Thank You.

During this event from what I recall, R1 against a Workshop deck in 2 games I did not mulligan. In R2 against Kuldotha MUD deck in 3 games I only mulligan for 6 once. In the Quarterfinals in 3 games I mulligan twice - mull to 5 i think in game 1 and mull to 6 in game 3.

Yes I still use Null Rods in my main deck as an answer to combo's and for artifact mana.

I use Keldon Vandals for the first time in this deck just because of it's power (4/1). I don't necessarily recommend them since it's echo cost hurt's sometimes when you want to keep him but you needed the mana as well. I think I may switch back to Manic Vandal or try Torch Fiend if I'd play again. I usually keep him in my hand unless I needed to destroy an immediate threat/hindrance. I can't tell which is better since I only used Viashino Heretic once in this deck before. There are scenario that one is better than the other, vise versa.

I played it's morph cost most of the time. Maybe 5th turn the least. Though during some of my games I kinda wish it was a Figure of Destiny since most Control decks have Lightning bolts main now.

In this tournament I side him in just to remove the dead cards like the Pyroblast & REB against the Workshop deck. Then I side him in also against the Control decks, it help me win against the Baleful Strix control deck.

Yes I rely on draws. Maybe i'll try to add some drawers next time - I'm not sure which one is good though - what do you recommend to try?

R1 VS a Workshop Deck they called Terra Nova
G1: I played first then casted Magus of the Moon in my first turn. But it was a long game since he has Phyrexian revoker as a blocker then Dismembered my Magus but I eventually win when I drew my bolts and dead/gone and Keldon Vandals.
G2. Turn 2 Magus of the Moon. Then he has no threats on board except for Chalice for 1 and 3 sphere's. I was mana flooded so there was no effect of it to me. He eventually killed my Magus with his Dismember then start attacking me with his man lands. I luckily drew Magus again and he conceded.
2-0

R2 VS Kuldotha MUD
G1: Turn 1 Magus of the Moon. It was a long game as well until he destroyed my Grafdigger's Cage by copying my Keldon Vandals with his Metamorph then search for a Steel Hellkite. I never got my Null rod's in this game, I lost.
G2: First turn Magus and then second turn Null Rod. Magus and then Gathan Raiders went all the way.
G3: I had Magus, Keldon Vandals and then Shattering Spree all his threat.
2-1   

R3 VS Grixis Control
G1: Controlled by Jace.
G2: Controlled by Jace.
0-2

R4 VS Baleful Strix Control
G1: His Bob killed him.
G2: My blast, Cunning, Bolts and Dead/Gone came when I needed them.
2-0

R5 ID VS Landstill

Quarterfinals VS Oath
Went 3 games in his favor. We were in a feature match but the video is not yet uploaded.
G1: My mistake here was in my opening I have Mountain, Ancient Tomb, 2 Grafdigger's Cage etc. I decided to play my Mountain then cast Grafdigger turn 1 instead of Ancient Tomb then cast the 2 Grafdigger's Cage. He cast AR in response to my Grafdigger's cage then countered it with mental misstep. On his upkeep he cast Vampiric tutor then find a Tinker (he showed the card). He then tinker'ed for Blightsteel Colossus in his second turn which went all the way.
G2: He mulled to 4. I cast a turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage.
G3: I was able to land a Grafdigger's Cage but he eventually destroyed it. Oath'ed for Emrakul which I don't have an answer.
1-2

Played vintage again last Dec 16 to join our local vintage year-end tournament. I really had no plan joining since I hadn't played vintage for a looong time. The format is almost dead here in Manila with only 8 to 16 players at most playing even if it's a proxy event. Anyway, I ended 3-1-1 with only 24 players joining. Here's the link of the meta breakdown: ( http://mtgmanila.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/manila-vintage-december-2012-results/ )

I played this list:

12 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Magus of the Moon
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Keldon Vandals
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Gathan Raiders
3 Null Rod
2 Blood Moon
3 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Dead/Gone
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

Sb:
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Shattering Spree
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast

