10 Years of Cake: Eternal Weekend 2023 Top 8

10 Years of Cake: Eternal Weekend 2023 Top 8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4_9TFeMfJE

Strawberry Shortcake

4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
2 Plateau
1 Great Furnace

4 Urza’s Saga
2 Lotus Petal
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Mox Opal
3 Simian Spirit Guide

2 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
3 Goblin Engineer
3 Goblin Welder
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Dragon Engine

4 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast

3 Grindstone
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Blood Moon

2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Karn, the Great Creator

Sideboard

1 Grindstone
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Lightning Bolts
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Portable Hole
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Karn, the Great Creator

https://i.ibb.co/w0pGzvj/IMG-0063.jpg

The Manabase

Ancient Tomb and Urza’s Saga are the new foundation of the deck, supplementing Painter and Grindstone perfectly. Shortcake is a 2.5 color deck. Half the manabase is colorless lands, and there are some games you have to play with minimal red sources if any at all, sometimes only 1 or 2 via fast mana. Red lands cast everything but are slow, colorless lands cast half the deck and are fast. Learning how to play the colorless only games does help you keep more weird hands without mulling to oblivion. I might mulligan less than others, part of that is thinking most random hands are playable even if they aren’t, but if you can just topdeck out of it, well that’s Shortcake.

City of Traitors is an OG. The kids don’t really like him as much these days since it can betray you, it’s rare to see more than 1 copy in a list. The drawback feels too punishing they say. I was a kid once, that’s why I didn’t run 4, I shaved a copy to go to 3. I also dropped Chrome Mox for an extra fetchland and a Lotus Petal too like a heathen. Fast forward basically all of summer 2021 when saga came out I was putting in time to figure out the new manabase before settling on the current 21 land breakdown. Probably many don’t really remember what the 19 land count and playstyle was like pre-Saga and how weird it was to get to where it is now, but maybe not haha. To me City-3 was sent packing but 2 is still money.

Great Furnace. We used to have to E-tutor for Furnace to hit land drops. E-tutor is also just copies 5-6 of Saga. I drop Urza’s Saga on turn 1 and 2. I don’t have time to set up my goblins and play like those old extended teen titans lists that were getting out Inkwell Leviathan. Ouphe is rough too but having an uncounterable artifact red source is still a nice line to play towards. 1 Furnace, I’m not cool enough to run 2.

Bloodstained Mire and Wooded Foothills. OGs. Some want to split these out for Pithing Needle. If your fetch gets needled then I can’t help you any more than your opponent just helped you. I found through testing also that Onslaught Fetches contribute .005% more towards deck thinning than old border modern horizons fetches do, food for thought next time you are considering which to run. Only works on Magic Online, though, the old cards mess with the topdecking programming code. 2 of each because you don’t really want to have your 4-of fetch needled.

Plateau. The OG orphaned dual. There was a time Plateau was a joke. Now we have Boros Initiative and 5 color splash Plateau for Forth Eorlingas. Oh yea Drew Tucker is awesome for his revised plateau right? Totally man. The white cards are really just there as game 1 glue and when you need to accentuate a particular plan post board.

Mountain. Way back when there was a card called Rishadan Port. A lot of decks ran it. And always with Wasteland. Sometimes even with this thing called Ghost Quarter. Luckily now it’s really only Wasteland. Having lands in play was tough sometimes, even if you can often feel like a genius baiting Waste with a non-Saga. Either way for non-genius times I like to be able to cast my usual postboard 60 off 4 Mountains. Every now and then you run into a cheeky blue control player with back to basics even.

The Fast Mana

Lotus Petal and Simian Spirit Guide. These two guys are best friends. Both with strengths, both with weaknesses. I can’t tell you how to split them. I can only tell you that originally Imperial Painter was not a Goblin deck. There weren’t really Welders anywhere. Simian Spirit guide beatdown was a real thing paired with Magus of the Moon and I’m here to tell you 10 years alter that monkey beats haven’t stopped after the Ragavan banning. UR Intuition Painter grew in fame and Goblin Welder started sneaking in as a singleton Recruiter target. There weren’t Faithless Lootings or Smuggler’s Copters to fuel the yard. Sensei’s Top was king and we needed shuffle effects like Recruiter. Over time the Petal count and Welder count increased to create the Welder-Top draw engine. I kinda just like jamming a Painter and having Monkey blast up. 3 Monkey and 2 Petal.

Mox Opal and Lion’s Eye Diamond. Mox opal is pretty garbage all things considered. I didn’t really like adding it to the main back in 2021, but luckily Black got a huge boost this year and has pushed Red back down the color totem pole, so less Meltdowns are flying around. Opal is just good enough, nothing else compares sadly, since I really just want a Mox Crystal. On the flip, Lion’s Eye Diamond is the reason to run Shortcake. It’s the only discard outlet without Fable, and on Saga turns it represents 4 mana. I like mana, I like LED. The two together fix a lot of problems with the Saga manabase. Playing lands as your only sources of mana gets really rough in a format like Legacy and Shortcake is not strong enough to grind the midrange game regularly, you really need to catch people off guard when they think they have a safe turn to setup their board, then boom, drop an LED on their head.

The Stuff

Grindstone. The black sheep of the famed combo. As I think back on the history of Painter I do think it’s fitting that we’ve basically come full circle from the original Imperial Painter lists. Those were always these synergy red piles that might at some point backdoor a grindstone. The only tutors back then were Sensei Tops though, and Moon Effects were Plan A. One of the first lists out of Japan was even only using 3 Grindstone. For the Fable lists with Saga as a tutor, another Engineer, and just the dig of Fable it does make sense to not worry about the combo as much, I’ve seen that most are on 2 Grindstone and some even dropping down to a singleton. Not sure anyone else remembers those old lists, I just found the similarities from a theory point interesting despite being 15 years apart. That said, Shortcake I’m running 3 Grindstone main with the 4th copy available for Karn. If I’m sleeving up 4 Painters then the next cards I’m adding to my 75 are 4 Grindstone. So many micro synergies with the list as well, like milling your e-tutor targets, messing with Mystic Sanctuary and Doomsday, and even offering the rare manual mill win after losing Painters to Surgical. I even still see the odd counterbalance here and there, it was fun times having to play the CB-Stone game 2016 and prior.

