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Main » Articles » The Vital Lesson I Learned Coming in Second at Team Trios

The Vital Lesson I Learned Coming in Second at Team Trios

Michael Flores
Posted on March 25, 2025
 Reddit

Interlude 1: February 6 - "Step One"

Me: Hey do you want to do this?

DTao: In for the 23d

Okay, Step One is complete.

David Tao is one of my best friends. I joke that I moved to my current apartment in part because it's walking distance to the lair of the legendary TaoHaus meetups; you know, where Iron Man vs. The Hulk* took place.

David "retired" after moving on from BarBend.com but has somehow been busier than ever, reviewing rare spirits and producing for Hollywood and Broadway. "You really can just up and decide to do things," his long time partner told me. David is living proof.

Oh, and he's quietly become one of the best Vintage players on the planet.

When I say "Step one is complete" I mean stacking my squad.

Rounding us out is Andy Levine - Probably the best player you've never heard of. Andy was a JSS Champion decades ago but quietly shifted to playing Magic for fun... Drafts at the office and the occasional Cube or meetup on a Sunday afternoon. Only the Cubes are populated by RC winners and Qualified Pros (and, I guess, washed up has-been writers). I picked him for Top 8 at LobsterCon in my fantasy draft last year to the surprise of my voting peers. "Who's that?" (some hadn't heard of Andy yet, either). But... That's over now.

Back in early February Andy was just excited about being able to play Mox Opal in Modern, because it "un-banned" his favorite deck to play, Lantern Control. So, I was all like Andy can play Lantern and David will be the Vintage ringer and...

Oh me?

I guess that's Legacy.

Interlude 2: Happy Birthday to Me / "Why are we doing this?"

DTao: Happy Birthday!

Me: Thanks

DTao: Have you decided what you're playing in Legacy?

Me: Remember when you brought me to a Legacy tournament and I played the Mono-Red deck I hated that has Chalice and all the Blood Moons?

Six years ago DTao roped me into playing in a Legacy cash tournament, enticing me that there was "A Mono-Red Deck [I] Could play." I even wrote about it on this here site! But the title of the ensuing article was...

Don't Play This Deck

(If memory serves, David won the tournament.)

DTao: Oh God. WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

I mean my initial thought was that we were going to play for fun. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. Andy was going to get to play Lantern Control. David will take any opportunity to play Vintage.

DTao: Fun? Who are you and what did you do to Mike?

But paths diverged. Andy had by this point long ago abandoned his beloved Lantern Control for "good" decks. I tested all afternoon at SWB's - SWB has like all the Legacy decks - and I couldn't win a game. I started on Delver... That deck seemed like it played to my strengths... Buried under Grove of the Burnwillows in Lands. Lands is powerful. "You should definitely not be playing a Prison deck." -Andy. I tried a White Weenie deck with the most powerful 187s I could imagine and everything in between.

Consensus was that I should play Red StOmPy.

It's a high roll deck. I could lock my opponent out on the first or second turn, and hopefully win with The One Ring and Broadside Bombardiers before they could recover. Because the win was often in the opener, it was the deck best suited to covering up my lack of format knowledge.

And hey! Mono-Red, right?

Interlude 3: Round One

Me: Is that a Stock Up?

I could see the Stock Up in David's hand perfectly well. And, to be fair, I had seen his deck list. I knew he had Stock Up but with my not-exhaustive knowledge of Vintage, had no idea other people were Stocking Up.

Vintage Opponent: Yeah, it's Dig Through Time.

Me: I was just checking that, yes; it's an Aetherdrift Uncommon that is taking the Vintage world by storm.

My Round One ended quickly. My opponent played a first turn Island so I didn't know what to do. Did he just draw the one Island in Dimir or Izzet Delver? He couldn't know what deck I was on yet, could he? Chalice of the Void on one might not make any sense. Blowing my hand to get out an early Blood Moon was irrelevant against specifically Island. I made my land drop and passed, waiting on more information.

That information came in the form of a second turn Show and Tell.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Game 2 went the same way. This time it was a Lotus Petal that enabled Show and Tell, but the outcome was the same (only it was a 7/7 Draw 10 rather than a 15/15 Annihilator).

... So I had plenty of time to jabber with my opponents about Stock Up. And I learned.

Round One was our most exciting on the day. Andy won on turn five in turns exactly. His opponent's third Swan Song gave Andy 8 power (including his own Restless Anchorage). The opponent was on nine life!

Andy drew a Flooded Strand. He used this to get a Surveil land, check the top of his library, and Map for exactly nine damage. Thanks Swan Song Number Three! On turn five! And they say Blue-White is boring.

Me: Don't worry guys, I'll win when we need it.

Interlude 4: Gregory's Coffee, morning-of

Here's a picture of me hanging out with the IRL Gregory (but to be honest this was a completely different day):

Me: SWB mentioned that I might want Dead // Gone for the Reanimator matchup...

I couldn't win in testing, but at the very least, I watched a ton of Legacy videos. They weren't all about Mono-Red StOmPy, but I at least wanted to get a feel for the format and learn the casting costs of opposing decks so that I could competently cast Chalice of the Void.

One of the most telling matches I learned from was one where the Mono-Red player had gotten his lock elements but an opposing Delver player still had access to the one Island. The Mono-Red deck was "winning" but his clock was still just a bunch of 2/2s for three mana.

