MUD

I really dont like workshop-decks.. just like dredge they operate to punish wrong meta choices. Im not a fan of not being able to play the deck you want just because wizards thought it was a great idea to print a critter with prison properties and five in attack.. Dredge at least interacts with the opponent both with discard and on the battlefield (since blocks do matter with bridge in the graveyard).
End of rant, start of deck.


4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Wurmcoil Engine

4 Sculpting Steel
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Chalice of the Void

1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring

4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Petrified Field
4 Wasteland
1 Buried Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine


Lots and lots of mana acceleration. Lots of 3-4 mana spells so that a (powerful) turn 1 play is viable.
What differs from this list and regular lists is this runs Sculpting Steel and Petrified Field.
Revoker and Lodestone are golden. Landing Lodestone early can win the match so having four Sculpting Steel in the deck works as four extra copies. If not you can just copy Revoker to lock out planeswalkers or fetchlands, or with five mana add a chalice on 1 and 0 the same turn.
I really think copy effects are strong. In a mirror match they most likely win the game.
Tolarian Academy was cut because I like consistency and its not consistent at all.
Thorn was cut because its crap in a meta with critters.. the one we have now thanks to Treasure Cruise and the vintage MTGO set.
Crusible comboes great with Strip/Waste/Ghost and Buried Ruin. I do think a mana denial plan is stronger than Thorn. Petrified Field adds mana and works as a one time Crucible. Petrified has a better deminishing return and thats why theres that many of them. Ghost Quarter is a one of because of the Treasure Cruise-decks. Two color decks with basics are a lot stronger thats to TC.

RG Beat updated

So this is an updated list of a previous posted deck. [Link]
I wanted to make the deck less dependant on green mana, have less artifacts (hello Dack Fayden) and just really be a more aggressive deck.
Phyrexian Revoker just cant be cut. It locks TimeVaultKey, planeswalkers, Pack Rat (yes I am serious.. its a really good threat) and Deathrite Shaman.

Chalice was removed to open up for Lightning Bolt and to get Ghost Quarter in. Moon-effects or land destruction can both be really dangerous in the right meta. Id not advise running a version without Chalice in a meta with lots of basics (UR delver turned vintage).

Genju of the Spires is a really strange card Ive been looking at. It can destroy your opponents mountains (Moon effects anyone?) but it can also be used for that sweet "haste" attack when dropped lategame.. taking out a planeswalker or a player.
Ive not added any to the list. Id start removing green cards in favor of it / a full red hate deck.

2 Ingot Chewer
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
3 Viashino Heretic
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide

2 Blood Moon
1 Sylvan Library
4 Lightning Bolt

1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Arid Mesa
4 Taiga
1 Mountain
1 Forest

Updates and a deck

Prague eternal weekend was played a couple of weeks ago.
Their homepage is updated with both lists and videos. Go check them out! Link
I really like what Dack Fayden and Treasure Cruise is doing to the format! I was totally wrong about the Dig Through Time vs Treasure Cruise powerlevel! I should have known because vintage is always about the mana, and TC is one mana less..

Theres been a couple of smaller tourneys but Ive missed them because of real life.
There was also a pretty decent sized tourney at BSK. BSK stands for Borås SpelKonvent and is a -con in the city of Borås. That one I missed because of who ran it! Prizes were really good there this year. They seem to have improved lots since last year.

Ive been working on UW, UR and UB lists exploiting Treasure Cruise to the maximum. They have all got their pros and cons and unfortunately I this the UGx-lists work best. As in a Gush/fastbond deck that splashes either black for tutors (and Darkblast!!!) or red for Young Pyromancer and/or bolts+grudge. Their all decks that can run low numbers of P9-cards and turn any match around in their favor in one lucky turn. The only must-have that I cant find a replacement for is Library of Alexandria. If the meta is going to be blue control and aggro decks with counters library is going to be a house! And seeing as UR hoses workshops.. Im thinking we can get a blue xmas, or a blue 2015 unless wizards brings out the banhammer for the next release (B&R-list updates every new release now).


