Vintage Gauntlet testing

[Koby]

I'm interested in testing heavily for BOM. Which decks, and variants on the main decks, should I be looking to get practice against?

Also, who's down to get some practice games of Vintage in via Cockatrice?

[socialite]

My gauntlet of decks consists of the following...

Dredge:
Evoke versions that do not run Dread Return.

Workshop:
Martello
Espresso
Terra Nova

Fish:
RUG
Noble
BUG
White Trash

Blue:
UW Bomberman
UWb Bomberman
Grixis
Drain Tendrils
Gush Remora
Almost Blue
UR Landstill
UW Landstil
GG Oath
Burning Long

[Koby]

What in the world is Almost Blue?

This is where a lack of a real metagame hurts my corner of the far-flung Vintage enclave.

[aahz]

I just love Vintage and feel the need to reply to discussions about it, though my thoughts/ideas could be way off base here (so take all this with a some healthy skepticism).

Make sure to check out what's been doing well in the European scenes. They seem quite different than here in the US. Hopefully some of the players from that part of the world will chime in to help you. Whenever I look at the top 8s from those events, there are always decks and card choices that make me scratch my head and go WTF!?! The impression I get for BOM is that you must also be prepared for random/non-powered decks gunning for the tier 1 decks in order to get to the top tables in the first place. Definitely be prepared for Dredge (not the DR kind, as Ertai's Familiar correctly points out), good (but few) Workshop players, and lots of blue odd-ball decks (at least in terms of card choices, from my biased American perspective). I'll stop here so I don't embarrass myself too much.

That said, I might be interested in playtesting on Cockatrice, but it's schedule dependent (and mine is weird). Also, I'm only an okay magic player, so testing with me probably won't prepare you that kind of event (but I have been known to win small tournaments on occasion (http://www.eternalcentral.com/?p=3360)).

And now the really important advice:
Make sure that your deck is as sexy as possible at the event. That way you win even when you lose, because you did it in style. Let those Europeans know that at least some of us Americans take our pimp seriously.

[infant_no_1]

I've got a similar gauntlet as Ertai's Familiar.

I've got a local tourney I'm planning on playing in on the 30th of March so I am willing to test on Cockatrice. Schedule willing anyway.

Any idea what you are playing yet? That would definitely help in knowing what your worst matchups are.

[socialite]

What in the world is Almost Blue?

This is where a lack of a real metagame hurts my corner of the far-flung Vintage enclave.

Top 4 - Pau Cantero - Almost Blue

Maindeck:
1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
2 Brain Freeze
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fastbond
3 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Gush
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
2 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Misdirection
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Noxious Revival
1 Ponder
2 Preordain
1 Rebuild
2 Remand
3 Repeal
1 Sol Ring
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Sideboard:
1 Tropical Island
2 Talrand, Sky Summoner
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Dismember
1 Extirpate
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Nature's Claim
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ravenous Trap

[Koby]

I'm leaning heavily on Grixis Snap/Welder. I'm a little concerned with RIP being a real thing, but not sure how much of that to expect.
I also have the option of playing any version of MUD, but I don't think that flipping coins for 7 rounds sounds like much fun.

I've had some trouble in testing against GW/x fish decks, especially Bant with it's full complement of Goyfs, and so ran Perish to deal with those.

[yankeedave]

Hey Koby

I have been to the last 2 BoM's and they are great fun!

The Italians and the Spanish love their blue decks, they will bring them in force and in high numbers. You will probably see a lot of Burning Oath from them this year, as well as RUG and other midrange-y style decks. The Germans will be fielding Dredge and Shops mostly, and they will play them well. Us Brits will bring whatever we think is good or we have been playing for a long time and enjoy!

Give me a shout closer to the time and we can meet up while you are there. Which hotel are you staying in?

[RJM]

I'm always down for testing and discussion on the 'trice. Just hit me up on Twitter or whatever, I'm available on a pretty flexible schedule.

[nedleeds]

I'm about ready to get my test on as well as I'm under a month out from BoM. I also feel like playing shops is cheating, but if I can't find something I like I may audible. I'm going to concentrate on

Dark Hate Bears W/g/b
Dark Fish U/b/g

I also like the bant deck but I think the power of Dark Confidant, Tutors, Jailer, and point discard outweigh Meddling Mage, Swords, Mindcensor.

Anyway, I want to win with hateful men. The euros do love their Force of Will.