dknight27

Real people can't play vintage, it's not worth the money. That being said, this is an old build, and it hasn't held up that well. Here are a couple newer ones. I don't play vintage, but it's fun to theorize about.

https://www.mtgvault.com/dknight27/decks/vintage-artifact-prison-2/

https://www.mtgvault.com/dknight27/decks/vintage-artifact-combo-2/

First thing that came to mind is mind stone (no pun intended)

Is the priest in there to take advantage of the pyromancer tokens?

I'm not sure the splash of green is worth it in here. The 3/3 shroud mechanic works pretty well with the massive cheap instant/sorcery outlets, but there are only 4 greens in the whole build, including sideboard, and wasting a fetch land early on an 18 land build seems like an unnecessary risk, at least to me.

I've never been that big a fan of warping wail. Have you had good results with it?

I've always been a fan of mindbreak trap in decks like this, as you get around uncounterable stuff and can shut down storm. Other than that this looks solid

I guess I just don't really understand what this deck is trying to do. It's not shooting for the advantages of mono-black

What format are we going for here?

Nothing wrong with a casual build that looks for creativity rather than competition. I despise net-decking and it's necessity, and it's wonderful to get away from it whenever possible.

Some other ideas would be to go 4 x remand, as it does exactly what this deck wants, stall and draw.

I would also advise cutting the curve down a bit, as you want to hit the 1-drops every turn and still have mana available to play removal or counters.

I guess I'm not sure if this mechanic can hold up in anything but casual. You've only got 4 targets for proliferate, and those targets are extremely easy to remove (bolt, path, swords, fatal push, etc.). I would drop the proliferate mechanic altogether.

Honestly, I don't see what this deck can do that can't be done better by delver builds.

I would recommend 4 ponders though. Even though they're sorcery speed, it doesn't get much better.

This deck looks like it was built by a punk. I better not look at it......

That's a fun looking build. I've wanted to build an enchantment prison forever, and I've never been able to justify it. Perhaps now it can be done

Ya, that's a solid possibility. The more I look at it, the more applications I see for Eidolon. I'm working on some prison builds, and the red option is definitely going to come up.

Best way I've found of looking at a sideboard so far. I care more about what is useless mainboarded, so I figure that out first then build the side to fit the holes.

On a side note (ha), I think meddling mage is about to see a big rise in play thanks to companions.

Gotcha. I see a few possible tweaks that can be made even for a casual build. Right now you've got a heavy win condition set. One of the main advantages of builds that use the top/brainstorm/etc is that you move through the deck much more quickly, so you don't need nearly as many win conditions. I'm also not a big fan of kefnet, as it's slow and can't protect itself, but that's me. If you want to keep kefnet, I would suggest running 2 entreat and 2 kefnet (again, you don't need as many win cons), and then a fifth win con like a man land (celestial colonnade, faerie conclave, etc).

Mystic speculation doesn't make the grade, as it doesn't give you card advantage and isn't an instant. Just run ponder instead. I would cut terminus down to 3 and mastery down to 2, both for tactics/thinning reasons and because they don't work well with counterbalance. I've never been a fan of condescend, but that's me. I know it gives you the fun scry. I prefer running negate or disrupt.

And I know fetch lands are expensive, but they work WONDERS with the top/counterbalance as you can bury cards you don't need and get an extra shuffle to look at the top with. In a casual built I might even recommend running the slow fetchers (evolving wilds) if you can't afford the pain fetches.

Also worth noting, back to basics is going for 5 bucks nowadays and in a 2-color build would do some damage.

Just some quick thoughts

Unfortunately the top is banned in legacy, unless they are planning to unban it and I'm just unaware. Is this a casual build?

Is it just me, or is dualcaster mage the most interesting critter in magic? To me it's the personification of what I want to do as a player (I almost always play control). Retains tempo, retains card advantage, creates field presence.

Assuming you want to keep this casual, the obvious budget tweaks (besides the general advise above) is to trim down the curve with the 1-drop king of mill, thought scour.

Mystic sanctuary seems like a good choice as well. Both are under a dollar

We need to know if this is budget vs non-budget, modern, and competitive vs non-competitive

Is this budget casual?