Sorry about all the ramblings.. here's your list!:

4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Hermit Druid
1 Reveillark
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Flame-Kin Zealot

4 Entomb
3 Careful Study
2 Dance of the Dead
4 Animate Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Crop Rotation
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Thoughtseize

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
3 Bayou
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Piranha Marsh

How the deck works:
With a Worldgorger Dragon in the graveyard you cast Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead. WD will exile the enchantment as it ETB, sending WD to the graveyard. When WD hits the graveyard it returns the exiled enchantment which will want a target.. and so the loop is set.
With the loop set you have the following wincons. Piranha Marsh on the battlefield as you loop & loop as many times as you want then reanimate a Reveillark who will reanimate Caller and Flame-kin for combat damage.

Hermit Druid speeds the deck up by milling you in one turn. Crop Rotation fetches Bazaar or Piranha when needed.

Remember you dont need to mill your whole deck. You want just need a key combination and then you can go off. Also there are times when you may aswell just play your green critters and turn them sideways.


Abrupt Decay is a must in the sideboard.
You should be able to replace Bazaar with a draw&discard-spell for budget reasons but the bazaar wins are wicked sweet!
You can also replace all the duals and fetches with Scars-duals or modern duals. Life is not a factor. You either win or lose depending on if you can combo or not.

UB Maniac

I wanted a deck that plays full power (Im really not counting Twister as power any more.. Library or Time Vault has taken its place), is really quick and stable. The deck also should have few bad draws. The obvious choice for me is a deck with lots of cheap cantrips and a cheap "combo" to go off quick. Blue and black combined gets all the defensive spells needed against opposing combo decks and also has the cantrips.
Night's Whisper is a card I really hadnt thought a lot about before it won a tournament a month or so ago but it does almost everything you want. At two mana it is a bit harder to counter and since you draw two cards it cant be misdirected. (I think Misdirection is one of the best cards in the whole format)
The 3 Jace are there just as a backup plan and some times you just autowin having a first turn Jace. It is also a wee bit easier to cast then Doomsday.
Doomsday.. yea you lose lots of life.. but you play it as a tutor for the next 4-5 turns. Once cast you should have your whole gameplan there. Drawing Shelldock Isle hides a creature away and the rest of the stack should be defensive spells and or card draws depending on what your opponent is playing. Yes a Wasteland + removal is death but that is something you should be able to handle with all the reactive spells and discard.
The mana base is a land or two more then the other combo decks but the gameplan of casting a BBB-spell kind of forces you to have access to black mana. I opted to not play Dark Ritual and tendrils for their "looseness". Stability is the way to go imo.
Mana Leak could be Duress or Spell Pierce but I wanted a cmc2 counter and felt Leak is best with that many colorless sources.

You can play this deck powerless too. Playing more lands and Dark Rituals replaces the lotus/moxen. YawgWill/Ancestral/Thirst/Tinker becomes Preordains. Blightsteel -> Emrakul. Library becomes whatever you feel could be good.


3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Laboratory Maniac

4 Thoughtseize
2 Mental Misstep
3 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will
4 Doomsday
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Night's Whisper
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker

1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Shelldock Isle

UW Stoneforge

Less time playing HS = more mtg!

4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Azorius Guildmage
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Vendilion Clique

2 Batterskull
3 Standstill
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Repeal
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Karakas

Swords and Repeal should be enough to fight early aggression.
FoW + Spell Snare should be enough to fight one or two Oath's being cast too early. Repeal and Azorius Guildmage should fix anything after round 3-> .
Black Lotus Im not really sure of. Its really nice with Jace and for shocking a stax-player round one. But if the meta would/should be low in workshop Id run something else in that slot (cantrips!).
Karakas has taken Librarys slot. Not really sure if both should be included seeing as this version has Standstill. Strip Mine is also a possible sweet answer.
Standstill is great with all the instant cast critters and removals.
Stoneforge into Batterskull decimates Stax. If you can keep you Stoneforge alive they dont stand a chance.
Aven Mindcensor & Vendilion Clique are goodstuff but you only really want them cast once each.

RUG Stifle/Waste

I played a turney this past saturday. I got a bit unlucky with the draws and I dont think all the cards that got included in the deck was needed. This is how it looked at the time of the turney (I wanted a anti-stax-deck. Thats where the draws failed me):

2 Vendilion Clique
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer

4 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

4 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Repeal

1 Echoing Truth
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Lightning Bolt

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald

4 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine



Lands & artifacts = great.
Cantrips = should have +1 Repeal.
Utility = Echoing Truth and Ancient Grudge does the exact same thing for this deck so ET should go. Mystical Tutor shouldnt really be needed and it felt.. not as good as a cantrip would have been.
Counters & critters = Stifle was great except when Chalice was set at 1. Snapcaster could go -1. Spell Pierce was great with the land destruction and I wouldnt want less than 4. Not sure about Spell Snares.

Dack Fayden would be great too. Not sure what to replace.

Khans!

Quick, small review on the decent cards of Khans.


Dig Through Time - Gets you two out of the seven top cards of the deck for UU + however many cards you wish to exile from you graveyard. 6 cards to delve shouldnt be that much playing two copies. Its an instant so you can play it EOT on the opponents turn and if it was to be countered you can always Mana Drain it for a huge next turn.

Disdainful Stroke could be good if Tarmogoyf type RUG-decks become good (if we get a decent cantrip in instant form).

Treasure Cruise - drawing three cards is always interesting but delve 7.. and a hostile Mana Drain = win. I think Dig Through Time is better. DTT is a 2off and would just be better than TC in the late game (seeing as vintage is full of bombs).

Murderous Cut - Destroy a creature for B and up to 4 cards in the graveyard. Really seems playable in UBx control.

Monastery Swiftspear - Could be decent in a blue-red deck with lots of cantrips. Kiln Fiend & Nivmagus Elemental are friends here.

Savage Punch is DEFINITELY going up on my fridge. Punching bears is my favorite pastime.


Thats it really.. the rest is reprints, shit cards and modern/standard cards.

Riddlesmith is silly

4 Riddlesmith
3 Goblin Welder
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Inkwell Leviathan
2 Dack Fayden
2 Tezzeret the Seeker

2 Spell Snare
3 Mental Misstep
1 Izzet Charm
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
1 Tinker
1 Thirst for Knowledge

3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
2 Mox Opal
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt

4 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Academy Ruins

So what you want to happen is cast a Riddlesmith on turn one, cast another 0-mana artifact and draw-discard something big. Next turn cast a Welder and just weld the shit out of that match. Or cast a planeswalker because you can draw mana really quick with the Riddlesmith.

Aggro Affinity!

This past saturday there was a vintage turney at my local store. I couldnt play the weekend before but showed up after it had started to talk crap. I saw that there was just one stax and two oath that event so I decided the time was right to play something really aggressive without counters!
So I played:

4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
1 Blightsteel Colossus

1 Trinisphere
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
3 Skullclamp
4 Cranial Plating

5 Moxen
2 Mox Opal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Underground Sea
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Tolarian Academy

Id cut Tinker and Blightsteel Colossus. Wasteland and Strip Mine are probably also not aggressive enough in the format for this deck (their better with workshops and giant critters). UB Tezz should be good.
I lost most matches because of well timed HurkRecall and topdeck-modes that opponents were luckier at.

It is a really fun deck to play but it is at a huge casual-tier.

M15 the compleete guide

Guides for new sets from a vintage viewpoint is pretty easy.. sorry about the lack of updates but its summertime and Im not single..

So M15.. We get a new planeswalker, slivers and a heap of worthless cards. Yay!

White

Ajani Steadfast is bad not because of himself. The planeswalkers he can boost are limited. If a new PW gets printed that wants a +1 accelerated he can be the shiznit but with the current printlist we got he just does not cut it.
Dauntless River Marshal is a 3/2 in UW fish that can tap stuff for 4 mana. If it had rebel as creaturetype then yea but as human soldier you cant find it in time consistently.

Blue

Chasm Skulker is one of those cards that kinda look good but needs like a whole arsenal of other better cards to make it good. A casual card at best. Would use as toilet paper if needed.
Chief Engineer I really like. Im thinking a monoblue hate deck that controlls the stack and modifies the battlefield in its favor with artifacts. Grand Architect, Karn, Silver Golem, Treasure Mage, Wurmcoil Engine & Lodestone Golem. (possible even 2 Muzzio, Visionary Architect but its really not amazing on its own)
Meathooks get Diffusion Sliver that can find its way into the SB as a 2-3 off versus any other fish-deck.
Jace, the Living Guildpact is worse than Jace2.0. No eternal value.

Black has no decent or better cards for eternal ;(

Red

Act on Impulse.. I.. want.. to.. break.. it.. (its a Three Wishes with a splashable cost)
Generator Servant decent card. Not really a slot for it anywhere at the moment since it has no lock-mechanism of its own (however it powers unpowered decks to explode R2-> ). It gets a honorable mention.

Green

Nissa, Worldwaker is overcosted for eternal. I dont really think wizards would make such a huge miss again with a cardtype like PWs again tho..

Multicolor/Colorless/Lands

Multicolored cards are also overpriced and ineffective for the manacost.
Soul of New Phyrexia is actually a pretty sweet one-off for Kuldotha Forgemaster-decks. Wurmcoil Engine will most likely not give up their place in the deck for it.

Summary: :(

Thats it for the decent cards. However the set has one card that is one step beyond the rest of the set:
Ensoul Artifact (1U)
Artifact Aura
Enchanted artifact is a creature with base power and toughness 5/5 in addition to its other types.

So what makes this card so good you ask? Because you can play a monoblue stompy / hate-deck in vintage and win games but you have so many dead draws (second/third of lock mechanism) that you kinda dont really know what to do with. Here comes the sollution, throw them in the face of your opponent!
A best case scenario could be like this (you start obviously), Seat of the Synod + Chrome Mox + Chalice of the Void at 1. Next turn you enchant the Chalice (that now isnt affected by summoning sickness) and hit the opponent for 5.
Or you could just enchant your artifact land and kill his planeswalker. Pure porno is enchanting a Darksteel Citadel (but DC is pretty shit as is.. in the perfect deck it is just awsome).
Enchanting Arcbound Ravager makes it a 5/5 with X +1/+1-counters on it.. it gets effing huge.

I will have sooooo much tweaking to do when I get some alone time!

Suicide

Sui is pretty much my favorite deck of all time.
With the printing of Master of the Feast I would run it and Null Rod + Chalice of the Void. A deck without those cards would run at least 12 discard spells.
Gathan Raiders and Porcelain Legionnaire are also great creatures that can fit in. With PL Id up the number of Phyrlactery Lich (and get the black artifact lands).. but I like Master of the Feast too much!

1 Demonic Consultation
1 Kaervek's Spite
1 Necropotence
4 Null Rod
4 Chalice of the Void

2 Phylactery Lich
4 Master of the Feast
4 Priest of Gix
4 Treacherous Pit-Dweller
4 Flesh Reaver
4 Dark Confidant

1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
22 Swamp


Kaervek's Spite is an instant and can be cast with a creature on the stack. Apart from that blowout its also pretty decent with Necro and is a sudden punch to the face for an unsuspecting opponent.

Ub Teachings

This deck is probably not that good against dredge and would have a hard time with the first game against stax. Im thinking SB would make the stax MU better. Surgical Extraction vs dredge would be just awsome in this deck after SB.
Apart from those decks I think this deck is a 50/50. You should be able to outplay most opponents. And trade creatures as often as possible to then land a Jace and win.

2 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
2 Flusterstorm
2 Mental Misstep
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Dimir Charm
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Gush
1 Brainstorm
1 Whispers of the Muse
3 Opt
2 Repeal
3 Mystical Teachings

1 Sol Ring
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
7 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
1 Swamp

I guess Underground Sea can be cut (save the swamp & fetches) as well as Dimir Charm. Add Back to Basics.
One Mana Drain (or two) would greatly improve the speed of the deck.
Theres just one Gush because you do not want to get behind in the land-race seeing as teachings has a flashback that costs loads.

