Shortcake Maketh Man: Double Eternal Challenge Top 8

A Double Online Eternal Challenge Top 8 Report: King Welder’s Reign

So to start off, I haven’t been playing as many paper tournaments as I usually do/would like to/have been golfing way more and don’t want to sacrifice nice weather days. Instead, I have just been bopping around online in Legacy leagues brewing painter and popping up in Vintage queues and dailies every now and then. The Legacy commentary will come first since A) this is a legacy forum B) I’m way more experienced with Shortcake than Academy and C) because I did better in the legacy tournament. So if you only care about Vintage you can just skip down towards the bottom.

First things first, the list:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...c59d067330.jpg

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
2 Plateau
1 Great Furnace
2 wooded foothills
3 bloodstained mire
4 Mountain

4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter's Servant
3 Goblin Welder
2 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Phyrexian Revoker

4 Blood Moon
4 Grindstone
3 Lotus Petal
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 enlightened tutor

The board

4 Lightning Bolt
1 duergar hedge-Mage
1 ethersworn canonist
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Rest in Peace
1 ensnaring bridge
1 trinisphere
1 engineered explosives
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Ajani Vengeant

I made a slew of changes over the past few months so while on the whole the overall list still plays similarly, there are enough small and subtle changes to tailor it towards the miracles meta we currently reside in. One of the shortfalls that Shortcake has is that it can fall victim to trying to do too many cool things and squeeze in cards that make sense but fall short of the overall vision of the deck. For that reason, I trimmed down the maindeck bridges to 1, kept the Imperial Recruiter package as tight as possible (could argue with cutting revoker as well) and upped the enlightened tutor package to 3 with an LED to enable additional welder/top/recruiter shenanigans and facilitate earlier kills.

In the board is where larger scale changes took place. I admit that I was having more trouble with miracles than usual, so I revamped the choices to better handle the deck. I probably love firebolt more than anyone in legacy, but it just could not handle mentor. The switch to lightning bolt makes it a reasonable card to board in against them now, as you can nab mentors right away and snipe jaces trying to brainstorm. Sulfur Elemental is there as just an all around good threat that handles mentor as well. Plus you can board it in against other weenie creature decks and name white with painter for super-value. Lastly I put in 2 Ajani Vengeant as it is a great board control element that forces miracles players to shift gears towards actually tapping out lest they lose all of their lands in a glorious Colin Firth massacre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WWDBTda2Y

To make room for all of this crap I’m not playing more than 6 blast effects and no thorn, since I feel that eldrazi have handled storm somewhat and the LED can sort of be viewed as a hate card in the opposite direction.

Anyways I’m sure that the majority of people don’t give a shit about the intricacies of Strawberry Shortcake card choices, so on to the actual tournament. I didn’t take notes expecting to have all the magic online replays but oh what a fool I am. I don’t remember exactly what happened in round 1 so it could be wrongish, but I’ll try my best.

Round 1 vs dsck on UW Miracle-Still

Game 1: My opponent starts off with a mishra’s factory and sensei’s divining top so I just assume it is some sort of metagamed miracles list. Pretty sure a blood moon wrecks house and when I combo I get to see the entire yard. I notice that there aren’t any counterbalances (thank god) and it has standstills and other general miracles cards

Game 2: This is the haziest game I had. I think blood moon gets countered at some point and just a generic beatdown happens. Pretty sure the final damage came from an ajani helixing and then followed up by a lightning bolt.

1-0

Round 2: vs Lpettro on Junk Walkers Brew

Game 1: I mull and keep a quickish hand of painter, stone, revoker, top, petal, mire and scry a plateau to keep on top. Not sure what Im up against and wanting the land, I don’t lead the stone out there yet. I end up getting hymned on turn 1 losing both creatures, so I untap and dump my hand. My grindstone gets killed, I grab a recruiter and get welder, but next turn both die to a golgari charm. Meanwhile, a bitterblossom and Chains of Meth come down to screw with my sensei’s top. I find a blood moon to buy me time and then a grindstone to mill away dead stuff on top. I find Painter two turns before the faerie army would be lethal

Boarding: pretty sure I brought in the ajanis, couple bolts, and hedge mage for random stuff over fast mana card disadvantage since the game was designed to go long.

Game 2: I keep a fairly simple hand of 3 lands, monkey, blast, and 2 recruiters. Solid hand for the grindfest. I just drop lands while my opponent enlightened tutors for stony silence and drops it. A pithing needle on stone joins the party. I use my 1st recruiter to grab painter, and when he goes to swords it I double blast the two hate pieces. The next ten or so turns involve my small dork army taking down a lilian of the veil, sorin lord of innistrad, and Elspeth knight errant. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th recruiters grabbed 2nd painter, magus, and jaya to lock up the game during this time. Never leave home with less than 4 recruiters kiddies.

