The second in a 10 part countdown to my 100th blog. Tune in tomorrow for more, and the next day, and the next day...
I figure the actual Power 9 have been done to death, even regarding which card should be the actual ninth card since Timetwister doesn’t see all that much play outside of combo, and even combo plays it grudgingly sometimes. So, anyway, here’s my picks for the nine unrestricted cards without which Vintage would be nothing.
9. Null Rod – Completely contrary to its flavor text, Null Rod does a lot, namely neutralizing some of Vintage’s most important cards. If only someone could combine it with Mycosynth Lattice…
8. Chalice of the Void – It hits artifact mana early and hard, and more importantly it stops Tinker. Against the right deck, set for the right number, it can be devastating.
7. Wasteland – The Vintage manabase will never be the same again. Islands are more broken now than ever.
6. Goblin Welder – Of course Vintage uses creatures—He’s a combo! He’s a lock-piece! He’s protection! Creatures don’t get restricted because they’re too easy to hate out, so why does this guy cause so much gnashing of teeth and soiling of undergarments?
5. Dark Ritual – Honestly, there would be no combo without this and it’s younger, slightly retarded brother Cabal Ritual. Non-Ritual combo decks always fold instantly to Null Rod—KoboldClamp, Metalworker-Staff, I’m looking in your direction.
4. Mishra’s Workshop – Still the best accelerant in the game, as long as you’re willing to limit your colors. “Black Lotus gets sacrificed? What a piece of crap!”
3. Mana Drain – Counterspells shouldn’t cost less than 3, blue’s not supposed to get mana acceleration, and those definitely shouldn’t happen on the same card.
2. Brainstorm – If I were going to restrict one of these cards, this would probably be my pick. Seeing three cards is hot; getting rid of two bad ones in conjunction with fetchlands is hotter. I read recently that, I think, Adrian Sullivan dug for a single using only Brainstorm and fetchands and always found it within five turns. Fantastic.
1. Force of Will – Largely the only reason why the cards listed above can remain unrestricted. It’s been called the glue that holds the format together, and that’s not an understatement.
I would propose that if you’re not playing at least three of these, you’re probably not doing very well in the Format. I think the only exception to that rule is Ichorid, which in Menendian’s original build had three between the deck and the sideboard (Null Rod, Chalice, and Brainstorm). GrimLong had only three as well between the deck and sideboard—Dark Ritual, Brainstorm, and Force of Will.
And of course there were other cards I wanted to mention: Swords to Plowshares, Crucible of Worlds (You Broke the Card!), Oath of Druids, Meddling Mage, Smokestacks, etc., but since I only had room for nine, the most popular ones had to make it.
How cliquey.
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2 comments:
Here is the Adrian Sullivan article I was talking about:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/6444.html
Awesome, thanks!
Here's the relevant paragraph from Sullivan. The deck in question is a Psychatog version where singletons include Misdirection, Interdict, and Tsabo's Web.
"I marked a single card in the deck with a piece of paper and over the course of forty trials (including mulliganing and play/draw) got to that marked card on average before turn 6. I wasn't using the counterspells. I was just searching with a Goldfish as an opponent. In the real world, it certainly would have been slower because I'd have to take the time to stop my opponent from winning. But, what it does show is the incredible selection ability of modern Blue."
Five turns is, of course, a lot in Vintage, but the scale of deck manipulation available with Brainstorm and fetchlands remains relevant, not to mention the ability to find a counter practically at will and dodge cards like Duress and Therapy.
It's pretty good.
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