No one could have predicted that nearly 900 people would show up to compete in a format where a two-mana Blue instant says “game over.” Reasonable predictions ranged from 350 to 480. Sure, the European Grand Prix drew over 1100 people, but that’s Block Constructed, a far more accessible format on a continent of over a 100 million more people.
GP: Philly, the previous American legacy Grand Prix, was below 500 for a format that was wide open. Now, it may not be the case that a wide-open format actually attracts more players, but one would think so. The more open a format is, the more likely it is that any given player thinks that their deck is good, and the more likely they are to think that they have a shot of winning the tournament.
And yet GP: Columbus was nearly double GP: Philly. The Academy era combo decks were notorious for supposedly driving people out of magic in droves. We’ve all heard the story of R&D being hauled up into the Wizards suites to be chastised for producing such a disaster. We know for a fact that many, many people decided against playing when Flash became popular. Sean McKeown seemed to embody the attitude of “why go?” to play in a format that was completely transformed within the space of a few weeks by a two Blue mana instant. He was not alone. On the other hand, we also know that Flash brought more attention to the format and helped produced a well-defined metagame. Add to the format upheaval record gas prices as a deterrent to travel, and the attendance is inexplicable. At a very minimum, this tournament would have probably drawn 1000 people if Flash had not been re-errated. I won’t even hazard a guess as to how many people there might have been.
Two things are certainties: first, Wizards has to do more Legacy Grand Prix tournaments. A Legacy Grand Prix a year, alternating between the United States and Europe, is probably the route to take. Almost as important, I think Wizards should try to make the Legacy World Championships at GenCon a bigger draw by offering a bigger prize package, like they do for the Vintage Champs. People who enjoyed this event are going to want to travel to nearby Indianapolis to taste the format again.
Second, the geniuses at Wizards have to figure out why attendance was so high. I asked around and did some thinking of my own, and I’m still not sure why GP Columbus was so popular. It remains a great, unsolved mystery. Here were the theories that I heard (most of them unconvincing). One person said that they thought that the rock-paper-scissors metagame is alluring to the average Constructed player because they can situate themselves in a well-defined metagame. In contrast, GP: Philadelphia was too undefined for most players, and they evidently weren’t drawn to a completely wide open metagame. Another person said they thought it was the location. Columbus can draw everyone from the Midwest, Canada, the upper South (Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia) and many East Coasters (NYC, Philly, New Hampshire, Conn, etc). However, Philly can draw much of those same crowds, so I’m not sure that explains it either. I asked Pete Hoefling what he thought, and he said that the last Ohio GPs weren’t that big. On the other hand, the last Ohio GP I remember was Cleveland (only because I was there to play in the Vintage side event) back in 2002. So that was some time ago. It’s possible that the discussion on Flash brought more attention to the format and inadvertently drew some players in, but I have a hard time imagining that there was a net increase.
It’s probably a combination of a relatively well-defined metagame, a format that people enjoy (at least the people who came), and location.
Perhaps the most surprising thing of all is that I didn’t hear that much complaining. One would have imagined that a format with such a degenerate combo deck would inspire more venom. I am beginning to wonder if part of what drew people out was their assumption that the decks they had been playing all along beat Flash. Thus, while most people acknowledged that Flash was objectively broken from a certain point of view, they were comfortable with its presence because they believed they could beat it. In other words, people felt that Rock is ridiculous and probably shouldn’t exist because it creams Scissors so badly, but they didn’t mind because they were going to play Paper. Perhaps. Perhaps it’s also that the players who did show up knew what they were getting into.
I also have to believe that people enjoyed the card pool – the to and fro of Daze, Duress, Force of Will, Brainstorm, Meddling Mage, and Dark Confidant. I think people enjoyed playing decks that ran dual lands and Swords to Plowshares.
From Legacy to Vintage
A lot of players are curious about Vintage but hesitant to make the leap. If you enjoyed the Legacy experience, card pool, and card interactions, I want to suggest that you should come to Roanoke in the middle of June and try your hand at Vintage. If you played Flash or Fish, you are ready to play Vintage. You’ve done most of the hard work already. You own the dual lands, Brainstorms, Duresses, Meddling Mages, and Force of Wills; the rest can be proxied under the ten-proxy limit that StarCityGames.com permits or can be acquired for a few bucks (I’m sure you can find a Demonic Tutor). But the real barrier to Vintage isn’t monetary, it’s format knowledge.
