Hello everyone! I would like to make an EDH-deck where every card is from the premodern-era. I loved the artwork on these cards as a teenager during the 90s, and it just sounds so awesome to have a nostalgia-deck to play with.
My first thought was to make a Grixis deck with Nicol Bolas as the commander, but also have So'Kanar the Swamp King in the deck as a reserve. Here my first thought was some kind of reanimator-deck since I also have a weakspot for Sneak attack, and I like to play reanimator in general. My fear is that this might not work that well since the cardpool is kind of limited for awesome creatures to reanimate, but I could be wrong.
My second thought was to make Esper because of Dakkon Blackblade and Chromium. Here the best commander is probaly Ertai, the Corrupted? I'm not sure what directions would be best suited for Esper, but I guess it must be some sort of control-shell. White also give access to better boardwipes, and I get to play Land Tax for the beautiful artwork.
Since blue is in both Esper and Grixis, I plan on including many steal-effects such as Control Magic, Empress Galina and Treachery to play with my opponents card that have a higher power level.
I realize that the deck will struggle against newer and better cards, but I still want to make one of these decks. My main concern is winconditions, and it probably needs to be a combo of some kind. I don't want the deck to rely solely on combo to win, but I guess it might be hard to achieve otherwise. I'm not sure what that combo might be, but maybe something like Palinchron + High Tide+ something else? Or maybe Power Artifact + Basalt Monolith. I have most of the artifactcards required for this combo, but I'm also interested in combos based on creatures that also will be ok to play on their own.
I would love to hear your suggestions on how to make this deck, and what combos I can use to eventually win the game. If you have decklists to share for inspiration, that would also be highly appreciated.
(Budget is not that big of a concern since I plan on making this a petdeck of mine. Once the deck is complete there will never be released a new card for the deck, so I guess that's nice)
I ran a white border grixis deck a few years ago (video) that is similar to what your describing here. The biggest issue is, the older the cards you pull from, the weaker the creature options you have. In my deck for example something like blaze was the best wincon.
The second biggest issue you will run in to will be your mana. You will get a handful of non-basics to work with, but the lack of good fixing will be noticeable, so be careful with how many double/triple pip' cards you include. I ran necropotence but recall multiple games where I just couldn't resolve it due to my lands.
You will have way more options in your cardpool than I did, so can try a creature based combo like pali, but there isn't too many creature combo interactions that can help win a multiplayer game from a pre-modern cardpool. Like you have access to hermit druid/breakfast lines, but none of the payoff wincons.
I think you may be better off with that empower artifact/monolith combo, along with some x-spells set to your color. While this may be the more optimal route, it will suck to build on price as a few cards that dramatically increase consistancy are pretty expensive (empower artifact/transmute artifact/imperial seal/yawgmoth's will).
Esper would be the ideal color combination for all those older cards to tutor up combo parts and stroke of genius yourself to win with some mana-sink.
Grixis would be better if you just needed more creature removal, or you needed more fireball or blaze wincon cards.
I saw a lot of blue cards, enchantments, and artifacts, so how about Hanna, Ship's Navigator as your commander? She gets all of those combo cards back. You could Treachery something, sacrifice the creature, use her ability and play it again. Replay Memory Jar for fun. Nevinyrral's Disk is on theme and a great removal card from that era.
My first thought was to make a Grixis deck with Nicol Bolas as the commander, but also have So'Kanar the Swamp King in the deck as a reserve. Here my first thought was some kind of reanimator-deck since I also have a weakspot for Sneak attack, and I like to play reanimator in general. My fear is that this might not work that well since the cardpool is kind of limited for awesome creatures to reanimate, but I could be wrong.
My second thought was to make Esper because of Dakkon Blackblade and Chromium. Here the best commander is probaly Ertai, the Corrupted? I'm not sure what directions would be best suited for Esper, but I guess it must be some sort of control-shell. White also give access to better boardwipes, and I get to play Land Tax for the beautiful artwork.
Since blue is in both Esper and Grixis, I plan on including many steal-effects such as Control Magic, Empress Galina and Treachery to play with my opponents card that have a higher power level.
I realize that the deck will struggle against newer and better cards, but I still want to make one of these decks. My main concern is winconditions, and it probably needs to be a combo of some kind. I don't want the deck to rely solely on combo to win, but I guess it might be hard to achieve otherwise. I'm not sure what that combo might be, but maybe something like Palinchron + High Tide+ something else? Or maybe Power Artifact + Basalt Monolith. I have most of the artifactcards required for this combo, but I'm also interested in combos based on creatures that also will be ok to play on their own.
I would love to hear your suggestions on how to make this deck, and what combos I can use to eventually win the game. If you have decklists to share for inspiration, that would also be highly appreciated.
(Budget is not that big of a concern since I plan on making this a petdeck of mine. Once the deck is complete there will never be released a new card for the deck, so I guess that's nice)
The second biggest issue you will run in to will be your mana. You will get a handful of non-basics to work with, but the lack of good fixing will be noticeable, so be careful with how many double/triple pip' cards you include. I ran necropotence but recall multiple games where I just couldn't resolve it due to my lands.
You will have way more options in your cardpool than I did, so can try a creature based combo like pali, but there isn't too many creature combo interactions that can help win a multiplayer game from a pre-modern cardpool. Like you have access to hermit druid/breakfast lines, but none of the payoff wincons.
I think you may be better off with that empower artifact/monolith combo, along with some x-spells set to your color. While this may be the more optimal route, it will suck to build on price as a few cards that dramatically increase consistancy are pretty expensive (empower artifact/transmute artifact/imperial seal/yawgmoth's will).
Esper would be the ideal color combination for all those older cards to tutor up combo parts and stroke of genius yourself to win with some mana-sink.
Grixis would be better if you just needed more creature removal, or you needed more fireball or blaze wincon cards.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs