Team Vintage Super League: Playoffs Round 2 - Team CFB vs So Many Insane Plays!

Howdy folks, it's Joe again and we're here with more Team Vintage Super League recap! We're neck deep into Round 2 of the Playoffs, and headed straight for the Top 4!

This week showcased Team Channel Fireball (Luis Scott-Vargas, Josh Utter-Leyton, Matt Nass, Sam Pardee) vs the veritable kings of the Vintage format So Many Insane Plays (Stephen Menendian, Kevin Cron, Jason Jaco, with alternate Andy Probasco)

As always, you can find this week's decklists right over here.

Bans were in effect for this week, and both teams banned each opposing Paradoxical Outcome deck for this playoff round. However, CFB pulled some sweet Jenga tactics in managing to submit not just one, not just two, not just three, but FOUR different dredge decks for this round! What insanity!

Playoffs Round 2 Recap - Team CFV vs SMIP

 
You can watch the vod for this week here:

Round 1 kicks thing off with Matt Nass on Mossdog Dredge vs Kevin Cron on Stax! Kevin on the play kicks things off with a Turn 1 Smokestack off some fast mana, passing the turn. Matt snaps off with a Bazaar of Baghdad and passes the turn back. Kevin dumps a Crucible of Worlds but opts to not play a Null Rod. Matt activates Bazaar and is off to the races, managing to draw a Black Lotus to activate Fatestitcher. He unearths him, untapping the Bazaar and continuing to try to Dredge hard into his graveyard, finding another Fatestitcher to keep going. He plays a Cephalid Coliseum and activates, dRedging more of his graveyard and then dumping some more zombies into play after a Cabal Therapy. He casts Dread Return getting a Golgari Grave-Troll and then sacs it immediately to Cabal Therapy to generate enough zombies to kill his opponent the following turn. Kevin ticks up his Smokestack to 2 counters, while Matt goes off into lethal combat to take Game 1.

Kevin opens up on several mana rocks (including a Mox Pearl and Black Lotus) to try to cast a Turn 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, which promptly gets Force of Will'ed by Matt Nass. Kevin dumps an Ensnaring Bridge into play with the Lotus and passes. Matt plays a Bazaar of Baghdad and passed. Kevin drops The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and a Hangarback Walker and passes back. Matt misses activating Bazaar at end step, but does draw into some gas here or there before passing back. Kevin however snaps into a Tormod's Crypt off his draw. Matt attempts to Unearth Fatestitcher and manages to get one in play. He goes off into Bazaar activations, untapping it with the Fatestitcher with only 13 cards left in his library. Kevin plays a Crucible of Worlds and passes turn to Matt. However, it's just not enough and Matt concedes.

Matt on the play in Game 3, snap mulligans to 4 hand with a Turn 1 Careful Study to dump a Stinkweed Imp. Kevin dumps Tormod's Crypt, Sphere of Resistance and Grafdigger's Cage on Turn 1 and passes. Matt does nothing and Kevin punishes it by Wasteland'ing Matt's only land. Matt has no answer and promptly concedes.

Kevin Cron on the board for So Many Insane Plays at 1-0!!

LSV steps in with Lands dredge! Kevin starts off with a Turn 1 Ensnaring Bridge and LSV dumps a Bazaar of Baghdad Turn 1. Kevin makes a Turn 2 Trinisphere and makes a second Ensnaring Bridge. LSV makes a Narcomoeba and a second Bazaar, but Kevin makes a Steel Hellkite. LSV continues to go deeper on his graveyard but Kevin Wasteland's the Mana Confluence under LSV's control and then casts Lodestone Golem to up the amount of mana requiRed to cast any artifact hate. The game progresses with not much happening while Kevin draws a Chalice of the Void, casting it for X=4 to seal away Dread Return. LSV gets a Riftstone Portal into play, using it to cast Life from the Loam to continue to gather lands back into his hand. However, LSV is able to Flashback Ancient Grudge on Chalice of the Void on Kevin's end step, setting him up to Flashback Dread Return on Bane of Progress. This seals LSV's victory to go to Game 2.

Game 2 shows Kevin starting on a Turn 1 Smokestack off a Mishra's Workshop and a Mox Sapphire. LSV starts on a Bazaar of Baghdad, while Kevin makes Turn 2 Sphere of Resistance, Ensnaring Bridge, and Grafdigger's Cage. The Smokestack eats the Bazaar on LSV's turn as he's not able to find a Narcomoeba to sacrifice to it. LSV plays Wasteland and passes turn. Kevin finds a Crucible of Worlds off of his draw, establishing a lock of land + Crucible, to land the win.

LSV starts off with a Bazaar, passing to Kevin where he attempts to go Ancient Tomb into Grafdigger's Cage. The first cage gets dunked by Mental Misstep, but the second gets into play. However, LSV's well-timed Wasteland puts Kevin in a position without a second land. He casts Life from the Loam and gets back Strip Mine and Wasteland while Kevin flounders on lands. LSV hard casts a 9/9 Golgari Grave-Troll, while Kevin finally finds another Ancient Tomb to cast a Hangarback Walker. LSV casts a SECOND Grave-Troll, and hard casts Bane of Progress to seal the win!

