Origins two kay four. I had skipped out on Origins last year for a few reasons, the main being that the year before it sucked mad hardcore. I opted for GenCon instead and that worked out much better. This year I decided to give the big O a shot and I was not disappointed.
Ben Bleiweiss posted an article a few days ago that I hadn’t read until I decided to write this. I hopped over to TMD after my Intarweb was working again and saw a new thread with lots of replies. Then I saw all of this crap spewed forth, and got annoyed, so I wrote an article, like this one, except a million times better. This article is merely a tribute to that one.
So I’m actually playing Type 1 again. Along with this comes reading and posting on TheManaDrain.com about all sorts of things. One of these things was an announcement for a Type 1 tournament in Connecticut. This gave me a warm, happy feeling, because I thought it was a posting for one of Ray Robillard’s awesome sauce Waterbury tournaments. Alas, it was not, but there was still the allure of first and second place getting a Lotus. I decided to play Tog a bit more against people, and it was still doing well, but I had seen how broken Slavery was and I really wanted to play it…
The past year has changed control decks a lot. Fetchlands have strengthened mana bases. Stifle, coupled with the classics, Gorilla Shaman, Wasteland, and Strip Mine, have given control decks the tools expand their repertoire of mana denial, helping to slow the game to a point where they can effectively answer everything the opponent throws at them. Psychatog emerged as one the best kill cards ever, while Decree of Justice provided a virtually uncounterable and, thanks to cycling, never dead win condition.
Today I’m going to take a look at more decklists than you can shake a stick at and pinpoint the control decks to beat for the 2004 metagame.
The format change that Onslaught block spurred was nothing compared to the next base set released; Mirrodin. Mirrodin brought us a large list of playable, and even some borderline broken cards. At first, I believed Chalice of the Void to be the stand out card of the set, being a powerful hoser against a variety of decks, while allowing you to play around it and minimize its effect on you. Many people complained that Chalice was the end of Type One as we knew it, ruining a variety of decks, and making budget aggro virtually unplayable. As it turned out, many decks really weren’t hurt that badly. Burning Academy in particular, being the most heavily affected by Chalice, found ways around it, and budget decks were unplayable anyway. Who knew?
What sold me on the deck eventually was my theory on Type 1: The deck that can do the most broken things wins most. I figured that the same must hold true for Type 2! So for the next day or so, I thought a bit about the deck and what I’d do with it and the sideboard (which turned out to be so-so) and how to make Affinity even more broken.
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. But what does the reigning Vintage World Champion when he looks at Chalice?
The week before GenCon, I had actually played in a Type 1 run by IAmFishMan from TheManaDrain.com. I had gone into it having not played for a month or so beforehand, hoping to have some fun with my Goblin Trenches Keeper. Long story short? I won the tournament and a new Beta Mox Emerald. I was feeling pretty invincible at that point and decided that if I won the World Championships, I would declare dominance over Type 1. Well, as it turns out, I won, but I’m still refusing to declare dominance lest I be viewed as a jackass.
Saturday Type 1 Tournament Fat Cat Books in Johnson City, NY, 1:30-7:30 PM Double Elimination 14 Players Players with any Power Cards: 5 Those playing Power Cards: 3 I’ve felt that for far too long, this site has gone without a good Vintage tournament report… So I’m hoping I can remedy that! Now, I do…
Wow – third place. Not too shabby! Thus far, my highest finishes had been random T8s at JSS Qualifiers and winning small tourneys and side events. But third out of 358 people is just like, wow to me! (And most others, I dare say – ) Here’s my report, as best as I can remember….
