Trying to improve a casual desk - Vintage I guess

[pell]

I havent played magic in years.... Probably close to 10 years or so. I stopped around Urza's Saga (Started around Revised/4th).... I decided to dust off the cards, and give it a whirl, and it just seems like the deck I built just doesnt have enough umph. Im not looking for proxies to add, just cards around that time frame (because I probably have them), or newer cheap cards I can add to speed up the deck, or just add a little power.

This is what I got:

Artifacts:

2x Icy Manipulator
1x Howling Mine
1x Sol Ring

White:

2x Angelic Chorus
2x Swords to Plowshares
3x Congregate
4x Exile
4x Serra Angel
2x Serra Avatar

Blue:

4x Force of Will
3x Time Spiral
2x Stroke of Genius
4x Mana Drain
2x Psionic Blast
4x Vesuvan Doppelganger

Land:

1x Tolarian Academy
4x Tundra
9x Plains
7x Islands


I dont have a sideboards as this deck will never see a tourney. Its really only used against friends who share a competitive spirit.

[Lurker101]

With Tolarian Academy I'd play more aritifacts like Mana Vault, Lotus Petal, maybe Grim Monolith and Voltaic Key or you could fit in the Grim Monolith + Power Artifact combo which gives you infinite mana and both cards should come pretty cheap and would make a lethal stroke of genius pretty easy. Maybe also throw in a mystical tutor and some additional card draw (brainstorm, ponder, Fact or Fiction are all relatively inexpensive as well and are all great cards) to make it easier to assemble the combo.

[Godder]

For Grim Monolith + Power Artifact, you can also use Basalt Monolith! Redundancy is not all bad, and a bit of fun.

[Beralt]

You might consider a recent uncommon over Exile - Path to Exile out of Conflux - it's less mana and works vs white creatures.  They should be relatively cheap.

I am not incredibly fond of Congregate, because you are only running 10 creatures, same goes with Angelic Chorus but I can see the combo with Serra Avatar.  They have printed some fine creatures since those two, check out Akroma, Angel of Wrath (pricey) and Vesuvan Shapeshifter (similar to doppleganger, rare but probably less pricey then Akroma) - even in the next set to be release there will be a lifegaining upgrade to Serra Angel called Baneslayer Angel - you can check out the stats here -http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/magic2010/spoiler.

Good all purpose, cheap removal exists in the form a card from Shards of Alara - Oblivion Ring.

If you want to stay in White/Blue and lose the Icy Manipulators - check out the Master of Impediments or the Azoriious Guildmage - although Icy is very useful.  This would increase your creature count.

Life gain in the form of Ivory Tower might not be bad since you are playing card drawers.  To further that end you might look at Land Tax to fill your hand up since you are playing with basic lands.

There are some new excellent counters but all depends on what your friends are playing, Negate might be useful and Cryptic Command while not normally all that useful in vintage might be the right fit for you.  Cryptic Command might be a bit pricey though.

If your playing vs more powered/standard vintage decks, I would reccomend Aven Mindcensor, to stop library searching.

If you want to go with a more White Weenie theme, Icatian Javelineers and Jotun Grunt are reasonable.

Of course if you take cost out of the equation there are many great suggestions such as moxen, ancestral and time walk.  Fetch lands are a step down from that and would help your mana consistency Flooded Strand is the card name to check out if you have a moderate amount to spend.

[crestiksa]

Simple - casual is playing just for the fun of playing. You may have prizes, but thats not why youre playing.

And note that I said playing for the fun...of playing. Maybe many tourney peoples find it fun to win the prize or whatever. So they play for fun, but its not the same thing.

Thats my voice anyway.