I made some changes to my original post. My intent was not to start a flame war. I was trying to explain my opinions on vintage proxy events.

On a side note:

Another suggestion would be for proxy events, only proxied power 9 cards would be allowed. This would level the field forcing people who have the cards to still proxy those which would limit their other proxys similarly to people who don't own power. I would like to know what thoughts & opinions people have on this idea.

Also I think prizes for proxy events should be things like a playset of one of the dual lands or other cards that are also useful in Legacy. I would like to know what other people think about changing the prizes as well. It seems to me that this would be an easier prize to handle since if the winner has the cards they can more easily trade them, or exchange them with the store for cards they need/want. A Mox to an unpowered player is a boon, to a fully powered play it is a hassle. People are always looking to trade dual lands or other vintage staples.

Several of Brian Grewe's articles outline how the vintage staples never really drop in value & can be valuable trading assets. This would help encourage new players to get started in the format.

Since certain people were offended I am editing this to better explain myself & removing any offensive comments. My intent was not to start a flame war, just to explain my opinions.

I was one of the 5 people who showed. First I would like to commend Carl for putting up with us hooligans, and for coming through for us on Saturday & at least allowing us to have fun playing eachother. I know he had other things he could have been doing all day to help his business.
I have a few things to say for those who didn't come.

1. I don't think distance is an excuse for a Saturday Tournament. I rode 12.5 miles each direction on a bike to almost end up not playing at all.

2. Powered vs. unpowered should never be an excuse to not play. In fact I am considering building an unpowered vintage deck or possibly decks to try on Thursdays. [Edit: Also Carl usually has prizes for the best unpowered deck & I have seen them Top 8.]

3. Saturday is often a better day for a lot of people including myself, as Sundays I frequently have other things happening.

4. I dislike proxy events. I get a bit annoyed when I spend the time & invest the money to buy the cards to play & get beaten by an inexperienced player snot faced brat (no offense intended) with $1 proxy cards who net decks what won the latest big tournament that wins by being a bad player with a good deck. Topdecks happen...but playing vintage also requires skill. I agree that proxy events give core vintage players the cold shoulder because for those of us who have power we saved money & or invested the time to get the cards, it makes us feel like we could have better spent our time/money. Also it has been my experience that rules questions come up a lot more frequently in proxy events & since there are prizes involved an inexperienced player might still feel slighted if he/she did not understand the way upkeep in stax works & the vintage guru knew how to bend the rules in their favor. This was the whole premise behind changing how comabt damage worked in m10. For any new player there is a learning curve, but sometimes this can get a bit out of hand. Some of the more experienced players could help explain things to the newer players as they do them as well & not pressure new players into decisions.

5. It was posted for more than a month & it was made well aware this was on a SATURDAY!

I also have a few suggestions for Carl.

1. I like Saturdays. Don't change that please.

2. You might consider doing vintage every Saturday morning, & either the 1st or last Saturday of the month will be an event with prizes. The other saturdays could be unsanctioned to allow for playtesting & for proxies. If enough people show for the event this might be able to be sanctioned. (I miss playing every Sunday & wouldn't mind a 2nd vintage event every week.) Also having an event every week would mean you have a regular base of people coming on that day, which would be less likely to throw off people's schedules for larger events.

3. Do an intro to vintage tournaments during you FNM or Saturday night Standard events. The more unpowered rogue decks that end up in vintage the less prepared the powered decks will be. A lot of people just lose to hoards of goblins or elves a la grapeshot. I could list any number of decks that can turn the whole metagame on its head.

4. I like the idea to encourage people to bring friends to the format. If you continue to run proxy events the entry fee could be reduced to $10 for up to 15 proxied cards instead of just 10. Offer more reasonable prizes for proxy events. A mox is probably too much but a playset of Dual Lands or Force of wills which can also be used in Legacy is helpful to someone just getting started in the format. Allow them to exchange for cards of equal or lesser value, but no cash payout.

5. Promote your events a bit more on the Mana Drain. Not everyone knows your website. Make announcements every day to ensure that it gets noticed & stays at the top of the tournament announcements page. If major events conflict (gaming conventions, anime conventions, larger pro-tour or other magic events) then don't schedule another big event that weekend.

6. Make people RSVP &/or pay ahead of time to commit to the event, but allow them to cancel for a refund up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. (Obviously were something like a car accident to happen then that could be forgiven.) You might also consider allowing people who do pay in advance to pay a little less. (ie. $15 instead of $20) to get interest & participation in advance.

I look forward to playing in more vintage events at Black Gold. You are the best Tournament Organizer I know.

