I'm personally not a fan of the main deck Iona. Having a third target gives you less chance of hitting Dragon Breath. I think you should have another counterspell, so I suggest Flusterstorm as it is better at helping you resolve your threats than stopping the opponent's threats.
The Swiftfoot Boots seems a little weak, and I would rather have a second Dragon Breath instead. Seems like it gives your opponent less chance to randomly stop your combo with artifact hate.
Also, question about the mana base: with just the Forbidden Orchards and Moxen, do you ever have trouble casting Enlightened/Demonic/Vampiric Tutor? Would it be incorrect to cut a basic Forest and replace it with either a Bayou, Underground Sea, or City of Brass?
I don't care for Merchant Scroll in a deck like this. Spending 2 at sorcery speed to tutor up a counterspell or Recall could be situationally ok, but it probably just clogs up the deck more than anything.
Oath has always seemed like a fun deck choice to me, and I agree that going with Golden Gun Oath is a better choice.
1) I live in Wisconsin, but I'm going to school in Illinois, near the Peoria area. Milwaukee/Chicago are the big cities nearby for me.
2) I would love to see a Win-A-Mox circuit show up, but any Power/Dual lands/legacy staples would be cool. Even store credit is fine, so long as your shop has some decent stuff in stock.
3) Bathrooms, food, enough tables. Also, if the place has clear signage and is easy to find, that's a plus.
4) I'd be open to anything really. I have seen events that allow 6-10 proxies, with the ability to "buy" up to 5 more spots for $1 each. Some tournaments that allow proxies give away door prizes to the highest finisher with a Proxy-less deck.
Midwest Vintage seems awesome, and I can't wait to see this all get off the ground.
Also, if you need judge help with networking, sanctioning events, or questions, I'd be happy to help. I'm currently trying to test for L2, and the chance to run a tournament like this would be really exciting.
After doing a little more research, I think I am going to switch back to 3 Spell Snare instead of 2 Spell Pierce and 1 Mana Leak. With things like Thalia, Kataki, Wu Spy, Bob, Goyf, Stoneforge, Snapcaster, the list of stuff that Spell Pierce misses gets pretty large. I'll probably test with both versions, but at this point it might be best for me to listen to the lists that are actually winning tournaments.
I've been lurking the forums and doing research on vintage for the last year or so, and I've decided to build U/W Bomberman. I'll probably try to break into the vintage scene at Gencon this year, but I'm looking for some advice.
I personally didn't like the idea of being a combo deck without a hard kill condition. I'm sure I'd be ok killing people with guys/Jace and a hand of 7 counterspells, but I wanted the Pyrite Spellbomb maindeck, since it could serve as removal on a Dark Confidant, Goblin Welder, etc. in a pinch. Also, this means I can kind of cheat on Moxen, since I don't own a Mox Jet yet.
I also decided to cut Spell Snare and instead play a combination of Spell Pierce and Mana Leak. Spell Pierce seems to be better, but not being able to get Dark Confidant/Tarmogoyf may prove to be too much. That is also why I put in a Mana Leak instead of a 3rd Pierce. It eases the requirements of UU from Mana Drain while still serving as a (nearly) hard counter in this format. I'm not yet sure if this is correct, since I'm pretty inexperienced with Vintage. However, the logic behind this is similar to my past experience with Mental Misstep: It feels really bad having this when your opponent resolves multiple spells that cost something other than 2. Please correct me if you disagree on this. (I'm considering cutting Flusterstorm for similar reasons. It's a miser's copy against Storm and I feel like maybe Spell Pierce is just better most of the time.)
Finally, I'm cutting one of the Aven Mindcensors and Sensei's Divining Top for a pair of Snapcasters. Having 2 Tops is frustrating, and I think Snapcaster could do wonders on a Time Walk/Recall/counterspell. He'd also add a little extra boost if I needed to kill with damage and not the combo. He's uncounterable with Cavern of Humans, and gets extra value with Swords to Plowshares, Steel Sabotage, and Disenchant out of the board.
For now, the sideboard Justin Kohler used seems fine, but I'm a little unsure since I haven't gotten to go to any events yet.
Hurkyl's seems like a really solid choice all around, since it seems this deck has trouble against all the tax effects in Workshop decks.
Also, if anyone knows of any Vintage tournaments coming up within a few hours of the Chicago area, please let me know. I'd love the chance to try and sling some real (read: non-standard) Magic for a change.
Thanks for the help, and I hope to see many of you at GenCon!
