Hi, and welcome to the first installment of Vintage Decksmashing, where we take two Vintage decks and smash them together. We’ll analyze the matchup and look at how things should play out, including the most important cards, winning strategies, and how to sideboard. Along the way, you can learn about the great format of Vintage. Maybe we’ll dispel some of the myths that surround Vintage. You’ll see that Vintage is interactive and skill intensive, testing skills that go beyond those practiced in Standard, Modern, and even Legacy.

We’ll also note for those unaware that it’s become common in the U.S. and elsewhere to host Vintage tournaments that allow proxies, to reduce the cost of entry to the format. This might range from allowing five or 10 proxies of the player’s choice to specifying only cards banned in Legacy to allowing any number of cards to be proxied. While this would seem strange in any other format, Vintage players are used to it and have been for many years.

If you’re interested in getting into Vintage, feel free to proxy decks to test against friends. You might even be able to play them in a nearby tournament. Visit www.themanadrain.com for tournament information as well as other Vintage resources.

This week Paul Blakeley and Nat Moes take a look at the Noble (Mostly Bant) Fish versus RUG Delver matchup. Paul played his Noble Fish list to a top-four finish in Sandusky, Ohio, in December:

[deck title=Noble Fish]

[Lands]

3 Flooded Strand

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Savannah

1 Strip Mine

3 Tropical Island

2 Tundra

1 Underground Sea

3 Wasteland

[/Lands]

[Creatures]

4 Deathrite Shaman

2 Noble Hierarch

4 Qasali Pridemage

3 Tarmogoyf

1 True-Name Nemesis

2 Trygon Predator

2 Vendilion Clique

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Sapphire

3 Stony Silence

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Brainstorm

3 Daze

1 Flusterstorm

4 Force of Will

3 Mental Misstep

2 Swords to Plowshares

1 Time Walk

[/Spells]

[Sideboard]

4 Grafdigger’s Cage

2 Kataki, War’s Wage

2 Trygon Predator

1 Yixlid Jailer

2 Flusterstorm

2 Ravenous Trap

1 Steel Sabotage

1 Swords to Plowshares

[/Sideboard]

[/deck]

“Fish” in Vintage usually refers to a creature-based disruption deck that plays blue for [card]Force of Will[/card], [card]Ancestral Recall[/card], and [card]Time Walk[/card]. The term derived from the merfolk the original lists had and stuck as the archetype moved beyond that tribe and into others. “Noble Fish” came originally from [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] as well as the deck’s fortuitously named creator, Mykie Noble. Again, this name now refers to most Bant Fish lists, including Paul’s which splashes black for [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] activations and [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]. The addition of [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] is recent to Noble Fish and gives the deck (with [card]Noble Hierarch[/card]) better acceleration to play three-drops and ignore the effects of its own [card]Wasteland[/card]s and [card]Stony Silence[/card].

Paul’s creatures can tangle with most anything in the format that isn’t put into play by [card]Tinker[/card] or [card]Oath of Druids[/card], and there’s plenty of removal for artifacts like [card]Time Vault[/card] or those played off of [card]Mishra’s Workshop[/card]. With its free counters, acceleration creatures, land removal, and [card]Stony Silence[/card] (for Moxes and [card]Black Lotus[/card]), the deck can also play a vicious tempo game.

Nat played A.J. Grasso’s second-place list from November’s Vintage Championship, held in Philadelphia:

[deck title=RUG Delver]

[Lands]

3 Tropical Island

3 Volcanic Island

2 Island

2 Polluted Delta

2 Flooded Strand

2 Scalding Tarn

1 Misty Rainforest

[/Lands]

[Creatures]

4 Delver of Secrets

4 Tarmogoyf

3 Young Pyromancer

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Ruby

4 Force of Will

4 Mental Misstep

4 Gush

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Spell Pierce

3 Flusterstorm

2 Preordain

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Ponder

1 Brainstorm

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Time Walk

1 Ancient Grudge

1 Steel Sabotage

[/Spells]

[Sideboard]

4 Grafdigger’s Cage

3 Nature’s Claim

2 Hurkyl’s Recall

2 Ancient Grudge

2 Pyroblast

2 Umezawa’s Jitte

[/Sideboard]

[/deck]

This deck might appear to have a similar gameplan as Noble Fish-disrupt, play creatures, and attack-but there are fewer creatures in this compared to Fish (11 to 18). Where the Fish deck wants to play multiple creatures and attack with all of them, the RUG deck is more comfortable playing one or two relatively more powerful creatures and backing them up with counterspells. Vintage spells are already good, but they’re even better when [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] is giving you a 1/1 token or [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] is growing, for example.

