[Premium Article] City of Brass - Grudge Match 2, a Vintage Love Story

[TheBrassMan]

A little Tournament Report and a lot of analysis, and probably my favorite article to date.  It's got a bit of everything:

Tech
Suspense
Game Losses
Math
Magic-Playing Monkeys
and other pro-vintage propaganda

Writing this was a blast... Please let me know what you think!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/20883_City_of_Brass_Grudge_Match_2_A_Vintage_Love_Story.html

[CorwinB]

Between this article and Matt's, today was a glorious day for Vintage content on SCG. This was easily one of the best and most lively tournament reports I've ever read.

[Prospero]

Great article Andy.  Still glad that everything worked out with the cards, thank goodness we can laugh about it now.

[voltron00x]

I feel the need to bump this.  It's a crime that this article has only two comments. 

I really liked this bit:

"Something I've heard skilled storm players tell their young protégées is “Trust your deck; it's that good.” This advice means to not be afraid. Just cast that Timetwister or Brainstorm and see what happens. It's a deck filled with broken cards, and you should be confident you can draw into the win. I like this advice. Let me give some similar advice to any young control protégées trying to beat combo:

“Don't trust their deck; it's really not that good.” They don't magically always have the kill; if they did, tournament results would look a lot different. If inconsistency is a deck's biggest weakness, you're going to win more games assuming they don't have it than assuming they do."

[Hagrid]

Excellent article great read thanks Andy!!

[Bibendum]

Great article. Belch monkey is only one of the wonderful things you can expect in the sweet NY vintage scene

[H]

Great article. Belch monkey is only one of the wonderful things you can expect in the sweet NY vintage scene

Unfortunately, the Belch Monkey has, in all probability, retired from Belching.  He felt that just Belching all the time might have been holding him back from achieving full monkey efficacy.

Stay tuned to a future NYSE to see what the monkey plays next.  The simple answer is, whatever i build him, but the long one will remain to be seen....

[Twaun007]

I'm not the kind of player who likes to cold-read his opponent. I'm not going to gamble that he's playing a Workshop deck because he's wearing a striped shirt.

Who let our wardrobe secret out?

He played a Chalice of the Void for zero mana, but I had no artifacts and wasn't particularly worried about it. As any Vintage player knows, it's a scientifically proven fact that any time you choose not to counter a Chalice of the Void at zero, you'll draw at least two Moxes immediately afterwards. (This isn't scientifically proven. Please don't base your decisions on this information.)

Na... Its true. CotV @ any number is like a Mirage Tutor. We all know this.....
 
I don't know how this article escaped me, but thank god for Matt bumping it.

Keep up the good work Brassy.