It looks like I'm the sole 34 representative so far; although only a short 2 months until I enter the "other" open-ended category...
I started playing during Revised (early '95), and my first sanctioned event was the Alliances Pre-release (yeah back when there were only two of them worldwide).

  I wish Pandemonium Books would organize some more tournaments. They held 3 or 4 a while back spaced every few months, but I don't think they've done anything since like last August. They always drew a respectable-sized crowd and were conveniently located in metro Boston. I'd be up for scheduling something at Myriad again, but am not always able to find transportation there.

 THANK YOU WIZARDS!      Thank you for the candid and forthright clarification of the Reserved Lost policy, and for making the honorable and business-savvy decision to adhere to the promise made. This reinforces the confidence that players, consumers, and investors have in your amazing brand and patent that you have earned through many years of integrity. And thank you for not caving to the hysteria of reprinting pleas by the have-nots; that would have been a short-term cash-grab but would've irrepairably damaged the company and brand's credibility. Magic always has been and always will be a Collectible Card Game.

Steve that was a very well-written article as usual and I think it's great that WOTC is reaching out to members of the community for their input.

That said, I've been a continual avid player/collector/investor of Magic for 15 years, and as you rightly predict, am "alarmed" at the talk of abolishing the Reserve list and the company going back on their word. I love Magic as much as anyone, and am thrilled to see its success and continual growth culiminating in a 2200+ player GP, particularly since I started going to them in 1997 at the 2nd one ever. But it drives me mad that people are discussing reprinting dual lands and other reserved cards as if they're unable to find them, especially when there are literally thousands of unopened Revised packs and and old sealed product out there! (and yes available from reputable dealers who don't search them; check ebay or other stores- just 2 weeks ago I purchased 3 packs of English P3K from Star City). My friends and I enjoy treating ourselves to these packs for limited play, and in turn sell/trade the rares to circulate more into the community. And I'm proud of the collection I have which consists of 300+ boosters and 30+ starters (including 7 Revised and a Beta), and have invested in such knowing that WOTC will keep their word and never reprint select cards that can be found in them.

I support Legacy and all other format's success, but the fact is that not everyone is able to play in all those formats! There are many things I wish I could afford in life but cannot; welcome to life!  Some people's delusionary sense of self-entitlement is mind-boggling!  Instead of relying on WOTC to forsake the Reserved list which has successfully been in place for many years, people need to admit that the cards are out there if you want them. Try being more resourceful and building your collection to trade-up, or network with other playtest groups, or get a store to sponsor you. etc.  If that doesn't work, Legacy will be online within the year and Tabernacles can be had on Modo for $5 instead of $250. I fully believe Vintage's future is on Magic online as well and that Power will be available there for people that want to play, and for the format to grow/sustain.

  The bottom line is that Magic will never be "just" a card game. It has always been conceived to be a COLLECTABLE card game, and was even PATENTED as such! And the integrity of the game and company would be severely undermined if they turn their back on collectors. Chronicles wasn't pretty and I think they learned from it.

  Lastly regarding the article- that is indeed Dakkon Blackblade in the picture; and you're mistaken about the collation of the Beta rare sheet. It's not top-down but side-side rares can be together, so you can pull a Black Lotus with a Mox Emerald in a starter, but not a Lotus and Ancestrall Recall (this was mentioned in an Arcana within past few years).

  Again thank you for the consistently great quality writing!

I have no problem with $30 or more entry fees, with a cap around $50 for Vintage tournaments, as long as the prizes were commensurate. But being that I have never won a Vintage event and only infrequently top 8, I am much more attracted to tourneys with a flatter prize structure, and specifically ones that pay out to top 16 (which I recognize is rare). I recall being thrilled making top 32 of the SCG power9 Boston event and still getting paid out (granted I believe there were ~117 players w/ $30 entry and the payout was probably a booster pack or so from 17-32, but it was still something). It basically boils down to one's view of their confidence in the format and expected ROI. For a Limited event for example, which I'd consider my forte format, I could justify an entry fee up to several hundred dollars and would prefer a top-heavy payout, but for Vintage I guess I'm more of a "casual" player.

I currently own no power, but I do own a sealed Beta starter deck, so perhaps I have some and just don't know it yet. I was fully powered from ~'97-'99, and plan on reacquiring it at some point. Despite being presently powerless, I fully support the reduction/removal of proxy tournaments.

  So this card was in the world champion's 75; lends support to its viability. It's good to see some tech in the winning list.

    I do still go to and enjoy proxy Vintage events, and had fun at the ManaDrain Open this weekend (great turnout), but nonetheless would still prefer non-proxy events given the choice, despite card accessibility issues. Perhaps because I do admittedly prefer playing budget hate decks mostly, but that's the deckbuilding technique I embraced once I liquidated my power. But more than that, proxies genuinely detract from the aesthetics of the play experience, as well as worsen the ease of correctly perceiving the gamestate (it takes enough attention under normal conditions to continually monitor such things as opponent's available mana or a Goyf's p/t without having to decipher a pile of mangled Revised basic lands). I appreciate your view that the purity of being able to play the format "freely" without card access issues trumps these concerns, but I simply differ would prefer the purity of non-proxy.
   My main point is that if sanctioned non-proxy events are a proven sustainable tournament model in Europe, I see no reason why that cannot be the case and norm here in the States.

