Spirit of the Lab is really one of those cards...slows down most other decks and trades with Lodestone Golems.  I feel like you almost need to make room for Dark Confidant if you are on Spirit because they allow you to stay ahead.  By that time though you are almost playing a different deck, like black white fish with vault key.

Indeed. I would +1 if possible.

In what world is a set of power to play a blue deck a marginal cost?

That's really elitist of you Katzby. I don't like allowing Chronicles, because those cards are ugly as hell. Other than that, I see no problem at all. FBB and CE are very expensive anyway, and hard to find. Also, as far as a throwback to good old days, they do exactly that visually, so I see no problem at all. Specially since the format is growing and stuff are getting so expensive that "barrier to entry marginally higher than that of Legacy" couldn't be less accurate.

This was my yesterday's list:

7 creatures
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Trinket Mage

17 lands
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Library of Alexandria

16 artifacts
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 AEther Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Grafdigger's Cage

18 instants
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Dig Through Time
1 Repeal
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Disenchant
1 Mana Drain
1 Flusterstorm
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction

2 sorceries
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk

SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Aegis of the Gods
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 1 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Grand Abolisher
SB: 1 Supreme Verdict (should have been toxic deluge)
SB: 1 Serenity
SB: 2 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Pithing Needle


Decisions:

2 Aurioks instead 3. Playing 2 tops, vampiric and demonic it seemed right.
3 trinkets because trinket is great, but thirst and fof are also great and go over 4th trinket
2 tasigurs because of the body and the ability to instawin with infinite mana and ancestral
No mana vault, most of the time does little and make us still more vulnerable to rod/stony silence.
1 nihil because it's awesome most of the time and 1 aether in case I find some tinker into robot or random situations. Didn't like it at all.
1 cage in case I find oath, or as an early answer to dredge. It also answer wills and snapcaster, but yesterday it didn't even appear.
Vault and key because key+top is awesome, and this pair steal lots of games, specially when opponent controls your graveyard.
2 thirsts and 1 fact or fiction because thirst is great with so many artifacts and fact does what we want from it: search for auriok while putting artifacts in the grave. I could play more.
No treasure cruise, I already destroy enough grave with tasigurs and dtt


Possible changes
Canonist can go again into maindeck, our combos are not really annoyed (by the time you have combo, you have explosives to remove her if needed) and some opponents get really slowed. However she does little in certain pairings and we are more exposed to removal. Similarly with abolisher.
Black over red gives tutors, tasigurs and maindeck nihil. We lose fayden, pyrite and chewers. Hard call.
Spirit of the labyrinth can hurt lots of decks and we can be out of trouble taking out thirsts and brainstorm. Spirits and fact or fiction are great replaces for them. Deck explosiveness gets hurt and we keep removal alive against us, while we create less graveyard for tasigur. It depends on the metagame.

So yesterday I got my first top 4 in LCV, after 7 years of frequesnt assistance. I managed it with this list

2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Trinket Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 AEther Spellbomb
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Dig Through Time
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Repeal
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Voltaic Key
1 Disenchant
1 Time Vault
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mana Drain
1 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Aegis of the Gods
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 1 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Grand Abolisher
SB: 1 Supreme Verdict
SB: 1 Serenity
SB: 2 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Pithing Needle


1 hour before the tournament I picked spirits of the labyrinth to replace 2 thirsts and 1 brainstorm, but decided not to do it because tasigur would be hampered, my combo is slower, and deck gets more vulnerable to mass removal. When I arrive I ask Marcel for the tasigurs, sleeve them and start the tournament.

Round 1 Ruben Xicota (Custom affinity)
Last month he was also my first opponent and he won me 2-1, this time I'm afraid I'm a bit worse to mud, but have more acceleration and can combo fast on a lucky day. Besides, he is REALLY sick, and is playing under normal capacity. In first match I play an early voltaic that gets revoked, and after some turns he plays a strip mine from the library, not noticing that he had a city of traitors in play. He plays a golem soon after using city, I play a tasigur and decide not to block golem so I can get some advantage next turn. Next turn, he plays Ghostfire Blade and then I'm in real trouble. I analyze situation and realize about city in play, strip in grave and comment it. He feels really sorry and wants to concede, but we both had failed to realize and I don't let him. Nevertheless he feels really bad and he is really sick, so he missplays equiping revoker and attacking with both golem and revoker, which gets killed by tasigur (dying in the process because a chief of the foundry). I'm at 4 and I just have one more turn, but the topdeck is vault so I get infinite turns.
In second match I keep a hand with serenity and just wait until he has 2 moxen, 1 blade and 2 chiefs in play to play it. I'm already at 10, but the card advantage (I just lose 1 mox in the process) is enough for the win some turns later, once a tangle fades out.


