vintage White Weenie

[jackpot]

Why don't I just run Armageddon if keeping other decks in check w/ Strip and Wasteland is so important? Is it really that terrible in T1? If null rod is out and I blow up all lands, should I really be worried about their Artifact mana as I'm smashing w/ Empyrial armored dudes? mana drained Armageddon would suck. It looks like you are right Mr. Engine No. 9. Naming Mana Drain with the mage is probably the right move! Also with all the WW in casting costs plus the meddling mages, the mana is super tight as it is. The deck as it stands if vulnerable to opposing wastelands and stripmines. Yet another reason Land Tax is in there. Even though Land tax isn't going to do anything to win me the game on it's own besides look like some pimp-guy,  it's far from just some silly trick card.

[silvernail]

Armageddon cost 3W strip mine and wasteland cost 0. Strip and waste can be searched for using weathered wayfarer. Strip and waste can produce mana. Armageddon gets mana drained and you lose. Those are the main reasons Im sure there are more.

aside from that what about trying a rule of law(players can only play one spell per turn) and aether vial. oh and if you want to run blue at least add some kind of card drawing be it ancestral recall or brainstorm.

[jackpot]

The latest manifestaition:

4 Kitties
4 Samurai of the pale curtain
4 Meddling mage-always name mana drain, trust me on this one...
4 True believer
4 Exalted angel
4 Abolish
4 land tax
4 EMPYRIAL ARMOR
4 NULL ROD -no fun for you, Slaver-boy
4 Swords to plowshares -go farming welder. Go hug a tree colossus
1 Enlightened tutor
1 Mox pearl
1 Black lotus
4 Flooded strand
4 Tundra
9 Plains

SB:
3 Kami of ancient law-vs oath
4 Tradewind rider-against fatties and anything troublesome. Outstanding board control card.
4 Serenity
4 more cards. Maybe disenchants. Rule of law seems to a favorite suggestion.

I'm seriously looking at adding 1 Enlightened tutor to the deck. This will go grab me a Null rod or empyrial armor to apply the beats when needed. I can also go get a serenity easier after sideboarding this way. I cut a plains from the deck ro add the one tutor. I may be better off cuting a Land tax instead. With 4 tradewinds and 4 swords TP, I should have enough answers to DSC/fatties. Ideas?

[alban]

-1 kittie (or another 1 mana creature)
+1 Isamaru Hound of Konda 
it beats fish harder 
isn't 4 angel a little overdone?

[silvernail]

4 Savannah Lions
4 Samurai of the pale curtain
4 Meddling mage
4 True believer
4 Lantern Kami
4 Null Rod
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 EMPYRIAL ARMOR
4 Swords to plowshares
1 Enlightend Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Enlightened tutor
1 Mox pearl
1 Black lotus
4 Flooded strand
4 Tundra
9 Plains

removed land tax (its not good enough without scroll rack really, and if you want a land find card still than run weathered wayfarer)

Removed Exalted angel becasue she is too slow, you want the game to be over before she would get to swing. added ninjas for more card drawing in her place.

Removed Abolish due to it being mostly pointless vs non creature artifacts that can be stopped by null rod (most of the artifacts out there)

the tradewinds in sideboard are horribly slow 4 cc creatures arent too good without accelration, which you dont really have. Yuor board should look a bit more like:

4 Orims Chant ( combo stoppa )
4 Aether Vial ( counter this a hole)
4 Serenity ( the usual arty hate slot )
3 Echoing Truth ( deals with annoying things )

[jackpot]

OK. You have raised some interesting points. Removing abolish because of the null rods makes some sense. However, if an opponent gets an Oath out, I may be screwed. Kami of ancient law is in the board for this reason. The abolish is never a dead card. It will always blow up something of the opponents. Usually some mox or sol ring. They usually never see it coming as well, which is huge. "What's that card do?" Is the usual response. Cutting the land tax for...Lantern Kami? Cutting Exalted angel for...Ninja of the deep hours? I can see you tried to match up the casting costs, which is a nice touch, but Lantern Kami over land tax? I can understand how Exalted costs 4 and is slow for T1 and I will definatly try to test the ninjas out. Maybe I should cut the Land tax for some more mana accelleration. Sol ring, mana crypt, and ancient tombs. Then I could reasonably justify adding tradewinds and Exalted angels. Here's an idea:

4 Savannah lions
4 Meddling mage
4 Samurai of the pale curtain
4 True believer
4 Exalted angel
4 Tradewind rider
4 Null rod
4 swords to plowshares
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 sol ring
1 Black lotus
1 mox saphire
1 Mox pearl
4 Flooded strand
4 Tundra
1 Island
8 plains
4 Ancient tomb

I think this is the speed that everyone is talking about.

