We are now about half way through the Dark Ascension spoilers and I just wanted to point out some of the cards we have seen that I believe are either new Vintage staples or Vintage playable at least. This is just from my personal experience, I have not studied all the decks that would use these cards but they have piqued my interest.
Without further ado, let’s get into the spoilers…
THALIA, GUARDIAN OF THRABEN
Here is the first card spoiled that pricked my ears up as soon as I saw it. We have an easily castable cost of 1W (especially for the weenie decks) and it’s also low enough for an Aether Vial to reliably hit on turn 3 however this card screams “PLAY ME ON TURN 1”, especially in terms of
Vintage. On the play, this card will stop lots of shenanigans, slowing lots of decks (Big Blue and Storm especially) buying your deckthe time to continue piling on lock pieces and beating face with efficient beaters. The first strike is huge with the number of creatures seeing play in vintage at the moment. Thalia wins a ground war against Dark Confidant/Snapcaster Mage/Lotus Cobra/Phyrexian Revoker/Slash Panther/Metalworker/Magus of the Moon/Goblins.dec/Fish.dec (- Goyf), you get the picture.
I do not think that this card will see play in a successful shops list, even though it is another sphere. The fact that it is not an artefact coupled with its legendary status make it both harder to cast and make the Shops decks less consistant
This card is a Null rod card, through and through. What cards it would be surrounded by are not quite clear but being cast early, this card will be a real beating. Cards I can see being used in conjunction with Thalia are (though not all together): Null Rod, Chalice of the Void, Gorilla Shaman, Quasali Pridemage, Porcelain Leigonaire, Grand Abolisher, Magus of the Moon, Dark Confidant, SOL Lands, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, Armageddon.
Obviously there are a couple of diffent lists going on here (such as R(B)/W weenie or a more all in Armageddon/Trinisphere similar to Geddon-Stax in legacy) and I am not sure whether these lists will be definitely playable but Thalia opens some avenues to thinking about them.
INCREASING CONFUSION
Increasing confusion I can see being put into Dragon lists to diversify their kill conditions. This can take the place of Oona, Queen of Fae (it probably won’t) but it certainly warrants testing. Not needing to continue digging for Oona or a reanimation spell if you have this in your bin seems fine.
TRAGIC SLIP
A way for mono B to get rid of BSC that doubles as a 1 mana kill for many for the common blue creatures (Confidant/Cobra/Snapcaster). I can see (possibly, I am squinting really hard to see this card see play) this card filling a similar role to Darkblast or Lose Hope. A 1-2 in the sideboard of Dark times or similar decks at best.
On a side note, the picture looks like it would have been right at home in Lorwyn block.
FAITHLESS LOOTING
While I see this card getting more play in Legacy than I do Vintage, It does have to be mentioned how powerful the effect is with flashback. In fact I do not seem too much play in Vintage at all with the restriction of LED. LED Dredge in Legacy however will see a huge power boost being easily able to win on turn 1. Dredge may use this card (unlikely, Bazaar is just better) and any other deck looking to abuse its GY (reanimator?) but I do not expect this to see much Vintage play.
GRAFFDIGGER’S CAGE
Well here is the bogeyman in the room. The card nearly all Vintage players are seeing and thinking about how good it is against the big decks of the format. Some have looked at the card and called it COP: Vintage. Here is just a sample list of what the Cage shuts
down.
Yawgmoth’s Will
Tinker->BSC/Inkwell etc
Dredge
Dragon/Hermit Druid/Reanimator
Goblin Welder->fatty
Oath
Snapcaster Mage
Past in Flames (or any flashback card)
Kuldotha Forgemaster
That’s a lot…
This card I can expect to see play in a whole variety of decks. Nearly all the linear aggro decks will want this card. Goblins, Christmas Beatings, Fish and (non-Will) Dark Times are just a few of the decks which benefit from this effect in the MD/ SB in some fashion. The biggest part to this card around Melbourne is just how good it is against Oath. Oath decks are the second most played deck in Melbourne and without an answer; most oath decks just buckle to this card. Shops especially gain a good answer to Oath and Tinker which are the biggest blowouts for shops. The shop deck’s insane draw can still lose to a t1/2 Tinker/Oath and this fixes that nicely.
This card is not the death of Vintage etc. It is just another piece of hate that it itself is easily hated out. Force of Will / Mental Misstep /Steel Sabotage/Repeal and Hurkyl’s Recall are all still playable cards and the last 3 look even better as each set comes out. Forcing the Jace/Oath/Blue decks to play a little bit more hate is a good thing. Dredge I think has a slightly bigger problem as nearly no one before had maindeck GY hate outside maybe a Nihil Spellbomb, now because Graffdigger’s Cage is so good at hating out a field, the dredge main deck may have to become more like their post board decks, slowing them down a turn or two which I believe is good.
I think the problem that many players have with this card is it is pretty much universal hate. The cards which have seen vintage play over the past few sets have all ADDED to an archetype. Porcelain Legionnaire sees play both in and against shops, Leonin relic warder/Arbiter have added new dimensions to the white/fish decks they live in. Same with Stell Hellkite, Precurser Golem, Jace etc. This is the first Chalice of the void we have seen in a long time (by my reckoning). The card does not add to any strategy but takes away from many. Not that this is a bad thing and I believe that CotV is a fantastic card to play with and against.
Grafdiggers’s Cage hates many of the bigger strategies but these decks will learn how to handle the card and continue to evolve and expand the format creating a bigger and better Vintage.
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