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!