I also agree that Dredge is that good. 

Sorry to go off topic, but this really needs to be said.  I find Dredge, not blue, to be the major problem for Vintage player retention.  I played during time of 4xTrinisphere.  I am playing now in the time of Dredge.  I have seen more new players and old players lose interest in Vintage because of Dredge than even 4xTrinisphere. 

I'm gonna need my playgroup to personally tutor me on these new changes.  Also, Pat, when you gonna drop by UCLA for some casual multiplayer and Vintage games?

Recently, at UCLA I've been playtesting a fully powered Tezzeret vs a Null Rod-Progenitus-Oath.  This particular variant of Null Rod-Progenitus-Oath has proven to be a strong opponent vs Tezzeret even though it has zero power cards.  In place of power cards, this Oath deck uses Rods, Spell Snares, and Basic Counterspells (in addition to the standard Oath skeleton of Force, Duress, etc). 

For a non-powered deck, I was very impressed by its performance.   

The 3 Null Rods effectively hinders Tezzeret with pinpoint precision.  Tezzeret, on the other hand, runs zero main-deck cards capable of producing a pinpoint crippling effect on Oath.

I have been saying for years that CE was the way to go. 

Ideas for CE in tournaments are great, but to turn any idea into reality, there has to be a financial incentive for Wizards of the Coast (or a very influential company like Starcitygames) to help facilitate this. 

I had this discussion with other vintage players and we realized that Wizards of the Coast or Starcitygames could have a potential moneymaker in the form of CE tournament legalization. 

Basically, a player with an uncut CE card would mail it to Wizards of the Coast or Starcitygames along with a check for $X dollars.  The company would then officially clip the corners (via a standardized machine).  The player would then get back in the mail the clipped CE card (emblazoned with a small official holographic company seal), and at that point the CE card would be officially "blessed" for tournament play. 

The player gets to use his CE Time Walk.
Wizards of the Coast/Starcitygames just got paid money. 
Everyone is happy.   

4 Tarmogoyf
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Land Grant
4 Seal of Primordium

2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Kird Ape
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate

4 Null Rod

1 Strip Mine
2 Forest
4 Mountains
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
4 Taiga

Sideboard
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tormond’s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
1 Krosan Grip
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Oxidize

This was the R/G beats deck I was trying out recently.  I liked it a lot, however I found the lack of counter protection, disruption, or draw to be simply weak. 


I went on to try the following 4 color Sui-black-mountains-win style deck.  Tested the deck vs Oath.  Tested it vs Grim Long. Tested the deck vs various Tezz variants.  I’ve liked its performance against them (did some testing just last night vs mutedequilibrium and Gio at the “Tolar-ian” Academy). 


4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
1 Demonic Consultation.
1 Necropotence
4 Dark Ritual
4 Dark Confidant
3 Diabolic Edict (or 3 Swords to Plowshares.  Currently leaning towards Edicts)

4 Aven Mindcenscer

4 Tarmogoyf

3 Hide/Seek

4 Null Rod
4 Tidehollow Sculler

4 Badland
4 Bayou
4 Scrubland
2 Swamp
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Polluted Delta

Sideboard
Looking for suggestions.

A few notes
The the deck’s strength comes from the following:
12 hand disruption effects (Duress, Thoughtseize, Tidehollow)
4 artifact nullification effects (Rull Rods)
4 search prevention (Mindcenser)
5 draw engines (Necro, Confidants)
4 mana acceleration effects unaffected by Null Rod.

Demonic Consultation and the lack of Vampiric & Demonic Tutor
It is a very consistent deck.  I noticed decks similar to this list, but I found their weakness was that they included a lot of 1x and 2x cards and a Vampiric & Demonic Tutor for search versatility.  This prevented them from using Demonic Consultation effectively.  It should be emphasized that in this particular deck, Consultation is far more powerful than Vampiric or Demonic Tutor. 

Regarding Swords vs Edicts
At first I was playing the deck with Swords.  However, the current kill cards of the top tier powered decks feature untargetable monsters.  Therefore, I feel that Edict is the superior card choice.   

Hide/Seek
This card is great.  It has killed me several times via Confidant, but its versatility at removing key cards in play and key cards still in-deck is simply amazing.

For a non-powered deck, I like it a lot.   


Pre-board, it has fair matchups vs Tezz, Grim and Oath.
Pre-board and post board, it is very unfavorable vs most Workshop strategies. 

