Hello and Welcome! Click the links above to read about VSL, the schedule, and the standings. Click here if you want decklists. If you want to watch the video archives you can click here. Meanwhile, if you just want to hear about this week’s matches then read on.

*SPOILER WARNING*

Some people have asked for a way to follow the Vintage Super League without watching all the matches every week. These match recaps are for them.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Luis v Eric

Eric and Luis were playing the same 75 cards for the playoffs, but this still shaped up as a fairly interesting mirror match. Game 1 was all about Ancestral Recall as Luis was able to Vampiric Tutor for his first, and Eric couldn’t stop him from resolving it. When Eric then tried to Vampiric for his own, Luis was able to say “no, untap, and go get a Dig Through Time with his Merchant Scroll. The game took several more turns, but Eric never recovered from that avalanche of card advantage.

Game 2 was all about Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Both players had one in their opener, but Eric had a Black Lotus that allowed him to play his on turn 1. Fastbond allowed Eric to go off with Gushes on turn 2, and Yawgmoth’s Will fueled a turn 2 kill via Tendrils of Agony.

Game 3 would revolve around a 3rd different card: Notion Thief. Luis used Black Lotus to resolve his on the first turn (Eric’s first turn, to be precise … in response to a Preordain). Eric never really recovered. He was eventually able to flash in his own Thief to trade them off in combat, but he was way too far behind by then.

Luis – 1, Eric – 0

The MVP of game 4 had to be Luis’s Library of Alexandria. With Luis drawing extra cards, Eric was forced to go for things as quickly as possible and Luis had enough copies of Force of Will to stop him. Between Dig Through Time and Gush, Luis could get back on the Library plan but it was easier to just go ahead and win the game via Tendrils.

LSV’s run of awesome draws continued in game 2 as his deck delivered up a turn 1 Jace. Eric fought gamely, and almost took advantage of a window where Luis was low on permission, but Luis was able to Flusterstorm Eric’s Dig Through Time and things were pretty brutal after that.

Luis – 2, Eric – 0

Randy v Kai

Kai Budde was revealed as the newest member of the Vintage Super League – he’ll be replacing Josh for season 2. Kai played a pair of scrimmages in honor of this announcement.

Randy showed off a mono-blue Charbelcher deck that was about 4 cards off of a list he got from Danny Batterman (who calls it “The People’s Cannon”).  Randy’s 6-card hand (on the draw) in game 1 was able to go Chrome Mox (removing Preordain), Mana Vault, Expedition Map, sacrifice the Map to go get Tolarian Academy, Lotus Petal, Goblin Charbelcher all with Pact of Negation back-up. Kai didn’t have a counter to force him to use the Pact, but even if he did Randy could have activated the Charbelcher on his upkeep with the Pact trigger on the stack.

In game 2, Randy cast Gitaxian Probe to see that Kai had Force of Will, Misdirection, Mental Misstep, and Tinker (along with two Ingot Chewers and a Library of Alexandria). He drew Pact of Negation off the Probe and when his Preordain found him an Ancestral Recall he decided to go for it, casting the Ancestral as bait. Kai went for Misdirection and Randy cast his Pact. Kai played his Force of Will so that he could successfully Misdirect Randy’s Ancestral but thanks to naturally drawing his Tolarian Academy Randy still had enough mana left over to cast a Tinker. While Kai won the fight over the Ancestral, he had to hit a Force of Will and a blue card or he was just dead. He hit the Force, but not the blue card. Randy’s Tinker for Goblin Charbelcher, sacrificing Black Lotus to activate it, meant we had the first turn 1 kill in Vintage Super League history!

Bob v Kai

Bob resolved a quick Timetwister in game 1 and was up a pair of Moxes, but Kai drew the better hand and was able to Tinker out a Blightsteel Colossus while Bob was 1-mana short of using Tezzeret to put together infinite turns with Time Vault. Kai was stuck on one land for a while in game 2, but his Force of Wills were able to stop Yawgmoth’s Will and leave the game stalemated, though Bob did have Time Vault in play and when he eventually top-decked a Voltaic Key that was good enough to send them to game 3.

Game 3 was close. Bob played out fast mana, a Demonic Tutor, and a Time Vault on his first turn, setting up a turn 2 Tezzeret for infinite turns. Kai decided to risk tapping all his colored mana for a turn 2 Jace (with just one Force of Will to defend himself with). Bob played out a Time Walk and a Thirst for Knowledge in an attempt to dig for a counter, but couldn’t find one. Bob pretty much had to go for it anyway (rather than let his opponent untap with Jace in play), but once Kai Forced the Tezzeret kai never had to let his guard down again, assembling a grip full of Pyroblasts to defend himself while he attacked with Young Pyromancer for the win.