Thanks everyone for the insight into this topic. I was curious as how to employ these cards as they hose a variety of strategies, and while they are similar in concept, they differ when building a deck. Would it be possible for me to see a decklist of Drayd Hate with both the rods and the matrixes?

Both of these cards are used as silver bullets in a variety of decks to shut down opposing strategies. Although they perform similar functions, the matrix gives versatility at the cost of null rod's mana denial. This can be useful when playing a deck with power (like keeper or GAT), but is the mana denial ability of the rod enough to give up power in favor of running null rod? Which, in general is the better choice? When is one a better choice then the other?

Is it just me or is this a quarterly event at TMD? I remember starting this kind of thread only to have it closed, and that was after I had seen a similar thread a while before. To me, this topic is not worth discussing. Debating what should or should not be on the B&R list will not change it. What we need is another opportunity like the one Aaron Forsythe gave us a while back to voice our opinions to the people that matter: those at wizards who can actually alter the list. When Wizard's is actually listening to us is when our opinions actually become relavent.

Recently, there has been a large increase in the ammount of innovation in type 1, and looking to join the band wagon, I have recently looked over as many cards as I could to find cards with potential. These could bring forth new decks, or be used in the board for bad matchups, or any other purpose as seen fit. Some of these may have been mentioned before, so excuse me if it seems I am stealing some one elses tech.

So in no particular order...

Seeds of Innocence
Sorcery
{G}{G}
Destroy all artifacts. They can't be regenerated. The controller of each artifact destroyed this way gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
Possible Uses: I could see this being run in Big O as a sideboard card vs. workshop decks.

Acorn Harvest
Sorcery
{G}
Flashback {G}, Pay 3 life
Put two 1/1 green Squirrel creature tokens into play.
Possible Uses: Same as above.

Battle of Wits
Enchantment
{U}
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 200 or more cards in your library, you win the game.
Possible Uses: Anything that says 'you win the game' can't be that bad. In type 1 you could also support any number of colours for any number of broken cards and tutors.

Ruination
Sorcery

Destroy all nonbasic lands.
Possible Uses: Honestly, I don't know. No sligh deck tends to ramp up to 4 mana, and killing nonbasics has no place in multicolour control. Nevertheless, this is a strong card, albeit a bit pricey.

Gaea's Skyfolk
Creature - Merfolk Elf
{G}
2/2
Flying
Possible Uses: This is a solid little beater. Perhaps used to create UG fish?

Evasive Action
Instant

Counter target spell unless its controller pays for each basic land type among lands you control.
Possible Uses: Used in multicolour control whose mana bases are a little light on the blue. Not likely, but could see play in budget keeper.

Mogg Salvage
Instant

If an opponent controls an Island and you control a Mountain, you may play ~this~ without paying its mana cost.
Destroy target artifact.
Possible Uses: Anything red vs. Stax. Better then R&R, no, but it is still useful as it can be played for free when under the lock.

Pulverize
Sorcery
{R}
You may sacrifice two Mountains rather than pay ~this~'s mana cost.
Destroy all artifacts.
Possible Uses: More red alternate cc artifact destruction. Woot.

Goblin Tinkerer
Creature - Goblin

1/2.
,{Tap}: Destroy target artifact. That artifact deals damage equal to its converted mana cost to ~this~.
Possible Uses: Kill chalice of the void set to one, since that stops both goblin vandal and gorilla shaman (not to mention all your other dorks and burn).

Roar of the Wurm
Sorcery
{G}
Flashback {G}
Put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token into play.
Possible Uses: Hulk sideboards. Intuitioning for these vs. aggro =  some good.

Gilded Light
Instant
{W}
Cycling
You can't be the target of spells or abilities this turn.
Possible Uses: Vs. Tendril's combo to stop them from killing you, fizzling their entire combo. So much fun.

Upheaval
Sorcery
{U}
Return all permanents to their owners' hands.
Possible Uses: In conjunction with say, gilded lotus, you could generate stupid ammounts of mana, upheaval floating 10^2 mana and then recast everything. A couple of issues with this are that a) too slow, and b) mana drain. Still could be useful, maybe in slavery boards...

Lobotomy
Sorcery

Look at target player's hand and choose a card other than a basic land card from it. Search that player's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as the chosen card and remove them from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
Possible Uses: Boards of blue based control decks. While acting as a super duress (for only more mana ) in a control mirror, this could easily hose dragon. An interesting card that saw play in 1.x (prebannings) and may have its applications in vintage.

So, yeah. Just some ideas I thought I'd share. Feel free to discuss.

Rector trix could very well be viable again, with the rise in aggro decks such as TNT and Big O, the decks ability to combo out and gain 20 life at the same time seems a rather good reason to play it in an aggro heavy field (same reason to play any type of combo). On the other hand the deck has the ability to play control with its various counters and discard between force of will, duress, cabal therapy, and mana drain. The wasteland issue is still there, and the only solution I can suggest is to run 2-3 maindeck stifle.

Has anyone considered running something along the lines of chain of vapor or seal of cleansing (or more disruption in general) to deal with the maindeck hate so many decks are packing these days? A friend and I recently tested this deck against big O and hulk, and while blazingly fast in most cases, if it did not FoW the null rod or root maze cast by stompy, or have the force for tog's, it tended to lose. What I'm saying is that the deck, in my opinion, needs to make room for some more disruption and a way to deal with hate cards. Perhaps cutting the ESGs (which were found less then useful) for 3 duress and a chain of vapor would be appropriate.

