modified the sideboard for a few cards. What was good about your deck? It was a very good choice; Chalice of the Void and Phyrexian Furnace are both great additions to Meandeck Oath. They allow you to free up card slots, which means you don't have to run the Intuition/AK engine; you can just rely on Thirst for Knowledge and play more of a control game. What would you change about it? The deck itself is very good; I wished I had tested against aggro control more. What's your deck's best matchup? Doomsday, and combo in general. But I only faced one combo deck today. Worst? Landstill, followed by U/W Fish. What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? I had one situation where I couldn't attack my opponent but I had two Oath of Druids in play so I'd shoot my opponent for four damage with Ancient Hydra, then use the last counter to shoot himself. And then because I had two Oaths, I could Oath him back up. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? I had to borrow all of the Power 9 except for Timetwister, and I had to borrow a Mana Drain. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? Ideas Unbound - it will probably be really good in Meandeck Tendrils.
Name: Jesse Pinchot (I'd like to get a Black Lotus!) Where are you from? Originally from Winchester, but I went to school here in Richmond. How old are you? 24. What deck did you play? U/W Null Rod Fish. Where did your deck come from? I was inspired by online decks, and then adapted them based on my own playtesting. What was good about your deck? The synergy between the cards and the hosers like Null Rod, Wastelands, and the sideboard was really good. It has a good matchup against Oath. Plus it's cheap to build! What would you change about it? Nothing I can think of. Well, one card; Polluted Delta should have been Flooded Strand. What's your deck's best matchup? Oath. Worst? I guess Stax, of the major archetypes out there. (Later, Jesse came back and said "you can change my answer to Food Chain Goblins" after losing to Mike Zaun in the semis) What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? Any time I used a Force of Will was crucial. Meddling Mage on Oath was good, of course. One time I Swords to Plowshared a Platinum Angel against Oath, they tapped out to counter, and I Dazed the Counterspell. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? I had nine proxies, borrowed Time Walk and Library, borrowed dual lands, and proxied Null Rods, four Meddling Mages, Mox Sapphire, and Ancestral Recall. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? I haven't looked at the spoiler yet.
Name: Jacob Orlove (Not looking for any particular power, just some random Mox) Where are you from? California, but right now I'm traveling to Europe and stopped off here. How old are you? 21. What deck did you play? "Worse than Fish." (I named it myself because I built it myself.) Where did your deck come from? It's sort of a combination of an old build of Worse than Fish and my teammate Ashok Chitturi's U/W Fish deck. It's Fish but with Green cards... and the acronym is sweet - I get that particular reaction a lot from my opponents. (Bennie looks again at the deck name, gets it, and laughs.)
What was good about your deck? The green cards are very strong, as is Chalice of the Void. Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, and Oxidize in the sideboard. Umezawa's Jitte was amazing - it ate Platinum Angel, ate Exalted Angel, it was solid all day. What would you change about it? The problem is, the Phyrexian Furnaces weren't all that great for the decks I faced, I would have liked Blue Elemental Blasts for the Food Chain deck that I faced in the top 8, but I didn't expect anyone to be playing that deck. I could have easily faced some deck where the Furnaces would be good to bring in. Overall, I was very happy with it. What's your deck's best matchup? Probably other Fish decks, because they can't deal with real creatures, can't deal with Aether Vial, can't deal with Jitte, and then out of the sideboard my Oxidizes hit their Null Rods and Mishra's Factories. Worst? Probably just combo, but I didn't see any. I do have Chalices, Force of Will, and Wastelands that can sometimes help; it all depends on the draw. What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? When my opponent went "land, Lotus, go" and I went "land, Oxidize" (this was against a Workshop deck that had double-mulliganed). He was in pretty bad shape after that. Another time I popped a Lotus to activate the Factory inside my attack phase, then used the other blue mana to Ninjutsu Ninja of the Deep Hours into play. I followed up by replaying the Factory and casting Standstill. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? No power cards; I was randomly proxying two Standstills because I had traded some away.