[silvernail]

riders and angels are still slow, which is why  i added ninjas and lantern kamis.
you can cast the lantern turn one and then drop ninja turn 2.

also in SB vs oath you can use echoing truth to force them to have a brainstorm to get the creature back ontop of library (which if you dont hit oath with a meddling mage but do have echoing truth you can try naming brainstorm to stop them from being able to get the creature back).

On Angel: you dont need a large finishing creature, you are mainly a swarm deck, you play many guys and beat with them, i can see how angel might be useful in an aggro matchup that isnt workshop based but it has no real advantages otherwise. Also to point out the advantage of angel is not as good as the advantage of jitte would be vs aggro.

[jackpot]

One thing to consider in this format is speed or disruption. I don't have the speed, so I'm going disruption. The problem with Savannah lions and Lantern Kamis is that they're not disruptive at all. The kitties have two power, so they're in. Kamis do fly which combos w/ the Empyrial armors, but that's it. I think I'd rather play wethered wayfarer or those javelineer guys. Another thing to consider about wethered wayfarer is that they can go grab ancient tombs. That option right there is outstanding. That can ramp up to angel or a tradewind very fast. Or a ninja. The ninja of the deep hours however have a lot of potential. I have to try them out. It's too  bad there aren't any white ninja's.  What does everyone think of mistblade shinobis in the board? OK how about echoing truth AND mistblade shinobi in the board then? Yes? Alright let's compromise:

4 Wethered wayfareer
4 Meddling mage
4 True believer
4 Samurai of the pale curtain
4 Ninja of the deep hours
4 Tradewind rider
4 Exalted angel
4 Null rod
4 Sword to plowshares
4 Empyrial armor
1 Mana crypt
1 Mox sapphire
1 Mox pearl
1 sol rig
1 Black lotus
4 Flooded strand
4 Tundra
7 Plains
4 Ancient tomb=60


Now we're getting the speed down. An early Tradewind as we all know is game over for a lot of decks. No oath, no welder, no smokestack, and so on. An empyrial armor on an angel is crazy. I can't resist that. Sorry. I took out the abolish and put in the tradewinds as a cure all. The deck can search out the ancient tombs w/ wayfareer for early angelbeats or tradewind lock. The only thing I'm concerned about is having more 1 drops for the tradewind to interact with besises the wayfarers. I may take out the Samurai and have them be Kitties instead. I'm excited about this build. Thanks guys. Let's keep it up.

[Norm4eva]

Anyone who wants to cut Exalted Angel from this deck has probably never won by turning one sideways.  Holy crap.  If a creature contends with guys like Morphling for the "Best Creature Ever" slot and you can support it, you run it.
Interesting call with the Tradewind Rider.  Do you think that running a card like Battle Screech/Raise the Alarm would aid in the Tradewind plan?

[jackpot]

I swear that these people saying that Exalted and Tradewind are too slow are trying to get me to not play them so I'll do worse with cards like Lantern kami. i really wonder sometimes. Exalted angel is the best creature in the game in my opinion. If it gets mana drained, guess what? They get zero mana. It's not a casting cost. That's tight. Tradewind can deal with hhmmmm...ANYTHING! Well, that isn't pro-blue or can't be touched, but who plays cards like that? Anyways, I can't believe that I've got a list on here with Null rods and mana accelerators in the same build. This is stupid and I need to have my head examined. I think playing the Wayfarers and Ancient tombs will do. The wayfares are so much better than land tax. Well here's the less moronic, spedy build: T-A Tradewind-Angel or "Venkman burn in hell!" Yes, that is a Ghostbusters reference.

4 Wethered wayfarer
4 Savannah lions
4 Meddling mage
4 Samurai of the pale curtain
4 True believer
4 Ninja of the deep hours
4 Exalted angel
4 Tradewind rider
4 Null rod
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Tundra
4 Flodded strand
1 Island
7 Plains

I think I may go to 61 cards for a Karakas against Oath's legends. A maze of ith would help out too. When I was testing, I noticed that I'd be dumping out my hand so fast that the Empyrial armors were useless, so I cut it. More guys for Tradewind to interact with. I know what you're going to say. That I should have Aether vials instead of Null rod to put out more weenies for tradewind quiker. Well, I say I'd rather shut off my opponents resources than their counters. Why? Bescuse the counters won't kill me. The stuff that happens from their artifacts do. Besides, I've got so many threats that they really have to counter its irrevelant. Null rods, tradewinds, Swords TP, Meddling mage, True believer maybe, and Angel maybe.