Suggestions for the sideboard would be greatly appreciated.  I would like to use 3x or 4x cards so that I could Consult for them.

I'm Jin.  I live in Los Angeles, California.   

Used to post a number of years ago.  Got busy with life and work, but I'm back. 

Back then I encouraged people to get CE or Collector's Edition cards ASAP.  If you listened to my advice back then and picked up as many CE P9 and duals as possible, then much kudos to you.  My advice was my gift to you. 

Pat, this is a awesome thread.  I voted yes and I'm hoping for a Saga era nuke to the B&R list.  Jacob Orlove's targets seemed pretty dead on.  

I'm trying to get more people to get into Type 1 around my area, but its rather difficult when they claim Type 1 isn't fun because of the "turn 2 kill/turn 2 lock".... and they're correct.  

most importantly,
Fast mana must get restricted:
Workshop, the Rituals, ESG, etc

I almost always liked the City over the Voids.  The WTF no-artifact, workshop, Glimmervoid hand isn't as rare as one would think, but only having 1 void MD sometimes took care of this.  In addition, I'm now a complete advocate of the tombs.  I realize the high damage from them makes these unpopular, but the mana boost from these simply won me games that I really should have lost.  

The opponent's Shamans ALWAYS presented a big problem for me.  VS Dave, I forced one of his Shamans, only to have him drop another Shaman immediately next turn.  I figured he only had 2 of them MD.  I never would have suspected that he had 3 MD until I saw his list.  

For this deck, 2-3 Shamans seem like the right number to me.  My lone Shaman was pretty useless most games.   I never got him when I needed him, and I tended to always get him when I was about to win anyways.

My bad, I also should have mentioned that I had an active Welder out in addition to the Duplicant.  



City is better, but with all the other Reefs and Tombs, the damage really adds up quick as if you were activating Necro each turn.  The lone Glimmervoid should have been another City IMO, but I pussied out at the last minute.  

All of which wouldn't have mattered against a Price of Progress mid/late game.  I was so paranoid of these, that I Chaliced for 2 when I should have gone for 1, followed by 2.  Chalicing for 2 is a committed step, like marriage, after which you can't go and do another Chalice for 1 because the first Chalice will go & mess up those plans.  

I never even saw a single Price all 3 games vs Sugrim.  The Bolt-type effects alone were enough damage.    


I didn't mention this, but I think I will since it was a highlight of one of the games.  Earlier when I said Brent killed me after a huge Skeletal Scrye and a lot of Soldiers, I didn't mention his true kill.  After he hit me down to 1 life and 1 card in my hand, he sadistically Cunning Wished and Ebony Charmed me.  Such dishonor.

Brian,

This is such a coincidence.  I played this deck yesterday in La Mirada.  I really like it.  I like Memnarch too but, I replaced him with Duplicant because of Null Rod fear.  I dunno, maybe if Fish or Sligh continues to give me such a hard time, I'll have to find a way to somehow work in Razormane Masticore.  



I agree that Forces are absolutely necessary in this deck.

The tale of the 7-Eleven Whore

This actually begins the night before.  There was a small tournament Friday night at All Ways Gaming on Devonshire and Desoto in the city of Chatsworth, California.  Not too many showed up, but the decks were fierce.  The decks consisted of :

Keeper, Steve
Workshop Slaver, Me
Onslaught Beast deck, don’t remember his name
Stick/Phidian Tristan control, Tristan
Stick/Phidian Nguyen control, Nguyen
Drain Slaver, Nathan
7/10 Split, David Hernandez
Fish, Tony Soto
Mad Dragon, Farid

I’ve really enjoyed Workshop Slaver.  This is the most fun I’d had playing a Type 1 deck in a while.  I knew that Null Rods hurt.  In fact, my sideboard transformed the deck into 7/10 split w/arti-hate.  But it wasn’t until I got paired against Fish TWICE, and was completely defeated by Fish in two separate matches, did it really demonstrate to me the major problems vs Null Rod.  Afterwards during sushi, David told me about his purebreed 7/10 and some of it’s SB cards.  I realized the sideboard slots I was wasting on Titans in the Mindslaver deck could be better spent on even more hate vs Null Rods.  At the time, I was just sad that I had to play vs Tony Fish twice.  In retrospect, those losses were to prove to be an important lesson for the next day.  

