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Hey guys, new article up on Vintagemagic.com, "The Post Champs Metagame."  This week I take a look at the top 32 deck lists and examine some of the important trends that we can learn from the whopping nearly 500 player Vintage Championship event.  I think the tournament and the results are particularly important because it highlights decks that were able to perform well over the course of a 10 round event!

http://www.vintagemagic.com/blog/

Be sure to check the vintagemagic website for more content.  There will be multiple articles going up every week. 

Let me know what you guys think of my analysis.  Cheers, Brian.

New article up on Vintagemagic.com by Paul Mastriano about how to combat Dredge in Vintage.

http://www.vintagemagic.com/blog/dredge-u-cation/

Be sure to check it out.

Dredge is sure to be out in force at Eternal Weekend (no proxies) so be sure to be prepared to play against Bazzar of Baghdad!

Cheers, Brian.

Very fun and well run event.  Nice job Nick!  I am for sure marking my calendar to attend this event every year from now on.

Registered!  Looking forward to a really fun Vintage event.  Happy for the chance to dust off my P9 and go to work.

I played an Oath Tendrils deck that I brewed up. 

4 Oath of Druids
1 Show and Tell
4 Force of Will
1 Griselbrand
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Tinker
1 Show and Tell
1 Burning Wish
1 Time Twister
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Thoughtcast
3 Preordain
2 Thoughtseize
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Yawgmoth's WIll
1 Time Walk
1 Mana Vault
4 Mox Opal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
4 Forbidden Orachard
2 Mana Confluence
4 Seat of Synod
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
1 Show and Tell
1 Balance
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vandal Blast
1 Thoughtseize
3 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Rest in Peace
2 Nature's Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Mana Confluence

The SCV / Oath hybrid thing didn't work out quite as well as I was hoping it would -- but I don't think the deck was as bad as the result that I put up.

Straight Oath or Straight SCV is probably just a better choice in general.  Over the course of about five rounds I'm pretty sure that my mana base did approximately 1000 damage to me.  So, just adding Orchards (even to a fast combo deck) certainly has a very real cost.

I was hoping that adding Oaths would help me out against Workshop decks.  I actually played against a Shop deck but I never drew an Oath (and wouldn't you know that I had a five or six turn window to draw an Oath but didn't!). 

I also lost to a mono blue counterspell deck to get eliminated from Top eight which I certainly wasn't planning on playing against. 

But I beat Dredge and so I went home happy.  Had a blast playing at this tournament and really enjoyed playing my deck even though it wasn't built ideally.  I learned a lot about the format and am looking forward to playing more Vintage in the coming months.

I'm down for this.  Sounds awesome. 

Young Pyromancer is pretty good against The Abyss...  On the flipside, The Abyss seems quite good against Sultai creature decks and Merfolk.  It feels like a sideboard card that would be really above average against a few creature decks, but almost not worth bringing in against others.  I'd probably be looking for my creature hate cards to be a little bit more flexible.  Dismember, Abrupt Decay, Toxic Deluge, etc.

Yeah, I don't really have any say in the matter of what to call the wedges in my articles and referring to BUG and RUG as Sultai and Temur is pretty much new standard operating procedure at this point.  Sultai and Temur Delver takes a little getting used to, but it is a good thing overall moving forward.

I didn't mention Dig Through Time because I haven't seen or played with a Dig Through Time deck that I thought was going to be a big time player this weekend.  It's obviously a powerful card and no doubt it is probably fantastic in the right deck, but I just haven't seen that deck yet.  If anybody has a list of that archetype that people can take a look at feel free to post it in the thread. 

I mean, in the article I did pick exemplary decks from the archetypes, right?  I said Tezzeret, MUD (either Null Rods or Forgemasters are equally great), and UR Delver.

From the comments on SCG responding to Tom Dixon asking about why BUG fish wasn't on my list:

"Actually, Grixis combo control decks have won 4. Control Slaver, Gifts,and Grixis Bob Vault x2.

I can't reasonably make a "frontrunner" list and put EVERYTHING on it. From what I've seen I think Workshop is the odds on favorite to win the event. My issue with various Deathrite Shaman is that it is in so many different archetypes, so I just listed the card. It goes into 4c Control, Fish, Midrange, etc.

