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1  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: Major Rules Changes Announced!!! on: June 12, 2009, 10:15:24 am
I'm certain many of you haven't played around with the new rules for very long and are just knee-jerking off your opinions!

Seriously, there are still a lot of complicated interactions within the game and this mild dumbing down of the game, if you feel that way, isn't
going to ruin your enjoyment of the game. The game overall at this point in it's development is much more complicated due to complexity creep than 15 years ago and so removing some largely irrelevant and marginally interesting aspects is a good move.

Due to the huge number of cards in the game, what will happen to the nerfed cards that have suddenly become unplayable will now be replaced with another card out of the many hundreds that are available. There are some new constraints placed on making your decks and that's not a big deal at all. In fact, it's a new and interesting challenge which is one of the main reasons to play this game.

The game is still fun, interesting and challenging with the new rules. Give them a chance, you just might find that you like them better than pre-M10 rules.
2  Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: Major Rules Changes Announced!!! on: June 11, 2009, 10:42:01 am
The new changes aren't perfect, but overall are going to be positive for the game. In my estimation it's better to have a game that thrives for another 10 years versus a game that is 10% more to my liking. This statement comes from a player who played only Gifts and Doomsday in Vintage, has two new casual decks he was intending to play later this month in multi-player that use not only Master Transmuter, but Research // Development as well. I made a silly deck that cascades into R//D ( which is one of my favorite cards; woe to my 2x foil japanese versions that have just reached zero playability ) that I will have to scrap.

I'll just have to find some new favorite cards and mechanics to play with. *shrug*

I really hope they end up making a new R//D that's playable. I think there should be a way of getting cards from every zone, and I'm sure WotC and most players would agree.

R.I.P.
Doomsday.dec
Gifts.dec
Master Transmuter being able to be broken
Research // Development being playable...
3  Eternal Formats / Miscellaneous / Re: So Few Insane Plays - The Vintage Apocalypse: Demolition Slated For 6/20/08 on: July 07, 2008, 05:49:00 am
Would it be possible to unrestrict Gifts after all of this mess? It feels like it's just not broken enough to be restricted at this point. Similar to how Gush was taken off the list ( akin to a rotation almost ) perhaps it's time for Gifts to 'rotate back in' to Type I again. With all the current restrictions, it's time for the 4cc spells of Gifts and FoF to come off the list, IMO. That doesn't feel as big a mistake as bringing back Gush was ( which really didn't bother me much )

I could be missing some very strong point for Gifts current need to be restricted and would love to hear it.

Cheers,

VS
4  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: [Report] Untouchables Triple Power Tournament, 7/7/07 on: July 11, 2007, 10:33:48 pm
I hate to just chime in with a short blurb, but the opinion that Flash is the only "autolose" deck if it fails to combo out due to the use of Pacts, doesn't take into account Doomsday combo.
While it's possible to hold on for a turn or two or even win in some rare cases, usually you will lose to not being able to draw a card.
 
5  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Eudemonia P9 Sapphire GushStanza! Flash/Gat Split! on: July 11, 2007, 06:01:40 am
OMG. Spent 3 hours writing a tournament report, then my comp spontaneously shuts down due to overheating I presume. *Crosses fingers and hopes that Russian hackers aren't controlling my machine.*

So, the super condensed report and secret 60th card in my decklist coming up.


Round 1.  Jeff (Fob) playing FLA..

0-2-0 / 0-1

Round 2.  Austin/Junior playing (Bomberman with Dyrads/Tog?)

Game 1. I combo out.

Game 2. I punt the win and pitch my Mind's Desire to Force his Ancestral.

Game 3. We ID because Austin is a good man!

Quick breakdown. Nick "Belcher in top loaders" Weed drops my match slip over my Mind's Desire without my noticing it. Literally, directly parallel with the card so it's no longer viewable.
I shuffle up for game three, jockey a bit and know that Austin can't disrupt my combo, then cast Big Dooms and make the uber basic DDay pile of:

Ancestral Recall
Black Lotus
Dark Ritual
Mind's Desire
Research//Development

Where the poopie pants is my Mind's Desire? After a minute of searching my deck, lap (ala Mike Long) and floor, I see a card underneath the result slip and have a Crying Game moment.

Austin is a real fine fellow and suggests that we draw. I initially wanted to say, no these are the rules and I gotta take my lumps, but I thought about being in his shoes and what would I
do if I were him... [Dream sequence] My opponent is about to combo me out and then discovers that his Tendrils was left on the table, under a piece of paper that someone else tossed on the table while
you weren't paying attention. In a situation like that in the second round against someone you like. I can't say "Those are the breaks". Playing Devil's Advocate, there is an obvious though
small advantage of having a 59 card deck (In my case it would be a 56 card deck because of 3 Street Wraith, heh) that gets to still play with the usually dead card Mind's Desire. Austin knew
I wasn't running that cheat because he was sitting across from me and saw that it wasn't my intention for Nick to cover my card. Yeah, ultimately it's my responsibility to keep track of my cards.

