So this is just over 300 miles from my place.  If I follow the speed limit, that means it is 5 hours each way.  That is a little far methinks.

I'll try to make an appearance.

Maybe they were still stunned by the sheer amount of Power floating around in the area?  They may have seen it before, but seeing just about 2 of everything in almost every game might have been too much.

That, and Once the crowd gathers, it most definitely isn't golf!

Oh, and congrates to everyone.

Congrates Man.  Sorry you didn't win.  That deck is just amazing.

It was a good read.  Extremely well thought out & presented.  I personally like your Goth-Slaver list a lot.  How much testing did it actually get, and how good are it's matchups vs. the projected field?

I think Vintage will be better in the long term and it will be interesting to see what completely new decks appear over the next few months that are going to be designed to beat the old rehashes.

Love it!  That's great!  But yea, it hurts.  Oh well.


May I point out that Control Slaver (in 2004 & 2005) used to run 25 mana sources or so.  Without Merchant Scroll.  Without 4 Gush.  Without Ponder.  & Aggro still wasn't running over it all the time.  As I recall, so did Hulk Smash.  & 4cc.

I have thought more about it, and no matter what I personally feel, I know I am not going to get Brainstorm back for 3 months.  And that is highly unlikely at that time.  Most of the teams have already worked up new decks.  I am working on one as well.  Should be cool for the format, and bitching isn't actually going to change anything.  So go for it, and see what happens.  I may not like losing Brainstorm & Ponder, but I have already accepted it.  It will be extremely interesting to see what come from the ashes & how it works with the newest cards out there.

Ok, now that I have slept on it, it doesn't quite feel so bad.  I am still kind of bummed, but at the same time, intrigued.  Someone mentioned that Hulk Smash might come back which brought a smile to my face.  Can Dr. Teeth become dominate again?

But seriously, I believe Drain decks will find a way to come back.  And I also believe that the format will be more balanced.  I didn't want to play in Flash.meta, and to be honest, Scroll Painter.meta looked even less enjoyable to play in.  While I still feel Brainstorm getting the Axe was wrong, and Ponder was over the top, who knows.  Wait until Friday to see their reasoning.  I am curious to see that.

I do believe I have found the bright side.  Mind you, it is a VERY dim bright side.  They didn't unrestrict Trinisphere!

Did someone change April Fool's Day to June Fools Day?  Because I didn't get the memo.

Ok, now I can understand Scroll, Flash, & Gush.  Hell, I thought unrestriction of Gush was the single biggest mistake the DCI has ever made.  Looks like it just got trumped & we all got kicked in the nuts.  Brainstorm & Ponder?  Seriously?  What did they ever do to anyone?  2004 is back in style in a big way.  Lets just hope this trend doesn't continue and we get 4 more years of George W. Bush.


10 pages may be a little on the conservative side.

Congrates on the tourney ELD, but man, I didn't want to play in Flash.Meta.  I am still sure I don't want to play in Painter.meta.

Considering SCG Events are also 10 proxy, this would be a complete 180 from where they are at.  Also, as prizes is the painting & "Vintage Boosters" (Whatever they are.  Anybody know?).  I think it is definitely an event you go to win for the prestige, not the prize.  Though don't get me wrong.  a Custon artwork painting is really really cool.

This is absolutely crazy.  Everyone was planning on attending Gencon for this, but holding it at the same time as the Type 2 Nationals?  Does this means it will be travelling around each year just like the Type 2 Nationals will be?

I am hoping I can find a few cards & get up there to play in this, but who knows.  Also, how will this affect people who were contemplating holding a Double P9 day in Chicago?  How many people are willing to make 2 or 3 trips to Chicago to play Magic?

As has been stated, very classy.  & very nice for winning the next two games!  Props man.

Wish I could have been there.  But correct me if I am wrong, but day 1 was about the same as previous SCG at Richmond tournaments?  Why was Day 2 attendance so low?  there was a total of 143 people for the 2 days?

I think it is going to be interesting to see the exact meta breakdown once SCG posts the lists.  Should be good to see which way the format is heading.  8 Duress GAT is brutal and might be the smart play in a Flash/Painter heavy meta.

The people I have known who worked at Wizards loved Vintage.  Sure, they can't print new sets of the cards or something like that, but they love it nonetheless.  They looked upon it like a "Hall of Fame" as all of their creations were legal & could interact in the most insane way possible.  But then again, that's the opinion of people I know who used to work at Wizards.



Ok. I don't want to nitpick, but it is lend me cards.  You borrow from someone, you lend to someone.  Just for future reference.