OK the sideboad is eluding me

4 Serenity-more artifact/enchantment hate
3 Kami of ancient law- Specific Oath hate
4 Parallax wave-against fish this will be huge-bouncing this with tradewind will be fun. I was also thing of Mistblade shinobi may be tighter. Comments?
4 Rule of law-I guess I should have this.

[NWI Team_Zilla]

Why is it that you guys think Wayfarer is better than Tax?
Just cause Tax is better with Scroll rack than without, you are going to switch to a slow 1/1 that can barely thin the deck and require a mana a turn?
Land Tax=I allways draw a non=land card and I allways have a land to drop, and all I have to pay is the initial 1 W...seems like a good deal.
I understand that Wayfarer has the obvious advantage of being able to go get Wastelands/Strip Mines, but then you are left sacrificing you aggro strategy for a slow mud control strategy.  My question is why would you ever want to slow down an aggro deck like this?  Have you guys even playtested either of them, or both?  I suppose that it comes down to how comforatable you are with either card, but I like the drop it and forget it strategy a lot more than the mana restaint of using the Wayfarer effectively.  Just my opinion, good luck with the thread fellas.

[silvernail]

actually you can counter morph because  its an alternate cost to playing the card, they how ever cant counter the morphing of the angel after its in play(barring stifle).The one area im not sure of is what a morph on the stack counts as , i know it has a converted mana cost of 0 ( a chalice for 0 means you cant cast a morph). just some info on morph for ya

[jackpot]

The reason that I'm sold on wayfarer is because I can go grab Ancient Tomb basically. Then can pop out a quiker Angel or Tradewind. Also, wayfarer is a creature which can be used with the tradewind. Land tax is an enchantment and will just sit there. Chalice for zero is going to screw up my angel beats! I guess tradewind will just have to bounce it. 

[NWI Team_Zilla]

Umm, Stifle doesn't stop morph, here, I pulled this off the WotC website (more specifically an article talking about morph):

Once you have a face-down creature in play, you have the option to turn it face up. You can do this any time you have priority. Just pay the morph cost, and turn it face up. This isn’t an activated ability, and dodoesn't use the stack, so your opponent can’t respond to it or counter it.

And here is the ruling for Chalice of the Void:

A Chalice with X equal to zero would counter all morph spells being played. Creatures played face down has a converted mana cost of zero, the three mana is the alternate play cost, and doesn't count for converted mana cost.

So to clarify the ruling on morph, that is how Stifle and Chalice of the Void interact with morph.  Goodluck with the deck Jackpot.

[jackpot]

Just played at the T1 tourney at the Beanie Exchange. As I feared, Ninja of the Deep hours is bad. Really bad. I ended up drawing one card off this guy after 6 rounds. It would have been so much better as a Whipcorder. i really wish there was some card that came close to swords to plowshares. I found myself wishing for swords to plowshares in my hand all day today. Vengeful dreams is OK, as is Exile, but the guys have to be attacking. Sometimes you just need to destroy a creature! Like goblin welder. Or pesky irksome waterfront bouncer. Afterlife comes to mind, but doesn't remove it from the game. Reciprocate is OK, but has the limit that you must have been dealt damage by the creature. Not good. Avengel En-dal seems OK. They attack and gain life equal to the guys toughness. Not a bad two drop either. You do have to discard a card. Better than exile. The list goes on and on of terrible swords imposters. They reprint Hypnotic spectre, but not swords to plowshares? Wizards had got their heads so far up their rear ends. OK, I'm ranting here. I digress.

Anyways, t's irrevelant to me. I'm again taking a break from magic. Probably for a year. Maybe longer. I have to focus on more important things in life. Thank you all for your help. I wish you all the best. Thank you.

Best regards,
John Paul Blanchette

[drgrieve]

Javlineers kill welders. This is some good I hear. I would replace 2 Angels (only good for the mid game) for 2. Maybe something else for 2 more.

More cheap stuff for tradewind rider.

[Arvid]

Personally, I play Wayfarer in combination with 6 Waste/Strip/Karakas and I can't see why you guys do't.

I also play Mother of Runes, which you might want to comment on.

