There are a few dozen regular players of "Classic" format on MTGO, which is basically Vintage minus 9 cards, w/ 4 Brainstorm. These guys have been begging for P9 on MTGO for years, but Wizards always gives vague non-committal answers. "We're not sure yet", "we want to do it right", "need to wait for the right time", and now "We're (relatively) sure we want it to happen, although plans aren't in place yet". Aaron's comments are nothing new, so don't get too excited yet.

The day P9 comes on MTGO, you will have a few dozen guys ready and waiting to play in the first tournament. They have the duals, Forces, etc. already. Then add a possible influx of new players and you maybe have 50 players for weekly tourneys and find practice matches quickly any time of the day.

Yes, FoW is still around 100 USD. The main reason is that it's a rare in an 80-rare set where the next best card is Sylvan Library (~$8 USD online). Also this set is rarely available anymore, only for special events. The good news is that Wizards has complete control over the virtual printing press and can inflate to the moon Bernanke-style.

I think Wasteland has a good chance. Wasteland alone will fuel many MTGO sales because Maze of Ith, Karakas, etc. aren't really hot commodities online.

I'd bet strongly on Glacial Chasm (due to pic) and Dark Depths (pretty unique among lands in functionality).

We used to play almost that exact rule for Chaos Orb a long, long time ago in a tournament scene far, far away. We called it "small table rules" and we turned Chaos Orb + Fallen Star into targeted removal. Fallen Star was unplayable of course, but Chaos Orb was auto-include (and restricted).

About Ricochet Trap, it seems worse then REB to me. While Ricochet Trap does some cool things against Ancestral, it can't stop Tinker, Tezz, Gifts, Thirst, etc. Can someone give an argument for running Ricochet Trap over REB?

Good article. Don't you think Tarmogoyf deserves two stars as a staple? Especially considering Pridemage received two stars?

Enemy fetches are number one? Really? I don't doubt they will get played, but the net change to the format is almost nil.  Mindbreak Trap is my #1 just because it's going to be in every player's mind right before they go off.

Also I see you left off Candelabra. 

Guys, it gets even worse. Wonder why this change to Illusionary Mask just came up out of the blue? Wizards just "printed" this card in their new Magic Online "Masters Edition 3" set. My guess is that it was more convenient to program the card this way, or they couldn't correctly handle the card under the old wording for some reason. MTGO developers can't program their way out of a paper bag so it's really no surprise.

Can't program a 15 year-old card correctly? Just change the way the card works, nobody will notice except those Vintage guys. Who cares about them anyway.

Add Kaplan to the list please. He thinks that Sphere of Resistance makes Chalice of the Void cost TWO colorless more because there are TWO 'X''s in the casting cost...

Juan taps Mishra's Workshop
Juan taps Mox Emerald
Juan taps Barbarian Ring
Juan plays Chalice of the Void from Hand
<Juan> x=2
<kaplan> Ok
Juan's life total is now 17 (-1)
Chalice of the Void now has 1 (+1) counters.
Chalice of the Void now has 2 (+1) counters.
It is now turn 10 (kaplan)
It is now the Beginning Phase, Untap Step
<kaplan> no
<kaplan> its not possble
<kaplan> you should
<Juan> ?
<kaplan> pay 3
<kaplan> so its 6
<Juan> sphere = +1
<kaplan> for 2 counters
<Juan> only one spell
<kaplan> pls read your card
<kaplan> no its
<kaplan> xx
<Juan> spells cost one more to play
<Juan> it's a single spell
<kaplan> yes so its 6
<Juan> not 2 spells
<kaplan> asshole bye
<Juan> it's one spell
<System> Player Lost

Considered Academy but left it off for some reason. Probably should be added.

Also considered Tangle Wire. I don't have enough stuff to tap on my side though so the effect will be more symmetrical if I don't have Transmuter in play.

I have playtested this deck for 1000 hours in various tournaments all over North America and Japan. I have received input from MTG experts such as World Champions, PT Winners, and the Mayor of Tokyo... not really 

It's been said that the "Three Pillars of Vintage" are Shop, Drain and Ritual. Some decks run Drains OR Shops OR Rituals. I remember a few decks back in the day with Drains AND Rituals or Shops AND Rituals. But NEVER before (I think) has anyone ran Shops AND Drains AND Rituals... Until now!

