I don't often write, as I'm not very good at it... But occasionally, something I'm passionate about will require my attention. Doing well in tournaments often causes such action, but what you'll read today is about a deck that I have never once played in a tournament. I have played with it in about ten test matches (about twenty-five games), but my real understanding of the deck comes from redesigning it, playing against it with a variety of decks, and watching its regular pilot it in hundreds of games. I do not claim to understand the deck completely, but I have found it to be a sort of answer to the current Vintage metagame; I know most of its weaknesses and still am not able to comprehend all its strengths. I believe this deck could be one of the best budget decks available in an expensive format.

Before I tell you about my deck, I will try to describe the current Vintage metagame for you. If you enjoy Stephen Menendian's articles, you can skip this paragraph, as he does a much better job describing the metagame. After the dominance of Gro-a-Tog, aggro has made a comeback with mainstays such as Suicide and Sligh regaining some of their lost prestige. Traditional blue-based control is currently in decline, as it cannot keep up with the Mishra's Workshop-based decks and the new combo decks that are so full of disruption. 'Phid decks are the worst off from it - with Keeper, again like it always does, adapting. The combo decks are all very resilient against most of the field, but suffer from horrid draws and have difficulties with narrow-minded strategies like LD. The last deck I will mention is Mask, as it is very powerful. This deck also hurt control - but it hurt aggro more. For a deck to compete, it has to be able to deal with budget aggro decks, blue control, Rector-based and draw-seven-based combos, and artifact decks. The other decks are either not effective enough or don't appear in metagames often enough. If you do see a certain rogue deck often, you will want to prepare yourself.

I have always been the deck builder for whatever group I'm in (and in Vintage deck building is important without loads of articles being printed daily), so my friend Sam Larsen looked to me to improve his monoblack Void deck. I hooked him up with a nice little Vintage website. There he found B/G Void, and found he liked its style better. He started with a Blurred Mongoose build in order to abuse their interaction with Nether Void. The weakness of the creatures in that build led him to a more black-focused build, splashing green for Pernicious Deed and later Naturalize in the sideboard.

Then Masknaught decks took over our metagame, and reigned supreme for about a month before they were properly answered. Our solution was Sam's B/G deck, which at that time looked like PT Funk (B/G Void with Spiritmongers instead of Voids and a stronger green base), but it was a solution that was often criticized by those who haven't played with it. The most potent colors are blue and black, so theory would tell you to add blue - which we tried, but all we got was some blue power and a weaker mana base. This wasn't really that good for the deck, but consistency was. So we went back to the two-color build.

Sadly, I introduced Stax to a player and he inspired another to convert, so Stax finally found our metagame - and Sam was frantic for a way to beat the monster. The best anti-Stax card printed so far is not Sacred Ground, although that's a very good card; it's Artifact Mutation. Now that's a red card, so we decided to splash Red into the deck. The heavy black component had to go and Red was in. That leads us to this version of the deck.

Red Rock
by Sam Larsen and Steven Petersen

Mana (28)
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
3 Treetop Village
2 Bayou
2 Taiga
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Badlands
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring

Creatures (10)
4 River Boa
4 Call of the Herd
2 Spiritmonger

Removal (14)
4 Naturalize
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate

Utility (7)
4 Duress
1 Sylvan Library
1 Regrowth
1 Demonic Tutor

I'll get to the sideboard in a moment, but it is important to have a very strong understanding of your maindeck before you consider your sideboard options. The mana base is somewhat complex, needing to deal with supporting three colors, five strip effects, and seven manlands. We're still tweaking it.

There seems to be a low threat density, looking only at the creature count... But with only ten castable creatures (fourteen if you count Calls twice) and seven manlands, the threat density is high enough to win - although not as soon as you might like. The creatures are the best Green has to offer. River Boa is hard to remove and evasive against blue, and it is an excellent blocker against Juggernauts and Su-Chi. Call of the Herd provides solid card economy (though not as good as Goblin Welder), and is also good when it's in the graveyard - a place it might go to often against heavy discard.

