Old Deck Lists

[Michael Keller]

So, I was cleaning out my old house where my folks used to live and came across some old deck lists from back in the day. It's fascinating to see not only the evolution of me as a player, but what cards were popular back in the days of old:

Anyone else have any cool, old lists to share from back in the day?

[thecrav]

CounterThopters, pre Avacyn Restored



Somewhere I've got a deck list including prices for my pimped out NO-Bant deck. Including foil fetches and GURU basics, I think the whole thing was like $1200.

[Sidneyious]

Used to have a bunch of aggro opponents so every creature I played was etb each player sacks a creature type of thing and I finished with drain life effects and a bunch of "rits".

[ESG]

I don't know if I have anything handwritten from early on in my first era of Magic, but I used to save the files to deck lists and print them out (these files were on floppy disks!). At some point I archived those files and didn't really see the point in throwing them away because they were just text files in one folder. Still have the files. Here's a random deck:

4 Tombstone Stairwell
3 Will-O’-The-Wisp
2 Necratog
4 Blood Pet
4 Circling Vultures
4 Buried Alive
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
4 Knight of Stromgald
4 Black Knight
4 Altar of Dementia
4 Anvil of Bogardan
16 Swamps
3 Scrubland

Sideboard:
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Disenchant
4 Dark Ritual
3 Swamp

Cool aggro-combo deck. I'm guessing I built this shortly after Weatherlight, which was one of the few sets I bought a box of. I think the Swamps in the sideboard were there only because we had to have 15 cards or zero and I had just built the deck and had no idea what else to board. I knew there were some matchups I would want to be faster in, so Dark Ritual makes sense, and I knew I wanted Disenchants, but I can't recall what I would have been targeting. I don't think anyone was playing Tormod's Crypt in my area at that time, so it couldn't have been that. Maybe Stasis?

[Stuart]

Thanks for posting the old handwritten lists - super cool. I don't have any lists written down, but I remember my 2 decks from middle school:

Sligh:
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Jackal Pup
4 Goblin Cadets
4 Bolt
4 Shock
4 Seal of Fire
4 Incinerate
4 Price of Progress
4 Fireblast
1 Strip Mine
19 Mountain

White Weenie:
4 Mother of Runes
4 Savannah Lions
4 Order of the White Shield
4 White Knight
4 Soltari Monk
4 StP
4 Orim's Chant
4 Crusade
1 Balance
3 Story Circle
4 Empyrial Armor
4 Mishra's Factory
16 Plains

[cdr]

Unfortunately I seem to have lost my decklists from prior to 2005.

5-3 at the first ever legacy GP, missing day 2 by 0.5% tiebreaker / 5 places.

One of the 3(?) times I knocked Jamie Parke out of day 1 at a GP and then missed day 2 on tiebreaks.

// Lands
5 [P3] Plains (3)
1 [P3] Mountain (2)
3 [ON] Flooded Strand
2 [ON] Windswept Heath
4 [RAV] Sacred Foundry
4 [AP] Battlefield Forge
4 [A] Plateau

// Creatures
4 [TE] Soltari Priest
4 [PY] Glittering Lynx
4 [SC] Silver Knight
2 [EX] Paladin en-Vec

// Spells
4 [RAV] Lightning Helix
4 [P3] Rolling Earthquake
2 [ON] Starstorm
3 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [A] Lightning Bolt
2 [A] Disenchant
4 [A] Swords to Plowshares

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [A] Armageddon
SB: 3 [IN] Overload
SB: 3 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 4 [A] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 [IA] Disenchant

[Mr Miagi]

How times have changed

[Sloshthedark]

How times have changed

this is how I left the game in the end of 1999

1x Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1x Radiant, Archangel
1x Masticore
1x Hunting Moa
2x Ghitu Slinger
2x Lightning Dragon
2x Tradewind Rider
1x Bone Shredder
2x Spike Weaver
3x Spike Feeder
3x Albino Troll
4x Wall of Blossoms

2x Citanul Flute
4x Mox Diamond

3x Time Warp
3x Equilibrium
2x Alluren
3x Crop Rotation
1x Hammer of Bogardan

1x Living Death

1x Volrath's stronghold
1x Gaeas Cradle
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Undiscovered Paradise
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Caldera Lake
2x Thran Quarry
3x Treetop Village
4x Forest
3x Island
2x Mountain

===========

and this his how I returned in the end of 2009 in my first sanctioned match ever (2-2 lost to Uganda strike (weird version of Eva Green), won vs Bye (which confused me a lot at the time), lost to Ant, won w Countertop)