"The Pillars"

// BROKEN
4x Mishra's Workshop
4x Mana Drain
4x Dark Ritual

// B.TINGS
4x Juggernaut
3x Triskelion
3x Sundering Titan
3x Master Transmuter
2x Karn Silver Golem
1x Mindslaver
1x Mind's Eye

// SEARCH
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor

// OTHER STUFF
4x Force of Will
1x Tinker
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Brainstorm
1x Mind Twist
1x Yawg Will

// MANA
1x Mana Crypt
5x Moxes
1x Lotus
3x Underground Sea
1x Island
7x Fetches

If it's possible for this deck to lose then I'm not seeing it. First you have about 10000 ways to cast a first turn Juggernaut between Shops and Rituals. The only thing better than a first turn Juggernaut is a first turn Juggernaut with FoW backup.

Then Master Transmuter hits the board and it's all over. Say Sundering Titan every turn, or Triskelion and kill your Welders over and over. Or Mindslaver and win, or Mind's Eye and draw twice as many cards.

And then what happens when you get to UU? MANA DRAIN TIME. You can hard-cast a Titan no problem in this deck.

This deck is a beating and a half. I hate to say it, but the more I look at the list, the more I think Rituals need to be cut. Screw it, keep them in. It's all about The Pillars.

Superstars in downtown San Jose is running weekly vintage each and every Thursday @ 7:00 PM. 20 proxies, $7 entrance. Store credit as prizes.

Address is 30 North 3rd STREET San Jose, CA 95112 Phone: 408.777.8277.

See http://www.superstarsgamecenter.com/ for more info.

BE THERE.

Just received a fake Beta Mind Twist from "inpw123" on Ebay. Seller is from Belgium and just sold a bunch of Beta Duals as well.

Card's surface just doesn't look right and uneven front + back can be seen with a 10x loupe. Most glaring failure is the light test... card looks nothing like a normal magic card under backlight. 95% opaque with some "lines" visible under lightning.

Watch out for this guy.

I posted this in the improvement forum. What do you guys think?

I was thinking about this deck for a while today. Your goal is to resolve Channel and win. Casting Lich's Mirror off Mana Drain or any other time when you haven't resolved Channel is a weak play. Even if you cast Mirror, say go, Negation something and then die next upkeep, you aren't in a good position to win the game by starting over. So the focus needs to be first on resolving Channel, second on keeping the recursion going so that you auto-win by popping a Mirror after you've resolved Channel.

Here's my version of the deck:

Finding Channel:

4x Personal Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Imperial Seal
1x Channel

Resolving Channel:

4x Force of Will
4x Pact of Negation
3x Duress
2x Misdirection

Recursion:

4x Lich's Mirror
4x Planar Portal
4x Fabricate

Misc:

1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Stroke of Genius
1x Brainstorm
2x Divining Top

Mana Sources:

1x Emerald
1x Sapphire
1x Jet
1x Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
4x Chrome Mox
1x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
3x Green search land
4x Gemstone Mine

That's 59 cards, not sure what the last card should be. Candidates:

Memory Jar - Strong candidate, but I don't like the idea of giving my opponent a chance to draw FoW.
Timetwister - See above, also discards to FoW and gets back Channel should it end up in the grave somehow.
Bounce spell - Is it even needed? Null Rod is a problem.
Another Stroke of Genius
Street Wraith - A strong card, but 17 life is necessary to play Mirror through the Portal. FoW and search lands also are in the deck so you can get below 18 pretty easily.  I think Divining Top may be better here because it runs off colorless too.

So let's say you manage to resolve Channel and cast Mirror. Now what? Do you auto-win? No, you do not.

If you have no mana floating after popping the Mirror, you are drawing to 8 outs - 4x Mirror, 4x Portal. 65% chance of drawing at least one of those. The other 35% of the time hopefully you can make blue through Sapphire / Lotus / Petal / Chrome and cast Fabricate or Stroke. Divining Top is a 2 life tutor for your top 3 cards that you can always cast off Channel. Sometimes you aren't going to make it though and it will be pretty much game.

If you have one blue floating then you are drawing to 13 outs (if you count Stroke as a sure-Mirror, which it is almost) and you have a 83% chance of drawing one. 17% of the time you will have to use your Ancestral, Divining Top, etc to find something to continue.

Note that if you discard non-outs to Chrome Mox your chances will improve slightly.

After a few cycles, it's hard to lose because you will put effects on the stack in resonse to losing the game. Ex. Activate Portal, in response lose the game. Portal resolves after you D7.

