Everything Vintage Doomsday

Special thanks to Bart Diem4x van Etten, Max MaxMagicer Vervoort, SingPanMan, and discoverN for writing.

Maindeck Configuration and Why no Cavern of Souls

Decklist can be found here or below:

Many players come from legacy Doomsday to play Vintage Doomsday, and many wonder why the deck does not play Cavern of Souls. The reason is that after building a pile, you generally will have a Gush or Ancestral Recall on top. If the opponent has a counterspell, they aren't going to save it for the Oracle; they have to aggressively go after your Recall or Gush simply because the card draw spell will draw you into a counter for their counter in addition to your Oracle. In my mind, there are only three flex slots in the maindeck for Doomsday. In this build, we have elected to use Mystical Dispute, Force of Negation, and Portent.

Mystical Dispute and Force of Negation: These slots are generally between either Treasure Cruise + disruptive spell or two disruptive spells. Standard cards in these slots are 3rd Daze, 4th Flusterstorm, Duress, or Chain of Vapor. With shops and mirrors so popular in the meta, it's nice to have a fifth free counterspell on the draw, so that's why we have chosen Force of Negation. We have Mystical Dispute over something like another Flusterstorm because of things like Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Hullbreacher, and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade. These cards can be significant problems, and having an excellent one mana answer that can also counter Force of Wills is very lovely.

Portent: This slot is mainly for extra cantrips. Often you will see Sleight of Hand, Peek, or even Cling to Dust. Ponder is restricted for a reason, and while this card can't crack piles, it's very good at being good card selection or messing up your opponent's top 3 cards, especially in something like the mirror.

Sideboard Configuration

Steel Sabotage: it is only used for the shops matchup, but it's so crucial in that matchup that you want four after sideboard. It's the most effective way to get rid of Sphere of Resistance type cards without investing too much mana.

Mindbreak Trap: it's good vs. decks that try to do a lot on the first turn, like Paradoxical Outcome, shops, or the mirror. At worst, it's a pitch to force, which makes sure it's not entirely a dead card when you draw it later in the game.

Duress: an overall decent card against all decks where you want to play around counters and a card that sometimes is exactly what you need in your doomsday pile, especially when you have a Mox Jet in your start, so you don't need to tap a land to play it. A handy thing it can do is snag a Brain freeze before you combo, so you don't die on the spot.

Fatal Push: you need an answer for cards like Lavinia, Deathrite Shaman, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Archon of Emeria, Leovold, Collector Ouphe, and other hatebears, and Push is just the most efficient one in the game. It's also good against ravager shops because it can give you enough time to beat the stax pieces.

Opposition Agent: agent is outstanding in the mirror as it is a win the game if it's not answered, while it's still decent vs. all decks that play tutors.

Leyline of the Void: you only board it in vs. dredge or other bazaar decks, but it's just the most efficient card to play in your Doomsday sideboard for that matchup without dedicating too many spots for the matchup.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang: you want an additional win condition against decks that can disrupt your combo well, like Brain Freeze or a deck with many specific counters, like Flusterstorm and Pyroblast. You also board Tasigur in when your opponent boards out their removal spells, like how Jeskai boards out Swords to Plowshares, and you want another card that they have to counter, yet it can't be hit by Flusterstorm, Pyroblast, or even Force of Negation. Because of this, it can sometimes steal games.

Island: having a second basic is another tool for shops to better play around Wasteland and Ghost Quarter.

Sideboard Guide

For the following parts, instead of doing a bit about standard piles such as Gush/Recall, Black Lotus, Oracle, Fluster, Wraith/second Oracle, etc., I've decided to show different puzzles on beating more challenging hate pieces and piles you can make to do that.

Playing vs. Breach

You are against Breach, and the opponent was on the play with seven cards and went Misty Rainforest, Mox Ruby, pass (5 cards remaining). You mulliganned once, and your hand is Doomsday, Street Wraith, Force of Will, Preordain, Underground Sea, Tasigur, Dark Ritual. Notable play arounds are Pyroblast/Fluster/Brain Freeze. How do you want to play this turn and the rest of the game?

Our hand is:

Game plan

In this hand, First, I want to play tasigur.
And after the opponent moves, I want to play doomsday.

Choices

1. Play Ritual Doomsday: too risky.
   If the opponent doesn't have Brain Freeze, the opponent very likely has a lot of counters. So, turn one kill won't be possible. 1. Cycling Wraith to find a fetch, another Wraith, or Gitaxian probe to make casting Tasigur easier. Not bad.
2. Play Preordain: my choice.
   This choice has few flaws.
   Good things: it can keep Street Wraith. Wraith is a vital card to beating Brain Freeze.

