Blue Bell Game Day #6 - Saturday, July 3rd - FREE BBQ FOR EVERYONE!

[Rico Suave]

Really, as long as your intentions are clear it's not a problem.  Vintage players, especially here, are pretty cool as long as you're not trying to cheat.  

Personally, I take random draft commons and write on the back of them with a sharpie. 

[psyburat]

How ridiculous should my outfit be tomorrow?

[Will]

@Mykie: On a 1 to full cowboy gear with Lucchese's and a hat i'd say somewhere in the Village People category.
As to coming to the tournament: I doubt I can make it due to festivities celebrating our proud nation.

[voltron00x]

First, great tournament today.  The quality of today's field was really ridiculous, and BBQ should be something we do again (although we should obviously pay the TO for it next time - thanks for providing this time Nick, very cool).

Here was the top 8, which includes at least 5 previous Blue Bell / NYSE winners, but possibly 6 or 7:

Jake Gans (Dredge) def. John Wolsky (Faeries)
Matt Elias (Oath) def. Mark Hornung (Dredge)
Sam Berse (Dredge) def. Josh Potucek (Oath)
Brad Granberry (TPS*) def. Jeff Folinus (Mono-Red Stax)

Sam Berse def. Matt Elias
Jake Gans def. Brad Granberry

Finals:  Dredge won obviously, I left in the middle of game 2.  See Nick's TO report.  *re: Brad's deck, I know he was playing Tendrils but I didn't see if it was really TPS, or Bob Tendrils or something else.

Here's my day in brief:

Rd 1 - Lose 1-2 vs Dredge (Jake Gans)
Rd 2 - Win 2-1 vs Dredge (Sam Berse)
Rd 3 - Win 2-0 vs Dredge (Steve Silverman)
Rd 4 - Win 2-0 vs Aggro MUD (Lucas Siow)
Rd 5 - Win 2-1 vs Noble Fish (Chris M)
Rd 6 - ID

Top 8 - Win 2-0 vs Dredge (Mark Hornung)
Top 4 - Lose 1-2 vs Sam Berse

So I played 7 rounds of Magic and 5 were against Dredge, and I played against all four Dredge players who were in the tournament (out of 36).  

Anyway, if there was any doubt, Aggro MUD is *NOT* the best deck in Vintage. A bunch of people showed up with Menendian's list (card for card) and were summarily smashed.  C'mon guys, Vintage is much too regional to just grab someone's list and think it'll get there as-is, and in a lot of metas, Null Rod isn't remotely correct.   There were TWO Tezzeret players out of 36 in this tournament, FWIW.

I'm pretty sure I'd play Ashok and Eisenhauer's Meandeck Murderball build from 2 months ago (which was a better version of the same deck) or Ashok's Bloodghast Stax, Folinus's version of Mono-red Stax, or Espresso Stax from NYSE, if I was looking at Workshop decks.  I also think its wrong to dismiss Metalworker out of hand, with or without Sword of Fire and Ice, but the fact that Oath was the most popular deck today helps explain why its a risky inclusion in our tournaments.

Also, Dredge... somebody needs to stop writing about that deck, b/c it is out of control.  Four people played it - several of which have to be considered Dredge masters at this point - and three made top 8, and the finals was Dredge vs. Dredge.  Packing extra copies of Serenity into the shell I played in February is definitely a winning formula, I had no idea how resilient that build really was until I had to play against it repeatedly.

For my money, Oath is (still) the best deck in Vintage.  I feel like I have an advantage against every other player in the room when I play that deck.  I'll talk about why a little bit in my next article.

[InfectedMushroom]

I am about to go to bed I think, but I wanted to say thank you to Nick Coss for hosting this tourney and BBQ. Also thank you to Keith for cooking up some sweet Boca Burgers for me. I tried to bring a few extra things, I hope we can do this again. Being able to go outside and get some food and share stories made this one of the best tournaments I have attended in a while. Maybe we can make this a regular event with the BBQ.

Though I had a couple rough matches, I had a blast and every one of my opponents was a stand up person. These are the reasons why I love playing our format and I wish more people got to experience this. Thanks everybody!

Dredge had a very good day today though, but it is piloted by some of the best Dredge pilots on the coast. It is such a resilient deck, and today's results certainly show what a force it is.

[dark burn]

It was a real good event again Nick.  I had a great time playing and hanging out with everyone.  I also agree that the BBQ should happen more often. 

[mr.grim]

First off happy BoomBoom day to all!

Congrats to the top 8!

Id like to also send congrats to Mark Hornung for his top 8. As he was Dredging his way to the top 8, he flipped his deck all the way to the dark side. Mark is now the newest member of The Separatist Council .

@Matt ... Of course its oath! Tho I think its your,shay's,and my fault for how many oaths top8 lol. If I was not the grill master yesterday it would of been 3 oath to 3 dredge in that top8.

Overall it was a fantastic day. Thank you Nick coss for the sunburn. ...I hope we do this again soon.

[2nd_lawl]

Delishus Burgers
Delishus Battoles
A++++ would run it back

[Therubecube]

Delishus Burgers
Delishus Battoles
A++++ would run it back

I still owe people gin buckets since I didn't make it down

[psyburat]

Game 3 of the finals.