all your report are belong to us

Winning worlds is a goal for every player in the vintage community and I am no
exception. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is AJ Grasso. I first
started playing Vintage around 2005. I really started hitting my prime around
2008-2009. During those years I truly felt like I was at the top of my game. I
was innovating decks and Top 8ing nearly everything in the tri-state area. I was
winning power with a variety of decks including Control slaver, Gush TPS, MUD,
and BUG Fish but I am probably most remembered for my success with U/R
Landstill. At the end of 2009 I put Magic down due to some life changes and
personal reasons. Over the past 4-5 years I still tried to keep an eye on the
state of vintage and I would even randomly show up to an event here or there,
but consistently scrub out. I was out of the loop and out of practice, so it is
no surprise that I couldn’t compete at the same level I once did. As many of you
already know I took 2nd at Vintage Worlds this past weekend. I’d love to give
you all the details of my matches and specific key plays from the day but to be
honest I can barely remember most of them. Instead, I’d like to try something a
little different than most tournament reports. This is a report on how I burst
back onto the vintage scene with style!
   
   Before I even sleeved up a deck for Gencon last year I already knew it would
be my last vintage championship run for a while. Money was tight and it didn’t
make sense to fly out to Gencon year in and year out just to get smashed in a
format I no longer paid attention to. I was defeated before the event even
started. Little did I or anyone else, for that matter, know it would also be the
last Vintage Championship for Gencon as well.

   In May Nick Coss “dropped a bomb” on the vintage community. He was hosting
Vintage Worlds; everyone was excited including myself. This was perfect, I
wasn’t going to Gencon this year but I could still play in Vintage Champs. I
didn’t know what deck I’d be on but with worlds only an hour drive from my
apartment I knew this was an event I couldn’t miss.

   
   Times are a lot different now, both in vintage and in my personal life. Four
years ago I had a solid group of players to test with at the drop of a hat. Some
of you may remember Team 0-2 drop. The core three of the team was Joe Davis,
Bernie Parisi, and myself. Back then we knew the format in and out, up and down,
backwards and forwards. We tested decks and played out matchups nearly every
day. Since then all of our lives have stemmed away from magic, for different
reasons, and as a result preparing for this year’s championship would be nothing
but an uphill battle.

   I wish I could tell you we got the team back together and grinded games for
months leading up to the event. In reality we got together for a few hours one
single night in August and played some magic, some Mario Kart, and some
Dominion. 99% of my testing for this event was done alone on cockatrice against
randoms. I would theorize about card choices and test them online. I would post
results and talk about the deck on a private facebook page so Joe and Bernie
could see and discuss but there were hardly any actual games played between the
three of us.

   When Young Pyromancer was spoiled I fell in love. I was texting Joe and
Bernie about how powerful I felt the card was at all hours of the night. When
Rich Shay took down an event with his Pyromancer brew and Menendian finished
strong in the same event with the card I knew my instincts were correct. Young
Pyromancer was a thing but I just wasn’t sure the best place for it.

   My immediate feeling was to play it with Gush. I also had some success with
Delver of Secrets in legacy at my local card shop and I felt that the synergy
between these two cards was too good to ignore. I remember Mike Solomossy having
success with RUG Delver in vintage the year before so I started looking at some
of his lists and card choices. I’m not going to spend a ton of time discussing
specific card choices and there functions in the deck but I think it is
important to show its progress before I ever took it to battle. Here are a few
of the first lists I tested at the end of August and through September...

Quote
“this has been testing very well for me...
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
1 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Fastbond
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
4 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
2 Flusterstorm
1 Ponder
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Rites of Initiation
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Trygon Predator
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Pyroblast
 August 20 at 11:53am”
Quote
“updated list....
rites was just cute but not good, joe i didnt try the grapeshot yet

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
1 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Fastbond
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
4 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
1 Ponder
2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Trygon Predator
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
August 20 at 6:02pm”
Quote
“V1.3
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
3 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Preordain
1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Trygon Predator
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
 August 21 at 5:17pm”
Quote
“doing some more testing today with this build...
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
3 Gush
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Preordain
1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Trygon Predator
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
August 23 at 10:40am”
Quote
“some more quick updates to the SB to try and help out the Shops MU... the
trygons were just not getting it done. i think they are most effective in decks
with mana guys. Its just not a great option for this deck so im gonna try a
basic and another claim for now but it might just become 2 claim.

Goyf is ok... it even won me a game or 2 and i haven't ever felt like it was
clogging up my hand or anything like that but im not crazy about it. i wish it
was like delvers #5 and 6 and its just not, but i guess nothing is... maybe
vexing devil???

i cut the mystical and the scroll and dont miss them. the tutors almost never
mattered.. cutting them made room for more 4 ofs and more consistency.

back to 20 lands.

