In terms of color philosophy, at their core, I can’t think of a pair more emblematic of Old School than Red and White. Red, in its purest essence, is impulsive and prone to raucous celebration. White, conversely, is all about order and balance. For my money, there isn’t a better group that represents a party for the people.

The game wouldn’t exist without the counterbalance of the other three colors, sure. There’s always some losers at the party because the room needs bodies. But Red and White are each responsible for the fun and making sure the group is in on it. What I’m really getting at is, if you and I have ever been paired up before or will be in the future, then you’re welcome. Then or preemptively, respectively.

I proudly fly the Red/White banner as often as possible in 93/94, but often in the heavy guns department. Maindeck Blood Moon, Earthquake, Nevinyrral’s Disk. I like the answers broad and all encompassing. For this event, I shed the big answers in favor of an archetype I hadn’t explored much: full-fledged aggro.

White Weenie had always been an issue in Old School to me. It’s a big reason why I chose wide answers. It can certainly apply pressure quickly and relentlessly. My entry to Old School had been Big Red, so White Weenie had always been that deck that if I didn’t get my Earthquake, I would get smothered by a Circle of Protection: Red and an army of White Knights and Savannah Lions. It was this very matchup that led to adding White to become Big Pink so that I’d have Disenchant and Balance.

Part of me wondered if I was missing out on something strong in these party-oriented colors by preferring the reactive approach, so I built a more proactive Pink list. I figured combining the quickest little dudes with Bolts I could zap their blockers with, if not toss to their face, should provide a potent result.

Round 1: Tyler - Nayatog Playing against Tyler is always a great time if only because he also seems to clearly understand the superiority of incorporating Red and White, so he can forgiven for running Green. I know I’ve polluted my decks with that shameful color because I was curious about Sylvan Library and Regrowth, maybe even a Channel to spice up my Fireballs.

Game 1: Tyler opens with a Black Lotus and Taiga into an Atog and Sylvan Library, which is essentially him laying out his deck’s namesake and a card advantage engine to support it. My Plateau into Savannah Lion is immediately greeted on his next turn by a Lightning Bolt and Strip Mine.  The Party Gods smile upon me as his Chaos Orb misses a White Knight I’ve resolved but we enter a creature stalemate. I manage to get a Preacher into play, which is often the answer to a stalemate. Preacher eats a Chain Lightning and he manages to feed an Atog at me over several turns where I’m forced to take damage or chump block. Either way things get bleak and your intrepid hero is domed by a Chain Lightning.

Game 2: Even less auspicious of a start, I open with a City of Brass into a Savannah Lions. I glare disapprovingly as Tyler lays down a Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, cracking a Black Lotus into an Ankh of Mishra and Savannah Lions. I feel confidence return as I top deck Icatian Javelineers and Strip Mine his Factory. I’ve taken considerable damage through my City of Brass, his Ankh and thus I continue to bleed. I figure killing his aggressor and his land may set him back. It buys me some time, but I do a lot of his work for him by using my City and playing lands to avoid using said City, thus resulting in deeper life loss. Irony of all ironies, I am domed by the Chain Lightning again, back to finish the job. Result: 0-2

Round 2: Ray - Reanimator? Ray is easily one of my favorite players to be paired up with. I can’t imagine a match with Ray where we’re not laughing throughout and what he’s playing always catches me off guard. I’m not even sure if he was playing Reanimator entirely because I imagine there was some extra spice involved, but we had some games affected by variance and I didn’t fully get to see what he was playing.

Game 1: As a reflex in any format, if I see a player open with a Birds of Paradise and I have a Lightning Bolt in-hand, there is no question that I will fry that Bird. As the charred carcass hits the ground, I open a Mishra’s Factory and Savannah Lions come out to play. He plays a Strip Mine and a Howling Mine to really change the pace of the game. Playing aggro, I am very happy to see a Howling Mine resolve. He Strips my Factory and I Strip his basic land so he’s left with a City of Brass. I get a Preacher on the board who snags his Priest of Yawgmoth. With the Tapped Preacher beside the Priest of Yawgmoth, he Chaos Orbs my Preacher and the Orb lands touching both him and his Priest of Yawgmoth. I read the text of Chaos Orb back to him about any card Orb touches... he is not amused (at least, not nearly as much as he should be) and I hand him his Priest back. Enough damage has been done to him through my attacks and his City of Brass that even killing my dudes doesn’t keep him out of Bolt range and a Lightning Bolt gets drawn to bonk him on out.

Game 2: This was a rough one. Ray mulligans down to four and I don’t necessarily pull a God hand, but it’s a Plateau, Mishra’s Factory, Plains, Savannah Lions, Preacher, White Knight and Lightning Bolt. He gets stuck on a couple off-color lands and my little army puts the beats down. Result: 2-0

Round 3: Erik - White Weenie I first played Eric at the Festival of the Pit in 2016, which if my understanding is correct, was his first Old School event and he hadn’t been to one since. He remembered me from then and upon reflecting on a report from then, he was playing Mono Black Rack, so it’s great to see him back.

Game 1: He opens with a Plains into Savannah Lions. I drop a Plateau into Savannah Lions. It’s going to be that kind of game. I follow it up with Javelineers which is handed a Sword to Plowshares and the Icatian leaves to a life of fulfilling servitude on a farm before he can toss his javelin at a bloodthirsty lion. Our Lions are at a standstill and I’m eventually holding three Lightning Bolts and a Chain Lightning. He Orbs my Factory.  I Bolt his Lion and sneak in enough damage that the remaining Bolts finish him off.

Game 2: Almost as a sort of joke, I keep a hand with two Strip Mine, a Plateau and City of Brass, Disenchant, White Knight and Order of Leitbur. He’s on the play and drops a Plains into a Land Tax. I Strip his land, he plays another. I Strip that land, he plays another. I play a land and he keeps himself at one to hopefully trigger his Land Tax on his next turn. I play my second land but Disenchant his Land Tax on my main phase and it sets him back significantly. He baits me out, resolving a Crusade and passing. I play three little dudes right into it, which are all met by a Balance. Eventually he gets a Serra Angel down, which I Swords to Plowshares and while I don’t like see him gain five life, I do have an Order of Leitbur I can pump that’s already a 3/2 thanks to Crusade. They handle the job. Result: 2-0

Round 4: Dan - Pink Aggro Dan is also another player who truly appreciates the value of going Pink.  Our lists are very similar; my curve is lower and he brings in some heavier via Serra Angel. Always a pleasure to catch up with Dan who can really play a list that I feel confident in and still second guess my own card choices and lines of play.

Game 1: I play a turn one Icatian Javelineers. Dan is visibly shaken. They immediately eat a Lightning Bolt and next turn I play an Order of Leitbur who suffer the same fate. I resolve a Preacher just in time before he plays a second Strip Mine and leaves me with a City of Brass. The Preacher holds up the game, as per his job, but his tenure is cut short by taking a Swords. At this point, I get an intimate look at the lands in my deck while he, at five life, whittles away at my life total with a White Knight. In the moment I feel betrayed by this creature, but overall, I do appreciate the work he puts in.

