@savekeeper I will preface this by saying you're correct in your assessment of Mage's Contest as a win condition, but you are everything that is wrong with MTG today.
If nobody reads SCG articles ill link to this one: http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=9076

First you have to remember where you are: the Vintage NEWBIE Forum. This guy's deck has gotten infinitely better since the opening of this thread. I consider that a good thing. When I joined, it was becuase i took a substandard R/W aggro/prison/pile to a tournament at Neutral Ground NY and got beat down by a keeper deck. After being redirected here by my opponent (LambChopNYC on TMD), ill say that my game play and deck buliding has improved exponentially.

Here's what you said in shorter form:

OUT
3 Mages Contest
SB
3 Arcane Lab
IN
Not a bloody thing

What you have told him to do gives him an 18 card SB and a 54 card deck. I dont know what u think, but i think that the deck he had will win him a lot more games than with the changes suggested in your post. What would've been a better idea is to tell him what to put in instead.

After that short rant i will say that the basic idea is correct. Slaver is a difficult deck to play on a budget. At the very least, you're going to need some Volcanic Islands. The Mage's contest needs to go, maybe for some sort of artifact fat like perhaps a Jug. Intuition is very very useful in a Slaver deck. I might also look into an Ancient Tomb or two, as they can accelerate you, and CS is one of those decks that can take some pain but still win you the game. Good work so far.

On this note, how about Extract as a potential ally, albeit not necessarily in Aggro/Control, for Meddling Mage? Turn 1 you get a neutered Cranial Extraction, but you also get a one use Glasses of Urza do to the redundancy of every decent deck in this metagame. This allows you to A) figure out what they're playing (seeing as a turn 1 Island, Go doesnt scream CS to me at least, and B) figure out what to Meddling Mage for on the next turn.

I'm planning on building a U/G Madness deck for upcoming tournaments and I just have a few queries:

1. Why not have Careful Study? IMO this deck is good the more cards you can draw then discard.
2.  If I dont have Arrogant Wurm at the present moment, should I go CotH or RotW? How many?
3. What about Rites of Refusal? I can see it being a rather solid discard outlet plus a much more useful counter early game than circular logic. And since this format is so fast at this point, i can see a solid argument for its inclusion. It seems to be a Mana Leak with the capability to set up your offense. Plus its blue for the FoW pitch.
4. Grip of Amnesia in the SB perhaps? I can see it being useful against assorted Tendrils combo, things like 4CC and Tog and of course Dragon. Doesn't hurt to use it against Welders to attempt to keep some of their threats from being able to come back so easily.
5. MD Energy Flux? Anybody who is not playing on a budget has artifacts, as do some budget players.

If I was to take U/G to a 10 proxy and im totally budget (no p9 no duals no MWS Bazaar Drain etc...) what would be an optimal decklist for me to bring? I would expect the usual meta, Oath, Workshop.dec, and some Combo. I'm personally not sold on Bazaar as being a much better discard outle than the ones that are already there, but maybe thats just me...

Thanx much.

Hmmm... I think that Bouncers are amazingly useful as not only as a draw engine but also as anti-Oath tech. That said, i think i would MD Aquamoeba as it is a more user-friendly discard outlet.  I dont know about 4 RotW, 2 or 3 sounds more reasonable to me. Energy Flux could be one of the most useful pieces of hate right now, as it hoses both Artifact.dec and anybody who happens to be powered. Kicking somebody directly in the mana base is never a bad idea, especially since you aren't playing any jewelry of your own.

The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)-The Doors
7 Plains
10 Swamp
4 Scrubland- Live with us in forests of azure (the color in the background)
4 Eternal Dragon- no eternal reward will forgive us now...
4 Dawn of the Dead- For wasting the Dawn
4 Dark Ritual- With a backbeat narrow and hard to master
4 Pristine Angel- Let me tell you about Texas Radio and The BIG BEAT
4 Night's Whisper- I'll tell you bout the hopeless night
4 Buried Alive- the meager food for souls forgot
4 Akroma Angel of Wrath- the maiden with wrought iron soul
4 Parallax Dementia- Soft driven, slow and mad...
4 Death Speakers- like some new language
1 Enlightened Tutor- Some call it heavenly in its brilliance
1 Mox Jet- Out here we as stone (as in gem)...
1 Mox Pearl-immaculate
Any set of dots implies that the lyric finishes with the one for the next card.
This deck might be fun casually. The point, as you probably guessed, is to get Dawn of the Dead into play, and thereby reanimate something thats been previously buried, if you live that long.

Remember banding and snow covered lands?

Ouch, bro. I had a salvager.dec list out befor either of you two. Granted it wasnt a very good deck, but it was there and might have been the first thread on the subject. Can a guy get some love here?

