Vintage. The format defined by game swinging effects generated by cards such as Ancestral Recall and Yawgmoth’s Will. The top 8 of GenCon consisted of mostly Workshop decks of the aggro and control variety. Stephen Menendian metagamed Mono-Blue concoction was also the topic of a great deal of debate the weeks following GenCon.
The field of the Championships was wide open with a variety of decks from all aspects of the metagame represented in one form or another. Even combo, Tendrils-based or otherwise, had a decent showing with a Goblin Charbelcher deck making it to the semifinals, something most wouldn’t have expected before the event. There was also another deck flying under the radar. A select few had the privilege of seeing it in action.
Revenge v.3.506.2.1A: GenCon 2004
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Decree of Justice
1 Regrowth
1 Fastbond
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Braingeyser
1 Future Sight
1 Chainer’s Edict
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Zuran Orb
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Mindslaver
1 Hundroog
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sylvan Library
1 Hundroog
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Flooded Strand
3 City of Brass
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
1 Dust Bowl
Sideboard
3 Disenchant
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Gaea’s Blessing
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
This was played in the first event held at GenCon and it’s record speaks for itself.
Two wins.
One loss.
One draw.
Isn’t that hot? Also, there is not a Hundroog in this deck. Once again, I’m trying to keep you on your toes. It’s for your own good. No, really, it is. Shut Up… I’m special.
See my GenCon report for details of each match.
Now for a card by card description:
Haha, I’m just kidding. There are like 400 one ofs in the deck. Do you honestly think I’m going to explain all of my card choices? Heh. I’ll just go over the odd ones for those skeptics out there. I know there are few, but they are important none the less, despite how uncool they are.
Braingeyser
Braingeyser is the original X card drawer. Back in the day, even before the days of walking uphill both ways to Magic events, control players had to cast their large card drawing spells during their main phase. No easy task as you might imagine. Playing with Braingeyser requires a great level of skill and timing to use correctly. Yes it’s suboptimal, but oh boy is it good.
Plus mine is Alpha and I got it signed. How don’t you play it?
Oh, and it pitches to Force of Will, which is an excuse to play any Blue card. So nyah.
Dismantling Blow
Once again, back in the day, Disenchant was cheap. Versatile, yes, cheap, once again yes, but card advantageous? In certain circumstances, yes, but generally it was just a simple one-for-one. Efficient, but very un-flashy.
Enter Dismantling Blow. For just one more mana you have the option of drawing two cards for just three extra mana, turning it into a poor man’s Ancestral Recall. It costs the same amount with the kicker as a Stroke of Genius for three, so it’s really not that big of a deal.
I also got some signed at GenCon.
Before I go any further I’m going to give a brief history on the deck.
Revenge was born on December 31st 2003 with the intent of playing an awesome deck for the New Year’s Day cash Type 1 tournament at Altered States. The original decklist has been lost to the great void that is the Internet, but I can remember playing with such stunners as Thirst for Knowledge, Goblin Trenches, Timetwister and Gaea’s Blessing. The Blessings were a metagame call against Dragon, which was growing in popularity in the northeast.
Update! Thanks to the efforts of one Steve O'Connell, a.k.a. Zherbus, a.k.a. The Chosen One, a.k.a. Keeper Computartron 4000, the original Revenge list has been rescued from it’s icy prison in Vermont. Mad props to my home boy Steve!
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Fire / Ice
1 Balance
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Future Sight
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Braingeyser
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Sylvan Library
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Cunning Wish
1 Regrowth
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Timetwister
1 Zuran Orb
1 Mind Twist
1 Goblin Trenches
1 Decree of Justice
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
3 City of Brass
3 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
Sideboard
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Celestial Dawn
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Naturalize
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Stifle
1 Fire / Ice
1 Stroke of Genius
Long story short, I lost, to of all things, Dragon in the finals. It was mad stupid. He was playing a powered up version of 1.5 Dragon, and one of their alternate kill cards was Sliver Queen. Gaea’s Blessing doesn’t kill Sliver Queen. But whatever, I still brought home cash, and a new archetype was born. An awesome archetype.
An interesting thing to point out is that this was the only version to play Cunning Wish. More discussion on The First can be found here.
Since then the deck has been constantly evolving and I’ve been documenting most of the lists in articles I’ve written over the past year. You can find them by looking at my archives. Duh. While at it, read my other stuff. It’s pretty entertaining. I like to read it myself once in a while when I get bored.
I vanity so good.
