Great report. Some day I'm going to attend one of these. Living in SC in not condusive to playing Vintage unfortunately.

Where do you get the playmats printed at?

Atlanta is still has a huge Legacy player base so hopefully the DragonCon events can draw them in with proxies. Is there a date/time set for a vintage event?

I scanned through several of the issues of The Duelist from around that time (#6-14) and was unable to find the article in question. Sorry.

Best of luck!

Day 2 at the Roanoke 2006 Power 9 I started 3-0 but then a series of misplays on my part ensure I didn't make Top 8. In round 4 I failed to tutor for Duress that would have allowed me to push Moat through against Dave Feinstein which he had no answer to game one. Then in the final round of swiss with a chance at 9th place and a Timetwister on the line I went to time with Travis. On the third extra turn Travis cast Tanglewire and passed. The board set up had him with 2 Cities of Brass, 2 other lands, 2 moxes, the Tanglewire, and 2 life. I had seven lands and an inconsequential Pithing Needle in play. I tutored EOT for Yawg. Will with Disenchant already in hand. On Turn 4 I tapped 3 lands and Needle to Tanglewire, cast Will, Lotus and Rack & Ruined from the yard taking out his two moxes, played a land from the yard, played a Divining Top for some unknown reason and passed the turn with only one mana available. We drew.

Fours hours later during the car ride home I realized if I had kept up the mana for Disenchant and targeted Tanglewire with its triggers on the stack turn 5 Travis would've had to tap both Cities and lost. Lots of cursing on that car ride home. Lots.

Another option is that you could pay for a friend to draft with the understanding you keep all the cards they draft while you play in the other event.

If you can wait a few months you could travel to one of the SCG $5k events in the area. They'll be in Atlanta the first weekend in May & in Charlotte on Halloween weekend.

Good luck!

Agreed. Why not just cut to the chase and have the event at a place that serves/allows alcohol.

15 proxies + BYOB FTW!

How do they stack up to the old Yanoman 100ct. sleeves?

I've been burned a number of times by crappy sleeves from Ultra Pro that I've just avoided their brand entirely.

Killane's proposal is interesting. I like the spirit of the proposal but I think it could cause issues for at least some of the player base using proxies and the TOs under this type of system.

While I'm sure many high level players that rely on proxies wouldn't mind the additional costs involved, the average player may shy away from having to spend an extra $15.00 just to play their ideal deck of choice with 10 proxies. Additionally the system puts a little additional work on the shoulders of the TO as they have to visually confirm that each player is paying the proper amount based on the number of proxies they are running.

They all happen on the 20th of each month now. If the 20th falls on a Saturday or Sunday the announcement is made on the Friday prior.

They changed it last December so that it wouldn't conflict with the 2008 World Championships and so they could use those results to help in any decisions they made.


//EDIT: Here's the original announcement.

I have a few buried in my closet. Were there specific issues you were looking for (or already have that you no longer need)?

Wacky Draft? You mean involving Unglued or Unhinged packs?

Silence says right on the card: "Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected."

Thanks.

I was able to locate the Casual Play FAQs for Wizards Play Network. As per my questions in the original post, Casual Play does not affect Player Rewards or allow proxies.

Source.

People, in general, will be more inclined to purchase individual cards they need rather than an entire deck unless they are getting an amazing deal for the entire deck.

I was wondering if one of the judges we have here could illuminate me as to what the "Casual Non-Rated Constructed" format available through the DCI exactly entails?

It is not a format that is listed in the Magic Tournament Rules PDF. Does that mean it does not necessarily have to follow the rules included in that document? Specifically, is this a means for TOs to run Vintage events with proxies while allowing the participants to earn Player Rewards?

Thanks in advance!

We don't hate Chains. We just don't think its really all that amazing in the current environment. Yes it hits some cards that all decks are playing right now but the vast majority of the cards that see play on a regular basis are restricted. Most Tez lists run only SIX of the cards on your list. All as one-ofs.

I've tested decks built around Chains before Brainstorm or Thirst were restricted and even then it just never seemed to make an impact in testing. IF it resolved the blue decks just sat back and countered your key threats and waited to topdeck a tutor to get their bounce spell. The current environment is much faster than the deck you have presented. You have to assume that at least some of the time the blue decks are going to get an earlier start than you and by the time you draw and cast Chains it might very well be moot. Plan accordingly.

Nathanial Comiskey's RG list only has 59 cards in the main. Strip Mine maybe?

