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Type 1 in Australia - The Resurgence of a Classic Format!

Type 1, or Vintage as its been known in some circles is my favour format!

I simply love the "brokenness" and fun that is Type 1.

To kick things off, I've been playing Magic on and off since 1995 and played in my first Type 1 tournament in Brisbane way back in the good old days of 1996, when the current Type 2 decks were either Necro, Sligh or Ernie Geddon.... ahhhh, the glorious memories :-) The memories of playing in my first T1 tournament with a green/white poison deck and killing someone with a Fire Whipped Wall of Roots by pinging them to death 28 times whilst hiding behind a Moat (and having to also plow 2 Sengir Vampires in the process). Fun times!

Type 1 in recent times has experienced a global resurgence. More and more people are getting into it, which has resulted in an explosion of Type 1 tournaments, especially in the USA and Europe. The downside of this increase in popularity has been the skyrocketing price of restricted cards, especially the Power 9.

I’m going to discuss the growth of Type 1 in Australia, as well as how people can be competitive in Type 1, without having to fork out big bucks for the Power 9 (which for those who don’t know are: Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Time Twister, Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby and Mox Emerald).

Type 1 is back! And with a vengeance! It has really taken off since 2003 and is now starting to take off in Australia, following the trends set in the USA and Europe. The amount of people interested in acquiring Power 9 has also significantly increased to the point where Power 9 cards can be considered to be also a good investment, with prices constantly going up!

So why is it so popular? Why do people want to play Type 1 in this country? To me, it’s the ability to do insane things (Play Land, Mox, Mox, Mox, Time Walk, Ancestral, Twist then pass your turn) and the large variety of decks to play and play against. Playing with “broken” cards is just plain fun.

The beauty of Type is its depth and variety of decks that can be played, given the large card pool available. To me, Type 1 is all about variety – where in a tournament you can expect to see 7 different decks in 7 different rounds – unlike today’s stale Type 2 environment.

The following is a list of current decks to beat in Type 1 (taken from Star City Games):

- 4C Control
- 7/10 Split
- Affinity
- Charbelcher
- Control Slavery
- Dragon
- Draw 7
- EBA
- Food Chain Goblins
- GAT
- Hulk Smash
- Landstill
- Madness
- MUD
- Oshawa Stompy
- Parfait
- Rector Tendrils
- Stacker
- Tools 'n Tubbies
- PS
- Trinistax
- U/G Madness
- U/R Fish
- Vengeur Masque
- Welder MUD
- Winter – Mono Green Land Destruction
- Workshop Slavery

When was the last time that your saw so much competitive deck variety in Type 2? Many of these decks are unpowered or run partial power so there is no excuse about not playing Type 1.

I have come across many people over the last few months that are keen to get into Type 1, but are hesitant to do so for fear of not being able to compete with fully powered decks.

Guess what? This is a myth! You can be competitive in this country without needing power cards. Seriously.... I'm not kidding!

So how can I be competitive in Type 1 I hear you ask?

The most obvious answer is to find power - doable but time consuming if you aren't prepared to throw money at it - but that's another article for another time. The next best thing is to find a deck that can be built for speed. Decks like Food Chain Goblins, Stompy and even Suicide Black can do well in a partial/unpowered environment. Heck - I have even read about a mono green (unpowered) land destruction deck winning a T1 event in Germany, beating other full powered decks in the top 8. Even a T1.5 or Extended deck with some of the below mentioned cards can compete and do very well.

Type 1 is also full of cards that are reasonably easy to obtain, don't burn a hole in your wallet and make you competitive: Sol Ring, Wheel of Fortune, Yawgmoth's Will, Null Rod, Damping Matrix, Root Maze, Guerrilla Shaman, Swords to Plowshares, Balance and the list goes on....

Remember, this isn’t the USA and Europe and the metagame won’t be fully powered. An unpowered deck skilfully played goes can beat a powered deck. I’ve seen it happen on many an occasion (including to me) so if you don’t have power, don’t let that stop you playing Type 1.

To help motivate you all, here’s a list of great Type 1 information on the net:

The Mana Drain - The Premier Type 1 site

MTG Paradise - The MTGParadise Type 1 forums

Morphling - Many Good Type 1 tournament reports

Star City Games - Type 1 Decks to Beat

Play or Draw - More Type 1 decks

I've taken the liberty of listing some competitive unpowered decks.... Enjoy!

Competitive Unpowered Type 1 Decks

Collated By Michael Martin

4 - Llanowar Elves 
4 - Wall of Roots
4 - Argothian Wurm
2 - Viridian Zealot
4 - Root Maze
4 - Tangle Wire
2 - Powder Keg
4 - Ice Storm

4 - Thermokast
4 - Winter's Grasp
4 - Treetop Village
4 - Wasteland
1 - Strip Mine
1 - Sol Ring
1 - Pendelhaven
13 - Forest

As required.

4 - Duress
4 - Hymn to Tourach
1 - Necropotence
2 - Diabolic Edict
4 - Phyrexian Negator
4 - Withered Wretch
4 - Hypnotic Spectre
4 - Nantuko Shade
1 - Mind Twist

4 - Dark Ritual
4 - Powder Keg
2 - Null Rod
1 - Demonic Tutor
1 - Yawgmoth's Will
4 - Wasteland
1 - Strip Mine
15 - Swamp

As required.

4 - Goblin Lackey
4 - Goblin Recruiter
4 - Goblin Ringleader
4 - Goblin Warchief
4 - Goblin Piledriver 
2 - Skirk Prospector
3 - Siege Gang Commander
3 - Goblin Matron 
3 - Gempalm Incinerator
1 - Goblin Tinkerer

1 - Goblin Sharpshooter
4 - Food Chain
2 - Mirri's Guile
3 - Goblin Grenade
1 - Mana Crypt
1 - Sol Ring
3 - Wasteland
3 - Wooded Foothills
4 - Taiga
6 - Mountain

As required.

I’m starting to see regular Type 1 events happening in Melbourne (good on ya boys!) and am hoping that this will see similar events occur in other cities (*hint*, *hint* Tournament Organisers – let's get more Type 1 events happening).

Most people should know that the Australian Nationals are happening in July and one of the side events is a Type 1 event – I want to see as many of the MTGParadisers play in this event as possible. The more numbers we get the more prize support we get from Wizards and the more attention Type 1 gets so hopefully see you all there!

One of the things that I am currently trying to do is stimulate interest in a Type 1 tournament scene – so c’mon everyone, lets play Type 1!

Mick
(marmi01 on MTGParadise).

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