The Lore
Music City Old School started with one format: Eternal Central Old School. Today, the group as a whole regularly plays upwards of half a dozen, with a handful more making appearances at our monthly meetups and annual cabin hangout. OS, A2A, AAA, Middle School, Classic Type 1, Classic Legacy, whatever "Type 4 Multiplayer Stack" is, Old Frame EDH... MCOS is definitely a victim of scope creep. I will freely take the blame for a good portion of that.
In the summer of 2018, I had been in the scene for about a year and I was looking for a little more. I wasn't bored with Old School--far from it. The cards in my UR/RUG deck just weren't the ones I grew up playing. I had whole binders and complete decks that I played as a kid sitting at the house still unused. The first OS game I played was vs. Brendon and I had Portal Islands in my UR burn deck. He rightly gave me shit for them, but from day one I knew what cards I wanted to sling.
I'd been chatting online with several people about the yet-to-be-announced Middle School format and was supremely hyped up at the prospect of playing newer cards. My nostalgia has always been rooted in the decks from Extended that caught my eye as a kid. Ultimately, that turned into a covid project where I made 8 (and later a full box of 16!) gold bordered proxy "world championship" style decks for the 1999-2000 era Extended rotation that I loved. You can read more about that here. What eventually became Middle School was going to do a lot to scratch that itch, but in the summer of 2018 that was a hard sell to my Old School crew.
Derek, our mono-green afficionado, and I both bonded over the 10-Land Stompy deck that cut through Extended tournaments. Quirion Ranger, Rogue Elephant, River Boa, and Jolrael's Centaur were super nostalgic cards for us. That got the juices flowing and suddenly we had agreed to dip our toes in the deeper waters beyond 93/94. Rather than add them to OS (95 and Alpha to Alliances were still a year away!) we decided to do something a little more limited. Taking a cue from the old Decks to Beat section of The Dojo, we settled on tinkering inside the Type 2 block space. Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight-5th Edition-Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus. Those guardrails got the wheels turning and soon we were brewing. Not too long after, we sat down at MCOS HQ, J&J's Market, to sling some cards.
Compared to OS, these cards were cheap. Some literally worth pennies, so we could all have multiple decks. I had sleeved up 5-Color Green Tradewind Rider good-stuff and Forbidian control (also with Tradewind Riders...). Derek had built Stupid Green with Spikes and Stampeding Wildebeests and was looking to make Counter-Hammer work. Zach Z had Godzilla Reanimator. I also had Prosperous Bloom sleeved up, but no one really wanted to put the sweat equity in to do the combo game after game. Needless to say, that deck had to be there. There were others in the mix, but those are what I recall. In one game I remember ticking my Legacy's Allure up enough to steal a Verdant Force. More on all of those decks later...
These were fun side-quests, but our main excursion was still OS 93/94. After Middle School came out, the world opened up to what the 95-03 formats contain now. Pretty soon, Ophidians, Jolrael's Centaurs, and Frenetic Efreets were all outclassed and the MIR/TMP Type 2 decks were disassembled to feed newer archetypes in a wider format.
Quarantined In the Think Tank
Covid cooked all our brains in special ways unique to each of us. For me, my mental illness manifested in the creation of multiple battle boxes for Magic formats no one plays. I had all these MIR/TMP Type 2 cards around and I wanted something to do with them. One day I get a package in the mail that contained a nice note from our buddy JJ along with two 1998 World Championship Decks. This beautiful man mailed me the Brian Selden Recurring-Survival deck, and the Randy Buehler Draw-Go deck for nothing. He is as generous as he is sweet and talented. I blame him for starting this.
So I had these two wonderful pieces from August of 1998 in the Type 2 rotation we had messed with. I also had Prosperous Bloom along with bits and pieces for 5-Color Green, Forbidian, and mono green stompy... That's maybe 6 decks, right? That's not enough. Tournaments have a Top 8! I need two more! It was time for research. Into the think tank I went.
