Ongoing Vintage Worlds Results

[DoubleDrain]

Paul - way to take it down man. You really know your way around a tendrils deck.

Jimmy - sorry about the 2nd place finish... you'll get there. Props to you and Demars for breaking strategic planning. Way to go guys!

Peace!
Travis

[Juggernaut GO]

Props to Giordano's for making the best Pizza I've ever had anywhere (and this includes Italy).

wow you managed to track down a  giordano's again!

that place actually makes any trip to chicago worthwile.

[ellomdian]

Congrats to all for a great tournament. It was lots of fun to see faces attached to the names I read on this forum. 99.9% of you exemplified what great sportsmanship really means - and at least one of you applied the beats on sunday with TERRIBLE Time Spiral cards ;P

[nartman99]

The tournament was a blast! It was great to hang out with Jaco, Soly, Steve, DeMars, and the regular Ohio crew. It was also great to hang out with Jesus, Rich Shay, and Probasco. I went 5-2 in the main event, losing to two rough matchups and failing to draw lands in game 3s when it mattered to two Michigan players that I've seen regularly. I did manage to win the Old Box tournament with my only match loss to a terrible Time Spiral rare! Who knew that an unopened box of Urza's Saga was worth like $300?!

It was great to put some names to some faces and it turns out that a lot of people are as awesome as people claim. It was real neat to play without proxies too. Definitely made the environment weird. Props to Paul for winning it all, Jimmy for a great performance, Demars for a great performance and for breaking Strategic Planning, Steve, Team Reflection, and the rest of the Ohio crew for a valiant effort, and the rest of the top 8!

[Shock Wave]

This seemed like one of the most competitive tournaments in the history of Vintage. There were most of the best Vintage personalities in North America present and many other very competent players. To make the final table in this event, never mind winning it all, was quite a feat. Many well known players were absent from the final tables in the later rounds. That's just a testament to how strong the field was.

The Canadians got a good, old fashioned shit kicking at this event. It was quite a beating. I went 0-2 drop and then went to sleep in the one of the vacant rooms, as I had been awake all night driving. When I woke up, a group of the Canadians came up to the room and it was 8:30pm. Peter O went 1-2 drop, Lam Phan went 2-2 drop, and Dave Caplan went something like 3-2 drop. Sad times.

I played UR Landstill, which, according to the Top 8, was an absolute gem of a metagame choice. Unfortunately, Ichorid placed highly in the prelims, which seemed bad for me, but I decided to play it anyways. So yeah, I was paired against Ichorid in Round 1, which pretty much implied doom for the rest of my day. I remember losing the first round in last year's championships and then winning 6 straight to make the final table, but the odds of that happening twice in a row seemed very unlikely. What made things worse was that I was paired against Chris Nighbor in the first round, so any hopes of my opponent misplaying and giving me a window of opportunity pretty much vanished. Interestingly enough, I drew an almost god-hand in the first game, but even with the perfect "anti ichorid" hand, I would still need at least one misplay on my opponent's behalf to win. Chris made every point of damage count, dredged and therapied at all the appropriate times, and eked out what was a very losable game for him. I have to give him props for that, because I'm fairly certain 9/10 Ichorid players would have lost that game. Game two was an absolute wash, which is generally the case in that matchup. Props also go to Brain Demars for not losing his cool at the final table when it looked likely that judge shenanigans were about to ruin his day. What nonsense. Thankfully, it didn't happen because Brian was ever the patient diplomat.

Congrats to the entire Top 8, and an extra congrats to Paul for taking it down. You gots you a meeeeeeeeeeeean deck there sir 

[yangtime]

Congratulations to the Top 8.  It was definitely a great time.  I'm very pleased that the Vintage Championships was at the US Nationals this year since it allowed non-Vintage players a chance to check our format out.  I think that the Vintage community represented itself nicely and certainly made an impression on others.  Hopefully next year's turnout will reflect this.

Mad props to Paul Mastriano and Jimmy McCarthy.

[Mr. Type 4]

well, Rich, I can't say I'm sad about not having to play against Landstill!  When you play a deck designed to beat the tier 1 losing the first round is the kiss of death. 

