The Invitational

[Mr. Nightmare]

For lack of a better place to put it, it's here.

Steve is in first after round 4, at 3-1.  He swept the Cube Draft.

He's playing Elves! in the auction, and lost to the 42land deck.  I think it was a mistake to go down so low in cards with elves.  I also think the land deck is going to X-0 the three rounds.  You should have held out for it, Steve!

Coverage

[Anusien]

Smmenen 3-0ed Cube, and is likely to 3-0 Vintage and should do well in NYOS.  Also, if he makes it to the finals, 2/3 of the events are ones that he did practiced a lot for (NYOS and Vintage).

What was the bid for the Elves! deck?
Edit: 5 cards, 25 life.  I wouldn't go down to 5 cards for an Elves deck.  They traditionally have no way to reload, which is a problem this deck shares.  He's paired up against Willy Edel who got it at 7 cards, 17 life.  That deck seems fine, if a tad slow.  I can't see Smmenen breaking through the creatures.

Wafo-Tapa got a steal on the lands deck at 7 cards.

I really liked Antoine's deck until I saw that he got it at 12 life.  12 life with 4 Horizon Canopy and only one Baloth (and no Genesis).

How did Tiago Chan win?

[Mr. Nightmare]

5 cards, 25 life.

Still, I think going under 6 cards with any of the decks (especially the ones with explosive power) is a bad plan.

I know Wafo-Tapa got 7 cards with Lands, which is surprising to me.  It went really late.

[Anusien]

Edit: What about something like 3-0, 1-2, 2-1, 3-0, 3-0.  That seem finals worthy?  Seems not unreasonable for Smmenen to post that record and then win the finals 2-1.

[Anusien]

Lost, putting him at the middle of the pack at 0-2.  Antoine won somehow, and is leading with de Rosa.

Edit: Lands lost, and Wafo-Tapa is 2-3.

[Jacob Orlove]

12-3 is quite optimistic. Fortunately, he doesn't need a record quite that good.

From Steve's "Crashing the Invitational" article:

Here’s what I know from a quick review of the past Invitational’s.

First of all, a 10-5 record will probably make the finals.    

Looking first at the Invitational coverage from the cardboard era of the Invitational:

The 2001 Invitational http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/event.asp?event=MI01
Kai went 11-4 and Dan Clegg made the finals at 11-4, while Scott Richards missed the cut at 10-5.  

A year earlier,

http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=INVITATIONAL9900/welcome
Chris Pikula and Jon Finkel made the finals with records of 10-5 and 11-4 respectively.   And then in 1998
http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=results/1998_Duelist_Invitational  
Darwin Castle and Jacob Slemr made the finals going 11-3-1 and 10-4 respectively.  

Looking at the MODO era, we see this general trend hold:

2006:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi06/welcome
First and second were 12-3, but no one else was better than 9-6.  
 
2005: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi05/welcome
1    Terry Soh    12 - 3
2    Tsuyoshi Fujita    11 - 4
3    Masashiro Kuroda    10 - 5

 
2004
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi04/stand15
1    Bob Maher    14-1
2    Mattias Jorstedt    11-4
3    Carlos Romao    9-6

 
2002:http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/mi02
1    Jens Thoren    10-5
2    Tomi Walamies    10-5
3    Jon Finkel    10-5
 

In short, 11-4 is definitely going to make the cut, and 10-5 is probably good enough to make the finals.    

To make that cut, I’m almost certainly going to have to go 10-5.   As I said, the good news is that Vintage is one of the five formats.   But even assuming I sweep that format, I’ll need to pick up at least 7 more wins from four other categories.   Going 3-0, 2-1, 2-1, and 0-3 in the other four formats is good enough to do it.  Also, going 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, and 1-2 or 3-0, 3-0, 1-2, and 1-2 would do it at as well.    

[Mr. Nightmare]

It could be worse.  He could be Gabrial Nassif.

Edit - also, that's it for today.  Tourney picks up tomorrow morning at 10am local, which is 6am EST.

[Anusien]

2-1 in Winston and 2-1 in NYOS/BYOS are both reasonable, and he's already 0-3ed.  I just have to hope we did a good job on BYOS (which I think his deck is v. strong).

[Jacob Orlove]

He's only 0-2 so far with Elves! They played 5 total rounds today, and they'll play the last round of Auction at some later point.

[Anusien]

He's only 0-2 so far with Elves! They played 5 total rounds today, and they'll play the last round of Auction at some later point.

I know.  I meant, he's already 3-0ed.  If we assume he sweeps Vintage, then he entered Auction needing 4-5 wins in 9 rounds, which seems easy.

[Mr. Nightmare]

He's only 0-2 so far with Elves! They played 5 total rounds today, and they'll play the last round of Auction at some later point.

I know.  I meant, he's already 3-0ed.  If we assume he sweeps Vintage, then he entered Auction needing 4-5 wins in 9 rounds, which seems easy.

On the other hand, there are at least 12 people in the invitation I would prefer to never sit across from.

[Moxlotus]

He's only 0-2 so far with Elves! They played 5 total rounds today, and they'll play the last round of Auction at some later point.

I know.  I meant, he's already 3-0ed.  If we assume he sweeps Vintage, then he entered Auction needing 4-5 wins in 9 rounds, which seems easy.

Assuming anyone 3-0s Vintage is generally not a good idea.  Come on, this is Vintage!  Assuming that one of your 3 opponents won't draw the absolute nuts during a match is living on a prayer.