That said, I dont think that AI will fit in this as well as Trinket Mage. The fact that it's  non-Duressable and a solid 2/2 beatstick/chumpblocker if necessary makes it a better pick.

Crucible is in no way better than Salvagers. Salvagers is a much more consistant deck.

@Sammy The card ur thinking of is Trinket Mage, which is another pretty useful 5th Dawn card at least for the Salvagers deck.

Nights Whisper, in my testing at least, has been more useful in GAT than Serum Visions, which i eventually cut for Brainstorms.

like the origami guy, ill be at u chi in the fall. I'd be in.

Name: Brad
Age: 17
Location: Brooklyn, NY but movin to Chicago in the fall
Occupation: Student
Color: Red
Card: Price of Progress
Art: Rancor
Deck: R/G beats, GAT
Card Quote: "Which would you like first, the insult or the injury?"
Power?: N/A
Playing since?: Right after Alliances came out.
On TMD: Got my tail handed to me by Keepep at my first T1, and the guy who beat me said to check this site out.
Greatest Magic Memory: Having one of my buddies playing U/G Madness and announcing "I need to Deep Anal myself!" as loud as he could in the common room at school.

I'm big on the Unglued land and Guru's are solid, but I like revised lands too. Granted anythin revised rocks, I've even got the pimped out T tap symbols on my proxies. I think I should win tournaments just for that.

Ive been playin this build for a week or two on workstation and its been ok to me so far. 10000 points to anybody who understands why I picked the deck name.

Lorenzo St. Dubois (but my friends call me LSD).dec
Combo pieces
4 Auriok Salvagers
1 Black Lotus
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
Protection
4 FoW
4 Duress
4 Disrupt
3 Chain of Vapor
Tutor/Draw
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Intuition
4 Serum Visions
Random Assorted Brokenness
1 Doomsday
1 Necropotence
1 Time Walk
1 Balance
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgwin
Mana Production
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 City of Brass
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
6 SoMoxen
4 Dark Ritual
SB
4 Oxidize
4 Choke
3 Chill
4 Oath of Druids

I'm sure this deck has been posted ad nauseaum (granted I havent been on TMD in a few weeks) The major changes between mine and the decklist used in a SCG that i used as a starting point:
* Serum Visions. I like the ability to get rid of useless cards from the top of my deck. Its not Brainstorm, but in this case its a lot more useful.
* Extra Spellbomb. Just makes things a lot easier overall. The draw ability along with the added benefit of getting it into the yard makes it better to have 2 of them.
* Chill in the SB. Dont remember what was there in the beginning, but this has been a lifesaver more than once.

All of that said, I want to know if there is any way to make this deck faster/more consistant/anything better than a solid casual deck. Any suggestions would be good.

I play type 1 because its, overall, been much more fun and challenging than any other format. The larger cardpool=more room to create. And there's no MTG feeling quite like using ur 10 dollar R/G beat deck to take out Keeper.

If I could have stayed/ had all the cards for it/ this had actually happened, i would have played this at Waterbury. Deck name coes from restaurant scene in Ferris Bueller.

"I suggest you leave before i get Snoddy".dec

Land:
20 Mountain

Creatures:
4 Balduvian Horde
4 Mogg Maniac
4 Raging Goblin
2 Craven Giant

Burn:
4 Incinerate
4 Spitting Earth
4 Lava Axe
2 Land's Edge
4 Sonic Burst

Other Stuff
2 Helm of Obedience
2 Imposing Visage
4 Chromatic Sphere

MMMMMM...Mono Red Burn and Beat. Enjoyable and (quite possibly) viable in a artist tourney.

OK. I can deal with being stuck in "newbie quarentine". But what truly annoys me is being banned from the Tournament Forum. Just because i have never won a single power card and that i don't play a deck that costs as much as a decent used car makes me unworthy of sharing my experiences with the community at large? To quote Revenge of the Nerds "I've got news for all the beautiful people...There are a lot more of us than there are of you."

If you could find it in your hearts, souls, or whatever it is that y'all have inside to give us "scrubs" something that I personally think we deserve anyway, that's one less dissenting voice in these forums. Might not seem like too much, but to get rid of the dissension you're going to have to go about it one by one.

I dont think its overhyped. in fact, I really like this card in T1. It can completely wreck havoc on some decks. i ran into (and got smacked around by) Rectal Agony at Waterbury. Just thinking what might have happened had I had this in play. It also slows the heck out of black, no more 1st turn duress and makes ritual completely useless. I like this in budget decks to stop moxen and to help just a bit against combo.

Haha. Lovely. Way to go man. Well deserving of the APAC lands. anybody else have a good one?