First I would like to say I'm happy Slaver is becoming a Tier One deck again, and that other people are playing it!

I have had excellent experience in the past of winning smaller Vintage tournaments with a refined version of Slaver.  Since Flash began to dominate the format I stopped playing Slaver, however now that the format has been blue screwed, I have gone back to a different build of Slaver.  I'm currently in testing for tournaments, and running the Intuition Accumulated Knowledge draw engine has become necessary in the deck.  Sensei's tops, which you have in your list, are also excellent.  You might want to consider Counterbalance, but only if you have a random slot open.

A few ideas and modifications are posted below.  Please keep in mind that these are just of my experiences with the deck, and may not have bearing on your particular metagame.

1. If you are looking for running a fourth Volcanic Island, drop a fetch land.  You are running 6 most Control Slaver decks only run 4-5.  Also you really only need 1 Underground Sea you do only have 3 cards which require black mana, and counting Fetch lands you have 4 sources of black mana. Cut the Underground Sea for another basic island.

2. Wheel of Fortune and Recoup are not necessary for Slaver to win.  To get your artifacts into the yard, Intuition works just as good, or you always have Thirst for Knowledge.  Accumulated Knowledge is an excellent draw engine, especially when combined with Library of Alexandria.  Many games my hand never dropped below 5 cards EVER!

3. As a secondary or sideboard win condition, you could throw in a couple of Painter's Servants and a Grindstone.

4. Drop 1 Goblin Welder, and run Pentavus.  Pentavus is phenomenal against an aggro deck, because you can remove the counters, make tokens, block and with damage on the stack put the tokens back on so they you don't lose them.

5. Sundering Titan is a great board card, but right now it is a good main deck staple as well.

6. Crucible of Worlds and Strip Mine are good inclusions for the random game lock.  Also an additional land you might want to include is either a seat of the Synod, or a Darksteel Citadel.  Either of these two artifact lands enables total slaver lock with a crucible of worlds & Goblin Welder in play.

7. I noticed your changes, and I question why you would remove an echoing truth from your deck.  Tendrils, is a big deck right now, and Empty the Warrens is a secondary win if you hate out the tendrils.

I currently am working on a way to combine Control Slaver with Painter's Servant to make red blasts absolutely nuts.  This also gives an aggro win, as well as combo and control, with more emphasis on the control, to protect the combo and aggro win conditions.  More than likely, I will not run this version for a while, as it still needs a lot of work.

I am curious what you are running in your Side Board since you did not list it here.  Slaver has a great match up against any deck in the format right now, especially post side boarding.

Let me know if you like my ideas, don't like them, I'm always open to suggestions to improve my Control Slaver deck.

--  Captreynolds

You would have to remove enough -1/-1 counters (11 total) to send DSC away, as Indestructible still applies, and negates damage!  The best solution for DSC is to bounce it, or Remove from game i.e. Swords to Plowshares.

Grim Poppet would be useful against weenie decks, or aggro.  Blow up the little ones and get a fat blocker, or make something small then block it!  Otherwise stick with Trike.  Even Pentavus is better, you can make a flying dude & with damage on the stack return the counter to pentavus to give it +1/+1 to keep it from dying!

Control Slaver is by far the best deck against Stax. 

You can deal with the artifacts with your Welders, and keep their hand empty by using Duress, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach can also work.

You can also run Empty the Warrens in Slaver as well.  I run it as a one of in the sideboard, as well as Storm Entity.

Mana Drain is exceptional against Stax, because they have high cost spells. (I generally get about 3-5 mana off a drain against Stax)

Mindslaver for the win, to wreck up their baord and corntol their upkeeps. 

Rack and Ruin blows up two artifacts for one card.  Rebuild and Hurkyll's Recall also work well here.  Also Engineered Explosives works too.

You can run a Crucible of Worlds as well as a Strip Mine for good measure against any deck.

In total it's too much for stax to deal with, as they don't generally run counters, and as a Slaver player you are a blue based artifact control deck. 

Slaver is also good against every other deck in the format right now.  Even GAT is not much of an issue, running Threads of Disloyalty in the Sideboard.

Super Long is a little problem, but I've been 50/50 against it.

Just some suggestions.  It would be nice to see other people play Slaver in Vintage again.

 -- Capt. Reynolds

1|= y0u (4|\| r3@d 7#][5, y0|_| /\r3 @ |V|0|\|$+3|2 &33|<

First off I would like to say I like the idea behind this deck.  I would recomend running 4 Duress.

Hauntedechoes is wrong Duress cannot be Misdirected because it says target opponent NOT target player.