The more recent versions have caused a huge shift in the function of the deck.
Revenge of 1997: Origins 2K4
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Future Sight
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Braingeyser
1 Amnesia
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Decree of Justice
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Fire / Ice
1 Vindicate
1 Kaervek’s Torch
1 Burning Wish
1 Zuran Orb
1 Staff of Domination
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
4 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 City of Brass
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Tolarian Academy
Sideboard
1 Primitive Justice
1 All Sun’s Dawn
1 Timetwister
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Obliterate
1 Wrath of God
1 Tinker
4 Exalted Angel
4 Flametongue Kavu
Yes, I know I was missing out on a great deal of awesome sauce in this version, but bear with me. During this time period, Revenge tried to get the game to a state where it could generate absurd amounts of mana between Tolarian Academy and Mana Drains. Revenge also happens to be one of the best abusers of Mana Drain in the format. Just a little tid-bit for y’all.
Ugh, the Southerners rubbed off on me. h9.
The sideboard was built to allow the deck to transform from pure control into an amazing aggro control deck capable of demolishing any aggro deck in the format. Between the temporiffic Flametongue Kavu and the lifegaineriffic Exalted Angel, aggro would be hard pressed to stand in Revenge’s way.
This version also incorporated the versatility of Burning Wish to give the deck a bit more flexibility and pure, raw power. Amnesia, by the way, was just a little fun card thrown in because I had gotten it signed by Mark Poole that weekend (Anyone noticing a trend with me getting cards signed and running them in decks because of said signatures?).
The deck abuses Tolarian Academy like no other. Recent versions have taken it to the next level, incorporating cards such as Mana Vault and Mana Crypt to speed up the deck even more.
Again, for reference:
Revenge v.3.506.2.1A: GenCon 2004
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Decree of Justice
1 Regrowth
1 Fastbond
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Chainer’s Edict
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Zuran Orb
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Mindslaver
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sylvan Library
1 Hundroog
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Flooded Strand
3 City of Brass
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
1 Dust Bowl
Sideboard
3 Disenchant
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Gaea’s Blessing
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
I left the Hundroog out this time. Thank me later.
GenCon prompted more focused efforts to tune and renovate this beast of a deck. Crucible of Worlds was something that I had just completely missed and worked beautifully with another card I have been trying to fit in for months: Fastbond. Crucible/Zuran Orb/Fastbond gives the deck it’s very own infinite mana/life combo.
This version of Revenge opted to cut Red to solidify the mana base. Running five colors in this Wasteland/Crucible happy metagame just isn’t viable. This makes comboing out a bit more difficult, as the deck loses Kaervek’s Torch and Burning Wish, but it is generally not an issue because of Braingeyser and Decree of Justice.
Holistic Wisdom, Regrowth and Yawgmoth’s Will help by giving the deck the recursion it needs to get it’s kill cards back in time to smash the opponent’s teeth in.
Sadly I gave into the Tinker/Darksteel Colossus craze and added the silly combo in along with a Mindslaver to give the deck yet a little more”oomph”.
Revenge’s card drawing is unmatched, even by the most dedicated combo deck. There are a plethora of search cards to get one to the draw spells, and then enough mana to power them out fast and hard. Sylvan Library is old school tech from Keeper decks of old. It comes out quickly and gives it’s controller unmatched library manipulation at a cost of but one green and a colorless mana. Future Sight, while nutty on it’s own, becomes ridiculously stupid broken retarded when combined with Sylvan Library.
Removal is a key part of Revenge’s game plan. The arsenal of removal in Revenge is both flexible and powerful, helping the deck survive the early game to power out it’s broken cards later on. Swords to Plowshares, Balance, and Chainer’s Edict provide defense from opposing men and Dismantling Blow handles any stray artifacts or enchantments. Again, Holistic Wisdom, Regrowth, and Yawgmoth’s Will give the deck the ability to answer any threat put before it.
Mana bases in recent years have tightened up, and Revenge is no exception. Fetchlands provide some resiliency against enemy Wastelands and Strip Mines and City of Brass combined with Undiscovered Paradise help the deck cast the diverse array of colored spells the deck has at it’s disposal. I decided to cut out the Wastelands I had formerly been running out of the desire to add more artifact accelerants. Said artifact accellerants are key to Revenge’s ability to bring out it’s busty threats earlier than it would otherwise be able to.
