[Free Article] So Many Insane Plays -- Exploring Possible Unrestrictions

[Smmenen]

This article is now free.   FYI.

[Yare]

One little point: Just because a card was restricted (or banned) and then unrestricted doesn't necessarily imply that the initial decision to restrict was wrong. New strategies evolve that are superior to the original strategy, strategies that defeat the original strategy are created, or new cards just obsolete the old strategy (for one reason or another). Over time, then, the reasons for restriction in the first place can be displaced. That being said, I do get the concern of overkill restrictions.

A pretty good read overall.

[Smmenen]

One little point: Just because a card was restricted (or banned) and then unrestricted doesn't necessarily imply that the initial decision to restrict was wrong.

Nor do I intend to suggest as much, by inference or otherwise.   If that was my objective I would have examined every unrestriction as a way of critiquing the initial restriction. 

I was exclusively looking at situations in which there were multiple simultaneous restrictions, often in pursuit of the same objective.  My point was two-fold: 1) the DCI has a habit of restricting multiples cards to accomplish the same objective, and that when it restricts multiple cards in pursuit of the same end, any given restriction accomplishes at least some part of what another restriction is attempting to accomplish, and additional restrictions are therefore less necessary (not necessarily unnecessary) as a matter of logic.   It is specifically in *these situations*, and not in all cases, that subsequent unrestrictions create a reasonable inference that the initial (additional) restrictions were in error.  The weight of evidence would seem to support this, as my graph shows (keep in mind that this article was written before the most recent wave of unrestrictions, too).  2) any restriction will transform the Vintage-system (by definition, since any card up for restriction is central to system behavior), and render the effects of additional (related or unrelated) restrictions unpredictable, if not unknowable, and therefore harder to justify.   

[vroman]

recommend: everyone use their signature box to list their b&r preferences

[Stormanimagus]

recommend: everyone use their signature box to list their b&r preferences

Good Idea. Updated. Call me a free-wheelin Liberal but I think we should unrestrict a lot of stuff. I checked the B & R list and after my proposed unrestrictions it'd be down to 40 cards!

I really think Wizards needs to give combo a shot in the arm if they want to stop the Tezzeret menace from becoming a worse and worse epidemic.

I think Windfall, Frantic Search, Ponder, Flash, Demonic Consultation would all help towards this without giving Tezzeret any unfair help, but also without making Combo too unfair. I think the one possible unrestriction that may be a bad idea is Library of Alexandria as Tezz might be able to use and abuse it, but I'm willing to gamble a bit a give it a try. What fun it'd be to see a deck with 4 Library!

-Storm

[covetousrat]

I think Burning Wish, Frantic search and Windfall should really be taken out from the list. Currently the metagame is really being dominated by Tezz Drains Deck and Stax. Ritual decks are really falling behind and should be given some boost. I'm really hoping for the unrestriction of LED to give Long some boost but this will never come true.

[Stormanimagus]

I think Burning Wish, Frantic search and Windfall should really be taken out from the list. Currently the metagame is really being dominated by Tezz Drains Deck and Stax. Ritual decks are really falling behind and should be given some boost. I'm really hoping for the unrestriction of LED to give Long some boost but this will never come true.

Well I'm not sure LED is the safest unrestriction as it can lead to degenerate and "unfun" plays with Yawg. Win. But your sentiment is basically right on par with my view as well.

I'd like to make a very important point regarding the slump of combo now as well.

Cause— One of the reasons Vintage popularity is slumping right now in the States is that there isn't enough power in the hands of players so proxy events (and pretty much 10-15 proxy across the board might I add) seem to be the only solution for creating a fair metagame that rewards the best players and not the biggest wallets.

Effect— Proxy events do detach players from the game a bit and remove some of their commitment to the game by making the price of entry very small.

Cause— When a player tries to go the "budget route" or play a metagamed Fish deck he still often find himself losing to a superior Tezz player in the Top 8.

