Thanks for sharing your brew with us. Nice job on going 3-0. Couple questions: First, I noticed you didn't use Mindbreak Trap at all in the three matches. Was that an anomaly? If you rarely fire it off, would a couple of them be better served as something like Gitaxian Probe? Second, how have you liked the change to the Chancellors? I'm guessing it's matchup dependent. In a field of Mentors and Pyromancers, I would anticipate that the Chancellors are better than Pharaoh. Is Pharaoh for the Shops matchup? Leyline for Dredge? Finally, I'm playing in a league where my opponents see my submitted decklist a week ahead of time. I'm curious if you would run your Dredge lists with the transformation board in an environment such as mine? Does it matter if your opponent knows what may be coming? If you would run the transformational board, how would you approach games two and/or three?

Thanks again. And keep the videos coming. I really like see your games play out with your commentary.

What he said.

I don't play MtGO but I liked the analysis of the intricacies and differences in reading an opponent. I've had some interesting experiences and perspectives playing poker though. Like it was said earlier, many of the same tells apply to online poker as do MtGO.

Keep up the good work you two. I haven't missed one yet.

Great thread topic. My favorites are Lost Highway, Dazed and Confused, and Into the Wild.

I lurked on BD, was on TMD before the crash, and kept the same handle.

I can't even begin to imagine how awesome it would be to attend this event.

Congrats and good luck. I too am an educator, however I teach English at the high school level. You probably know this, but teaching is less about curriculum than it is the management of people. My advice would be to collaborate with other teachers in your department and make sure you communicate with others on strategies for motivating and managing behavior. I'm excited for you. Have fun! If you would ever like to chat teaching or Magic, PM me.

I think it's interesting you mention not foreseeing the synergy, because I predicted really strong synergy but was proven wrong during testing. I found that Probe + Therapy was strong against Control but impossible or insignificant against Shops, rather painfully might I add. I tried Diabolical Intent with Young Pyromancer, and let me say, having Demonic Tutor 2-5 in a Gush deck is the nuts against control but didn't get there against Shops. I really like the idea of using Young Pyromancer as fuel for an engine instead of the engine itself, however I'm not sure if or how that works.

I'm going to sleeve up this list and see how things work with some changes you mentioned not liking.

Great article. It was really inspirational. I find myself identifying with this article; I've recently moved to a part of the country that lacks a Vintage community, so I'll try my hand at introducing players to the format to see if I can build one from the bottom up. 

Good stuff. I laughed my way through the entire thing.

Steve, it's a bummer that things went down like they did. I understand the ruling made by the judges and think, unfortunately, they did what they had to do. To me, it sounds like you were the victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

In terms of people posting publicly made comments, you have to shrug it off. I know that some of these people are colleagues, maybe friends. Again, and unfortunately, many people feel pressured into reacting to situations for reasons other than what is in the best interest of being a decent person. If people are quick to make comments like "Steve is _______" when they don't know the what happened or even bothered to ask you what happened, in the grand scheme of things, their opinions don't matter and the people that pass judgment based on the comments of those people don't matter. The Vintage community owes a lot of gratitude to you for the work you have done to promote the game and format we love. I have been following TheManaDrain for, what 13ish years, I've seen it all. You keep doing what you are doing. There are only a handful of people that have a grasp on the format that have a voice like you do. Don't let this learning experience be something that leaves you "stunned" for too long.

How about Perilous Research and Diabolic Intent with Young Pyromancer? Along the same lines as Skullclamp, I like the idea of using Young Pyromancer as the fuel for an engine instead of a source of damage in terms of producing tokens.

Great job on the podcast. I really enjoyed the deck analysis and the interview with Paul. Keep up the good work.

Nice article and great interview.

I'm going to do my best to get to this event. I'll be coming back from vacation that Sunday. I need a vintage fix. If it turns out there is decent interest in this Vintage event, it would be nice to see the hosting store continue to support the format with future events.

Great work on the podcast gentlemen. I really enjoyed the in-depth analysis on the matches at BoM. It helps understand the matchups from perspectives I either do not understand or am unfamiliar with. My knowledge of playing with Shops is limited.

Despite how much I tend to agree with your analysis on many different topics, I'm not convinced with the reasoning on the unrestriction of LoA. I have heard both arguments, think I understand both perspectives, but am simply not convinced that unrestricting it would be safe. I do appreciate the lively discussion though; it is healthy for the game and format.

Gifts Ungiven, Intuition, and Fact or Fiction are my favorites. I love presenting, often times, lose lose propositions and watching opponents squirm.

Good stuff Steve. I enjoy reading non-strategy articles every once in a while and really enjoyed this one. Like you, I hadn't put much trout into the designing of cards. You write about designing a card for eternal without making it too good in some of the more restricted formats, the bread and butter for Wizards, Standard and Modern, but is there a way to make a card playable in those formats and still playable in Vintage/Legacy? I can't recall if Crucible of Worlds was played in Standard when it debuted. From my limited understanding of the Standard format, I suppose that a Leyline of Mephistopheles would be playable. I'm not sure about some that you suggest removing cards from the stack would be any good in Standard or Modern; I don't think the formats currently have counter wars often enough to justify deck space. I know the sets have recently moved away from reprinting and designing super efficient counter magic. They won't reprint Counterspell!

