Subject: Winning deck at Ontario Regionals (long)
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 16:24:37 -0400
From: Herman_Tse/Actuarial/Corporate/SunLife@SunLifeOfCanada.com
To: Fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hi Frank,

Here is a report on the Vineyard/Bridge deck that Abyss RTJ Team developed
in which I placed first at the Ontario, Canada regionals.
I made slight modifications to the deck and revamped the whole sideboard to
contend with the popular decks in my area. I expected a lot of
Sligh and a lot of 5 colour blue decks so here is my version of the RTJ
deck:

4 Vineyards
4 Wall of Roots
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Spike Feeders
4 Bottle Gnomes
3 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Sylvan Library
2 Geas Blessing
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Jesters Cap
2 enlightened Tutor
2 Discenchant
10 Forest
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Wasteland
2 Brushland

Sideboard:
2 COP Red (for Sligh..no need to take up any more slots)
2 Lifeforce ("14" decks, discard necro)
3 Jinked Idol (I think this was a mistake in this deck. It was meant to go
against creatureless and creature thin decks)
1 Uktabi Orangutan (so good!)
1 Phyrexian Furnace (Gaea's and Living death)
3 Pyroblast (I should of had 4)
1 Discenchant (should have tried to make roon for one more)
2 Cursed Totem ( did not understand the use of this so i went down to
2...maybe for Tradewinds)

Okay, on to the report:

Round One: Sligh

I forget this guys name but I know the friend that he came with and he
mentions that the organizers can match me up with someone else if
we tell them that we came with the person. He smiles and shows me a Shock
while shuffling his deck. I politely reply that I will have to face
burn in one of these rounds and am fine with the match up.

Game 1: We both do not like our hands and go down to 6 cards each. I go
first.

Me: Forest, Birds
Him: Mountain, Pup
Me: Forest, Wall
Him: Mountain, Diggin Team (gosh these Sligh players are getting smarter! )
Me: Gemstone, Scroll
Him: Sac the Diggin Team, and I scrol the Pup when he attacks with it
Me: Land, he shatters my Scroll on his turn

I do not see any of my life gainers and he ends up winning by fireblasting
me

Game 2: Caps out Cops in

This game went a lot better. I set up the bridge first and drew my Gnomes
and Feeders. Ball lighting just sat in his hand and he just burned on the
Vineyard mana while I Scrolled away his creatures

Game 3:

I take this game easily. Bridge goes up third turn with my wall up and
Vineyard as well. I also get Sylvan on the next turn (card selection is
soooo
sweet!!). Feeders come out easily. He tries to burn them away but i gain
the life and start the Gaea' Blessing recycle. I win the race.

1-0

Round Two: Anthony De La Torre (sp?)--Red/Green with splash of Black

Game 1: I do not remember this game too wll but I got vineyard out and he
had not a lot of trouble using it with some Granger Guildmage, direct
damage and Eddicting my creatures. No Bridge for me this game.

Game 2: I remeber this game all too well. I put in the Cursed Totem because
he had a lot of creatures that have effects in them like Granger, Vandals,
and Acidic Sliver. Third turn Forsaken Waste made my heart sink. I knew it
was a race. I got the bridge up and was holding off his creatures but sixth
turn Goblin bombardment overtook me.

1-1

Round Three: Sam Lau playing WW

Game 1: I see hordes of white shadows with protection from every colour
except Cursed Scroll. I patiently scroll down his creatures and he chokes
on the mana burn.

Game 2: He wins this one by swarming me and discenchanting my Bridge and
Scroll. Spike Feeders could only delay the inevidable and the
Wall of Roots was useless against the shadows. He needes 5 of his WW to
bring me down. Later I find that he is not playing with the Armor.