Effect— "Budget Decks" that look more like 4-of.dec and not a highlander deck are frowned upon and thought to be "Jank" that only ever win by dumb luck.

Effect #2— As a result of this perception good players are not inspired to innovate on budget ideas because they feel they'll just get crushed by Tezz when push comes to shove.

ALL RIGHT, SO WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

Unrestricting/Printing good cards for combo decks actually helps a lot more than people think. I remember the first thing that got me into Vintage was the degeneracy and general "fun-factor" of Stephen Menendian's "Doomsday Device". You can read the article here:

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/8410_The_Doomsday_Device_The_Coolest_Win_Condition_In_Magic.html

This one article got me more into the idea of playing Vintage than anything else, and I've never looked back. Combo decks are fun. I remember Stephen saying something very insightful in that article that first hooked me:

"First of all, this deck is a great deck for the format because it is easily playable with five proxies. If you got into Type One because you can play Fish with five proxies, this is the deck for you. People shouldn't be forced to play with Null Rod; if you want to enjoy Type One, you need to play with broken cards. This deck is my team's gift to the powerless."

—Stephen Menendian

I think this rings more true today than ever before. If you play Type 1 you at least want the OPTION to play with broken cards and not just Null Rod. Don't misunderstand. I still like a Null Rod deck that baffles Tezz players as it beats down with Exalted Cold-Eyed Selkies as much as the next guy, but I also like to be able to play a busted combo deck that is high-risk —> high-reward.

Right now I feel we live in a Vintage environment where you either play:

a). Highlander.Dec that is medium-risk, high-reward and requires a bajillion dollars to effectively build.
b). Random Tier 2 stuff that is low-risk, low/medium-reward and requires a lot less money to build.

Both decks require similar low-medium playskill to win with so it really is in the best interest of the player to play Highlander.Dec if you can learn to not screw up too much with it.

I'd rather have to invest some serious practice in a high-risk—>high-reward combo deck that saves me some money to build then be stuck with Null Rod.deck forever. This is what D-Day was for me back then and what other combo could be again today.

*I'm sick of TPS looking so similar to Tezz. I want TPS to be its own nuanced deck with more distinct 4-ofs that help it win. Windfall/Ponder could do this.
*I wan to see Ad Nauseam turn into a real threat. Demonic Consultation could do this.
*I want to see Standstill decks viable again. Library Of Alexandria might do this.
*I want to see a Flash deck again. Unrestricted Flash + Ponder might do this.


*The important thing is that Ad Nauseam could easily be built on 5-Proxies (Lotus, Sapphire, Jet, Ancestral or the only real necessities, for #5 you could run Timetwister or Time Walk depending on your build)

If these 5-proxy decks became more powerful then why wouldn't/couldn't the budget player go for finding the funds to build THESE decks for big Sanctioned Tournaments?

This would allow players to build quality decks at less than half the current price of entry into the Sanctioned Vintage scene as the variety of good, POWERFUL decks would be more than doubled.

I simply want to express a good reason as to why I think unresticting cards that help combo/ printing new cards that help combo is in the best interest of Vintage. I know combo can be degenerate, but I contest that it is ever not fun to play/ play against. There is a lot of skill to piloting a combo deck well and there are many opportunities for play mistakes/opponents to capitalize on play mistakes so I think it is very fair. The hate cards that exist today are also far more potent than they were 5 years ago and so combo should be kept in check if it every did get a bit out of hand.

These are my thoughts,

Peace,

-Storm

[Troy_Costisick]

recommend: everyone use their signature box to list their b&r preferences

Okay, I'm in.  I hope this promotes good discussion in the Advanced forum.  Though I have to say, it looks like the changes to the B/R List have had an impact on the meta.  Tez is still great, but not *as* great.

Peace,

-Troy

[Sean Ryan]

I think Burning Wish, Frantic search and Windfall should really be taken out from the list. Currently the metagame is really being dominated by Tezz Drains Deck and Stax. Ritual decks are really falling behind and should be given some boost. I'm really hoping for the unrestriction of LED to give Long some boost but this will never come true.

