@diophan Thank you for this. I sadly may not be able to make Eternal Weekend, but if I can, the fact we cannot test the new cards from a set before the biggest tournament of Vintage of the year, is very dissapointing. And for someone who can really only test online due to work and the fact we invested $ into mtgo, I'm confused on how they don't have a sense of urgency on this. Thank you again and I hope this gets the ball rolling.
Tom
Very good write up and discussion. I also think Mentor is to powerful to not be restricted. The answers to Mentor have minimal impact as where vs Shops (when Lodestone was not restricted) 1 Pulverize could destroy the entire Shops gameplan. Where Dread of Night/Illness in the Ranks can be answered by Misstep, bounced with Repeal and have no impact on the rest of Mentors gameplan. I dont think Gush should be the target of the restriction, it should be Mentor.
Also, lets say we restrict Mentor, does this just open the door for Pyromancer to be too powerful? I actually dont think so. The card relys ONLY on Instants and Sorcery spells. Mentor gains value off of every spell in the deck besides lands with pumping itself and generating other creatures so the card advantage is not equivalent from Pyromancer to Mentor.
What I could see happening with Mentor restriction would be a solid meta of...
Shops (making a comeback)
Pyromancer/Delver (Delver could be playable again)
Storm
Dredge
Big U decks
Oath
All of these decks play very well off of each other. It has diversity and your SBs can be evened out in a great way to strategize against the field.
Doesn't that look more healthy than MENTOR.FORMAT? I dont know, maybe its just me.
@diophan Ryan, Rich is correct. You'll need to adjust all of these to say UWR. I don't know what "jeskai" is
@Juggernaut-GO thank you for this post! i HATE Mentor and I will try any way to beat the hell out of it.
Mentor is the problem, not Gush. Leaves the Mercadian Masques common alone 
@Trius I'm not sure why you're directing anything toward me...
My comment was strictly to Matt just letting him know how the finals went.
Most decks throughout all formats are "stock" with the data everyone has.
Currently in Vintage, if you really want to take down a tournament you should play Mentor or Shops. If you want to play another deck, go ahead.
Awesome and thank you, Matt and Ryan for all of this info. It's greatly appreciated.
I feel like restriction of Gush is coming, so for the next daily events I get to play in, time for a GUSH PARTY!
Out-
Bolts
Pyroblast
JTMS
Grudge (leave 1 in for Hollow)
Probe
Basic land (depending on the build)
those are the cards I typically cut.
Great write up, and still bummed I couldn't make it, but I'll be there next year
Not surprised to see no Pyromancer's in top 32, Mentor is much more powerful and consistent which annoys the hell out of me.
Not sure if people are still trying Grixis Pyro but to me since NYSE the deck is to slow not being able to keep up with Mentor and W Eldrazi which is another tough MU.
I also heard so much excitement over Leovold and Daretti. I thought Daretti would make a huge impact, but I think a Grixis Thieves/Control deck is also to slow vs Gush and all of the Sphere decks.
Leovold I was never a fan of, I thought he had no impact vs non U decks and the casting cost of BUG is difficult to assemble consistently
Out-
Bolts
Pyroblast
JTMS
Grudge (leave 1 in for Hollow)
Probe
Basic land (depending on the build)
those are the cards I typically cut.
@gutocmtt hello- Maybe I should of been more clear; RUG Xerox felt favored vs Bant Survival. Not only did I have a + win rate vs that deck but in testing with my crew RUG was favored as well. A lot goes into this though on so many different levels... how the players play each deck differently, the correct cards you see, and so on. I haven’t played Vintage in a few weeks since I haven’t been that interested so I haven’t played against the BUG version.
When x4 Gush was still legal I was having a ton of success with my Grixis Pyromancer deck while alternating to RUG Delver as well (predicting the meta in the P9 events as I’d tend to lean toward RUG if I expected more shops). IMO, these style of Xerox decks are very vulnerable to Oath & Dredge. Sure, you can board in the Claim’s vs Oath but you really need to rely on Cage to carry you to victory which is not always a winning proposition as they bring in Grudge.
I think RUG Pyromancer is seeing a lot more success today due to the fall of Oath. It has game vs the current meta (especially in Leagues with Survival everywhere).
As for Skullclamp, I was never a fan of the card in Vintage.
@stuart Agreed with you on all accounts! Again, great finish at SCG Con!
@stuart solid results and great job!
I noticed your MB was 1 Card off from the list I got two 5-0 finishes with (only 1 posted). Looks like the difference was the +1 Revoker / -1 Metamorph
I recently started playing W Eldrazi in leagues again with the rise of PO, U Control and Xerox decks I was facing consistently which W Eldrazi is heavily favored imo. I’m from NJ so I normally will not bring W Eldrazi to any local tournaments with the amount of Shops players. Same for Challenges, pending on what I gauge from the players on Shops, I’ll stay away from W Eldrazi.
I think the two worst matchups for W Eldrazi are Shops and Colorless Eldrazi. However, in one of my 5-0 leagues I beat Shops 3 times and each game came down to sequencing and correct attacks.
Also, Glowrider has been and is the right choice to go along with, Thalia 1.0.
@smmenen @ChubbyRain
This happened to me in the finals in the 7/22 challenge
Beat shops once in the Swiss and also in the quarters and semis
Lost in the finals to Jazza on insane t1/t2 hands.
Pretty much locked out immediately
#restrictworkshop but realistically #restrictsphere
@Trius I'm not sure why you're directing anything toward me...
My comment was strictly to Matt just letting him know how the finals went.
Most decks throughout all formats are "stock" with the data everyone has.
Currently in Vintage, if you really want to take down a tournament you should play Mentor or Shops. If you want to play another deck, go ahead.
@ChubbyRain I tried to beat him in the finals and failed. His g1 hand vs me was perfect for my hand. His g2 draw was just insane.
I've tested BUG Leo a bunch. Some with and without Bob. The deck is almost unwinnable vs Shops
Sure you can have games where you have every answer, but they are highly favored and I wouldn't play the deck in a heavy shops meta.
You really need to splash R for Grudge