TRAVIS CON v2.0 result thread

[sundering jerk]

Hi All,

I have come out of over a 1+ year pause from the game, I was interested to bring something new to the table so I crafted the WW and had a lot of fun with it aside from some success. People seemed to enjoy the deck so I'll try to get out a t-report soon....

At one point while watching the top 8, I thought I was going to watch a whipcorder keep a darksteel colossus at bay. It probably would have if it wasn't for the lucky echoing truth.

Yeah, it was a tight match and game 3 - had I won; my matchups against the rest of the field was very good, The great prize structure did lessen the feeling of defeat.

WW 4 LIFE

I was wondering if you had a list handy?
If not I was wondering if the fact that you had a lot of creatures helped you smash Tezz all day? Also did you run Kataki?

[Eastman]

Maybe we do have to get back to the smaller events.  If we can get the smaller events back off the ground, and get them running consistently, then we can grow the community again.  Maybe things have been stagnant.  I know that there are a solid 15 people that I can get for a Mox tourney on the Island.  I know that we've drawn a few more people in on Long Island - younger players who are just getting into Vintage, and older players who are coming back.  I know that we can grow the community here, and eventually have the kind of high level tournaments that we all love.

We have to regroup.  It sucks, but it is what it is.  I lost money on the last tourney I ran on Long Island, but I'm putting together another one now.  Vintage has a really tight community, I'm sure that if we make it convenient enough for everybody, and make it worth everyone's while we'll be able to keep the core group in addition to getting new players.

Man I'm in NYC now (have been the last two years) and I've always wondered where the hell all the vintage players are...  I'd make a serious attempt to make it to anything reachable by rail (I'm in Manhattan so no car). 

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

Eastman I live in NYC, I missed this event due to being laid off, no ride and just a general disinterest. I used to be really on top of this game, and this is the first time I checked out these boards in the last six months. It's sad that the turnout was so low. I hope to see a lot of my friends I met over the years again soon though.

[v4ino]

I was wondering if you had a list handy?
If not I was wondering if the fact that you had a lot of creatures helped you smash Tezz all day? Also did you run Kataki?

sundering jerk, I did not run any Katakis - they did not fit the tempo of the deck. I've been back and forth about him however without Null Rod I do not feel he is justifiable.

As for a decklist, I will have t-report up by tomorrow so just hold on and jump on the thread when you see it.

Creatures definately helped, especially creatures that can run through a Painter's servant such as Samurai, Figurine or Grunt. Nobody bothers to cast Tezz vs. me as there are better lines of play.

[Prospero]

Maybe we do have to get back to the smaller events.  If we can get the smaller events back off the ground, and get them running consistently, then we can grow the community again.  Maybe things have been stagnant.  I know that there are a solid 15 people that I can get for a Mox tourney on the Island.  I know that we've drawn a few more people in on Long Island - younger players who are just getting into Vintage, and older players who are coming back.  I know that we can grow the community here, and eventually have the kind of high level tournaments that we all love.

We have to regroup.  It sucks, but it is what it is.  I lost money on the last tourney I ran on Long Island, but I'm putting together another one now.  Vintage has a really tight community, I'm sure that if we make it convenient enough for everybody, and make it worth everyone's while we'll be able to keep the core group in addition to getting new players.

Man I'm in NYC now (have been the last two years) and I've always wondered where the hell all the vintage players are...  I'd make a serious attempt to make it to anything reachable by rail (I'm in Manhattan so no car). 

Most of us are in Nassau county.  We're putting together the details on a Mox tourney sometime in December, it would be in Bellmore (which is accessible from Penn Station).  If you can get to Bellmore, I'll even pick you up from the train station.

As soon as we get all the details Jimmy (aka ForcetheWill) will put it up, as he's our T/O on the site.  If you know anybody else in the city who's interested, pass the word along.

[Kameli0n]

Don't know if Folinus will read this or not, but I was wondering what made him change his deck around so much from Blue Bell, and whether he likes it this build better or was more fond of the Blue Bell build. What were the pro's and con's of each build. Anyone can relay that message to him. Thanks alot.

[arik124]

I ran something like this

4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Trygon Predator
4 Force of Will
4 Negate
4 Stifle
1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic
1 Echoing Truth
1 Darkblast
3 Null Rod
4 Mox
1 Lotus
3 Trop
3 Sea
3 Tundra
3 Strand
3 Delta
3 Waste
1 Strip


4 Leyline
4 Oxidize
3 Energy Flux
3 Jitte
1 Null Rod

I had a lot of fun with this monstrosity.  Its gone through so many iterations since I first tried out BUG fish at the Enfield this summer.  Back then i ran top counterbalance engine, but then i switched over to null rod post rrestrictions.  Since then I've bounced back and forth between White or no white, but i have to say that meddling mage is one of the most fun cards to play.  Let me know if anyone has questions.

