In Stephen Menendian's recent article on the Vintage Metagame, he mentioned in passing a new archetype which had recently emerged: 7/10. Being the astute Vintage reader and player you are, you surely are wondering: what the hell is 7/10 and who plays it? 7/10 is short for 7/10 Split, a deck created by Team Short Bus (TSB for short), and debuted at the East Coast Vintage Championships by a handful of the team members. Shortly after the ECVC was announced on StarCityGames.com, the team set about dissecting the metagame in an effort to determine what the best decks were, what they are vulnerable to, and how they could be improved upon. During this play testing process, a minimum of a dozen decks were examined, tested, tuned, played against the gauntlet of expected decks. Marc Perez and Jordan Chavez focused intently on the Mean Deck Slaver build championed by Menendian in his articles. They concluded the deck is a house... but could be improved upon. The result of their work and further tuning? The beginnings of the 7/10 Split.

The name of the deck itself comes from the power and toughness of the trademark creature in the deck: Sundering Titan. A true Timmy card if there ever was one, the Titan takes the place of Mindslaver in the Meandeck build. In testing, we found that too often the Slaver was only a ten-mana Time Walk against many decks. While Time Walk is amazing at two mana and still good at four, it is less stellar at ten. Instead, why not invest two fewer mana for a 7/10 fatty that will also cook the opponents land on its way into play and again on its way out. Killing three land at a time is not an uncommon occurrence. The majority of the deck is the same in respect to the draw engine and the mana engine. The only other major tweak is the absence of Force of Will. A questionable call to be sure, in testing we found additional business cards to be preferable to the disruption provided by FoW.

"Yo, B*tch! Come show Charlie Murphy yo t*ts!" (In other words, the decklist)
7/10 Split
Creatures
4 Goblin Welders
3 Sundering Titan
2 Triskelion
1 Memnarch
1 Duplicant

Drawing
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Memory Jar

Utility
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Shattering Pulse

Generic Good stuff
4 Chalice of the Void

Mana
4 Gilded Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
4 Workshops
4 Shivan Reef
2 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Brass
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Glimmervoid

Sideboard
4 Trinisphere
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Viashino Heretic
1 Duplicant

As you may have noticed, the deck does not contain a Time Walk. Why a Shattering Pulse and not a Walk? Given that the tournament was allowing five proxies, we felt the deck needed a way to deal with Null Rod in game 1. With five proxies, decks such as Gay/r (which sports Null Rod), and Landstill (which features Nevinyrral's Disk) would be more rampant, since they are easier to build. We also felt Food Chain Goblins might be heavily played, so we included Chalices in the main to help combat that and random combo decks. The Blue Elemental Blasts would also help against opposing Welders and Rack and Ruin. Heretic was another way to combat the Slaver decks we expected.

"F**k yo Couch!" (The round by round results)
Round 1: Jeff with Vengeur Masque
Lucky for me that I get to play against the deck I piloted to a second place finish in the World Championships in the first round.

Game 1: Jeff wins the roll and gets an early Survival of the Fittest online. He stunts his development by forgetting to pick up Squee on his upkeep a couple of times. This is crucial, since Survival/Squee is your draw engine. Eventually he gets an Illusionary Mask into play and a Phyrexian Dreadnought underneath it. While he is doing this, my attempt at a first turn Goblin Welder is countered with a Force of Will (removing a Force from the game). His first swing with a Dreadnought puts me at five (I had suffered three points of self inflicted damage already via Cities and Tombs). Then Memnarch makes an appearance and is able to steal a Nought to block the other attacking Nought. The following turn, I am able to get a Titan into play to nuke all three of his lands. We proceed to game 2.

Game 2: This game is an excellent example of why Mishra's Workshop should be considered for restriction. Jeff plays a land and his game is more or less over. I am able play a Workshop, a Mox, and play a Chalice of the Void for two counters. The game is effectively over at this point, as he cannot play Illusionary Masks or Survivals at this point. Eventually I get a Memnarch and a Viashino Heretic out so I can steal or blow up all of his permanents.

Record: 1-0 matches, 2-0 games

Round 2: Patrick with Two-Land Belcher
This is a deck I had not tested against, but felt that the main deck Chalices should help and I could bring in Trinispheres, Heretics, and Rack and Ruins to help out in the second and third games.

Game 1: Patrick wins the roll and goes broken on turn 1: he plays a Land Grant fetching a Bayou, then uses it to cast Dark Ritual and a Necropotence. He forgets to set cards aside from Necro for him to draw. I do nothing of consequence on my turn. Patrick proceeds to draw a card at his (non-existent) draw step and gets a game loss.

Game 2: Patrick decides he might as well go broken again and ends his turn with a land in play, a Welder and Goblin Charbelcher on the table, and a Lion's Eye Diamond in the graveyard. While he has no cards in hand, he wins if he top decks an artifact, since he can just weld his Diamond back into play and gets a Belcher activation. Patrick's plan never comes to fruition however, as my deck goes broken as well: I play a Workshop, Mana Crypt, a Gilded Lotus, and a Trinisphere. Patrick draws a Chromatic Sphere for his turn, but can't play it due to the Trinisphere. On my turn, I play a Sundering Titan, and he concedes.

