My first exposure to Value Vintage could generously be described as… confusing.
This past year at Eternal Weekend North America in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I was unable to play in the Vintage main event. Determined to still sling some ancient spells, I scanned the schedule and circled every Vintage side event I could find. On Sunday, I saw one labeled “Value Vintage.”
Naturally, I assumed this meant high EV Vintage. Sounds great. I registered.
When I submitted my decklist, a TO looked at it, paused, and said, “Umm… you can’t play these cards.”
Me: “What? This is Vintage, right?”
TO: “It’s Value Vintage. It’s a budget format.”
Me: “Oh.”
They refunded my entry, and I went home bummed, having played a very limited amount of Vintage that weekend.
Fast-forward a few weeks to SCG Baltimore. I saw another Value Vintage event listed and thought, Okay, maybe this is actually worth investigating. I spent the next few weeks combing through decklists, thinking about the metagame, and eventually annoying my friends until one of them bought in. Since then, we’ve been brewing and testing Value Vintage decks. All our theory-crafting and testing culminated into our first swiss with a cut to Top 8 event:
Tournament City Games
Frederick, Maryland
Value Vintage Monthly
December 20, 2025
Tournament City Games is a fantastic venue: big space, great vibe, and a super friendly crowd. Deck diversity was strong too—six different decks in the Top 8, an indication of a healthy and vibrant format.
I chose to battle with: Selesnya Adventure Combo
Like many players in Value Vintage, I quickly realized the Initiative mechanic would likely be cracked, just like it was in Legacy prior to the WPA ban and still is in Vintage. Starting from the established Selesnya Initiative shell, I asked one simple question:
What’s this deck’s weakness?
The answer was clear: it couldn’t present a consistent Turn 3 win. That’s a problem when you run into decks that simply don’t care about Initiative and are looking to end the game fast. While it does appear a large portion of the metagame is fairly soft to it, the truly unfair decks couldn’t care less.
So how do you speed this deck up?
As a lifelong creature-combo enjoyer, the answer came quickly: Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies. From there, it was just a matter of finding the payoff. It turns out that if you’re already playing eight Adventurers, venturing through the Undercity infinitely is a pretty good thing to be doing. And to clarify, the infinite loop involves Undermountain Adventure, Temur Sabertooth and infinite mana provided by the above mentioned combo. Duskwatch Recruiter lets you look through your whole deck once Devoted Druid and Vizier are doing their thing.White Plume Adventurer is in this list because it’s one of the best creatures in the format.
The Rounds
Round 1 – Bant Bean Miracles (Loss 1-2)
Game 1, I mulliganed a clunky hand, then kept a slow six that died to a miracle.
Game 2, I kept seven and my opponent’s awkward three-color mana base punished them hard.
Knowing the matchup, I mulliganed to five in Game 3 looking for a fast WPA. I found it—but it immediately ate a Lose Focus. After that, I spun my wheels while my opponent landed Beans and followed it up with a miracle.
Despite the loss, this matchup feels reasonable. Bant Beans has a hard time battling over the Undercity.
Round 2 – Blue Post (ID)
Paired against my friend—who traveled 3 hours with me to this event. We took the ID and agreed to win out into Top 8. Easy.
Round 3 – Sultai Alluren-Style Energy Combo (Win 2-0)
Game 1, I looked at a pile of cards, but couldn’t assemble my combo. Fortunately, my opponent also couldn’t find their combo, and the initiative value did its thing.
Game 2, I made infinite mana on Turn 3 with three Adventurers in play. It wasn’t technically an instant kill, but it was so much pressure that my opponent scooped after drawing their Turn 4 card.
Round 4 – Temur Rhinos (Win 2-1)
Game 1 was rough: my opponent made rhinos on Turns 2, 3, and 4, and I couldn’t find anything meaningful to do with infinite mana.
Game 2, they had rhinos on Turn 1. Unfortunately for them, combo-killing Turn 3 on the play is faster.
Game 3, they kept a slow hand and got absolutely buried under initiative value.
Round 5 – Sultai Beans (Win 2-0)
Sweet deck, but very soft to Initiative.
In Game 2, I aggressively mulliganed looking for a Turn 2 WPA. I found it on five. My opponent missed their third land drop, and that was that.
For those wondering, yes, my friend also won out and made Top 8. He had to Repeal his own construct token looking for a counter spell in Game 3 vs. Channel Mirror Combo. You know he found it cause the good kids always do. He was playing Blue Post, and lost in the Quarterfinals to Eldrazi Aggro. Turns out, Turn 2 Tinker into Sphinx of the Steel Wind gets wrecked by Wastescape Battlemage.
Top 8
Quarterfinals – Golgari Dark Depths (Win 2-1)
Game 1, I drew all four Viziers and nothing to pair them with, then died to a 20/20 flying Marit Lage.
Game 2, I made infinite mana but didn’t have an immediate win. I dumped my hand, including Undermountain Adventurer and Generous Ent. My opponent made Marit Lage on my Turn 3 end step, untapped, gave it protection from green, and attacked.
Usually that’s good enough.
But Generous Ent continues to be an absolute all-star. The Food token kept me alive. I untapped, scryed into Nyxborn Hydra (thanks to the Undercity), and suddenly infinite mana had a purpose.
Game 3, as my opponent put it:
“Sometimes your opponent makes infinite mana on Turn 3 and kills you.”
Welcome to Value Vintage.
Semifinals – Mono-Black Lurrus (Win 2-0)
This deck felt soft to Initiative (noticing a trend here?). In Game 1, I couldn’t land Undermountain Adventurer until my fourth land arrived during a back-and-forth topdeck war—but once it did, the game swung hard.
Game 2 was the Scavenging Ooze show. It, effectively, soloed the game and sealed the match.
Finals – Channel Mirror Combo (Intentional Draw)
We split.
If the Channel player understands the matchup and mulligans aggressively for Turn 2 wins, I’m likely in trouble. If they keep conservative hands, I like my chances. Outside of Thalia, my sideboard was absolutely not configured to fight this deck—this matchup probably requires multiple Deafening Silences + Thalia to feel decent.
Final Thoughts
10/10, would absolutely recommend Value Vintage—and Tournament City Games is a fantastic place to play it. You could probably buy enough of the staples to build multiple decks for less than $100. In a time where Standard decks frequently cost $300-$500 (or more… $700 for Bant Airbending?!) with usually stale and boring metagames, maybe give this community-focused and budget-friendly format a try. But remember, just because your deck has to be $30 or less does not mean you get to mess around. This format is exceptionally powerful and blisteringly fast. Learn the rules of engagement, mulligan with purpose, and don’t assume “budget” means “fair.”
If I were to run this list back, I would remove all Nyxborn Hydras (maybe consider exactly one copy for the sideboard)., add 4 Genesis Hydras, and seriously consider adding Elvish Spirit Guides – especially if the meta might involve a large number of cascade piles.
Happy brewing, and I’ll see yinz at SCG Atlanta.