I think Nick's idea is great.  Anything that makes The Mana Drain a more go-to place for that important and exciting aspect of Vintage would further cement the site's centrality to the format. 

Great job on the event, Rich.  I think an Academy-friendly mana base is important to augment the Jace plan and the hardcast monster plan.  I'm not sure what the best way to achieve that is without the toys of Auriok slotting so conveniently into the Academy-pumper role. 

The card See Beyond is very reasonable for shuffling monsters back into the library. 

Congratulations, Princess Power.  I'm glad to see Mentor still on top. 

"Hello, I'm still seeing play."

That's a reasonable suggestion for something with a singleton Stony Silence or Rest in Peace, but for this list there are 3 Grudges post-sb and the mana base is structured in a way to comfortably support four colors (really just a blue cake with three different shades of icing), but not five.  It's a draw-lots-of-cards deck that crafts solutions to problems as they come along.  There's nothing a Dragonlord and his tools can't handle.  

Against Belcher, Ancient Grudge is the type of card that allows you to win games that you did not lose to a Turn 1 nut draw.  Afterwards, you need to clean up the mess because "trying to Force of Will everything" is not a sustainable strategy.  The reason artifact removal works is because it allows you to capitalize on the supreme card disadvantage of its burst mana and interdependent mana base.  I prefer my Belcher opponents to be incapacitated rather than letting them expand and regroup without interference after an initial assault.  It bears noting that destroying a Belcher that was tossed onto the battlefield without mana to activate is pretty good as well.  

Before Champs, I tested this match up extensively.  The Gush list was better than the Oath of Druids list for that specific match up.  The Gush list, from which current Sylvan builds spring, was a nightmare match for my opponent precisely because of the Grudges that prevented him from doing anything meaningful.  Naturally, playing a deck without countermagic and draw that crutched too heavily on removal is not a good strategy.  But the Gush decks with Ancient Grudge provide a context where Grudge itself shines so brightly; its power is not being overstated or exaggerated at all.  Stephen's match against Randy illustrated this very nicely last night.  

Your views are appreciated but the conclusions many of us have reached on Ancient Grudge have a strong experiential and practical basis.  It was not hot air or random theory crafting.  

Most of the time against Belcher, you win by stopping their major play and then annihilating their mana base.  Matt was correct; Ancient Grudge is an all star in that match-up.  And nothing replaces it against Shops.  It is bar-none the best hate there. 

Tutors are better suited to things that proactively advance your game plan.  It's far less impressive to tutor for Flusterstorm or other situational answers than it is to Tutor up Yawgmoth's Will or Tinker. 

The metagame is heavily influenced by Northeastern U.S. Paper Vintage.  Whatever fanciful recreations people enjoy on MODO with their Dark Petitions still doesn't fly here since it skews too heavily towards Shops and likely will for the foreseeable future.   

GI, it sounds like you'd prefer to play something more like an orthodox Grixis Control list.  What I hear in your posts is "Hurkyl's the Shop player, then Demonic Tutor for Tinker."  It's possible that this strategy is still viable and its lack of prominence is simply a function of player subjectivity.  That being said, it's a very different beast from Sylvan Gush control.  As for nomenclature, neither Rich nor I can declare that anyone running a list in this genre be name it X, Y, or Z.  Some may consider that a good thing, as with me at the helm, it could end up being "Ojutai's Family Portrait,  2016."   

Ivory Tower is too narrow, slow, and doesn't generate an obscenely broken amount of life.  The Student of Ojutai was being tested in a fun variant of this list that had Tinker and Alhammarret's Archive in it.  That was for a holiday event and wasn't designed for high level competitive play.  The Student was however better than I thought it would be, FWIW. 

Thank you rikter, I appreciate the input. 

I think the Turn 1 Sylvan on the play is better than Library of Alexandria because Tezzeret decks are well equipped to force serious-consequences interaction on their first turn which will keep you off Library indefinitely.  Additionally, since this is a Gush deck, playing Islands first enables us to reach the point where we can reactivate Library with a subsequent Gush.  Sylvan with Force back up is better in my estimation than Library of Alexandria at 6 cards in hand.  

