North America Vintage Champs has once again come and gone, and an impressive 427 players attended this year, improving noticeably upon last year’s 343 players. For all of the grousing that a vocal minority do online, this was the second largest Vintage Champs of all time, only behind 2015’s high water mark of 462 players. As usual, Nick Coss and all of tireless staff at Card Titan did an outstanding job organizing and running the events at Eternal Weekend, and should be commended for growing and supporting the community.
The number of players for Vintage Champs called for 10 rounds of Swiss on Friday, followed by the Top 8 playoff on Sunday. After the rubble cleared from the battle, 5 Workshop Aggro decks and 3 Oath of Druids decks were left standing. The Top 8 featured some big names, Top 8 repeaters, and new faces. Eric Vergo would be the lone player at 8-2 to make the cut to Top 8, edging out 13 other players at 8-2 (with 24 points) on tiebreakers. Eric was also the lone player to Top 8 both Vintage Champs (with Workshop Aggro) AND Legacy Champs (with RUG Delver) this weekend, which is incredibly impressive on its own.
Top 8 Playoff Bracket
Quarterfinals
1 Andy Markiton (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. 8 Eric Vargo (Workshop Ravager Aggro) – Markiton wins 2-0
2 Rich Shay (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. 7 Brian Durkin (Workshop Ravager Aggro) – Shay wins 2-1
3 Pat Fehling (Oath) vs. 6 Brian Kelly (Oath) – Fehling wins 2-1
4 Michael Kiesel (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. 5 Ibrahim Aldridge (Oath) – Kiesel wins 2-0
Semifinals
1 Andrew Markiton (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. Michael Kiesel (Workshop Ravager Aggro) – Markiton wins 2-0
2 Rich Shay (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. Patrick Fehling (Oath) – Shay wins 2-0
Finals
1 Andrew Markiton (Workshop Ravager Aggro) vs. 2 Rich Shay (Workshop Ravager Aggro) – Markiton (aka Montolio) wins 2-1!
Standings After Swiss (21 Points or Better)
| Place | Last Name | First Name | Deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Markiton | Andrew | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 2 | Shay | Rich | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 3 | Fehling | Patrick | Oath (Inferno) |
| 4 | Kiesel | Michael | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 5 | Aldridge | Ibrahim | Oath |
| 6 | Kelly | Brian | Oath (Inferno) |
| 7 | Durkin | Brian | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 8 | Vergo | Eric | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 9 | Holm | Michael | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
| 10 | Solymossy | Mike | Mentor UWR |
| 11 | DiJohn | Nicholas | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 12 | Teagan | Kyle | Landstill UW |
| 13 | Walsh | Steve | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
| 14 | Balakrishnan | Vasu | StoneBlade UWR |
| 15 | Martin | Russ | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 16 | Chen | Shawn | Blue Moon |
| 17 | Bhagat | Zohar | Delver URG |
| 18 | Pina | Mateo | Paradoxical Outcome 4C |
| 19 | Ortiz | Jose | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 20 | Eberhardt | Ryan | Mentor 4C |
| 21 | Karhade | Rugved | Landstill UW |
| 22 | Lodovico | Frank | BUG |
| 23 | Fleischmann-Rose | David | Oath (Paradoxical) |
| 24 | Grudzina | John | BUG w/Red |
| 25 | Sui | Xin | Mentor UWR |
| 26 | Rockenbach | Bryan | Mentor UWR |
| 27 | Barkon | Dan | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 28 | Gonzalez | Ruben | Grixis Control |
| 29 | Naidu | Akash | Grixis Control |
| 30 | Arce | Mark | Landstill UW |
| 31 | Murata | Tony | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 32 | Rolko | Charles | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 33 | Steiner | Casey | Delver UR (BUDGET) |