Soul-Guide Lantern. I was always trying to fit a Brainstone type card in. Mishra’s Research Desk, Currency Converter, anything I could fetch off Saga that would act as a ghetto Sensei Top. I realized that Lantern was perfect enough for what I needed. The ability to draw into an E-Tutor card and operate as a Goblin draw engine off spare artifacts is the answer. The two grave hate abilities line up well too. You take out something for Delirium or snipe an Uro, or you cab fetch up Lantern off Saga to snipe a card from my yard to then Karn wish for. Of course it’s great if you can find it in time game 1 for Reanimator, but the generic value and cross hate to Murktide depths tilts it to amazing. The draw here is the only other part besides Dragon Engine that are relevant to Bowmasters so there’s that too.

Tormod’s Crypt. Mainly a game 1 Karn line for grave hate. Free artifacts are pretty rate as well, it’s nice to have a 0 in the board, similar to having Canonist or Dragon for the creature. I’ll board this in against graveyard decks postboard since Karn is too slow, otherwise this sits there as the sideboard avenue towards a three card combo, while Soul-Guide is able to stay maindeck as a Saga target.

Ensnaring Bridge. Canonist locks the stack, this locks combat. This thing used to be a hard lock game 1. I was running 2 main for a long time just because no deck was ready for it, and E-tutor for Blood Moon or Bridge was usually enough. Now it’s just a stall piece, but it’s been my playstyle for a pretty long time now and I like how it protects Karn. If there is ever a card that will potentially buy you 5 turns it’s bridge.

Portable Hole. The Karnable Cratermaker. Same thought process, if there’s something preventing me from comboing, it can probably be hit by Cratermaker or Portable hole. I’ll side this in against Depths decks to hit Marit Lage and Chalice decks as an Engineerable line to deal with Chalice on 1.

Pithing Needle. Another ultra efficient answer to a lot of problems, it’s not really a necessary card but one you’ll probably miss if you don’t have it. Highest upside target for it to hit is probably Sneak Attack, I find myself using it more for things like Wasteland, Boseiju, Ring, or a Planeswalker.

The Crew

Painter’s Servant. The homie. The world is a wonderful place when you have a Painter in play. Sometimes you draw your card and it’s a 3rd red blast with no Painter in sight and you think how cool the game would be and how much fun you would be having if you had topdecked Painter instead. And then you’ll pass the turn and your opponent will do something awesome like cast an Initiative creature or tank for 5 minutes resolving 3 cantrips.

Goblin Engineer and Goblin Welder. Like I was saying above 3 Welders used to be a lot. I sometimes come across this misnomer that Shortcake is always turbo comboing and going early, both of which are true, and because of that it should be playing all the goblins. This usually is coming from not wanting to play Imperial Recruiter, which is fine, but there is a balance between what you want your gameplan to be and what your gameplan actually is based off your deckbuilding choices. Playing 8 goblins means I would be expecting to be all in on the yard almost every game, and getting blown out more by yard hate cards without a better midrange plan to fall back found in the Fable builds, which are also contributing to the goblin junkyard style. Engineer has been a staple since it’s printing. 6 total goblins gives me just enough grave exposure to abuse it but not worry too much about cards like Dauthi Voidwalker or Leyline, and have reasonable chances to ignore Surgical in some postboard games

Imperial Recruiter. Down to only 2 copies now, feels like just yesterday I was dropping a grand for my playset. Guess it worked out ok for me though. Painters 5 and 6, goblins 7 and 8, and the original toolbox.

Goblin Cratermaker. I want to put Grindstone activations on the stack. Pretty simple when you think about it. If I can’t, it’s probably one of these things stopping me: Pithing Needle, Null Rod, Collector Ouphe, Karn, Chalice. Kill those and activate a Grindstone. Every now and then Crater will show up and have some weird impact on the game. Or a murktide just flies over, a troll super menaces through and Crater just looks like trash in 2023. Mogg Fanatic was once so broken they changed the rules because of it.

Ethersworn Canonist. The combo hate. Found by all the tutors, it doubles as the stack hard lock. I don’t have a late game to fall back on, so getting into situations where I have a Canonist and Painter in play lets me have full control of the stack with a red blast and is usually enough to force through a grindstone activation

Phyrexian Dragon Engine. Ancestral Recall. I also run Black Lotus. A common line is to fetch up LED off Urza’s Saga and then Recruit or E-tutor for Dragon Engine to hand and subsequently bin for the unearth. Goblin Engineers can’t be trusted to survive, so dragon engine is the perfect wait for later card to refill post combo attempt when all you have left are lands. Hasted 4 damage from the yard is extremely nice as well. I’m probably unearthing two out of three times. Found via all the tutors as well, I like that it pairs with Canonist as the second non-Painter artifact creature in the list. Pretty much every game you have to choose whether you want Dragon or Canonist for your Karn board

Magus of the Moon. Game 1 Force of Vigor doesn’t exist and going Recruiter into Magus is really slow when all you are trying to do is end step catch them. Magus is a more dedicated plan when I’m usually boarding out my white cards. Having a random Blood Moon and recruiters to find a Magus is usually ok by me. This is mainly for the Cloudpost matchups and Beanies, since Leyline Binding’s type reduction doesn’t really work to float mana in response, it’ll pretty much always cost 4 or 5. When you combine my plan of Surgical on Swords to Plowshares, Magus can be a pretty good hammer.

Faerie Macabre. Surgical #4, I’m usually only losing to cheese decks and these are usually Reanimator and Oops. I respect Breakfast for being a weird combo deck like Shortcake, but it’s still a tough matchup given their speed. Turn 1 Recruiter for Faerie is a real plan here, I’m not too worried about telling them they need a discard spell, I’m usually hoping Faerie doubles up on something like a Crypt and an extra turn is many times all you need to stabilize with a Painter+Blast+Fast Mana or something.

The Other Guys

Enlightened Tutor. Anything you need it to be. I also board it out all the time. Is the card bad? Up to you to decide 😊 To me, Game 1 is a lot different than Games 2 and 3. Pretty easy choice to run the best card for an unknown matchup.

Karn the Great Creator. I was really excited to be playing the original new Karn Scion. It did everything I was looking for, create an army and card advantage. That was short lived when this Karn came out. The use cases are insane. I also don’t feel the need to run Liquimetal Coating or Mycosynth Lattice, they aren’t good here. I used to for a little bit, I would rather something like a Faerie Macabre as my 15th card That’s not to say they are bad in other Karn lists, I just don’t have plans on using my mana as such. Besides the obvious plays for Karn, random things that come up are wishing for a card underneath a Leyline Binding or Skyclave Apparition, Engineering a card into Leyline/Dauthi to wish for.

Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast. Legacy is too unfair and too fast to not have a plan turn 1. I’m trying to have game against most decks, meaning I’m not dedicating any hard hate like Leylines for Reanimator. I need Surgicals to help out with combo and control lists, and its sometimes just good for going all in early and cheating on mana. The point is I run 5 pieces of one shot mana as well as the opal, a hand of Ancient Tomb, Simian, Painter, Blast is a perfect baseline against any deck for me. I’ll risk it being a less than ideal opener against Control decks game 1 for all the times I open this against a deck trying to cheese me somehow. I felt like I could get by without maindeck lightning bolts, compared to years past where Dreadhorde Arcanist and Ragavan were ubiquitous in running away with games from nowhere.

Lightning Bolt. These are back and forth into the maindeck, I felt like we finally reached a point where they could be moved to the board. I’ll bring them in against creature decks to help make way for my Goblin Welder 1/1 aggro. Another key strategy is to draw multiples against control decks while not having any type of card selection.

Blood Moon. Just a singleton tutor target. In and out of the list this year too. I added it back in because of the Beanie decks. Crazy manabases, they don’t really have an answer game 1. Even Leyline Binding needs 4-5 mana up to float depending if the basic island is out and the 7 blasts help you pick and choose how to deal with their card advantage. It’s always something with control decks and the draw engines they talk themselves into. Shortcake lets you dictate the pace. Ideally before cantrips bury you with selection, usually if it’s decently early and you’re comboing you aren’t too concerned if they’ve drawn a card or two from Bean. You just need them to hopefully not have the n+1 answer.

Surgical Extraction. Some like Leyline of the Void, I don’t think that makes sense for a non-Fable build and I like them against all the combo decks like Doomsday and Show and Tell. I will also bring them in against Control decks to nab Swords to Plowshares and sometimes Delver decks if I think they are leaning on Lightning Bolt a bit too much. Otherwise I like the flexibility and will take the tradeoff of being worse against Reanimator than leyline. 6 pieces of yard hate total and prayer is my usual.

Pittsburgh starts the morning off gray and drizzly, pretty standard. Fortunately its actually warmer than usual and the walk over is kinda nice. I head into the hall and its abuzz with 996 players with a dream.

Round 1 vs Ug Cloudpost

Game 1: Ah the first round of a huge tournament. You never really know what to expect. Budget decks, glass cannons, pet decks, literally anything. I played against The Cure in Pittsburgh a year and a half ago. Belcher? My question is answered partially with a Tropical Island and an Elvish Reclaimer. Maybe some ancient blue splash elves or random lands variant. It’s fully answered when the Elf begins fetching up Cloudposts. At this point it’s 9:05 am and I’m trying to remember all the random Jeremiah Rudolph reports on The Source from 10 years ago I have stored somewhere in my head. The general strategy is that you’re screwed game 1 because you probably weren’t lucky enough to keep a non-combo hand. But these days there are so many ways to 3 card combo through all the shuffle kids that it’s really not an issue like it was in the past having to first board in the Tormod’s Crypt and find it and a Grindstone. Now you can just leave that to Karn as one copy represents a Stone and Crypt. I get down some early constructs and begin beating, until a One Ring grants protection and stymies me for a turn. I almost get buried except I rip a Karn to shut that down. I end up in a mini Karn subgame where a Walking Ballista is threatening my Goblins, but am able to weld it out while I’m still safe via Karn. With some Welder control and Karning I’m able to take down the opposing Karn and assemble the 3 card combo.

side: -2 Grindstone, -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Petal, +1 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Magus

Game 2: I have this game pretty locked with a Blood Moon and am a turn or two away from setting up Painter with some blasts through an Engineer. I don’t get time for any of that when a Generous Ent gets cycled finding a Forest, and then a Boseiju clears the way for crazy Cloudpost mana generation. I get killed from 20 by a massive Walking Ballista

Game 3: Another really close game. I’m going hard on Ancient Tomb dropping attackers, dealing myself 8 damage along the way. This matchup your life doesn’t matter too much although you can lose out of nowhere like last game. I get in hits with two 3/3 constructs before a Ring stalls a turn, and get in another hit to get them to 5. I’m able to blast a follow up reset Ring and without protection the beats are good enough.

1-0

Shoutouts to all the people I started playing Legacy with at Curio Cavern, Jesse Hatfield gets a camera match round 1 and stunted with High Tide to remind everyone. Legend move winning on stream, even more so when I’m chatting with him, Alix, and Anwar later and he says his record is 2-4.

Round 2 vs Burn

Game 1: An even more friendly start for my tournament is seeing a basic mountain into a Goblin Guide swinging and revealing a non-land. This should be fun. I keep a slow hand that is looking to setup a turn 2 Saga with some turn 4-ish Painter control. I get buried while doing nothing and start thinking about how I’ll have to tell my friend I lost to burn like it was 2012 all over again. Back when I was starting Painter at Curio Cavern I would somehow always get paired into the dude I would ride down with playing either Deadguy Ale or Burn, basically impossible matchups back then. I was even on some random white leylines in the board partially for those and also for the random Ant and Belcher decks you’d be more likely to find back then

side: -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -2 Karn, -1 Bridge. +4 Bolt, +1 Stone.

Game 2: There’s a balance to knowing when you don’t need to expose a Plateau against Price of Progress in a matchup like burn where 1 point is everything. Sometimes you can afford the extra 2 life for Plateau to just sit there just in case you draw tutor and sometimes you never see the price and then you don’t run into burn for another 3 years and you don’t see price then, and by the time you face Burn at Eternal Weekend in 2023 you might not even care that you run some extra nonbasics, but that’s when you could slip up and not think too much about it since it’s early in the morning and you haven’t played paper legacy in months and randomly just fetch a Plateau since you know Burn doesn’t run Wasteland. None of this is really relevant to the match, but it’s the random stuff going through my mind when you start your tournament against UG Post into Burn and lose game 1. Now knowing the matchup I keep relevant hands and it’s not too much problem. I take a smack from a Goblin Guide and think I also lose a Welder to a Searing Blaze. I’m at 13 after another Guide swing turn 2, but Painter with blasts while waiting for a Saga to tick to 3 is usually good enough when you aren’t facing lethal

Game 3: On the draw I have a nice reactive hand, I’m able to snipe a Monastery Swiftspear for my first play with a Lightning Bolt to keep its damage to only 1. Turn 2 for my opponent is two bolts to the face, and after a mull I’m feeling ok with how low on resources they are. I wait to cast Painter until I have a blast ready which trades with a Smash to Smithereens, and have that and another to keep the game safe while I wait to find a Grindstone and take it.