Game 2: I open again with Javelineers. This might be a bad omen, but I’m not going to send it back on account of that. Well, in and of itself, it wasn’t the Javelineers that were a bad omen, but bad luck was looming over me when he played his Mishra’s Factory, Mox Ruby and Sol Ring. Nothing big following that (thankfully not the terrifying Granite Gargoyle he runs).  Through combat and Bolts, we get to top deck mode. He beats me down to three lives as I run into a similar problem from the previous game and when I top deck Shahrazad, I am presented with a potential out. We begin our subgame and let me say, if you’ve never played Shahrazad, do give it a shot. It’s a beautiful experience for all involved. In terms of aggro, your deck should be completely redundant with Bolts and similarly-costed critters that you won’t be missing any key elements in the subgame and winning that can cause a major swing in life totals in the prime game. I win the subgame fairly handily (though of note in the subgame, he does knock two of my guys out with a Falling Star and I’m tickled by this tech). It’s still not enough of a swing in the prime game, I can chump a little, but he still slips through the damage to slay me. Result: 0-2

Round 5: Zack - The Deck I don’t know Zack super well, I don’t think we’d been paired up before at an event but we had a great couple of games and I do look forward to slinging some spells together again.

Game 1: I play Savannah Lions and pass. He plays a Mox Emerald and Mishra’s Factory. I want to bait out his Factory with a Lightning Bolt in my hand, so I go in for the attack. This is always a tricky bluff to play because if you attempt it, you’re flagging how much risk you’re willing to take. He would have no reason to not block favorably, but having the Lightning Bolt in hand allows me to blow up his Assembly Worker and set him back as well as connect for two damage. I follow up with a Mishra’s Factory of my own, though when I go in to attack, it gets Disenchanted. So we both have the blood of hapless laborers on our hands. He uses Strip Mine on a key colored land, and losing my Factory adds extra sting to the already rocky mana base. My Savannah Lions keep a ticking clock going and he succumbs to repeated cat bites.

Game 2: I swallow hard watching him open with a Mishra’s Factory, Mox Pearl, Fellwar Stone and Sol Ring. I play a Savannah Lions and it gets Swords to Plowshares. I worry as I see him sitting at roughly Serra Angel range mana so early. I play another Savannah Lions and they get Orb'd. He must have drawn a ton of gas but no action because I resolve a Dust to Dust punching out his Sol Ring and Fellwar Stone with a Strip Mine collapsing his Mishra’s Factory. Another Strip Mine hits his Tundra. A Preacher taps his head with a bible repeatedly and a White Knight joins in the fun until he gets within Bolt range and I close out that gap. Result: 2-0 Overall: 3-2

Originally set to be six rounds, I was thrilled we cut after five so my record appears more favorable than 3-3. Besides that, I also find five rounds to be just enough before I’m drunk enough to rather just socialize and stop seeing Strip Mines and Mishra’s Factories carry games regardless of color or build.

As always, this was a great day filled with great games, drinks and waxing indulgent over unplayable jank. It’s been a tremendous journey so far playing Old School and it’s been even more exciting to see everyone’s decks and approaches evolve, despite being such a tight card pool. And with the closure of this event, I vibrate with excitement over the next event I can stress out about what I’ll play and inevitably stick to Red and White, in some fashion.  Whatever it takes to the keep the Party of the Pit Lords for the people.

Deck Lists

Candids

Flashback to Party of the Pit Lords, 12/03/2016

OG Lord of the Pit Danny Friedman guests on the morning of the Party of the Pit Lords.

The braintrust assembles in full to discuss community service, tournament structures, and disgusting MS brews.

Everyone thinks they know the Prophecy of Rhuidean, but what they know is what Wise Ones and clan chiefs have told them for generations. Not lies, but not the whole truth. The truth might break the strongest man. In this case, the whole truth, the truth known only to Wise Ones and clan chiefs before this, is that you are our doom. Our doom, and our salvation. Without you, no one of our people will live beyond the Last battle. Perhaps not even until the Last Battle. That is prophecy, and truth.

_~ The Prophecy of Rhuidean, as told to the Car'a'carn__

Into the unexplored & unexplained we delved. Gathered on this damp, autumn evening, with winter’s chill threatening outside, we sought the knowledge and glory lying deep within the Dungeon of Doom. Four Mages we were, intent on capturing forgotten treasures, summoning forbidden monsters and defeating fearsome foes enroute to Total Victory:

• Etters - Palladia-Mors (Naya)
• Moss - Vulthuryol, the Hidden (BUG)
• Schriver - Mirmulnir, the Aged (Junk)
• Semmens - Nicol Bolas (Grixis)

I. The Dungeon of Doom, Briefly

Historically, our games of OS-EDH have marginalized creature-based strategies. The most consistently successful gameplans in our contests have revolved around either combos (Power Monolith or Time Vault) or prison-based strategies using powerful enchantments to warp the game (Power Surge or Manabarbs). Creature-based strategies have been entirely shunted to the side primarily because there is so much effective creature removal, both en masse and targeted, within the Old School card pool. There are also many creature-based neutralization options to draw on (Preacher, Willow Satyr, Royal Assassin, to name a few). Couple these harsh realities for creatures with the fact that, inversely, there are so few options to attack enchantments, and the result is that a zero creature-based plan may be the most optimized way to build an OS-EDH deck under our standard rules.

With this in-mind, we decided to use a top-down game design to force the issue of creatures. We drew inspiration from the Djinn-Efreet War, originally featured in InQuest (Issue No. 2, June 1995) and later re-explored by Eternal Central here and here, and created a “mini game” within our OS-EDH game.

(Note that both InQuest and Eternal Central used this concept to augment an Emperor game, emphasizing team tactics, while we maintained a wide-open, PVP setting. Furthermore, the original Djinn-Efreet War was heavily oriented toward the Arabian Nights set, and while we retained much of that flavor, we opened up our own Dungeon of Doom to include cards from all Old School era sets.)

Within our mini game, our players could accrue Victory Points by attacking into a zone (a.k.a. the “Dungeon”) consisting of twelve Resources each protected by Guardians and containing Traps or Treasures. Defeating Guardians and capturing Resources would result in accruing Victory Points on a sliding scale of one to three. The Resources took the form of various Lands cards from Old School sets, which served as our “locations” within the Dungeon. The Guardians at those locations would begin the game face-down so players wouldn’t know what to expect until they explored by attacking. The Guardians ranged in power from the lowly 2/2 Scavenging Ghoul to the tougher 6/4 Craw Wurm. Being an early mover could give a player a valuable advantage… or it could simply result in creatures lost for nought. Not only would players be awarded use of conquered Resources (for example: using a conquered Oasis to reduce damage to creatures in future combat), but they also revealed a randomly-assigned Trap or Treasure card, one per location. Treasures were inspired by “Old School Equipment” such as Zeylon Sword or Kry Shield; these items could further enhance creatures’ prowess in combat. Traps, meanwhile, would decrease creatures’ combat effectiveness, and took the form of Auras such as Brainwash or Paralyze. Victory Points could alternatively be earned by defeating rivals, meaning a mage had to pick and choose when to attack into the Dungeon, when to attack opponents, and when to protect their flank. The first player to collect ten Victory Points would win.

