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If you are a valid StarCityGames.com Premium member and still cannot view the article, please consult this FAQ. Travis LaPlante is 25-year-old construction worker from Connecticut who has been playing Type One for the last year and a half, and is packing a Workshop Aggro deck. His opponent is a bit more famous in Type One circles - in fact, since he is now in his fourth Power 9 Top 8, Eric Miller is arguably the single most successful Vintage player the series has seen thus far; a rising star in a format that continues to grow in popularity.
Eric is piloting his The Ridder deck, featured earlier today in our Deck Tech series.
Game 1:
LaPlante played out an early Goblin Welder and then countered a second-turn Illusionary Mask from Miller before Miller cast a Chalice of the Void for zero and then tossed out a Timetwister, refilling both players' hands. Hurkyl's Recall returned LaPlante's artifacts to his hand before Miller cast another Illusionary Mask, only to run into a second Force of Will. LaPlante added a second Welder to his squad and then began to beat down with the versatile little Goblins, plinking away at Miller's life total.
The players began locking down what spells could be played; Miller cast Chalices for zero and two, and LaPlante tossed down one of his own for one. Juggernaut advanced the cause for LaPlante, and Miller was stuck with Null Rod on the board and three Phyrexian Dreadnoughts in hand, leaving him on the wrong end of a healthy beatdown machine and shuffling up for game 2.
LaPlante 1 - Miller 0
 Game 2:
Miller kicked off game 2 with a first-turn Ground Seal. LaPlante chuckled and said, "Hey, I sided my Welders out!"
Miller's eyebrows rose, and Travis laughed again saying, "Nah, I'm just f***ing with you - they still beat for one."
Laplante's first turn netted a Chalice of the Void for two, once again locking out Illusionary Mask from Miller's list of possibilities. Miller cast Trinisphere and then Wastelanded LaPlante's Mishra's Workshop, leaving Travis a lone Mana Crypt as his mana source.
Gemstone Mine solved that, allowing Travis to put a Crucible of Worlds into play, giving him the Workshop back to go along with a Goblin Welder. Travis leaned over at this point to flash me his hand, which contained two more Welders and a Duplicant - not exactly gas when all the artifacts in the game are under Hanna's Custody. Tinker two turns later fetched a Darksteel Colossus for the New Englander, forcing Miller to Tinker on the next turn for Platinum Angel; an interesting conundrum with Hanna's Custody in play.
Miller's life total dropped into the negatives on the next turn, but that didn't matter anymore - he needed to find a way to get rid of the Angel or her four a turn through the air were going to finish things quickly. Four turns of beats from Platy sent the match into the third and deciding game.
LaPlante 1 - Miller 1
Game 3:
LaPlante's first turn saw him cough two Moxes, a Tolarian Academy, and Mana Vault plus Goblin Welder to the board, getting a "That's pretty good" comment from Miller.
Eric used Wasteland to get rid of the Academy, but LaPlante just floated three from it and cast Fact or Fiction - all while still technically in his first turn. The Fact flipped over Juggernaut, Crucible of Worlds, Wasteland, Wasteland, and Null Rod, forcing Miller into a lose-lose set of choices as he put Juggs and Crucible together in one pile, and x, y, z in the other. Laplante sent the fattie and Crucible to the grumper, but then Welded the Crucible in at the end of Eric's turn.
Things were looking grim for the champ.
Casting Vampiric Tutor used the last counter on Miller's Gemstone Mine and left him landless. He paused for some time, considering his options 0 and then placed a Black Lotus on top of his deck. He cast the Lotus, sacrificed it for Blue, putting Sol Ring into play and then casting Time Walk. He then tried to Hurkyl's Recall LaPlante, but Travis just hard-cast Force of Will and looked to press his advantage.
Miller's Time Walk turn put Crucible of Worlds into play, but it was mostly irrelevant - Juggernaut was now on the prowl, Miller's hand contained only Chalices of the Void, and time was running out. Two more attacks from LaPlante meant there would be no miraculous recovery or repeat victory for Miller - he would have to content himself with merely his fourth Power 9 Top 8 and either a Time Walk or a Mox Sapphire for his trouble.
LaPlante 2 - Miller 1
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