I think, in general, we don't really pay attention to the other formats.  I know that sounds bad, but I think it is the truth.  How many people on TMD honestly go around playing lots of games in the other formats.  I don't have time.  Or the Money to truly play multiple formats.  I will play Legacy also, and if I can borrow a deck from one of my friends, a little Extended, but for the most part, I only play Type 1.  Also, How many people on TMD can name details about competitive decks in other formats?  I haven't got a clue about them.

Does that make me a bad person or an "elitist."  Do I really care about a prerelease?  Or a PTQ?  Or Drafting?  or FNM?


You finally hit the nail on the head.  Congratulations.  Magic is a game.  As I have pointed out numerous times on other forums, you play games because you enjoy them.  I enjoy playing Type 1.  I enjoy playing the most insane version of the game.  I enjoy having cards like Yawg's Win 7 Time Walk in a deck because silly things ensue.  Everyone in this format knows this pleasure.  Hell, it is acceptable to lose one game out of the match to your opponents sheer brokenness.  I don't believe this is the case in any other format.

Type 1 is not for everyone.  But the people who play it & love it know one simple truth.  Welcome to Type Fun.  Broken Shit Happens.


I think that most people either have (1) a predetermined notion incorrectly of what the format is or (2) Have not been introduced to the format.  There is also the fact it is not all that common in all areas outside of places like the North East, parts of Colorado, Parts of the Midwest, and parts of Europe.  If there were more tournaments, then that would help.

Hell, I tried in Flagstaff Arizona for years to get a scene going.  I would bring 4 decks, and anyone could borrow them.  I went out & got sets of duals to put up as prizes.  Or Force of Wills.  Or other items like that.  Thats the way to start.  Don't just have a mox tournament, but give out the staples.  Let people have shots at getting them before a mox tournament.  It helps by getting people the cards they need that can help in Vintage & Legacy.



As I recall, there was quite a lot of bitching about Raffinity in Type 2 back in Mirroden days.  But I don't want this thread to derail into another B&R Argument over Flash or whatever.  The problems with two of the cards you mention is what the actually do.  There is an acceptable level of brokenness & there are cards that super-cede that acceptable level.  Trinisphere generally did this.  Flash is the other card you can argue that does this.  The situations are similar, yet very different at the same time.


You honestly believe the format is stale?  Why?  Because the staples are used in many different decks.  Gush is used in Oath, GAT, & Gush Storm (3 quick decks).  All three play differently.  Because on paper they appear to be almost identical doesn't mean they all play the same.  There is a lot of innovation that changes things in this format.  Oath came along to beat GAT.  Flash finally found it's best kill, and is using & abusing it.  Now, because of that, Extirpate is seeing more play in the board & main.  Because of Ichorid, Leyline of the Void is seeing a lot more play.  It used to be Jailer, but I don't know anymore.

Cores of the decks change slowly over time.  This is because with the current card pool, the arguable best engines have already been found.  The decks are all tuned to within an inch of perfection.  It is like a car.  How much more can you fiddle with a Ferrari Enzo or a Koenisegg CCX or a Bugatti Veyron or an Ascari A10?  These cars are built & tested & rebuilt & retested & etc. until they get to as close to perfection as possible.  And when a new car comes along like the Audi R8, the others change or it falls by the wayside, forgotten & inferior.

That is the truth about Type 1.  The engines are tuned to an inch of perfection.  Until a cards gets restricted or a new card gets introduced, the engines stay the same.  The control packages stay the same because they are the best packages.  The decks are ALL similar.  Most decks run Blue fetches.  Most run Ancestral.  Most run Yawg's Win.  Most run Force of Will.  Most run some aspect of the moxen.  The differences are subtle.  And when a deck forces you to change your board or one of your "free" main deck option slots, then it happens & you change your deck to answer to the threat.  But you can bring in the absolute best answers possible.  Despite the fact you may be playing an incredibly narrow card like Submerge, but if that narrow card is the best answer, it becomes the best card for that slot.  And at times, the best card in your deck.

I believe that there is a big difference between paying $20 for a card & Paying $40-$50 for a card.  Even with the proxy environment, the decks are all absurdly expensive to build.  At least, that is what I have heard from people who I tried to get into the format at a local card shop.  And it is such a different game than type 2 or even Extended.  Hell, Legacy is generally looked at as a close relation, and it is.  But not a close enough one.

