MTG Salvation

Vintage has very high standards when it comes to accepting new cards because it has access to virtually every other card printed in the history of Magic. Yet every time a new set comes out, a few new cards slip into the format and can occasionally end up defining it. Lorwyn is no exception; we will only be looking at nine cards from the set that could see Vintage play.

After the unrestriction of Gush on June 1st, 2007, decks based around it immediately moved to the front of the minds of the Vintage metagame. Gush succeeded at the local level with loads of top eights and tournament wins. In major events, Gush placed six decks in the T16 at the TMD Open, took the top two spots at the Vintage World Championships and finally placed seven in the T8 of SCG Indianapolis.

Vintage Magic in the United States and Vintage Magic in Europe have the two largest and most developed metagames, yet they differ greatly. Each region has different dominant decks, players, and accepted strategies. Proxies were one of the great divides between the metagames, virtually all American tournaments allow 10 proxies or more while most European tournaments allow no proxies at all. This has changed recently, as European events have begun experimenting with proxies more and more. For example, the UAL Power Nine in Europe allowed 10 proxies. This proxy system is similar to large American events like the TMD Open which allowed 10 proxies plus the option to purchase an additional 5 proxies for $1.00 a piece. The synchronization of proxy systems means that it is now possible to do a relevant metagame analysis and comparison between European and American metagames. We will be looking at the two recent major Vintage Tournaments mentioned previously: for America, the TMD Open and for Europe, the UAL Power Nine.

One of the most common misconceptions about the Vintage format is that it cannot be played on a budget. This simply is not true.