Round 2 Aleix Dosta (Esper mentor)
We start mulliganing into 6. His start is far better than mine, but after an ancestral and gush he seems to stall, while I can resolve a nice ancestral. He has a mentor but despite having 6 cards seems to have little action, so when I trinket I get greedy (I have auriok in hand) and decide to go for top instead explosives... top does not bring anything and next turn he kills me.
Game 2 I mulligan again and he opens with lotus, usea, mentor, ancestral, fow backup for my fow, probe... in his T1. No need to say that I'm dead pretty soon.


Round 3 Joan Anton Mateo (4c mentor)
He mulligans, and I have vault and key in opening hand, plus flusterstorm. He draws more than me and I have no hurry to combo, so I open with top. I use top to fetch for mana, since I only have 2 lands, and I drop key and use it to draw an extra card with top, getting a fow in the process. Next turn I play blue spell in order to make him waste some countermagic, and finally I have to play vault with fow and fluster, since he taps in his turn. He fows vault, i fow back, he rebs, and I fluster both. he scoops.
Next game I start with library in hand. He does not apply pressure, so I play T2 cavern canonist, T3 abolisher.He plays fayden, stealing canonist. I bounce canonist, kill fayden with abolisher. Next turn replay canonist, which gets killed but I don't waste removal since I have the second in hand. All the time I have at least 7 cards in hand and 1-2 counters in hand. Finally I find trinket for lotus, go infinite with auriok, kill canonist with explosives, play tasigur and ancestral him infinitelly. His REBs where pretty dead because of caverns.


Round 4 Oscar Basart (Dark petition TPS)
He wins the dice, and commits into necropotence using demonic and ritual, and necro gets a fow. When I'm getting advantage he goes for a Mind Desire of 3 (all tapped). First card is bargain, followed by sol ring and petal... of course I lose right away
In second match I have T1 canonist with crypt, which stops him a lot. A wheel on his side brings me enough cards to protect canonist and combo soon after with auriok+lotus, explosives and top.
In last match I pair canonist and aegis, and while he has defense grid, he cannot take care of both creatures. I combo with auriok+lotus and tasigur. Since I know the match is won and I know he also knows it, I explain my sequence in a really fast and wrong way, so he advises me to do it clearer next time, and I have to excuse myself


Round 5 Adam Subirana (Dredge)
I win the dice and he opens with leyline. I have a good hand and switch strategy to vault+key, since I have vault. I have lots of early mana and play thirst into nihil, trinket and something else, discarding explosives. I have 3 mana so better play nihil and play trinket into next turn with lots of mana. I have to crack nihil (which gives second trinket) next turn before he goes nuts, but he plays therapy naming trinket and wins few turns late.
In second match I mulligan to 5 but have T2 trinket into lotus, T3 auriok. His hand is great, no mulligan with bazaar, 1 troll and 1 imp. However, in his second turn he does not find a therapy despite dredging 17 cards and using bazaar twice. He passes the turn and with infinite mana I combo with top and explosives.
Third match is a bit different. He mulls into 4, I mull into 6. He opens again with leyline so my auriok is bad. However I have nihil to prevent him going off, and aegis prevents to play therapy on me. I find the second nihil by the time I crack first. Meantime he has two bloodghasts that slowly take my life away, and later comes a thug. I play canonist, and next turn trinket goes for pithing. With pithing and nihil I have the game in control, with fow, misstep and drain in hand. I have to use fow for chewer, and after I play auriok as a beater game is over.


Round 6 Ferran Relat (4c mentor)
ID. I go with Ferran Relat, Jaume Bonet and Jose Maria Garcia for lunch, since all of us have our spot in the top.