The Swiftfoot Boots seems a little weak, and I would rather have a second Dragon Breath instead. Seems like it gives your opponent less chance to randomly stop your combo with artifact hate.
Also, question about the mana base: with just the Forbidden Orchards and Moxen, do you ever have trouble casting Enlightened/Demonic/Vampiric Tutor? Would it be incorrect to cut a basic Forest and replace it with either a Bayou, Underground Sea, or City of Brass?
I don't care for Merchant Scroll in a deck like this. Spending 2 at sorcery speed to tutor up a counterspell or Recall could be situationally ok, but it probably just clogs up the deck more than anything.
Oath has always seemed like a fun deck choice to me, and I agree that going with Golden Gun Oath is a better choice.
Overall, my suggestions:
-1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
-1 Swiftfoot Boots
+1 Dragon Breath
+1 Flusterstorm
That's just my two cents. I am pretty new, so hopefully I'm not giving you too much bad advice. Good luck with the deck!
2) I would love to see a Win-A-Mox circuit show up, but any Power/Dual lands/legacy staples would be cool. Even store credit is fine, so long as your shop has some decent stuff in stock.
3) Bathrooms, food, enough tables. Also, if the place has clear signage and is easy to find, that's a plus.
4) I'd be open to anything really. I have seen events that allow 6-10 proxies, with the ability to "buy" up to 5 more spots for $1 each. Some tournaments that allow proxies give away door prizes to the highest finisher with a Proxy-less deck.
Midwest Vintage seems awesome, and I can't wait to see this all get off the ground.
Also, if you need judge help with networking, sanctioning events, or questions, I'd be happy to help. I'm currently trying to test for L2, and the chance to run a tournament like this would be really exciting.
Good luck!
After doing a little more research, I think I am going to switch back to 3 Spell Snare instead of 2 Spell Pierce and 1 Mana Leak. With things like Thalia, Kataki, Wu Spy, Bob, Goyf, Stoneforge, Snapcaster, the list of stuff that Spell Pierce misses gets pretty large. I'll probably test with both versions, but at this point it might be best for me to listen to the lists that are actually winning tournaments.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=52150
I'm using this list for reference, but there are a couple changes I made for now.
Here's my current list:
1 Plains
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Auriok Salvagers
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Trinket Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
2 Spell Pierce
1 Mana Leak
1 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Devout Witness
3 Rest in Peace
2 Disenchant
2 Steel Sabotage
4 Swords to Plowshares
I personally didn't like the idea of being a combo deck without a hard kill condition. I'm sure I'd be ok killing people with guys/Jace and a hand of 7 counterspells, but I wanted the Pyrite Spellbomb maindeck, since it could serve as removal on a Dark Confidant, Goblin Welder, etc. in a pinch. Also, this means I can kind of cheat on Moxen, since I don't own a Mox Jet yet.
I also decided to cut Spell Snare and instead play a combination of Spell Pierce and Mana Leak. Spell Pierce seems to be better, but not being able to get Dark Confidant/Tarmogoyf may prove to be too much. That is also why I put in a Mana Leak instead of a 3rd Pierce. It eases the requirements of UU from Mana Drain while still serving as a (nearly) hard counter in this format. I'm not yet sure if this is correct, since I'm pretty inexperienced with Vintage. However, the logic behind this is similar to my past experience with Mental Misstep: It feels really bad having this when your opponent resolves multiple spells that cost something other than 2. Please correct me if you disagree on this. (I'm considering cutting Flusterstorm for similar reasons. It's a miser's copy against Storm and I feel like maybe Spell Pierce is just better most of the time.)
Finally, I'm cutting one of the Aven Mindcensors and Sensei's Divining Top for a pair of Snapcasters. Having 2 Tops is frustrating, and I think Snapcaster could do wonders on a Time Walk/Recall/counterspell. He'd also add a little extra boost if I needed to kill with damage and not the combo. He's uncounterable with Cavern of Humans, and gets extra value with Swords to Plowshares, Steel Sabotage, and Disenchant out of the board.
For now, the sideboard Justin Kohler used seems fine, but I'm a little unsure since I haven't gotten to go to any events yet.
Other cards I have considered for the deck:
Hurkyl's seems like a really solid choice all around, since it seems this deck has trouble against all the tax effects in Workshop decks.
Also, if anyone knows of any Vintage tournaments coming up within a few hours of the Chicago area, please let me know. I'd love the chance to try and sling some real (read: non-standard) Magic for a change.
Thanks for the help, and I hope to see many of you at GenCon!