UnrestrictGifts

Welcome everyone, to yet another installment of The Eternal Spotlight. I have another interview for you this week, and I'm very excited about this one. When my foray into Vintage began, I was playing Storm decks. They were cheaper than some of the alternatives, and they seemed really broken and fun to play. I suppose that Storm decks were the embodiment of what I thought Vintage was supposed to be all about.

Anyway, some of the first decks that I downloaded and played were from Daily Events, and the name UnrestrictGifts kept popping up, so I went with those lists. This player must be pretty good, I reasoned, as they'd been cashing the events with regularity. As I learned more about the format, I discovered that UnrestrictGifts is none other than Andy "Brass Man" Probasco, a veteran of the paper Vintage scene. He's made top eight at Vintage Champs, taking second to Roland Chang's Stax deck, and also made top eight of a Legacy Grand Prix. In addition, he's won Waterbury (a paper Vintage tournament held in Connecticut), and he's been a writer for Star City Games. Mr. Probasco is also a really nice guy, as he was extremely helpful in creating this article, and answering my questions about Vintage in general. So, Brass Man, thank you so much! I hope everyone has as much fun reading this as I did writing it!

Islandswamp: So, Mr. Probasco, how long have you been playing Vintage and Legacy?

Brass Man: I built my first Vintage deck around 2003, at the end of the first Gush era, just in time for the very first Vintage Championships. I played a little Legacy back when it was called Type 1.5, and the banned list was coupled to the Vintage restricted list - and I went to the very first Legacy GP after the change. I never got serious about the format until I moved to Atlanta in 2007, where Vintage wasn't as common but there was a growing Legacy scene. I live back in Boston now, and I don't play Legacy anymore. I still think it's a great format, but it takes a lot of work to keep up with. I only have so much time to dedicate to testing, and Vintage keeps me plenty busy.

Islandswamp: Which Magic format is your favorite and why?

Brass Man: I've just been too close to Vintage for too much of my life to say anything else. The format has had ups and downs but I can't stay away (and believe me, I've tried). Block is my favorite non-eternal format, though I've only ever played while testing for Pro Tours, when the format is wide open. Cube with friends is my favorite casual format, though I don't play as often as I'd like. Some of my fondest magic memories are playing "Type 4" (a once-popular casual format with infinite mana and big, swingy effects) at a diner with my closest friends, hours into the early morning. ---

Islandswamp: Where did the name "Brass Man" come from? Is that card a particular favorite of yours?

Brass Man: I might not be remembering the timeline correctly, but I've always liked the card and I used to collect it. When I started playing Vintage, my friends and I made T Shirts that said "Team Brass Man" on them - but since I would go to a lot of tournaments without them, people started calling me "That Brass Man guy." The informal team disbanded, but the nickname stuck. Though sometimes I think it's more fun to answer that question with "BECAUSE I ALWAYS GO 1-3!"

Islandswamp: Which Magic: The Gathering achievement are you the most proud of?

Brass Man: My most impressive finish was making the finals of GP Chicago in 2009. I've played on the PT twice, which is something a lot of players aspire to, even if I didn't finish in the money. I think I'm more proud of my Vintage finishes though. Winning Waterbury (The TMD Open), and Star City Games "Power 9" tournaments were a very big deal to Vintage players at the time. I've always sort of self-identified more as a deck-builder than a player. Winning is great, but I'm just as proud when a friend of mine does well with a deck I built for them. Also my team is undefeated at The Mana Drain Open Vintage Team Trivia. For like, five years. Surely this trumps all other considerations.

Islandswamp: I'm a fan of your Vintage streams on Twitch.TV How long have you been streaming, and what prompted your decision to start?

Brass Man: I only started streaming earlier this year, my wife got me a decent camera/microphone at Christmas. At first I wanted to stream live Vintage games, it felt like a niche that wasn't being served. I streamed a few test sessions, but logistically it turned out difficult to do regularly. Since I already had the gear and the Twitch account, making the jump to Magic Online was an easy move.

Islandswamp: How healthy do you feel the metagames are for the Eternal formats (Vintage/Legacy) at the moment?

Brass Man: Format health is something that's hard for people to agree on, and I think that most people just want a metagame where their favorite deck is competitive. If I try to find some objective criteria, I want a format with diverse deck choices (but not TOO diverse, that's a problem, too), and interactive games. I want to minimize the games where one player doesn't get to make any relevant decisions. I can't speak for Legacy, but I think Vintage is at a great place right now as far as diversity goes, and the most problematic, non-interactive blue decks have been successfully nerfed (after years of trying). There's definitely some room for improvement though. For my taste, there are still too many games that are determined entirely by opening hands.