Well I'm not sure LED is the safest unrestriction as it can lead to degenerate and "unfun" plays with Yawg. Win. But your sentiment is basically right on par with my view as well.

I'd like to make a very important point regarding the slump of combo now as well.

Cause— One of the reasons Vintage popularity is slumping right now in the States is that there isn't enough power in the hands of players so proxy events (and pretty much 10-15 proxy across the board might I add) seem to be the only solution for creating a fair metagame that rewards the best players and not the biggest wallets.

Effect— Proxy events do detach players from the game a bit and remove some of their commitment to the game by making the price of entry very small.

Cause— When a player tries to go the "budget route" or play a metagamed Fish deck he still often find himself losing to a superior Tezz player in the Top 8.

Effect— "Budget Decks" that look more like 4-of.dec and not a highlander deck are frowned upon and thought to be "Jank" that only ever win by dumb luck.

Effect #2— As a result of this perception good players are not inspired to innovate on budget ideas because they feel they'll just get crushed by Tezz when push comes to shove.

ALL RIGHT, SO WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

Unrestricting/Printing good cards for combo decks actually helps a lot more than people think. I remember the first thing that got me into Vintage was the degeneracy and general "fun-factor" of Stephen Menendian's "Doomsday Device". You can read the article here:

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/8410_The_Doomsday_Device_The_Coolest_Win_Condition_In_Magic.html

This one article got me more into the idea of playing Vintage than anything else, and I've never looked back. Combo decks are fun. I remember Stephen saying something very insightful in that article that first hooked me:

"First of all, this deck is a great deck for the format because it is easily playable with five proxies. If you got into Type One because you can play Fish with five proxies, this is the deck for you. People shouldn't be forced to play with Null Rod; if you want to enjoy Type One, you need to play with broken cards. This deck is my team's gift to the powerless."

—Stephen Menendian

I think this rings more true today than ever before. If you play Type 1 you at least want the OPTION to play with broken cards and not just Null Rod. Don't misunderstand. I still like a Null Rod deck that baffles Tezz players as it beats down with Exalted Cold-Eyed Selkies as much as the next guy, but I also like to be able to play a busted combo deck that is high-risk —> high-reward.

Right now I feel we live in a Vintage environment where you either play:

a). Highlander.Dec that is medium-risk, high-reward and requires a bajillion dollars to effectively build.
b). Random Tier 2 stuff that is low-risk, low/medium-reward and requires a lot less money to build.

Both decks require similar low-medium playskill to win with so it really is in the best interest of the player to play Highlander.Dec if you can learn to not screw up too much with it.

I'd rather have to invest some serious practice in a high-risk—>high-reward combo deck that saves me some money to build then be stuck with Null Rod.deck forever. This is what D-Day was for me back then and what other combo could be again today.

*I'm sick of TPS looking so similar to Tezz. I want TPS to be its own nuanced deck with more distinct 4-ofs that help it win. Windfall/Ponder could do this.
*I wan to see Ad Nauseam turn into a real threat. Demonic Consultation could do this.
*I want to see Standstill decks viable again. Library Of Alexandria might do this.
*I want to see a Flash deck again. Unrestricted Flash + Ponder might do this.


*The important thing is that Ad Nauseam could easily be built on 5-Proxies (Lotus, Sapphire, Jet, Ancestral or the only real necessities, for #5 you could run Timetwister or Time Walk depending on your build)

If these 5-proxy decks became more powerful then why wouldn't/couldn't the budget player go for finding the funds to build THESE decks for big Sanctioned Tournaments?

This would allow players to build quality decks at less than half the current price of entry into the Sanctioned Vintage scene as the variety of good, POWERFUL decks would be more than doubled.

