Part I: Overview
Part II: History, 1994-1996
Part III: History, 1996-2000
Part IV: History, 2000-2002
Part V: A sample control mirror match
One curious question about Part III: What was the”Roc deck” I mentioned? Yes, believe it or not, it worked with Roc of Kher Ridges, and Brian Weissman developed it to beat”The Deck” at the height of its popularity. (This deck was also posted on the old Library of Dominaria, for those who might remember.)
Roc of Kher Ridges
3R
Creature-Roc
3/3
Beta rare
Flying
Roc Deck, about 1997, Brian Weissman, from e-mail
Disruption (5)
4 Mana Drain
1 Amnesia
Removal (11)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Disenchant
Card Drawing (6)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Braingeyser
4 Jayemdae Tome
Victory conditions (6)
2 Phantom Monster
3 Roc of Kher Ridges
1 Mirror Universe
Utility (3)
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Recall
Mana (29)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
4 Fellwar Stone
4 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
2 City of Brass
4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island
3 Plateau
Sideboard (15)
1 Zuran Orb
1 Amnesia
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Disrupting Scepter
2 Dust to Dust
1 Mana Short
1 Azure Drake 😛
How? Well, I’ll go into that in another column. From the history of”The Deck” in Part III, though, feel free to speculate why this pile actually beat the greatest Type I deck of all time.
(Hint: Brian e-mailed,”It’s funny that it seems so low tech, but honestly, it’s not that much different from current ‘aggro control’ strategies like Star Spangled Slaughter and so on. It certainly wins on the same principles. Let me know if you have any questions as always, and keep up the good work!”)
Anyway, in the last two parts, we went through the development of”The Deck” as it and its opponents gained new cards little by little as expansions were printed. What emerged after the combo menace of Type I of 1999-2000 was a deck that still resembled the Mirage version, but with far more options than ever before.
The Sydney Resurrection
After sanity was restored at the cost of the”classic” Necrodeck – the arch-nemesis of control -“The Deck” reemerged without a rival, strengthened by the new restricted cards from Urza’s Saga that rivaled their distant Beta ancestors in brokenness. The unbanning of Mind Twist for the Sydney Invitational only gave it back its most lethal weapon of all time, and only”The Deck” could use it effectively, with its fast mana (with four Duresses, four Hymns to Tourach, and four Hypnotic Specters, it ended up as nothing more than an overcosted Hymn for Suicide Black).
“The Deck” could then play a far more aggressive game than it ever did in 1996, and no longer had to wear the opponent down before winning. A single Yawgmoth’s Will or Mind Twist could provide an immediate overwhelming advantage even before the opponent actually lost, and – as slowly emphasized over the years – Brian Weissman’s new playbook was all about aggressively attacking the opponent’s mana with Wastelands, Gorilla Shaman, Balance, and Dwarven Miner post-sideboard.
“The Deck” November 2000, Brian Weissman, from e-mail
Blue (17)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
1 Morphling
White (5)
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
3 Swords to Plowshares
Black (5)
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
Green (1)
1 Regrowth
Red (3)
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fireball
Artifact (2)
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 City of Brass
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
Sideboard (15)
1 Mana Short
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Mirror Universe
4 Pyroblast
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Disenchant
2 Dwarven Miner
Urza’s most broken card and a friend from Zoo:
Yawgmoth’s Will
2B
Sorcery
Urza’s Saga rare
Until end of turn, you may play cards in your graveyard as though they were in your hand. If a card would be put into your graveyard this turn, remove that card from the game instead. (Restricted in October 1999)
Dwarven Miner
1R
Creature-Dwarf
1/2
Mirage uncommon
2R, Tap: Destroy target nonbasic land.
The restriction of Necropotence came just before Invasion and the Sydney 2000 Invitational. Along with the above decklist, Brian e-mailed,”I do think that Fact or Fiction is worth taking a look at, and if I were to include four copies of the card, I would make the following adjustments: Remove one Fireball, one Swords to Plowshares, one Braingeyser, one Counterspell… It seems very likely that Fact or Fiction will be restricted in the next Type I update, and if that is the case, a single one could be added to the above design in favor of one of the Swords to Plowshares.”
At the same time, on Beyond Dominia, the instant question wasn’t whether or not to use the new card drawer, but what to remove for it. The card was more powerful than Braingeyser – a restricted Beta card, after all. (Most removed Braingeyser, a Swords to Plowshares, and a counter or a utility card to add three Fact or Fictions. Brian and a few others insisted on all 4, while the rest felt the last one pushed the mana curve too high.)