  It's great seeing direct evidence of tournament attendance increasing by disallowing proxies, because I definitely agree with the philosophy (and no I don't currently own power; sold my set a long while back). I'm hopeful that some US tourney organizer will finally step up and get the 'nads to do the same thing. As long as it's held in a sensible location with a surrounding Vintage community, I'm willing to bet it'll be a huge success and revitalize the scene. I'm not against organizers running some infrequent proxy events to serve as a gateway into the format, but I believe the vast majority of events held should be sanctioned non-proxy. This most importantly would increase the attention and support WOTC gave Vintage, because as they've stated, the primary metric that they measure a format's popularity with is the number of sanctioned events conducted each year.

 I have to agree that this explanation was underwhelming at best, and I also agree that Aaron Forsythe was much more attuned to and attentive to the Vintage format. The "Latest Developments" column is now completely devoid of Vintage content now that Devin Low writes it, whereas at least Vintage topics were sporadically covered by Forsythe, and most certainly an issue of this magnitude would have had a significant and thorough explanation given. 
  Also, I believe it was PChapin who pointed out on the other boards that this B&R decision was the first one that Erik Lauer has been in charge of. I'd like some commentary from them as to whether this represents a shift in their policy towards how they choose to restrict cards under his watch.
  Hopefully there will be some Vintage content on Wizards site over these two months preceding the Championships. That would show they truly "care what's best for the format". 

I really enjoyed this article. I found it very thorough regarding the deck's history, and very well-written concerning the card choices. The subtle digs against Gottlieb crack me up too. It will be interesting to see if these developments to the deck push it to the threshold of requiring DCI intervention (which I'm guessing would be to restrict Merchant Scroll).

Again, great job!

  Good article and report! I can't find posted anywhere how many people were in attendance though?

        If you are dissatisfied with the recent changes being made to the Pro Tour as detailed in Brian David-Marshall's article last week on Wizard's site, and/or are concerned about the impact this will have on the game's growth, I encourage you to check out mtgplayersunion.com . It is an initiative taken by Raphael Levy to form a group that acts as a liason between the community and Wizards, to effectively communicate how this affects the game's global development and oher issues. WOTC's communication policy, at best, has been sugar-coated with euphimisms and vagueries, and at worst has been deplorably deceptive. This is not some doomsaying "new card faces will ruin the game" hysteria; this is the real deal.

Excellent article Steve; I enjoyed it and your work continues to be one of the best reasons to get Star City Premium. I agree with the majority of your points: specifically unban Shaharazaad. As you said it goes against the principle of being able to play any non-ante, non-dexterity card in Vintage, and if problematic should be restricted.  Also regarding Time Vault, Mark Gottlieb's inconsistent and agenda-driven issueing of errata is a dangerous precedent to set. As far as your suggestions for unrestriction, they seem reasonable and one cannot argue with your track record on such topics.
  My only major disagreement is on the mana burn topic. I do like its small albeit important effect on the game, whether being a form of balancing the power of big mana accelerants (Rituals/Workshops/Drains,etc.), or acting as another (admittedly rare) strategic level of life total management/manipulation. Just even yesterday I found myself strategically mana-burning in an LLL draft, waiting for my opp to replay his Arbiter of Knollridge I had just bounced; or recently in a Master Ed. draft trying to maximize my Mirror Universe's impact. Other cards such as Pulse of the Fields and Pulse of the Forge reward proper utilization of this rule, and despite mana burn not being relevant for the majority of games, I believe the ones it does affect it does so in a positive way. I also disagree that it is a nonintuitive rule.

   Keep up the great work!

  So on Wizard's main site they just listed all of the planned public side events at Worlds, and there is no Vintage tournament posted? Does anyone else see this as a slap in the face to the Vintage community? In the course of a 4-day long event, billed as the biggest annual congregation of Magic players, they can't find time to run a single Vintage event (either sanctioned or nonsanctioned proxy)?? I think Grey Matter Conventions through Neutral Ground is responsible for scheduling the events, so anyone that plans on being there and is interested in playing some Vintage should petition them to arrange one. I know I plan to.

I agree that the card should not be banned. From my understanding, most people do concede the subgame strategically when  time is a factor in winning the actual game/match. If people were going to abuse the card in the way Aaron Forsythe mentions, wouldn't they have been doing it already for the past 10+ years?? It just takes away from the current spirit of Vintage that any non-ante, non-dexterity card should be legal for play.

This is excellent news! I thought there may have been a chance that they'd select you after coming in 2nd place of the Storyteller Ballot, but figured it was still a longshot. Congratulations and this is well-deserved for your dedication and expertise in promoting the Eternal formats! Furthermore it's awesome that Vintage will return as one of the Invitational formats! Things have never been looking so good as they are now for Vintage! Keep up the great work-