I wrote up a season in review for dailymtg.com full of links to highlight clips. You can check it out here.

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*

#1-ranked player in the world Eric Froehlich had steam-rolled his way through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dropping only a single game to Randy in their best 3 matches out of 5 quarterfinal, and a pair of games to Luis in the semis.

When the finals began he looked like he was going to continue his demolition of all comers by playing turn 1 Lodestone Golem off of Mishra’s Workshop, along with his spicy new tech of Arcbound Ravager. Chalices set on 0 and 1 made sure Chris could never really get into the game. Game 2 was similar with an early Sphere of Resistance plus a Wasteland preventign Chris from ever getting started (since he only drew 2 land).

Eric leads 1-0

It was Chris’s turn to play Shop in the second match, but somehow Eric was still the mana denial deck as he drew the one maindeck Strip Mine he’s running in Delver and used it on a Mishra’s Workshop, which turned out to be Chris’s only land. In game 2 Eric had a pair of Ingot Chewers ready to stop whatever offense Chris might mount, but Chris drew nothing except lots of “resistors” (Spheres, Thorns, and a Trinisphere). Eric snuck a Young Pyromancer into play thanks to an early Black Lotus and Chris never had an answer.

Eric leads 2-0 (and his playoff winning streak now stands at 8 consecutive matches)

The streak looked likely to continue when Eric used Dark Ritual to fuel a turn 1 Doomsday to start match #3. He had a Force of Will and two Mental Missteps in hand to defend his combo-kill, but he did have to give Chris one land and Chris took full advantage. Chris drew a Force of Will of his own to go with the Misdirection he already had, effectively giving him the ability to counter twice, which was enough to stop Eric’s initial Ancestral.

Eric had another great start in game 2 with Fastbond into Gush, with Xantid Swarm turning off all Chris’s permission, but he fizzled. By the time Eric finally found a Doomsday Chris’s Young Pyromancer had dealt enough damage that Eric couldn’t afford to cast it.

Chris wins 2-0, Eric leads 2 matches to 1

The format was set up such that both players could now choose freely from the 3 decks they brought. Chris chose Delver, believing it had the best matchup against Eric’s suite of 3 decks. Eric was tempted by Shops, which was probably his strongest deck, but (as he explained later) he was feeling so good about the way he’s been playing Magic lately that he wanted a deck that gave him more decisions and more opportunities to interact with his opponent. So Eric chose his own Delver deck and match 4 was a Delver mirror.

Eric landed a turn 1 Delver in game 1, but Chris was able to out-race it with a turn 2 Young Pyromancer (getting far enough ahead on cards along the way to successfully kill the Delver as well). Chris once again took the lead in the creature race in game 2 with 2 early Pyromancers threatening to out-race Eric’s Delver plus single Pyromancer. However, Chris drew way too many lands, drawing 10 of his 16 total mana sources by the end of the game and failing to generate the tokens he needed to win the race.

Both players mulliganned to 6 before game 3 and Eric made the reasonable but very risky decision of keeping a hand with only Black Lotus for mana. Eric never did draw a land and Chris was able to beat him up with Young Pyromancers before Eric really even got started.

Chris wins 2-1, Overall match tied at 2 matches each

Going into match 5 both players stuck with Delver. Eric was probably correct in believing he was advantaged in the mirror as he ran 4 Ligfhtning Bolts to Chris’s 2 (mostly because Bolt is so good against the other decks Eric thought (correctly) Chris would run: Merfolk and Shops). Chris wondered in retrospect if he should have put Eric on Delver and therefore audibled to Merfolk, but it’s hard to argue with sticking with the deck that had just won him 2 matches.

Game 1 was long, but Chris never managed to find a second land and that really impacted his ability to unload the contents of his hand. Eric used the opportunity to get so far ahead on cards that Chris was unable to stick any of his threats once he finally did find land #2.

Chris was stuck on 1 land again in game 2 but he used that one land to play out a pair of Delvers, which flipped right away. Pyroblast removed Eric’s Delver and 6-power worth of fliers was a faster clock that Eric could deal with.