Also, I play MD Vials, no rods (ofcourse) but 3 Kataki, War's Wage as a sub for Null Rod/Chalice, it can attack and be played through vial, making vial better. Vial is an artifact but that can't be much of a problem IMO.

[limitedwhole]

Don't pay any attention to people telling you to cut armageddon.  Th epoint is don't trhrow it into mana drain.  That means having other cards that need mana draining or disruption in the from of abeyance/Chant.  White weeie is traditionally an all white affair but if you have moxen try to find a way to utilize colorless mana.  This will involve thinking outside the box and cutting staples simply for mana purposes but yields a better deck.  Moxen fuel abeyance, Armageddon, raise your mana count under tax, allow imperial armor to be played a turn earlier, etc.  Playing plains, plains will not be good enough in my oppinion.  You need some some of acceleration and that means utilizing a colorless mana base.

[UrzaTron]

Seriusly tho, in Vintage sum decks can be run w/out POWER cards but this isn't 1 of them.  If U really want 2 compete ur going to hav to buy sum Bonesplitters and reaplace the Emperial Armors.  If u cant afford the full playset, run Clamp as a budget sub, or I suggest re-running the Steelshaper's Present, and an Equip-wish-board, of 1 BoneSplitter, 1 Naginata-Owned, and 1 Manriki Gusari (for the mirror).
  -UrzaLands

[Peter Snow]

Mageta the Lyon is so much better than Soards to Plowshares. Why give them life when you can wipe the bored and swing for 3?

[Arvid]

Mageta the Lyon is so much better than Soards to Plowshares. Why give them life when you can wipe the bored and swing for 3?

Beacuse it cost 9 times the mana and takes a whole turn longer to set up? You can't argue by saying the Mageta is already out because then your opponent will play aroung it.

Secondly, removing creatures is neat against Oath, welder-decks, and ofcourse against Darksteel Colossus.

[Norm4eva]

Um, no.
Exalted Angel = game winning creature.  Mid game my foot.  You're playing with Ancient Tombs to accelerate into (a) good Equipment and (b) Exalted Angel.  Turn 3 Exalted, opponent must DEAL or just lose.  You don't cut good cards for bad cards.
Swords to Plowshares = best removal in the game.  Type 1 isn't a huge beatdown environment obviously, but you have Welders to deal with and DSC's to remove from play and etc.
Not playing good Equipment like Umezawa's Jitte = terrible!  The Jitte is absolutely completely nuts in this deck, or any deck sporting guys that swing.  StP kills early Welders, and Jitte kills any Welders they'd play later.  Hell, with enough counters you can stall a Collosus.  Look at the 1.5 builds, try and see why they run Sword of Fire/Ice and the Jitte and even Mask of Memory; it makes up for the fact that White doesn't burn things or draw cards by itself.
Look, if you're gonna play White Weenie you must automatically understand that you're the underdog.  That's fine, I play the deck whenever I think it'll do well.  Even in Legacy, where aggro-control is everywhere and the top decks are Goblins and Landstill, White Weenie is still slightly underpowered being mono-White.  Play Blue for Meddling Mage (not Ninja ) and card draw, or play Black for Duress/Therapy and creature kill and more card draw, or play Red for burn to speed up the kill as well as supplement your removal.  White Weenie's a metagame deck full of metagame creatures, not at all like Goblins or Madness where every card choice is pretty much finalized until something better comes along.

[Prometheon]

This is a reprt I wrote up after a tournament I went too with White Weenie, it includes my list, matchups, card choice analysis, everything. Check it out:

T1 Library Tournament with White Weenie. **6th**

I came in 6th place at a 10 proxy 50-person Vintage tournament with White Weenie. It wasn’t a hallucination or a dream.

Let’s get down to business shall we?

The List:


MD:

Beats:
4 Whipcorder
4 True Believer
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 Savannah Lions
4 Icatian Javelineers 
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
2 Ramosian Sergeant
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Soltari Priest


Other Stuff
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Serenity
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Abolish
2 Null Rod
2 Empyrial Armor

Mana
1 Mox Pearl
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
16 Plains
 
SB:
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Serenity
2 Null Rod
2 Rule of Law
2 Empyrial Armor
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Tividar’s Crusade (seriously! It rapes FCG!)

The deck looks janky, but it honestly works very well. It is a little tight in the 2 mana slot, but I think once wizards prints another good 1 drop in white, this deck will really start taking off. I’d also like to take this opportunity to mention that if Wizards printed Glow Rider as 1W or WW instead of 2W, it would be bah-roken. But sadly I am forced to leave the G-Man out.