2-0

I feel fortunate to survive Burn, and moreso that I can tell my friend that I got through it. I lost to him many a time in the beginning and he was even there at GP DC crushing for a pro point during my first paper tournament with Shortcake and had an og burn report

https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...l=1#post766612

This reminded me to go dig out my first Shortcake report from the same tournament, pretty much exactly 10 years ago, looking back with a lot of the same list as now even pretty crazy

https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...l=1#post766607

Round 3 vs Lands

Game 1: I start out playing the pseudo-lands gameplan of Saga into Tomb making dudes, while the opening turn for my opponent is a Rotated land into a Tomb and a Sphere of Resistance. Possibly putting me on 8-cast I’m guessing as most other decks aren’t jamming out the greedy t1 saga. My constructs are a pretty good threat but with the sphere opener there’s no real chance they alone are good enough. I start getting slowed down by a Maze of Ith and a copied one of Stage handled my other one beginning the stabilization at 5 life for my opponent. The savior this time is Simian Spirit Guide off the top. Monkey gets through while the mazes take out the others and I slog through two turns later.

side: -1 Canonist, -1 Blast, +1 Portable Hole, +1 Magus

Game 2: Thinking back to this game you can only shake your head knowing how it all turns out how easily it could have been nothing from the start. I’m able to cobble together my combo pieces after dropping a Blood Moon into some tapped duals. I’m basically all-in on this, but like all the random games from the Imperial Painter days, a Blood Moon in play locking out all the mana is as good a plan as any while you wait for your draws, which were completely dead the earlier turns. I never really feel in the game given how bad my hand was at the time, but . The luck part comes when my opponent shows me the cards left in hand, having drawn more non-basics for 3 turns in a row, not a green card to pair with the Force of Vigor or a Mox Diamond for a channeled Boseiju also in hand. I’ll Take it

3-0

In some alternate reality this was the next chapter of my Lands battle with Dave Long, but I’ll take any wins against Lands now, the matchup is nowhere what it used to be

Round 4 vs Rug Delver

Game 1: You can only hope that some of your nut hands come up against your tougher matchups. This game ends with my 17 life to their 19 life from only a fetchland. Delver sometimes only has the dudes and mana disruption plan, which against most decks operating on a linear mana plan it can line up perfectly. The you got ‘Delvered’ when they Daze your turn 1 play and Wasteland your dual land, bolt your follow up creature. Or you can win the die roll and have a Simian to pay for their on the draw Daze while powering out Painters with Ancient Tomb you never need to worry about Wasteland since it’s tempo suicide, and cantrips are a time walk in your favor without another mana for a bolt. Ignoring the creatures and using the blasts for the stack is my ideal game if you can get it.

side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -2 Karn, -1 Opal, +4 Bolt, +2 Surgical, +1 Bridge

Game 2: Another quick game, I’m never under duress finishing the match at 16 life. I have another really good hand that is just waiting for a window. A Delver gets in only one swing before I’m popping off an uncontested Urza’s Saga. When I cast Painter my opponent forces which I blast and then responds with an adventure Questing Druid looking for help. Nothing else helps and I’m able to send it with an LED

4-0

Round 5 vs Beanie

Game 1: At the end of the tourney there were 9 people with a record better than 9-2 and this was the person to miss sadly. But on the bright side for me over here my breakers ended up being pretty solid towards the end. I don’t see a Beanstalk the entire game, but pretty much run through what feels like every copy of Leyline Binding and Swords to Plowshares. I draw like God topdecking my Karns right after Bindings, and am able to go save an artifact from under the others before my Karn dies to the next binding each time. On top of no Beanstalk, I’m able to dodge the other stupid card advantage things like the Monarch emblem flopping around, and after a billion turns I’m able to win on something like my 11th combo attempt. I do remember missing the win one turn where I could have welded out my Painter for another Painter to blank swords, but my yard was too cluttered and I was going to quick thinking I had it wrapped up to notice until a turn later, luckily it didn’t matter

side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -2 Petal, -1 Mox, -1 Crater, -1 Bridge, +1 Karn, +4 Bolt, +2 Surgical, +1 Magus

Game 2: Another back and forth grind, and still no Beanie. I guess the key to the matchup is dodge that card, and then it’s like any of the other over the top greedy control decks of yesteryear. I lose two creatures to Swords and am falling behind, barely staying in the game blasting some hardcast Lorien Revealeds. After using my last one I end up in a situation where my hand is only Simian and 2 Lightning Bolts while my opponent is still at 14. Definitely not how you want the game to go. I drop the monkey and get in two hits before losing it, and after another pass back I decide I have to try to end it now. I have 4 mana via lands in play with just my two bolts, but a random early game Goblin Engineer had entombed the Dragon Engine. I figure this is my only out as I can’t realistically hope to outdraw a deck like Beanie. End Step I double bolt to put them to 4 life and am all in on drawing mana. I guess im not technically dead and the game will continue otherwise, but I rip land and put a unearth hasted dragon into play, draw 3 cards, and swing out for lethal.

5-0

Round 6 vs Uwr Control

Game 1: I open up a solid hand hoping I’m actually up against something like Delver, with a Painter, Stone, Welder, lands. This game ends up being a gift at 5-0. I lead out on Goblin Welder, which gets met by Land go. I add my Grindstone and pass back, which sees Lorien Revealed for an Island. Just another pass back, I cast Painter planning to setup a slow win since I’m assuming there’s a Swords to Plowshares floating somewhere in hand and my Welder won’t really help against that. Painter gets forced, and I play out my sol land to represent Welder, Grindstone and 3 mana for combo. I pass, and my opponent jams out a Teferi, Time Raveler. I’m a bit perplexed and think for a second, before activating and going for the combo in response. It ends up being good, with my opponent shaking his head saying he saw that was going to happen and was planning for it and then cast a Teferi.

side: -2 Tutor, -2 Petal, -1 Mox, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon +2 Surgical, +1 Karn, +4 Bolt

Game 2: I don’t have much going on. I lose an early Painter to a swords, and then get slammed by a Forth Eorlingas for 3 without any creatures in play to recontest the monarch. Blue White control lists can be hard. You really need to draw red blasts but not too many that you aren’t doing anything. I’m looking to hit cards like Narset and Teferi which represent multiple cards or massive tempo swings. I quickly get buried in cards, even to the point where I fire off a last turn Surgical trying to get information and it eats a Force of Will to deny that. I scoop.

