An important difference in wording on the current spoiler: http://mtgsalvation.com/m11-magic-2011-spoiler.html#4440

You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.

Thus if this wording is correct, ancestral and others are fine.

Did you really just reply to him posting his own tournament result...

I think this is an interesting way to look at it.  Tinker is a RESTRICTED 3 mana, 3+ turn plan B that requires an artifact in play (of which you have quite a few) and Oath is a 2 mana UNRESTRICTED Plan B that only needs 1 more turn to essentially lock out the game and requires a 4 of land or an opponent to have a creature(which in this meta with Bobs running around is more common in matchups where it wasn't previously).  While Tinker is a more powerful card overall, I fell that with the printing of Iona making the first oath activation so damaging Oath might be the more powerful Plan B strategy.

Have any Oath decks run Balance recently?  I used to really like it back when I played ICBM Oath but could never find slots for it.  I think Pernicious Deed is much better right now because it can hold off opposing Vault strategies if you can get it to stick, makes for a tempting target for Quasali Pridemage and other enchantment hate, leaving Oath more unmolested and just overall more useful.  Balance rarely provides that blowout turn 1 though that Deed could never compare to.

On the issue of Defense of the Heart, I feel the mana cost is just too high and it's win is just to slow for Vintage.  Compare it to Tezz, which for 1 mana more, in a better color, straight wins in the same time frame instead of dropping creatures out.  I have been looking at it for a casual/competitive multiplayer deck that would drop in Kiki/Pestermite or more likely Iona/Painter's Servant.  Triggering the 3 creatures clause is still a lot of work in multiplayer though.

Summoning Trap  -   4GG

Instant - Trap   

If a creature you cast this turn was countered by a spell or ability an opponent controlled, you may pay 0 rather then pay Summoning Trap's casting cost.
Look at the top seven cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.


My first thought are the obvious use in Guli's style deck or Meandeck GW as a way to get lock creatures into play on turn one, even if your first creature is countered.  Not useful if you are dropping a null rod that gets countered, but if they counter your gaddock or whatnot this is a real kick in the pants.  Not sure if it is playable though, but it acts like fast mana and the lock creature so I think it has a real chance in certain matchups.

Edit: sorry, trap cost added.

if that trap is real, i'm going to be thrilled with my ichorid deck....

Yeah def mulldrifter over counsel, and needs more Misdirection and Trinket Mage imo

Thank you wizards for leaving drain alone.

If you are going to use Mystic Remora and Thorn of Amethyst as situational cons and pros, you should also factor in Oath.

While it usually won't matter if you are using Trinket to fetch the win and activate that turn there are many situations where you realize too late they are playing Oath.

As to the original question, I'd always viewed Fabricate as too much mana for some reason, and yet used Trinket Mage to great effect.  I'd never tested it as a result but I would imagine that the un-duressability of a 3 mana spell would be the most relevant of the cons you mentioned for Fabricate.  I think it warrants testing though, as the ability to get BOTH combo pieces of vault/key and painter/stone is definitely a huge boon.

So I just read from:
 http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/17214_The_Magic_Show_134_All_That_Glitters_VIDEO_ADDED.html

that mana burn as a rule may be leaving the game.

The first thing that popped into my mind was, "Wow mana drain just got it better."

While that isn't too exciting, it will be nice to not have players accidentally taking burn during their second main phase, or new players being told they just took 3, learn to play better.

I know it is now harder to kill yourself in certain situations, and my old proteus staff deck running Pulse of the Fields just got a nice shot in the arm against decks that had to mana burn to turn that card off.

But it got me thinking, mana burn has been with magic since their was magic, and with vintages card pool there has got to be other possibly relevent cards that could be affected.

I would like this to be a discussion about places this occurs and any possible combo's that might have been enabled by this possible rule change.

source: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/22

name: silly dude
cost: wwuubbrrgg
10/10
protection from everything
dsc's graveyard clause

I think this effectively replaces Oath's sideboard creature of Simic Sky Swallower or whatever the new hotness is.

It effectively has shroud, can easily be discarded to TfK(sadly with another card), and is unblockable.

It is legendary though so only one, but barring a wrath of god or other non-damage sweeper it is staying in play.  I wouldn't replace the main creatures of hellkite/akroma, but it will def have a place in my sideboard.

This seems pretty obvious to me, but is there any reason why this wouldn't be a better choice that I am overlooking?

One of the things I noticed in my Oath list (which has become a near clone of the ICBM list) is that TFK is just more desirable in the board states I would find myself in.
Going early game to try to find the combo with impulse has me spending mana instead of having drain up, playing chalice/rod, early wasting/duress.  This left me open to decks that just plain goldfish faster if I am still searching for the win.  The only time I wanted to cast Impulse early was when I needed to find something now if my hand didn't have enough gas, which meant I should have mulliganed.  So I was always holding it back more for late game while I tried to lockdown/control the game long enough to get oath down.  This means I never wanted it in the early turns unless I was already ruined and was trying to somehow get back in the game with card selection.
TFK seemed much better in this role.
Also, there were times where I'd be digging for answers, but have a chalice at 2 shutting me down completely leaving me in top deck mode for a tutor/bouncer.
I would prefer to use both, but given the control shell, TFK feels better at keeping the game on lockdown and I never feel like I need to be searching one card deeper once I am past the early game.

When playing Drain Tendrils/Ichorid however I want them to be Impulses, as I am usually straight races before card advantage/zombies overwhelm me.

Lat-nam's Legacy feels bad to me, as it feels like a negative combo.  If you have a bad card in hand and it then it becomes very good.  And it is never truly terrible, as you can always toss something back or pitch it.  Having a lone copy in the angel build is not bad because having those in hand just makes you play worse, not to mention you are essentially -1 CA just by drawing the creature.  I actually liked it with Angels in the past.  At least with Tyrant you have other options, pitching/drain mana/incredibly late game stalemate.  Also another advantage of TFK is pitching a creature that can be quite relevant in close games where you were winning but drew guys/blessing and need to get them out.