Game 3: This game was all about the luck of Scroll. He is mana screwed at
one land but my deck is not a beatdown deck. I have Vineyard in my
hand but refuse to play it fearing he play a land and Armaggeddon my 5
lands away. I patiently cast my all powerful Bottle Gnome and administer
beating for about 4 turns getting. He builds up to 3 land and then i play
my Vineyard. He plays land then a White Knight and a shadow. I have 3 cards
in my hand: 2 Ensnaring Bridges and one sex monkey (66% chance). I hit. My
turn I draw another Bridge so i scroll on my turn using the Vineyard mana
(75% chance). I hit the white knight. His turn he plays two more creatures
with double white casting cost thus choking on the Vineyard mana. My turn i
draw a card, disenchant with nothing of his to disenchant. (60% chance)
with 5 cards of which 3 are bridges. I hit the shadow. He mana burns his
way to zero on his turn.

2-1

Round Four: Counters with Steel Golem

Game 1: I take this easily. He does not know what to expect from my deck
and plays a third turn Golem to which i play the Tang. He tries to get a
disk out but I put out the Tang which he counters then i follow up with the
Discenchant.

Game 2: I put in the extra monkey and the discenchant but only 2
pyroblasts. I plays smarter and casts only the Steel Golem when he has
counter backup. I do the Tang/Disenchant/Disenchant combo this time to get
rid of it but he plays a Rainbow Effret which i did not see the first game.
I manage to pyroblast it after suckering him into Dismissing my Disenchant
on the Disk but he gets another Rainbow out and it goes all the way.

Game 3: I changed my deck around entirely. Jinxed Idol went in and do did
Cursed Totem. Max on the Pyros as well. Second turn Jinxed Idol and fifth
turn Cap in which I took out his disks really hurt him. I pyroblasted his
Capsize buyback and he was going down 4 per turn from the Idol and the Mana
burn.

3-1

Round Five: Matt (Eric Tam's friend) playing Eric Tam's Version of Sligh

Game 1: I was glad i could play something that is predictable but was still
worried about the luck draw. I do first turn Vineyard. He does a mogg
fanatic and takes 2 burn. I do 2nd turn Wall and he anwsers on his turn
with the Diggin Team and 2 mana burn. 3rd turn i get a feeder out. His turn
he casts a Vandal and burns for 2 again. My turn I slop up the Vineyard
mana with the feeder, moving one counter onto itself. His 4th turn he gets
impatient and tries to attack with the Vandal and the Fanatic. I block the
Vanadal. Fanatic deals me damage and gets thrown at the spike. I gain 4
life. With the Vanadal gone I play another wall and the Bridge. He gets
mana burned down to zero and creatures get scrolled away.

Game 2: Same as game 1. He conceeds after I draw my 4th lifegaining
creature and he has no way of getting rid of my 2 cursed scrolls. No bridge
this game..

4-1

Round Six: Sliver played by Craig Ford

Game 1: He goes first and plays GemStone. I do first turn Vineyard. His
turn he does Harrow and i am worried. The next turn he does Harrow using up
my Vineyard mana and now i am really worried. I build up my mana creaturnes
and Cap him on taking 3 of his 4 Cursed Scrolls out. I see 2 Queens as well
in his deck and pray that they will remain in his deck. I get my scroll out
and all he sees is Muscle slivers, Hibernation Slivers, and the occasional
Spined sliver and a lot of land. I scroll down the Muscles first and he
finds that bringing them back for 2 life was getting a bit costly. He was
going down 2 per turn either way. And i win without the bridge.

Game 2: I learn to respect the Crystalline Sliver this game. I see one
scroll and no bridge. He gets his Crystalline sliver out first then a lot
of Muscle slivers. My wall could not hold up and my scroll could not touch
his creatures.

Game 3: I put in the Pyroblast. I get first turn birds. He plays land. I
draw a pyroblast and feel a bit safer and play a wall leaving my Bird
untapped for the next two turns in waiting of the Crystalline. Third turn
he tries to cast it and i blast it thinking how fortunate it was that WotC
made the creature blue/white. I Gaea's blessing my Pyro back in my deck and
draw a Tang while trying to look confident. I played carefully this game
scrolling each creature while he burned on Vineyard mana if he did not get
the Muscle or Harrow to cast. Scroll finished him off. Still no Bridge but
no Queen for him, fortunately.

