How was Vintage in a "Golden Age"?

[Whatever Works]

I have been away from type 1 sporadically for the greater portion of 8 months dealing with high bills, and work etc. I saw the restriction of BS, Gush, etc. and came to the TMD as fast a possible to get the community reaction. Then I heard this line several times, "Vintage was in a Golden Age". Or, "its the death of the golden age of vintage"...

I was at first crushed to hear brainstorm in particular got restricted, but I asked myself? HOW IS VINTAGE IN A GOLDEN AGE. I quickly thought about it, and realized that its actually exactly the opposite!!! I now feel much better about the restrictions because well Vintage was definetly heading in the wrong direction. Why?

1.) If you look at the statistics of the TMD threads, posting, membership, and every major statistic has steadily dropped almost every single month for the last year.

2.) Tournement attendance has been on a steady decline from what I would of called the real golden age of magic (When Waterbury had multiple tournements of over 200+ people), and attendence throughout the country was generally MUCH higher.

3.) Type 1 has ALWAYS struggled to bring new people into the format. Type 1 players are almost all elitists if they admit it or not.

4.) The format seems less balanced and specific card dependent now then it did 2,3,4,5 years ago... The format has always been balanced for the most part with small periods of transition where a deck would dominate for a month, and then metagame would react.

In short Im asking? Is Vintage, or was Vintage in a Golden Age? Will the restricted list changes benefit the game in the long run?

[Smmenen]

Ok, I’ll field this question.

First of all, your basic assumptions are not true.  Tournament attendance has not declined because of the format.  What has declined is tournament support and particular tournament locales.   The Vintage Champs has remained at almost precisely the same attendance for three straight years.   SCG Indy and SCG Chicago last year had huge increases from previous SCG tournaments.   SCG Richmond was in a location where a number of Vintage players were competing in the Standard tournament and still got 90 players on day one.   

Secondly, the “golden age” point comes about from several ideas. First of all, the 2006 and first half of 2007 metagame was defined by the Pitch Long and Meandeck Gifts metagame, which featured dominance of two decks that basically won most tournaments.  Eventually, the decks were fused into one monster decks with Gifts and Dark Rituals.   It was a hyper fast Combo-Control metagame.

The unrestriction of Gush let Aggro control back into the format.  SCG Chicago featured a huge raft of Aggro decks.  The format slowed dramatically.   People forget, but the number of turns in the Pitch Long/Gifts metagame was much fewer than it is today.   There was also the view that in the Gush metagame, the best players almost always won.   

Unfortunately, the Gushbond engine became even more broken with the printing of Ponder and suddenly was being ported into almost every blue deck.   

Whether the new changes will benefit the format is an open question.  I suspect that the results will be mixed.   The format will not necessarily ‘broaden’, although it will change.   Different decks does not mean more decks.   

[Whatever Works]

Thanks Steve,

I guess the attendance of tournements dropping is primarily a New England thing. The dates you suggested were a time when the metagame was starting to show a growing trend of combo/combo-based control decks, but I never found them to be that prevelent or dominant to the point where it was an issue.

Gush, obviously changed everything. It has that affect. I realized quickly that the metagame would slowly get faster to the point where something would have to change, and well here is the change.

I just find this declaration of the end of a golden age to be a little far fetched. The format was balanced, but its not like it has ever been that way before. I just find this love of the metagame to be a little out there when control decks all won with a combo, and the format was extremely fast, and needed immediate answers. I see the view much more clearly now however.

[Zieby]

Hi,

I think we are entering a Golden Age.
Why, because I believe Pure controle can comeback, Pure Combo can comeback in a `fair´form and people need to think about their manabase and carddraw again instead of copy paste 4x BS 4x Ponder 4x MS 4x Gush into a ´New`deck. The only Reall innovation from the last year in my view was MUC with Mystic Rumora. All the other decks where 45 cards plus a random kill with some supporting cards that fits the Kill.

I believe that Agro has a Chance again. This is great imo because this lowers the bar for entering the format for non Vintage players. If they see that with their deck they have a change of winning if the play their decks perfect. They maybe want to innovate and try the next time to be the one that has all the answers and win.

Just my 2 cents from a Player formely Known as GAT-Player

Arjan

[Demonic Attorney]

Moved from Vintage Open to Community.

[Matt]

The golden age of vintage ended when people added black to their Miracle Gro decks.

[Whatever Works]

The golden age of vintage ended when people added black to their Miracle Gro decks.

Omg... I am partially responsible for the end of the golden age of vintage then

[Masta]

Hey guys.

Zieby, I couldn't find the link, but there was a recent tourny report in which the posters discussed your point that most decks were the same 4-50 cards except with different win conditions.  I really dislike the choices of tier 1 decks right now, and it has been very frustrating trying to create a deck that could keep pace with the Gushbond engine. 

Of course these new restrictions penetrate deep into type 1, but I'm hoping that this is exactly what the format needed.  It will be very exciting to see what new innovations people come up with.  I'd like to see Red, Green, and White all possibly get more action now.  I'd love to see some old archtypes come back into play if at all possible.

V/R
Masta

[Grand Inquisitor]

Omg... I am partially responsible for the end of the golden age of vintage then Sad

Uh, nope.  Actually the Europeans deserve most of the credit for the previous golden age (I'd also give serious props to Chapin and Zbomb).

I think the point up for debate is a little silly.  First, there's enough diversity of preference so lots of people were pleased/displeased with the recent metagame.  You can try to use criteria, but they're moot.  Local metagames have as much to do with peoples' enjoyment of the game as anything else.  Although I usually perform best in blue-heavy environments, I favor dynamism over all, and the recent B&R is that if nothing else.

[Justin]

Personally Im thrilled with the restrictions. For those of us who played well before fetchlands were printed, brainstorm was good but not the powerhouse it is today. I hear arguments that brainstorm's new restricted status is bad news for blue decks, the end of vintage, forces you to play weak manabases, etc.  What needs to be realized is that brainstorm did so much for blue decks and BLUE DECKS ONLY. Having a format where nearly every competitive deck plays the same color (blue) is not healthy in that it stifles every other build that doesnt include it.

Im sure people are going to freak out & disagree & probably insult me in the process, but prior to the brainstorm/fetchland synergy, blue was still the best color. I dont see any reason why it still wont be. The restriction just provided a boost to all non-blue strategies, which is not a bad thing for a healthy format.

I was, however, suprised to see ponder restricted. When Ponder was printed, I had assumed that this was done so the DCI could safely restrict brainstorm, and blue players would still get ultra cheap cards that dig.

[Godder]

In terms of the decks my team had built, these restrictions are painful, but I do agree that this was about pulling Blue back so that people can play other colours from time to time.