I remember the day when Paul Pantera posted to
mtg-strategy-l about a deck that some in the northwest were calling "The Deck". It seemed an impossibly pompous name for a particular deck list. Then again, the post was somewhat pretentious itself.
Since that day, and even quite recently, I've seen a bunch of deck lists that purport to be "The Deck", but not from either Paul or Brian. I thought I might post some data from the archives to clarify what was and was not in the earlier versions.
To be fair, the deck list was very fluid at the time - the rules of magic were young. The DCI was just starting to gel as something separate from WoTC. There weren't many rules about how things went on and off the restricted and banned lists, and that made them pretty fluid, with things being added, removed, and re-added relatively often. If you see a list with two Demonic Tutors, and then a later one with four Mind Twists, that could be exactly right.
People now think of The Deck as the quintessential control / card-advantage deck: discard, draw, and counter. That said, Brian's decks before and after the eponymous one, were based on large creatures, counters, and removal.
Early 1994
According to Brian himself in
a recent interview with SvenskaMagic.com, the following decklist was what he was playing
before legends came out, so it represents an early state of The Deck.
Pre-Legends
Three color Counter-Stompy |
|---|
| Sets available: AL, BT, UL, RV, AN, AQ |
| Blue | Artifacts |
|---|
| 4 | Counterspell | 1 | Chaos Orb |
| 4 | Mahamoti Djinn | 1 | Ivory Tower |
| 1 | Ancestral Recall | 4 | Juggernaut |
| 1 | Time Walk | Mana |
|---|
| 1 | Timetwister | 5 | Moxen |
| 2 | Control Magic | 1 | Sol Ring |
| Black | 1 | Black Lotus |
|---|
| 4 | Mind Twist | 4 | Mana Vault |
| White | 4 | Tundra |
|---|
| 4 | Disenchant | 4 | Underground Sea |
| 4 | Swords to Plowshares | 4 | Library of Alexandria |
| 2 | Balance | 2 | Strip Mine |
| 2 | Argivian Archaeologist | 3 | Scrubland |
| 36 spells, 27 mana (63 cards) |
|---|
The core of the deck is 8 stompies with evasion potential, blue manipulation, white removal, and Mind Twist.
Blue had gotten
way out in front of the rest of the colors with Ancestral Recall, Time Walk and Time Twister, so pretty much everyone was splashing blue for those. This led to what Brian and Paul later referred to as "the presumption of blue".
Trivia:
Ancestral Recall was originally going to be a common, part of a group called the Boons, a 3-for-1 effect for each color: White: Healing Salve, Green: Giant Growth, Red: Lightening Bolt, Black: Dark Ritual, Blue: Ancestral Recall. Playtesting seemed to indicate that Ancestral Recall might be overpowered, so it was promoted to a rare, and Unstable Mutation was swapped in as the blue Boon.
Early 1995
Rules changes abound. Library of Alexandria and Mind Twist are
restricted. There is discussion about whether Strip Mine should be
restricted but it is not. Brian and others recognize the power of
Balance and lobby unsuccessfully to restrict or even ban it, but it
remains unlisted. Discussions about banning Chaos Orb entirely (because
of its difficult mechanics and their impact on play) also do not come to
fruition. All these restrictions will later be enacted.
During this period, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires, and 4th edition are released. Fallen Empires and 4th edition bring nothing of interest. Legends brings Recall (which is immediately restricted) as well as Mana Drain and Moat. All three will be staples of The Deck for the years to come.
Everyone is playing blue now. Much like "Black Summer" two years later, there is a virtual monoculture. No one is playing much that doesn't include the entire blue restricted list (Ancestral Recall, Timetwister, Time Walk, Recall) as well as Counterspell and Mana Drain. Those that aren't playing blue are building decks specifically tailored to defeat it.
According to Brian himself, this is the next version he played.
Pre-Ice Age
Five color Card Advantage |
|---|
| Sets available: AL, BT, UL, RV, AN, AQ, LG, DK, FE, 4E |
| Blue | Artifacts |
|---|
| 4 | Counterspell | 1 | Chaos Orb |
| 4 | Mana Drain | 1 | Jayemdae Tome |
| 1 | Ancestral Recall | 2 | Disrupting Scepter |
| 1 | Time Walk | Mana |
|---|
| 1 | Timetwister | 5 | Moxes |
| 1 | Recall | 1 | Sol Ring |
| Black | 1 | Black Lotus |
|---|
| 1 | Mind Twist | 4 | City of Brass |
| 1 | Demonic Tutor | 4 | Underground Sea |
| White | 4 | Tundra |
|---|
| 4 | Disenchant | 2 | Volcanic Island |
| 4 | Swords to Plowshares | 1 | Library of Alexandria |
| 2 | Balance | 2 | Strip Mine |
| 2 | Serra Angel | 2 | Scrubland |
| 2 | Moat |
| Red |
|---|
| 1 | Red Elemental Blast |
| Green |
|---|
| 1 | Regrowth |
| 34 spells, 26 mana (60 cards) |
|---|
Red is splashed
exclusively for Red Elemental Blast (there are more in the sideboard, all to stop early blue countermagic and Ancestral Recall) and green
exclusively for Regrowth.
The win methods are drastically reduced: two Serra Angels. Someone notes that if you use Tormod's Crypt (often in the sideboard of this deck) at a sufficiently late moment in the game, you can kill someone with Timetwister.
August 1995
Over the next few months, Balance was restricted, and Chaos Orb was banned. The presumption of blue became even more certain. Other major formats were mono-black Juzam/discard and land destruction.