V1.4
2 Tarmogoyf
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Gush
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Hurkyl's Recall

3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus

SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 Mountain
 August 23 at 1:08pm”
Quote
“V 2.0
CREATURES= 10
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Tarmogoyf

I/S = 31
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
4 Gush
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Preordain
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Mystical Tutor

1 Skullclamp

MANA = 18
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
2 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn

SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 Forest
SB: 1 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte

Realized I don't need 2 reb and a 4th fluster in the SB to beat blue... we're
just naturally like 90/10 vs jace decks. That opened up 2 slots for the creature
decks which we struggle with a bit. Been thinking about -1 pierce -1 fluster +2
snare to help the creature MU a little more.
September 7 at 6:14pm”



   By October I had the deck very close to where I wanted it. I felt like I had
a solid grasp on the format and that I had a legitimate chance at doing well at
worlds. My only uncertainty was the fact that I hadn’t played a real tournament
with this deck or any deck in a long while. Luckily I was able to get my work
schedule clear for October and it was time to put my deck to the test. My first
stop was Ron’s Comic world on October 6th. Ron’s is only about 35 minutes from
my house so going alone was no big deal. Here is the list I played at Ron’s…

Quote
“My list for tomorrow...

V2.1
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Tarmogoyf

4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Gush
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Steel Sabotage

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn

SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
 October 5 at 11:05am”


I could barely get one foot into the door before some vintage veterans’ jaws hit
the floor at the sight of me at a tournament. Yeah, I guess it really has been
that long since I played. The event fired with only 10 players. This wasn’t
going to be the tournament experience I was looking for but at the end of the
day live testing was live testing and there was still a Ruby on the line. After
4 Rounds of swiss I was a perfect 4-0 beating oath twice, and shops twice. In
the Cut to T4 I swept, beating shops and oath again. Being a perfect 6-0 I was
driving home with a Ruby in my pocket and pretty high on vintage. Sure it wasn’t
much of a turnout but this may have been just what I needed to get my confidence
back and my feet wet. My deck did exactly what it had been doing for me online
and my play felt tight and on point. I never felt like I was behind the 8ball
and for the most part I felt ahead of the curve. There was another event in PA
the following weekend and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to get more
tournament experience despite having to drive 3 hours by myself.

I played the exact same 75 at MVPLS on 10/12. Only 8 players showed for this
Time Vault. I was a bit frustrated with the vintage community. Why can’t we get
players to show up to tournament only weeks before the biggest vintage event of
the year?! Oh well here we go. 3 rounds of swiss cut to T4. I went 2-0-1 beating
a gush combo deck and bomberman the first 2 rounds and IDing into T4 in round 3.
In the Top 4 I beat Bomberman again and Forgemaster shops in the finals. So in
the 10 rounds of the magic that I actually played my deck was a perfect 10-0. I
couldn’t be happier with my testing and it was about this time that I really
started to get psyched about the vintage championship. I just needed to get a
tournament with a decent turnout under my belt. The final Top Deck Games event
before worlds was a week away and I knew I had to go.

Here is the list I played both at TDG on 10/19 and at vintage worlds on 11/3.

Quote
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Young Pyromancer

4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Gush
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
2 Preordain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Steel Sabotage

3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte

        Finally, 40 players! 6 rounds of swiss cut to t8. I finished 4-2 in the
swiss beating shops three times and humans once. I lost to a Forgemaster shops
deck. I remember feeling like my mulligans weren’t good to me and my opponents’
draws were strong; I guess sometimes shops just gets you. My other loss in this
tournament was to none other than Joel Lim on Merfolk. Joel savaged me worst
than he eventually would in our worlds finals match. I remember after my
shellacking calling Bernie and telling him about it. I told him that the matchup
felt unwinnable. His deck just naturally does everything well vs. me. His guys
are uncounterable, unblockable, and much larger than mine and he is also
extremely fast. Bernie talked about possible SB options to help the matchup and
I remember telling him I’d rather just ignore it since it seems like Joel is the
only person that plays the deck and it would be unlikely that I’d get paired
against it at worlds. Little did I know he’d be my end boss. I ended up coming
in 9th place missing T8 on breakers.

   Finishing this event I was a total of 14-2 in the matches that I actually
played. My online testing reflected similar results and I was getting restless
waiting for November to come. At this point I knew that both myself and my deck
were flying under the radar for most of the vintage community and that was a
very good place to be going into worlds. I can honestly say I thought I had a
good chance to not only T8 but to win this championship.

   November finally came and the wait was over. I toyed with the idea of playing
in Saturday’s legacy event but I decided it wasn’t worth it for me to
potentially burn myself out playing an event I had no shot at top 8ing. Instead
I 3-0ed a vintage 8 man win a box, beating Grixis twice and Shops in the final
round(17-2 now). I spent the rest of the night celebrating my birthday in Philly
with friends and amazing girlfriend; getting completely hammered. I’m not going
to lie here, MISTAKES WERE MADE. 

   After downing a hand full of tums and advil chased with a lot of water I was
registered and waiting for Vintage Worlds to get underway. It was finally here.
Everything I had been working so hard for the last two to three months would all
come down to this.