Name: Mike "you can't hate on Goblins" Zaun (Lotus if I win, Ancestral if I get second of course) Where are you from? Blacksburg, Virginia. How old are you? 24. What deck did you play? Goblins; there are Food Chains in it, but they don't help it much. I actually regret having Taigas in the deck because they're so vulnerable to Wastelands. Where did your deck come from? I played it in the Pro Tour: New Orleans when it was in Extended-legal, and I just ported it to Type 1. I didn't really understand many of the other Type 1 decks, but I was familiar with Goblins. I added Goblin Lackeys because they are obviously amazing. It's basically my own build, I saw some online decks, but they just looked bad to me. Kiki-Jiki is obviously really good in the deck. The maindeck Red Elemental Blasts have been really good. What was good about your deck? Kiki-Jiki; I didn't learn what he actually did - I initially thought he could clone my opponent's cards because I hadn't read the card! But he was really ridiculous to Lackey out. At the end of my opponent's turn, clone the Lackey so that I get to keep the token and attack with him, then I copy Lackey again during my turn and attack with three Lackeys, dump my hand - that's usually just game. What would you change about it? I would remove Food Chain, go up to four Red Blasts, three Kiki-Jikis, a second Siege-Gang Commander, and another mountain. The Food Chains have just been atrocious because of the land I've had to run, and it makes me vulnerable. What's your deck's best matchup? I think the Fish matchups are really good. I've beaten every single Fish style deck I've played against today. Worst? The Oath decks are really bad for me if they Oath up something other than Pristine Angel. A quick Akroma, Angel of Wrath can be bad. What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? I was playing first. I had Lotus, Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald, Wasteland and three Piledrivers in my hand, played them all turn 1 and said go. I somehow managed to win that game. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? I had to proxy Mana Crypt, the two Moxen, Lotus, three Piledrivers, and three Null Rods. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? I'm not the person to ask about this (another person chimes in "The Blue Fork," so Mike echoes "Twincast"). Asking me about Type 1 is polluting the minds of your readers - ha ha!!
Name: David Allen (probably try to snag a Mox Emerald or Mox Pearl, my goal is to eventually win back my power) Where are you from? I'm originally from Roanoke, but I live in Richmond now. How old are you? 27. What deck did you play? Plain vanilla Stax! Where did your deck come from? Just a standard list I've been playing and doing well with for several years now, tweaked for Trinisphere restriction. What was good about your deck? Crucible of World, Wasteland was really good today. The environment has a lot of nonbasic lands. That, and the fact that I run both Karn, Silver Golem and Gorilla Shaman, Vintage decks today rely so heavily on Mox mana, particularly when I'm running the Crucible/Waste combination. What would you change about it? There aren't any cards I would change, but I did notice a problem playing this deck now: with Trinisphere out, people would just scoop to it, but with Sphere of Resistance people would try to play it out and take it all the way to time, in the first match I drew and then had to win the next five matches in the draw bracket to draw in to the top 8. What's your deck's best matchup? The deck is really good against any kind of multicolor control; I can really attack their multicolor lands to color-screw 'em. My sideboard today was well-geared for the mirror and beat several other Stax decks, and I had a real close match against a Workshop aggro deck in the Top 8. Worst? Oath is not good for me! What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? Other than the Gorilla Shaman beats? One guy had a Necropotence and a Yawgmoth's Bargain in play, but only 1 life and no cards in hand. In the last turn of extra turns, I had to swing with three Welders to get past his two Academy Rectors to win. I actually have a better story! In round 2, I played a guy who played a turn 1 Energy Flux - in game 1! Then he put out turn 2 Planar Void and a second Energy Flux. He's basically playing a deck that's preboarded hate against my deck... but I ended up winning that game anyway, due to using Smokestack, building up enough counters to just blow up the world to get rid of the enchantments! Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? I proxied all power except for the Mox Ruby, which is the only power card I own right now. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? The blue Fork; everyone is going to say that. The UU, draw three card has lots of combo potential. And Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.