I think that the Vintage community represented itself nicely and certainly made an impression on others.  Hopefully next year's turnout will reflect this.

Yeah, lots of people got a chance to wander by and see how much fun we were having.

Does anyone know who the people were that were videotaping my game with menendian?  I'd like to check out that footage. 

[Suicideking]

Im not sure but the girl with the camera didnt seem to be enjoying herself.

[Mr. Type 4]

I'm sure it didn't help that my cards were all asian.  they had no idea whatsoever what was going on, lol.  They seemed really puzzled about all the shuffling. 

[M.Solymossy]

Your cards were asian?  You could honestly tell which cards I either had to pick up QUICK or borrow from people, because they wern't Unlimited, FBB, or Japanese.

For example, I was playing with 1 Japanese Flooded Strand and 1 English one.  4 Japanese Polluted Deltas.  A japanese Will signed in silver by Ron and Black by Garfield, japanese merchant scroll, duress, portugese force of wills, and english AK's and Thoughtseize.  Japanese Tormods Crypts, but English DSC.   

it sucked.

[God_Campbell]

Yes, we Canadians got our asses handed to us, sad times.

[Suicideking]

I did notice a sign in the lobby of the event that was sort of tucked a way that said something to the effect of, "WotC reserves the right to tape anyone at this event for future promotions ect."   

There has also been rumors of a magic documentary style television show.  With it being nationals maybe they thought it was a good time to get extra footage of a different format.

[RitNecroWin]

I'm sure it didn't help that my cards were all asian.  they had no idea whatsoever what was going on, lol.  They seemed really puzzled about all the shuffling. 

LOL ... Paul and I had a nice convo about this on the trip back to Pittsburgh... I don't think it was the foriegn cards that had the judges confused. The judges looked as though their heads were going to explode during Steve and Pauls epic round 7 battle. At one point Steve had Necro in play and took his draw step; fortunetly he didn't look at the card and had set it face down (Can't blame him, lots of pressure and tons of people watching)... The judges didn't catch this!!! it took a player mentioning it to a judge for them to realize. Paul had DSC on board and was going to be lethal; Steve drew dead and scooped up the cards. The one judge turned towards a few us watching, shrugged his shoulders and was like huh?... I don't think the judges were used to a more relaxed atmosphere (meaning joking, smack talking, normal vintage stuff) and all of the "insane plays."

It was awesome finally getting to meet many members of the vintage community.. I have to give a special shout out to Steve Ferry... I swear I'm not a horrible player, lack of sleep and just getting out of the hospital 3 days prior and still having pnemonea are bad for my game!
--- Paul and the rest of the Pittsburgh Meandeck crew almost didn't make it! We set the GPS and automaticly put in the zip code for Springfield Il. We ended up 6 and a half hours out of the way and made it to the event site at 9:30 AM, rather than 3AM and getting SOME sleep.
Playing Burning Slaver, I actually cast tinker against Steve Ferry for Sundering Titan, searched my deck 3 times an then realized I was already holding it. I made so many mistakes like this...


Anyway, congrats to all who top 8ed, it was an awesome tourny with the most insane field ever... it really was a pleasure meeting some of the finest vintage players around.

[wiley]

Did they ever nail down a concrete number on how many attended?  The main site just says "well over a hundred".

I have always enjoyed playing Vintage games, the atmosphere just fells better.  I like knowing that even while chatting back and forth we are both still at the top of our game because we are all used to this multi-tasking.  Having played/watched other formats I can only imagie how this would confound judges, especially when added to the fact that there is such a high degree of activity for every deck in the format on every turn.

[RitNecroWin]

Did they ever nail down a concrete number on how many attended?  The main site just says "well over a hundred".

109

[Bill Copes]

Are the day 2 deck lists posted anywhere?

[Schonkreuz]

for the top 8 you mean? I think they already mentioned that somewhere in this thread but I'll repost it here. It was hard to find without someone else giving you a link o.O. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat08/vintage2

[Xman]

The one judge turned towards a few us watching, shrugged his shoulders and was like huh?... I don't think the judges were used to a more relaxed atmosphere (meaning joking, smack talking, normal vintage stuff) and all of the "insane plays."