The Mana Crypt play was entirely reasonable.  I take some credit (blame) for that because I emphasized to Rich before the match how dangerous Sol Ring and Mana Crypt are.  There's nothing remotely innocuous about them when playing against a Thirst/Thoughtcast deck.  I won my Top 8 match at EE3 by blind Force of Willing my Painter opponent's Turn 1 Sol Ring.  This is especially defensible if you have Sylvan in play to refuel as Rich did.  Part of the reason that game went downhill for Rich was because it turned out to be the exceptionally rare circumstance where the opponent had exactly -both- Mana Crypt and Sol Ring.  These Thirst decks differ from the Grixis control decks we're accustomed to when facing what we generally regard as Big Blue.  Those decks are much less reliant on those two accelerants.  However, if you go through the sample hands of your average Thirst deck, you will notice a curious pattern that the hands with Sol Ring and Mana Crypt are downright amazing if the accerant in question resolves and utterly dysfunctional if it does not.  Once your opponent starts Thirsting and Thoughtcasting right out of the gates, you're guaranteed to fall far behind.  Stopping the Sol Ring is more often than not the most economical choice.  Being able to stop that massive threat enabler and immediately refuel with Sylvan the following turn makes it very justifiable and a good play.  

That said, I would have gorged in the Library the following turn because as you correctly point out, decks like Tezzeret and Oath of Druids essentially have no way of punishing you for doing so.  


I've been very happy with 1 Jace, 1 Ojutai, 1 Dack Fayden, and 2 Mentors (at most).  Are you running the 4C version or just Bant?  

This is the most recent list I ran in an event:

Brian Kelly
4C Sylvan Mentor

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
4 Gush
2 Sylvan Library
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Seeker of the Way
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Dig Through Time
1 Fire // Ice
1 Repeal
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dack Fayden
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Time Walk
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria

Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Containment Priest
2 Rest in Peace
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Steel Sabotage
2 Nature's Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Slice and Dice

The decklist is from the Underground Vintage Masters event, which was an invite-event in Long Island, NY with 16 players and an entry fee that not only covered the extraordinary prize pool, but also some incredibly good home-made Italian cuisine.  The prizes were 1. Mishra's Workshop, 2. Bazaar of Baghdad, 3. Library of Alexandria, 4. Volcanic Island.  I beat UW Landstill, Dragon/Mentor Transform, and Oath of Druids in the swiss, then ID-ed with Oath of Druids, and then entered a Top 4 that was "Sylvan Mentor, Oath of Druids (Salvager-Dromoka), Oath of Druids (Griselbrand), Oath of Druids (Griselbrand)."  An interesting takeaway was that in this handpicked field of many gifted and excellent players, every deck playing a 2-casting cost green enchantment ascended to the Top 4.  The same was true for every deck running a Dragonlord.  I defeated two other Oath decks in the Top 4 (one game which required the painful act of Jace-bouncing a Dromoka and attacking for lethal) and brought home the Workshop.  

The list is very similar to the one I ran that appeared in the finals along with Matt Murray's influential "Baby Jace" Mentor at EE3 and also the first place list from November's TPG event.  A few changes since then involved numbers tweaking.  Concerning the lists' iconic draconian figureheads, I've played with conjugations of Dromoka main, Dromoka sideboard, no Dromoka, Ojutai main, and no Ojutai (he's never been in the sideboard).  Right now, because of the increase in Storm decks and the rise of Swords to Plowshares over Lightning Bolt/Abrupt Decay decks, Dromoka is peacefully nesting in Tarkir and has appointed Ojutai to navigate this particular metagame until the weather accommodates her inevitable return.  Matt summarized the reasons why Ojutai is preferred in this climate for the time being.

Rich's list from VSL4 Trimester 1 is very similar to the above list, differing in only that it contained slight variations on a few identical tactics, including Fastbond instead of Mana Crypt for speed, 3 Preordain/2 Probe instead of 3 Probe/2 Preordain, 2 Verdicts over 1 Verdict and 1 Slice & Dice in the board for mass removal, and he enjoys Swords to Plowshares maindeck while I prefer Fire//Ice.  As I occasionally joke to friends, I will not be caught dead holding a Swords to Plowshares in hand while my opponent assembles Vault Key, plays Jace, or Tendrilses the living beeswax out of me.  To each their own.  

The Seeker of the Way slots very nicely here because this deck is more concerned with "not losing" than aggressively "winning."  Having too many   spells in the early game without enough protection, draw, gas, and mana is one common way to lose.  Gorging on an early Sylvan and having absolutely no way to refuel it is another.  Control decks more than any other archetype benefit from access to many different techniques and lifegain is undoubtedly an important one in this list.  The Week Two match between Rich and Chris P's Workshops illustrated how Seeker plays out in practice and it did such justice to the card, further elaboration may be moot.  I will add that my first foray into building Gush decks included several Seekers even before Monastery Mentor was printed in FRF.  Mentor was a breakthrough for that style of Gush and became a mainstay, but these Prowess friendly lists were strong IMO even with just Seekers.  Naturally, having 4 Treasure Cruises helped.  