Other WW decks in Vintage have tried to do things with Land Tax or Weathered Wayfarer, but I can honestly say that those cards are too slow. Weathered Wayfarer absolutely devours your early tempo, and Land Tax simply doesn’t do enough (especially if you are on the play.)


Card Choices:

True Believer, Whipcorder, Samurai of the Pale Curtain: This is your squad of efficient 2 drops. They are all critically important, as they all help against different archetypes. True Believer is the one I have been least impressed with, but he helps against tendrils combo, and can fend off Duress and random burn. Whipcorder is a house against Fish, Colossus and Oath, and the honorable fox samurai is awesome against Juggernaught and anything trying to pull graveyard shenanigans.

Javelineers and StP: 8 pieces of 1 mana Welder kill. Some people don’t run the Javelineers, but they are honestly amazing. They kill welders, and can help your small dudes trade with bigger stuff. Also, in a surprising amount of games, against other aggro, I’d be one point of damage away from winning, and the Javelineer would seal the deal by discouraging attackers, and then ping at the end of their turn to allow me to alpha strike for victory.

Serenity, Null Rod, and E Tutor: Serenity and Null Rod are kind of conflicting, and in the future I think I would just run 3 Rods main. The tutor lets me fetch either one of them, plus Empyrial Armor. On the other hand, Serenity helps get out of tricky situations like Crucible, Trini and basically any non-activated artifact.

Empyrial Armor: A decent card. Sometimes it is garbage, and sometimes it wins you the game. You rarely want to draw more than 1 though, and I question their inclusion in my board.

Ramosian Sergeant: An awesome card and the method by which you generate card advantage. Getting Whipcorders with this guy is completely insane. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

2 Kataki: He’s awesome. Makes Moxes useless, what more do you want? He has a bit of anti synergy with Null Rod, but really, who cares? His 1W CC is also a huge boon in a deck that runs…

5 Wastelands/Strip Mine: A deck this underpowered needs every chance it can grab to generate an advantage. Taking out a workshop or bazaar will do this. Not every time you pop a waste will the effect be that drastic, but sometimes a it’ll be a time walk after you’ve layed a turn 1 Lion and this is nothing to scoff at.

Aggro Creatures: Isamaru is very efficient, and we need as fast a clock as we can get. The priest will be cut one day, but for now I like the evasion.

Abolish-Simply awesome. They are NEVER dead.

My board is pretty standard. I didn’t see any Foodchain anywhere, so the crusades were dead. In retrospect I should have cut some mediocre cards for 4 Chalices to help shore up the combo matchup.

Onto the report!!!

Twas a beautiful Saturday morning, and team JRS (Jank Revolution Squad) was ready to dominate. So we make the half hour drive to Big B Comics, got there early as hell and started wasting money on foils and whatnot while we registered our decks. Here’s the roster:

Craig with U/W Vial Fish
Alex with his super-secret tech version of GAT
Riley with Sui Black (he hates spending money, so whatever)
And Me with White Weenie.

I was originally going to play Doomsday, but the field did not look right for it, with a lot of workshops and fish. Onto the good stuff!

Round 1: Dave with Countersliver

Ah the beauty of round 1 Jank Pairings! Dave was a nice dude who had honestly put a lot of thought into his deck. He really looked like he was having fun the whole match.

Game 1: He lays a Tundra and I Waste it. He lays a Tundra and I Waste it. I lay down a Null rod and then beat him down. He does lay down a Crystalline Sliver, making me feel slightly worried, as a ton of slivers feel like they should be able to beat up on my 2CC 2/2s.

Game 2: Fortunately, he is not playing 5 color aggro slivers, he is playing countersliver! I beat him down early with some Lions, but he ends up stabilizing at low life thanks to Ghostly Prison, Worship, and Crystalline Sliver. I stay calm and attack him and he lets me beat him down to 1. I lay down Serenity like a champ and kill him on my next turn. In both games I finished at 20 life.

(1-0)   (2-0)

Round 2: ???? (sorry dude) with Salvagers Combo  (Bomberman)

Game 1: I lay out a TON of early beats and murder him quickly. He scoops on his turn 4 (he won the die roll to boot.) I don’t even know what he is playing, but put him on U/W fish due to the Tundras I saw.

