For episode 40, Geoff Moes (@ThallidTosser on Twitter), Nat Moes (@GrandpaBelcher), and Josh Chapple (@joshchapple) are pleased to show off Collector Ouphe, a free preview card from Modern Horizons, provided by Wizards of the Coast!
Podcast (seriousvintage): Download (Duration: 25:23 — 11.7MB)
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01:25 – Oof
17:59 – The Real Collection Was the Friends We Made Along the Way
Total runtime: 25:22
Null Rodney
I’m sure most of you are here looking for the free Modern Horizons preview card, so we’ll get right to it.
It’s a Null Rod on legs! At long last!
This card was at the top of my list from the very beginning of exploratory design, and it went through everything almost unchanged mechanically. In my head I named it “Null Rodney.”
Null Rod has long been a staple of Vintage aggro-control decks because it helps prey on artifact-based manabases as Wasteland and Strip Mine take apart dual lands. It slows down explosive starts and combo finishes, allowing the control deck enough time to block paths to victory and win with creatures. That was one of Null Rod’s big weaknesses, in fact; it didn’t apply pressure to the opponent by itself. Without threatening creatures bearing down, opponents could find answers or additional threats and break out of their prison to win.
Collector Ouphe has the same crippling potential as Null Rod but brings its own threat.
As formats get older and smaller, and artifacts get more powerful, Collector Ouphe has increasing utility. In Modern it shuts down Affinity (the deck, not the ability), Aether Vial, and much of the Tron decks’ ability to fix colors and tutor for lands. In Legacy it starts hitting fast mana (Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, and Lion’s Eye Diamond), artifact decks with Grim Monolith, and powerful equipment, like Batterskull and Umezawa’s Jitte. And in Vintage, Workshop Aggro runs Walking Ballista and Arcbound Ravager, in addition to all the decks using Moxes, Black Lotus, Sol Ring, and Mana Crypt as a big chunk of their mana base. Oh, and Time Vault is still an OK card, I think.
Anyway, we’re primarily a Vintage podcast, so we’ll go deeper into Vintage applications.
Obviously not every deck is interested in this effect, but there are probably a few. Stony Silence is one of the most important cards in Survival decks for buying time against Workshops and Paradoxical Outcome, and Collector Ouphe is a Stony Silence that can be tutored for (or discarded to) Survival of the Fittest. Maybe there’s some risk in making creature removal even better against this creature-heavy strategy, but all kinds of removal were good against this deck that has a key land, a key enchantment, big artifact creatures, lots of other creatures, and a relevant graveyard.
Ouphe Survival, borrowed from David Lance
BUG Control (which we’ve never talked about on this show before) is already looking to deny resources to the opponent with creatures like Leovold, Emissary of Trest, stopping card-draw, and Ramunap Excavator and Wasteland hitting important lands. Like Excavator, the Ouphe is another artifact that’s been given a body and a purpose – preventing the opponent from having nice things. And thanks to Deathrite Shaman, BUG Control can skip running a lot of the artifacts that would make the Ouphe a double-edged sword.
BUG Collector
Another strategy, which hasn’t been around recently but could show up again, would be something like Christmas Beats. In Magic, red and green both hate Vintage staples blue and artifacts, so this deck focuses on those in an aggro-control shell. Christmas Beats foregoes playing most artifacts in favor of Elvish and Simian Spirit Guides, so it can disrupt mana with four Collector Ouphes and an additional Null Rod for moral support. There are lots of creature options beyond that: Magus of the Moon, Tin Street Hooligan, Scavenging Ooze, Tarmogoyf, Harsh Mentor, Vexing Shusher, Goblin Cratermaker. And for spells you get Pyroblast, Lightning Bolt, Ancient Grudge, the new Force of Vigor from Modern Horizons – whatever you think will make a difference in the expected metagame.
