Evaluate My Vintage Pile

VacancyMan · Joined: 01 May 2005 Posts: 314

I happened to come in second in the Vintage trial, but the decks weren't posted (probably out of embarassment Laughing

). But there is a bit of a problem - I don't play Vintage. The reason I played in the trial was primarily to understand the format before the upcoming master. I knew that T1 wasn't simply a bunch of turn 1 win decks, but beyond that, I was quite clueless. I didn't even know the name of my own deck. Malkolis called it "Virus Affinity". After conversation in my team room, I dubbed it:

// NAME: Mono Brown Fish

// Lands
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
4 [AQ] Mishra's Workshop
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [US] Tolarian Academy
1 [EX] City of Traitors
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (1)

// Creatures
4 [UD] Metalworker
4 [MR] Myr Retriever
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
1 [US] Karn, Silver Golem
4 [DS] Myr Moonvessel

// Spells
4 [DS] Skullclamp
4 [EX] Sphere of Resistance
4 [NE] Tangle Wire
3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
1 [PR] Mana Crypt
3 [US] Smokestack
3 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
1 [A] Mox Jet
1 [A] Black Lotus
1 [A] Mox Pearl
1 [A] Sol Ring
1 [A] Mox Sapphire
1 [A] Mox Ruby
1 [A] Mox Emerald

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [US] Smokestack
SB: 1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
SB: 3 [MR] Duplicant
SB: 2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [DIS] Ghost Quarter

This isn't the exact list I played, but I only changed a few maindeck choices and the sideboard because certain cards did absolutely nothing over the course of the tournament. I'm asking: 1) Is this "Virus Affinity"? If not, what should it be called? 2) What is wrong with this deck? (feel free to summarize if your answer would be a bit too epic)

BattleofWits · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 210

I dont get the 2 myrs....

Misslehead3 · Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 10

Hi wassup this might be kinda long so excuse me for ranting.

// Lands
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
4 [AQ] Mishra's Workshop
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [US] Tolarian Academy
1 [EX] City of Traitors
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (1)

Hmm, lets think about this. I don't know if mono-brown is the best color to go in. This defanately isn't the arcbound virus. thats a 5c deck that uses a lot of artifact abusing cards. when i was playing you i was thinking almost aggro-stax. But the mana-base:
you should defanately add in another color. that would make it a lot more stable and generally better. Hmm, what color tho, i will shortly outline the cards you would get through each color:

Red : You get Wheel of fortune and pyrostatic pillar and most important, goblin welder. also you get a lot of good sb cards like Rack and Ruin and more pyrostatic pillars.

Blue : I think blue would be the best color to go into. You get Time Walk, and Ancestral recall. For those 2 reasons alone you could use this color.

Black : You get disciple of the vault and also good black tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor.

// Creatures
4 [UD] Metalworker
4 [MR] Myr Retriever
4 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
1 [US] Karn, Silver Golem
4 [DS] Myr Moonvessel

I think Myr Moonvessal is the ass. So you should replace all of them with Myr Servitor. Depending on what color you go into or if you don't go into anything then we can see where that takes us. Also you should be using frogmite over myr retriever because frog is a 0 casting 2/2 and thats the shit.

// Spells
4 [DS] Skullclamp
4 [EX] Sphere of Resistance
4 [NE] Tangle Wire
3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
1 [PR] Mana Crypt
3 [US] Smokestack
3 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
1 [A] Mox Jet
1 [A] Black Lotus
1 [A] Mox Pearl
1 [A] Sol Ring
1 [A] Mox Sapphire
1 [A] Mox Ruby
1 [A] Mox Emerald

hmm this isn't all that solid but it can work. Take out Sofi for something better. maybe hmm. lets think, ya it kinda depends on what color you hgo into.

Anywayz, hope i was help[ful and post again when you decide what color to splash

VacancyMan · Joined: 01 May 2005 Posts: 314

Wow. Misslehead3 - It's amazing how you just changed everything I thought was best about the deck. Thse are my initial feelings about your suggestions:

1) If I add a color, I will only get 1 mana from certain lands, which is very disappointing. I don't understand how adding a color makes the deck more stable, seeing as not having that color of mana, whether from not drawing well or from getting Wastelanded/Strip Mined without a Crucible will create dead cards in the deck.

