An Update on Christmas Beatings

Heya,

I had a chance to play in a small Vintage tournament last weekend. I brought out my old Christmas Beatings deck and was really looking forward to mixing it up against some Tez and Slaver decks that usually dominate my meta. Here’s the list I played:

4 Null Rod
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Thornweald Archer
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Seal of Primoridum
4 Pyroblast
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Black Lotus (budget players sub in Petal)
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Tiaga
3 Snow-covered Forest
3 Snow-covered Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

I was all set to compete against some top level deck designs….and all I did was play against agro all day. No Tez, no Stax, no Slaver, just a bunch of Fishy decks. It was disappointing, but Vintage has fallen on hard times in my area. While in 2006-2008 we’d have 20+ people come every week, now we’re lucky to get to 12. The June 2008 hit my area very hard and the dominance of Tez lists hasn’t helped.

So how did my deck do? Not bad. I made the top 4 and lost to UB Fish in 3 games. I’m not going to bother with a detailed game report this time. There’s not much to glean from the competition other than Thornweald Archer is a great addition to the main deck specifically because it is so good against agro. But I just don’t feel there’s much benefit in talking about how my deck did against Type2 decks with a mox and lotus thrown in just before the tournament starts.

Anyway, I’ll keep updating this space with my performance with this deck and other budget builds. Hopefully my findings will be a little more interesting the next time.

Peace,

-Troy