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My first task was to convince my usual group of MtGers to take part. Convincing Kaz to come along was actually not that difficult. Every so often he would lament the loss of Dark Ritual and Duress with the usual banter of "What else is black going to do Turn 1?" Knowing he could run his favourites again along with Necropotence, Hypnotice Specters, Nantuko Shades and others was enough for him to set about the task of constructing a Suicide Black deck.

Toshi Onshi was already prepared with a Type 1 Stasis deck and was ready to go with some modifications since we could proxy up to 5 cards. Jarrod Castaing had a completed Goblin Bidding deck so the task of searching for Goblin Lackeys, Goblin Recruiters and Food Chains were on hand to transform it to the most aggro of all goblin builds. I also managed to rope in one of the Happyland kids along (Charlie Bridger) for some Type 1 fun and craziness.

The Deck

At this point I decided to try a Control Slavery deck especially since I always did have a soft spot for Mindslaver. The idea of taking your opponent's turn was just too much fun to pass up. Not quite knowing what I was doing, I grabbed a decklist but modified it slightly to account for a slightly more aggro metagame (I predicted more aggro decks than control). Jester's Cap was added to break any combo deck apart.

Manakon (R/G Beats)

Manakon was relatively new to game and came for the free tournament. Unfortunately he didn't know it was Type 1 or that you could proxy up to five cards. I got the first game with Pentavus beatdown with counter support and the second with a Platinum Angel in much the same fashion.

As the games ended quickly I did offer some advice to trim his deck down to 60 cards from 85 and how to approach the mana curve. He was happy enough just to see the huge amount of different deck builds that day.

1-0-0

Scott Hunstad (Kobold Dryad Clamp)

Game 1
The first few turns we're both trying to assert control over the game. Scott had the slight upper hand drawing more with the Skullclamp but I managed to stop the Quirion Dryad with a Fire/Ice quickly before it grew out of proportions. Meagre beats on both was ensured with Mana Crypt but not enough to bring the life totals down to a dangerous level. I managed to Mindslaver once but it wasn't enough to swing the game to victory yet.

By this time, ours was the last match of the round still to be completed and a crowd had gathered around to see the proceedings. One card on hand...Scott went for Yawgmoth's Will. There was a slight pause - I knew letting it resolve would easily mean game for him.

"In response to Yawgmoth's Will…Thirst for Knowledge"

Draw 1: Force of Will
Draw 2: Polluted Delta
Draw 3: Thirst for Knowledge

No more mana to cast anything else. There were a few slight murmurs behind me as they could see how close I came from Force of Willing away Yawgmoth's Will. No other choice but to utter "Resolved". With the Will resolved, an extremely broken turn ensured which involved a lot of Kobolds, a lot of cards drawn (Skullclamp) and a huge Beserked Dryad.

Game 2
There was a crowd gathered round and this had all the feelings of a feature match. I boarded in some artifact hate to remove the dreaded Skullclamps. With both our decks slow, it was a back and forth affair with key spells being stopped and threats answered. A Shattering Pulse was cast with buyback and Scott mused it was very familiar. (I actually got that card off him just several days earlier.)

A hard cast Mindslaver was countered sending it to the graveyard. Scott proceeded to grow a large Dryad poised to swing for the game. I then noticed during the end of his turn I could have easily welded for the Mindslaver. At the end of his turn, I did just that, welded away the Mana Vault and grabbed the Mindslaver. It was quickly activated to grab his next turn. It came to my turn and I drew into a Pentavus which was then hardcasted. Scott scooped knowing with the Slaver lock I could grab the rest of his turns.

Game 3
Time was already called and it looked like this game would only go for the 5 rounds. To ensure the draw in the 3rd round, I Tinkered for the Platinum Angel using the mana from a Sol Ring. I figured with his kill (Beserk) and artifact removal (Oxidize) both of the sideboard, this game would draw itself out.

Unless of course somehow he could Cunning Wish twice…

Fortunately that didn't happen and it was a fitting end to a very long round.

1-0-1

Han (Replenish Standstill)

Game 1
A third round Darksteel Colossus off the Tinker was an extremely frightening prospect. I drew the Goblin Welder but I had to wait for one turn before it came active. The Darksteel Colossus came trampling through for 11 sending my life very low.

The next time the Colossus was sent to attack, it was welded to become a Seat of the Synod. That bought me a few rounds but the slow beatdown of Faerie Conclaves was enough to seal the game against me.

Game 2
I kept a landless Moxen hand. He responded with a Standstill to slow the game down. With no land in hand I broke the Standstill to cast Thirst for Knowledge at the end of his turn sending Pentavus to the graveyard. Another Standstill was cast and I still had no land. I again broke the Standstill and got a Goblin Welder into play.