The others are pretty self explanatory, though Misdirection is a fairly odd choice and one I stand by vehemently. There are enough Misdirectable cards being played in the current Vintage metagame to warrant it’s inclusion. Plus it’s Blue and can be pitched to Force of Will. Some may question the use of Braingeyser as one of the deck’s draw spells but, once again, it’s Blue and can be pitched to Force of Will.
The sideboard shouldn’t be taken as the word of Jet Li, as it can be changed at any time. This was simply what I thought I might need to combat the expected metagame at GenCon.
I suppose some matchup analysis is in order:
4CC – 53.2.3%/46.37%(margin of error .3%):
This is no walk in the park. Wastelands, combined with the recursive power of Crucible of Worlds and the versatility of Gorilla Shaman pose a very real threat to Revenge’s mana base. Fetchlands help against the Strip effects, but being conservative with your artifact mana is key. Holding them until they are needed is key to surviving an early Shaman assault.
The Tinker/Colossus plan is also quite weak against 4cc because of their ability to counter the Tinker, thus rendering you victim to a syndrome known as”card disadvantagia”, a disorder known to affect millions of players every month.
Belcher/TPS/Draw7 – 60%/40%:
Revenge packs many of the same artifact accelerants as the various combo decks of the format, but has the ability to answer all of their threats giving it the upper hand. Dragon can also be included in this category, but the matchup is slightly less favorable due to the sheer numbers of their animate effects, from Animate Dead to Necromancy.
Psychatog N/A:
Tog is dead. Fish killed it a few months back. If you’re still playing it, Jet Li-speed.*
Workshop(Aggro,Control,Lock) – 50%/50%:
One of Revenge’s harder matchups. In addition to artifact mana out the wazoo, Workshop decks also pack, well, Mishra’s Workshops. This makes Mana Drain much harder to utilize to it’s maximum effect, forcing Revenge to rely more on it’s removal component, requiring the use of more draw spells to get to them faster. The matchup is much easier post board as more Disenchant effects are brought in to combat their artifact threats.
Mindslaver – Unwinnable:
If they resolve Mindslaver, the game is basically over, barring a combo win the turn after. Otherwise they will use Revenge’s power to their own benefit, using it’s draw spells on itself, whilst using cards such as Zuran Orb and Sylvan Library to cripple the deck.
To say the matchup is unwinnable is a slight exaggeration. Mindslaver decks are easily Revenge’s arch-nemesis, the Lex Luthor to it’s Superman, the Kingpin to it’s Daredevil/Spiderman, etc. To win requires a careful management of it’s resources to combat their Goblin Welders and Mindslavers, Memory Jars, Pentavus and whatnot.
Fish – 70.63%/29.37%:
Fish may be a tempo deck, but Revenge plays good cards. A resolved Balance, Tinker or Yawgmoth’s Will is pretty much game. Crucible also puts a big dent in their game plan. Theirs are less of a threat as Revenge packs maindeck artifact kill.
Others – Unknown:
Revenge is best in a varied field and performs remarkably well against rouge decks. The variety of removal and threats along with it’s incredible tutoring power give it the ability to answer and pose many threats to any deck it encounters.
That’s pretty much it kids. I sincerely hope you will all give this monster of a deck a close second look. Many don’t recognize the power of Revenge of 1997 at first glance, so a closer inspection will benefit you and yours. Those who know not of its power are doomed to fall at the hands of the miser playing it.
I leave you with news of the newest and bestest cult ever!
Jet Li is The One. What does this tell us? Jet Li is a deity. My deity. He has told me to spread His word across the land. What is His word? This.
Myself and The Second Disciple will hopefully produce a manifest within the next year mapping out His plan for the human race. What is the plan? For things to be awesome. He also wishes that Awesome Sauce be spread throughout the world.
Examples of His power can be found in His latest picture of death and glory, Hero. In this cinematic masterpiece the might of His Most Holy of Holies is demonstrated through the entire duration of The Film. He walks on water. He flips out. He totally doesn’t care. These are but a few of the examples of His Awesome Power.
His mercy is neverending. Despite the nature of humans to sin, He will forgive us of our transgressions. This is His Word, the most Awesome of Awesome Words. Ever. I have a thread started on www.TheManaDrain.com in the community section for those interested in joining. Once I have 1,000,000 members I can file to become an official religion.
🙂
Carl Winter
The First Disciple
Member of Team Meandeck
Member of The Paragons of Vintage (Yeah, we still exist. I think)
Former Vintage Champion
* Yes, I know that I played it in the Vintage Grand Prix. I went 5-3. So shut up. I think I’ve made my point.