MTGO Vintage Qualifiers Metagame Report

[Chubby Rain]

Hey everyone,

Out of curiosity I put together a spreadsheet that recorded the results of the MTGO Vintage Qualifier tournaments held over the past week. For those who haven't been following Vintage's release online, Wizards decided to hold a championship tournament to be held this Saturday with a number of preliminary events feeding into the championship. Preliminaries were $30 to enter and were 5 rounds with all players with 5-0 and 4-1 records eligible for the championship. As far as participation, each preliminary required at least 17 players and 1-2 events fired each day with a number of participants typically between 17 and 25. By my count there were a total of 49 decks with 4-1 records or better. Some players finished in multiple events, presumably for the increased prize payout. The metagame broke down as such.



A few notes about the classification of decks: Shops, Dredge, BUG Fish, and Merfolk are hopefully evident. The most popular Shops list was Martello. Dredge included both the traditional list and the Dark Depths transformation sideboard. Drain decks varied a lot and included Grixis Control, Esper humans (Magus of the Future, Dark Confidants and Trinket Mages), my Keranos Control list, and NWCS. Control Oath was listed as a separate entity as its has a different effect on the metagame. Combo was predominantly various versions of Gush Tendrils with singletons of Burning Long and Doomsday. UR Delver performed well and incorporated 1-2 Dack Fayden and 1 Skullclamp. The other category was a UG Survival list that was piloted by Caleb Durward. He wrote an article about the list and recorded his matches on Channelfireball's website.

[brianpk80]

Nice compilation and congratulations on qualifying with Keranos. 

[diophan]

I didn't play in the qualifiers, but in the dailies I definitely noticed the pyromancer decks doing well, as you noted.

Is anyone planning on streaming the Vintage Championship?

[rickster]

Is anyone planning on streaming the Vintage Championship?

Streaming any mtg event with high stakes isn't a good idea

https://twitter.com/lsv/status/505547071353794560

You could put a 10-20 minute delay on the stream but I don't know how that would be enjoyable for a viewer.

[diophan]

Is anyone planning on streaming the Vintage Championship?

Streaming any mtg event with high stakes isn't a good idea

https://twitter.com/lsv/status/505547071353794560

You could put a 10-20 minute delay on the stream but I don't know how that would be enjoyable for a viewer.

Sure, you miss the audience interaction with the delay, but I'd still watch for people to explain their plays. As someone trying to shake off the vintage dust after 8 years, I feel like I learn more from having someone experienced explain their decisions than using the same time to grind out games.

[Chubby Rain]

So I submitted the wrong deck and will now be streaming as I feel like this event is basically a free roll now.

http://www.twitch.tv/chubbyrain1

Update: 1-0, beating Martello in round 1.

[Samoht]

So I submitted the wrong deck and will now be streaming as I feel like this event is basically a free roll now.

http://www.twitch.tv/chubbyrain1

Update: 1-0, beating Martello in round 1.

He's 2-1. Hysterical.

[boggyb]

Helm of Awakening + Magus?? So sick.

[Chubby Rain]

He's 2-1. Hysterical.
[/quote]

3-2...outside shot at Top 8 if I win next round.

[The Atog Lord]

Well, time for a mini report on this. I finished 4-2, good for 14th place out of 49 plays. It doesn't seem ideal, but when I tell myself I missed top eight on tiebreakers, it at least sounds a little better. I played Night's Whisper Control Slaver, the same 75 that I'm playing in the VSL. The two matches I lost were to Wasteland decks that ripped apart my manabase. I play 24 mana sources, more than most decks in the format, but at the same time I have more extensive color requirements than most decks in the format.

Round 1: youhavenogame on BUG Fish
Game 1, he has a first-turn ancestral and I'm unable to do out. He quick assembles Bob and Jace. He attacks my manabase and then has Timewalk into Snapcaster for Timewalk. In the second game, I mulligan a no-lander and then keep a hand with Sapphire, off-color mox, and Brainstorm. The Brainstorm finds me no land and I'm put out of my misery.

Round 2: LaMolMachine on UR(g?)
In the first game, I assemble a quick Tinker. In the second game, I have another Tinker, but he is able to handle my Myr. Removal and burn deal with that, and I'm not left with enough to put up a fight. In game 3, he gets me to one life but Jace arrives and lets me handle his board and eventually take control.

Round 3: BishCoddler on Grixis
Game 1: I bury him with Library. Dack and Thief arrive to clean things up. Game 2: He has a first-turn Library but I have Strip Mine. I Mental Misstep his Ancestral and Force his Dack. I resolve my Dack and steal his Voltaic Key. I sit on Drain and REB, and eventually Night's Whisper puts me far enough ahead to win.

Round 4: Asmo on MUD
Asmo's first-turn Strip Mine hits my only land, and I'm left with two Moxen. Asmo has a Staff of NIN, and Clones it. I can't crawl out of it without making land drops, which my deck doesn't feel like letting me do. In the second game, I Mulligan another no-lander into a one-lander with a Sol Ring. Asmo Wastes my one land, and when I finally draw a second land, Strip Mine is waiting to greet it.

Round 5: _deba_ on RUG Delver
I keep another hand that is light on mana, but I draw land and Dack arrives. I assemble Dack and Notion Thief, and manage to take control at one life. This game involved my Demonic Tutor finding Lightning Bolt for his otherwise-lethal Delver. In the second game, we trade Mental Missteps over his Ponder and I'm able to take control again.

Round 6: Enric on MUD
This match goes much better than my previous round against MUD because I'm able to draw multiple lands. I win in two games, with help from Goblin Welder, Dack, Ingot Chewer, and Mindbreak Trap.

So, overall, I liked how my deck performed. It won me all of the matches that it was able to play, and I lost two matches to having my manabase collapsed out from under me. I'm not entirely sure how to improve things, but I will be thinking about it.

[Smmenen]

I wish I had an opportunity to play in this tournament.  I didn't even get a chance to play in a qualifier, as every time I tried, the qualifier never fired. 

[Coopes]

I wish I had an opportunity to play in this tournament.  I didn't even get a chance to play in a qualifier, as every time I tried, the qualifier never fired. 

Same here, but also the last patch brought a ton of crashes and lag for me, so I lagged out of round 1 in the 3 events I was in that managed to fire . Either way, what's done is done, congrats to all you guys here that did well

[Chubby Rain]

Update: Top 4 losing to the eventual champion Montolio. Hurkyl's Recalls would have helped. Congrats to Montolio and thanks for everyone who watched and chimed in. It was a lot of fun.

[Samoht]

Update: Top 4 losing to the eventual champion Montolio. Hurkyl's Recalls would have helped. Congrats to Montolio and thanks for everyone who watched and chimed in. It was a lot of fun.

I love that updated Locket Rocket top 4'd. Just shows how strong the online meta is!

[Chubby Rain]

I love that updated Locket Rocket top 4'd. Just shows how strong the online meta is!

I mean, the rest of the top 8 was 3 Shops decks, 2 BUG Fish, UR Delver and Control Oath. Can't it just be that Magus of the Future is a pretty good card?

[Samoht]

I love that updated Locket Rocket top 4'd. Just shows how strong the online meta is!

I mean, the rest of the top 8 was 3 Shops decks, 2 BUG Fish, UR Delver and Control Oath. Can't it just be that Magus of the Future is a pretty good card?

I think it means that Matt Murray is a pretty good player!

and that Magus of the Future is a pretty good card...