Maybe they were still stunned by the sheer amount of Power floating around in the area?  They may have seen it before, but seeing just about 2 of everything in almost every game might have been too much.

That, and Once the crowd gathers, it most definitely isn't golf!

Oh, and congrates to everyone.

[Bill Copes]

for the top 8 you mean? I think they already mentioned that somewhere in this thread but I'll repost it here. It was hard to find without someone else giving you a link o.O. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat08/vintage2

Thanks for the link, but that was the Day 1, big main event thingy.  Apparently there was another vintage event during the weekend that Nam Tran won with M.U.D.  I'm hella curious about his list.

[M.Solymossy]

Ill see if I can get it on the Team Serious boards.

[JACO]

This seemed like one of the most competitive tournaments in the history of Vintage. There were most of the best Vintage personalities in North America present and many other very competent players. To make the final table in this event, never mind winning it all, was quite a feat. Many well known players were absent from the final tables in the later rounds. That's just a testament to how strong the field was.

This was THE most competitive Vintage tournament I have ever been to, and can ever recall seeing. The Top 8 was absolutely star-studded, as were the high tables with people battling it out to see who would get in. That doesn't even account for the people who bombed out of the tournament like me, Rich Shay, Lam Phan, Rich Mattuizio (sp), Peter Olzewski, Jerry Yang, Nam Tran, Mark Trogdon, Anthony Michaels, Probasco, Dan Carp, other Ohioans, other Canadians, other MeanDeckers, other ICBMers, etc.

This field was absolutely ridiculous, which makes it all the more dissapointing I performed so poorly. Think about it. Out of 109 people there, how many people did you see were absolutely dead money? Maybe 5 or 10? When I was looking around the room I didn't see a whole lot of dummies. The turnout wasn't that high, but was wrought with skill and big names.

Congrats to all who performed well.

[M.Solymossy]

This seemed like one of the most competitive tournaments in the history of Vintage. There were most of the best Vintage personalities in North America present and many other very competent players. To make the final table in this event, never mind winning it all, was quite a feat. Many well known players were absent from the final tables in the later rounds. That's just a testament to how strong the field was.

This was THE most competitive Vintage tournament I have ever been to, and can ever recall seeing. The Top 8 was absolutely star-studded, as were the high tables with people battling it out to see who would get in. That doesn't even account for the people who bombed out of the tournament like me, Rich Shay, Lam Phan, Rich Mattuizio (sp), Peter Olzewski, Jerry Yang, Nam Tran, Mark Trogdon, Anthony Michaels, Probasco, Dan Carp, other Ohioans, other Canadians, other MeanDeckers, other ICBMers, etc.

This field was absolutely ridiculous, which makes it all the more dissapointing I performed so poorly. Think about it. Out of 109 people there, how many people did you see were absolutely dead money? Maybe 5 or 10? When I was looking around the room I didn't see a whole lot of dummies. The turnout wasn't that high, but was wrought with skill and big names.

Congrats to all who performed well.

This was definitely off the meat rack!

[nartman99]

Thanks for the link, but that was the Day 1, big main event thingy.  Apparently there was another vintage event during the weekend that Nam Tran won with M.U.D.  I'm hella curious about his list.

This tournament really was off the meat rack!

My list was nothing out of the norm. I went 5-2 in the Vintage Champs and 5-1 Day 2. My only losses in the Vintage Champs were to Edman with CS and Sam with Drain Tendrils. Both players are awesome competitors that I have seen around from Michigan that play at RIW. Both matches were three really close and awesome games. My only loss day 2 was against Jerry Yang, who ended up taking second. I guess that MUD can't beat Serra Sphinx 

Here is the list, which is the list I played in Enfield, CT at Traviscon, with a few changes:

Nam Tran
Mud

4x Smokestack
4x Crucible of Worlds
4x Metalworker
4x Staff of Domination
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Thorn of Amethyst
3x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Trinisphere
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
5x Moxen
1x Sol Ring
4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy
4x Mishra’s Factory
4x Ancient Tomb
1x Ghost Quarter

Sideboard:

