The Five Pillars

This week, The Eternal Spotlight is focusing on the five pillars of Vintage. The pillars in Vintage are named after five different cards, as these cards typically define the contents of the decks in their respective categories. Sometimes, a deck may be grouped under one of these pillars, but not actually contain the card that the pillar is named after. The naming convention exists simply to convey the idea behind each pillar in the simplest fashion possible. So, without further ado, here are the five pillars of Vintage.

Each one of these cards encapsulates the central theme behind its respective pillar. This week, I'm going to discuss each pillar, and give an example of a deck list. Knowing this information helps a player understand the Vintage metagame in a broad sense. Understanding each pillar also yields clues to which types of decks are actually more dominant than others.

Mana Drain

Mana Drain decks are the blue-based control decks of the format. Decks grouped under this pillar include Grixis control decks, Mentor control, Delver, and Landstill. These decks are, in a sense, the spiritual ancestors of Brian Weissman's "The Deck". The themes of card advantage, control, and game-winning finishers are alive and well.

I intended on showing only one deck for each pillar, but I looked at this deck list, and I just had to include it. Look at how ahead of its time this deck was! There were two copies of Red Elemental Blast in the main deck! Twenty years later, and blue is still so strong that decks in Vintage and Legacy commonly include a R.E.B. or Pyroblast in their main deck! Magic's metagame certainly appears to evolve in a circular fashion at times.

Getting back to the modern-day Vintage metagame and the pillar of Mana Drain, it's important to note that a deck falling under this category may not actually contain Mana Drain. These days, one-mana conditional Counterspells, and Force of Will have become the dominant form of counter-magic, and Drain isn't seeing as much play as it once did.

Drain itself is still a fantastic card in my opinion, but with popular decks like Delver and Mentor packing low mana counts and cheap spells, Mana Drain becomes a less attractive option. Spending two mana to counter a one-mana spell is simply not an ideal use of one's resources. Draining a Force of Will can snag you some extra mana, and help cast something awesome like a Jace, Treasure Cruise, or Dig Through Time the next turn, so there will always be a deck somewhere in the format that will find room for a Mana Drain or two.

"Big blue" decks (like Brian Weissman's masterpiece) were once much more prevalent, and even though Mana Drain isn't seeing as much play as it once was, the idea that Mana Drain represents is still very much alive. All of the blue-based control decks accomplish most of their control over the game through the use of Counterspells.

Once opposing threats have been contained, or the blue mage's hand is depleted, some sort of draw-engine is used to Replenish their hand of cards. Eventually, some sort of game-winning finishing move is executed, and victory is achieved. Decks have different finishers, some of which could be a combo finish like Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus, or Oath of Druids into Griselbrand, or even Time Vault, plus Voltaic Key. Non-combo finishers can also be used, ranging from Jace, the Mind Sculptor to Mishra's Factory. Decks like Delver or Mentor are capable of casting an early threat, such as their namesake creatures, and those creatures are more than capable of going all the way,

The central idea behind all of the decks in this pillar, is that each of these decks can play a strong control role. Some decks, like Delver, can also play an aggro role (and do it very well), but it's simply the concept of Mana Drain and permission/control that defines this pillar.

Here's a contemporary example of the Mana Drain pillar:

Null Rod

Null Rod-based aggro decks are designed to win through aggression, but also be highly disruptive as well. In a format such as Vintage, where Moxes, Black Lotus, and all the other incredible and powerful artifact mana is available to players, people tend to lean heavily on artifact-mana acceleration. If you've ever kept a hand full of flashy jewelry, only to be locked out by Null Rod, then you know how disruptive it can be.

Decks in this category include Noble Fish (and other fish decks), Merfolk, and Humans. Since many modern creatures have spell-like abilities, these decks get to run more creatures than other types of decks, but still pack defensive measures. A good example of such a creature is Qasali Pridemage. Null Rod decks must have powerful disruption, as all of the unfair decks and dedicated combo decks of the format would run them over otherwise. While creature decks are certainly capable of having a fast clock, they can't generally win before turn three, which can leave them losing races against the unfair decks.

Creatures like Pridemage, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben provide a clock, as well as impinge upon the opponent's game plan. Pridemage seems especially valuable, as it can take out otherwise deadly cards like Time Vault and Oath of Druids, all while attacking for up to 3 damage. This is an important facet of Null-Rod Aggro, as it allows the deck to be disruptive without sacrificing offensive power.

