[Premium Article] SCG P9 Tournament Report: 5th Place

[Smmenen]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15931.html

blurb:

Monday, May 26th - Last week, Vintage World Champion Stephen Menendian shared his ponderous run in Day 1 of the recent StarCityGames.com Power 9 tournament weekend. While he didn’t lose a great deal, he did pick up a slew of unintentional draws. Today, he investigates why that may be, and takes us through his far more successful Day 2 performance…

The big carry-home from this article is my rubric for playing Brainstorm over Ponder and vice versa and for playing Duress over Thoughtseize and vice versa. 

[JACO]

The big carry-home from this article is my rubric for playing Brainstorm over Ponder and vice versa and for playing Duress over Thoughtseize and vice versa.

Nice article Steve. After reading that though, I don't think the big carry-home is when to play Brainstorm or Ponder, or Duress or Thoughtseize. To me, at least, all  of that should be obvious.

I think the most interesting part of the article was how you wrote about your note taking distracting you from the situation at hand in games, and thus forcing you to go to time more often. This is a problem I've noticed you had in the past, and noticed when I played against you last (I want to say during the Vintage Championship in like round 6 or something, but I can't remember exactly). When we played, you were scribbling notes frantically, while I was focused entirely on your actions, and a few times called out if a spell would be resolving or not before you even cast it (I'm not sure if you remember). I knew all the lines of play for you because of my focus on the match.

Notating storm count and knowledge of opponent's hand is important, as is how life is lost for each player (as this may need to be retraced later if a disput arises). Simply notating life total like this is enough:
20
19 PD   ----> for Polluted Delta
15 QD  ----> for Quirion Dryad

Other than keeping track of those 3 things, all of your energy should be focused on analyzing the opponent and lines of play. I see it worked out great for you in this tournament, and I think you'll be an even stronger player going forward because of it. I'm looking forward to a rematch.

[yatagirlofchaos]

I finally got SCG premium so now I can comment on these. 

I was thinking, based on your match vs. ichorid on day 1, isn't jailer a bit too slow to really do anything? In the game where you (relevantly) drew it, it was basically cut off by chalice at 0, making it too slow and losing the game. I would think this would come up a lot, and even if they don't have chalice, you only run 4 pieces of acceleration, making it even slower. When you add the fact that they have unmask, therapy, darkblast, bounce, etc. it just seems terrible. Replacements could be extirpate, crypt, needle, or even planar void (although you lose functionality of will). What are your thoughts on this?

[Smmenen]

I finally got SCG premium so now I can comment on these. 

I was thinking, based on your match vs. ichorid on day 1, isn't jailer a bit too slow to really do anything? In the game where you (relevantly) drew it, it was basically cut off by chalice at 0, making it too slow and losing the game. I would think this would come up a lot, and even if they don't have chalice, you only run 4 pieces of acceleration, making it even slower. When you add the fact that they have unmask, therapy, darkblast, bounce, etc. it just seems terrible. Replacements could be extirpate, crypt, needle, or even planar void (although you lose functionality of will). What are your thoughts on this?

This is a good question, but the answer is complicated.   In principle, you are right - Jailer is slow, but compared to what?   It's true that it is not entirely likely to drop it on turn one.  But Remember, I'm running 4 Leyline and 2 Jailer.   For every Unmask, you may have a Brainstorm to hide it.  For everytime they don't have Chalice, you may have a Mox.  It's not that Jailer is bad, or that it's slow, but what is better in that slot?   I already run four Leyline.  Extirpate?  Tormod's Crypt?  Faerie Macabre?   All of those cards have their own problems.   Jailer is at least a card that I can topdeck, tutor into, or whatever to seal a game up that has been slowed with Leyline.  It synergizes with Leyline while the other options do not. 

I mean, if I had drawn a second mana source at almost *any* time in game two, I would have had not just one Jailer down, but two and then would have quickly won the game.   

[Smmenen]

The big carry-home from this article is my rubric for playing Brainstorm over Ponder and vice versa and for playing Duress over Thoughtseize and vice versa.

Nice article Steve. After reading that though, I don't think the big carry-home is when to play Brainstorm or Ponder, or Duress or Thoughtseize. To me, at least, all  of that should be obvious.

I dunno - perhaps.   I think though that my particular answer about Thoughtseize v. Duress is counterintuitive.  Most players will probably tell you to Thoughtseize first.   

[toor]

I am pretty sure I am going to play this list Sunday at our local vintage tourney.

Some questions.
How bad is an opposing bob for you? In a deck like next level doomsday is this a must counter? When playing workshop decks is your plan to just eot a bounce spell and combo them out? Or can you feasibly build an incremental dryad?

Why has no one considered sideboarding bob in GAT for the combo/control matchups?

[Smmenen]

I am pretty sure I am going to play this list Sunday at our local vintage tourney.

Some questions.
How bad is an opposing bob for you?

I tend to think that Bob is a hugely overrated card.  Bob by itself is almost nothing, it is the cumulative card advantage that matters if you can't win counterwars. 

A turn one Bob can be troubling, especially if you don't have a Dryad within two turns, for that reason.  Mid-game bob, especially when met with Dryad, is fairly insignificant. 

In a deck like next level doomsday is this a must counter?

I would say not.

 When playing workshop decks is your plan to just eot a bounce spell and combo them out? Or can you feasibly build an incremental dryad?

Bounce and combo out.   It is almost impossible to build incremental dryad.

Why has no one considered sideboarding bob in GAT for the combo/control matchups?

I'm not sure no one has considered it.   I think Bob is much weaker than Scroll in terms of two drops and not partcularly good in general.   The first draw replaces itself, the second draw gets you somewhere, but it really isn't until the third draw that you start pushing ahead in the game.   Anything that requires three additional turns to matter doesn't seem very good tome. 

[Smmenen]

FYI: This article will be free tomorrow.   

[IthilanorStPete]

FYI: This article will be free tomorrow.   

Is there a specific reason this is of note?

[Smmenen]

Sometimes I alert people that my articles are free as a courtesy to those of you who do not have premium.  That way, non-premium members can read articles that were formerly pay-only.   

[Tabasco]

I think what he was trying to say, Steve, is that this article holds little merit now that we have had a metagame shift, and 4 of the cards in your deck became restricted.

If this article was of a report of a deck that is still currently viable, then it would be a more important opportunity to read the article.