You are already half way there. You are familiar with Force of Will battles and Brainstorming in response to Duress. You know how to break Fetchlands and avoid being Stifled. You have Leyline of the Voids and Tormod’s Crypt. You’ve seen Jotun Grunt gobble up graveyards and Red Elemental Blast hit Force of Will. You have more than enough tactical knowledge to play Vintage.
Legacy Flash Hulk (with some modifications – mostly because Lotus Petal and Mystical Tutor are restricted in Vintage) apparently won the Vintage Mox event on Saturday night over Vintage Academy Rector Flash. Hulk Flash is apparently a solid competitor in Vintage.
But for those of you who bought Tundras and Underground Seas to play Fish, you have even less work to do. Fish decks are even better in Vintage than they were in Legacy at GP: Columbus, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Null Rod makes them even more powerful since it hoses the entire format. Yixlid Jailer takes care of pesky Ichorid.
Don’t believe me? Paul Nicolo (who also made Top 8 at the Grand Prix) made Top 8 at the Vintage Championship with this deck:
Creatures (21)
- 3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
- 4 Voidmage Prodigy
- 4 Meddling Mage
- 3 Stormscape Apprentice
- 3 Kataki, War's Wage
- 4 Dark Confidant
Lands (20)
Spells (19)
- 4 Force of Will
- 3 Swords to Plowshares
- 4 Aether Vial
- 1 Time Walk
- 1 Ancestral Recall
- 1 Black Lotus
- 1 Mox Sapphire
- 4 Chalice of the Void
Sideboard
More recently, Vintage regular Dave Feinstein has been tearing up StarCityGames.com and local tournaments with his own brand of Fish, modified and ready to fight Empty the Warrens. Dave recently commended this decklist as the Fish list to play:
Creatures (14)
Lands (19)
Spells (27)
If that deck looks familiar, it should. There is a reason that Fish is so successful in Vintage. There are so many possible Fish cards, like True Believer to Dark Confidant, that almost certainly one version will be a potent solution to the metagame. These are competitive decks in Vintage that, if played well, are excellent vehicles for achieving a Top 8 berth. I would predict that if you find the right Fish list and play it perfectly, you are guaranteed to make Top 16 at SCG Roanoke and probably going to get a Top 8 prize.
If you’ve been itching to try Vintage, there is no better time. There hasn’t been a major Vintage event since January, so there isn’t really a clearly defined metagame post-Future-Sight. If you are curious to see what other people are playing, check through the deck database here and see what people have played in the past.
For those of you who are still interested in Vintage, but lack any of the aforementioned cards, don’t worry. Future Sight has ensured that Ichorid decks are genuine competitors. Rich Shay recently posted 3rd place with an Ichorid variant that will probably get you far in Roanoke. It has no power and only needs four proxied Bazaars to build the deck on the cheap. Did I mention that it has an 80% game 1 win percentage on the format and wins on turn 2? Of course, the trick is winning the match, but hey, that’s why the deck is fair.
And did I mention the prize pool? You’ll play in a tournament of roughly 70-130 players and Top 8 wins prizes worth more than what most of the GP money finishers earned. We are talking Grand Prix level prizes here, and you only have to play seven to eight rounds of swiss!
Reflections on GP: Columbus
GP: Columbus drew me so far into its giant maw that I saw the belly of the beast. Instead of a dark abyss, it was a spacious hall of mirrors. Every glance shot back at me, pushing me deep inside myself. I had no choice but to reflect on life, Magic, and fun. Although I learned a bit more about Legacy (more appropriately, it confirmed my ability to anticipate and accurately predict dynamic metagames), I learned a lot more about myself. The tournament experience prompted me to reflect and rethink my views Magic and what I enjoy about it, and in other instances reminded me of things I had forgotten.
First of all, fifteen rounds of Magic in a single tournament is insane. It’s made even worse by the fact that there is no scheduled lunch break. Fifty-minute rounds followed by essentially administrative tasks while new pairings are assembled leaves little time for things that most adults need: food and bathroom breaks. Bringing little baggies of food into the tournament hall is not my idea of a decent lunch. What’s worse, the tournament hall was fairly remote from any quality food. There was a NASA-hanger-sized hallway that led from the main artery of the convention center into the tournament hall. It took several minutes just to walk that hallway alone. Convention center food is not my idea of a mid-day lunch either. Is there a problem with taking a fifty-minute lunch break in the middle of the tournament? I think that amenities such as that would make tournament magic more user friendly. By the end of the day on Saturday, I was exhausted. If not for my girlfriend pushing me out of bed at 7:30 on Sunday morning, I wouldn’t have bothered to show up for Day 2.