[Akuma]

It's unfortunate that this event failed to draw more players. This community seems to be dwindling.

The way things are in Vintage, especially because of the June restrictions, just makes the Legacy format look that much more attractive. Part of the draw of Vintage was that it was the format in which the most powerful, consistent engines and strategies existed, but that is no longer the case, now we have a bunch of 1ofs with moxes 

I do hope that prices come down, so more people can get into playing the eternal formats.

Congratulations to all of those that did well.

[personalbackfire]

Don't know if Folinus will read this or not, but I was wondering what made him change his deck around so much from Blue Bell, and whether he likes it this build better or was more fond of the Blue Bell build. What were the pro's and con's of each build. Anyone can relay that message to him. Thanks alot.

I worked on the bluebell painter list with him. He thought that that list was good but wanted to try playing a different deck for this tournament. We both played tezzeret day one and did pretty poorly. While brainstorming for decks to play he decided to play painter again but wanted the build to include top and library, because he said that those two cards were great for him all day. So he added trinket mage and thats how that happened. I will call him and ask him to respond though.

This is the bob control list I played day 2 to a top 8:
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
5 Mox
1 Sol ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Thoughtseize
2 Misdirection
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Dark Confidant
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 DSC
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yagmoths Will
1 Empty the Warrens

With almost zero testing it played good all day. I was happy with how fun it was to play and how in control I felt while playing it. I lost in top 8 to the the 4 color fish deck.

[JACO]

It's unfortunate that this event failed to draw more players. This community seems to be dwindling.

To everybody who is dissapointed this tournament drew so few people, do you actually realize where this was held?

ENFIELD, Connecticut, population 45,246. Frankly, this is in the middle of nowhere. The only reason the 1st TravisCon was so big was because there were so many people from out of state who attended. I went to the first one and had a blast, but it took me over 15 hours to get there driving. Hotel (even being in the middle of nowhere), gas, and food aren't cheap.

If people want to start hosting bigger Magic tournaments:
1) host them in a metropolitan area with a few hundred thousand people at least and something else to do in that city (ie Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Columbus, Cleveland, Toronto, etc.)
2) offer ridiculous cash prizes (look at SCG 5K standard events as an example); this will probably attract more crossover people from Legacy and Extended
3) do it when people don't have anything else to do (ie. not on big tournament weekends, not on WoW releases, etc.)
4) advertise and post on every Magic website you can, as it's most often free

With the economy pressing everyone, people aren't as willing to drive to the middle of nowhere now, it would seem. Give people a real incentive, do it in a big place, and give people enough notice ahead of time. It doesn't seem that hard to figure out.

[ashiXIII]

It's unfortunate that this event failed to draw more players. This community seems to be dwindling.

To everybody who is dissapointed this tournament drew so few people, do you actually realize where this was held?

ENFIELD, Connecticut, population 45,246. Frankly, this is in the middle of nowhere. The only reason the 1st TravisCon was so big was because there were so many people from out of state who attended. I went to the first one and had a blast, but it took me over 15 hours to get there driving. Hotel (even being in the middle of nowhere), gas, and food aren't cheap.

If people want to start hosting bigger Magic tournaments:
1) host them in a metropolitan area with a few hundred thousand people at least and something else to do in that city (ie Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Columbus, Cleveland, Toronto, etc.)
2) offer ridiculous cash prizes (look at SCG 5K standard events as an example); this will probably attract more crossover people from Legacy and Extended
3) do it when people don't have anything else to do (ie. not on big tournament weekends, not on WoW releases, etc.)
4) advertise and post on every Magic website you can, as it's most often free

With the economy pressing everyone, people aren't as willing to drive to the middle of nowhere now, it would seem. Give people a real incentive, do it in a big place, and give people enough notice ahead of time. It doesn't seem that hard to figure out.

So, what date is your P9 tourney scheduled for? 

[MadManiac21]

Eagerly awaiting Ray's Workshop list 

[ashiXIII]

Eagerly awaiting Ray's Workshop list 

F Ray's Workshop list. 

[TopSecret]

I ran something like this
...
4 Trygon Predator
...

How much pwning did these do?

