Unfortunately I can't make this because it's the weekend of GP: Orlando. If I wasn't long overdue for a visit with family in the St. Pete area I would be able to pass, but alas I cannot. It's too bad because I was really looking forward to a return to Brothers Grim, the site of two of my most glorious Vintage victories!

I'm 89% sure I have successfully recruited a new player for you though, Nick, so there's that.

Pro tip: May I suggest an official hashtag of #NYSE20 and not one with Roman numerals? I've only recently stopped getting spammed on Twitter for using roman numerals for the NYSE 10 through 19 hashtags, if you get my drift.

I will do my best to fulfill your prophecy, good sir.

While we're on the topic of picking winners, why is there no NYSE bingo?

To attempt to fill the void from a lack of bingo, let's play a little over/under with some Conspiracy hotness. Assuming Nick publishes the Top 16 decks, over/under in the Top 16:

4.5 Council's Judgment?

3.5 Dack Fayden?

2.5 Coercive Portal?

1.5 Dack's Duplicate?

0.5 Cogwork Librarian and friends ?

I'll be writing a report shortly. In the meantime check the TO reports for the last Games and Stuff event, February's TDG event, and be on the lookout for Calvin's MVPLS Invitational report.



I run 4 Elvish Spirit Guides in my build.

On the play Hierarch/DRS, go can sometimes be acceptable. If that is your plan on the draw you will likely get steamrolled. You must mulligan aggressively.

I stand by my statement that if you do not have and can't proxy power, you need to consider alternatives such as Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, and Mox Diamond. If you take my build from the Games and Stuff event and sub 4 Hierarchs for the Lotus, Emerald, Jet, and Pearl you will not do well, I assure you.

In my recent experience playing Hatebears I have found that you MUST be able to play an impactful 2 CMC hatebear on Turn 1. This means playing a Lotus and on-color Moxes (if you have them or proxies are allowed) and Elvish Spirit Guides. If you don't have power and cannot proxy it you should run one Lotus Petal and consider either Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond. The latter may not be a bad idea if you are thinking about running Life from the Loam.

'Twas a pretty miserable day for the hatebear squad. To wit:

Loss 0-2 vs. Espresso (blown out)
Loss 0-2 vs. Jace Control (blown out)
Win 2-1 vs. Oath (...though I should have lost. The pilot, whose name I am withholding to save him further embarrassment , had me dead on board if he had tutored for the right card.)
Win 2-0 vs. Affinity Shops (my only blowout on the day. Spirit of the Labyrinth and Skullclamp are not BFFs.)
Loss 0-2 vs. Metalworker Shops (blown out). I lost Game 2 to a hardcast Blightsteel Colossus wearing boots. Yeah, it was that kind of day.

I'm not a huge fan of Top 16 playoffs, because as we found out Saturday THEY TAKE FREAKING FOREVER! (Or was it just Craiggers' and Joel's fault?)

Prizes paid down to the Top 16 are cool though, for premier events such as this one, NYSE Opens, Winter/Summer opens, and so on.

Legacy at Blue Bell and Vintage at TDG on the same day... you're killing me, Smalls!

Eh I've been running pretty good lately so Vintage it is! See everybody there!

P.S. I will probably do a John's Roast Pork run the morning of. Do your research here then PM/text/Facebook/Twitter/carrier pigeon/smoke signal me your requests. (FWIW prices on the site are probably out-of-date, and I don't deal in jingles so I round up to the next dollar.)

Thanks, Paul. I forgot about that little nugget about the player eliminating you winning the tournament! And to think I sweated through the Top 4 and the finals!

+1000. You win the Internet today, sir!

I plan to write a report within the next couple of days. A quick preview: I cannot confirm or deny the veracity of GI's statement re: Paul's deck. Our Top 8 match was that quick and that dirty.

Really wished I could have spent the day with my fellow Vintage duelists instead of the 500+ Yugs duelists at the regional. Looked like much fun was had.

That's awesome! Due to some unfortunate car trouble the night before, Koresko and I missed his appearance at Mark's JOU prerelease. It will take way more than car trouble to stop us from making the Open, obviously.

Sadly I am out. I just got asked to work all day at the Yugioh regional. Say a prayer for me.

