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Mike Zaun is a rather unexpected face to see here in the finals; Zaun, an occasional Magic Pro and college student at Virginia Tech came into the tournament never having played a game of Type One in his life. He had never read anything on The Mana Drain or any of the the Vintage Strategy articles on StarCityGames.com, and had barely given a cursory glance to the lists of Top 8 decklists in our Vintage deck database. None of that was enough to stop him from smashing his way right through the Top 8, courtesy of Goblin Lackey, Goblin Recruiter, and the various bit players of the Red Army.
Travis LaPlante is a bit less of a surprise to see at this stage, though he's a relative unknown to Power 9 fans. This Connecticut native has been playing Vintage for the last eighteen months, and can be seen playing Vintage on weekends at the frequent power tournaments in New England. His route to the Top 8 included bashing Short Bus members (and fellow Workshop players) David Allen and Eric Miller in the quarters and the semis. The Quarterfinals even saw a sick little bit of tech from LaPlante's deck in the form of Eon Hub - quite the spicy meatball against Allen's Stax components.
Game 1:
Zaun started off with a first-turn Goblin Lackey - but LaPlante didn't really care, vomiting forth his hand to cast a Thirst for Knowledge, Chalice of the Void for two, and Mystical Tutor for a foily Tinker. Zaun tried to push his little Red mana engine, casting Skirk Prospector, and then plopping Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker into play to further his growing mass of angry Red men.
At the end of turn, Zaun used Kiki-Jiki to copy his Goblin Lackey, forcing LaPlante to ask for a brief explanation as to how the KJ copy timing rules work.
Once he had the explanation, he voiced his disquiet. "Yeah, that's kinda cheesy."
"Says the guy who just tutored for Tinker."
"Yeah, but I don't have a Blue mana!"
Zaun copied the Lackey again during his turn, attacked, played a Goblin Matron with one Lackey effect (fetching Goblin Piledriver) and then tossed down two Piledrivers. Laplante drew his Tinker, thought for a second and packed it in, saying, "That was the dumbest game of Magic I ever played."
Zaun 1 - LaPlante 0
Game 2:
Zaun used Wasteland to get rid of Gemstone Mine and then cast Black Lotus, using it to cast a resolved Goblin Lackey and a Goblin Piledriver, which got Force of Willed.
Goblin Welder blocked the Lackey, while Laplante explained, "That's all they do in this deck - I never Weld anything with them," which was fine since he had a second Welder to keep alive, awaiting some work like a good union member.
Juggernaut gave LaPlante a new threat, but Goblin Vandal and another Strip Mine effect looked to put Zaun ahead again. Goblin Matron grabbed Kiki-Jiki for Zaun and then he cast Goblin Lackey.
The next turn spelled doom for LaPlante as Zaun hard-cast the Kiki-Jiki, copied the Lackey, and again simply destroyed any chance Travis had of winning the game by using the Lackey triggers to put Goblin Recruiter and Goblin Ringleader into play, stocking Zaun's hand with plenty of gas for the kill on the next turn. Travis shook his head at how insanely stupid the two games were.... and that was that.
Mike Zaun, part-time Pro Tour player and complete Vintage virgin is the new Richmond Power 9 champion!
Zaun 2 - LaPlante 0
