[Free Article] Steel City Vault Re-Unleashed

[forests failed you]

New article up on SCG today.

Obviously, I'm a pretty big fan of this deck from days back -- but after playing a little with the deck I think it has what it takes to be a contender!  What do you guys think?  Check it out.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26687_Steel-City-Vault-Reunleashed.html

Cheers,
Brian D

[birds of paradise]

Loved it. Play-by-play articles are the 2nd best format (next to video-coverage).

Wouldn't it be possible to do Vintage games, like the SCG do Standard/legacy testing? I'm sure it would be appreciated.

[vaughnbros]

Obviously, I'm a pretty big fan of this deck from days back -- but after playing a little with the deck I think it has what it takes to be a contender!  What do you guys think?  Check it out.

Burning Oath has been in the format for a while and now Allen has showed that pitch long can work with a couple top 8's.  So a similar style deck that cuts rituals for more artifact mana seems viable if built correctly.  You do need to worry more about null rod, stoney silence, and chalice than the other current combo decks though so nature's claim.

Personally I'd like to read about how to beat a more difficult match up for the deck, like landstill or shops, than one of its best match ups, like gush.

[DubDub]

Correction:

I Top into Vampiric Tutor and draw it for my turn. I upkeep Vamp for Voltaic Key and use my Sensei's Divining Top to draw it into my hand.

"Upkeep Vamp" is inccorect since you're either still in your draw step or have advanced to a main phase.  Alternatively it's possible that you drew Vamp with Top in your upkeep, then Vamped still during your upkeep to get Voltaic Key which was then drawn naturally during your draw step, but that would shuffle away your Top so I doubt that was your play.

[personalbackfire]

I'm a little surprised to see grudge and a welder go. One of the strengths of Scv was its shop match in my opinion. Welder and grudge certainly helped there. In addition welders add value to your draw 7s. I completely missed opal when I had tried this deck a few weeks ago. I look forward to trying them out. Thanks for the article.

[forests failed you]

Hey thanks for the feedback:

Grudge was very specifically a metagame choice in the deck.  In the meta where I was playing the deck back in the day BUG with maindeck Null Rod was a pretty big thing in the wake of Thirst for Knowledge getting restricted.  People were still trying to play Tezzvault decks, but without the Thirsts to power through and get card advantage / control it was very difficult to ever actually beat their null rod + protect.  Grudge was just the best possible way to beat those decks.  I only shaved one Welder and do have 2 maindeck Hurkyl's Recall.  The second Hurkyl's could be a grudge potentially. 

One thing I am pretty sure of is that I want to cut the Flusterstorms for Thoughtseize in the maindeck, so Hurkyl's being blue is pretty important if tat is something others choose to adopt.  Hurkyl's Recall + Wheel or Jar is a pretty big game against Workshops...

[XxtSundaybxX]

Nice article. I think Stoney silence was mentioned above, which would be a beating for this deck. There are no ways in the Maindeck to remove/bounce a Stoney silence. Maybe some repeals instead of thoughtseizes?

[forests failed you]

I wouldn't worry about it.  There are not enough Stony Silences being played right now that I would make too much of an effort to beat the card.  Its likely a player would play against the card one round every two events?  That is only one game (unsideboarded) every two tournaments or so.  Plus, the SCV player still has 2x Thoughtseize and 4x Force of Will -- so its not like they are drawing dead to an opponent drawing the card, only resolving it and only in game one (because there are Nature's Claims out of the sideboard). 

Repeal is a fine card and I could see trying it out as a 1x.  There are a bunch of Opals, and especially if we add a second Sensei Top, but in general the card doesn't really impress me too much.  If you want a free cantrip Gitaxian Probe exists, which is another card that could be good in here.

[LennoxLewis86]

I sleeved up the deck and tried it out for a couple of games, as well as testing it in workstation a bit.

The results have been good although sometimes variance doesn't favor the deck. It has a lot of drawing power and powerful perpetual mana sources, but sometimes the threats or answers from the opponent negate my hand and there is not much I can do. Other blue decks tend to be able to adapt better while this deck has more raw power.

I'm currently looking at making minor changes to improve every first turn I play in a match, especially on the play. One of the deck's greatest strengths is just throwing a draw seven out there. I want to have powerful first turn plays that puts the opponent on their heels immediately. I want to play this deck as a Grim Long style deck (it has always been my favorite deck) but trying to get around Mental Misstep and Flusterstorm as much as possible. Steel City Vault does not have rituals, and while it does have a number of targets they can all be considered ''random'' while Ritual plays a key role in the Grim Long strategy. Also, Flusterstorm can be played around, while storm decks can't. Steel City Vault does not need to cast ten spells in a turn, it just needs to assemble Vault Key.

I'm aware that this deck can operate in bursts rather than one big turn winning the game, but after goldfishing this deck for a good number of times I've come to the conclusion that it's only about half a turn slower than Grim Long, which is (in today's standards) really fast.

Any merit to playing Lion's Eye Diamond? It's a risky but powerful card. It's also good with Mox Opals.