Vintage Challenges - April 2018

[A Former User]

Yay, more data! Thanks again to @diophan and twitch user k0dydraven for their considerable help in compiling these.

link to spreadsheets

Top 32 lists are available on WotC's page: https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/deck-lists-magic-online-products-game-info

Comments? Critiques? Praise for my teammates @diophan and @brianpk80 putting up multiple Top 8's each in this month? Have at it.

Gentle reminder though that B&R needs to go to the right thread. (Believe it or not, it's possible to speculate on the impact of tech like Shattering Spree, Damping Sphere (Brian played it as a one of in his top 4 list in the last challenge), and the Misstep-less PO list from VSL competitors Ecobaronen and Lampalot), without bringing up possible bans or restrictions.)

[ssasala]

@chubbyrain @diophan Thanks as always for putting this together.

I play White Eldrazi and there are 2 stats that you see from the terribly small sample size. Eldrazi got a big fat 0 wins against Shops. Secondly, it's win percentage is second highest overall. If only one could figure out how to beat Shops it may be actually good. But right now, I am still baffled as to how to beat it.

Thanks again.

Steven

[fsecco]

@ssasala Is Serenity too slow? I've never played the new iteration of the deck so I don't know.

[brianpk80]

And the highest overall win percentage goes to....

*** drum roll ***

Oath of Druids.

-featuring Arlinn Kord.

Even in a sea of infinite turns, Blightsteel Colossus, blazing fast Shops, Turn 0 kills, out-of-control Zombies, and 5,000 Monks, her Wolves cannot be stopped.

Thanks for putting the data together.

[Oestrus]

@fsecco I can't speak to how Serenity works in White Eldrazi. But I can say I have been quite pleased with it in Dredge. You don't want to bring it in against just any deck with Artifacts, and Lord knows there are plenty of them. But against the right deck, it's gold.

[fsecco]

@oestrus Seems like a one-sided Wrath, right? But people tagged me in the White Eldrazi topic and they're discussing how Serenity is good but how it doesn't make the matchup better.

[A Former User]

Thanks @ssasala. The hope of these metagame compilations is that people will look at the data and use it to brew.

I think the fundamental issue with Serenity is that it is a pretty symmetrical effect. Decks like @Oestrus's Dredge break the symmetry by not playing artifacts at all, but White Eldrazi is often dependent on its moxen and mana artifacts to play heavy hitters like TKS and Smasher. The biggest weakness of White Eldrazi is the mana base and cards like Null Rod and Serenity exacerbate this flaw, giving Shops the opportunity to leverage its mana denial cards even though its creatures are neutered.

[Smmenen]

Yes, thank you guys for this!

[ribby]

Thanks all for this.

Shat Spree has been good for ages, I never really digested why By Force was so preferred. Every mana counts against Spheres!!!

I followed your link @ChubbyRain and accidentally clicked on a May challenge. There is a maindeck copy of Smash to Smithereens (+2 SB) in these UR heavy-Snapcaster-no-Mentor lists. We may have finally achieved the impossible in Vintage: valuing tempo from player damage enough to pay mana for it.

[A Former User]

@ribby Thanks. We've been there for a while, IMO. The most common mode of Fiery Confluence was the "6 to opponent's face" as it closed out the game in a hurry with life-loss and Bolt-Snap-Bolt. I think Mentor getting restricted along with Gush made the control role worse and incentivized decks to try and exploit tempo more effectively, with cards like Wasteland. Shops is still the best tempo deck, but the URx decks can definitely fit into that role.

Edit: Also, Smash on a Precursor Golem is so good. About as good as Fiery Confluence on Precursor.

[Smmenen]

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