IR?

The anticipation of this Vintage tourney in Columbus is killing me.

Last week, I showed two possible decklists that I considered playing: Lifecycle and Infernal Belcher. And while I did get my Infernal Tutors sometime last week and should be all but ready to throw Belcher together, I’ve decided it will take too much testing to be good in five days. Lifecycle is awesome, but I think I’m dismayed by the prospects of both learning the deck and that Explorations cost $10 rather than $5 as I expected.

As such, I will “dance with who brung me” so to speak and continue playing UB Fish. However, another tournament, another plan—UB Fish is going to get some new makeup and maybe a new wooden leg, since I have a history of making out with Brucy, losing decks. I hope this one is a little more stable and powerful Paralympic quality one rather than the dry-rotted old peg she used to swing with.

My previous build was more old-skool Fish, using Standstill for card advantage in conjunction with Aether Vial and Mishra’s Factory synergy. I like Standstill a lot, but I’m not sure if it’s that good anymore. It’s at least not four-of good, maybe two-of. I think I’d much rather run Null Rods, more control cards and fewer Chalices of the Void than Aether Vial, Mishra’s Factory and Standstill.

Basically, instead of this:

4x Swamp
3x Island
2x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
3x Mishra’s Factory
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus

1x Umezawa’s Jitte
4x Aether Vial
4x Chalice of the Void

4x Dark Confidant
3x Withered Wretch
2x Voidmage Prodigy
2x Dimir Infiltrator

4x Standstill
4x Force of Will
4x Duress
1x Echoing Truth
1x Darkblast
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall

It would be something more like this:

4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
3x Polluted Delta
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Underground Sea
4x Swamp
4x Island
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus

1x Crucible of Worlds
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Null Rod

4x Dark Confidant
3x Withered Wretch
3x Spiketail Hatchling
2x Dimir Infiltrator

4x Force of Will
3x Duress
3x Stifle
1x Echoing Truth
1x Diabolic Edict
4x Brainstorm
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall

This is the first time I’ve had this list typed up, and I have to say it looks good to me. I have more blue cards to use with Force of Will; my mana denial plan is better with three Stifles; and I think my draw plan of Brainstorm and five fetchlands (seven total shuffle effects) is solid enough. I switched out Voidmage Prodigies for Spiketail Hatchlings because Aether Vial is gone I’m worried about the double-blue not always being available. Crucible is a solid addition (especially with Null Rod) since it becomes a win card with Wastelands or Strip Mines anywhere in site, whereas Jitte was often just a win-more card.

The biggest problem with the new version over the old is that the old version had an average casting cost of 1.1, and the new one has an average casting cost of 1.16, which means I’ll see slightly more damage from Dark Confidant and should be more wary about dropping multiples.

Well, really, 0.06 more damage every turn isn’t all that much. Probably the biggest loss this deck has over the other one is a loss of attacking power. The previous deck had 14 creatures, all but two of which attack for two. This deck has 12 creatures, and only seven of them attack for two. I could always throw a couple Mishra’s Factories back in (which hinders my colored mana requirements), or I could drop a Brainstorm and a Stifle for two Ninjas of the Deep Hours (which gives me an extra 0.16 more damage every turn with a Dark Confidant, in addition to setting my creature development down a notch).

I need to stop playing decks that win or lose before even getting to the tournament venue.

At this point I’m wondering about the utility of Chalice of the Void at all. I want to have a good chance of being able to drop it on my first turn to cancel out my opponent’s moxes. This makes me want to run four. However, the only number I can reasonably set it at without severely hindering my own development is either zero or three and above. This makes me not want to run any, since I won’t realistically want or have any reason to do that.

So, what if I drop those, go with three one-drop utility blue or black creatures and institute the Ninja plan? Perhaps something like Drowned or Plagued Rusalka would be good, or Zombie Cannibal. I might actually try that and see how much more damage the Dark Confidants do to me, especially since I’ll be drawing extra cards with ninjas.

Plus, I mean, Ninjas!

So right now these are my ideas.

I think what I’m most worried about is not having the Force to be able to stop an early Tinker for Colossus, because I’m pretty sure that’ll wreck me. If that happens, I have four outs: 2 Dimir Infiltrators for Diabolic Edict or Echoing Truth.

Oh well.

The tournament’s on for Sunday, May 21. It’s a low, low price of $15. Registration starts at 11:30, and you can have infinite proxies. So if you ever wanted to run Vintage Battle of Wits, here’s your chance to write on more than 200 cards.

Anyway, the prize will be a Mox Pearl if there are more than 25 people; otherwise it’s a Timetwister. If lots of people show up, Pearl and Twister will go to first and second. With the low price, high proxy-count and chance to play against some of Vintage’s stars (I mean Menendian, not me, obviously), this could definitely bring a lot of people to the area.

The Soldiery
4256 N. High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43214
(614) 267-1957

If playing will just make you hungry, we’ll probably go to Thurman’s when the day is done. Bring your appetite, some cards, and some hot new technologies. I recommend Seedtime.