After you have gone through about five or so cycles and have a bunch of mana of all your colors floating, just find a Stroke and win.

I need to do some playtesting to determine the probability of winning given that Channel has resolved and Mirror has popped. It's easy to fishbowl, just D7 and pretend you're in this situation.

I was thinking about this deck for a while today. Your goal is to resolve Channel and win. Casting Lich's Mirror off Mana Drain or any other time when you haven't resolved Channel is a weak play. Even if you cast Mirror, say go, Negation something and then die next upkeep, you aren't in a good position to win the game by starting over. So the focus needs to be first on resolving Channel, second on keeping the recursion going so that you auto-win by popping a Mirror after you've resolved Channel.

Here's my version of the deck:

Finding Channel:

4x Personal Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Imperial Seal
1x Channel

Resolving Channel:

4x Force of Will
4x Pact of Negation
3x Duress
2x Misdirection

Recursion:

4x Lich's Mirror
4x Planar Portal
4x Fabricate

Misc:

1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Stroke of Genius
1x Brainstorm
2x Divining Top

Mana Sources:

1x Emerald
1x Sapphire
1x Jet
1x Lotus
1x Lotus Petal
4x Chrome Mox
1x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
3x Green search land
4x Gemstone Mine

That's 59 cards, not sure what the last card should be. Candidates:

Memory Jar - Strong candidate, but I don't like the idea of giving my opponent a chance to draw FoW.
Timetwister - See above, also discards to FoW and gets back Channel should it end up in the grave somehow.
Bounce spell - Is it even needed? Null Rod is a problem.
Another Stroke of Genius
Street Wraith - A strong card, but 17 life is necessary to play Mirror through the Portal. FoW and search lands also are in the deck so you can get below 18 pretty easily.  I think Divining Top may be better here because it runs off colorless too.

So let's say you manage to resolve Channel and cast Mirror. Now what? Do you auto-win? No, you do not.

If you have no mana floating after popping the Mirror, you are drawing to 8 outs - 4x Mirror, 4x Portal. 65% chance of drawing at least one of those. The other 35% of the time hopefully you can make blue through Sapphire / Lotus / Petal / Chrome and cast Fabricate or Stroke. Divining Top is a 2 life tutor for your top 3 cards that you can always cast off Channel. Sometimes you aren't going to make it though and it will be pretty much game.

If you have one blue floating then you are drawing to 13 outs (if you count Stroke as a sure-Mirror, which it is almost) and you have a 83% chance of drawing one. 17% of the time you will have to use your Ancestral, Divining Top, etc to find something to continue.

Note that if you discard non-outs to Chrome Mox your chances will improve slightly.

After a few cycles, it's hard to lose because you will put effects on the stack in resonse to losing the game. Ex. Activate Portal, in response lose the game. Portal resolves after you D7.

After you have gone through about five or so cycles and have a bunch of mana of all your colors floating, just find a Stroke and win.

I need to do some playtesting to determine the probability of winning given that Channel has resolved and Mirror has popped. It's easy to fishbowl, just D7 and pretend you're in this situation.

I ran some maths and with 4x Mirror, 4x Portal, 1x Memory Jar, you will "draw 7" into one of these cards 70% of the time. The other 30% you can hopefully find an answer some of the time with Time Walk, Ancestral, Lotus + Tutor, etc. Add 1-2 Fabricate and you can pretty much guarantee a win once you pop the first Mirror.

Cut the Platinum Angels, they aren't needed. I think you will be able to get by with just one Torch, I don't think the second one will improve your victory % more than an extra Fabricate.

Don't forget that you can cast something or trigger an ability, in response lose the game by paying all your life through Channel, and you'll have your thing around once Mirror goes off. You can even cast Mirror with Mirror in play, in response lose the game, and no matter what you draw you're good for another go.

This deck will fishbowl 2nd turn consistently. Winning is really just a matter of resolving Channel.

Planar Portal belongs in this deck, maybe 4x. You can consider Planar Portal a Lich's Mirror that costs 17 colorless mana. Sounds like a lot, but it really doesn't matter once you cast Channel.

4x Mirror, 4x Portal means you don't have to go searching for a mirror. Also it means that you basically win once you pop your first mirror w/ channel because you now have 8 cards you can draw in your draw 7 to keep going (9 cards w/ Memory Jar).