For the Gems(La Mirada, California) Mox Jet Tournament, on the following day, Saturday….
I removed my Slavers,  I removed my Memnarch, I altered the deck.  This was so emotionally traumatic:  I changed the deck into 7/10 split.

At the tournament they wanted your decklists, and interestingly enough, your personal name for your deck.  I wrote down 7/10 at the top of my decklist, but it just didn’t feel descriptive enough.  The Sundering Titans are mean, dirty, and scanky, just like that old ghetto neighborhood you used to live in.  I changed the deck name to 7-Eleven Whore (7/11 > 7/10).  

32 players, 5 rounds, cut to top 8.  55 minute rounds

Round 1, vs Jaco playing Thirsty TNT
Game1:  He plays a first turn Juggernaut.  Later he plays a Sui-chi and a Welder.  I skillfully drop lands.  I die so strategically quick, that he’s left wondering what I’m playing.  
Game 2: I drop the 7-Eleven Whore.  Wipe out his duals except 1 Workshop.  On his turn, Jaco drops another shop, and drops Duplicant, Duplicating my 7-Eleven Whore.  Then my turn, I drop Duplicant which Duplicates his Duplicant which is currently Duplicating my previous 7-Eleven Whore.
Game 3: 7/11 > 5/3.  


Round 2, vs Brent Toda playing Keeper
Game1:  At one point, Brent announces 1st main phase.  Followed by 2nd main phase.  He drops Lotus.  Sac for Triple U, tap Sea and Strip=Yawgwill with UU floating.  I hear those words and instinctively panic, and like a knee-jerk reflex, I hardcast Force to stop Yawgwill.   It gets Drained.  That was dumb of me, walking right into his trap.  Yawgwill= draws, plays another land, takes another turn.  Then on the fresh new turn, he has 5 floating on his mainphase.  He eventually Skeletal scryes for a lot, makes a lot of soldiers and kills me.  
Game2&3:  In one game, Brent goes aggressive early and Mindtwists my Jar and something else good.  I then Tinker to get a Titan which kills several of Brent’s duals.  In both of these games 7/10 killed the control manabase very effectively.  

Round 3, vs David Hernandez playing 7/10 variant with BloodMoon Main
I’m really glad that I got to see David’s purebreed 7/10 in action yesterday.  However, for today, he modified yesterday’s build quite a bit.  
Game 1:  His Welders and 7/10 are facing down my Welders and my 7/10.  David tinkers for Triskelion, which quickly ends this showdown for me.
Game 2:  He has an early game lock on me with his Gorilla Shaman and Welder on the board.  I topdeck Fire/Ice, which basically wins me the game.  My deck explodes with combo-like brokeness of Welders, Workshops, Card Drawing, Super-Sized Creatures, followed by multiple Memory Jar Activations.(*see Final 8, Game 2)
Game 3:  We can’t finish the match.  We tie.  

Round 4, Arron West playing fish
Game 1:  He keeps a one land hand of Wasteland.  Tragically, he’s stuck at 1 land for several turns.  He even manages to Misdirect my Ancestral, but it’s not enough.  My deck explodes with combo-like brokeness of Welders, Workshops, Card Drawing, and Super-Sized Creatures.  
Games 2 and 3, I don’t remember too much, except that 7/10 > 1/1.

Round 5, Sugrim playing Sugrim Sligh
We tie.  This gets us both into Top 8.  
David told me the list of decks he tested 7/10 against.  I didn’t recall that sligh was amongst one of them.  I really should have played some casual games against Sugrim to see how my deck does against sligh.  But hell, it’s sligh, I know how sligh plays out, so why bother, right?  My overconfidence was a foolish mistake.    


Final 8 decks
Arron West, Fish
David Hernandez, 7/10
Jin, 7/11
Pat, Keeper
Brent, Keeper
Sugrim, Sligh
Nick, Tog
One more I can’t remember, sorry

