I was ecstatic to help host the Falling Stars’ first Old School event, which we’d been hoping to do since before Covid happened. Like most tournaments I play in, I didn’t do any testing beforehand, but at least I wasn’t still trying to finalize my deck the morning of.
Here’s what I played:
I’ve played Shops many times in Old School, with many different variations; most commonly, I’ve played the white splash for removal. I thought I’d try a more aggressive build this time, with Juggernauts (which I usually eschew or relegate to the board) and bolts. No unusual card choices here, I think.
Round 1: Ryan Wheeler
Ryan seems to be playing control with Trikes and maybe some other robots. We split the first two games without anything happening that I can remember now. Game 3 was a tense affair. He had the upper hand most of the game, but I was stockpiling bolts as he whittled away at my life total. I drew my third bolt when he was at 7, but I only had two red sources, but I could still get there if I could survive his next turn, which I did, except for some reason I forgot to bolt him at the end of his turn. As I untapped, I realized my mistake, and hoped he didn’t have any more damage than he had on the board, which wasn’t enough by itself. Unfortunately, he had a Trike in hand, which was enough to finish me off.
Loss 1-2, 0-1 overall
Round 2: Bye
Punting that last match tilted me quite a bit, so it’s probably a good thing I got the bye. I tried to tell myself to relax, that I shouldn’t expect to win, considering I’d done no playtesting, but punting a winnable match like that still didn’t sit right. I ordered some fish and chips, which were good but pretty intense.
1-1 overall
Round 3: Michael O’Malley
Michael is playing a white weenie deck, unsleeved, with a rubber band. I love this. I drew well and won in 2. I think I boarded out some Copies and maybe the draw-7s for Earthquake, Abyss #2, and the Glooms, but I don’t remember if any of them came up.
Win 2-0, 2-1 overall
Round 4: Satish Subramanian
Satish is playing an URG deck with direct damage, counters, and efficient creatures, but it doesn’t really fit neatly into the counter-burn or Arabian aggro box. It seems pretty well-tuned, though. He burns me out quickly in game 1. I think boarded out my draw-7s, Jugs, and some Copies for Blasts, the City, and Abyss #2. He kept a land-light hand in game 2 and I drew 2 Strips, which was enough to stall him long enough for robots to get there. I don’t remember how I won game 3, but I believe he still had an Energy Flux in hand that he wasn’t able to cast.
Win 2-1, 3-1 overall
Round 5: Frank Gutierrez
Frank is playing Deadguy. I drew some decent cards in game 1, but I didn’t get to cast very many of them because he drew, and played, all of his Hymns. He hadn’t played many threats, though, because he was mostly blowing up the things I did play when he wasn’t making me discard. As kind of a last-ditch effort, I cast Timetwister, hoping to draw the nuts. I did not, but he drew another Hymn, which he played a couple turns later. Eventually I succumbed to a couple of Racks.
As I did against the other white decks, I boarded out 3 Copies for 3 Gloom, and I think I boarded out something else for Abyss #2. In game 2, he put a lot of pressure on me early with 2 Juzams, but I was able to land an Abyss and stabilize; I can’t remember how I won this game but I didn’t have much life left. In game 3 I got an early Gloom and followed it up with a second a few turns later, which was enough to get there.
Win 2-1, 4-1 overall
Round 6: Jason Smart
Jason is the only undefeated player left, and I’m paired up against him. He’s on LDB (although I don’t think I ever saw any Lions) and he’s running hot. Much like my match against Satish, he burned me out pretty quickly in the first game. I boarded out Jugs and probably Copies, the draw-7s, and some Bolts for, I think, Blasts and Icys. Might have brought in the City, too, though I can’t remember if it was before game 2 or 3.
Game 2 I mulled once and drew the 3 Grixis Moxen, a Shop, 2 Factories, and a Trike. I—reluctantly, of course—bottomed a Factory and played a turn 1 Trike. I followed that up with a Tetravus shortly and later a couple of Su-Chis. He had some removal, including a Divine Offering for the Tetravus, which bought him some time, but I kept drawing threats. It was the most broken my deck was all day.
Game 3 featured probably the smartest (heh) play I saw all day. With a Shop, a Badlands, and the Naya Moxen on board, I cast Demonic Tutor. As I couldn’t cast Ancestral, I vacillated between Mind Twist and a Trike. Eventually I went with the former, but I couldn’t cast it that turn, obviously. The next turn he cast Wheel, discarding a hand full of playable cards, correctly guessing that I had tutored for Mind Twist. It was a brilliant play, but a gamble, of course. Off the Wheel, I drew a hand with a Library and a Tetravus. After tanking for a moment, I decided to try and go the Library route and win via card advantage and playing artifacts slowly, and fortunately for me, it paid off.
Win 2-1, 5-1 overall
Finals: David London
Since there wasn’t anyone left undefeated after 6 rounds (Swiss + 1), the top 2 X-1s played for the championship, which turned out to be David and me, respectively. We briefly considered flipping Orbs for the prize, but neither of us felt very strongly about it, so we played it out. David was playing Deadguy as well, but splashing blue for power and some board cards. He came out swinging quickly with his Juzam outpacing my Su-Chi to take game 1. I believe I boarded out 3 Copies and Bolts for Icys, Glooms, and Abyss #2. I’m blanking on how I won game 2 right now but he brought in Serendibs, which I saw, so I think I brought in the City for the last Bolt. In hindsight, this was probably not the optimal board plan, as he still had plenty of targets for my Bolts, but I was lucky enough to get there in spite of that.
Win 2-1
Props to everyone that came out and Rudyard’s for hosting us; it was an awesome weekend and I think everyone had a blast. No slops from me this time.
Falling Stars 