3rd Place with Meandeck Bob/Gush Control – The 2011 Vintage Championship

[Smmenen]

Introduction

I’m a huge fan of the card Gush.  When the DCI decided to unexpected unrestrict Gush once more I was elated.    I quickly developed and played a Grow deck at a tournament in Ann Arbor winning a Mox Jet.   Over the next few months, rather than writing a weekly column for SCG, I spent that time composing, a chapter at a time (at the same pace I would be writing weekly articles), for a book that became “Understanding Gush,” which is available at Quiet Speculation.com   here (the link to the first full free chapter is in my signature).  For that book, I developed four different Gush decks: Tyrant Oath in the modern environment (which was largely just a Jace deck), a really nasty Gush Storm deck (which was unfortunately weak to shops), a different approach to Grow with Kiln Fiend, and then a Gush Control deck.   I figured it would be likely that I would want to play one of those decks in the 2011 Vintage Championship, but that was a long ways away.  It turns out that I would end up playing a Gush deck that was very different from any of the four basic possibilities I had envisioned back in November of last year.  

Preparation

As June rolled around, I more seriously made initial preparation for the Vintage Champs.  I wasn’t exactly sure where to start, so I decided to do some research based on recent tournaments.  For a total synopsis of my research, check out my Q2 Metagame report here

I decided to begin with Jace.  Jace seemed like the epicenter of the format.   The two main blue archetypes were Bob/Jace Control and Gush/Jace Control.   I couldn’t decide what to play, but it seemed like I'd be playing with Jace.    

As I dug deeper and looked around, I noticed that there had been a remarkable convergence in Gush builds that were making top 8s.  I made this observation in one of my first podcasts.  Jesse Martin’s Gush deck, for example, which he styled a Storm deck, but really looked more like a Control deck with a combo finish, was only one or two cards off the lists that I saw elsewhere.  

In mid-June, I found this list on morphling.de:

1 Black Lotus
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Thoughtseize
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Gush
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Preordain
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Nature's Claim
2 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea

SB:

2 Dismember
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Nature's Claim
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
3 Trygon Predator
3 Yixlid Jailer

In some respects, this list was pretty similar to a Gush Control list from my book (but updated), and the modern day version of Empty Gush.  This list struck all the right chords with me.  It had Jace, three Drains, full Preordain package, and looked focused.   I began playing it, and tuning it.

Two weeks later, I had tuned this list, and this is what I played at the Sandusky tournament that Nat Moes won with UBW Fish:

Gush Control, by Stephen Menendian

June 28, 2011

1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Empty the Warrens

1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Gush
4 Preordain
1 Fastbond

4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
2 Mana Drain
1 Flusterstorm

1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll

1 Fire/Ice
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Hurkyl's Recall

7 Fetch (4 Tarn)
3 Sea
2 Trop
2 Volc
1 Island
5 Moxen
1 Sol, Crypt, Lotus,

Sideboard:
1 Mountain
3 Ingot Chewer

2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Flusterstorm

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer

1 Lightning Bolt

This deck really underscored my belief in the power of Jace.   But I felt the need for another win condition, so that’s why I ran Empty, following the trends of players like Shaun Anthony.   I went 3-2 in the tournament, not doing very well, and immediately recognized some of the deck’s problematic areas, beginning with my Shop matchup.  
 
I realized, first and foremost, that I needed real ways to deal with Shops.   Secondly, I decided Empty was unnecessary.  Third, I decided, following Paul Mastriano’s urging, and my own recognition, to add Key/Vault, which actually worked quite well in this deck.

So here was my revised, post-tournament list:

Revised list:

Gush Control, Stephen Menendian
7/6/11

1 Blightsteel Colossus

1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time vault
1 Voltaic Key

3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Gush
4 Preordain
1 Fastbond

4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
2 Mana Drain

1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll

1 Fire/Ice
2 Ancient Grudge

7 Fetch (4 Tarn)
3 Sea
2 Trop
2 Volc
1 Island
5 Moxen
1 Sol, Crypt, Lotus,

Sideboard:
1 Mountain
3 Ingot Chewer

2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Flusterstorm

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer

1 Lightning Bolt

By mid-July I had announced to my team that this was my front runner for Gencon.   It was testing well against our entire gauntlet, but I wasn’t really happy with it.   Something just felt wrong to me.   In particular, I didn’t like how this deck didn’t feel very aggressive in the early game.  In my Gush book, I talk a good deal about Gush theory, and the importance of early disruption for Gush decks, for tempo and slowing the game down.   The two Thoughtseize package was really tiny for a Gush deck, where Duress effects or Spell Pierce effects are so powerful.   This deck didn’t do enough up front for my taste.  My Grow decks in the past had often run 8 Duresses, and my most recent Grow deck, from the Ann Arbor tournament, had 4 Thoughtseize and 4 Spell Pierce.  

