[Article]Eternal Europe: The Three Most Important Decks Ever Built

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

A little history tour this time:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article...ver-Built.html

Let me know what you think!

PS: Sorry for the delay, seems I've caught some random virus and will be spending the day in bed :/

[nedleeds]

Funny story about geeba, Jay actually had a mono curve deck in almost every color he happened to loan that one to Paul Sligh that fateful morning at the now destroyed and built over Castlegate Hotel in Atlanta Georgia. The blue one was competitive also, it's removal consisted of stuff like Essence Flare. Which ... in 1995 read "During it's controllers next upkeep, bury target pump knight".

[Zombie]

Your choice of decks was predictable

[lyracian]

Your choice of decks was predictable

Predictable yes; however a nice recap and potentially interesting for all those new players who do not know any Magic history.

[TsumiBand]

Your choice of decks was predictable

How could they not be?

[Zombie]

How could they not be?

Kind of the joke here.

[TsumiBand]

Kind of the joke here.

Well who the hell can even tell anymore. LOL, ever since hipsters were allowed to hold regular jobs in America the whole of communication has just been obfuscated behind a wall of "srs not srs" and "ironic </sarcasm> tags" and shit. If I didn't already know where I was on the autism spectrum I'd need to buy a test kit at CVS, just to make sure my problem wasn't actually me.

On the other hand, I totally get it now

sent from phone, don't be a dick

[nevilshute]

Well who the hell can even tell anymore. LOL, ever since hipsters were allowed to hold regular jobs in America the whole of communication has just been obfuscated behind a wall of "srs not srs" and "ironic </sarcasm> tags" and shit. If I didn't already know where I was on the autism spectrum I'd need to buy a test kit at CVS, just to make sure my problem wasn't actually me.

On the other hand, I totally get it now

sent from phone, don't be a dick

/Like

[Bed Decks Palyer]

That was nice article. Thanks.

[Nuke is Good]

I'm not too versed in Magic history and the only deck I recognize there is the sligh deck. Wouldn't the Necropotence deck from Black Summer could as a historically significant/importance deck?

[Tyrio]

I'm not too versed in Magic history and the only deck I recognize there is the sligh deck. Wouldn't the Necropotence deck from Black Summer could as a historically significant/importance deck?

I think Bloom predates Necro as the engine/combo deck.

[death]

I was expecting these three: Necropotence, Academy, Flash.

[Lemnear]

THE DECK and ProsBloom were easy picks as there are the grandfathers of control and combo, but I'm not sure about Sligh here. I'm not sure if that concept was really new and outstanding at that time as I remember a lot of decks build around Kird Ape and Burn which were the ancestors of Zoo.

There might have been a better pick, but overall the choices are fine.

I was expecting these three: Necropotence, Academy, Flash.

Why would you? Those weren't outstanding in history but mistakes for a season. Necro and Academy mirrors were plain boring and I'm sure people who did not play that decks overestimate their power and importance. Removing Flashs Power level errata was another brainfart by WotC after they pushed creatures with powercreep.

[davelin]

I think Bloom predates Necro as the engine/combo deck.

Necro wasn't really a engine/combo deck, just a deck that featured cheap creatures and disruptive elements with the ability to refill the hand very quickly. Necro also predates Bloom in magic history.

[Higgs]

But which Necro deck are talking about here? The Necro control deck with Hypnotic Spectres etc., the T2 Necro deck with Yawg Will and Bottle Gnomes or the Extended Necro deck with Unmask, Demonic Consultation and Drain Life?

Edit: If memory serves me right, when ProsBloom was around Necropotence was this black control deck and wasn't a revolutionary big thing. I'd be glad if someone who remembers better could refresh my memory.

[Finn]

I like history articles. I like the Carsten chose to celebrate what we have learned about the game with his.

[SaberTooth]

i want to buy all the cards for pros bloom and play it in a casual tournament or 4 fun with friends. now

[Bed Decks Palyer]

i want to buy all the cards for pros bloom and play it in a casual tournament or 4 fun with friends. now

Well, wait...

I meant: +1

THE DECK and ProsBloom were easy picks as there are the grandfathers of control and combo, but I'm not sure about Sligh here. I'm not sure if that concept was really new and outstanding at that time as I remember a lot of decks build around Kird Ape and Burn which were the ancestors of Zoo.

There might have been a better pick, but overall the choices are fine.

Depends.
The Kird Ape decks, even those other than Erhnam and Burn Em, like the Zoo and such, were quite different than Sligh. They used a bit fragile/unreliable manabase that could be sometimes easily disrupted by a well placed Strip Mine, of course they also sported lots of cheap creatures (I mean the builds close to Zoo, with Sav Lions, Spectral Bears, Kird Ape, Ghazbán Ogre or Scryb Sprites), but had some ammount of ctrl elements be it StP, Geddon, WOrb and of course burn. Sligh, a deck purely offensive and with rock-solid manabase and straightforward plan and awful creatures with built-in anti-synergies... that was quite a different animal than any deck whose cheapest creature was White Knight, Elvish Archers or Sedge Troll.
Sligh definitely wasn't the first aggro deck, but the determinancy of the gameplan (I hope you get what I mean) was amazing, esp. next to many of the usual creature decks of past, that come out of the comparison as a mere conformists and compromisionists. /finishes the beer

[Darkenslight]

I'm not too versed in Magic history and the only deck I recognize there is the sligh deck. Wouldn't the Necropotence deck from Black Summer could as a historically significant/importance deck?

ProsBloom was the original combo strategy. It predates even Combo Winter. Plus, it has one of the biggest bluffs in the game's history behind it.

And yes, Necro was primarily the domain of control decks of the era.

[Koby]

I'm not too versed in Magic history and the only deck I recognize there is the sligh deck. Wouldn't the Necropotence deck from Black Summer could as a historically significant/importance deck?

About the only thing I can think of that was important for modern day Magic about Necropotence decks from Black Summer, was literally the card Necropotence being absurdly powerful in its own right. The remainder of the deck was more akin to the other decks in the format: aggressive elements, removal, and ways to recoup life-loss a-la Drain Life and Ivory Tower.

Compared to a deck like ProsBloom, or Trix - the combo (engine) elements in these decks all focus on using all resources to their greatest effect while executing a simple multi-card interaction.