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.

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.

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.

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.

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.