I simply want to express a good reason as to why I think unresticting cards that help combo/ printing new cards that help combo is in the best interest of Vintage. I know combo can be degenerate, but I contest that it is ever not fun to play/ play against. There is a lot of skill to piloting a combo deck well and there are many opportunities for play mistakes/opponents to capitalize on play mistakes so I think it is very fair. The hate cards that exist today are also far more potent than they were 5 years ago and so combo should be kept in check if it every did get a bit out of hand.

These are my thoughts,

Peace,

-Storm

I don't see how your Cause - Effect statements really make a case for unrestrictions or support the argument to boost combo.  The proxy debate is really ancillary here.

Combo-Control in the form of Tezzeret and the new Steel City Vault make running ritual based combo inferior.  But the problem is that in order for unrestrictions to make Ritual combo a real alternative to Time Vault you have to make it more broken than is acceptable.  You need to obtain a consistent turn 2 win percentage in the face of your opponents turn 1 disruption to really make playing combo a better choice than combo-control.  After turn two Drain and the added consistency weighs out. 

Variance is a huge factor in Vintage tournaments, and unfortunaly for those who desire a home for ritual combo, the variance is simply to high to justify it as the best choice.   The risk side of Ritual combos oppurtunity cost is simply to great in relation to combo-control in all it's various forms - Tezzert, Drain Tendrils, Painter, Steel City Vault, and really even TPS.

The problem with unrestricting something like Ponder is that it would just be abused by combo-control better than combo and wouldn't change the dynamic. 

Unrestricting Windfall is an interesting notion that might ceate a viable option, but once again your looking at a deck that in all likley hood will have really high variance.  Demonic Consultation in ANT is worth testing just to see it's impact.  Has anyone tried this yet?  If not, some of you combo afficiandos should record some results and make your case...cough, cough Smmenen, Stormaimagus.     

[Stormanimagus]

I don't see how your Cause - Effect statements really make a case for unrestrictions or support the argument to boost combo.  The proxy debate is really ancillary here.

Combo-Control in the form of Tezzeret and the new Steel City Vault make running ritual based combo inferior.  But the problem is that in order for unrestrictions to make Ritual combo a real alternative to Time Vault you have to make it more broken than is acceptable.  You need to obtain a consistent turn 2 win percentage in the face of your opponents turn 1 disruption to really make playing combo a better choice than combo-control.  After turn two Drain and the added consistency weighs out. 

Variance is a huge factor in Vintage tournaments, and unfortunaly for those who desire a home for ritual combo, the variance is simply to high to justify it as the best choice.   The risk side of Ritual combos oppurtunity cost is simply to great in relation to combo-control in all it's various forms - Tezzert, Drain Tendrils, Painter, Steel City Vault, and really even TPS.

The problem with unrestricting something like Ponder is that it would just be abused by combo-control better than combo and wouldn't change the dynamic. 

Unrestricting Windfall is an interesting notion that might ceate a viable option, but once again your looking at a deck that in all likley hood will have really high variance.  Demonic Consultation in ANT is worth testing just to see it's impact.  Has anyone tried this yet?  If not, some of you combo afficiandos should record some results and make your case...cough, cough Smmenen, Stormaimagus.     

I think you misunderstand some of what I was trying to say with my post. I'm not saying combo has to be a superior tournament choice to all the Drain-Variants out there. I simply want it to be a viable and powerful option that can compete more than it does now. I agree that a turn 2 protected kill that is easy to assemble and consistent would be bad for the format, but the idea with a good combo deck is that there is always risk. Win faster with less-no disruption? Wait too long and just get beaten by my opponent's deck? Wait too long and allow my opponent to draw into his/her hate? These are all questions a good combo player will face every game. I don't want a deck that lets the combo player off this hook.

But I digress. The biggest reason I want to see combo become more balanced in power-level to Tezzeret is that it can be built optimally on 5 or less proxies. I'm not talking about the current Highlander TPS deck that looks a lot like Tezzeret. I'm talking more about Ad Nauseam and other such decks. So I agree that Demonic Consultation should be tested a bit more. I'll start messing around with a list and get back to you on the results.

