Over the next 6 weeks, there are some exciting Vintage events occurring in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and of course Champs at GenCon*. In an effort to collect some of the newer tech floating around the web, I’ve compiled a few deck lists for your perusal. Note that I make no claim that these lists are optimized or correct, just that they have won tournaments and therefore may be representative of what you play against over the next few months. I have tried to pull from a broad spectrum, including Tezzeret, Ichorid, Workshop decks, Fish, Remora, Oath, and Storm. Obviously the B&R changes announced on 6/20 will have an impact, requiring new draw engines in Tezzeret, allowing for changes in 5C Stax, and possibly enabling Dragon Combo. Unlike most of the other formats for Magic, finding top Vintage lists can be a chore, as they are scattered across various sources, so I hope you‘ll agree that this is a worthwhile endeavor.
Constructing a testing gauntlet for Vintage is also a difficult task, because Vintage is a heavily regional format, and local meta-games tend to vary wildly. Ichorid may be a non-factor in some areas, while its presence requires heavily dedicated hate sideboards in others. Tezzeret lists vary wildly, and Shop and Fish builds differ greatly in meta percentage and build. In my opinion, a basic Vintage gauntlet needs to include Tezzeret and Ichorid as a baseline, and some form of Shop (whether MUD or Stax), storm (ANT or TPS), and Fish (either traditional blue-based or more recent green/white-based). Anything beyond these, such as Remora, Elves, and Oath, can be added as time permits. Given that Tezzeret makes up 30-50% of some meta-games, it is logical for it to dominate the majority of your testing. Having said all of that, let’s get on with the deck lists.
I’m going to start with the deck generally acknowledged as the “top dog” of Vintage: Tezzeret. Let’s start with what the deck might look like now that Thirst for Knowledge is restricted:
Benny Massin — Tezzeret
1st Place – 23 Players – 5/24 — Antwerp
2 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Tropical Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Brainstorm
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Mana Drain
1 Sol Ring
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Time Vault
2 Repeal
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Voltaic Key
1 Regrowth
1 Mana Vault
1 Misdirection
1 Rebuild
2 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Sideboard:
3 Duress
2 Pithing Needle
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Sundering Titan
2 Yixlid Jailer
3 Oath of Druids
1 Extirpate
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Empyrial Archangel
While the transformational Oath sideboard has fallen somewhat out of favor, it is still effective. This list looks light on Ichorid hate in the sideboard, but that can be the right call depending on the meta-game. In this version of Tezzeret, we see one Thirst for Knowledge along with Intuition and Accumulated Knowledge. Although AK is definitely weaker than Thirst, it is still a powerful draw engine, and Intuition itself is a solid card, supported here by a main deck Regrowth as well.
One of the reasons why Tezzeret has had such an impressive run atop the Vintage meta-game is the way the deck’s shell can skew heavily into control or combo, depending on the wishes of the pilot and deck designer. An interesting version of Tezzeret that pushes the deck much farther toward the combo end of the spectrum has seen some success in the hands of Jeremy Beaver, who made the top 8 at the Philly Open 3, and then won the following Blue Bell event with nearly the same list (main deck, he removed Necropotence for a second Tezzeret):
Jeremy Beaver — Tezzeret
1st place — 33 players – 5/23 – Blue Bell
4 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Regrowth
4 Force of Will
3 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
2 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Gush
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
3 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
Sideboard:
1 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Trinisphere
1 Massacre
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Pithing Needle
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Yixlid Jailer
Beaver has added Dark Rituals for additional speed, plus one Tendrils for an
alternate Yawgmoth’s Will kill, along with a second Tezzeret. I played against him (with Ichorid) in the finals of this tournament, and even though his deck has less Ichorid hate in the board than some lists, his deck was blisteringly fast and was able to race me game one while on the play, and almost did so again in game two.
