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    Vintage Challenge - 7/8/2017

    Official Tournament Results
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    • diophan
      diophan last edited by diophan

      We had 54 players register for yesterday's vintage challenge. I was able to win with a less exciting mentor deck than last week's winner. Thanks to @chubbyrain for recording all the results from the swiss.

      Top 8:

      1. diophan - Jeskai Mentor
      2. maegwiny - Ravager Shops (no tangle wires)
      3. scarcio - Ravager Shops
      4. desolutionist - Gifts Drain Tendrils
      5. Bradisek - Car Shops (no tangle wires)
      6. gunmaster7 - Unmask Dredge
      7. masedogg06 - Paradoxical Drain Tendrils
      8. stsung - Ravager Shops (no tangle wires)

      Top 32 Decklists

      Before anyone gets too excited about the Big Blue winrate, note that @desolutionist was the only pilot (we classify paradoxical decks in their own archetype). However if anyone is interested in a modern take on a classic archetype, I suggest checking out his list (JVP is a grindy recoup I imagine). The spreadsheet can be found here. As usual let us know if you spot any errors.

      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
      • Brass Man
        Brass Man last edited by

        Congrats diophan 😄 and congrats to desolutionist on continuing to crush with his Gifts list. I wonder when other people will start picking it up.

        ? 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
        • ?
          A Former User @Brass Man last edited by

          Can a drunk @Brass-Man and a drunker Stefan successfully pilot Gifts Ungiven to a Daily 4-0? Tune in next week...

          Brass Man 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
          • ?
            A Former User last edited by A Former User

            It doesn't beat @diophan ... working on a solution

            4 Pyroblast is hard to beat. Started playing more Missteps. Which is good with Baral; makes your worst card a free cantrip. Thinking about playing more black spells like Night's Whisper/Mind Twist (good with Baral) I'll figure it out...

            Even Thoughtseize... you really want to be in a situation where you know what they have and can navigate around it. There was a point in game 3 in which I think I made a mistake by "going for it" while he had two unknown cards. Those cards were Misstep and Pyroblast. I think ideally you want to get them bottlenecked on mana such that they can only cast 1 Pyroblast while your Mindbreak Traps are enabled. I should have waited until he played JVP or something. I only cast Ancestral because he Stripped my land and I wanted to do something meaningful that turn (Ancestral + Drain OR Gifts). I knew Ancestral and Drain would be countered, but I wanted to clear the way for next turn Gifts. I had an irrelevant Mindbreak Trap in this scenario and should have just waited.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Brass Man
              Brass Man @Guest last edited by

              @ChubbyRain said in Vintage Challenge - 7/8/2017:

              Can a drunk @Brass-Man and a drunker Stefan successfully pilot Gifts Ungiven to a Daily 4-0? Tune in next week...

              Spoiler Alert: no.

              The Atog Lord 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • M
                mourningpalace @diophan last edited by

                @diophan congratz on the win.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • The Atog Lord
                  The Atog Lord @Brass Man last edited by

                  @Brass-Man said in Vintage Challenge - 7/8/2017:

                  @ChubbyRain said in Vintage Challenge - 7/8/2017:

                  Can a drunk @Brass-Man and a drunker Stefan successfully pilot Gifts Ungiven to a Daily 4-0? Tune in next week...

                  Spoiler Alert: no.

                  But an Atog just did. The Gifts deck is good.

                  "On the other hand, they have admitted that text matters." -- Smmenen

                  nucleosynth M 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • nucleosynth
                    nucleosynth TMD Supporter @The Atog Lord last edited by

                    @The-Atog-Lord said in Vintage Challenge - 7/8/2017:

                    But an Atog just did. The Gifts deck is good.

                    Until tonight, I had never seen an Atog Manamorphose before.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • M
                      mourningpalace @The Atog Lord last edited by

                      @The-Atog-Lord But I'll bet your BAC was significantly lower than @Brass-Man

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • Brass Man
                        Brass Man last edited by

                        Seriously doubt that would make much of a difference. Gifts is hard, yo!

                        ? 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • ?
                          A Former User @Brass Man last edited by

                          @Brass-Man Gifts Ungiven has been the best singleton Bomb in my Mentor Deck.

                          ? 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                          • ?
                            A Former User @Guest last edited by

                            @MSolymossy

                            I've tossed around the idea of playing a singleton Mentor as a bomb in my Gifts deck.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                            • Jeb Springfield
                              Jeb Springfield last edited by

                              Perhaps I am mistaken, but it seems to me that there were fewer Flusterstorms in this challenge amongst better performing Mentor lists than in previous weeks. I've found that Flusterstorm has been a bit weaker in Mentor decks given the increased presence of artifact mana in the metagame - particularly when trying to defend spells.