Hymn to Tourach & Thoughtseize would not be bad ideas either, but they can be Misdirected, because they say target player.  On that note however very few decks right now run Misdirection, as it has limited uses as a counterspell. 

Since you are not aiming for Legacy a Memory Jar could be useful in this deck as well.  This would also allow you to stay with mono black but get a similar benefit of Wheel of Fortune.

Being a long time player of control decks, mainly Control Slaver right now, you still face an uphill battle.  I don't know what decks people in your area play, but you might consider running some blue.

Negate a common from Morningtide is a good option for you to protect your win.   For Counter target non-creature spell.  This would allow you to relatively cheaply counter an opponent's counterspell (Force of Will, Mana Drain etc.).
I would run 4 of these.

This would also allow you to run 4 Mana Leak as well.  Mana Drains would be a better option, but I get the feeling you are trying to stick to a budget deck and at about $100 a piece they are kinda pricey.  The Drain mana could be used for cycling abilities, and to power out the win with mana to spare for a counter war.

Brainstorm would get some good drawing going, but you also have your cycling engine for that too.

Although if you were to switch your draw engine to a blue base, since these are all spells, you could play a Tendrils of Agony.  I have seen several players win with absolutely none of the "Power 9" cards in their deck. For now though let's assume that you want to keep the cycling.

Another potential problem is Stax, or other Workshop based decks, against which Rebuild or Hurkyll's Recall is an excellent option, but again both of these require at least a  to cast.

Just some thoughts and ideas for you to consider, like I said I don't know what sort of decks, and corntol situations you are going to be facing with this deck so all I can do is share my own experiences.

-- Capt. Reynolds

1|= y0u (4|\| r3@d 7#][5, y0|_| /\r3 @ |V|0|\|$+3|2 &33|<

There is no best Ichorid deck.  There is just waaaaay to much graveyard hate out there.

Leyline of the Void turn 0!!!
Pithing Needle your Bazaar of Baghdad.
Extirpate your Bridge from Below.
Tormod's Crypt your entire Yard.
Yixlid Jailer turns off Dredge effects, and removes flashback and all abilities of cards in any graveyard.  Welders still work though!!!

Or for STAX players:
Trinisphere
Damping Matrix skips upkeep
Smokestack blows up the few permanents Ichorid plays!
Tanglewire taps you down.
2 Spheres lose you the game!

For GAT Players:
Bouncey Bouncey Spells!!
Tarmogoyf gets big quick with Dredge.

For Flash Players:
Win turn one, no counterspells!!! Nuff Said!

There's a reason Ichorid hasn't shown up at many tounaments lately. There's just too much against it right now!

--

Captreynolds

Hitman –

Some Ideas and updates from my play testing.  You may agree or disagree as you wish, but this it what my experiances have been in my meta-game:

I tried running a couple of Ponders at our weekly tournaments, and they seem to be better than a brainstorm in certain instances.  After much play testing I finally found the magic number of Ponders to be 2.  I cut a brainstorm dropping them to 3, and I cut a Thirst for Knowledge dropping them to 2.  I see it when I need a sorcery speed draw, but never at a bad time, and it helps to play through sphere of resistance.

Ponder has been excellent only costing  compared to  for Thirst.  Also it has a built in shuffle effect and works really well with any other draw spells after a ponder (ie: Brainstorm, Ancestral Recall).  The lower cost enables me to win against Stax & MUD builds. Also if I end up facing a Flash deck I can board out the Ponders for Stifles.

My toughest match up seems to be GAT.  Trying to race them for damage, especially with Goyf now showing up in addition to Quirion Dryads it is really tough most decks seem to have dropped Dr. Teeth as well for more control spells.  That calls for heavy creature hate, and control.  Thoughtseize seems to reign supreme there, as well as Duress.

I also have mono-blue control and black disruption to deal with in my meta-game.  I have been mostly successful against those decks, as they are able to overcome, by retaining control of the field.  Using creature hate, and countering the worst spells has been the best plan there.  I have been able to use my disruption spells against mono blue to keep their control spells to a minimum.  This helps avoid counter wars.  Also a great asset in these match-ups particularly mono blue is a Crucible of Worlds Strip Mine lock.

Against most decks I find more and more that I board out the Mindslaver.  I have much better spells in the board to deal with most things.  I also have been playing with more basic lands, because I continually run into wastelands and Magus of the Moon.  I also have seen Back to Basics as well, which really hurts.   

