Trying to Get Someone to Play Vintage For the First Time, What Deck?

[msg67183]

Hello, my cousin wants to come play vintage with me. He plays casually and attends prereleases. My question to the community is, what deck should I have him play? With 15 proxies available the possibilities aren't as limited as I was originally thinking. My first idea was a Sliver deck, being that he loves playing Slivers, but idk how to build it properly to be any kind of competetive. If someone can present any kinds of lists for me to go off that would be great, I would most likely be starting from card 1-60.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Soly]

I would say Merfolk or GW Hatebears.   RUG Delver is a relatively friendly deck.   ORRRRR if you really want him to experience the brokenness that is vintage, Give him GrimLong and tell him this advice.


Duress their counterspell, and then either count to 10 or play oath.

[msg67183]

I would say Merfolk or GW Hatebears.   RUG Delver is a relatively friendly deck.   ORRRRR if you really want him to experience the brokenness that is vintage, Give him GrimLong and tell him this advice.


Duress their counterspell, and then either count to 10 or play oath.

I already know Merfolk is out, basically any blue deck is out due to limited card selection and only 15 proxy.
Wastelands would be an auto 4 proxies as well, being $75 or so now a days...

I was actually just contemplating on him playing Dredge, with 15 proxies it is DIRT cheap and is somewhat easy to learn, but it may lead him away from the format.

[boggyb]

Four-color Cavern Humans is strong. Might already have the Caverns if he's played Standard recently.

[msg67183]

Four-color Cavern Humans is strong. Might already have the Caverns if he's played Standard recently.

He owns no Caverns, we were going to actually proxy them in his Slivers deck, haha.

[boggyb]

word. Slivers will be no fun though as it will lose almost every time. Just use some sweet humans brew -- there are lots around. Should be able to construct for like 40-100 bucks.

[Soly]

Long with proxies should be really cheap to make.

No force of wills, no drains, no fetches or duals.

Proxy 9 pieces of power, Lions Eye Diamond, Mana Crypt.  Maybe the Academy and then what?  Everything else should be $8 or less.

I argue that this deck gives A LOT of room to improve within the format, whereas dredge is autopilot.

[msg67183]

Long with proxies should be really cheap to make.

No force of wills, no drains, no fetches or duals.

Proxy 9 pieces of power, Lions Eye Diamond, Mana Crypt.  Maybe the Academy and then what?  Everything else should be $8 or less.

I argue that this deck gives A LOT of room to improve within the format, whereas dredge is autopilot.

Are u referring to Burning Long? I feel that deck is still slightly expensive for him due to Wishes, Griselbrands etc. I will admit, my cousin is a Cheapass. Lol

[shrewarmies]

A deck I have started most newcomers on in my area is Dark Times and there are a few reasons for this:

It is a relatively easy deck to pilot in the beginning (especially for a more casual player). It generally wins by destroying the opponents hand and beating with 2 power guys while having the option of comboing into a 20/20. It is a very "fair" deck in how it plays out.

It teaches you to play with certain cards and how powerful they are in certain situations such as Dark Confidant and Wasteland which are salient in the format.

A third, more subtle, skill that comes with playing dark times is you really get to understand how blue decks operate. The 8 Duress/Thoughtseize effects  along with Lilliana and Surgical extraction give you a constantly evolving and updated view of what your blue opponent has. It really helps you understand how important certain cards are for your (blue) opponents and how best to form counter-strategies to what they have. It allows you to funnel your opponent into certain paths which helps if/when you move into other archetypes.

So in all, it shares skills from blue decks (efficent disruption etc), Shops (resource denial + Wastes) and obviously has comparisons to more sophisticated Fish Decks.

[msg67183]

A deck I have started most newcomers on in my area is Dark Times and there are a few reasons for this:

It is a relatively easy deck to pilot in the beginning (especially for a more casual player). It generally wins by destroying the opponents hand and beating with 2 power guys while having the option of comboing into a 20/20. It is a very "fair" deck in how it plays out.

It teaches you to play with certain cards and how powerful they are in certain situations such as Dark Confidant and Wasteland which are salient in the format.

A third, more subtle, skill that comes with playing dark times is you really get to understand how blue decks operate. The 8 Duress/Thoughtseize effects  along with Lilliana and Surgical extraction give you a constantly evolving and updated view of what your blue opponent has. It really helps you understand how important certain cards are for your (blue) opponents and how best to form counter-strategies to what they have. It allows you to funnel your opponent into certain paths which helps if/when you move into other archetypes.

So in all, it shares skills from blue decks (efficent disruption etc), Shops (resource denial + Wastes) and obviously has comparisons to more sophisticated Fish Decks.

While I agree with you, my first vintage deck was Dark Times AND I top 8'd my first tourney, I have to say that even with 15 proxies, my cousin will not be able to afford the deck. The way I see it is:

4 Wasteland proxy
4 Dark Confidant proxy
Mox Jet proxy
Black Lotus proxy
2-3 Dark Depths proxy
2-3 Liliana of the Veil proxy...

That being said he would still have to obtain thoughtseizes and I am pretty sure they are out of his price range even after being recently reprinted.

Thank you for the insight but I will have to keep searching I think.

Right now I have Dredge as a possible candidate as well as Ad Nauseam Tendrils, both are pretty damn cheap and fairly simple to play. But I'm always open to more ideas.

[shrewarmies]

God damn it. That deck used to be dirt cheap.

[msg67183]

I found another deck that is fairly straight forward and dirt cheap with 15 proxies:
0 land Belcher! Haha
I'm sure he would be able to play that deck.

[msg67183]

word. Slivers will be no fun though as it will lose almost every time. Just use some sweet humans brew -- there are lots around. Should be able to construct for like 40-100 bucks.

Could you supply me a list? I'm not familiar with that style of deck.

[Godder]

word. Slivers will be no fun though as it will lose almost every time. Just use some sweet humans brew -- there are lots around. Should be able to construct for like 40-100 bucks.

Could you supply me a list? I'm not familiar with that style of deck.

There are some threads in the Null Rod Aggro forum:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=44932.0
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=45908.0
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=45941.0