On a related note, it would be really weird if Steve like 1-2s Vintage and gets his 3-0 in the limited format

[Titanium Dragon]

Well, I think its going to boil down to preparation and skill. I think he went low on elves; as bad as a lot of the decks are, when they get a free better than ancestral on turn 1, things are bound to get ugly, and elves dont' have a lot of the inherent power some of the other decks do.

I don't think Smennen is quite as good as a lot of the pros there in terms of playskill, but I think he's much better prepared than most of them, which will serve him well.

[Neonico]

I think that Smennen should avoid some of the french pro players in the vintage part of the tournament (Ruel/Wafo and really really levy) because the decks they choose is really a bad news for GaT, assuming smennen's playing GaT... even if he perfectly plays GaT, he can really be surprised by any of those decks....

all in all, and even as a french player, i wish him good luck and i wish that the eternal players colors will be brought really high by Smennen... Gogogo

[Mr. Nightmare]

Invitational cards are up, and Steve is 0-2 so far today.  His record is 3-4 after 7 rounds.  He needs to step it up, and soon.  Good Luck Steve!

By the way, Steve's is by far the coolest card.  Way to go, TMD!

[Moxlotus]

Steve's card is probably the coolest, but Kenji's card is a very very potent hoser in vintage

Kenji Tsumura
I Hate Pacts
1U
Enchantment
Players skip their upkeep steps.
At the beginning of your draw step, put a kogamo counter on I Hate Pacts.
Remove three kogamo counters from I Hate Pacts: Draw a card.

GG oath.  Cya Stack. 

[Mr. Nightmare]

And that's that, as they say.

Steve falls to 3-6 after day 2.

[Vegeta2711]

Apparently he didn't know Winston Draft as well as he thought. Hopefully he can rebound in the remaining formats for a decent finish.

[Klep]

Apparently he didn't know Winston Draft as well as he thought. Hopefully he can rebound in the remaining formats for a decent finish.

He came in IRC and said that the people he Winston Drafted against were Kenji and Ruel.  I don't think we can fault him too much for losing in those circumstances.

[Namingway]

Hey, rules question on Steve's card:

If a player has a Sphere of Resistance in play, and you play Twilight Tutor, you have to pay an additional to play it. Can you search for an additional card by paying the extra cost with colored mana? For example, can you pay  and search your library for a sorcery and a creature? Or pay and get two instants?

[Matt]

Hey, rules question on Steve's card:

If a player has a Sphere of Resistance in play, and you play Twilight Tutor, you have to pay an additional to play it. Can you search for an additional card by paying the extra cost with colored mana? For example, can you pay  and search your library for a sorcery and a creature? Or pay and get two instants?

No. The card itself requires an additional cost, and the search ability refers only to that cost, not any additional costs.

For example, imagine having two Sphere of Resistance in play. I play Overload for . Do I get the kicker ability or not? Clearly not. Same with Steve's card.


EDIT: Woah, Steve's wording is way different than what it was last time I saw it, so the above doesn't apply. With the new wording, indeed you can get a creature AND a sorcery (or whatever) but not two of any kind. The new wording should be a lot better against Trinisphere, and would be a ton of fun with Fist of Suns!

Steve Menendian
Twilight Tutor

Sorcery
If was spent to play Twilight Tutor, search your library for an enchantment card and reveal it. If was spent, search your library for an instant card and reveal it. If was spent, search your library for a sorcery card and reveal it. If was spent, search your library for a creature card and reveal it. Put a card revealed this way into your hand, then shuffle your library.

I see he went with the "to hand" version. I really wish he hadn't, since now wizards will probably add to its mana cost if they decide to make it.

[LotusHead]

Apparently he didn't know Winston Draft as well as he thought. Hopefully he can rebound in the remaining formats for a decent finish.

While I can't say I've been able to really follow Steve's progress, beyond say, this thread, I am very happy that Steve got Invited in the first place.  It's a fairly meaningful way for Wizards to say "They Care about Us/Vintage" even if they can't really do anything about Proxies.  (I am sure they don't hate it, but they just can't...CAN'T endorse them either.

[kabal]

Maro's thoughts on why Vintage is at the invitational.

[simo66]

Hmmm, Menendian lost his first match of vintage to Paulo Vitor Damo do Rosa, both playing GAT.

[kabal]

Vintage decklists are up.

[Moxlotus]

For those who are freaking lazy:

GAT:4
Flash:5 (1 kiki)
Stax:2 (Rich Hoaen played this--just like he did at Shooting Stars SCG)
Ichorid:1
da joblins:1
B/u/w fishies:1
EmptyGush:1
Landstill:1

[hazard]

It looks like these are the two card submissions for the finalists:

Tiago Chan
Denying Channel
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.

Rich Hoaen
Inebriation
UU Enchantment
Whenever you play a spell, return that card to your hand and put a random card from your hand onto the stack.

At first glance, the land seems bad: the cost is high.  The enchantment seems to have better odds at being abused.  We all know these cards go through several revampings before they become a reality, but what do folks think about the viabilty/reality of these two in Vintage?

[simo66]

The land is decent in standard, supplying additional counterspells to a slow, controlling deck.

Hoaen's is wierd, I'm not really sure what to make of it.

What do you think of the decklists the pro's are playing. For the most part they seem to have just used established archetypes but do you think there are any improvements the vintage community might adopt?

[kabal]

Tiago Chan
Denying Channel
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.

At first glance, the land seems bad: the cost is high.

Recurring counter magic with Life from the Loam, seems decent for Extended. Maybe even playable in Legacy

[Polynomial P]

Does anyone know where we can see the banned list for the choose your own standard? That sounds like a very fun format.