RUG Control-Dack

2 Dack Fayden
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Mystic Remora

4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Mana Drain
2 Spell Pierce
3 Flusterstorm
2 Mindbreak Trap

2 Repeal
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Punishing Fire
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Life from the Loam

2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
2 Island
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Punishing Fire and Grove works wonders with Dack. So does Loam.
Repeal work great with Remora and Mindbreak Trap (you bounce opponent moxes so that their storm count goes up). Repeal is also really nice to use on a tapped SDT.
As you probably can see the whole deck is a big pile of cards that work well together.
I would NOT run this deck without the above power cards. Rushing out a Jace is how this deck wins. Dack works as intimidation and card filtration.

URg Dack

4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Dack Fayden
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
3 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Gush
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fire // Ice

2 Artifact spell
3 One mana counter
4 Utility Land/'s

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine

But why green?
The answears are Tarmogoyf and Ancient Grudge. You need very few green mana sources and get a super aggressive card and the best single answear to any artifact based deck. Green adds to the deck without really impacting the security of the manabase.

Ancient Grudge, Steel Sabotage and/or Hurkyl's Recall are all good choices for the artifact spells. I like AG the best because you can just discard it to Dack and flash it back for just one mana. Also having at least one two mana artifact spell is really important.

Utility land or lands can be anything like Wasteland, Karakas or manlands like Mishra's Factory Tower of the Magistrate or Worldwake manlands. Id have a couple of Crop Rotation in SB for Karakas.. the chance if it getting countered is close to none.
Creeping Tar Pit & Raging Ravine are the worldwake manlands I think are playable. You cant play 4 copies of these. Two copies would be a max and then fill the deck out with fetch and or islands depending on how scared you are of getting locked out via Wastelands.
They hit the right way in vintage; Both kill Jace-decks and they have that evade effect that ends long games.

One mana counter should be either Spell Pierce or Flusterstorm depending on how afraid of stax you are.

Gitaxian Probe gives you so much information it is just silly. Playing it for life turn one and then landing a Delver gives out the impression your hand is filled with force'es. And if the opponent doesnt know you dont play Mental Misstep.. they wont really dare to play any cmc1 spells before they got two counters.

Gush is really good with Dack and the deck is full with high effect spells so you can get away with having few lands in play.
Fire / Ice is a decent spell that is AWSOME with Dack's ultimate. Tapping Trinisphere eot?

The deck can also be played without power. Id add two more Gitaxian Probes and more fetches & basics. Three Wastelands and a Strip Mine should be OK for a powerless deck.

Sideboard should include something like three to six Blood Moon effects. Moment's Peace is also really good and a card noone would expect. Volcanic Fallout is kind of the same card as Moment's Peace if you have Tarmogoyf in the sideboard.

Conspiracy

So conspiracy has been out for a while.. For vintage its got like one good card and two cards thats a wee bit worse then already printed cards.

I love the reprints! Its really nice to get more of the played cards to the cardpool. Brainstorm should cost close to nothing imho. Also some of the artwork is great updates (Natures Claim).


Council's Judgment - well it removes planeswalkers and Emra's but there are already really good answear to other bombs. I dont see where it could see play.

Split Decision - OH! A Fork that can do something more! And with a better manacost!
But then again Fork is a shit cards now and counters for 2 have to be really effing good to be worth playing (seen a playset Mana Drain been played lately? Not?). Shit card and you should defriend people that think this is a good card.

Dack Fayden
This is probably the best card printed since I dont know when.. Flusterstorm prolly.
The first ability is crazy. Sure the first turn its shit but the following turns its just amazing. Combined with Ancestral and Gush.. awsome.
The second ability is what makes the card so insane. Now when a player has a turn one blue land or fetch and a mox the opponent cant be sure to go turn one Tinker. Combining a key-lock has to be done in one turn. I mean the worst thing you can steal is a manasource.
The hardest impact this card will make is the fear-factor. It is two of the most common colors so getting a third splash color will be real easy. I like green because you only need the one source for a couple of Ancient Grudge (two if you got the mox), but really any color adds a spark.
Oh yea there is a -6 ability but its not that awsome except when combined with Fire/Ice and Lightning Bolt, if the critters survive.

