Meandeck Open Results -- January 8th, 2012 Columbus, Ohio - 34 Players!

[Smmenen]

I want to thank everyone who came out and attended this amazing tournament.   But, I especially want to thank 1) Jonathan Medina who repeatedly drummed up interest using his not-insignificant social media connections, and 2) all the new or relatively new Vintage players who came out this event.

With 34 players, I believe this is the largest Vintage Meandeck Open EVER going back nearly 10 years.   We've hit 32 and I think 33 before, but never 34.   http://www.morphling.de/search.php?type=2&app=20&sorting=DESC&search=Columbus&sent=1

But what made this tournament special wasn't just the number of players, but the quality of the format and the event.  I believe that most players really enjoyed their experience.  People really seem to appreciate the strategic diversity (the sheer quantity of deck options -- you can play pretty much anything) and tactical diversity (there are so many deck building tools/ options at the moment).  As someone said, this really feels like the format where you "*can* play all of your cards."  That made for a really comfortable environment and fun atmosphere to this tournament.  No one ever seemed distraught, and the dinner at Thurman's afterward was amazing.  

We also had a number of new players, or players who hadn't played Vintage in a loooooong time (I'm looking at you Doug Linn!)

With Brian Demars, Ari Lax, Ben Weinburg and other ringers in attendance, this was probably one of the most competitive Vintage events in the midwest in years.  

With 34 players, there were 6 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 8.  The top 4 prize split.

This event was dominated by creatures!

Without further adieu, here are the Top 8 decklists:

1st Place (by final standings): Gil Rivera

4 Leyline of the Void
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Bridge From Below
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
3 Dread Return
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Golgari Thug
4 Nether Shadow
4 Bloodghast
4 Stinkweed Imp

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 City of Brass
3 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Dakmor Salvage

Sideboard:
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Vampire Hexmage
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
4 Dark Depths
2 Dark Confidant
2 Chain of Vapor

2nd Place: Ben Weinburg

4 Trinket Mage
2 Auriok Salvagers
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Flusterstorm
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Thrist for Knowledge
1 Hurkyl's Recall

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Reanimate
1 Merchant Scroll

1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard:

1 Balance
2 Steel Sabotage
2 Energy Flux
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Disenchant
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Pithing Needle
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Echoing Truth

3rd Place: John Knight

3 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

Counters: (14)
4 Force of Will
1 Steel Sabotage
3 Mental Misstep
2 Mana Drain
2 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mindbreak Trap

Draw: (7)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
1 Library of Alexandria

Tutors: (2)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor

Utility: (8)
1 Time Walk
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Energy Flux
2 Psionic Blast
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Echoing Truth

Mana: (22)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Mishra's Factory
8 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
3 Scalding Tarn

SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation
SB: 3 Energy Flux
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Steel Sabotage
SB: 1 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 Null Rod

4th: Paul Blakeley
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 Meddling Mage
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Trygon Predator
3 Stony Silence
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Steel Sabotage
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Strip Mine
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Wasteland
1 Time Walk

Sideboard:
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
3 Trygon Predator
3 Flusterstorm
4 Raveous Trap
1 Steel Sabotage
3 Surgical Extraction

5th Place: Doug Linn
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Trygon Predator
3 Mystic Remora
4 Gush
4 Force of Will
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Mental Misstep
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Tinker
1 Preordain
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Blighsteel Colossus
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Fastbond
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Imperial Seal

SB:

4 Leyline of the Void
3 Yixlid Jailer
3 Nature’s Claim
1 Forest
2 Dismember
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Mindbreak Trap

6th Place: Jason Pare

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Jace, TMS
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Echoing Truth
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Misdirection
1 Fire/Ice
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Standstill
2 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
2 Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Library of Alexandria

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Fire/ice
1 Hurkyl's Recall

7th Place: Mark Trogdon

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Mental Misstep
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Thirst For Knowledge
4 Dark Confidant
1 Brainstorm
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Voltaic Key
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Time Vault
1 Blightseel Colossus
1 Mana Vault
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard:
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Steel Sabotage
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Yixlid Jailer
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of the Void