Final 8
Vs Arron West playing Fish
Game 1:  He’s beating me down hard with Mishra’s Factory which is followed by Standstill.  This is followed by another Mishra’s Factory.  I’m at 1 life when I finally manage to resolve a Welder and Triskelion.  He drops a Conclave and we’re at a bit of a stalemate.  At one point, he drops his entire army of Grim, Thief, and Razorfin.  Trisk shoots his army, Welder recurs Trisk.  Arron had a handful of cards and I was expecting a Stifle when I attemted to recur the Trisk.  No Stifle in hand.  I drop more mana artifacts.  I drop a 7/10.  I drop a Duplicant.  I was expecting to get hit by Fire/Ice.  I see none.  We go on to game 2.  
Game 2:  He has an early game lock on me with his Gorilla Shaman and Grim Lavamancer on the board.  I topdeck Fire/Ice, which basically wins me the game.  My deck explodes with combo-like brokeness of Welders, Workshops, Card Drawing, Super-Sized Creatures, followed by multiple Memory Jar Activations.(*see Round 3, Game 2)


Final 4 decks
Sugrim, Sligh
Brent, Keeper
Pat, Keeper
Jin, 7/11

Final 4
Vs Sugrim playing Sugrim Sligh
I find out that he has beaten the other 7/10, David.  I’m thinking that Sugrim has some super potent hate maindeck.  This turns out to be incorrect.  He’s simply playing very Old School Sligh.  With my 4xChalice main, Trinispheres in SB, Triskelion, and huge monster creatures, I’m confident that I’m going to simply destroy  him.  
Game 1: Sugrim simply destroys me with Wastelands, Jackal Pups, Mogg Fanatics, Gorilla Shamans, Mishras Factories, Bolts, Incinerates, Chains.  
Game 2: Sugrim is simply pounding me with Mogg Fanatic, and Gorilla Shaman until Triskelion shows up.  Triskellion kills his army and procedes to smack.  Sugrim keeps shooting me with Bolts, and Incinerates.  My only land is Workshop and Ancient Tomb, ouch.  My hand has too much blue card drawing.  I tap out, drop Memory Jar.  Pop Jar, and the only land I see is City of Brass, ouch.  I tap City of Brass, draw cards, drop moxes, sol ring, and drop a Trinisphere.  On his turn, he pays 3 to shoot me with Chain.  At this point I’m nearly dead at 2 or 3 life.  I Chalice for 1, and Chalice for 2.  Sugrim Pillages my Chalice for 2.  I drop 7/10 leaving him with only 2 lands.  On his turn, Sugrim fails to see another land(which would have killed me) and dies.
Game 3: I mess up.  We both mull to six.  My new hand is shop, vault, jet and a lot of blue cards.  I shouldn’t have kept that hand either, but I really hate going to 5 cards.  I really should have gone to 5 cards.  I drop workshop mox, mana vault hoping to draw some colored land.  He wastes my shop and is done.  I draw another blue card.  He drops Shaman.  I draw another blue card.  Sugrim has had consistent land drops while I have missed the past 3 or 4.  He kills my mox, vault.  I finally get Trisk in hand and realize that I should have held the shop and artifact acceleration, dumped excess blue crap and just explode on his puny little creatures turn 6, although by that time, I was getting really close to bolt range anyways.  I die to sligh.

Sugrim is defeated by Pat(playing Keeper).  Pat came in first.  Good times.

Props:
To the tournament organizers and the new store.  Good turnout, and long enough rounds to aid in Control vs Control matches.  
Red Bull.  A old ex-Air Force pilot told me that there is nothing else as close to a legal combat drug.  
Sugrim Sligh, for defeating both 7/10 decks in the finals.    

   
Conclusions:
This deck is just as fun to play as Workshop Slaver.  Everthing about this silly deck is supersized.  Your lands produce 3 mana.  Your artifacts produce 3 mana.  You draw 7 cards.  Your creatures are absolute monsters which kill either your opponents creatures or their lands.  My suboptimal plays and outright play errors were often forgiven by the deck’s core broken cards.  The deck remained operational under a Null Rod or a Dampening Matrix.      





The 7-Eleven Whore:
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
3 Gilded Lotus
1 Memory Jar
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
1 Duplicant(I wanted to leave in Memnarch, but the Null Rod was too strong)

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Force of Will
1 Gorilla Shaman
4 Goblin Welder
1 Wheel of Fortune
 
Lands:
4 Mishra's Workshop
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Shivan Reef
2 Volcanic Island
1 City of Brass
1 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy

SB
1 Overload
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Rack and Ruin
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Trinisphere
1 Triskelion
2 Fire/Ice

I'm going to be working in the Marysville area and I was just wondering about the Type 1 scene in Sacramento and the surrounding areas.  

I've heard that at the C&J's tournaments, people from Sacramento sometimes show up.  What stores have Type 1 tournaments?

