Vintage Red/Green Agro with a splash of blue for flavor

[chaos8604]

I built this deck to try something that was off the normal vintage path. It had problems with oath and combo but I think a couple of changes that I made/will make/thinking about making that might help.

Main Deck
4 Taiga
4 Wasteland
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Islands
1 Strip Mine
3 Null Rod
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Memory Jar
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Trygon Predators
3 Vexing Shushers
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Mogg Fanatics
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lighting Bolt
1 Channel
1 Kaervek's Torch
1 Wheel of Fortune
2 Blood Moon

Side Board
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Hull Breach
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Jester's Cap
2 Krosan Grip
2 Tormod's Crypt


Some changes that I am thinking about are taking out the 2 Moxs (Jet & Pearl) and perhaps the Channel and Kaervek’s Torch for 4 Mystic Remora’s. They would help keep my hand full of cards that could potentially deal damage or take out some threats as they arise. And considering the low casting cost of everything in the deck I should be able to keep up with the upkeep with little fuss.

I was also considering throwing in Molten Influence into the board for 1 Hull Breach and the 2 Caps. They provide a possible counter or a burn for 2 mana. Granted it only works on instants or sorceries, but that is mostly what I have to worry about.

I will appreciate any comments since I have been out of tournament practice for a couple years.

[griffin]

Have the blood moons/magus of the moons worked for you without any basic lands? It seems like they would hurt you a fair amount since they cut off 12 cards. Maybe switching some of them to the sideboard would be better.

With blue already, ancestral and time walk are excellent of course and should be run. This also works well with moving some of the moon effects to the board.

Taking out the torch and channel sounds good. Has wheel of fortune worked well for you? It can tend to help your opponent as much as you. It could be worth taking out or moving to the sideboard.

Greater Gargadon is always a possibility against oath that would probably work well.

[silvernail]

This deck looks like it shoots itself in the foot, the gut and it's own testicles.  Mixing Null Rods and Blood Moons with a pile of artifact mana and non basic lands is very counter productive. I'd cut blue entirely if you aren't going to run Ancestral and Walk. Predators can be replaced with other artifact hate.

I'd alter the mana base to have more basics so blood moon effects don't cut off your access to green. I'd chuck the Jitte's in the SB and take out tops altogether since neither plays well with Rod. You can likely take Rod out and put Jitte in against some decks.

[madmanmike25]

Well for starters I would suggest you add the 4th Tarmogoyf.  You are trying to swing for 20 before your opponent wins and no other creature will do this better for 2 mana.  I don't really see a reason to play with 2 Blood Moons instead of the 2 additional Magus of the Moon's.

Are 3 Trygon's worth including blue?  Remember that green now has Nature's Claim for only 1 mana.

Channel+Torch is a nice throwback to the old days, but in reality it's going to be difficult to get it.

Memory Jar seems really out of place here.  Seems like you will also have trouble with Top and Jitte since you run Null Rod.  Try Mirri's Guile or Sylvan Library perhaps?  With enough fetchlands you get decent card quality that way.

I think Jesters Cap is a bit out of your mana curve for a sb card.  Ancient Grudge is a really solid sb card if you are running R and G.  Most R/G beats ran Tin Street Hooligan maindeck.

Good luck.

[serracollector]

I would up to 4 magus and 4 null rod.  You want to shut your opponent down as soon as possible.  Drop the top, and the jittes, if you want extra damage, throw in rancor, and you can use Mirri's guilde or Sylvan Library as draw/topdecking. 

If you want to keep channel use Banefire instead of torch, with channel it should always be over 5 anyways.

Drop the 3 trygons, and just play 2 more gorilla shaman, and  an ancient grudge. No need for blue when playing magus, play 4 taiga's, and 4 shocklands, and some basic lands along with the  5 strips.

[chaos8604]

I run into a lot of Combo and Oath with I play, so the Moon and Magus help slow them down if I can get them out soon enough. The only real issue is that is does cut off the goyf and predators, but I can deal without them for a time.

The problem I have with nature's claim is that I don't want to prolong my opponent’s life any longer than I have to. I would much prefer dealing damage and destroying artifacts than having them gain life from it but I see that Nature's Claim is a good card.

I love Mirri's Guile. I used to use it in casual play all the time. I was actually thinking about using it in this deck just to help with getting the right cards in hands.

The main issue I have with the Library is that I have to pay the life to keep the cards in hand. I might play test with it a little just to see what happens though.

I like Wheel of fortune. I prefer to use it when my hand is empty but if I also get into my own Lock (magus/rod) I can dump cards that I cannot use and hopefully get some more useful cards.

I’m going to try out using 3 forest and 3 misty rainforests and see if that helps any.

What do you guys think about pulling moxes?  Jet, Pearl and Sapphire specifically, if I don’t run blue.

[chaos8604]

MainDeck
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
4 Wasteland
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
1 Strip Mine
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Vexing Shusher   
3 Gorilla Shaman   
2 Magus of the Moon   
2 Mogg Fanatic   
4 Lightning Bolt   
4 Chain Lightning   
2 Naturalize   
1 Wheel Of Fortune   
3 Null Rod   
1 Black Lotus   
1 Mox Emerald   
1 Mox Ruby   
1 Lotus Petal   
4 Sylvan Library   
4 Rancor   
2 Blood Moon   

Sideboard
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Hull Breach
2 Krosan Grip
1 Memory Jar


I took out the blue and the deck now just runs r/g. I also removed the Mox's that weren't really providing me with any advantage (Jet, Pearl, Sapphire).

Suggestions?

[honestabe]

Krosan grip might be better than naturalize

[yukizora]

In my opinion, Skullclamp would be better in this deck than Top. You can hit harder, and draw cards in compensation if your creature dies, it also helps with the Dredge matchup. Also I wouldn't play Null Rod but more Artifact and Enchantement hate. Like Tin Street Hooligan or Seal of Primordium.

[jovialevil]

  If you have them, you probably want 4x Magus of the Moon... it is easier to remove than Blood Moon, but does 2 damage per turn.  This card + Tarmogoyf is probably the strongest plan your deck has.

  Other than that... Mogg Fanatic seems underwhelming.  Removing opposing card draw (Confidant) is nice, so they may have a place, but they don't look like they'll push through for much damage.  Lotus petal also seems weak, especially with Null Rod.  I would look into replacing that card, and possibly the fanatics, with some combination of G/R spirit guides to get your 2 and 3 mana creatures into play faster.  Wheel of Fortune is probably a bad card to play with Magus of the Moon in play... by shutting down their mana, you really slow their chances of finding more lands, getting out of the soft lock... unless you hand them 7 new cards, one of which might be a basic land.

  I also like Manamorphose... it's a crappy card but keeps you playing green spells under the Moon, and as long as you have 2 mana in play is free in terms of cards/mana.  I would consider running it before the 4th Wasteland and 4th Library.