TRAVIS CON v2.0 result thread

[Vegeta2711]

So I called Rich up. He missed T8 with CS by one game.

In the T8 is apparently WW (with black for Confidant), couple of Tezzeret and Ad Nauseum combo. Don't know anything else thus far though.

[Mith]

Top 8 that I saw:

BUG Fish vs. BUGW Fish (managed to fit in meddling mage)

Tez (with slaver) vs ?

Painter vs. WB weenie (I'm not even sure how to start describing this deck)

Workshop vs. ?

[Smmenen]

How many players?

[desolutionist]

Wow, I completely forgot to go to this.

[Glix]

The decks Mith missed:

Workshop vs Ad Nausium

Tez (with slaver) vs Oath (I should note that by tez with slaver, we litterally mean UB Tez with the singleton card slaver)

As for the weenie deck, it basically was just white/black weenie as designed by a standard player, you're talking confidants, sammy p, whipcorder, figure of destiny, grunts, powered by vial.  Kinda ridiculous, I love it.

I think 5c shops and 4c fish split first, with tez and painter playing a brutal pseudo-mirror for 3/4th (no sure who won).

I think there were only 50 people or so, turnout was disappointingly low, I have to say.

Overall, a good day though, although I ended up only going 3-2-1 (I drew against my last round opponent once we determined that no 4-2s could possibly make it).

[Outlaw]

Sorry to everyone I missed it, not enough time in a day and semester is silly.  Good looks to everyone who attended, I imagine it was nuts.  One love.

[Mith]

As for the weenie deck, it basically was just white/black weenie as designed by a standard player, you're talking confidants, sammy p, whipcorder, figure of destiny, grunts, powered by vial.  Kinda ridiculous, I love it.

At one point while watching the top 8, I thought I was going to watch a whipcorder keep a darksteel colossus at bay. It probably would have if it wasn't for the lucky echoing truth.

I don't quite get the single-mindslaver in UB Tezz, but I did see the guy playing the deck manage to tinker it out during the early rounds.

I'm still very impressed that someone was able to fit Meddling Mage into BUG Fish. The manabase is tough enough as it is without trying to squeeze in another color.

[arik124]

This was great.  The only downside was that Jeff bought some kid's collection, ran out of cash, and there was no buy back so we had to play for cards.  Other than that ran really well.

[v4ino]

Hi All,

I have come out of over a 1+ year pause from the game, I was interested to bring something new to the table so I crafted the WW and had alot of fun with it aside from some success. People seemed to enjoy the deck so I'll try to get out a t-report soon....

At one point while watching the top 8, I thought I was going to watch a whipcorder keep a darksteel colossus at bay. It probably would have if it wasn't for the lucky echoing truth.

Yeah, it was a tight match and game 3 - had I won; my matchups against the rest of the field was very good, The great prize structure did lessen the feeling of defeat.

WW 4 LIFE

[ashiXIII]

As for the weenie deck, it basically was just white/black weenie as designed by a standard player, you're talking confidants, sammy p, whipcorder, figure of destiny, grunts, powered by vial.  Kinda ridiculous, I love it.

At one point while watching the top 8, I thought I was going to watch a whipcorder keep a darksteel colossus at bay. It probably would have if it wasn't for the lucky echoing truth.

I don't quite get the single-mindslaver in UB Tezz, but I did see the guy playing the deck manage to tinker it out during the early rounds.

I'm still very impressed that someone was able to fit Meddling Mage into BUG Fish. The manabase is tough enough as it is without trying to squeeze in another color.

It wasn't really lucky. I had it in my hand the entire game and made sure I kept it there.

[2nd_lawl]

Grats to Nick S. Detwiler for his stunning result.

[Prospero]

Grats to Nick S. Detwiler for his stunning result.

Thank you.

I definitely had a great time yesterday, thanks to Jimmy Hangley, B.R., Max "Umbral Mantle" Brown, both Raf AND Vinny Forino and the rest of Team Long Island.