1-3-1 / 1-1

Round 3.

NATE! (GAT)

Nate and I test here and there so we know this matchup and it favors me.

Game 1. I combo out

Game 2. He Tormod's Crypteded..ed me for about 20 cards and thus I had to make a difficult pile for Doomsday. It was made infi more difficult because Nick "Just pwned Vince a minute ago" Weed
is sitting next to me and Belching out loud (He is playing Belcher and is turning over top loaders with an annoying Clack, Clack , CLACK! and calling out the amount of damage  12, 13, 14, 15 and generally being disruptive
while my synapses are frying trying to make my Doomsday pile lethal. Nate, friend that he is, is rubbing it in as he knows that the only way he wins here is if I punt. I make the 4th down even with
several critical cards unavailable to put in my pile.

3-3-1 / 1-1-1

Round 4

Joe (GAT)

1. I combo out.

2. He has to mull to 5 and opens with Lotus Petal -> Duress -> Go.
I combo out a few turns later.

5-3-1 / 2-1-1

Round 5


Pat (FLASH no italics)

I know him from online trading sites but have never met him. We chat a bit and get real comfortable.

Game 1. Our match starts and I goof up by showing him Ritual/Lotus? and Doomsday but don't cast them. I just say go Smile. Cutting to the chase he goes for the win hoping I don't have FoW after he
Summons up Hulk from his deck. I have three cards in hand at this point and he knows that one of them is Doomsday and two unknowns. He banks on them not being Force and blue card.

Game 2. I get Leyline of the Void out and he gets me to 9 poison counters with hardcast Virulent Slivers, but I combo him out.

7-3-1 / 3-1-1

Semi-finals

Luis (GAT)

Game 1. He applies pressure with a Dryad and I'm forced to try and combo off through a mana drain. 

Game 2. The Swarm get taken out by the Force and that let's me drop the Cranium of Cards that is Necro. After I drop down to 7, Luis says, "Show me Force and some good cards"
I do.

Game 3. LSV duresses my Doomsday and I think to myself, I better not draw a Ritual or I'm going to dream about what could have been. Ritual is on top.
Next turn, Xantids let me cast my top decked Doomsday and the simple pile of AR>Lotus>Ritual>Desire>R//D wins the match.

9-4-1 / 4-1-1

Quarterfinals

Jeff (Fob) playing FLA...

Game 1. See Round 1.

Game 2. See Game 1.

Better players have told me to not run out Ancestral blindly, so when I have Force Back up I think it's a fine play to cast it on Jeff's upkeep. I figure if he has the Force, he not
only pitches protection for Flash, he might have to pitch Flash itself. Chances seem good that he can't prep his hand if he has to pitch Merchant Scroll or Mystical, Bstorm...
MisD?... Ok, fine I gotta Force that. He Forces.... kicks sand in my face and takes my Big Wheel.


60th card. Underground Sea, but it's gotta be Alpha. Don't let anyone steal it, ok? Justkiddingh

Sideboard

3 Massacre (Fish???)
4 Leyline of the Void (preferably foil, since they are more likely to come into play on the first turn and make your opponent have to take a mulligan and you start at 22 life.)
3 Xantid Swarm (did the job)
1 Threads of Disloyalty (When I sided it in, I just combo'd out instead)
1 Reseach//Development (I don't think it's necessary but it's nice to have)
1 Tendrils of Agony (I don't think it's necessary but it's nice to have)
1 Echoing Truth (Never drew it, but Flash just combo'd so fast anyway. Didn't see chalice all day either but I think more than one bounce spell at different CC is prudent)
1 Hurkyl's Recall (Stax???)

Going infi with R/D has never been necessary in my actual games.The R/D in the board only comes in handy when you
have R/D in hand and enough mana to cast Desire. It happens, I admit. But I'm not sure it's enough to warrant the slot. I don't feel Sins of the Past is necessary either. The open sideboard
slots feel more important than the crutch of having R//D and Tendrils in the board. I am not 100% certain they should be removed, but I can say for certain that they aren't 100% necessary to win.

Plan A is R/D > Tendrils kill
Plan B is Yawg> Tendrils kill
Plan C is Street Wraith beatdown kill.
Plan D is Recursive Ancestral kill.

What is Plan E?


Props:
1. Dooooooomsdaaaaaaay! The card is just a blast to play on so many levels and is so much proof that life points don't matter unless your last one is gone.