In August 1995, Paul Pantera posted
this version on
mtg-strategy-l. It was somewhat different. Paul even included a sideboard description, something we don't have for earlier versions. The deck now looked like this:
Pantera
Five color Card Advantage |
|---|
| Sets available: AL, BT, UL, RV, AN, AQ, LG, DK, FE, 4E, IA |
| Blue | Artifacts | Sideboard |
|---|
| 4 | Mana Drain | 2 | Disrupting Scepter | 2 | Blood Moon |
| 2 | Counterspell | 1 | Jayemdae Tome | 2 | COP: Red |
| 1 | Ancestral Recall | 1 | Ivory Tower | 2 | Control Magic |
| 1 | Time Walk | Mana | 2 | Divine Offering |
|---|
| 1 | Timetwister | 5 | Moxes | 1 | Disrupting Sceptre |
| 1 | Recall | 1 | Sol Ring | 1 | Counterspell |
| 1 | Braingeyser | 1 | Black Lotus | 1 | Moat |
| Black | 4 | Island | 1 | Plains |
|---|
| 1 | Mind Twist | 4 | Tundra | 1 | Jayemdae Tome |
| 1 | Demonic Tutor | 3 | Plains | 1 | Tormod's Crypt |
| White | 3 | City of Brass |
|---|
| 4 | Disenchant | 2 | Strip Mine |
| 4 | Swords to Plowshares | 2 | Volcanic Island |
| 2 | Serra Angel | 1 | Underground Sea |
| 2 | Moat | 1 | Plateau |
| Red | 1 | Library of Alexandria |
|---|
| 2 | Red Elemental Blast |
| Green |
|---|
| 1 | Regrowth |
| 32 spells, 28 mana (60 cards) |
|---|
Just days later Brian Weissman posts from his account at netcom,with essentially the same card list.
There are some really quirky things about this deck:
- There are two Red Elemental Blasts in the main deck. Blue was so predominant that having two maindeck REBs and sometimes a third one in the sideboard was completely appropriate.
- At the time this came out, Ice Age had been released for 3 months, but this version doesn't include a Zuran Orb in the main deck or the sideboard. It's the last published version that doesn't.
- This is the only tournament deck I've ever seen with basic land in the
sideboard. Apparently land destruction was so harmful to this deck that
occasionally you'd want to put in an extra plains.
And it was different from many other decks currently in play:
- Braingeyser was added for a third "kill" card: a big Mana Drain could
give an even bigger Braingeyser, forcing the opponent to draw out. Other than Millstone, this was a rarely used kill method.
- At this time, running 28 mana was considered serious overkill: a lot of
tournament decks were running 20-24. Brian was ahead of the curve here,
noting that failing to play land on turns 1-4 is often fatal with this
particular deck.
Variations on the theme
Patrick Chapin, in
a well-researched article, shows a version of the deck containing Mirror Universe as a kill method. At this time, your life totals were checked only when the stack was empty, so you could tap and activate the Mirror Universe, putting the life-swap effect on the stack, and
then bring your life to zero (perhaps by tapping a City of Brass). When the stack cleared your opponent had zero life.
Some versions of the deck include one or more Amnesia from The Dark to supplement the discard power lost by the now-restricted Mind Twist.
Ice Age (Later 1995-1996)
Most post-Ice Age versions of The Deck feature a Zuran Orb, and that's how you can tell it's a somewhat later version. Likewise Jester's Mask.
Late in 1995 Brian posted a Type II deck list featuring a
simpler card list. Brian referred to it as a Type II implementation of The Deck.
Type II "The Deck"
Three color Card Advantage |
|---|
| Sets available: AL, BT, UL, RV, AN, AQ, LG, DK, FE, 4E, IA |
| White | Artifacts | Sideboard |
|---|
| 4 | Disenchant | 4 | Jayemdae Tome | 4 | Divine Offering |
| 4 | Swords to Plowshares | 1 | Zuran Orb | 3 | Meekstone |
| 4 | Savannah Lions | 1 | Feldon's Cane | 3 | Red Elemental Blast |
| 3 | Serra Angel | 1 | Jester's Cap | 2 | Pyroclasm |
| Blue | Mana | 3 | COP: Red |
|---|
| 2 | Deflection | 4 | Plains |
| 1 | Recall | 4 | Mountains |
| Red | 4 | Adarkar Wastes |
|---|
| 4 | Lightning Bolt | 3 | City of Brass |
| 3 | Fireball | 4 | Strip Mine |
| 1 | Pyrotechnics | 4 | Mishra's Factory |
| 4 | Fellwar Stone |
| 33 spells, 27 mana (60 cards) |
|---|
It had many adherents (including myself) but never
achieved a great deal of success. The card advantage seemingly offered by Deflection was rarely capitalized upon. The Serra / Fireball overlap for win conditions and the comparatively slow action of the tomes and the cap contributed to a diminished pace that kept it out of the top tier.
1997
In 1997 Brian posted a Type-I deck list that he thought could reliably beat The Deck: It was called (by most) The Roc Deck. It returned to the "eight hard-to-stop creatures plus blue manipulation" system from the original pre-legends version. The Juggernaut and Mahamoti Djinn were replaced with Roc of Kher Ridges and Phantom Monster (flying 3/3 creatures for 3R and 3U respectively) along with the usual blue/black support. Oscar tan writes about it
here. This deck never really took off, most players preferred some variation of The Zoo, with its undercosted creatures and Black Vises.
Modern
Many people have tried to update The Deck to use the whole panoply of blue now available: 4 Force of Will become standard, Morphlings instead of Serras. Mostly these
devolve into U/B/... decks
chock full of tutors to take the early lead and hold it, rather the opposite of the original slow constriction.
People who use The Deck as a starting point for modern decks start from a position of weakness. The game just isn't the same now: Type I is mostly about dropping a turn 1/2/3 combo and winning before your opponent can drop a 4th land.
