Workshops, Bazaars and Drains. Aren't those usually referred to as semi-power?

I'd love to try some Oath build. I guess it's just hard work waiting to be done.

Hello all,

as much as I like vintage, I find playing it without actual vintage cards a waste of a good game. That has kept me away from the format for the past years and basically playing legacy exclusively. As I now have acquired a Time Vault, I'd like to finally craft something competitive for the format.

Is there a way to build a competitive deck around Time Vault only? I have no power nor semi-power, not even Mana Drains, only Time Vault. Everything else imaginable I pretty much own, though. Some sort of Fish with Vault-Key? Or am I doomed to play Null Rods in order to have a fighting chance?

Looking forward for you insight regarding the matter!

I'm willing to suggest a replacement for colossus: Inkwell Leviathan. As it's is one turn slower than colossus, it is unblockable and has shroud. Shroud matters, since everybody and their cousins pack answers to Tinker -> robot. It is also blue, and this deck likes blue cards. In marginal occasions it could be hardcasted, but I will not use that as an argument as it rarely matters.

As I'm still struggling with the 10-proxy environment, I replaced Old Men with Tarmogoyfs and adjusted the mana base to support those (-2 island, +2 tropical island.) They address the creature problems nicely, but every now and then Tarmogoyfs being green screw my Commandeers/Fows epicly. On the other hand, they end games on time and negate opponents goyfs. Glen-elendra Archmage seems interesting, but as I can't support Mana Drain, it seems also too expensive to cast.

So far a turn 1 or 2 Juggernaut spells more trouble than anything. Tarmogoyf is one solution to that.

The more I test Daze, the more subpar it seems to be. This leads me to another alternative, if I want to keep blue count higher and therefore not use THoughtseize. And that would be Spell Snare. As I'm basically a legacy player, I'm not excatly sure how many targets vintage decks usually run. Legacy basically rolls around 2cc cards but would Spell Snare have any measurable impact on generally played vintage decks? It's cheap and it's a (conditional) hard counter. That's why it caught my eye. And of course, it would be awfully easy to just replace Mana Drains with Counterspells, but I'd rather add there something cheaper, as Remora needs a lot of mana and I seem to hardly ever have UU up when remora+meditate get going.

Regarding the decks gameplan of drawing lots of cards and controlling the game with pitch spells, how do you see Daze in the counter arsenal? I'm tinkering with a 10-proxy (5 moxen, lotus, time vault, ancestral, time walk) version of the deck and as I don't own basically any power or semi-power, I'm testing Daze in Mana Drain slots. Apparently it's not as powerful, but it gives more disruption for the early turns where drain wouldn't be online. Sometimes you need to counter 2-3 times a turn and if any of those are Commandeers, you will run out of cards. Daze gives a card-wise free counter to soften things a little.

A notable problem comes up when you start without moxen, play remora and need to Daze your only land to your hand thus killing remora in the process. The biggest problem still seems to be that unlike Mana Drain, Daze is hardly a hard counter after the first few turns.

Anger sucks with oath, as mentioned, but Mass hysteria/Concordant crossroads is an easy, one-mana solution.

I also see that Seedtime is played lot less than it deserves.
Maybe it now got a little splash damage from restriction of Brainstorm, but it is still very powerful. I thought that any deck with Tarmogoyf would want to abuse it for extra beats after EOT Brainstorm or something.

Referring to the list above, how do you feel about the multiple hooligans? As warchief is in play, they become vanilla goblins and this has bothered me a lot. Still, you're also playing tinkerers. What's the plan with hooligans? Are they there for simply a first/second turn artifact hate? I believe so, as they begin to suck later on.

Could Absolute Law be of any help? I've been getting promising results in recent legacy games with it, especially against Pyroclasm. The problem is that it's pretty spesific and mostly useless versus anything else.

How about Pithing Needle? It stops Polluted Deltas and Senseis's Divining Tops. Does it have a chance? Tormod's Crypt I totally forgot, it's definitely great against combo.

I've been thinking of the sideboard also lately. You only need to think of combo matchups, so 4 Chalice, 4 Root Maze, 4 Null Rod is a good start in my deck. Then perhaps 3 Artifact Mutations for some random welder decks. I've been thinking also of putting Root Mazes to maindeck, but don't know, haven't been playing for a while.

You have cut off the Commanders, I see. It gives you the opportunity to shoot the opponent down instead of attacking (Moat or something.)
You also should add those Wastelands, it's your best card against combo in game 1. I have settled down to 2 copies. 3 might be playable in some meta, but 4 is too much and screws sometimes your mana. Especially when people can just fetch a basic land, which is a popular thing to do nowadays under the fear of Wasteland. Try adding 4th spirit guide, take the petal out. And how are you doing without Gempalm Incinerators? I've been thinking of cutting them off, but removal is maybe still too necessary because of Jotun Grunts, Confidants, Welders etc.