The gameplay (especially in the current meta) is so absurd it is taking away from Type 1.  It does add to our "luck" based format.  We all believe it is perfectly acceptable to lose one game to our opponents sheer brokenness or bad luck.  This is normal for us.  People coming from other formats see stuff like Turn 1 Flash or Turn 1 Tendrils or Turn 1 Freeze or Psychatog -> time Walk -> Yawg's Win -> Berserk & see something completely crazy.  I think that it is the fact that this format is spoon-bendingly, hallucinaticly mad & absurd (to borrow from Top Gear) puts people off.  And we all love the format for what it is.  Everyone here knows it is a different animal than every other format of MTG.  And we love it for it.

But other players look at the format as something completely different.  They see it as "my opponent is running the most broken cards EVER."  They see it as diving with Great Whites with an open wound.  It is something that (I believe) most MTG players look at as "Why the hell would anyone ever do that."

But there are people who look at that & see fun.

So while I think the price is one of the biggest limiting factors to new people joining our format (aside from a few "Budget" Decks, assuming "Budget Deck" is a relative term) is the outside view of the format.  I think Coyoteugly hit the nail on the head.  But I also believe that if we get 1 out of 100 people to try this format, and if 1 out of 10 of those stay, we have a good addition to our tight nit community.

I think the biggest problem I have found with new players trying to get into Vintage is this.  The Cost of Dual Lands.  Most of the other cards needed have relatively low costs, but Duals run $40 each for the ones you need, of which you need 6 or so.  On top of that, you then need 4-6 Fetches.  You can build the rest of the deck (sans power) for the cost or less than that of the mana base.  I realize people are paying $50 or so for cards like Tarmogoyf.  But I have found that players getting in have trouble justifying getting a deck with a mana base that runs into the $300-$400 range.

It is interesting data.  What was the Time Span of the tournaments?  Was it from Jan-Present or was it just the past couple of months?  I assume you got your info from TMD, SCG, & Morphling.de, correct?

It does depend on the meta as to how well certain decks do because of the decks strength & weaknesses.  Did you find the meta's & the Top 8's to be generally open, or did you find the T8's to hold a large portion of one deck or another?  Such as a Flash Heavy Meta or a Shop Heavy Meta.

I think one of the most interesting things about Mox Diamond now is the Welder tricks.  Well, by your opponent at least.  You had better not have it in the 'yard & any artifact you need in play.  By welding it into play, it will force its controller to discard a land or Mox Diamond goes back to the 'yard.  Could pose a problem for whoever is using it.

And speaking of which, what decks actually would use Mox Diamond?  Still has a decent cost to go along with it.

As for the Time Vault argument, if it ever gets errated, then great.  Throw me in the group that says another thread for a serious push works.  Though I do agree with Steve when he says that the errata fix should work for all cards, not all cards sans Time Vault.

Not in Mass.  Put this in a region where it is reasonable for everyone.  The midwest somewhere so they can more easily get players from NE, Midwest, The South & even some from the West.  Maybe in Indy, Columbus, or Chicago.  But damn, I would love to compete in this.

Well, it was really a lot more than that.  When they were unrestricted, LED & Burning Wish were both in the original long deck.  I think 4 Academy's was in there also.  I can't quite remember.  I am sure Steve knows.  But it was an insanely fast deck that allowed you to combo, wish for will while using multiple LED's, do it all over, and then find a Tendrils FTW.  Worked amazingly well.  If memory serves, it dominated the meta for a little while, as well as had a consistent kill before turn 3 I believe.  I played it & against it so many years ago, I can't quite remember what exactly was in it.

Back onto the topic.

Steve, with the lack of anything changing, a friend of mine floated his thoughts to me that they are most likely only updating the list once a year, making a few "big" changes, and then leaving it to see how the format plays.  It seems like this mainly because they are behind the ball on Type 1.  Look at when gifts got the Axe.  A little to late for what it did.  Then Gush came back, and completely smashed face for quite a while.  But now the meta is balancing again to Workshops vs. Gush.  Honestly, I think I agree with my friend mainly because there are so few actual tournaments, it takes time for the meta to balance itself out.

As for Mox Diamond & Grim Monolith.  I don't see any problem with them coming off the list.  Mox Diamond costs to much to play, at to high a risk in a format where card slots & land are both at a premium.  Grim Monolith most likely won't see a bunch of play.  So I agree, those two are safe.

Dream Halls.  Such a fun card.  & as fun as the card actually is, I agree it won't break Vintage.  I would love to see a Dream Halls deck.  It is a great engine for a combo.  But I don't think it will be fast enough for the meta.

