Vintage exprience

I threw my hat in to the ring for a monthly event at a local card store for vintage deck play. Proxies allowed. I think one person actually had a tournament legal vintage deck, but he is as close to a professional magic player as there is in the store.

I settled on playing a version of U/W Monestary control. (Deck list at end of entry.)

Only seven people registered, $15 entry. Not horrible. I thought I might lose in spectacular fashion, but it was worth the try. I play tested some on Cockatrice. I learned a few things play testing and doing research. These are a limited result set, but my impressions on Vintage:

• My deck loved Vintage tilt... horrible or spectacular. No in-between. 
• Games could be relatively short, or dragged out. Very few were tweener games. 
• I hate dredge in Vintage, just hate it. (why yes, I am salty)
• I went with a splash of black instead of red because of cabal therapy.
• Mystic Remora was there to either game time, or allow me to draw up. 

In the little gathering, I went 2-1. Literally went down to the last game in match 3, and I had VERY little chance of winning that one. 

First match was versus Humans. He had very little typical power. The one card that I think won it for him: Kambal, Consul of Allocation. Completely screwed my removal. Lost 2-1.

Second game was vs. Storm. My sideboard completely owned him. The last game I had plenty of countermagic and I felt like a cat playing with a toy. I let him play out a series of spells to see where he was going. I could have stopped him at any point, but I knew everything was counterable. 

Third game was vs Dredge. Yes, I am still salty over that. First game, I was thinking about sideboard before I even got to my second turn. It was over before I got anything going. Second game was first turn Rest in Peace, he had no answer. Game over. Third game was down to his last two cards in deck. Funny enough, if I had KEPT my Ancestral Recall, I could have won... but I had played it hopefully looking for a second graveyard hate card which I could not find. 

In the end, my saltiness at dredge will likely keep me from playing Vintage again. Game one is usually game over before it starts with them. Honestly, a dredge player can win with a mulligan down to 1 or 2. Not a high percentage, but as long as they have Bazaar of Baghdad, they can do it. That single card allow dredge to hum at UNBELIEVABLE speed. 

// Vintage- monastery

// 60 Maindeck
// 7 Artifact
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring

// 7 Creature
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Baleful Strix

// 2 Enchantment
2 Mystic Remora

// 14 Instant
2 Gush
4 Force of Will
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Mental Misstep

// 18 Land
2 Wasteland
3 Tundra
1 Strip Mine
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
1 Plains
1 Scrubland

// 12 Sorcery
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Time Walk
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Fragmentize
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Demonic Tutor


// 15 Sideboard
// 4 Artifact
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Null Rod

// 3 Creature
SB: 1 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 2 Containment Priest

// 2 Enchantment
SB: 2 Rest in Peace

// 3 Instant
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap

// 3 Sorcery
SB: 1 Supreme Verdict
SB: 2 Fragmentize