From the 90’s to today
I can still remember playing in the local Del Taco (the workers there knew us and let us stay as long as we kept ordering every now and then), high school hallways and after math class (our Algebra teacher was playing as well), and our kitchen tables at various houses with friends. Cracking a pack of cards open gave the same rush as pulling a slot machine to win. Today, it’s more of the memories for me and remembering the things of yesteryear.
Commander Decks (EDH)
All of my commander decks are non-CEDH level and more of Jank or Tribal (e.g., all squirrels, all pirates, etc.) is what I love. I don’t want to be competitive but want to have a few laughs. Although this is a new format in the long history of Magic, the singleton and 100-card (99 with 1 commander) seems to refresh the format.
Getting the First Sliver, Gravemother, and Queen was the started of my dive into Slivers. It’s the Alien of this MTG universe. I’m still brewing this deck but it’s a good thought exercise when I need a break. If you really want to start with the basic, you can buy the Sliver Swarm Commander Precon deck that gives you a good start if you don’t have any slivers.
If you need to edit the Slivered deck, here are the following suggestions:
- Swap in Hallowhead Sliver for Opaline Sliver.
The whole Brother’s War expansion led to the main storyline deep diving into the Phyrexian world (i.e., New Phyrexia). I was already interested in revisiting this since the Thran book series with how Yawgmoth created the first Phyrexians that led to the whole world-rending invasion of Dominaria and the battle between the two brothers. This deck focuses on the oil and uses a very rage-inducing mechanic of poison.
I originally had an artifact commander deck that was based around red and blue mana. This is the result of taking it apart and updating with newish cards. I think I’ll have to keep brewing on this deck until it’s to my liking (a little beyond precon but not CEDH level… just fun enough to be able to hold its own).
This commander deck was created when Liam said he started to love dinosaurs. I picked out as much Ixalan dinosaurs that I could mush into a cohesive deck. One day, I hope he may use it as a start to understanding the format or maybe he’ll brew one of his own.
Normal MTG Decks
I think most of my decks are aging out of Standard and Modern, so I guess I’m now a “Legacy” player. Just in case… Standard is only most recent sets in the rotation. Modern is only cards from standard-legal sets from 8th edition and after (will change with time). Legacy is every set and card printed. Each have their own ban list and whatnot. If you’re still confused try the Format Hub from Wizard of the Coast’s own words.
Stuffy Guilt is my Stuffy Doll deck. When I first saw this artifact card, I fell in love with it’s weird ability. You’re able to do damage to a player without directly doing damage and if you block with Stuffy Doll, the attacking player gets to feel the pain. It’s also indestructible and can tap to deal 1 damage to itself. Couple that with things like Pariah Shield (reassign all damage you take to the doll) and you’ve got a comedic set up. Phylactery Lich was also another favorite of mine when I first saw it. You get a 5/5 indestructible creature for 3 mana but you have to put a token on an artifact you control. This pairs nicely with Stuffy Doll. I threw in artifact lands and indestructible mana rocks (e.g., Darksteel Ingot), and you have a good set up.
Dragons. When we hear magic, dragons tend to be creatures that are thought about next. In the older Magic days, dragons tend to be big bads but they were slow to bring out. I had to wait over 15 years to create a deck that allowed dragons to come out faster than you can say “Atarka, World Render”
I’ve always had a special place for artifacts and the Brothers’ War saga. Back in 4th Edition and Ice Age, making a colorless artefact deck meant that you were the slowest at the table. Even with the Urza lands, you couldn’t catch up with even catch up with Blue. Plus, you’ve had things like 1/4 Yotian Soldier that can take damage but you pecked at them with 1 damage which didn’t do much. That brings us to 2025, you have a speedier deck with more Urza and Mishra lands along with assembly workers that had synergy with the mana producing lands. You can bring out bigger things or swing with the workers.
Being a child of the 80’s, you’ve had a soft spot for horror movies. I usually brew zombie and vampire deck during the spooky months. This one is a budget one that anyone can put together but keep in mind that it only swings to win rather than combo. You swing with everything and then decide which creatures (usually the blocked ones) to sacrifice to make the others that got through bigger. The only complete set back when I was in high school was Homelands (not a particularly good set) and it had the Sengir vampire family in it along with some great horror cards. This deck is a tribute to all the horror decks I tried to brew.
This is a version of a tournament deck I had back near the start of college. It was based off of the first Lackey Sligh deck that used small goblin and Viashon (lizard) people with haste to swing with the Flunkies. You really didn’t use your direct damage on the player but for removal of threat in the way. It’s an aggro deck in that the amount of combat damage you dealt each turn was very high. I believe I was able to win third place in the local tournament I entered and I typically won by turn 3 or 4. It doesn’t look like much but once you see it in action, you’ll find that it can hit pretty hard and fast.
This deck was a weird spawn-off of my love for red/blue and thopters artifacts. I had a commander deck with mechanized production and other things like that. The sixty-card version was paired down with only some counter spells and some fire. The rest is just thopter makers and buffing. The lands could use some rework but it’s just a casual deck.
I started Magic around 4th Edition and Ice Age, so snow-covered things amuses me. Fast-forward to today and I got a snow themed half deck from a JumpStart pack and had to dig into it. This one is about chilling your opponent’s stuff and then doing stuff.