2-0

Round 3 vs Thunderpork on Maverick-black

Game 1 on the draw I keep foothills, petal, etutor, 2x stone, painter, moon. He leads basic plains and doesn’t do anything. I draw a plateau, lay fetch and petal and play stone. He Green Sun’s for noble heirarch so I tutor LED, drop painter turn 2 and win.

Board: Ajani’s, bolts, bridge in. Some combination of top, fast mana, magus, moons out.

Game 2: I keep a 2x blast, 2x ajani, fetch, city, welder hand. I get thoughtseized and welder dies. He drops Mom, deathrite, heirarch and then a needle to wreck my ajani hand. Like a true painter master, though, my next three draw steps were a 2nd city, grindstone, painter. So I just cast them while he has a bayou and savannah up, name blue and blast the savannah and activate in response to the decay/swords he was representing (it was swords)

3-0

Round 4 vs Egget on Miracles

Game 1: I lay Turn 1 moon using a petal while he lays an island. Sheeeit. I play a welder and stone and do some tricks to get enough mana to recruit a painter. He keeps dropping non-basics to go along with his Andy Samberg Popstar. I swap stone and painter, needing to draw a third mana to activate-swap. But don’t draw it. I lay a second stone that will get me the petal again for three mana on my turn. He furiously cantrips and tops but doesn’t find a white source. I safely combo next turn.

Sideboard: It really depends on how the first game goes and what kind of miracles you see. Since he got so fucked by blood moon I chopped 4 of the 5, all artifact mana, maybe a welder who knows and an etutor while bringing in the ajanis, bolts, hedgemage, explosives and sulfurs.

Game 2: Keep a solid hand with 2x top, ajani, fetch, city, blast, bolt. Draw a plateau and keep up the defenses in case of a balance. I just go cautiously laying a top and searching for lands so I don’t waste my city. He is only laying lands and topping as well. At some point I fetch and see stone, painter, rec as the top 3. Completely stacked, but his hand must be super interactive. I kind of play sloppily vs an explosives he lays, which nabs a welder, stone and I fetch away a top, but because he had to mainphase it I’m clear to drop Ajani and start tapping lands and shit. A welder comes back out and swaps a painter for the stone in the yard when he terminuses and I prep to combo with another painter in my hand the next turn. He has to put a mentor on the board because ajani will ultimate in two turns, so I just bolt the mentor eot, tap something to go to 7, play painter and blast the only remaining white source and combo in response to swords again.

4-0

Round 5 vs JordantheJew on dredge
Game 1: I know what he is on and mull to 5 keeping tomb, top, stone, pyro,revoker. He just goes too fast with an LED before I can establish bridge. I did have an out on the last turn where I had to draw a painter and then tap draw a city or led. Drew the painter but the top card wasn’t the second out.

Board: all moons out, jaya, revoker. In bridge, crypt, rip, ee, 2 bolts

Game 2 I maybe should have mulled but it had tomb, top, led, tutor, 2x recruiter in it. I ended up establishing a board using the led to pay for a bridge on top of my library to buy time. I just couldn’t find a stone or yard hate in time. I had tons of mana and a painter and no hand but an ashen rider in one of the last few cards of his library and two dread returns let him beat my only blast effect protecting the bridge.

4-1

One dumb thing about magic online is that you can’t ID. So while I was thinking that I could probably top 8 even if I lost the last two rounds I still wasn’t happy that I might have to sweat it out if that was the cst

Round 6 vs Decan on Miracles

Game 1: I take care of the first counterbalance after a grindstone gets counterspelled but my follow up painter and welder are swept away. A second counterbalance while I mostly had lands and creatures in my hand wrapped it up quickly

Sideboard: something similar to before

Game 2:I have to bob and weave around a balance that he forced through, using welder to swap a painter and stone into play. He’s low on cards and reveals an entreat to stop my recruiter, which is fine since I have a second painter in hand. He miracles entreat on his upkeep, shuffling a fetch to tap out for two angels. I draw a 5th mana to play painter and win, but he blind flips a snapcaster. I play out a hedgemage after for kicks and he shows that he had force backup anyways.

4-2

So as per usual, I’m left wondering if I can sneak into top 8. With all the luck in the world and the fates loving the non-blue players of the world I end in 8th

Round 7 vs JordantheJew rematch

So another thing is that magic online doesn’t have modified play draw rule, obviously giving me an upper hand.

