The Winter Derby 2020

I haven’t written much in the past three weeks, but fortunately that is because I have been spending much of my free time actually playing OS MtG rather than just thinking about it!

Despite having a distinctly negative experience in my first and only previous webcam-based tournament, I decided to give the Winter Derby a shot. For those unfamiliar, Dave Firth Bard (hereafter referred to as DFB) of the New England Old School Community puts on an extremely well-run tournament a few times a year, organized within the “OLD SCHOOL 93-94 MTG Webcam Player Community” group on Facebook. The Winter tournament has just concluded (aside from the Top 16), but if you’re interested in getting involved in the next one, then I would suggest joining the group and getting your feet wet before signups begin. The group is also a great way to jam games pretty much 24/7/365 against players from all over the world in Swedish/EC/Atlantic/Pacific/Scryings/Alpha-40/Revised-40 or whatever other specific sub-format you want.

The Derby is played in 2 “batches” of 4 matches each. Players have about 2 weeks to play their matches, report their results into a master Google sheet that DFB painstakingly maintains, and then players are re-seeded for batch 2 when we do it all over again. Also, each season of the Derby has a rotating format/ruleset. For the Winter Derby 2020, we were playing Pacific.

While I totally “get” the spirit of wanting to spice it up in OS 93/94 and I know there is highly dubious value in trying too hard to win a tournament that has no prizes beyond backslaps, high-fives, and kudos, I decided to take out Old School’s most well-oiled machine, its most lethal assassin, its most efficient killer, and probably its most boring deck… U/R Atog. Worse yet, I ripped off almost the entire 75-card decklist from Will Magrann’s Eternal Weekend-winning list from this past November, with the only change being the addition of a second Falling Star to the sideboard in lieu of the Unsummon. In a 4-strip format, this is exactly the lane that I wanted to operate in, and I happen to think that Will’s specific build with 2 Ankhs maindeck and the Library in the sideboard are correct. Why mess with success?

Style Points: Negative Infinity

So anyway, this is an 8-round tournament. I’m won’t bore you with overly tedious details, but I would like to chronicle my experience with the tournament.

Round 1 – Scott Bradley on “Basalt & Battery”

So as I mentioned at the top, I was apprehensive about joining in with another one of these webcam tournaments after my first experience in a Premodern tournament a few months back. In that one, more than half of my opponents were in Europe and it was impossible for us to find a time to schedule our matches. One player was particularly aggressive in our messaging too, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Sitting down against Scott, I was immediately put at ease that this was going to be a better experience. He was a gentleman and so was everyone else that I played too, regardless of which side of the Atlantic they were on!

Scott began our match by telling me that he wasn’t sure he was going to do so well because he had changed up the manabase of his deck and now he was consistently having trouble casting his spells. I don’t like to revel in others’ misery, but mana problems are what Atog decks feast on (in addition to artifacts of course), so I was feeling pretty good. Game 1 played out pretty much exactly as Scott indicated it would. I got off to a fast start with a Black Vise and an Ankh, then landed a Serendib. I thought I was off to a quick victory. Scott played a Weakstone, which slowed me down a little bit, but a draw 7 and some burn closed the door fast. This was one of those games where you see so little of your opponent’s deck that you aren’t sure what to sideboard, but having stripped a Workshop, seen the Weakstone, and also seen him play a Green Mana Battery before dying, I figured more artifact hate would be good, and that it was overwhelmingly likely that he was playing Titania’s Song. If he wasn’t, then I was curious as hell about what that mana battery was doing there!

For game 2, things didn’t start off as well. I had a slower start and Scott landed 2 Weakstones. Serendib Efreet is not great when he is basically just Copper Tablet. I got Scott pretty low on life when he landed Mirror Universe. I thought the game was about to flip, but I topdecked Shatter and took care of the Mirror before he got to his Upkeep. He played a TItania’s Song and swung with a bunch of his artifacts, but almost all of them were 1 or 2 CMC, so I ended up being able to win on the crackback with an attack and a Lightning Bolt. Game 2 was much tighter than Game 1.

NB! I found the deck name on the write-up for the Eternal Weekend Old School tournament. Scott ran a similar list at that event and received 3rd place for most creative, which in my opinion is well deserved if not an understatement.