Then a curve ball entered the format.  I asked our teammates what the mysterious “Cat Stax” deck was, and Paul Mastriano posted this list on our forums on June 28th:

4th – Ryan Glackin

Cat Stax Fever


3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Slash Panther
1 Black Lotus
4 Lodestone Golem
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra’s Workshop
6 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
 
SB:

1 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Jester’s Cap
4 Pithing Needle

I also found this list:

Quarter-Finalist – Jon Richards
“Aggro MUD”

4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
2 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Precursor Golem
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Slash Panther
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Juggernaut
1 Trinisphere

SB:
2 Steel Hellkite
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Duplicant
3 Jester’s Cap

Kevin Cron and I both felt that these lists were misbuilt.   Kevin and I did some testing, and here was the list I posted on our team forums on July 19, but had built a few days before that for our podcasting testing session:

4 Panther
4 Golem
4 Revoker
3 Metamorph

1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere
4 Thorn
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice
2 Null Rod

4 Shop
4 Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Academy
5 moxen
1 sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus

Youl’ll notice this is the same list I posted on the manadrain here the next day after our testing.  

I talked with Paul before the podcast was released, and before I posted this list, and he suggested that we not to talk about this deck, since it was smashing everything he had together, including my Gush Control deck.  Kevin and I had already settled on podcasting on this deck, so I told Paul we’d find a solution anyway.  

You’ll notice that my Slash Panther list, which is very, very different from the original lists or the even the lists that top8ed after our podcast, is virtually identical to the deck that made top 4 at the Vintage Champs – the only difference is that Ryan cut Mana Vault and the 3rd City of Traitors for two Factories maindeck.  He played my exact suggested spell configuration.  

Sooooooooo…

We had a problem.   For our podcast, we had developed a deck that beat our Gencon front runners.    Kevin, Theo, and I started doing brainstorming and playtest sessions, with Hazard and Joe Bushman too.   I came an epiphany in testing.

It became quite clear that Ancient Grudge was no longer an effective solution because of the density of Sphere effects.   It was now possible, with 13 Spheres + Revoker, to prevent an opponent from ever casting Ancient Grudge.   I realized that there was a weakness to Trygon Predator in these lists because 1) Predator is proactive, and can be played on turn one or two (especially after you Force the first threat), and 2) gets through Thorns.  And once it resolves, it wins the game unless the opponent has Metamorph, which is only 3-of.  

Predator went away when Workshop players last fall shifted to the big mana Metalworker lists with Steel Hellkite.  But with Steel Hellkite, Trike, and other big mana creatures dissapearred, Trygon became our simple metagame solution.  

So, I brewed up this deck on July 19th, and posted it on our forums with this note “A list like this might really good.   One of the key problems with Grudge is that it gets really nailed by Thorn, but that's where Predator comes in.”

4 Quirion Dryad
4 Gush
4 Preordain
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Trygon Predator
4 Thoughtseize
1 Duress

1 Tinker
1 Robot
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fastbond
1 Yawgmoth's Will

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt

1 Island
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta

SB:

1 Mountain
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Tormod's Crypt

4 Ingot Chewer

1 Lightning Bolt

This list was a complete success.   I smashed our Slash Panther deck repeatedly, winning 7 games in a row at one point.   However, this deck tested inadquately against the other blue control decks.  

A few days later, on July 27th, Jerry Yang posted that he had been playing with Gush + Bob, and it was working fine.   Paul called me up and asked me what I thought.  I told him that I had never tried Bob + 4 Gush before, and one of the reasons why was because he had reported to me a few months ago that it wasn’t viable due to life loss.  Thus, I never seriously entertained the possibility.  

But Paul said that Jerry’s deck, which was basically a storm combo deck with 2 Tendrils, and was just UB, was doing fine, except against Shops.   I told Paul that if Bob and Gush can work together, I would figure out a way to do it.  My speciality in Vintage is tuning deck ideas, and I promised I’d find a way to make it work if it could.   However, I was planning to run my updated Grow deck with Predators at the Meandeck Open in two days, and we didn’t want to bring out Gush/Bob yet anyway, since if it worked, it could really blow the lid off the metagame.

So, I made some tweaks to my Grow deck, and played this at the Meandeck Open on August 31st.

4 Quirion Dryad
4 Gush
4 Preordain
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Trygon Predator
4 Thoughtseize
1 Vendillion Clique
1 Red Elemental Blast

1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fastbond
1 Yawgmoth's Will

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl

1 Island
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta

SB:

1 Mountain
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Yiddish Jailer
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Ingot Chewer
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Flusterstorm

I went a disappointing 2-2, and with each match it became clearer to me that the Bob/Gush deck was going to be the metagame solution.  

This was my first draft of the deck:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Gush
4 Preordain
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Fastbond
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

2 Quirion Dryad

4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
4 Thoughtsieze
1 Pyroblast
3 Trygon Predator

5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
14 Lands (1 Island, 2 Sea, 2 Trop, 2 Volc, 7 fetch)

In our first playtest session, I learned a ton.   But most importantly, I learned that the life loss was negligible, if not trivial.  Bob is typically used as an Ophidian.  This deck doesn't really use Bob in that way.   Bob in this deck serves to: 1) generate card advantage under Thorns, 2) block and trade with other creatures like Slash Panther and other bobs or hate bears, and 3) helps you dig a little bit deeper to go off with Gush.

I had tons of questions, and further testing answered them.   I realized it was possible to play Tinker + Bob, and cut the Dryads to make room for it.  

