[Free Article] So Many Insane Plays -- The Vintage Jan-Feb Metagame Report

[Smmenen]

In the article that goes live on Monday, March 16, I take a look at the changing metagame trends in the Vintage tournament scene, and specifically, in Top 8s around the world.  

In the last metagame report, Tezzeret jumped into the Vintage scene with a splash, and was by far the best performing deck in terms of the number of top 8 appearances and tournament wins?   Does that trend continue into 2009?  Click this article to find out!

This article is a perfect place to begin your preparations for the Waterbury this weekend!  

Also, this is a split Legacy/Vintage article, with my full report for GP Chicago.  Enjoy!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/17220_So_Many_Insane_Plays_Reflections_on_Chicago_The_JanFeb_Vintage_Metagame_Report.html

[OwenTheEnchanter]

This article was actually amazing.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Great article, Steve.  That had a lot of content in it.  I have a question about the metagame report.  With only 9 qualifying tournaments in the two months, is it fair to draw conclusions about the state of the entire metagame from that?  Obviously, it is in lockstep with the same trend the last two or three metagame reports have shown.  But is it of a large enough sample size to cause any worry at this point?

Peace,

-Troy

[Smmenen]

Thanks Owen

@ Troy:

That's a good question.  I think that it is large enough.   There were 3-4 tournaments from each of the main magic continents spread over time, in tournaments with enough players to be statistically significant.   It was only two tournaments fewer than the previous dataset -- so it was a slightly smaller sample, but one that seems to fit well in with the previous metagame report.

[chrissss]

Nice read, very enjoyable to read infact

I called the judge and asked for an explanation of how phasing works.

That made me smile. That charm is a nifty card to think of it.

Why did you go for TPS instead of for example the grow deck you posted last month? And do you think you would have done better with that deck? ( not taking into account the mistakes you made playing the ichorid game that is)

[GrandpaBelcher]

Nice read, very enjoyable to read infact

I called the judge and asked for an explanation of how phasing works.

That made me smile. That charm is a nifty card to think of it.

Why did you go for TPS instead of for example the grow deck you posted last month? And do you think you would have done better with that deck? ( not taking into account the mistakes you made playing the ichorid game that is)

The Grow deck was posted with regards to the upcoming TMD Open, which has a history of aggro-control/Gush/green creatures winning.  We'll see what happens there this year as the Open is next week.  (Steve, I'll see you there... in the finals.)

I haven't gotten a chance to read through the metagame information yet, but I did get to read the Legacy report, which was excellent.  Legacy is a challenging format, similar to Vintage in that one mistake can ruin you quickly.  It's helpful to see some mistakes made (since Joe Average-Magic is more likely to make mistakes than not) and their causes and results.  Your frank analysis was fantastic.  Sorry you had to do poorer than expected to provide that analysis for us.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest this evening.