Fact or Fiction, a.k.a. the blue Necropotence
3U
Instant
Invasion uncommon
Reveal the top five cards of your library. An opponent separates those cards into two face-up piles. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard. (Restricted January 2002)
Despite hardly playing any Magic that year, Brian gave his decklist to Ben Rubin. He did not play it in the Sydney 2000 Invitational-“chickened out” in Brian’s words-and instead played a multicolor Sligh deck.
Ben lost to Jon Finkel“The Deck” variant in the finals, proving its strength in a more balanced, general Type I metagame. That part of the Sydney Invitational captured the imagination of players worldwide, and for several months I was ignominiously accused of netdecking Finkel’s deck when playing the Type I deck I had played for years.
This is the famous excerpt from the Finkel-Mike Long duel:”Finkel let Long do all the card drawing he wanted and then tried to Mind Twist. Long fended off the Twist, but he had to use one of his Force of Wills to do it. He then used the other to stop Gorilla Shaman from coming into play, because it could have eaten most of Long’s mana, including the Fellwar Stone that was Long’s MVP this game.
“Eventually, Finkel Mystical Tutored for Yawgmoth’s Will and set up one of the most degenerate combos the worlds has ever seen: First he cast Obliterate, the uncounterable spell from Invasion that blows up all lands, creatures, and artifacts. Then he played out the two Moxes and Black Lotus he was saving and used them to cast Yawgmoth’s Will. The Will allowed him to put the other three Moxes plus the Lotus back into play and then he played Tolarian Academy from his graveyard. With all that mana, he used Mind Twist to knock Long’s entire hand away and then Stroked himself for five. Surprise, surprise, Finkel was able to win from that position.”
Finkel wrote in his own report:”I felt so especially bad for ending the tournament with such an utter and crushing victory over him. I’m sure there are certain pieces of his anatomy still tender from the beating I gave him in one turn… Let’s just say the highlights included destroying all permanents in play, then playing over a half dozen cards out of my graveyard, followed by a Mind Twist for seven and a Stroke of Genius for five. I think the Baron almost had a heart attack as he watched.”
Keeper, Jon Finkel, Champion, Sydney Magic Invitational, November 2000, from Sideboard Online
Blue (19)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Impulse
1 Morphling
1 Teferi’s Response
White (3)
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
1 Circle of Protection: Red
Black (6)
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
Green (1)
1 Regrowth
Red (4)
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fireball
1 Obliterate
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
Sideboard (15)
2 Moat
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Dwarven Miner
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Zuran Orb
1 Disenchant
1 Blue Elemental Blast
Keeper, Michael Long, Sydney Magic Invitational, November 2000, from Sideboard Online
Blue (21)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Amnesia
3 Fact or Fiction
3 Impulse
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Morphling
Black (6)
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Diabolic Edict
Red (3)
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Pyroblast
Artifact (1)
1 Disrupting Scepter
Mana
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
2 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
2 Tundra
2 Island
Sideboard (15)
1 Moat
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Hydroblast
1 Disenchant
2 Masticore
2 The Abyss
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Misdirection
1 Fireball
Keeper, Bob Maher, Jr., Sydney Magic Invitational, November 2000, from Sideboard Online
Blue (19)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
4 Impulse
1 Morphling
White (3)
1 Balance
2 Seal of Cleansing
Black (6)
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
Green (1)
1 Regrowth
Red (3)
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Kaervek’s Torch
1 Obliterate
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
Sideboard (15)
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Urza’s Rage
1 Teferi’s Response
4 Pyroblast
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Disrupting Scepter
1 Zuran Orb
3 Hydroblast
1 Mana Short
1 The Abyss
Other opinions…
Impulse
1U
Instant
Visions common
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library.
Diabolic Edict
1B
Instant
Tempest common
Target player sacrifices a creature.
Masticore
4
Artifact Creature
4/4
Urza’s Destiny rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may discard a card from your hand. If you don’t, sacrifice Masticore. 2: Masticore deals 1 damage to target creature. 2: Regenerate Masticore.
Misdirection
3UU
Instant
Mercadian Masques rare
You may remove a blue card in your hand from the game rather than pay Misdirection’s mana cost. Change the target of target spell with a single target.
