There will always be a best unrestricted card, unless of course you restrict everything. The question WotC should be asking is not whether something is good, but whether it is too good. I don't think brainstorm (and certainly not ponder) filled that criteria.

Yeah.
And there are very few decks where the turn 1 creature will be a more pressing issue then the turn 1 spell.

Ahh good point, I hadn't thought of that interaction, still it's a bit too expensive to really lock an opponent out of the game although it would be back-breaking in control matchups.

The land is decent in standard, supplying additional counterspells to a slow, controlling deck.

Hoaen's is wierd, I'm not really sure what to make of it.

What do you think of the decklists the pro's are playing. For the most part they seem to have just used established archetypes but do you think there are any improvements the vintage community might adopt?

Hmmm, Menendian lost his first match of vintage to Paulo Vitor Damo do Rosa, both playing GAT.

This deck has been putting up very strong results for me (admittably online, so probably against sub-par opponents), but I would love any input into it's composition.


Creatures
4 x Tarmogoyf
4 x Dark Confidant
4 x Dimir Cutpurse (should this be 3?)

Disruption
4 x FoW (obv)
4 x Duress
4 x Daze
3 x Stifle

(Should one of these be spell snare?)

Draw Smoothing / Tutoring
4 x Street Wraith
4 x Brainstorm
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor

Tutorable Brokenesss
1 x Ancestrall Recall
1 x Timewalk

Misc
1 x Echoing Truth (should this be CoV?)
1 x Regrowth

Artifact Mana
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Lotus Petal
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mox Jet

Normal Mana (ie. lame Mana)
3 x Polluted Delta
3 x Flooded Strand
3 x Underground Sea
2 x Tropical Island
1 x Island
1 x Strip Mine
(do I need another land... if so what should I cut?)


Any responses/tips would be highly appreciated, as well as possible side board options. Thanks 

I'm glad to see you finally adopted ancient grudge, for a while you had Rack and Ruin in over it, which I could never really figure out. Although it's quite probable that I'm missing something... after all I'm not the Vintage World Champion.

Oh classic 2 is coming.... of course it's more commonly known as Urza's Saga, which when it is released will result in a very interesting classic meta.

So, rounding out what must have been a pretty incredible week for steven, Aaron Forsythe announced that Menedian is the R&D pick for the 2007 Magic Invitational!

What's more,  according to Forsythe "Vintage [will be] one of the five formats to be played at this year's Invitational", giving him the chance to go head to head with the best magic players in the world in his format of choice.

Anyway, huge congrats to Steven!

       Unfortunately, I don't see pact of negation being widely adopted. It's only usefull against one type of disruption, counterspells on the turn you go off, which means that it will generally sit in your hand as your opponent duresses, null rods, and generally disrupts you out of contention.

      And for everytime you have 5 mana available at the beginning of your next upkeep, you will watch helplessly as your opponent resolves a spell you absolutely had to counter.

I think the impact will be less felt in vintage where there are many 1-ofs. (don't get me wrong, it will still be huge). In legacy however, it may invalidate entire archtypes. Threshold's manabase is certainly going to take a hit.

Simian Spirit Guide*   
Creature - Ape Spirit (TS) 
Remove Simian Spirit Guide from the game: Add R to your mana pool. Play this ability only if Simian Spirit Guide is in your hand.
 
Elvish Spirit Guide sees some play, and red is a more usefull color in vintage then green? What decks might this go in? Discuss.