GLHF everybody!

Blargh. I have to work registration for a Yugs regional that morning, then Hornung will undoubtedly be nagging me to come to his Tres de Mayo party.

Anyway I'll have to play this one by ear.

Jimmy Rollins would look great in Yankee pinstripes! Or failing that DeSean Jackson is a free agent.

It's close. It's a few years before my time, but I've read great things about the 1966 squad. The best Yankee team of my lifetime has to be that scrappy 1990 squad, shepherded initially by the great Bucky Dent, then by the immortal Stump Merrill after Bucky could no longer handle all the awesomeness.

Was the bridesmaid last time, will accept nothing less than the bride this time.

I really hate to be That Guy, but if the seating in that church basement is as cramped as it was last year I will seriously have to   Think Twice about playing.

Sorry, I just got back from the hellhole that was GP: Richmond and this kind of stuff is fresh on my mind. To any and all TOs that read this: 4 matches to an 8-foot table is unacceptable. 3 matches to an 8-foot table and 2 matches to a 6-foot table are the maximum. If you cannot seat your expected crowd using those guidelines you need to rent more space. It really is that simple.

I plan on accounting for at least 4 of them!

Narcomoeeeeeeeeeebahhhhh?

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdac ar. I win.

(Yes, I copy/pasted that.)

Edit: It actually appears on three cards! I obviously knew about Granite Gargoyle, but the other two I did not.

http://magiccards.info/query?q=ft%3AAsmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar&v=card&s=cname

Unfortunately since there is a sportsball playoff contest being held locally Saturday night I will not be able to make this. Good luck everybody!

I will probably have zero-proxy Dr. Edge with me, in the highly unlikely* event I scrub out of the GP.

* there is a fairly likely chance of that.

I might be there with your other three Workshops, Justin.

As much as I dislike being in shopping malls during the busy holiday season, I might try to fight through the crowds at Columbia Mall to get my Vintage on.

The Guild is approximately 120 miles from my house. It is approximately 1 mile from Mark Hornung's house.

Only one of us will be there for the tournament. Guess which one.

Just registered for both. Hopefully I didn't durdle too hard and I get a playmat.

Have these playmats already been printed? Because it's a bit of a bummer that there's nothing like "Eternal Weekend 2013 Philadelphia" printed on it.

Will we be able to watch the sad-sack Eagles play the sadder-sack Giants while we play?

Worst case (or best-case?) scenario I have NFL RedZone available on my phone.

Pretty sure you chose this match just so you could say that, Mykie! Nonetheless, I chortled.

As for my most-memorable matches, I'll start with the entire Top 8 playoff from my first NYSE win. Playing (Mykie) Noble Fish, I landed Turn 1 Trygon Predators both against Raff in the semis and Ashok in the finals.

My second march through an NYSE Top 8 was no less memorable. For starters I lost Game 1 in all three matches. I was on Gro and I played Shops, Dredge, and Shops so that is fairly significant methinks. And had I not won Game 3 against Dredge it may have gone down as my worst punt ever. I managed to miss my opportunity to drop Turn 0 Leyline!

A more recent memorable match that I did not win was me playing Landstill against Andy Happymeal's wonderfully awful Mono-Blue Belcher pile. With two Pact triggers on the stack this lucksack Belches me for exactsies!

I guess this explains why somebody snatched up the playset of Golgothian Sylexes that had been collecting e-dust on the eBay store I manage for over a year now. Was it you, Proto? :p

Obviously City in a Bottle gets better against Dredge as it now no-sir's all flavors of City of Brass. But is that enough for it to warrant any sideboard space in a competitive Vintage deck? I still vote no. If enough people try anyway, City of Brass is easily replaced with Gemstone Mine, Tarnished Citadel, or some other rainbow land.

Though I don't recall this issue ever coming up in an actual tournament, I'm pretty sure proxy Bazaars would get nerfed under the old rules. At least, that would be my ruling.

Anybody from PA interested in making the trip up for this one?

I need some Vintage in my life. I'm in. I'll be arriving with Misters Kohler, Edwards, and Happymeal.

And I shall be playing a deck that very few, if any, would ever put me on...