Islandswamp: The most recent DCI Banned and Restricted List update has come and gone with absolutely no changes. Did you expect for there to be no changes, and do you agree with this decision?

Brass Man: I'm glad there were no changes this announcement, but maybe for selfish reasons. I've been testing for champs for a while, and any major change one month before Eternal Weekend would put everyone back at square one - taking away my data, and giving a big advantage to players who have more time to test in August. There are so few major Vintage tournaments in the United States, it would be a real shame to kill off some of the decks I've seen people develop this past year, before anyone got a chance to play them at champs. The next announcement, though, I wouldn't mind a shakeup.

Islandswamp: What's your pick for the best deck in Vintage?

Brass Man: It's really hard to match the power level of Workshop deck these days. If winning matches is your top priority, it's tough to beat. Of course, the old adage is always true - you're just going to do better with a deck you're more comfortable with. If you make less mistakes with one of the Gush-based aggro-control decks or Dredge, those are going to perform pretty well for you too. I wouldn't recommend a Ritual/Storm combo deck at the moment even if you're very skilled with it - the Workshop match-up is just too bad. ---

Islandswamp: Will you be attending Eternal Weekend this year? If so, can you give us a spoiler as to what you'd like to play?

Brass Man: I was on the fence for a while, I haven't been to Eternal Weekend/Champs for some time, but I've made the arrangements and I'll be going this year. There's a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time that I'd love to catch up with. I'm not going to say what I'm playing, but it's no big secret. Anyone who watched my stream would know what I've been working on (hint hint).

Islandswamp: Your MTGO name is UnrestrictGifts. Now that your wish has been granted, what's the next card you'd like to see freed from the restricted list?

Brass Man: I never thought it made sense to restrict Thirst for Knowledge in the first place, and Ponder being on there isn't relevant as long as Preordain and the other basically-equivalent cantrips are free [un-restricted]. Those seem like the "safest" options to me. My dream-unrestriction would be Brainstorm - I love what it does to the format - but I get why it's there, and I get that unrestricted Brainstorm would upset a lot of people, and it may just be safer to leave it where it is.

Gifts - Un-Restricted...

Here's a classic (Gift's Ungiven) deck. This is the type of deck that showcased the power of a dedicated Gifts deck in the hands of a competent player. It was decks like this that ultimately lead to Gifts being restricted for quite some time.

Looking at the Gifts deck, we can see that while a lot has changed since 2005, the basic workings of a Tendrils of Agony deck have remained very similar. Instead of a flurry of Dark Rituals leading to a Yawgmoth's Will, this deck used Gifts Ungiven to set up a lethal pile of doom for the opponent to sift through. If played correctly, there would be no pile that the opponent could pick that would not result in their untimely death.

I'm reminded of a story I heard Andy tell on the Serious Vintage podcast, where he cast a Gifts while the card was still very new. He presented his opponent a pile of four cards, and watched as his opponent picked two cards to add to his hand. It took the opponent a few tries at a safe combination before they finally realized that this was it, there was no pile that would allow them to survive. You've got to admire the art of such a card. I know that personally, I'm not very good with Gifts. I've not played it very much, but the times that I have, I've messed it up more that once. It's not like jamming a deck full of Lightning Bolt clones, it takes quite a bit of forethought to get it right! When it succeeds though, it's a grand thing to witness.

Up next, I want to share with you another Brass Man creation. This is a version of The Perfect Storm that he has named "Bombs Over Baghdad".

This is certainly an interesting deck. TPS has been on the decline for some time on Magic Online, and I presume that this is due to the prevalence of Workshop decks everywhere. Other factors include cards like Mental Misstep, Flusterstorm, and Mindbreak Trap that have made one of Storm's most potent weapons, draw-seven effects, even riskier than they already were.

Still, in the hands of a skilled pilot, Storm decks are deadly. Ham on Wry was a big event that drew some skilled players, making top eight would have been a grueling task. To me, that suggests that this deck list was on to something. I plan on getting some reps in with it as soon as I finish building it.

I'd like to thank Brass Man again for granting me the interview. I always enjoy them, and reader feedback suggests that I'm not alone in having that sentiment.

