Yeah, MKM is the best.  If you send me a list of what you're looking for, I'll forward it to a few of my contacts.

Yeah, I have no idea.  Someone told me I got 3rd but it could have been 4th.  Either way it's the same.

I got third.  Here is my control list.

Main Deck (60 Cards)         
//Artifacts [14 Cards]
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphite
1 Mox Jet
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tsabo’s Web
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Time Vault

//Spells [21]

4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
1 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Echoing Ruin
1 Vandalblast
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Dismember
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Merchant Scroll

//Planeswalkers [3]

2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Tezzerert, Agent of Bolas

//Creatures [5]

3 Dark Confidant
1 Torch Fiend
1 Plaguebearer

//Lands [17]

3 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
1 Mountain
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
2 Island

SIDEBOARD (15 Cards)

1 Lightning Bolt
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Flusterstorm
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Vandalblast

Even if they gave me every single card for free to build any Vintage deck, I wouldn't play online.  I just don't enjoy playing on the computer because the fundamental social activity is missing.  I am glad that it will be available for those who want to play online though.

Grats to those who made it and had a good time.  FYI you can now use your credit on anything of mine in the shop if that helps.

For the first time in about eight years I had to travel to a Grand Prix alone last weekend.  The entire time I felt paranoid about my stuff, knowing that every year the prices spiral out of control is another year we get closer to someone being violently robbed for their collection.  Years ago I remember joking around with other dealers that "there's probably a million dollars in cards in this room."  Now, there are literally tens of millions.  It's only a matter of time before something terrible happens at an event.  I met my friend at the event and I felt much better knowing that he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which he did.  Scary stuff.

Interestingly enough, I bought an uncut sheet of Magic cards once that supposedly made it way to me from a storage locker.  I can't verify but the person is reputable.

I don't care that much about any lack of innovation.  I'm just saying that I was hoping to see something really cool.

I wouldn't consider it any kind of whine, and as someone who couldn't make it to GenCon for the first time in years (although I have yet to play in Worlds), I understand and share your sentiments.  For the first time I watched the tournament unfolding from afar, wondering who would do well, cheering for friends, and refreshing for some kind of update.  I was hoping to see or hear about something really interesting that made me think "whoa, I can't believe he played THAT! or man, I've wanted to play that card for a long time and he/she figured out how to use it."

There was none of that (at least from the forum, or WotC's site) but perhaps someone can share some noteworthy interactions or generally interesting Vintage stuff.  Congrats to those who did well, and especially those representing the NE.  I'm glad that shops didn't win because I never want them to; however, I would have still preferred to see Mr. Forino take it down and live with the shops victory.  It seems all the interesting innovations were done in earlier parts of this year.

I think I tend to perform better in tournaments in which I use brand new sleeves.  Perhaps they make me shuffle better!

So the major thing I noticed about how I would have probably played those games, is that I likely would have kept the opening 7 in Game 2.  Perhaps I need to question my mulligan skills.  I'd hate taking the risk of mulligan to 6 and getting a one-lander or something.  If you were on the play that game, would you have kept it with Sabotage up on turn 1?

Seems interesting.  I would think that a major vulnerability in your plan is that graveyard hate definitely hurts your plan significantly more than using Oath to put Griselbrand into play.  Perhaps you might want to try Show and Tell in the board for all the decks that bring in 3 or 4 Cage and multiple Nihil Spellbombs or Crypts.  I also think that 2 Tendrils is unnecessary, especially if you're running Noxious Revival.  I would cut one of those for Blighsteel Colossus and find room for Tinker somewhere.

Yeah most likely the best way.  Even those decks go for decent money now, compared to the $10 they used to be retail.  Crazy times!  I'd play in it too.  Go go Mr. TO man.

I actually keep a 16 deck metal Rook Case with old standard and block decks and I've thought about doing this many times.  I have about 30 decks total, and was planning to get to 100 decks when EDH became popular and ruined my opportunity to finish this project at an affordable price.

Definitely a cool idea, but the possibility of theft stopped me from actually doing it.  I didn't want to loan at 8 or more decks at one time to make it happen.

I agree that is how a community is built.  My point is that the reason it hasn't happened yet in parts all over the country is because most TO's, or would-be Vintage TO's, haven't found the benefits of all that effort to be worth the gain.  And, I don't necessarily mean financial gain, but however one measures their positives whether it is more players to play with, new friends, or more dollars.  If they did, we would have seen this already.  After all, Vintage is 19 years old.

Totally agree here.  I was just trying to convey that I love the people I play Vintage with, in addition to loving the format itself.  And yes, Sol Ring represents the epitome of Magic to me as well, and I'd take it over a single Mox any day.

@aforce808:  Perhaps I'm dating myself a bit, but over the years there has been a constant trend of people complaining about TO's not giving back 100% of the prize support, or close to that amount for any given Vintage event.  This has occurred in our community more than in any other format.  I rarely hear the same proportion of comments about how $15,000 in entrance fees were collected for a $5K event, or any of these Legacy $1K events, etc.  I think people in those formats don't even think about what the TO is necessarily raking in, or their cost structure to the event, but for some reason in our small community many people do - and it hurts us.