| 34 | Somers | Stu | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 35 | Perciavalle | Chris | Mono Red Moon Control |
| 36 | Kibner | Alex | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 37 | Cady | James | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 38 | Debrosky | Eric | Oath (Show and Tell) |
| 39 | Kaplan | David | Delver URW |
| 40 | Kadlec | Robert | Mentor UWR |
| 41 | Glackin | Ryan | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
| 42 | Maddux | Ryan | Delver URW |
| 43 | Lake | Marshall | Grixis Control |
| 44 | Besser | Jeremy | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
| 45 | Frank | Andrew | Mono Red Moon Control (BUDGET) |
| 46 | Hoq | Minhajul | Dredge (Pitch) |
| 47 | Cotter | Andrew | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 48 | Harvey | Stephen | Oath (Show and Tell) |
| 49 | Ho | Martin | JacoDrazi (BUDGET) |
| 50 | Yu | Jarvis | Paradoxical Outcome UBW |
| 51 | Walton | Christopher | Landstill UW (BUDGET) |
| 52 | Wu | Andy | Workshop Ravager Aggro |
| 53 | Ponce | Nate | Dredge (Pitch) |
| 54 | Tabler | Michael | Oath (Show and Tell) |
| 55 | Schroeder | Maximillian | Rector Omniscience |
| 56 | Davidoff | Eliot | BUG |
| 57 | Hurd | Andrew | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
| 58 | Mulch | Nathan | Dredge (Non-Pitch) |
Metagame Report
A special mention and huge thank you must be given to Matt Murray (aka chubbyrain) and Ryan Eberhardt (aka diophan), who both put in extremely long hours for the community each week and month, to help collect and analyze the data you often see in metagame reports here and elsewhere. The community is much enriched for their personal sacrifice, so please thank them when you see them in person. The original breakdown and corresponding discussion can be found on TheManaDrain here. Classification of these decks, especially as many are hybrid strategies, can always be tricky, and Matt has briefly described the process here. Here is the FULL SPREADSHEET, including Archetype/Subarchetypes, Rounds, Wins, etc. (Google Sheets), so you can drill down and further manipulate the information as you see fit.
| Archetype | Number of Decks | Percentage of Field |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Control | 77 | 18.03% |
| Shops | 72 | 16.86% |
| Eldrazi | 44 | 10.30% |
| Dredge | 43 | 10.07% |
| Oath | 41 | 9.60% |
| Paradoxical | 26 | 6.09% |
| Delver | 26 | 6.09% |
| Other | 25 | 5.85% |
| BUG Fish | 24 | 5.62% |
| Big Blue | 18 | 4.22% |
| Combo | 17 | 3.98% |
| Null Rod | 14 | 3.28% |
| Total | 427 |
| Win % | vs. Shops | vs. Eldrazi | vs. Dredge | vs. Fish | vs. Oath | vs. Paradoxical | vs. Xerox | vs. Combo | vs. Big Blue | vs. Blue Control | vs. Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shops | 50.00% | 78.05% | 54.35% | 68.42% | 44.07% | 53.13% | 57.89% | 62.50% | 44.44% | 58.33% | 66.67% |
| Eldrazi | 21.95% | 50.00% | 46.67% | 43.48% | 54.29% | 73.91% | 40.54% | 33.33% | 37.50% | 45.16% | 36.00% |
| Dredge | 45.65% | 53.33% | 50.00% | 40.00% | 45.45% | 52.17% | 51.28% | 53.85% | 66.67% | 48.65% | 39.13% |
| Fish | 31.58% | 56.52% | 60.00% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 42.86% | 38.10% | 46.67% | 36.36% | 48.28% | 75.00% |
| Oath | 55.93% | 45.71% | 54.55% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 55.56% | 59.09% | 50.00% | 78.57% | 45.45% | 47.06% |
| Paradoxical | 46.88% | 26.09% | 47.83% | 57.14% | 44.44% | 50.00% | 27.27% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 16.67% | 55.56% |
| Xerox | 42.11% | 59.46% | 48.72% | 61.90% | 40.91% | 72.73% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 64.71% | 50.00% | 75.00% |
| Combo | 37.50% | 66.67% | 46.15% | 53.33% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 50.00% | 25.00% | 26.67% | 87.50% |
| Big Blue | 55.56% | 62.50% | 33.33% | 63.64% | 21.43% | 50.00% | 35.29% | 75.00% | 50.00% | 66.67% | 28.57% |
