all your report are belong to us

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tower's Game Room. Now, this will shock you a
bit, but I consider April 3, 2010 my greatest achievement in my history of
playing Magic. Yes, even more than getting my fifteen minutes of fame at the
2008 Nationals and everything that led up to it. For on this day, I won my first
Mox, traveling all the way to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania to accomplish the feat.

So, for those who seen me play Vintage for a while, I have been working with
Noble Fish for the past month or so. Noble Fish is much like the Bant decks you
will see in extended and standard, complete with a beat-down package and
complemented by some draw and counters. Before I get to the the details, here is
my list:
Michael Bauer - Noble Fish
2nd Place - Vintage @ Blue Bell Game Day, 04/03/10
LANDS:
4 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Island
1 Forest

SPELLS:
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
3 Null Rod
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Spell Pierce
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Trygon Predator
3 Cold-Eyed Selkie
2 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Aven Mindcensor

SIDEBOARD:
2 Energy Flux
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Echoing Truth
2 Stifle
2 Tormod
S Crypt
1 Hurkyl
S Recall
2 Pithing Needle
3 Ravenous Trap

The land base is pretty standard for a Vintage deck, with only nine real lands,
five Fetch Lands, and four pieces of Land Destruction. Plus, you get the three
on color Moxen and Black Lotus, to give you a total of 21 "lands". This might be
slightly high overall, but adding the 17th land actually made the deck flow a
little batter against those Workshop decks, which do nothing but blow your land
and deny your resources. The one of Forest and Island does look out of place,
but considering that almost every deck runs three or four Wastelands, they
actually help keep your mana in play. Sure, they can hit the one of Strip Mine,
but many times players will waste it early, making it into a fifth Wasteland.

The "Utility" part of the deck, as I call it, consists of the following: 3 Null
Rod, 1 Time Walk, 1 Ancestral Recall, 4 Force of Will, 3 Swords to Plowshares, 3
Spell Pierce, and 1 Jace the Mindsculptor. Pretty much, these are all your
spells that aren't your in the heaviest creature base in Vintage. Force of Will
and Spell Pierce are your counters that are good to go as early as turn 1. Spell
Pierce is especially brutal against any deck that's not Noble Fish as every deck
has really key non creature spells. Other versions have run Daze in the main
deck and I don't. In most of my testing, Daze has always been a pretty weaker
card by comparison on it not being a hard counter and by setting you back on
your mana. If any Landfall ever made it to a Vintage deck, then it would be an
easy four of, but I don't see it happening. Of course, there is one copy of the
newest Jace. Most of the time, this will serve as a brainstorm for you, but the
card is amazingly good against Oath, as it allows you to bounce their big guys
every turn. Most versions don't play more than two or three targets, so one time
through should be more than enough.

Time Walk and Ancestral Recall are the two most powerful cards in the deck,
which is why they are part of the Power Nine and are restricted to one copy.
Drawing three cards at instant speed or taking an extra turn for two mana is
pretty key against plenty of decks, especially when you are behind and need that
definitive answer. Swords to Plowshares is your only real removal and the
drawback of letting your opponent gain life is only real bad against Dark Times.
Against anything else, you are looking at a two point swing with five being the
maximum against Shops or MUD when you have to deal with Lodestone Golem. Null
Rod is also a very powerful card, but one that can also backfire at the wrong
time or the wrong matchup. It's bad in the mirror, but solid against every other
main deck out there. You just don't want to be stuck with your own Moxen being
in play with Null Rod hurting you more than them.

The creature base is all about one thing: Controlling the Tempo, in more ways
than one. Noble Hierarch works as your mana excel and combined with Qasail
Pridgemage, it can make some huge tempo swings when combined with Cold-Eyed
Selkie. Selkie is quite possibly the best creature you have in over half the
matchups because every deck except for one runs Islands. That makes Selkie
unblockable and leads to the potential for getting a free Ancestral Recall every
turn. Drawing extra cards in Vintage is a huge advantage and the biggest tempo
advantage you can get. And for those matches Selkie isn't great, Trygon Predator
is. A 2/3 Flyer for 1GU, it is backbreaking to Shop decks for they simply have
no answer for flyers and will blow up an artifact every time it hits your
opponent. Thada Adel is equally tough to every deck, as it forces out their mana
excel, Tinker targets, or cards that just annoy the hell out of you. Mindcensor
is also one of those annoying tempo cards, especially if the opponent can't find
what he needs. As for Tarmogoyf, I don't think I need to explain how good a 3/4
on Turn 1 is.

