Oh. the Ways you can Play Pt. 3

Features

Matsi883

15 December 2013

1737 views

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to Oh, the Ways you can Play. This is a multi-part series on popular formats in Magic: the Gathering.

We are going to start by listing all the formats that we will discuss. Those formats are:

The Limited Formats

(Booster) Draft

Sealed (Deck)

Team Sealed

Group Game Draft

The Constructed Formats

Block Constructed

Standard (Sometimes called Standard Constructed)

Modern (Sometimes called Modern Constructed)

Legacy (Sometimes called Legacy Constructed)

Vintage (Sometimes called Vintage Constructed)

Pauper

Commander/EDH

Two-Headed Giant

Archenemy

Planechase

Pheasant

Horde

Noble

Hero

Momir Basic

The formats in italics are the ones that we will be discussing today. Those formats are Legacy and Vintage. Those are sanctionable Constructed formats.

What I will talk about…

When I talk about each format, I will go over three things.

1. I will state an overview of the format. I will go over the sets legal in that format and I will also give the Banned/Restricted List for the format.

2. If the format is a Constructed format, I will give a link to a sample decklist that won a recent Grand Prix or other major event. I will also link the most recent Grand Prix in that particular format. Finally, I will link a video of the recent Grand Prix Finals from that format and the metagame for that format if I can.

3. I will tell you why that particular format is a good format and why you should play it.

Random Notes

This is the third of a multi-part series. The first article can be found here. That article went over Booster Draft and Sealed Deck. The second article can be found here. That article went over Block Constructed, Standard Constructed, and Modern Constructed.

I have added the less-played formats I will be talking about in the order I will be talking about them, but I am going to go over them differently. Because they are not largely played in the Magic community, I am not going to go into great detail about them. I will explain them, and the rules, but I won’t say why you should play those formats in great detail. You can fill in the blanks.

Grand Prix are “professional Magic: The Gathering tournaments, awarding cash prizes, Pro Points and invitations to Pro Tours.” (Wikipedia) The Top Four people from the Grand Prix go to a Pro Tour, which is a Grand Prix-like tournament but with invitation. If you want to know how you can get invited to a Pro Tour, this is a good link for you. When I say metagame, I will be talking about the decks that have good records at a Grand Prix

I apologize for the formatting train wreck that my last article was.

Because Vintage isn’t a big format in terms of popularity and other Grand Prix get more coverage, I was unable to find the winning decklist on Wizards’s website or the finals of that match on YouTube, so that is why you don’t see the ideal links.

I can't use bullets or else the links won't work. I don't know why

And now, the formats:

Legacy

1. Legacy is a Constructed format where the cards you play with are part of “the legacy of Magic,” hence the name. Cards from every set are legal, however there is an extensive banned list, which can be found here.

2. The last Legacy Grand Prix was Grand Prix Washington DC, and coverage of that event can be found here, and this is the deck that won that Grand Prix. The finals of Grand Prix Washington, DC are below: . To get an idea of the Legacy metagame, this is a good link.

3. I posted a thread in the Legacy forum, and that post can be found here. In that post, I asked people why they like Legacy and Vintage. I am going to reiterate some of their reasons here.

• mafteechr said: Legacy is a place where many aggro decks, control decks, and combo decks exist all together and are all viable as good decks.
• Triforce-Finder says: Legacy decks are often the most creative decks because the card pool is huge, and Legacy doesn’t rotate like Standard, and, unlike Modern, Legacy has great tutoring while the ridiculous cards from Vintage are banned.
• valendras says: In Legacy, every single play has an impact on the game, so every decision matters.

Vintage

1. Vintage is a format where “vintage cards” define the format, hence the name. Every card is legal in Vintage unless the card mentions ante or is Shahrazad (because Shahrazad is one-of-a-kind), however Vintage is the only format to have a restricted list. A card restricted in Vintage can only be played with one copy in a deck. The Banned/Restricted List for Vintage can be found here.

2. Vintage has no Grand Prix, however it has the Vintage Championships, which can be found here, and the deck that won that evet can be found here. A match played by the eventual winner, Joel Lim, is below: I sadly could not find a link to the Vintage metagame, but if you can, please post it in the comments.

3. From the forum post about why people like Legacy and Vintage, (that can be found here ), Post #17 on Page 1 by sylvannos deals with people that think that Vintage is “a bastard format” and then goes on to say why you should play Legacy and Vintage. I am going to copy the most important parts to this article.

“Vintage is my favorite format and is Magic's greatest. It's the format that rewards players the most for new ideas and understanding metagames. It also has the most diversity of any format. The Power Nine enable a lot of cards to be more powerful than they would in other formats. Spiketail Hatchling, for example, is pretty much unplayable in any other format. In Vintage? It stops broken turn one plays and was a key piece of Fish decks for a long time.

I think Vintage is the only format that allows you to micro someone else's macro. Since you get to make bigger plays sooner, you often have more resources and answers available. I had someone Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus on turn two, so I Demonic Consultationed into Warren Weirding… Comebacks are much more obtainable in Vintage than anywhere else in the game.

You just don't see plays in other formats like you do in Vintage. I think my only criticism of the format is the existence of the reserved list, which puts this giant barrier in the way of attracting newer players... The reserved list hurts Legacy and EDH just as badly.

There's more information on the format over at The Mana Drain”

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this article!! Next time, the formats will be Pauper and Commander/EDH.

Until next time, may you have the delight of casting an Ancestral Recall (even though I already do, albeit in the form of a Visions of Beyond)

Matsi883

site statistics