Let me start the article with this little explanation. I’m not saying play skill doesn’t count for anything in Vintage; otherwise the same people wouldn’t constantly place in tourneys. I’m simply illustrating that there are simplistic decks for those who are more inept or simply don’t want to think about what to play. In other words, tired of going X-2 at tourneys? Maybe it’s time to change to a more broken, albeit simpler, deck.
So why did Ben Kowal choose to play this metagame sleeper and how did he end up as the number one seed coming out of the swiss, and finish one game short of making the finals? The details are right here!
Until now, Teams in Vintage have simply just “been”. There has been no classification, code of conduct, or any real structure to how a team is formed. Teams tend to sprout up as if nothing went into its formation and rivalries are formed among people who don’t even know each other. In this article I plan to help end all that with clarifications of what really matters in the world of teams.
Stax has been an important part of the Vintage metagame since its introduction in early 2003. Back then, the card choices were pretty easy due to the limited amount of broken stuff. Sphere of Resistance, Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Meditate were indeed the only lock components available before Mirrodin for an artifact Prison deck (Winter Orb does not fit in Stax’s game plan). Now, we have plenty of new tools in the form of Chalice of the Void, Thirst for Knowledge, Trinisphere and Crucible of Worlds. Nevertheless, card slots are not expendable and choices have to be made in order to have the most finely tuned build according to your metagame. This article will provide general guidelines for answering most of the questions you should ask yourself if you want to take Stax at a Vintage tournament.
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…
The man known as Zherbus takes a moment to look into his crystal ball and predict what a new year of Magic will bring to the Vintage format. What sort of controversial items are on the plate for this year and how much does this esteemed Vintage pundit agree with the vile Bleiweiss? You’ll have to read the article to find out.
While Team Meandeck gets a lot of the press for building innovative new Type One decks (mostly because nearly their whole team writes for StarCityGames.com), other teams around the world have been quietly innovating on their own and putting up impressive results. Carsten Kotter and his CAB teammates are one such group, and Mr. Kotter is here to give you the complete skinny on a successful Vintage deck built around Gifts Ungiven. He even includes a note signed by “Epstein’s Mother” to enchance his hipster street cred.
Star City Power Nine Tournament Series Event Coverage Archive!
The year is winding down, but Steve hasn’t stopped tallying decklists for the mid-sized Vintage tournaments and analyzing what they mean. Which decks sit at the top of the Type One metagame these days and which ones are in decline? Steve’s got all the answers inside.
Phil takes a look at the last two months of big Vintage tournament data and also breaks down the various points being made in the Mishra’s Workshop/Trinisphere banning debate. What does the data say about who’s right and who’s wrong here? You’ll have to click on the link to find out.
Pip takes a second look at the biggest table of Magic cards you’ve ever seen, unveiling trends in the Vintage metagame for the last year like it ain’t no thang.
Should Dark Ritual go? Monday morning Ben Bleiweiss argued yes, but frankly I disagree with him. Yes, Dark Ritual is powerful and can pump out turn 1 wins on the back of Necropotence and Doomsday, but being powerful alone is not a reason to restrict. The entire format is broken, and frankly Type 1 players like it that way. We like doing stupid broken tricks involving Time Walk and Yawgmoth’s Will. Is Dark Ritual warping the format or doing destructive things to Vintage? Does Dark Ritual really do enough to put it on the same list with the Power 9?
The restricted list is designed to keep the format as skill intensive as possible, by keeping mindless “I win” cards from polluting the format. Cards like Gush and Burning Wish could make your opponent’s entire game plan irrelevant, because you could win before they got a chance to make any decisions, or just simply overpower them, putting them in a position that no amount of correct decision making could make them succeed.
The hot topic right now in Vintage is the upcoming December restriction announcement. There’s blood boiling on both sides of the issues, and as players it’s our responsibility to tell the DCI exactly what the format needs to remove in order to make skill as important as possible.
As I sit here in my cluttered office writing this article, I risk the wrath of the Type One community I worked to nurture. With this in mind, I’m sure plenty of you will believe my point of view to be flawed, wrong, or off-base. However as I watch the forums around the net ignite, I feel someone should say this: Ben Bleiweiss isn’t as wrong as you’d like to think.
Mike Flores wrote an interesting article on degree of difficulty. I found the Flores’ article interesting not because I strongly disagree with him – but because I think the real issue is worth exploring: what skills does Type One test? Vintage is clearly unlike any other format. Nick Eisel once described some in-game analysis contained in one of my articles as “bizarro world.” Rather than compare Type One on a better or worse scale, this article will explore and explain what I think are the critical skills Vintage players must have to be successful.
