Deck recommendation

[Zalren]

Greetings,

I am trying to put together my very first Vintage deck. Currently I am gathering all of the Power, will probably have it all by Christmas. I was looking for any recommendations for decks. I really like the idea of a control deck with FoW, Drains, and Missteps. I have been looking over some of the deck lists but my experience with Vintage is limited. I seems like if Gush is used as a draw engine then Drains are taken out and green is added. Without Gush, red is splashed. Plus I have not seen many blue lists with Strip Mine and Wasteland, I would have thought those lands would be staples in any deck.

Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance!

[Jenni]

Some of the UR(x) and UW(x) Landstill decks still run 4Drains, 4Wastelands, and Strip Mine.
Some decks have cut drains for cheaper counterspells, though - Mental Misstep and Spell pierce, most notably. There are plenty still running 2-4 drains though.

Looking at some tournament reports over at The Mana drain (http://www.themanadrain.com) and Morphling (http://morphling.de) might help you pick a deck, since they include the Top8 decklists.

Keep in mind that vintage still has local metagames to a significant extent, so finding reports from your area could be beneficial for finding a deck.

I'm fairly new to the format myself, so take this all with a grain of salt, these are just resources and things I've come across while I buy into the format.

[aahz]

I still run 3x Mana Drain in Grixis (and I'd run the whole set if I thought I could get away with it). I also run the misers Strip Mine (and there are others who do as well). Wasteland hurts your own mana development too much when playing Big Blue if mana denial isn't explicitly part of your strategy; it is usually better to just play more broken stuff instead.

My advice is to try out different things to figure out which deck is the most enjoyable and/or fits your playstyle. It is more important to be comfortable with your deck in Vintage than in many other formats. Most of the expensive cards go in nearly all of the Blue decks anyway (except Mana Drain, though if you're into Vintage those are worth having), so it's not too bad to just get all the cards to build all the variants and color combinations once you've got Power and the important Restricted cards.

Also, learn to play with/against Vintage Dredge. Don't be a hater: Respecting this deck will help you become a better Big Blue pilot in the long run.

[Jenni]

Also, learn to play with/against Vintage Dredge. Don't be a hater: Respecting this deck will help you become a better Big Blue pilot in the long run.

That can be said about basically any of the decks in the format, can't it?
You need to know how to play against Shops(Martello, Espresso stax, etc), Blue(Landstill, Tezz, Oath, Grixis, etc), Dredge(... just dredge, basically it's own pillar since dragon has fallen out of favour), Nullrod Aggro/control(Fish, etc) and Storm(TPS, Burning Long, etc).
No matter what you play, learning the pillars is going to be important, possibly moreso for blue control, since you need to be a bit more reactive.

[Zalren]

Thanks all! Based on your feedback, I will skip the Wasteland, Strip Mine things. I am going to try a Mana Drain style deck first. I think I am in love with that card. So I should include Jace to sink mana into?

[Jenni]

Thanks all! Based on your feedback, I will skip the Wasteland, Strip Mine things. I am going to try a Mana Drain style deck first. I think I am in love with that card. So I should include Jace to sink mana into?

Most of the Drain decks run at least 1 (usually more) Jace, so it's pretty safe to assume you should add him.

[Koby]

You only "really" need one Jace to resolve and protect, but since every Big Blue deck is trying to do the same having multiple help to stick one in play. The last thing you want in the Blue mirror is to sit across from a 'storming Jace turn after turn. I play 2 right now, and looking to add the 3rd to my Grixis deck.

[aahz]

That can be said about basically any of the decks in the format, can't it?
True enough in general, though I think many don't consider Dredge this way even if they do so for other decks. Dredge gets more than it's fair share of grief for being "unfun", so I like to promote it as a legitimate deck that deserves more respect. Personally, I really dislike most Workshop decks because they are "unfun". Say what you want about Dredge, but at least you can try to play your cards before it kills you. If you're on the draw vs. Shops and don't have Force of Will in your opener, you may not get to do anything for the whole game other than drop a land or two (sometimes even if you have Force). I just find it interesting that Dredge has so many haters, while Shops seem to get a free pass even though they are at least as non-interactive as Dredge (probably more so). The coin flip often decides matches against Shops; at least with Dredge your actual deck is involved in the outcome (sideboard construction, mulling to hate, whether you can land a sweeper or quick kill, etc.). Also, as an occasional Dredge player, the matches are much more interesting if my opponent understands the nuances of the deck because there is more interaction (even if that also makes it harder to win). The opponents who just try to throw more graveyard hate at the "problem" when they lose to Grave-trolls would do better to try to understand why they lost and how to use hate cards more effectively.


You only "really" need one Jace to resolve and protect, but since every Big Blue deck is trying to do the same having multiple help to stick one in play. The last thing you want in the Blue mirror is to sit across from a 'storming Jace turn after turn. I play 2 right now, and looking to add the 3rd to my Grixis deck.
As for Jace, I've never been as enamored with him as most other people seem to be. Sure he's good, but it really depends on the deck. Two seems like the right number for the standard UBr Bob lists. I've tried playing three, but it seemed like he was always around when I didn't need/want him. Big Blue has enough tutoring/filtering/draw that two is enough unless you have specifically built your deck around him. That said, I do think that one is too few because sometimes you have to pitch one to Force or use the first one to take out an opposing copy (as Koby points out). Glancing at recent Top 8 lists seems to generally confirm this position is widely held (decks with 2xJace are the majority of Big Blue, particularly of those that also play Mana Drain, though certainly some people prefer 3 and there are decks built to play 4).