I wonder if I could ask for your help on something. I have some friends that want to play with decks using only the original card facade. I’m having a tough time finding older eternal decks from 2003 and before to reference. Perhaps you could point me towards some resources.
I don't want to do cookie cutter strategies, i just want to figure out which types of deck designs are good from this period. I want a general direction to go. As of now, i just have no idea where to start.
I played a lot of Type 1 in the early 2000's, including the first Type 1 world championships at GenCon where I barely missed top 8. Memory may be foggy. The best decks from that period are as follows:
Keeper or 4c control - most people who owned power played this deck
Gro (Quirion dryad control - built to beat Keeper)
Grow-a-tog (Quirion dryad + Psychatog)
Mono blue control with back to basics to beat keeper
Others:
Dragon - first serious deck to use Bazaar of Baghdad effectively
Suicide black (to beat Keeper)
U/R Ophidian control
Stax - this was a relatively new deck philosophy, people hadn't learned how to abuse Workshop at this point.
R/G Zoo
Sligh, even a deck called "Ankh Sligh" which used Ankh of Mishra to prey upon people using the "new" fetch lands
Trix
Parfait
Edit: forgot about Oath and Grixis control which were very solid strategies as well.
You can do pretty much anything in terms of strategy, the only big difference you'll find is that the kinds of mid-range decks that dominate Standard now are basically nonexistent. The incentives to build them weren't there (creatures that cost 3+ generally were underpowered and planeswalkers didn't exist) AND the tools to beat them were much more powerful (i.e. combo, LD, cheap hyper-efficient removal).
Just as a general guide I would look at going in one of three directions:
- Combo - Tons of options to choose from here depending on what power level you guys are playing at and what your banned list is. Just scan Urza's Block and you'll find plenty of inspiration, but certainly Tempest block gave you a lot of tools too, and of course there is the raw power in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. Plenty of powerful reanimation strategies available that I would also lump in here.
- Control - Counterspell options were REALLY strong back then, as were instant speed card draw options and creature removal (hello StP and Wrath). Put that together with weaker creatures and you have the tools for U-based control to be dominant. You can go mono-blue, blue-white was also common, or if you have the cards (i.e. duals/power) then 5-color.
- Aggro - Variants of mono Red/White/Black aggro were all decent. The creatures were relatively weak, but otoh you got some extremely powerful mana disruption tools to help make up the gap in power between aggro and other decks. Geddon, Winter Orb, Wasteland/Strip Mine...
I wonder if I could ask for your help on something. I have some friends that want to play with decks using only the original card facade. I’m having a tough time finding older eternal decks from 2003 and before to reference. Perhaps you could point me towards some resources.
I don't want to do cookie cutter strategies, i just want to figure out which types of deck designs are good from this period. I want a general direction to go. As of now, i just have no idea where to start.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nick
Keeper or 4c control - most people who owned power played this deck
Gro (Quirion dryad control - built to beat Keeper)
Grow-a-tog (Quirion dryad + Psychatog)
Mono blue control with back to basics to beat keeper
Others:
Dragon - first serious deck to use Bazaar of Baghdad effectively
Suicide black (to beat Keeper)
U/R Ophidian control
Stax - this was a relatively new deck philosophy, people hadn't learned how to abuse Workshop at this point.
R/G Zoo
Sligh, even a deck called "Ankh Sligh" which used Ankh of Mishra to prey upon people using the "new" fetch lands
Trix
Parfait
Edit: forgot about Oath and Grixis control which were very solid strategies as well.
Legacy
WUBDeathbladeBUW
WWDeath and TaxesWW
Just as a general guide I would look at going in one of three directions:
- Combo - Tons of options to choose from here depending on what power level you guys are playing at and what your banned list is. Just scan Urza's Block and you'll find plenty of inspiration, but certainly Tempest block gave you a lot of tools too, and of course there is the raw power in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. Plenty of powerful reanimation strategies available that I would also lump in here.
- Control - Counterspell options were REALLY strong back then, as were instant speed card draw options and creature removal (hello StP and Wrath). Put that together with weaker creatures and you have the tools for U-based control to be dominant. You can go mono-blue, blue-white was also common, or if you have the cards (i.e. duals/power) then 5-color.
- Aggro - Variants of mono Red/White/Black aggro were all decent. The creatures were relatively weak, but otoh you got some extremely powerful mana disruption tools to help make up the gap in power between aggro and other decks. Geddon, Winter Orb, Wasteland/Strip Mine...
Entomb + Reanimate Akroma
Goblins
Stifle + Dreadnought
I remember wanting to build a U/G madness deck around that time.
Legacy: Goblins:symb::symg: Loam Pox
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