[Premium Article] "Mana Drain is Back!" In Control with Vintage Control

[forests failed you]

Hey guys, check out my new article on starcitygames.com.

It is about building and playing control decks in Vintage, and also discusses why I believe Mana Drain bases strategies are currently very good in Vintage.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/20767_Vintage_AvantGarde_Mana_Drain_Is_Back_In_Control_with_Vintage_Control.html

Enjoy the article, and as always feedback and comments are always appreciated.

Cheers,
Brian DeMars

[CorwinB]

That was a great article, Brian. I really enjoyed all your recent works on SCG.

[2nd_lawl]

Liked this one alot.

[Odd mutation]

Indeed! Exactly what I wanted... again!

I have been working on a deck with Ancient Grudge/Goblin Welder/City of Brass/Intuition. I just couldn't get the numbers right, so decided to cut black but you'e made it wok with some very interesting choices. Preordain looks good. I'll be trying this for sure!

Thanks,

Robrecht

[Odd mutation]

I really miss Darkblast in the deck(/sideboard). It's a great Confidant killer and creatures that die to Engineered Plague, also die to Darkblast (admittedly not all at the same time but I don't believe that would ever be a problem?). Darkblast is easier to get through against control players, which should be more numerous then Elf combo players, and killing Confidants is important.
Are you sure the Engineered Plague is better? It does have it's advantages... but I don't think they outweigh the advantages of Darkblast.
I loved the cool and unexpected techyness of Engineered Plague though!

I also would like (at least) one Yixlid Jailer in the board. Would you consider cutting the extra Nihil Spellbomb for it?

Robrecht

[hitman]

Darkblast isn't as good against Spirit tokens in Oath or Myr Battlesphere tokens as Engineered Explosives.  

[bb-g]

Darkblast isn't as good against Spirit tokens in Oath or Myr Battlesphere tokens as Engineered Explosives.  

If you need it against Oath, then something went incredably wrong with your control deck.

To be honest: I don't like the deck, once you, as an opponent, knows the deck, it isn't that strong anymore. I do like drains (hence, I almost always play them), but this doesn't seem the way to go for me.

[hitman]

I don't know if that's why he played Engineered Plague.  I would assume it would be something that addressed a number of problems with a single card like Spirit tokens, goblin tokens from Empty the Warrens or Myr Battlesphere tokens.

[DubDub]

Just read this article, which went free today, and have to say I was blown away.  This was a really top quality article in my opinion.  I thought you blended the tournament report with explanations of the small strategic points you wanted to make really well.

Re:

Game two: Steve keeps a hand on the draw that is Black Lotus, five lands, Jace. I Red Elemental Blast his Jace. How embarrassing…

Would you keep a hand that is literally “turn 1 Jace or go home” on the draw in game two already up a game?

I would probably keep that, yes.  Playing Oath, there's a decent chance the card you're looking for (besides Force of Will) in your opening hand is Nature's Claim, not Red Elemental Blast.  Five lands is rough, but the hand is only a Preordain away from being very good in the matchup.

Can I ask if you led with a Volcanic Island outright, or a fetchland or City of Brass?

[Phele]

Very good read. While looking at your decklist, I noticed that you could easily exchange the Preordains for Dark Confidants and end up with more less a typical Dark Jace Vault control deck with more removal instead of disruption. So, is Preordain really a better choice in this meta by smoothing out your draw while not generating real card advantage? I have my doubts about that in a meta where casting a one mana sorcery can be a tough task against a wall of Sphere effects. Compared to Confidant Preordain also get hit by Spell Pierce. Or is the mana base with all the City of Brasses so good, that it is the better way to avoid another life taking element in your deck like Confidant?

[madlucas]

@Phele

I played about 20 games and all I can say about Preordain is that in this kind of deck seems strictly better than Bobs because here you don't need card advantage but to play a bomb on the 2nd or 3rd turn depending on mana moreover this deck is really controlish and play Cities of Pain so you don't wanna go for the long game hoping not to die to your own threats.

[Phele]

Hey Lucas! Thanks for the input even though I am not sure if I really got it, sorry for that.

You say the list of Brian is more about finding and protection one bomb on the second or third turn for what the quicker digging power of Preordain is better, right? So far I can really follow you. But when it is all about playing bombs, why does it play more less the same bombs as almost every common Bob Jace build? Is it more important to ensure to play one of these bombs (lets say Jace, Tinker, Anc) on turn two or three by playing Preordain or have a steady flow of these bombs that might appear bit later, what Bob helps about? Wouldn't it then be better to play a higher amount of more game winning bombs, like its old SCV did with Draw 7s and co? To me it seems, that your Preordains might find in many cases specific removals like Ancient Grudge or cards which need more of a set up to actually count like Welder, leaving you quickly out of gas with no real draw engine. I might be wrong, as I haven't testet this Vintage control build, but at least the question Preordain over Bob seem pretty obvious to me. As far as my experience goes, Preordain seem to fit better in builds that are more straightforward combo orientated, like TPS, SCV, Gush-Tyrant ...

[brokenbacon]

"Mana Drain – It's like in a romantic comedy, or a Taylor Swift top 40 hit, when the protagonist realizes that the person who was there all along and was overlooked is really "the one,” and that everyone and everything else was merely part of the path that led up to it. I love you, Mana Drain."
YES. That is it. Exactly. I never really got Mana Drain until I read that quote. Like, I knew it was good but I never really fully got why it was so good. Thank you, Brian. This article was very well written and gave some really good insight on the meta - how control is actually a very good choice of play right now.

[Metman]

Great article Brian.  I always look forward to reading your articles when they become free.  I too have a love affair with Mana Drain and I can always count on you to come up with a great list, report and discussion. 

[Prospero]

Very solid read.  Great innovation for the pillar, good work.

[Delha]

Just joining in on the chorus of approval here. I really enjoyed this article, thanks!

[Cyberpunker]

Psssh Mana Drain never even went away