I learned my lesson a couple of years ago about saying which decks I think are bad or can't win when Dredge won the event. Basically, any deck can win on any given day. However, I think that there are certain archetypes that will be more played and are maybe a little bit better positioned. Workshop, Mana Drain / Combo-control, and UR Delver are decks that I think will get a ton of play and are all extremely good right now. Based on their popularity and power I think these are probably the most important decks for players to understand what is going on and have a plan for at the moment.

Rather than put a specific Deathrite Shaman deck I just put the card because it goes into such a wide range of decks. I think there is a really good shot that DRS wins the event, but in what archetype? Control? Midrange? Fish? Beatdown? I don't specifically think its more likely that Sultai Fish wins the event or a 4 or 5C Deathrite Control deck. So, long story short, in Vintage literally nothing surprises me any more because of how large the card pool is, but my suggestion is that going into the event Workshop, Drains, and Delvers are going to be very important. I anticipate I will play against those three decks A LOT."

In the article I said that I think literally any of the "real decks" can win the event.  Everything is really powerful and winning die rolls and getting nice match ups and nice hands goes a long way.  I picked the three decks that I think all are good enough to win lots of rounds, win multiple top eight matches in a row, and that are going to see A LOT of play at this event:

Mishra's Workshop
Mana Drain Combo Control
Delver

If you had to pick three, I think this is a very, very defensible three decks to pick here.

I played Oath last year and I think the deck is outstanding but there are a lot of Grafdigger's Cages out there.  It is the best card against Oath and it is basically one of the most universally played cards in the format.  That dynamic, and the fact that it has to battle uphill against a lot of hate is one of the things that make me believe it isn't a favorite to win the event.  But, the deck is great, insanely powerful, and obviously could win the event.

Sultai I described in my response to Tom Dixon.

New Vintage article up on Starcitygames.com.  Today, I take a look at the decks that I think will be the format defining decks for the upcoming Vintage Championship at Eternal Weekend.  I think that these decks (in general) make up a really good testing gauntlet for what I would expect a large chunk of the metagame to look like.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29563_Frontrunners-For-The-Vintage-Championship.html

Predictions?  Which archetype will ultimately win the tournament?

My money is on Mishra's Workshop this time around for the reasons that I discuss in the article.  Check it out and me know what you think! 

I hope to see many familiar faces at Eternal Weekend in a couple of days and for those of you TMD regulars and SCG readers that I haven't met yet I hope that you say hello!  Very excited to play some Vintage.  Cheers, Brian

100% Proxy vintage in Livonia Michigan @ RIW Hobbies

Format: Proxy vintage, also please try and keep the proxies as easily readable and distinguishable to your opponents as possible.

Entry: 10$

Prize: double the entries taken in to top 8 (i.e. 20 players = 400 in store credit)

When: 12pm signups and 1pm start  (sunday, oct 19th)

Where: RIW Hobbies, 29116 Five Mile rd, Livonia Michigan, 48154
for further details call: 734-261-7233    email: Devon@riwhobbies.net    or visit our website: www.riwhobbies.net

For what it's worth I always play Mystic Remora in Midrange Bant lists.  I like it a lot in those decks because you can pressure with creatures, have mana dorks, etc.  I have an updated list in my article on SCG this week.

New lists for Midrange Bant and SCV.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28883_Revamping-My-Favorite-Vintage-Brews-For-MODO.html

Goblin Welder - Probably my favorite card to play with in all of Magic.  Once this creature becomes active the lines available to a player basically increase exponentially.  Basically, it's a llanowar elf that can also cast Reanimate--for free... every turn... targeting Time Walk...

Killer Bees - My favorite card from way back in the day when I was first learning how to play.  The Phil Foglio artwork is absolutely brilliant and hilarious.  The flavor text is completely out of control.  My Commander deck is basically built around an Insect theme simply to give me an excuse to play with Killer Bees.

Library of Alexandria - also one of my favorite cards from way back in the day.  I quit playing Magic for a couple of years when I was in High School and my Freshman year in college I had a world history course where the professor did a segment of his lecture on the Library of Alexandria.  On my way home after class I stopped at my local comic shop and bought two Starter decks and a couple of booster packs and made my brother play Magic with me (after not having played a game for three or four years).  So, without that card existing I probably wouldn't have ever gotten back into the game!

New article today discussing the fledgling Vintage Modo Metagame.  A must read for Vintage players who are in or getting into playing Magic Online.  I will be doing more of these articles to help players keep track of what is going on in Vintage online.

Round one:  seems to have Workshops and Oath handily at the top of the heap. 

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28833_MTGO-Vintage.html

Cheers,
Brian

Golgari Charm seems like a great one. 