Thanx y'all but can I get somebody else to post one? Somebody had to do something impressive aside from lil old 3 and 4 R/G Beats me.

Who ended up winning the prize for that? My own personal one was Naturalizing an Isochron Scepter against Keeper game 3. When he countered it (as i'd expected) I tossed out a 20 damage PoP and took the match.
Anybody else who went, post ur Play of the Day.

Well done. I should have thought of that. What'd u play there?

I saw weaver used against tog. Worked out well. A lot of the tech ended up useless. A great deal of tech was used to hate on dragon and only 3 or 4 showed. I think dragon could make a comeback after this because so few people played it. Only saw one guy with Chalice, and he just smacked me around with Chalice for 1 on the 1st turn.

Firstly, way to go with the new forums. Top-notch work. But if any of the high and mighty of TMD are reading this, can i get it moved to the Tournament Report forum? That would be pretty massive.

Most tournament reports you read will tell you how they single-handedly vanquished the entire field en route to a 8-0 record and that first place piece of jewlery. That's not what ur gonna get here, oh no. I am a somewhat talented player who runs a completely unpowered deck that has little or no chance of winning any tournaments in this metagame. In other words, im one of u, just another member of MTG's rank and file. But now, onto the report:

At about 830 in the morning, I rolled out of my bed. Blearily i gathered my deck from the desk, threw on my Chad Pennington jersey and trademark black wool hat and set off for Waterbury. The scene when I got there was nothing short of insanity. Who knew you could get 200 people up to the middle of nowhere, CT to play Magic? I took my seat, registered my deck, and looked around for somebody to play.

My decklist:
EBP (Experience Beatdowns Project)
12 Forests
8 Mountains
1 Black Lotus (proxied)
4 Kird Ape
3 Skyshroud Elite
4 Rogue Elephant
1 Scryb Sprites (Oddly enough, i win a lot of games with this)
2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Isochron Scepter (proxied. I got ripped on for that all day)
1 Black Vise
1 Sylvan Library (proxied)
3 Rancor
2 Naturalize
3 Giant Growth
3 Browbeat
3 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Price of Progress

SB:
3 Elvish Scrapper
4 Shock
2 Ankh of Mishra
1 Cursed Totem
1 Scryb Sprites
1 Bounty of the Hunt
3 Pyroblast

I played a few games against the people near me, splitting with Goblin Chains, and absolutely destroying UR Fish. That was one highlight of my day: being undefeated against Fish. If only i'd seen them in a match... The postings went up, and I went to my first match.

Round 1: Bryce Reynolds playing Burn.
I had heard his name somewhere. I was guessing it was cause he was good.
Game 1
He dropped a first turn Ruby, Mountain, Mox Monkey, Black Vise. This could be bad. I got out of it by dropping a Rogue and Incineratin the Monkey, but only after takin a lot of damage. He dropped 2 Pyrostatic pillars. In case u didn't notice, every spell in my deck costs less than 3. Massive Rancored Rogue beats made it 3-3. Then somehow he HARDCASTS a fireblast. That toasts me. SB: -1 Scryb +1 Bounty
Game 2
Explosive start with lotus to Incin on a stick and an Ape. But my first land got wasted and i didn't see another one. Shrapnel Blasting his Ruby and Tormod's got rid of me quickly. Games 0-2 Matches 0-1

Round Two: Matt Costa with Chalice Black
I played this round in what I dubbed Loser's Lounge. With no room for everybody in the main room, they moved as many losers bracket people into another, less smelly, better lit room. So maybe sucking at MTG does have its advantages.
Game 1
Dropped a first turn Mox Monkey and soon Rancored it. Massive Po'd Monkey beatdowns ensued, bringing him down to 6 and burning all his threats away. But he Stripped and Sinkholed all of my Mountains. Within the space of 2 turns, it became him: 6 life, 2 Hippies and 3 Negators; Me: 1 Po'd Monkey and a scryb. I didn't last long. SB: + 4 Shock +1 Scryb -2 PoP -3 Elite
Game 2
His first turn: Swamp, Ritual, Duress my naturalize, Chalice for one. I didn't stand a chance and got smacked by many angry Negators.
Games 0-4 Matches 0-2
I have to say im really not a fan of Chalices. Damn to the depths whichever mutton-head thought up Chalice!
Round 3: John S playing Rectal Agony
Back to Loser's Lounge. After running off every Big Lebowski and Office Space line we could think of, we started off.
Game 1
Suffice it to say that i've never seen Rectal Agony before. I was expecting Trix when Rector hit the table and was amazed to see Future Sight. While he was talking what seemed to be 10,000 turns, I was banging my head on the table and wondering out loud what in hell this guy's win condition was and why he wasnt using it on me already, much to the amusement of my tablemates. I almost snuck in a victory when he Memory Jar'ed me into a  PoP that would have killed him, but he Cunning wished for a BEB with the last 4 mana he had open. Finally, he Tendriled me to death.
Game 2
I decided not to sideboard for the simple reason that I roll over and die to combo no matter what I do. Sure enough, he went off Turn 1 for 24 damage while i sat with my lone forest and Elite. Games 0-6 Matches 0-3
Stupid Combo. Stupid Stupid Stupid Combo.

