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.