Going forward, I wanted to address some misconceptions about the Storm match-up.  In extensive testing, this has been a neutral match-up, neither predictably bad nor good.  I can say that there is a high frequency of the phenomenon whereby each game won by either pilot is won in such a fashion that it looks like an utter blowout, regardless of who wins, which can perhaps prejudice assessments.  However, it's never clear whether the Gush control or Storm player will win until the cards unfold.  I have blown it out of the water and also been helplessly Duressed and Tendrilsed into oblivion in what generally seems to be equivalent quantities.  A spectator on one match recently said to me, "remind me never to play Storm against you.  You chained Gushes, destroyed his entire mana base with Ancient Grudge then threw down a Thalia with 3 counterspells in hand."  On the other hand, I have kept what seemed to be excellent hands and died on Turn 2.  Some guidelines for playing against Storm here:

1. Gitaxian Probe will overperform while Preordain will underperform compared to their performance in other matches.
2. By its very compositional nature, the Storm deck is more prone to mulliganing and has a much harder time piecing together what it requires for each card lost in doing so.  
3. Using your Probes, don't Waste a Force of Will on a Defense Grid unless they will definitely be able to kill you before you get up to 3 mana or have a chance to Grudge it.  Sometimes you have to Force the Grid but if you don't have to, don't do it.
4. Don't hold Moxen in hand to generate future Prowess triggers.  Always rush them out there so that they're not lost to a Timetwister or Wheel of Fortune.
5. Don't tap out to play Monastery Mentor.  And board at least 1 out.
6. Keep as much mana as possible open on their turn so that you can Flusterstorm, Brainstorm, Dig through Time, hardcast Force/Trap if needed.
7. You don't have to wait until turn 3 to Gush as might be advisable in other matches.  Playing it aggressively comes up a lot in this match.
8. Snapcaster Mage and Time Walk are exceedingly valuable.
9. If running Sensei's Divining Top, keep Flusterstorm in there so that it cannot be stripped from your hand.
10. Remember that your Ancestral Recall or Turn 1 Lotus Jace will (generally) always be resolving here.  These are the games that tend to look like blowouts of the opposite kind that were seen on MTGO.  That said, you still have to play them correctly and make important decisions at every turn.

I've been working on a list that fortifies us even more firmly against Storm should it continue to be a major presence in the metagame (its popularity has not translated as robustly to paper Vintage).  Some changes include -1 Mentor, -1 Preordain, and -1 Gush for a fourth Misstep, a maindeck Thalia, and a maindeck Grand Arbiter Augustin IV.  The objective would be to have a slightly favorable Storm matchup, up from neutral.  If things get to the point where the metagame demands something perversely favored against Storm, I would recommend developing an Esper hate-bear oriented blue deck with Canonist, Notion Thieves, and Auriok kill instead of Monastery Mentor.  

Hopefully this helps illustrate where Sylvan Mentor is today and may be in the future.  Thank you for reading,

-B

I sent the following message to Wizards thanking Elaine for this article.  I thought it was important to give direct positive feedback for something so generously performed because negative thoughts are so more frequently vocalized than positive reactions.  I debated whether or not to specify that I was the current Vintage champion, because I prefer to engage people without being full of hot air or rattling off "credentials," but I included it because I thought the message was worth giving it whatever extra weight it could have and to perform some of the implied responsibilities of a leader in our format.  The message is below:

-----

Hi,

My name is Brian Kelly, the current Vintage World Champion.  I wanted to thank Elaine Chase for her wonderful article yesterday, "On Proxies, Policy, and Communication."  Having started Magic in 1994, Vintage is the format most dear to me and the one I play most often.  Importantly, because we have a vibrant Vintage community in the Northeast, it keeps our interest in Magic itself alive.  Since returning to paper Vintage in 2013, I have attended ten prereleases and opened over a dozen boxes of new expansions that were relevant for Eternal, particularly those from Khans of Tarkir block.  Being involved in Vintage also connects me to current Magic by inspiring me to play in drafts and occasional Modern tournaments.  It is because of Vintage that I am able to enthusiastically promote the entire range Magic: the Gathering to friends and family, several of whom again will be joining me at this weekend's Oath of the Gatewatch prerelease.  Elaine's article was magnificently written and inspires continued confidence in Wizards and the Magic brand.  Best regards,

