[Free Podcast] SMIP #26: NYSE Open I & Interview with Paul Mastriano

[Smmenen]

http://www.eternalcentral.com/?p=4045



Timestamped Table of Contents:
0:01:26: Eternal Weekend
0:08:16: Grand Prix: Las Vegas
0:15:36: NYSE Open 1
0:38:29: Top 8
0:42:53: Mystery Guest Interview!
1:19:17: M14 Rules Changes

[personalbackfire]

Fun listen, thanks for doing these! I look forward to when they get posted.

@Steve: Do you think the Burning Oath deck is the best deck in vintage currently? I guess I'm just wondering if you choose to play it because you are comfortable with it and didn't have a ton of time to prepare or if you think it was the best deck to play given your expected meta?

[Cruel Ultimatum]

Was a pretty good listen. Just to note though, when you ran through the blue angels list, there are some minor differences between my list and Craig's. For example you had talked about going to 4 jace, which is actually what Craig had sent me and I cut one for brainstorm. All if it was pretty minor though, I think I had changed 4 cards main deck  from Craig's list.

[CHA1N5]

Was a pretty good listen. Just to note though, when you ran through the blue angels list, there are some minor differences between my list and Craig's. For example you had talked about going to 4 jace, which is actually what Craig had sent me and I cut one for brainstorm. All if it was pretty minor though, I think I had changed 4 cards main deck  from Craig's list.

Duly noted.  It's a cool deck and I hope more people examine it for future events.

[Mr. Type 4]

I wonder who the mystery guest could be?

Really good episode.

[Smmenen]

It was hella funny.

The garbed sound problems we had in the first 30 minutes disappeared.  I can't explain what caused that since I was at a hotel in DC when we recorded.  Lousy internet everywhere I guess.

It's also been posted on MTGCast: http://www.mtgcast.com/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/so-many-insane-plays/so-many-insane-plays-26-n-y-s-e-open-1

FYI

[rpf5029]

I take exception with the notion that I "clearly did not know [my] cages were useless."  I contend that they were definitely better than the cards that I sided out.  Without the knowledge that you boarded in the Lab Maniac [since you could go either way], I think it was a fine call.  Was it poor to drop multiples when I drew them?  Maybe.  I guess I could try and fool you into thinking it was a counter spell hiding in my hand. 

Also, even if you sided in Lab Man -- and you did -- the difference between it going straight into play and making you cast it -- when I have infinite counter spells -- is pretty large.  Cages were a no-brainer, although I concede that playing more later was a little silly. 

I'm sorry that you had to mulligan to three game one.  Game two was a great game, though. 

[Metman]

Great job on the podcast. I really enjoyed the deck analysis and the interview with Paul. Keep up the good work.

[psyburat]

Vis-à-vis Nick's pillars in the tournament report, it's a way of breaking a metagame down, much like the "X Based" headers found in this article: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/224

Also, hotel WiFi is generally worse than McDonald's WiFi or home WiFi entirely due to the sheer volume of potential users.  A local recording of the audio could be spliced in.

Otherwise, good listen.  I enjoyed getting Paul's brand of humor on the show.

[brianpk80]

Nice podcast.  As for the question of the M14 changes' biggest impact, I'll go with an increase in Vendilion Cliques, whose strength also increases directly from the other huge impact, that being that Jace is no longer sufficient to kill a Jace.  It's possible that this could see Jace following Gifts Ungiven and Thirst for Knowledge to the R list.  We might find Karakas showing up in more sideboards to navigate the new landscape.  Kataki's War Wage becomes a lot stronger as well since he can't be Metamorphed to death.  Thalia gets better too for the same reason and becomes very disruptive in the mirror, having a double Sphere effect on both players instead of Thaliacide.  

[JACO]

I take exception with the notion that I "clearly did not know [my] cages were useless."  I contend that they were definitely better than the cards that I sided out.  Without the knowledge that you boarded in the Lab Maniac [since you could go either way], I think it was a fine call.  Was it poor to drop multiples when I drew them?  Maybe.  I guess I could try and fool you into thinking it was a counter spell hiding in my hand. 

Also, even if you sided in Lab Man -- and you did -- the difference between it going straight into play and making you cast it -- when I have infinite counter spells -- is pretty large.  Cages were a no-brainer, although I concede that playing more later was a little silly. 

I'm sorry that you had to mulligan to three game one.  Game two was a great game, though. 

I think Cages are the right play for a number of reasons. One, they're undoubtedly better than whatever you sided out. Two, you can't NOT play them, and just risk getting blown out by Griselbrand. Three, you always have the potential to counter and/or remove Laboratory Maniac from play. I agree that Cage is a no brainer here.

[Mr. Type 4]

Before I come on Kevin notes that I dont have Snapcaster Mage, and the reason for that I think its much worse with Deathrite Shaman and Graffdigger's Cage in the metagame. 

[Cruel Ultimatum]

I take exception with the notion that I "clearly did not know [my] cages were useless."  I contend that they were definitely better than the cards that I sided out.  Without the knowledge that you boarded in the Lab Maniac [since you could go either way], I think it was a fine call.  Was it poor to drop multiples when I drew them?  Maybe.  I guess I could try and fool you into thinking it was a counter spell hiding in my hand. 

Also, even if you sided in Lab Man -- and you did -- the difference between it going straight into play and making you cast it -- when I have infinite counter spells -- is pretty large.  Cages were a no-brainer, although I concede that playing more later was a little silly. 

I'm sorry that you had to mulligan to three game one.  Game two was a great game, though. 