The removal spells of choice in this deck include the best board sweeper ever printed, Pernicious Deed, and the best green card ever printed, in Naturalize. The Naturalizes are so vital to the deck that removing them now seems ludicrous. Terminate is, admittedly, conditional since the rise of the new combo decks, and so Incinerate is going to get tested in that slot for awhile. Lightning Bolt is the best burn spell printed and is bad in nearly no matchups, and is good in nearly all. (Well, except against decks sporting Misdirection, but those are fewer these days - The Ferrett)

The Utility is the best in the format. Duress is crucial, as it will hit something devastating to you in nearly every matchup. Sylvan Library gives you card advantage when you need it and always improves draws, and its effectiveness increases with additional fetchlands. Regrowth is the ultimate in utility; it gets any spell you've seen in this game, and gives you a second chance to play it. Demonic Tutor will give you the first chance to play a spell. Very useful even in a deck as redundant as this.

There appears to be a few cards missing from this list: Hymn to Tourach is excellent black discard - but with a stronger green component, the mana just can't support it. Phyrexian Negator is back-breaking against control, but in testing and in tournament, Call of the Herd is just better and therefore gets the slot. Call also beat out Hypnotic Specter in the three slot. Dark Ritual looks like it would be strong in a deck like this, hailing to the Monoblack splashing green decks - and admittedly, there is some inherent power in running Ritual, but you lose card advantage and consistency. Relying on Dark Ritual to win you games runs fundamentally against what this deck's purpose is: Gaining card advantage. Every card in here will gain some sort of card advantage. Naturalize will maintain the board, as will Terminate. Deed has the ability to trade infinity for one against some silly combo decks, but will usually get you two or three for one. The creatures are heavily resilient and/or promote card advantage through having a dual purpose.

But the real missing card is Yawgmoth's Will. Where is it, you ask? Well it was in the first version, acting like a super Regrowth. The one problem with it is that takes too much setting up to do. If you can live long enough to abuse the Will, you will be winning your game without help from the most powerful card in magic. Regrowth serves a different function, getting back a crucial removal spell when you can afford to get it, or just a card you aren't prepared to cast immediately.

On to the sideboard. There are eight cards in this sideboard that I would never change in any metagame. If they don't fit with your metagame, feel free to change them, but if you can run them effectively and traveling to an event such as GenCon, please don't even consider not running this pair to the fullest.

4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Artifact Mutation
For a long time, Red Elemental Blast had the reputation of being the strongest sideboard card, and it still retains that reputation. But currently, Artifact Mutation is the best sideboard card in the game. It hoses a pair of archetypes, while improving your maindeck removal in a host of others. Red Elemental Blast is necessary because good players like playing control; it makes them feel secure. It won't go away any time soon. Now come the more conditional choices for this sideboard.

2-3 Tormod's Crypt
This card is what will keep your numbers against Rector Trix (Agony) reasonable. Keeping Bargain off the board until you can deal with it (or their life total) is crucial. It's also useful against anything running Yawgmoth's Will, and slows down Psychatogs.

2 Ravenous Baloth/Spike Feeder
This is your life gain slot and should be used if you expect Sligh, as Price of Progress is absolutely devastating. I prefer Feeders for their speed, while Sam prefers Baloths due to their power. Play to your style; you will be most successful doing this. Sam runs these for one Sligh deck in our metagame - and at a big random event, Sligh will be a contender and you should be prepared. This is also tricky against Rector Trix, getting you over the twenty-life loss they hope to inflict.

2-3 Open Slots
These cards should be designated to beat your worst matchup in your metagame, or one you expect to see the most. If 'Phid is all the rage, run two Pyroblasts. If Rector combo is frolicking without anything checking it, run Cabal Therapy (although learn how to play it first - this card is the most potent discard spell after Duress, in my opinion). Hymn is strong, but mind games and hitting Academy Rector is often a stronger element in your victories. Smother is very nice in these slots, as are Diabolic Edicts or Chainer's Edicts (depending on your style).

Now I will talk about some of the matchups - especially the ones you should expect to see if you go to GenCon.

