[Free Article] Vintage Master Class: Coss Vs. Mastriano

[forests failed you]

Hey guys, its been a while since I've gotten around to writing about Vintage but this week's offering is all Vintage all the time.

I got a chance to watch and play quite a bit of Vintage from the sidelines of GP Philly and this week's article catalogs a pretty epic duel between two Vintage Ringers: Nick Coss (TPS) Vs. Paul Mastriano (BUG Control).  The match was pretty exciting to watch as there was a lot of fast paced spell slinging going on back and forth.

Check it out:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28293_Vintage-Master-ClassCoss-vs-Mastriano.html

Cheers,
Brian DeMars

[msg67183]

Good read, thanks Brian!

[diopter]

Epic 3rd game. It really would have been amazing if Chain + BSC had trumped BSC.

[JACO]

I think this article would have been better served by including video of the match, rather than a posthumous attempt at a play by play, after you've already spoiled the results early in the article. There weren't a lot of decision points drawn out (like player A could do this or this, aside from the Merchant Scroll), so perhaps you could have added commentary about the limited decisions that were available (Grim Tutor target, for example), and how games might have played out differently.

Ideal scenario for future articles like this - YouTube or Twitch clip, with running written strategic commentary with time notations.

[Samoht]

I think this article would have been better served by including video of the match, rather than a posthumous attempt at a play by play, after you've already spoiled the results early in the article. There weren't a lot of decision points drawn out (like player A could do this or this, aside from the Merchant Scroll), so perhaps you could have added commentary about the limited decisions that were available (Grim Tutor target, for example), and how games might have played out differently.

Ideal scenario for future articles like this - YouTube or Twitch clip, with running written strategic commentary with time notations.

He didn't spoil the results. If anything it was confusing because it was backwards.

[Mr. Type 4]

Pretty entertaining read - some good Vintage games.  It's amazing how much happens in each turn.

I think this article would have been better served by including video of the match, rather than a posthumous attempt at a play by play, after you've already spoiled the results early in the article. There weren't a lot of decision points drawn out (like player A could do this or this, aside from the Merchant Scroll), so perhaps you could have added commentary about the limited decisions that were available (Grim Tutor target, for example), and how games might have played out differently.

Ideal scenario for future articles like this - YouTube or Twitch clip, with running written strategic commentary with time notations.

He didn't spoil the results. If anything it was confusing because it was backwards.

We played in the tournament (where I won the match) and then we played again just for fun on Sunday so Brian could take the time to record the play by play and take pictures of what hands we had etc.  That second match is the one that's recorded in the article. 

[DuKeLiO]

@Mr.Type4
In first game, why you played Vampiric Tutor in response to Duress? If you have seen Imperial Tutor you can imagine you are playing against a combo deck, so it is pretty probable he will take Force of Will, and if not, you will be happy if he chooses Vampiric Tutor. If you don't play Vampiric Tutor you can play it in response to Wheel of Fortune and go for the Fow to try to stop him. Live to fight another day!
I think it is a poor play, but really didn't matter because you don't drew a blue card to pitch to it.

[WhiteLotus]

Nice article.

Long deck FTW !!! Awesome 

Although looks like he was pretty lucky Pmastriano didn't have hands with more than 1 counter each time, if he had faced a hand with Misstep, Fow + blue card, Fluster/Drain it would probably have been an entirely different story.

[Demagoguery]

Great read, but as some suggested having a nice video with commentary and seeing all those awesome old cards played would be fantastic.

I do have a questions for Mastriano though, being why did he include the Mana Vault? It only seems to benefit a few cards, and really doesn't seem to help him power out anything significantly faster because he's not running things like Tezz. Why not just cut the Vault and a couple other cards, potentially off colour Moxen, to include Deathrite Shamans? Deathrite is a really good card that provides some amount of ramp, hates on a lot of strategies (Including storm), gives you some extra life, and a little extra reach.

[Mr. Type 4]

I dont like Deathrite as much without Wasteland because its not as reliable for mana ramping. It is possibly better than Mana Vault, though, as it does all that other stuff.  I do like Mana Vault against Lodestone whenever that comes up.

@Mr.Type4
In first game, why you played Vampiric Tutor in response to Duress? If you have seen Imperial Tutor you can imagine you are playing against a combo deck, so it is pretty probable he will take Force of Will, and if not, you will be happy if he chooses Vampiric Tutor. If you don't play Vampiric Tutor you can play it in response to Wheel of Fortune and go for the Fow to try to stop him. Live to fight another day!
I think it is a poor play, but really didn't matter because you don't drew a blue card to pitch to it.

Fair point.  I never really questioned this move because years of Vintage playing makes me reflexively want to Vamp in response to a Duress.  I knew he was on combo even before he played the Imperial Seal, so I may have been better off letting him have the option of taking my Vampiric Tutor.   As it played out I'm sure he'd have taken the FOW anyways, and I could have Vamped for a FOW in response to the Wheel (instead of for Ancestral) and had a better chance of defending against the win there. 

[Untranslated]

Still curious what Paul's 8th card was at the start of Game 1.  Also, end of Game 2, Paul was supposedly tapped out with the exception of the Sapphire, so Snappy would have to wait, thus delaying Vault+Key.  Am I missing something?

In any case, I like these types of articles.  Following along with a game between world class players is pretty nifty.   Thanks, Brian.