Chalice of the Void. Possibly the best card introduced to the Vintage fold out of Mirrodin (though there are those who will argue for Chrome Mox, but they’re probably wrong). Some see a powerful lock card. Some see a powerful hoser. What I see is a card that will drastically change how Vintage decks are built and played.
The decks most negatively affected by Chalice are easily Long.dec (also known as Burning Academy and a host of other names that have very little to do with the cards that are the focus of the deck) and Sligh (both Ankh Sligh and Goblin varieties, though the Ankh of Mishra versions are hurt a bit less). The reason why these decks are so negatively affected are that they have such a high concentration of cards at a particular mana cost (Zero for Long and one for Sligh) that an early Chalice, either just dropped or played for one off a Mox or Sol Ring, completely shuts them down until they either a) find an answer, which will take quite a few turns for either deck to muster, or b) they don’t find an answer in time and just die.
My fellow Paragon Stephen Menendian views this as bad. His reasoning is that Chalice punishes decks that are efficiently built and played. However, my problem with this is that those efficient decks have become too efficient and are now pushing the edge of degenerate – especially in the case of Long.dec. (Sligh isn’t really degenerate just yet.) People have been clamoring for the restriction of Lion’s Eye Diamond since Stephen published his very descriptive and accurate article on Long.dec. The deck, despite overwhelming weakness on the surface, is still degenerate enough to win regularly on turns 1 and 2. This is not healthy at all for the format, and the deck is on the verge of becoming overly dominant. Recently, at the weekly tournament I play in on Saturdays in lovely Binghamton, New York, three of our Top 4 were nearly identical Long.decks, with the other being the ever popular Hulk Smash.
We’ve finally realized the awesome power of the deck, and we don’t feel like dealing with it anymore. I suggested we actually play with Mirrodin a few weeks early. I suggested this at the beginning of the tournament and was shot down by nearly everyone. At the end of our two-and-a-half-hour-long tournament, not a single person disagreed when I brought it up again.
On the surface, Chalice may seem to have a negative impact on Vintage. However, I see it forcing variety in deckbuilding – and if that means less efficient cards get used, so be it. The point is that the format will be slowed down to a pace where hopefully the game will no longer be decided within the first two turns. I doubt Sligh will resort to using Ball Lightnings and Ironclaw Orcs, but I’m sure it’ll find a way around it. It’s true that a Chalice for six against Hulk will be game over. Outside of Workshop based decks, however, who’s getting six mana during their main phase to cast a loaded Chalice against a deck with four Mana Drains, Force of Wills, and Duresses?
Exactly.
Other control decks (namely Keeper) can be hurt by a Chalice for one or two, but they won’t be crippled. Other decks will need to learn from Keeper’s example – to utilize versatility over brute force and speed (or to at least cut back on the brute force and speed) to be able to cope with possible Chalices. Some may view this as bad, like I said earlier – but I very strongly believe that this is what the format wants and possibly needs to survive. The next few months will tell.
“Crazy” Carl Winter
Moderator on www.TheManaDrain.com
Paragon of Vintage
Vintage World Champion