With the wide variety of things I see in my meta-game Control Slaver seems to do well for itself.  Like I said above you have to get a good clock against GAT.  Keeping tempo works well.  If you are having trouble winning, try dropping your large creatures early.  Empty the Warrens is also a big asset.  Even a 1st turn Empty for 6 total goblins puts them on a 4 turn clock.  You can then use your counters to stop bounce and opposing creatures from getting in the way.  Sundering Titan is the big dude you need not Darksteel Colossus.  Titan can be hard cast if need be, and he blows up you opponents lands quite well.  The deck he is least effective against is MUD Stax. 

Ichorid is another hard match-up but by using Pithing Needles and Tormod’s Crypts you can disable them quickly.  You could also board four Leyline of the Void as well.  I may do that to stop GAT from using Tarmogoyf and stop Yawgmoth’s Win.

Super Long is a deck I sad to say have not had the opportunity to play test against.  However based on the cards in Super Long, I feel that a well experienced Slaver player such as you or I should not have a problem with a slow version of Grim Long or Meandeck Gifts.

I will continue my play testing and keep you updated.

--

Captain Reynolds

Hitman --

I have been running Slaver for several months now with varied degrees of success.  I do agree with Mophead-Masquerade about your mana base.  You should rely a lot more on your red and blue, than black.  I have been running 3 Volcanic Island and only 2 Underground Sea. Mox Jet, Lotus Petal, & Black Lotus should get you the rest of the Mana you need.
Also I used to run 4 Welders, but I dropped it to 3 and replaced it with a "Mox Monkey". The monkey has been useful as a combo wrecker, and it allows me to get my own artifacts into the grave for welding.  Also I have been running 5 "Duress" effects (3xDuress 2xThoughtseize).
I put Fire & Ice in the SB in favor of Sword of Fire & Ice.  Sword of Fire & Ice can do many things.  It can protect a welder from bounce or damage, it can remove pesky Metalworkers, and it can draw you a card every turn.  I also like to equip it to a Platinum Angel, which effectively wins the game in three turns. 
Tinker usually grabs Platinum Angel but I also run Triskelion as well.  In the SB I run Sundering Titan & Empty The Warrens.  Between these and Mindslaver, Sword of Fire & Ice on a Welder I have all the win conditions I could ever want for.
For Draw I run Ancestral Recall, 3xBrainstorm, 3xThirst for Knowledge.  I also run Library of Alexandria as well.
In order to fit the extra "Duress" effects I was forced to put a Mana Drain in the SB.  I still have 7 counterspells however, and I usually board in 2 REB and the Drain for games 2 & 3.  (I have a control heavy metagame right now so this has been very effective.)  I have posted a decklist below with explainations next to each card for reasons that I run it.  My sideboard is posted as well.

Draw Engine
1x Ancestral Recall
3x Brainstorm
3x Thirst for Knowledge
(Sword of Fire & Ice and Library of Alexandria are also there as well.)

Control
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Echoing Truth
4x Force of Will
3x Mana Drain
3x Duress
2x Thoughtseize
3x Goblin Welder
1x Gorilla Shaman

Tutor & Utility
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Time Walk (Another attack with Trike or Plat. Yes Please more seconds)
1x Tinker
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Yawgmoths's Will (Yawgmoth’s Win need I say More)

Non-Mana Producing Artifacts

1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Mindslaver
1x Platinum Angel (Survive a Combo for the win)
1x Sword of Fire & Ice (Equipped to Welder, Platinum Angel or Trike is mean and Broken
1x Triskelion

Mana Base

Artifacts
1x Gilded Lotus ( I don’t own a Black Lotus, but this works well with Mishra’s Workshop)
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring

Lands
1x Island
3x Volcanic Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Strip Mine (Strip Lock with Crucible of Worlds)
1x Seat of the Synod (Slaver Lock with Crucible of Worlds)
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mishra's Workshop ( Enables you to hardcast artifacts without relying on Drains)
1x Library of Alexandria
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta

Sideboard:

1x Empty The Warrens (Goblins, Combo, Stax)
1x Fire & Ice (Control)
1x Hurkyl’s Recall (Stax, Mirror)
1x Mana Drain (Control)
2x Pithing Needle (Stax, Combo, Mirror)
2x Rack and Ruin (Stax)
2x Red Elemental Blast (Control)
1x Stifle (Combo)
1x Sundering Titan (Fish, Combo, Mirror)
1x Trickbind (Combo)
2x Tormod’s Crypt (Yawg’s Will, World Gorger Dragon, Combo, Ichorid)


The only things this deck has lost to in the past month have been GAT, Stax, Mono/Suicide Black.  Those matchs were all close games as well.  Mostly I don’t face these in my Metagame.  I also usually win against Stax, but I do lose to it about 30% of the time still.