(For a full detailing of the in-game mechanics, you can read our white paper here. We will update these rules from time to time as we gain additional insight.)

II. Dungeon Dive

Lord Semmens arrived to Moss' Logan Square stronghold at 6 p.m. bearing a gift, an entire Dante’s pizza, to share, perhaps for the purpose of lulling his enemies into a false sense of security. The wizards assembled and gnoshed, engaging in small-talk about the uncertainties of the forthcoming game. We expected to see many more creatures than in games past, but beyond that we were unsure how this concept would function in the "real" cardboard world. Lords Moss and Etters laid out the Dungeon cards across the center of the table, in escalating order of Victory Points value. Etters had the high roll, and we commenced…

Etters summoned an Atog and dove headlong into the Dungeon on turn three. The seal was broken! Atog attacked Urza’s Mine and Etters revealed our first Guardian: Tobias Andrion! The U/W legend easily crushed the grinder’s best friend. More creatures hit the table. Etters curved out nicely with Serra Angel on turn five and Shivan Dragon on turn six. Semmens Cloned the Angel. Moss Cloned the Cloned Angel. Lord Schriver built up his own peculiar board featuring Uncle Istvan and Helm of Chatzuk. He clearly had some madcap scheme in-mind. Back to Etters, who doggedly assaulted the Dungeon capturing all three pieces of Urzatron! Moss’ attempts to break up the trio was defeated as Cloned Serra and an Air Elemental Guardian annihilated each other at Urza’s Power Plant. Clockwork Beast then found Riven Turnbull at another Urza’s location, but Moss sacrificed the Beast to Diamond Valley rather than have a second double-KO leaving the Resource unguarded. Etters racked up Victory Points via the Urzatron, Diamond Valley and Bazaar of Baghdad. He hoarded Treasures to equip his creatures: Kry Shield, Runesword, Tawnos’ Weaponry and Ashnod’s Battle Gear. At so many trips to the slot machine, he was coming up all-sevens, but the target on his back grew and grew. Etters' attack on the Bazaar of Baghdad was particularly fortuitous, as Palladia-Mors (or was it a 13/13 Angry Mob equipped with Tawno's Weaponry?) handily defeated a lowly War Mammoth and Bog Wraith and the Naya wizard collected two Victory Points and a nice engine to draw cards. Then, following a devastating Balance leaving the crew at zero creatures and zero cards, the conclave struck back, carving up Etters with wave after wave of Wasp token attacks from Semmens and Moss. In a desperate gambit to gain life, and in response to Moss’ Willow Satyr target, Etters used Kry Shield, Tawnos’ Weaponry and Diamond Valley to net 16 lives from his commander, the venerable Palladia-Mors. The assault continued, aided by Moss’ underwhelming 2/2 Nightmare and Schriver’s Scarwood Bandits. The blitz was stymied and Etters was defeated holding eight Victory Points.

Approximately 90 minutes in, we stood at three players. Moss held three Victory Points after defeating Etters. Schriver held one Victory Point from the Dungeon. Semmens led with five Victory Points and one location remaining, the infamous Library of Alexandria (as protected by Mijae Djinn, Barktooth Warbeard and Jasmine Boreal having an immense 16/13 aggregated power/toughness). Moss attacked the Library with a swarm of 1/1 Hivelings and Tetravites and 0/1 Nathan (read: Thrullen) tokens, the entire host lead by the mighty Sol’Kanar the Swamp King, stolen by Moss from Semmens via Willow Satyr. But the BUG wizard’s forces were thwarted by Schriver’s Maze of Ith, which removed the King from combat, resulting in only two Guardians’ (Mijae and Barktooth) destruction at the Library. The host of tokens were obliterated in the battle. The turn then passed to Semmens, who defeated Jasmine, captured the Library, cleared the Dungeon and paced the remaining trio at eight Victory Points. Semmens would have to defeat either Schriver or Moss to win, however.

III. The Ensuing Struggle

We rolled past the two-hour mark in the game. We’d spun through several entire records, Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name, and Paul Gilbert’s Fuzz Universe, before moving onto Apocryphon by The Sword. Semmen’s Nevinyraal’s Disk had obliterated the battlefield. The end did was not in-sight. Moss paced the trio with 60 lives before converting that total into cards via Sylvan Library. Schriver rebuilt an impregnable position using Greater Realm of Preservation, Maze of Ith, Island of Wak Wak, Preacher, Singing Tree, Witch Hunter and Icy Manipulator to turn back any attack. After perfecting such a fortress, it was time for a win-con, a particularly wretched win-con: The Wretched. First, Schriver enchanted this unassumingly terrible card with Regeneration. Second, the now slightly less-terrible card was enchanted again, with Lure, creating a terrifying monstrosity. Third, that monstrosity attacked Moss, regenerated in-combat, and stole all of his blockers. Moss’ poor Sea Serpent was unceremoniously destroyed by the oft-overlooked Islandhome clause. Semmens played not one but two Mirror Universe, the first being Desert Twister’d and the second following Recall, and exchanged life totals with Moss, who was left at six. The evening’s host finally committed seppuku via Sylvan Library damage, avoiding handing three Victory Points and Total Victory to Bolas on the subsequent turn. Moss informed an enraged Semmens that he would have to face Schriver’s overwhelming board to win.

The now mano-y-mano contest continued as Etters found a feline friend and Moss the last, cold piece of pizza. For a time, Semmens staved off Schriver’s forces using Arena and Tawnos’ Coffin, but he couldn’t stem the tide forever and fell dead to The Wretched, Thicket Basilisk and Sengir Vampire. Schriver captured three Victory Points, going from one to four. He was the last wizard standing and… what exactly?

At approx. 9:15 p.m., with no wizard achieving a Total Victory, our game concluded thusly:

• Etters: 8 VP
• Semmens: 8 VP
• Schriver: 4 VP (last wizard standing)
• Moss: 3 VP

We determined Schriver to be our inaugural Dungeon of Doom “winner,” while it seemed that Etters and Semmens had most-played the game the “intended way.” Moss primarily enjoyed playing spoiler to Etters and riling up Semmens while executing a large number of punts.

IV. Aftermath

So what were our takeaways? What lessons did we learn from the slaughter, politicking, and heartache? When the dust settled, we were left without an absolute victor. Schriver, being the last wizard standing, collected only 4 VPs, while Etters (the first wizard eliminated) and Semmens had 8 VPs apiece. By falling on his own sword, Moss (with only 3 VP via eliminating Etters) prevented Semmens from achieving a Total Victory. But for that selfish act, the points system seemed close to deterministic. A change under consideration would alter scoring so that instead of assigning 3 VPs for eliminating an opponent, players would acquire the VPs of their vanquished foes. This would create a truly deterministic outcome and speed up the game considerably. Another play-through will arm us with more data to consider.

