So right now, both players draw 7, then mulligan, then 1st player skips his draw step, then 2nd player draws as normal. If, for example, we allow the 2nd player to draw two cards at his initial draw step, that may help allieviate the disadvantage of going second. Also, we could allow the 2nd player to draw 9 before mulliganning (and skip his initial draw step) so going second means you have a significantly better chance of drawing Force of Will as well as helping mulligan decisions.

Let's say you're a combo deck like Grim Long under "play or draw 2" rules. You win the die roll. Without knowing your opponent's deck, do you choose to play or draw 2? What if your deck is Gifts? Ichorid?

It seems as if going first in Vintage is a big advantage despite the fact that going second gives you an extra card. So what if the choice was play or draw 2 cards? How would this change impact Vintage? (There are several variations to this. For example, you could have the draw2 occur before mulligans.)

Great job Laurent. MD Stifle over Duress is interesting. It's much more useful in the important Goblin matchup and most every deck runs activated abilities of some sort. And of course you can just target your own Grunts as well.

No Threshold in the Top 8 seems curious to me. Was it because very few showed up or did they just get beat?

There were some creative decks in this tournament. I'm particularly interested in the UB Reanimator. The Wizards page only lists 56 cards. Do you happen to know what the missing 4 cards are?

I was talking with Anusien about the potential strength of Small Pox in BW Confidant but it never occured to me to use it with Loam. In the right deck, it's basically Sinkhole, Diabolic Edict, and Mind Peel in one card.

I totally agree about Krosan Grip. I think it's a meta defining card, because it allows aggro to combat some powerful strategies like Solitary Confinement and Worship/Mongoose.

Krosan Grip is like Disenchant with infinite REB backup. Also, in general, 1 card answer > 2+ card answer. I am not fond of siding out Goblins so I usually prefer compact answers. It would be nice if the answer card could beat down (i.e. Kami of Ancient Law) but you have plenty of beatdown already and it's simply more important that you don't auto lose to cards like Solitary Confinement with countermagic backup.

It's no more disruptive than if the dude took an extra 30 seconds to sideboard or shuffle. If you want to give the dude a game loss for delay, that's a different story. Also, from my perspective, handing out questionable game losses is a worse disruption for the game.
Well, in these cases, strategy has been revealed or affected, so I could understand a game loss at this point.

Dude presents a 59 card deck (intentionally or unintentionally), then ...
Senario 1 - Judge does a random deck check, finds that it only has 59 cards.
Senario 2 - Opponent pile shuffles and finds it has 59 cards and calls the judge.
Senario 3 - Opponent cuts the deck and gives it back. Then dude says "Wait, I just realized there's only 59 cards in it."

In all senarios, an illegal deck is presented and the possible unfair advantage is prevented. But there's a key difference to Senario 3. It is the one senario in which you can know the dude is not trying gain an unfair advantage.

To give someone a game loss for something like that is lame. He's obviously not trying to cheat. In fact, his honesty is being penalized. I have no idea what "game state" refers to, but the very first strategic decision that happens after sideboarding and choosing to play/draw is mulliganning. Presenting your deck to be shuffled and then taking it back does not reveal or affect any strategy whatsoever. I hate drastic rulings for ticky tack stuff. Two NFL teams flip a coin before kick off. "Call it in the air", but the coin falls to ground before the player calls heads or tails, game loss. Gee, that's a great ruling.

Congrats on the T8. I noticed some changes with Xantid Swarm, In the Eye of Chaos, and the single Cabal Pit. What is your opinion of those changes after playing GenCon? Also, what was your Threshold postboard plan?

i really like the proxy idea. it's good for those who want to use rare cards like reset, and it's fair to those who already own the cards bc they get more prize for the buck. also, giving people better card access would probably improve the quality of the decks. if i were running this tourney, i'd make it $1 per proxy with 8 max.

really, the whole sanctioned thing is overrated to me. i couldn't care less. i'd rather have good competition and cool prizes. alot of vintage tourneys are proxy and i don't think people think less of them.

1. What do you predict the turnout to be? 700
2. How many Force of Wills do you expect to see in the Top 8? 12 1 point
3. How many Wastelands in the Top 8? 16
4. In the top 8, what will be the most popular:
a. Blue card: Brainstorm 2 points
b. White card: Swords to Plowshares 2 points
c. Green card: Werebear 2 points
d. Red card: Red Elemental Blast
e. Black card: Duress
f. Gold card: Meddling Mage 2 points
g. artifact: Pithing Needle 2 points
h. non-land card (most popular of 4a-g): Pithing Needle
5. What's going to be the highest placing combination deck? Salvage Game 2 points
6. What's the most common basic land type in the Top 8? Mountain
7. What's the most common dual land in the Top 8? Tropical Island 2 points
8. Goblins in the T8? Yes 1 point
9. Flame Vault in the T8? No 1 point
10. Threshold (UWG) in the T8? Yes 1 point
11. Threshold (URG) in the T8? Yes 1 point
12. Survival.dec in the T8? No
13. High Tide in the T8? No 1 point
14. Landstill in the T8? No
15. BW Deadguy Ale (Disruption) in the T8? Yes

BONUS
16. Goblins will take first place.
17. Who will win: Pro or Not
18. The winner will be from France.
19. The winner will be: Gabriel Nassif.

Total: 20 points