There are a lot of people who play Magic who tend to
stray away from the format known as Type 1. There
are a multitude of reasons why people don't play
this format. I've heard pretty much every
explanation for why people play the format and why
people don't. For this article, I'm going to give
you a quick run through of everything I've heard and
my thoughts on the argument.
1. The winner is whoever
goes first.
I'm sure you've heard a lot of stories about what
can be done during the typical Type 1 match. There
are stories about the format being incredibly
cutthroat, with games ending faster than the
opponent can blink, and that matches revert to
whoever gets to go first is the person who wins. If
you've experienced this format firsthand, you will
know that these rumors are completely untrue.
While there are a few decks that can win on the
first turn, most of the time they don't. Some of the
top decks in the format are actually not super fast.
The deck that most argue to be the best is one of
the slowest of all of them, Stax. Stax is
essentially a lockdown deck, using cards such as
Trinisphere,
Smokestack, and
Sphere of Resistance to keep cards off the
opponent's field, while using cards like
Gorilla Shaman to destroy opposing Moxen and
Goblin Welder to swap around artifacts to ensure
your control of the field.
Another slower deck in the format is Control Slaver,
which is similar to Stax in that it uses Goblin
Welder, but different in it's main strategy. The
purpose of Control Slaver is to get a Goblin Welder
into play and continuously return a
Mindslaver from your graveyard to play to take
control of your opponent's turns. There are
different builds of the deck, which are more
aggressive with stuff like
Triskelion and
Sundering Titan, although I'm sure there are a
few other builds that exist.
Now, when I say this, don't think that there aren't
incredibly fast decks out there. Intuition-Tendrils,
Worldgorger Dragon Combo, and
Ichorid have the ability to defeat the opponent
faster than holy hell, the first two being able to
pull off a first turn win under the right
circumstances, and Ichorid being able to win 3rd
turn if you get a good
Dredge going with
Bazaar. But as I stated before, while these
decks can be fast, unless you know how to use the
decks properly, they can easily be shut down if the
opponent know what he's doing or if you make one
slip-up such as miscounting your mana when trying to
combo out in Intuition-Tendrils.
2. The format requires you
to spend thousands of dollars to make winning decks.
Another rumor that is mostly untrue. While there are
cards that will cost you a
pretty penny to get, there are ways of not
needing to buy them if you can't afford them. In the
current Vintage tournament scene, all tournaments
sans the World Champs held by Wizards of the Coast
will allow you to run ten proxies. For those who are
unaware of what a proxy is, it's when you take a
basic land, cross out the name, and write all stats
of the proxied card on the land. So if you wanted to
proxy a Bazaar of Baghdad, you would cross out the
name, write Bazaar of Baghdad in it's place, then
write the oracle wording on it, which in this case
would be "Tap: Draw 2 cards, then discard 3 cards."
By allowing people to run proxies for these
tournaments, it stops them from having to spend tons
of money on cards that they cannot afford, plus
allows players who do have expensive cards such as
Beta Power from damaging their high-valued cards.
Other ways of keeping from spending your life
savings on the card is the use of an inexpensive
deck. One of the most popular cheap decks to make
that is still competitive is U/W Fish, a deck that
controls the field while using
Ęther Vial to drop
Voidmage
Prodigys and
Meddling Mages with a
Standstill in play. The deck only runs five pieces
of power (Pearl,
Sapphire,
Ancestral Recall,
Time
Walk,
Lotus), so that automatically leaves you five
spots open to proxy other cards, such as
Force of
Will or dual-lands. What also makes Fish such a
great deck for the budget player is that you can
make multiple different versions of Fish, and if you
know what you're doing, can make it work.
While there are people who feel it necessary to
Power out their deck such as some of the more
hardcore Vintage players, it is not necessary for
you because of the proxy rules and the inexpensive
decks that you can make. However, if you do have the
money to make your deck better and are seriously
considering playing in Type 1 tournaments, don't be
afraid to do so, because having a set of Force of
Will in your collection doesn't hurt.
3. The format is incredibly
cutthroat.
This is actually one of the few rumors that I
actually agree with as being true. Many of the
people who play Competitive Type 1 take it very
seriously, and will spend tons of money to perfect
their decks, and will travel halfway across the
country to play in tournaments such as The Mana
Drain Open and Starcitygame's Power 9 tournaments.
These are people who could play their decks
backwards and forwards without making very many
mistakes. They will never forget to weld out one of
their artifacts that is being Rack and Ruined to
fizzle the entire spell, and they will be able to
pull off a 20-point
Tendrils without much trouble.
Those who try to play off-the-wall decks usually get
served unless they know what they're doing (such as
the introduction of Ichorid to Type 1 at the latest
SCG Power tourneys).
If you cringe every time you see a Goblin Welder or
when your opponent
Tinkers a
Darksteel Colossus into
play, this is obviously not going to be the format
for you. To be amazing at this format you have to
know exactly how every deck ticks, and how you can
beat it with the cards that are in your main board
and sideboard. If you're field is very heavy on Fish
and you have troubles beating Meddling Mage, run a
couple
Massacre in the sideboard. If the Angels in
Oath of Druids (Akroma and
Razia) are giving you
trouble, run
Swords to Plowshares,
Karakas, or
Extract to keep the angels from getting onto the
field.
Some of the things that happen in Vintage can be
completely unpredictable. I know I've had moments
where I could win in one foul swoop with my Tendrils
deck without realizing it until I got started, but
pulled it off because I knew what I was doing once I
did get started. To beat the format, you have to be
more amazing than you've ever been before. Of
course, it doesn't hurt to have a little bit of luck
on your side, such as top decking a Force of Will
the turn before your opponent was going to win. But
don't rely on luck to win you games.
I’ll admit that I’m not a master of this format, as
I don’t play nearly as much as I did a while back.
In fact, the most I do nowadays when it comes to
this format is play in the occasional Mox tournament
that happens at my local store. However, what I
stated about the above rumors that I have heard in
the past is completely what I believe. I’m sure I
could go more into detail about the facts/fictions
of this format, but for now, I’ll leave with what I
have given to you.
they can easily be shut down if the
opponent know what he's doing or if you make one
slip-up such as miscounting your mana when trying to
combo out in Intuition-Tendrils.
Other ways of keeping from spending your life
savings on the card is the use of an inexpensive
deck. One of the most popular cheap decks to make
that is still competitive is U/W Fish, a deck that
controls the field while using