And Finally FoF.  Gush is off the list.  Fof just seems like ti will be slow compared to Gush.  Both are good, but Fof just feels slower.  I think that the format has moved on in speed.  FoF, while it was good in its heyday, I am with the crowd on this.  It will come off the list, and see some play, but it is really to slow to keep up with everything else.  Yes, I understand the meta has slowed down.  But even with Gush, you are fighting for board position & card advantage from the beginning.  But with fof, you can't cast it reliably until turn 3.  But it is a very good card still, and I think it wouldn't hurt the environment to see it off the list.

I can't really remember what that last card generally was, but I do know I hardly ever used the REB that was main.  Most games it felt like a bad draw when I got to it.  I almost always wished I had something like a truth or a river at that moment instead of a REB.  Most likely a dumb play on my part, but I didn't feel it was strong at all.  Maybe I didn't draw it enough, or use it enough, but it just felt weak.  And now that I think about it, it might have been an extra opt I borded out.  I can't remember what the third card was.

Oh, and Doug, I did mis-D Brian's Pyro in round one, making him lose the game by my tog, so I see where you are coming from on that one.

As for Smother over Submerge, I came to a simple conclusion.  Kill the opposing Dryad/Tog or just have to deal with it again next turn?  I understand the alternate casting cost, but during the tournament smother was invaluable.  It allowed me to get a win on turn 5 of extra turns for the match.  It also allowed me to stop when they swung for the win or got a decent size dryad against me.  I can see where both are good

As for Fire/Ice in the mirror, I used it a little.  I brought it in to either (a) kill an early Dryad or (b) tap it down later, netting me a card & letting me live one more turn.  Or gettng me around his blocker if I couldn't go for 'zerk.  But I mainly brought it in for an early answer fif I drew it.  but it wasn't a superstar in the mirror.  That distinction would go to smother.

Doug, Awesome meeting you.

Glad you had fun man, and like I told you earlier, Disrupt is just a bad card from weatherlight.  Time to try it out sometime.  Go for the repeat!

You should really put a disclaimer on your report.  It should really read "How I won SCG Indy with BAD Cards like Disrupt!"

And by bad, I mean atrocious.

As for the mirror, how do most of you board for it?  I played the mirror 3 times in Indy, and boarded the same way every time.  +1 Smother, +1 Fire/Ice, +1 Truth, -1 Opt, -1 Scroll, -1 Pyroblast/REB (can't remember what this last card was that I generally boarded out).  I found that I would get the right cards & smother is golden in the mirror.  Vs. GAT, I won all the matches, and I went 2-0, 2-1, 2-1, along with a 2-0 vs. gush Tendrils with a similar board move.

What do you guys generally do?

Congrates again Owen & Doug.  The tournament was fun as hell.

And no, Don't Axe Gush/Scroll/Brainstorm  Axe another important card, like Ali from Cairo.  Or even better, Flying Men!  That is so broken.

But it was a blast, and to be fair to the entire field, it was very gro heavy.  Anyone know the actual Meta breakdown?

Thanks.  Good seeing you again, and I made a couple of misplays out of habit in Round 1.  He casts Scroll or something blue, I go on autopilot, tap Volcanic Island, play Brainstrom while HOLDING Pyroblast.

But I agree Truth would probably have been better main as I wished for it 2 or 3 times in game 1 during the tournament.

edit:  How did you do in the Imperial Seal Side Event?

& the funniest part was staring at that side event seeing you, Nam Tram, And a few others, thinking, shouldn't that be the top table of the main event?

When I first heard about the event, I knew I had no choice but to go.  Especially since I moved back into the world where Vintage is a fromat in the game.  I had to go, for all those years I wanted to & couldn't.  So the obvious problem arose.  What deck to play?  I threw toegther a Bad GAT build, went up to the MeanDeck Open & promptly sucked, going 2-2, but meeting some really awesome people at the time.

So I still didn't know what I shoudl play, somewhat discouraged by my (what I considered) Bad play.  So I talked with a bunch of my friends, in Arizona, in Chicago, and online, and came to the conclusion  that I would tinker with decks & most likely play GAT.  People I know repeatadly told me I was going to play GAT, no matter what I said.  so I tried other decks, and then Steve won the World Championship with GAT, admired the list, decided to play something similar.  In fact, very similar.

