Saturday, August 9, 2014

Vintage Masters Notes Part 1

I have been meaning to go through all of the VMA cards to learn about Vintage and Legacy. There is a lot to learn here. I still plan to buy a few more packs, and then at some point buy singles for fun. Here is a batch of the cards. I am not going to discuss the key cards I have already bought since I already know a little about these cards (Balance, for example) or well-known cards like Swords to Plowshares. The number in parenthesis after the name is the community rating for the original printing from Gatherer.


Benevolent Bodyguard (3.208): A Mother of Runes (3.10) with a downside.

Deftblade Elite (3.981) Tribal: Soldier deck
Provoke means: When this attacks, you may have target creature defending player controls untap and block it if able. Use with Daru Warchief, Shared Triumph, and Mobilization

Gerrard's Battle Cry (4.008)
One-drop enchantment anthem that requires 3 mana to activate.
A better equivalent is Leonin Sun Standard. Compare with Glorious Anthem.

Brilliant Halo (3.385) A white Rancor.

Gilded Light (3.688) Storm hoser. A better example is Dawn Charm.

Phantom Nomad (3.513) Can be pumped with Proliferate.

Soltari Trooper (3.871) Tribal: Soldier deck
Shadow means: This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow. Effectively unblockable. Friends with Soltari Priest.

Stoic Champion (3.645) Good if you are cycling.

Afterlife (3.762) Target destruction in white with a small downside.


Benalish Trapper (3.824) Soldier tapper. Functionally same as Master Decoy.

Seal of Cleansing (4.309) Enchantment Naturalize. See Aura of Silence.

Shelter (4.065) Color protection. A simple version with cantrip of Apostle's Blessing.

Soltari Emissary (3.758) Tribal: Soldier.

Akroma's Blessing (3.750) Color protection.

Astral Slide (4.283) Names a competitive deck! Combos with Eternal Witness and Unearth cards. "Rulings:
If a player cycles a card during the end step, the creature that is exiled won't come back until the end of the next turn.
If a face-down card is exiled, it turns face-up and remains face-up when it returns to the battlefield. This does not trigger any abilities that would trigger on it being turned face-up."

Devout Witness (4.333) Repeatable Naturalize as a creature.



Exile (4.292) Heavier Path to Exile with an upside.

Radiant's Judgment (3.618) Instant fatty removal.

Renewed Faith (3.392) Similar to Angel's Mercy.

Gustcloak Harrier (3.339) Limited flyer.

Pianna, Nomad Captain (4.000) Similar to Hero of Bladehold because of Battle Cry effect.

Zhalfirin Crusader (3.922) Interesting re-direct effect.
Flanking means: Whenever a creature without flanking is assigned to block this creature, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.

Mistmoon Griffin (3.859) Re-animates top creature in your graveyard.

Mystic Zealot (3.380)
"You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard." The 'card in your graveyard' effect fits re-animator.

Sidar Jabari (3.844) Taps when attacking and has Flanking.

[link to the next post for this subject]