[Premium Article] So Many Insane Plays - How I Almost Got There, Again

[Smmenen]

This is the longest article I've ever written for starcitygames, clocking in at 50 pages in Word.   If you haven't purchased SCG premium, trust me, this article is worth it.  Not only does it contain the blow-by-blow, decision-by-decision overview of my epic match against Paul Mastriano in last round of the tournament, for top 8, but it also has a play-by-play of the finals, seen from Paul's POV. 

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/16243.html

blurb:

Monday, August 11th - Last week, Stephen Menendian brought us part 1 of his sterling attempt to defend his Vintage World Champion crown… today, he rounds out the report in fine style! He brings us a literal play-by-play of his entire tournament, and even throws us a complete play-by-play of the final! Classic Menendian… enjoy

[wiley]

Round 7: Paul Mastriano, TPS mirror, Teammate
...
Game 2:
...
Turn 5:
...and topdeck Tinker!

I play, sacrificing Mana Vault.
...
Turn 6:
On my turn, my Mana Vault sent me to 3. [causing me to scoop]

I haven't finished reading the rest, this just kind of stopped me in my tracks since it was such an important game.  Clarification on what actually happened?

[edit]
Just finished reading it.  I liked it, I even picked up a new line of play from your game 2 with Mat Endress.

A quick question though, how did responding positively to "It begins, huh?" confirm your suspicion that Stasch was playing Ichorid?

[Smmenen]

Round 7: Paul Mastriano, TPS mirror, Teammate
...
Game 2:
...
Turn 5:
...and topdeck Tinker!

I play, sacrificing Mana Vault.
...
Turn 6:
On my turn, my Mana Vault sent me to 3. [causing me to scoop]

I haven't finished reading the rest, this just kind of stopped me in my tracks since it was such an important game.  Clarification on what actually happened?

[edit]
Just finished reading it.  I liked it, I even picked up a new line of play from your game 2 with Matt Endress.

A quick question though, how did responding positively to "It begins, huh?" confirm your suspicion that Stasch was playing Ichorid?

I think it was a fetchland earlier in the game that gave me that additional point of damage.  Something like that.

[DarkfnTemplar]

Another Ichorid question:
 Why did you keep in duress and ditch force of all things? (Nor would I side out a tutor.) Best case scenario they are playing "mana'ed" Ichorid and they kept a non bazaar hand. Even then force is more relevant and stops them on the draw. Was there something Stasch played that you didn't mention?
 I do realize that you won anyways, but I have always had duress branded in my head as an auto side-out card.

[Smmenen]

Another Ichorid question:
 Why did you keep in duress and ditch force of all things? (Nor would I side out a tutor.) Best case scenario they are playing "mana'ed" Ichorid and they kept a non bazaar hand. Even then force is more relevant and stops them on the draw. Was there something Stasch played that you didn't mention?
 I do realize that you won anyways, but I have always had duress branded in my head as an auto side-out card.

The worst cards in the Ichorid matchup tend to be blue.  All of the black cards are either tutors, Rituals, or ridic broken.  You need Force to stop Chalice on the draw (and help stop Contagion, etc), but it's not nearly as important on the play.   Since there are a finite number of cards in the deck and finite number of cards you want to sb, you should have a different plan for on the draw and on the play.

Duress hits: Darkblast, Contagion, and anything that kills Jailer.  It also messes with Bazaaring.

In fact, most decks should have different plans for on the draw and on the play anyway.   

[xycsoscyx]

I was trying to trick him. If he let the Chain resolve, targeting my Mox, I could copy Chain onto his Colossus and he wouldn’t be able to counter it.

I am probably just missing something here, but why wouldn't he be able to counter the Chain copy if he had let the original resolve?

[Smmenen]

I was trying to trick him. If he let the Chain resolve, targeting my Mox, I could copy Chain onto his Colossus and he wouldn’t be able to counter it.

I am probably just missing something here, but why wouldn't he be able to counter the Chain copy if he had let the original resolve?

Mistake.

[LordHomerCat]

I notice you didn't get notes on it, when I cast Strat Planning in that last game on the last turn, the cards were Land, Welder, Force of Will.  Sadly, my hand had zero blue cards in it and only a crucible for relevant cards, so I took the welder hoping to either use him to block to buy time or get lucky and topdeck Thirst/Planning into Gas.

Those were excellent descriptions though.  The finals was literally exactly as I remember it, which was very impressive Steve.  Here's a question: do you think Paul is better with TPS than you are?