Creatures
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Wall of Roots
3x Coiling Oracle
2x Eternal Witness
1x Cloud of Faeries
1x Merrow Witsniper
1x Rishadan Cutpurse
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Painter’s Servant
1x Cavern Harpy

18

Artifacts
4x Cloudstone Curio
1x Grindstone

Enchantments
4x Aluren

Spells
4x Ponder
3x Brainstorm
3x Portent
2x Lim-Duls Vault
1x Stroke of Genius

22

Lands
5x Island
4x Forest
4x Maze of Ith
3x Gemstone Mine
2x City of Brass
1x Reflecting Pool
4x Místy Rainforest

23

a previous version still played Equilibrium (Cloud of Faeries+Lotus Vale) but at least had 4 BS =D

===========

after few months I bought this:

3 Metalworker
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Fabricate
4 Chalice of Void
4 Trinisphere
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Smokestack
3 Tangle wire
1 Karn, silver golem
1 Staff of Domination
4 Simian Spirit Guide

4 Wasteland
4 Ancient Tomb
2 Academy Ruins
4 Maze of Ith
3 Mishra's factory
4 Crystal Vein
2 God's Eye, gate to Reikai
1 Magosi, the Waterveil
4 Island

which has started my serious interest and I haven't left Legacy since...

[Teluin]

This thread immediately made me think of this list. I didn't design it, but I remember pouring over Scrye and The Duelist when I was younger, and seeing this deck in one of them. I always wanted it, but since I only own 1 of the 4 Moats required, I don't see that happening.

[thulnanth]

Hey all,

Gosh, I love nostalgic stuff like this. One of the coolest things I found a few years back when I was creating a "master organization" of my collection was an old notebook with my first decklists. I remember keeping lists because I had to swap some cards between the decks...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Of course, these lists are from early 1994... back when all my decks were 150 cards (more = better), and there was no such thing as a restricted list or 4 card limit.

Take it easy,
Jared

[Ace/Homebrew]

How did you remove those pages without tearing the holes at the top?

[thulnanth]

LOL... I thought someone might ask that.

I actually "unspiraled" the metal spiral at the top of the notebook - I wanted to save the sheets as nice as possible. Besides, what was I going to do with a small spiral notebook with a Pegasus on the cover and old MtG decklists and baseball card lists (to finish sets) inside?

Take it easy,
Jared

[ironclad8690]

Technically wasn't legacy at the time, though I think old extended is as "legacy" as it gets:

[Seraphix]

This is the oldest list of mine I can find:


Creatures(19)

1x Thornscape Apprentice
1x Llanowar Elite
2x Thornscape Familiar
1x Alpha Kavu
1x Amphibious Kavu
1x Kavu Climber
1x Serpentine Kavu

1x Thunderscape Apprentice
1x Thunderscape Familiar
1x Pouncing Kavu
1x Thunderscape Battlemage
2x Flametongue Kavu

2x Yavimaya Barbarian
2x Horned Kavu
1x Shivian Wurm


Spells/Artifacts(11)

2x Explosive Growth
1x Regeneration

3x Singe
1x Stun
1x Magma Burst
1x Implode

1x Simoon
1x Fires Of Yavimaya

Land(28)
2x Shivian Oasis
1x Geothermal Crevice
12x Mountain
13x Forest

[ironclad8690]

This is the oldest list of mine I can find:


Creatures(19)

1x Thornscape Apprentice
1x Llanowar Elite
2x Thornscape Familiar
1x Alpha Kavu
1x Amphibious Kavu
1x Kavu Climber
1x Serpentine Kavu

1x Thunderscape Apprentice
1x Thunderscape Familiar
1x Pouncing Kavu
1x Thunderscape Battlemage
2x Flametongue Kavu

2x Yavimaya Barbarian
2x Horned Kavu
1x Shivian Wurm


Spells/Artifacts(11)

2x Explosive Growth
1x Regeneration

3x Singe
1x Stun
1x Magma Burst
1x Implode

1x Simoon
1x Fires Of Yavimaya

Land(28)
2x Shivian Oasis
1x Geothermal Crevice
12x Mountain
13x Forest

Lol this is so close to a precon I bought.




Kavu always were, have continued to be, and always will be: the shit.

