I was scrolling through this thread earlier, and thought to myself.

Proxies do not kill a format, players do.

The store i go to used to be the haven for magic. It was the only store to offer DCI magic in the city and would get 50+ people show for an FNM and sometimes had to turn some away.

This has changed to the max being around 24. This is partially to blame because of the number of DCI sanctioned stores is up to 2, but the blame goes to the players at the same time. The cocky mouthy guys who want to be "Pros" drive alot of the younger kids away to the other store which has a more laid back attitiude. This in turn stifles the growth of players to the relaxed level. Instead of getting say 1 out of 4 magic players striving to the competitive level it goes to a 1 out of 8 or greater.

Proxies cause problems yes, but do they hurt the vintage scene. No.

I think the whole aspect with Vintage in the past was to set the prize as power, and people would go YES now i have power. That isn't as big a deal as it once was when we have Standard foil playsets that can be higher then some of the lower priced power (Tarms, Foils Plainswalkers etc).

In the past most vintage and vintage type tournies have been winner take all (Mox) and then 2-8 lesser prices.

I will compare the 2 vintage tournies we had recently here (both 10 card proxy)

1st one, Prizes for top 2 were going to be Beta Mind Twist, Foil COB.

So nothing really big and mind blowing, price was only $12, but we drew 24 people.

Why.. Because the Top prize was something old and cool, and there were prizes for top 8, that by 4th place had dropped off but were still close to entry fee.

Fast forward to the 2nd one.

Prizes for top 2 were a Full set of Vanguard (All 32) or a pack of Euro lands(the old ones)

Nothing to sneeze at, this time we drew a total of 13 people.. The Set of Vanguard cards could easily fetch more then a Beta Mind Twist, but why did more people show up? More luster on the beta card, something that's desirable because its old and cool. Where Vanguard is a wtf who cares kinda thing.

I've probably missed my point as I rant, but there are too many variables all over magic to point the finger at Proxies.

I see, its been so long since i've read channel I've been misplayinig the card.

I was searching through after i "died" to play it again.

So i was peruesing deck lists and saw Martin Bonneville's decklist

creature [1]
1 Platinum Angel
instant [12]
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Pact of Negation
1 Vampiric Tutor
sorcery [15]
1 Channel
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Fabricate
1 Imperial Seal
1 Kaervek's Torch
4 Personal Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
artifact [17]
1 Black Lotus
4 Chromatic Star
4 Lich's Mirror
1 Lotus Petal
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Sensei's Divining Top
land [15]
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Tropical Island

Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Extirpate
1 Balance
2 Shattering Spree
1 Aether Spellbomb


I've been gold fishing it a bit on MWS and well it just seems bad. At first i thought i was playing it wrong trying to pop out the Mirror via Mana instead of via tinker.

But even after that it seems to just sputter.

I've only been able to playtest it about 7 games against bomberman which flat out ruined it.

Was Martin just lucky with his 1st place finish or does the deck actually have potential and I've just been playing it very wrong.

I've done the same thing screwed up becuase i saw an island.

But sometimes its hard to get the same CC etc.. and full rules text.. writing that out for some cards would be MADNESS

Boogie man, are you seriously calling Matron bad.

Warchief = Matron costs 1R plus hasted

= Piledriver for 1 red also hated.

Warchief = the best card in the deck.