The previous year, Magic Online did a special event where they allowed people to play previous Standard Rotations (it'll always be Type 2 in my heart). The first was MIR/TMP. During the league, players were randomly assigned one of ten decks to play. These decks captured the essence of these two blocks. Every archetype was represented: pure combo, prison, low to the ground aggro, hard control. Each high profile synergy was also present. Card advantage through Tithe and Empyrial Armor and Scroll Rack and Mulch, Recurring Nightmare and Survival of the Fittest providing a massive value engine, discard and reanimator effects to bring back the biggest creatures around in Spirit of the Night, Sliver Queen, and Verdant Force, and the iconic mana ramp of Squandered Resources and Natural Balance into Prosperity and Cadaverous Bloom for a Drain Life kill. Four of these are essentially card-for-card recreations of the 1998 World Championship decks, with a few minor deviations: Rec-Sur, Sligh, White Weenie, and Draw-Go.
Thanks to the Wayback Machine (and no thanks to WOTC's webmasters) we can see what decks were available:
Throwback Standard Gauntlet - Mirage Tempest Type 2
This was excellent inspiration, but the REAL gold was contained in the mine that was The Dojo. I had scoured The Dojo in my spare time looking for anything and everything from the earlier days of Magic. It seemed like the most archived pages were around the 1998-1999 era, which held a massive compendium of knowledge on the MIR/TMP decks. The best of the best wound up in the Decks to Beat section. I scoured over all of these in researching what was played during that Type 2 rotation. Here they are, in all their glory...
Decks to Beat from The Dojo:
And at some point I ran across another Old School group that did the same thing. Fabien Sanglard and his local crew did this exact same thing and posted their builds from an event they held. Here are the lists showcased on his website:
Armed with this overflowing Scroll Rack of documentation, I decided on what I would include in my battlebox. It went through a few different iterations and I ultimately landed on 9 decks. The World Championships remain unsleeved and in their original boxes. The rest are sleeved. All 9 fit nicely in a long storage box. Sometimes a storage solution provides just enough room to be creative, but just enough of a limitation to keep things from getting out of hand.
What's in the Box?
Here are my selections for The Nine:
Recurring Survival, Brian Selden World Championship Deck
Anyone familiar with Middle School or Premodern knows how powerful Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare are. But Squee was two rotations away, so this deck had to trade card advantage for having the right answer at the right time. Reanimating the Best Fatty Ever Printed or Spirit of the Night served as some incredibly cool end games. Rec-Sur is largely reactive but Selden has plenty of tools to deal with whatever it may encounter. Creatures with comes-into-play abilities make the most of Recurring them from the graveyard. Lobotomy is also a potent discard spell and a Jester's Cap all in one. The four Boils in the sideboard really hint at what a big deal blue decks were.
Draw-Go, Randy Buehler World Championship Deck
If Rec-Sur had many answers to the questions the opponent asked, Buehler's control deck had just one answer: "No."
Disk was board cleanup for anything that got through. Everything else either looked for counterspells or WAS a counterspell. Twenty One main deck counterspells including Forbids, which could be returned to hand if you had enough cards. And with the buyback from Whispers of the Muse, you could Forbid lock someone without too much trouble. Man lands and a single unkillable Rainbow Efreet served as win cons. Multiple times have I played a game with this deck and it wins with less than 5 life remaining. Just an awful. Everyone needs to lose to this at some point.
Five Color Green
This is the deck that has changed the most. This is the most recent iteration of it, with the mana denial package in Winter Orb, Armageddon, and Tradewind Rider. Maro makes it a little closer to the green-white Maro-Geddon decks in this Type 2 which functioned like Erhnamgeddon decks in OS. Previously, I've leaned heavier into burn and removal with 4 Granger Guildmage (an incredibly underrated card), 4 Incinerate, and main deck Uktabi Orangutans, Diabolic Edicts, and Disenchants.
Other builds of this remove the off-color cards and retain just green and blue to create Tradewind Awakening. While a serious contender for the selection, I chose 5CG to showcase the mana fixing power of Quirion Ranger, Birds of Paradise, and a grip of forests.
Between Middle School, Extended, and this, Tradewind Rider's versatility backed by green support cards has become one of my favorite archetypes of all time.