Record: 1-0 (2-0)

Round 2: Jeff Grasso R/B Troll Disco

I must admit, my memory of this match is not great, so I don’t have a lot of specifics to report. What I do recall is that Game 1 was another one that was so fast that I wasn’t sure how to sideboard. Game 2 was extremely grindy. Jeff landed a City in a Bottle to take care of my dibs and I got bogged down in trying to kill Hypnotic Specters with my burn rather than throwing it at my opponent despite having a hand full of Arabian cards that I couldn’t play. Game 3 I learned my lesson and went mega aggro by bolting Jeff, ignoring his creatures and winning a quick one.

The other memorable detail from this match is that I had Ancestral Recall countered by Red Elemenal Blast in BOTH game 2 and 3, which sucked. Gotta try and not let that happen again in the future obvi.

Record: 2-0 (4-1)

Round 3: Brian Limbacher COP Blue Stew

Again, we get off to a pretty fast start here. For each of the first three matches, I have not lost a die roll. I lay down a quick Serendib Efreet and a Black Vise and I assume that I am going to roll on to a quick victory. BUT, Brian surprises me with a maindeck Circle of Protection: Blue! He plays that card and I’m just like “this has got to be some kind of bad dream or something”. Fortunately I find an Atog and enough burn to get the job done.

For the sideboard, I bring in the Chain Lightnings to load up all 8 bolts in the chambers and take out the Earthquakes. This was a common strategy for me throughout the tournament as I rarely found myself playing against decks with smaller dudes on the ground. Game 2 starts off slower and Brian lands another CoP Blue. We both have Serendibs out and mine is functioning as a one-sided copper tablet while Brian’s is a mild taxing effect on his mana. I find some burn and an Atog and grind him down low in life to the point where I have what I think is a lethal Lightning Bolt in hand. I sheepishly tap a Volcanic at the end of one of his turns to try and close out the game, but he responds with a Sleight of Mind to turn his CoP: Blue into a CoP: Red! I’m thinking, okay… he got me on that one, but now his Serendib is going to eat him alive. Well, guess what the next card off the top of the library was… his second copy of CoP: Blue. On to Game 3…

Game 3 was a far less memorable affair. Brian once again got the CoP: Blue down, but never found the Sleight to dodge my burn.

Record: 3-0 (6-2)

My match 4 opponent had a scheduling issue, so we never got to play. Thus, I got the extremely cheap-o 4-0 for Batch 1!

Record: 4-0 (6-2)

To say that I was shocked to be 4-0 coming out of the first batch would be an understatement, even though I knew I was playing what I assessed to be the most overpowered deck in the format. Regardless, I was just really happy to be able to schedule my matches with my opponents and get over my anxiety about playing on camera with strangers. All of my opponents were super nice and it would have been a pleasure to have played with them in person.

So, the downside of doing well in Batch 1 and being 4-0 is that you have to play against good players and top-meta decks in Batch 2 as well. For Batch 2, players are re-seeded for 3 of their 4 matches and assigned a random pairing for their 4th match.

I took a look at the pairings and to my dismay, 3 of my 4 opponents were in Europe. I had been riding high about getting over my anxiety with camera matches after having such a positive experience in Batch 1, but the nerves popped right back up again in Batch 2. Things got worse as the first weekend of the 2-week play period passed and we couldn’t find time to squeeze things in. However, I did manage to get 3 matches in on the final Saturday and Sunday and everything ended up working out okay. On to the matches!

Round 5 – Ryan Woodworth Mono Black

I kicked off Batch 2 with a match against my only US-based opponent. Game 1 got off to a good start with a couple of moxen, a Black Vise and an Atog, but Ryan stabilized just as quickly with a Mishra’s Factory, a Paralyze on my Atog, and a Hymn to Tourach to put me in topdeck-mode. The game then went on for a long time with me drawing a lot of lands and not doing very much until Ryan finally landed a Sengir Vampire that killed me in 4 attacks. This was the first time that I had lost game 1 in the whole tournament, so I was a little bit nervous going into the board for game 2 and I wasn’t 100% sure what to do. I decided to take out Mind Twist and Earthquake since I didn’t see any ground creatures in game 1 and brought in Library and 2 Chain Lightnings, figuring the extra land couldn’t hurt and that the direct damage would be imperative to race against him getting down Vampires that I just can’t handle otherwise.