I divided the cards in the deck into four categories: I) Auto-includes, II) virtually auto-includes, III) strong considerations, and then IV) cards that are really good, but you probably can’t run in a deck like this (like Mana Crypt, Fire/Ice, or Misdirection).   Category I and II added up to 50-52 cards, meaning that the deck would be built in category III.  

And, here is what I posted on our forums on August 1st:

So I did a bunch of testing tonight, and after hours and hours, I've pretty much arrived close to where I began.  But I came to firmer conclusions on a number of issues, most of my unanswered questions.  I've basically done final tuning, and my list is ready for Gencon.

I've decided that the Grow version doesn't play to this deck's strength, and in fact, I'm not even sure I can built a true Grow deck in this environment like I would like.  

This deck is pretty ****** nutty.  Paul will like the fact that Blightsteel is basically the centerpiece of the deck.  This is also what I'll be playing in the Vintage Champs Prelim Thursday (the afternoon one, to help conceal it), and hopefully in the Vintage Champs

1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Dark Confidant
4 Gush
4 Preordain

2 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Fastbond
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
4 Thoughtsieze
3 Trygon Predator

5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
14 Lands (1 Island, 3 Sea, 2 Trop, 1 Volc, 7 fetch)

The deck works fine like this.   I cut Hurkyl's and the Pyro for the 2nd Top and the Imperial Seal (good call on that boys).   The deck is in many ways just a hyper aggressive Tinker deck.   But it obviously can get a Top in play and attack for 6 a turn with two bobs and a Predator.  

I flipped blightsteel at least twice tonight in tons of goldfishes and two fisted testing, but that's life, and I think it's ok like this.

I wanted a Grow deck to work, but Dryad isn't strong enough in the blue matchup.  It's like an Oath.   Do nothing.   If I could build an 8 Duress list (or 10 with Cliques), then Dryad would be awesome.   But that's not viable at the moment.

So, this is where it's at.   It took me a few days to arrive at the solution, but I knew I would.  The oddest thing of all is that I don't want Tendrils :/   Tinker has just replaced Tendrils entirely as a win condition.   Strange.

And, I pretty much followed that plan (except that imperial seal became Hurkyl’s again).   Paul arrived on site, and watched me blitz through the 4pm Prelim tournament, only to lose to Shaun Anthony in the top 8.  

Kevin watched my match, and as we left the site, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was structurally wrong.   I insisted that we go back to the hotel and test, and Kevin and I tested until about 3am, and then Theo and I tested until about 5am.  That testing was essential because it helped me figure out the two key things:

·   I needed to interact more on the stack.  This was Kevin’s point.  This led to Thoughtseize becoming Spell Pierce, which was testing INSANE. Evidently, people had become super soft to Spell Pierce again, through all the Mental Misstep hype and the prevalent use of Drain.  
·   I needed ways to get Blightsteel out of my hand. I seemed to draw it and it would stick in my hand.  I lost a critical game to Shaun Anthony because of this.  

Paul and I talked around 1am about it, and agreed to cut the Drains, but we didn’t know for what.  Paul went to bed deciding he was going to play Key/Vault in those slots, but I felt I needed to have a way to get Blightsteel out of my hand more.  

I was going to play 2 Jace, but around 4am, I cut them for Cliques, which was consistent with Kevin’s observation that I needed to interact on the stack more AND Brian’s observation about what a good card Clique was.  

I slept about 3 and a half hours and awoke for the MAIN EVENT.

The Main Event

I called Paul as soon as I woke up at 9am, and told him we were cutting Thoughtseize for Spell Pierce, and that I was playing Clique in the two Drain slots.  He told me he was sticking with Key/Vault, but that Spell Pierce sounded good.

Here was what I played:

Bob Gush, by Stephen Menendian – 3rd place

1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus

4 Gush
4 Dark Confidant

4 Force of Will
4 Spell Pierce
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
 
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Preordain
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Time Walk
 
3 Trygon Predator
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Fastbond

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island

Sideboard (15)
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Mountain
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer

The other change I made from my prelim list was to add another Lightning Bolt in the SB, which replaced an Ingot Chewer, since Bolt was also good in the Shop matchup, but didn’t flip for 5.  

Round One:  Scrounging Beetle.dec

This guy was playing with clear sleeves and didn’t recognize any of my cards.  That was ok, though, since I didn’t recognize any of his.   Tinker killed him both games.

Round Two: Mike Bomholt

Mike is a teammate and a very experienced and tight Shop player.   This would be a real test, although he was playing Slash Panther aggro, basically the list we came up with, and my deck was designed to defeat him, and it did.

I lost game one, but game two and three I won.

Round Three: Slash Panther again

This was much easier, since my opponent was less skilled, even though no less enthusiastic.   I won 2-1

Round Four: Joe Brown with Painter/Remora

Game one was hilarious: my opening hand had two Trygon Predators which I could play on turns one and two.   I was gonna destroy him, but he mulliganed to 5 and played Lotus, Timetwister.   He twistered me into a zero land hand, and I never saw another land the rest of the game.

Game 2 and 3 my deck does it what it does, and he got wrecked.


Round Five: Paul Mastriano/Mirror match

I was really upset to have to face Paul.   We were hoping to be paired up in the following round, and we’d just draw.  Paul kind wanted to draw, but it’s our team policy not to draw in these rounds since a win is 3 points for the team, whereas a draw is only 2 points for the team.   I win a tight game 1, but utterly smash him game two with this hand:

Gush, Gush, Gush, Fastbond, Land, Land, Pyroblast.  I played turn one land, pass, turn two Fastbond with Pyroblast protection and went off.  