Game 3: Back on the play I’m never really in trouble. I have steady pressure to beat my opponent down to 8 life, navigating Prismatic Endings rather than Leyline Bindings, with a regular diet of Dress Downs trying to nuke your constructs and prevent the spread of Painter color. Pretty sure I slowroll the combo waiting for all the interaction to be used on my goblins and construct army, and fire it off safely at 18 life and not a monarch emblem in site, just how Richard Garfield intended.

6-0

Round 7 vs Ring Forge Combo

Game 1: I lose the roll and have a solid hand, a turn 3 combo with turn 2 Painter+Blast for any nonsense, but the nonsense is a turn 1 Karn. My Painter+Blast plan was with the 1-of Great Furnace as my red source so that plan is shot. My draw of a Lotus Petal is extra salt, and a turn 2 Ring starts Ringing while I am buried and locked out of my artifacts

side: -1 Canonist, -1 Bridge, -1 Moon, +1 Karn, +1 Portable Hole, +1 Pithing Needle

Game 2: I don’t have an amazing hand, but Fetch, City, and a Petal for turn 2 Karn can probably be figured out, although I have run into some games against these types of decks where I find myself incredulous that they can still somehow find the turn 1 Karn to prevent my turn 2 Karn using Petals. Luckily that doesn’t happen this game and I have my Karn locking out most of their deck. From there it’s not too difficult to assemble the combo and activate. I have a spare Karn activation to go grab Tormod’s Crypt just in case there’s any Emrakul nonsense.

Game 3: On the draw is so hard, as all the turn 1 decks you usually can assume they’ll be graveyard based and I have 4 pieces of turn 0 hate. For turbo artifacts I have to mull down to combo interaction. I’m looking for Turn 1 Painter with Blast, Turn 2 combo, Cratermaker plus Aggro style hands, or early Karn. I can’t really ask for much better as any mull could be insanely unplayable, I have Plateau, Petal, Monkey, Painter, Blast, x. Turn 1 interaction with lots of live draws. Unlucky for me I face down a Turn 1 Ring. I need to blast a turn 2 Karn and don’t draw anything relevant. I get Turn 3 Paradox Engine’d draw your deck for a infinite Ballista

6-1

After the match I see I ask my opponent if they play online because some of these random cards like Argentum Masticore I definitely felt like I’ve played this exact matchup before when I got domed by it through a Karn lock in a random challenge. I get told Susurrus I say mine and laugh because I definitely remember the matches.

It’s tough not to tilt especially when your one loss buffer is now gone, especially when it comes at the expense of something like the die roll, I definitely think I had a shot if my game 1 hand was on the play. Serum Powder I feel like is unexplored space in Legacy, and getting wrecked by turn 1 mana into bomb is definitely my style and is much more on the Vintage end of the spectrum of Legacy. But in a situation like this the match was fast and there’s a ton of time to think.

Getting my first loss after another good start I can’t help but start thinking about my past Eternal Weekends like 2020 when I get chimpin’d by Dreadhorde Arcanist skill.

https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...perial-Painter

I steady my resolve and go down a level knowing that Grixis Delver doesn’t have Arcanist to flashback Thoughtseize and Bolts to my face and that I can stunt through them

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Round 8 vs Grixis Delver

Game 1: I do my best keep my composure and not jump off the face of the earth ala kyrie but it gets harder and harder as this game goes on, I have the win setup for 4 straight turns with a hand of E-tutor and a blast, with a board like 2x Tomb, Furnace, 2x Mountain and a Grindstone. The earlier turns were just some jockeying and trading off removal, and I’m ok chillin getting hit down to 11 just unable to find the white source. I think I’m ok until all of a sudden I’m facing lethal from a Murktide. I use a blast end step and it gets forced, so I just keep my last one although I can’t really beat the DRC and Delver on top of it all and a white source next turn is still too slow. I of course topdeck Painter and can only shake my head, I was pretty annoyed that I had to sack it out like that to the point my opponent was like I haven’t seen someone so upset to win lol, I was just in the alternate reality of tilt. Take down a crucial game 1

side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Mox, -1 Moon -1 Karn, +4 Bolt, +1 Surgical, +1 Bridge

Game 2: Probably the closest game of the tournament, in that I’m still surprised I wasn’t able to win this game. There exist games where if you take off one turn to setup at any point you pretty much guarantee the win later on, but each time you are presented the opportunity to set up, you might as well go for the combo, and this keeps repeating. You end up losing if they keep having the answer, but the problem is that each successive combo attempt you are less and less likely to talk yourself out of because the sequence of cards would have to be so randomly perfectly lined up. That was one of these games. Bolts, Wasteland, Bowmaster, Borrower, Stifle, Heat. We even get to a point where there’s a Null Rod in play but my opponent needs to blow a Meltdown on two to handle my Painter and Grindstone on board while I’m waiting on a blast. I draw some Goblins with no more artifacts and die over the course of a couple turns. Even one artifact lets me swap and win over the course of two turns.

Game 3: Checking the list after I’m not really sure how I win this. Two copies of Meltdown, a Null Rod, two surgicals, a Hydroblast and even another Borrower in the board. Against something like that I don’t really have an answer except draw well. After losing game 2 at least I have the play. My notes have me tapping Ancient Tomb and taking an unflipped hit for 1 and then one for 3 before the penultimate turn. I’m pretty sure a Murktide gets added while my board is basically nothing, just a land. However, like many a cake game, this is perfect position if you’ve been sandbagging. There’s no decisions to make, my opponent is tapped out and I have exact mana using an LED to play both combo pieces and sac for the yolo. I can’t beat a Force or Daze, but to me that sounds like I beat Null Rod, Bolt, Surgical, name everything else I just listed. I get shown a Borrower and a Meltdown for some insane bullet dodging

7-1

This dude was probably my toughest match of the day besides Burn on principle, I had to give him props after the match, especially since I sacked out game 1. But getting back after the loss is huge. Another crazy game 3 where I was 100% on edge from not winning game 2. One more round in Day 1 and sitting at 7-1 is the exact same scenario as 2021 Eternal Weekend

https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...erry-Shortcake

Except this time around there isn’t yet another banned card to worry about. I go down another level having no idea what’s in store