4-Gush GAT
1 LoA
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Undergorund Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Psychatog
4 Quirion Dryad
1 Yawgmoth's Win
1 Fastbond
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Opt
4 Brainstorm
4 Gush
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Cunning Wish
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
1 Pyroblast
2 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection

Board
1 Berserk
1 Echoing Truth
1 Smother
1 Fire/Ice
1 Rack & Ruin
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Oxidize
1 Pyroblast
2 REB
3 Jailer
2 Pithing Needle

So it was a pretty standard list, which had mostly effective cards.  First change I would do is change the REB's in the board to Pyro's (Ice Age only), and swicth the maindecked Pyro for a Main Echoing Truth.  Just kept thinking that would be better overall.

So after not getting to bed at a decent time, I discovered the following.
- My Silver WRX Still is running fine, and can hang in triple digits no problem
- 7 a.m. is to freakin early, especially for a guy who usually gets off work at Midnight
- I rediscovered the Dirty Pleasure that is 2 Sasuage McMuffin with Eggs still keeps you full all day.
- When the foodcourt is closed, find a restaurant earlier than 10 to new round.

But to the much desired games.

Disclaimer.  I may get some plays wrong, along with some other aspects as my notes aren't complete, and especially considering I have been travelling since then, along iwth drinking, so I'll try.

Round 1 - Brian with Urbana Fish
I sit down across from Brian, smile, and feel unnerved as I think just my luck, a meandecker.  I think this b/c he had a Meandeck playmat, but it turns out, he is just a good friend of them from Pitt.  to damned bad he is pretty good as well.

Game 1
I We both start off with Fetch and play out into a bunch of control, depleting both of our hands  He ninja's out a ninja or two, which run into some mild problems as they encounter a partially grown Dryad & Dr. Teeth, so I swing it into my court.  I keep control, and am setting up the win when he threads of disloyalty my Dryad (9/9 or so at the time) so after a stand off with him at 3 life, he swings forcing me to chumpblock with Tog, who can't gro enough to eat Dryad.  I then lose to my own Dryad the next turn.  How embarrassing.

So we shuffle up after a 35 minute game 1, and board for game 2.  I bring in Truth, Fire/Ice, & Smother I think.

Game 2
I start on the play, and as I recall I end up Topdecking every answer I need and Dr Teeth goes the distance pretty quickly.  Thats all I remember.

Game 3
We start to play, with less than 7 on the clock.  Smiling, joking, and having a blast, we go swigning blow for blow.  He eats 2 damage from a couple of Forces, and ninjas out a coup[le of ninjas inot extra turns, but isn't able to seal the deal.  He had me, but we ran out of time & turns.  Drops me to 9, and we have a draw to start everything off.

We exchnage handshakes, mad props, and wish each other good luck, hardly knowing we were oging to practically be sitting next to each other the entire day.

0-0-1

Round 2 - Corey with GAT from Louisville
It was pretty cool to meet someone else form Louisville at the tournament.  The simple bonus for me is I found out that there is a Vintage Scene here in Louisville.  Yea, Bonus Prize for the newbie to the region!

Game 1
He starts with a couple of small plays, after a couple of early counter wars, i get a Fastbond out, and go somehting like Ancestral, Gush, Gush, Yawgs Win Gush, Ancestral, win the game.

Boarding is somehting like Smother, Fire/Ice, Truth

Game 2
I stare at a starting hand of Trop, Sea, Fastbond, Gush, A.call, Brainstorm, Force, say keep, and he goes land go.  I drop trop, fastbond, Acall, gush, Tog, and the game lasts about 3-5 turns as I have everything 7 he has nothing.

I felt great after going 2-0 against the mirror, especially since I didn't win a game agianst it in Columbus at the Meandeck Open, but I felt bad about destroying a kid from Louisville who was newer at the format.

1-0-1

Round 3 - Mike Bomholt of Meandeck with GAT

I sit down, introduce myself, and we have a blast talking, kidding, and having fun while we get ready

Game 1
We start with both of us drawing a ton of mana, and I remember hardcasting 2 Force of Wills (Thats how they are supposed to be played, right?) and we both fetch & work our way down, burning & just trying to stop any draw the other person got.  I found a threat first, grew to 5, and Dryad went the distance for a Game 1 win.

Board was the same, Truh, Fire/Ice, Smother

Game 2
I get a decent dryad, and get in a couple of turns with a smallish Dryad (3/3 or 4/4), but he drops a fastbond, gets Tog or Dryad while mine is sideways, he grows more and I remember he barely hit my 17 life with it, but he just did hit it.  1 turn away form another 2-0 GAT win for me, but alas, we move to Game 3.