NO Depths

Been busy so havnt been able to update the blog.. will try to do it more often from now on.

Something is missing but I dont know what. Id rather not play blue in all the decks but this deck really loves being blue instead of black/white (ie B/U/G).

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Magus of the Vineyard
1 Progenitus
1 Worldspine Wurm
3 Qasali Pridemage

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Natural Order
4 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Skullclamp

4 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress

2 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Ancient Tomb
2 Dark Depths
3 Thespian's Stage

RG Beats

2 Porcelain Legionnaire
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Viashino Heretic

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Chalice of the Void
3 Blood Moon
2 Seal of Primordium
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Sylvan Library
1 Trinisphere

1 Lotus Petal
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
4 Taiga
1 Mountain
1 Forest

Lots of variations can be made.
I like the manabase to be 20-24 lands and like 90% of the rest of the deck should be cards that either hinder the opponent (Moons/Revoker) or destroy their permanents.
The destroy effects must also be card-economy-spells.. Since you are giving up playing with the most effective spells (YawgWin/Bob/Snapcaster/planeswalkers) you balance it out with playing economy (in any way possible). A critter that can both destroy the opponents permanents and do damage.. sweet. Or just Ancient Grudge that wins games by itself.
Seal of Primordium is added because I really like the way it threatens the opponent. Sure its two mana and sure they know whats coming but it is really effective. (Its kind of like a Gitaxian Probe when you've played it.. the opponents every move will signal what they got in their hand and what their gameplan is).
Mayor of Avabruck & Burning-Tree Emissary? One becomes a fatty and is good against stax and the other guy is free to cast.

What is missing from the deck is Thorn of Amethyst and possibly even Winter Orb. I just couldnt fit them in.
Oh and -1 Taiga, +1 Plateau is also pretty good.

The big blue sea

The thought is big blue critters and a few counters.

Explosive manabase is a must!
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
3 Mox Opal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
3-4 Ancient Tomb
2-3 City of Traitors

Gotta have some counters..
Force of Will, Misdirection.. Mana Drain maybe.. Mana Leak OH YES.. some fillings probably
So then something like:
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
2 Mana Drain.. possibly three
4 Mana Leak

Cute shit:
Tinker, Blightsteel Colossus, Expedition Map (Thespian's Stage+Dark Depths). Time Walk, maybe Ancestral Recall, maybe Thirst for Knowledge, Tezzeret U/UB.
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Thirst for Knowledge

Critters!
Crystalline Nautilus, Esperzoa, Sea Drake, Imaginary Pet, Gathan Raiders, Fathom Seer, Phantasmal Image, Lodestone Golem, Arcbound Ravager, Phyrexian Revoker, Porcelain Legionnaire.
Illusory Angel (comboish with Esperzoa)

So to the final product;

1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Illusory Angel
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Porcelain Legionnaire
3 Sea Drake
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
4 Mana Leak
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Expedition Map

1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
3 Mox Opal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
3 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
8 Island

Lots of 0-1 artifacts and 2C-lands should accelerate the mana so that at least 6 critter can be cast the first turn.
Playing Chrome Mox gets you that sweet blue mana turn one but with 7 cards that pitch another card.. naa.
Porcelain Legionnaire is the man.. dies to just about any targetting spell but can also block almost any other critter in the format.
Lodestone Golem is in more or less just because you have that kind of mana and theres really no other large critter at that manacost in color.
Expedition Map works as both an artifact and the best way to accelerate mana. After SB it can fetch Depth-combo or Academy Ruins.



See this post as a bit of a teaser. With the groundwork in this post a whole lot of different decks can be built.. anything from UB depth-control (budget possibility!) to straight up aggressive affinity-type deck.

Enchantment aggressor

Trimming the deck.

