What robots do most of you use? And how many?

I have been tweaking my combinations around.  I personally go with 3 robots myself.  This weekend I'm playing with Platinum Angel, Triskelion and Triskelavus.  My sideboard has Duplicant and Sundering Titan in it as well.

In regards to two specific robots, what do you guys prefer?  Pentavus or Triskelavus.

For Pentavus, I like the option to remove all the counters and make him a 0/0 and weld him back into play fully loaded.
For Triskelavus, I like the fact that he flys and his tokens can shoot for 1.

Thoughts...

I have played this deck on and off in local vintage tournaments and I am still not convinced with Bob.  I guess he could be better for the deck with the current restrictions, but I am really not sure why Bob and DSC are in the same deck.  Does that not seem a bit risky for the potential life loss.  I know the odds of hitting DSC with Bob is low and that is why Top should be abused with that, there is still a potential for a 11 point life loss.

As for the 4 Drains, I believe they are a lot better to have as a 4 of than the 3/3 split with Mana Leak.

Well I played the deck this weekend and went 6-0 in single rounds and went 2-0, 2-0, 2-1 to win a local weekend tournament.  I did experiment with the Flame-kin in for the LED, but found there were times were i would have rather had the LED to discard my hand in certain situations.  I will be changing that back.  The field wasn't super strong where I had to worry about one single card.

The matchups in the single rounds were mostly scrubs.  The playoffs were when it got fun.

Round 1 vs. WW (easy matchup) - the guy had no idea how to defend against several cabal therapies and then two huge Ghouls for 2-0

Round 2 vs. Oath.  Game 1: Bazaar gets wasted.  Zombie token beats for the win.  He drew horrible, digging for oath to no prevail and couldn't find a solution after bouncing a few of my creatures.

Game 2:  An interesting matchup, I draw a fairly good hand with Bazaar, and I am able to get another one on my first bazaar draw.  Sadly he has two wastelands and then he draws dead and I swing away with Shadows and Ichorid after a few hard casts.


Finals vs. Red Stax.  Game One, I draw savagely and win on turn two.

Game two:  My only loss of the day.  After several pile shuffles and debateable hands, I mull to 4 and potentially have solutions, he drops two needles and begins to welder in some beats.  I don't last long.

Game three:  Mull to six, FTW.  Savage hand with Bazaar, Chain of Vapor , Troll, Trop, CoV, Bauble  I am able to win on turn three after some good hits on Cabal Therapy making enough zombies + a Ghoul for lethal damage.

SB for the tourny:

4 Emerald Charm
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Gemstone Mines
3 Tropical Island

Had Flame-kin Zealot in instead of LED, bad idea, but Zealot helped in a few situations, but in the end, LED would've been preferred.  Either way, I was patient with the deck, made minimal errors and won.

My bad, thanks for the posts, it makes complete sense to drop the grudges and put in chain#4 and 3 city of brass.  Did you have any suggestions for the card to drop for the Flame-kin Zealot?

I've been really enjoying this deck and annoying the heck out of people who aren't sure what to do against it, but a question has come up while testing this.  I've been using the list the Smmenen has, with a sideboard of:

4 Gemstone Mine
4 Emerald Charm
4 Ancient Grudge
3 Chain of Vapor

Now my question is, of the list, which is the most expendable spot for Flame-kin Zealot.  I didn't like the card at first but I do believe the deck can be a little more diverse with a spot for one.  The ghoul kill has been my favourite since I started playing the deck but I come from a environment of wasteland happy people and the ichorid/narco/nether shadow recursion sometimes wins the game.  I think with those cards and their interaction with cabal therapy and bridge from below are really solid but sometimes could use a hasty overrun option such as the zealot.  It couldn't hurt to have the option of having the zealot win as well.  Now all of these are always situational and it's never a smart thing to rush the combo without taking a stab at your opponents hand without Cabal Therapy for FOW, bounce, STP, etc.

Reason 1:  that odd time your Ghouls seem to be sitting on the bottom 2-4 cards.
Reason 2:  someone who TD's a bounce spell (brainstorm) and you are short of cabal therapies
Reason 3:  Just more of a diverse kill when you can dread return the ghoul and the zealot.

Now I'm not sure which slot can change with the zealot being that all of the cards in the deck have surved their purpose over and over again and seem to be so vitale for this deck to function properly.  Any thoughts or suggestions let me know. 

The deck I have been playing is:

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Petrified Field
4 Mishra’s Factory
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
4 Golgari Thug
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
3 Shambling Shell
4 Ichorid
4 Nether Shadow
2 Sutured Ghoul
1 Sundering Titan
4 Unmask
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Serum Powder
2 Dragon's Breath
2 Dread Return
4 Cabal Therapy

Now my sideboard has been a mixed bag considering that I only own certain cards.  I do like the Underground Seas with Chain of Vapor as an option for bounce.  I have been considering either Tropical Island or Bayou as another option because the decks I've played against tend to hate alot with Hide/Seek, Extract, Jester's Cap, Extirpate.  If you can't cast Dread Return, you either have to recur Ichorid, Nether Shadow beats with Mishra's Factory.  Especially if you get hit with a Tormod's Crypt, Leyline or Planar Void.  I think the ability to cast Golgari Grave Troll is definitely an option i've been trying to work around.  After playing the deck against a variety of high and low caliber decks, when you are up the creek and your options are limited without Dread Return, than casting the Troll might be the best option.  I've seen some other decks with Riftstone Portal and I might test that as well.

