TagVintage

Top 8 coverage from this past weekend’s Power 9. Looking to see exactly how MeanDeck’s new Oath deck plays in a real match? Ben’s got that covered plus a whole lot more.

Frankly, I’m surprised that none of the usual suspects commented on Type 1.5 at length here on StarCityGames.com, and it’s been a while since the new Banned list was announced. Or rather, no one aside from Sebastian Smith, who managed to unseat me from my lofty perch as the indefatigable sourpuss of Vintage in just one article. Simply, I don’t understand where all the negative energy about the “new 1.5” came from, but I’d like to examine what the new format provides not only Type 1.5 players, but Type 1 players as well.

It’s been looking more and more to me that Type One is playing out more like a series of PTQs than Pro Tours. In this system, a set of top decks are known and the metagame tends to evolve weekly based on the results from each week’s PTQs. Here, the important skill is not the ability to build new decks, but to figure out which decks beat which and most importantly, which decks will be the big decks next week. Therefore, it seemed like a good idea to take a closer look at the top decks you will see at this weekend’s Power 9 tournament and figure out which decks might be good metagame choices.

We all do it, or at least should. We think about what decks we’ll have to face, how we will defeat them, and how to shore up any weaknesses we might have against certain matchups. JP Meyer recently likened Type One to the PTQ scene. What does this mean to those of us who want to be playing next week’s deck? It means we have to do the usual preparation: test matchups, shore up weaknesses, and evaluate the environment. In addition to this, we also have to create the next “deck to beat”. Today I’m going to explain how I helped create an entirely new archetype out of an old Type One staple and turn it into one of the most powerful decks in the environment.

In Part One, I made the case for MeanDeath as a serious contender in the format. In Part Two, I walked through some of the important considerations that will guide your gameplay. In this article, I wrap up the discussion with an explanation of various sideboard decisions, suggestions on how to sideboard, and a give run-through of the important matchups. I’ll conclude with some final considerations that will tighten up your game.

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.

That said, the biggest lesson I learned from the most recent Waterbury was really something I already knew, but somehow forgot. The larger the Vintage event, the more randomness you’ll encounter. It’s easy, for example, for me to keep tabs on Myriad’s 40-50 player metagame. You have some New Hampshire guys, usually half of the Hadley crowd, some Bostonians, and of course the Mighty-Mighty Maine-tones. You know the decks that people play will be pretty close to the last months, but with all the easy calculations of taking metagame trends into account. Big events like Waterbury are far more different.

This week Pip produces the usual numbers, takes a look at the Vintage Watch List, and then riffs about a resurgence of Psychatog decks before analyzing some of the more lamentable decks seen at one of the GenCon Vintage events. If you are looking to stay on top of the Vintage metagame or play in the upcoming StarCityGames.com “Power Nine” tournaments, this article is a must read.

In this article, I’ll explain the game plan of the deck and then describe how to use the core cards properly, because every card has qualifications upon when you should play it that may not be immediately obvious. First I want to address the most important decision you will make in every game that you play with this deck: mulliganing.

Glimpse of Nature
If Cranial Extraction seems a broad, powerful card and you’re not sure where you’d put it, Glimpse of Nature seems like it was tailor-made for Food Chain Goblins. Is this a new spell that will allow champions of the little Red men to take over the metagame, or is it just more Champions fool’s gold?

As some people may have noticed in recent weeks, Vintage Magic seems to be reverting to the way it looked this time last year. The top combo deck is a Long variant. The top aggro deck is Mishra’s Workshop/Goblin Welder based, but without things like Survival of the Fittest ruining the manabase. Why has the metagame done a sort of shift backwards? The blame for this trend lies at the feet of Control Slaver, and here’s why.

Why play a deck that just dies to Trinisphere and Null Rod? Why play a deck with land and consistency issues? Why play a deck that can randomly crap out on you? Why play a deck that is trying to compensate for having two cards restricted out from under it? I think I’ve got it figured out and the answer is nearly as impressive as its Long.dec cousin.

Steve catches up on all the summer tournaments and even gives a break down of not only what decks and cards you can expect to see at your next local Vintage tournament, but also details what decks are really ruling the Vintage metagame right now, as well as pointing out what he perceives to be future trends. This is a must-read for all Vintage players.

After gauging the feedback from the last column, I decided to change the set review order slightly. As I said last time, Champions of Kamigawa was built to focus on its expanded legendary creature mix and gravitates around combat abilities and the like. You can take the hint when Oscar concludes the Lands might be the most titillating thing Champions has to offer…

While the topics addressed here might apply to them, when I say”underpowered” decks, I don’t necessarily mean”budget” decks or”unpowered” decks. I’m simply referring to decks that don’t try to do anything unfair or may not have the capability to do things that are totally broken. What I am referring to are decks that, across formats, don’t have spectacular plays, but are instead consistent decks that generally grind out wins. These decks can dominate formats under the right conditions, and I want to take a bit to explore exactly how they manage to win.