[arik124]

The trygons were sweet.  They won rounds 2 and 4 for me on their own.  Those i think meddling mages won round 3 and 1st round of top8 so its kinda a toss up...

[Gekoratel]

@Kameli0n

I still like the list that I played at Blue Bell but after testing Tezz for awhile there were certain elements that deck had which I really wanted to include in Painter namely Top and Library.  Also after talking with Joe Davis he convinced me that running 2 Grindstone is subpar but if I ran the same build with only 1 GS I'd only have 3 ways to find (Tinker,Vamp,DT).  This was part of my motivation to include Trinket Mage who is in a lot of the original Painter lists but I didn't want to run the full Mage package of Crypt, EE, etc.

The decks play pretty different mainly due to TFK vs. Int/AK draw engines.  The Int/AK draw engine is a bit more robust and gives more pure card advantage than TFK but at the sacrifice of speed.  I think on average the new list is better but the mana base is definitely worse since its 3.5 colors + Library which is about as greedy as you can get.  I'm still not sure if the Goyf n Grudges plan is ideal against Shops as I went 1-2 against them and it always feels like an uphill battle since all your sideboard cards require you to fetch for lands that get Wasted.  If I was building a board with a focus on dealing with just Shops I'd only run red in the MD and Rack and Ruin + Welder in the board.  But I really like Goyf against Fish decks because against UW Fish they need Swords to get through and BUG has to build up a large enough force to push through.  Against both of those decks Goyf buys a lot of time which is all you can really ask for.

[sundering jerk]

I made Top4 during day2. This was my interpretation of Stax.

Deus Ex Machina

// Lands
    1  Strip Mine
    1  Tolarian Academy
    3  Mountain
    4  Bazaar of Baghdad
    4  Wasteland
    4  Barbarian Ring
    4  Mishra's Workshop

// Creatures
    4  Goblin Welder

// Spells
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Mana Vault
    1  Sol Ring
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mana Crypt
    1  Trinisphere
    1  Memory Jar
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Ruby
    4  Chalice of the Void
    4  Sphere of Resistance
    4  Crucible of Worlds
    4  Smokestack
    4  Tangle Wire
    4  Thorn of Amethyst

// Sideboard
SB: 3  The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 4  Shattering Spree
SB: 4  Powder Keg
SB: 4  Ensnaring Bridge

This is an awesome list but the only thingI don't get is only three mountains and 4 bazaar????? Any reasoning?
Was it ever hard during the day to cast welder with only 9 red sources?
Did you consider Squee?

Once again I do want to say how much I love the list. GO PRISON!
Smokestack Fs Tezz

[Changster]

Hey TMDers:

I know a few of you were requesting for Vin's White Weenie Top 8 decklist as well as his report.  You can find it here:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36909.0

I am returning back to the game and coming out of a year-long hiatus.  Completely looking forward to playing with the Vintage crowd again!

Best,

-Roland

[The Atog Lord]

I am returning back to the game and coming out of a year-long hiatus.  Completely looking forward to playing with the Vintage crowd again!

Excellent!

[Tha Gunslinga]

Was it ever hard during the day to cast welder with only 9 red sources?

I would think 9 red sources to be average to above-average for Stax; I usually see 5-color Stax running Ruby, Lotus, and 6 or 7 rainbow lands.

[Prospero]

I'm really interested in seeing the other top 8 decks that made it.  Can we please have the full top 8 decklists from both days?  If you did t8, can you please post your list?

[Smmenen]

Travis:

I am writing a year in review article.

Could you please post the decklists for this event?

I didn't even realize they weren't posted!!

What won?

[Juggernaut GO]

Sorry about the lists, I believe they were left with the judge but there is a really good chance they just got thrown out.  Between the prize support issues I had with Jeff Anand and the amount of money I ended up losing on the weekend I pretty much just distanced myself from running the tournament and let the judge handle the entire event since I paid him to do it anyway.

But I imagine that since this tournament was in Enfield Ct, with a population of only 45,000 people in the middle of nowhere, the results don't REALLY mean anything.

[Smmenen]

Well, i guess you just lost some free PR on MTG.com

[Prospero]

Well, i guess you just lost some free PR on MTG.com

Day one Arik Pogrebinsky and I drew in the finals.  I played Stax and have posted my list.

[arik124]

Steve, the seventh post on this page is my list, which was a top 2 finish.

[crovax]

Sorry about the lists, I believe they were left with the judge but there is a really good chance they just got thrown out. 

Sorry Guys. I don't have the lists.