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Round 9 vs UR Delver

Game 1: I find out later that I was lucky enough to get a pair-up, my opponent was 7-0-1 up to now. Another classic game 1 against Delver. I take three hits from a flipped Delver, it gets paired with a delirious DRC that gets in once, and I get domed for 2 from my own tomb. Add all that up and its 14 damage which isn’t 20. I use my blasts to protect my Painter from Forces and Bolts and take game 1 jamming through the combo a turn before lethal.

side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Mox, -1 Moon, -2 Karn, +4 Bolt, +2 Surgical, +1 Bridge

Game 2: I keep a strong hand on the draw looking to grind through Wastelands with double Saga. I also have a Painter lurking with a LED to hide the quickness. I might’ve had a stone too, trying to catch em. Turn 1 DRC while I lead off on Saga. Turn 2 it eats a Stern Dismissal bouncing it back. I’m pretty caught off guard by this, I wasn’t expecting that big of a tempo loss. A Wasteland I could handle as it prevents the 2nd colored land for a turn and allows me to get the next Saga going. I have to jam out the Sagas a turn behind schedule and plan to setup for two turns later for a combo. When we get there I’m at 7 life facing down double DRC and like 3 or 4 cards in hand for my opponent, in retrospect I’m not entirely sure which. I tick up my two Sagas to 2 and 3, sac the one and go find a Grindstone. I play a Petal and cast Painter off the Saga mana, it eats a Force and I use Petal to blast back. Painter sticks and I’m still basically dead to the last 1 or 2 cards, I put LED on the stack and Painter dies to an unholy heat. My hand is a Fetchland and Dragon Engine and I have to pass. My opponent draws and swings me to 1 and passes back. Painter off the top I’m still live for as I didn’t have to crack my LED last turn and I could do some other weird lines that maybe could stall. I draw a Mountain and sac Saga to start figuring out what I can do, either LED dragon to draw or find Soul-guide for the Painter redraw is probably the only out.

None of it ends up being relevant as one of the strangest scenarios I’ve ever encountered begins to play out. While I have my deck in hand starting to search for the Saga chapter, my opponent calls for a judge. I’m not sure why, but I put my deck down and just wait to see what happens. The story starts how the turn prior during the stack interaction of Painter-Force-Blast-Heat that it all happened pretty quick and that the motions of both of us resolving the stack and moving all the spells to the yard was presumed to mean I was scooping, even though we kept playing. I passed the turn with me being mostly dead, the percentages have to be really bad but who knows I’ve probably topdecked from worse. But with how it played out I passed my turn and he draws from what I thought was hellbent and then swings me to 1 with the DRC pair. So now with me in my main phase and not being dead searching for Saga, my opponent explains to the judges that the concession/stack moment the turn prior caused him to scoop together his hand and yard and now realizes that there was a last card that should still be in hand now. I’m still really confused along with the judge and just explain that I never said anything about conceding and have been playing it out and that right now we’re in my Main phase and I’m resolving this Saga trigger, and that I wasn’t really sure whether there were 3 cards in hand or 4 when the combo turn went down. The head judge gets involved and the call ends up being that last correct known info is probably the correct move and to put the card that’s right now on the bottom of the graveyard back to hand. The mystery card from this discussion is a lethal lightning bolt to my dome, on to game 3.

Game 3: I open up a strong 7, something like Mountain, Furnace, Bolt, Simian, Engineer, Grindstone, Blast? I’m able to stick an Engineer and go find Dragon-Engine, with the pivotal point coming during a follow-up Meltdown that is essentially a Wasteland on my Great Furnace. I’m still able to Engineer Dragon for a Grindstone for the value the next turn expecting some kind of grave interaction, but this was really more so the only relevant piece of interaction trying to prevent the Dragon. I Ancestral Recall into gas, think I blast a Murktide on the way and that’s good enough to bury the game and beat down to end Day 1 with an 8-1 record with tomorrow’s round essentially being a win and in.

8-1

For the record, I don’t think anything nefarious happened game 2 with the Lightning Bolt. The I conceded part I quickly corrected but I digress. At this point I’m able to finally relax, playing in all day tournaments takes a ton of focus and I was content to space out for a bit while I walked outside through downtown Pittsburgh over the bridge and towards the football stadium to meet up with everyone I came up with. I get some food and enjoy some brews while recounting the day and checking the melee standings seeing who I might face round 10, realistically there are 15 people in contention with one person at 7-0-2, 12 of us at 8-1 including Bryant who I hadn’t seen all day, my Ring opponent, others like Greg Mitchell and Brian Coval, with the two crushers up top Jay at 9-0 and the other Painter at 8-0-1.

I head back with everyone to chill for the night. We get the Card Titan stream replay going for the day, and I watch the other 4 in my crew play some edh. Before long I crash and I think back and remember why I never got around to writing an Eternal Weekend 2022 report.

Barreling through Eternal Weekend Tabernacle with Strawberry Shortcake

So Eternal Weekend 2022. I was all ready to drive up to Philly the weekend of December 10 until I get wrecked sick by covid all week. Luckily for me the European one was still online this year and starting the same day as the in person Philly one except round 1 was at 4am. I was even joking that some legend could drive up to Philly, start playing the online one, and then in round 1 of the paper one you’re chillin there on your laptop with a hotspot being like yo I’m in top 8 contention over here while also somehow still playing faster than your opponent in your paper match.

My schedule was completely destroyed from being sick all week anyways, I’m pretty sure got like an hour of sleep tops before just staying awake and trying to run it

Round 1 vs No Show

While this could technically be a UG Show and Tell Natural Order deck with I’m guessing Dryad Arbors, probably some Ice Fangs and Uros, No Show was just someone who didn’t show up. I get a bye to start, which at 4am is probably a sleep-through-the-alarm move.

Round 2 vs Delver
Round 3 vs Delver

3-0. Back to back delver is always fun. Same as always you can count on Delver getting registered. Have a plan for it or don’t. Doesn’t really matter

Round 4 vs Breakfast

4-0. Clutch Faerie Macabre through a Silence to take a game

Round 5 vs Epic Gamble

5-0 Tony Scapone

Round 6 vs Aluren

Ethersworn Canonist is the nut in this matchup. In Game 1 having no clue what the matchup is I have Canonist in my opener but lose it to a Snuff Out. The world was different back then. I get some goblins going and an Endurance is forced to come down and reset my yard. The next turn they drop an Aluren and start to go off, but I’m able to respond with a free Recruiter to go find that Canonist that was just put on the bottom of my library. I stall out and take game 1, while in game 3 I have a Grindstone in play but only 4 mana with a hand of Imperial Recruiter and Painter’s Servant. Another Aluren drop to go for the win, I again respond with Recruiter finding Canonist, and after they have to pass priority back with the stack locked I flash in my Painter’s Servant and safely combo.