I'm not a fan of marshall, because it just creates vanilla goblins, and not enough of them. That might just be me, though, because I always try to go for the combo win and Marshal gives no contribution to that.

You also don't need S. Ground and should try to add Mana Crypt and Ancient Tomb or two. They are just insane in the deck. Try also replacing mountains and one foothills to get 3 x Bloodstained Mire in md. That way you wont get manascrewed if opponent names Foothills on Needle.

Only one Tendrils as a kill card looks strange. Try adding a Cephalid Coliseum as an alternative kill, because you already have the Zorb-Crucible-engine there.

Have you ever considered Tidespout Tyrant as an Oath target? Bouncing all of opponent's permanents on turn 2 can be extremely gamebreaking as all your counters act as bounces also.

EDIT: this has already been mentioned, I see. At least I'm not alone.

It just isn't necessary. When you go off, you have all the mana you'll ever need from Ringleaders, Lackeys, Prospectors and SGC-tokens. Basically suggested goblin is just a vanilla goblin. All the goblins in the deck have a spesific purpose and that is just too random. All the listed goblins are straight better because they do something. It is used in extended goblins, though, but it's a totally different deck.

Any ideas what to cut if I maindeck the Mazes? It's quite a tight package, still. I'm still a bit suspicious about maindecking anything that doesn't head for a fast win. Root Maze could be crappy vs. control games, where deck's strategy is just to rush as fast as you can. First game against combo is no chance for FCG whatsoever.

One thing I've been thinking is maindeck hate cards.
FCG has basically nothing before siding, now I have 2 wastelands plus the creature removal goblins. Chalices in md would be nice, but I'm afraid of screwing my own manabase or lackeys. Has anyone played Null Rod in maindeck? It would be huge, but it is very difficult to cut anything.

Thank you very much for the replies. I'm going to answer step by step.

First, playing Ancient Tomb over Wasteland. I've been thinking that, but Ancient Tomb gives me hard times when playing the lousiest match-up, any tendrils-combo. Each time I use tomb I take 2 damage, meaning my opponent needs to build up one storm count less. That can be a problem against any TPS-variants, especially with Mana Crypt hitting me for 3 each upkeep (usually) and the fetchlands also giving life loss. Also, there is no disruption in maindeck except for the 2 Wastelands and disruption (or luck) is the only way to delay opponent's combo for the perhaps critical one turn I need to get my combo working.
Nowadays even control decks can win during the first three turns, so FCG needs those wastelands. I have also tested and tested and tested, and found out that 1 Ancient Tomb plus 1 Mana Crypt is enough. This deck can't produce enough red mana compared to colorless mana it can produce. Wish I had those moxen..

Second, Rootmaze in sideboard. I haven't actually thought of that earlier. It is an interesting idea and I should get a playset for testing. That might be one decent sidecard in this combo-heavy meta.

During the weekend I also cut one Recruiter for a Matron. It's doable and doesn't break the consistency of the combo. An extra Matron also gives me steadier Stingscourging.

I'm not a fan of Welder in this build, because I always want a first-turn Lackey no matter what, and Stingscourger deals with the biggest threats from Tinker. People also have md-answers for Welders since it's played a lot.
Kiki-Jiki is considerable, but I can't think of anything to get out. Also, it is quite expensive (5cc) so it will hardly see any playtime as a one-off unless you get the combo working. And by that time you win anyway.

Empty the warrens is usually mentioned nowadays, but I see it being a non-goblin, non-mana, non-food chain card that only wins more if you are already winning. All the crucial cards need to be tutorable with Matron. ETW can't be tutored and it isn't crucial. So far no slots for that one.

I browsed the old topics and didn't find any recent entries of Food Chain Goblins, so here comes something to discuss about, my recent build:

Mana thingies:
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
4 Simian Spirit Guide

Goblins:
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
3 Goblin Recruiter
3 Skirk Prospector
3 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Stingscourger
1 Goblin Sharpshooter

The rest:
4 Food Chain             

Sideboard:
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Artifact Mutation
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Null Rod


Food Chain Goblins got 2 playable cards from Planar Chaos, Simian Spirit Guide and Stingscourger. The first replaces ESG's as accelerators and the second gives some hope against early Tinker + Colossus tricks or similar situations. Akroma is still a problem, though. I'm currently running 1 Stingscourger in maindeck and I'm having thoughts of adding one to sideboard as well.

I'd like to hear opinions and experiences about sideboarding against nowadays tier1-decks. Combo is still so difficult to beat. Basically I just have to try to delay my opponent's combo till I can rush for the win. Usually it just doesn''t work. I still believe in FCG. If metagame is control-heavy, this deck just rocks. It still can race any deck that can't combo out during the turns 1 or 2. Unfortunately, many present combo kills do it too reliably.