Round Six: Nick Coss – WGD Combo

I play really tight in game one and keep control long enough to combo.  In game 2, I play Bob instead of Time Walk, and it costs me as he has turn two Key Vault.   I was greedy.

In game three, he plays Swamp, Imperial Seal.   My hand is nuts: Force, Bob, Clique, Reb, and some other good stuff.  I decide to play turn two Bob + holding Volcanic untapped for REB, instead of Clique on his draw step.  He goes: Duress (my Force), Lotus, Key + Vault.   I untap and do a bunch of stuff, including Time Walk, but can’t get there. I’m actually one mana short of being able to Yawg Will after Gushing, but I lose to Key Vault.  I should have played Clique, but got greedy again.

5-1

Round 7: Josh with Wizards (UBW Fish)

One of the big advantages of my deck is that its creature base makes it really hard for other creatures to get in.  Trygon Predator is a huge wall.   Clique and Bob are really good blockers.   I won two hard fought games.

I thought I was going to lose game 1, but I manage to resolve and protect a Tinker.  In game 2, I Clique him (with Tinker in hand) and see double Relic Warder.   Oh well.   I kill him with Clique while his own Bob murders him.  

6-1

Round 8:  ID

Top 8: Joe with BUG Fish

This match was really, really long and hard faught.  I won 2-0, mostly, again, because of my creatures.  In fact, we had exactly the same creature base except I had Blightsteel and he had 3 Goyfs.  We each had 4 Bob, 3 Predator, and 2 Clique.   My deck had the broken cards, and I win.

Top 4: Paul Mastriano

I’m really dissapointed to be paired with Paul again.   This match is videoed, so you can see the play by play.  He wins game 1, I win an epic game 2, and it comes down to game three.

My opening hand has Fastbond, DT, Bob, Time Walk, Land, Land, Land, and I think Top (on the draw).  I play Fastbond, Time walk, then Bob + Ponder + Top, and pass.  He Vamps for Tinker, obviously.  I Top and see Clique, Spell Pierce, and Preordain.  

My initial plan is to play Clique + Spell Pierce immediately, to chump his Blightsteel one turn and to clear our resistence to my DT for Hurkyl’s.  

However, based on his body language, I don’t feel like he has Force.   My concern with the Clique plan is that he’ll have two draws (the Clique draw and his draw step) to find an answer like REB or Time Walk and just kill me.   So I DT for Hurkyl’s and he Forces it.  Tapped out, I desperately (after shuffling for DT), activate top, but draw into something irrelevant and lose.

Had I seen a Gush I would have won this game.  

For more information on my deck, and the top 8, check out www.eternal-central.com.  

Conclusion

I’m incredibly disappointed to lose, and also believe that I have a better match against Dredge.  Paul, I feel, cheats a little bit against Dredge with only 5 dedicated anti-dredge cards.  I had 6 anti-dredge cards, although he did have the one advantage of having Key Vault, which gives him another out in that matchup.   I sometimes run 7-8 anti-dredge cards, but am not uncomfortable going to 6 in blue decks, and almost never run less than 6.  

At the end of the tournament, Paul and I had only four combined losses, half of which were to each other.   In my view, that underscores just how insane this deck is, and is probably one of the best decks in the format, since it fuses the two best unrestricted draw spells in Vintage into a single support structure.  I'm really proud of the work on this deck, and I believe I'll be seeing alot more of it.   It's always fun to innovate the unexpected.  

My quest for a repeat title was thwarted by a teammate and good friend no less.  The only thing worse than losing was that Meandeck didn’t rightfully retake our crown.  

Until next year,

Stephen Menendian

P.S. It was awesome to meet and hang out with so many cool Vintage players.  Major props to the Forino Bros, Theo, Kevin Cron, Paul Mastriano, Nick D, Joe Brown, and every one else I spent time with this weekend.  It was a freaking blast.  

P.P. S. if you want to learn how to play Gush better, I strongly advise you to check out my Gush book on QS here .  Gush is a tricky card, and my book will teach you, step-by-step, how to play with it, and eventually become a Gush master.   Gush is clearly the premiere draw engine at the moment, and it's a key card to learn how to play with and agaisnt.


P. P.P.S:  FAQ:

Q: how can you afford to run Gush and Bob in the same deck?

A: This question is most often posed by experienced Vintage players, but it starts from the mistaken premise that this like the Bob Control decks of the past. It's not.  It's a gush deck that uses Bob for a few turns before going off.  

Q: What about Time Vault?

A: I'm going to be playing time Vault going forward.  Not because I think Paul's deck was better than mine, but because I just didn't know what to cut for it.  I do now (don't ask :p)

Q: What about Imperial Seal or Regrowth?

They are strong considerations, but I don't like either in here.  Regrowth is really a card I only run if i run Imperial Seal, since Imperial Seal increases the chances of early Ancestral, and Regrowth's best play is to recur Ancestral.  I discuss this extensively in my Gush book.  