6-0

Another Eternal Weekend with a clean start going 6-0, building off the prior two where I picked up my first loss in rounds 5 and 4

Round 7 vs Delver
Round 8 vs Delver

6-2

Sadly I drop both of these matches to even out the earlier good luck. The life of a creature combo deck sometimes. In round 8 game 1 I couldn’t find a Painter and game 3 I couldn’t find a Grindstone in multiple live draws.

Round 9 vs Delver

I get one back here and doing some math think I am pretty much dead for Top 8. Kinda brutal that I lost there with these rounds essentially being win and ins if you can get to 7-0 or 7-1 and then your 8th win for online breakers with there being no draws.

7-2

Round 10 vs Paradigm Shift

Game 1: It should be ok but at the same time it’s a turbo blue combo with good permission. Game 1 I keep a turn 3 combo and play out my grindstone. Their turn 1 is a Shelldock Isle going in blind for the top 4 and I sit there like what a strange matchup, how screwed am I about to be by potential rng on the top of library here. I play Painter on turn 2 pass back, while just an Island is played and passed back to me. Like most of my games it seems, I’m hoping to draw some type of mana boost like sol land or fast mana, I only have another red land to give me 3 mana at the moment. I draw and no dice, I play the land and pass curious about the shelldock, I could have jammed out a Canonist in my hand rather than hold up combo mana. End Step though I face the decision. My opponent goes for an Impulse, and at this point I know that can’t be good for me. Maybe you let it go and combo end step, but I say naa and send it on my grindstone, thinking they’ll be making that play regardless if they were dead or not. Grindstone goes off and my heart sinks when I begin looking at the yard. The upkeep Shelldock Isle gets activated for Thassa’s Oracle.

Game 2: I take this one quick with a ton of red blasts and a quick combo, setting up the last

Game 3: Probably one of my best hands of the tourney, I have a turn 2 combo on the draw I have no doubts about firing off. Another cheeky blind turn 1 Shelldock Isle for my opponent, which I match with my Grindstone. For them just an Island, but that represents the same thing as Game 1. Turn 2 I drop my Painter and it sticks and I’m ready here with my Simian Spirit Guide in hand and play my lotus petal to pair with my land for my three mana. End Step is slightly different this time, a Wizard-Cycled Step Through hits the stack and once again I’m like naa and fire off my Grindstone with the sneaky Simian. Resolves! I pass back and am looking at the yard and count up the 4 Thassa’s and fist pump.

But then my opponent puts on their upkeep stop!

Shelldock Isle gets activated!

https://i.imgflip.com/8cpsbb.jpg

My math was wrong

I lose a Win and In

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https://i.ibb.co/ZmczNH0/beach.gif

Round 10 vs RW Initiative

Game 1: Crucially I win the roll but mull into a hand that is decent against what I’m not entirely sure is Initiative from what I think I remember at the top tables. Grindstone, Welder, Fetch, Tomb, Tutor, Blast. I lead on Grindstone, which there is an argument for Initiative on leading the Welder to better contest the emblem. You can run into issues where you are trying to combo with Welder and have to cast Stone into chalice, I figured I have the tutor for Painter next turn and Engineers and Painters are probably better topdecks than trying to lead Welder and potentially deal with Chalice. Of course Chalice on 1 comes down rather than Archon or turbo Initiative creature, and on my turn I draw a Lotus Petal as the rub ins where I would have been able to tutor for Painter in response. Instead I draw only 1 drops and a turn 2 Dungeoneer kills me in 3 turns.

side: -2 Tutor, -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -1 Blast, -1 Soul-Guide, +1 Hole, +1 Bridge, +4 Bolt

Game 2: Felt really bad to lose on the play, in general it should be a favorable matchup if you are on the play games 1 and 3. I keep a slower hand that leaves me in a couple really interesting spots this game. My opponent never finds an Initiative creature, but rather has an Archon of Emeria. This is exactly like all the random Back to Basics situations you might come across where you are getting attacked at your mana. My manabase is horrible into this kind of game plan. Fetchlands can at least find a mountain, but I only have 4 lands that enter untapped. I also have a Mox Opal and a Lotus Petal in my opener I have to figure out how to get into play while also doing something relevant which is a real struggle. Compounding the issue is I have to get maximum mileage out of an Ancient Tomb. My life pad is all downticks of two all the way down to two life from those two cards. Sitting around 12 life I had to decide whether to play my Recruiter as my spell for the turn or if I could sneak in a Karn. My opponent hadn’t added anything to the board yet, still redrawing after the opener and only a couple cards in hand, with a City, Chrome Mox, and Lotus Petal in play. I figure if another spell gets cast I probably lose, and I might have this chance to play Karn and lock down the mana sources. I go to 10 off tomb, and Karn gets ignored by Archon putting me to 8. I use Tomb again on my turn for Recruiter to find Painter going to 6 and get hit to 4 by Archon. One more tomb hit and I’m at 2 using my spell for the turn. On my opponent’s upkeep I blast the Archon to stay in the game as Solitude would still gain me 1 life to put me to 1 and the other white mana is locked out via Karn, and even with Solitude I could I could grab a bridge to hide or just re-grab Painter from exile if my mana worked out and win at 1 life. No worry as there’s no Solitude and I can combo on my turn