Obliterate
6RR
Sorcery
Invasion rare
Obliterate can’t be countered. Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and lands. They can’t be regenerated.
Teferi’s Response
1U
Instant
Invasion rare
Counter target spell or ability an opponent controls that targets a land you control. If a permanent’s ability is countered this way, destroy that permanent. Draw two cards.
Seal of Cleansing
1W
Enchantment
Nemesis common
Sacrifice Seal of Cleansing: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
An important thing to remember, though, is that while the above decks brought”The Deck” back to public consciousness, experienced Type I players dismiss them as bad builds.
Yes, the last time I said a Kai Budde deck was uninspired was the last time I was publicly humiliated – but listen to the entire argument. First of all, the pros only had to play three games with their deck, and they knew their opponents and their opponents’ rough decklists. For example, Impulse was a curious choice, but when I asked Noah Boeken why he used it, he simply replied,”I knew I could cut some spells that I had maindecked against beatdown because I knew my last three matchups.” In fact, where Noah’s instant Type I mentor, Mike Long, felt Fact or Fiction had to be restricted, Chris Pikula later told me,”I never tested Fact or Fiction, really.”
So for one reason or another, they ran Impulse, a venerable staple from Mirage-era Type II.
To give another example, asked how Michael Bower’s (a.k.a. mikephoen on Beyond Dominia) monoblue Forbiddian deck turned into the innovative and successful”GodI’mABadPlayer.Dec,” Gary Wise told me:”Our decks were built between tours and feasts in a four-day stretch in tropical paradise. I’d heard Rubin would be running Miner/Pup and knew Godinez would run Sligh. I seriously added the black and Masticores on an impulse ten minutes before game time.”
Second, the Invitational has a far more casual, laid-back atmosphere. Alex Shvartsman e-mailed me after Sydney:”You have to keep in mind that we did not work very hard on those decks. It was more of the cards that were handy, et cetera.”
Asked where he got his deck, Noah Boeken told me:”I first copied the deck of an article Mikey P once wrote for New Wave, then before the Type 1 portion, I changed some stuff with Mike Long.”
When we discussed Finkel’s lucky Obliterate play after the following year’s (2001, South Africa) Magic Invitational, Gary added,”It should also be pointed out that the Invitationalists will often play a card for the fun value. There’s no way Atogatog belonged in Scott’s 5-Color deck this year. I almost played Time Stretch in mine:)”
Later, I’ll discuss how Obliterate really got into Finkel’s winning Type I deck in a later installment, and you’ll be surprised.
Dark Keeper: Another Twist
JP”The Polluted” Meyer sent in this snippet for insertion into this article, describing the twist he once posted on Beyond Dominia:
“The Dark Keeper family of decks was created after the restriction of Necropotence and Demonic Consultation in October of 2000 made me look for a new deck. I chose Keeper, as it was in my opinion, the most powerful deck in Type I.
“I analyzed my play style. I am, first and foremost, an aggro player. Secondly, the tremendous levels of defense present in many of these Keeper decks seemed unnecessary to me-I was used to playing a deck with four Necropotence, four Demonic Consultation, and four Phyrexian Negator after all! And lastly, I wasn’t a big fan of wussy white and green that were so prominent in the decks of the time.
“I came up with this:
Dark Keeper, JP”The Polluted” Meyer, October 2000
Blue (17)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Fact or Fiction
1 Stroke of Genius
2 Morphling
Black (10)
4 Duress
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 The Abyss
1 Diabolic Edict
Red (4)
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Urza’s Rage
1 Obliterate
1 Pyroclasm
Gold (2)
1 Recoil
1 Elemental Augury
Mana (27)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
2 Underground River
4 Volcanic Island
Sideboard (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Hydroblast
1 Zuran Orb
1 Timetwister
1 Jester’s Cap
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Blue
“The deck then became more aggressive and stronger against other control strategies; it was similar to the merits of Go-Mar vs. Go-Sis in Standard last summer. The other Keepers (Go-Mar) had white cards like Moat and Swords to Plowshares (Dromar’s Charm and Wrath of God) which made them strong against aggro decks, but left them with many suboptimal or dead cards.
“Dark Keeper, like Go-Sis, has its anti-creature cards in black and red, which while weaker against aggro (compare Void to Wrath of God and Diabolic Edict to Swords to Plowshares,) are more useful against control decks, as a Void from Go-Sis could remove counters from its opponent’s hand or a Diabolic Edict from Dark Keeper can kill another Keeper player’s Morphling.”
