Magic the Gathering : My Epic Journey (Part 2)

ii) My Decks

1996-1998

My first deck was utterly rubbish. If I recall correctly, the deck consists of 80+ cards and apart from the lands, all the spells are single, basically one of each. Why? At that time, I did not want to spend too much on Magic the Gathering so whatever I opened from my booster packs, it goes in to my deck. Oh, did I mention it's a 5 colour deck with no mana fixers? After getting raped by my schoolmates, I made another important decision - spend money! I started copying my schoolmate's decks. Below are some of the decks which they used.

Mono Black Aggro and Mono Black Control

Play style : Discard, Cheap Creatures, Life Drain, Life Gain, Removal

Components : Dark Ritual (Imba!), Sinkhole, Sengir Vampire, Black Knight, Hypnotic Spectre, Bad Moon, Drain Life, Nightmare, Terror

Remarks : Very strong. A turn one Dark Ritual enables you to cast almost anything; Hypnotic Spectre, knights/clerics with Unholy Strength, etc. This deck was actually quite cheap. The only expensive cards were Sinkholes and Bad Moons. Apart from that, you can get most of the playsets below RM 10.  Originally Frozen Shade (Alpha to Revised only) was one of the key component for the deck because of a "flaw" in the wordings at that time. Refer to pictures below. There was no until end of turn in the older versions of the card so every time we pump the card, the +1/+1 stays permanently there. We were so stupid then to believe that and bought older version of pump cards like Frozen Shade, Shivan Dragon, etc at insane prices. 

Some of the components

 

Abusing the "flaw"

White Weenie

Play style : Cheap Creatures, Powerful Cards 

Components : Savannah Lion, White Knight, Armageddon, Balance, Land Tax, Serra Angel, Swords to Plowshares

Remarks : Very strong. Cast lotsa weenies then Armageddon (BOOM!) Land Tax will ensure that you won't have mana issues, Balance controls the board. This deck is slightly more expensive because of the power cards like Land Tax, Balance, Kjeldoran Outpost. Copied this from 1996 World Championship winning deck.

 

Some of the components

G/R Aggro

Play style : Mana ramp, Fatties, Steroids!, Burns!

Components : Llanowar Elves, Lightning Bolt, Erhnam Djinn, Balduvian Horde, Shivan Dragon, Berserk, Giant Growth, Blood Lust

Remarks : Starts by ramping your mana using Llanowar/Fyndhorn Elves. Remove early threats using Lightning Bolt/Incinerate. Win by casting fatties like Erhnam Djinn, Balduvian Horde, Shivan Dragon and pump them with steroids. Very expensive! Taiga, Karplusan Forest, Balduvian Horde, Shivan Dragon. I was lucky to get most of my Balduvian Hordes from booster boxes. It costs about RM 40-ish during it's peak. Taiga was about RM 30/ea, Karplusan Forest about RM 12ea, Berserk about RM 20/ea, Ernham Djinn about RM 8/ea and Shivan Dragon about RM 15/ea (LOL!)

 Some of the components

Control Decks

Play style : Counterspells!, Big flying fatties!, Lock! (varies)

Components : Counterspell, Spell Blast, Force of Will, Power Sink, Mahamoti Djinn, Stasis, Winter Orb, Icy Manipulator, Control Magic

Remarks : The most irritating deck to play with. They'll counter every threat you cast (or control them with Control Magic) and once they control the board, they'll cast their finisher which is usually a big fat flyer which in our case would be Mahamoti Djinn. Other variants of control uses Stasis/Kismet/Icy Manipulator/Winter Orb to lock you down. Very cheap to build.

 Some of the components

Burn

Play style : Just burn!

Components : Lightning Bolt, Incinerate, Disintegrate, Fireball, Earthquake, Ball Lightning, Guerilla Tactics

Remarks : No brainer deck. Just burn! Extremely cheap to build.

 Some of the components

Land Destruction

Play style : Destroy all lands!

Components : Stone Rain, Strip Mine, Pillage, Fissure, Ice Quake, Sinkhole, Thermokarst, Desert Twister

Remarks : It's more like a fun deck. You spend most of your time laughing at your opponent's naked table while beating them down with random weenies. 

Some of the components

To be continued...

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Magic the Gathering : My Epic Journey (Part 1)

i) The Beginning

Ah, Magic the Gathering. This trading card game sure brings back a lot of memories. For those who don't know what Magic the Gathering card game is about, read it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering) via Wikipedia. I'm just too lazy to explain today.

So, how did I pick up the game? I first saw the game in a hobby club, Strategic Wargaming, back in the early 1996 in my high school. There were many other card games back then; Battletech, Legend of the Five Rings but Magic the Gathering was the only one that caught my attention. After playing around with some of the decks, I became hooked to the game. I made a decision which changed my life forever; purchasing my first booster pack! Ok, where can I buy a MTG booster pack? Luckily, the members of the Strategic Wargaming club was helpful and they gave me advice on where to buy and how to get there. I got 3 shop names; The Games Castle, The Mind Shop and Final Frontier. There was not much players at The Mind Shop and Final Frontier which makes it hard to trade so I finally ended up in the "most notorious" place of all, The Games Castle. It's the best place to look for single cards but it's also a butcher house. This is the first time I meet the infamous Michael Toh. Somehow he managed to psycho me to sign up as a member so I can purchase booster at a cheaper rate. Was it 10% discount? Can't recall. Bought my first booster, Fallen Empires if I'm not mistaken, can't remember what I opened, most of the cards were crappy except Hymn to Tourach and Order of Leitbur. So, guess what? Went for my second booster, Fourth Edition. Mmm, all craps except for a 4/4 flying vigilance angel, Serra Angel, which I was stupid enough to trade it for 4x Craw Wurm with Michael Toh. No no, don't get me wrong. He's not a bad guy; he just want to "cari makan" so can't blame him. Rather blame myself for not doing my homework.

Next, how did I avoid getting slaughter at the butcher house. I got myself a price guide! SCRYE magazine! Of course it's just a guide so you'll still need to adjust a bit if you want to trade. I'll try to memorize the prices of the cards I want so I won't look like a fool. The magazine is actually quite interesting; funny articles, price guide, new expansion sneak preview, information of new trading card games/miniatures, etc. SCRYE magazine remained my best friend until InQuest magazine and of course the Internet came into my life.

Due to the distance and lack of transport, I found myself searching for a closer by shop. I stumbled upon a Laser Disc and Comic shop owner at Section 14, nearby Jaya Supermarket called Comixtra. The owner, Miss Chin, sold me booster boxes cheaper than elsewhere. Got myself 2 booster boxes of Alliances with my first part-time job paycheck. Just to let you know, those boxes were Godlike! I got at least 3 of each of hottest rares at that time - Balduvian Horde, Helm of Obedience, Kjeldoran Outpost, Lake of the Dead, Thawing Glaciers. Surprisingly, cards like Force of Will, Elvish Spirit Guide was dirt cheap because they were uncommon and easily obtainable. I'm not boasting, I dare to say I have 2 9-pocket pages of Force of Wills, that's 18 pieces of the card which is now worth USD 80 each! You can buy it for RM 20/playset back in 1997!

Okay, that's all I can remember so far...For my next post, I'll be posting about my past decks, my play style, etc. Yeah, I know, boring right? I just want to share my experiences on this epic creation, Magic the Gathering.

The cards

 The Games Castle Membership Card

SCRYE magazine

INQUEST magazine

Disclaimer : All images are copyright to their respective owners.