Which leads me to the conclusion that I think most competitive Magic players eventually come to understand if they play long enough: I’m not the Spike I think I am.
To me, the tripartite Magic psychographic of Spike, Johnny, and Timmy reflect differing ideas of what makes Magic fun. Although Mark Rosewater has recently refined his definition, I think it is useful to think of Spike as the player who thinks that fun comes from winning, Johnny is the player who thinks that fun comes from playing interesting combos and innovating new, unique (possibly rogue) decks, and Timmy as the player who thinks the fun comes from playing cool cards and is most interested in the themes of the game.
In short, it’s all about fun. But fun means different things to different people. When I was 14 years old, any game I won was probably fun. As a 27 year old professional, winning under any circumstances is not fun. In fact, winning under lots of circumstances is no longer fun.
Let me put it this way: going into a local card shop and playing my monster Vintage deck against some 12 year old with a 40 card sealed deck is not fun for me. I know people who think that’s fun (*cough* Paul Mastriano* cough* cough*), but not me.
Playing that game of Magic would make me wonder why I’m playing Magic, rather than inspire me to play more. Sure, that’s an extreme example, but it’s a matter of degree. Once you can find a single instance in which winning (under the rules) isn’t fun, I no longer consider you a pure Spike. On Day 2 of Grand Prix Columbus, I played six rounds against some of the ostensibly better players in that tournament. Yet it didn’t feel terribly different from the scenario I just described. For example, my final match lasted 5 turns total and my opponent played no relevant spell (3 spells total). And this was in the Top 32, mind you (out of nearly 900). We were mathematically in contention for Top 16, which earns you an invite to the Tour. The irony is that my only loss on Day 2 came to a Vintage player. He had a The Mana Drain Open playmat which is awarded to players who finish 9-16th at a Waterbury.
In contrast, I very much enjoyed my feature match against David Gearhart. It was thrilling, fun, and memorable, and I was completely focused. Only later did I recognize it for what it was. It was a Vintage match. David and I were both playing the combo mirror but we both had plenty of disruption, and it was exciting. I went for a turn 1 kill, which was double countered. I came back and eventually killed him. Also, I was playing my deck (my particular creation) against David’s best. It was a battle of design, game skill, and pride. It’s so obvious to me now that it amazes me I didn’t understand it before. I play tournament Magic not to win tournaments, but to prove that my decks are good. In other words, I’m a Johnny. That’s partly why I innovate and then play new decks in Vintage even when there are decks that give me a mathematically better chance. That’s where I get my energy, and that’s where I get my enjoyment. David is one of the most well-known Legacy players, and to me the match was defined as a Vintage innovator versus a Legacy master.
And here is something I had long forgotten but only recently remembered. It only reinforced my epiphany that I’m not a true Spike, and reminded me why I don’t play other formats competitively. You know how some people just hate Blue? Or others can’t stand prison decks? Or others can’t stand those “dirty” combo decks?
I have my particular prejudice: I hate creatures.
They are by far my least favorite card type. My favorite creature in Magic is probably Xantid Swarm. If I have to play creatures, they pretty much have to be combo components (like Elvish Spirit Guide, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Sutured Ghoul, Goblin Welder, Xantid Swarm, Darksteel Colossus).
The matches I enjoyed in Legacy were the Vintage matches. My matches against Landstill, Fish, and the combo mirror. The matches I found boring were the matches where my opponent was playing an aggro deck with non-Blue disruption. I enjoyed my Fish matches that I lost more than half of the matches I won.
Part of my prejudice probably stems from my first Magic deck: The Deck. You see, I played The Deck as a very young teenager back in the early 90s, having independently designed a deck that was very close to Weissman’s list.
And my favorite card in Magic then? Moat. Moat is an all-encompassing command that pushed traditional aggro decks out of the Vintage format and made Vintage the domain of control mirrors. In fact, it may still be my favorite card in Magic (although Lion’s Eye Diamond is a close second). That feel that The Deck gave me is something I still feel every time I play Vintage. It’s a war of resources as you try to develop and advance your game plan in the face of resistance. Creatures are means to an end, not the definition of what Magic is. It’s hard to see that when, in most formats, there are no other ways to win.
But I’m also no fan of the theme of creatures. Chess pieces have the names of a royal court, but Magic cards are named after fantasy elements. Yet neither game’s rules have anything to do with their theme. The theme is the hook to get you interested. Yet Magic is a deeply strategic game of logical connectives, and the themes have the ability to blind us from what it is truly about.