Find an angle to attack them from that gives you an edge...

Cheap / efficient removal to help race:

Gut Shot
Dark Blast
Doomblade
Disfigure
Dismember
Abrupt Decay

Recurring sources of removal / card advantage to win a war of attrition:

Ulvenwald Tracker
Plaguebearer
Liliana of the Veil
Garruk Relentless
Life from the Loam
Courser of Kruphix

Sweepers that can be spun to your advantage, aka kills there's but not yours (decimate their board in one big splashy play):

Engineered Plague
Toxic Deluge
Pernicious Deed
Engineered Explosives
Ratchet Bomb

2 for 1s

Eternal Witness
Slay / Execute
Solemn Simulacrum

Creatures that outclass and go over the top of their creatures

Thrun, the Last Troll
Tarmogoyf
Ophidiomancer

Add a combo to go over the top

Natural Order + Progenitus
Helm + Leyline
Dark Depths + Hexmage

Equipment

Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Fire and Ice
Umezawa's Jitte!!!!!!!

New article up on SCG.  I take a look at the best cards in Conspiracy that are likely to be difference makers in Vintage moving forward.  Will Dack Fayden be a real player moving forward?  Only time will tell!

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28673_Vintage-Conspiracy-Review.html

Cheers,
Brian

This is coming up soon, I couldnt be more excited!

I love this card.  I have played with Uktabi Orangutan in Vintage on multiple occasions.  This card is straight up better.  I think that this card will see play outside of just Elves decks.  Any Bant deck I played with GSZ would for sure play one of these.  I also like that it is a sideboard card that double dips against Oath and WS for decks that want to attack.

Restoration Angel.

Hmm, card X seems good...  But, Mindslaver is a Mindslaver... 

I totally get it.

New Vintage article up on SCG today.

I talk about the decks that have been winning some of the bigger Vintage tournaments in the world over the past month.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28565_May-Vintage-in-Review.html

Hey guys, its been a while since I've gotten around to writing about Vintage but this week's offering is all Vintage all the time.

I got a chance to watch and play quite a bit of Vintage from the sidelines of GP Philly and this week's article catalogs a pretty epic duel between two Vintage Ringers: Nick Coss (TPS) Vs. Paul Mastriano (BUG Control).  The match was pretty exciting to watch as there was a lot of fast paced spell slinging going on back and forth.

Check it out:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28293_Vintage-Master-ClassCoss-vs-Mastriano.html

Cheers,
Brian DeMars

Deck lists are in order of final standing for top 8

come check us out at www.riwhobbies.net for up to date info on our next event.
we do vintage at least once a month! 



Sean O’neal – Affinity Shops
Design Credit: Adrian Becker

4 Genesis Chamber
4 Skull Clamp
4 Memnite
4 Phyrexian revoker
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Tangle Wire
4 Signal Pest
4 Archbound Ravager
3 Frogmite
2 Steel overseer
1 Memory jar
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
2 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Opal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby

SIDEBOARD
4 Grafdigger’s cage
3 Witchbane Orb
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Dismember
2 Tormod’s Crypt


Anthony Enokian – BUG
Design Credit: Devon Paynter

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark confidant
3 Snapcaster mage
2 Trygon Predator
1 Tarmogoyf
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Mistep
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 brainstorm
1 time walk
1 ancestral recall
1 steel sabotage
1 thoughtseize
1 black lotus
1 mox sapphire
1 mox jet
1 mox emerald
2 jace, the mind sculptor
1 liliana of the veil
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
3 underground sea
2 tropical island
1 bayou
4 wasteland
1 strip mine

SIDEBOARD
2 grafdigger’s cage
2 yixilid jailer
1 surgical extraction
3 dismember
4 nature’s claim
1 flusterstorm
1 thoughtseize


Tyler Isbell – BUG Bears

4 Deathrite shaman
4 dark confidant
4 snapcaster
3 trygon predator
4 force of will
4 abrupt decay
2 spell pierce
3 mental misstep
3 steel sabotage
1 brainstorm
1 vampiric tutor
1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 demonic tutor
2 null rod
1 mox sapphire
1 mox emerald
1 mox jet
1 black lotus
3 verdant catacombs
3 polluted delta
3 tropical island
3 underground sea
1 bayou
1 strip mine
4 wasteland

SIDEBOARD
1 swamp
1 grafdigger’s cage
1 hurkyl’s recall
2 flusterstorm
1 vendillion clique
2 scavenging ooze
3 snuff out
4 leyline of the void