[JACO]

Steve, in one of your previous articles you wrote this:

The process of transcription was diverting mental energy and my focus. Every time someone made a play, I was moving to notate it and, what’s more, check the accuracy of my plays. It wasn’t the physical writing that sucked up time. It was the distraction.
...
My brain was, in effect, multi-tasking. It wasn’t that I was taking so much longer per play, although I was taking longer, but the problem was that I wasn’t fully focused on the game at hand. I wasn’t sucked into the game and bearing down upon it the full weight of my experience and calculating power.

I wrote that I felt that was the important takeaway from that article.

From this article you wrote:

After the match, I asked Luis Scott-Vargas, who had been watching the match, what he thought… and he said that he thought I was going to Vampiric Tutor for Brainstorm. Wow…What he meant is that I could have the first Bob reveal Brainstorm and then Brainstorm a cheap card to the top of my library to survive the last Bob flip. I didn’t even think of that play
...
since I had him dead on board, the Vamp for Brainstorm play makes the absolute most sense than trying to bounce Null Rod, and possibly and set up a "win-more" Yawgmoth’s Will with Vamp Tutor.

I could have won the game had I let Smokestack resolve. I had all of the relevant advantages at that point in the game.

I opened with, Swamp, Duress, seeing:
Wasteland
Island
Plains
Rune Snag
Mana Leak
Swords to Plowshares
Black Lotus
I believe I took Black Lotus, although this seems like a mistake in retrospect.
...
At some point, I went for a threat, and he Mana Leaked it. Another threat a few turns later was Rune Snagged.

For some reason, I went into automaton mode and untapped, drew a card, and cast Dark Ritual...I stupidly decided to play Twister.

I decided to play turn 1 Bayou, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor. But what do you find? In my view, there are three options.
...
I decided to get Necropotence. I never drew another land.

I am forced to scoop...I blew it! If I had just untapped that dang Mana Vault at almost any point in this game I would have won.

As soon as I played Time Walk, I realized the error of it.

Moreover, Chain of Vapor is almost certainly the wrong play since it allows him to break Necro lock by bouncing his Necro as well.

Mistake after mistake after mistake, costing you many games. You wrote this, which had more meaning than I suspect you know:

I could not find my focus.

Relating back to your previous article, I think your focus was on things other than just making the absolute correct play every time. For the benefits of your readers, you were taking relatively detailed notes of all of your matches all weekend, which I appreciate as a reader, but I don't think ultimately did you justice, nor served in your best interests as a player. By your own admission previously, this was a distraction, and I think had you made the correct plays in all of the scenarios above we could very well have had the first repeat Vintage World Champion.

[ErkBek]

Happy to see you smashed the thief, Stasch Kuras.

In your last game with Paul. Dan said you could have DT'd for Rebuild instead of CoV. You didn't board out Rebuild in the combo mirror?

In your match vs. Endress, I think Grim Tutor for Necro was the right play because it actually gives you a shot at winning. I don't think you had much of a shot grinding out a W over 15 turns considering how many dead cards were you your hand. Necro was the out.

Good stuff.

[Smmenen]

I notice you didn't get notes on it, when I cast Strat Planning in that last game on the last turn, the cards were Land, Welder, Force of Will.  Sadly, my hand had zero blue cards in it and only a crucible for relevant cards, so I took the welder hoping to either use him to block to buy time or get lucky and topdeck Thirst/Planning into Gas.

Those were excellent descriptions though.  The finals was literally exactly as I remember it, which was very impressive Steve. 

Impressive for who?  Your memory or my notetaking skills?

Here's a question: do you think Paul is better with TPS than you are?

Hehe.  I'm not gonna answer that question.  Let's just say it's a good thing (for Paul) that he got me when he did. 

@ Jaco:  Per my results from SCGs in the past year (except the last one), etc. I said I wasn't going to take any in-match notes.  I didn't.  All of my notes are post-match notes, which I wrote down only after the matches were concluded.  Interestingly, I have only had one unintentional draw since then!

But you are absolutely right... I couldn't find my focus.   Well put. 

Happy to see you smashed the thief, Stasch Kuras.

In your last game with Paul. Dan said you could have DT'd for Rebuild instead of CoV. You didn't board out Rebuild in the combo mirror?

In your match vs. Endress, I think Grim Tutor for Necro was the right play because it actually gives you a shot at winning. I don't think you had much of a shot grinding out a W over 15 turns considering how many dead cards were you your hand. Necro was the out.

Good stuff.