I finish in 4th position, so I'll start in quarterfinals

T8 Miquel Alcoriza (URB control?)
I start mulliganing into a hand with just 1 land and 1 mox but with fow. He opens into a fayden that I try to counter but he counters back. Few turns after he assembles vault+key.
Next match starts bad for me, mulliganing into tundra and tolarian but no artifacts. Scry brings a thirst that goes to bottom, and next draw isn't a mana source neither. I'm out but then... I top deck lotus, allowing me to play trinket for explosives (he has 2 moxen in play) and canonist. I don't have much notes about this match but lifes go down from 16 to 12, 8 and 6 for him. At some moment he plays mindbreak trap to a top, so my auriok combo could be in trouble, but I don't need it.
I third game I have trinket and canonist, and he has jace and a fayden that steals my canonist. I play tasigur. Tasigur is bounced and trinket kills jace after disenchanting canonist. I replay tasigur to put some pressure, and control my draws with to. Then he plays toxic deluge for 5, killing trinket and tasigur but going to 7. I decide not to use top to grab ancestral and play it for solutions, but next turn I resolve ancestral into auriok. I play auriok but not go infinite in case he has the trap since I have no answer. When he is in trouble he plays voltaic key, and I use my lone mental misstep, paid with life instead using lotus or tolarian (I was at 8 and had crypt in play, so it's a mistake that I realized 1 second later). He plays notion thief to block my auriok when he is at 4 and seems fine. When he goes for tinker I grab the fow and answer it for the win.


T4 Adam Subirana (Dredge)
I have finished over him so I start. My initial 7 is a decent hand but does nothing against dredge, with 2 lands and trinket but no acceleration. I mulligan into best hand ever: lotus, tolarian, ancestral, voltaic key, engineered explosives and underground sea. However I got pretty nervous and after he plays Leyline of the void I interpret that he is opening and I draw a card. I just get a warning, but I felt pretty sorry and chained 2 more mistakes in a row. Ancestral gives me nihil, cage, vampiric tutor. Lotus pays for nihil, key, vampiric for vault. Next turn I play sea and vault ftw.
I have to mull second hand because I have 0 manasources and he keep. My 6 has canonist but only 1 fetchland and I keep, but first 3 cards are not mana sources and lose.
In thirst match I have to mull again, opening with top. In second turn I missplay heavily: I don't use the just drawn vampiric to fetch for nihil and draw it with top. I made up my maths so at the end of his turn I have to play vampiric for explosives, since he already has 4 bridges and 8 zombies in play. I don't find more answers and next turn he passes over my aegis and trinket. I don't think I would have won even with vampiric into nihil, but I'd had a chance. And if haven't forgotten the toxic deluge at home (it was the spot of supreme verdict) I could have vampiric for it in order to kill his army and remove all his bridges, providing there was no leyline. Instead I lose

Thanks for the reading, I hope somebody enjoy reading it!

Hi guys,

I am running an series of posts about my experience in the "Big Tix" Vintage event at GP Melbourne this year.

Each post will look at a single round of the tournament and at the end I will provide a breakdown of the field.

I will be adding to this post each time I publish the next post.

Round 1: http://mtgvintageadventures.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/gp-melbourne-vintage-event-round-1.html

Round 2: http://mtgvintageadventures.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/gp-melbourne-2016-round-2.html

Round 3: http://mtgvintageadventures.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/welcome-back-folks.html

Round 4: http://mtgvintageadventures.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/gpmelbourne-vintage-round-4-headinginto.html

This is pretty amazing.

I fear this may not receive the credit it deserves...

I really, really hate that both of these formats allow CE.  I'm not thrilled about allowing FBB cards, either.

93/94 was evidently orginally intended as a "hardcore" throwback format and to restore an old school sense of making a serious investment to be able to play (a non-budget deck) that absolutely was a part of Magic's early culture.  I feel like the various US-based versions of the format are downright bastardized versions of this good idea; the people that think of the NorCal or Eternal Central Old School formats as "hardcore" are just lying to themselves, IMO.  In actuality, these are budget formats that have a barrier to entry marginally higher than that of Legacy.

Anyway, what's with the weird errata on Howling Mine?


This actually matches the current Oracle text on the card.  What's the point?