The Delver player eventually found Brazen borrower to bounce Blood Moon and created a single-turn window where he could resolve a large Murktide Regent.

Mr. Mono-Red was able to re-play Blood Moon, but that was shutting up the gates after all the cats (or in this case the one Regent) had already gotten out. He couldn't race a 6/6.

SWB had mentioned it; but my thinking after watching this match was that the deck needs catch-up elements. As a "high roll" deck, it can get ahead, essentially start WAY ahead... But if the opponent can do something to unlock the lock elements, Mono-Red could lose to a single powerful card.

Hence: Dead // Gone to at least get back to zero.

David determined I wanted a fourth Blast, but we accommodated two copies of Dead // Gone that weren't there before.

This is what I ended up with:

Mono-Red Stompy | Legacy | Michael Flores

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Interlude Five: Okay, We Need It

DTao: I lost.

I look over to my right. The Vintage match is over, and I'm still in Game 1. Andy is still in Game 1.

DTao, unsurprisingly, has been a rock all day. He lost exactly one match in the Swiss. Coincidentally, we finished the Swiss 4-1.

For his part, Andy hasn't lost a single match all day with what looks like a time traveler's Blue-White Control deck in Modern. Five casting cost Teferi? Narset? Do I still hate Modern? My teammate is 6-0 and I own basically all these cards?

Dr. Who over here is navigating a close one.

It's no problem, I think. I've got this.

I'm in the mirror. Meaning somebody is winning with Mono-Red StOmPy.

I have this game anyway.

I've had this game for three turns.

I have two Pyrogoyfs on the battlefield and a Pyrogoyf in my hand.

Pyrogoyf

My opponent is on five life. A single Pyrogoyf will kill him. I even have Reflection of Kiki-Jiki coming on line this turn. I've got this. It's not that I didn't win a single match on the day or anything; it's just that my teammates were so good I didn't win a single match that actually mattered.

The One Ring.

Rassin' frassin' The One Ring.

And another.

My opponent is playing a Mono-Red deck! I have three lethal Pyrogoyfs and Kiki-Jiki coming online. I mean I'm playing a low resource deck so I've been on four-mana sources the whole game and I'm down in The One Ring zero-two, but I've got this. Just give me my turn!

"The One Ring?"

Again? Two-outer. I'll still win. I don't even have to attack! Just give me the turn cycle so I can tap my Reflection.

"What are you on?"

Oh no.

I start counting all his mana.

All that The One Ring action has put him way ahead. He has so much mana. Multiple Chrome Moxes. He's removing Simian Spirit Guides from hand now.

"Eighteen?" I respond sheepishly.

Eighteen, am I right?

Bombardiers chucks The One Ring at me. That wasn't zero-two; it's zero-three now. Twelve? Pyrogoyf. And... Pyrogoyf. Annoyingly he had removed a Pyrogoyfs under his Chrome Mox back on Turn One. Two outer; I-don't-even-know-how-many-outer.

I haven't got this it turns out.

Our tournament ends anticlimactically.

I mulligan to six, and play a Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki with a City of Traitors and a Simian Spirit Guide. My opponent, on the same wavelength, kills my 2/2 Mike Flores token with a sideboarded Dead // Gone, depriving me of the Treasures (read: Red mana) I was planning to use to operate.

I discard two, digging for lands.

Several turns later, I die with just the City of Traitors still in play.

Did I mention this was the Finals?

Interlude Six: Lead Producer

"Good result," Lan D. Ho tells me.

Not that I did much to get us there. I walk away with a Judge Foil Wooded Foothills.

"What would we have gotten if I had won?"

"You would have gotten a marginally more valuable Judge Foil Polluted Delta," Andy jokes me. I mean a Judge Foil Polluted Delta is 50% more valuable than a Judge Foil Wooded Foothills. "But that's also one less card for your meme decks." (I'm famous for "ugly" gr Premodern decks).

When the tournament organizers asked us what we planned to do with our foils, we initially joked we were going to increase the value of all other Judge Foils by tearing them up. But we didn't. I didn't, at least. Can't speak for David and undefeated Andy.

"Not that I did much to get us there."

"You put the team together!" David claps me on the back.

"You're right! I'm the smartest guy in the room! I'm the Executive Producer!"

"No no," says David. "Speaking as an Executive Producer, the Executive Producer doesn't do any work. You're the Lead Producer."

I'm the smartest guy in the room. I'm the Lead Producer!

Interlude Final: The Vital Lesson I Learned Coming in Second at Team Trios

You were probably expecting some kind of cheeseball thing about playing with your friends, or some obvious thing like picking excellent teammates.

" Fun? Who are you and what did you do to Mike?"

-David Tao

No. I obviously learned that Stock Up is even better than we thought; and you should be jamming as many in your Standard decks as you can if it's good enough to be dominating Vintage.

David played all four:

Oath of Druids | Vintage | David Tao

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LOVE

MIKE

*In the canon of people who have only written one Magic article, my podcast co-host Lanny Huang is the greatest, and Iron Man vs. The Hulk is one of the best Magic articles written in the last few years, without disclaimer.

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TAGS articles, constructed, tournament reports, analysis, vintage, legacy, tournament report, modern, decklist, michael flores, 03252025, stock up

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