8th Place: Brian Demars
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
1 Island

1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library
1 Tarmogoyf
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Flusterstorm
2 Mystic Remora
1 Brainstorm
3 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Mana Drain
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Trygon Predator
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sword of Feast & Famine
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus

Sideboard:
1 Batterskull
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Nature's Claim
2 Serenity
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Scavening Ooze
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Flusterstorm

Myself, I placed 10th. I started out 3-0-1, and then lost to Gil Rivera and then my teammate Doug Linn in round 6.  I was savaged by Gil's unorthodox sideboard strategy.  Two players who finished 4-2 made Top 8 (Brian and Paul) due to being just above the round 6 cutoff, and alot of people losing late in the tournament.

Thanks again to everyone who showed up!  It was a great event.  Mark your calendars for March 18th, as that will be our next event, although we may move the location within Columbus.  See you in Sandusky on the 3rd!

[Womba]

That Dredge sideboard puts your opponent to the ultimate test....What a great top 8!!!! I always knew Stoneforge could get there....

[chrispikula]

Was a good weekend for Vintage with two nicely attended events, but I have to admit I have no idea what is going on right now. Things feel very random.  I went 1-4 at Top Deck Games, losing to Oath 3 times!

Your top 8 here is only confusing me further.  The other Tezz? Transformational dredge? Bomberman? Sword of Feast or Famine?

[Smmenen]

Was a good weekend for Vintage with two nicely attended events, but I have to admit I have no idea what is going on right now. Things feel very random.  I went 1-4 at Top Deck Games, losing to Oath 3 times!

Your top 8 here is only confusing me further.  The other Tezz? Transformational dredge? Bomberman? Sword of Feast or Famine?

The format seems very creature centric.   I wish I had played Oath at the Meandeck Open.  I talked up Oath in my Trends/Predictions for 2012 article, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. 

I think basically our event was like yours except ours had no Oath.  Hence, this Top 8.  

In other words, take your event, and remove all the Oath decks.   That's what we ended up with.  All of the previous favorites are in there: Grow, Bob/Snapcaster, and Landstill, but the creatures decks just took over...

[boggyb]

Holy moley, that transformational dredge list looks amazing. Why didn't I ever think a' that! Great show, guys.

[Smmenen]

@ Chrispikula: Brian Demars said that Sword of Feast or Famine was there to combo with Mystic Remora...

The transformation Dredge plan defeated my Leylines.   He just attacked with dudes while I sat with Leylines in play

[The Atog Lord]

This looks like an awesome top eight. Congrats to everyone who made it. It strikes me that the Vintage landscape is changing at a very quick rate. I've never seen creature decks doing so well in the format -- I think this may require some basic Vintage assumptions to be reconsidered.

[GrandpaBelcher]

Thanks again to everyone who showed up!  It was a great event.  Mark your calendars for March 18th, as that will be our next event, although we may move the location within Columbus.  See you in Sandusky on the 3rd!

This paragraph was my favorite.

This tournament was a lot of fun. Thanks for hosting. Good seeing four members of Team Serious in the top eight - congrats! I'm already looking forward to having two tournaments in March.

[Smmenen]

Can someone explain the Reanimate in Ben Weinburg's deck?

[Womba]

Can someone explain the Reanimate in Ben Weinburg's deck?

To Quote Jon Medina last night...."to make a sick gifts package like Snap, Reanimate, Salvager, Lotus or Bomb"  I assume you can also reanimate opposing Dread Return targets, Goyfs, and the Consecrated Sphinx if you wanted to as well.

[boggyb]

Can someone explain this transformational dredge deck to me, exactly...? How did he afford all those sideboard cards, with only 13 mana-producing cards in the whole deck post-board? I assume he's trying to avoid using bazaar as much as possible post-board, so I don't get how he can reliably get bob or hex into play off so little mana. He also doesn't have any tutors, so his consistency would appear to go down even further. I also wonder if it's worth it to run nonbasics in order to get chain of vapor in there -- seems like it'd be more prudent to run swamps and 2x Urborg in the main deck instead. Very interesting

[Kiriyuu]

Am I missing the 3rd place deck? Is it the skullclamp deck?