Note that the example deck list plays Stony Silence instead of Null Rod, which effectively does the same thing, but is slightly harder to remove. Due to the power and prevalence of Mishra's Workshop decks, artifact removal is played far more often than enchantment removal.

Bazaar of Baghdad

Bazaar is the pillar of the graveyard, namely dredge decks. Worldgorger Dragon combo is also classified under this pillar, and it usually uses Bazaar as a free way to fill the graveyard with the Dragon.

There are different takes on Dredge that see play in Vintage, but they all do some seriously broken things. They all also require a Bazaar of Baghdad to get going, so much so that they play Serum Powder and will mulligan to one just to get the Bazaar.

Dredge is the deck that everyone thinks of when discussing Bazaar of Baghdad, so in the interest of variety, I'm using a Dragon-Combo deck as an example. Dragon is a deck that you're unlikely to face in a MTGO Daily, but I think it's a pretty cool deck, and it can be powerful.

For those that don't know, Dragon + Animate Dead = infinite mana, usually used to mill out an opponent with Oona, Queen of the Fae. This interaction, called the Dragon loop, causes all of your other permanents (including Animate Dead) to be exiled. When Animate Dead gets exiled, Worldgorger Dragon goes back to the graveyard, triggering all of your exiled permanents (importantly including Animate Dead) to come back into play. At this point, Dragon is chosen as the reanimation target for Animate Dead, which brings Dragon back to the battlefield, which in turn triggers the exile ability, starting the process all over again. Each time this loop is made, all of your lands enter the battlefield untapped, and they can be tapped for mana in response to the next trigger. The result in infinite mana floating in your mana pool, and a loop that must be stopped or otherwise the game will end in a draw. The common way to win, and avoid drawing, is to end the loop with Animate Dead enchanting Oona instead of Dragon. Oona's milling ability is used as a win-condition.

This combo was deemed safe enough for Legacy play, perhaps one day someone will prove the DCI wrong. The mere fact that the game is so easily forced into a draw is more responsible for Worldgorger's initial banning than the power of the combo. Uncounterable enchantment removal (Abrupt Decay) and better graveyard hate have basically made Dragon combo obsolete.

Dark Ritual

Dark Ritual represents the pillar of Ritual-based storm decks. The card these decks all have in common, besides Dark Ritual itself, is Tendrils of Agony. I've read old articles where Vintage veterans discussed Tendrils as being the most perfect win-condition for a combo deck that Wizards had ever printed. Prior to Tendrils and the storm mechanic, many combo decks had to win by decking an opponent with something like Stroke of Genius, a win-condition that was the first card to exploit the power of Tolarian Academy.

While Tolarian Academy is still over-powered enough to warrant inclusion contemporary storm deck such as T.P.S. , the goal of these decks has shifted away from repeatedly untapping and tapping Academy, to a new plan building up a storm count with Lotus, Rituals, and Yawgmoth's WIll.

The mana engine of Dark Ritual is one of the most consistent and powerful engines in Vintage. Being unrestricted, it's the perfect complement to a Black Lotus and all of the other restricted fast-mana artifacts of the format. The other thing that makes Dark Ritual so powerful, is that it makes black mana, which is very important for fueling the Storm decks that make up this pillar.

Black mana helps cast the most broken engine of all, Yawgmoth's Will. Yawgmoth's Will provides mana in the form of replayed Rituals, and card advantage or card selection, by replaying cards like Demonic Tutor or Ancestral Recall. Finally, after chaining enough spells to reach a critical mass of storm, a lethal Tendrils of Agony is cast.

Once upon a time, decks in this pillar were at the top of the format. They are still very powerful, but that power has been mitigated somewhat by certain cards printed since the heyday of Tendrils decks like Long.Dec.

Mental Misstep can counter a Dark Ritual that was intended to start a game-winning chain of spells. Duress, the card that used to be the go-to form of proactive disruption, intended to clear the way for a Storm pilot to go off, also can be hit by Mental Misstep or even Spell Pierce. Flusterstorm also can be a road block for the Storm player, by turning their own storm count against them.