If anybody actually cares for a tournament report, I'll put one together, but it basically boils down to me playing pretty well for the first five rounds, drawing, and then getting what I needed in the top 8. 

Great prize support, $30 Mox Sapphire's are highly recommended.  The tournament was very well run, thanks to all who put it together...

(And I hope my win wasn't that "stunning", but thank you again anyways)

[Prospero]

How many players?

56

[smeagol]

I was the kid who got liek 1/3 of his collection bought before jeff ran outta money.

Sorry to the dudes who wanted to play for cash. It kinda sucks selling your cards.

[Juggernaut GO]

I think the days of big turn out vintage events are officially over.  I suppose I can take some pride in the fact that the tournament I ran in June was the last vintage event with that many players in attendence.

Considering how disinterested people seem to feel in playing magic, I wouldn't be surprised if the remaining people operating monthly t1 events starts to vanish.  There were so many people missing from this tournament that used to never ever miss a magic event, and I'm talking strictly players from new england.

Unfortunately, I  have to say that this is probably the last tournament I will ever run.  I lost significant amounts of money at both events I have run.  The effort I put in to running these is simply not worth the time, and I certainly should not have to end up paying players out of my pocket at the end of the day to come out and enjoy themselves.

[Demonic Attorney]

Travis,

Your response to your experience as TO of this event is totally understandable.  It sucks that you had to take a hit after spending so much time, effort, and money putting this thing together.  I just want to make one suggestion, though.

Even if you are right about the days of Vintage extravaganzas being over, that still leaves smaller, local tournaments.  Looking at my poll about why people go to tournaments versus not, traveling seems to be the biggest factor.  If I were to vote in my own poll, that would be the response I'd pick too.  It's just so hard blocking off a Saturday morning and afternoon to go a tournament; there's no way I can devote 2.5 days to a weekend event plus spend hotel fare these days.

What I think that means is a shift back to smaller, local tournaments.  I wasn't onboard at the beginning, but isn't that how Vintage first started out and first started to gain momentum?  A small, local scene with a foundation of die-hard supporters that over time accumulated more devotees?  If that's true, then what would you think about arranging smaller local events?  There's less financial exposure and the big travel variable doesn't come into play as much. 

[Smmenen]

I think the days of big turn out vintage events are officially over.

The Vintage Champs got well over a hundred players again this year, even after they moved it to Chicago after a bunch of players had already booked Gencon.   And a tournament in Milan got 315 players just a little over a month ago. 

On the other hand, if Vintage tournaments start to dwindle, perhaps that will cause the prices of power to drop as well.   That could make it cheaper to run good Vintage events in the long run.   

[Gekoratel]

So the T8 D2 was.

Painter - Jeff Folinus(me)
Painter with Vault combo - Joe Davis
BW Fish
Shop Aggro - Ray Robillard
Mono Red Stax - Ici Li
Confidant Control - Steve Nowakowski
UBGW Fish
CS - AJ Grasso

Painter def. BW Fish
UGGW Fish def. Confidant Control
Shop Aggro def. CS
Mono Red Stax def. Painter w/ Vault

Painter def. Mono Red Stax
Shop Aggro def. UGBW Fish

Shop Aggro def. Painter

Tournament was a lot of fun but the small turnout was very disappionting especially since I spoke with people day 1 that drove 2.5+ hours to the event only to play in day one.  Congrats to Ray for winning Day 2 and it was a good time to hang out and meet some new people.  Here is the list of Painter that I played.


4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Island
3 Painter's Servant
2 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
4 Force of Will
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Mana Drain
3 Thoughtseize
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Grindstone
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Thirst for Knowledge

Sideboard
1 Tropical Island
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Chalice of the Void
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Duress
4 Tarmogoyf

[Smmenen]

How many people played day two?

[Tha Gunslinga]

Congratulations to Ray Robillard.  Any chance we can get the Day 1 top 8?

[Lou]

Congrats on day two Ray!

[crovax]

How many people played day two?

24

[OwenTheEnchanter]

Attendance at these vintage tournaments is just getting lower and lower.

