Regarding Lawyers ... I'm about to graduate from lawschool this may, hence why I'm moving to NYC! 

I guess I'll fit right in.

1st - sorry if this is the wrong forum - I'm new.

On to it then ...

As a player contemplating a return to magic, and one who would only play Vintage (or type 1 as I remember it), I'm curious what the vintage tournament scene is like. Specifically, what caliber of players do you guys generally meet, what ages generally play vintage (I admittedly would rather not spend most of my time gaming with 14 yr olds, and assume most of the members here are much older), where are the best cities to play magic, and are there enough serious type 1 events to keep a guy playing competitively all year?

I'm about to move back to NYC this fall. I hope there is a decent place for serious gamers to play there, although I'm only familiar with a couple Warhammer shops. Judging from this board, it seems like Boston is "The Place" for Type 1 magic tourneys.

Any input or general comments anybody would like to add are most welcome. I'm sure I left out a number of smaller issues, but you get the idea from the vagueness of my post.

Thanks all!

Hey all,

Minor post - a friend suggested I look at a list called "the deck." Anyone remember this one? Could you link me to an article on it? Is it still viable?

Cheers

Thanks to both of you. I'll look over these cards and modify the list.

Hello All!

I'll do my best to be brief and succinct.

I've been out of magic for some years, but played from Ice Age to roughly stronghold(?). While I mostly remember the deck I was running when I got out, I know it needs help, and would really appreciate some advice. No need to be polite - tear it apart please. You should be able to tell when I stopped playing by the last expansion represented in my deck. I also realize the numbers are off a bit (~63 cards); its because I cant remember exactly how many of which cards I used in the main deck.

LAND
4x Volcanic Island
4x Island
2x Mountain
2x Mishra's Factory
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Tolarian academy
1x Strip mine
1x Wasteland

CREATURES
4x Serendib Efreet

ARTIFACTS
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
1x Mana Crypt
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mox Diamond 

BLUE SPELLS   
3x Arcane denial
3x Force of Will
4x Counter spell
2x Mana Drain
2x Stroke of Genius
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Boomerang
1x Time walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timetwister
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Frantic Search
1x Brainstorm

RED SPELLS   
4x Lightening Bolt
2x Incinerate
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Fireball
1x Wheel of fortune
1x Fork
? Gorilla Shaman
 
Deck Explanation -- This deck is obviously not set up around some main combo. It seems a lot of decks now are though. Is that a huge problem? I originally put this deck together because I wanted to see if a non-combo type deck could hold up in Type I. All the cards were selected because while they all operate nicely together, the deck is not crippled if any one card type is countered. There are a number of ways to kill, ranging from direct damage, to creature damage, to deck depletion. Also, many of the cards are useful either against the opponent, or on myself (e.g., arcane denial was nice because I could counter a spell with only 1 blue, rather than 2 blue - OR - I could counter my own spells, like a bolt, to draw a bunch of cards myself). I also felt like boomerang was a helpful card to bounce either my opponent's, or my own, permanents - especially if for some reason one got past a counterspell. The Bolts and Incinerates were there mainly for creature control, and the odd ping to the player. I played serendib because he survived bolts and flew, and could drop 1st turn.

Most of the time, the deck won through a large X spell - either my opponent was forced to draw his entire deck, or burned up in a massive fireball. Less often, but sometimes, another permission type deck would try to limit my draw spells, and end up dead to serendib attacks paired with Mishra's Factories.

Again, its been a while, so I'd appreciate anything from detailed advice (I can look up card text if necessary) to general impressions (e.g., this sucks goblin / is decent / Red-blue permission burn died years ago...)

Hopefully with your advice I'll be a worthy opponent soon.

THANKS TO ALL!