-Brian Kelly

I voted no.  I'm missing some P9's and generally use proxies for the high end stuff that I own because when I started acquiring upon returning to Vintage, I wanted them to be in NM condition.  That puts a premium on their need for safety & security.  It was bad losing a fully powered UW deck in 1996 to theft that was worth a total of maybe $1,000 max at the time (and luckily was recovered after police involvement), but that's not even 1/6th the price of an Unlimited Lotus alone in 2016.   

While I'd be able to play in sanctioned events, the problem would be worse than just culling the player base by more than half.  This is because for those of us remaining, there would be a huge disincentive to traveling to venues that typically have 30 participants when the average monthly turnout plummets to 12.  It would be a travesty to see that happen to our growing player base and TO's who have been so remarkable in building a rock solid community in the Northeast. 


There is no change to tournaments in the Northeast yet.  Voluntary changes by stores in other regions who were wrongfully terrified by the overblown theatrics of one reckless store owner may end up being reversible; more clarification from Wizards is forthcoming and the early signs are now positive. 

What's done by the way it's worded gives latitude to a store to not be "involved" when they say flat-out there is no violation for using proxies "in a tournament-like manner at the store."  If they had an issue with proxy Vintage, they would not say it's acceptable under any circumstance to play with proxies in a tournament-like manner at the store.  How would they envision it even being possible for there to be a tournament on store premises without a store being somehow "involved"?  Yet it's explicitly said to not be a violation.  To me, this again is wink, wink, yes we take our policies seriously and Vintage as usual is fine.  But people running proxy Modern and Standard and reporting it with an Event Reporter... way over the line. 

This is an important quote I believe.  Clearly states it is not a violation for people to play against one another with proxies in a "tournament-like manner" at the store.  To me, that is code for unsanctioned proxy tournaments where the store is not blatantly involved, using Event Reporter to report as though it were a sanctioned event.  That sounds like just about every Vintage tournament I've been to.   

They can't blatantly come out and say "we will not be enforcing this policy" but it's written between the lines, IMO. 

My understanding is that some foolish behavior by one store elicited a response that was intended for this specific store only and unrelated our Vintage scene.  Unfortunately, this store irresponsibly created a lot of melodrama and fear by inaccurately broadening the intended scope of the message it received, drawing unwanted attention to the discrepancy between boilerplate official policy and the "wink, wink" ethos of non-enforcement with respect to the Vintage.  There is no evidence that Wizards is actively on a witch hunt or has any desire to disrupt the status quo.  Repeated inquiries elicited general corporate nonspeak that purports to protect IP.  My instinct tells me they would prefer to not be forced into answering such questions and absent an edict to the contrary, I believe they'd prefer allow the status quo to proceed as usual for Vintage.  Proxied Modern tournaments on the other hand are another issue entirely. 

Great compilation.  I was thrilled to see two Dragonlords listed.  I think it may be possible to include Ojutai on the list as well now.  He's still seeing play, certainly has been doing work bringing home the treasure on my end, and is of course memorable for placing in the Top 8 of the Vintage Champs trials in one of the UW Moat decks.  Thank you for continuing to produce such detailed content for enthusiasts of Vintage. 

The store owner may have read through some fine print that hasn't really been enforced.  Vintage Proxy Events were tacitly condoned in an article in the last 12-18 months by Wizards where they highlighted the availability of proxy events for people looking to become interested in the format.  It was notable because it was a direct change from the stance circulating by them 4-5 years ago. 

Ryan is right that Ponder is better to dig for something specific.  I do also appreciate how Oath decks may get more mileage from Preordain because:

1. Due to Orchard, they lack the huge raw totals of fetchlands that allow you to shuffle away cards you wouldn't want to draw.
2. Oath of Druids decks have the largest quantity of cards that you don't ever want to draw.  It makes the lone dead draw Tinkerbot seem positively benign by contrast.
3. Knowing for sure a given card is on the bottom or second bottom of library helps insure against self milling, partcularly for those running commando style Oath (no Journey or Blessing). 