2) I version I used in the trial had 4 Myr Servitor, but I replaced them afterwards because I never used their ability. Almost always, the only reason I would have multiple Servitors is because of a good Clamping turn, which means I have a Clamp, which means I probably just went through all the Servitors I drew anyway. Myr Moonvessel simply extends my Clamping sessions. Beyond that, they're both vanilla creatures. This means that Frogmite might be better here. However, Frogmite doesn't die when Clamped, which can be both good and bad.

3) Myr Retriever is AMAZING. When you go Clamping, he gets back creatures to make sure you don't run out of fuel or a Lotus if you just want more mana. When your opponent has to deal with one of your powerful artifacts such as Crucible of Worlds or Sphere of Resistance, Myr Retriever can become an additional playset. I can see Frogmite being good, but he is nowhere near the level of Myr Retriever.

4) Sword of Fire and Ice was a last minute inclusion to the deck. Because I plan to win by beating down with 1/X's, I need something to accelerate the beatdown so I don't give my opponent all the time in the world to recover and take over the game. Yes, Arcbound Ravager is already there, but he only really works when you've already brought your opponent to a low life total and feel ready to gamble for the win. Sword of Fire and Ice was the best thing I found for filling this role. It makes any critter in the deck a Curiosity-wielding, Welder-murdering, forceful beater that must be dealt with quickly, as opposed to a 10 turn clock composed of a couple of Myrs.

Thank you very much for putting your time into evaluating my deck. I'll change it up based on your words and see what happens. I have quite a bit of time until the master.

RThomas · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 380

A couple glaring holes in your deck:

-Consistancy: Having a few outlets for drawing cards doesn't make the deck that much better. You've made the deck worse at mulliganning, a strong point of Workshop decks, by requiring you to have mana, a lock piece, a creature, and something that draws cards. How are you playing hands with say, three mana sources, two lock parts, two creatures?

-It loses to a lot of commonly-played cards, like Null Rod, Pithing Needle, and mass bounce such as Rebuild and Hurkyl's Recall. The creatures aren't stellar on their own, either. It seems like the only way you deal a large amount of damage is iwth a Ravager.

-You don't have a way to deal with Oath of Druids (or any mass bounce spell), Null Rod, or Darksteel Colossus. All of these cards kill you faster than you can get around them to kill the opponent.

-You won't beat combo decks with any regularity with only four Sphere of Resistance as your disruption.

If you're looking for a harder-hitting deck like this, try this one.

BlackLotus · Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

I would like to point out that Smokestack is not worth playing in this deck. You either want to be the beatdown or the lockdown, not both. I would personally replace it with Staff of Domination so you get utility via the Metalworker combo with the Staff of Domination.

Also, you should be playing cranial plating in the deck. At least in your list, it would be better than Sword of Fire and Ice.

Lastly, the Myr Moonvessel is a waste of space.

So, basically...

run Cranial Plating over Sword of Fire and Ice.
run Staff of Domination over Smokestack.
run Frogmite or Myr Servitor over Myr Moonvessel.

Also, give Genesis Chamber some thought.

Everything else looks fine to me.

Lackeos · Joined: 10 Oct 2004 Posts: 255

Misslehead3 · Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 10

The main thing that is bothering me about everyone's post gainst me is that:

They are all the same. adding colors loses stability. So with this in mind you are going to tell me adding colors hurts the deck.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/10344.html
That was one of the greatest vintage players alive at the moment and no one can argu that as much as we all hate him. He played a 2-Color splash green for 1 card deck. Would ou question hat deck on being unstable. It uns like a dream. Before i got into tier 1 vintage decks i played that.

And i do guess that i gave myr retriever less credit han shuld have. He is ok. I was thinkin that he only got back atifact creatures. Well, read that rticle and if you still have comments i will answer them to the beest of my ability

Also, listen to black lotus, he is kinda onto somethin there.