@vaughnbros Thanks. I haven't tried the Spellshock before. But I'll stick with Pyrostatic Pillar for now being at 2cc which will have more chances of me casting it at 1st or second turn. The casting cost will really matter to fight the speed of combo decks. Though COTV is more appropriate with regard to fighting the speed of combo, however, with just one Hurkyls Recall - Null rods, Thorn and COTV - will bounce right back at me. I just don't want another combo hate card that can be answered all at once by a single spell. If I have a Null Rod/Thorn of Amethyst and a Pyrostatic Pillar in play the combo player will have to worry them both looking for separate spells to destroy/bounce them. And with regard to the beater I think I'll have to go back to Gathan Raiders. Gathan Raiders can work with Pyrostatic Pillar. The nice thing with FoD is I can easily cast them even with a Tangle Wire in play or it's another permanent that I can choose to tap if I need my mana's. Low cc spells really matter to this deck to fight the speed of other decks and to fight sphere effects of Workshop decks.

@Troy_Costisick: Thanks. Will last Sunday as far as I can remember this was our meta - 3 Shops (1 Champ, 1 Top3), 2 Dredge, 2 Oath (1 Top5), 3 Dark Times (1 Top8), 1 UR Landstill (Top6), 2 Cobra Gush Doomsday (1 Top2), 1 GW Hate, 1 Mono Red (Me Top7), 1 Turbo Tezz and the rest were Snapcaster Jace, TMS Time Vault control decks (1 made Top4).

@Legolas: No worries about your questions but I'm not an expert, just continouesly experimenting with this deck. I actually can't choose/think of a good beater in Red for this deck. I tried Gathan Raiders before but mostly he's only a 3/3. With FoD there are times that I don't have anything to cast so my mana goes to his abilities though max is 4/4. Sorry if I can't explain much why I use FoD here. If I'd splash green definitely Tarmogoyf will replace him.

Pyrostatic Pillar is not that bad. It can hurt a lot to a blue control decks aside from combos. I'm thinking of putting in 1-2 KOTH so that I can still have a beater without hurting me with my own pillar like what happened with my match against Doomsday Maniac game 2.

Goblin Bombardment is for Oath. My only problem with the Gargadons is the Oath player will just continuesly gives you tokens then counters it once out of suspension or eventually the Oath player can still oath'ed later on after Gargadon arrives.

I choose Dead/Gone over Stingscourger because "Dead" can still kill small creatures - Bob, Snapcaster or Metalworker. It actually help me alot when I face the GW hate deck. Most of his creatures toughness is 2 or 1 - Noble Heirarch, Mindcensor, Pridemage, Leonin Arbiter and so on.

The slot for Manic Vandal was actually Phyrexian Metamorph originally but I wasn't able to bring my proxy (I don't have one yet). I'll replace the Manic Vandal in the next tourney.

Just last 11/20/2011 I joined a Vintage proxy tournament, 28 players joined. I landed 7th place with this list - could have reach through the finals if I did not make a stupid mistake in the Quarterfinals.

HateRed

1 Black Lotus (proxy)
1 Mox Ruby (proxy)
9 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors

4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Goblin Welder
3 Manic Vandal
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Magus of the Moon

4 Null Rod
2 Blood Moon
3 Pyrostatic Pillar

3 Red Elemental Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Dead/Gone
2 Smash to Smithereens

Sb:
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Pyroblast
3 Goblin Bombardment
2 Shattering Spree

Round 1: Vs Workshop deck with Smokestack
G1: First turn Magus of the Moon sealed the game.
G2: Crucible Strip with Tangle Wire and Smokestacks lock.
G3: Controlled him with my first turn Goblin Welder.
1-0

Round 2: Vs Doomsday Maniac
G1: Played turn one Null Rod which delayed his combo. Then won via 2 Figure of Destiny 2/2 and 4/4.
G2: I have 2 Thorn of Amethyst and 2 Pyrostatic Pillar in play. However my lands were mostly Ancient Tombs which cost much life of me plus the 2 Pyrostatic Pillar. I was down to 4 and him down to 8 when he played the lone Laboratory Maniac after 2 attacks gg.
G3: Played turn one Thorn of Amethyst. At some point I REB his Tinker; played Magus of the Moon and Figure of Destiny which went all the way.
2-0

Round 3: Vs GW Hate
G1: First turn Noble Heirarch on his end save him from mana screw. I lost via his 3 Elvish Spirit Guide and Leonin Arbiter.
G2: Second turn Magus of the Moon screw his mana and Magus went all the way.
G3: His first turn was Mox Emerald, Mox Pearl and a Wasteland done. But I eventually destroyed the moxes with Smash to Smithereens and Gorilla Shaman plus Magus of the Moon controlled his mana after. My Figure of Destiny grown to a 4/4 and went all the way.
3-0

Round 4: Vs Snapcaster Control
ID
3-0-1

Round 5: Vs UR Landstill
ID
3-0-2

Finish 5th after 5 rounds.

