For what little it's worth, I've tested the Tez vs. TPS match pretty extensively and Steve's experience at the tournament (i.e. rolling Tez like a joint) is the same that I've discovered. TPS beats Tez pretty regularly, usually while Tez is just waiting to untap. It is really frustrating for the Tez player to set everything up perfectly, but not getting that next turn to go unlimited.

I've seen Tolarian Winds used in budget Welder decks. It's a little too inconsistent, though.

How about Stifle on a stick?










I'm kidding. Sheesh.  

I'd dump Compulsion for Read the Runes. RtR can't be hit by Misdirection like Stroke of Genius can and it is a full turn faster than Compulsion. I'd also move the XSs to the sideboard, though that's really just personal preference. Unless you anticipate a lot of Back to Basics, I'd also swap 4 Swamp for 4 Gemstone Mine.

I've never understood how starting a discussion could constitute "lack of content" here. I understand that you're trying to do your job, Jacob, but you come off as a little overzealous at times. Maybe we could name these threads "{Discussion} Can fish come back?" so that people are aware of what they're opening before hand. It just seems that good open discussions can be of value, even when the thread's originator doesn't have a decklist to post.

As for the question at hand- Fish is a reactionary metagame deck. Predicting the metagame in Vintage is difficult as various players react to existing conditions and those reactions are, in turn, reacted to. Rather than predicting when the metagame will swing back to favor a certain deck, look at the metagame as it currently looks, identify vulnerabilities and exploit them with a new (or previously forgotten) archetype. I've seen a lot of people lose simply because they try to force a deck that the current metagame has ample answers for.

I played a version of Doomsday Oath at a small tourney for fun. The problems that I saw were: 1. Lots of STP in my local meta 2. Ancestral Recall 3. Regular Oath was just as good and didn't leave me open to a random Stroke from a Dragon player with a bad hand (i.e. 2 Rituals, Stroke of Genius, 4 lands)

Just my $0.02

I admittedly haven't read this whole thread and someone may have already touched on this, but Landstill using manlands to evade Oath is kind of silly. The whole reason that Oath is back in vogue is that Champions of Kamigawa has a card called Forbidden Orchard. You can use manlands all day, but your spirit tokens still don't turn into lands at EOT...

You're right. I forgot that the Void's ability is triggered rather than static. JO has answered my question as to why we aren't seeing this card. Nothing to see here, people; move on.  

Ground Seal is as good as Void (actually better since you draw a card) IF you are in green. About half of the decks that come to mind that play with green are hurt by playing Ground Seal, though. Stompy and Madness are the exceptions I can think of.

As for Dragon and Welder not getting shut down by Planar Void, I disagree unless you are making the argument that cards that are already in the yard can be targeted. That's valid unless you go first and play a Planar Void.

At any rate, the Void is an option that is underexplored in Black...

I often wonder why we see so few Planar Voids when they have such a tremendous impact on the current metagame. Tog variant decks, Dragon, Welder variant decks and any of the many Wasteland/Strip Mine/Crucible decks are greatly impacted by this one-mana ENCHANTMENT. I capitalized the last word in the last sentence because many who use Oxidize, Rack and Ruin or other artifact-specific answers have no way to deal with it. Why hasn't anyone tried building a deck that utilizes this card as the extremely flexible answer it is???

Double Post

This is the version of Dragon that I am currently running. It's not where I want it yet, but it's a very solid start. I also give excuses/rationale for my card choices.

UTILITY

1 Entomb - An obvious inclusion
1 Demonic Tuor - Tutors are an important part of almost any combo deck
1 Vampiric Tutor - Ditto
1 Stroke of Genius - Until I see Misdirection locally, I'll keep this card in the deck without even questioning it.
1 Chain of Vapor - Good against lots of decks and the drawback is nonexistent since I'll never have a non-land permanent in play when I play this (unless I bounce my own enchantment).
1 Intuition - I have one, so I play one. I need to test to see if more are warranted.
1 Ambassador Laquatis - Could be two, but the lack of graveyard hate locally dictates one works for now.
1 Lotus Petal - Mana acceleration is good; siding it out for one of the four Null Rods in my board is even better.
3 Dark Ritual - Speeds up the deck, but four was leaving too many dead cards in my hand.
3 Burried Alive - Again, down to three to cut down on dead weight.
2 Force of Will - I should make room for more, but haven't. Trying to balance speed with combo protection has made this a tough call. Three sounds right to me, removing one of the next card to make room.
4 Impulse - Four deep is good. Instant speed is better. Fueling Force of Will when needed is great. As noted above, this should probably be three.
4 Careful Study - Gets the Red guy in the yard.
4 Read the Runes - Obvious inclusion in budget builds. I've heard some advocate Compulsion, but this is a full turn faster, maybe two.
3 Lim-Dul's Vault - VERY underrated card, IMO. This card wins games. Lim-Dul's Vault set up us the bomb.


COMBO

3 Necromancy - I honestly am not sure if this is the right number, but three seems to work.
3 Animate Dead - Meddling Mage in my local meta makes three reanimation alternatives more appealing.
2 Dance of the Dead - Ditto.
4 Worldgorger Dragon - Nuff said.

LAND

4 Polluted Delta - Thins the deck and pulls...
4 Underground Sea - Obvious inclusion.
4 Underground River - The colors are right and the pain is negligible.
4 Gemstone Mine - Great synergy with the combo and the sideboard strategy (Xantid Swarm).
1 Tarnished Citadel - Testing led me to settle on 17 land. Someone foolishly asked me why I don't run City of Brass instead. I can't win with only a City in play; I can with a Citadel.

I don't think it's the answer. Dragon, even on a budget, is capable of flat-out winning on turn one. In the budget version I run, I have an 8% first-turn kill and a 50% turn-two kill. These numbers are from goldfishing, but I goldfished 50 times to come up with those stats. I suspect your build is turn 4 at best. When playing budget, speed is the key since powered decks are generally  better able to take over the mid to late game.

This entire discussion is why good Dragon decks run Xantid Swarm. If they run STP, they'd better have two. If they run Stifle or Naturalize/Disenchant, they're stuck. Protecting your combo is how combo wins games...

This discussion is about rules, not strategy

This will really hurt budget players. The four best budget decks that I have seen are Dragon, Madness, UR Fish & Food Chain Goblins. This card destroys Dragon, dramatically slows Madness, cuts off certain aspects of Fish's strength (though I see Fish as the least-impacted budget build) and removes the combo aspect of FCG. How it will play out in powered metas is not so easy to gauge. I suspect that it will have an impact, but not a drastic meta-altering effect.

I am a relatively new Vintage player who is in the process of shifting from budget mode to playing powered-up versions of decks (I wish I wouldn't have sold all of my old stuff now that I play with it rather than collect it). If there is anyone in Nevada or Northern Califonia that is interested in testing and developing their skills along with mine, I'd like to talk to you.