Name: Travis Laplante (Snagged the Ancestral Recall) Where are you from? Enfield, CT. How old are you? 25. What deck did you play? Juggernaut, Go TODOSHI Where did your deck come from? I built it myself. I took 5/3 and Fish and put them together without Trinisphere, making it better than both of them. What was good about your deck? Null Rod is the #$%@. And Chalice of the Void was great. What would you change about it? I would have taken out Choke and put in Triskelion, maybe add another Ray of Revelation. What's your deck's best matchup? Anything that's good in Type 1-Shortbus Belcher, Slaver, Fish, Workshop aggro, Stax. Worst? Rogue Type 1 decks like Food Chain Goblins. FCG is a b%^& deck. What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? Getting out of a Smokestack lock against David Allen in the Top 8; I played a Lotus and played Fact or Fiction into five of the best cards I could have seen. I was one turn away from being permanently locked. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? Proxied a Mox Jet. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? The blue Fork is the only card I've heard about.
Name: Doug Goddard Where are you from? Cambridge, OH. How old are you? 27. What deck did you play? Uba Stax, modified slightly (I took out two-mana stuff so I can Chalice for two.) Where did your deck come from? The French Champs list, modified. What was good about your deck? It ran very well, it was nice to me until the Top 8; I really like Stax. What would you change about it? The sideboard needs more work. Phyrexian Furnaces didn't work out as I hoped, since I didn't get many matchups where they were helpful. What's your deck's best matchup? Control. Worst? 5/3 Workshop Aggro is rough. The mirror, because I've never practiced the mirror. What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? I was playing against Oath, had a Chalice for two out. He hard-cast Akroma! I won that one, but I have to give him props for that. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? No proxies whatsoever! Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? The card for UU, draw three and end of turn discard looks interesting. There's some buzz about it.
Name: Eric Miller Where are you from? Right now, I'm living in Richmond. How old are you? 24. What deck did you play? The Riddler, of course. Where did your deck come from? The deck was originally built to maximize the power of Trinisphere, to use the two free turns to get so far ahead. Now that the Sphere has been restricted, I cleared out the one-mana spells and ran four Chalices. Now I can drop Chalice for one to buy the time I need to get ahead. Chalice for one is almost better than Trinisphere for this deck now. What was good about your deck? The disruption is permanent, not just one-for-one; one disruption spell gains me massive card advantage. The deck also has the biggest creatures and one of the fastest clocks in the game. What would you change about it? After the changes that I made - I took out four Tutors and added more threats or disruption - I wouldn't change a thing, I don't have a single regret. I think the deck is actually better than it was before the restriction. What's your deck's best matchup? Combo. Worst? It doesn't really have a bad matchup; that's the nicest thing about the Chalices is you can play it to stop whatever game plan they have. A main deck Hurkyl's Recall, Balance, and Hanna's Custody really gives me a lot of options. (Bennie wonders why more people don't play Hanna's Custody.)
What was the most interesting play or in-game situation that you saw today? The last game I just had, my opening hand was Gemstone Mine x2, Mana Crypt, Vampiric Tutor, Illusionary Mask, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Dreadnought. Thanks to Hurkyl's Recall, I managed to attack for twenty-four on turn 2 even though he had played out two Tangle Wires. Did you have to borrow or proxy any power cards? I proxied Workshops (which I sold, thinking they were going to be restricted), but I own all my own power. Have you seen any cards in Saviors of Kamigawa that look interesting for Vintage? Twincast, and the card that costs UU, draw 3, discard 3 at end of turn, seems really good. And Enduring Ideal - I'm going to break that one! So how do you make top 8 every single SCP9 tournament you play in? I build good decks! (Just say"I'm sick and you're not," chimes in Jim Ferraiolo). I do keep up with what other people play, but I build my own decks; I'm a deck builder.