https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/vintage-league-2019-07-21
There’s a handful of guys on there clearly cheating the system somehow. To me, it’s kind of offensive because I check these results expecting them to actually mean something. It’s hard to go 5-0 in league.
I really want people to be aware of the issue.
Last I saw, Joe Brennan was headed to the finals using BUG Fish. Lots of Forge/Karn shops at the top tables. Best decks appeared to be BUG control and Karn Shops with a splash of Survival, Dreadhorde, and PO competing for a spot. I think people who played dredge had mostly a miserable time? (Correct me if I’m wrong?). I think one of the best performing might have been @Zias , who I lost to.
Anyway just my impressions from the event.
I played Doomsday, which had been testing really well online and I actually won two matches against my most difficult match (BUG control), beating the reigning champ Ryan Glackin, and lost three matches against my easiest (Karn, Shops, and Dreadhorde). I still believe the deck is really well positioned right now and i feel I could have played differently in the games that I lost.
But anyway the BUG deck is pretty attractive right I think if you want to play blue.
Just wanted to point out that Baral/Frantic Search isn’t reliant on artifacts at all and I would actually omit moxes from the list if Academy weren’t so broken with Frantic Search and if turn 1 Baral weren’t so important. If Frantic Search were legal in Legacy, there’s no doubt it would be too good with Echo of Eons.
And one of the defining characteristics of the Frantic Baral deck is that it can play 30 consecutive spells through a Karn or a Lavinia, cards that DPS and PO really struggle with.
But seriously, Misstep your thing and twister for 1U out of the graveyard? Draw 7 new cards with a Baral in play? Game, right?
The best reason (right now), is with 5 twisters you can prevent Dredge from ever doing anything in game 1. The other reason is it’s a bomby draw engine that doesn’t heavily rely on artifacts like PO. But in a vacuum, I’d agree that PO is a better card.
But this is no slouch either. If you’ve ever Echo of Eons twice on turn one, you’d know what I mean. It’s broken. You just have to build around it.
You agree it’s at least better than Deep Anal for a combo deck, right?
I have with Intuition, Baral, and Frantic Search. It’s broken. Easy turn 2-3 lethal Grapeshots. I just am focused on something else right now.
2 Flooded Strand
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mana Crypt
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Polluted Delta
2 Intuition
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Echo of Eons
3 Regrowth
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Island
1 Grapeshot
2 Pyroblast
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Frantic Search
4 Mental Misstep
1 Sol Ring
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
4 Force of Will
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Yixlid Jailer
2 Pyroblast
4 Ravenous Trap
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Nature's Claim
It’s worth mentioning that Echo isn’t actually central to the decks strategy, it’s just an upgrade over what used to be Deep Analysis
I think your assessment is very forward thinking. Dredge is far too slow in its current form.
Instead of giving up on FoW, could you just use Pact of Negation? (And Dread Return)
I played the same deck, card-for-card, last week in the challenge. I went 2-0 before losing two straight matches to DPS. Thepowernine simultaneously went 4-2 with it. I went 5-0 in a league with it but also 0-4 drop.
I think it’s one of the better ways to play PO since you have Lavinia as a hybrid Defense Grid/Control card, you have the Narset combo, Empty the Warrens (which is great right now), and Pyroblasts for opposing Narsets.
I think in general PO is in a rough spot right now because of Karn and other factors so there is going to be a lot of variance with the results, but when it’s hot there’s no beating it. Congratulations on the strong performance!