[medina]

Can someone explain the Reanimate in Ben Weinburg's deck?

To Quote Jon Medina last night...."to make a sick gifts package like Snap, Reanimate, Salvager, Lotus or Bomb"  I assume you can also reanimate opposing Dread Return targets, Goyfs, and the Consecrated Sphinx if you wanted to as well.

Yeah, that's what it was for. It's a little bit of a liability with Misstep so prevalent but the pay off is pretty decent.

Ben won his Quarter finals match by Reanimating his opponent's Snapcaster Mage, he targeted his Tinker with Snaps ability.

I won against my Workshop opponent by Reanimating his Lodestone Golem after Forcing it.

You can also target your Consecrated Sphinx for the free roll.

I know that Yawgmoth's Will can make some sick gifts packages but I cant combo on the same turn that I will. It also can be mana intensive.

I could be wrong about the inclusion but I like trying different things. I wasn't unhappy with it on the day.

[Prkchpsndwiches]

Thanks for the awesome tournament! It was nice to see a packed house! Looking forward to March!

FYI, my deck(Paul Blakeley) is missing one Wasteland.

[Smmenen]

@medina, I was curious cause I thought it looked cool.

[Smmenen]

Am I missing the 3rd place deck? Is it the skullclamp deck?

Weird. I typed it up!  I must have deleted it by accident! It was John Knights aggrieved Landstill list. Perhaps he can repost it and I'll edit The OP.

[Onslaught]

Hahaha this top 8 is amazing. Vintage owns.

Snapcaster continues to rise...

[aggrogil]

Hello,
I will give credit to Mark "Snoop" Trogdon for the cards, and starting list. Thanks Mark!!
We talked about dredge for a while, we decided just attacking for 3 to 4 per turn would lead to wins just as easy as resolving Dread Return for the combo.
So we increased the dude package and cut bunkie cards that didn't effect the board or my foe.

quick hits:

-Leylines in the main was for snap caster blue decks and other dredge decks.
-Game 2 I always cut the leylines and 1 flamkin for mana and Dark Confidant.
-the plan was they bring hate you just attack, every game 2 I kept playing like it was game one but I would mull to get lands in hand or mox whatever.
 make them use hate while I ate brains. I never activated Bazaar till I had dead cards, I always kept bloodghast and nether shadow
- Nether Shadow was M.V.P all day ( I don't think the plan would work with out him and Bloodghast )
-the leyline hate is what I was hoping to see since I was casting all my dudes anyway.  
-be Aggressive! hard cast everything in your hand blue players hated countering my dudes, against Steve he had to force a Flame-kin. Awesome!
- I never sided in the Dark Depths package till top 8 with Brian, I never really needed it bringing in mana and creatures was awesome ( I feel the power of the dark side )
 I think I should commit to Dark Depths in the side with more lands and a Demonic? only time and testing will tell.
- And I did get lucky here and there I had to Tim Tebow a few times to myself. Big ups to the big guy up there!!

Thanks

Props: all the pros that showed up and the field of decks
slops: B/R staxx

[boggyb]

Yeah I've been playing around with making the depths angle stronger and more consistent-- so far have

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Dakmor Salvage
5 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Golgari Thug
4 Bridge from Below
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Bloodghast
4 Nether Shadow
3 Dread Return
2 Flame-Kin Zealot

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Darkblast
1 Diabolic Edict
SB: 4 Vampire Hexmage
SB: 1 Black Lotus
SB: 1 Mox Jet
SB: 3 Dark Depths
SB: 4 Dark Confidant
SB: 1 Demonic Tutor
SB: 1 Demonic Consultation

don't wanna clog the thread or anything, but thought it might be interesting. I think Sun Titan might be a better Dread Return target since he can nab anything in the deck, Dark Depths and Hexmage in particular. (p.s. I love the Hexmage + Bridge from Below interaction -- she's definitely my favorite fringe creature in vintage ) Might be a good idea to get Thoughtseize in there somehow, and Dark Ritual if you can make room. Liliana would be awesome too but she's just so danged expensive.

