Vintage Start!

2x VMA sealed and 1x Vintage DE!

Got a natural 4-0. Did not offer to split this time since it was the first DE of the season. A double Saproling Burst is hard to beat. Too bad Sol Ring did not turn up fast enough to throw games into my favor.

3-1.
Lost round 1 to a play where I had Dack's Duplicante copying a white 2/2 flier at 3 power and Deftblade Elite + Brilliant Halo.
My opponent was at 5 life and I had Solar Blast in hand.
My opponent was wide open and I attacked with only the duplicate which became 4/4 and got hit by a Radiant's Judgment so I missed the opening to win and lost the game.

I had trouble deciding how the deck should be made as red is quite deep as well but white gave more stability. I had games against UW and UR (bounce heavy) where I moved all the white out to go into UR.
I won one game with a Crater Hellion sealing up the game by just coming down into the battlefield.

Classic DE

I went 3-1 with my Gush deck as above.

Won vs Bob. I had a very strong board position (7 card hand with Library of Alexandria with Jace the Mind Sculptor in play) vs a lone card from the opponent. He searched for and cast Ancestral Recall but targeted me. He scooped there.

Lost to humans on the back of time and the inability to process a complicated board state under stress.
Although I had survived to that point on winning the Mana Crypt coin flip twice, I had a big Yawgmoth's Will turn but did not have a way to win immediately. I ended up putting Mana Crypt into play but not Nature's Claiming it away. I had another window to gain life with Deathrite Shaman but I missed that as well.
Was called out in the middle of the game and that time loss made a big difference.
That guy managed to go 4-0 at the end of it. -_-"

Won vs Oath because my opponent's side is buggy.
Made a big mistake playing Brainstorm (and not putting Blightsteel Colossus back). I was probably still affected from the previous game.
In any case, I had a big advantage and he probably just went to claim back entry.
He mulled to 4, and I had Abrupt Decay for his Oath of Druids.

Won vs blue angels on the back of the high powered Vintage spells. Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus after a proper interaction both games. Had Library of Alexandria out game 1 to help with my land-light hand.
Game 2 I managed to go ahead on the back of Gush and Fastbond. Yawgmoth's Will pretty much sealed the game with Time Walk + Tinker.

Predowntime VMA - MOX SAPPHIRE!!!

More Vintage Masters limited~

This sealed I went 0-1 and some error happened and kicked me out of the tournament. I managed to get reimbursement so I was happy.

For once, I managed to win a draft with goblins. It seemed like goblins were underdrafted so I managed to get a more decent deck this time.

So this is my last sealed before downtime (since I would not be able to play tomorrow) and I had 12 QPs prior to this. I managed to go 3-0 and split up in the finals to get my 15 QPs and the promo Gaea's Cradle (and an invite to a MOCS qualifier event). Upheaval did most of the heavy weight and singlehandedly gave me wins everytime I cast it.

I never did manage to cast Psychatog though.

AND I OPENED A MOX SAPPHIRE!!!

Also, this was my transformational sideboard for decks that I needed more meat against.

I could not get my timeslot's Vintage event to fire but we managed to get a 8 man Vintage done. I won my first round vs Oath and lost to Dredge (which I was severely underprepared for compared to my other decks).

VMA limited and Vintage thoughts

More VMA limited!

I think I went 2-2 with this. Put in Grizzly Fate over the 3 damage to all spell.
I lost to Time Walk + Rorix Bladewing (twice) and a close game.
Yawgmoth's Bargain isn't too great in limited I guess. =/

This was a VMA draft where my games were very laggy and I missed a few attacks.
Lost but was refunded (luckily). I had screenshots to prove it too.
But the deck itself was not very good as it lacked removals. I'm not doing well in drafts. I'm like 0-3?

I went 3-0 with this, split up for the win. I would always take the easier way to end the game.
The deck itself was alright. Did not have much answers to evasion but Krosan Vorine + pump is very good.

Went 3-1 with this deck, losing to a deck with Library of Alexandria, Masticore and Mox Jet.

Otherwise, double Battlescreech is quite presurring.

Having sold a foil promo Kiyomaro for 200 tix (why would I keep it?), I went to procure my set of P9.
(Opened only 1x power over all this while.)
I was excited to get into Vintage and I have to say that it feels very different from Classic to play.
I made a Bob deck and Menendian's Burning Tendrils deck to test.
P9 really change the fundamental way the game is played and to be honest, I have not gotten the hang of it.
I did get into some mana problems every now so I still need time to internalize the flow of the format.

Workshop decks have lost some steam with the introduction of Moxes on both sides.
They lose out on their threat density in favor of having more mana sources while having moxes on the other side provides more space to work around Tangle Wire and sphere effects.
I suppose having played in an era where you do not get to even cast a 2cc removal has taken a toll on my expectations of the workshops matchup.

The decks I tested did not do too well so in  the end, I took my existing Classic gush deck, moved some cards around and made it into a Vintage deck. It was much more stable with just on-color power and the deck played much more comfortably than anything else I tried. I will try to get into a DE soon (they fire only in the morning timeslots) so hopefully my list would be revealed then.

MOX EMERALD ~~~and more VMA limited

More Vintage Masters limited!

I got this deck for draft but I lost to my friend in round 1 against goblins. Badness.

Another Recurring Nightmare powerhouse. I think I went 3-1 with this. Just won games with ETB effects. Just too unfair. Especially with Predatory Nightstalker recurring another.

I tried going cycling with this pool but it did not turn out very well. I lost to large creatures and not being able to do much.
I believe that I went 2-2 for this.

MY FIRST POWER!!!
This was in a draft PE on Tuesday night where I bumped into my friend Spoony1
(2 64-man PEs in a row?!? U can do the math on the odds. (1/63^2)

I lost to him in both encounters.

Sadness.

In this sealed, I got an insane 4x Mythic cardpool with Mana Drain and SKULLCLAMP (the most unfair card on earth which I would claim can best Ancestral Recall in limited). The meat of the deck is quite good too with Marchesa, the Black Rose who has dethrone (if you attack an opponent with more life the creature gets a +1/+1 counter. If a creature with a +1/+1 counter dies, return it to play at the next eot).

Unfortunately, my decklist did not submit properly (submitted but didn't actually go through) so I ended up with a 100+ card deck and me getting my ass whooped. I dropped from that. Hopefully I get refunded. 45 tix is A LOT of tix. It's so easily 3-1 at least. Urgh. Such agony.

So this is my last sealed for the day. I got a foil Skullclamp and double Flametongue Kavu so I am expecting to do well. Nothing worth much but hopefully it goes all the way.

Vintage Master Sealed =/ where's my lotus?

I'm currently into my third VMA sealed. I have not seen any P9 yet (which is not unexpected).

I went 3-1 in my first sealed. The deck centered around the 2x Elephant Guides and low curve beaters plus removal.

For my second sealed, I started out with this, trying to go cycling and madness but I could not really appreciate it as I had too much cycling and not much action.

 In the last few minutes, I swapped over to the below after I figured that the prior deck was not going to work unless I had Astral Slide. I moved over to a more aggressive double Wild Mongrel madness deck. I went 2-2. I should not have played Armor of Thorns but the AEther Mutation instead (missed it out as I rushed through deck building).

 I went 4-0 in this one mainly riding on the power of Recurring Nightmare and Masticore.
Depending on the matchup only Keeneye Aven goes in and out of the sb to replace Simian Grunts.

Come P9!