The Deck (Keeper)
This deck runs two dead cards against Keeper. The rest help you to win. You disrupt their hand and/or manabase, then drop a threat and ride it to the end. Keeper can't use game-breaking enchantments effectively against you because of the highly redundant enchantment disposal available to you. It is unfortunate that the deck can't afford to run Nether Void for matchups such as these. This matchup will be decided by play skill and draws. If they go broken, you'll have a tough time winning. Combo Keeper is tougher for you, but traditional common builds don't seem to pose as much of a problem.

Hulk Smash
The matchup is initially against you unless you get a very nice River Boa draw or they stall and you can grind them out. The problem with the pre-sideboarded games is that you have too many dead cards. Lightning Bolt isn't terribly strong, and Naturalize will be dead unless they play Sylvan Library. But after sideboarding, you gain some very nice tools. You can put up to eleven cards in, just to optimize your deck. Red Elemental Blast is amazing, being un-Misdirectable removal. Tormod's Crypt counters Yawgmoth's Will and makes 'Togs smaller. You are favored pretty well after boarding, depending on how much hate you bring in. The problem with 'Tog decks is the random"combo" wins that usually serve as culprit in most of your matchups.

Tools 'n' Tubbies
The reputed king of aggro. You are favored both pre- and post-sideboarding due to your heavy concentration of artifact hate and the usefulness of Pernicious Deed. The only card you need to be terribly afraid of here is Masticore, and Spiritmonger matches up nicely to him. After siding, you get Crypts and Mutations (and possibly other tools). Just outplay them, your deck will take care of you.

Stax (or $T4KS)
This matchup is sort of odd, but Artifact Mutation will cause them to concede most of them time. Your instant speed removal will be very useful here, as will at least six of your sideboard slots. You can still lose to their broken opening, but it's not likely to happen.

Mask
I haven't noticed more than three or so people who play with green with Mask, but I will talk about both versions shortly. Black/Blue Mask has a very strong tool in Shadowmage Infiltrator. They also have to fear the ever-powerful Pernicious Deed, as it will destroy their entire board. This matchup is very heavily in your favor, but it is possible to lose. The green Survival of the Fittest-based versions haven't been tested because they are non-existent in the Midwest. The ones that abuse Volrath's Shapeshifter are good matchups for you, as you can turn their Shapeshifters back to 0/1s using Lightning Bolts (targeting Birds of Paradise) or Wasteland. You just have to clever and know which trades you can make. You get an even better matchup after boarding. Another matchup to abuse Tormod's Crypt.

Rector Combo
This is your worst matchup, because you don't pack the early disruption to take care of their threats and your kill is rather slow. A more extensive sideboarding strategy may be necessary to give this matchup tolerable numbers. Rector decks are still in their youth and an established archetype has yet to emerge after the shakeup Scourge gave to combo decks. This is tough, but winnable. Expect to lose a majority of games, though.

Academy (Burning and otherwise)
This is another bad matchup for you. You have to hope for some acceleration to Pernicious Deed away their mana sources - as without them, the deck is severely neutered. Red Blasts after siding improve the matchup some, but the non-Red, non-counterable draw spells wreck your strategy. A bad matchup that requires much sideboard attention to make good. Cabal Therapy is amazing if you can hit with it in this matchup (good luck).

Sligh
Individual builds vary for Sligh, but the most fearsome is Legend's version with Ankh of Mishras as it runs maindeck Price of Progresses that you will find very deadly. If they don't have Ankh or Price main, you'll find you have a relatively easy time. If they do, it gets harder. Ankh isn't as bad as Price, because you run eight ways to remove it main. Winning quickly once your opponent resorts to topdecking is key; this is a matchup that slightly favors you, depending on the build.

Suicide
Your creatures are better and you run great removal, but the quick brokenness that this deck can produce can quickly put you away. Mana denial can also shut you down in this match. Your constant card advantage will pull you through this matchup... And rejoice if they run the recently-revivified Flesh Reavers. A good matchup for you.

Fish
Fish is very much trying to play the same game that you are. They want to shut you down and try to make you underextend - the reason they run Standstill. Your game plan involves the same strategy, and Pernicious Deed functions in much the same way as Fish's Standstill. You win this matchup because your creatures are better. The rest of the cards in the matchup are similar. Also your manlands outclass theirs. Your only worry is the Back to Basics that some builds play in the sideboard.