   In Round one I beat Grixis. In round two I lost to Oath. This match was so
savage that I didn’t even know it was Oath until after the match ended and my
opponent offered up his SBing techniques. In game one I had lethal damage on the
table when he resolved a Time Vault to go along with his key. In game 2 he
vintage me with a 1st or 2nd turn tinker with drain back up. With 9 rounds in
this event I was 1-1 to this point. I would need to go 6-0-1 the rest of the way
to have a shot at T8. I felt confident in my ability to make this happen I just
needed to take the event one round at a time. Besides it’s not like I hadn’t
gone 6-0 or better with this deck before. In round three I beat Grixis again. In
round four I beat White Weenie? In round five I beat Oath. In round six I beat
Forgemaster Shops. At this point I really started feeling fatigued. I was 5-1
and T8 was only 2 wins and an ID away. I was running on an empty stomach but
luckily my girlfriend was supporting me the entire way and came through with
some lunch and more water. In round seven I beat Oath again in a long and
grueling 3 games. In round eight I was playing for T8. A win would give me a
shot at IDing my round nine into the cut. My only fear was that my breakers
would cost me again. Nonetheless, I needed to win my round and hope. In round
eight I got lucky. In game one my opponent had lethal damage on the table but
was racing his bob. In the upkeep of the turn he would swing for the win his bob
revealed him another bob while he was sitting on 2 life. In game two I mulled
down to 3 and was finished in quick fashion. In game three my deck went on auto
pilot. I had triple delver with time walk and some bolts. I don’t think this
game lasted more than three turns. I did it! After 8 rounds I was 7-1 and when
the standings posted it was clear that the top tables could all ID into the T8.
I shook Reid Dukes hand in round nine and started filling out my T8 player
profile questions. It felt surreal and I was excited but I didn’t come here to
T8 I came to win a championship. As happy as I was I knew I still had a lot of
work to do. In my hour lay off I ran to Wawa to get more water, and apple, and
some much needed fresh air.

   In the quarterfinals I was paired up against the mirror. In game one I had
the early lead. My Goyf was doing work but my opponent was resolving a Recall
and at least 3 Gushes. I couldn’t keep up with this and he eventually answered
my Goyf and dropped two of his own. In game two my Delver grabbed a Jitte and
ran away with the game. In game 3 my deck went on auto pilot again. I got a
Young Pyromancer down and my elemental tokens took over then game.

   In the semifinals I can honestly say I wasn’t nervous despite being paired
against Reid Duke. I haven’t been living under a rock, I knew exactly who he is
and what his magic accomplishments are. I knew he was on a storm combo deck and
while I never tested that matchup it seemed glaringly obvious that my deck was
favored. I was also pretty confident in my ability to play on the same level as
him. To this point I was 25-3 in tournament matches with my deck. I also was
pretty sure that I had much more overall vintage experience under my belt than
Reid. On a Pro Tour stage Reid has the upper hand but in a Vintage Semi Finals
he was on my turf and I wasn’t going to allow his Planeswalker points to
intimidate me. I wish this match was featured because I don’t remember much. I
know in game one he tried to go off with a Desire for three which I stopped
while chopping at his life total with my guys. In game two he kills me on the
first turn. In game three he is mana light and I have a disruptive hand with
some Goyfs to get there. The one thing I do remember about this round was that
his Duress’s and Probes really kept me from being able to bluff anything. He
seemingly always had perfect information.

   In the Finals of Vintage Worlds I got paired against the only deck in T8 that
I didn’t want to see. I knew if I was going to win this title I was going to
need some more of those solid hands and for Joel to stumble a bit. The video of
this match is on youtube for you all to see but Joel simply had it. He made very
quick work of me just as he did two weeks earlier at Top Deck Games. I have to
tip my (Mets)cap to Joel. I played 30 rounds of vintage over the course of a
month and went 26-4. Two of those four losses were thanks to Joel.

   To be completely frank that loss was crushing for me. I have never run so
ridiculously hot before. I felt like I was playing the best magic of my life. I
was making good reads, making solid plays, and always felt like I was two steps
ahead of the format. I put a ton of hard work into getting to this point,
dedicating nearly all of my free time for two months leading up to the event to
testing, tuning, and grinding games online. I was very intimate with my deck and
knew it inside and out. I had nailed the metta and was prepared to dismantle it.
I felt like I was on a mission to take home a championship and I wasn’t going to
be stopped. That loss is going to sting for a long time but the vintage
community better believe I’m back. I’m going to be making an effort to start
attending events regularly in 2014. Now that I have proven to both myself and
the world that I am capable of taking this event down I will be focused on
getting my championship.

   I know I didn’t spend much time discussing the deck specifically but if the
community drums up enough interest I would be willing to write up a bit of a RUG
primer discussing card choices and match up analysis. I’d also like to thank
Nick Coss for running such a great event and to everyone who helped me along the
way to the final table. You guys know who you are.

I hope to see you all at Top Deck Games soon!
-AJ