Team CFB steps into the night at a 1-1 record!

The master of the art of Gush, Stephen Menendian, jumps into the fray with Jeskai! LSV on the play Serum Powder's to a Bazaar hand and opens up with the title land. Stephen opens on a Turn 1 Time Walk into a Strip Mine to try to hit LSV's Bazaar. LSV activates in response, and plays a second Bazaar. Stephen sees nothing but mana sources, giving LSV enough effort and time to dump his library into his yard with Bazaar. He attacks and goes into a Dread Return to hit Bane of Progress, but it gets Force of Will'ed. It doesn't matter however since LSV has tons of Zombies off Bridge from Below, earning the concession from Stephen.

Stephen opens into a pre-game Chancellor of the Annex effect with a Pyroblast to sandbag it. LSV plays the title Bazaar of Baghdad and taps it on Stephen's end step and his upkeep, running into Stephen's Containment Priest. LSV attempts to Cabal Therapy, naming Force of Will and hitting one. Stephen takes an extra turn with Time Walk, swinging in with his Priest. LSV doesn't see a Life from the Loam, but does cast a Bloodghast which gets Force of Will'ed by Stephen. Stephen gets Jace, Vryn's Prodigy into play. He passes turn and LSV is able to get some Zombies into play, stealing a Swords to Plowshares from Stephen. Stephen flips Jace and draws into a Dig Through Time, casting it for sheer value to get a Balance and Monastery Mentor. LSV slams through a blind Therapy to hit the Balance, ripping it from Stephen's hand. LSV then flashes back another Therapy, taking the Mentor, leaving Stephen with a lone Containment Priest and a Mental Misstep in hand. He swings for the fences, putting Stephen to 5 life. Stephen untaps and finds no answer, conceding the match.

LSV steps it up for CFB to 2-1!

Round 4 shows Jason Jaco stepping it up on SMIP's version of Dredge! LSV takes the die roll and uses Serum Powder to try and get a better 7. He immediately goes to a 5, and then down to 1 card, while Jaco keeps a solid 6 with a Turn 1 Bazaar of Baghdad. LSV draws a Wasteland, hitting Jaco's Bazaar, which he activates to dump double Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp into the yard. LSV continues to sandbag on draws, while Jaco goes on the draw-step Dredge plan. He makes an Ichorid on his turn and discards to hand size, making two Zombies from the Ichorid. LSV continues to see no answers, while Jaco makes pure Zombie value and earns the concession from LSV.

Jaco opens with a pregame Leyline of the Void, and a Bazaar of Baghdad while LSV uses his own Bazaar to find a Nature's Claim. He shoots it towards the Leyline's way in response to Jaco's Bazaar activation, knocking it off the table. Jaco manages to get two Bloodghast into play, as both players continue to Dredge hard. LSV makes an Ichorid to put some pressure on and also remove Jaco's Bridge from Below. Jaco starts pushing the Dredge train a tiny bit, but doesn't see much in the way of any dRedgers. He pushes through some damage and passes turn. LSV Strip Mine's the Bazaar, and pushes through more damage, while using Dread Return on Chancellor of the Annex. LSV takes Game 2!

LSV mulligans to 6 with a Bazaar of Baghdad, while Jaco mulls to 4 and hits a Leyline of the Void pregame with Mental Misstep backup. Jaco draws no mana sources, and LSV tries to Bazaar for an answer to Leyline. He finally finds a Mana Confluence, and his followup draws finds a Cabal Therapy and a Nature's Claim. He casts the Therapy, taking the Mental Misstep from Jaco's hand. The Nature's Claim steals the Leyline off the board, putting LSV back in the graveyard. He dRedges enough to find a Life from the Loam and gets a Therapy in to get rid of Jaco's Mindbreak Trap. He gets into damage and then Dread Return's a Chancellor of the Annex, earning the concession from Jaco.

Team CFB in the hands of LSV up 3-1!

Jason Jaco again jumps in on 5C Control! He kicks things off after LSV's Bazaar with an Ancestral Recall that draws him a Nahiri, the Harbinger and discards a Blightsteel Colossus to hand size. LSV drops a Wasteland on Jaco's Volcanic Island after getting a Narcomoeba into play. Nahiri makes her appearance, dumping a Kolaghan's Command in the graveyard to tick up. LSV continues to Dredge, but doesn't find a method to sacrifice any creatures for his three Bridge from Below. Jaco continues to push Nahiri, ticking her upwards towards her ultimate. Jaco casts Dack Fayden to gain more card quality. He draws into a Brainstorm which snags him a Force of Will. LSV hits no discard, but does see two Dread Return. He swings in for the fences, killing Nahiri. He makes one Dread Return which gets Force of Will'ed, and then makes the second one to get back Chancellor of the Annex. Jaco tries to Treasure Cruise but sees no answers, conceding to LSV to go to Game 2.