Unfortunately Game 2 was the only case of poor judging I encountered the entire day. Patrick announced his playing of a Goblin Charbelcher. He tapped his land and then sacrificed his LED to pay for the Belcher. The judge ruled this was possible, since he had already announced the spell and it was no longer in his hand. I did not argue the point, since I knew his deck did not run FoW and I had Workshop and Trinisphere in my hand. In retrospect, I should have appealed to a more knowledgeable judge, regardless.

2-0 Matches, 4-0 Games

Round 3: Rocky with Suicide Black
Another deck I had not tested against, since its considered not viable in the general metagame.

Game 1: Rocky wins the roll, plays a Swamp, and says go. I play Brainstorm, a variety of artifact mana, a Workshop, and top it off with a Triskelion. Rocky Wastes my Workshop and says go. I apply four to the face, lay the Workshop I hid on top of my deck with the Brainstorm, and cast another Triskelion. A Nantuko Shade makes an appearance, but gets gunned down quickly. I win on turn 4.

Game 2: Rocky plays a Swamp and says go again. I play a Workshop and a Trinisphere. Rocky wastes my Workshop (again!) and says go. I play my other Workshop and play a Chalice for two. Rocky draws and passes the turn, while I play a Titan to kill his only land on my turn. A concession quickly follows.

3-0 Matches, 6-0 Games

Round 4: Abraham with Rectal Agony
Game 1: Abraham plays an early Cabal Therapy naming Goblin Welder, but whiffs. I proceed to do nothing for a long time, but play a variety of mana sources. Abraham is land screwed and does not draw into anything to take advantage of my plight. Eventually I drop a Chalice for zero to further complicate his mana issues. In retrospect, it should have been for one to combat his Therapies and Brainstorms. Eventually, I draw into a Titan and I am able to swing twice for the win.

Game 2: My opponent starts the game off with a Duress, snagging what would have been a first turn Trinisphere. On my turn, I go for a first turn Gilded Lotus but Abraham is able to Force it (removing a Force). I follow up with a Goblin Welder and I am able to get a Titan in the dirt via Thirst for Knowledge. Titan recursion ensues while I drop a second Welder, a Chalice on zero, a Chalice on one, and multiple Trinispheres. Unfortunately, I have inflicted seventeen points of Tomb/City damage to myself and rest at one, after the Rector he snuck through hit me twice. I have two Titans in play but sit tight, since I am leery of the possibility he could be running a Form of a Dragon. Why worry about this you ask? At GenCon last year, an opponent of mine used Form as a back up win condition in his Rector Trix deck to combat the expected REBs out of the board.

Determined not to lose a game I had in the bag, I opted to sit back and play out the game to the time limit, since I had won game 1 and my tie breaks were excellent to this point. Being a bad player, I eventually swing out of boredom and it turns out he does not run Form. After the game he asks why I sat back and I explain to him my thought process on it.

4-0 Matches, 8-0 Games.

Round 5: Josh with Hulk
These games are rather short and sweet, since he did not have a Force of Will on turn 1.

Game 1: I play a first turn Gilded Lotus and use it to play a Titan on turn 2 to nuke two lands.

Game 2: I am able to play a Chalice for two on turn 2 and I follow it up by playing a Titan on turn 4 to kill three lands.

Mana Denial is huge in the Hulk matchup, since the deck is so consistent and fast with its drawing. The addition of Mana Crypt to allow turn 1 Intuition for Accumulated Knowledge has been a great innovation for Hulk. Stunting this development with a Titan is a huge benefit.

5-0 Matches, 10-0 Games.

After the fifth round, I am sitting by myself with fifteen points, the next closest competition at 13 points. Unfortunately there have been several unintentional draws along the way at the top tables, which may prevent me from drawing in.

Round 6: John with Hulk
I offer the draw but John is correct in saying that an ID this round puts him in a win or go home scenario for round 7. Before we commence game one, he asks if I would be willing to offer the draw again if I win game 1. I say I will since I know he is playing Hulk and I want to see as many Hulk decks in the top 8 as possible. I consider it a very favorable matchup.

Game 1: I win the roll and try to bleed out a counter with a first turn Welder via my Mox Ruby. He forces the Welder. John Ancestrals on his turn and appears displeased with his draws. I decide to try to bleed out another counter by leading with a Trike. It resolves. I follow this up with a Tinker for a Sundering Titan. Lands are nuked and I offer the ID again. He accepts.

5-0-1, 10-0 Games

Round 7 Joe Bushman with Hulk (sorry if I misspelled your name)
We ID.

5-0-2, 10-0

So I emerge from the Swiss rounds without a game loss, feeling pretty confident (perhaps over confident), with my chances at one of the two Loti in the finals. My teammate Marc Perez is in the Top 8 also, having climbed his way up from a 0-1-1 start to win out with his trademark deck, Gay/r.