Santa’s Ouphe
There’s a lot of opportunity for Collector Ouphe to succeed in Modern and eternal formats. Artifacts continue getting stronger and allowing opponents to carry out nefarious, broken schemes. Ouphe says no!
How Many Team Serious Members Does It Take?
Because podcasts are a tricky way to reveal a free Wizards preview card, we decided we’d try something different, and perhaps unique. The Serious Vintage podcast looks at the Vintage format through the lens of community, rather than competition. We have fun playing Magic, but it’s also an excuse to hang out with people we enjoy. And it’s one of the reasons we always end our shows with discussions of food and drink, because the post-tournament meal is just as important as the event itself. Sometimes more so.
So thanks to everyone who helped us preview our card (in order of the word they read): Steve McGrew, Jake Hilty, Jon Hammack, JR Goldman, Guhstin Dewey, Paul Blakeley, Ryan Seeley, Nam Q. Tran, Duane Haddix, Rajah James, Anthony “Twaun” Michaels, Jimmy McCarthy, Andy “Brass Man” Probasco, Sam Krohlow, Frank Singel, Josh McCurley, Phil Thorson, Jerry Yang, Eric Caffrey, Mark Trogdon, Gilberto Rivera, Kevin Nelson, Justin Waller, Rick Gideon, David Lance, Kyle Lennox, Charles Rolko, Kevin Poenisch, Matt Hazard, Erik Butler, Joe Dyer, and Ben Perry. Lots of people had fun with it, none more than Brass Man, who provided the stinger for this episode.
Thanks also to Geoff Moes, who, when I said I wanted to have him splice 40 or so contextless words of a card together into a coherent whole, didn’t blink an eye. It was just that normal twitch thing he gets when I tell him I have an idea.
And thanks to Josh Chapple, who, since it was snowing in Colorado when we recorded, went up the road to podcast from the parking lot of his local bar, Snowpack Taproom, to get a working internet signal. He recommends Snowpack as having a strong selection of rotating local kegs, good food, and powerful internet. The next Team Serious Invitational he hosts in Colorado will definitely take a trip there.
Finally, thanks to Jaco for hosting our show at Eternal Central. He loves formats with old Magic cards and has put together quite a home for them. We exist in large part because of his help.
My job is easy; I just write words.
Upcoming Events
We close this episode with a couple of upcoming Vintage events, a section that we used to do and would like to do more regularly. If you have a Vintage (or Middle School or Old School) event that you want us to hype, let us know! If it’s reasonable to put on our next episode, we will.
First up, an event I found on The Mana Drain. The Lone Star Lhurgoyfs group is hosting a Vintage event Saturday, June 8 in Houston, Texas. They have a nice writeup, it’s at a bar, and they’re going to raffle off some pretty awesome looking Eldrazi proxies. Check that out if you’re near Houston.
In Warren, Ohio, there are two Vintage Eternal Weekend Trials, on Friday, June 14 and Sunday, June 16 at Bottom Dollar Trading. Those events should just be crawling with Team Serious members, so it should be a lot of fun.
And Josh is looking forward to the TinFinVitational events in Denver, being run the same weekend as that city’s Magic Fest at the Whittier Pub. There’s a Vintage event on Friday, July 19, and a Legacy event on Sunday, July 21. Take a look if you’ll be playing in GP Denver, and say hey to Josh.
Questions for Discussion
So! What do you think of Collector Ouphe? Did you know how to pronounce “ouphe” before we did? Did you see Filip Burburan’s great art? The Ouphe is stealing the power from an Aether Vial! Are there other Easter eggs in the art? What other Modern Horizons cards are you excited about? Do you have a local Vintage or other event coming up that you want us to give a shoutout to? Let us know!
Conclusion
Thanks for listening! If you found this show because of our free Wizards preview card for Modern Horizons, welcome. We hope you enjoyed your time here. We’ll look forward to any questions or comments here or The Mana Drain or on Twitter. You can also email us at seriousvintagepodcast@gmail.com.