3 Dryad Militant
3 Nyxborn Shieldmate
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Qasali Pridemage
1 Aegis of the Gods
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles

2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Rest in Peace
4 Ethereal Armor
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Aether Vial
3 Sterling Grove

4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Wild Growth

3 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
5 Plains
2 Serra's Sanctum


Getting 2-1'd is bad mkay. When playing a budget deck where every card counts you do not want to get in to possitions where a 2-1 is likely. This means trimming away a couple of spells.
Sterling Grove is bad with Ethereal Armor and bestow-critters.
So I start by removing a couple of these spells. -3 EA, -2 SG. I feel youd like to cast one of either once in a while. SG+AotG is foolproof vs Jace & Lightning Bolt. Add in a Spirit or RiP and you got a party!
Being able to cast a Ethereal Armor in a long game is just.. too good.

Serra's Sanctum is a risk, -2 SS. I feel 3 Savannah could just open up too much for decks with Wasteland to get at you so -1 Savannah.

Without playtesting I think 4 EoCB is good. They are THE killcon. Also happy with the number of cmc1-critters.
Pridemage is pretty sweet..
Cant really see any more trims I want to do. I like the landauras better than Noble Heirach or equals because they are really hard to kill.

So here comes the fun part.. what can now fit in!
Its 5 spell- and 3 land-slots open.
The lands will be filled with fetchlands. Fetch dont get Stifle'd in vintage so they are great at defending against landlocks.
For spells two great cards are Porcelain Legionnaire & Spider Umbra. PL is huge and totem armor is just unfair at times. +2 PL +1 SU.
+1 Enlightened Tutor, +1 Oblivion Ring will be the last slots.


3 Dryad Militant
3 Nyxborn Shieldmate
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Qasali Pridemage
1 Aegis of the Gods
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
2 Porcelain Legionnaire

3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Rest in Peace
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Spider Umbra
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Aether Vial
1 Sterling Grove

4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Wild Growth

2 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
5 Plains
2 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs


Yes I thought about Stony Silence and I just think its shit. Locking offcolor moxes? No thanks.. Id rather have a threat.

Building on a budget

I love budget decks. Apart from new extremely strong cards (havnt seen any of those lately..) the one way I see anything happening in the vintage format/meta is by budget decks pushing it.

Building on a budget gets you less mana acceleration so every other card in your deck has to be more powerful then that of a powered decks "fillers". Cards like Daze shine here.

Punishing powered decks have been the way to go before. I think thats wrong. With so many powerful cards I think the budget decks should be the aggressor (obviously not vs Oath). Each card should pack just a bit more punch then the cards in a powered deck. For exampel Null Rod does nothing for a budget deck but can disrupt the gameplan of a powered deck. Having artifact destruction cards in the deck is the right way to go I think. Ancient Grudge, Smash to Smithereens, Viashino Heretic, Terminus.. any card that gets you just a bit more of card/quality advantage in the match is good. Disrupt can be good in the right meta. Well you probably understand what I mean here.

Do not play Mental Misstep unless you can pitch it to Force of Will or Misdirection! IT'S A TRAP! While MM is a good card you cant usually counter anything really good with it. Most if not all powerful cards in vintage are at CMC 2, 4 & 5.

Last block pushed enchantments.
Enlightened Tutor has become the best tutor for budget decks because of last block. Fetching Aegis of the Gods or Spirit of the Labyrinth, Rest in Peace (cause why not play one in MD), Seal of Cleansing or Oblivion Ring. There are so many choices and responses to opponent strategies.
Eidolon of Countless Battles & Ethereal Armor are great game-enders.

Playing Thalia, Guardian of Thraben forces you go play Aether Vial. Having the +1 effect is great but its at the expense of mana acceleration (Wild Growth & Utopia Sprawl) and answears (RiP & OR). I am not sure if a white budget deck is better with or without Thalia.. or rather I am not sure how much +1 matters.

Dredge

Dredge has got two problems. The first one is decks that are quicker then it and the second is hate-cards.