4x Tormod’s Crypt
4x Triskelion
3x Jester’s Cap
3x Duplicant
1x Gaea’s Blessing

[Bill Copes]

4x Smokestack
4x Crucible of Worlds
4x Metalworker
4x Staff of Domination
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Sphere of Resistance
4x Thorn of Amethyst
3x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Trinisphere
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
5x Moxen
1x Sol Ring
4x Mishra’s Workshop
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy
4x Mishra’s Factory
4x Ancient Tomb
1x Ghost Quarter

Sideboard:

4x Tormod’s Crypt
4x Triskelion
3x Jester’s Cap
3x Duplicant
1x Gaea’s Blessing

Awesome and Thank you!

I guess that MUD can't beat Serra Sphinx 

This is where you unleash the awesome power of tangle wire / orb of dreams. 

[migasdig]

This seemed like one of the most competitive tournaments in the history of Vintage. There were most of the best Vintage personalities in North America present and many other very competent players. To make the final table in this event, never mind winning it all, was quite a feat. Many well known players were absent from the final tables in the later rounds. That's just a testament to how strong the field was.

The Canadians got a good, old fashioned shit kicking at this event. It was quite a beating. I went 0-2 drop and then went to sleep in the one of the vacant rooms, as I had been awake all night driving. When I woke up, a group of the Canadians came up to the room and it was 8:30pm. Peter O went 1-2 drop, Lam Phan went 2-2 drop, and Dave Caplan went something like 3-2 drop. Sad times.

I played UR Landstill, which, according to the Top 8, was an absolute gem of a metagame choice. Unfortunately, Ichorid placed highly in the prelims, which seemed bad for me, but I decided to play it anyways. So yeah, I was paired against Ichorid in Round 1, which pretty much implied doom for the rest of my day. I remember losing the first round in last year's championships and then winning 6 straight to make the final table, but the odds of that happening twice in a row seemed very unlikely. What made things worse was that I was paired against Chris Nighbor in the first round, so any hopes of my opponent misplaying and giving me a window of opportunity pretty much vanished. Interestingly enough, I drew an almost god-hand in the first game, but even with the perfect "anti ichorid" hand, I would still need at least one misplay on my opponent's behalf to win. Chris made every point of damage count, dredged and therapied at all the appropriate times, and eked out what was a very losable game for him. I have to give him props for that, because I'm fairly certain 9/10 Ichorid players would have lost that game. Game two was an absolute wash, which is generally the case in that matchup. Props also go to Brain Demars for not losing his cool at the final table when it looked likely that judge shenanigans were about to ruin his day. What nonsense. Thankfully, it didn't happen because Brian was ever the patient diplomat.

Congrats to the entire Top 8, and an extra congrats to Paul for taking it down. You gots you a meeeeeeeeeeeean deck there sir 

UR Landstill seems good.. how did your list look?

[pierce]

this talk of this past worlds being the most competitive ever has gotten me frustrated that I was unable to leave CO for it.

That said, my roomate took 9th on breakers. Brett Piazza. It's a name that vintage will see more of.

[Dante]

this talk of this past worlds being the most competitive ever has gotten me frustrated that I was unable to leave CO for it.

That said, my roomate took 9th on breakers. Brett Piazza. It's a name that vintage will see more of.

I was 9th in 2004.  It sucks.  I got 1 pack of Italian legends and some boosters of whatever was new at the time.   

[Moxlotus]

this talk of this past worlds being the most competitive ever has gotten me frustrated that I was unable to leave CO for it.

That said, my roomate took 9th on breakers. Brett Piazza. It's a name that vintage will see more of.

All of the 17pts and over were in the top8.

[LordHomerCat]

this talk of this past worlds being the most competitive ever has gotten me frustrated that I was unable to leave CO for it.

That said, my roomate took 9th on breakers. Brett Piazza. It's a name that vintage will see more of.

All of the 17pts and over were in the top8.

What he said.  All the people in the top 8 either went 5-0 and drew or went to 6-1 by winning the last round.

[Tha Gunslinga]

I was the only X-1-1 in contention due to ridiculously high tiebreakers, and I lost to Soly, who was paired down against me.  I wish Wizards would put up final standings somewhere.