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*

Rich v David

Oh my god, this match … David loses game 1 (partially because he has so few colored mana sources in his deck) and in game 2 Rich puts Griselbrand into play on the first turn (via Show and Tell).  With his life in the league on the line *Dave beats first turn Griselbrand*! It involved putting in Karakas via that Show and Tell and Rich drawing 14 cards as a response to Griselbrand getting bounced and somehow Dave managed to survive all of them (that part is still fuzzy to be, but I was there … I know it happened). And then David won game 3 as well, maintaining control of his own destiny in the battle for “not last.” Seriously, if you watch one match this season, it should probably be this one:

David wins 2-1

Chris v Luis

Luis’s deck turns out to be very bad against True-Name Nemesis, and it has exactly zero answers to True-Name cast with mana from Cavern of Souls (other than race, which is pretty hard to do). Luis did manage to stitch together a Crucible of Worlds / Strip Mine lock in game 2, but he couldn’t deal with Chalice of the Void on 1 in game 1, or a pair of True-Names in game 3.

Chris wins 2-1

Steve v Kai

Kai kept Academy, Black Lotus, assorted other mana, and no “business” spells in game 1. Steve was able to counter the Time Vault combo and resolve a Dack Fayden (countering Kai’s Force of Will), but Kai then top-decked Preordain into Goblin Charbelcher and they were quickly on to game 2.

With Steve’s deck full of artifact removal Kai felt he needed to win as quickly as possible and he used Pact of Negation to force through a turn 1 Timetwister, hoping he would either win the game or find the Academy by the time he needed to pay the upkeep. His ‘Twister hand was one mana short of getting the Academy (or doing anything else) and so Kai died to his own Pact trigger.

In game 3 Kai drew the Mishra’s Workshop he had sideboarded in as a hedge against Steve blowing up all his artifact mana. It allowed him to play turn 1 Belcher, threatening to win on turn 2, but Steve top-decked Black Lotus and was able to play a turn 1 Dack Fayden and steal the Charbelcher. Kai promptly top-decked Tolarian Academy, which allowed him to play his other Charbelcher and win on turn 2 anyway!

Kai wins 2-1

Tom v Randy

Randy fended off Tom’s initial flurry of activity in game 1, but had only one Lord of Atlantis for pressure so Tom had time to find a Doomsday, say go, and win through a Cursecatcher. In game 2 Tom was able to Duress away Randy’s Force of Will, but Randy’s horde of merfolk dealt too much damage too quickly and Tom couldn’t piece things together before he ran out of life.

In game 3 Randy’s draw was slow but somewhat disruptive. Null Rod  shut off any Black Lotus shenanigans and Misdirection (which Tom saw with Gitaxian Probe) turned off Ancestral Recall, but Tom was able to use Dark Ritual to cast his Doomsday and then built a pile with Time Walk, Lab Maniac, and two Gushes to win despite being painted into a fairly small corner.

Tom wins 2-1

Eric v Bob

Eric had a solid Dredge start with two copies of Bazaar of Bagdad, but he didn’t hit enough dredgers to win on turn 2 so he set up to win on turn 3. Bob never gave him one. Doomsday off 3 Underground Seas was followed up by Gush into Ancestral into Maniac and a straight-forward win for Bob. In game 2 Bob kept a hand full of broken cards but no graveyard hate. Eric had 2 Mental Missteps and seemed to have successfully fended off the brokenness as Bob tapped out for Ancestral Recall on the last turn before Eric would kill him. His three cards off the Ancestral were Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, and Yawgmoth’s Will. Unbelievable! With Fastbond and a couple lands among the cards in his graveyard, Bob was able to set up a Tendrils of Agony storm kill from there.

Bob wins 2-0

With one week to go, this season’s division into the have’s and the have-not’s has gotten even more stark: 4 players have clinched a playoff berth but any of them could still finish with any of the top 4 seeds. (It’s currently a 3-way tie for first between Efro, LSV, and Chris at 6-2, with Randy one game back.) Meanwhile, Dave is alone in last at 2-6 but fully 5 players are tied just one game above him. David must defeat Bob Maher in the last game of the season to have any chance to play season 3, but if David does win then he earns himself at least a tiebreaker match as Bob will definitely be tied with him and as many as 4 other players could be.