Game 1: I mull into an absolutely disgusting hand of painter, stone, tomb, 2x petal, blast. Holla atcha Boy

Board: same

Game 2: This one goes long. He starts fast with looting petal study, while I drop welder off of a mountain, plateau, recruiter, bridge painter keep. He then breakthroughs, therapy snipes away my bridge, and dread returns ashen rider killing welder. I draw a tutor for the turn, and decide that nuking his yard using tutor and top for crypt is the best way to win, while getting painter into play and finding a stone or blast while at 5 life is the only real line. It ends up working out, and the next few turns see him drop three lands while I re-establish my selection with top and work to get the bridge back into play. I fail because of some topdecked therapies, and he dredges a little bit even though he’s less than15 cards left in library. I’m able to use another tutor for a painter and blast, bolt, and block an ichorid and solitary zombie token long enough for him to deck.

5-2

Round 8 vs lampalot on Maverick-black

Game 1: I get steamrolled by a deathrite into wasteland into thalia on turn 2 followed up by a Knight wasteland tutoring and never have enough mana to do anything.

Boarding: I think I keep most moons in and bring in the bolts trying to get a quick victory

Game 2: I lay a turn 2 moon while he has basic forest but he never draws anything. I just use grindstone to yard-fill for my welder but then I just draw painter to win.

Game 3: I fuck up this start a little bit. I kept stone, painter, tomb, city, mountain, recruiter, simian. He started on heath go, and I only laid a mountain before going stone. As soon as I did it I was willing to wager that I could have gone tomb into stone, and then see him tap out for something turn two and then I could lay city and have a thalia-proof five mana on turn two with monkey. Anyways that likely screw up allowed the game to get really long and for us to throw bombs back and forth nonstop. He got a pridemage down. I recruiter up a second painter to try to go through that and take damage from a thalia for some time. We enter a standoff of me with three mana up and him with pridemage up. He breaks it first, swordsing my painter and then qasaling in response to the activation. I think I’m fine since I have the second ready to go, but he thoughtseizes it and then pithing needles grindstone. With utmost ability, I draw the third painter, top and see a blast and welder. I draw the welder and it eats a swords, and then I have to use the blast on a green sun going for a pridemage. A massive knight follows up on his end, and I recruiter up jaya to bomb his needle next turn. He tutors karakas, but I spin top and see another blast waiting. Get it, kill needle, activate win at 2 life. Boom.

6-2

Round 9 vs Truckis on Miracles

Game 1: I keep 2 moon, 3 land, stone, blast. Win the roll obviously. I draw a painter and a second blast in my next turns and choose to lead with a moon first to see whats good. He fetches out island and plains in response. And predicts away for two cards and drops a second island. Usually at this point things start going downhill for the shortcake hero against miracles. I lead painter, he snares, I blast, and he forces. Sensing the lack of swords, I blast back. He ponder shuffles and what I can only assume is draws swords (could be wrong, just how it felt). I proceed to draw the 3rd and 4th blood moons the next two turns. A snapcaster starts plinking away and Im lucky enough to draw a blast that gets a jace that he topdecks. However im only drawing lands and he gets a balance down. There isn’t a top though so I start laying creatures and eventually decide to start grindstoning him and pseudo-fatesealing whenever he attempts to reveal-counter my stuff. I let him have counterbalances and lands and take cantrips and counterspells. I get some lucky color combos that take a bunch of cards like ponder-balance-swords-swords-swords-tundra that clear the way for a revoker on top. I beat down and it would probably end up being a tie between damage and natural mill when he scooped.

Game 2: I keep a creature hand and get destroyed by counterbalance-top

Game 3: I choose to leave all the yolos out on the battlefield. I keep painter x2, stone, city, mountain 2, ajani. I go stone turn 1, draw bolt, painter turn 2 eats a snare, draw painter, play one that eats a council’s judgement his turn, draw a monkey! And jam the third painter praying no force of will. It sticks and the monkey brings all the goodies home to daddy.

7-2 1st Place

The prizes were pretty sweet. I got one of each dual, an infernal tutor, promo batterskull/cunning wish/chrome mox, dark depths, food chain, unmask, daze, and a nice expensive rishadan port plus entry fee back but who cares about play points. I dumped everything but the duals for a nice tidy profit.

I’ve really liked where the list currently sits even if I do miss stuff like the 7th blast. It is super slanted towards miracles, and the random reach ajani provides has been sweet. It’s much less of a win condition than Koth is, but has more relevant abilities like tapping down fatties vs reanimator even. I haven’t got around to trying Nahiri yet either, so all the Ajani love could prove null if she ends up being dope.

https://i.imgflip.com/149u7s.jpg

VINTAGE

Anyways that was pretty long but it’s about to get longer with this free-value Vintage Top 8 report.

