Replenish in Vintage

[srancour]

Only being back in Magic for the past 5 years, my 3 year absence has caused me to wonder about some of the cards that I missed out on.  Replenish is one of them.  The card is banned in legacy for good reason but does it have a use in Vintage with all of the cards that it can abuse?  I've tried the deck out in a proxy tournament with some success and I've seen it played in 100 card tournaments, so is Replenish dead or can it be brought back as a possible deck for Vintage.

Most decks I have seen utliize or focus on the following cards.

Draw or Dump
4 Bazaar
3-4 Intuiton
Gifts?

Replenish Combo
3-4 Replenish
Form of the Dragon
Solitary Confinement
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Humility

I can see this deck as a U/W deck with the White used for Replenish, STP, etc. and Blue for draw and counters.  Now, I haven't been able to find some sort of decklist on TMD so what are some suggestions or links from people who have played the deck and can it contend in Vintage or is it just too slow?

Thank you

[cssamerican]

The deck is known as Leviat.dec after its creator. I believe he originally called it Bruce Lee - Enter the Dragon.
Anyway, this is the original thread that Leviat posted on the deck, and this is probably the most in depth thread on the deck

The main reason why I would say the deck is no longer is viable is Pithing Needle. If someone played a Pithing Needle on you naming Bazaar you would be in seriously bad shape because the deck has so many cards dedicated to that draw engine. On top of that if the deck that played Pithing Needle was Gifts or Slaver it would be a nightmare. Now you would have a ton of dead cards in your deck and and a lot of sorceries that would make sweet Drain targets like Replenish and Deep Analysis. When the deck was playable the idea was to make it though the early game and take control of the game on the back of Bazaar, and I don't think that is possible right now.

[49 Cents]

I can agree with that. And also, here in Holland combo is really big right now, and you are just too slow to battle combo.

However, I've been trying some versions that feature Dovescape. If that card drops, not a single deck is going to have an answer for it. Maybe TMWA or UW Fish, but the rest, not a chance. In a deck with 2-3 Boseiju's, it might actually be some good. And Dovescape is hardcastable! The problem with this however is that the plan is really vulnerable against Wastelands, so I might even run Pithing Needle in the Maindeck. Also, the card is a BIG Draintarget, and if you Replenish it into play you should be winning anyways.

We'll see about Leviat. Maybe it'll make a comeback someday..

[Roxas]

The problem with Replenish is that, if you're dumping cards in the graveyard and bringing them back to win the game, Replenish is just worse than the black Animate spells.  Sure, enchantments aren't vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares like Dragon is, but the difference in speed (as well as the ability to run up to twelve animate spells) are far more important than immunity to StP. 

[49 Cents]

The problem with Replenish is that, if you're dumping cards in the graveyard and bringing them back to win the game, Replenish is just worse than the black Animate spells.  Sure, enchantments aren't vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares like Dragon is, but the difference in speed (as well as the ability to run up to twelve animate spells) are far more important than immunity to StP. 

It might be a bit slower, but you also pack more control (Drain over Duress in this case) and there are a lot less cards that you hate to see. Stifle, BEB, etc. Heck, even Ray of Revelation if you play with Dovescape! Also, Needle seems to fit better in Leviat's control strategy to fight Tormod's Crypts and Wastelands.

[merfolkOTPT]

Another card to consider, if Needle on bazaar is the biggest concern, is Attunment. The original version (in type 2) played it and it let's you discard you enchantments quickly and digs you 3 cards deep.  Of course, it does cost three which is a scary amount of mana to be paying but off a drain seems like a decent play. 

[srancour]

I figured Pithing Needle was a reason for the deck not being playable.  Stax has its way of getting around Pithing Needle, but hey that's a different story .  As well I have heard the deck called Bruce Lee and it seems to be quite successful in 100 Vintage tournaments in Ontario.  Aren't there solutions to Pithing Needle such as Engineered Ex, Seal of Cleansing, Pernicious Deed, Disenchant, etc.  I was just looking for I guess another idea for Vintage as opposed to the current decks.  I appreciate the link for the deck discussion, it does look similar to the deck I played and the others I have seen.  I guess it just has minimal success in a heavy Pithing Needle environment, but it doesn't seem to bad if the combo goes off with Bargain + Confinement (w/Squee) + Form of the Dragon and Humility, it is quite the lock.  Other draw/discard engines could be Careful Study and Attunement like in the thread but Compulsion or Cephalid Coliseum could work.   Heck I like the idea of Zombie Infestation, but then we are getting away from the real idea of the deck.  Thanks for the links.

[Guli]

i tried a deck with replenish pretty recently, it was more of an inspiration than anything else but i think Replenish should be looked into again...

i used Intuition in the deck not bazaar

playing replenish does not mean that you have to play with big fat cute enchantements (eventhough is seems the most logical thing to do, why would you play replenish otherwise?)
you can always have a cheaper (low cc) part of the deck to act as disruption/removal and then reuse them after replenish creating card advantage and making it your win condition with Opalescence

[policehq]

With dicemanx's latest Dragon build accommodating so that it does not rely on Bazaar of Baghdad, Leviat can do the same.

In fact, Read the Runes could have some interesting synnergy with another enchantment possibility for the deck: Hatching Plans. With this you could also play Perilous Research, which can take out a Mox, a needled Bazaar, or the Plans.

The best idea I've seen in this thread, though, would be Life from the Loam and Cephalid Colisseum. Yes, it can be needled, too, but it is also a mana source unlike the Bazaar.

-hq

[Kieranwolf]

Another thing that Dragon has over Replenish (other than speed, of course) is a whole lot of combo piece redundancy. When Wizards prints another card that's nearly as easy to play that does the same thing (preferably at instant speed), then it might become more viable.