Andrew Mclennan – Merfolk

3 silvergil adept
1 time walk
3 daze
4 flusterstorm
1 ancestral recall
4 lord of atlantis
4 master of the pearl trident
4 cursecatcher
1 waterfront bouncer
3 merrow reejery
4 true-name nemesis
1 steel sabotage
1 phantasmal image
3 mental misstep
1 flusterstorm
2 null rod
1 mox sapphire
1 black lotus
4 cavern of souls
9 island
1 strip mine
4 wasteland

SIDEBOARD
3 dismember
1 hurkyl’s recall
3 steel sabotage
1 waterfront bouncer
2 tormod’s crypt
4 grafdigger’s cage
1 pithing needle


Michael Danielson – BUG Swing for two
Design Credit  Michael Danielson

1 black lotus
1 mox emerald
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
1 mox sapphire
1 mox pearl
1 ponder
1 brainstorm
1 ancestral recall
3 mental misstep
3 spell pierce
1 mystical tutor
1 vampiric tutor
4 deathrite shaman
1 steel sabotage
1 umezawa’s jitte
1 demonic tutor
4 abrupt decay
4 dark confidant
2 scavenging ooze
3 snapcaster mage
2 jace the mind sculptor
4 force of will
4 wasteland
1 strip mine
3 underground sea
2 bayou
1 tropical island
3 verdant catacombs
3 misty rainforest

SIDEBOARD
1 forest
1 flusterstorm
4 grafdigger’s cage
1 hurkyl’s recall
1 toxic deluge
2 ratchet bomb
2 nature’s claim
2 yixilid jailer
1 tarmogoyf


Charlie Krug – Tinker Control

1 black lotus
1 mox jet
1 mox sapphire
1 mox ruby
1 mox pearl
1 mox emerald
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
1 sensei’s divining top
1 blightsteel colossus
1 time vault
1 voltaic key
4 flooded strand
3 polluted delta
3 underground sea
3 tundra
2 island
1 tolarian academy
1 demonic tutor
1 yawgmoth will
1 vampiric tutor
4 dark confidant
1 toxic deluge
2 thought seize
2 spell snare
3 mana drain
3 jace, the mind sculptor
1 merchant scroll
1 brainstorm
1 time walk
1 ancestral recall
4 force of will
1 tinker
1 mystical tutor
1 thirst for knowledge
1 hurkyl’s recall
2 mental misstep

SIDEBOARD
1 seal of cleansing
1 disenchant
2 steel sabotage
2 rest in peace
4 swords to plowshares
4 leyline of the void
1 plains


Aaron Katz – Welded Colossus

4 force of will
3 mental misstep
2 spell pierce
2 mana drain
3 goblin welder
3 dark confidant
3 baleful strix
1 sensei’s divining top
1 ancestral recall
1 brainstorm
1 ponder
1 time walk
1 thirst for knowledge
2 jace, the mind sculptor
1 vampiric tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 tinker
1 blightsteel colossus
1 time vault
1 voltaic key
1 yawgmoth’s will
1 black lotus
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 mox ruby
1 mox jet
1 mox sapphire
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
1 snapcaster mage
1 island
3 volcanic island
3 undergound sea
3 polluted delta
4 scalding tarn
1 tolarian academy
1 badlands

SIDEBOARD
3 grafdigger’s cage
1 mountain
3 ingot chewer
2 lightning bolt
1 tormod’s crypt
2 flusterstorm
3 ?


Kevin Poenisch – Super Dredge

4 bazaar of Baghdad
4 city of brass
4 undiscovered paradise
1 gemstone mine
4 serum powder
1 darkblast
4 golgari grave-troll
4 golgari thug
4 stinkweed imp
4 narcomeoba
4 bridge from below
4 cabal therapy
4 bloodghast
4 ichorid
4 leyline of the void
3 dread return
2 flamekin zealot
1 griselband

SIDEBOARD
2 wispmare
4 nature’s claim
3 ingot chewer
2 mental misstep
4 unmask

It's that time again!  Check out my Vintage set review for Born of the Gods on Starcitygames.com. 

Lots of neat deck lists and deck ideas packed in here: 

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27850_Born-Of-The-Gods-Vintage-Set-Review.html

The set has some interesting cards that may have an impact for Magic's oldest format.  What do you guys think will be the best Spirit of the Labyrinth deck moving forward?

Cheers,
Brian