I have gotten much better at holding back and playing more cautiously with this deck.  It is a control deck, just a different kind of control.  If nothing else you can wait for a Slaver lock or fetch it with tutors.  Bringing Sundering Titan in from the board and equipping Sword of Fire & Ice to him is better than a Darksteel Colossus.  I don’t run Mana Vault because I usually cannot untap it. Mana Crypt I can weld out if it becomes too painful.  Duress and Thoughtseize are good choices to board out if you are playing 2nd.  I tried Triskelavus, but paying to remove it’s counters is too much effort for so little reward.  Thoughtseize does not need to get a creature to be useful.  It can just as easily get a Drain, Force or other spell.  Remember you don’t always needs to “Slave” someone for the win.  Slaver lock works with Seat of the Synod (Artifact Land) being welded out for slaver, after floating the blue, add three more mana & activate slaver.  Then with Crucible in play you play Seat as your land for the turn.  Gilded Lotus is good excuse to use Drain Mana. 

While I don’t know what is in your Metagame, I can tell you that this deck can be tweaked fairly quickly to match most metagames in about 10-15 minutes if you have the right cards available.  Please send me a PM if you would like more information, or want to discuss metagame strategies.

--

 
 

I think that Thoughtseize will probably most likely be used in conjuction with Duress as it does almost the same thing, and could take up spots normally filled by counterspells.  As far as card advantage goes this is almost better than using a Force of Will, as it it one card instead of two and it can pick spells before they are cast and avoid counter wars with your opponent.  Effectively I think that Thoughtseize could alter the format of Vintage due to the fact that people who run four Duress now are going to find cards to cut to add in four Thoughtseize.  Even with the loss of life this card is amazing.  Most people who run Duress will probably pick up at least a couple for their decks.  I know I am already cracking a box to get at least one and will probably unload the rest of the box to get even more Thoughtseize!  I don't think it will replace Duress at all!!

This deck looks like a Frankenstein of two decks, Control Slaver and Mud Domination.  Unfortunately it is also weaker than both.  Control Slaver will easily deal with any large artifacts and win conditions you put into play.  A Tinker for Darksteel Colossus will only result in a wasted Tinker.  A Goblin Welder will easily weld out the Colossus for the Mox or some other less painful artifact in your graveyard.

Not all is lost though. The mana base is good, and most of the components are there for either a Slaver or MUD deck.

I have been playing slaver for a while now and have way more options than this deck, and I along with most sane players these days have a Platinum Angel in my main deck.  Slaver has a bunch of options in the current metagame, GAT and Flash are not much of an issue.  Ichorid is another matter, but your sideboard really comes into play for this matchup.  Also Slaver is an easy deck to tweak to your metagame, with about 8 slots for tech against current meta decks.  Also Slaver can work with a wish sideboard for either Cunning Wish or Burning Wish.  I have had reasonable sucess with this deck and I am still missing a Black Lotus, and Mox Jet.  Slaver also runs at least 8 counterspells (IE 4 Force of Will & $ Mana Drain).  Mana Drain is especially useful in dropping a large artifact into play.

Mud Domination uses the components of Stax to run a total artifact deck.  MUD uses several artifact creatures and Karn to turn other artifacts into creatures for a win, but also has a combo with Metalworker and Staff of Domination, which lets you gain life draw your deck and win.  MUD uses Smokestacks and Sphere of Resistance(s) and Trinisphere as well as Tanglewire(s) to lock down your opponent and maintain permanent advatage.

Control Slaver is a cheaper deck to build than MUD, mostly because MUD runs Mishra's Workshops.  In case you don't know Mishra's Workshop taps for 3 colorless mana that can only be used for casting artifacts.  It really works well in MUD.

I have included lists of a Slaver and a MUD deck for your reference.

Control Slaver Main Deck
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
3 Goblin Welder
1 Gifts Ungiven
2 Duress
1 Recoup
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Echoing Truth
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Platinum Angel
1 Mindslaver
1 Pentavus
1 Triskelion
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Land
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mishra's Workshop
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island

Sideboard
1 Duplicant
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pithing Needle
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Sundering Titan
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Trickbind
2 Yixlid Jailer
 
MUD Domination Main Deck
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald 
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Trinisphere
1 Razormane Masticore
2 Triskelion
4 Metalworker
4 Tanglewire
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Duplicant
4 Staff of Domination

Land
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard
3 Orb of Dreams
1 Masticore
3 Duplicant
4 Defense Grid
4 Leyline of the Void

I think either of these two decks are much more solid and proven than your list, which to me seems a bit unstable.
At this time you could go either way it depends on your budget. Whatever you choose good luck!