But Sean, really my concern is the proxy argument. I want to give some power back to the powerless, LITERALLY. Meaning, I want to give a powerful deck to those who don't own power. The metagame shouldn't consist of Tezzeret Highlander and The Rest of Field clawing their way to the top with inferior/hate decks. As I said in my post. Null Rod decks are a perfectly viable strategy and I have a lot of interest in keeping them on the map (I did help to create Selkie-Strike after all), but I'd like to see another deck with a lot of restricted cards that can compete other than Tezz.

-Storm

[LotusHead]

recommend: everyone use their signature box to list their b&r preferences

I'm in. That's easy...

Although, Trinisphere Unrestricted would be tons of fun. (for those with Shops and those with basic islands...)

[Troy_Costisick]

Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files!
Primer on how to post pics in your thread
Unrestrict: Thirst for Knowledge. Restrict: Fore

What's Fore?

[zeus-online]

Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files!
Primer on how to post pics in your thread
Unrestrict: Thirst for Knowledge. Restrict: Fore

What's Fore?

I assume that its Force....he just forgot the C.

[Stormanimagus]

Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files!
Primer on how to post pics in your thread
Unrestrict: Thirst for Knowledge. Restrict: Fore

What's Fore?

Looking at your signature. Is Mana Vault really safe to Unrestrict? + 2 free artifact mana seems a bit dangerous to me. It is an idea that I didn't fully consider thought. Hmmmm. . .

-Storm

[PETER FLUGZEUG]

One Question:
With Blue already being the most powerful color, having sick drawspells even if you restric every blue card (and confidants et. al.), why not just rather unrestrict all of those blue bombs? I'm NOT talking about merchant scroll and brainstorm, but rather the expensive shit. I mean, how much of use is fact against gaddok teeg?
My assumption is: a deck that has more 4ofs, that is more linear, can be hated out more easily. For example:
extirpate and meddling mage and chalice would be much stronger. gush is sooo fucked by spheres. fact and gifts are hard to cast under mana denial/gaddock teeg.
In the end, there is one thing:
Blue decks can only commit so many slots to draw spells. (Like, 12 for example.) Nowadays this is something like:
Recall
Brainstorm
Ponder
Thirst
4 confidant
fact
gifts
Sensei's Top
+1 random

If the draw was like
Recall
Brainstorm
+4
+4
+2 this wouldn't change that much I think. the most important thing would be different types of draw for the "blue matchups" and against the most popular hate.

The thing is: Only because blue has "objectively worse" draw spells available doesn't mean blue decks are worse off in the metagame.

[LotusHead]

Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files!
Primer on how to post pics in your thread
Unrestrict: Thirst for Knowledge. Restrict: Fore

What's Fore?

I assume that its Force....he just forgot the C.

Fixed!

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

@ peter flugzeug

I actually like this idea, I think it’s pretty creative and at first seems like it would work. However, if this happens you’re left with two options:
1. Your right and playing more big mana blue spells makes blue decks worse.
2. Your wrong and these unrestricted blue bombs make blue even more of a hideous overpowered beast.
In the cast of the first, what’s to stop blue decks from just reverting back to what they are right now with a bunch of’s. If this happens, you’ve fixed nothing. In the case of the second, you’ve obviously fixed nothing.
And you definitely cannot restrict dark confidant. You’ll end up killing a lot of long variants, fish variants, and even some shop variants.
The problem w/ unrestricting blue bombs is that you’re not really keeping blue from doing anything, just opening more doors. Granted in the case of the first some people would play the deck for a while and the meta would appear to be fixed; in a could months, when people realize that over specializing breeds in weakness, the meta game would revert back.

and to all the jokers out there who think it's funny to sugest restricting FOW- It wasn't very funny or any more productive when the last joker made the same post a month ago. Stop wasting our time, and your not very clever.