I tried to keep my blue count as high as possible in the combo mirror to support forces/etc. I only sbed out the Bayou for Tormod's Crypt, and that's it (I think). 

[xycsoscyx]

Good article, btw (forgot to mention that in my other post), sad you couldn't make it to Top8, but still congrats.

[JACO]

Steve, in regards to your match against Matt Endress, round 3, game 3, you cast Dark Ritual for Grim Tutor, then find Necropotence, and later questioned the call. You basically broke down your options as follows:

I decided to play turn 1 Bayou, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor. But what do you find? In my view, there are three options.
The first is to find a Tarmogoyf. If I draw any land, I can play it.
The second option is to find Necropotence. If I draw a second land, I can play Cabal Ritual, Necro.
The third option is to get an Island here. With an Island, I can begin playing spells off the top.

In retrospect, what do you think the correct play is? If I recall correctly from watching the match, Endress was playing Wasteland, but not Stifle, which you know from your previous games. This means that your lone mana source (Bayou) is possibly in jeopardy from the beginning if he draws Wasteland, or already has it in hand, shutting you out from casting anything. With this in mind, what would you Grim Tutor for in retrospect?

I think I would have chosen a Polluted Delta with Grim Tutor, allowing you to fetch either a basic Island or Swamp at the appropriate time, depending on your coming draws. This allows you to guard against Strip Mine or Wasteland, and to help cast anything you draw off the top for the rest of the game. The Chalice at 0 has already eliminated 8 of your mana sources that you could possibly play, so you really need to make safe land drops at all costs to be able to play out the rest of the game. You mentioned you drew Demonic Tutor the next turn, which you then could have cast, fetching either a bomb or yet another Polluted Delta, to ensure you could continue to play cards every turn. I'm not positive that Grim Tutor for Polluted Delta is the correct play, but it seems right by my calculations based on what you had seen in the match, so I'm curious as to what you (the resident Long expert) think in retrospect.

[Moxlotus]

Steve, in regards to your match against Matt Endress, round 3, game 3, you cast Dark Ritual for Grim Tutor, then find Necropotence, and later questioned the call. You basically broke down your options as follows:

I decided to play turn 1 Bayou, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor. But what do you find? In my view, there are three options.
The first is to find a Tarmogoyf. If I draw any land, I can play it.
The second option is to find Necropotence. If I draw a second land, I can play Cabal Ritual, Necro.
The third option is to get an Island here. With an Island, I can begin playing spells off the top.

In retrospect, what do you think the correct play is? If I recall correctly from watching the match, Endress was playing Wasteland, but not Stifle, which you know from your previous games. This means that your lone mana source (Bayou) is possibly in jeopardy from the beginning if he draws Wasteland, or already has it in hand, shutting you out from casting anything. With this in mind, what would you Grim Tutor for in retrospect?

I think I would have chosen a Polluted Delta with Grim Tutor, allowing you to fetch either a basic Island or Swamp at the appropriate time, depending on your coming draws. This allows you to guard against Strip Mine or Wasteland, and to help cast anything you draw off the top for the rest of the game. The Chalice at 0 has already eliminated 8 of your mana sources that you could possibly play, so you really need to make safe land drops at all costs to be able to play out the rest of the game. You mentioned you drew Demonic Tutor the next turn, which you then could have cast, fetching either a bomb or yet another Polluted Delta, to ensure you could continue to play cards every turn. I'm not positive that Grim Tutor for Polluted Delta is the correct play, but it seems right by my calculations based on what you had seen in the match, so I'm curious as to what you (the resident Long expert) think in retrospect.

GWS has been debating this.  Steve was basically screwed no matter what.  It's like driving down the highway and having to decide whether to smash into the buck with huge antlers or swerve into the metal barrier on the side of the road.  All options are awful at this point.  If I recall, Endress was surprised that he didn't get the land, but then assumed he just got Necro.  I thought he was going to get a Delta and try to grind it out.  I'm not sure why I thought this, as Steve is a person that tends to go all in (and it usually works out).  Becker thinks the right play was Necro and the more I think about it the closer I come to that conclusion.  I'm also curious what Steve's opinion in retrospect is.

[Smmenen]

I definitely think getting a land there was correct.   JACO is  right that Delta is the correct call.   I didn't need to combo out.  I had 4 Goyfs in my deck I could draw and play and any number of other cheap cards as well. 

EDIT: The big mistake in that match was blowing game one so horrendously, as a Desire for even a minimal amoutn would have quickly overwhelmed Mat's one counterspell and one STP hand.   

I know that TK 2-0ed Endress in the same match.