"Sometimes it's a near-consensus, and sometimes it's just a vocal minority, but at the scale of players we're talking about, to anyone outside the community (read: WotC) it just looks like Vintage players are always unhappy."
I've been reflecting a lot on what a commentator stated during the Eternal Weekend Coverage. To paraphrase, Vintage has moved from a format driven by spells in hand to a format driven by board state. (I think it might have been Mike Noble who made this point)
I think that encapsulates the unhappiness perception. Vintage frequently doesn't feel like the vintage we're used to playing.
Am I the only one that hates Pioneer? I’ve seen a ton of positive buzz about it but I’m not sure why. I tried it out a bit and looked as some of the decks… I was less than impressed.
Part of it is that I’m tired on the continued watering down of eternal formats. Like many of you, I’ve played through this with 1.5 to extended to legacy to modern. I didn’t quite feel the same when modern came out as I could see the point of an eternal format without the no-reprint list.
I assume this is just to make an easier port into Arena than it would to port over Modern.
I believe that much of the excitement is in having new uncertain meta to brew into. I normally love this but to me, the deck are bland.
I also wonder how many formats there really needs to be. I think I’ve hit my personal limit at Modern. I live in the Midwest so playing Vintage outside of MTGO isn’t a possibility. I have to live with whatever the LGS hosts. We used to have a fair amount of Legacy. That was killed by Modern. I can live with Modern but I fear than this dumb format will become the new normal for local eternal formats.
Maybe I’m just getting old
I would totally recommend renting too. One thing Arena has done is greatly reduce the number of people drafting new sets on MTGO and that has made the cost of new singles berserk.
They are still making plenty of money on MTGO and seem to have 0 interest in porting old cards onto Arena so I am confident MTGO will be around for quite a while. Confident enough that I recently added money to the account.
I've played both versions and they both have their pluses and minuses. Deunan's list isn't really a Uba Stax deck at all. It's more a grindy sphere deck that uses Golos tricks. Not that it's bad, but if you are used to playing a Bazaar/Uba/Stax/graveyard deck, then this version isn't for you. I have liked God-Pharaoh's Statue when I've gotten it into play. A double sphere is cool enough. The one damage is not very significant but it is a good animate target for Karn. I think it's skippable but it's not bad. One thing I do really like about that build is that it has a reasonable chance to beat dredge game 1.
I had not played in a Vintage Challenge for a while but the new restriction on MM got me excited to dust off some of my favorite 1-drops. I decided to start with Goblin Welder. I played the below deck to a 5-2 record.
3 Uba Mask
1 Myr Battlesphere
4 Goblin Welder
1 Lodestone Golem
4 Hollow One
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
2 Null Rod
3 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
3 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Workshop
6 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Sundering Titan
1 Pyroblast
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Mana Vault
1 Karn, the Great Creator
1 Mystic Forge
1 Mindslaver
1 Daretti, Scrap Savant
SB:
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Witchbane Orb
1 Null Rod
1 Sundering Titan
1 Pithing Needle
2 By Force
Here are my thought:
I love the Uba Mask but I faced 3 other Bazaar decks in the challenge so it was boarded out a lot in this event.
Null Rod was great. I'd like to find room for 1 more
I sometimes struggled to have red mana. That's part of the reason I am light on red. I'd like to have another Pyroblast though.
Daretti was just ok. I won a gome because of him but he was underwhelming in general
I never got to use Mindslaver but I think it still has a place.
Wurmcoil was great against the BUG decks
Sundering Titan was the most frequent game winner. This guy is awesome.
I underestimated how often I would have Karn in play. I think that I should put Lattice in the board for the free wins.
I'm curious what you all are doing. What are your favorite things in Welder?
I've been having fun with this brew. I have not tried flash but I can see that finding a spot too.
4 Allosaurus Rider
2 Forest
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Tropical Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Nourishing Shoal
3 Chancellor of the Tangle
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Veil of Summer
1 Time Walk
1 Black Lotus
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
2 Autochthon Wurm
4 Neoform
2 Griselbrand
1 Force of Vigor
3 Eldritch Evolution
1 Mox Ruby
4 Ravenous Trap
2 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Force of Vigor
I look forward to every new episode of SMIP. It always makes for a great workday. Thank you for all you do.
I would play Cavern too. Mental Misstep isn't legal in Legacy.