[M.Solymossy]

It's what happens with Star City not really organizing Vintage events anymore.  If there would be a stable supply of big tournaments to supplement the smaller ones, there would be more attendance.  SCG had one event last year if I remember correctly, and then there was Traviscon1 and Worlds.  Traviscon1 was big because you could still play 4 brainstorms.  I assume Traviscon2 was more rough due to college (as was my case), travel (again, nobody from  WI/IL/OH wanted to go), and peoples lack of excitement for this format.
That, and I hate to admit it, but the restriction of Brainstorm probably hurt the format.

[personalbackfire]

This tournament was alot of fun. It was a shame that not as many people showed up, although it was great seeing the people that came. Congrats to those who top 8ed both days and to those players from the bluebell area that had a strong showing day 2 and Joe for top 8ing both days.

[Jostin123]

I was really disappointed at the turnout for day 1 and 2.  I understand that the weather was shitty (rained all day in and around the area, and it had gotten really windy).  I had rented a car to drive up with Ici and Brendan hoping the tournament would have been grand.  A car rental and hotel and a 2 1/2 hour drive is not worth a tournament with 56 people.  Unfortunately the lack of a tournament scene in NYC (Vintage at Neutral Ground had been dead for years, even their yearly Time Walk tournament has become a standard/ draft event) means that I have to drive the good part of the day to get my Vintage rocks on.  I really dislike small local Vintage tournaments because more than half the people in the room know each other well enough to know what they are playing that day.  In my experiance, that skews what decks are represented.  When you have these huge tournaments like the first TravisCon, not only do they bring a wide variety of player, but also a wide variety of decks and levels of play skill.  Large events draw out the better players, and I enjoy playing against them.  I also have the opportunity to meet players and exchange ideas with them.  Last TravisCon, the Ohio crew came and we got to exchange our thoughts about Stax and ideal builds, something that would have never happened had either they or I had not come, and we came because the tournament was huge.  I know that I probably will never get to play against Ray or Rich if I went to a local tournament in Long Island.  It just won't happen.  Also, working for the city means that I have to schedule time off far in advance just to be able to attend tournaments.  If a turnament get posted 2 or 3 weeks before the event date, unless I have a shitload of vacation days to burn (which makes it easier for my supervisors to clear it with their superiors) and enough staff to cover (note: city workers are gettng laid off) it's just not going to happen.  So yeah, I'm pissed.  I spent all this time, money and planning to go to an event that crapped out.  I feel you Travis, I really do. 

On that note, I am glad to see the people that did show up and compete.  I wish we had more dedicated players.  Props tp Ici as well, beating Joe in the top 8 with his Stax deck while Joe had Voltaic Key AND Time Vault in play.  That deciding draw was epic.  Helluva match to have seen.

[forcethewill]

congrats to both winners of the 2 days.
Travis i had a good time going there even if it wasn't the best turn out and you lost money just keep the faith.  If you post it they will come..lol.  I agree that big events are dying out, but with that being said i believe that they will return.  The vintage scene is going through a valley after coming off a very high peak.  I would like to say I'm sure that things will change and that people who haven't played in a while will dust off their moxen, show up and play but i cant. 

  I know that I probably will never get to play against Ray or Rich if I went to a local tournament in Long Island.  It just won't happen. 

never say never... I'm sure that if the tournament is decent enough that people will come down and play.  Its sort of mutual thing. 

[Prospero]

