Magic: The Gathering—The Vintage Year In Review

Last night I had a dream where Games Workshop took over Wizards of the Coast and I didn't have access to a computer to tell you about it. It was a bad dream. I will make up for it by constant vigilance today.

The first news of the day is a great article at magicthegathering.com, where Stephen Menendian, resident Vintage specialist, details the events of the year in the format, calling it "the most surprising year in Vintage history as well as the most dynamic" (and he's cute, too).

If you're wondering, Vintage is a tournament format in which you can use any Magic card ever printed, barring Unglued and Unhinged cards along with banned cards, and you're allowed to use only one copy of the restricted cards found here.

With the addition of new sets to the Vintage format, some terrifying new decks have emerged—a manaless (!) Ichorid deck, for example.

Also notable was the errata added to a Mirage card, Flash—leading it to become something much more than it was, leading to its being banned in Legacy but fully taken advantage of in Vintage. (Click on the link. Read the card text and the "Oracle Text" beside it. See the difference? There you go.)

Other announcements made no effect at all. Mind Twist was unrestricted, despite having been banned earlier just for being too powerful, but in this format, it got little to no play as "an overcosted Duress." But one unrestriction did make an impact—Gush.

Speaking of Gush, I'm gushing just a bit. You really should just read the article.