The truth is that I’m a Spike / Johnny. If all I did was play the best deck, I would probably have played Grim Long or Gifts at every single Vintage tournament, and that wouldn’t be that interesting. Moreover, what is considered the best deck is, to a greater degree than people might imagine, historically contingent. The more people working on a deck over a longer period of time will produce a deck that continues to perform and stay ahead of other advances. If a deck performs well, others tend to try it and learn it. It’s a positive feedback loop where success breeds success. If I work hard to produce new archetypes that can compete, then others can build on that work and we see technological advances. The best deck isn’t the best deck by default… it became that way over time as players learn to play it, and beat other matchups, and become experts.
Some people claim that decks emerge as a natural consequence of a changing card pool, not because of innovative design. Rizzo uncovering Ichorid and Michelle Bush discovering Illusions-Donate are two examples in other formats. Pitch Long in Vintage and Meandeck Gifts are two other more obvious instances in recent history.
But, I’m also a Timmy.
For the last month and a half, my favorite purple dragon shields have been protecting Legacy decks from dirt and dust, wear and tear, while my Beta and Alpha power have been hibernating, lying dormant in a small binder on a dresser near my bed. As a Vintage player, not having your power sleeved in a deckbox ready for battle is like a cowboy without his gun, or Bono without his glasses.
Last night, with GP: Columbus firmly behind us and Vintage tournaments on the horizon, I was hanging up some clothes when my wandering gaze inadvertently caught the sight of this small black binder. Without a conscious thought, I walked over, flipped to the middle pages and stared at the gorgeous rich colors emanating off of Ancestral Recall, the bubble, cartoonish appearance of Alpha corners framed around a rich Blue inset. Every small white nick around the edges of the incredibly dark border shone like a star in the night sky, despite the fact that almost all of my power was mint at one time or another. All of those nicks and marks are my own, caused by sleeving and play. I was drawn into the image of Mox Pearl as a moth is drawn to a flame. I gazed in wonder at the oversized, awkward font of Beta Moxen, and the comical and now arcane use of the word “interrupt,” boldly protruding from the text of the card, reminding me that I can tap it at an intruder’s pace. All that in the span of a few seconds. I closed the book and lay down to sleep. For that brief moment, I remembered another thing that I enjoyed so much about this game. Every time I look at Alpha cards, my inner child, long ago abandoned by the calculating, rational mind I strived so hard to fashion and hone in college and law school, flickered into view. Every time I draw Black Lotus and flick it onto a table, some part of my inner Timmy awakens.
The Legacy Banned List
The issue before the DCI right now is whether Flash should be banned in Legacy. This debate is so confused and emotionally charged that rational voices on either side are easily muffled. The first step to advancing the debate is to recognize that except in extreme cases of utter and complete dominance, there will never be a completely one-sided case for banning. In short, there are reasons to support each side of the debate. And in this instance, there are good and strong reasons on each side of this debate. Each side needs to acknowledge this.
Dominance. Although Flash won GP: Columbus, it is untenable to suggest that Flash is unbeatable. Columbus has helped shape our understanding of what Flash lists are actually “good,” and Billy Moreno Counterbalance / Top Flash list has to be a leading contender for that title. If another tournament were held tomorrow under similar conditions, the metagame would have an opportunity to adjust and contest that title. On the other hand, I think we have also come to recognize that Magic is such a dynamic game that it is virtually impossible for a “best deck” to truly dominate. With a card pool as large as Legacy, solutions decks will almost always be present. I was recently reminded that Trix lost in the height of Necro insanity in Extended to Three Deuce. The solution decks are often the winners, but that does not slow the momentum towards banning. The same was true in Standard, so far as I understand. It wasn’t that Affinity was unbeatable so much as it utterly warped the format and made it “unfun.” Since Legacy isn’t under constant high-level tournament scrutiny, we don’t have the opportunity to see where the metagame might evolve. Moreover, the legalization of Future Sight has the chance to alter that dynamic in even more unpredictable ways. Ultimately, while the arguments against banning are legitimate, banning Flash is consistent with past bannings. The card completely warped the Legacy metagame, has the potential to make things “unfun,” and is objectively broken. It may not be unbeatable, but under the precedent and basic standards we live by, it is most definitely bannable. This case is made even stronger when we reference the existing Legacy banned list and notice that a substantial number of cards on that list are objectively worse.
