I remember when Zvi Mowshowitz said pretty much exactly this before the Pros vs. Vintage players contest at the Rochester Shooting Stars P9 event.  Spoiler alert:  Zvi's Pro Tour acumen enabled him to go around to TMD'ers begging for lists, and then scrub out.  I don't think the Pro Tour crowd will be bringing us any paradigm shifts anytime soon.

I have never been so glad to be out of shape. For those familiar with the area, the bombing happened at the intersection of Boylston and Exeter Streets. Two fatalities, one of whom is reported to be an 8 year old. Many more injured.

There was a third incident at JFK Library, involving an incendiary device. Local police aren't definitely connecting it to the Marathon bombing, butgiven the circumstances, it's hard not to think they're related.

A person of interest is being questioned at Brigham & Women's Hospital.

Best wishes to my fellow Vintage players and their loved ones.

Ongoing results have been a thing for years.

ELD def. DA 2-1
BILL MOTHERFUCKING COPES def. Keith Carpentier 2-0
Brassman v. Jesse Martin was in game 3 when I left.
No information on Stefan and his t8 match.

Incidentally, we all remarked on how the top 8 was pretty uniformly representative of the old guard of Vintage, despite most of us not playing competitively for years.

The death of Vintage in New England may have been slightly exaggerated. 39 players at Pandemonium. Following Swiss, we have a clean cut to Top 8:

BILL COPES: 4-0-1
ELD: 4-0-1
Brassman: 4-1-1
T00L: 4-1-1
DA: 4-1-1

Plus three others I didn't catch. Prize support is really strong through t8.

Wouldn't it be simpler to increase the range at which prizes are given out?  Say, for example, if you end up with 75 players, you could extend prize support through the t16 or something, keeping the ratio of contestants to prize-eligible finishes roughly the same.

Hi guys.

The great majority of my collection was stolen when I was in high school. The theft occurred outside my house, on school property. The cards were, obviously, mine and not my parents'. Nevertheless, my parents' homeowners' insurance covered the loss.

So, I think there might be reason to believe that it's worth pursuing a claim. Still, I would second AD's suggestion and get some evidence that you owned those cards. The destroyed cards themselves probably help somewhat. But, it might also help to get affidavits from friends attesting to the fact that they had seen those cards in your possession and can state on firsthand knowledge that you owned them at the time of the loss.  Even better, if you have records of your purchases for those cards, or if you can track down the merchants who sold them to you and get them to write out similar affidavits attesting to the fact that they sold you the cards, that will probably also help your claim.

Just to be clear, this isn't legal advice. This is just a rough analogy to what I did when faced with a similar situation. It doesn't guarantee the same result in yours.

I will second this.  The last few major tournaments offered blue duals and Force of Wills to the high finishers.  Everyone involved was quite happy with the payout on the day.

As far as guaranteed Moxes go, it's tough to do better than this. Very impressive prize support. I'm glad to see a tournament with these stakes back in the Boston area.

I continue to be amazed at the cards that some people believe to be playable in a format with Mishra's Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad, Oath of Druids, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Tinker, and Yawgmoth's Will. 

As of the time this tournament will be happening, I'll be a resident of Boston, Mass., having finally extricated myself from the 'burbs. Money isn't really a primary consideration for me; I'm more concerned with the travel and scheduling logistics. As long as I don't need to invest an inordinate amount of time traveling, I'm much more likely to attend.

Also, and relatedly, I think a bigger entrance fee/prize payout will be more effective at incentivizing people to travel longer distances to play. Traveling 6+ hours for a single Mox payout obviously isn't worth it, while the chance to win a Lotus (or more) makes the effort involved with traveling seem more worthwhile. Also, if I'm already committed to driving/flying, hotel accommodations, blocking off a weekend, etc., another $10 added to the entrance fee isn't really a big deal, especially if it generates better prizes.

Another suggestion: Offer pre-registration discounts. We've all seen the predictable ritual of a tournament being announced with a lot of lead time, generating a chorus of "OMFGHIJKLMNOP, I AM SO THERE!" from legions of posters, only to have a fraction of those who swore to be there actually show up. One way to control that problem might be to offer a 10% discount to people who pre-register (and prepay) a month or two in advance, with the understanding that the fee is absolutely non-refundable.

MoreFling - because you can never have too much fling!  Our times on TMD didn't overlap that much, but I always thought he was a standup guy.  Sad news.  We'll carry his memories forward. 

If I am not alive, zombie DA will try to shamble over to Cambridge.  So it's really a win-win.

I'm not sure where all the confusion in this thread is coming from. The rules of the game specifically provide that a player is allowed to concede at any time. GI could have conceded when the Dragon loop started, but he wasn't required to. The rules allowed GI to concede once Oona reached play.

There's nothing in the rules of the game that allows one player to insist on continuing to play after the other has conceded.

So I recently had occasion to play EDH a couple of weekends ago. It was probably my 7th time playing EDH since ever, and my 5th time playing Constructed in about a year. What struck me was the difference in the experience of playing mutliplayer EDH, when compared to my normal drafts, sealed events, or Vintage tournaments. The cognitive stress associated with competitive playing isn't there. In its place was a relaxed, low-stakes exercise in enjoying the flavor of the game. Something I hadn't had since high school.

Anyways, suffice to say I have a renewed appreciation for EDH, and with it, I want to make a renewed effort to finish my deck. After a few test runs, I've made some changes to my original list. As it stands, the list is roughly 10 cards over the limit. Since what appealed to me so much about EDH was its spirit of social, community activity, I thought I would ask the members of the TMD community for their input on my list. What cards would you cut from this? Are there any I've missed?

