Power 20

[Komatteru]

Thinking about it again on reflection, I think Channel might be a little more busted than Black Lotus in T1. 3 mana of any color is pretty strong, but so is 19 colorless. Were it unrestricted, I bet some mostly green Belcher abomination would arise that used Land Grant, ESG, all the colored moxes and Chrome Sphere to make sure that you hit GG on your first turn, which would lead to a literal GG.

Richard Garfield is a pretty smart man.  I'm sure he knew exactly what he was going when he made Channel; hence, he costed it exactly correctly. 

Agreed on Channel.  I forgot about that.  Not sure how, but I did.

[Smmenen]

I think these lists would be a lot more interesting if people did what Wizards did and grouped all the moxes together. That way, you get 4 more slots to drop stuff in.

Thinking about it again on reflection, I think Channel might be a little more busted than Black Lotus in T1. 3 mana of any color is pretty strong, but so is 19 colorless. Were it unrestricted, I bet some mostly green Belcher abomination would arise that used Land Grant, ESG, all the colored moxes and Chrome Sphere to make sure that you hit GG on your first turn, which would lead to a literal GG.

I don't agree its more busted than Lotus - but yes, that's why I put it in my list.

The best resource in Vintage is life.  Anything that you can do to pay life is just insane simply becuase 20 life is so much in a format as fast as Vintage.  That's how COmbo can get away with Casting Death Wish. 

To answer matt's question: yes, LED doesn't require a tap to sacrifice.  You can play it under Root Maze, etc and still use it, unlike Lotus.  Which I have done at tournament before. 

[Vegeta2711]

Oh wow, yeah, Channel exists. Chuck Vise off and add that to mine. Woo.

It just sees so little play I didn't even remember it existed.

[forests failed you]

Channel is pretty good, but it doesn't really see much play.  I think in order to put a card on the top twenty cards in Vintage it has to have busted synergy with the rest of the format.  However, I will agree with you that it is an extremely powerful effect; but the dubs green is pretty rough for casting in most decks.  I do agree that if that card was costed uu or bb it would be WAY up on the list. 

Still, I don't think that any card, even Yawgmoth's Will comes anywhere close to Black Lotus in terms of usefulness and powerfulness.  Part of the reason that Yawgmoth's Will is as broken as it is, is purely based upon the power of Lotus.  That isn't to say Will isn't broken, clearly it is.  But that is merely my opinion on the subject.