[Saya]

Great Post.I thought running 4confidant/4gush hurts yourself too much when first read your decklist.
but now I knew:with many library manipulation,we can avoid revealing high CMC cards(like FOW,Gush,and BSC)

[Tha Gunslinga]

Wizards.com has Steve beating Paul.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/usnat11/day1

[Smmenen]

Wizards.com has Steve beating Paul.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/usnat11/day1

I beat Paul in the swiss, but lost to him in the semi-finals. 

[cvarosky80]

Do you think this deck could benefit from a singleton Jace considering the synergy he has with the Gushbond Engine (In addition to providing a 3rd way of getting the Big Dumb Robot out of your hand as well as setting up your topdecks for Bob)?

[desolutionist]

Congrats man! It was fun to play against you in the prelims and sorry about ripping that Gifts Ungiven

[Odd mutation]

Hi Steve,

Congratulations on the strong finish!

Too bad the deck didn't win it all. Maybe Paul will work with one graveyard from now on, so he won't overlook any insane plays.

Also, thank you for this great report!

Robrecht

[Kiriyuu]

Awesome deck, and 3rd is a great result! : )

I'm just wondering about the Oath match up, with only trygon preditors to remove enchantments and so many creatures, how is it? Do you just get to out broken them due to gush?

[madmanmike25]

I have  two main issues regarding the list.  I'm sure you tested these cards and I'd like to know if/how they performed poorly.

1.)  Sol Ring:  One extra mana now, two extra mana next turn, and dodges the most frequent setting of Chalice (zero).

2.)  Thirst for Knowledge:  Helps find the cards you need in addition to putting BSC back where he belongs.  Technically, it's easier to cast than Vendilion.

I'm honestly amazed that the most broken two card combo ever wasn't an auto include.  I would be highly interested if there was data on the amount of Key+Vault wins at Gencon for personal reasons.

Congrats on a very solid finish.  What was the highest placing Panther deck, btw?

[Marske]

First, congrats on the solid finish.

Steve, I don't know where to start responding on this, I would've really enjoyed reading more about the actuall tournament then you talking about how you decided on the deck you played (although others might find that interesting) It felt a bit haphazardly thrown in with you talking more about the actuall deck decision then the report and lines of play you faced (or will there be a podcast or 4 dollar article about that?)

With you promoting yourself and Meandeck this much after the 3rd straight year of not delivering a Champ (that must hurt) I feel inclined to "brag" a bit about Team R&D that produced not only the winning Dredge list (by Matt Elias) but also the Minus Six list played by Nick Coss (Demonic Attorney) and Rich's Gush list putting a total of 3 decks, 1 member and 2 players closely affiliated with our team into the top 8 of the event....

Seems like a new team is on top in Vintage.

[voltron00x]

I'm glad Steve wrote this, actually, as I'm always really interested in where decks come from and the process by which they are created, especially one like Steve's that has some interesting omissions.  I'd be surprised if we don't see something going over the actual event from Steve in the future; its very cool that he turned this around on TMD so quickly (and for free!).

I also don't think Steve is under any obligation to talk up R&D in a tournament report, but I sure hope Rich writes his own report, as going through, what, 16 rounds (!!!) undefeated in Vintage is absolutely ludicrous.  If there was every a way to counter the idea that Vintage isn't a skill format, that's it, in my opinion.  Well, that and the fact that 7 people in this year's Champs have notable Vintage achievements over the past 12 months.

Also, to be fair, that isn't my Dredge list and I didn't design that version.  I discuss where I found the deck in my article on it on SCG a few weeks back.  I made very minimal changes to an already existing list.  I suppose I appreciate the credit for publicizing it and understanding that it was very good, and I will take some credit for helping talk Mark into playing it and providing him with some of the Power he needed for it, but Mark won that event for himself, and shame on anyone that never believed me when I talked about how good Berse, Gans (x2), and Hornung are with Dredge..

Lastly, to be brutally honest... the genesis of Mark playing that deck was Team Meandeck member Brian DeMars writing his comments about Dredge before Champs.  Karma, etc.

EDIT:  I left out Minus 6, that one IS all R&D.  How cool to see that deck alive and kicking this year!

[Smmenen]

First, congrats on the solid finish.

Steve, I don't know where to start responding on this, I would've really enjoyed reading more about the actuall tournament then you talking about how you decided on the deck you played (although others might find that interesting) It felt a bit haphazardly thrown in with you talking more about the actuall deck decision then the report and lines of play you faced (or will there be a podcast or 4 dollar article about that?)

In Magic, as with Chess, 95% of the tournament performance is decided before the tournament.  Preparation is the most important thing, and that's what i tried to explain -- why I chose this deck, where it came from, how it was designed, what did it evolve from, etc.

But just as important, I've been silent the last few months on these boards regarding my opinion of where Gush decks were headed, so it's nice to finally be able to speak on that. 

I believe we created a major innovation by figuring out how to fuse these two draw engines, and I also believe that there were lots of card choices that needed to be explained, both inclusions and omissions.  I believe that I provided those explanations through the description of my preparation process.  

As for Meandeck not taking it down, yes, it was a disappointment, but by getting 2nd and 3rd place, despite not winning this painting, it's hard to argue that we still aren't the top "team" in Vintage  We've won 4 of the 9 Vintage Champs, and our teammates are winning basically every American player of the year race  

I have  two main issues regarding the list.  I'm sure you tested these cards and I'd like to know if/how they performed poorly.