Five Harsh Truths of Vintage

I've been testing decks and making new lists, trying to find something new to play. I'm not looking for something new because I feel that I need a new deck, but because Vintage is a large format, and I feel like there are some other powerful, top-tier decks waiting to be discovered. I'm not entirely sure what those hypothetical decks might look like, but I have come to a few decisions about the current Vintage metagame. Here's a few of my basic concepts I've come up with:

1. Mishra's Workshop is everywhere on Magic Online, and this means that Dark Ritual is not a strong choice to play.

I know that this is a bold statement, and I sincerely don't wish to offend anyone. I think that Storm decks are sweet, but when your worst match-up takes up nearly half of the field, perhaps it might be a good time to switch decks. It's rare that I don't face a Workshop deck in a tournament, and it is common for me to face more than one. As I mentioned last week, my last successful Vintage Daily had me paired against three Shops players out of four rounds of the event. That just seems like an awful lot to me.

I'm sure that there are plenty of paper tournaments where Shops isn't as prevalent, and those are the types of events that decks like TPS or Steel City Vault can thrive in. Lately I've been conversing with a Ritual aficionado that has a list that is supposed to be better prepared to face the Prison decks. I'll be testing that list out soon, because I'd love to have a combo deck that can win the Shops match-up on a regular basis.

2. Broken decks are not very consistent compared to Gush decks, Shops, or even Dredge (basically the rest of the field).

Just this morning, I lost a match to Grixis "Thieves" (or whatever the kids are calling the URB Time Vault deck these days) with Grixis Therapy. Game one, my opponent just happened to "have it", "it" being Tinker in this case, and it resolved. I almost set up a comeback with Lightning Bolts to race the poison counters, but I was one red mana short. Then in game two, my opponent had Vault/Key very early. I cast Force of Will on the Vault, my opponent Forced back, I Force again, and we are both at zero cards in hand. Well, I actually had three cards, then I drew a fourth, but they were all lands. My opponent top-decks a Yawgmoth's Will (of course) with a Black Lotus on the table. Scoop!

When that happened, I was a little tilted at first, but that's just the way things go in a format with a restricted list. It's easy to remember the time you get blown out, or top-decked on, but in reality that's a small percentage of matches. Gush decks like Delver or Grixis Therapy have far more slots dedicated to countermeasures. Landstill also packs more counters, and Shops can shut down a combo or hybrid combo/control deck's mana with Chalice of the Void, Wasteland, or basically any card in their deck. The odds of resolving the Tinker combo are sort of stacked against the pilot.

It's very possible to have games where you are completely free to resolve a Tinker, but you end up drawing Blightsteel Colossus at exactly the wrong moment, and you've already had your Voltaic Key Mental Missteped so there's no point in getting your Time Vault. My point is that all of these cards in a deck like Grixis Thieves, Steel City Vault, or basically any combo deck are extremely broken, but most do nothing by themselves. This can be a severe detriment when variance isn't swinging in your favor.

Most of the time that I face a combo deck with either my Delver decks, or the Grixis Therapy deck, I just walk all over them. More often than not, I'll have the counter in my hand when I need it, or I'll draw into an answer like Dack Fayden. Sometimes I have simply charged through a Blightsteel Colossus with a horde of elemental or monk tokens. So, even when my opponent does manage to resolve a Tinker, the game might not be over yet.

To play a combo deck or control deck with a combo finish, you are essentially trading in consistency for occasional bursts of unstoppable power. This means that decks like Grixis Vault Combo are likely better in Daily Events as they are in longer tournaments. With a larger sample size, the pendulum of variance should swing in a negative direction more often, leaving more consistent decks with better records.

This is likely why Oath of Druids decks are more consistent than Grixis Vault decks, Oath is a four-of, meaning that part of the combo has a higher chance of being drawn and played compared to needing a restricted card like Time Vault to combo off.

3. Draw7s are as fun as they are unpredictable and hazardous.

This is another reason that combo decks, especially Storm but also Steel City Vault decks aren't as strong as they were once before. At one time, all someone had to worry about generally was Force of Will when they would resolve a draw7. If you had Duress in your deck, you could likely draw one in your fresh seven to protect your combo from an opposing Force.

These days, a Wheel of Fortune could potentially fill the opponent's hand with Mindbreak Trap, Flusterstorm, Mental Misstep, or good old Force of Will/Misdirection. Savy players have filled their lists with Defense Grids to fight this problem, and it's helped to a degree. Still, it's one more card slot taken up by a card that can't actually win the game at all.

4. The better your Gush deck is in the mirror, the worse it will be against linear strategies like Mishra's Workshop or Dredge.

