The premiere of Season 9 of the Vintage Super League is next Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern (GMT -5). We’re running a series of articles to celebrate, like our intro to VSL Season 9, and running a few VSL fantasy leagues on Thousand Leagues!
Vintage has a long and complicated, yet fun and nostalgic past. You get to play with pretty much any card ever printed, including the infamous Power Nine—but some of the most powerful cards are restricted to only one copy per deck. This includes cards like Black Lotus, the Moxen, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, etc.
Although the tragic past of Vintage includes the banning of Brainstorm in June of 2008, which was not taken lightly by many Vintage players, it still holds a lot of nostalgia for players who get to cast these powerful spells like Black Lotus.
If you’re playing Vintage odds are you either like to brew, like me, or you are playing one of the five most popular decks. Each of these decks currently has the ability to use specific tools to beat each other, so why isn’t there a number one deck currently? We discussed this with Vintage expert Rich Shay in an interview which will be released early next week. In the meantime, let’s discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the Top 5 decks in Vintage.
5. Survival of the Fittest
Who doesn’t love Salad?
No?
What if it has machines in it? Still no?
What if we add cute little lizards like Basking Rootwalla? That’s more like it. For a long time,Survival of the Fittest wasn’t a contender in Vintage. I know because I tried it a couple years ago and it didn’t go very well—but it was certainly a lot of fun.
What made this deck a Top 5 deck? Hollow One. Believe it or not, every time you activate Survival you are discarding a card, which Hollow One likes. Because you are technically casting the Hollow One, that means every Vengevine you discard gets to come back to play if you cast two or more Hollow One or Basking Rootwalla (via Madness).
Strengths
- It has a value-based engine—Survival of the Fittest allows you to get value by discarding your creatures like Vengevine or Basking Rootwalla to find whatever toolbox creature you need.
- It can be aggressive—With a Survival and four or five mana, you can pretty much close out a game around two turns, while still being able to dig out hate cards without skipping a beat.
- Honorable mention—YOU GET TO PLAY SQUEE, GOBLIN NABOB WITHOUT BEING A MEME!
Weaknesses
- It’s graveyard-based—You really need the cards you discard to Survival of the Fittest to return to play from the graveyard and, with Dredge in the format, popular sideboard cards like Grafdigger’s Cage and Containment Priest can hit you hard.
- It’s mana intensive—Without ramp like a Black Lotus, Moxen, or mana dorks, it can take you up to five turns before you even start to think about being aggressive.
- You are playing Squee, Goblin Nabob…
Sample Decklist: The Atog Lord 5-0 Competitive Vintage League 1/6/2019
4. Xerox
Xerox is often a URx deck that relies on casting a bunch of cantrips to dig deep into your deck to find your win conditions while generating value at the same time. The key cards Xerox decks use to win are Young Pyromancer or Monastery Mentor, which get additional value from each cantrip, allowing you to go wide to beat your opponent.
Strengths
- It has a ton of cantrips —Card selection can often mean the difference between being a turn too slow and winning. If my draw step gives me a card that can allow me see (up to) three more cards, I can often find my win condition or hate cards before you can find yours.
- It can cast Dack Fayden—Generally not a huge advantage, but it is worth noting he makes it really awkward for your opponent to Tinker for Blightsteel Collosus.
Weaknesses
- It has a ton of cantrips—I put this in both categories because having such a high number of cantrips can also mean that you are often spinning your wheels trying to find a Young Pyromancer instead of closing out a game.
- It’s vulnerable to taxing effects—Taxing effects make your deck considerably slower and less efficient. A turn one Sphere of Resistance can often mean your deck will barely function.
Sample Decklist: ReneRandrup 5-0 Vintage Challenge 1/5/2019
| Creatures (6) 3 Snapcaster Mage 3 Young Pyromancer Spells (38) 2 Dack Fayden 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise 1 Ancestral Recall 2 Ancient Grudge 1 Brainstorm 1 Daze 1 Dig Through Time 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 2 Lightning Bolt 4 Mental Misstep 2 Pyroblast 2 Spell Pierce 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Skullclamp | Lands (16) 1 Island 3 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Strip Mine 2 Tropical Island 4 Volcanic Island 1 Wasteland Sideboard (15) 1 Wasteland 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Pyroblast 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Nature’s Claim 1 Null Rod 1 Pithing Needle 1 Shattering Spree |
3. Dredge
Dredge is a popular niche strategy in every eternal format, from Modern and Legacy to Vintage. For those of you who unfamiliar with Vintage, please meet Bazaar of Baghdad. Often times, when your opponent is taking many successive mulligans, it is because they are looking for one copy of this infamous land. Naturally, Dredge doesn’t mind putting cards into the graveyard since Dredge cards, as well Ichorid and Prized Amalgam, have no issues coming back from the grave.
Dredge has for a long time been known as “the boogeyman” of Vintage, so much so that it causes many decks to run up to nine pieces of graveyard hate in their sideboards. Even the Dredge decks often maindeck a set of Leyline of the Void in the event you end up across from another person’s Bazaar.
