Sorry to dredge (pun intended) this article up after a few weeks, but I wanted to say this:

I'm a new vintage player. I've played Magic since Mirage (I was, what... 10? 11?) and have sold out a few times (never again though! I used to have a Yawg Win in great condition!) and now I'm back in it about 6 weeks ago. I've bought and built up a sup-par Type 2 collection, a cheesy G/W beats deck, and will hit up Regionals with whatever I can borrow.

That is because B/G Elves would cost me nearly $600 (US)! Here's the punny part. After reading this article, I traded a Blitterblossom, a set of Fulminator Mages, a bit more of Type 2 goodness, for Mana Dredge. Proxy up the power (and the Bazaars), the rest I either have or can afford (a set of Cabal Therapy can't be that hard to eBay). Boom, I'm a vintage player... and loving it.

There are 3 other kids around my small meta with T1 decks (no power around but proxies are fun). We have so much fun playing 4-player round robins or shuffling our decks together to play off one giant library (so broken!).

And what did it cost me? Trading out of the box of Shadowmoor I bought to get a T2 collection started. It's not that hard, and totally worth it.

I hope to persuade a certain tournament organizer in the Duluth, MN, area to incorporate a 10-proxy Vintage tourney in his annual convention (TwinPortsCon). I even hope to play some fun games on the side after I (inevitably) drop out of Regionals.

So thanks Smmenen and my friends for pushing me to play such a great and fun format. I barely care about Standard or Limited anymore. Vintage FTW!