Game 3: The extremely tough one. Initiative on the draw. I had been doing some math leading up to the tournament, if you get nutted turn 1 by Seasoned Dungeoneer on the play, you will be at 2 life in your turn 3 main phase. If you get nutted turn 1 by Caves Adventurer, you have 1 life turn 3 main phase. It really helped me simplify when thinking about land drop sequencing and whether you can use a fetchland or not. Saga turn 1 is luckily perfect for all these situations and you can win at 1 life regularly, you just need something else in between. I keep another decent hand, 2x Mountain, Saga, Engineer, Stone, Petal, Blast and get met by another turn 1 Archon of Emeria. Honestly that’s probably my best case scenario as I can use that as my own Ethersworn Canonist as I try to find a combo window. I start with a Saga and a Petal, while dropping an Engineer turn 2 to get a Painter and basically threaten the win as early as next turn. Archon bashes me down again and it gets passed back to me. I draw for my turn and it’s a Simian Spirit Guide! Basically the perfect draw. I float a mana with Saga and go find Grindstone and have two options here. I can activate Grindstone and Engineer and bring in Painter and have a blast for any Solitude or Swords, but still could be stopped for a turn by Touch the Spirit Realm. If I pass I lose the Saga floating mana but have 4 mana for a sneaky combo via SSG but no pyro til next turn in that case but can set up with bringing Painter back end step and untapping with Blast and Painter in play and see how my mana is. I decide that’s the better option as you can still just combo response to a spell and have the stack locked down. I have a decent read on Solitude and decide to pass back as I’d rather not let them have the tempo of a spell on my turn either. I have 2 lands a Petal and my Monkey ready to fire off and lock myself into the Top 8 but I have to wait while my opponent is in the tank. After a bit it’s decided. He correctly read me from last turn as having the Pyroblast for protection which made the Simian draw that much more filthy as that 4 mana Urza float let me semi-bluff not having the Monkey. He plays Chalice on 1 to lock that out and keep up Solitude for Painter on my next turn. I say to hold up and exile my Monkey, activate Grindstone and Engineer the Painter back in and pray there’s no shuffle effects. ITS GOOD!

9-1

https://i.ibb.co/QD8wNqy/saito.jpg

Round 11 vs Grixis Delver

The top 3 tables are all sitting around doing some math. Table 1 is 10-0 and 9-0-1 they are safely in. The next two we are all 9-1 and safe. I draw with Jay and joke about the last time we matched up, in the Baltimore Starcity Top 8 of 2022

9-1-1

I have a couple hour break at this point and go get lunch with some peeps. They are streaming and finishing all of the Vintage Top 8 first before my match, and I talk about the matchup against the new Painter build and basically forecast my own fate when I say if they draw the non-Painter parts of the deck I’m probably dead. Swords is really good nullifying Goblins whereas Bolt only solves half the problem, and I’m a serious dog if Fables start going off. We come back to do Top 8 photos and get our Dragon’s Rage Channeler. Vintage is close to finishing and they have us set up for top 8

Top 8 vs Rw Fable Painter

Game 1: Painter, Tutor, Tomb, Fetch, Blasts. A classic Painter hand, the only problem is I can’t play it how I usually like, where I just drop the Painter and get to blasting. I have to forego when the opposite opener is a turn 2 Fable and turn 3 Fable, I didn’t think Painter naming blue and two blasts was good enough to play and pass into 7 mana and 2 fables having gone off having to dodge 3 answers in 6 cards between Furies, Swords to Plowshares, Blasts and opposing Grindstones. Maybe the math is still in my favor, but from how it played out ill take it. All that mana is dumped into a Forth Eorlingas for 5, and even though I’m at 18 I’m staring down 7 2/2 tokens. I take it all to 4 with the plan of welding out one of the two treasures leaving only one mana available the next turn, hoping I can draw a mana source to have 6 available on my turn to use for blast protection. I whiff on mana, have to jam painter and activate naked, and the last treasure token is used to cast a Swords to Plowshares.

side: -1 Canonist, -1 Painter, -1 Bridge, -3 REB, +4 Bolt, +1 Surgical, +1 Karn

Game 2: Some more early jockeying with some Welders dying and Fables doing its thing. The difference is a lack of instant speed interaction. I play out my combo into only tapped lands and activate. No monkeys or instant speed pitch in the list means we’re on to the deciding game.

Game 3: Mountain, Fetch, Tomb, Karn, Surgical, Bolt, Blast. For how I’m expecting this game to go, this is exactly the hand I’m looking for. I can deal with early graveyard shenanigans and bolt offers all kinds of protection. Karn also represents my combo pieces via the sideboard. A welder of mine eats a Swords to Plowshares but a Fable and a follow up Urza’s Saga are presenting the quick clock on the opposite side. I play out Karn and get my Grindstone while Saga ticks up to 2 and I protect Karn using Lightning Bolt on the Goblin. All that sequencing might be slightly off but going into what was basically the final turn I thought I had it locked up. In play I had Tomb and 3 lands with a Grindstone and a Karn on 2 I was going to grab my sided out Painter with. I go to my turn hoping to draw mana to put my blast online but whiff, but still think I’m ok. My opponent has 3 cards left and I cast surgical extraction on the copy of Swords to Plowshares in yard. Top 8 is open decklists and I know I’m removing 3 of the 4 outs in the 75. I can only smile seeing the 1 of abrade in hand and know I’m toast. Drawing mana likely wouldn’t have won it there either assuming my stone dies with Painter on the stack, but that was the only other out. I tank for a bit trying to see how I can play through the abrade, but I also have to drop another Karn to lockup the random grindstone on the other side of the table. I go find Tormod’s Crypt with the 2nd Karn to try to setup an exile my yard stone and wish for that the next turn, but the Saga goes off and Needle on Stone puts the kabosh on that. Kiki is online and gets some copied constructs moving and knock off Karn. I draw Welder and start tanking again and think that if I topdeck a blast the next turn I can weld Crypt for Stone and blast needle and try to combo. I end up having to chump facing exactly lethal from another artifact and now 4/4 constructs. I actually do draw the blast and point it at the needle and for a moment think I have it and go to combo, forgetting that the brown artifact in play isn’t actually a grindstone and is just a crypt. I laugh realizing a second later and scoop and give the handshake.

9-2-1

7/996

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In the end I can’t be upset. I would always rather the relative unluckiness happen in top 8 than any other point of the tournament. Of course losing to another Painter deck is the cherry on top. I’ll take a draw step to mana to win the game twice every time. That’s Shortcake, I don’t really see a need to change anything in the 75. I’m out here to resolve Painters and tap Grindstones.

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https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles...l-weekend-2023

I mill around the hall a bit longer and talk some shop around before taking off. Coming into the weekend I was ready to scrub out on Saturday and play a variety of side events all day, giving me the freedom to leave anytime Sunday. By the time I get on the road it’s only an hour of light left and the snow is about to start, but it’s not that bad of a cruise back to Maryland after a Top 8.

Not really sure what’s ahead in 2024, but I have no doubt that Shortcake will always be a Tier 1 pick for a large tourney, same as it’s always been

Until next time, keep painting

And #FreeNedleeds

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