Ongoing GenCon Vintage Results

[nartman99]

This just in:

Travis Spero beats TK in the finals!

[Kowal]

In a strange fit of absurdity, Fuckin' Lou almost destroys the prize, snatching it from the winner and smacking him over the face with it.  His excitement does not end there, but his alcohol-fueled dementia is not quite fit for print.  Tune in next week for a full writeup from the Colorado guys.

[Sean Ryan]

Travis Spero beats TK in the finals!

Great!

But what the hell was everyone playing?  Curious mind's await.

Sean

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

OMG!!!!!

Just got off the phone with my boy Trav! Way to go! Travis is a very good technical player, and he's been playing Meandeck Gifts for about as long as I have. I'm very proud of him. Way to represent for Colorado! His record must have been amazing, as he T8ed the prelims Friday.

Once again, Well done Travis!

[nartman99]

Travis Spero beats TK in the finals!

Great!

But what the hell was everyone playing?  Curious mind's await.

Sean

Sorry:

Top 8

Vroman - UbaStax
Mastriano - Pitch Long
Arend - CS
Paul Nicolo - UBW Fish
TK - Pitch Long
MoxPearl - Oath
Travis Spero - Meandeck Gifts
Nick T - BHWC Tendrils

[Disburden]

So Meandeck Gifts wins?! Is that what you said? That's awesome. I'm glad to see the deck do so well at this event. Maybe people will play the deck more often and stop ignoring it so much.

Great job to all the top 8. I'm glad to see Vroman do well in a big event once again.

[CrashTest]

Does anyone know Arend's decklist? Someone mentioned he usually plays CS, so I thought someone may know a past list..

[goobafish]

Can be found here:
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=17578

[The Atog Lord]

Dave's right that I was 3-2 drop. However, I'd like to make a brief correction to the Juggernaut story. My opponent had out Juggernaut and a Mox Monkey. I had a hardcast WGD. He drew, played a second Juggernaut, and said go. I immediately called a judge before even starting to take my turn. The judge backed the gamestate up to my opponent's attack step. He swung into my Dragon, and then he played a creature whereas before he had simply passed. So, I caught the Juggernaut as soon as my opponent had said go. I was on tilt when I related the story to Dave, so the details might have gotten a bit muddled when I was ranting.

I won't dwell on the matter, because frankly he could have just been twice sloppy. The matter of shuffling did vex me, as he was looking down as he shuffled by bringing up the corners towards him. However, I should have called a judge, and frankly the entire thing could have simply been a misunderstanding.

What I am upset at, however, is tonight's Midnight $500 event. The book said it was midnight. There were posted signs saying it was midnight. A judge there told me it was at midnight. And they started the thing at ELEVEN THIRTY. Now, funny thing about that. I had gone to the hotel to nap, as I was pretty tired. I got there before midnight. But they had already started the tournament. I was unhappy, and returned to my hotel where I am now.

[nartman99]

I won't dwell on the matter, because frankly he could have just been twice sloppy. The matter of shuffling did vex me, as he was looking down as he shuffled by bringing up the corners towards him. However, I should have called a judge, and frankly the entire thing could have simply been a misunderstanding.

I know Mark Trogdon, and he is one of the nicest, most honest players I know out there. I'm sure the pressure was getting to him because he was doing well, he had driven to Gencon from Ohio, etc., that is no excuse for sloppy play, but we've been encouraging Mark to play faster, etc. You can't forget the most important thing, Mark is a lot older than most of us. I don't see many Magic players that have to squint or hold their cards in hand at a certain angle to see them. I'm sure they were very honest mistakes and I'm sure that Mark is truly sorry if they are thought of otherwise.

[unknown.root]

What I am upset at, however, is tonight's Midnight $500 event. The book said it was midnight. There were posted signs saying it was midnight. A judge there told me it was at midnight. And they started the thing at ELEVEN THIRTY. Now, funny thing about that. I had gone to the hotel to nap, as I was pretty tired. I got there before midnight. But they had already started the tournament. I was unhappy, and returned to my hotel where I am now.

Same here, all of team ogre is in our room drinking since they fucked the time up.

Kevin

[Lou]

Trav is the mother fucking mad man.  He took it down like a fuckin' champ.  Who cares if I am drunk.  Trav is not, and he is the fuckin' world champ.  Recognize, bitches!

[Godot]

Trav is the mother fucking mad man.  He took it down like a fuckin' champ.  Who cares if I am drunk.  Trav is not, and he is the fuckin' world champ.  Recognize, bitches!

Fuckin A dude.  Much congrats to Trav.  He put in the time and earned this shit.

[keratinx]

Any idea where we can get the winning Meandeck Gifts list? What are the recent changes to MDG? I'm thinking that VT finally replaced a Merchant Scroll in the main.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Why would you want to cut one of the best spells in the deck?

Trav cut a MisD for it.

For now, be patient and wait a couple days for him to write a report.

[bertmathis]

First off, Congrats to Travis and Roland for being our reigning eternal Format Champions. Secondly, has anyone else noticed that TK has come seemingly out of nowhere to a pretty savage Record as of late? First place at Rochester, t4 @ Charlotte, First Day 2 Waterbury, and now second at Gencon? ICBM should be damn proud to have him on their team! Congrats on the hotstreak TK, You were actually my pick to win Gencon, but second ain't bad.