Still, in the hands of a savvy player, Ritual-based storm decks can be extremely potent. The ability to win all of a sudden in a flurry of Rituals should not be underestimated. Storm decks are also a lot of fun to play, and I suggest trying one sometime if you've never done so.

Mishra's Workshop

Mishra's Workshop decks make up the fifth and final pillar. Workshops decks are commonly placed into to distinct, but often overlapping categories: Workshop prison, and Workshop aggro.

The distinction between Workshop aggro and prison can be a bit confusing, as both decks play a lot of the same artifacts. Both decks seek to lock out the opponent with cards that harm or otherwise place a strain on the opponent's mana. The real difference lies in the difference between a "hard lock" and a "soft lock".

A hard lock is one that has no conceivable way for the opponent to get out. Smokestack can create a hard lock, while cards like Trinisphere and Thorn of Amethyst only stop the opponent from playing spells until they can manage to pay the mana tax.

A Workshop aggro deck will lock out the opponent with the aforementioned lock pieces, use those pieces as a sort of "Time Walk", and beat the opponent down with their creature-based threats.

In times past, decks of various colors used Mishra's Workshop to power out artifacts ahead of the curve, and sought to lock out an opponent with a hard lock like Smokestack and Crucible of Worlds. Five color Stax is an example of a Workshop prison deck, as it has a game plan involving the Smokestack hard-lock.

The vast majority of contemporary Workshop decks are completely (or nearly so) colorless. The main impetus behind the switch to a mono-brown strategy was the printing of this little beauty in Worldwake:

With a deck made up of all artifacts, Lodestone Golem becomes a strictly-better Juggernaut with a one-sided mana-tax on the opposing player. Juggernaut was once a staple in Workshop decks, it's almost if someone printed Lodestone Golem specifically to fit into this pillar.

Espresso Stax was the earliest successful deck of its type that I could find. Searching through deck lists on MTGGoldfish, I've found only a small amount of Espresso Stax being played. The vast majority are Kuldotha Forgemaster lists, generally referred to as Martello Shops.

Metalworker Workshop decks are a distant second to Forgemaster lists, but they do represent another type of deck in this pillar. These decks often belong to the Workshop combo category. Metalworker and Staff of Domination can combine to create infinite mana.

In the comments last week, someone mentioned the lack of a Metalworker deck in the article, so I chose one as the example deck this time. Here's an example of a Metalworker combo Shops deck:

What makes a healthy metagame?

When each of the pillars of Vintage have decks that are capable of a decent finish, that makes for what we refer to as a health metagame. Variety, in essence, is what the DCI wants to see in Magic tournaments. In most formats, a top eight consisting of eight different archetypes would be considered a healthy metagame, due to the sheer variety of viable decks.

When we group decks under the pillars, it allows us to view things at large, and a different picture is often revealed. Consider how many decks fall under the Mana Drain pillar. These decks, like Delver, Mentor, Grixis, and Oath, make up a large portion of the field. To me, this shows that this pillar is one of the most powerful and widely-played groups of decks.

The Mishra's Workshop pillar also accounts for a large portion of the metagame. In fact, Shops takes up almost as much of a percentage as all of the blue-based decks, if we're looking just Magic Online results.

Now, how much of the online meta (according to MTGGoldfish) is made up of the other pillars? Well, all together, Mishra's Workshop and Mana Drain make up over half of the metagame, meaning that the other pillars are fighting for the leftover scraps, so to speak. To me, this suggests that the other pillars are likely under-supported by recent printings, and the other pillars have slowly gained more powerful cards. Dredge is an exception to this, and the reason it is played less is that not that many people like to play it. People don't decide to waste six sideboard slots on a bad deck.

In my opinion, if Wizards of the Coasts wanted to balance the Vintage metagame a little bit, other than just restricting cards, they could print cards that would help the other pillars. Adding new cards to supplementary products would allow the new additions to be printed at a higher power-level, as they wouldn't be Standard or Modern-legal. Cards like Containment Priest could slot into a Null Rod-type deck, like Hatebears, so I consider cards like it a good type of card to print.

I'm not sure if printing things to make storm decks better is a good idea, even though I like playing those kind of decks. Storm decks can win games very quickly, a fact which bothers some people.