Game 3
he starts with a turn 1 Ancestral which I Mis-D, he Force, I Mis-D, and draw 3, followed by my turn 2 Ancestral.  Nothing else much happens until extra turns.  He has a Dryad out that is 5/5 judgine form my notes, but I am able to grow my own dryad, playing for the raw on turn 3 of extra turns.  I pass the turn, and he swings, dropping another regular dryad.  I take the hit, and going into turn 5 I know it will be a draw unless I topdeck a Yawgs.  I topdeck a Gush, and cast it floating a UB into a Cunning Wish with 3 moxen untapped & an Island.  I smother his untapped dryad, Wish for Berserk, and swing for 18 while he is at 17 life on the last turn, groing just enough.  Phew.

2-0-1

I am pretty happy about my play so far, being 2-0-1, beating a tough opponent, drawing with another tough opponent, and doing well in the mirror.  I have some pretty decent confidence, and am actually starting to think about going the distance.

Round 4 - Frank with some deck that looks like 7/10 split with Blue Control
He came down saying how uch it sucked to have a 9 or 10 hour drive to get there, with a msile on his face.  I laugh, and we talk cards.  Finally, we remember to start to play.  And we are the last table at the top table, so it felt great to be up there.

Game 1
He does a Turn 2 hardcast Titan for the win.  My mul to 5 of Loti, A.Call, Sea, Loa, Drain just wasn't enough. (Frank - Told you I would eventually tell you what that 5th card was)

I board in Artifact Mutate, Oxidize, Truth, Rack & Ruin or something like that.  Maybe some needles

Game 2
I drop an early Tog, and when it is almost lethal, he Tinkers to Jar, Jars-> Wheels-> Jar & doesn't find an answer.  Tog was close, but that made it for real big time lethal, despite the fact I was holding a Cunning Wish at the end of all of that.

Game 3
We brought a full on game, in which left everything on the line.  I recall fighting tooth & nail.  I got a needle down naming welder (I think) and in the end, he ended up dropping a Triskevoues and shooting me when I was at 3 life.  It was a great win for him and I was toast.  Was a close game.

2-1-1

Great game, and Frank was a blast to play against.  Fun guy, and actually had a good control-shop deck that wasn't stax as near as I could tell.

Round 5 - Jerry from Columbus with Mono-Red Magus of the Moon
Great.  I get paired against a friend.  Oh well.  We talk & have a blast, the entire match laughing.

Game 1
I play, and do something pretty useless like Land -> Duress, and start to fight against the tide that is Magus of the Moon.  Bad idea when you have 2 basic islands & can't fetch them.  I did have one out, but it wasn't enough.  I gro a Dryad to 5, and still lose.  Congrates, and move on.

I board Fire/Ice, Smother, Truth, 2x Needle

Game 2
I look at Jerry, smile, and pretend like I am reading his mind, proudly stating that he wants to go second.  It seemed to work.  I drop a quick Dryad, gro, and then he kills it somehow, and promptly buries me under a Magus of the Moon & Blood Moon, then goes the distance.

I got completely destroyed.  So we laugh, ahve fun, andwish each other luck.

2-2-1

At this point, I don't know if I even have a shot at a prize, ask Steve as he passes, and he says I might have a shot at 15th/16th, but it is a long shot.  I say screw it & go for it.  Sometimes you have to Roll the Hard 6, and I did come here to play.  If I lose one more, I am out for sure, and we will move to partyy phase in Cincinnati.  I am barely ut of the drinking bracket.

Round 6 - Steve Ferry with Gush-Tendrils
Seems like a nice guy, though bummed he just got destraoyed by GAT or something.  So we smile, I get him startign to laugh, we have a good time, and get playing

Game 1
I assume he is palying GAT from his early plays, but then he ETW for 10 Gobbos.  I had a Dryad out at a few, and decide to attack in anyway as I am at 19 life.  I go Scroll -> Wish -> Truth over the next few turns (ending at 2 life), and Dryad seals the deal.  He concedes a few turns later.

I board in Fire/Ice, Truth, Smother

Game 2
I look at an opening hand that has a turn 2 Truth, with some good draw.  it ends up being great as he goes ETW for 20+ Gobbos, at EoT I Truth, drop Dryad, and go the distance.

I shake his hand, we kick it, and talk for a bit.  great guy, but sorry man.  At this point, I send my buddy who went 2-3 drop to grab some food.

3-2-1

I check the rankings, and I am 45th place.  I know I have to play better than Barry Bonds on 'roids to hit my prize.  I know I have a shot, even if it is slightly worse than a Snowballs Chance in hell.  But what the hell, I go for it.

Round 7 - Jeff from Columbus with Gobbos
I smile, and he is just serious, no fun at all.  Bound to hit one of these guys eventually.