The slot machine-like element of attacking into unknown Guardians and revealing Traps & Treasures added an exciting layer of entertainment. It seemed Etter’s hyper-aggressive stance was rewarded until the field ganged up to stop him. Our collection of Guardians felt a tad under-powered, with a few too many 2/2 and 3/3 baddies, and we may investigate upgrading their power level somewhat before the next game.

Perhaps the most enduring takeaway from this evening is appreciation for the ingenuity and creativity (and depravity) our OS-EDH players continue to pour into this game as we experiment and explore the uncharted Shores of Imagination.

V. Role Call

What would this report be without a role call of the siqqest creatures that saw battle? There were many to name this evening:

• The Amazing, Luring, Regenerating The Wretched
• Sea Serpent
• Infernal Medusa
• Thicket Basilisk
• 7/3 Shivan Dragon, wearing Ashnod’s Battle Gear
• Serra Angel in Gaseous Form
• Banshee
• Singin' Tree
• Hell’s Caretaker
• Kei Takahashi (wait, who?)
• Scarwood Bandits, wielding Zeylon Sword
• Uncle Motherfucking Istvan
• 2/2 Nightmare a.k.a. The Tiny Firehorse of Doom
• Samite Healer
• 13/13 Angry Mob
• Nettling Imp
• Animated, Brainwashed Clone of Serra Angel
• The Dynamic Duo of Demonically Tormented Wasp Token & Paralyzed Wasp Token
• 0/16 Palladia-Mors, enroute to sacrifice via Diamond Valley

VI. Decklists

VII. More Photos

Sunday, Old School Main Event at Elks Lodge #339

I am somewhat jaded by big Old School events like Eternal Weekend. At a pub or a small tournament, I’m happy to run unpowered aggro against spicy Arboria builds. But when 200 people sign up to compete against each other, the guys at the top are always going to be, as Lord Moss would say, cutthroat sweathog grinders. And because I enjoy winning, I’m going to be on a try-hard list, wallowing around in the shit, sweating with all those hogs. The problem with most of my previous lists has been pride in my own collection, of which the crowning jewels are a playset of Revised Plateaus and a CE Chaos Orb. As a rule, I’d rather win with my own cards than with someone else’s. But winning with my own cards is never going to happen at EW. By my estimates, the cost of a typical sweathog deck is in the neighborhood of $15,000. For this event, I swallowed my pride and borrowed some pretty toys from the Jaconian lending library.

My first idea for an EW try-hard deck was called “Oops, All Restricted Cards!” The joke was that it would cram all 22 restricted cards in the main because restricted cards are good and more restricted cards are better. This is basically The Deck’s strategy, minus Time Vault, Channel, and Wheel of Fortune. I was convinced by my own inner sweathog to play something more focused and tested (I wasn’t that interested in extensively testing such a wretched deck myself). Since I wanted the deck to be aggro (easy), my research left me with two decks that were packed with the most restricted cards: Atog and four-color aggro. Four-color aggro appealed to me because I could build most of it from my own collection. Some Lords and I decided that a more descriptive name for the pile of cards is “The Aggro Deck.”

I start the day off strong, 0-1, from a bad keep in game one and mana screw in game two. “Oh, right,” I think, “mana screw. That happens even when your cards are expensive.” The rest of the day goes better and is highlighted by degenerate play patterns of stringing together restricted cards. Ancestral myself. Time Walk. Recall the Ancestral and Time Walk. Mana Drain your Mind Twist then Twist you with your own mana. Turn one Serendib. Turn two Serra Angel. Timetwister, Mox, Time Walk. The most complicated play I have to make is floating a white to Disenchant a Blood Moon, and boy do I get Blood Mooned. One match I win in five minutes. The first game, my opponent draws nothing but land. In the second, he is stuck on two. I buy him a beer and we shoot the shit for the next half hour. One of my opponents is on his eighth bourbon but seems to be keeping it together. I offer him a snack pack of nuts and berries. He accepts, then he Strip Mines me back to the Stone Age. The last game of my last match ends absurdly. On the play, my Shops opponent drops a turn one Tetravus. I play a turn one Plateau into a Savannah Lions. Turn two I topdeck Energy Flux, play a Sol Ring and a Tundra, and he gets Fluxed. The lone Lion deals 20 damage over 10 turns, as neither of us plays any other relevant spell. When the fog of war clears, I am 5-3, no better than my record at the Old School Player’s Ball, where I battled with my favorite Tier 2 deck, Pink Aggro. Guess I’ll have to try Atog next year as I hear it’s the sweathog’s choice.

Saturday, Middle School Event at Mike’s Beer Bar

I can’t remember the particular day that Lords Jaco and Mullen explained to me what Middle School was, but ever since then I’ve been hyped on it. It closely resembles early-aughts Extended, my favorite format when I was in college and played a lot of tournament Magic. After college, I sold my entire collection to pay for a cross-country move, so returning to those busted-but-not-too-busted cards—like Psychatog, Pernicious Deed, and Goblin Piledriver—is a nostalgia trip for me.

In my experience, Middle School is a balanced format. Sure, maybe a card or two needs to be banned or unbanned, but there’s no deck that warps the format, and many unconventional strategies are viable. Also, there’s no restricted list, which inevitably forces players into an arms race of cramming the most restricted cards into their deck (see my Old School report above). What I may like most about Middle School is its affordability. There are lots of powerful, fun cards that aren’t good enough for Legacy or Vintage, so they remain readily available for purchase. I especially appreciate that modern-bordered cards are tolerated (if frowned upon), as that makes the format even cheaper and less susceptible to speculative buyouts.

The one downside of the format is that it’s even more niche than Old School. More nerds have nostalgia for the good old days (‘93 and ‘94) than the Middle School days. Fortunately for me, I live in the Middle School Mecca of Chicago, where get-togethers of six-to-eight aren’t unusual, and a twenty-person tournament fires off every couple of months. It can get stale, though, playing the same Lord on the same deck over and over again When Team Serious announced the Saturday tournament capped at 24, I signed up immediately. My excitement for the bar event easily trumped my anticipation for Sunday’s Old School grindfest.

Half the fun of Middle School is all the room it has for brewing. It doesn’t take long to learn the core cards for a given strategy, but deep research is rewarded with unheard-of heaters and combinations that have never seen the light of day in any format. For Pittsburgh, I wanted to brew a new list. As I had just purchased a playset of Wooded Foothills from a fellow Lord, and I had not yet built a Pernicious Deed deck, I settled on playing both, most likely in the Rock with red. When I searched mtgtop8 for Extended decks with both cards, I noticed a build called “Flow Rock,” which I hadn’t seen before. The “Flow” in Flow Rock is named for Destructive Flow, a BRG enchantment that makes each player sacrifice a non-basic land at the beginning of their upkeep. The deck typically plays a suite of aggressive threats not legal in the Middle School format (Dark Confidant, Troll Ascetic, Umezawa's Jitte). Jamming Flow was too appealing to give up on since there are many greedy mana bases in Middle School and several decks rely on man-lands as win conditions. Eight fetches got me most of the way to a playable mana base, but two Undiscovered Paradises (which can avoid Destructive Flow) were required for consistency. After testing against some mono-color strategies, I decided to put a couple Flows in the sideboard. I also came to the conclusion that Burning Wish was generally more backbreaking than Living Wish. I added three River Boas to apply early pressure if my opponent got stuck in the Flow, or to stall an aggressive opponent until I could drop a Deed. I hadn’t seen a lot of Rock decks floating around Middle School tournament reports, so I thought my deck would be a bit unexpected, especially with the red splash.