On the issue of LED vs Chrome Mox, LED wins. The mox is only truly useful when you have a bargain in play, as the card disadvantage is really bad in the deck (even with all the draw-7s). The LED has the ability to put a spell on the stack and then discard the rest of your hand (which will hopefully be very small and useless by this point) and gains you 3x the mana of ANY COLOUR, which is very useful (existence of spheres).

I will test some more and tell you what stats I get.

Trinisphere is actually quite good against all the problems you listed for it. Against will it makes everything they want to bring back cost more. Vs. trix the engine with bargain or sapphire medallion is once again hampered by the sphere and most wish targets cost <2.

Even with trinisphere being better in the early game, I am still advocating a mix between the two spheres to ensure you a) have one in the early game and b) have a useful one later on (aka resistance).

Why not run a few of both, say, 3 trinisphere and 4 sphere of resistance. The trinisphere's would lock down the early game while the other sphere's would stall any larger spells. Also, this ensures you have a way to increase costs in the early game.

Hey everybody,

I'm Michael Whyte and from Edmonton AB, up in good ol' Canada. I have only been playing competitively for the past year and a half (or so) with two JSS qualifiers and a PTQ top 8, but have been playing very casually since around tempest. I specialize in constructed but attend a few casual drafts with friends. I am currently in high school and enjoy the fine game of DDR outside of mtg.

@ JACO
Stroke and Geyser can be unrestricted due to the fact that combo now has very little mana to play with, and using it on an x spell which may or may not find you something to continue going off is just to risky.

Speaking of mana, this is why the moxen and such should be/stay restricted. By taking out the mana, you leave more cards unrestricted in the card pool.

@ TheFram and Jacob Orlove
Crop rotation was/is never used with bazaar, and no one is using sylvan scrying to find an academy so I see no reason why rotation can't be unrestricted.

Voltaic key seems very risky and might end up getting workshop restricted (if I got a dime every time I heard someone say that). It just creates to much mana with metalworker, vault, etc. Earthcraft should never have been restricted, AoS was a fun and a budget deck that was never dominating. If you unrestrict stroke, why not geyser too? They do not seem like they would be dominating in multiple copies, although it would probabally boost mono U big time. The library had a card to hose it in the set after it was printed (strip mine), saying something of its power level. I would keep this restricted.

PS. Is their any way I can edit my poll to include other options?

Due to a large popularity boost in type one over the past years, this format has begun to develop its own metagame, which has been actively shifting since this surge in vintage’s recognition as a sanctioned format. unrestricting of cards, and as such, it seems that it is time to re-evaluate what should be restricted and what shouldn't be.

Crop Rotation
This was a card that was restricted by association, along with Voltaic Key and Frantic Search, because of Tolarian Academy. Now that the academy archetype is dead due to faster combo decks that are more consistent thanks to the storm mechanic, this card that’s only purpose in vintage is to find the academy has no reason to be on the list any more. Referring to the common analogy that the B&R list is like a hall of fame, this card should not be here.

Verdict: Unrestrict, Academy is dead, this will not revive it.

Doomsday
A card that can only be used to set up combos involving less then five cards plus those you have in hand, at the cost of the rest of your library and half your life is simply not good enough anymore, even if you are running a full set. The most probable way this card could be abused is in trix or the rebirth of twister, however, neither deck is a degenerate addition to the metagame. Also, with many decks being able to deal nine or 10 damage to you in one turn (Hulk, TNT, Oshawa, etc.), you had best win that turn.

Verdict: Unrestrict. This is a card that will not create degeneracy and will open new doors for deckbuilding.This metagame has now become the basis for the restrictions and

There are also some other candidates for unrestriction that seem far more iffy choices.

Fork
This is currently seeing play in only sligh decks, and the only thing it is doing in that deck is copying Fireblast. The only problem with unrestricting this is that it could possibly (and quite probably) break desire decks by being able to technically make all of the restricted cards in the deck have four extra copies. While a possibility, this should by all rights stay on the list.

Verdict: While tempting, this would almost certainly make combo too good. Stay restricted

Mind over Matter
Once again, this is a card that was restricted due to the printing of Tolarian Academy, but unlike Crop Rotation, this is the card that generated the majority of the mana along side Candelabra of Tawnos. As with Fork, this is a card that could be unrestricted, but in all likeliness, would cause some kind of combo deck to (re)emmerge, but unlike Fork, the combo would be slower and clunkier, and therefore a possible addition to the metagame.

Verdict: An interesting decision, but just to be safe, let's keep it restricted.

So that's my take on the current B&R situation, feel free to discuss.

Eater of Days is so good in this deck as a kill condition. I was testing today against a variety of decks (landstill, gay UR, su black) and it was good against pretty much all of them. However, I would like to see how it performs as a kill condition against decks with StP, although if you think about it, it shouldn't matter whether your finisher is karn or this or a platinum, they all die to swords. Here is my current list.

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Grafted Skullcap
4 Metalworker
3 Damping Matrix
3 Eater of Days
3 Trinisphere
2 Mind's Eye

4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
1 City of Traitors
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Mindslaver
2 Triskellion
2 Mind's Eye
1 Damping Matrix

If you are already running damping matrix, why is their the need to run the platinum angels to additionally hose dragon. With a matrix in play, dragon cannot win. Has anyone considered using eater of days? This card seems to have potential in a variety of workshop decks in the same sense as meditate: turning the disadvantage of your opponent taking more turns into a serious advantage.

On the manabase, cloudpost seems to be a very poor choice. It relies on you drawing multiple copies and it comes into play tapped, a major downside to a rather tempo oriented deck. Also, it has very poor synergy with smokestack, as if you sack a cloudpost with others in play you lose that much more mana. Breathweapon's manabase seems to be a much better design, although I would like to find room for city of traitors.