The game gets off to another classically good Atog start with a Black Vise backed up by a Mishra’s Factory and some burn, but quickly we get into a tricky back-and-forth subgame of trying to play around each other’s Strip Mines and Factories. Eventually I get to a point where I have a Factory out and Ryan has one strip. I draw for turn (empty-handed) and find Ancestral Recall, so I pop it off to find Wheel of Fortune, Library of Alexandria, and another land. I bait out the strip mine with the Factory activation, play Library, Wheel, and draw into a hand with a Mox and a Black Vise. I activate the Library to find a second Vise, then drop the mox, and play out both Vises to have 3 in play at once. Ryan draws his card for turn, takes 9 damage and then concedes, knowing that there was no way that he could win.

In game 3, I had the absolute fastest draw that I had the entire tournament. I went Factory, Mox into double Black Vise, then turn 2 Serendib, turn 3 Strip Mine, and concession. Lots of fun for me, not so much fun for Ryan, but he was very gracious in defeat and a joy to chat with afterwards.

Record: 5-0 (8-3)

Round 6: Laurent Ripert “Uncle Juju”

“Uncle Juju” is basically an Esper mid-range/control deck and frankly, it seems very well positioned against Atog. Its threats are superior and it has cheap enough answers to handle most problems. In game 1, I had a slow hand and without knowing that Laurent’s deck was going to absolutely punish a slow start, I walked into a big trap. Atog on the ground looks pretty silly against Juzam Djinn, and in the same vein, Serendib Efreet doesn’t quite measure up to Sengir Vampire. I chipped in with some damage from a Vise in the beginning, but Laurent stabilized well and landed an Underworld Dreams. Initially, I didn’t pay it much mind, but eventually it got to the point where I realized that my only path to victory was via the Black Vise/Draw-7 plan. I had the Wheel of Fortune in hand, but at less than 7 life, I was going to die to the Underworld Dreams before any amount of Vises could kill my opponent.

In game 2, I did the same thing I did in most sideboarded games, bring in the Chain Lightnings in lieu of the Ankhs and roll with the same 58 otherwise. I got off to a better start this time, but Laurent landed a CoP: Red to turn off my Atog and the 6 bolts that were left in my deck at the time. Fortunately, I was able to chip away with artifact damage via Black Vise and a draw 7, and I mixed in a Psionic Blast to get the final points of damage done. Game 3 was similar, but the CoP: Red came down even earlier. I knew I had to go with the same plan again to win, but this time I couldn’t quite get it to work. I had 2 Black Vises out and a TImetwister that would have been lethal if Laurent couldn’t cast any instants before his next upkeep. I went for it, but in response to the Twister, Laurent Disenchanted one of the Vises. I was disheartened, but felt lucky to draw into another Vise with my fresh 7. At the end of my turn, Laurent was able to cast 2 Dark Rituals, pumping the mana into his Mishra’s Factories, and so only taking 2 damage instead of 6 in his upkeep. He also played another Dark Ritual, a Sengir Vaampire, a Demonic Tutor and a Time Walk to go along with the Juzam Djinn already in play and swing back at me for the win. I didn’t have any answers to his big creatures so there wasn’t anything I could do except shake my head and take the loss in what was an insane turn of events! If you’re going to lose, it is at least fun to lose with style 🙂

Laurent ended up going 7-1 and Top 8’ing, so I didn’t feel that bad in the end.

Also, I should mention that Laurent was instrumental in helping to jog me memory on this match, recounting some of the details of the wilder sequences of plays. It was a good one for sure!

Record: 5-1 (9-5)

Round 7: Thomas Ribet “Hercules Geddon”

Thomas and I finally found time on the Sunday of the final weekend before the cutoff, and I woke up around 7am (sort of hungover) and trudged down to the basement to play my match. My fatigue showed in my play, but here again I think this matchup is tough for Atog to win. My memory of the specific details here is sketchy, but the details that I do remember are not particularly interesting to be perfectly honest. Despite being a totally different configuration to Laurent’s Esper deck, Thomas’s Bant-Geddon deck presented the same problems. Bigger creatures in both the air and on land, efficient answers to both my creatures and my artifacts with access to White, and mana acceleration with Birds of Paradise.