[ESG]

Hey all,

Gosh, I love nostalgic stuff like this. One of the coolest things I found a few years back when I was creating a "master organization" of my collection was an old notebook with my first decklists. I remember keeping lists because I had to swap some cards between the decks...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Of course, these lists are from early 1994... back when all my decks were 150 cards (more = better), and there was no such thing as a restricted list or 4 card limit.

Take it easy,
Jared

Six Moxes -- that's pretty great. Did you keep 'em or trade 'em? Also, how'd the 10 Deserts work out?

[Parcher]

Technically wasn't legacy at the time, though I think old extended is as "legacy" as it gets:

Technically, it's not Three Deuce without Dwarven Miner. That's the namesake of the deck.

[thulnanth]

Six Moxes -- that's pretty great. Did you keep 'em or trade 'em? Also, how'd the 10 Deserts work out?

I've still got the Jet, Emerald, and 1 of the Sapphires... all very well played (no sleeves back in the day, of course).

As for the Deserts? Games were slower, so the colorless mana wasn't as much of a drawback as you might think. And you really haven't lived the dream until you suprise kill a Shivan Dragon with your Mesa Pegasus.

Take it easy,
Jared

[ironclad8690]

Technically, it's not Three Deuce without Dwarven Miner. That's the namesake of the deck.

I know :( unfortunately 10 yr old me was having trouble finding them (makes me wonder how I was able to find Wastelands and duals)

[Di]

So I was rummaging through some old boxes at my parents' house and came across these old beauties:

Post-Apocalypse Squirrel Opposition (~July 2001):
SquirrelOpp.jpg

This was the original basis for building my successful Angry Tradewind Survival deck, which I started running in January 2003. Sadly I don't have a decklist of the original ATS list though. Somehow I neglected the newly-printed Yavimaya Coast. Also it's hilarious how I marked the cards I needed to get with my store credit from winnings at the store. It's funny (read: depressing) to see how low these prices are: $30 Mana Drains, and $12 Tropical Islands. I think Ring of Ma-Ruf was just the coolest card I had seen to that point, so I had to add it to my deck. And Sword of the Ages was my way of winning with all of my mass quantities of squirrels if the ground was clogged and I couldn't draw Overrun.

Post-Mercadian Masques LANDS (~January, 2000):
Land.jpg

THIS was the first truly competitive deck I ever designed, a land-based deck shortly after Mercadian Masques came out. The original precursor to Eternal Garden (or really 43 Lands?!), the idea was just to have as few permanents as the opponent could deal with and attack with land creatures to avoid things like opposing Wrath of Gods and counters. The most popular and powerful deck at the time locally was a monoblue Thawing Glaciers control deck using like 20+ counters (Force, Drain, Counterspell, Mana Leak, Force Spike, Thwart, etc.) and then Morphling, Capsize/Disk, and Powder Keg, so this deck completely ignored that and crushed it. I remember loving Sacred Ground and Skyshroud Blessing to protect against Lightning Bolts and opposing Wastelands and such, yet I didn't think Wasteland or the newly-printed and expensive $16 Rishadan Port was good enough and got in the way of my mana and creature lands. Island of Wak-Wak was basically an additional Maze of Ith for flyers since my creatures couldn't block them. Just don't ask about the random single Congregate, I have no clue why that is there. Considering this list is older than the above one, I must have traded my Mazes away at some point then needed to get them again.

Although I don't have the paper list, I do have a better version of this decklist on my computer from ~winter 2002 that really took a turn when Standstill was printed. This was actually labeled as "LandStill" when I built it. It was one of the better lists that helped evolve into the "control" Landstill decks that thrived in Syracuse, NY circa 2002-2004.

4 Exploration
4 Standstill
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Wrath of God
2 Powder Keg
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Zuran Orb
2 Teferi's Response

4 Flood Plain
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Treetop Village
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Forbidding Watchtower
3 Maze of Ith
2 Dust Bowl

Sideboard:
4 Chill
3 Sphere of Law
3 Disenchant
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Sacred Ground

This version took out all the creatures and focused just on the lands more. I didn't know about Teferi's Response previously so that made it in, and it got refined with a better manabase and Flood Plain (fetches weren't printed yet). I still disliked running Wasteland here for whatever reason and thought Dust Bowl was better, and hated losing to Burn so Chill AND Sphere of Law was needed out of the board. Blood Moon wasn't a card at the time, I don't recall ever seeing one the entire time I played back then, though Price of Progress was a problem hence the Burn hate. This was also the very first deck I did well with, coming in 2nd place in a local 40-person 1.5 tournament. I ended up losing in the finals to U/G Earthcraft of all things.