Last week, there was a discussion in the comment thread about the power of the Gush/Delve/Cantrip draw engine, and the effect that engine has on the Vintage metagame. The fact is, that choosing a successful deck essentially comes down to selecting either Mana Drain or Mishra's Workshop.

Once you've chosen one of those two pillars, you figure out which variation will have the best shot at beating the field at your next Daily Event. Oath is good against Shops, Shops is good against decks with low mana-counts, and so on. This is all fine and good, but it does drive a lot of other deck types out of the picture. In my opinion, more variety would increase the health of the metagame, and maybe even make the format more accessible by making cheaper decks like Merfolk into tournament viable options. I know that Merfolk has done well in the past, but I've rarely seen it online, and it would be nice to see decks like it do well consistently.

Well folks, I have another interview for you this week. If you've been following my articles, you've surely noticed me mention the podcast "So Many Insane Plays", and reference how much I love it. Kevin Cron, host of the podcast along with Stephen Menendian, was nice enough to answer a few of my questions. I'm very excited to be bringing this to you all, the in-depth discussions on the SMIP podcast represent what I love most about Vintage, the strategic complexity, and the incredible power of the cards that see play.

JF: When did you first become a Magic player, and how long have you been involved in the Vintage tournament scene?

Kevin: I learned Magic in 1994 in my cousin's garage at our annual Fourth of July family gathering. After one sitting I was hooked and immediately went home to start my collection. Although Arabian Nights, Antiquities and Legends were on the shelves, they were more money than I wanted to spend ($10 for a pack!?!), so my first packs were Revised. I played casually until 1996 when I learned about tournaments and formats. When T2 was distinguished from T1 and T1.5, I immediately knew with which format my passion resided. I acquired my power in 1996/97, but my interest in competitive Vintage didn't start until around 2001, when I met Steve Menendian. We've been good friends, playing Vintage, ever since.

JF: I'm a fan of "So Many Insane Plays". Can you tell me how Podcast came to be?

Kevin: Steve and I played, tested and developed for years. We have always had a passion for analyzing the Vintage format. He is a prolific writer (possibly the most) in Vintage and when podcasts started to become a regular part of my daily media intake, I noticed a distinct lack of representation for Vintage in the Magic podcasts being produced. As soon as I mentioned the idea of the two of us hosting a show, Steve was immediately on board. The title of the show matched his current Vintage article series, but more importantly it reflects the exciting energy that we both derive from the format. It took a few false starts (lost recordings) before we could get episode 1 finished, but the content flowed naturally for us and we've had a blast making the show. It's difficult for us to record as much as we'd like, but we're always energized once we do.

JF: We've passed the 20th anniversary of Alpha, Magic's first set. Where do you see Vintage in the next ten to twenty years?

Kevin: Vintage has been in a very healthy, steady state for more than a decade, recently. (Not that there was anything wrong with it, prior.) The format ebbs and flows with new printings and metagame changes, but on an appropriately longer wavelength than rotating formats. I see no reason why this should not continue to be the case. Vintage has weathered multiple major rules changes, bans, restrictions, unrestrictions, new card types and shifts in the overall sophistication of the player base. As long as Wizards of the Coast continues with their relatively steady hand in format management and new card printings, the format will continue to grow and adapt in a very healthy way. The greatest uncertainly, in my opinion, is the relative weight of support for digital Vintage and paper Vintage. Policy changes could mean that one or the other takes dominance. I don't generally think that paper Vintage will take dominance, without a creative solution to the Reserved List, but digital Vintage has a great range of possible futures. I won't be surprised if the medium through which we experience Vintage is dramatically different in 10-20 years, but I expect the format to be similarly healthy and exciting.

JF: Vintage has a Metagame that is broken down into five pillars, represented by these cards; Mana Drain, Null Rod, Bazaar of Baghdad, Dark Ritual, and Mishra's Workshop. Which of these pillars do you most enjoy playing?