At this point he panicked slightly as he could see the goblin welding away a Mox for the Pentavus. He declared he was casting Balance and that the Welder would be put into the graveyard. I readily agreed but reminded him I had 4 cards in hand to his 9 (from the Standstill) and I had no lands in play. He looked over the board and realised the mistake and had to send 4 lands and 4 cards from his hand to the graveyard.

I drew into another Welder which was promptly played. The Pentavus came into play and proceeded the beat down with counter support in my hand.

Game 3
The start saw some early draw, sending the Jester's Cap into the graveyard. A quick start again for him ensured a Standstill and huge card advantage. I broke the Standstill placing down a Welder before welding away for the Jester's Cap in the graveyard.

The Jester's Cap became recurring as I slowly removed all his threats starting with the Colossus and the Faerie Conclaves. The next round the Replenishes went and then more cards leaving him with a deck full of land and tutors. With one Goblin Welder welding away for the Cap, a spare Goblin Welder went through for the meagre beats. In the end he Impulsed to deck himself out of the game.

2-0-1

Kaz Yamanaka (Suicide Black)

With a turn out of about 30 people and a 5 round tournament, we both figured a 3-1-1 would be enough to make the Top 8. At this point I was 2-0-1 and Kaz was 2-1-0. Since we decided at the beginning of the tournament to split the prizes, Kaz conceded to me allowing me my first Top 8 in a Vintage Tournament.

We still played the games out to see what would have happened.

Game 1
A quick fire Duress, Hymn to Tourach and Sinkhole in the early stages of the game left me landless and very card light. The beatdown then began with the Phyrexian Negator putting me on a 4 round clock. A Thirst for Knowledge dumped Mindslaver into the graveyard.

Currently on my side of the table were:

Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Goblin Welder

Not enough to take the game yet.

Untap…Upkeep…Draw…Black Lotus!

Black Lotus for 3 mana.

Tapped the Pearl before it got welded away for the Mindslaver.

With the 4 mana floating, activated the Mindslaver to take his next turn.

I looked at his hand a Vampiric Tutor, I noted 4 Swamps and mentioned something about using the Vampiric Tutor for a Necropotence before he scooped.

Game 2
Kaz opened with an early Duress and a 2nd round Necropotence. Thirst quickly sent the Mindslaver down to the graveyard and in my next turn the Goblin Welder came into play. Kaz, being unable to remove the Welder or my mana sources, allowed me to Mindslaver for the win.

After the games we talked about the match up and the first thing that came to mind was that Necropotence should be automatically moved to the sideboard. This was much like Darksteel Colossus being moved to the sideboard if you suspect your opponent may be using Acquire. The only reason I got the first 2 games was the auto-loss when I Slavered and grabbed his Necropotence. We played a couple more games (without Necro in his deck) and I couldn't pull out a win.

3-0-1

Johnny (Red/Blue/Green Beats)

I kind of knew I was in trouble approaching this game. It's hard for this deck to keep up with random small and efficient beats.

Game 1
A second turn Platinum Angel sealed me the game quickly. A Lightning Bolt was resolved on the Angel first but the Chain Lightning was Mana Drained away. With life no longer a factor, a five round clock saw no removal and was enough to swing for the game. I was very happy to be able to steal one game.

Game 2
Fire/Ice was useless with all his creatures being 3 toughness of more and was sideboarded away. First and second round Kird Apes proved too much to handle and key disruption spells like Echoing Truth was stopped by Pyroblast.

Game 3
The final game unfortunately was very similar to the second. A first turn Kird Ape again followed by more beats was too quick for me to handle as I didn't get to see any of my tutors or the Platinum or Pentavus. A Lightning Bolt to the head was enough to whittle my life down to a level where the Kird Ape had enough to swing for the win. The Blue Elemental Blast which was to destroy it was Red Elemetnal Blasted.

I found out later as I suspected he boarded in 4 Red Elemetnal Blasts and 4 Pyroblasts for the match up giving him much needed control.

3-1-1

Conclusion

In the final analysis everything went great, finishing up 6th overall. Despite all the brokenness there wasn't any turn 1 kills and it was great to see the variety of decks that were played. Even unpowered Food Chain Goblins had a great showing! Here's hoping for more Type 1 tournaments to come.

Props

1. Thanks to Ernie (MTG_Guru) and Mick (marmi01) for pushing for this tournament to happen!

2. SGC for hosting the tournament and on their second anniversary…keep going strong!

3. Happyland crowd of Kaz Yamanaka, Jarrod Castaing, Toshi Onishi & Charles Bridger for the playtesting and helping to beg/borrow/steal the cards for the this tournament.