Quarterfinals: Wolf with Gay/r
This is the one deck I did not want to face in the top 8. Gay/r features Null Rods, Wastelands, and a cheap way to get rid of my Welders in Grim Lavamancer. Its generally a less than favorable matchup.

Game 1: Wolf is able get an early Rootwater Thief down and is able to swing a couple of times, removing two Sundering Titans from the game, while I am still developing my mana. Luckily for me, I Tinker for the third Titan on my next turn, and it goes the distance.

Game 2: The length of the tournament takes its toll, as I make a couple of horrible play decisions. When playing against a quality opponent and a quality deck, you simply can not afford to make those kind of mistakes. The crucial mistake is late in the game. Wolf has a Tormod's Crypt on the table. I resolve a Thirst for Knowledge, and for some unknown reason I opt to discard two draw spells instead of my useless Welders. I lose quickly because my topdecks were not kind... topdecks which I would have accelerated past, if I had not tossed my Wheel of Fortune and Fact or Fiction.

Game 3: I have to mulligan for my first time of the day. I decide to go balls out and play Mox, Sol Ring, Land, and try for a Wheel of Fortune. He Forces. And then Wastes my land. I frown. I draw a Mox Sapphire, which allows me to play the Thirst I have in my hand. The Thirst lets me draw into my Tolarian Academy and comic book silliness ensues as a river of Titans, Duplicants, and a Memnarch come flowing forth to ice the game. Academy is truly flat out dumb.

Semifinals: Glen with Tog
The difference between Hulk and Tog you ask? Wastelands, my friend, Wastelands. And Wasteland's friend Pernicious Deed.

Game 1: Glen Ancestrals on turn 1, drains a Chalice for two on turn 2, but I am able to drop a Chalice for two on turn 3. But his deck has said"F**k yo Chalice!" as he already has a Tog in play and is able to use a Yawgmoth's Will to replay his Lotus to fuel a Pernicious Deed that wipes out my Chalice and artifact mana. He cements things with a Wasteland on my Workshop.

Game 2: I mulligan to six and keep a one-land hand, which will be a wrecking ball if I am able to get a Workshop in the next couple of turns. It has a source of Red mana, a REB, and some artifact goodness. I REB his first turn Ancestral, but do not draw land. He makes it quick and painless for me.

Consolation match: Luke with Dragon
Game 1: I am pleased with my first-turn Welder. He is pleased with winning within the first few turns. I let him go off for a while to make sure he knows what he is doing, and to see if he makes any mistakes which will allow me to get a cheap draw. He's a good player and does not screw up.

Game 2: I could go for a first turn Titan, but I decide to hold off so I can try to stunt his mana and play it on turn 2 instead. I ended up being one attack phase away from being able to kill him before he goes off again. Unfortunately, I did not draw a single Chalice in either game. Chalices are key versus Dragon, since a Chalice on two forces them to use Necromancy to win. Such is life!

So I end up winning a nice near-mint Juzam Djinn for fourth place, which will pay for my part of my hotel expenses at GenCon this year, and Marc ends up winning the Lotus and trophy. Truly a good debut tournament for Team Short Bus, and a nice initial showing for 7/10 Split. As with any new deck, further testing and development on 7/10 is continuing in anticipation of the Vintage tournament to be held at the Central Coast Championships in June. Hopefully you can expect another tournament report and further deck analysis at that point, as Team Short Bus tries to bring home another Lotus.

What is a tournament report with out the props and slops everyone expects?

Props:
My girlfriend and the girlfriends/wives of Team Short Bus for dealing with our play testing and traveling.

My lucky boxers, which have carried me to Second place at GenCon, Top 4 at Virginia States, and 4^th place at the ECVC. [Didn't need to know that. - Knut]

Marc Perez winning the whole thing and for providing accommodations for the weekend.

Josh Reynolds, David Allen, and Jay Coffman for being the original members of the Short Bus and for being invaluable play testing partners.

Frank Miller and Richmond Comix for helping to cultivate the Richmond Vintage Community.

Kevin Cron and Joe Buschman for making the hike from Ohio to play in the ECVC.

Slops:
The pairings, which completely whored out several Bus members...hmm out of 82 people, lets pair Josh Reynolds up with the mirror match in round 1 (only four other people in field running the deck) and then pair him up with Marc Perez in round 2.

Me for nearly tossing the Quarterfinals away.

The DCI for not restricting Mishra's Workshop already. The early game swing of it is very distorting. Its fate will mostly be decided with the goodies that Fifth Dawn brings us, but it warrants consideration due to the early game swings it creates.

As always, a special thanks to Pete and Star City Games for supporting the Vintage community and fostering its growth. Without sites such as Star City Games and The Mana Drain, the Vintage community would still be in the dark ages, and have an even less coherent metagame.

Shane Stoots
Team Short Bus
Triple_S on TMD and IRC
vintagefunker@yahoo.com