Other than that, I have been playing the deck with a consistent turn 3-4 win.  After some solid Unmasks and Cabal Therapies.  The metagame though is a mixed bag with lots of random scrub decks, but some viable decks such as Gifts, Stax, Storm decks, Rock, Tog, R/G Beats, and scrub mill decks with Leylines (ugh).

The sideboard I've been using is Pithing Needles, Underground Seas, Chain of Vapor, Leyline of the Void, Krosan Cloudscraper, Urborg (Planar Chaos land), Tormod's Crypt.

This past weekend, I went 6-1 in the single rounds and then went 2-0, 2-0, and 1-2 in the playoffs (lost to Gifts).  Should of won, by Cabal Therapying his hand of anything of use and then he savagely topdecked Tinker into Tormods' Crypt.  Which took any win conditions away.  Oh well, that's magic.  Within the tournament, I was able to see the vunerability and versatility of the deck when your are in a pickle.  Losing Dread Return isn't the end, if you can recur enough Ichorid's and Shadows, but the one thing I was hoping for was the possibility to cast a Grave Troll if needed and that was lacking.  Besides the sideboard options I have given, are there any other suggestions.  I don't not want to tinker with the main deck, I believe it is quite solid.

Cradle can be a bad draw if it is your only land in the opening hand.  The key with elves is to run as many as possible with as little land, that's why land grants are key to the deck and from experience the Cradle is not needed because the amount of mana by turn 3 or 4 is ridiculous.

I figured Pithing Needle was a reason for the deck not being playable.  Stax has its way of getting around Pithing Needle, but hey that's a different story .  As well I have heard the deck called Bruce Lee and it seems to be quite successful in 100 Vintage tournaments in Ontario.  Aren't there solutions to Pithing Needle such as Engineered Ex, Seal of Cleansing, Pernicious Deed, Disenchant, etc.  I was just looking for I guess another idea for Vintage as opposed to the current decks.  I appreciate the link for the deck discussion, it does look similar to the deck I played and the others I have seen.  I guess it just has minimal success in a heavy Pithing Needle environment, but it doesn't seem to bad if the combo goes off with Bargain + Confinement (w/Squee) + Form of the Dragon and Humility, it is quite the lock.  Other draw/discard engines could be Careful Study and Attunement like in the thread but Compulsion or Cephalid Coliseum could work.   Heck I like the idea of Zombie Infestation, but then we are getting away from the real idea of the deck.  Thanks for the links.

I have played elf clamp for quite a while and found that the best elves are

4 Llanowar (best turn 1 elf)
4 Wirewood Symbiote (so key)
4 Priest of Titania (super mana)
4 Wirewood Herald (fetch elf)
4 Quiron Ranger (untapper for priest and Timberwatch)
4 Wirewood Hivemaster
4 Skullclamp (clamp insect tokens and heralds)
4 Land Grant
4 Birchlore Rangers (just keeps putting out more elves when you're tapped out)
2-3 Concordant Crossroads

Other possibilities for Utility:

Timberwatch Elf for PUMP (can make enormous elves)
Wirewood Lodge (singleton)
Aluren + Glimpse of Nature (pretty sick combo)
Food Chain
Caller of the Claw for 2/2 bears and vs. mass removal or after you clamp a tonne of elves they can all come back as bears
Elvish Scrapper vs. Artifacts
Elvish Lyrist vs. Enchantments
Steely Resolve vs. Sharpshooter (this does shut down clamp unfortunately)
Overrun
Rancor
Coat of Arms

I have found the elves at the top to be the most important and key to the combos.

You can combo with elves turn 2-4 very easiliy

Wellwisher is overrated, you don't need the lifegain
Seeker of Skybreak is not important
Elvish Vanguard takes up a lot of room (you can pump an unblocked elf with Timberwatch and they get pretty big)
Voice of the Wood (too costly, though mana is not a problem, you don't want them in your opening hand)
Ambush Commander (not needed)
Tutors are not needed because using Clamp or Aluren/Glimpse of Nature drawing is so easy

I have seen many variations of elves and the elves I have listed have given me success at local tournaments and I have even seen a kid win a Workshop tourny with them.  Hopefully the suggestions help.  Best of luck with your build.

Only being back in Magic for the past 5 years, my 3 year absence has caused me to wonder about some of the cards that I missed out on.  Replenish is one of them.  The card is banned in legacy for good reason but does it have a use in Vintage with all of the cards that it can abuse?  I've tried the deck out in a proxy tournament with some success and I've seen it played in 100 card tournaments, so is Replenish dead or can it be brought back as a possible deck for Vintage.

Most decks I have seen utliize or focus on the following cards.

Draw or Dump
4 Bazaar
3-4 Intuiton
Gifts?

Replenish Combo
3-4 Replenish
Form of the Dragon
Solitary Confinement
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Humility

I can see this deck as a U/W deck with the White used for Replenish, STP, etc. and Blue for draw and counters.  Now, I haven't been able to find some sort of decklist on TMD so what are some suggestions or links from people who have played the deck and can it contend in Vintage or is it just too slow?

Thank you