[Premium Article] The Vintage Roundup: A Look Ahead

[Smmenen]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/10026.html

Here is what the caption says:

Stephen looks at the issues and strategies coming up for the rest of 2005 - including a look at the overall metagame, the deck that requires the least skill to pilot (and why this matters), how to use Gifts Ungiven properly in Meandeck Gifts (it's not what you'd think), and his take on Pithing Needle. All that, and a brief look at the potential pitfalls of the 2006 Vintage Season!

I really do run the gamut, but I talk at length about SBing with meandeck Gifts and in general about Mishra's Workshop decks. 

[Luiggi]

Nice article, Steve. When I suggested Eye of Nowhere to a friend as a possible SB candidate for Gifts he laughed at me. "He who laughs last...", I guess, .

Question: you went into SB strategies a bit in your article, but you didn't talk about what cards you pull out in some matchups. If you're bringing in Needles, REBs and the Pyroblast against Control Slaver, that's 6 cards. What do you pull in that matchup?

Against Fish you said you ruined them with Old Men and Pyroclasms, so that's 3 cards to board in (I'm assuming you're leaving the 2nd Pyroclasm to be Wished for). What should come out here?

Again, good article, and I hope to hear your thoughts on SB'ing.

Luiggi

[Smmenen]

My approach to sbing is to shuffle my sb in and basically rebuild my deck like you would build a draft deck.  I rarely have trouble finding cards to sb out when I do that. 

[Dante]

Nice article.

StarCityGames Chicago and the Vintage Championship at GenCon will be virtually twin tournaments. The Vintage Championships at GenCon will probably just be a smaller version of StarCityGames Chicago. Seeing as they are both in the same state, you can expect a huge overlap in players. The metagame will be mostly the same despite the proxy differences as well.

Just to clarify - Chicago is in Illinois and Indianapolis is in Indiana.

[Razvan]

Just to clarify - Chicago is in Illinois and Indianapolis is in Indiana.

As the man said, same state... it's called "south".

Steve, great article.

[Luiggi]

My approach to sbing is to shuffle my sb in and basically rebuild my deck like you would build a draft deck.  I rarely have trouble finding cards to sb out when I do that. 

Steve, while I appreciate that this method might work for a great Vintage player like you, it's not too helpful to me, since I lack the massive amounts of experience that you have. I was hoping you could give some specifics, as opposed to just saying "I shuffle in all my SB and pull out the cards that aren't good in that particular matchup", which is also what you answered in an old topic when I asked this same thing.

If you don't wisj to divulge your SB strategy, that's a different matter. But if you don't mind making that information public, I'm looking for something along the lines of "Against Fish I pull out A, B and C and put in X, Y and Z."

Thanks again.

Luiggi

[Smmenen]

I would just like to point out what I said at the end of this article:

So to summarize a bit: Chicago and GenCon will have tons of Workshop decks. Expect Vroman’s Uba Mask. Expect lots of Juggernaut decks with Chalices and bit beaters. And expect some traditional Stax lists. Workshops are arguably even stronger than they were when Trinisphere was restricted, because Fish is so damned good right now.


Fish gets lots of new tools in the last few sets, and their arsenal continues to grow… But what’s more, the technology has improved. If my teammates Ashok Chitturi and Jacob Orlove had used Chalice of the Void + Aether Vial Fish lists pre-Trinisphere restriction, Fish never would have went away and Trinisphere would have been much weaker. A turn 1 Chalice for zero + Vial makes "Workshop, Trinisphere" a recipe for defeat by Wasteland and Vialed-out men. Trinisphere would have looked a lot weaker when you get Wastelanded and your opponent has Vial and Chalice for zero in play.


The Fish decks have also gotten Jitte – arguably the best equipment in Vintage. The card is just absurd. It gets two counters. Jitte is a really powerful solution to cards like Juggernaut…. but then, so is Basking Rootwalla and obviously Wild Mongrel. Jitte murders Welders as well. I tested the Oath matchup and was shocked by how good of a game Fish has. Not only are its creatures solid against Oath (Meddling Mage, Thief, and so forth), but Jitte can run over anything you Oath up.


So in summary, I see the metagame as Fish aimed at Workshops and Drains, Workshop decks aiming to beat my Gifts list and Fish, and then two Drain decks: my gifts list and Control Slaver. Control Slaver is always strong in heavy Workshop fields because their Goblin Welders and Force of Wills create fundamental weaknesses in Workshop decks. Mindslaver plus your opponent’s Goblin Welder is a combo.


If you are playing Gifts, just be aware that Control Slaver is likely to try to use Tormod’s Crypt to stop you. Don’t worry that much. If that’s the best they have, you have little to worry about. The Gifts deck has so much flexibility in terms of what it goes for because it is loaded with bombs that you can just go for Tendrils or use the Burning Wish to protect yourself. And don’t forget Pithing Needle.

What shakes out in Chicago will be the precedent for GenCon. I have no doubt that Gifts will be a very strong contender. I also don’t see combo interfering at all – not with Workshops and Fish being so popular. Just be prepared to beat Chalice Fish, Chalice-heavy Workshops, Gifts and Slaver and you should have no trouble at all!

I just would like to say, maybe it's time too sign up for premium?  My predictions were pretty damend accurate!  Maybe a little TOO accurate .  Look at what i said about Workshops, control slaver, and even mentioned Vroman's deck and him by name. 

[Revvik]

Shameless plug!!  :shock:
You were for the most part, dead on.  I ran into two fish decks, Workshop Aggro, and Meandeck Gifts in my 8 rounds (along with Ironworks, Affinity(?) and two Oath of Druids decks).  There was plenty of variety in the Swiss, even if that wasn't represented by the Top8.
I'm not so sure that "Fish is so damned good right now" - I was staring down a Fish player with a Factory, some land, an AEther Vial, and an Umezawa's Jitte (five cards in hand) to my depleted board position during Round Five and pulled out a 2-0 match win.

You left out a Drain deck, Smmenen: 'Tog.
One Tog player took home a Workshop in the side event, and I scored 8 packs of Legends - not a bad showing for a dead archetype 

[Vegeta2711]

Chicago has been known for Workshops for... oh, always. Most of your predictions were pretty easy to make ;P But good call on not dismissing Vroman's deck as complete crap like some of the SCG dunderheads did. (As always)

[Ivantheterrible]

As the man said, same state... it's called "south".

Acutally razavan we generally call that the midwest, but its just about as irralavent as the south most of the time.

[forests failed you]

The 'Tog player who took home the Workshop in the side event was my teamate Josh Franklin, or, onelovemachine on the manadrain.  He actually had a very solid chance at top eight but lost to some of the worst top decks I have ever seen, (four land in a row).

Other than that, nice article Steve.