The Vintage Metagame

[Jay]

I'm new to vintage and I'm trying to keep a somewhat accurate list of what the metagame looks like for playtesting purposes.  Based on how often and how recently the common vintage decks have top 8'd, I'd assume it looks something like this:

Tier 1:
Bomberman
Control Slaver (or strategic slaver)
Fish (U/W)
Grim Long (or TPS?)
Manaless Ichorid
MUD
Painter-stone
Pitch Long
Stax
Tyrant Oath
Workshop Aggro

Tier 2:
Angel Oath
Belcher
Fish (U/R)
Goblins
Keeper
Landstill
Masknaught
Dark Gifts
Suicide (WB)
Tog

Tier 3:
RG Aggro
Belcher
Dragon
Sligh
Ophidian
Madness

I'm assuming if I play test against most of the tier1/tier2 decks I'd be in good shape.  And for deck lists, I would use which ever top 8 deck was more recent, or the more popular choice if multiple lists top 8'd in the last couple months.

[bluemage55]

Tier 1 is currently composed of TPS/Pitch Long, Control Slaver, Painter, and Stax.  Tier 2 includes Ichorid, Oath, and Drain Tendrils.

[Jay]

So you wouldn't worry about play testing against the other decks?  Are you thinking preparing for those 7, and possibly the mirror (I'm surprised you didn't list fish), would keep you ready for pretty much anything you run into?

[Grease]

From what I've seen in Vintage, your opponent could be playing any deck at any time. Depending on the deck you play, your primary concern should be your deck's weaknesses. Basically, know the hate that will hurt you, and be prepared for when you get hit with it. Trying to predict what someone will play in a Vintage tournament is impossible.

[bluemage55]

So you wouldn't worry about play testing against the other decks?  Are you thinking preparing for those 7, and possibly the mirror (I'm surprised you didn't list fish), would keep you ready for pretty much anything you run into?

Those are the top decks. 

While you should understand how to play against the other decks, if you are playing a Tier 1 or Tier 2 deck yourself, your raw power advantage over random decks should be enough that you do not need to devote a considerable amount of hate or practice unless your deck is particularly vulnerable to a given Tier 3 or worse strategy.

I would argue that Fish is not currently even Tier 2 at the moment, which is why I did not list it.  Aside from a single Top 8 (which the deck won), Fish has not been making any notable achievements of late, certainly not on the level of the Tier 2 decks I did list.

[Grand Inquisitor]

playtesting purposes

I generally playtest for three purposes:

1) Preparing for a specific event
2) Trying out a new decklist
3) Improving skill

The types of decks you want in your gauntlet should vary depending on what your focus is.

If you're preparing for a specific event, the gauntlet should vary by who you expect to be there (usually geography is your best guide here).  This site, and even better, morphling.de are good for showing who has T8'd with what at the most recent events in an area.  Once you understand the format at a certain level, you can see smaller metagame cycles that help predict based on what showed up last, but on what people might change because of the last T8.

If you're trying out a new decklist you certainly want it to fare well against the top decks being played in your area.  However, it's also important early on to do basic stress tests against the major strategies in T1.  This usually means seeing how it contends with:

-linear combo (e.g. Belcher)
-midrange storm decks (e.g. TPS)
-drain combo (e.g. drain tendrils or slaver)
-oath
-aggro control (e.g. UW Fish)
-disruptive aggro (e.g. ichorid, goblins, workshop aggro)
-prison (e.g. stax)

Finally, if you're testing to improve skill, you should look back at recent tournament losses.  Try to find patterns in types of decks or types of plays that you mishandled.  In general the key here is going to be finding quality test partners instead of specific decks, but both are important.

