I've been thinking about this for a while.  I'm wondering if this might be the deck that wants to play with leyline of anticipation.  I love the thought of winning in response to the sphere...  I haven't tested it yet, though.  It might be nothing more than a nifty parlour trick.

I'm definitely there.

I understand that maybe the fact that it was sanctioned was part of the problem.  But the player count for the proxy events has also been dwindling.  I'm wondering if the vintage crowd here is just fading...  I hate to think that this is the case, because I really like the format, and I love living somewhere with a vibrant community, but I really am starting to wonder.  We get a solid 10 people for our weekly Thursday night games.

I'm with Carl here.  I'd really like to know what people would want to see out of a tournament.  Clearly what he's been running is not it.  Is there something Carl could do to get people showing up?  Should I just resign myself to playing with the same 10 people?  I like those 10, so I'm okay with that, but I used to think that we could get upwards of 30 people for a tournament.  Come on, guys, let's set down the specs for the tournaments we'd like to see.

Here's my list:
I like monthly or so.
Saturday vs. Sunday doesn't matter.
$10-20 is a fine entry fee.
I have the cards I need, so I don't need proxies, but I'm totally okay with proxy tournaments.
I want a TO who actually values the tournament.

I think that list satisfies my requirements.  What are others' thoughts?

I can't make this one.  Y'all have a great time without me.

You forgot a SLOPS:

Slops to Ramses for failing to take his time walk turn Game 1 Round 1 and not noticing until it was TOTALLY irreparable!

Some of you are confusing intent with side effect.  The entire PURPOSE of the combat change was to eliminate the stack with regards to combat damage.  The fact that creatures not on the battlefield no longer deal damage is a side effect of this change.  It doesn't make any sense to come up with other ways this effect could have been accomplished.  This effect wasn't their goal.

Overall I think I approve.  It removes some combat tricks we used to use, and consequently makes some cards slightly less good, but the competitive players will learn to cope.  And every time I try using these tricks in semi-casual environments, I spend five minutes explaining to my opponent why this works.  I think it makes things a little cleaner when dealing with people who don't have the rule book memorized, and those who do will still know what's going on.  I admit that I really miss morphling tricks...

I remember whining in 6ed, complaining that they were ruining our game.  And now I believe that the vast majority of the 6ed rule changes were quite positive.  I'm willing to give WotC the benefit of the doubt here.

I can't start a new topic in this board, so I guess I'll piggy-back on this one.  Here's my Tournament Report from the Boulder Mox Jet Tournament.  2nd Place with Bomberman.

Here's the deck I ran:

1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Repeal
2 Negate
4 Mystic Remora
1 Time Walk
2 Augury Adept
3 Trinket Mage
3 Auriok Salvagers
3 Aven Mindsensoor
2 Misdirection
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Tundra

Sideboard:
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tinker
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Serenity
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Stifle
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Rebuild

Round 1: Kyle -- Elves
Kyle is one of the regulars at Black Gold, so I'm very used to playing with him.  He usually plays Elves, and I'm guessing  that he will have just proxied up a couple pieces of power and stick with his regular deck.
Game 1:
He leads with Llanower Elves, confirming my guess.  He proceeds to play a bunch of elves while I set up the recurring bombs.  I combo out when he has lethal on the field.
Game 2:
My opening grip includes salvagers, lotus, and trinkets.  He plays a couple elves, and I combo off.

Round 2:  Lou -- Ad Nauseam
I always look forward to playing Lou at these events.  We always seem to play, and they're always good games.  It's kind of a friendly rivalry.  I'm guessing he's on some kind of storm deck.  Probably Ad Nauseam, which is good for me.  Playtesting has shown that to be very much in my favor.
Game 1:
I resolve an early Augury Adept and start the beats.  He's at around 10 life when he casts Mystical Tutor and I respond with Aven Mindcensor.  He asks if he can fail to find, I tell him that he can, and he does.  The bird and adept finish it.
Game 2:
I get an early Sensei's Top out, and I think also a remora.  What I really remember about this game is that I have things more or less in hand, and have the combo in my hand.  He casts Thoughtseize, which I Misdirect and see that the only business spell in his hand is Demonic Tutor.  I'm holding Mindcensor, Lotus, Salvagers, Trinket Mage, and Mana Drain.  When he casts his Demonic Tutor, I make a colossal play mistake and respond with the Mindcensor instead of Drain.  If I drain Demonic, I win.  Instead he demonics into Ancestral which gives him a dark rit and a tendrils, and he pulls it out.  At some place in here, I also see that he's boarded in Oath of Druids.
Game 3:
We both do some more sideboarding, as I prepare for Oath as well as Tendrils.  I have the combo pretty early if I can survive the first couple turns.  I remember allowing an Oath to resolve knowing that I'm playing combo this game, and not fish.  Trinket Mage finds the Lotus into Salvagers and another Trinket Mage.  After a lot of trash talking Lou concedes.