[keratinx]

I concur to that. Congrats to Travis for winning with Meandeck Gifts. Its been while since MDG was played and top8ed. Props to the people who made GenCon a successful event for all the gamers.

[Tabasco]

First off, Congrats to Travis and Roland for being our reigning eternal Format Champions. Secondly, has anyone else noticed that TK has come seemingly out of nowhere to a pretty savage Record as of late? First place at Rochester, t4 @ Charlotte, First Day 2 Waterbury, and now second at Gencon? ICBM should be damn proud to have him on their team! Congrats on the hotstreak TK, You were actually my pick to win Gencon, but second ain't bad.

Actually I believe he top 4'd  Day 2 of Rochester as well, but yes Tommy is an exceptional player and we are happy to have him on our team!

[MarkPharaoh]

TK is just simply a monster.

[nartman99]

First off, Congrats to Travis and Roland for being our reigning eternal Format Champions. Secondly, has anyone else noticed that TK has come seemingly out of nowhere to a pretty savage Record as of late? First place at Rochester, t4 @ Charlotte, First Day 2 Waterbury, and now second at Gencon? ICBM should be damn proud to have him on their team! Congrats on the hotstreak TK, You were actually my pick to win Gencon, but second ain't bad.

Actually I believe he top 4'd  Day 2 of Rochester as well, but yes Tommy is an exceptional player and we are happy to have him on our team!

Don't get me wrong, I like TK, but he played 5 Color Stax day 2 and placed like 17th. Still, he has been putting up results, and any team would be proud to have him!

Congratulations to Travis Spero as well! Our new Vintage Champion!

[Smmenen]

I won't dwell on the matter, because frankly he could have just been twice sloppy. The matter of shuffling did vex me, as he was looking down as he shuffled by bringing up the corners towards him. However, I should have called a judge, and frankly the entire thing could have simply been a misunderstanding.

I know Mark Trogdon, and he is one of the nicest, most honest players I know out there. I'm sure the pressure was getting to him because he was doing well, he had driven to Gencon from Ohio, etc., that is no excuse for sloppy play, but we've been encouraging Mark to play faster, etc. You can't forget the most important thing, Mark is a lot older than most of us. I don't see many Magic players that have to squint or hold their cards in hand at a certain angle to see them. I'm sure they were very honest mistakes and I'm sure that Mark is truly sorry if they are thought of otherwise.

I agree.  I know Mark Trogdon and he is NOT a cheater.  I think Rich just went on tilt, and in this case, although I don't know the details, his assumptions about his opponent are incorrect.

Mark is a older gentleman and doesn't play for the exclusive purpose of winning - his primary goal is to have a good time.  He was honestly making mistakes. 

Congrats again to Travis for winning and TK and Paul Mastriano for destroying the swiss with Long.

BTW, this was  again an extremely healthy Vintage Top 8 we've ever seen in terms of diversity.

There were 2 Drain decks, 1 Workshop deck, 1 Fish deck, 2 Pitch Long, 1 TT Confidant, and 1 Intuition Tendrils.

Vintage looks to be in great shape!

Also, I have the finals match on video.  You can watch TK fight Travis!

[yespuhyren]

<3 Smennen.  Just tell us where and when

[Whatever Works]

First off Congrats to Travis Spero. He beat me in round 6 to eliminate me from contention in 3 VERY Close matches where he won game 3 on turn 4 of extra time w/tinker. He played solid all day and made some very nice plays and decisions especially vs. Vroman in the semifinals!

Fuk'en Lou you are my hero. That was probably the hardest I have laughed in years. Who else in T1 can say that they gave "the goat" to an entire table of judges?

Congrats also to the "eternal champion" Roland Chang, and also to my friend Nick Vos who top 8'ed legacy and vintage and is one of the most underrated players in type 1.

To add a few details to how things played out in vintage here are a few interesting things that happened.
- NO FISH. There were probably 6ish fish decks in the entire room, and I believe only 2 were SS.
- ALOT of Pitch Long. Though pitch long placed well dont look at the deck as THE dominating deck in the format. Its definetly tier 1, but probably 25-30 people were playing it out of 130.
- Dragon started off great in the hands of Rich Shay and Scott Limoges, but they lost like 5 straight rounds to fall out of the running.
- No reported thefts of note concerning type 1 power thankfully!
- All the events started way off time. I missed TWO events do to them starting EARLY, and then had to wait like an hour to start vintage cuz it was sooo late.
- SLOWEST TOP 8 EVER... IT WAS AWFUL! Great play and everything... But top 8 lasted like 5+ HOURS... Vroman/Spero match lasted 2 hours+... The judges gave a time warning in the finals, but play was much slower in other top 8 rounds so it seemed out of play. I am mainly ennoyed b/c I was waiting for it to end to get food.

[Disburden]

Also, I have the finals match on video.  You can watch TK fight Travis!

that's incredible! Thanks a lot

[JACO]

Congrats again to Travis for winning and TK and Paul Mastriano for destroying the swiss with Long.