Mereike Ri Berit

Creatures: (27)

Keiga, the Tide Star
Bane of the Living
Tradewind Rider
Trinket Mage
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Solmen Simulacrum
Azorius Guildmage
Dimir Guildmage
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Elspeth, Knight Errant (generates tokens)
Magister Sphinx
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (generates tokens)
Temporal Adept
Mother of Runes
Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Dominating Licid
Vesuvan Doppleganger
Cryptoplasm
Clone
Duplicant
Tidehollow Strix
Weathered Wayfarer
Empress Galina
Godhead of Awe
Divinity of Pride
Sower of Temptation
Serra Ascendant

Draw/Filter: (11)

Brainstorm
Sensei's Divining Top
Night's Whisper
Thirst for Knowledge
Fact or Fiction
Blue Sun's Zenith
Rhystic Study
Concentrate
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Mystical Teachings

Counters: (10)

Counterspell
Mana Drain
Force of Will
Hinder
Desertion
Dismiss
Cryptic Command
Draining Whelk (also a creature, I guess)
Dissipate
Misdirection

Removal: (13)

Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Executioner's Capsule
Rout
Phyrexian Rebirth
Oblivion Stone
Nevinyrral's Disk
Oblation
Hallowed Burial
Vindicate
Disenchant
Dismantling Blow
Capsize

Steal Effects: (6)

Control Magic
Abduction
Legacy's Allure
Treachery
Debt of Loyalty
Reins of Power

Miscellaneous: (3)

Sword of the Ages
Thousand-Year Elixir
Mindslaver

Mana: (40)

Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Marsh Flats
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
Tundra
Underground Sea
Scrubland
Adarkar Wastes
Underground River
Caves of Kolios
Watery Grave
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Arcane Sanctum
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Kjeldoran Outpost
Thawing Glaciers
Sol Ring
Mana Vault
Talisman of Dominance
Talisman of Progress
Dimir Signet
Azorius Signet
Orzhov Signet
Darksteel Ingot
Coalition Relic
Fellwar Stone
Celestial Fountain
Creeping Tar Pit
Strip Mine
(Remainder filled out by basic lands)

To anyone who invests the time to read this old thread and look up any obscure cards here, thanks!

Do these happen reliably each week?  What's the average turnout?

So in the spirit of overreaction, word is there's supposed to be a snowstorm during this thing. Do we expect this to affect attendance?

Folks, this is a thread about Nick Coss' proposed proxy system and the community's feedback on it. It is not a thread about whether Vintage is more or less complex/challenging than other formats, nor is it a thread about the reserve list.

Let's keep the discussion on-topic so Nick can get the opinions on his idea that he's looking for.

I get what you're trying to do here, but I think it might have the unintended effect of (further) diminishing the incentive to own these cards, which account for the lion's share of prize support in Vintage tournaments, since players will always be able to proxy those specific cards and only those specific cards.

On a more personal note, I approach the issue of proxies from the opposite vantage point of many other Vintage players. I own all of the Power and most of the traditionally expensive cards. I do not try to keep up with the newer sets and the endless production of chase rares and mythics that occasionally intersect with Vintage, like Snapcaster Mage and Jace.

Owning the power cards frees up proxy slots for me that I can use to play with whatever Flavor of the Month in Standard is selling for $50 apiece. One of the primary appeals for Vintage, for me, is the ability to assemble a set of Power and then use proxy slots to get off the merry-go-round of buying, trading, collecting, and selling chase rares in the other formats. I barely have enough time in my life to keep up with the Vintage metagame; if I lost my ability to proxy mid-range cards, and was forced to once again "Collect 'em all!" to play with the cards I wanted to use, I would be significantly less likely to play Vintage.

I realize many other players might have a different perspective, but that's how I would react to such a system if it were introduced.

That is all.

Did we ever get a definitive date for this November tournament?

While the presentation might not be the best, I agree with ilpeggiore. An answer that costs 3 mana isn't going to be available to you when you need it most. Especially if Shops gets an even slightly above-average hand on the play, it's rather unlikely that you'll be able to pay for main phase 3 drops.

It's a cute idea, don't get me wrong. But in my experience, I've needed to hate to either come online before I get locked out through Spheres following a good Shops opener or hate that can pull me back from the brink if I'm falling behind. Running a Sorcery-speed 3-drop as my answer to Shops, especially in a deck like "Meandeck" Doomsday that runs so few mana sources, isn't going to solve the problems I need answers to Shops to solve.

I think it was at Waterbury VI that a crowd around my feature match pointed out the real Black Lotus in my graveyard, sitting beneath a proxied Eye of Nowhere.

There will be a response from the staff within a day or two on the issue of withholding decklists, which have historically been free content available to the community, while promoting subscription-based articles.

Brian,

What is your sense about the damage that splash hate for Dredge could do to this engine?  Obviously someone boarding in 4x Leyline of the Void isn't really going to enjoy an advantage against you, but what about someone who, like your list, runs 1 or 2 Nihil Spellbombs?  Since Dredge is enjoying a period of ascendancy in Vintage right now, I'd expect there will be a disproportionately high representation of Dredge hate in the metagame, and it might come in diverse forms, increasing the possibility of encountering other Blue decks who have the maindeck or SB tools against Dredge to also use to disrupt your Snapcaster engine.

Shaharazad

Paraphrasing my favorite comment on this to date:

"OMG, HE HAS HOBBIES?! WELL, I NEVER!"