1.)  Sol Ring:  One extra mana now, two extra mana next turn, and dodges the most frequent setting of Chalice (zero).

I play fastbond instead.  

2.)  Thirst for Knowledge:  Helps find the cards you need in addition to putting BSC back where he belongs.  Technically, it's easier to cast than Vendilion.

I rarely, rarely play that card.  I'm not a fan.   But you make a decent point about BSC, and that's why I considered it.  I needed something more targeted.

I'm honestly amazed that the most broken two card combo ever wasn't an auto include.  I would be highly interested if there was data on the amount of Key+Vault wins at Gencon for personal reasons.

Rich Shay didn't play key vault either.

It's not an auto include in Gush decks.  

Congrats on a very solid finish.  What was the highest placing Panther deck, btw?

4th

[sheva]

Hi Smemmen, congratulations from Italy for your result.
I wanted to ask you some questions:
1) if your opponent brokes a your land, with 14 lands (game only a basic land), how can you put vendilion or trygon into play? (I do not think you play gush every time, or you have always Fastbond into play?)
2) Bob will remain always into play the 3th turn?
3) If you play against bant that control more than you, it makes more denial than you, it play more creatures and stronger than you and play even the removal of the board as you come out?
4) Against turbo Tezzeret that has 4-5 mana in the first turn your mana spell pierce are goods?
5) Do you have trygon first or vendillion at the 1st/2 turn(3 Mana are statistics  with your manabase ...) to beat the PW?
6) against MUDs with 2 ingot and onlu one ancient grudge are you ok?
7) Have you ever seen three spheres into play with one of them that gives you 4 rounds (lodestone ndr)  + n wires?
9) Do you start each game?

[Smmenen]

Hi Smemmen, congratulations from Italy for your result.
I wanted to ask you some questions:
1) if your opponent brokes a your land, with 14 lands (game only a basic land), how can you put vendilion or trygon into play? (I do not think you play gush every time, or you have always Fastbond into play?)
2) Bob will remain always into play the 3th turn?
3) If you play against bant that control more than you, it makes more denial than you, it play more creatures and stronger than you and play even the removal of the board as you come out?
4) Against turbo Tezzeret that has 4-5 mana in the first turn your mana spell pierce are goods?
5) Do you have trygon first or vendillion at the 1st/2 turn(3 Mana are statistics  with your manabase ...) to beat the PW?
6) against MUDs with 2 ingot and onlu one ancient grudge are you ok?
7) Have you ever seen three spheres into play with one of them that gives you 4 rounds (lodestone ndr)  + n wires?
9) Do you start each game?

Those are what we call "leading questions" and I think you can answer them yourself.  

As for the Workshop matchup, (6), I run 3 Maindeck Trygon Predato & Hurkylsr, and then SB in 1 Mountain, 2 Lightning Bolt, 2 Ingot Chewer, and 1 Ancient Grudge.  

[Eastman]

Like sheva, I am also curious how you fare against a first turn wasteland.  It seems like with the low mana count you are going to be keeping a lot of hands with only one land, and your chances of drawing one are reasonable, not thrilling.  

Also, did you fear Oath at all when running this many creatures?  I realize if Trygon comes down first, Oath is screwed.  However if an Oath hits the board before a Trygon against this list, assuming they have BSC and emrakul as their targets, what could you possibly do to win?  Since you are relying on creatures to kill, and don't have a storm/time vault out, and don't have jace or any way to remove oath...  seems like an uphill battle.  No Oath SB options either.  

Incredible performance.  I was updating your twitter feed all day Friday and really pulling for you, Paul, Rich, and Glackin especially.  Happy to see you all went so far.  Contrary to the people who will be running out and netdecking your list, it is obvious that the level of play coming from some of the players in the top 8 is a notch ahead of what the rest of the field was bringing, and more than just the innovation is behind this result.  

[Smmenen]

Like sheva, I am also curious how you fare against a first turn wasteland.  It seems like with the low mana count you are going to be keeping a lot of hands with only one land, and your chances of drawing one are reasonable, not thrilling.  

If I have a one land hand, which I rarely keep against Shops, I will fetch out Island first to cast Preordain or Ponder or Top and dig specifically for more land, discarding whatever else I see.   In fact, I often just fetch out the Island first regardless of matchup out of concern for Wasteland.

With the Island in play, my second dual turns on Gush.  This is sort of basic Gush practice, and is covered in Chapter 7 of my book.  

Also, did you fear Oath at all when running this many creatures?  I realize if Trygon comes down first, Oath is screwed.  However if an Oath hits the board before a Trygon against this list, assuming they have BSC and emrakul as their targets, what could you possibly do to win?

If that happens, I just shift to Gush bond engine and try to Will to set up Time Walk + Tinker or Time Walk + Trygon.  In Paul's list, he also has Key/vault, which I'll be running in the future.

While my creatures may have created some metagame weakness to cards like Oath, that was more than compensated for by strengthening the every present Beats, Fish, and Mystic Remora decks that could be found at Gencon.  

[Eastman]

Also, did you fear Oath at all when running this many creatures?  I realize if Trygon comes down first, Oath is screwed.  However if an Oath hits the board before a Trygon against this list, assuming they have BSC and emrakul as their targets, what could you possibly do to win?