I think Cages are the right play for a number of reasons. One, they're undoubtedly better than whatever you sided out. Two, you can't NOT play them, and just risk getting blown out by Griselbrand. Three, you always have the potential to counter and/or remove Laboratory Maniac from play. I agree that Cage is a no brainer here.

4) yawgmoth's will is a magic card.

[Smmenen]

Vis-à-vis Nick's pillars in the tournament report, it's a way of breaking a metagame down, much like the "X Based" headers found in this article: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/224

Also, hotel WiFi is generally worse than McDonald's WiFi or home WiFi entirely due to the sheer volume of potential users.  A local recording of the audio could be spliced in.

Otherwise, good listen.  I enjoyed getting Paul's brand of humor on the show.

Yeah, but the decks didn't actually have Null Rods

[Prospero]

Vis-à-vis Nick's pillars in the tournament report, it's a way of breaking a metagame down, much like the "X Based" headers found in this article: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/224

Also, hotel WiFi is generally worse than McDonald's WiFi or home WiFi entirely due to the sheer volume of potential users.  A local recording of the audio could be spliced in.

Otherwise, good listen.  I enjoyed getting Paul's brand of humor on the show.

Yeah, but the decks didn't actually have Null Rods

For whatever it's worth, when I was doing the metagame breakdown, I just considered anything that would typically be a Fish or Beats deck as something to be filed under the Null Rod pillar.  There are decks that don't play Rod that I would file this way; including RUG Delver, which runs Gush (the same card found in decks that sit squarely within the Mana Drain pillar).

The issue with doing metagame breakdowns is that you have to quickly communicate what the deck is in just a few words.  It's not always easy, especially with a lot of the blue decks in the field.  Blue Angels was listed as Bomberless Bomberman, as I felt that communicated the point with greater efficacy than the myriad other options available to me.

In case anyone still cares; Paul did beat me with four Thirst for Knowledge in May of 2009 at the Philly Convention Center, in the finals of a 55 man tournament.  One month later, I beat Paul in the finals of a 64 man event, when he was on four Dark Confidants in his main.  I ran 5C Stax both times.

Also, thanks for the kind words, guys.  I appreciate it, and I hope that the second iteration of the N.Y.S.E. Open is more successful than the first.

[Smmenen]

I wondered because alot of the Workshop decks had Null Rods, so I was trying to figure that out.

I was also curious how many of the decks were Bob/Jace decks, and I counted either 3-4, including the two Grixis Control.  It's amazing that in a field of nearly 80 players only three players played that extremely historically (last 3-4 years) successful permutation!

[Prospero]

I wondered because alot of the Workshop decks had Null Rods, so I was trying to figure that out.

I was also curious how many of the decks were Bob/Jace decks, and I counted either 3-4, including the two Grixis Control.  It's amazing that in a field of nearly 80 players only three players played that extremely historically (last 3-4 years) successful permutation!

Kevin was right; if I saw a deck with Workshops, it was listed as a Workshop deck, even though it may have had Null Rods as well.  The creature pillar doesn't really have a card that all the decks run, and this was an (albeit small) effort on my part to just put the aggressive creature strategies (that didn't use another pillar card) together.  I've done this for a while, though other T/O's may define decks far differently than I do.

There were very few Bob/Jace decks in the field.  I don't think the 4C Jace deck ran Bobs, though I'm fairly confident that the U/W/B version of Jace control did.  At some point you just have to stop naming the cards that define a deck.  In addition to that, everyone is going to view the deck differently; what you or I may view as the defining card of a deck could be altogether different from someone else's opinion.

I enjoyed the podcast.

[CHA1N5]

Re: Pillars: my inclination, which you can hear in the show, is to label those decks in the Null Rod category as Aggro Control, but that's just me.  We have enough issues with deck names and such, and I'd rather not give those less familiar with the format the impression that Null Rod is implicit in all of those decks.

This was a fun show, what with the multiple perspectives on the NYSE Open and, naturally, Paul's energy.

As Chris (Meddling Mage) pointed out on Twitter: we really didn't dive into the specific value of many of Paul's choices.  I'll be watching out for that in future episodes.

[BC]

This was a fun show, what with the multiple perspectives on the NYSE Open and, naturally, Paul's energy.

It was a good show, entertaining as always.  But it often seemed like Kevin was staying silent for long periods of time, just letting Steve and Paul meander all over the place.  The show needs Kevin's calm and organized demeanor to keep things on track.  Steve and Paul's banter sometimes just degenerates into adolescent Beavis and Butthead style giggling.  Kevin is the host, and Steve is the color commentator.  You can't just let the color guy off the leash.

[Smmenen]

Ouch.  Paul and I are gigglers.  What I can I say?

[BC]

Ouch.  Paul and I are gigglers.  What I can I say?

Perfectly understandable.  I still listened to the whole things, so clearly it wasn't a fatal flaw.

[MTGFan]

This was a fun show, what with the multiple perspectives on the NYSE Open and, naturally, Paul's energy.

It was a good show, entertaining as always.  But it often seemed like Kevin was staying silent for long periods of time, just letting Steve and Paul meander all over the place.  The show needs Kevin's calm and organized demeanor to keep things on track.  Steve and Paul's banter sometimes just degenerates into adolescent Beavis and Butthead style giggling.  Kevin is the host, and Steve is the color commentator.  You can't just let the color guy off the leash.

Steven Mennendian and Paul Mastriano as Beavis and Butthead. Wow. We need a Flash cartoon made depicting this ASAP.

"I just Tinkered for Colossus, Butthead."

"Huh huh huh... you Tinkered for Colos-ass. Huh Huh."