                              Does anyone have any thoughts on Flusterstorm and its current position in the metagame?

                              K Brass Man 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • K
                                KingLeovold @Jeb Springfield last edited by

                                @Jeb-Springfield I think it has declined as more copies of pyroblast have seen play. The pyroblast is able to deal with jaces which has currently put it over the top.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • Brass Man
                                  Brass Man @Jeb Springfield last edited by

                                  @Jeb-Springfield I've been very happy with 0 Flusterstorm since the restriction (and probably before, but definitely now).

                                  Like @KingLeovold, I tend to prefer Pyroblasts, which can hit both Jaces and Dack Fayden. There's also a tendency for Outcome decks to start their turn by playing Outcome, with lots of mana floating, making Flusterstorm dead.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • ?
                                    A Former User last edited by

                                    Gifts in Mentor is certainly viable. If you are playing multiples of Snapcaster and JVP, I would recommend it. It's likely better than Compulsive Research. If people want a starting point...

                                    ## CHUBBYRAIN (9TH PLACE)
                                    ## VINTAGE CHALLENGE #10648057 ON 05/27/2017
                                      
                                    Planeswalker (1)
                                    1 Dack Fayden
                                    Creature (7)
                                    3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
                                    3 Monastery Mentor
                                    1 Snapcaster Mage
                                    Sorcery (9)
                                    1 Balance
                                    1 By Force
                                    1 Fragmentize
                                    1 Gitaxian Probe
                                    1 Ponder
                                    2 Preordain
                                    1 Time Walk
                                    1 Treasure Cruise
                                    Instant (20)
                                    1 Ancestral Recall
                                    1 Brainstorm
                                    1 Dig Through Time
                                    1 Flusterstorm
                                    4 Force of Will
                                    2 Gifts Ungiven
                                    1 Gush
                                    2 Mana Drain
                                    3 Mental Misstep
                                    1 Mindbreak Trap
                                    1 Path to Exile
                                    1 Pyroblast
                                    1 Swords to Plowshares
                                    Artifact (6)
                                    1 Black Lotus
                                    1 Mox Emerald
                                    1 Mox Jet
                                    1 Mox Pearl
                                    1 Mox Ruby
                                    1 Mox Sapphire
                                    Land (17)
                                    4 Flooded Strand
                                    2 Island
                                    1 Karakas
                                    1 Library of Alexandria
                                    1 Misty Rainforest
                                    1 Polluted Delta
                                    1 Scalding Tarn
                                    1 Strip Mine
                                    3 Tundra
                                    2 Volcanic Island
                                    60 Cards
                                    Sideboard (15)
                                    1 By Force  
                                    1 Flusterstorm 
                                    1 Fragmentize  
                                    1 Mindbreak Trap 
                                    1 Pyroblast  
                                    2 Swords to Plowshares 
                                    2 Containment Priest  
                                    1 Disenchant 
                                    1 Pithing Needle  
                                    1 Plains 
                                    2 Rest in Peace  
                                    1 Tormod's Crypt
                                    

                                    9th place? Well, anyone who has streamed knows that streaming has the tendency to increase your chances of making game-altering blunders. That's what happened in my win and in, when I talked through a line of fetching Volcanic, playing a Dack, stealing opponent's Mox, and setting up subsequent plays, then clicked on Tundra and lost the game without access to red mana.

                                    @Jeb-Springfield Flusterstorm is best at defending your own spells and blowing opponent's out at instant speed. I love it in Thirst and Gifts shells, but when you are counting on Flusterstorm to stop your opponent's threats, it's can often be a worse version of Spell Pierce. Like all Magic cards, Flusterstorm vs. Pyroblast is a matter of context and in the typical Gush Mentor shell, Pyroblast will typically be better.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • Jeb Springfield
                                      Jeb Springfield last edited by

                                      Thanks for the replies @ChubbyRain, @Brass-Man and @KingLeovold. Pre restriction, I would always play a 2 - 2 split of Flusterstorm and Pyroblast in Mentor decks but have found Flusterstorm to be less good since the restriction.

                                      Last week I spent an evening trying out Scabs' Esper Mentor deck. His list played 3 Flusterstorm and I was interested to see how it would perform against Jeskai Mentor. We played for about 5 hours and it didn't go well for Esper. One of the things I missed most was Pyroblast, especially because my friend was playing 2 Jace, TMS which was often quite tough to deal with.

                                      As Matt said, I have also found that Flusterstorm is quite strong in Thirst for Knowledge & Paradoxical Outcome decks.

                                      Thanks again for your replies!

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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