My First steps into the soul crushing depths of Vintage

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Deco_y

1 December 2010

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Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. What the rules and banned lists mean to me
3. Building a deck that doesn't completely suck
4. Lands
5. Artifacts
6. Enchantments, Instants, and Sorceries
7. Creatures
8. The Deck
9. Results
10. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION-

Back when I started playing Magic: The Gathering in August, I knew very little about the game. I knew it was played by thousands upon thousands of players and known for it's wondrous artwork, but beyond that I was lost. I looked at creatures with their power and toughness like a new language, saw words like vigilance and lifelink and quickly felt overwhelmed. Fast-forward to the present and I have come a long way. I have a fairly sizable collection (3,000 cards) and a reasonable understanding of the game mechanics. Still, after all I have learned in my whirlwind voyage through magic land, there was something I've never been comfortable with. Playing something other then Type II Standard. So, I'm going to start exploring different formats, how they work, and make a deck to do a few playtests against a tournament winning deck and a select Tappedout.net deck. Whether you read these articles for a rush of nostalgia of a time long ago, or if you are new like me and need a hand into other formats, I begin my journey straight into formats unknown. First up is the format that is the leading cause of soul crushing panic attacks for new players: the Vintage format.

WHAT THE RULES AND BANNED LISTS MEAN TO ME-

     

I start my stroll down vintage lane by visiting the WoTC's website to view the rules. Seems identical to standard really: Be first to eliminate your opponent's 20 point life total or dealing 10 poison counters, and is played between two people. The big ol' glaring difference is that instead of only getting to play with the 2 newest sets(as of this writing: Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin blocks) and the latest core set(Magic 2011), in Vintage you get to get your grubby paws onto every card ever printed for the game of magic. That total, according to Gatherer, is 11,491 cards. You know, I do get quite a generous amount of time for my article cycle. However, I do question the notion of it being worth searching through an entire 11,000 card database... we'll see. The other major addition to the rules category are the banned/restricted lists. Banned cards cannot be played at all, and for restricted cards, you may only use 1 of each card, so no using 4 black lotuses in a row. Starting with the banned list, Amulet of Quoz is interesting, Bronze Tablet sounds like a really fun card, and Chaos Orb brings to mind the legend of the tournament finals player who tore his Chaos Orb into pieces and threw it into the air, covering his opponent's field. The whole ante mechanic doesn't appeal to me so i'm glad Wizards beat it in the face with a Lava Axe. Shahrazad would be wicked fun in casual though. As for the restricted list, the standard Power 9 bu****it exists (Ancestral Recall, Time Walk etc.) along with some others. As a standard player, seeing Demonic Tutor beside Diabolic Tutor makes me start to realize just how powerful some of these cards are relative to some modern counterparts, and why they're banned. You also notice how Vintage is almost meant for Blue. So many bah-ro-ken cards for Blue Mages to draw from, with black is a close second. Necropotence is a card I never knew existed until today, and wow, such a ridiculous card. I want one. I want one so badly. After sitting under some waterfalls meditating, carrying boulders up mountain sides, and some power yoga, I came to the conclusion I wanted my Vintage deck to be a B/U deck.

BUILDING A DECK THAT DOESN'T COMPLETELY SUCK-

**Now, before I get into this particular section, I'd like to point out how I spent a good 2 hours just going through the LANDS that can be used in Vintage. This can be very overwhelming very quickly for new players(like me). The best advice I can possibly give is don't be like me. Look anywhere and everywhere for a player who lives near you or even someone you know on here or elsewhere on the internet that can help you get started. I jumped in head first and I found out there is only 6 inches of water. This is not the way to do it. If you cannot find anyone, either try harder or go online and search up some tournament winnings decks. If you want to either copy or pull a Johnny and make a variation, all power to ya. For experienced players it's different because veterans have played with these cards for a while, just like how years from now we'll probably be making Jace decks(my soul washes over with anger for whoever wrecks another format with this card) for Vintage.**

I looked over my friend Dave's reanimator deck and I must say, as a new player, it is complete bu****it and broken for the most part. This deck against any kind of standard deck(other then heavy U control) would sprinkle salt on it and wash it down with a cold glass of Bud, or children's tears, or whatever evil decks drink. With my Vintage deck, I don't have anything close to an idea about which decks or what combos work or what mana curve works, I'm going in completely fresh. I don't expect to be that successful, I just want to be a Johnny and hopefully I make a virgin vintage deck that I can be proud of. That said, OF COURSE I'm incorporating as many restricted cards into my deck as possible, as they're restricted for a reason. They rock out with their c*** out.

LANDS-

     

Starting with the aforementioned lands, I incorporated as many duel lands as possible, finding as many duel lands that could give me both kinds of mana without being tapped. I ended up with x4Underground Sea, x1Lake of the Dead, 2xReliquary Tower, 4xRiver of Tears, 4xSunken Ruins, 3xSwamp and 2xUrborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for a total of 20 lands. Urborg are there so I can sacrifice any and all of my lands for Lake of the Dead. Pairing this up with my forthcoming spells and I am assuring getting something like 5-7 mana will be a common occurrence early and very often. You can also say it's guarding against some obscure strategies(Blood Moon I'm looking at you) as well, but that's me trying to sound smart, which I try to force down as many throats as possible. Giving my deck some flavor(another reason why I have River of Tears, awesome name) is a big part of why I'm making this deck as I am.