Top 8:
Quarterfinals: Vs Workshop deck with Kuldotha Forgemaster
G1: Turn 1 I was able to play Magus of the Moon but on his Turn he played Black Lotus to Metalworker and it survive the next turn and his hand was good and he played all the threat and I concede.
G2: He mull to 5. Turn 1 same scenario like Game 1. I was able to play Magus of the Moon. On his turn he played Black Lotus to Metalworker again. But on my second turn I kill the Metalworker with Smash to Smithereens. Then controlled him after with Null Rod and played some Figure of Destiny and went all the way with Magus of the Moon.
G3: I was down to 3 with his Steel Hellkite attacks but he can't play the ability because I have Null Rod in play and him at 11 life. I only have 2 mountains in my board. Draw phase - got an Ancient Tomb - played my Manic Vandal killing his Hellkite with me down to 1. I then attack all my 3 2/2 FoD and 2 Gorilla Shaman making his life down to 3. On his turn he top deck his lone Wurmcoil Engine in his deck and played it. Now comes my stupid misplay in my board I have 1 Manic Vandal, 3 2/2 FoD and 2 Gorilla Shaman and I attack them all to him - I must have miscalculated my damage including him gaining some life back from his Wurmcoil Engine - he was down to 1 after the attack. And on his turn he attack his Wurmcoil gg. If I won this game i would face again my opponent in Round 2 Doomsday Maniac deck. Finals was Smokestacks deck vs the Laboratory Maniac deck, they split the prize.

I'm trying to test if Liquimetal Coating is a good answer for Oath, i haven't done any playtest yet though. This is my list now:

13 mountain
4 ancient tomb
2 city of traitors

1 mana crypt
1 sol ring

3 liquimetal coating
4 sculpting steel

4 simian spirit guide
3 gorilla shaman
4 keldon vandal
2 viashino heretic
4 magus of the moon

2 genju of the spires
3 blood moon

4 lightning bolt
3 dead/gone

3 skullclamp

sb:
3 red elemental blast
2 pyroblast
4 tormod's crypt
2 shattering spree
3 pithing needle
1 genju of the spires

It's either you copy thier creature via Coating + Steel or destroy Oath with Coating + Vandals and Heretic. It's slow but it may work.

Has anyone seen "Unthinkable"? For me, it's one of the best movies of 2010.

Since I added Manic Vandal in my deck I never felt its 3cc is a problem. The deck has 4 Traitors and Tombs to help accelerate casting it. I also think that it's only a random situation that Manic will get stuck to your hand, I can't think of any deck right now in vintage that don't have artifacts (well maybe Ichorid) but Manic is thier on the list because of Shops deck above all other decks we face so I don't think it will ever get stuck on your hand against shops.

My anti-shops spells MD - 2 Gorilla Shaman, 4 Manic Vandal and 2 Shattering Spree (plus 7 Moon effects, 4 LBolts and 3 Dead/Gone)
SB: 3 Null Rods and 1 more Shattering Spree.
My W-L against shops is 4-1 base on the above lists.

What I'm testing right now is putting in Skullclamps in the deck since the deck don't have draw engine. I can't decide though of the right number if its 3 or 4 ? (considering I have 4 Sculpting Steel MD) I've replaced Manic Vandal with Keldon Vandals so I can draw right away with a single clamp in play. I still have the Gorilla Shaman (3) and Liquimetal Coating (3) combo MD. I've remove FOD and replace it with Genju of the Spire.

The only sad thing here in my place is that Vintage is dying because of the rise of Legacy Format in the Country.