At this point I was 0-3 and very much in the running for the Tangle Wire, Yavimaya Coast or Trade Routes that were being given away to the 3 people in last. But how long would it last? I was sent back to Loser's Lounge to find out.

Round 4: John P with Cherry Parfait
Game 1: Humility was a pain, but a Rancored Elite got in some early damage until i could find a Naturalize, after which he was joined by 2 Kirds. He had a land tax/Z-orb thing that was a pain, but eventually he ran out of lands and died to Bolt on a stick.
Game 2: Me: First turn vise, Second turn bolt on a stick. He tried to Charbelcher in desperation, but only got 4 damage in. Bolts finished the job. Games 2-6 Matches 1-3
Bout Bloody Time! I was not winning last, but that was ok. However, 1 win does not get you out of the Lounge, and I went back yet again. But this time i was filled with what was beginning to become very cold 1.50 per slice pizza.

Round 5: ??? playing Keeper
First thing the guy says to me when I sit down: "5 bucks and i'll concede" This shouldn't be too hard.
Game 1
Beat him down with Apes and Elite, while Naturalizing his Counter on a stick. Bolt finished the job.
Game 2
Still had absolutely no idea what he was playing. Dropped 1st turn Vise, but he got in an Orim's Chant on a stick, and locked me down until his Morphling could finish me off. SB: +1 Totem -1 Scryb
Game 3
His Abyss got rid of all my creatures after one swing. Beat him down to 8 before he could clear my board of everything but 4 lands. He dropped a Morphling, and before turn passed I tried to Naturalize his Fire/Ice on a stick. Him: "I Mana Drain it" Me: "OK. In response, PoP for 20. I win."
Games 4-7 Matches 2-3
Some people are not bright enough to play Keeper. Luckily I found one. I was at 2-3. Not bad for somebody playing a possibly un-tournament worthy deck. This got me out of the Lounge, but not before a few guys let me have about 100 commons and uncommons from 7th. True they were in Chinese, but thats ok. Tested against WW and got thrashed. Watched as Ray promised a 7th grader a free duel land if he could down an entire pizza. I think the kid got through 2 slices.
Round 6: Scott with "Chance Encounter" Fiery Gambit/Mana Clash/Krarks Thumb deck.
I've never had this much fun in any Magic round. Just sitting there flipping coins, and laughing when i actually guessed right. Awesome.
Game 1
Lost 3 straight flips twice on Fiery Gambit with some probability work that would have my AP Stat teacher shaking his head. He finally bolted me to death.
Game 2
Dropped a 1st turn Vise, and beat him senseless with 2 Kird apes before he could get any damage in. A 4 damage PoP finished the job.
Game 3
1st turn Vise yet again. Beat him down with Elite + Growth on a stick. Won Fiery Gambit on the 1st flip twice, taking none. His Mana Clash gave each of us 3 damage and I bolted for the win. Games 6-8 Matches 3-3
Oh yeah! a .500 record. I wasn't expecting to win at all.

Round 7: Slim Stix (not his real name) playing Dragon
I thought Dragon had been hated straight out of the metagame. It turned out that only 3 people or so in the entire field of 190 were running Dragon.

Game 1
He couldn't get his combo going. I smacked away with Kird Apes until I won. SB: +1 Totem +2 Ankh -1 Rogue -1 Mox Monkey -1 Scryb
Game 2
I Vised and Totemed on my first turn with the help of Lotus. Hovever, I couldn't find a Naturalize for his Deed. He cleared the board and went off turn 3.
Game 3
2 Kirds vs. Dragon combo. Not good odds for me. Another turn 3 win for him. My next 2 cards coming...both my Ankhs. Damn.
Games 7-10 Matches 3-4

At that point, my ride showed up and i dropped. A solid tourney by any standards.

Go's:
Scott for playing an awesome and enjoyable deck.
The little 7th grader with the pizza.
Anybody who spent more than 1 round in the Lounge.
The guy who won the lotus.
Whoever came in last.
Ray for running a sick tourney.
No Go's:
The main room for being overcrowed and smelly.
The guy who offered to concede if i paid him.
The gods of chance for screwing me against Dragon
Whoever's idea it was to continue to make people pay money for pizza that had been cold for 6 hours.