Oh no! I will not arrive in SF until mid-Feb. Alas.

You wouldn't consider running 61, or cutting a ruin or off coloured mox?

How about a Razormane Masticore in place of a Wurmcoil?

No lotus?

I should be able to make it down next year. The timing for me this year was a bit off with a five week old baby.

It is good to see Luke take down an event with his list. I know that he has gotten close quite a few times.

Very few copies of Treasure Cruise in the top 8. There wasn't much storm at all. No oath decks made it into top 8 (after taking the event down last year). Interesting...

Right before the event started, I was talking to Nick Chmielewski, who commented that anyone who wanted to win the prize would be playing shops. I told him that I only knew of one shops deck in the room. When he suggested that I was playing shops, I responded with: when have you ever seen me not playing blue with the vault/key combo?

During the players meeting, the head judge Alan Peng, announced the use of the play/draw rule for the top 8. Then muttered under his breath, so beware of any mud players. I burst out laughing, then needed to explain to most of the players around me, who had not quite heard/understood what he said.

Round 1 (2-0), I played Ben. Game 1, he cast no spells. Game 2 he played two moxen, that were eaten by a Karn.

Round 2 (2-0), I played Brett. See round 1. I think he cast a time vault at some point, but was forced to sack it to a smokestack.

Round 3 (2-0), I played Shane. The highlight here, was shane demonic consultation'ing for a force of will, to counter a chalice. It was countered. I then played another one.

Round 4 (id), I played Nick. We ended up playing three games (one pre-board, two post-board). I won 3-0. In the first match, I was on 3 life with four lodestones and a karn, against 6 young pyromancer tokens.

Round 5 (2-1), I play Luke. Luke took the one game off me for the tournament. Clique beatdown.

Quarterfinals (2-0), I played Karl. I made a hug misplay game 1, and I do not think that I deserved to win game 1. An oath resolved but revealed a Griselbrand fourth card from the bottom. Karl was on 3, and I had 7 spirits, and a revoker. He was not able to get there. Game 2, Karn once again did his thing.

Semifinals (2-0), I played Nick again. Crucible + stripmine. Both games.

Finals (2-0), I played Luke once again. Game 1 was very close. Clique beatdowns, until a smokestack cleared his board. A revoker was able to slow roll. Game 2 was also close, but a recurring wurmcoil was able to keep me afloat long enough to overwhelm him. A triskelion sealed the deal.

A status update for the Sydney Vintage League

Round 3
Francis (bomberman) defeated Simon (grixis) 2-0
Robert (espresso) defeated Eugene (belcherless belcher) 2-1
Benjamin (bomberman) defeated Thomas (burning long) 0-2
Dion (mud) defeated Ben Jordan (dredge) 2-1
Adam (wbg junk) defeated Will (rug delver) 2-0
Graham (cobra gush) defeated Luke (regrowth gush) 2-1

Round 4
Robert (espresso) defeated Francis (bomberman) 2-0
Thomas (burning long) defeated Ben Jordan (dredge) 2-0
Graham (cobra gush) defeated Will (rug delver) 2-0
Benjamin (bomberman) defeated Adam (wbg junk) 2-0
Simon (mud) defeated Eugene (belcherless belcher) 2-0
Luke (regrowth gush) defeated Dion (blue belcher) 2-0

So at the end of round 4, we have: Robert on 8; Francis, Thomas, Luke, Benjamin, and Graham on 6; Dion, Simon, and Adam on 4; Will and Ben Jordan on 2; and Eugene on 1.

Hello, my name is Robert, and I am not an alcoholic.

I first started playing magic many years ago - when The Dark was released in Australia. I played for several years, then packed away my cards for a good long time. Nearly fifteen years later, after the release of Worldwake, I started playing once more.

The vintage scene in Sydney is pretty quiet, with maybe 10 sets of power floating around. In the last 6 months, the number of players has started to increase again with a number of vintage events being organised (both sanctioned and unsanctioned). Typically, when there is vintage in Sydney, I will be involved. I am currently helping to run a 75 card proxy vintage league (with a Mox Emerald as the prize), and have just helped put together another event in early June with a Time Vault up for grabs.

When it comes to playing, I'm a little spoilt for choice, I own most of what I want to own (i.e. nothing much in white, or dredge related, but pretty much everything else). I have two sets of power: a completed unlimited set, and a nearly complete alpha set. Normally I play something blue, although recently I have been playing a lot of MUD.

Will had the best play: triggering Oath, while his opponent had no creatures in play. After revealing half of his deck, he scooped.