Jaco keeps a double Leyline of the Void hand, with a complete otherwise garbage hand. LSV makes a Bazaar to try and find some answer, finding nothing but a few Wasteland's. He continues to try and dig while Jaco finds nothing else either. He does find a Mana Drain however, while LSV continues to keep on the plan of getting rid of Jaco's lands. Jaco draws a Notion Thief, and LSV's followup Therapy reveals that he cannot beat Jaco's hand, prompting the concession.

Jaco mulligans to 4 with a Leyline of the Void but no lands in his opener. LSV opens on Bazaar of Baghdad and a pregame Chancellor of the Annex while Jaco draws a Mental Misstep to backup his Leyline. Jaco feeds his Misstep to the Chancellor pregame trigger, following up with a Force of Will to counter it. LSV tries to find another answer, but doesn't find much. He hard casts Bloodghast to start on what we lovingly refer to as mediocre beats. Jaco continues to draw not much else but does manage to rip a Mental Misstep into his hand. LSV continues the beats with the Ghast. He draws a second Nature's Claim, running his first one into Force of Will and getting to resolve the second one. Jaco runs out a second Leyline of the Void but LSV is able to use the Rifstone Portal in the yard to hard cast Dread Return on the Chancellor of the Annex during the brief window in which Leyline was gone. LSV hard casts Ichorid for lethal on the final turn.

Team Channel Fireball progresses to the TOP FOUR!

Notable Decklists - Team CFB

As noted, Team CFB brought FOUR dredge lists to the table, using the unified construction rules to the max to try and make for an interesting evening, and not only did they make it interesting, but it also panned out well for them. Let's take a look at one we saw and one we didn't see.

Luis Scott-Vargas' Lands Dredge | Team Vintage Super League

2 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Bane of Progress
3 Life from the Loam
2 Dread Return
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Serum Powder
4 Bridge from Below
4 Wasteland
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Petrified Field
4 Mana Confluence
3 Riftstone Portal
1 Strip Mine

2 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Mental Misstep
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Nature's Claim
2 Bloodghast

With maindeck playset of Ancient Grudge and Bane of Progress as the DR fatty of choice, this deck was well positioned to beat any Shops deck in its path. However, it was Riftstone Portal that stole the show and allowed this deck to prosper.

Team CFB's Control Dredge | Team Vintage Super League

3 Saheeli Rai
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
4 Prized Amalgam
2 Sun Titan
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
4 Force of Will
1 Disrupting Shoal
4 Mental Misstep
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Serum Powder
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Petrified Field
4 Dakmor Salvage
2 UndiscoveRed Paradise

2 UndiscoveRed Paradise
2 Nature's Claim
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Hollow One
2 Mana Confluence
3 Leyline of the Void

This deck variation utilizes some quite interesting technology, by using Sun Titan with Saheeli Rai to create infinite Titans to swing for the fences.

All in all, I urge anyone to check out the lists from CFB this week in full. They were just simply insane and beautiful to look at.

Notable Decklists - So Many Insane Plays

The Vintage Champs of So Many Insane Plays opted for some more traditional options, but also built a sweet 5-Color Control deck. Let's take a look.

Stephen Menendian's Jeskai | Team Vintage Super League

3 Dack Fayden
3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Containment Priest
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Fragmentize
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
1 Treasure Cruise
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gush
1 BrainStorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
2 Pyroblast
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Stony Silence
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain

2 Containment Priest
1 Stony Silence
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fragmentize
2 Pyroblast
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 By Force
1 Balance
1 Rest in Peace

Stephen's Jeskai list is pretty much par for the course on what we expect for Jeskai, maindecking a single Containment Priest and a solid value package of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and the singleton Monastery Mentor.

Jason Jaco's 5C Control | Team Vintage Super League

2 Dack Fayden
1 Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Notion Thief
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Balance
1 Time Walk
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tinker
4 Force of Will
1 Mental Misstep
3 Mana Drain
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 BrainStorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Dig Through Time
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Mana Confluence
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Island
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

2 Mental Misstep
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Containment Priest
2 Pyroblast
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation

Have you ever just wanted to run all the value Planeswalkers? Well this list does that. Between the norms of Dack and Jace, we've also got Nahiri, Daretti, Karn, and even Teferi in the mix! Add in a Blightsteel Colossus to be fetched off Nahiri and Notion Thief for Dack Fayden shenanigans and we've got a sheer recipe for awesomeness.

Wrapping Up

That's it for this weeks recap of Team VSL. Starting next week is the beginning of the end, the TOP FOUR! That's right folks, in three short weeks here we will be crowning a final winner to TEAM VINTAGE SUPER LEAGUE! This has been an amazing time for me getting to cover this and next week we've got the home team of Team Cardsphere vs Snapcardster! Following that we'll be having The Academy vs Team Channel Fireball! It's going to be an exciting two weeks determining who will end up in the finals, and then who is going to win.

So stick around folks, because this ride is about to end, and it's going to be awesome.

Until next time, may all your Magic be ETERNAL!