[forests failed you]

The tournament was a lot of fun and I'm really glad that Ari and John gave me a ride down to Columbus; although I will second that a change of venue would be a very welcome adjustment.

My article for this week is going to be a report and discussion of the Bant Control deck I played.

Cheers
Brian

[serracollector]

Can't believe you lost my list Steve....

Anyways here is my list

Creatures: (7)
3 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

Counters: (14)
4 Force of Will
1 Steel Sabotage
3 Mental Misstep
2 Mana Drain
2 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mindbreak Trap

Draw: (7)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
1 Library of Alexandria

Tutors: (2)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor

Utility: (8)
1 Time Walk
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Energy Flux
2 Psionic Blast
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Echoing Truth

Mana: (22)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Mishra's Factory
8 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
3 Scalding Tarn

SB: 3 Surgical Extraction (dredge, and anything with 4 of's I don't like, such as Tarmogoyf and Gush)
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall (MUD)
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation (fish)
SB: 3 Energy Flux (MUD)
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt (dredge)
SB: 1 Steel Sabotage (MUD)
SB: 1 Nihil Spellbomb (Dredge)
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap (Storm)
SB: 2 Null Rod (vault key/affinity)

Tournament was great!  So much variance, and so many people.  Really fun time, and afterwards, I finished the Thurminator    Can't wait til the next one.

[Saya]

I am surprised to hear that Mr.Mark Trogdon played snapcaster deck,not MUD.

[President Skroob]

Hello,
I will give credit to Mark "Snoop" Trogdon for the cards, and starting list. Thanks Mark!!
We talked about dredge for a while, we decided just attacking for 3 to 4 per turn would lead to wins just as easy as resolving Dread Return for the combo.
So we increased the dude package and cut bunkie cards that didn't effect the board or my foe.

quick hits:

-Leylines in the main was for snap caster blue decks and other dredge decks.
-Game 2 I always cut the leylines and 1 flamkin for mana and Dark Confidant.
-the plan was they bring hate you just attack, every game 2 I kept playing like it was game one but I would mull to get lands in hand or mox whatever.
 make them use hate while I ate brains. I never activated Bazaar till I had dead cards, I always kept bloodghast and nether shadow
- Nether Shadow was M.V.P all day ( I don't think the plan would work with out him and Bloodghast )
-the leyline hate is what I was hoping to see since I was casting all my dudes anyway.  
-be Aggressive! hard cast everything in your hand blue players hated countering my dudes, against Steve he had to force a Flame-kin. Awesome!
- I never sided in the Dark Depths package till top 8 with Brian, I never really needed it bringing in mana and creatures was awesome ( I feel the power of the dark side )
 I think I should commit to Dark Depths in the side with more lands and a Demonic? only time and testing will tell.
- And I did get lucky here and there I had to Tim Tebow a few times to myself. Big ups to the big guy up there!!

Thanks

Props: all the pros that showed up and the field of decks
slops: B/R staxx

Back in my ye olde days of Dredge, I was a huge proponent of Nether Shadow's consistency and resiliency. I am psyched to see him back in sleeves again.

[lawnboy]

This tournament was a lot of fun. After coming back from a vintage sabbatical, this event made me remember how much I love drawing three cards at once. Hope to see everyone in Sandusky in March.

Also, proof of John's triumph over the mighty Thurmanator:




-Jason

[Twaun007]

The tournament was off the meat rack even though I finished at a measly 3-2-1. I was super syked that we had 34 vintage gunslingers come out for this thing and hopefully we can keep it up in the future.

