I'm back!!!

[ConnerMcManus]

Greetings All,

After taking a two year break, I have returned to playing magic.  When my girlfriend and i got serious i quit playing but thankfully did not sell my cards.  Now i wish to start playing Type 1 again but i have one problem.  I do not know any of the decks that have been really good for last two years.  I start school again in a couple weeks and will start really playing then but I hope to get a head start on things now.  I am looking for a way to find out what decks have been doing really well and what cards/combos have been dominating.  I have looked through some of the threads here but to find out what everyone is talking about when they say a reference to something that I don't know could take alot of time.  I would really appreciate it if someone could help we out here.  Thanks.

[LotusHead]

Try looking here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?board=43.0

In the last 2 years,  Vintage has been taken over by 10 Proxy madness!  Anyone can play! (ok, anyone who at least has SOME T1 stuff, like Sol Ring.

[Methuselahn]

Welcome back ConnerMcManus!!  Sorry to hear about your serious girlfriend.    In short, the deck to beat right now is Grim Tutor.dec.  With portal legal, this card has exploded.  Various builds run Misdirection over Duress, both with great success.  5cStax is a natural answer, but has to fight through Drain infested waters, namely Slaver and Gifts Ungiven decks.  'SS' is a fish style UB deck that doesn't run Null Rod, but is dangerous and creates a nasty lock on you. Squeeless-Dragon, Salvagers and Oath are all notable decks.  Even a new RG deck just won a major event.  I'm sure I'm missing tons of things.  Check out StarCityGames tournament result decklists Top 8s for more info. 

If you are going to Gencon you really need to watch out for 'Grim Long' and 'Pitch Long' as they will be played to the top tables by all the name teams, for sure.  Watch out for tricky sideboarding strategy as well.