Kevin: Although the pillar system, as you stated, has evolved from when it was originally postulated, I can confidently answer: Mana Drain. Said pillars have ever-shifting representation in the metagame, of course, but it's more helpful to point out that the tenants of some pillars are represented without their titular card. - Workshop and Bazaar have survived as the central cards of their respective archetypes. - Mana Drain is not gone, by any stretch, but many combo-control decks exist without it, given the abundance of quality countermagic recently printed (Spell Pierce, Mental Misstep, Flusterstorm). - Null Rod, similar to Mana Drain, still enjoys use, but the original pillar's reference to aggro-control decks substitute many cards for the effect: Stony Silence, Chalice of the Void, Thalia, etc. - Dark Ritual has taken the biggest hit in representation, due primarily to aforementioned high quality countermagic. Mental Misstep and Flusterstorm, in particular, have pushed Ritual-based combo nearly out of the format. Doomsday is the best representative for the card, today, and the deck doesn't always even include it, much less four. Mono-Blue Belcher and Gush Storm are the spiritual successors, replacing the original accelerant with more consistent forms. I personally have preferred combo control decks in Vintage for the past 10+ years. I prefer a deck that can control the pace of the game, but that threatens powerful plays at any turn (Tinker, Yawgmoth's Will, Jace, etc.).

JF: What deck do you think is the best deck in Vintage right now?

Kevin: Nearly every deck has draws that can win every matchup. (Landstill vs. Dredge in game 1 is the best exception!) I think the best deck in Vintage is whichever one properly positions itself among the top 4-6 decks for a given tournament. There are so many axes on which we can measure "best": - Tournament Winning: the best deck is likely either Martello Shops (Forgemaster) or URw Delver/Mentor. - Consistency: URw or URg Delver has the narrowest band of expected draws/performance. - Power: Mono-Blue Belcher or Workshops have the highest ceiling for dominant games. Any player that can properly navigate these factors in the metagame they are playing in is playing the best deck.

JF: I'm particularly fond of Monastery Mentor, and I've played several builds. It seems to me that a stock list hasn't yet surfaced. How close to you think the current Mentor decks are to being optimal decks?

Kevin: Across Magic formats, there are phases to a deck's development. The first phase is the introduction, frequently when a card/set is first printed. Mentor's first stage entered the format with multiple distinct approaches. Mentor had sporadic success at this stage, which lead to more focused development and stage two builds. Mentor decks have demonstrated a relatively consistent stage two median list, but there is still a lot of experimentation on the fringes. Mentor has only recently passed into stage three, where it is widely implemented and countermeasures in other decks have become standard. This third stage has some wilder offshoots (to invalidate certain countermeasures and gain advantage in the mirror) as well as a host of subtler adjustments to hone the median approach. I don't expect that Mentor decks will become any more standardized than they are now. Similar to Delver decks, they are now a part of the metagame that jockeys for position among the other decks, but rarely strays too far from the center.

JF: Is there anything that you feel Wizards of the Coast could do to promote Vintage or Legacy more than they are now?

Kevin: Of course, the Reserved List; but I don't feel like pulling at that string is very helpful in the context of this piece. Vintage is a fun format that benefits greatly from exposure. I think that Wizards has given Vintage a disproportionate amount of their energy over the past few years, and the format has reaped the rewards of additional attention. The Vintage Super League is an excellent example. There are a few key things that I want Wizards to KEEP doing: - Keep printing cards that are exciting and powerful in Eternal formats (Flusterstorm, Dack, Grafdigger's Cage). - Keep monitoring the Banned and Restricted List for improvements, and take a measured look at dominant cards from the past (see Gifts Ungiven and Burning Wish). - Keep offering the ability to play Vintage online. (duh) - Keep integrating Vintage into high profile events where it can get exposure (VSL, MOCS, etc.) In the spirit of your question, and at the risk of bringing up The List That Will Not Be Named, again: I want the clever people at Wizards to come up with a clever way to make paper Vintage more accessible. Vintage Champs should be the size of a GP in 2015, not the size of a GP in 2002.

JF: If a newer Magic player asked you for advice on getting into the Vintage format, what advice might you give to them?

Kevin: That's easy: proxy up a few decks and play with your friends! Lists are readily available and the format is incredibly fun. It naturally draws attention to itself and you can transition from proxy fun decks to proxy tournaments at a moment's notice. The Vintage community is a great one, and paper events are always a blast. Also, if you're the sort of player with an appropriate online collection, dailies are firing with regularity.

JF: Will you be attending Eternal Weekend this year?

Kevin: Absolutely.

JF: What would winning the Vintage Championship mean to you?