The counterspells in Grasso’s RUG Delver list are geared more toward fighting spell-based threats, completely unlike the creatures Paul is planning to present. [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] helps shore up this weakness, as well as ending the game if there’s a board stall. Not having to have many lands in play, and therefore being able to use Gush as a draw engine, will also help keep the RUG deck ahead. Gush also presents an interesting option to avoid [card]Wasteland[/card]s.

Overall, [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] and the improved draw engine will tend to swing the match in favor RUG Delver, though Noble Fish has some options that will win in a hurry. If Pyromancer hits and sticks, it means that RUG is playing a theoretically infinite number of creatures, to Fish’s 18. [card]Trygon Predator[/card] and [card]Vendilion Clique[/card] can go over the [card]Elemental[/card] horde, though; True-Name Nemesis ignores everything; and [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] has its own bag of tricks. Attacking with a single flyer also brings Exalted into play. Since RUG Delver runs lean on lands, it might also be possible for Noble Fish to hit two or three early with [card]Wasteland[/card]s and get in before RUG can recover.

Game 1 – Elemental, Dear Watson

Nat, on RUG Delver, won the roll and elected to play first, keeping a hand of [card]Brainstorm[/card], [card]Preordain[/card], [card]Mox Sapphire[/card], [card]Scalding Tarn[/card], [card]Misstep[/card], [card]Spell Pierce[/card], [card]Flusterstorm[/card]. Not a bad keep, but it will lean on [card]Brainstorm[/card] (with [card]Scalding Tarn[/card] to shuffle) and [card]Preordain[/card] to find a threat; [card]Spell Pierce[/card] and [card]Flusterstorm[/card] won’t be much help versus Fish. Paul mulliganed his Noble Fish into [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card], [card]Vendilion Clique[/card], [card]Force of Will[/card], [card]Wasteland[/card], [card]Tundra[/card], and [card]Flooded Strand[/card], throwing away a hand without workable mana. Nat opened with Sapphire and [card]Brainstorm[/card], which resolved, finding [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] and allow him to shuffle away [card]Flusterstorm[/card]. Delver drew [card]Force of Will[/card] (pitching [card]Vendilion Clique[/card]) from Paul; “I like that trade,” said Nat. Paul played a land and passed.

Next turn, Nat fortunately drew a [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] and followed it up with a [card]Preordain[/card] into [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] and a token. Things were looking good for the RUG Delver side, and Nat played Gush into a second [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] on the next turn. Paul had [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] and almost turned the tide with [card]Wasteland[/card] and [card]Stony Silence[/card] shutting Nat’s mana down to a lone Island and leading to a few turns of standoff, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the tide of [card]Elemental[/card]s. A topdecked [card]Volcanic Island[/card] ended the game in a flurry of [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s.

After the game, Paul noted that he wouldn’t Force a Delver in games two or three, when there’s more spot removal available to him. Making a two-for-one trade out of a mull to six is bad news, and pitching [card]Vendilion Clique[/card] didn’t help either, since the 3/1 could have gone over the top for several points of damage had it resolved and survived.

Paul boarded -3 Stony Silence; +1 [card]Trygon Predator[/card], +2 [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] on the play and an additional -3 Daze; +1 [card]Kataki, War’s Wage[/card], +2 [card]Flusterstorm[/card] on the draw in game three. RUG Delver doesn’t have enough artifacts (even with [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card] from the board) to warrant Stony Silence’s inclusion, even though it can help with the mana denial plan as shown in game one. Bringing in more creatures puts him firmly on the aggro side of things, and Trygon being a flyer helps fend off Delvers and deal evasive damage. [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] is automatic.

Nat boarded -3 [card]Flusterstorm[/card], -2 [card]Force of Will[/card], -1 [card]Steel Sabotage[/card], -1 Ancient Grudge; +2 [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card], +3 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card], +2 [card]Pyroblast[/card]. Boarding out [card]Force of Will[/card] is a risky move that proposes getting two-for-one’d isn’t worth stopping one of Noble Fish’s creatures. It probably is, though, since [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] and True-Name can’t be Bolted. [card]Pyroblast[/card] at least answers True-Name and Clique by itself, and Jitte could answer everything. [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] was a late addition against [card]Stony Silence[/card] an did nothing since Paul boarded those out.

