Old, casual Magic

[Matt]

One of my old friends who used to play Magic back in middle school talked about dragging the cards out for a night of fun. So I need to make some decks using only cards from back then - nothing later than Saga at the latest, and probably mostly pre-Tempest. I'm sure we'd be playing under 5th edition rules too. Remember, my competition is going to be mostly pre-Weatherlight casual decks, so nothing TOO good - and not too many dual lands, either. I am ruling Necropotence out from the start. However, I do get to use the fun restricted cards as 1-ofs, and multiples of some cards which were 4x then but restricted now.

Here's two decks I have so far:

3 Counterspell
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Disenchant
1 Braingeyser
1 Regrowth

3 Winter Orb
3 Propaganda
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Control Magic
1 Gaea's Touch
1 Meekstone
1 Black Vise
1 Land Tax

3 Birds of Paradise
1 Quirion Elves
2 Quirion Ranger
2 Tradewind Rider
2 Suq'Ata Firewalker
4 Ophidian
1 Man-o-War
1 Uktabi Orangutan

1 Sol Ring
1 Sky Diamond
1 Moss Diamond
1 Marble Diamond
6 Forest
5 Island
1 Plains
2 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Brushland




I also made up this happy little incomplete number. I gave myself liberty to use a few duals but not too many.

2 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Karplusan Forest
3 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Strip Mine
2 City of Brass
1 Mountain Valley
1 Grasslands
1 Desert
2-4 Ebon Stronghold

1 Tinder Wall
4 Ashen Ghoul
4 Nether Shadow
2-4 Krovikan Horror
4 Hidden Horror
? Hypnotic Specter
4 Blood Pet

1 Spirit of the Night
1 Verdant Force
3 Soul Exchange
1 Ritual of the Machine
1 Tortured Existence
1 Sylvan Library
1 Demonic Tutor

4 Hermit Druid
4 Buried Alive
3 Firestorm
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Stormbind

It needs more lands, but they shouldn't be basic lands, for obvious reasons. I am unwilling to use the full power of all my dual lands, but the Hermit Druids pretty much require that I use SOME.

Anyone have any other good ideas? I kind of want to make a Xerox-style deck starting 4 Brainstorm, 4 Portent, 4 Impulse.

[Matt]

Working on a fun deck for multiplayer, I want to abuse certain multiplayer cards, and also include some big, splashy effects:

//Restricted spells - 6
1 Balance
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Regrowth
1 Braingeyser
1 Mind Twist

//Cheap stuff - 9
4 Urza's Bauble
1 Zuran Orb
1 Soldevi Digger
1 Sylvan Library
1 Flood
1 Telepathy

//Draw Spells - 12
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse

//Control & removal - 10
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Disintegrate
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Disenchant
1 Savage Twister
3 Arcane Denial
1 Unnerve

//Mana - 23
1 Sol Ring
3 Fellwar Stone
3 Rampant Growth

2 City of Brass
1 Thawing Glaciers
6 Island
1 Plains
4 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Mountain

The bold cards were added specifically for multiplayer. I may also work in Syphon Soul or Fiery Justice.

Fellwar Stone is good in multiplayer. Brainstorm is great, with all the shuffle effects. Arcane Denial is nice in a lot of subtle ways - first, I don't need UU, which is good considering my manabase. Second, one great play is countering my own Bauble to draw 3. Third, giving up card advantage doesn't mean much when you're setting up Balance. Third, and this was the coolest part, I had a hand of Balance, Denial, Disenchant. I cast Disenchant on my own Fellwar and countered it, then Balanced down to 0 cards in hand, then drew 3 on the opponent's upkeep. How savage!

[Hi-Val]

What about Wall of Blossoms over Bauble? I'm not sure completely where the card cutoff is; it's a simple card, in any case. For fun and casual decks, Amnesia is always neat. Recall is pretty old school, as is JMD Tome. Also, Control Magic! That might be a little too annoying for multiplayer though.

[Matt]

I don't want Wall because I have Balance. I am considering adding a Reins of Power, or slightly more wacky, Phelddagrif.