Game 1
Don't remember to much, but he opens up with a decent hand, I counter some gobbos, and drop a late fastbond, but it is to little to late.  Ends up taking about 30 minutes for him to seal the deal.

Board was Fire/Ice, Smother, Truth, 2x Needle

Game 2
This was another long, drawn out fight.  I started off with some stuff, ending up going all the way down to 2 life, and sent a berserked Dryad for 12 at him over his 2 blockers that had toughness total 3, he was at 9 life.

Game 3
Hurried as we started inside of 4 minutes.  He drops some gobbos, and I get an early Dryad.  With a minute or so left, I DT for Walk.  He dropped me low really fact, and could pretty much seal the deal with 1 more turn.  At the end of the last turn before extra turn, he is ocmpletely tapped out as I stop his Recruiter from joining the party.  He has both his piledriver & his other Gobbo tapped aswell, so everything is sideways.

Turn 1 of extra turns allows me to walk, and swing with a 4/4 Dryad.  A Judge is sitting right there, watching.  This is prehaps the 2 match he has watched of mine in extra turns, so I am no bothered.  I move to the walk turn, and get a draw spell followed by Yawgs Will (in hand earlier), into Timewalk, swing for 7, putting him to 6 life.  He immeidiatly tries to weasel his way into getting me a game loss as he demands "Did you put your 'zerk back into your board after the last game."  In fact, he won't shut up about it, nor acknowledge anything else, right in front of the judge as he panics seeing his win going the other way.  I ignore him, and say, "you're at 6, correct?" and keeps babbling about the Berserk.  Having just Demonic Tutored about 3 minutes earlier, I knew it wasn't in my deck.  I pick up my deck box because it is obvious that he won't let the match continue until he is satisfied.  So being the guy I am, I hand the judge my deck box, without breaking eye contact, and ask the judge "Would you please look in here & tell us if you find a berserk in there?"  The judge opens it, and pulls out my Alpha Berserk in my sleeves, and twirls it for my opponent to see.  He is dumbfounded & you can see a look on his face like he was getting castrated in the parking lot by a coke bottle as he watched me swing for the win with my Lethal Dryad.  He immediatly drops form the tournament in disgust, and storms off as I try to be a sportsman about him.

On a side note.  I understand it is a tournament, but come on.  If you have a problem, let the match finish, then raise your issue.  Don't stall the match, and grasp at straws because you get beat.  Beats happen.  I understand we were playing for 15th/16th which means last prize slots, but don't be an asshole.  Sportsmanship is a virtue obviously not shared by everyone, Jeff from Columbus is obviously one of those people who thinks courtesy & public interatcion only works better when you act like a 3 year old.  If I wanted to play with a person who was an ass & acted like a little kid, I would play in the Yu-gi-oh tournament.  Thanks.

Sorry Mods for that, but I think it had to be brought up.  Everyone is having fun and ruining it like that just sucks.  Sorry again to the mods.

4-2-1

So I check the rankings, and find myself at 31st place.  I know I have a long shot to jump 15 spots, but I will give it a shot.

Round 8 - Jake with GAT
I sit down across from, well, no-one.  The round starts, and I wait.  After 3 minutes, we figure out who I am supposed to be playing.  There were many jokes about how tough my matchup is, but Jake shows up, apologizing.  He said he thought he had dropped.  Being 4-3, I knew I had gotten paired down.  Crap. Oh well.  He was a nice guy who thought he had dropped, but had forgotten to check it on the sheet.  We play.  He declares he is terrible with the deck, but we are joking & having fun.

Game 1
He wins a counter war, gets out a Tog, and goes the distance.  Yea.  Terrible for me.

Board is Smother, Fire/Ice, Truth

Game 2
I elect to play, and drop a turn 1 or 2 tog.  He Ancestrals, I Mis-D, then drop another land, Scroll, Ancestral & he scoops.

Game 3
I stare at a hand that is made up of a GAT players wet dream.  Top, Sea, Gush, Ancestral, Fastbond, Brainstorm, Force of Will.  Yea, turn 1 fastbond ends up in a dryad, who is soon joined by Tog.  Every topdeck was a draw spell which went into a control spell.  He watches as I just kept coming to end the game in a hurry.

5-2-1

Now it was waiting.  I had done it.  I had won out.  I had a shot at the 16th place & a FBB dually, so I waited the 30 minutes while I hoped.  I was unsure of how I would end up, but hoped.  Met some more cool people, watched some other games, and had fun.  Final standings were posted, and I went to look like everyone else.  Ok, where's my name?  Kept looking.  Finally, I found it it.