Game 2: He rapes me. Plain and simple. He lays down Salvagers and I realize with a broken heart that he is not playing U/W fish. He Intuitions for Lotus, LED and Pyrite Spellbomb. I scoop.

In come the Null Rods and Crypts!

Game 3: I keep a very aggressive hand with no SB cards, which was a mistake. I have 7 cards that basically make him lose, but I decide to take a gamble. I lose on turn 4 or 5 after not seeing a single Rod or Crypt.

(1-1)   (3-2)


Round 3: ???? (sorry again) playing WTF.

My opponent was a nice guy and knew I was playing WW. He seemed a little cocky, and was being a tad condescending after finding out I’d lost Round 2. “You got paired up� he tells me…

Game 1: This was a long and drawn-out game. We went creature for creature, and the ground was extremely gummed up. Fortunately, I got 2 early Whipcorders to stop any evil Jitte action. I draw into a Ramosian Sergeant and proceed to get ALL FOUR Whipcorders into play and then I beat him slowly with Soltari Priest for 5 or 6 turns, being afraid to alpha strike in fear of some crazy Vial Tech.

Game 2: He goes turn 1 Tropical Island, Mox. I go turn 1 Wasteland, Abolish. He seemed dumbfounded. We both struggled on land for awhile, but he never ended up getting another colored source, and was instead stuck with Factories and Wastes. I eventually kill him with 2 Armored Savannah Lions. He seems very upset, and shows me his hand. He was setting up for a turn 2 Tinker but I ruined it. Ouch for him.

I, however am feeling good, as he had beaten my team mate playing U/W fish the round before by getting a double-mox opening in two games. Vengeance was ours!

(2-1) (5-2)


At this point I decide to scout a little, and end up watching my buddy Alex (with GAT) play against a really fun looking R/G Beats player. He’s in game 3 and it’s extremely tense as he’s already lost one match.

There’s 2 Hidden Gibbons across the table, and Alex looks very upset. He Merchant Scrolls for Ancestral and then whacks them with Echoing Truth. The Gibbons come back down, and Alex draws some useless instant. The Beats player Bolts him, forcing him to Force and activate the monkeys and then beats for the win. Alex gets R/G BEATen.



Round 4: Matt with R/G Beats.

This the R/G Beats guy I was mentioning a second ago. Because he beat Alex, he got paired with me. He tells me he was playing against an un-tuned casual mono-white deck for fun and it is basically an autoloss for him. I’m feeling happy.

Game 1: He mulls (very surprising for R/G) and I play Lions. He plays a Taiga and a Kird Ape, effectively holding all of my 2/Xs at bay. I am very frustrated, but I eventually just overpower him.

We joke around for awhile while we board and he warns me that he is transformational. “I’m bringing in Force of Wills man, you better watch out!� We both laugh as we side out our near-useless artifact hate. He is a very fun guy and we joke around and have some good laughs in between games.

Game 2: He gets an early Pyrostatic Pillar down, and both of our life totals start falling dangerously low. He makes the beautifully techy play of wasting his own land in order to feed his Grim Lavamancer the last bite he needs to kill me.

Game 3: I am incredibly tense at this point and am very nervous. Riley comes over from his 0-2 match (poor him) to lend me moral support. The classic peer pressure line he used to get me to try pot my first time years and years back works yet again: “Do it!�

I offer you here a little parallel (and remember that SCG does not indorse any behavior that could be considered illegal, dangerous or psychadelic):

       Pot                                                                           

Riley: Smoke this joint!                                 

Owen: I don’t feel like it…                           

Riley: Do it!!!!                                               

Owen: I don’t want too…                               

Riley: DO IT!!!!                                             

Owen: Frig man, why does it matter so m-   

Riley: DO IT!!                                     

Owen: **sigh** ok…. **toke**                                   


Magic

Riley: Win this game!

Owen: But his deck is really good…

Riley: Do it!!!

Owen: I’m trying!

 Riley: DO IT!!!

 
As you can see I’ve started resisting a bit less before simply surrendering to his raw powers of persuasion.

This was a very tense and well played game. He mulls to 6 again on the draw. I draw my Mox Pearl for the first time that day, and am very happy. Is it an omen? He plays a turn 1 Taiga, (which I waste) Lotus, Blurred Mongoose and Pyrostatic Pillar. I am very freaked out and worried. I CAN’T LOSE! UGH! I end up drawing 2 True Believers and they save my ass by making him burn them instead of me. I beat him down with my creatures despite him pulling a few evil regeneration tricks with River Boa and Elvish Spirit Guide. He played a flawless game and was an awesome opponenet despite the fact it was a bad matchup for him.
(3-1) (7-3)

Round 5: ID into T8

(3-1-1) (7-3)

At this point I go watch my buddy Craig with U/W fish play the mirror match. Game 1 he goes Turn 1 Lotus, Factory, Waterfront Bouncer, Standstill. He won that game.