[PETER FLUGZEUG]

Well, the central point in my view is that those streamlined blue decks are much stronger against OTHER blue strategies. The Highlander-style decks are on the other hand more resilent against hate.
And I don't think the goal must be to have "bad" blue decks (as I'm saying you suggest:-)) but rather "different" types of decks. One example are the different gush strategies: Grow, tropical storm, next lvl doomsday, Oath, Painter: Those decks (as though they share one enigne) are all different in their win conditions and are good in different metas.
If you run Grow for example against the current Tezz lists, you are better off, but if you run it against stax, Tezz is better.
I don't think there is just the way of "reverting back" to the 1of strategies, because in blue against blue, I think the more streamlined build is better off.
You would add more players to the metagame. If they share some things, it makes it easier to hate them out. Infact opening doors is exactly what i want. I think it's always better to have diversity. And i think with all those options, one deck type wouldn't be so dominant as Tezz is now.

[Troy_Costisick]

Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files!
Primer on how to post pics in your thread
Unrestrict: Thirst for Knowledge. Restrict: Fore

What's Fore?

Looking at your signature. Is Mana Vault really safe to Unrestrict? + 2 free artifact mana seems a bit dangerous to me. It is an idea that I didn't fully consider thought. Hmmmm. . .

-Storm

I'll probably write up something big on it in the near future, but just consider the following: A) Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Grim Monolith have all been unrestricted to no effect; B) Is Mana Vault really all that much more broken than Dark Ritual?

Peace,

-Troy

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

And I don't think the goal must be to have "bad" blue decks (as I'm saying you suggest:-))

I never said your goal was to make bad blue decks. I just am stating that people will not play a worse deck when they're are better options. If I had an option between a deck, and another deck thats more easily hated out, I will choose the first. Also, I think this could lead to some nutty sb options.

[urweak]

Flash should be unrestricted. Like most people have said since it was restricted, a deck focused around flash just isnt that great without all the other restricted blue spells we have seen added to the list over the past 1-2 years. I also agree to an extent with Library, its hardly played and running four is just going to hurt a lot of multicolored decks mana base.

One card I havent seen suggested much is Fastbond. I dont really know if there is some crazy way to abuse it by having 4 in a deck. It might spark some new deck, but I dont see it improving any of the decks out there now. Maybe shops? Ponder is another one that doesnt need to be on the list. At sorcery speed it just doesnt have the flexibility that Brainstorm has. I think Imperial Seal falls into this category as well. At sorcery speed Seal just doesnt have the bunch it needs, even more so with the restriction of just about every good draw spell.

Some of the stuff that just doesnt see play might be safe aswell like Channel, Windfall, and Burning Wish.

[AmbivalentDuck]

I have to take issue with the suggestion to unrestrict Balance.

Balance kills:
-Kataki
-Goblin Vandal (yes, that's relevant)
-Dark Confidant
-Tarmogoyf

Unrestricted Balance gives Stax infi answers to Fish alongside a tempo advantage that's nearly irrecoverable.  I'm going to say hellz no.  Unrestricted Crop Rotatation -> Tabernacle is already back breaking.  Fish decks appear to be answering Drains quite nicely for the moment, let's not destroy any chance of their top 8ing.

Also, there's an issue Steve never addresses: when competent players play Fish, how do they do?

[Akuma]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but the June 2009 unrestriction thread is a little too old to post in.

Back when Crop Rotation, Enlightened Tutor, Entomb and Grim Monolith were unrestricted we had all the usual talk around here. "X" was going to be too good, "X" will lead to more diversity, "X" will give deck X better tools to fight the top deck, "X" is degenerate when combined with "card". What ended up happening was quite different, because NOTHING happened. All four of the cards that were unrestricted were garbage IMO and it seems like the community wholeheartedly agrees given tournament data.

The "blue shell" deck is still the top dog, the restriction of Thirst for Knowledge did not really accomplish much. Half the top 8 of this years Gen Con was the blue-based restricted list decks (although one of them switched out Drains for removal spells). The "Steel City Vault" deck actually proves that if Mana Drain was actually restricted, the same decks would still be the best.