2. All of the pleasant and amusing Vintage players that come to the Eudo tournaments. The list is long.

3. Austin/Junior deserves the big ups for offering up the draw instead of making me face Judge Ryan "I am the law" Reynold's wrath.

4. Eudemonia for having the nicest area to play outside of the Louvre.

5. Fob for being my only match losses on the day. I usually have the most fun while losing and boy did I ever lose to you!!!

Slops: Top loaders.
6  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Eudemonia 2007 Time Walk Tourney Results/pics on: June 19, 2007, 12:49:20 am
Doomsday, especially at my level of skill, takes a lot of concentration. So much so, I forget about what
my opponent has on the table as I construct the "winning" pile. Since I had Cabal Ritual in hand,
Dark Ritual in the GY and Tendrils in hand with enough junk in the yard to make a lethal Will, that was my focus.

When Robert, a very pleasant and patient opponent, flashed me the Tormod's Crypt, it was like I was 5 years old,
all over again, when a neighborhood bully
took my brand new Big Wheel   Don't bother trying to Supersize the Big Wheel.


The offending Black Lotus proxy

will be deproxified and upgraded to BB Black Lotus by the Sapphire Tournament! A sharpie was nowhere to be found
as I scrambled to complete my deck before the first round started, thus the hastily scratched out proxy Tundra became the glory you see above.



7  Eternal Formats / Miscellaneous / Re: [Premium Article] Eternal Potpouri - Doomsday on: June 12, 2007, 08:57:30 pm
I don't pretend to know the rules of the game very well, but I don't think that the loop Sam101 is using works as he says.

I can't get very technical in my explanation but suffice it to say that the storm copies of Mind's Desire aren't going to linger around while you cast Yawgmoth's Will. When you don't have any cards in the library, the copies are going to become countered.

It seems there is a way to go infi with Sins of the Past, but not as outlined here exactly.
8  Eternal Formats / Miscellaneous / Re: [Article] Analysis of the Restriction of Gifts and Restriction Policy Genera on: June 08, 2007, 05:54:58 pm
A lot of food for thought in this thread.

Originally I wanted to comment on many of the fallacious arguments, but I found myself spending way too much time doing so. It's difficult making sure you aren't using any specious arguments yourself. (If I'm guilty, accept my apology in advance)

The one comment that I am going to make, hopefully, is the DCI waited this long, couldn't they wait another three months to see how things went? To elaborate on Pyromasta's earlier point -

Quote
However, since they let it go for a while, they should have continued to let it go and:
1) waited to see in the next 3 months what Ichorid, Flash, and Gush do to the environment
2) Taken some data from major tournaments (which Steve points out haven't occured in a while)
3) Then taken a hard look at Gifts if it turns out to still be ridiculous. 

It doesn't follow that you restrict something based on past transgressions when the environment is no longer the same. Cards that were once busted, Mind Twist for example, were busted because of the environment/card pool available. If the tools aren't available to combat a strategy then the right thing to do is to restrict the card, but when the tools/environment are such that the card is containable, there isn't a need for restriction.

A card like Aven Mindcensor is made, which clearly hoses the card Gifts Ungiven, and the DCI doesn't even give the card a chance to do it's job. Rosewater has said that they don't make the decks for us, they make the tools. It feels like waiting in line at the drug store to buy condoms but by the time you get back home, your booty call is no longer in the mood... Or s/he's a post-op, or what have you.



In case the analogy/comparison is lost on anyone.

Condoms : ( New Metagame | B/R list | Aven Mindcensor) :: Booty Call : Playing against 3-4x Gifts.dec


The DCI shouldn't try standup comedy because they have baaaaad....









Timing.
9  Eternal Formats / Global Vintage Tournament Reports and Results / Re: Ongoing GenCon Vintage Results on: August 22, 2006, 01:53:01 am
In the interest of getting the video on the net, may I suggest these options.

1. Going to your local consumer electronics place and picking up a firewire add-on card for a day then
returning it for your money back.

2. Stopping by a friends place and using his firewire equipped computer to download the vid from your
camcorder or whatever your video source may be.

3. You could try loading it into a computer at school or work that has firewire capability.

4. Sending the tape (Hi8? DV?) to someone you know and trust to make the conversion for you.

After it is converted into some nicely compressed format, how about putting it up on Youtube for
all to easily view?

I hope these suggestions weren't too obvious.
10  Eternal Formats / Miscellaneous / Re: Starting Gifts Hand on: July 25, 2006, 03:17:23 pm
You should search up some of the earlier threads on gifts decks. There is a lot to learn.

Basically there is no catch all pile to get. It's almost always dependent on what you need to do at the time and what cards you have
in hand and in the GY, and in play.... and your opponents board position... and the  possible cards they have in hand.
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