At one point in Game 2, his opponent cast Ancestral, and Craig Ancestralled in response. 5 pieces of countermagic are exchanged and the net result is his opponent drawing 6 (off Misdirection and both Recalls.) His opponent was up 6 cards but Craig had a Vial. He layed down a Meddling Mage and his opponent used his Jitte counters to kill it-ON HIS TURN. Craig let his opponent use his last 2 Jitte Counters on a Mage, and then Vialed out a Waterfront Bouncer during his EOT!

This alone isn’t a great position, as he is still facing down a Standstill and 2 Factories. His opponent attacks with both factories (another mistake) and Craig Vials out another Mage, blocks one factory, stacks the damage and then bounces his Mage. His opponenet is now locked under his own standstill (without a vial) and Craig won a game in which his opponent was Ancestralled twice!

T8: Steve with Control Slaver

Game 1: We both mull. Twice. Despite being stuck on one land for a turn, I then proceed to draw 2 in a row and win with Empyrial Armor.

Game 2: I bring in Null Rods and Serenity, and am feeling pretty good. I play a turn 1 Null Rod with my Mox, wanting to lay it down before he gets Drain mana up. He Mysticals for Tinker, and plays it on turn 3 for Pentavus. I swords it, and suit up my True Believer with some Armor. He echoing truths it, 2-for-1ing me. At this point I make a HUGE play mistake. He gets a welder out, and I have Kataki, Null Rod and my Pearl. I want to stay aggressive, so I let the Pearl die and use it to pay for the Rod, wanting to keep mana available to keep laying threats. He welds out my Rod for the Pearl, dumps a handful of moxen and wins. I am VERY upset that I screwed up so badly.

Game 3: I lay a turn 1 Javelineer, feeling good about my anti welder tech. On his turn 1 he plays Land, Lotus, Mox. I play Null Rod and he sacs the Lotus for blue, draining it, and using the rest of his mana to play Thirst for Knowledge. The game drags on for awhile, but we both know I’ve lost. I try some tricks with Crypt to cancel out Welder exchanges, but then he can just weld out any Null Rods I draw by giving me my Crypts back. It is a hideous situation and I die feeling very upset.

I finish in 6th place, and am slightly disappointed with my play mistake.

(3-1-2) (8-5)

Craig also made T8 and wins against the guy playing Bomberman who beat me in round 2. He makes anther awesome play in game 1 (though this one is pure lucksackery.) His opponent is at 5 life, and Craig has 2 Factories, a Waste and an Island. His opponent has the combo in his graveyard and just needs to untap in order to win. He also has a nearly full hand. Craig draws his card, yells “YES!� and lays down h THIRD Mishra’s Factory. He animates his first two, swings, and then pumps one up for the one. BAM!

Sadly, he is paired against the same CS deck as I was, and he loses 2 quick games due to not drawing any blue mana. After watching this I feel that U/W Fish’s manabase is very shaky. Running EIGHT colorless lands just seems a little too bold. Ah well. He finishes 4th and makes 45 bucks.

All in all I felt good about the tournament, but was a little disappointed with my pairings. I really wanted to get some serious testing done against Stax and there were several decks present. WW actually does very well against Stax. 5 Strip Effects keep workshop down, and I run a LOT of permanents. The welder hate is just gravy. Postboard, Serenity is a house and a half. I’ve also been considering Raise the Alarm as a potential card, as it generates 2 permanents for 2 mana, and would also be a house if I added Crusade. But that’s a rather large adjustment, so I’m not quite sure yet.

The tournament was a blast, and no one was expecting WW, which is what I was aiming for. Abolish in particular was a good shock card. Its awesome against Chalice, as it is a 3 CC card you can play for free. People were picking it up to read it all day.

Props: Big B Comics for running a GREAT tourney.
Matt for being an awesome and hilarious opponent.
Riley for being my moral support during round 4.
Craig for making T4 and representing team JRS!