This variant was distinguished by the doubling of the black component to sport three or four Duresses, a card that acted like a proactive Counterspell against control and combo (though, as mentioned, much weaker against aggro). Later refinement showed that removing the classic white component made the deck too inflexible, and the”non-traditional” substitutes could not compensate. Obliterate, for example, proved to be a weak card, though it made for an innovative trap when paired with a Jester’s Cap to snare mono-blue BSB with four Morphlings.
Incidentally, JP is most noted on Beyond Dominia for tinkering with aggro-control decks, in the footsteps of the Roc Deck. As you can see, even his control decks are really aggro-control.
“The Deck” 2001: The Year of Fact or Fiction
A few months after the Sydney Invitational, Brian e-mailed the post-Invasion deck he was using for casual Type I play.
“The Deck” March 2001, Brian Weissman, from e-mail
Blue (20)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
1 Morphling
White (4)
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
Black (5)
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
Green (1)
1 Regrowth
Red (2)
2 Gorilla Shaman
Artifact (2)
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 City of Brass
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
Sideboard (15)
2 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Pyroblast
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Dwarven Miner
1 Mana Short
1 Mirror Universe
“The Deck” players around the world eagerly awaited the South Africa Cape Town 2001 Invitational, where Neutral Ground New York Type I regular and noted control player Mikey Pustilnik would be playing. Unfortunately, the”modern” control deck was never featured because Type I was replaced by 5-Color. Special ante rules made Jeweled Bird an absurdity, and even eventual champion Kai Budde did not feel good about winning with it.
Jon Finkel gave us a glimpse of how important the concepts of”The Deck” were, though:
“The Deck” in 5-Color, Jon Finkel, 2001 Magic Invitational, from Sideboard Online
4 Morphling
3 Masticore
1 Divining Witch
1 Jungle Barrier
4 Wall of Blossoms
1 Academy Rector
1 Hull Breach
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fire/Ice
4 Prophetic Bolt
3 Urza’s Rage
1 Pyroblast
1 Gamble
1 Fireball
4 Contract from Below
4 Abyss
4 Vindicate
3 Dromar’s Charm
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Sterling Grove
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Restock
1 Abundance
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Land Grant
4 Sylvan Library
4 Wrath of God
4 Moat
3 Seal of Cleansing
2 Disenchant
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Balance
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Impulse
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Forbid
4 Fact or Fiction
2 Allied Strategies
2 Treachery
2 Browse
1 Timetwister
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Amnesia
1 Intuition
1 Braingeyser
1 Time Walk
1 Recall
1 Stroke
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Jeweled Bird
4 Scroll Rack
4 Mox Diamond
4 Fellwar Stone
3 Powder Keg
1 Grinning Totem
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Land Tax
4 Tithe
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
1 Zuran Orb
1 Ivory Tower
1 Grim Monolith
4 Flood Plain
2 Bad River
4 Grassland
3 Mountain Valley
1 Rocky Tar Pit
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Shivan Reef
1 Adarkar Wastes
2 Badlands
3 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
4 Plateau
4 Underground Sea
4 Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author]
4 Bayou
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 City of Brass
4 Treetop Village
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Thawing Glaciers
4 Wasteland
2 Maze of Ith
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
6 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Forest
“The Deck” 2002: What’s my 60th card?
The expected Michael Pustilnik exhibition didn’t happen in the 2001 Invitational, but”The Deck” is quite alive. Darren di Battista, a.k.a., Azhrei, though, has long since retired The Franchise. Most other players have played Yawgmoth’s Will over Gaea’s Blessing for almost two years now, especially after Alex Shvartsman comments on Blessings while playtesting for the 2000 Invitational on Beyond Dominia. The Franchise’s recursion strategy is now used solely in decks with Oath of Druids.
The earthshaking event was the restriction of Fact or Fiction in the first week of December 2001. As mentioned, most players had three in the deck, and replaced the last two with Braingeyser and something else.”The Deck” didn’t change much, essentially going back to its 2000 versions, with the two or three slots freed up allowing more personalization that was not possible when the power of Fact or Fiction muscled most other alternatives out of the way.
More changes for”The Deck” due to the restriction, though, may come from metagame changes as decks without an answer to the degenerate Britney Spears’ Boobs became viable once again.