Gifts era was my favorite time to play Vintage. Gifts and Slaver variants were my two favorite decks to play. Pitch Long was another favorite to play. I thought several decks in that era had room in the main deck to really capture my play-style and still be competitive.

I like the unrestriction of Regrowth, however time will tell if that belief will remains as is. It was unexpected though. I would like to see some other cards come off the list including Balance and Flash. I don't think anything should go on the restricted list at the moment.

I look forward to reading your new content, it's always good stuff.

Nice article Brian. I would like to see some more comparison or analysis as to what makes it a good time to be playing Drains, or the perceived reason for the uptick in Drains. The top two decks look oddly similar aside from the engines. Did you end up finding out if the pilots were testing buddies?

Nice job on another podcast gentlemen. My vote is for a white, green, or red, enchantment with a ridiculous engine included. Something that isn't splashable but is easily cast in one of those three colors. The idea is to make an engine in a color that doesn't have much of one without giving a boost to blue and to a lesser extent black. I don't know if it's possible or even if it's a good idea, but I would like to see another pillar created without it being necessarily dominant. I thought the unrestriction of Gush was a step in that direction but still in the 'blue is too strong' camp. I also like the idea of an enchantment being the engine as it's less likely to be answered once resolved until the metegame makes the adjustments.

Congratulations on another win Steve. 

I don't subscribe to your premium articles, but only for one reason and it's not because I think you don't deserve the money for writing nor is it because I don't think it is worth it.  I simply do not have enough time during the school year to read, analyze, test, and therefore invest in Magic.  Come summer I plan on spending the time and perhaps money on reading articles outside of "free content."

With all that in mind, I was hoping you would be writing a report on your win.  I would like to hear about, not just you the lines you took, but also the lines you considered and did not take.  Playing a Storm deck such as Burning Long has been complicated and frustrating at times in my testing because I do not think I am aware of all the possible decisions I could be taking.  If you were to write a report it would be nice to hear about some lines you know others may take but that would not necessarily be the best.  Does that make any sense?   

An interesting and insightful analysis, thank you Brian.

One question for you though. How would you prepare for an unknown metegame? Does it matter if it isn't a particularly large tournament, one without a lot of notoriety?

I want it!

I used to have a control deck that ran Peacekeeper and Millstone and a ton of counters to protect the Peacekeeper. It was painfully slow but I loved the control element of the deck. Still to this day I have to apologize to my friends for the months I rocked that deck.

I cannot read this and idly sit by. You have completely missed the point of this thread and everything Duck has been complaining about. If you don't agree with something somebody says that is absolutely fine, I would even encourage skepticism. You, and many others, go about responding in the wrong way. You sit behind a computer and spout off thinking its better to be the first one to say "You are wrong and I'm right." Next time you disagree provide constructive criticism, provide a solution to the problem, or keep your mouth shut.

These boards have become incestious. The top players hoard their knowledge, which is a right they are entitled to, while the rest of us fight with each other about who is the quickest to call a new idea a bad one. Group think breeds stagnation folks. Diversity breeds innovation. Have you ever worked towards changing the minds of a group that thinks it already has the answers? It's nigh impossible. If you have never gone out on a limb to put yourself in the public limelight, try it and see how you like the trolls trying to make your life difficult.

I couldn't have picked a better winner of a "karma" contest than Duck. What an incredible twist of fate.

I wasn't suggesting SSG, only ESG. I see the reasoning you suggest I was curious if you had tested it. In playing aggro/control lists with Null Rod effects I have been confronted with situations where I need to resolve Null Rod to keep up the tempo but look down to see a basic Plains and two Moxes. Yikes! I know it's a paradox that this type of deck creates for itself and one of the reasons the deck is difficult to play.

Also, I wasn't suggesting Maze over Karakas, I was thinking in addition to. If there isn't anything better to side out, that's reasonable.

Storm, I'm glad you decided to post this list and spurred discussion. I think I know why you had originally withheld it, and I commend you for taking the leap.

Did you test Elvish Spirit Guide in place of Moxes? On the surface it seems to not conflict with your Stony Silences and gets under Spheres like an already resolved Mox. I can see the trade offs obviously, is it something you considered?

Deathrite Shaman vs. Noble Heirarch? Same thing here, I can see the pros and cons to both; did you test both?

If Karakas is good, or at least decent as a tool in battling Oath creatures, why wouldn't Maze of Ith? I see you were siding it out in that matchup. The Lifelink on Grislebrand is significant when you play aggro. Perhaps I'm missing something though.

Finally, I like the change in font. The format I'm indifferent to. Sometimes I get bored with TMD print.

Agreed!

What would it take to get an event poster like you have posted above?

I'm not sure this card has much application in Vintage because of the colors, however this card is a one sided Pyroclasm and Orim's Chant in for Standard.

Although I won't be able to attend this tournament I really hope Action Comics continues hosting Vintage. I recently moved to Phoenix and there is no Vintage down here. I will be willing to make the four hour drive to make these as long as work does not interfere. Good luck organizing the tournament and I hope to meet some of you in the near future.

Good read as always. Like others have mentioned we appreciate the hard work you put into the project. I hope you are compensated, both financially and intrinsically, for your contributions to Magic, Vintage, and this community.