Strengths
- Bazaar is basically a draw five—Although Bazaar forces you to discard three after drawing only two, you are basically drawing five cards since you often want to discard cards out of your hand anyway.
- It runs Hollow One—Many Dredge decks run Hollow One either pre- or post-sideboard. This means a free 4/4 after a single Bazaar activation.
- It can play Force of Will—You get to play Force of Will to help fight hate cards such as Containment Priest, Tormod’s Crypt, Grafdigger’s Cage etc.
Weaknesses
- It’s reliant on the graveyard—You’re strategy is entirely based on abusing your graveyard, so post-sideboard Leyline of the Void, Tormod’s Crypt, etc can be difficult to beat.
- It’s not as fast as other top tier decks—You are still a slower aggro deck so combo decks like Paradoxical Outcome can beat you faster than you can beat them.
Sample Decklist: Kanister 5-0 Vintage Challenge 1/5/2019
| Creatures (26) 1 Ashen Rider 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 4 Golgari Grave-Troll 1 Golgari Thug 4 Hollow One 3 Ichorid 4 Narcomoeba 4 Prized Amalgam 4 Stinkweed Imp Spells (30) 4 Cabal Therapy 2 Dread Return 4 Force of Will 4 Mental Misstep 4 Mindbreak Trap 4 Serum Powder 4 Bridge from Below 4 Leyline of the Void | Lands (4) 4 Bazaar of Baghdad Sideboard (15) 3 Chain of Vapor 4 City of Brass 2 Ingot Chewer 2 Mana Confluence 3 Nature’s Claim 1 Petrified Field |
2. Paradoxical Outcome Storm
Paradoxical Outcome is generally a Storm combo deck that tries to cast multiple cheap artifacts that create more mana than they take to cast, then use that mana to cast Paradoxical Outcome, returning all of those artifacts to your hand to draw multiple cards. You rinse and repeat, eventually casting a lethal Tendrils of Agony. The alternate win condition is an early Monastery Mentor, taking advantage of the fact you can cast multiple non-creature spells to create a bunch of Monks and Prowess triggers, eventually killing your opponent over a few turns.
Strengths
- It’s very fast—The deck can be extremely fast and can kill as early as turn one on the play.
- It can play Force of Will—This deck is able to support the card disadvantage of Force of Will and be able to fight through opposing countermagic or taxing effects that decks like Shops will bring to the matchup.
- It has a bunch of cantrips—In a topdeck war after expending resources, the Outcome deck is able to cantrip or Outcome into more cards to pull ahead from nowhere.
Weaknesses
- It’s very vulnerable to taxing effects—This deck wants to net mana on its artifacts and cast as many spells per turn as possible. Effects like Sphere of Resistance are a great way to slow this down.
- It doesn’t have many win conditions—The deck often only has two cards that can win the game, meaning you may have to draw your entire deck to find a way to close out a game.
- It’s reliant on artifact mana—Cards like Null Rod or Stony Silence can often shut the deck down entirely when you only have one land and multiple Moxen.
- It can be vulnerable to Dack Fayden—Some lists run a Tinker/Blightsteel Colossus suite, which can be tragic if your opponent is on some number of Dack Fayden.
Sample Decklist: IAmActuallyLvL1 5-0 Competitive Vintage League 1/6/2019
1. Ravager Shops
Shops is an artifact-based strategy that leverages an early mana advantage from Mishra’s Workshop to deploy hateful artifacts like Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Lodestone Golem, and Chalice of the Void earlier than Garfield intended. While three of those cards are currently restricted, they give you an idea of how Shops wants to win a game. Those restrictions have forced Shops to improvise a bit, becoming a somewhat more aggressive deck with cards like Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer, and Walking Ballista.
Strengths
- Taxing effects are extremely effective—Taxing effects like Sphere of Resistance make your opponents’ spells cost more mana, putting them at a severe disadvantage.
- It can be aggressive—Cards like Arcbound Ravager, Walking Ballista, and Hangarback Walker allow the deck to kill opponents before they can cast many spells through a Sphere of Resistance.
- It can play Mishra’s Workshop—Mishra’s Workshop, which adds three mana to cast any artifact, allow you to cast powerful taxing or aggressive spells earlier than Garfield intended.
Weaknesses
- It doesn’t have any card selection—The deck doesn’t have any access to card draw spells, so you are completely reliant on the top of your deck after you draw your starting hand. A few well-placed counterspells and some cantrips alongside artifact destruction can put you miles behind in a match.
- It’s weak to Hurkyll’s Recall—The lack of consistent taxing effects due to recent restrictions makes it much easier for an opponent to bounce your board at the end of your turn, giving them free rein over the stack on their following turn.
- It’s not the most aggressive deck—Unfortunately, the deck can occasionally have trouble closing out a game over three or four turns, giving your opponent enough time to catch up by casting something like a Hurkyl’s Recall.
Sample Decklist: TheYostWithTheMost 6-0 Vintage Challenge 12/29/2018
That’s it for the Top 5 decks in Vintage! Don’t forget to sign up for our Vintage Super League fantasy league on Thousand Leagues! And we’ll see you tomorrow with the Top 10 Cards in Vintage.