That card is unplayable but it's a much more intriguing design than the insipid overcosted junk we've been seeing in Battle for Zendikar and the Greek tragedy of the entire Theros era.  The reasons it's not playable include lack of independent utility (contrast with Pyrite Spellbomb, Voltaic Key, Forbidden Orchard or Painter's Servant), expense, requiring the turn to be passed, and the fact that it requires about 10,000,000 things to go right without dying first or being disrupted, which is a luxury we don't have in Vintage.  

Dragonlords are what bring home the treasure.  The more they are doubted, the more they win. 


Yes.  There is a blue Dromoka Mentor list that's been pretty common on MTGO and the paper Vintage tournament scene on both coasts since late October.  Check out Steve M's latest article. 


Ojutai is a house, agreed. 

On the topic at hand, it's nice to have another option in the big flying finisher category.  They all have pros and cons which means the people who benefit from their existence are us, the players, since it increases our options.  Even the Abolisher variation on the Sphinx here is quite different from Dromoka's and Grand Abolisher's (which prevents activated abilities of nonland permanents).  With Sphinx in play, your Time Vault or Tezzeret is counterable, but your Force on the counter is not.  With Dromoka, your Time Vault or Tezzeret resolves.  On the other hand, with Dromoka and Abolisher your Force during an opponent's turn can be Forced, Flustered, Blasted, etc. but with the Sphinx it cannot be.  The types of spells you're looking to resolve will be key in determining which creature to use if any.  Dromoka has been really good in various Living Wish/Academy/Tezzeret concept shell's we've been testing as has Ojutai.  By contrast, the Sphinx would only indirectly protect some of the most important spells from resolving (Sensei Top, Black Lotus, Planeswalker, Vault, Key, Trinket Mage, etc.), by sanctifying your counter-back up but not making the permanent itself uncounterable.  It gives a lot of food for thought. 

This is an extremely valuable article and service performed for the community.  I'm grateful for the dedication put into keeping a robust and healthy amount of data available for my favorite format, Vintage.  And thank you for the kind words regarding my Mentor list.  One of the sites out there I believe has the decklist wrong, and the one linked to should have -1 Tropical Island, -1 Tundra, -1 Sol Ring and +2 Volcanic Island, +1 Preordain.  I thoroughly enjoyed the article.  I also think Shawn's Erayo list is very intriguing and was glad to read about it. 

-Brian

I hadn't missed a single Bloom event since my first one in March, 2013.  This month I had a car incident on the highway that prevented me from getting there.  And unfortunately, I will be in California on January 2nd.   

Nice article, Paul!  I agree with the premise, that innovative Shop pilots looking beyond Null Rod are still making the archetype a force with which to be reckoned. 

Best Top 8 ever.  I wish I could have been there.  Congrats to Matt, Jeremy, Jon and Josh and the rest of the Top 8!

One of the main reasons Sylvan Library is so good is that the format is infested with Mental Missteps, Flusterstorm, Pyroblasts, Bolts/Plows/Paths (strikes against Jace, Vryn and Bob) and Phyrexian Revokers.  Sylvan Library is the hardest source of CA to counter, remove, and disrupt.  It's the best non-restricted card in the deck.  The only reason we don't play three or four is because it is bad in multiples and fills the deck with too many cards that we'd draw into (with Gush for instance) that are inoperable without passing the turn.  Two has been the proven sweet spot.  Hopefully that helps. 


Definitely a great call.  Rich and I were both running Aegis for some time in the sideboard.  I've always kept him on board since Tendrils-era Vintage was so traumatizing and Rich made a metagame call that was more punishing to artifact based decks than Ritual lists.  After the P9 challenge this weekend, I would not be surprised to see Aegis the holy grail of all Storm hate back in action.  That he doubles as Oath hate and gives you options against rogue strategies running Intuition/Gifts Ungiven or one of those random Vintage.Burn decks that show up somewhere every once in a while (really, they do) is icing. 

Associated Press, Sat. Dec. 5th 2015 Bloomsburg, PA: Werebear and Werecat both presumed deceased in lime colored blaze descending from the skies.  Primary suspect Dragonlord Dromoka could not be reached for comment. 

On Balance, it's something I tried early in the year for Mentor mirrors when you fall behind and Young Pyromancer matches.  Unfortunately, the conclusion I came to was that it was too unpredictable for this metagame.  Balance does so much that we try to optimize all three modes and synchronize the best possible blowout possible, including allowances made for the type of counter war predicted.  But in the Gush metagame, that draw spell throws a monkey wrench into all modes of its outcome.  You end up with unforeseen self-inflicted harm too often to consider it reliable.