Phd Qualifier Prepared Me to Top 8 NYSE Vintage Prep Event

What do you do immediately after passing your PhD qualifying exam in theoretical physics? You grind Vintage to win a satellite tournament for the coolest Vintage event of the year, NYSE 2026, run by Nick Detwiler.

Please play in this event if you can, because it is the last one ever, and it will be awesome!

Flow State by Genel Jumalon

There has been discussion of Flow State's viability in Vintage since its release in Secrets of Strixhaven. Because I couldn't playtest it, I relied on the resources around me.

The NYC Legacy-to-Vintage pipeline is strong. Many Legacy friends are experts in Vintage, including:

Eric, aka Artisan, who Top 8'd two Eternal Weekends in 2025 in two formats in two different countries.
Dom, who was the only player to make Top 8 with Psychic Frog at the 2024 North America Eternal Weekend.
Specifically, Adri, aka Morssa, aka ValueBeforeVictory (along with Matt, aka DFA), has been absolutely destroying MTGO Vintage challenges and leagues.
Bill, Arjun, and many others who I didn’t name.

They gave a list, and I trusted them.

Psychic Frog by Pete Venters

Psychic Frog is the Vintage niche I feel most comfortable in. Last year, I was 2% on breakers away from getting a Trinisphere promo, so I decided to bring Grixis Lurrus Breach. Specifically, a variation on the list, Morassa came in second in the challenge the previous night.

2026 NYSE Vintage Warm-Up

Before I get into the rounds, I want to thank a good friend, David Kaplan, for organizing the event all by himself, collecting decklists and entries, running individual rounds, the list goes on.

Dave is a pillar of the Vintage community in NYC and around the world. We are all lucky to have him.

Sphere of Resistance by Doug Chaffee

Round One: Sphere Shops (W, 2-0)

This archetype typically gives my typical Lurrus of the Dream-Den Psychic Frog deck issues due to its fast mana into early lock pieces and efficient creatures.

In this case, the combo of Underworld Breach, Brainfreeze, and Black Lotus) allows you to often disregard the creatures and selectively interact. This is great, and exactly what happened.

Up the Beanstalk by Lucas Graciano

Round Two: Bant Up the Beanstalk (W, 2-1)

There is a common idea thrown around often in Vintage:

“You can make a lot of conventionally bad cards look good by surrounding them with good cards like Power 9.”

Up the Beanstalk, though banned in multiple formats and still a pillar of Legacy, does not see consistent play in Vintage because card advantage like Stock Up and ANCESTRAL RECALL are legal.

Game on, on the draw, I kept an interaction-light hand. My opponent cast turn-two Hullbreacher plus Time Twister with Force of Will back up. Safe to say I lost that game. I did, however, see Savannah and, of course, no Lurrus of the Dream-Den, which suggested something was afoot.

Hullbreacher by Sidharth Chaturvedi

Game two, on the play, Up the Beanstalk appeared, but it was too late against my couple of Flow States and Stock Ups.

Game three, on the draw, was incredibly complex. I would be lying if I said that I remembered most of it due to the fact that once time is called, the board state was four Up the Beanstalks on my opponent's board to my seven cards in deck, Thassa’s Oracle in hand, and a pair of Psychic Frogs in play with three +1/+1 counters distributed. Life totals were Gabe: 17, opponent: six.

My opponent cast Treasure Cruise and Gush, drawing 13 cards. None of which were what he needed, so he cast Time Twister, resetting my library.

Time Twister by Mark Tedin

I then realized that he was relying on me casting spells into his Force of Wills, which would draw four cards. He needed to find Swords to Plowshares.

Instead of looking for protection with Stock Ups, I discarded cards to Psychic Frog and attacked for the win.

Round Three: Esper Tinker (L, 0-2)

This match was relatively unexciting compared to the previous one. Both my keeps were sketchy and led to my loss. What can you do? Sometimes the Magic gods are also still thinking about the previous match.

Round Four: Sphere Shops (W, 2-0)

This opponent has bumped me twice before in Vintage tournaments. Once in the Top 4 of the Hex Vintage Open, the other for a win-and-in at the ELD Quarterly in Boston.

I rode the variance wave the opposite way. My opponent had five-plus mana on turn one in both games, but their action was never relevant enough to stop me from taking over.

Round Five: Intentional Draw with Friend

Clean cut into Top 8 at record of 3-1-1

Top 8

The Top 8 was open decklist, so I knew what my opponent was playing and could mentally prepare for the fact that I was most likely going to lose to four Void Mirrors and four Clarion Conquerors.

Quarterfinals: Monowhite Initiative (0-2)

This deck has fallen out of favor due to meta considerations, but my intuition in the matchup was slightly misguided due to my reps on Lurrus Control. One mistimed Force of Will and I lost the game and, subsequently, the match.

This tournament was great, and the people were amazing to hang out with during the event and afterward.

Thanks to Eternal Durdles for letting me ramble about a niche format that I love.