I'm not sure if running a large BoM tournament will help us any more than some local stores running a bunch of $5 tournaments on a Sunday will, if the goal is to increase overall number of players.  If anything, I think the latter makes more of an impact in general but the existence of a large "destination" tournament with a prize other than a painting helps those newer players to aspire to compete.  So, it seems both serve their purposes.  I do think that the people that will travel across the country to participate in the large event are already dedicated to our format.

Specifically about the "gamble" of playing for bigger prizes: I'm again uncertain as to the accuracy of people preferring larger prizes, vs. smaller prizes and less entry fee.  I think the prize has to be at least somewhat substantial ($300+ card for first), but I don't know if people would rather play for a set of p9 and shell out $50-$70 plus travel.  The biggest issue here is again proxy cards.  Many people don't even care about owning the real cards, so it devalues the prize.  I can't tell you how many times I've been in events where the t4 just split and sold back to the dealer.  Nobody wanted the prizes, including winners who didn't have a complete set.  Also, while every experienced Vintage player knows our format doesn't end on the first or second turn, there are matches that are complete blowouts.  It happens.  I'm sure at least some portion of potential tournament attendees is turned off by the possibility of dropping $50 on an entrance fee and then losing the die roll to shops or mox, orchard, oath.

I've never understood why people have been so concerned with growing the Vintage format.  I'm just not sure what the endgame would be for such growth, as we've already established that there won't be any Vintage Grand Prix or higher level events, and private enterprises such as SCG have shifted their focus to other formats. 

I enjoy that the format is relatively small and the community is tight-knit (or at least it was).  I'd like to think that most of the people who enjoy playing the Vintage format really love the people they play with, just as much or if not more than the actual format itself.  If the objective is to popularize the format so that every small town has a local Vintage scene, then efforts are better made at the local level instead of through the hosting of gigantic tournaments.  It's incredibly hard to achieve this because of the obvious barriers to entry and the emotional attachments associated with Vintage that newer players are lacking.  It's much easier to get people to play and invest in Legacy or Standard because of the large cash prizes and Pro Tour glory; it's a lot harder to recreate the "experience" of Vintage in so many local scenes.  And let's face it; that's the compelling reason to play Vintage since there is no fame and fortune at stake. In order to recreate that feeling, experienced Vintage players like Nick Detwiler have had to slowly "show" newer players how awesome the format can be by hosting a ton of small events, a lot of hand holding, many proxies, and the loan of cards. 

Unfortunately, all that takes a tremendous amount of time and the cost (effort & money) has traditionally outweighed the benefits of getting more players on board.  If you want to get more people playing Vintage, make it a genuinely profitable venture for future TOs.  They will invest the time, money, and energy into setting up events so long as the same people that want to grow the community also stop complaining about prize support or entrance fees.   Proxies are a significant drawback in this department, which leads to their controversial nature.

I also echo the sentiments of those who do not wish to play online, or simply prefer face-to-face interaction.  That also emphasizes my point that playing Vintage is about the experience.

Always sad and disturbing to hear that the world was robbed of a really nice person, and at the young age of 29. 

First time I won't be going in several years.  Law school starts on August 13th.

Rainbow Vale!!!

You can bring expensive stuff, just be careful with it.  If you go to the bathroom your cards come with you.  If you sit down to play, your bag/backpack gets wrapped around your legs under the middle so nobody can open the zipper.

Sad we have to resort to such precautions. 

I'm going.

Well said.  I punted Game 3 against you in T8.  If had Doom Bladed your Lodestone in response to Metamorph instead of Draining it, our game 3 would have been very different.  Serves me right for playing once a year!  I won't make that mistake again.

Vintage 84 Players.  Standard 75 Players.  1% Control Slaver.

This tournament was a blast!  Nicely done, Nick.

I already had plans to play on The Deadweight with a bunch of people or else I would have.  It's awesome so far!

Installing it tonight. Hopefully it will be fun.

The guy that posted in salvation that only 1,000 will be released over an entire year is completely wrong.  As someone who first revealed several of the Judge foils to the secondary market, I've literally held bricks of foils before they were "released."

Are some of these cards printed on, are they copy/paste onto an existing card?

I entered a Mox tournament playing a 60 card highlander control deck and split in the finals at Hadley.  I was playing to get into the finals against a mono black deck, which was actually tough to deal with at the time.  Fortunately, I had Masticore in play with two cards in hand.  My opponent ripped Demonic Consultation, got excited, and cast it for Hymn to Tourach ultimately emptying my hand.  At the end of his turn, I tapped my Undiscovered Paradise for mana to put a regen shield on Masticore.  It returned to my hand during my untap step and I pitched on the upkeep, drew, killed his blocker and swung for the win.  Not a complicated play, but really damn cool because when has UP ever interacted like that to win a game?


At one of the Beanie Exchange tournaments about 7 or 8 years back I was playing Keeper and was getting blown out by my opponent's Library.  I had 5 lands, Mind Twist and drew an Isochron Scepter but I had been bluffing a hand full of Counterspells pretty hard.  I cast the Isochron with no targets and bluffed my way into it being countered, Twisted his hand, and went on to win the match.

This happens to me all the time.  Tons of expensive cards, uncut sheets, artwork....but virtually no commons or uncommons from the past 2 years.  I don't have any Mental Missteps, which I need to rectify shortly!