That does not mean that I am saying that banning Flash is a good idea (I’m not saying it’s not, either), but that it is completely supported by existing precedent. The arguments on the other side are essentially reduced to two: first, the tournament attendance. Is it possible that Flash actually increased tournament attendance? It seems an unlikely, but possible reality that Wizards needs to answer. The second is that the deck isn’t unbeatable or dominant. First of all, only three in the Top 8 is not clear evidence of dominance. Second, the Top 8 was extremely diverse. If diversity is an important element of fun, diversity is established by this metagame. Many strategies are viable.
On balance, the arguments seem to weigh in favor of banning. It’s hard to imagine the logic of banning Oath of Druids or Dream Halls or even Skullclamp if Flash is legal. Certainly, a two-mana Blue instant that wins the game is better than all of those cards, even the much feared Skullclamp. If Wizards bans Flash, they would be justified in doing so. If they don’t, there are at least supportable reasons for that decision as well.
But if they do ban Flash, I’d also like to suggest that they evaluate the strength Goblin Lackey and the role of Goblins in Legacy. A two-mana Blue instant that wins the game was the omnipresent force behind the metagame at GP: Columbus. And in spite of all of that, Goblins pilots not only made their way through 15 rounds of swiss, but one achieved 2nd place in the entire tournament. They did this while having almost no maindeck countermagic or hand disruption. They relied on cards that were already in the deck to disrupt the Kiki-Jiki combo (like Incinerator and Mogg Fanatic) and post-board hate like Pyrokinesis, Leyline of the Void, and Red Elemental Blasts. Goblins trounced through the hate decks. The Flash players that slowed down their combo to fight the Fish hate lost to Goblins. I made the switch to the Disciple kill to ensure that I didn’t lose to Goblins. Despite going 4-0 in matches against Goblins, I almost lost to Chris Ripple on Day 2 (he was able to send me to one life with a Matron for Sharpshooter which had six triggers from the Hulk and five X-men while I was at eight life). I also had to float mana on my upkeep to win with Flash on my draw step of the last possible turn I could combo out.
I’ve been playing Legacy at least one tournament a month since January. Part of the motivation behind playing Iggy Pop was the ostensible dominant Goblins matchup. Goblins completely warped the pre-Flash Legacy metagame in ways not really significantly worse than Flash did at GP: Columbus. Moreover, it proved that it was still a complete powerhouse even with its apparently worst matchup everywhere. I shudder to think how Goblins would have performed had Flash not been in the field. If you think that running Leyline of the Void maindeck to hate Flash is bad, I’ve seen countless players maindecking Engineered Plague for the same reason to hose Goblins. Sure, it’s beatable, but it is utterly warping. Banning Goblin Lackey won’t actually take Goblins out of the metagame, but it will de-fang the deck a little. Aether Vial is bad enough, but we don’t need easy turn 3 kills with turn 1 Lackey, turn 2 Warchief, and turn 3 double Piledriver (or Siege-Gang + Piledriver).
Consider this: I placed 21st place and still fought through four Goblins decks. Here’s what I faced in fifteen rounds:
4 Goblins Decks
3 Flash mirrors
2 Threshold
2 U/B/W Fish (one with Flash in the sideboard)
2 Landstill
1 43.land deck
1 B/W
Yes, I beat all four Goblins – but I’m sure that they had a fighting chance against the Flash lists with the Kiki kill.
While the subject of bannings in Legacy has been the hot topic of debate, another debate equally worthy of attention has languished: the question of unbanning. This is in some ways a more sensitive question and requires even greater prudence. In my estimation, there are a few cards that can safely be removed from the banning list. Unlike Vintage, there doesn’t seem to be an overriding priority to let people play with as many cards as possible. That’s what Vintage is for. Thus, in Legacy an unbanning not only has to be safe, but it should also be productive.
Land Tax
Of all the cards on the Legacy list that have the potential to add another dimension to the format, it is this. One of the features of Legacy is that it is so light on sources of card advantage. While some apparently fear the combo of Land Tax + Scroll Rack, it would be a fair and fun engine in Legacy. Turn 1 Mox Diamond followed by Scroll Rack would produce a highly interactive deck, built around White and probably in the fashion of some white control deck. Such a combo requires time to maximize the card advantage from Tax and Rack. It isn’t clear that Land Tax would produce a competitive deck, but the restriction of being able to find only basics probably means that you aren’t playing cards like Daze, Brainstorm, or Force of Will. In other words, Land Tax is probably the fairest and most “Legacy-like” engine you could allow. I think permitting this card would increase the enjoyment of the format and add a missing dimension to the format.
What do you think?