Note that Fact or Fiction muscled out one spot removal slot (Swords to Plowshares) and another utility slot, usually leaving”The Deck” with two spot removal slots, one permanent removal slot, and Balance. Without the Fact or Fictions,”The Deck” needs to compensate with the missing fifth removal card, because it is harder to race aggro decks.
The New Environment And The Latest Cards
Fact or Fiction aside, Invasion block did not change”The Deck” radically. Players mainly gained Dismantling Blow and Fire/Ice as more flexible options to the staple Disenchant and Swords to Plowshares.
Odyssey hardly made any waves, either, and the only card spontaneously discussed on Beyond Dominia was Skeletal Scrying. The graveyard drawback can be managed so as not to interfere with Yawgmoth’s Will, but the life loss makes it a problem in some environments, so it didn’t develop into a staple. (To do justice to John Ormerod and his Hampton Court boys, though, I have to emphasize it’s a good card and excellent against another control deck, as they demonstrated in Extended.)
(The exception is Holistic Wisdom, because the green-heavy variants of”The Deck” have yet to establish themselves. Integrating this one card requires a radical departure from familiar play styles, so the majority of players did not test it.)
In the wake of the Necropotence and Fact or Fiction restrictions, the 2002 Type I environment has room for a lot of variation and personal taste, as evidenced by the”What do I replace Fact or Fiction with?!?!” threads on Beyond Dominia.
Just to give one colorful example, MTGNews Moderator Shade2k1 posted comments on this series:”I didn’t say that Rakso didn’t know anything about ‘The Deck.’ I said that there are still a few things that can be learned, as well. Such as why Scrying is so weak in it… Skeletal Scrying is just awful. I’ve tried it, and it has terrible synergy with Will, depletes your resources too much, and is too slow to use reliably… What can I say about Scrying except to try it? I have, about a month ago when it first came out, and it sucks in this deck. It’s too situational and cost-prohibitive to be reliable. It also has terrible synergy with Will, Regrowth, and the like, and makes them less powerful.”
Every argument has two sides, though:
—– Original Message —–
From: Ormerod, John
To: Oscar Tan
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 6:48 PM
Subject: RE: Sideboard you posted
Scrying is hardly likely to wreck your Wills. The impact on your graveyard is normally insignificant; one main is probably correct depending on what other card drawers and things you’re playing.
– John
So go over to www.bdominia.com and have fun exploring the latest metagame development. Past a certain point, there are no completely right or wrong answers and sometimes you just have to weigh two arguments and go with what suits your tastes. For Skeletal Scrying, for example, listen to people like Shade2k1, then to John and myself, and go with whoever you think is the more credible Type I player.
(Profile of Shade2k1, MTGNews Type I Moderator http://www.mtgnews.com/forums/member.php?s=8e486d8b03caf5ae3a45192c56c0253a&action=getinfo&userid=5)
(Profile of John Ormerod, Team Godzilla http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=sb20011001a)
The rookie cards
Skeletal Scrying
XB
Instant
Odyssey uncommon
As an additional cost to play Skeletal Scrying, remove X cards in your graveyard from the game. You draw X cards and you lose X life.
Dismantling Blow
2W
Instant
Invasion common
Kicker 2U (You may pay an additional 2U as you play this spell.) Destroy target artifact or enchantment. If you paid the kicker cost, draw two cards.
Fire/Ice
1R/1U
Instant/Instant
Apocalypse uncommon (split card)
Fire deals 2 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players / Tap target permanent. Draw a card.
Rootwater Thief, a.k.a. Mike Long
1U
Creature-Merfolk
1/2
U: Rootwater Thief gains flying until end of turn. Whenever Rootwater Thief deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2. If you do, search that player’s library for a card and remove that card from the game, then the player shuffles his or her library.
Aura Fracture
2W
Enchantment
Prophecy common
Sacrifice a land: Destroy target enchantment.
Holistic Wisdom
1GG
Enchantment
Odyssey rare
2, Remove a card in your hand from the game: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand if it shares a type with the card removed this way. (The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, and sorcery.)
2002 variations of”The Deck”
My hardworking critic, Mr. Shade2k1, commented after this series began that all variants of”The Deck” are pretty much alike, and he posted his own 55-card decklist. (54 out of the 55 were in the decklist I presented in Part I.)