It seems obvious that these restrictions are going nowhere and that the unrestriction of garbage (Crop Rotation, Dream Halls, Mind Twist, etc.), while a step in the right direction, does not affect the tournament scene at all.

Vintage is already a crazy format, we should be allowed to have as many of our toys as possible. Why doesn't WotC realize that this is where the most powerful strategies/interactions end up facing one another. The more of them that are available, the more variety we will have.

Ask yourself this, what can further restrictions in this format accomplish? After examining the Top 8 data for the past 2 months, it is evident that they no longer have any real effect. They cause a few cards to be shuffled around here and there, but everything remains the same. Even if EVERYTHING except Force of Will was restricted, decks like Steel City Vault and Tezzeret would still be able to function and would continue to dominate this format.

[Smmenen]

To all of those who talk about Channel being unrestricted, I would say read this article and you'll see why that is not a good idea.   Also, see Josh Silvestri's post here for why Consult should not be unrestricted. 

[Stormanimagus]

To all of those who talk about Channel being unrestricted, I would say read this article and you'll see why that is not a good idea.   Also, see Josh Silvestri's post here for why Consult should not be unrestricted. 

Where's Silvestri's Post exactly? I'd really like to see that as I'm of the opinion that unrestricting Demonic Consultation could do the most for the format in taking it out of highlander mode for real and creating a truly viable Storm Deck once and for all.

-Storm

[honestabe]

Ok, I'm on board with the whole signature being your restrict/unrestrict requests

[Doomsday]

Yes, a link to the anti-Consultation post would be much appreciated.  I'm sure the guy doesn't use his real name as his username.

[Smmenen]

Got bored waiting to watch Public Enemies, so made a list and then goldfished it 25 times when I got home. Something to do during dinner I, heh.  Deck definitely isn't optimal, but whatever.

// Winnar
        4 Tendrils of Agony
        4 Ad Nauseam
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
// Spells
        3 Night's Whisper
        4 Cabal Ritual
        4 Dark Ritual
        4 Pact of Negation
        4 Demonic Consultation (woo-woo)
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Ponder
        1 Brainstorm
// Mana
        3 Chrome Mox
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Lotus Petal
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        2 Chromatic Sphere
        4 Chromatic Star
// Land
        4 Forbidden Orchard
        4 Gemstone Mine

Goldfish stats
win t1: 11111 11111 1
win t2: 11111 111
fizzles: 11111 1

If I had a reasonable opportunity to go for a T1 win, I went for it regardless of how locked my T2 was. You win a lot of turn 1 games by tutoring for 1-of's or Dark Ritual with Consult. At least half the turn 1 wins was fetching Lotus or Yawg's will.

Also won one game with 9 cards left in library after double Consult.  Lost 4 to consult and 2 to Ad Naus. hitting a ridic amount of copies. There was one legit 'OMG OW' Consult blowout and the other Consult losses were because I tutored for 1-of and either removed all four tendrils (lol) or lotus was in top 6.

If you aren't tutoring for 1-of's when they'll win you the game, then you aren't playing the card right. If you optimize it, who knows, maybe you get the mythical 50% everyone wants. I definitely think that would be in the ballpark if Brainstorm was unrestricted.

[Stormanimagus]

Interesting read there. So I'll just pose the question. Do you guys think that Mindbreak Trap will allow for Demonic Consultation to be unrestricted?

I think it definitely increases the possibility of such a move on the part of the DCI, but I'm interested to have the Vintage community weigh in on this. I get that Consult would be a dangerous unrestriction, but now the hate for a broken T1 Storm deck will be so powerful that why can't we give it a chance to become a decent archetype again?

-Storm

[gamegeek2]

As if Ethersworn Canonist wasn't enough...now Mindbreak trap. Poor me and Drain Tendrils. Though it's not the end of the world, it's an amazing hate card.