Game 2 – Much of the Same

Paul and Nat both kept seven for game two, and Paul led with [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card], which drew a [card]Mental Misstep[/card] from Nat. A second [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] on turn two got through, however, and was met by [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] on Nat’s side. Paul Wastelanded a [card]Volcanic Island[/card] and used the Shaman to accelerate into True-Name Nemesis, which drew a [card]Force of Will[/card] to Paul’s surprise. Nat played [card]Preordain[/card] and Ponder and swung in for damage. Paul played another [card]Wasteland[/card] and [card]Trygon Predator[/card]s on successive turns as Nat swung in with plentiful [card]Elemental[/card] tokens and traded an [card]Insectile Aberration[/card] for one of the artifact-eating beasts. A Gush, a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card], and a second [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] were enough to ice this game, as Paul could only answer with yet another [card]Trygon Predator[/card].

Nat was fortunate in both games to have [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] early and often, and even found a second in both games for good measure. Pyromancer will run away with the game against most of the creature decks in Vintage. Had Paul been able to answer them or shut down Nat’s spellcasting ability, the games would have gone much differently; he hasn’t seen [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] or [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] yet.

Game 3 – Baba O’Reily

Alternating the play, Nat kept a very Vintage-y seven of [card]Time Walk[/card], [card]Ancestral Recall[/card], [card]Mox Ruby[/card], [card]Tropical Island[/card], [card]Nature’s Claim[/card], and [card]Spell Pierce[/card], while Paul mulliganed to six. Nat played Ruby and Tropical into [card]Time Walk[/card], hoping to get a second mana source to back up Ancestral on turn two. (If he’d had any creatures, he would have played them and hoped to [card]Time Walk[/card] with one in play.) Instead, he drew [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] and played it, passing the turn. Paul had a threatening first turn of [card]Underground Sea[/card], [card]Black Lotus[/card], and [card]Mox Sapphire[/card] but passed the turn, holding [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card], and [card]Wasteland[/card] but no threats.

Delver flipped when Gush was revealed, and Nat attacked and passed, holding up mana for [card]Spell Pierce[/card]. Another, more aggressive option would have been to mainphase [card]Ancestral Recall[/card] and hope to draw the second land for Gush. Instead, Paul Wastelanded (“Uh oh.”), forcing Nat into Ancestral, which drew [card]Pyroblast[/card], [card]Lightning Bolt[/card], and another [card]Spell Pierce[/card]. No lands, but at least the red spells were playable, thanks to the Ruby. Paul then cracked Lotus for green and Abrupt Decayed the [card]Insectile Aberration[/card] and played [card]Trygon Predator[/card], which got Pyroblasted. The [card]Pyroblast[/card] ultimately ended up being Nat’s downfall, as several more turns with no land left him unable to deal with a True-Name Nemesis, despite a handful of [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s.

“The only way I can win is through mana screw!” said Paul, but the truth is the [card]Wasteland[/card] came at a critical time, and the game could have been much different had it not been there. Also evidenced was the power of True-Name Nemesis, which would have been impossible to Nat to deal with once it’s off the stack.

Here, we had to cut our games short so that Paul could get up early to shovel out his and his wife’s cars. The games we played seem typical of those I’ve seen playing similar RUG Delver decks and what Paul has seen playing Noble Fish; RUG generally has more powerful cards that can help carry it to victory over what might appear on the surface to be a similar deck. This doesn’t mean that Noble Fish can’t win, but that it has to play carefully to keep RUG from getting too far ahead. Focus on tying up mana and dealing with Young Pyromancer; you can compete with [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] and [card]Delver of Secrets[/card], usually, since you outnumber them. The first two games would have been much different had Pyromancer not been such a commanding presence.

Paul noted afterward that he would consider adding [card]Toxic Deluge[/card] to the board if this matchup (and other creature-heavy ones) get more popular. Deluge might wipe some of Noble Fish’s creatures too, but getting rid of any [card]Young Pyromancer[/card]s and all of their tokens would be worth it. Noble Fish has more creatures to play out after a board wipe too.

We’ll be back soon with other Decksmashing fun. If you have a matchup you’d like to see, let us know. You can get in touch with us here or through Twitter. Thanks for reading!

Paul Blakeley

@Prkchpsndwiches

Nat Moes

@GrandpaBelcher