The Magic: The Gathering format with splashy plays had some splashy new changes with a handful of updates to the Vintage restricted list, along with the release of Battle for Zendikar. Chalice of the Void and Dig Through Time are restricted, and Thirst for Knowledge is unrestricted; all three changes are interesting individually (especially the reason for Chalice’s restriction), but it’s more interesting to look at their cumulative effect. Especially with the rerelease of Thirst into the wild, there will be some definite brewing to be done.

Chalice into the Void

Players had been complaining about the dominance of Mishra's Workshop decks for several months, and restricting Chalice of the Void pays heed to that without completely undermining the archetype, as restricting Lodestone Golem or Mishra's Workshop itself would. More interesting is the reason behind the restriction:

I’m okay with that. Vintage is a special format that does showcase the Moxes along with the rest of the Power 9 and other old restricted cards. If Wizards of the Coast wants to accentuate this, the explanation makes a very directive statement: It is safe to play the Power 9. I hope they do more along these lines as a way to attract more players and spectators to the unique plays in the format. Show more Vintage Super League footage and highlights; host more large sanctioned tournaments; make these great old cards more available to players who want to get into Vintage. Otherwise, they should just have said what was really wrong with Chalice.

On the gameplay side, I’m not sure many Workshops or aggro-control “hate bears” players will elect to play Chalice as a one-of. Instead expect to see more Null Rods, Stony Silences, and Gorilla Shamans to take its place. Workshops in general will play on pretty much as normal, though they will lose a very helpful tool for fighting 1- and 2-drop removal in the mid- and late-game. The increased viability of Moxes and availability of different artifact removal should make blue decks more diverse in general, but look especially for varying “Big Blue” decks like Grixis Thieves, Bomberman, and The Answer.

Dig Through Time Out

When the news of Treasure Cruise’s restriction hit, many players simply replaced the Cruises in their Gush-fueled decks with Dig Through Times and continued winning. Non-Gush Big Blue decks added two or three Digs as a way to improve card quality and quantity in the midgame, using those to compete with the often faster Gush draw engine. Now that everyone was playing Dig Through Time, Wizards saw fit to restrict it, wanting to open the format to more options.

Dig Through Time’s restriction won’t change the look of many decks. Most blue players, using Gush or now Thirst for Knowledge, will simply continue with the restricted copies of Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise. Add them to the pantheon of restricted draw and tutor spells that start the best decks in Vintage; they have earned their spots next to Brainstorm and Ponder, certainly. What this will do is bring the Big Blue decks and the Gush decks more in line with each other. Gush will no longer be a natural foil with its superior draw engine.

Thirsty for More Knowledge

Thirst’s big advantage is being an instant that often draws the best two of three cards. It works great with Mana Drain and will probably further encourage the creation of more Big Blue decks using the classic counter. Together, Thirst and Drain provide the option for a counterspell or end-of-turn draw as necessary, and Thirst provides an outlet for Drain mana.

Exemplified by the 2008 Champs results, there are many ways to go with Thirst for Knowledge development. It fuels graveyard strategies, working with Yawgmoth's Will, Goblin Welder, Auriok Salvagers, and now delve spells with Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Control Slaver pilots, I know, are eager to see if Goblin Welders can make a comeback in blue-based control again. And even though Gifts Ungiven didn’t make a big splash when it came off the restricted list in January this year, it may get new life with a new accomplice.

All Together Now

The cumulative effect of these changes has a clear direction. In a format that had been largely defined—Workshops beating Gush, which beats Big Blue, which beats Workshops—suddenly Gush and Workshops decks have both been pushed down, and Big Blue gets a big boost. Moxes are encouraged with the restriction of Chalice of the Void; the restriction of Dig Through Time neuters a powerful competitor; and Thirst for Knowledge adds a significant facilitator to the archetype, working conveniently with more Moxes. Workshops and Gush decks aren’t going to go away (neither will Dredge, which preys on anyone unprepared), but they will have to work that much harder.

Vintage expert Stephen Menendian summed up a lot of the hesitation around the changes in a post on The Mana Drain:

I’m more optimistic (or perhaps naive) about things. It’s difficult to have format shakeups in Vintage, where the large card pool comes with a matching amount of inertia. I’m not in favor of making changes just to make them, but the six-year restriction of Thirst for Knowledge provided plenty of times for things to adjust. New cards and strategies were developed since 2009, so it’s a new environment. Testing and building with powerful cards is fun and exciting, and players will quickly push Thirst for Knowledge and its competition as far as they can. If the format cracks and Thirst again merits restriction, that’s okay; we will all have learned something and can try again with another card.

