Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
I thought the best old deck was 20 Black Lotus, 10 Fireball, 10 Channel...
Jund was definitely the most annoying deck I've had to play against in standard for the last several years. Affinity was more broken and harder to win against, but Jund was just so sickening, and it's a recent deck. Faeries was also absurd.
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"Banshees eat Probes like popcorn, especially if you eat popcorn with missiles."
-Day[9]
Of particular note are the decks from 1993. This was the year where you could play 20 black lotuses and 20 balances.
Alex Parrish defeated Rick Townsend in the finals of the very first sanctioned Magic Tournament, taking place at GenCon in 1993 when the game was unveiled....
I wish I had the exact deck lists, but suffice it to say, many laughs can be had imagining the format at the time. If these sound like sealed decks, remember, at the time, there was a very small number of cards in existence, so building a ruthless degenerate deck of Lotuses was not really possible. There probably something like 19 in circulation at the time.
Restrictions were put in place in January, 1994. The 4-of rule was likely put in place before that. If there was ever a time when 20 black lotus decks were dominant (if ever), it was between august of 93 to before January of 94.
Curiously, tolarian academy does not appear in any shape or form in that article. Likely this is because the article focuses only on decks in the world championships, and academy was nuked before it could be played there.
Personally, the most powerful vintage deck I've ever seen was the original long.dec (the one with 4 burning wishes and 4 LEDs). I played flash hulk competitively, and it doesn't even come close to long's consistency and resiliency. You could bomb long's hand with discard and play chalice of the void and null rods, and it would still win on turn 1. Next to long, academy.dec and flash. For standard, it would academy.dec and broken jar, followed very very distantly by affinity and necro. For block, prosbloom, rebels, and affinity (all of which had cards banned to oblivion).
I then posted the Balance Deck which was legal and typically made people cry. Without a Top deck strip mine it was lights out against it. A turn 1 could easily drop a rack and a balance with no cards in hand when the balance resolved. This put the opponent in the wonderful position of losing their hand and taking 3 during their upkeep. That 3 per upkeep would continue.
SCG also had another article on this, but I can't find it. They had their vintage columnists make their favorite vintage decks from any era (up to odyssey, IIRC). The deck with 4 balances and racks did rather poorly, even compared to slightly younger decks with restrictions (such as The Deck).
It has all ready been said, but Academy/Memory Jar from Urza's Saga block is easily the most powerful Standard deck of all time. You will hear grizzled old players tell tales of a "Combo Winter," while suppressing an involuntary shudder, and letting their eyes glaze over with memories of carnage past.
This is not Standard block, but I think the most broken deck was also Flash Hulk. In either Legacy or Vintage, its speed and resiliency and consistency can never be matched.
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I like designing decks and I am primarily a control player. Using Drain to fight Workshops is like using Exclude to fight Dark Confidant.
It has all ready been said, but Academy/Memory Jar from Urza's Saga block is easily the most powerful Standard deck of all time. You will hear grizzled old players tell tales of a "Combo Winter," while suppressing an involuntary shudder, and letting their eyes glaze over with memories of carnage past.
Yeah. Combo Winter was so bad I took a decade away from the game. I didn't get back in until Rise.
I do get a chuckle from people talking about a fast Standard. With Academy, taking a mulligan counted as a midgame play.
This is not Standard block, but I think the most broken deck was also Flash Hulk. In either Legacy or Vintage, its speed and resiliency and consistency can never be matched.
Hulk Flash wasn't nearly as good as people think. It was just all over the place so they banned Flash to make it go away.
black lotus/Channel/fireball
turn1 win for long time.
It dominated legacy for so many years also.
You guys are so funny. Legacy didn't exist, and neither did Standard when people played those cards.
The first dominant Standard Decks were the Mindtwist/Rack which evolved into Necro and LandTax which evolved into Counterpost.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
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Urza Saga-Tempest: Bargain Combo
Urza Saga-Tempest (post bannings): Mono Red Wildfire
Tempest-Weatherlight: Red Deck Wins
Faeries
Jund
Elf Clamp
Affinity
Oddessy-Invasion: UBxxx Tog
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
Jund was definitely the most annoying deck I've had to play against in standard for the last several years. Affinity was more broken and harder to win against, but Jund was just so sickening, and it's a recent deck. Faeries was also absurd.
-Day[9]
20 ball lightning
20 recall
I think...
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/17875_Innovations_A_History_of_the_Best_Decks_from_the_First_17_Years_of_Magic.html
Of particular note are the decks from 1993. This was the year where you could play 20 black lotuses and 20 balances.
Restrictions were put in place in January, 1994. The 4-of rule was likely put in place before that. If there was ever a time when 20 black lotus decks were dominant (if ever), it was between august of 93 to before January of 94.
Curiously, tolarian academy does not appear in any shape or form in that article. Likely this is because the article focuses only on decks in the world championships, and academy was nuked before it could be played there.
Personally, the most powerful vintage deck I've ever seen was the original long.dec (the one with 4 burning wishes and 4 LEDs). I played flash hulk competitively, and it doesn't even come close to long's consistency and resiliency. You could bomb long's hand with discard and play chalice of the void and null rods, and it would still win on turn 1. Next to long, academy.dec and flash. For standard, it would academy.dec and broken jar, followed very very distantly by affinity and necro. For block, prosbloom, rebels, and affinity (all of which had cards banned to oblivion).
SCG also had another article on this, but I can't find it. They had their vintage columnists make their favorite vintage decks from any era (up to odyssey, IIRC). The deck with 4 balances and racks did rather poorly, even compared to slightly younger decks with restrictions (such as The Deck).
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Affinity takes second.
Using Drain to fight Workshops is like using Exclude to fight Dark Confidant.
VERY CHEAP LEGACY SALE (priced to move before April 09!)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8172551#post8172551
Yeah. Combo Winter was so bad I took a decade away from the game. I didn't get back in until Rise.
I do get a chuckle from people talking about a fast Standard. With Academy, taking a mulligan counted as a midgame play.
(Now get off my lawn! :D)
Hulk Flash wasn't nearly as good as people think. It was just all over the place so they banned Flash to make it go away.
You guys are so funny. Legacy didn't exist, and neither did Standard when people played those cards.
The first dominant Standard Decks were the Mindtwist/Rack which evolved into Necro and LandTax which evolved into Counterpost.