Liquimetal Coating is a dead card on its own. I think 3 is the right number so that you still have a chance to draw him early since the deck has no card drawer. I've used Basilisk Collar before since I can still block Inkwell Leviathan but with the change of Tinker target to Sphinx of the Steel Wind in our meta, 4 Sculpting Steel would really help.

This looks similar to my deck- http://www.morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1304&highlight=location
Here is my updated list:

11 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Manic Vandal
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Ligthning Bolt
3 Dead/Gone
4 Sculpting Steel
2 Shattering Spree
3 Liquimetal Coating
3 Blood Moon

SB:
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
3 Null Rod
1 Shattering Spree
3 Greater Gargadon

The match up I had against Oath was actually the sphinx + progenitus version of oath. I won the first game via turn 1 magus of the moon. My opponent was waiting for a basic island (to bounce my magus), petal or an emerald to play oath, lucky for me he was not able to draw them. On our second game, turn 1 oath w/ orchard sealed the game for him. Game 3 was pure luck on my side. My opponent kept his hand and I did as well. I can actually drop a 1st turn magus of the moon but I was afraid that he might counter it. I played a mountain and pass the turn. On his turn he played an island a petal then drop an oath. We played draw-go until I drop gargadon but he pithing needle it on his turn. I later drop a pyrostatic pillar, it gives some damage on his side. Later on he was able to get the orchard then on his next turn he reveal the sphinx and choose to target himself for the 10 life as he was down to 8 life because of pillar, fetch and some thoughtseize. On the next turn he reveal a progenitus, played a vampiric tutor still on his upkeep (I think he search for timewalk) w/c made his life down to 6 (2 from pillar and 2 from vampiric) before his draw step, i played 2 bolts - lucky for me he doesn't have any counters.

Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon and Greater Gargadon can help you against Oath (all red spells)

@zabuza - sculpting steel may help dealing with the leviathan/colossus but can be limited to that only. Membrane can still help me against fish or r/g beatz creatures blocking them. Bolts and Incinerate help me deal with small creatures and can help me finish games as well.

Hi I'm new here in TheManaDrain, I would like to share as well my deck to the topic. This is actually the first time that I pilot a deck that made me landed Top 8 three consecutive times since I created the deck inspired from Legacy's Dragon Stompy and Extended's All-In-Red. I have already made some changes on the deck after it's first Top 8 apperance last Feb 22, 2009 (http://morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1010). This is my current list w/c ended Top 3 last April 18, 2009 Vintage Tourney (http://morphling.de/top8decks.php?id=1039):

Mainboard:

2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Gathan Raiders
4 Simian Spirit Guide

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

2 Blood Moon
3 Pyrostatic Pillar

4 Dead/Gone
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
11 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Null Rod
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Shattering Spree
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

Our meta here in Manila Philippines is almost the same as in the U.S. - Ichorid, Tez, Fish Variants (BUG, U/W, Mono U), Stax (MUD, Red) RG/RGW Beats,

Combo (TPS, GWS, ANT), Oath, BW/Mono Black Control, Dreadnaughts, Painter and Goblins.. Belcher and Landstill is no longer active here in Manila.

The deck seems to fit to our Meta as it has some control and answers to certain decks. From the three tourneys I joined I was able to beat Ichorid (2-0), Mono Black COntrol (2-0), RGW Beats (2-0), GWS (2-0), Oath (2-1), TPS (2-1) and Mono Blue Fish (2-0). I lost to MUD, BUG Fish and another TPS build. I haven't face Goblins (which I think I'm going to lose), Tez, ANT, Dreadnaught and Painter decks.

Because of the new toy of Tinker - Inkwell Leviathan, I'm going to replace Dead/Gone to Aether Membrane. I think that this red creature is perfect IMO as an answer to Leviathan, not only for Leviathan but for other creatures as well even flyers. I'm planning to take out SOFI (for I haven't been able to draw/use this card almost all the time) and make room for 3 Puncture Blast (Not sure about this, what do you think guys?). My updated decklist would now be:

Mainboard:

2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Aether Membrane
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Gathan Raiders
4 Simian Spirit Guide

2 Umezawa’s Jitte

2 Blood Moon
3 Pyrostatic Pillar

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Incinerate
3 Puncture Blast

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
11 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Null Rod
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Shattering Spree
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast

May Peace be with you All!