If that happens, I just shift to Gush bond engine and try to Will to set up Time Walk + Tinker or Time Walk + Trygon.  In Paul's list, he also has Key/vault, which I'll be running in the future.

While my creatures may have created some metagame weakness to cards like Oath, that was more than compensated for by strengthening the every present Beats, Fish, and Mystic Remora decks that could be found at Gencon.  

Yah agreed it was the right metagame call.  Oath is pretty scarce right now.  But when I saw your list, and thinking about playing against netdecked copies in the next few weeks, my first thought was 'I bet the right Oath list would pounce on that.'  Was just curious if I was missing something. 

[Grand Inquisitor]

In Magic, as with Chess, 95% of the tournament performance is decided before the tournament

at 9am, and told him we were cutting Thoughtseize for Spell Pierce

 

Congrats, but I echo that it seems like a lot of the logic to your success is missing.

[Smmenen]

In Magic, as with Chess, 95% of the tournament performance is decided before the tournament

at 9am, and told him we were cutting Thoughtseize for Spell Pierce

 

Congrats, but I echo that it seems like a lot of the logic to your success is missing.

That's part of the process though.

One of the main reasons I play in the prelim events is that there are final bits of tuning that require one to navigate a tournament.   A tournament environment is wholly unique, both in structure and in the kind of learning it produces.  

The myriad small tournaments that I used to test various Gush builds over the preceding months served that purpose, but so did the Prelim tournament.   I had decided we were playing Spell Pierces in the middle of the night, but Paul had already gone to sleep -- hence why I had to call him in the morning, an hour before the event.  

I assume that you are juxtaposing the quotes to illustrate some sort of incongruity, when the latter actually reinforces the former.  It was a decision made prior to the tournament, not within it.  

***

I had initially registered for the 10AM prelim, and a week or so before Gencon, I realized that was a mistake.   I wanted to play in the 4pm Prelim for the following reason:  Because of late hour the event would conclude, I could play the same deck the next day with little worry that I could be metagamed against.   That's because they wouldn't know what won or who finished where, and therefore wouldn't know what to emphasize. 

This was borne out by the experience of the previous day and my experience in 2007.

In 2007, when I won Vintage Champs, I played the same deck, my Grow deck, in the prelim event.   The prelim event ended around 1am, or even later.  When it ended, Tommy Kolowith, who was my opponent, was the only person there.

There was no opportunity for people to really learn the contents of my deck or prepare for it in a meaningful way.   The same was true of this event.  The 4pm prelim ended around 2am, I believe.   The top 8 didn't even start to 11:30, when most poeple had already left.  

In both the 2007 and 2011 prelims, I learned critical information that caused me to change 2-6 cards or more between maindeck and sb that all of my copious testing had failed to reveal.

[sheva]

Those are what we call "leading questions" and I think you can answer them yourself.

Imho the answer is that we have a different metagame or i am a noob.
Imho is semi-impossible win vs decks how mud with 20 mana pre-side and 21 post-side; if you don't start with 2-3 mana or with trygon and artifact plays, for example, ws + sphere and the next turn wasteland/strip/2nd sphere imho is very difficult win.

[Smmenen]

Those are what we call "leading questions" and I think you can answer them yourself.

Imho the answer is that we have a different metagame or i am a noob.

Or you've just asked silly questions, like this one: "9) Do you start each game?"

Actually, I lost the die roll in every single one of my Workshop matches this weekend.

Imho is semi-impossible win vs decks how mud with 20 mana pre-side and 21 post-side; if you don't start with 2-3 mana or with trygon and artifact plays, for example, ws + sphere and the next turn wasteland/strip/2nd sphere imho is very difficult win.

Many of those spheres are conditional.   With Lodestone, I can play Lotus and 5 moxen and Top.  With Thorn, I can play Bob, Trygon, and Clique unimpeded.  Etc.  Post Board I have Ingot Chewers and Bolts for 1 mana plays, and Grudge to reinforce the issue.

The math doesn't come out like you think.  

I played an 19 mana deck in 2007 and smashed every Workshop deck I faced.  It's not the quantity of mana so much as it is how your deck interfaces with opposing decks, how you play your deck (that is, how you manage your mana), and how you mulligan.  

For example of the latter, I had 1 land hands in the tournament on the draw that looked busted, say, with Ancestral, that I would mulligan into a hand like this: Land, Land, mox, Bob, Preordain, Gush.   These hands are really good versus Shops, or at least give you a chance to do something.  

Also, I very rarely expose myself to Wasteland.  If I have a fetchland and no plays, I'll just leave the fetchland in play.  

I'm not going to idiotically sit there and play a dual land that can be wastelanded.  

[honestabe]

When Gush was first unrestricted I came up with a list that ran 4 Gush, 4 Bob, 3 Trygon and 2 Quirion Dryad.  It seemed solid, but school kept me away from testing it.  Thanks for doing all the work for me!  lol

Congrats on the finish, the list looks really tight

[Cunningbeaver]

Also, did you fear Oath at all when running this many creatures?  I realize if Trygon comes down first, Oath is screwed.  However if an Oath hits the board before a Trygon against this list, assuming they have BSC and emrakul as their targets, what could you possibly do to win?