Round 1 I play Eric C., the organizer of the event. Game one, turn one I Duress him and his hand is some lands, a Cabal Therapy, a Flametongue Kavu, and a Ravenous Baloth. “I've made a terrible mistake with this deck choice,” I think. Here I thought I had brought some metagame spice, but I'm playing a mirror match right off the bat. I glance at the game on my left and one of them is also playing the Rock. I look to my right, another Rock deck. “Is half the fucking room on my deck?” What I assume will be a grind turns into a rout after I draw enough discard to wipe out his hand, Wish for a Haunting Echoes, and remove all his win conditions from his deck. Game two is a testament to the tenacity of my River Boas, who fight through three of Eric’s Pernicious Deeds on the way to victory.

Round 2 I play Sam K., a Milwaukee dude who has made a number of the Lords’ events. Game one, his turn one Careful Study puts a piece of his Pandeburst combo in the graveyard. I try to resolve a Destructive flow, but he counters it since almost all of his lands are non-basic. I have enough discard and pressure to close out the game, though. Game two is more tense; he has the turn one Careful Study and drops both combo pieces into the graveyard. I try to disrupt him until I can play the Haunting Echoes that I Wished for. Turn four I Cabal Therapy him. His awkward mana (one counter on a Saprazzan Skerry) indicates that if an Intuition were in his hand, he wouldn’t have been able to cast it at the end of my last turn without stranding it in his hand. I name Intuition and hit it. After I cast Echoes, Sam valiantly plays to his one out (Gigapede beats) until I deploy a couple threats.

Round 3 I am paired with Jimmy M. The last time I played Jimmy was round one of the first Old School Player’s Ball. I had been on U/R Counterburn because I was new to the format and didn't know any better. My main innovation had been two main deck Energy Fluxes, as the Lords’ metagame had been dominated by artifact decks. When Jimmy dropped a game-one-turn-one Mishra’s Workshop, I felt like a genius, especially because I had a Flux in-hand. But then I never found three mana sources. He rolled me in game two as well, and that was that. The middle school battle plays out much the same, except this time he’s on a mono-red deck with eight Jackal Pups and eight Rishadan Ports. That’s what it seems like, anyway, as he plays multiples each game, and my deck gives me one green source in each game. I only cast three spells, all discard, across the two games.

I am a bit drained after the match and find myself telling Jimmy that you can “generate a lot of money” by sacking goblins to Skirk Prospector before casting Living Death. There’s a statistic going around that chess players can burn thousands of calories a day during a tournament. Magic players must burn a couple hundred, at least. I scarf down a meal to recharge.

Round 4 I play Alan F., a friendly Nashvillager on W/R Tax Stax. Game one, he aggros with two Mishra’s Factories, then puts the nail in the coffin with a Masticore. Game two, I Deed him twice, then drop a Baloth and Spiritmonger. He slow rolls me with Kjeldoran Outpost soldiers, trying to set up a lethal Seismic Assault. He doesn’t have enough lands for lethal because my beasts can sac for life, so he ends up burning his hand on my buffed Spiritmonger. But I have another Monger in my hand. Game three, Destructive Flow does some work, nuking his Undiscovered Paradise, Kjeldoran Outpost, and Mishra’s Factory. The game grinds on as I draw and play multiple Deeds to wipe him out. Eventually, I Wish for Haunting Echoes, then remove most of his threats and answers. A Baloth and a Spiritmonger threaten a fast clock. He draws into Masticore. I Wish for Chainer’s Edict to seal the deal.

Round 5 I play Kevin P., a fellow Chicagoan who has flown under the radar of the Lords. Kevin is on one of the spiciest Middle School decks I have ever seen, a White-Black prison deck that runs tons of pain lands, drops both players’ life with effects like Plague Spitter, then reaps the benefits of low life with Convalescent Care. I do not understand how the deck beats direct damage, but it puts up a grindy fight against me game one. In the mid-game I resolve a Flow, which eventually blows up all of his lands. A Deed and a Baloth are enough to finish him off. Game two, he keeps a land-heavy hand. I Duress his Vindicate, then drop a Baloth. He plays a couple top-decked creatures, but I Edict and flash it back to get through.

I finish in third place with my 4-1 record. Overall, the deck performed as expected. It is a solid strategy for an unknown metagame: strip the best cards out of my opponents’ hands, destroy their best lands, blow up everything else with Pernicious Deed, Wish for silver bullets, and beat with fair green fatties. River Boa may have been the weakest card, but it filled the role of early pressure. Although the deck may be weak to Rishadan Port, I think the mono-red matchup is not as bad as the two games made it appear. I will consider replacing my two sideboard Engineered Plagues with Pyroclasms. After some casual games with Lord Greg back at the crash pad, I am more concerned about Standstill. I probably need something like City of Solitude to shore up the match.

I want to give a quick shout-out to all the folks I met and hung out with over the weekend. I have some nostalgia for Old School, as I built my first deck from a pile of my buddy’s extra Fourth Edition and Anthologies cards, however I think I would have already lost interest in the format if it weren’t for all the consistently wonderful people who make Old School (and Middle School) what it is. I guess you could say the real Magic is all the friends I’ve made along the way. That, and Ancestral Recall. That card is fucked up.

Pittsburgh is a fat lady jabbering at the bus stop. She mistakes me for someone who gives a damn, For a native son of her gray industrial breast. - (Terrance Hayes, “Pittsburgh” 1-3)

Amid the frenetic Saturday evening of Eternal Weekend 2019, five mages surrounded a hightop table at Mike’s Beer Bar. An all-out war was underway, overtaking grizzled veterans and new challengers alike. After a protracted struggle, only one shell-shocked survivor emerged from his foxhole with a hard-fought victory.

The maelstrom began after some Helter Skelter deck building. Lords Semmens, Silenus and Agra were joined by newcomers Jason Schwartz and Matt Hahn, each seduced by the promise of overcost spells, rules mistakes and janky interactions. When the time came to select a representative, the Council's typical contest among Elder Dragons was upended by the addition of a legendary human wizard:

• Agra: Odahviing, the Soaring (Jeskai)
• Schwartz: Chromium (Esper)
• Semmens: Arcades Sabboth (Bant)
• Silenus: Nicol Bolas (Grixis)
• Hahn: Johan (Naya)

After opening with a few turns of drawing cards and playing basic lands, Lord Semmens began erecting a pillowfort using Powerleech and Urza’s Chalice. Schwartz produced early threats in the form of Serendib Efreet and Serra Angel. Before long the remaining generals had summoned an array of creatures, creating a considerable logjam for anyone looking to go on the offensive.