In the Sharhrazad subgame, I Sword my opponent's Tog.  In response, he Brainstorms, finds no Force, and before Sword resolves, he concedes.  In response to the first Sword, I play a second Sword on the Tog.    

So the question: Does concession follow the stack?  And can you do it again and again as many times as you like?

T1 @ Collector's Paradise 5 Proxy


Friday May 7th, 2004
6:00 pm

Event Location: Collector's Paradise--7131 Winnetka Ave,Winnetka,
CA --Phone (818) 999-9455
7131 Winnetka Ave
Winnetka, CA
Phone: (818) 999-9455

 

Entry fee:$5
Prizes: Cash value of pot in store credit

1. Decks must follow the the restricted/banned list for Type 1.

2. Proxies are allowed yet limited to a maximum of 5 per deck.

3. Collector's Edition/Championship deck/Gold border cards are legal
as long as they are sleeved.                                                          

 

Come and Challenge the Legends of the Valleys:

 
M.A.K.-10 (Mysterious Artificer Kahana)
Win Win
Hard Bastard Hong
Tony, The Master
Giddings, his apprentice
Black Knight Tristan

BE WARNED Lucky Dragon is gunning for YOU


T1 @ Collector's Paradise 5 Proxy

Friday April 9th, 2004
6:00 pm  

Event Location: Collector's Paradise--7131 Winnetka Ave,Winnetka,
CA --Phone (818) 999-9455
7131 Winnetka Ave
Winnetka, CA
Phone: (818) 999-9455

Entry fee:$5
Prizes: Cash value of pot in store credit
1. Decks must follow the the restricted/banned list for Type 1.

2. Proxies are allowed yet limited to a maximum of 5 per deck.

3. Collector's Edition/Championship deck/Gold border cards are legal
as long as they are sleeved.


BE WARNED Lucky Dragon is gunning for YOU

May 8th is good with me

FreddieNDB, if you need a ride you can go with us

Collector's Paradise
(818) 999-9455
7131 Winnetka Ave
Winnetka, CA

in the San Fernando Valley Presents it's 2nd:
TYPE 1 TOURNAMENT    

We had 22 Participants in our first tournament.
Come play in a highly competitive environment


The rules:
1. Decks must follow the the restricted/banned list for Type 1.

2. Proxies are allowed yet limited to a maximum of 5 per deck.

3. Collector's Edition/Championship deck/Gold border cards are legal as long as they are sleeved.

Date: Friday, March 12th at 6pm
Entry fee:$5
Prizes: Cash value of pot in store credit

I encourage all the Southern California Type 1 players to go. The store's large, clean, and air conditioned.  

Weekend of Type 1.  Play your deck here on Friday, see what needs tweaking in the sideboard, and then on Saturday the 13th, play at Gem's in La Mirada to win a Mox.

Edit

Good places to eat before the tourney.
Theres a lot of good places to eat in the Valley. These are some of my personal favorites that are also located within 15 minutes of Collectors Paradise.

Middle Eastern
Safir
(the boneless chicken kabob is awesome)
(818)344-9090
18446 Sherman Way

Mexican
Tortilla Loca
(818)344-3510
18134 Sherman Way

Carrillo's
(818)887-6118
19744 Sherman Way

Japanese
Musashi
(very good tempura)
(818)701-7041
9046 Tampa Ave

Vietnamese
Pho 999
(818)705-1899
7255 Reseda Blvd

Bar-b-que
Woodranch, Northridge Fashion center
9301 Tampa Ave
Phone: (818) 886-6464

B/G for the Deeds alone seem worth it to splash green.

@BouncingBeeble

Goblin Tinkerer
Creature - Goblin

1/2.
,{Tap}: Destroy target artifact. That artifact deals damage equal to its converted mana cost to ~this~.
Possible Uses: Kill chalice of the void set to one, since that stops both goblin vandal and gorilla shaman (not to mention all your other dorks and burn).


These guys kill Dreadnaughts rather efficiently too.

because letting your Phage, from your hand, come into play on your opponent's side would be awfully foolish.

Illusions of Grandeur was once a 75 cents janky rare like Leveler.  Donate changed all that.  

There are piles of jank which could become better or even brutal raping cards if the right cards were made.  

I would like to hear other's opinions on what card/cards would need to be printed in order for their favorite piece of jank, to become a brutally efficient card.

My favorite jank is Leveler.  

