@Serracollector said in Notes on the State of Vintage, Jan 2017:

Restrict Workshop, and Unrestrict Lodestone Golem and Trinisphere. Keep Chalice Restricted. Restrict Paradoxical Outcome and Gitaxian Probe. Watch the game completely change, for the better.

I don't see there is any reason to restrict Paradoxical Outcome - it hasn't put up amazing results and the decks so far are very beatable?

Workshop is weird in the way that if it didn't exist and was printed, I don't think anyone would argue a second that it shouldn't be restricted. It has just been available for so long that it is really hard to see that change.

@joshuabrooks said in Asset Appraisal for Divorce:

Well kudos to you for appearing to be honest about the contents. I think most guys would have made a midnight backpack delivery at their friends house.

"What black lotus? That was a lotus petal."

I kept thinking 'nono, it was a blacker lotus'.

Sorry to hear this, I've just seen a beautiful record collection of 30 years torn apart. Good luck.

I'm not basing this on deep analysis, but Lightning Bolt always seem more popular in Europe compared to the states. And that Paradoxical Mentor list looks really cool.

@Protoaddct I wasn't forgetting as much as not mentioning every single example :-)

@Lesbimagical said in R&D is completely incompetent:

@Brass-Man This, wholeheartedly. Maybe this is to see if combo can exist in Standard, safely. Either way, Old School & Vintage aren't going away. We're existing in an area entirely unsupported by Wizards as it is, other than being thrown a bone or two in every set for Vintage.

I disagree very much with the last statement. Vintage and new cards/standard are as entwined now as I can remember. The power level of current creatures alone is so high that Vintage has significantly shifted towards creatures as the main threat and base of most decks.

Mentor and Pyromancer created new archetypes, the former is arguably the deck to beat these days. Eldrazi is a strong deck in all metagames these day, and via Jaco even created a budget list that is tournament viable. TKS is a defining creature of most artifact decks. Paradoxical decks are on the rise. The Thalias have pushed a viable hatebear strategy, and are very important in white Eldrazi. Leovold just powered Rodrigo Togores into the VSL. These are cards from pretty much the last three years, and are constituting the majority of decks being played. A ton of other new cards are actually viable, or at least being seriously tested in vintage.
Back in the day there were very few threads on TMD about new cards simply because many sets didn't even have one serious candidate for inclusion in the metagame.

While I agree with Brassman, and disagree with the hyperbole of the OP and others, Vintage is very dependent on the new cards coming out these days, possibly more than even during Urza's block. Thus the health, and continued development, of the game, is crucial for Vintage and its evolving metagame.

There is also the simple fact that the MtG IP is crazily valuable, and given the broad success and profitability of gaming today, even if WotC did manage to screw it up completely, someone will be there to pick it up and continue. Magic is not anywhere near unique in that regard, either. The incredible thing is really that the game has been as well run as it has, honestly, given the amount of content there has been made.