[Free Article] The 2013 Vintage Year in Review (January - June)

[forests failed you]

2013 was a pretty amazing year for Vintage.  Check out part one of my two part series up on SCG now.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27657_2013-Vintage-Year-In-Review-January-June.html

Cheers,
Brian

[A.-1.]

Nice review, Brian. I'm looking forward to part two.

Thank you Tom and Mike for defending Vintage in the comments. That guy in D.C. is really missing out.

[forests failed you]

For sure.  I am pretty excited I have a Vintage tournament at my home store this weekend!

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the best decks are going to be in 2014?

[wiley]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the best decks are going to be in 2014?

Burning Oath (regular and pitch)
DDay Gush
Humans will only get better (especially more combo-esque versions leading to a kind of neo-bomberman)
Bug fish won't go away
Mud, specifically with lots of creature kill
Rug delver won't go away either
Merfolk will stick around as long as blue aggro decks do
Some vault-key deck not reliant on planeswalkers ... probably in a control oath shell
And I'm sure dredge will continue its hit or miss greatness

I bet all of these will be really close in terms of what is the "best deck," and that says a lot about vintage.  There is a very wide range in play styles among these decks.

[A.-1.]

I don't think there will be any one dominant deck in the format in 2014, but I'd venture a guess that BUG Fish will lead the way in total wins/top 8s.

[brianpk80]

For sure.  I am pretty excited I have a Vintage tournament at my home store this weekend!

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the best decks are going to be in 2014?

Nice article, Brian.  

I have a sense that Wizards is going to end its informal policy of neglecting Vintage and tweak the B&R list to make it more marketable before actually marketing it.  It's hard to say what new decks would emerge, but my guess would be an even bigger revival of Storm combo and Fish decks equipped to contain it.  A breakout Show and Tell list wouldn't be out of the question either. 

[Prospero]

Excellent read, Brian.  I enjoyed reading about the first half of the year, but I'm (predictably) very interested in reading your take on Mishra's revenge:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=45580.0

That event was wild.  Martello wins, there's a new Espresso list with Hellkites and Ratchet Bombs and Workshops make up 5/8th's of the top eight.  The fact that Welders, Forgemasters and Smokestacks all top eight'd that event, I think, really says something about the varied approaches that are all valid, and how there were multiple 'right' answers to the metagame for a Workshop deck. 

Shops had a very nice run for about three months, before the genie was out of the bottle.  A mark of decks that are close, but not quite right, is a top 16 finish, and there were a few Shop decks in the top 16 at Champs. 

2014 should be interesting.  It's time for Mishra's devotees to attack this new metagame with new strategies and new decks.

[Soly]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the best decks are going to be in 2014?

This year is definitely the year for tempo-based strategies until Nick D. and the Forinos build a new shop deck that trounces them.

BUG Fish
RUG Delver
Grixis Devler *Article incoming*
Merfolk
Humans
Standard Oath
both variations of CombOath

[quicksilvervii]

This is a fun time for vintage, where deckbuilding needs to be a bit more creative.

Since the meta is so wide open, it is simply not possible to try to beat everything in the room.  It really is reminiscent of legacy, where you have some really great matchups, but you accept that some are just terrible.  You hope to dodge those, or that people aren't playing those strategies.

I really hope to see a combo surge with all of these creature decks running around, but they are proving to be quite pesky and resilient.

[nedleeds]

BUG fish. For a few reasons.

1) Numbers. The deck ports well from legacy, and thus will get more play in things like 10 proxy.
2) Familiarity. Again, if Vintage gains popularity it will primarily pull from the Legacy pool. BUG fish variants play close to a legacy style of game.
3) Flexibility. BUG can be a control deck, playing primarily on it's opponent turn. It can go aggro, a quick thoughtseize into a big Tarmogoyf can put the deck in aggro mode. It can play in between also, running DRS out and using resource denial to safely drop a green threat mid game. It's not poor vs. anything and not spectacular vs. anything.
4) Abrupt Decay. Is really good in a world where 1-3 CC creatures and Oath are rampant.