Living Donation
Sorcery
2U
Put a creature from your hand into play under Target player's control



then Leveler would kick some serious ass.

Regardless of the day of the week, what time will it likely be at?

If you can't afford shades, then you probably can't afford sinkholes.  Hell, Negator and wastelands aren't too cheap anymore either if you think about.  

Honestly, if you're not willing/can't afford to get shades or sinks, then you might not be able to build a good version of this deck.

I agree that Landstill is the deck to play with what you have.


You might want to loan out your jet in order to borrow a pearl for the tournament.  UW Landstill is very strong, and in such a big tournament, it would probably do fairly well.

@Gio,
Those were some really bad hands that you got against me.  I didn't even see a Workshop in both games.  When the TNT player plays a forest, go, forest, go, mountain, go, for 4 turns in a row, things are looking mighty bad for TNT.  Against you, I was lucky with the early Dryad.  Mostly, against everyone else, I got my Dryads kinda late.

One more comment regarding the standardization/non-standardization of decks:
I think that it's best to mix and diversify the cards in a deck that have the exact same ability but different names/creature types.   If I was running 2 Oktabi's in my sideboard, I'd change one to Viridian Shaman just to protect against Cabal therapies, Meddling Mages.

Foils/Betas/Foreign Cards/Signatures, etc… all or nothing at all


I played in two Type 1 Tournaments this past weekend in Los Angeles (Burbank sanctioned, Lancaster non-sanctioned).   After any tournament, I try to reflect on what I’ve learned.  
I know that for some players, they own all Beta and many multiple copies of Foils.  However, I think that for most Type 1 players,  they have a collection more similar to mine: some randomn Beta/Alpha uncommons, commons, a few cool rares (likewise with the Foils and Foreign cards) and mostly Unlimited & Revised.      
Much discussion on TMD regards the optimization of decks to their maximum potential, therefore here’s my theory on what I’ve learned(forgive me if this has been fairly obvious to everyone else).  


‘The components of a TOURNAMENT deck(each individual card) should be rather “bland” and forgetable.  If not, then every card should be as “flashy” as possible.  Sometimes the fact that you had several cards that weren’t exactly the same will give your opponent a slight advantage regarding knowledge of your deck.’



By “flashy” I am refering to cards such as Foils/Foreign Cards/Signatures/Alpha/Betas.  Now for many cards such as Dark Ritual, it really doesn’t matter whether all of them in your deck are the same or each one different, since there’s going to be 4 of these in there anyways.  But cards like Misdirection, dual lands, basic lands; these cards must be completely standardized in your deck.  

My Error before the games even began:
I was running GAT with 2 Misdirections maindeck: one foil, the other was not.  I had 4 Underground Seas: 2 French Black Border, 1 Italian Black Border, 1 English revised white border.   These were just a few of the card discrepancies in my deck.  
In Game 2 of one of my matches, my opponent noted that the Foil Misdirection(in the out of game pile due to Force) was really nice.  They mentioned that they’d probably have to worry about at least one more because the one I used against him Game 1 was non-foil.  And then it hit me.  I slapped the deck togethor without even thinking that the diversity of certain key cards might make a difference at all.  

The fact that he was estimating the number of certain cards did not make a difference in the end because I won that match.  But the fact remains that it COULD have made a difference.                    

I would like to hear other people’s opinions.  In addition I would like to know if anyone has ever exploited to their advantage the non-standardization of cards in an opponent’s deck.

I think that the T-sphere might be good in Tangle-TNT.  I liked the Tangles in TNT but they still allowed an opponet to Swords the Jugg.  Now with Workshop>Jugg, followed by a turn 2 T-sphere, followed by a turn 3 Wasteland, thats GG against a lot of decks.  TNT runs 4 of each of the above cards, so this scenario is very possible.

What about Artifact Mutation?  I know that the artifact won't be destroyed, but will I still get the 11 tokens?

After Darksteel, I think that people will start playing a lot more:


Dust to Dust.  This is the only decently costed artifact removal from game effect that I can think of (other than Swords, but that's only for creatures).  This card will also definitely go up in value too.  

I just like Eureka, it's somehow begging to be broken.

If there is some way to abuse this thing, I would love to do so.  The only true viable way seems to be tinker.  I'd love to see any other indestructible creatures from this set.  I'd settle for a smaller creature as long as it was also equally smaller in casting cost.