I did not mean to take a break from Magic. I really did not. I was having a really good time grinding out MOCS points, earning my promos, and playing a crap ton of Dredge. A lot of things forced me in to taking a break though. The Journey into Nyx prerelease was a boondoggle. While the card art issue did not really mess up the cards themselves, it took a lot of the enjoyment out of the drafts for me. I love looking at the art in regards to Magic, and often times remember what the card does because of the art.



That's kinda why I hate altered cards so much. Yeah that Mox may look great, but why did you feel the need to have Rainbow Dash drawn on it? Really?



So giant Ms in the place of the art, and WotCs refusal to stand by a mistake they made kept me out of Magic for a week, but I felt the draw back to the client because let's face it, Legacy and Modern are both awesome formats, and I love to Dredge and Blue Tron people respectively. I had some fun making a ton of Zombies with Dredge, and taking peoples turns with Mindslaver, but even that fun had to end.



I had to sell my account because of an emergency. Hot water is indeed a good thing, and I talked about it a few weeks ago in the Freed from the Real podcast. A new water heater, updated plumbing and a set of stairs for my cellar later, and I was out one account, but with hot water. It was a needed trade off.



Without cards to play with, I looked to other games, but would make small purchases every so often. Mono Blue Devotion for Standard was first. Followed by the bulk of stuff I needed for Vintage Dredge (and I guess Legacy Dredge!) I'd cash out every so often to pick up silly things that I would eventually play with, but I heard the siren's song of Vintage Masters and wanted to save up. The chance of pulling power was part of it, but after seeing the full spoiler the set looked like it was well constructed for a limited format. I never drafted Modern Masters, and I wanted to make sure that I had the chance to do more than one Vintage draft.



I saved up 200 credits, cashed out, bought some cards, and then used the rest on glorious tickets. I drafted 6 times. It was the best day of Magic I had had in a while! I went 0-3 three times, I tried to force storm in my first draft, and I just failed. It was not my best effort. After that I started to force UG Madness. I went 3-0, 2-1 and 2-1 with Madness. It honestly felt like I was playing in a past Standard format.



Let's take a look at the deck that I went 3-0 with. I played against Goblins in the first round. I beat the mirror in the second and in round three I took down Storm.



Pack 1 pick 1:



My Pick:



Tradewind Rider seemed like the best card in the pack. Without a Madness outlet or a card with Madness in the pack, I figured I would want to take advantage of trying to force Blue Green.

Pack 1 pick 2:



My Pick:



Madness outlet. A very solid 2 drop that used to be in talks about best two drop ever printed. I made this dog each color!

Pack 1 pick 3:



My Pick:



Pretty sure this card was good enough for Ffej in his old Extended builds of UG Madness. It should be just fine here.

Pack 1 pick 4:



My Pick:



Should have taken the Chainer's Edict here. Owl Familiar can sometimes be a late game madness outlet. Of course for that to happen, I need to never see another discard ability in the packs.



Pack 1 pick 5:



My Pick:



Wild Mongrel 5-8 in the past, am happy to have it in my deck!



Pack 1 pick 6:



My Pick:



With this pick I was pretty sure that Madness was open and I was not regretting my decision to try to force it.



Pack 1 pick 7:



My Pick:



I like the idea of this guy. He comes down on turn two, blocks and makes a 3/3. Pretty good stuff here.



Pack 1 pick 8:



My Pick:



Roar of the Wurm. Pick 8. Hooray me!



Pack 1 pick 9:



My Pick:



Frantic Search is a possible madness outlet. I was also interested in hating a card away from the Storm deck. Giant Mantis would have been the better pick here.



Pack 1 pick 10:



My Pick:



A nice pump spell to help my Wurm push through extra damage.



Pack 1 pick 11:



My Pick:





Oh, Ok. This seems like a good 11th pick.



Pack 1 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 1:



My Pick:



Another creature with madness is something I happy about. I feel like I have the start to a pretty decent constructed deck.



Pack 2 pick 2:



My Pick:



I remember playing Madness a decade ago. I also remember how awful the mana was. This was a bit of a concession to the memory of terrible mana.



Pack 2 pick 3:



My Pick:



The art for Psychatog in Vintage Master's is awful. Just the worst thing ever. It's like a fat E.T.



Pack 2 pick 4:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 5:



My Pick:



Again Giant Mantis should have been the pick here.



Pack 2 pick 6:



My Pick:



Pick six is apparently my home boy.



Pack 2 pick 7:



My Pick:



Deep Analysis was a staple in Madness, and it fit pretty well in this deck.

Pack 2 pick 8:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 9:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 10:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 11:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 2 pick 15:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 1:



My Pick:



I went to time between Genesis and Arrogant Wurm. It was a tougher choice than I thought it would be, but I ended up with the wurm. In hindsight being able to regrow my dead threats may have been the better choice.



Pack 3 pick 2:



My Pick:



Another concession to the awful mana of Madness.



Pack 3 pick 3:



My Pick:



Flying Madness outlet.



Pack 3 pick 4:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 5:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 6:



My Pick:



Aww. No Arrogant Wurm in this sixth pick. Sad Face.

Pack 3 pick 7:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 8:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 9:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 10:



My Pick:



This pick was also harder than I wanted it to be. Repel will allow me to slow my opponent down, create some breathing room, and punch through damage. Drifters was a Madness outlet that also has temporary evasion. I could also discard my Basking Rootwalla to give it shadow to block one of the many shadow creatures in the format. I was faced with this decision in a later draft, and went away from Repel then.



Pack 3 pick 11:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 12:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 13:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 14:



My Pick:





Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:





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I was very happy with my draft. I had a solid Madness plan, a good bit of late game with the Abberations, Tusker and Whale. I could go to the sky with Avens. I could also have blistering fast starts. Let's take a look at the deck!







I would have more of a recap here, but I was super tired for some reason, and this was the second draft of the day for me! What I do have for you though is a stream of the draft and the first round that I played the deck. With this recording we will go ahead and end the article for now. I hope you all enjoyed my look at Madness in Vintage Masters, and feel free to let me know what you would have done differently! Thank you for reading!



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