I want to avoid a set review, but the current hot topic in Vintage may have supplied me with a workaround, and a shot at Magic Writer history. Yes, that’s right, you’re about to read the world’s first ever errata review.
I seem to be on a recurring theme of “terrible decisions made by the Brass Man.” While terrible decisions are certainly something I’m well known for, I don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression here. Every once and while, and I’m sure more often than I deserve, some of my terrible decisions pan out. I’m about to give you a decklist that has a perfect tournament record. In fact, it’s never lost a match in tournament play. Mostly this is because I only played the list once and was harassed by well-intentioned friends to never run it again.
If you know me at all, you’re probably familiar with my history of making ridiculous play errors. Unlike most players, I don’t tend to make my mistakes in complex, stressful, game-altering turns. No, when I make a a mistake, it’s generally with something completely obvious…
Last time I wrote anything that got published, Flame Fusillade hadn’t even been printed yet, never mind been killed by any number of Time Vault Erratas. A lot has happened since then, including near-infinite attempts to break Mana Drain further, and an unsuccessful foray onto the Pro Tour. Writing is definitely something I would like to get back into doing, and picking up the dailies seemed like a perfect opportunity…
In the past, Randy has sleeved up some of the more popular control decks in Vintage, piloting Control Slaver and Meandeck Gifts in his previous victories. Considering his track record, it definitely seems like he knows what he’s doing when choosing what to run. This time, Randy decided to play a Team Meandeck design that none of you have ever seen before.
[Editor’s Note: This article would normally be premium, but keeping with the “interviews with R&D should be free” theme from the past, it has been made available to all readers.]
Forget Goblin Charbelcher. Once you cast that Yawgmoth’s Will, the rest is incidental. You want to win with Grim Monolith/Power Artifact? Be my guest. There’s one huge reason why the Gifts list that got second at Gen Con Champs is different, nay, better than the more popular “Meandeck Gifts” variant, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Volcanic Island counts as a Mountain.
One of the hottest deck designers and most amusing Vintage writers around gives you a sneak peak at what decks to expect at this weekend’s Waterbury megatournament. As if that weren’t enough, he also provides decklists for players of all shapes, sizes, races, creeds, and budgets and tells you what he’s playing this weekend. How could you not read this?
Shortbus Severance Belcher (or SSB) was one of the hot new decks to come out of StarCityGames.com Power 9 Syracuse and its designer is back with a tournament report and instructional guide just in time for this weekend’s Power 9 in Chicago. If you are looking for a few pointers on one of the latest control-combo decks to hit the Vintage scene, you must read this article.
Those of you who are familiar with our Power 9 Event Coverage probably know all about the infamous Brass Man, a player adept at deckbuilding, amusing one-liners, and utterly smashing Stephen Menendian(s). For those of you who have not heard of this colorful character of Vintage, follow along today as he introduces his very saucy version of Gifts Ungiven Control that uses Goblin Charbelcher and Mana Severance as a combo win condition. If any of this sounds confusing or counter-intuitive, this excellent article is just a click away, prepared to explain the whole thing.