ARTIFACTS-

     

These should come as no surprise to anyone who knows classic magic artifacts, as they are 1xBlack Lotus, 1xMox Jet, 1xMox Emerald, and 1xSol Ring. Mana, more mana, and a dash of mana acceleration. I'm holding off on any other artifacts because they're simply not my style(Yes, I have an infect deck based around one, and also a Smelt deck, but at least that one destroys them >:0). I know I should probably include all of the Mox's, free mana is free mana, but I don't want to. Call it dumb, call me an idiot, blah blah blah. Deal with it.

ENCHANTMENTS, INSTANTS, AND SORCERIES-

     

This will honestly probably look like the exact restricted list but I couldn't help myself. I've never gotten to use any of these spells before, so I am going to use my gosh darn whatever amendment right to use them. Off the restricted list, I have 1xNecropotence, 1xYawgmoth's Bargain, 1xAncestral Recall, 1xMystical Tutor, 1xVampiric Tutor, 1xDemonic Tutor, 1xPonder, 1xTime Walk, and finally 1xYawgmoth's Will. Joining this select company is a play set of, in my opinion, the two best counter spells in existence: 4xMana Drain and, well, 4xCounterspell. Rounding out my magic spells, what kind of B deck that has access to them, but won't use them? In goes 4xDark Ritual to round out the section.

CREATURES-

     

I started off with wide eyes and a tall frosty beverage when I started shifting through the over 2,300+ creatures that could be played in my deck. After many refills and the odd break(you know, work and sleep), I got to the end of page 25 and I said **** it. I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed uncle. The bags under my eyes matched a raccoon. My ears bled fear and wither terminology, and I could not bring myself to give a damn about Chimney Imp. I just couldn't. I went through any and all monsters that could be summoned with 5+ CMC and that was good enough. I won't have mana problems, and I want a fast deck, so with these creatures I narrowed it down to a paltry 50 creatures, then to 41, and finally to 32. These are the choices that will probably determine how well my deck will do. Do I go with beat sticks to smash face? Do I go with more abilities? Well I won't know until I try so let's try. For my blue creatures I decided on 4xBody Double and 3xGuile. Body Double should give me flexibility to play another of my creatures and I love love love Guile's versatility to play anything my opponent would throw at me for free(especially if I mana drain a fatty, you cannot spend 2 mana better folks). My black creatures were much, much, much harder to decide, but I ended up with 3xDemigod of Revenge and 2xDrana, Kalastria Bloodchief. To end it off I threw in some standard spice with 2xUlamog's Crusher and 1xUlamog, the Infinite Gyre.

THE DECK-

Vintage experiment

Vintage Deco_y

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RESULTS-

So onward bound I am, taking on all challengers, or really, just my friend Dave who has a Reanimator deck he actually uses for Vintage tournaments. We held two rounds, and safe to say I didn't win. I went 0-2 and 1-2, with my only win coming on the back of Guile while having a Mana Drain and a Counter spell in my hand. It was pretty rough going from knowing every card(in standard) to having to stop the game and reading what every card he played does. There is just a beautiful flow in these classic Vintage decks that are tried and tested that this deck just cannot compete against. Yea the cards in theory are good and proper, but making a deck that flows as well as these older ones will take a while. All in all for my first deck with no experience, I say this experiment can be a moderate success, though I don't necessarily like getting my face smashed by Akroma, Angel of Wrath over and over again. If Dave gloats about winning with him one more time, this will be my last article because I'll either be in jail, or on the run, holding a "Will play magic cards for food!" sign and attacking cars coming out of McDonalds drive-throughs for chicken nuggets.

CONCLUSION-
In my humble opinion, Vintage just isn't for me, at least not yet. Some of these decks are ridiculously good, I admit, but these are expensive to build. While Dave used his actual deck, mine was comprised of mainly proxy cards(other then all my Type II cards in it) and there is no way I'd actually pay that much money for Mox anything, Black Lotus or any of the banned/restricted cards. I'm not ruling out getting into it in the future(if I get rich) but as of right now I'm Type II till I die. Vintage is arguably the best format around, as it requires more knowledge about the game and a greater deck building "spidey sense" that I just don't have yet. This will come in time and I'm not worried, but as of right now I'm still too new and not familiar with enough cards to dig deep and get in. For other new players, I'd recommend that you stay away from Vintage until you know what you're doing and know many more of the cards. For veterans of the format, I hope you enjoyed laughing at my feeble attempt at entering your stomping grounds. Until my next article, may Baneslayer protect you in your sleep and may Storm Crow guide your days. If any of you tappedout users wish for me to give your favorite format in a future article, sound off in the comments.