The quick summary of the match is that I fell behind in Game 1 and ended up 2-for-1’ing myself a bunch of times to get rid of his 4 and 5 toughness creatures but eventually ran out of gas and never landed any real threats. Game 2, we had a really interesting, grindy back and forth that I only managed to win via a Timetwister-Black Vise combo since Thomas was able to get a CoP: Red out pretty early. One of the highlights of this game was that he Spirit Linked my Serendib Efreet, so I actually Psi Blasted it, realizing that it was going to lose me the game if I left it out in play any longer. In Game 3, we ended up in the exact same situation as Game 2, but this time when I Timetwistered, Thomas drew a hand full of gas and was able to not only drop his hand underneath the Vises I had out, but played two Erhnam Djinns. I was done for.

Chatting after the match about sideboards, he asked if I played Gloom. I said “Yeah, 3 copies”. And immediately I realized what a buffoon I was… I didn’t bring them in! If you’re not going to bring them in against a deck with Armageddon, Swords to Plowshares, Serra Angel, Disenchant, Spirit Link, and CoP: Red, then why even have it in your sideboard at all? The Atog deck is powerful, but it can only do so much to overcome user error.

Thomas also made Top 8, so again, no shame in losing here either.

Record: 5-2 (10-7)

Round 8: Tomasz Ksell “Almost the same deck as Thomas Ribet”

My final round opponent, who I played a few hours after I took the defeat from Thomas, was playing a very similar deck. However Tomasz’s version had more mana accelerators in Llanowar Elves and I got the sense that he was going harder into the Armageddon plan as well. Game 1, Tomasz got off to a good start, landing an early Erhnam and following it up with another one on the next turn after. Unfortunately for him, I drew into my 6th mana source right after he landed that Djinn and played Earthquake for 5, taking out 2 Djinns and an Elf in the process in what was easily the biggest blowout of the Derby for me. I played some more burn and then this one was over quickly thereafter.

Games 2 and 3 did not go nearly as well. Tomasz had well-timed Strip Mines and Armageddons to keep me off balance and I was never able to draw anything helpful when it counted. Game 3 was especially bad in that department. I kept a marginal hand after a mulligan to 6 with a Strip Mine, a Factory, a Mox, an Earthquake and 2 Volcanic Islands. We went back and forth with the mana denial and I kept drawing bricks off the top. I ended up Earthquaking for 1 to kill a Llanowar elf, then doing the same thing again when he played another elf and I drew another Earthquake. Earthquakes don’t do anything against Birds of Paradise, or Serra Angels for that matter, and I ended up dying quickly with no creatures on the board.

Final Record: 5-3 (11-9)

What started out with such promise ended up with such disappointment, especially since that last round ended with 2 games in which my deck simply failed to function. It has become clear to me that I need to make much better decisions with sideboarding with this deck and that while it is very powerful, it still requires a lot of skill to succeed with it. Atog clearly has a target on its back, evidenced by the amounts of Circle of Protection: Red (and Blue!) that I saw throughout the tournament, so you’re going to have to dodge a lot of hate to win a tournament with the deck.

This experience almost makes me wonder if it makes sense to adjust the sideboard in some way to try and combat these circles of protection. Obviously the deck’s colors make it tough to deal with enchantments, but maybe we should get crafty and sideboard in some Sleights of Mind? Make that CoP: Red a CoP: Green? Who knows… crazier things have worked out.

All in all, this was a tremendously positive experience. My 5-3 record was good enough for 56th place out of 164 registered participants and I actually feel like that is a pretty solid result for a player of my modest caliber. Also, more importantly, I got over a LOT of my anxiety about playing on camera. This might not make sense to most people, but playing with someone on camera is a social situation that I was simply not used to heading into this thing, and my only previous experience with it was a negative one. Moreover, I was worried about the potential cultural divide that I might have to deal with in playing with players from Europe. Turns out, my concerns were totally overblown. I had a blast and I can’t wait to sign up for the next Derby.

Many thanks for Dave Firth Bard for putting on yet another tremendous event. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and they are greatly appreciated by the community!