It all came down to one last game – the third game of the fifth match would decide the Vintage Super League Season 2 championship. Chris was able to Pyroblast Eric’s turn 1 Delver and Force of Will his Young Pyromancer leaving the game very even 4 turns in. Eric resolved a second Delver but Chris resolved a Young Pyromancer. The key turn then started innocuously enough with Eric casting Preordain. Both players used Mental Missteps, which canceled each other out, and then Chris decided to Gush as a response to see if he could find another Misstep or even a Pyroblast (knowing that he would be up an elemental token from the Pyromancer either way). Eric responded with a Gush of his own, which drew him into a Gitaxian Probe and another Preordain, while Chris’s Gush found just Mox Sapphire and another Gush (with Chris down to zero Islands in play). The game quickly began to snowball from there as Eric resolved the Preordain that was at the bottom of that stack to find Treasure Cruise. His Probe then drew him into Ancestral Recall. The Cruise found a Dig Through Time and a Force of Will while the Ancestral found a Mox and a Young Pyromancer! Chris was pretty clearly right to see that initial Preordain as a potential tipping point in the game, but he was unable to stop it and Eric wound up drawing 9 new cards over the course of that turn, wining the game thanks to Delver plus Young Pyromancer shortly thereafter

Eric wins 2-1, Eric wins 3-2!

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*

Match #1 featured Efro’s Delver against Luis’s Mentor deck. Eric won the roll and played 2 copies of Delver of Secrets on the first turn (thanks to Mox Sapphire). Luis’s draw wasn’t particularly fast and he was only able to kill one of them before they killed him. Game 2 was lopsided in the other direction when Luis led with a turn 1 Mystic Remora and Eric was stuck on one land, discarding rather than give Luis extra cards by playing into the Remora. Luis used a Repeal to replay the Remora once he could no longer pay the upkeep. Eric countered it but that cleared a path for Luis to drop a Mentor.

Eric made a nice, subtle play to open game 3. Rather than play a turn one Young Pyromancer (off a Mox) he instead passed with two mana untapped to play Spell Pierce and/or Flusterstorm. This also allowed him to defend his turn 2 Pyromancer from any potential Force of Wills (which Luis did in fact have). Eric then drew into a Force of Will of his own, which allowed him to stop Luis’s Mentor. The game snowballed from there, but the ball only started rolling because Eric ignored the obvious opening play and found a better line.

Eric wins 2-1, leads the series 1-0

Match 2 saw Eric play Workshops against an allegedly bad Oath matchup, but he had Strip Mine for Luis’s only land in game 1. Luis was set up for turn 2 Show and Tell for Griselbrand off a Mana Crypt, but with his only blue mana gone he never got to do anything. Luis took a couple mulligans in game 2 while Erik had turn 1 Lodestone Golem and turn 2 Tangle Wire.

Eric wins 2-0, leads the series 2-0

Both players resolved Dack Fayden in game 1, and they wound up fighting over a Sol Ring, but Eric also had Jace the Mind Sculptor so he was able to fend off Luis’s Notion Thief and stick one of his own. The Dack + Notion Thief combo was too much and Luis promptly conceded,

Luis finally got a good draw in game 2: Young Pyromancer, Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus, and Yawgmoth’s Will (with Force of WIll back-up). Eric managed to counter the Ancestral the first time, but conceded to the Yawgmoth’s Will.

Speaking of good draws, Eric had Voltaic Key, Black Lotus, and a Demonic Tutor that he used to go get Time Vault. Luis had a Library, but he was only able to Force of Will once and Eric had two copies of his own to defend his Key-Vault combo.

Eric wins 2-1, wins the series 3-0, will face Chris Pikula in the finals on Sunday at 2pm pacific time.

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*

Eric tried Dredge yet again in the tiebreaker match versus Luis, but Luis drew lots of sideboard cards (ok, all of his sideboard cards), dropping Eric into the quarterfinals and droppoing Dredge to 0-10 on the season.

The format for each round of the playoffs this season is best 3 out of 5 *matches* where both players to bring 3 decks, labeling them A, B, and C. First deck A plays deck A in a normal best 2 out of 3 games match, then deck B plays deck B, then deck C plays deck C. For matches 4 and 5, if necessary, players can choose any of their 3 decks. And then in the next week of playoffs the winner can bring 3 new decks if he wants to. Note that players are under no obligation to bring different decks, though the free choice in matches 4 and 5 ensures that most players probably will.

Eric brought Doomsday, Workshops, and Mentor with him for the quarterfinals while Randy brought Doomsday, Belcher, and Oath.

The Doomsday mirror match kicked things off and game 1 was quite close with the players trading top-decked Doomsdays until Eric finally got one to resolve (and promptly won). In game 2 Eric was set up for a turn 2 kill, but never got there as Randy won on his own second turn. In game 3 Eric returned the favor, using Fastbond to great effect, Gushing into a Black Lotus and a Doomsday kill before Randy got  a 2nd turn.

Eric leads 1-0

Workshops versus Belcher is a terrible match for Belcher, but Randy did win the die roll and nearly had a turn 1 Tezzeret. However, Eric’s Tangle Wire turned off most of his mana on turn 2 and Randy was afraid to risk his Tolarian Academy, fearing that Eric would have a Wasteland (which he eventually did, but not until turn 4, by which time Randy could have at least Preordained a couple of times). Eric steadily played out lock pieces and Randy never did get enough mana for his opening hand Tezzeret. In game 2 Randy played a turn 1 Goblin Charbelcher, but Eric Wastelanded his Mishra’s Workshop, dropped Chalice on 0 (among other lock pieces) and Randy was never able to get enough mana to activate it.