The last Daily I played in with Grixis Therapy didn't go very well. The list that I played only had one Pyroblast in the list, and it was in the sideboard like it's supposed to be. Main-deck Blasts are bad against Shops, but they are oh so sweet when you nuke someone's Jace with them!

The same can be said for many of the cards in any Gush deck, be it Delver, Pyromancer, or Mentor-based. The reason for this is simple: Linear decks like Shops and Dredge make their living fighting other decks on an axis that they are not comfortable with. Shops bends a mana base to the breaking point, and does it all with artifacts, a type of card that most decks can't reliably handle without sideboarding. Dredge ignores most things Magic-related and centers itself around a game zone that most lists have no main-deck cards to combat (the graveyard);

Now, if you put a bunch of Containment Priests, Disenchants and Grafdigger's Cages in the starting sixty of your Monastery Mentor deck, you're going to waste a lot of draw steps peeling bricks when you aren't facing Dredge or Shops.

5. A Vintage testing gauntlet should contain Dredge, Shops, Oath, and Gush decks (Mentor, Delver, Pyromancer).

Those decks are powerful, consistent, and always a contender to steal a win from you faster than you can hit your panic button. None of these decks just fold to a Null Rod, and they are an ever-present segment of the metagame.

Testing against Grixis Combo and the similar decks is fine, but I would feel more comfortable knowing that I was prepared for the aforementioned decks.

Playing against Vault? Set it and forget it!

I hope that these five points get people talking about the format. These are my own opinions and conclusions, I'm open to debating them, but I think they're all accurate in regards to the MTGO metagame. My conclusion is that Oath is the best unfair deck, Dredge is likely tied or very close to Oath though. This is why I cut Vault/Key from every list I brew, and it's also why I haven't been playing Storm of Steel City Vault. Combo does not feel like the best choice to me.

I can't say what the best deck is in the format, but I will say that a Gush deck, if it can reliably handle Oath, Dredge, and Shops, then it is likely a contender for the title. No deck is a sure thing against the entire field, that would be unhealthy and warrant a restriction. There are some lopsided match-ups out there, but just because your deck has one unfavorable match-up doesn't mean you should shelve it, unless that bad match-up consists of a huge portion of the field (Mishra, I'm looking at you).

Deck of the week!

This week, I'm naming a deck of the week. This is a deck that managed to beat me in the only Daily Event I was able to play in last week, and it certainly came out of left field:

This was a deck that I was not prepared for. Cavern of Souls makes landing an important creature easy, and Mental Misstep is great at protecting them from the popular removal spells of the day. This deck also has a lot of basic Mountains, so it's resilient to Wasteland.

Then of course, there's Krenko. That thing makes LOT of tokens fast. This is a deck that punishes people for not playing sweepers, and as far as I can tell, there aren't a lot of Pyroclasms being played at the moment. All of the basic Mountains are great against Workshop decks.

Way to shake things up, Shadowmagic. At least my misfortune was not in vain, the goblins secured a spot in the metagame. Keep on playing and brewing interesting decks!

Final Thoughts

On Vintage Daily Events

This last weekend was mind-blowing. Five consecutive Vintage Daily Events failed to fire. Did you think I meant "mind-blowing" as a positive description of the weekend? Well, I did not. I sincerely apologize for any confusion.

Given the severity of the situation, I think this warrants immediate action. This is a serious problem, and something has to be done. I'm not sure what exactly, but something.

The Friday night Vintage daily that I tried to play in did not fire. There were two people attempting to stream it, Brass Man and Rich Shay. Both of those people have plenty of Twitch viewers, and all of those people saw what it looks like when a MTGO Vintage tournament fails.

After two days of failing, the Sunday night Daily event went off without a hitch. It took Montolio rounding up every single Vintage player that he knows and having them sign up early just to make it happen. It wasn't easy, and I for one appreciate his efforts.

I know that part of the problem is that a lot of Vintage players sold their collections in fear of upcoming changes to the program. Being that Vintage is a small format online these days, having regular tournament players quit was a huge blow. I've heard that even Legacy, which has normally always had the minimum for Daily Events, has had a few events fail to fire. This brings me no joy, the eternal formats are all that I play.

Personally, I'm in this for the long haul, and I really hope that the vast majority of eternal Magic players keep their cards. We can always find a way to play, and I'm confident that things will improve over time. They can only get better from here, right?

That's all I have for this week, until next time, keep on rocking in a free world.

You can follow Andy Probasco on Twitter by clicking here. To view Brass Man's Twitch stream, click here.