It was at this point that the first rules mistake was made. Relying on the ancient card text rather than Oracle, the group decided that Agra’s Steal Artifact would stick to the battlefield despite losing its originally enchanted Jayemdae Tome to Dust to Dust. (As an Aura, Steal Artifact should've gone to the graveyard following Tome's exile.) Although Schwartz had assembled an intimidating boardstate, thanks in part to Land Tax, Semmens’ blind rage led him to retaliate against Agra for Stealing his favorite reading material. Semmens evened the score by enchanting the now-empty Steal Artifact with Feedback. This suboptimal play later turned out to be quite fortuitous.

Powerleech and Urza’s Chalice slowly ticked up Semmens’ life total as the other players developed a stalemate. Johan, Chromium, Odahviing and Nicol Bolas all entered the game. The gridlock was furthered by Schwartz' Moat, Hahn’s horde of ground creatures and Mazes of Ith under the control of Agra and Silenus. Hahn and Semmens, meanwhile, fought over control of two Preachers and Rubinia Soulsinger.

Finally, a break in the slog: Hahn put a nine-point Hurricane on the stack. The high winds cleared the skies of every flyer on the battlefield and sent nine damage to each player's dome, except for shifty Lord Agra, who instead gained nine thanks to Reverse Damage! As the other players licked their wounds, Agra seized the opening and used two storage lands to make 18 mana and cast a mighty Fireball, targeting Schwartz. The Esper wizard was thus eliminated by the spectacular conflagration and freed to roam the brisk Pittsburgh night.

A few turns round the table and Nicol Bolas and Odahviing descended again from the Command Zone, circling the skies in search of an easy meal. The winds picked up again as Semmens cast a Hurricane of his own, this time for 11 damage. Not only were the Elder Dragons slain, but so too was Hahn and his Naya horde. Undeterred, Silenus and Agra again summoned their mighty dragons despite the increased tax.

Semmens deployed Lifeblood, putting Silenus and Agra (both on red) further behind on life. Needing more firepower, Semmens then Reconstructed the ever-potent Aladdin’s Ring from his graveyard. Agra used Copy Artifact to make his own Ring. Semmens stymied both Bolas and Odahviing from attacking for what seemed an eon thanks to Greater Realm of Preservation, but the tide turned as Silenus Transmuted for his Chaos Orb with Guardian Beast in play! With the Orb activation on the stack, Semmens dispatched the Beast using Ring, avoiding the lockout. Agra resorted to using Swords to Plowshares on his own Commander in a desperate attempt to regain some of the life that had been whittled away by Feedback. After Greater Realm was destroyed by Orb, Silenus thought he finally had Semmens on his heels, but a timely Blue Elemental Blast by the Bant wizard removed the evil Grixis dragon for a third time.

With the persistent Feedback draining his life total, Lord Agra continued to flail against his opponents. A 14-point Disintegrate followed by a Lightning Bolt annihilated Lord Silenus. The effort was bittersweet for the Jeskai mage, however, as Semmens’ life total kept increasing due to Lifeblood. The combination of Feedback together with Aladdin’s Ring proved lethal and at the two hour mark Lord Semmens finally suffocated Agra for another dramatic victory in OS-EDH.

I. Wait til Tomorrow

June 1995. Ice Age is released, about seven months after the disappointing Fallen Empires. Today that gap doesn't seem so long -- the next year's wait for Alliances would be even longer. But for a youngster who'd first picked up the cards in the summer of 1994, those seven months of waiting represented more than half the time I'd played MTG. Today I'm glad for the delay, which kept me buying Revised packs long enough to complete my set of duals. Still, Ice Age is a set for which I have a history of waiting.

October 2019. Having missed last year's Fall Brawl, it has been eighteen months since I'd had a chance to brew with Ice Age for Old School 95. At my prior outing, the split format Novicecon, my Necro-Land's Edge deck went 2-1 with the loss being a 2-0 sweep by Reanimator. Those eighteen months of waiting represent more than half the time I've played Old School. But I've made use of the delay to plot for the Reanimator rematch.

II. 'cause you know where I'll be found

It's October 12, 2019 and 22 mages Gather to sling 1995's hottest cardboard technology. The venue was Metropolitan Brewing, a gorgeous space in a re-purposed tannery at 3057 N. Rockwell along the Chicago River. In addition to our decks, everyone brought a donation toward the Lords of the Pit's 2019 Toy Drive in support of Cradles to Crayons Chicago, a community-focused organization with a mission to make life better for children in need.

The decks were varied in their approaches, some using a handful of '95 cards to tweak a '94 archetype and others doing something different entirely. Necropotence and the '95 cantrips made multiple appearances. A few mages were drawn to the raw destructive power of Jokulhaups, most notably in Lord Piquard's list where it became a win condition by hatching Rukh Eggs. The amazing jts_mtg_alters altered an autumn-themed Necropotence, which appropriately went to Lord Rohr, whose monogreen Stunted Growth deck led the field in the number of '95 cards played. Lord Agra cracked the code with Enchantress, not so much by winning but rather by scoring Most Creative and a Beta Island for his Vercursion list (somehow beating out Butzen's Instilled Demonic Hordes build). Most of the other prize cards were BYO, with the instructions being "bring your own 1995 card to have signed."

III. How Bazaar, How Bizarre?

When Lord Moss tallied up Reanimator's historical performance after the 2018 Fall Brawl, he noted "an astounding 17-3 run." Those results excluded Novicecon (due to the unified deck construction constraint), but it performed similarly at that event. Despite its dominating record, I gave scant thought to borrowing Bazaar of Baghdad and playing it myself. It was a "Tier Zero" deck and I wanted to defeat it.

Reanimator only does one thing, but in Old School 95 it does it with brutal speed and efficiency. In its typical builds, interaction is minimal (usually a Chaos Orb and a Strip Mine, along with a few Triskelions and a Mind Twist). The addition of Demonic Consultation, Dance of the Dead and Ashen Ghoul to the card pool elevates what is a relatively poor '94 archetype to the top of the heap in '95. Demonic Consultation was restricted a month or so before this year's Brawl, but the deck gained the benefit of the new London Mulligan. It was unclear how much the net effect would slow the deck.

What was clear was that my fragile Necro Land's Edge deck was toast. Lord Elleman had independently brewed the same combination back at Novicecon and done well with it then, but struggled when he ran it back at Fall Brawl in 2018. Plus, I already knew from Novicecon that my version was weak to Reanimator. All of that was before Consultation's restriction, which certainly didn't do any favors for Necropotence-based fast combo. My attention turned to trying to find a weakness in Reanimator to attack. The answer obviously hadn't been found last year as Reanimator already had a giant target on its back then but still dominated.

Perhaps the most intuitive answer is to attack the Bazaars, which are the deck's engine. However, Bazaar will always get at least one activation before a Strip Mine or land destruction spell can destroy it. That activation might be enough, and even if not, it digs toward the next Bazaar (or Deep Spawn, which provides both a clock and a redundant effect). Blood Moon can stop the activation if it comes down first, but that is hard to do consistently. Worse yet, all of those cards are terrible top-decks when already behind on board.