I was really disappointed at the turnout for day 1 and 2.  I understand that the weather was shitty (rained all day in and around the area, and it had gotten really windy).  I had rented a car to drive up with Ici and Brendan hoping the tournament would have been grand.  A car rental and hotel and a 2 1/2 hour drive is not worth a tournament with 56 people.  Unfortunately the lack of a tournament scene in NYC (Vintage at Neutral Ground had been dead for years, even their yearly Time Walk tournament has become a standard/ draft event) means that I have to drive the good part of the day to get my Vintage rocks on.  I really dislike small local Vintage tournaments because more than half the people in the room know each other well enough to know what they are playing that day.  In my experiance, that skews what decks are represented.  When you have these huge tournaments like the first TravisCon, not only do they bring a wide variety of player, but also a wide variety of decks and levels of play skill.  Large events draw out the better players, and I enjoy playing against them.  I also have the opportunity to meet players and exchange ideas with them.  Last TravisCon, the Ohio crew came and we got to exchange our thoughts about Stax and ideal builds, something that would have never happened had either they or I had not come, and we came because the tournament was huge.  I know that I probably will never get to play against Ray or Rich if I went to a local tournament in Long Island.  It just won't happen.  Also, working for the city means that I have to schedule time off far in advance just to be able to attend tournaments.  If a turnament get posted 2 or 3 weeks before the event date, unless I have a shitload of vacation days to burn (which makes it easier for my supervisors to clear it with their superiors) and enough staff to cover (note: city workers are gettng laid off) it's just not going to happen.  So yeah, I'm pissed.  I spent all this time, money and planning to go to an event that crapped out.  I feel you Travis, I really do. 

On that note, I am glad to see the people that did show up and compete.  I wish we had more dedicated players.  Props tp Ici as well, beating Joe in the top 8 with his Stax deck while Joe had Voltaic Key AND Time Vault in play.  That deciding draw was epic.  Helluva match to have seen.

I hear you Jostin.

There are a bunch of people on the Island (both in Nassau and Suffolk counties) who play, and I know that there are a few hardcore Vintage players in the city.  I really think that we can get a tournament scene going around the Island that consistently gets 40ish people to play.  And if we can consistently get that base, we can draw more people in.

As much as it was a shame to see only 56 players on Saturday, all of us who came from Long Island met players in the NYC area that we didn't know about.  We've got contact information for a few of the new people we met, and we're going to try and draw everybody together.

I feel terrible that TravisCon 2 didn't get more people, there were things that nobody could control that probably brought attendance down.  And I'd imagine that the Warcraft release probably took a few more players away.  But I don't think it's an indictment of these kinds of tournaments in general.

Maybe we do have to get back to the smaller events.  If we can get the smaller events back off the ground, and get them running consistently, then we can grow the community again.  Maybe things have been stagnant.  I know that there are a solid 15 people that I can get for a Mox tourney on the Island.  I know that we've drawn a few more people in on Long Island - younger players who are just getting into Vintage, and older players who are coming back.  I know that we can grow the community here, and eventually have the kind of high level tournaments that we all love.

We have to regroup.  It sucks, but it is what it is.  I lost money on the last tourney I ran on Long Island, but I'm putting together another one now.  Vintage has a really tight community, I'm sure that if we make it convenient enough for everybody, and make it worth everyone's while we'll be able to keep the core group in addition to getting new players.

[Prospero]

Congratulations to Ray Robillard.  Any chance we can get the Day 1 top 8?

These are the names that I know:

Arik Pogrebinsky, playing BUGw Fish
Joe Davis, playing Painter Tezzeret
Nick Detwiler playing 5C Stax
Vinny Forino playing WW

These are the other two decks I know made t8:

Ad Nauseum
BUG Fish

I don't know who the other two players were off the top of my head.

Here's the list that I ran:

Spells:

1 Balance
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Imperial Seal
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Crop Rotation

Artifacts:

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Tangle Wire
3 Smokestack
1 Memory Jar
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan

Lands:

1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
3 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop

SB:

1 In the Eye of Chaos
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Firespout
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
2 Powder Keg
1 Triskelion

The deck really wanted another Gorilla Shaman, maybe two.  Every time that he hit play he owned the board.  I saw enough combo, and boarded out enough Crucible's that I would consider moving down to two.

Outside of that I'm really interested to see what the other t8 lists were like. 

And I'd like to apologize to my first t8 opponent if I seemed completely unresponsive and rather cold.  I didn't want to give anything away, or allow myself to play in a sloppy fashion and that may have led to my coming off as an asshole.

[personalbackfire]

Joes painter list didnt actually have tezz in it