Round 3:  Carl -- Ad Nauseam
So now I get matched against my teammate.  I know Carl's on AN.  This is still in my favor.
Game 1:
My notes for this game are sketchy.  He cracks a Polluted Delta, casts duress and takes my Remora.  An early Ad Nauseam knocks my lights out.  So it goes.
Game 2:
I get an early Trinket and cast Chalice set to 1.  A second mage joins the first, and I start the beats.  He casts a couple small tendrils along the way, but chalice keeps them from being lethal.  Mindcensor joins the magi of Trinkets and my team of men bring it home for me.
Game 3:
Carl opens with Lotus, casts Ponder which I allow.  He then casts Mystical Tutor.  We have a discussion about the order of these two spells and we both agree that he should have tutored first.  I was holding Force, so I don't know how the game would have gone if he'd played it right.  Anyway, he proceeds to burn for 1, and not drop a land.  I set an early chalice to 1 which pretty much seals the deal for me.

Round 4/5:  I don't remember who I get paired agianst, but I double ID into the Top 8.

Top 8:  Misty -- Doran Beats
Misty has come to many of these events, and she usually plays BG Beats with Goyf and Root Maze.  Having not seen any of her games, I'm guessing she's on the same thing.
Game 1:  She drops a turn 2 Ethersworn Canonist.  I'm not too concerned about the Canonist, as I thought about playing them, so I let it go.  Pretty soon a handful of other guys join the fray, and I find myself being trampled.
Game 2:  I get out an early Augury Adept and use my creature hate/counterspells to keep the adept going.  She Seeks out DSC and gains 11 life.  I continue my beats.  She seeks 2 more times in this game hitting Auriok Salvagers.  I resolve a couple more guys, and the card advantage of the adept allows me to keep her creatures off the table.
Game 3:  The game starts much like game 2.  I get the adept down, she seeks out the DSC.  Adept reveals Trinket Mage and then Salvagers, and I combo off.  We shake hands and I congratulate her on her first top 8.

Top 4:  Sean -- Dredge
I really don't know what Sean's playing, but for some reason I think it involves Mana Drain.   I'm guessing maybe Tez.
Game 1:  I keep a hand that looks pretty decent if he's on Tez.  He plays first and drops Bazaar.  I look at it amazed.  I misjudged that one badly.  He starts dredging and I succumb quickly to the dead men.
Game 2:  The only mana in my opening grip was mox pearl, but I had Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle.  I drop both and he drops Dryad Arbor.  He proceeds to start beating with his ambling terrain while I wait to draw some mana.  Eventually I get a couple mana, drain an Unmask and turn it into a Salvagers.  Once I demonstrate that I can use Tormod's Crypt every turn, he concedes.
Game 3:  Very uneventful.  He mulligans to 1 without hitting a Bazaar or a Serum Powder.  I lead with a crypt.  A needle follows quickly, and eventually I find some men to actually win it for me.

Finals:  Travis --  Bob Nauseam
We discuss a split, but can't figure out a good way to split it.  We decide to play.  I feel pretty good about it, knowing he's playing Ad Nauseam combo.
Game 1:  He drops an early bob.  Bob beats me for a bit, while revealing Mox, Dark Rit, and Tendrils.  Tendrils finishes me off.
Game 2:  I certanly make a couple play mistakes here.  It's 8:30, and I'm just ready to be done.  I keep a very suspect hand, and proceed to play it badly.  I go turn 1 Lotus, Augury Adept, land, pass.  I look down at my hand as he's drawing, and realize that I forgot to play my Mystic Remora.  I'm now holding nothing as he bounces my adept, and drops a turn 1 bob.  Failure to draw a third mana does me in as Bob beats me down.
I haven't playtested against this deck with Bobs, so maybe it was just bad luck, but usually when playing against Ad Nauseam, I feel like I'm playing the entire game on the edge, but I always feel like I'm on top.  Here, the Bobs quickly had me off balance, and I was playing the whole game from behind.  Good job, Travis.

I took a deck that I expected to do well against Ad Nauseam and Tez.  I didn't see Tez all day, but it performed pretty much as expected against Ad Nauseam.  So I walked away with a Grim Tutor.  I liked the way the deck ran, and I loved Mystic Remora all day.