[Premium Article] So Many Insane Plays - Vintage Championship Report: 1st Place

[Smmenen]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14640.html

Blurb:
As you’re no doubt aware, Stephen Menendian — the Voice of Vintage — is the new Vintage World Champion! At GenCon, piloting his much-lauded GroAtog list, he grabbed the tournament field by the throat and walked off with the title. Today, he takes us through his exhaustive preparation for the event, and shares each match, each game, and each play with his signature analytical style. Congratulations again, Stephen... you definitely deserve it!

[Mr. Sligh]

Because of the singularity of the event do you think is it impossible to permit to all TMD users to read your tournament report without attending three months???

[Methuselahn]

Congrats.  You definitely earned this.

[LotusHead]

Because of the singularity of the event do you think is it impossible to permit to all TMD users to read your tournament report without attending three months???

Wizards does have a play by play up somewhere, But I was kinda hoping that this would be Stephan writing for Wizards for free and not SCG for not free.

http://www.freewebs.com/txmagic/tournamentreports.htm

[Smmenen]

Thank you


Here is the Championship winning decklist:

GroAtog
Stephen Menendian
1st Place

4 Quirion Dryad
1 Psychatog
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
2 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Gush
4 Brainstorm
1 Cunning Wish
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Walk
1 Fastbond
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Opt
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard:
1 Berserk
2 Pithing Needle
3 Yixlid Jailer
1 Fire/Ice
1 Oxidize
1 Rushing River
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Island
1 Rack and Ruin
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast

[FTKzak]

Wow, awesome finish Steve, Congrats! Great report too, it was cool to get a look at how you modified your deck over a couple days of testing.

Some questions:

What would you say to the idea of cutting Library for the second Basic/Volcanic Island? One of the ideal situations that you want to see LoA is on the draw in your opening 7, right? I find that when I judge a 7 card hand based on the strength of Library, I overvalue it and it never works out - they have the first turn Duress (Fish/GAT/SS) or a must-counter card (Flash/Stax/Oath). The one round in your weekend that you made use of Library was in a mirror match where you were both trying to go the Control Library route. If Oliver had dropped USea and Duress (a very likely opening) instead of Library, pass it would have wrecked your plan to ride Library to the win.

I've been toying with this idea for the last couple of weeks and really think it's worth consideration. It better enables your red splash which should boost your mirror, Flash and Stax matchups.

The list you had for the main event looks really tight (pretty much what I played at ELD's). I'm a big fan of the maindeck REB, it's just randomly good in a lot of matchups. If you were to remove the LoA, what do you think you'd switch the Island in your sideboard for? Possibly a Submerge or Snuff Out?

Also, I think Option 7 would make for an interesting format. And Dream Halls is unrestricted already, the DCI just doesn't know it yet. I think it will get to the point where Merchant Scroll must be restricted, it's only a matter of time with the penchant for printing "weaker" blue instants (Pact, Remand) that Wizards has.

Great finish, great report, well done! The Top 8's on both days were just nasty - to me, good players finishing well in big events is an indication of a healthy format.

[FlamingCloud]

What would you say to the idea of cutting Library for the second Basic/Volcanic Island?

Unlike something like slaver, having 4 gushes in your deck makes it incredibly easy to regain 7 cards in hand, even late game.  Seems like you would only cut it if you were expecting a high combo meta where library is just too slow.

[goobafish]

Congrats on your awesome finish in both the prelim and the main event. It was a pleasure meeting you, you are definitely not the arrogant prick I expected.

David Caplan is part of the Canadian crew. He’s a nice enough guy, but he, to me, typifies the personality in Vintage of someone who is competent at the format but makes overbroad assertions about matchups.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe the only assertions I made were that the landstill-gat matchup is around 50-50 and that the stax matchup seems to be bad for gat, which I still believe to be the case. I don't know how these are so broad, when the stax matchup is known to be tough for gat. I was hoping you would provide reasoning for the gat matchup to be any higher than 50-50 against Rich's landstill build. With mana denial against GAT's few basics, stifles for the fetchlands, many counters and a nice draw engine, I do not see how this can be a bad matchup. I don't think I made any sweeping assertions like "Landstill always beats GAT, or GAT can never beat Stax".

You even said this:

Top 8: Lam Phan - Landstill
I am paired up against the matchup I had been dreading.

As friends point out to me, my biggest flaw is matchup assertion, but I am very surprised you were able to pick that up from the few minutes we talked. If I came forth as arrogant or anything but extremely friendly then I am sorry, I just like to talk .

On a separate note, it was great to meet some of the American players who's posts I read on TMD, and some of the big names in vintage, hell, I even got to face a lot of them.

[Aardshark]

Congratulations Steve. You have poured your heart into this format, and I cannot fathom anyone more richly deserving of this title than you.

P.S. I second your B&R recommendations, at least at this point.

http://www.freewebs.com/txmagic/tournamentreports.htm

Is this link working for others? It isn't for me. 

[dicemanx]

Congrats Steve! You've given so much to the vintage community over the years and were very deserving of the title!

I also for once support your B/R recommendations . I wonder if there will be enough of a push to get Flash restricted given the absence of the deck in the T8 of this event.

[Smmenen]

Congrats on your awesome finish in both the prelim and the main event. It was a pleasure meeting you, you are definitely not the arrogant prick I expected.

David Caplan is part of the Canadian crew. He’s a nice enough guy, but he, to me, typifies the personality in Vintage of someone who is competent at the format but makes overbroad assertions about matchups.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe the only assertions I made were that the landstill-gat matchup is around 50-50 and that the stax matchup seems to be bad for gat, which I still believe to be the case. I don't know how these are so broad, when the stax matchup is known to be tough for gat. I was hoping you would provide reasoning for the gat matchup to be any higher than 50-50 against Rich's landstill build. With mana denial against GAT's few basics, stifles for the fetchlands, many counters and a nice draw engine, I do not see how this can be a bad matchup. I don't think I made any sweeping assertions like "Landstill always beats GAT, or GAT can never beat Stax".