Quicker decks:
This is for me the biggest problem for dredge. These decks are combo decks that usually wins with Oath of Driuds (Storm/Time Walk-chaining combo) or regular storm decks. It is very important to recognize what kind of deck you are up against to know what your gameplan is.
Dredge has very few answears to these type of decks. All decks run Cabal Therapy and apart from that you have two viable options:
Unmask & Flame-Kin Zealot. Unmask makes you run more black cards in your 75 (full playsets Golgari Thug, Ichorid, Darkblast and so on) and FKZ makes you run at least two Dread Return to get one in the graveyard "in time". (Running more then one copy of FKZ is not usual but can be viable)
Playing Leyline of Sanctity could work but it is a lot of all in and thus not worth it imo.

Hate cards:
At the moment the three most common stategies against dregde is also the best answears so far.

• Rest in Peace/Leyline of the Void - By far the hardest to work around. Any card you discard with Bazaar will get removed, drasticly limiting your "digging for answear" ability. Wispmare and Nature's Claim are good here but the decks that play RiP/LotV usually pack a lot of counters. If they run a quick combo this will be a hard MU.

• Ravenous Trap - If you suspect your opponent of playing this you will need to keep Unmask in and/or cast a Cabal Therapy for it before you go off.

• Grafdiggers Cage + Mental Misstep - Very easy to play around this combination. Ingot Chewer is a great answear that can only be countered by Mana Drain and Force of Will. Any discard spell will secure the destroy effect and win from here. You can dredge up and cast (FOR MANA!!!) Golgari Thug and Stinkweed Imp and then win either by tokens from Bridge from Below or just straight up combat damage from your tiny critters.

Back from BoM9

Back home from BoM9.
I played only vintage; two trials (7/3) & main event (2/x). I played Emra-Oath.
I really really liked the deck and how it played its matches.
Decisive losses were: two landscrews from mulligans, one to five and one to four. One match because the opponent just had a bit more luck then me in drawing answears (I played Ancestral AND Thirst that match).
Fun things about Oath include that some of the most powerful mulligans you can have is with Oath. I won 3 out of 4 matches where I mull'ed to 5. Land mana-artifact and threat turn one can be hard to deal with and if they keep a 7 and you mull to 5, they are going to play their turn 1 a bit more unsafe then if you'd kept a 7.

Anyways things I liked and disliked about the deck:
Two Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in MD was both good and bad. I have the feeling now after trying a few matches with only one in MD that two give you a lot more freedome in how you can play. Activating Oath with one Emra in play already gave me a 50% chance to reshuffle the deck. Getting spells back is sometimes extremely good. The more tutors you have the better this is.
I need a new robot in SB. Having the Blightsteel Colossus is sweet.. you win lots of games by playing a threat turn one and getting him out.. buuuuut then again some times you go up against decks that can actually handle it. A Inkwell Leviathan will be added to SB.
Thoughtseize was the bomb. I played two i MD and now play three. At the turnament I had the third in SB but would side it in against all non-workshop nor dredge decks. A possible bad play with it is playing it turn 1 when you suspect your opponent is playing combo. Holding a mana for the scare effect and a counter is usually better then taking one card and scaring them to go off. Casting it turn 2 was never bad.
Preordain did not impress.
Two Swan Song & three Mental Misstep was the right sum. Three Spell Pierce was great in combination with the other counters and Thoughtseize.
Misdirection has gone up from one to two copies.. great defensive spell for a deck that really only needs defense because its so aggressive.
 Dragon Breath is awsome as long as you do not draw it. One more has been added to SB to make Jace-matchup better (lots of people love the Jace-control decks). A Terastodon also greatly helps in that MU.

Decklist as is now:
MD
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island 
1 Island
5 Blue-Fetchlands
5 Mox ABU
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt


4 Oath of Druids
1 Show and Tell
1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Dragon Breath

1 Beast Within
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Thoughtseize
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Swan Song
3 Spell Pierce
3 Mental Misstep

SB
2 Pithing Needle
4 Nature's Claim
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Flusterstorm
1 Dragon Breath
1 Terastodon
2 Show and Tell
1 not sure what to put here..