Also, with the format potentially moving toward one more dominant presence (in this case Big Blue), that leaves things open for a well-positioned hate deck to move in. The last time Big Blue was doing well, I was playing a Wizards! deck that used Aether Vial to play instant-speed, uncounterable, disruptive creatures and Chalice of the Void to lock out opponents’ important draws. Obviously, Chalice is gone, but Spirit of the Labyrinth is new and should be helpful against draw-heavy decks running Gush or Thirst for Knowledge.

Wizards! ? Vintage | Nat Moes

• Creatures (23)
• 3 Cursecatcher
• 3 Meddling Mage
• 3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
• 3 Voidmage Prodigy
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Leonin Relic-Warder
• 3 Phyrexian Revoker

• Spells (19)
• 1 Ancestral Recall
• 3 Daze
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Force of Will
• 1 Time Walk
• 1 Black Lotus
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Sapphire
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (18)
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Underground Sea
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Volcanic Island
• 3 Tundra
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Wasteland

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Realistically, it’s too early to build a good hate deck. The format won’t have settled, and players will still be experimenting as the big strategies jockey for position. Still, this list has a lot of cards that attack the format directly and are difficult to interact with once they’re in play. I might look to play something like this in a couple of months, after seeing how things settle out.

Battle for Zendikar

In Battle for Zendikar, there were few cards to talk about with an eye on Vintage. Many of the new cards simply have better options that will exclude them from significant play. For example, the interesting removal spells for Workshop decks (Titan's Presence and Scour from Existence) pale compared to current removal like Dismember and Duplicant.

Likewise, Painful Truths is held back by being a sorcery and looks weak in comparison to the recently unrestricted Thirst for Knowledge. Night's Whisper doesn’t see a ton of play in the format, and Painful Truths is no great improvement there, even with the possibility of drawing more cards through effects like Sphere of Resistance. I think it will be played but won’t make a lasting impression.

Bring to Light could be part of a tutor engine, but the numbers don’t work out especially well on it. The best card I could think of to Bring to Light was Channel; otherwise, you end up overpaying for something or, at best, getting it for cost. The card could be a decent speculative pickup for Vintage since it basically takes one good printing to be part of a game-winning combo. Look for cards that have unique abilities that you would want more than four of—something like Aether Snap for Dark Depths, for example.

In the end, as might be expected in a set focused on giant gods and monsters, Oath of Druids did receive a new toy. It’s not Void Winnower, which is cute, too, but Greenwarden of Murasa, which can replace Eternal Witness in the combo version of Oath. In this case, two Regrowth effects are better than one, and Cabal Therapy can facilitate by clearing the way and triggering the second Regrowth.

Greenwarden Oath ? Vintage | Nat Moes

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Greenwarden of Murasa

• Spells (43)
• 1 Ancestral Recall
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Chain of Vapor
• 1 Dig Through Time
• 1 Memory's Journey
• 1 Mystical Tutor
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 2 Dark Ritual
• 2 Hurkyl's Recall
• 2 Mental Misstep
• 4 Force of Will
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Show and Tell
• 1 Tendrils of Agony
• 1 Time Walk
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Yawgmoth's Will
• 3 Cabal Therapy
• 4 Preordain
• 4 Oath of Druids
• 1 Black Lotus
• 1 Lotus Petal
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mox Emerald
• 1 Mox Jet
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Ruby
• 1 Mox Sapphire

• Lands (16)
• 1 Island
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 2 Tropical Island
• 3 Underground Sea
• 4 Forbidden Orchard
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Tolarian Academy

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In previous incarnations of this deck, the idea was to trigger Oath of Druids and find a singleton Eternal Witness, which would bring back Yawgmoth's Will and win the game with a lethal Tendrils of Agony from the graveyard. Some of these decks would play Dark Ritual to emphasize the combo nature and to facilitate casting Yawgmoth's Will right away.

I’d definitely expect to see people experimenting along these lines since I expect to do some trials of my own. With the proper setup, Greenwarden should win immediately, similar to Griselbrand. The biggest issue is that sacrificing Greenwarden to bring back a second card leaves you with nothing, should things go awry. If your combo is disrupted there, you’ll be relying on Memory's Journey to get you home.

These next few months should be exciting in Vintage, as there will be plenty of players trying out decks old and new trying to break or beat Thirst for Knowledge. I’ll have some possible new decks in my next article for sure.

Thanks for reading!

Nat Moes

@GrandpaBelcher