So that's the deck, onto the tournament. After a two-part, three-hour car ride,
the Long Island group of Big Rob, Mike Egan, Nick Detwiller, Max Brown, and
myself, we arrived at the destination and immediately were thanking whatever we
wanted that we were no longer squished. Seriously, this story will forever begin
with the phrase, "So picture five of us in a Nissan Vibe with Mike Egan stuck
between me and Big Rob." There were 47 people who showed up to Alternate
Universes in Blue Bell, PA on that Saturday morning, including some of the best
Vintage players in the NYC, Jersey, and Pennsylvania region. This would mean six
rounds of Vintage action and from what we would soon find out, a lot of Noble
Fish would be around. I apologize if I forgot names or every detail as I didn't
right any of this down as I had no clue I would be doing a tournament report
when I started.

Round 1 vs. Noble Fish - Win 2-0

And it started against the mirror with a guy named Juan. Games 1 and 2 were
almost mirrors of each other, with Juan trying to play the mana denial game, but
I ended up denying his mana a little bit more. Game 1 saw turn one Noble
Hierarch followed by a second one on Turn 2. Game 2 gave me another turn 1
Hierarch, but then I made the mistake of getting my turn 2 Cold-Eye Selkie and
swinging in for two... after I used Wasteland on his only Island. I recovered
nicely and just beat in for the win as he could never get another green land
with three Qasail Pridemage and two Trygon Predator in hand.

Round 2 vs. Dredge - Win 2-1

This was the match I had to fear, because Game 1 is almost an auto loss. Sam
Berse was playing the Sharuum Dredge deck that Matt Elias showed on his weekly
article this week. In Game 1, he manages to get his Dread Return on the legend
and brought back Possessed Portal. Now, I did misread this card, as I totally
missed that EACH player had to discard a card or sac a permanent on EACH turn. I
used Pridgemage to blow Sharuum and stop him from getting an overload of tokens,
but he hit his last Bridge and I was done. Game 2 put me on the play with a turn
1 Pithing Needle naming Bazaar of Baghdad. He never played a land and I just
beta in with whatever creature I had. Game 3 was very interesting. He plays Turn
1 Bazaar, but does nothing. I then play my land and Hierarch and pass. He
chooses now to use his land, discarding 2 Dredge targets. I decided to use
Ravenous Trap now and slow down his momentum. This would be key as he never hit
another Dredge card until the last turn of the game and when he did, I had
another trap in hand thanks to getting Ancestral Recall every turn with Selkie
and two exalted triggers. I had a Goyf in play, but never used it. I ended up
dropping a second Goyf and using Time Walk to seal the game.

Round 3 vs. Noble Fish - Win 2-0

This match saw me go up against NYSE VII winner Ryan Glackin, playing the same
Noble Fish deck he won with two weeks earlier. Both games were really close as
game 1 is won on the back of Thada being unblockable and getting in there for
three a turn. Game 2 is, as Ryan put it, the game in which we do the
swap-Null-Rods-and-other-useless-mirror-match-cards-for-more-dudes-and-StP's
sideboarding strategy. In my case, it's Echoing Truth I'm bringing in as all my
Swords are main. This game saw the first epic Force of Will battle of the day as
he plays Mindcensor when I fetch, but I have Force of Will. He has one also, but
I happen to have second one and get my land. I then land my own Mindcensor and
fly over for the win.