Another version of Tezzeret, running no Mana Drains and the dual draw engine of Mystic Remora and Dark Confidant, won the Philly Open 3 in the hands of Paul Mastriano. Although the Mana Drain-less version isn’t as popular, it is undeniably powerful and not affected by the loss of Thirst for Knowledge. I posted this list previously in a past article (here). Paul’s updated list from the Dan Herd Memorial event ran three Mana Drains and three Thirst for Knowledge. It will be interesting to see if players go back to the Remora draw engine, or choose to go retro with Accumulated Knowledge. Another viable option is to play some number of Sensei’s Divining Top with additional Voltaic Keys and possibly Trinket Mage to find each piece. Regardless, here’s Paul’s list:
Paul Mastriano – Tezzeret
2nd Place – 64 Players – 6/6 – Philadelphia (Dan Herd Memorial)
3 Flooded strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
3 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Dark Confidant
3 Duress
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Imperial Seal
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Thoughtseize
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
Sideboard:
3 Yixlid Jailer
2 Pithing Needle
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Island
1 Rebuild
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Darkblast
1 Smother
1 Trinisphere
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
The winning deck from this tournament, and finalist from the Philly Open 3, was Nick Detwiler running 5C Stax. Stax’s position in the Vintage meta is one that many debate, but in the hands of a capable pilot, it is one of the best decks in Vintage [For more on this deck, check out Stephen Menendian article above! — Craig]. Although the list, below, is going to be somewhat invalidated by the changes to the B&R list, this is still a legal and potent list:
Nick Detwiler – 5C Stax
1st Place – 64 Players – 6/6 – Dan Herd Memorial (Philadelphia)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Crop Rotation
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Powder Keg
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
4 Smokestack
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
4 Mishra’s Workshop
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
1 Balance
1 Darkblast
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
For a different look at Workshop decks, this is an interesting Metalworker list that recently won an event abroad:
Rolf Schmidt – Metalworker
1st Place – 27 Players – 7/5/09 — Darmstadt
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra’s Workshop
3 Mishra’s Factory
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Metalworker
4 Juggernaut
3 Triskelion
2 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
Sideboard:
3 Pithing Needle
3 Jester’s Cap
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Razormane Masticore
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
The TO hasn’t published the deck-lists from the Blue Bell tournament on 6/27, but this 48-player event was won by a Mono-red Workshop Aggro deck. If I can get the list, I’ll post it in the forums.
Moving on, let’s take a look at Ichorid, a deck that so many people dismiss as Tier 3 despite the fact that its recent results have dramatically improved. I’ll start with a list that I’m fond of, because it is extremely similar to the one I played recently. You’ll note the sideboard included Ancient Grudge, which I think is weaker than Ingot Chewer, but certainly has some benefits as well.
1st – New Zealand Vintage Nationals
4 Bridge from Below
4 Serum Powder
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
3 Fatestitcher
4 Unmask
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
3 Dread Return
2 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Flamekin Zealot
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
Sideboard:
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Chain of Vapor
3 Emerald Charm
2 Contagion
2 Dark Blast
3 Ancient Grudge
Unfortunately the player name and number of players from this event wasn’t listed. You may notice that this main-deck is 74/75 what I played at Blue Bell on 5/23 (with an extra Unmask replacing a Gemstone Mine, which was moved to the sideboard). This actually seems like a very solid list, although with Ichorid on the rise, it does seem wise to include some number of Leyline of the Void in the main or sideboard. For an alternate look at a truly manaless Ichorid deck, this is a good example:
Justin Nguyen – Ichorid
1st Place – 22 Players – 5/17 — SoCal Vintage at DMF
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Golgari Thug
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Narcomeba
4 Ichorid
4 Street Wraith
2 Flame-kin Zealot
1 Cephalid Sage
1 Angel of Despair
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Bridge from Below
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dread Return
4 Serum Powder
Sideboard:
2 Bayou
2 Windswept Heath
4 Oxidize
4 Reverent Silence
3 Sickening Shoal
Although I’m not going to present one here, in Europe it is more common to see Mana Ichorid decks that are similar to what you see in Legacy (and old Extended), and those lists are readily accessible on the Mana Drain forums. At this same event, second place was a familiar-looking Oath of Druids list:
2nd place – Joe Cisneros
1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Hellkite Overlord
4 Oath of Druids
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
4 Impulse
2 Lim-dul’s Vault
2 Negate
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wipe Away
1 Progenitus
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Island
2 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
4 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Empyrial Archangel
1 Echoing Truth
3 Oxidize
1 Duress
2 Yixlid Jailer
Although I would advocate playing the Oath list I posted here instead of this one, this is still a very good deck and one that tends to have good game against Ichorid (although sadly that wasn’t the case in this tournament). One note about Oath: if Shop decks continue to grow in popularity as we head into the summer, Oath becomes an even better choice, as simply resolving Oath of Druids is often a game win against those decks. However, the switch to running only Hellkite Overlords is most important in that match-up.
Green/White and Green/White/Black budget decks have been posting solid results recently as well, and I believe them to be the best current version of Fish that you’ll find (although another interesting version, Selkie Strike, can be found here, and is also very solid in certain meta-games). These lists, along with mono-Red lists like that from the Philly Open 3 Top 8 and the Elves deck I discussed here, form the cornerstone of modern Vintage budget decks. This list was a recent tournament winner:
Nick Vallas – G/W Beats
1st place – 6/6 – TMC Open 3
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Gaddock Teeg
4 Null Rod
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
4 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Mox Pearl
4 Savannah
4 Wasteland
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
2 Temple Garden
3 Mishra’s Factory
Sideboard:
2 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3 Wispmare
2 Path to Exile
2 Oxidize
1 Krosan Grip
3 Guttural Response
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
Although it has been seeing less play lately, some people are still advocates of Mystic Remora control. Recent lists have replaced Psychatog with Lorescale Coatl, such as in this list:
Jeremy Seroogy – Mystic Remora
1st place — 18 players — 6/14
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
4 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
4 Mystic Remora
4 Force of Will
3 Commandeer
3 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Meditate
4 Lorescale Coatl
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
Sideboard:
1 Planar Void
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Pithing Needle
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Krosan Grip
1 Rebuild
I’m not sure I’d advocate this sideboard or a full four Coatls, but this
deck is capable of beating much of the current Vintage meta.
