A few days late to the party, but you all know the saying.."Better Late...

I had to go through ancient e-mail accounts to try to find my ID and then get through the Maze of Ith to get access to post.

Congrats to Raffaele on the article and great finish at Worlds.  While I have not been as involved in his transformation as I once was, it was great to see the evolution from a distance. Going from a good magic player to one who helps define an Archetype is no small tasks, especially when you count all the real life balancing with work and family.

Now both my brothers have made Top 8 at worlds (Vin 2x) and I am proud to say that no small feat.  I remember the Eureka Deck, I remember the Gauntlet Deck, Psyc Tomb-Karma etc...decks that wouldn't make it now, but were unique and very effective for the time.  Bringing back those memories, having a hobby in common with the people you care about, trying to improve.....That is what I loved most about the article. Remembering

Its a long way from us winning and getting to the finals at the 200+ person single elimination NYC Magic event at the New Yorker.  For those that remember the days when there only was Vintage, but we didn't know it was called that....enjoy the memories.

Props to my brother Vin for making coming in 3rd at worlds with a rogue deck of his own creation.  We started playing magic when there was no type II and people didn't net deck.  In the modern age of Type I having a semi-original deck and it being competitive is as hard as hitting a top 8 in these events.

Props to the other guys in the T8 who didn't go in with Gat and Flash for keeping the meta interesting.

THE BIG LOU

klu,

i don't believe that I ever suggested the card.  I was responding to bebe mentioning it for inclusion.  I think IGG is a very intersting card that is still up for debate regarding how good it is (in any deck). There has been only 1 deck that has done anything with this card...but will it be the next Gifts (now even included in GAT).  No need to respond to this as I do not want to hijack your thread.


BIGLOU

The only person that I have seen play Ill-gotten gains (IGG) is Vincent Forino's deck.  Top 16 in the Waterbury and played in several of the last Star city tourneys to high finishes.  Interesting card that complicates and/or alters your strategy.

When I first saw his deck, I thought is was a a fun diversion until he beat my gifts and controll slaver builds about 7-3.  Even more intersting is that when I played it I had to learn to play very differently then any combo deck that I had ever played.  IGG is a part of why it play differently.  More info is in the tourney section under results for the Waterbury

BIGLOU

Crater Hellion kills all your opponents tokens as well allowing them to Oath on their turn.  It could be Tinker/Darksteel for free...

Has anyone give thought aboutthe Tog in an Oath deck?  C.Wish for the Berserk or other kill card after Oathing w/ a Fat Graveyard ...Game over.

THEBIGLOU

Have you play tested this deck vs Oath ?

They will make you pay something fierce for those welders and X-Swarm.  I am curious how that match up goes.

I haven't played X-Swarm in a while, are they still worthwhile cards when most decks that play counter spelling are combo-esqe ? Traditional control like 4cc have spot removal to handle the X-Swarms.

I have found Genesis to be much too slow in against today’s decks.  

Are 4 Survivals overkill with the rest of the engine?  Do you have any match up analysis from actual games?  I am curious to see how it matches up in a real game.

THEBIGLOU

It looks like a cool deck, but I see some problems if you want to run this in tourneys.

A deck is good or bad based on the meta that is around.  Here are some of my opinions regarding the meta post Trinisphere restriction.

1.  Spot removal like Swords to Plowshares & Seal of Removal are back because of Oath.  IMHO Oath is the best deck out there now.

2. Most consider the TNT framework not viable w/o 4 Trinispheres.

3.  People will want to try their new combo decks once again.  A Sphere of Resistance is much easier to handle than a Trini....

4. Most decks will have abundant Graveyard hate in the SB.

Now let's take a look at you deck in the Meta.  

1. You are very vulnerable to spot removal like StP.

2. You have little to no disruptions to stop Counters, Spot removal or Graveyard hate.

3. Oath will make you pay for putting the Welder out there and can outrace the Titan.

Please don't take this the wrong way, it looks like a fun deck and there are some cool concepts.

Another potentially bad match up will be 4 color control.  The will remove you Sqeees from the graveyard, Swords your welders thus stopping your engine.  Then selectively counter your threats...

There is a deck in the Vintage forum that does a lot of what you want, but I think does them a little better.  Take a look at the Cerebral Assassin deck for some ideas.

THEBIGLOU