| Blue Control | 41.67% | 54.84% | 51.35% | 51.72% | 54.55% | 83.33% | 50.00% | 73.33% | 33.33% | 50.00% | 64.71% |
| Other | 33.33% | 64.00% | 60.87% | 25.00% | 52.94% | 44.44% | 25.00% | 12.50% | 71.43% | 35.29% | 50.00% |
| Subarchetype | Number | % of Metagame |
|---|---|---|
| Ravager | 62 | 14.52% |
| Other Shops | 10 | 2.34% |
| White Eldrazi | 16 | 3.75% |
| Eldrazi Tribal | 28 | 6.56% |
| Dredge | 43 | 10.07% |
| BUG Fish | 25 | 5.85% |
| Merfolk | 9 | 2.11% |
| Oath | 38 | 8.90% |
| Paradoxical Oath | 3 | 0.70% |
| Paradoxical | 26 | 6.09% |
| Delver | 26 | 6.09% |
| Mentor | 33 | 7.73% |
| 2 Card Monte | 4 | 0.94% |
| Flash | 3 | 0.70% |
| Omni | 3 | 0.70% |
| DPS | 2 | 0.47% |
| Other Combo | 5 | 1.17% |
| Thieves | 7 | 1.64% |
| Painter | 4 | 0.94% |
| Other Big Blue | 5 | 1.17% |
| Grixis NW | 5 | 1.17% |
| Landstill | 19 | 4.45% |
| SFM | 4 | 0.94% |
| Blue Moon | 4 | 0.94% |
| Other Control | 13 | 3.04% |
| Hatebears | 6 | 1.41% |
| MonoRed | 14 | 3.28% |
| Lands | 2 | 0.47% |
| Other Other | 8 | 1.87% |
| Total | 427 | 100.00% |
ALL Decklists, Alphabetically by Last Name
This year we’ve done something slightly differently, and that is include ALL of the decklists from the event in one file that you can save and peruse on your own time. Rather than including a massive wall of text on this page, we’ve created a downloadable PDF file containing ALL of the scanned decklists from the event, in alphabetical order (by last name). The PDF file also contains clickable bookmarks (using Acrobat reader, click on the ribbon icon), which you can use to go directly to decks from player last names starting with A, B, C, and so forth. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE IN FULL (62 MB). Use the embed below to view directly without downloading.
NAVintageChamps17ALLDecklists
BUDGET Top 4 Decklists
1st (33rd Place) – Casey Steiner w/UR Delver
2nd (45th Place) – Andrew Frank w/Mono Red Moon Control
3rd (49th Place) – Martin Ho w/JacoDrazi
4th (51st Place) – Christopher Walton w/UW Landstill
Once again, we’ve created a downloadable PDF file containing these 4 scanned decklists from the event, in order listed above. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE IN FULL (2.5 MB). Use the embed below to view directly without downloading.
NAVintageChamps17UnpoweredTop4
Video Roundup
Until these hit YouTube later this week, please see Card Titan’s Twitch archive here: https://go.twitch.tv/cardtitan/videos/all. We’ll update this section with a YouTube embed of the Vintage Champs playlist once Card Titan has edited/archived it, and it’s ready to go.
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 2 Feature Match Andrew Probasco vs. Andrew Hurd
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 3 Feature Match Dave Brennan vs. Matt Buck
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 4 Feature Match Sean O’Brien vs. Mike Solymossy
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 5 Feature Match William Dalton vs. Rich Shay
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 6 Feature Match Ruben Gonzalez vs. Adam Saba
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 7 Feature Match Akash Naidu vs. Kevin Cron
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 8 Feature Match Paul Blakely vs. Stu Somers
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 9 Feature Match Brian Kelly vs. Akash Naidu
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Round 10 Feature Match Andy Markiton vs. Russ Martin
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Quarterfinals
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Semifinals
Vintage Championship 2017 NA Finals
Report Roundup
– Soly with Jeskai Tokens (10th place)
– Stuart Z with White Eldrazi
If you have a report you’d like to submit, or any other data, please email eternalcentral@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!