Slops: The Bomberman player for being condescending towards Craig in T8. “I’ve seen your deck, and quite frankly it isn’t that hot. I’m not expecting much resistance.� Yeah, well you got 2-0ed, buddy!
Stephen, the 5th member of Team JRS for not coming and bringing what would have been the only FCG in the field.

Thanks for reading all 7 pages of this, and I genuinely hope you enjoyed it.

[NWI Team_Zilla]

Seriusly tho, in Vintage sum decks can be run w/out POWER cards but this isn't 1 of them. If U really want 2 compete ur going to hav to buy sum Bonesplitters and reaplace the Emperial Armors. If u cant afford the full playset, run Clamp as a budget sub, or I suggest re-running the Steelshaper's Present, and an Equip-wish-board, of 1 BoneSplitter, 1 Naginata-Owned, and 1 Manriki Gusari (for the mirror).
 -UrzaLands

Just as helpful as allways Brassm...Urzatron.  I think that we need some of your unique abilities over on the budget gifts thread.

[Arvid]

Could use some comments and help on my current decklist.


3 Free Slots !! <-------------

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Spells
4 Swords of Plowshares
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Creatures
3 Preacher
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 Weathered Wayfarer
4 True Believer
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Meddling Mage
3 Kataki, War's Wage

Mana: 21
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
6-7 Plains
3-2 Tundra
1 Karakas


-----> Free Slots could be:

1. Mother of Runes. Protects your Meddling Mages, which is tech against almost any deck, and your True Believers, which is game against Tendrils-combo. I've found it to be a dead card in many situations though, ofcourse it's always an Eager Cadet.

2. Seal of Cleansing / Kami of Ancient Law / Capashen Unicorn / Devout Witness. Maindeck artifact and/or enchantment removal could come in handy. Abolish is not for me, I like the fetches in combo with Wayfarers too much. Don't know what is most important, artifact or enchantment removal? The Unicorns power of 1 as well as the Witness' cc of 3 are not good but I like the fact that my deck can attack (that's why I play Kataki instead of Chalice or Null Rod, for example) and have good synergy with Aether Vial.

3. Whipcorder. Seems to be good against Oath, Psychatog, artifact aggro, fish and, basically, any deck that wins with creatures (not combo, such as Salvagers).

[elias]

4 swords seems a bit too much for me. Since you're running blue, why not try using FoW and stifle and make it run as a semi WU Tang fish deck?

Icatian Javelin, Pale Curtain and Kataki look pretty solid and so do their numbers. turn 1 meddling mage v oath is almost GG. Wayfarer seems a bit too slow for the meta today as the number of lands aren't really the issue. True believer as a maindeck answer (as much as I hate it since I play TPS) is strong, especially in multiples.

against oath: bounce, swords and tapping seem okay.

[Prometheon]

Seriusly tho, in Vintage sum decks can be run w/out POWER cards but this isn't 1 of them. If U really want 2 compete ur going to hav to buy sum Bonesplitters and reaplace the Emperial Armors. If u cant afford the full playset, run Clamp as a budget sub, or I suggest re-running the Steelshaper's Present, and an Equip-wish-board, of 1 BoneSplitter, 1 Naginata-Owned, and 1 Manriki Gusari (for the mirror).
 -UrzaLands

It cuts so deep...

[Arvid]

@elias
Weathered Wayfarer is about finding Stripmine/Wasteland every game. I don't have to be on the draw to use it since I can respond to my fetch and waste/strip with activating the Wayfarer.

Anyway, it's nice you think the creature base is good, but you didn't answer what you think is best - protecting this creature base (Mother of Runes) or adding other (suboptimal?) creatures (Whipcorder, Kami, Unicorn). Please comment on my "free slots". At the moment they're 3 Mother of Runes.

[Nastaboi]

@Arvid:
Your creature base DO look good. Anyway, those free slots should absolytely be Chalice of the Voids, unless you are playing in some imaginary Burget Land(tm). Cut one True Believer for 4th Chalice. Chalices give you needed mana distruption and are free to play. I'd also try to work in some Umezawa's Jittes, cutting some worse removal for them.

[Arvid]

Ehum, my reasoning is that CotV and and Kataki does about the same thing, except Chalice only really shines turn 1 when you're on the play, while Kataki nullifies all moxen whenever it hits play. On the downside they can use their moxen once (which can be a problem against stormcombo) and it makes you pay for your own vials, on the other hand it can be played via vial and it can attack, which CotV can't. So comparing I'm convinced Kataki is the better choice. I wouldn't play both, especially since I don't want to pay upkeep cost for my Chalices.