Playing vs. BUG

You are at 16 life vs. BUG game three (assume Fatal Push is in your deck and nothing is exiled, so you have your whole deck to put in your pile) and cast a Doomsday with a Dark Ritual in hand and 3 Underground Seas in play. Your opponent has Leovold, Collector Ouphe, 3 lands, and 3 cards in hand. You assume their graveyard doesn't matter (i.e., Snapcaster Mage). What is your pile? (thinking about playing around Fluster, Wasteland, possibly Daze, etc.)

1. Pass turn
2. Play Ritual
3. Play Tutor, and get Time Walk
4. Play Walk
5. In extra turn, play Oracle

I think there are low odds of winning this match. But you will have to go all-in.

If the opponent plays two trophies (or plays wasteland and trophy), you need to search Island. Let's pray that it won't happen.

Bad

• Can withstand only one turn (16 life to 8, their board has 5 power)
• Lose with one counter (Flusterstorm, Force, Mindbreak Trap, Spell Pierce)
• Lose with one removal (Decay, Trophy)
• 33% to lose (we can't draw the island)
• I can't afford the resources (it's all Leo's fault)

Good

• The opponent might not have Daze (if the opponent has Daze, they will cast it on Doomsday)
• A single Wasteland can be played around

Playing vs. Bant

Your Opponent casts Archon of Emeria with five cards in hand on the play in turn two. It is game three (You have Fatal Push in your deck, and they may have cards like Meddling Mage or Deafening Silence). You untap and cast Doomsday off of two lands and a Mox after time walking (You drew Daze for turn and Ritual last turn). You still have a land drop, and Doomsday resolves. You are at 19 life. (Remember about Archon's tapped land condition and notable cards to try to play around are things like Lavinia, Ouphe, Meddling Mage, Hullbreacher, maybe Deafening Silence, counterspells like Flusterstorm, and even Spell Queller). What is your pile, and what do are you trying to do in the following turns?

This turn play tapped fetchland, pass.
Next turn, play tapped fetchland, time walk.
Next turn, play Oracle, fetch in response to removal if needed, or fetch to play around Dazes.
If countered, following turn play oracle again and can still fetch Island if needed.

You may think that you want to get a Fatal Push pile here, but that means you would likely need the fatal push to resolve to win. If you were to cack fetch (revolt for fatal push) with holding priority and cast Fatal Push on Archon and still holding priority with the fetchland on the stack gush so you know the cards you can draw, not only do you lose to a Hullbreacher but you loose to Lavinia as well. The pile discoverN describes makes it so you can beat all of these cards as well as Flusterstorm and Daze (two Oracles).

Playing vs. Shops

I've decided to do one final puzzle of a Doomsday pile to beat Golos shops.

You cast Doomsday off of three lands and two Moxes, as there is a Thorn of Amethyst and a Sphere of Resistance on the battlefield under your opponent's control. They also control a Phyrexian Revoker with Black Lotus named, a 2/2 Stonecoil Serpent and an Ancient Tomb, a Mox Emerald, an Inventor's Fair, and two cards in hand. You are at 16 life, so after Doomsday, you will be dead to 2 swings. Your hand consists of Preordain, Daze, and Force of Will. What is the easiest way of winning the next turn playing around Wasteland, another Sphere, Mindbreak trap, possibly Chalice, Null Rod, more Revokers, etc?

Our hand is:

From the top: Steel Sabotage, Gush, Oracle, Lotus, Island
Goal: try to win in two turns.
The plan is to pass after the opponent attacks you to 4. You bounce the Revoker mid-combat with Steel Sabotage, and when they re-cast it, you Force of Will it. Then you untap and cast Gush, play land, and cast Black Lotus and Thassa's Oracle with Daze backup. There are ways to win the turn after you cast Doomsday, but all of them lose to a singular Sphere, a Mindbreak Trap, a Wasteland, all these things. This line also beats Wasteland, and if they play a Sphere instead of Revoker again, you can Force that too. The Island in the pile is important because then you can beat a Ghost Quarter as well.

Another option:
From the top: Time Walk, Street Wraith, Thassa's Oracle, Island, Island
Goal: win next turn. The plan is to cast Time Walk and then cycle Street Wraith into Oracle and cast it with two cards in deck. This pile beats Mindbreak Trap, one Wasteland, one Sphere, Null Rod. The main issue with this pile is you are dead if they play a Revoker or a Spyglass and name street wraith.

Both piles are justifiable, and honestly, there are another ten piles you could argue for as well. Playing vs. shops can be complicated, and the most essential thing is mana sources and having enough lands at all times.

Or

That's all! If you enjoyed this guide, you can leave me a follow on Twitter for more like it in the future. Once again, massive shoutouts to our 4 guests for making this happen. Make sure to check them out on Twitter as well. If you have any questions, leave me a DM, and I'll get back as soon as I can. Thanks :)

Editor's note: This was original posted here by Jacobisboss and permission granted to reformat and post on the Wiki. If anyone else has any Doomsday submissions they would like hosted, please drop us a message on the Doomsday Discord.

Thank you Jacob and his co-authors for the great article and thank-you for reading.

— Doishy

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