Kevin: Vintage Champs is the highest goal in my Magic career. I don't ever expect to be on the Pro Tour (not that I'm even trying), and I'm not an SCG grinder. Vintage is the format that I love and I've devoted more time and energy to it than all but a small slice of Magic players. Many of my close friends and teammates have won the event and I want my turn. I've made Top 8 three times, so I know the goal is within my grasp. Every year, after the event, I'm already chomping at the bit for next year. When and if I win, I'll be overjoyed, and I'll immediately want to be the first repeat winner!

Thanks again Kevin for granting me this interview! You can follow Kevin Cron on Twitter @Kevincron , and you can follow the podcast on Twitter @ManyInsanePlays. If you're interested in listening to the podcast, you can find it on MTGCast or on Eternal Central. If you're a fan of Vintage, and you haven't listened to the show, I highly recommend it!

Closing Thoughts - Self Evaluation.

I've spent a lot of time in my life trying to better myself in one way or another. I've lived an existence that at times, ranged from chaotic, all the way to downright insane. That was many years ago. I've since settled down, and started a family. The point here isn't to bore you with the details of my personal life, but to make an example of how someone can change.

In my case, this change was forged through conscience decision-making, and a desire to be a better human being. I've succeeded in this, by my own standards. This wasn't always an easy process, but it has been a journey that was well worth the effort.

Although the details of a digital card game are frivolous in comparison to the trials we all face on a daily basis, Magic is a game that all of us - to some varying degree, take seriously. In the interest of making myself a better Magic player, I've tried to use the same introspective behaviors to sharpen my skills and tighten up my game.

My first step began as I watched some of my replays the other night. Now, there were some mulligans, and also I had some unfortunate top-decks, but in just a few minutes I noticed some seriously careless mistakes.

"Why was I making such obvious misplays?", I asked myself. I clearly understood what I'd done wrong, so I think that I've mastered enough strategy to make good decisions. Why was I still making these terrible plays? The only answer I could come up with, is that I was nervous, which is kind of ridiculous. The only pressure being applied in that situation was self-imposed. Next to nothing was on the line, and the only person who really cared about it, was me.



So, how do I avoid mistakes like this? I watched myself play some tournament practice matches, and I noticed that I was making better plays. I didn't care enough about it to worry. That isn't to say that I didn't care to win, because I always play to win. I just didn't mind if I lost- it stopped being a big deal. Once I realized this, I started to try to get myself in this mental mindset at all times. I feel now as if things are slowly improving.

One day, I was watching a video of a pro player (whose name I'm withholding), and they made a mistake. It was an obvious error, and they noticed it as well and spoke up about it just as I was thinking the same thing. More importantly than stating that they had made an error, was the fact that they completely took it in stride.

When you're a professional Magic player, you can't dwell on such things, and you can't let mistakes throw you off of your game. If you let each mistake cause you to tilt, you're only going to make more of them.



Don't let one error ruin your entire tournament. Don't blame variance all the time. You must have the strength of character to take your own fearless and searching Magic inventory. And no matter what, do not treat the act of admitting your own mistakes to be a sign of weakness. People who can't admit they are wrong are emotionally stunted individuals, and you're better than that, I know it. Stay calm, level-headed, learn from your mistakes, and consciously decide to avoid making them in the future.

Before I go, I have a bonus deck list for everyone to look at. I ended up playing against The Atog Lord last weekend in a Daily Event, and he defeated my Forgemaster Shops list with a Smokestack deck that is reminiscent of Five-Color Stax decks of years past. I almost thought that I was in a mirror-match when I saw a Mishra's Workshop, but soon some interesting Goblin Welder shenanigans ensued. I asked about the deck, and The Atog Lord told me that it was a Roland Chang creation. So, here it is, for your viewing pleasure!

That's all I have for this week folks. If you enjoyed this article, feel free to click on the Eternal Spotlight header, it links to all my other articles. I have several months' worth of weekly articles for your reading pleasure.

I'd like to thank AtomicBoosh for creating the logo for this article series. It looks fantastic, and I like it so much that I made it my desktop background! Without all of the kind folks at puremtgo, this article series wouldn't exist. So, thanks to all of you!

And, as always...

Thanks for reading!

Joe Fiorini - Islandswamp on MTGO

Follow me on Twitter @josephfiorinijr