Why are you not running Dark Ritual? It along with Dark Confidant, as Gandalf mentioned, seem like they'd be tremendously helpful in accelerating your game plan. Tombstalker as a two-of might also be a consideration. Or Bitterblossom.

Some other thoughts:

Your mana base looks really thin. You should probably be running at least 22 mana not counting Dark Rituals.

Additionally your deck needs more of a draw engine otherwise it will be living off the top of your deck once you've played out your opening hand. Confidant can help in this regard as can Night Whisper.

How do you deal with opposing creatures game one?

Why run Planar Void main instead of simply running Leyline in the main?

Pithing Needle and Sadistic Sacrament would help against most of your metagame.

Vampiric Tutor should also be in there.

Overall it looks like your deck is depending too much on hitting all your opponent's key cards via Duress/Thoughseize/Hymn/Chains before they become relevant and that won't always work. You need to plan accordingly for top decks or them going broken on turn one.

I've been playing Pauper a lot lately offline at FNM with other causal type players and its a really fun format to explore.

I agree normal Pauper decks might be too screwed towards competitive side of things versus more causal oriented decks. You might want to give a 60 card singleton/highlander Pauper deck a try. If you/your friend are worried about old/obscure cards then limit yourself to Extended legal sets.

This one should have more info.

You may want to check around at some of your local stores in your area. WotC created a laminated promotional poster in 2003 with the playmat on one side on that they sent stores.

I think what you have started here would do better to push the aggro-control elements rather than make it a more full blown control deck like traditional "Parfait" lists were that ran little-to-no-creatures. Given the meta you're playing in and assuming that you don't have access to 'Goyfs or Noble Heirarchs otherwise they'd be on the list somewhere here are some random comments.

Simian Spirit Guide seems really out of place. You can't use him to cast Teeg, Pridemage or True Believer at all and those seem like the backbone of your creature package. After turn one SSG loses a lot of umph in helping you get stuff into play. He's almost better as an on-color land. Unless you can directly replace him with Elvish Spirit Guides I'd cut them for some more useful and stable mana producers.

Have you given Empyrial Armor a try? It use to be a main stay in several of the old aggro Tax-Rack lists back in the day.

What type of combo are you facing in your meta that this deck needs help with?

Ronom Unicorn and STP would probably be good additions to your SB.

Keep plugging away at it. Looks like the start of a fun deck in an equally interesting metagame. Some of the funnest Vintage games I've played in were no power/no proxy environments. Enjoy it!

How "limited" are these?

In following the release of these over at MTG Salvation is seems like, at least in the US, anybody that ordered them received a good amount of them. The local store got close to 20 of them in and they're small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. I've read of stores jacking the prices way up (between $60-$100 instead of MSRP $35) and limiting purchases to one per person but overall I get the feeling they a lot more prevalent than FTV: Dragons from a year ago.

I think you may find that Extirpate and Pithing Needle allow you a bit more versatility while solving the same challenges.

I played Sacred Ground in the sideboard of HSC for the same reasons. Meadbert and I went back-and-forth for months about it and he eventually convinced me to drop them. Sacred Ground isn't something you, generally speaking, play versus non-Shop decks with Wastelands but Needle and Extirpate are. I should note that I run a bit more artifact removal than the list you presented against Shop decks to compliment this line of play.



Hide//Seek has been a great card in Vintage since it was printed. As the blue decks de jour come to rely more and more on tutors and other one-ofs, its potential impact increases. I think many of the decks built around Hide//Seek have a lot of potential to catch unprepared opponents off guard and its only a matter of time before someone breaks thru with it at a large event.

Having said that I'm not sure what, or if, there's an optimal build of the deck. I'm not a huge fan of some the permanents that attempt to limit my opponent's game plan (Rod, Canonist, Mindcensor) as they are slow and can be played around or bounced when my opponent is ready to win (or about to lose). Instead I prefer a more reactive version of the deck that's less redundant but offers me a little more versatility over the metagame as a whole relying more on instants, sorceries, and tutorable one-ofs with creatures doing the cleanup afterward.

//edit: grammar

There's no change to the way Ninjutsu works under the new system.

Necropotence Primer by Oscar Tan

A History of Necropotence by Jim Grimmett

Here's an article from Pojo.com by Matt Ladwig

These are the more thorough articles on the subject. Each with several lists. You can find more if you do a search on Google.

According the GenCon site Diakonov linked to it will be Mox Emerald.

Source

Here are a few stores that do MTG events in the Birmingham area. No Vintage events (sanctioned at least). The store in Oneonta has held Legacy events in the past so there might be some interest in Vintage. Let us know!