He said,”How can I copy your deck when it’s not even yours? I defy you to find a good Deck/Keeper that doesn’t use at least fifty of the cards in ‘your’ deck… Find a 5C Keeper that doesn’t use four Force of Will, four Mana Drain, the Abyss, Balance, Dismantling Blow, or Disenchant, Regrowth, etc. Plus, the mana base of these decks uses basically the exact same non-basics, duals, etc. The only difference may be in the number of each to use (which, as you can see, is different between my and Rakso’s versions). All this shows is that I feel that Rakso’s version is very good, but not completely optimal.”
To end this walk down memory lane, I’ve compiled a few decklists from around the world, just to show you how diverse”The Deck” gets. Like Mr. Shade2k1, have fun typing these lists and others from Beyond Dominia into .DEC format and give them each a try. It’s the same core strategy, but all of them play differently.
In fact, feel free to take a little from everything and come up with your own personal combination. There is no”best” version, but there might be a”best configuration” for your metagame.
(Some of the strategies refined in the lists below, incidentally, were already in use in most of the period covered by the history portion of this series. Only the most familiar lists were used in the history, however, because of the difficulty of tracing each variant. Unlike Usenet, the old Beyond Dominia files were never archived, and even using The Wayback Machine (www.archive.org) is awkward. Very few regulars, myself included, kept records of past versions.)
“The Deck” November 2001, Brian Weissman (California, United States), from e-mail
Blue (18)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
1 Morphling
Black (4)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
White (3)
1 Balance
2 Swords to Plowshares
Green (1)
1 Regrowth
Red (4)
1 Pyroblast
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fireball
Artifact (2)
1 Jayemdae Tome
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 City of Brass
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
Sideboard (15)
2 Pyroblast
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Dwarven Miner
1 Mana Short
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Moat
2 Disenchant
1 Mirror Universe
Rakso’s”The Deck” (Philippines), January 2002
Blue (18)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Morphling
Black (6)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss
White (3)
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Dismantling Blow
Red (2)
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fire/Ice
Green (2)
1 Sylvan Library
1 Regrowth
Artifact (1)
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 City of Brass
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
Sideboard (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Scrying Glass
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Pyroclasm
2 Powder Keg
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Aura Fracture
1 Moat
Brian’s and my decklist can be considered the common builds. Mine is geared for a very general metagame, while his is geared towards an environment with more power and more mirror matches.
Incidentally, Brian’s 60th card has always been Jayemdae Tome, which not even four Fact or Fiction could force out from his build.
The Franchise, Darren di Battista, a.k.a., Azhrei (Virginia, United States), January 2002
Blue (19)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Morphling
Black (5)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 The Abyss
1 Diabolic Edict
White (3)
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
Green (4)
1 Sylvan Library
1 Regrowth
2 Gaea’s Blessing
Artifact (1)
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
Sideboard (15)
2 Powder Keg
1 Scrying Glass
2 Disrupt
2 Hydroblast
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Cloudchaser Eagle
1 Aura Fracture
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Oath of Druids
Though Darren emphasizes that he would never play it today, he gave me a theoretical updated list of The Franchise and its twin Gaea’s Blessings. The Oath of Druids and Cloudchaser Eagle was a little trick he cooked up to thwart the Morphling and Back to Basics combo of the old BSB, in lieu of Red Elemental Blasts. If you read my article, [author name="Zvi Mowshowitz"]Zvi Mowshowitz[/author] himself said mono blue has no answer to Oath.
Giver, Matt D’Avanzo (New York, United States), November 2001
Blue (20)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
1 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Stroke of Genius
3 Fact or Fiction
2 Morphling
Black (5)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss
White (2)
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
Red (2)
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fire/Ice
Green (2)
1 Sylvan Library
1 Regrowth
Artifact (1)
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
4 City of Brass
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
Sideboard (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Powder Keg
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura Fracture
1 Moat
1 Swords to Plowshares
Mikey P’s”The Deck”, Michael Pustilnik (New York, United States), November 2001
Blue (19)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Teferi’s Response
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser
1 Morphling
Black (5)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss
White (3)
1 Balance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismantling Blow
Red (2)
2 Gorilla Shaman
Green (2)
1 Sylvan Library
1 Regrowth
Artifact (1)
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
3 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
2 Mishra’s Factory
Sideboard (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Burnout
2 Mountain
1 Aura Fracture
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Moat
Matt and Mikey P play in the power-intensive Neutral Ground Type I environment, and it shows. Note that they don’t even run Vampiric Tutor due to the card disadvantage. Mikey P, in fact, has several anti-power and anti-control elements maindecked (second Shaman, second Misdirection, Teferi’s Response) and even more sideboarded.
