Let me start with the obligatory “long time reader, first time poster”. I’m not much of a writer so I usually don’t write. Since the tournament I am writing about was run at Gen Con, I know there will not be any deck lists or coverage for the vintage events. I will do my best to outline the two events I played my turbo vault deck. I played the below deck in 2 events finishing 5-0 in the first and earning a bye at Eternal Weekend. I finished 4-1 the next day. The deck is mostly a shell of a steel city vault deck but with more focus on speed.
Main:
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Expedition Map
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mana Vault
1 Time Vault
4 Mental Misstep
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Walk
1 Transmute Artifact
2 Mox Opal
1 Dack Fayden
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Thoughtcast
1 Time Spiral
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Volcanic Island
1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB:
3 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mountain
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Pyroblast
1 Spell Pierce
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Trinisphere
4 Ingot Chewer
1 Pyroclasm
The first tournament for this deck was Friday. I had played Nahiri Oath the previous day and really liked the build but I wanted to give this a try as well. There were somewhere between 20-30 people at the event. I made single sentence notes as I played so please forgive the lack of details in the matches.
Round 1:
I play Chris who is piloting Grindstone.
• Game 1- I drop lots of spells and moxes on turn one then turn two vault/key.
• Game 2- I keep a slower hand with a turn 1 library but no FOW. He Tinkers for Blightsteel on T1. I don’t have a Dack after drawing so I scoop.
• Game 3 – I have academy and ChromeMox but only 2 artifacts. We fight a huge counter war over my Sensei’s Top which he prepared for by dropping mana crypt. Noting happens for a long time as we rebuild our hands but he loses 5/6 crypt flips. Once I build up enough spells, I resolved warrens for 8 goblins and took the game.
Round 2:
I play Mike who is piloting White Eldrazi. This isn’t a good match-up for me.
• Game 1 - He wins the flip and chalices for 0. He casts a revoker then a thought-knot so I scoop.
• Game 2 – He casts some swinging type creatures which I can mostly ignore. I resolve vault/key on turn 3.
• Game 3 – He casts revoker and names Lotus in the dark. I cast T1 Jace. On turn 2 I timewalk, then storm out 20 goblins for the win.
Round 3:
I play Sam on Doomsday.
• Game 1 – He turn 2, Lotus / Doomsday/ Flusterstorm wins.
• Game 2 – I turn 1 tinker into Myr Battlesphere for thewin
• Game 3 – I surprise him with Trinisphere from the board and win through Tezzeret/Vault
Round 4:
I play Josh on Grixis Control.
• Game 1 – I T1 Vault/Key.
• Game 2 - He boards but I didn’t see anything so I run the same 60. He gets a small army out with deathrite, angler, and eventually a trygon. I cast a wheel of fortune and go for vault/key. I win the counterwar but his last card was abrupt decay. At 1 life, I rebuild my hand with twister and vault/key.
Round 5:
I play Max who is on Oath / Show and Tell. He gets paired up as he is 3-1. After confirming that I will be attending EW, he scoops so I can lock up the bye (Else no one would have finished 5-0). If you are reading this, thank you again! We play it out to see how the match-up would have finished.
• Game 1 – I keep a hand that had a lot of promise with normal draws but I don’t draw any artifacts. He eventually tutors for vault/key.
• Game 2 – I end up playing the control roll in this one countering the oath/shows. He eventually loses to his crypt plus the two spirits he gave me from his orchard.
• Game 3 – I get out my battlesphere and double FOW through the attacks to end 5-0.
They had the tournament set-up so that a player could win up to two byes. I decided to play the same deck on Saturday. I had a lot of game 3 and wanted to see how it performed over a longer stretch of games.
Round 1:
I play Vincent who is on mentor control.
• Game 1 – I go full on vintage on T1 and go through about 30 cards. I drop a Tezz with an academy for the win.
• Game 2 – I storm out 16 goblins or so around T2.
Round 2:
I play Sean who is on GW hate bear style humans. (This is likely my worst matchup)
• Game 1 – I draw lots and lots of cards. I think I cast all of my thoughtcasts. I end up dead with a hand full of land.
• Game 2 – He’s beating me up with little creatures. I’m searching for a win or a pyroclasm. He drops a knight of the reliquary when I’m at 6. I draw a now meaningless pyroclasm and scoop. He ended up winning this tournament.
Round 3:
I play Ryan who is on delver.
• Game 1 – He gets out an early delver and throws a bunch of bolts at me.
• Game 2 – I take the worst game notes possible. My note for this game is “normal”. I see my life total got down to 8 and I know I won the game. I don’t remember how. I must have thought it a very normal way for me to win.
• Game 3 – He has some delvers, I had tinkered for a battlesphere. The battlesphere was faster so I win. I think I pyroblasted away a delver he was planning on blocking with if I remember correctly.
Round 4:
I play John who is on mentor control.
• Game 1 – I storm out a good sized warrens that outpaced the mentor and tokens
• Game 2 – He gets out an early Narset and locks me out.
• Game 3 – I storm out a warrens, play trinisphere, timewalk, then timespiral timewalk again for the win.
Round 5:
I play Matt playing shops.
• I turn 1 out a bunch of moxes, a time vault, and a map. He ancient tombs for sphere of resistance. I turn 2 cast mana vault, use it to search up academy with the map, then tap the moxes and academy for 6 and play Tezz for the win. We only play one game so he can meet up with his friends for dinner.
The deck is about as fun as a deck can be. I wouldn’t mind fitting in a mind’s desire but I’m not sure where I would put it. The board could use some work. I didn’t even board in cage against Oath. In part it was because his build was heavy on show and tell but it was also in part because I didn’t feel like it needed it. I think any of the pridemage / stony silence decks will be tough. I have enough removal to kill null rod. I’m not sure it’s worth putting in too much for the creatures. The deck can’t board out too many cards and still be potent. Anyway, I hope you like my report. See you at EW.