21st place.

Damn.  So close, but so damned far.  I could have done this differently.  Or that.  Played the right play here.  Hindsight is 20/20.  C'est La Vive.

So it goes down in history.  My first SCG P9 event.  21st place.  Thats 21 out of 129 people.  Based on the attendance announced at the event.  I beat out 108 people.  Ended up a mere 5 spots out of prize.  Damn.

So we started our drive to Cincinnati, having a good time, and knownign that Sunday was a day for partying, then driving back down to Louisville for me.  But Sunday was not without a great event.  We played DnD for old times sakes as one of my old friends is moving away to South Eastern Ohio to the middle of nowhere to go back to school.  And of course, in a battle he sat there, and asked "I can sneak attack the rock." when he was about to hit a Spell Turret made out of stone.  Unmovable, normal stone.  And after that laughter died down, he then proudly proclaimed (seriously!) & rolled for his critical hit on the rock.  Which left us with smiels & big laughs.


Props
- SCG for the great event
- Doug for winning it all
- My 4th Round Opponent, Frank, for getting 16th place
- My WRX for making all of my bummed feeling fall away as I shift up & down thorugh the gears of a damned fine car.
- Matt Alden, my buddy since 2nd Grade for throwing down & manning up & coming
- GAT for being good
- Walk, Will, Walk for being stupid good.
- Me, for moving back into a part f the world where Vintage is actually played!
- All the guys I met who were cool!
- Smother, for being a great card, and me using the one almost every time I boarded it in to change the game completely!
- to Jeff, for mailing me his Beuatiful LoA & Mox Emerald.

Slops
- No open Food court
- Me, for not hitting a single prize
- Matt, for going 2-3
- My 7th round opponent, for being the only unfun person I faced/met all day
- SCG for not deciding to sell food & use a microwave.

SCG, come back to Indy.  Great time.

All in all fun, great, and I loved it overall.  Hopefully I can get to Chicago for the next one & watch out, prizes, here I come!

Yep, Rnd 3 was me, with a Bad Build, sucking.  Oh yea!  Being Hung Over didn't help to much either.

But seriously, it was fun to get up there, and meet new people.  I enjoyed it, and learned some new things.  It was good to everyone I played & met.

See you guys in Indy.

Great Repoprt, I couldn't stop laughing.

How do I get as awesome as you, as in, can play an ENTIRE tournament & not see a GAT deck once.  Man, you have such great mad skillz!

Yes, it was a suggestion.  It is a suggestion that has been done repeatadly.  It has been tested by lots of people, and It kills the person so much faster.  I am told that Confidant is a good card.  I can easily disagree with it.  I have been told it can bury you under Card Advantage in ways Library wished it could do.  I have not seen it.  But that is a debate for another thread.

Maybe Confidant is good in a deck designed to use & abuse it.  GAT is not a deck that can use & abuse it.  There are better cantrips out there than Confidant in an already life intensive deck.  This is why most lists run opts over Wraith.  It is already a life intensive deck with Fastbond, Vampiric Tutor, Force of Will, Fetchlands, & lets not forget that you have an opponent in this game.  Maybe he can attack you or hit you with a weak tendrils or something like that.  but it is pretty frequent in GAT that you run your own life pretty far down.

I am sorry if I came off as a "dick."  But Confidant does 2 things in GAT as a GAT player.  Slows you down, and costs you more life in a deck that you already lose enough from.  Everytime I have come across someone who has dropped Confidant against me, it is usually out of a Fish-esque deck, and in a couple of turns allows me to kill them.  Confidant prevents them from having more turns to react.  That is, unl;ess you do something like Top constantly with it, which GAT can't do.

And I do not mean to come off now as a "dick" or degrading or anything.  Just trying to explain cleaere, which I have a feeling I actually muddled it up.



As for Razvan


You might be right that most people are misplaying it.  I haven't seen to many players misplay it.  I feel it is simple, but it is a deck I have played a lot of over the years.  Maybe you are not mulliganning properly or fetching the right cards with Scroll or whatever.  I generally find it able to bury just about every other deck under its Card Advantage & just be able to go absolutely nuts from the beginning.

With GAT, work your way into a position where you have control of the game, then gro, and go for the throat.  Also, the other rule, is there is no one best build with GAT.  It is not a long Combo deck.  It is constantly evolving.  & it will evolve in different ways depending on the meta.  But it should be able to win almost any tournament, any time.

& again, Rich, sorry if I come off as unfriendly.  That is not my intention, though I will admit my early post was a little rough.