>Will this method work on the new version 2.1.0 software?
The stock version doesn't matter, since you'll be booting to a bootable SD card and overwriting stock with CM (after backing up of course).
>What do I have to do differently here to go from stock to verygreen's latest more "official" build?
The guide uses the '####' filename designation to mean whatever is the latest CM ROM version from verygreen's development thread. Put differently, the "install from stock" process is the same for any build. I'll add a section for "update" installs for newer ROM versions.
I used leapinlar's CWM boot image because it is a 4GB image and allows more space (for backup) than verygreen's 1GB boot image. I used verygreen's CWM installable package.
I initially used TWRP (from verygreen's thread) over CWM, as TWRP is more navigation friendly, being touch-based, and allows more options. Unfortunately, my test backup/restore routine failed. The backup finished and checked out with MD5 verify, but the restore crashed and corrupted the SD card which has the saved files. This happened twice in a row, and the failure was at the same place (when restoring /boot partition).
The guide relies on the KISS principle, which means simple and foolproof. There may be faster ways to image a file onto media, but any additional software or step introduced is another potential point of failure or confusion. With KISS, you don't give newbies options, as that forces them to make decisions and increases complexity. The guide is responsible for picking the best option for them. "Best" here means most tried-and-true, aka foolproof.