Attacking the graveyard is another possibility in theory, but the Old School 95 card pool provides limited options. Tormod's Crypt has been widely tried. It can do some work in G1 for those willing to maindeck it (not super appealing in most decks), but Reanimator can easily refill the yard and will bring in Crumble from the sideboard. Headstone (!) out of Homelands cantrips, albeit slowly, and is a great response to a reanimate spell, however, it does little against the Shadows and Ghouls. Seekers of the creative prize might try Night Soil, but that isn't going produce consistent wins.

The biggest problem with attacking either the graveyard or the cards that fill it is that Reanimator's best sideboard plan neutralizes those approaches in games 2 and 3. Specifically, the deck can bring in three or four Mishra's Workshops and some number of Copy Artifacts and beat down with hardcast Triskelions and Tetravi. I decided to concede the graveyard and try another axis.

Allowing Reanimator to bring its creatures into play means having to deal with them, and many potential answers are neutered by the typical creature suite: four blue 6/6 tramplers that can shroud, 7-8 mid-size artifact creatures and eight small, Hasted, self-reanimating black creatures. Simply blocking that mix of creatures isn't a practical solution, even with potential all-stars like Wall of Putrid Flesh in the format. Reanimator is an unusually bad matchup for The Abyss and its variety of colors frustrates CoPs and other color hosers.

Targeted creature removal doesn't seem ideal -- you can't effectively Swords the most threatening creatures -- but white still provides some great answers. Disenchants are solid against the Enchant Dead Creature spells that are the deck's backbone. Moat is amazing, assuming you can live long enough to draw and cast it -- Reanimator isn't great at removing enchantments. When Lord Petray and I traded some ideas a month or so before the Brawl, he presciently opined "I think you just want to play the best Moat / Tower shell possible."

That approach did make sense.  I have certainly played my share of Land Tax / Moat / Ivory Tower decks, both in regular 93/94 Old School and back in the actual 1990s. The addition of Zuran Orb does wonders for the '95 version of the deck compared to the '94 version, and while Ivory Tower was restricted in the '90s, it isn't now. I was more drawn to the other draw engine that benefits tremendously from unrestriction, namely Necropotence. Poring over the Player's Ball lists from this year, I found inspiration in Lord Blank's Turbofog list, realizing that in the Necro vs. Reanimator matchup, Fog effects are almost an instant speed Time Walk. For a wincon I added a Zur's Weirding, which is amazing with Necropotence and a bunch of life gain, and I ultimately fielded this grindy Necro combo list:

IV. Betrayed desires and a piece of the game

Round 1. I am paired against Lord Elleman, who like me set aside Necro Land's Edge. While I went down a different Necro combo rabbit hole, he sleeved up a relatively traditional Necropotence deck -- a Powered version of the old Black Summer deck with some anti-Reanimator modifications. In G1, I mulliganed to five, keeping a slow hand with three lands and Necropotence. My first two lands were Stripped, but on T3 I top-decked a Dark Ritual and was able to cast Necropotence and reload. This was a really close game. At one desperate point, I Necro'd down to one while facing a pair of pump knights, drawing into a Darkness to save myself. Later, I spent several turns maintaining enough life post-Necro to survive a potential Dark Ritual plus Drain Life, only to die when Lorien top-decked Demonic Consultation and got the second Dark Ritual. G2 was much less interesting - Lorien landed an early Disk and I held my Necropotence in-hand figuring he'd blow up my Towers and Library of Leng. Unfortunately, he Hymned my Necropotence away before doing so, a proper punishment for my biggest play error of the day. 0-1, 0-2.

Round 2. Next up is Kyle Houtman on Reanimator. I'm happy to report that my long-awaited rematch against this deck went exactly as scripted. Both games played out similarly, with an early Necro into a couple Fog effects, followed by a game-ending Arboria. Also, Bazaar activations are pretty funny with a Zur's Weirding out -- discard (up to) three, mill two. My apologies to Kyle – I was certainly gunning for your deck, but it wasn’t personal!  1-1, 2-2.

Round 3. My opponent is Lord Marty Silenus, who I'd last played at Solocon in this same venue back in June. This time he was on a variation of the Naya Land Tax deck that Zuran Orb brings to life. Marty took on the additional challenge of not running any ABU cards other than those reprinted in Ice Age. Regardless of card selections though, I felt good about my deck in this matchup. Tax / Orb / Tower is great against traditional Necro because it provides life gain and blanks to discard. I wasn't running much discard nor do I care about my opponent's life total and Necropotence is much faster than Tax plus Sylvan / Winds. Our games more or less bore this out. The most entertaining play of this round was Marty casting Winds of Change with Zur's Weirding and Library of Leng in-play on my side, and with nine cards in his hand to 24 in mine. This took a while to resolve, and he made me discard the same Darkness eight or ten times until his life total got too low. The Zur's Weirding lock eventually resolved the first game in my favor. G2 effectively ended when a Guardian Beast from my sideboard landed to protect my Chaos Orb. 2-1, 4-2.

Round 4. My opponent this round is Anthony Zinni, who was on a creatureless The Deck variant without many '95 cards. In G1 I was able to land a quick Necro and use it aggressively in the absence of pressure on my life total. At some point I was able to stick a Zur's Weirding, which locked him out of drawing further interaction (and eventually, any cards at all). G2 was my first opportunity to swap in creatures and discard en masse against a creatureless deck. An early Hypnotic Specter did some work until he landed Serra Angel (apparently also having sideboarded in creatures), however, I was able to Necro into and again resolve Chaos Orb plus Guardian Beast, which nuked the Serra and effectively ended the game. 3-1, 6-2.

Round 5. This time I'm against Lord Semmens, whom I've played many times casually but somehow never at an event. I was pretty sure he was on combo (and also that he'd be pretty sure that I was on combo), so I figured my pile of Fog effects would be dead cards. I managed to resolve a quick Zur's Weirding, a silver bullet against combo decks. Unfortunately, when Shane laid down his hand, I saw that he was already holding Power Artifact and Fireball to go with the Basalt Monolith he had in play. Game over. For G2, I brought in most of my sideboard, allowing me to respond to Shane's Demonic Tutor, pass, with a Hymn. Ominously, I pulled two lands, and it went downhill from there. 3-2, 6-4.

V. What you may have heard and what you think you know

While I was getting stomped by Shane, Jaco and Carter were sitting next to us duking it out for the title. Jaco had apparently taken G1 with his NecroDreams deck and Carter stabilized in G2 and ground it to a halt as Tax / Tower decks tend to do, eventually resolving Land's Edge for the win just as time expired in the round. The tournament was then resolved in overtime via Chaos Orb shootout with Carter prevailing and taking the Swiss.