[Jay]

Thanks.  Since I'm new, I'm not just play testing to improve skill, but also to select which deck fits me best.  And to make myself familiar with the popular decks since other people will be playing them and I need to be able to anticipate what they'll be doing.  I'm throwing Fish into the mix since it was the deck I played in the one tournament I was in and I liked it.  And I don't have the benefit of a partner to play against.  I just throw the decks onto apprentice and play myself except for the rare occasion I play against my friend, who is the one other type 1 player I know in Indy.  I'll be playing these decks against each other to try to understand the way they work and how they might sideboard, and to see if I end up liking one more than my current one.  And of course I play them against my current deck list to see how well my deck stands up against them and see what I need to change.  If anyone else wants to tell me about how they play test online or other methods I could use, I'm all ears.  Right now, these are the decks I'll be playing around with (the lists I use are mostly from worlds):

Control Slaver
Fish
Grim Long
Manaless Ichorid
Painter Stone
Pitch Long
Stax
Tyrant Oath

[fury]

Tier 1:
...
Tier 2:
...
Tier 3:
...

I've never understood the classification of decks by Tiers, in so far as this classification depends on the particular metagame, which is very different given the countries, the event, and so on. Moreover, some players test decks that are not Tier 1, but their skills boost up the deck's results, so that we may consider it as a Tier one deck. Finally, some decks needs more skills than others, so that it's difficult to compare them with a single value scale  like a Tier 1,2, 3 classification.

Has someone arguments to establish a relatively objective classification of decks by "Tiers", or with another conception ?

[bluemage55]

Has someone arguments to establish a relatively objective classification of decks by "Tiers", or with another conception ?

I believe the one given by the OP for the purposes of this discussion is that the Tiers are based on Top 8-ing frequency.

[Jay]

Yeah it was.  And while different areas are dominated by different decks, I find it harder to keep up with the way things change by time more than location.  That, and being in only one tournament doesn't give me a good picture of what is dominant here... although there are plenty of tournaments in the midwest for me to look at.  Still, isn't keeping track of what deck is being played most this month better than keeping track of what is played in your area?

[Grand Inquisitor]

given by the OP

OP?

[Tha Gunslinga]

Original Poster.

[Harlequin]

After the first two rounds of a large tournment pass, you'll see the feild stratify into 4 real groups:
-Tier 1: The X-0 --> Draw in"
-Tier 2: The X-1 "Claws"
-Tier 3: "Good Luck" and decks that failed to "Stick to the Plan"
-Tier 4: "0-2 Chillies"

Now alot of this has skill, pairings, circumstance, voodoo, planetary alignment... but there are definately decks that make up each group.

Tier 1 is often your combo-Control decks.  Or incremental Control decks.  Basically TSP, Long, Control Painter and Control Slaver.  With a good pilot these decks will consistanty rock the X-0-2 bracket. 

"The Claws" - Decks that make up the X-1 or X-2 claws are decks that are inharently powerful, and well concieved.  But lack the consistancy of the Tier 1 decks.  Oath, Goblins, Ichorid, Shop Agro, Bomberman, and Pure-Combo like Belcher.  I call this the claws because these decks are often scraping and scrabbling thier way along.  Some will scratch thier way into top-8 where most will fall prey to pack.

"The Others" - Decks with fresh pilots or decks that have ill-concieved contruction make up the the bottom tables. 

Lastly: "Stick to the Plan" decks - Decks like this can appear sprinkled in anywhere.  Typically by the end they either float to the top, or sink tragically to the bottom.  These are decks that have a very strong concept, and focus on beating the tier-1 decks.  However what they champion in consistancy, they lose on raw-bustedness.  Because these decks are hyper-specialized to beat the top tier, they often get shredded when they hit the claws.  For these types of decks they are either 'livin the dream' and rocking the X-0 bracket or "entering the side tourney."  Decks of this persuation are: Basically Any Fish (WU, BU, UBw, UWb, UR, UBb), as well as other tempo decks like TMWA, or Traditional (non-aggro) stax.  Also decks like Pure-Control (like Tyrant Blue).

Personally, I'm an avid "Clawer."  Most of the time when I top-8 it's on the back of an X-2 with best breakers or an X-1-1.