The highest performing storm deck I could locate was an Ad Nauseam Tendrils deck rather than TPS; a very similar build made the semi-finals at Blue Bell on 5/23:
Robert Maffei – ANT
1st Place – 182 Players – 3/15 – Firenze
4 Ad Nauseam
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
3 Cabal Ritual
3 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Pact of Negation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Necropotence
1 Black Lotus
4 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Bayou
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Extirpate
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Tormod’s Crypt
Off the beaten path, we see that Faeries has infiltrated yet another format with a Vintage win:
Conley Woods – Not Another Faeries List
1st Place – 40 Players – 6/28 – Warp Nine
4 Wasteland
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Pearl
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Island
1 Sol Ring
3 Trinket Mage
3 Underground Sea
4 Force of Will
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Tundra
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Duress
1 Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author]
1 Time Walk
2 Thoughtseize
3 Polluted Delta
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Stifle
2 Flooded Strand
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Black Lotus
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Pithing Needle
1 Mox Jet
4 Dark Confidant
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
Sideboard:
3 Yixlid Jailer
1 Energy Flux
1 Seal of Cleansing
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Darkblast
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Damnation
2 Bitterblossom
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
* Some details on those events:
ICBM Extreme Open on 7/18.
Steel City Power 9 on 8/1.
Vintage Champs at GenCon on 8/14.
And Now, for Something Completely Different – M10 Sealed / Prerelease
I had a great time at the M10 Prerelease this weekend, but I have to say that this format couldn’t have possibly felt more different than 10th Edition Limited, at least as I recall it. Quality creatures (anything better than say, 2/3 or 3/2) are really at a premium in this format, even in green. Lightning Bolt is powerful enough to take down the majority of creatures, and Pyroclasm practically functions as a Wrath of God. With so much powerful common removal (Lightning Bolt, Doom Blade, Pacifism, Ice Cage, Assassinate, Seismic Strike, Tendrils of Corruption) in such a small base set, many games come down to whoever had more creatures once the removal on both sides was exhausted. One 4/4 creature could sway the game completely.
The boosters I received had Liliana Vess, Rootbound Crag, Elvish Archdruid, Polymorph, Manabarbs, and Mesa Enchantress. Exciting, I know. My black was an unplayable mess, with no Doom Blades and not a single worthwhile creature. I also had only one other elf in Llanowar Elves. The final deck I played looked like this:
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Silvercoat Lions
1 Blinding Mage
1 Stormfront Pegasus
2 Centaur Courser
1 Borderland Ranger
1 Rhox Pikemaster
2 Emerald Oryx
1 Cudgel Troll
1 Stampeding Rhino
1 Serra Angel
2 Bramble Creeper
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroclasm
1 Pacifism
1 Oakenform
1 Act of Treason
1 Divine Verdict
1 Armored Ascension
1 Rootbound Crag
2 Mountains
7 Forest
7 Plains
Given the commonality of removal, Oakenform was probably a waste, but holding onto it past the initial volley meant that I could drop it on an Emerald Oryx, since most people were playing green. White was also incredibly popular, as the common and uncommon soldiers can really pile on to create serious incremental advantage. Both red and black felt like they were woefully short on playable creatures in general, and their liberal removal spells led many people to play them regardless, only to end up wasting said removal on creatures lower on the curve and losing to those higher up. As awful as Bramble Creeper seems (and man does it seem bad), it was actually quite the beater on Saturday. Because I had essentially no “bombs” outside of Serra Angel, I had to rely on a decent curve to get me there. This list looks pretty terrible to me, but I started 4-0 before losing in the last round to a deck with some actual bombs.
My Blue pool had some decent playables:
1 Cancel
1 Sleep
1 Unsummon
1 Wind Drake
1 Wall of Frost
2 Merfolk Looter
1 Phantom Warrior
1 Snapping Drake
1 Air Elemental
I also had an Undead Slayer that I ran in the board because of the weakness of a lot of the black creatures. I could have also run a heavier read list. These were in my board:
2 Panic Attack
1 Fiery Hellhound
1 Berserkers of Blood Ridge
1 Seismic Strike
1 Trumpet Blast
1 Goblin Piker
I’d be interested in hearing your opinions in the forums – should I have ran Blue, or been more heavily in Red? What changes would you have made?
Until next week…
Matt Elias
[email protected]
Voltron00x on Xbox Live and SCG Forums
Samuraielias on AIM