Round 4 vs. Oath - Lose 0-2

I get to face Brad in this round, who I was later told is one of the better Oath
players around in the region. Game 1 was the definition of Fast and Furious. I
land Turn 1 Thada off a Lotus and he gets Turn 1 Oath. I swing in, take his
Lotus, and play Turn 2 Jace into a Brainstorm. I definitely kept the wrong two
cards as I was thinking more aggressive for the next turn, instead of holding a
Force and Recall. He hits Iona naming Blue and plays Time Walk. He Vamps on
upkeep and then reveals the Terastodon, blowing up my Jace, the Oath, and his
one land. It's pretty academic from there. Game 2 sees him go the Tinker route
into Sphinx of the Steel Wind and I can't find an answer in time.

Round 5 vs. Noble Fish - Win 2-1

Another mirror match and another guy named Mike. I don't remember tons about
this round, other than I lost Game 1 for my first game loss in the mirror all
day.

Round 6 - Intentional Draw

Since I am at 4-1 and my opponent is 4-1-1, I agree to do the draw, believing my
tiebreakers are more than good enough to make the Top 8. I end up in the middle
of the 13 point crew, which leads me to be the number 7 seed.

Top 8 vs. Noble Fish - Win 2-0

Chris was the only other Noble Fish player to make the Top 8 and we got matched
up as he was the 2 seed. Both games were decided in the same way, with me
dropping Selkie and just getting my Ancestral Recall every turn. He told me
after the match that he didn't play any of the 1/1 Islandwalker and that is the
reason I won. Well, both are true.

Semifinals vs. Oath - Win 2-1

This was the rematch with Brad from Round 4. He had a grueling Top 8 against
Drain Tendrils to the point where the other Top 4 match was done before we got
started. Game 1 started with a ridiculous epic play. I'm on the play and open
with a Tropical Island and a Black Lotus before passing the turn. He goes with a
Misty Rainforest and passes. At the end of his turn, I go for Ancestral Recall.
He goes to crack the fetch land and I respond by cracking Lotus and playing Aven
Mindcensor. Having no response, he looks at the top four cards. After I win Game
1, he tells me it was Lotus, Recall, Force, and a fetch land. Ouch! Game 2 he
gets out a quick Tezzeret and lands Time Vault/Voltaic Key. I have the
Pridgemage to blow the Vault, but his next turn is Demonic Tutor, Regrowth, Time
Vault. I'm dead at that point. Game 3 nets me turn 1 Hierarch and turn 2 Trygon
Predator. He never can play an Oath as I manage to have plenty of counter backup
and after five turns on swinging in, I'm in the finals.

Finals vs. Bob Tendrils - Lose 1-2

So it's down to me and Stephen in one of Noble Fish's worst matchups, especially
in Game 1. Game 1 goes right to form for him as he storms to 8, then plays
Rebuild to blow me out of the water. Game 2 was another game in which Selkie
helps tons. I'm able to draw two extra cards a turn as I knock him down to five.
Then comes the most discussed topic from that entire event. He goes for main
deck Gifts Ungiven and finds Time Walk, Tinker, Lotus, and Vamp Tutor. My hand
has a Spell Pierce and nothing relevant. I give him Time Walk and Tinker with
him having only one blue mana. He plays the Tinker, I Pierce, but he has Force
and goes to four. Tinker gets Sphinx of Steel Wind and he it goes back to me. I
swing in to put him to two and find nothing relevant. He find Tendrils with Bob
and it goes to game three. Game 3 was a blowout. He turn one Recalls and I go
all out with Hierarch and Canonist. He counters Canonist and gets turn two
Tinker for Sphinx. Without a doubt, I should have held back for the Pierce in my
hand, but that's the game.

So one very long day and I get to leave with a signed Mox Ruby for being runner
up. Not to bad of a day. Noble Fish is an extremely popular deck right now and I
think the version I have is poised to do well in that type of field. So many
cards are just so good in the mirror and the evidence is in the four mirror
matches, going 4-0 with an 8-1 game record. If you do play it, definitely be
ready for those Workshop matches, which I was lucky to avoid all day. Had I
faced it once, my day could have been totally different, depending on which
version I faced. The Mono-Red Stax deck is pretty brutal, but regular Stax and
MUD aren't as bad, despite them having of the same effects.

Until I see you next time, thanks for coming to the Game Room.