Type 4: A Way To Enjoy Magic Again Part III
As of this writing, my stack is a little over 330 cards with my target amount being three hundred fifty. The question remains, how do you build a stack of cards of that size and avoid using absolute crap?
Type 4: A Way To Enjoy Magic Again Part II
Today Carl continues his introduction to Type 4 by covering removal spells, creatures, bombs, and general stack composition as well as giving some guidance on Type 4 draft archetypes.
Type 4: A Way To Enjoy Magic Again Part I
Have you ever found yourself getting bored with Magic? I know I do on a nearly regular basis. I used to be able to renew my interest by building Revenge of 1997, my wacky five color, Vintage-legal, control deck which is a blast to play, but that eventually stopped doing the trick. Revenge was only a temporary solution. It was a fun deck that only had serious opponents. I needed something new. I needed something extreme. I knew that White Castle was going to be too hard to find, so I went for something four times as extreme as Vintage: Type 4
Life In An Aquarium: Learn To Be A Predator
Vintage is full of Fish lately. Where does that leave us? We live in an environment without predators, instead allowing those lower on the food (power) chain to go unchecked. Why is this? The Fish have been the ones putting all the work into innovating and really getting down to the nitty-gritty. An important deck building skill is to examine the popular decks and figure out what exactly their weaknesses lie.
Shooting And Falling Stars At Star City P9: Rochester
The always entertaining former Vintage World Champion recaps his Star City P9: Rochester experience. Awesome sauce not included.
Waterbury May, Top 8 the Carl Winter Way
Want to know about the latest deck the former Vintage World Champion piloted to yet another Waterbury Top 8 finish? Looking for stories of delerious SUNY: Binghamton college students threatening people at Denny’s with butter knives? Or maybe you just want another fun and amusing report by perhaps the most-entertaining Vintage writer around. Whatever you are looking for, this article has some of everything and is awesome sauce approved.
Anonymity, Jerks, and Other Topics of Community Import
Something I notice time and time again is that Magic communities, much like high school, have a special social structure and many different cliques. A community divided is in much worse shape than one that’s unified. This, unfortunately, will never change. This alone is unhealthy, but it’s worsened further by plain ole’ simple bad manners. A new generation of players comes to replace the old guard, and with them come naivety, immaturity, and crass adolescents.
My Syracuse (City of Dinosaurs and Giant Malls) Power 9 Metagame Predictions
Crazy Carl takes a look at what all the Type One players can expect this weekend at the Syracuse Power 9 event. Aside from profiling the decks to beat, Carl also includes an extended interview with Control Slaver master Rich Shay and some suggestions of how to metagame the field, all in his own irreverent style.
Snowstorms Suck, Ninjas Rock, and the Betrayers of Kamigawa Prerelease Holds It All Together
Carl skipped the Richmond Power 9 to play in his Syracuse prerelease and play in the snow. Told in the usual Crazy Carl style, this report is a little light on the tech, but heavy on the fun.
What to Expect at Waterbury
With Waterbury fast approaching, I’ve decided to try and give you, the people, my views on the format. I’m fairly narrow-minded, so I’ve spent the past four months exclusively playing combo of various flavors and Stax. Player interaction is for the weak. My Mana Drains, dual lands, Library of Alexandria, and to a lesser extent Force of Wills have lain idle, only to see play when I want to test against them. Is this indicative of what Vintage players will see this weekend? We shall see…
Always The Bridesmaid, Or How Ghettocon Tourney Was The Awesome
Many feel that the tournament report as it once existed is dead, but Carl Winter is here to soundly refute that. Even if you aren’t a Vintage fan, Carl’s reports are excellent, amusing reads that are fun for the whole family, though parental guidance is suggested.
Metagaming Against the Clock: Waterbury Finalist Report
The weeks leading up to the announcement I had been playing a lot of Drain Slaver/Crucible Slaver. With help from Mattieu Durand of Franceland and the rest of Meandeck, I was tuning a list and practicing with it for the weeks leading up to Waterbury. I won like, one match. So I gave up on it and played DeathLong. The rest is history… almost.
A Dish Best Served Cold: The role of Revenge in the Vintage 2004 Metagame
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. Only a select few had the privilege of seeing it in action, and the name of the deck, whispered only in the dark, shadowy catacombs of the convention hall was… Revenge.
Steaks, Shakes and Fabulous Pink Notebooks: Why GenCon Indy Was Awesome
The Vintage World Champion defends his title against all comers, slaying dragons, Smennendians, and Amish folks while lost in Pennsylvania, all in his own unique style (awesome sauce not included)!
Keeper is Dead, Long Live 4-Color Control!
Once I saw that 4CC was really out in forceat the Power 9, I wondered why it didn’t do better. Unfortunately I don’t have the answer. A possible explanation is improper metagaming. Decks like Fish and Suicide Black thrive on taking advantage of the weaknesses of the upper tier decks to get ahead. 4CC operates on a similar principle, hoping to have the tools to handle whatever it sits down in front of it. Today I’m going to search around in the toolbox and figure out what the”right” tools are.