If you're close to Ohio and need to get some revenge on Meandeckers or Team Serious peeps who dominated you during the tourney.... peep this thread. Team Serious Open, March 3rd

[Yukon Cornelius]

Can someone explain this transformational dredge deck to me, exactly...? How did he afford all those sideboard cards, with only 13 mana-producing cards in the whole deck post-board? I assume he's trying to avoid using bazaar as much as possible post-board, so I don't get how he can reliably get bob or hex into play off so little mana. He also doesn't have any tutors, so his consistency would appear to go down even further.

I'd also love to touch on the same subject as above. I get the cuteness of boarding out half your strategy to throw off the other player, but take it from someone who actually runs Dark Times, not having any tutors seems exceptionally poor. Then again trying to shove in a combo that generally needs it's own deck to run does also.

[credmond]

Can someone explain this transformational dredge deck to me, exactly...? How did he afford all those sideboard cards, with only 13 mana-producing cards in the whole deck post-board? I assume he's trying to avoid using bazaar as much as possible post-board, so I don't get how he can reliably get bob or hex into play off so little mana. He also doesn't have any tutors, so his consistency would appear to go down even further.

I'd also love to touch on the same subject as above. I get the cuteness of boarding out half your strategy to throw off the other player, but take it from someone who actually runs Dark Times, not having any tutors seems exceptionally poor. Then again trying to shove in a combo that generally needs it's own deck to run does also.

A lame dark times implementation is presumably better than having to blast through layers of graveyard hate and counterspells.

Also, it punishes the opponent for digging deep and hard for the leyline.

[Yukon Cornelius]

A lame dark times implementation is presumably better than having to blast through layers of graveyard hate and counterspells.

Also, it punishes the opponent for digging deep and hard for the leyline.

I understand the concept fine, I just don't think it's all that useful. It seems like he's spreading himself too thin. Also, how exactly does implementing the Dark Times combo protect someone from counterspells? I feel like this deck in general has no answer to the broken blue, the Oath, or the Shops decks. In all actuality it only seems to strengthen a Dredge on Dredge match and nothing else. I do agree that it hits your opponent hard when they've dug for their graveyard hate, but in the end a strong deck vs this one wouldn't have that hard a problem in the end. It isn't like any deck playing any counterspells ditches all of them in favor of 4 Leylines.

[boggyb]

Yeah, tooling around with this deck, I've found it to be a really potent three-faced strategy. People usually just side in a bunch of graveyard hate in games 2 and 3 vs. dredge, which if you're prepared for can give tremendous card advantage. You can just side in bobs and mana to rock a steady monocolored beatdown, or you can put in the Depths package if you feel the need to explode (vs. Oath or another Dredge deck, for example). Been tinkering with the monocolored version and have found it really killer, and fun to play too (love wittling with nether shadow and ichorid )

I even think the dread return package isn't necessary at all -- the synergy of Bloodghast, Bridge, Ichorid, Nether Shadow, Cabal Therapy, Narcomeba, and dredgers is almost always enough to win game 1 even without FKZ. Today I'm tinkering with the same list I posted but:

- 3 Dread Return
- 2 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 1 Diabolic Edict

+ 2 Thoughtseize
+ 1 Black Lotus
+ 1 Mox Jet
+ 1 Dakmor Salvage
+ 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

SB + 2 Liliana (replacing Jet and Lotus)

Leaves you with 13 mana-producing cards and 7 lands that can be turned on with the 3 urborg, post-board, for 20 sources of black. Would like to ramp that up to 22 for more consistency, but yeah, sweet. Liliana is a monster. Post-board you're only maybe 6 key cards off a standard Dark Times build, Rituals and 2 more Thoughtseizes being the notable missing ingredients; but since they've sided in probably 6-7 useless cards against you, and the cards you're missing from Dark Times are actually useful, you win.

edit: Sorry for clogging the thread. I've taken the discussion to the The Dark Times Primer thread. Thanks again, Steve!

[Ten-Ten]

@Ben Weinburg: how well did Tinker work out in your list? Did you really need it or would you cut it from your list next time?