Stupid Green
Green has a lot of play in MIR/TMP. Stompy decks with River Boas and Rogue Elephants backed up by Overrun were a thing. Natural Order made Secret Force an iconic build. Everything played Cursed Scroll. Here, I wanted to combine a few of the cool synergies in the blocks. First, Stampeding Wildebeests returns a green guy to your hand. Wall of Blossoms draws cards, you can reset Wall of Roots, rebuy Uktabi Orangutans to kill opposing Scrolls and Scroll Racks, and my favorite use is to gain life or lock down an aggro opponent with Spikes. Powering this deck is Eladamri's Vineyard, which I have personally killed opponents with using nothing but mana burn and the Fog Spike. This deck is a blast. More anti-blue hate in the side in the form of Dan's best beast Scragnoth.
Godzilla Reanimator
Before Rec-Sur came on the scene, a more all-in reanimator existed in this form. Buried Alive, Hidden Horror, Firestorm, and Merfolk Traders filled the yard with fatties. Ten reanimator spells brought them back. Verdant Force is the eponymous King of the Monsters, but I wanted to round out the rest with some other favorites. Shivan Dragon was printed in 5th Edition and was played ubiquitously. Sliver Queen is too good not to play. Teeka's Dragon and Crash of Rhinos are my fun-ofs that deserve play. This one is another one that's a blast to pilot.
Empyrial Weenie
It isn't a Type 2 rotation without a white weenie build. Tempest's introduction of the Shadow mechanic made unblockable creatures an enticing strategy. Empyrial Armor from Weatherlight meant that these shadowy figures could be 9/8s swinging in for the win. Tithe functioned like a mini one-time Land Tax to gain card advantage. Cataclysm blew up the board except for your armored up shadow dude. These elements make this a very unique take on white weenie. Other versions splashed red for Earthquake, Firestorm, and Mogg Maniac for a little more of a combo build.
Deadguy Red
Another iconic Type 2 deck is sligh. This one doesn't exactly fit the sligh curve, but the concessions make room for some absolute bangers. Hammer of Bogardan's recursion can really turn the corner in the midgame. Mogg Flunkies prove to be a solid body. I chose to drop the Viashino Sandstalkers other builds run and replace them with Rathi Dragon. It's more expensive and costs two mountains that can't cast a Fireblast, but that art is so distinct. And swinging with a 5/5 dragon is one of the best feelings. There's plenty of ways to build this and enough room to express what you want. Goblin Vandals and Ironclaw Orcs are routinely played. One of my favorite parts of this deck though is the Dwarven Thaumaturgists in the sideboard. The proliferation of 0/X walls in this Type 2 make its "swap power and toughness" ability unmatched for killing things out of reach of an Incinerate.
Forbidian
This might be my favorite mono blue control deck ever. This differs from Buehler's deck just saying "no" by saying "you can have it... for now..." A somewhat slimmer counter package (only 9) is backed up by a ton of board interaction, which I find makes it more rewarding to play. Again, we're on that buyback bullshit. Forbid is fed not just by Whispers, but Ophidian which attacks to draw a card. Man-o'-War, Tradewind Rider, Capsize, and Legacy's Allure keep opposing boards clear of threats. Sapphire Medallion is really the lynchpin here, though. Buyback is an additional cost of a card, and is therefore reduced by the Medallions. I wanted to build this deck in part because I have owned these Medallions since high school. I'm playing Silver Wyvern purely for the killer art.
Prosperous Bloom
The first combo deck. This one mostly came from Mirage Block, but the addition of Meditate from Tempest adds even more card draw. By no means does this make the deck easier to play. Originally I had one Drain Life, but I added a second to increase consistency. Perhaps that means I don't trust my deck. Perhaps I'm a coward. Most likely I just want this to be a little easier for anyone to pick up and pilot. This deck is also why I owned playsets of Cadaverous Bloom, Squandered Resources, and Natural Balance. This is the natural place for that dirty dozen.
One important thing to note... during this era before the Sixth Edition rules change, you did NOT die when your life total reached zero. You only died at the end of a phase. That meant you could cast Infernal Contract and put yourself down to 0 life in order to find your combo. If you found it and killed the opponent with a Drain Life, you're back up and they're at 0. You win. For this era in this Type 2 rotation, I think it makes sense to keep that rule around if only to preserve the unique ways this deck can combo off.
This is just 9 decks. I could probably get up to another 16 if I really wanted because there's plenty I left out. Here's some iconic decks found in The Dojo's decks to beat:
- Oath of Druids / Mulch - Oath showed up right at the tail end here and was going to turn Extended upside down. Here, the targets were Archangel and Spikes. With those cards, a green/white control build developed revolving around Mulch for card advantage and Scroll Rack to select the right spells.
