Stephen brings us a detailed report of his recent Top 8 performance on Day 1 of the SCG P9 Richmond. With extensive information on the testing process, coupled with play-by-play roundups of each match, Stephen’s report is a must-read for anyone with an interest in Vintage Magic.
Hot off his back-to-back T8 finishes at last weekend’s double SCG P9 Richmond, Stephen returns to discuss the Dredge deck that he, Randy Beuhler, and the rest of Team Meandeck, piloted in the 148-player Saturday event. If you thought Friggorid was busted in Extended, you haven’t seen anything yet!
By his own admission, the Meandeck Labs have seemed quiet of late. Of course, this perceived lull is little more than the calm before the storm. Stephen tells us of some major developments in the Vintage metagame, and promises deliver explosive tech. In this article, he also answers a lot of questions on a number of Vintage topics.
As part of the forthcoming 2006 Magic Invitational tournament, Vintage powerhouse Stephen Menendian was tasked with creating a Classic Vanguard deck for the Auction of Champions. So, what monster did he produce? How about a combo deck with hideously consistent Turn 2 kill… his analysis and thought processes, plus insights into general deck design, are just a click away!
Last time, Stephen showed you the composite Gifts maindeck. Today, he breaks down the mana base and unveils the composite Sideboard. Invaluable insight into a powerful Vintage archetype.
Starting with March of 2005 and going through December, I am going to present the “best performing” Gifts Ungiven list in Vintage. I’ll analyze the list and show you how it was built. If you are a novice or relative newcomer to Vintage, you should understand the inner workings of Vintage Gifts by the end of this article without too much work on your part.
The first half of 2005 was a period of successive metagame adjustments interrupted by a format-convulsing restriction. To recap, Control Slaver dominated the first major tournament of the year yet was demolished at the following StarCityGames.com Power Nine (SCG P9) pit stop in Syracuse, New York. Control Slaver was the deck to beat, and Vintage players knew it. The second half of the year brought some major changes to the format…
2005 was another bumper crop for Vintage. 2004 was arguably the strongest year since the format’s inception. 2005 was a suitable postscript to the banner 2004. If there is one thing that can be said about 2005, an over arching theme, it is that it was the year of Stax. Only, we didn’t know it when the year began.
Looking for a cutting edge deck to play? In this article I canvass the Vintage tournament scene and present four decks that I think represent the best Vintage tech from the last month or so. Whether you are a Vintage newbie or an expert, you should take a peek.
From July through October, Stax did pretty well in Vintage. Not only was it the most predominant deck in Top 8s, it was by far the most successful. Although Stax was only a fifth of Top 8s, it comprised 40% of all tournament winning decks. Therefore, I decided it was time to dissect this archetype and see just what makes them tick.
Phil Stanton has recently retired from the supercomputer business. Since no one else has stepped up, and since I inspired his template, I have decided to take over where he left off. Thus I give you the full Vintage Metagame Breakdown, complete with musings on the format and whether certain cards have crossed the threshold from broken to bannable.
It will take some time to unpack and understand the results of Grand Prix: Philadelphia. Two Goblins decks, one Lion’s Eye Diamond/Auriok Salvagers combo, three aggro-control Threshold decks, a Black/White disruption deck, and a Lightning Rift cycling deck is a Top 8 that nobody could have predicted. To the passing observer, the Top 8 decklists will suggest a metagame and an environment that did not exist, so today I’m going discuss Legacy in general, the metagame, and the Flame Vault deck variations in some detail.
I’ve had a Grim Long list built since early 2004, waiting and ready for the moment that I thought would never arrive. That moment arrived — and although the Vintage metagame has undergone many twists and turns in the intervening years, I knew that I had to play Grim Long. I was pleased to make the top 4 at the most recent StarCityGames.com Power Nine with Grim Long at its first (and hopefully not last) outing. This article will explain the tweaks I made to the deck, how to pilot it correctly, and describe the major matchups.
For three years, Vintage was in a perpetual state of expansion. Every other month a new deck emerged that seemed to shake up the format. The first half of 2005 was no exception. Uba Stax, Gifts, and a plethora of new Mana Drain decks emerged as contenders in a constantly fluctuating field. Vial Fish briefly surfaced as a great metagame deck and Oath has been in a constant state of revision. However, several things have noticably affected Vintage in recent months…
It’s a little early to tell what the best Time Vault/Flame Fusillade combo deck looks like, but Stephen Menendian thinks he has a pretty good idea. If he’s right, Legacy is now broken right in half.