BTW, this was  again an extremely healthy Vintage Top 8 we've ever seen in terms of diversity.

There were 2 Drain decks, 1 Workshop deck, 1 Fish deck, 2 Pitch Long, 1 TT Confidant, and 1 Intuition Tendrils.

I agree that this was a pretty healthy top 8, but where do you see anybody playing TT Confidant or Intuition Tendrils? The Top 8 was this:

Top 8

Vroman - UbaStax
Mastriano - Pitch Long
Arend - CS
Paul Nicolo - UBW Fish
TK - Pitch Long
MoxPearl - Oath
Travis Spero - Meandeck Gifts
Nick T - BHWC Tendrils

You're missing the Oath deck that made it, as well as BHWC Tendrils, which is absolutely nothing like Intuition Tendrils or TT Confidant.

By the way, BHWCer Nick Trudeau went 7-0-2 in the Swiss rounds in the Legacy championship Friday, then went 7-1 in the Swiss rounds in the Vintage Championship on Saturday. And that is after placing 2nd in the 2HG tournament on Thursday. Now THAT, my friends, is 'destroying' the Swiss rounds.

[Smmenen]

Ok, here is what i saw of the top 8.

Paul Mastriano and TK were first and second place respectively after round 6 - that is, they were both 6-0 with pitch long.

Nick was 1st at the end of the swiss with 19 points and paul and TK were 2nd and 3rd seed respectively. (BTW, Congrats to Nick on his repeat top 8  - he toped at the 2nd Vintage Championship as well)

Paul played Arend in the quarters and lost.

Arend then lost to TK.

Travis beat Nick ( i watched some of the game), then Vroman ( i watched most of this match), and then Tk in the finals.

So, I saw Arend playing very bizarre Slaver list, the MDG list, the two pitch longs, and Nick - who was playing a tendrils list he said was insprired by Becker's IT.

Paul Nicolo made top 8 with UWB fish - but he lsot int he first round to Vroman (Grante Shard FTW!).

I did not at all see an oath and I don't think an oath made top 8.  The other top 8 deck, I thought, was that italian guy playing a Ritual deck like TT confidant. 

[CrashTest]

What made his CS deck strange?

[misslehead3]

Also, I have the finals match on video.  You can watch TK fight Travis!

Thats is the hotness, any idea where we could find it or when your gonna put it up somewhere.

Also, good job Travis and TK and the other Pitch Long player for making top8. Also, did anyone really expect vroman to top8 he has kinda been disapeared for the past numerous months.

[Whatever Works]

Also, I have the finals match on video.  You can watch TK fight Travis!

Thats is the hotness, any idea where we could find it or when your gonna put it up somewhere.

Also, good job Travis and TK and the other Pitch Long player for making top8. Also, did anyone really expect vroman to top8 he has kinda been disapeared for the past numerous months.

Dissapeared might be a little strong. He still made many very intellegent posts on the TMD on several threads recently.

Arend's list didnt seem to strange to me... It looked like normal CS with Night's Whisper... Most similar to probably Ben Kowals waterbury build.

[JACO]

So, I saw Arend playing very bizarre Slaver list, the MDG list, the two pitch longs, and Nick - who was playing a tendrils list he said was insprired by Becker's IT.

Paul Nicolo made top 8 with UWB fish - but he lsot int he first round to Vroman (Grante Shard FTW!).

I did not at all see an oath and I don't think an oath made top 8.  The other top 8 deck, I thought, was that italian guy playing a Ritual deck like TT confidant. 

Ahh, well that kind of clears it up. I heard from a couple of people that Oath made it, but I guess we'll see.

Nick's deck was inspired by something I thought up less than two weeks ago, and I gave him the idea last week and we built the deck this past week, with little testing. It had nothing to do with Intuition Tendrils (no Intuitions, Grim Tutors; multiple Tendrils). More just my thoughts on how to build a new deck that would be really good right now, and Nick goldfishing with it. He was probably just not trying to give anything about the deck away before GenCon ended. The premise is basically a few things:
1) If Dark Confidant stays in play for 2 turns or more in a Vintage combo deck, you will usually win.
2) Extract beats decks that run 1 Tendrils of Agony as their win condition, and I expect to see those in tons of sideboards, especially Fish variants, which should be more popular in a non-proxy environment. Same with Jester's Cap. Let's not lose to either of those cards.
3) Rebuild is really good, and in fact, much much better than Hurkyl's Recall. Let's play multiples of those, and if we have any combination of those and Tendrils, or multiple Tendrils, we'll just win.
4) Tendrils of Agony is really quite underrated. Against pretty much any deck, including combo mirrors, you can get off a mini-Tendrils to buy you more turns to ultimately just kill your opponent, either with another Tendrils or by turning Dark Confidant sideways.
5) The mana base of TPS is obviously the best, and the emergence of Pitch Long is a testament to this. Let's not lose to Wasteland please.

While I think Pitch Long is a brilliant deck, and one on my short list of decks to actually play with at a tournament, BHWC Tendrils certainly has its place in Vintage now.