If that happens, I just shift to Gush bond engine and try to Will to set up Time Walk + Tinker or Time Walk + Trygon.  In Paul's list, he also has Key/vault, which I'll be running in the future.

While my creatures may have created some metagame weakness to cards like Oath, that was more than compensated for by strengthening the every present Beats, Fish, and Mystic Remora decks that could be found at Gencon.  

Yah agreed it was the right metagame call.  Oath is pretty scarce right now.  But when I saw your list, and thinking about playing against netdecked copies in the next few weeks, my first thought was 'I bet the right Oath list would pounce on that.'  Was just curious if I was missing something. 

Oath was all over Friday (3 matches against it) and Saturday (2 matches against it). Mostly show and tell into Emrakul .

[The Atog Lord]

Congratulations on another Top Eight, Steve. That's quite an achievement. Honestly, it's also an achievement that you could assemble this report so quickly! I took notes on Vintage and Legacy champs, but I don't know when I'll have the time to write up a report. They always take me a while. I hope to do so in the not too distant future. But things are really busy.

My favorite part of your report was seeing the process you went through, deciding on which build to play. I had assumed that you guys had your Vintage decks selected weeks in advance, and seeing the actual process was eye-opening. Thanks for writing this report.

[Slayn001]

Steve, You and I played in the vintage Prelims, not the Championships.

[ReubenG]

Great report, I really liked reading how you tuned the deck leading up to the tourny.  I found it really interesting you started off wanting to run a Jace deck and in the final list Jace was cut. Considering this can you expound more on your thoughts of Jace vs Clique, since one of you goals was to deal with Blightsteel in hand and both handle this.  I understand the interaction wanted on the stack, but would like to hear more specifics on the results from the tournament, such as:

What type of games states during the tourny did you find Clique to be better?

What game states would you have rather had Jace?

How much does this change if (when?) Blightsteel becomes Time Vault?

[Smmenen]

Congratulations on another Top Eight, Steve. That's quite an achievement. Honestly, it's also an achievement that you could assemble this report so quickly! I took notes on Vintage and Legacy champs, but I don't know when I'll have the time to write up a report. They always take me a while. I hope to do so in the not too distant future. But things are really busy.

My favorite part of your report was seeing the process you went through, deciding on which build to play. I had assumed that you guys had your Vintage decks selected weeks in advance, and seeing the actual process was eye-opening. Thanks for writing this report.

Thanks Rich.  Congratulations to you as well for another Top 8, and outstanding performance through the Vintage portion of the weekend.   I was looking forward to an epic Gush rematch, but that will have to await another day.   I'm curious about your card choices, so I look forward to your report. 

I had little choice in the matter concerning when to write this report.   Had I not gotten those words onto these forums Sunday night, I would have been greatly distracted with these thoughts sitting alone in my head.   

Great report, I really liked reading how you tuned the deck leading up to the tourny.  I found it really interesting you started off wanting to run a Jace deck and in the final list Jace was cut. Considering this can you expound more on your thoughts of Jace vs Clique, since one of you goals was to deal with Blightsteel in hand and both handle this.  I understand the interaction wanted on the stack, but would like to hear more specifics on the results from the tournament, such as:

What type of games states during the tourny did you find Clique to be better?

What game states would you have rather had Jace?

Of the many times I cast Clique, there was only ever one time when i wished it was Jace -- and that was in the quarter finals.  Clique was amazing. 

How much does this change if (when?) Blightsteel becomes Time Vault?

This is a Blightsteel deck.  That is your primary plan, and everything in the deck is geared toward playing, resolving and protecting Tinker and Blightsteel.

[cvarosky80]

It's something else to see so many Blue Control variants already in the format, only to THEN have a new version come along. I have to wonder now how the Shops will respond. Against Shops, this deck is amazing both pre and post-board because of the Predators along with the boarded Chewers to clear out the Metamorphs. Do you think we may have seen the last stand of Shops for a while? I don't think so, but it's hard to think of how it can currently respond to the way Blue in general has adapted to it.

[Smmenen]

It's something else to see so many Blue Control variants already in the format, only to THEN have a new version come along. I have to wonder now how the Shops will respond. Against Shops, this deck is amazing both pre and post-board because of the Predators along with the boarded Chewers to clear out the Metamorphs. Do you think we may have seen the last stand of Shops for a while? I don't think so, but it's hard to think of how it can currently respond to the way Blue in general has adapted to it.

Of all of the decks I've created in the past, this is probably one of the top 5 I'm most proud of, both because I think it's just ridiculous good in the metagame, but also because it's one of those things that people thought couldn't be done, but I was able to figure out.  It was just a giant opportunity out there, but deeply counter-intuitive.   I have a feeling the Meandeck Bob/Gush deck from 2011 will be one of those I talk about for many years to come  

I played Demars' deck in the waterbury, so it's fun to be innovating for the team again.  Especially after convincing Kevin to play my Shop deck last summer, which was a debacle. 

As for Shops, they will adapt.   They always do.   And, then the blue decks will also have to adapt in turn.   It's a never ending information/metagame war.  

[Womba]

Great report Steve, and it was really nice meeting you. It was even nicer IDing into top 8 with you haha! I hope to have my report completed here soon.