- Necropotence - It imay surprise you that I don't have a Necro build here, since it was reprinted in 5th Edition. Steel Golem was a reasonably formidable creature, and the deck generally operated on Nev's Disk for board control and discard/removal. Unfortunately, this incarnation was too late for Hymn to Tourach and too early for Duress.
- Pox - This mono black deck is punishing. It has a lot in common with Necro builds, but relies more on attrition and Cursed Scroll to win. That and pure demoralization.
- 3, 4, and 5 Color Good Stuff - Gemstone Mine, Reflecting Pool, and Undiscovered Paradise made it much easier to splash Terror, Disenchant, Mana Leak, Firestorm, and Emerald Charm in the same decks. Any number of combinations showed up and could potentially be viable.
- Suicide Black - Just as white has the Shadow creatures, so does black. But black gets something more explosive than Empyrial Armor: Hatred. From one player hater to another, hate responsibly.
- Slivers - I believe counterslivers in Extended is the definitive version, but the archetype got its start in this Type 2. Cram all the best slivers from Rath together, back them up with a bit of spot removal, and tie it together with a bunch of rainbow lands, and you have a strong aggro tempo deck.
There's a ton more. But there's one famous exclusion here that revolves around a creature from Mirage that has seen a renaissance in Premodern and Middle School.
Phyrexian Dreadnought was one of the key pieces that made up a deck called "Dread Panda Roberts." This deck used Pandemonium to have the 1cc Dreadnought deal 12 damage upon coming into play and then dying to its own trigger. The rest of the damage came from Reanimate or Argivian Find. Mirage and Visions searched up these combo pieces with the Enlightened and Vampiric Tutors. Fast mana was provided by Mana Vault (5th Edition!), Lotus Petal, and Dark Ritual. Abeyance cleared the way. Impulse dug for pieces. And I bet you could add Fling or Final Fortune to round out the build.
Well What Do You Know, it's Another Fucking Format...
I don't want to say this is an official MCOS format. It's a fun project I embarked on and wanted to bring to fruition. But I built it to play it. It's how it started. So I think it's worth outlining some rules that make it worth playing, in keeping with the modifications other formats we play include.
First, the base rules should be modern Magic rules. They're well understood and they underpin everything else we do. There are some exceptions:
Mana Burn - They designed it with mana burn, so it should be played with mana burn. Mana empties at the end of phases and any unspent mana will result in that much life loss.
Life Total Reaching Zero - As I mentioned before, life totals were checked at the end of phases and a player only loses the game if his or her life total was at zero at the end of a phase. I think that in a format/meta defined in part by Prosperous Bloom, it is worth modifying the rules to match what was played here.
Some exceptions to the exceptions...
Damage on the Stack - This is applied in Middle School, but this was instituted in the Sixth Edition rules change. Since MIR/TMP Type 2 predated that, damage uses modern Magic rules only.
Lotus Vale and Mox Diamond - During MIR/TMP these cards had a weird replacement effect that people originally played differently. Vale acted as a one-time Black Lotus and Mox acted like a Lotus Petal. That is clearly not how the cards were designed so an errata was issued later to fix these. These cards should be played as normal with their current Oracle text.
Phyrexian Dreadnought - This was one of the cards that fell into the same category as Vale/Diamond, however I was not able to find that an errata was issued at the time. I believe that after Dread Panda Roberts, they issued power level errata to it that made the triggered ability into a replacement effect, rendering it useless. But for MIR/TMP Type 2, I think it should operate as it normally does now. This makes the Dread Panda Roberts deck work AND it means you can play proto-Stiflenought by using Reality Ripple and Vision Charm. Even in the Mirage rules, when something phased back in, its comes-into-play abilities didn't trigger again. So... go wild!
I encourage everyone to consider the joys Mirage and Tempest blocks held. They really changed Magic yet again just like Ice Age block did. Things felt not too weak, but not too powerful. Everything was balanced. All that said, we've played some of these decks against one another and the gameplay is just sublime. Hopefully one of these days we'll make a whole event out of it.
-Cayce