Yes, Mikey P doesn’t use FoF. He just doesn’t like it for some reason, but he recognizes how strong it is. That aside, you can see the osmosis between Beyond Dominia and Neutral Ground Type I.
Really Dark Keeper (RDK), JP”The Polluted” Meyer (New York, United States), January 2002
Blue (17)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Morphling
Black (8)
3 Duress
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
1 The Abyss
1 Diabolic Edict
Green (2)
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Sylvan Library
White (2)
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
Red (1)
1 Fire/Ice
Gold (1)
1 Lim-Dul’s Vault (replacing Fact or Fiction)
Artifact (1)
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
JP eventually worked in the white component, but with Odyssey he de-emphasized it to play up the less popular green. When”Dark” and three and four Duresses became a brief fad on Beyond Dominia (Dark Zoo, etc), he rechristened his deck”Really Dark” to distinguish it.
With Holistic Wisdom, the deck is further distinguished by an eccentric count of sorceries and instants to facilitate Holistic recursion. This is unique to RDK because the higher sorcery count (Duress) allows Time Walk recursion a la Turboland. Recursion is also the reason Disenchant is used over Dismantling Blow.
JP asked me to tell you:”Holistic Wisdom gave the deck a second Yawgmoth’s Will and also a combo feel similar to TurboLand in Extended. While less powerful at stabilizing than Yawgmoth’s Will (it could not be used simply to replay a destroyed Mox, land, Balance, and Ancestral Recall to blunt an attack like Will could), Holistic Wisdom can still help swing the game in your favor early in the game by giving you a stream of Wastelands, turning sub-optimal cards like Mystical Tutor into Ancestrals, or by turning clunky Force of Wills into sleek Mana Drains.
“However, like Yawgmoth’s Will, it excels as a late-game kill card. After a successful Mind Twist (or if the opponent has either an empty or non-threatening hand to begin with,) the deck can then begin its engine by constantly replaying Ancestral Recall (or if you have Tolarian Academy out, Stroke of Genius) to draw more instants (even counters, since your opponent will have no more threats) to replay Ancestral, lands to replay Strip Mine, and sorceries to replay Time Walk with until you can either cast Morphling to finish your opponent off with before he gets another turn or if you fizzle, leave him lacking any permanents or hand with which to stage a comeback with. The result is a Keeper that can switch on a dime from control to aggro to combo.”
Keep the Oath, Christian Flaaten (Norway), January 2002
Blue (18)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Stroke of Genius (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Braingeyser (replacing Fact or Fiction)
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Morphling
Black (5)
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Diabolic Edict
White (2)
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
Green (6)
2 Sylvan Library (one replacing Fact or Fiction)
2 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Regrowth
Artifact (2)
1 Masticore
1 Zuran Orb
Mana (28)
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
4 City of Brass
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
Sideboard (15)
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura Fracture
1 Oath of Druids
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Spike Weaver
1 Circle of Protection: Black
4 Abeyance
3 Duress
1 Moat
1 Circle of Protection: Red
Finally, people say that Chris’s deck is closer to Maher Oath from Extended than to”The Deck” from Type I. To emphasize Oath, he took the less preferred choice of playing green over red as a tertiary color. He is presently testing Holistic Wisdom with Oath (which fills the graveyard), and had the funny story of using Holistic Wisdom to turn all his cards into Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Strip Mine after one large Stroke of Genius at the Nordic Open.
Hopefully, after looking through six years’ worth of deck development, you have a good overview on how to play Magic’s most complex deck, and diversity of what can go in it.
Merry Christmas to everyone who’s been following this humble compilation of ideas and those of my fellow Star City columnists, as well as everyone who stops by Beyond Dominia and #bdchat on Newnet! Check back before New Year, and we’ll go into the less obvious and more specific strategies used with the core components of”The Deck.”
Oscar Tan
[email protected]
rakso on #BDChat on Newnet
Manila, Philippines
Type I, Extended and Casual Maintainer, Beyond Dominia (http://www.bdominia.com/discus/messages/9/9.shtml)
Featured writer, Star City Games (http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/archive.php?Article=Oscar Tan)
Proud member of the Casual Player’s Alliance (http://www.casualplayers.org)