I first got into Vintage back around the holidays last year, and was browsing random lists for something that fit my playstyle. I was initially considering 5c Welder shops, then perfect storm, before I stumbled onto a Blue/Red wheel dropping bombs style deck that ran welder by Onkel. It was like a hybrid between belcher and dack thieves and I knew I would love how explosive it was. I sold a ton of chaff in my collection and got the power and forces and stuff and messed around with the list to end up here:

Lands:
2 Volcanic fetch
3 Volcanic Island
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge

Artifact Mana:
1 Lotus
5 Mox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Mox Opal
1 Chrome Mox

Card Draw:
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Thoughtcast
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall

Wheels:
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Time Spiral
1 Memory Jar

Other Blue Shit:
1 Time Walk
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tinker
1 Transmute artifact

Artifacts:
4 Expedition Map
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Defense Grid
1 Trinisphere

Greatest Creature in the History of the Game:
2 Goblin Welder

A tinker scrub:
1 Myr Battlesphere

Utility Walkers:
2 Dack Fayden
1 Tezzeret

SideBoard
3 Force of Will
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Defense Grid

I played some dailies and managed to 4-0 them, and jumped into the Vintage challenge a few weeks ago. On the downside there are way more lost replays, on the plus side most games involve drawing a metric shit ton of cards, wheeling, using academy for 8,000 mana and then just vault-keying.

Rounds 1-4 I don’t have any data for but I know that I beat Storm by dropping about ten cards and then getting a Trinisphere down, lost to Doomsday because they had so much permission and then combo killed me anwyays, beat some random mentor gush decks because defense grid is awesome, before picking up with replays in round 5. I stood 3-1 at this time

Round 5 vs matori on blue counters dredge

Game 1: I start with a mull and keep 2 probe, minamo, map, welder, thoughtcast and draw a sol ring off the first one. The map gets mindbreaked and he gets bazaar down but isn’t dredging anything good. I’m not too sure about builds but maybe its because of all the counters. I fire off a thoughtcast, get athirst and lay a Key. He does nothing special and I start the next turn off with a welder that gets forced, I ancestral and one of the three is the time vault.

Game 2:I turn 1 time vault while also holding tinker, transmute, thirst, and thoughtcast. I draw two on my turn getting a timetwister as well and prep to win the next turn. However he therapies me for transmute and tinker so I have to reset everything with twister while he has two bazaars ready for next turn. A map sets me up with academy and I start going crazy, welder, top, cage, recall (misstep). Meanwhile a leftover narc and two zombs take me to 1 life. I lay Minamo and wheel and eventually cast infinite more mana and random trinkets, draw oodles of cards and weld in my countered voltaic key to win.

4-1

Round 6 vs Atog Lord on Sylvan Mentor

Game 1: I start out with Academy, time spiral, seat, sensei, thirst, and map in hand. First two turns I lay out artifacts and tutor up minamo prepping for a massive turn three. I play out a trinisphere to bait countermagic and it hits, and then transmute eats a flusterstorm and flips his erayo. I use the last of my mana to thirst and it got me a ruby and a welder. He doesn’t do anything of consequence, I play a random junk card let it get countered, weld in the 3sphere and spiral and untap my minamo and academy. With the new 7 I cast myr battlesphere and time walk and he is low enough that the attack is lethal.

Game 2: I get greedy on turn 1 going volc, sapphire, map (misstep), lotus into thoughtcast which gets flusterstormed. My welder gets swordsed the next turn and I cant recover.

Game 3 I kept a risky hand with only a mox pearl trying to set up a sensei top and voltaic key for a thoughtcast and thirst in my hand if I could find blue mana. I got ancient grudged twice and it wasn’t ever a game.

4-2

However, just like before our hero sneaks into 8th place, seeking redemption.

Round 7 vs becks84 on DPS

Game 1:I win the roll and go volc, ruby, key, opal, recall in there as well, mana vault, untap opal, thoughtcast. He timewalks his first turn then kills me

Game 2: I start off with probe into: mana crypt, emerald, seat, lotus into Jar, then going probe, jet, thoughtcast, key, map, trinisphere. He lays a land, I draw a battlesphere and cast it next turn. Gets there

Game 3: I keep a hand with seat, minamo, ruby, top, crypt, welder, force. He yawgwills and kills me before I take a turn.

4-3

For my efforts in this one I got a time walk. I certainly love Vintage now that I've been playing it and doing busted stuff you could never do in Legacy. I am slowing acquiring the pieces for the deck in paper and am planning on getting out to proxy events. Changes I have since made are dropping the dacks for dig through time and mystical tutor, and cutting the thirsts for windfall and ponder. In the board I chopped the crypt because the dredge matchup is already so favorable for another defense grid. You can come hang out in my thread here even:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...453#post947453

Well I hope this didn’t get too long and that it was enjoyable. Always happy to answer questions about either deck and until next time.