It is risky to draw too many conclusions about the metagame one tournament after restricting Demonic Consultation. For this event at least, Reanimator was kept in check, posting a 5-5 overall record. In addition to restricted Consultation, Reanimator faced a spectacular amount of sideboard (and even maindeck) hate that will presumably be reduced quite a bit next time. Carter had the sole BuehlerTax deck in the room and went 5-0. Four Necropotence decks with three very different designs went 15-5.

My own deck was the laggard among the Necropotence builds, finishing 3-2. While it was too focused on fighting the last war versus Reanimator, it at least won that particular war with ease. Darkness & Friends did their job, but I would run fewer Fog effects next time and more of them would be in the sideboard. The Ivory Towers with Library of Leng were able to shoulder much of the defensive load. I loved Zur’s Weirding as a wincon, with its ability to convert a minor advantage into a game-winning lock.  Overall, it was a fun deck that felt unlike anything that exists in regular 93/94 Old School, and I'm glad I played it.

I'm excited to explore the next iteration of the '95 metagame and I certainly don't see any need for further restrictions at this point. Black Vise, which is terrible against Reanimator but great against Necropotence and Land Tax, seems poised to make a move. If graveyard hate declines enough in light of a weakened Reanimator deck, perhaps Forgotten Lore recursion decks become playable. Until next time, I will once again eagerly await the Ice Age.

VI. Decklists & Candid Photos Gallery

New Lords Ian Blank & David Velasco take us on their butterfly-like, metamorphosing journey to Old School.

Hello, ruby in the dust] Has your band begun to rust? ~ Neil Young, Cowgirl in the Sand (1969)

A bag of ghost pepper-dusted chips weren’t the only source of blisteringly hot spice on this crisp, late-October evening. The Council of Elders assembled in Logan Square for another helping of OS-EDH with the following generals:

• Agra: Odahviing, the Soaring (Jeskai)
• Moss: Durnehviir, the Dracolich (Mardu)
• Semmens: Arcades Sabboth (Bant)
• Silenus: Nicol Bolas (Grixis)

G1: Feedback Attack

Game one led with Bob dropping an Ivory Tower and amassing a huge early life advantage. Moss deployed Island Sanctuary, a card that worked well at the previous Gathering, before Semmens enchanted said enchantment with Feedback and the whittling began. Bob’s bit of technology was Goblin War Drums, which drew curious looks given there were no creatures on-board in the early going. After the complete futility of creatures in the previous meetup, Bob seemed determined to make them matter this go-round. Our beloved Marty Silenus went deep, deep into the tank, coming back up with Soul Siphon and eliciting a quick “what’s that do?” from Moss as he left the table for a slice of hipstery cheese pizza, procured by Marty from the Co-Op. For his next trick, the Grixis wizard pulled the mighty Nicol Bolas from his hat. Shane wasn’t a viable target thanks to his fortress consisting of Preacher, Ifh-Biff Efreet, Forcefield, Maze of Ith and Island of Wak Wak. Bob assembled his own fleet consisting of Preacher, Dibbo and a Shivan Dragon, as well as Maze and Wak Wak. That left Moss, naked and afraid, with only a Storm World and an “Unglued” Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale, the object of Marty’s ridicule, offering little solace. The fearsome God-Pharoah/Planeswalker/Whatever Bolas thusly bashed in the skull of the evening’s host, binning his hand and sending him to an early exit.

One Timetwister later and we chugged into the mid-game, which devolved into a slog thanks to Energy Flux, Gloom and Presence of the Master. Feedback later made an encore appearance; this time Shane slapped it on Bob’s Moat. Shane unleashed a Hurricane, which Marty Power Sank, to which Shane responded by Blue Blasting Bolas back to the Command Zone, to which Marty Forked* onto Bob’s Odahviing. In another squirrely interaction, Bob used his Preacher to nab Marty’s Hell’s Caretaker, then used said Caretaker to bin a Rukh Egg, bring back Dibbo and net a 4/4 Rukh token in the process. Brilliant! With the Menaced (via War Drums) flyers, and with Marty’s Swamp King chilled firmly behind the Feedbacking Moat, Bob was able to harass Silenus from the skies. Shane then used Recall to recur Hurricane and unleashed it again to kill off Marty, who looked down in his hand to see a stilled Red Elemental Blast. A single, salty tear fell to the tabletop. The Feedback Redux, meanwhile, had drained away Bob's life total and Shane capitalized in-style, using Aladdin’s Ring to backhand Bob for a game one victory.

(*Here we collectively punted on Fork, because Marty should’ve Forked the Power Sink to Blue Blast. We forgot how to apply the X portion re: Fork, thinking Fork’s caster had to pay it (Marty was tapped out), so Marty chose the lesser target of Forking Blue Blast. D’oh!)

G2: Snakebite!

The coterie of madmen shuffled up for a doubleheader performance, hoping to out-pace the trudge in game one. Moss played a T1 Ivory Tower. Marty played a T1 Ivory Tower. Shane played a T1 Copy Artifact, copying Ivory Tower. Uh-oh… we settled back in. To continue this odd mirroring, Bob attempted to play Manabarbs, but Shane thwarted it with Power Sink. The next turn, Moss attempted to play Manabarbs, but Marty thwarted it (again!) with Power Sink. Moss’ Copper Tablet nibbled, mostly at Bob because he lacked Tower this time. Haunting Wind made a terrifying cameo but was quickly Disenchanted. Turns breezed by and more counterspells rained down. Durnehviir was Mana Drained by Bob, who converted the windfall into a Triskelion. After electing to place the Dracolich in the bin instead of the Command Zone, Moss’ Animate Dead was Spell Blasted by Shane. Durnehviir now found himself trapped in the graveyard - what an ignominious fate for a powerful undead Dragon! Moss threatened to have everyone ejected from his home, but the game rambled on, Bob chewing up the competition with Trike plus a swarm of Hive tokens. Marty jiu-jitsu’d some damage using Nova Pentacle. Not to be outdone in the token generating department, Moss played a Serpent Generator.

This time it was Marty who amassed the strongest life total, but Shane took advantage (as he always seems to!) by bringing forth a Mirror Universe and swapping. Aided by some miser-minded storage lands, Shane unleashed yet another devastating Hurricane, felling both Marty and Bob in the great storm. Marty was left to appreciate Pearl Jam’s 2006 eponymous record, which he seemed unable to recall or perhaps had forgotten after years of substance abuse. Shane now stood at 9 lives to Moss’ 5, but the Mardu Mage had played Land’s Edge on the previous turn and used his Lords of the Pit-themed Jayemdae Tome to amass a full grip. Four discarded lands later... Shane now stood at a precarious one life, tapped out and vulnerable. Verily, the humble serpent token slithered over to Semmens and secured the game two victory for Moss.

Unofficial Leaderboard

Below is our reconstructed tally of OS-EDH wins among Lords:

• Semmens - 6
• Moss - 5
• Schriver - 3
• Silenus - 1
• Piquard - 1
• Petray - 1
• Etters - 1
• Agra - 0

Decklist Gallery

Newly-minted Lord of the Pit, "Jedi" Bill Schriver, joins to chat up combo builds across various Old School formats. Also, we pick Meatball's scabrous brain on his performance at Lobstercon.