5-1

Round Seven: WW played by Steve Goleski

Game 1: He wanted to draw in by with my 2nd round lose i could not make it
so needed to play. I get 6 land and a Gaea's blessing. I decide to go down
to 6 thinking he is playing a fast deck and having less cards is not bad
for me. I draw no land for my 6 cards and need to go down to 5. Little did
i know he got the perfect draw. I go first with forest Vineyard. He goes
plains. I go land, Wall. He Tithes on my turn and playes a 2/1 shadow on
his. Next turn he armours it to 8/7 and it hits hard. I need to top deck a
discenchant or a Bridge but i get a feeder instead. Shadow goes all the way
and i curse my luck that in 5 games i do not see one bridge.

Game 2: Fortunately, he did not see any of my artifacts, only bird, Wall
and a feeder. Bridge and scroll go untouched as his WW find their way to
the graveyard one by one.

Game 3: I see him sideboard in his 4 discenchants. I get first turn
Vineyard. He gets a 2nd turn flyer. I take some beats while developing my
mana and mana creatures and cap him on the forth turn. I see all four
discenchants and take out three of them. Next turn i set up the bridge and
get the scroll out. He is casting creatures of which all were 2 power and
double white casting cost. This was the last game and everyone was watching
so somehow i decided to deviate from my usual patient play and scroll him
for two round. He gets up to 5 creatures when i start feeling uneasy and
said out loud to my opponent "Wouldn't it suck if this bridge fell down". I
decide to be a better player and scroll his flier. Next turn he topdecks
the remaining discenchant. Uses it on the bridge and attacks. I only have
one mana untapped with a two counter spike feeder and a bottle gnome in
play. Bottle Gnomes block the White Knight and i get hit for six putting me
at 10. My turn i draw a birds of paradise. I use up one of the vineyard
mana on the birds and burn for the other since i wanted to scroll and move
spikes on his turn. This was the only time that i burned on my own mana. He
did not draw the Armour do goes into an all out attack yet again burning
for 2. I scroll a shadow and move one counter onto a bottle gnome to block
a white knight. Birds died for the cause as well and I take 2 down to 7. He
is at 6. I top deck a bottle gnome and use up the vineyard mana. He draw a
card on his turn and concedes. Mana burn for 2 and sucessive scrolls would
have finished it as well.

6-1

This was it. Other deck in the top eight was one sliver deck, 2 prosbloom,
black/red weenie played by Heremy Elgar, Sligh played by Jason Malette, and
two other deck which i did not know of.

Brief Analysis:

This deck is really rogue! Card advantage comes from the Sylvan in which I
can "hide" cards until i need them. Bridge and scroll are an exellent
combination defence and the multitude of artifacts in this deck overtaxes
the discenchants and shatters which usually they only have 3 or 4 of.
I wish that i could have played against a black deck and 5 colour blue but
most of them got knocked out by the Sligh decks with Dwarven miners.
Five colour blue have some big design weaknesses if you know how to expose
them.

This deck will handle the creature based beatdown decks very consistently.
Just be patient. Control decks might be a problem due to the non agressive
nature and the Wispers and Capsize buyback spells. I seriously recomend 4
pyroblast as a change. The only game i lost was to the Forsaken wastes
which has me thinking of more discnenchants or a Tranquil domain.

I am not sure if this deck will put green back on the map as a viable
colour to play, from the general reaction, not really, which is fine by me
because that means that this deck will remain rogue for a little while
longer. Abyss RTJ did an excellent job of breaking they symmetry on
Vineyard. Thank you.

Props:

Seyil Yoon and Future Quest for and excellently run tournament even though
the two rulings i needed Seyil for went against me (ie. do not try to move
a spike counter off a spike onto itself when it has only one counter left.
It will die even though i tried to argue that the rules trigger should
check after the reolution of the effect.

Slops:

None.

See you all at the Can. Nats !

Herman Tse