Eric leads 2-0

In match #3 Eric put a main deck Notion Thief into play when randy used Show and Tell on Griselbrand. The 7/7 flying lifelinker was not good enough to race Eric’s engine of Dig Through Time and Monastery Mentor. In game 2 Eric had Black Lotus for turn 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Randy didn’t have a Force of Will so he was never really in the game. Notion Thief showed up again, this time comboing with Dack Fayden’s plus ability so that Eric got to draw 2 but randy had to discard two.

Eric wins 3-0 and advances to the semifinals for a re-match against Luis.

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*

Steve v Chris

Chris blundered in game 1 when he forgot that he can’t get blue mana from a Cavern of Souls to cast Lord of Atlantis unless he names Merfolk when the Cavern comes into play. He named Illusion with his second Cavern (which normally makes sense as it gives you the ability to make your Phantasmal Images uncounterable), but he had no other blue sources and basically didn’t even get to play. Steve’s draw was great and Steve probably would have won anyway, but Chris was definitely quite embarrassed by his blunder.

Chris’s deck bailed him out in games 2 and 3, delivering up great draws with Black Lotus to fuel his offense and counters to blunt Steve’s. The win meant Chris would be at least tied for first place at the end of the night while Steve had to hope Dave would lose or else he would be tied for last.

Chris wins 2-1

Randy v Kai

Randy mulliganned to a 6-card hand that played Black Lotus for Cursecatcher and Lord of Atlantis on turn 1, but none of that let him stop Kai’s first turn kill draw with the Belcher deck. In game 2 Randy did have a Force of Will, plus he also had a reasonable clock and they were on to game 3. Game 3 was quite interesting and Randy had just enough counters to stop all of Kai’s threats and the players wound up in top-deck mode. Kai promptly top-deck a 3rd mox, a Tinker, and then with just two draw phases left to do it, the mana he needed to activate his Charbelcher and secure a place in season 3.

Kai wins 2-1

Luis v Rich

Luis brought a Pyromancer deck to battle this trimester which was designed to crush the Delver-style decks that Rich has been playing but Rich mixed things up and ran Oath. He got rewarded with a pair of easy victories which secured “not last” and left Rich with a 4-5 overall record (same as last year).

Rich wins 2-0

Eric v Tom

The Curse of the Dredge deck continued as Eric mulliganed to 1 card in game 1 without finding a Bazaar of Bagdad (a 6% chance scenario that has now happened to Eric 3 times in 3 matches). Eric won game 2 and he looked to be in decent shape in game 3, but Tom had one of teh best draws Doomsday is capable of getting: a turn 1 Mystical Tutor (on the play) to set up a turn 2 Doomsday with Gush in hand to bootstrap into the cards. Eric had a Mental Misstep to break things up, but Tom’s draw was so good he even had a spare mana and a Duress. Dredge ends the regular season at 0-9 and Eric falls out of first place for the first time all season.

Tom wins 2-1

Bob v Dave

The big match of the night featured Dave trying to win to force a 3-way tiebreaker for last while Bob had no interest in being dragged into such a tie. In game 1 the players traded permission, discard, and card drawing while jockeying for control of the game. Bob was eventually able to Demonic Tutor for and then force through an Ancestral Recall which gave him everything he needed to get off a Doomsday. Dave had Abrupt Decay read as an uncounterable way to kill Laboratory Maniac, but Bob put a Duress into his 5-card Doomsday stack and was able to clear the Decay away before going for the Maniac win.

In game 2 Dave iced the game for quite a long time with an early Standstill. However, Bob had snuck a Sensei’s Diving Top into play first and used it to find more land that Williams could top-deck despite Dave having 50% more land in his deck. Bob eventually decided to break the Standstill, giving Dave 3 extra cards. Dave also resolved an Ancestral as a response to Bob’s Duress to draw yet 3 more extra cards. but somehow despite having fully a dozen cards in his hand, none of them did anything. He couldn’t only counter one spell and Bob had accumulate more than enough gas to win (via Tendrils of Agony) once he saw how bad Dave’s draw was.

Bob wins 2-0

The loss means it’s a clean cut for last and Dave gets relegated. The only tie we wound up with at the end of the regular season was a tie for 2nd between Eric and Luis. That tie will be broken with one match (with new decks) to see who gets the 2-seed and the bye into the semis. The loser will have to play Randy in the quarterfinal.