You even said this:

Top 8: Lam Phan - Landstill
I am paired up against the matchup I had been dreading.

As friends point out to me, my biggest flaw is matchup assertion, but I am very surprised you were able to pick that up from the few minutes we talked. If I came forth as arrogant or anything but extremely friendly then I am sorry, I just like to talk .

On a separate note, it was great to meet some of the American players who's posts I read on TMD, and some of the big names in vintage, hell, I even got to face a lot of them.

The reason I was dreading the matchup had less to do with whether I thought it was favorable or not and more to do with the fact that I felt it was going to be incredibly long and grueling.   

FYI, for people who don't have premium:

My proposed B&R list changes are, in order of preference:

1) Restrict Flash and Unrestrict Fact or Fiction
2) Restrict Flash
3) Unrestrict Fact or Fiction
4) Do Nothing
5) Restrict Merchant Scroll and Unrestrict Fact or Fiction
6) Restrict Merchant Scroll

Please direct any further questions to the SCG thread.  And do not turn this thread into a B&R list debate.   Finally, I will read any more comments posted here, but I've been told to answer questions in the SCG thread. 

[jcb193]

I look forward to reading this in 3 months!  I did hope that since this was such a high profile event, that your tournament report (and any commentary on B/R) should be free.  Paying money for tech is totally approprioate, but I think a broader base of people are served well by reading your B/R commentary (can never get enough of these articles) and tourney reports. 

[Implacable]

Congratulations on your performance at the World Championships.  It makes me happy to see the most skill-intensive deck in Vintage played by some of the world's best Vintage players in the finals.

[Shock Wave]

David Caplan is part of the Canadian crew. He’s a nice enough guy, but he, to me, typifies the personality in Vintage of someone who is competent at the format but makes overbroad assertions about matchups.

On that note, what basis did you have for making this sort of character judgement? For someone who is relatively new to Type 1 in comparison to the great vintage players, Dave is very neutral, his observations are reserved, and accurate when outspoken.

I think to make a comment like that, especially in an article which is going to be read by many people, is rather denigrating. If he said that the GAT/Landstill matchup is 50/50, he was only speaking the truth. It is a precise statement, and I know because I've tested it quite thoroughly. If you tell me you've tested this matchup, I simply won't believe you.

The reason I was dreading the matchup had less to do with whether I thought it was favorable or not and more to do with the fact that I felt it was going to be incredibly long and grueling.

C'mon Steve. If you thought that the matchup was going to be long and grueling, but that the odds were good that you would be the victor at the end of of it, you certainly would have played it out. The fact that you willingly accepted the draw implies that you thought you had a 50/50 chance at best. I know that my odds of winning were hovering around 50/50, and while I was more than willing to play, drawing the match was the safest bet for me to make the Top 8.

The point is that Dave didn't make any outlandish comments, and you slighted him in a public article. While it was definitely a good read, that was certainly not cool.

[Aardshark]

The point is that Dave didn't make any outlandish comments, and you slighted him in a public article. While it was definitely a good read, that was certainly not cool.

Agreed. Irrespective of what Caplan actually said, I think its best to bend over backwards not to make what could be interpreted as negative comments about individuals in pieces like this.  Fortunately the sin was slight and seems to have caused no injury, and does not detract from Steve's enormous accomplishment and contribution.

Caplan's affable and humble response proves he's a class act.

[o uncola o]

Congrats Smennen.  Always enjoy reading your stuff.  Just read about you on wazards.com http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/af185.  Safe to say we are all happy for you. 

I personally don't like the idea of unrestricting fact or fiction, but that is only because I have has some bad experiences playing against it.  And because it raped my mother and killed my father.

[Tiki Walker]

Congratulations to Mr. Stephen Menendian on your latest achievement, 1st place finish at GenCon Vintage 2007.

I got the feeling that it was only a matter of time that you will be rewarded with the achievement in accord to your efforts and devotions to the Vintage community.

I always enjoy reading your article at Starcity on a 3 monthly basis, and although it might be not so up to date by the time I am finally able to read the article (because it's always 3 months old from the release date ), I always find it very enlightening to try to understand the contents of your article, how the logic that formed the base of the articles are formulated, etc.

[CrazyCarl]

Oh yeah, I have to pay to read this now

[SyntheticAngel]

Congrats Steve it was awesome to watch you play. I can't wait to play GenCon next year and do a little bit better than I did, 3-2 drop. I probably should have stuck it out the rest of the day just for the experience, but I got drunk instead. Sorry to anyone who had to hear my drunk ramblings especially Roland Chang that guy put up with some of my shit, and also my good friend Glenn from Canada. See you all next year.

Brennen

[slyfer]

Congratulation Steve!

question: will you replace opt with the new card "think" ? (common, U, instant, look top 3, put back in order, draw a card)

[Implacable]

Congratulation Steve!

question: will you replace opt with the new card "think" ? (common, U, instant, look top 3, put back in order, draw a card)

Goodness gracious; I just MTGSalvationed that, and that's quite a good card.  While it doesn't get rid of the bad card(s), the multitude of shuffle effects in G.A.T. will anyway, and it certainly digs deeper!  That's just an amazing card...

[zeus-online]

I think "Think" will be a very strong card in addition to brainstorm...

Here's the wording i've seen so far:

Think - 
Instant
Look at the top three cards of your library. You may put them back in any order or shuffle your library.
Draw a card.

That's a hell of alot better then sleight of hand and opt IMHO...Although I've obviously not tested it

/Zeus