An Old-School Nightmare
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 130 | 74 COMMENTS | 10685 VIEWS | IN 57 FOLDERS
Updating the Jank —June 26, 2021
Wow, it's been a long time since I have made an update here! Despite making this deck about a year ago, it has actually continued to change quite a lot since I last posted.Over the months, I keep finding awesome cards to include! With this though comes some very hard decisions. Because this deck is not striving for optimization and is instead based on flavor, art, uniqueness, and my own personal feelings, it makes cutting cards very difficult. I did have a couple practical things to guide me though; I knew that I wanted to try to max out the number of creatures in this deck (since I love creatures and it works much better with my commander) as well as tagging all my cards into functional sections (like 'Discard Outlet') which helped me find holes I had in my deck's functioning. While it is not the driving force of this deck, I still want it to be playable and actually pack a punch when all the jank clicks together. While this isn't everything, here is a summary of some the new includes as well as cards I ended up taking out:
Staples Removed: Victimize, Snuff Out, Buried Alive
Cuts: Doomed Necromancer - I drew it often but was never able to do much with it. Single target, single use reanimation is just not that useful in this deck. Infernal Tribute - I've actually waffled on this card several times. On it's surface, it seems really nice; I just found that its cost was a little too much to help me recover from tight spots and was only really effective when I already had a pretty good board state. Urborg Stalker - This was a really difficult decision to make. I absolutely LOVE the artwork and flavor of this card. It just really wasn't able to do much in game and I ended up swapping it for a big beater that was also really awesome. I may call upon this little guy again in the future though! Last Laugh - Such a cool sweeper; unfortunately, I was never able to get it going with the way my deck is built. I would really like to use it in the future though! Carrion - Since I have moved away from the original aristocrats sub-theme, this effect didn't do much for me. I was also in the midst of cutting my non-creature cards to make room for as many creatures as I could fit. Rathi Fiend, Highway Robber, Dakmor Ghoul - Really cool cards but swapped out for creatures that did more diverse and interesting effects.
New Includes:Commander Greven il-Vec, Dungeon Shade, Morinfen, Visara the Dreadful, Cackling Witch, Witch Engine, Thran Tome, Entrails Feaster, Grotesque Hybrid, Minion of Leshrac, Overeager Apprentice, Necrologia (hands down my best card in the deck btw)
Expensive Includes - While this deck was originally on a $60.00 budget, this has become my favorite deck by far and I ended up saving up for 2 pricier cards that I have wanted for a very long time: Darkness and Tombstone Stairwell. Because of this, as well as the huge surge in price for older cards, I have removed this deck from the budget hub.
Thank you very much for the upvote and kind words, FormOverFunction! :D
December 21, 2020 11:17 p.m.
This deck is sweet. I've been looking at it for the last few months trying to formulate a unique premodern deck myself. It's not an easy task XD
January 17, 2021 8:12 p.m.
kingc0rn, thank you!
If you do end up making one, I would love to look at your premodern deck! Are you thinking of going EDH as well? I'm curious what kind of Commander you would run, if so! :)
You are right, it is challenging! This deck has taken way more research time than any other deck I have made. Months after my initial build, I am still finding new pieces for it! I've found that it also takes quite a bit more time to set up search engines since the parameters are so strange.
January 17, 2021 9:07 p.m.
Peoyogon as of right now I'd really like to make a Dromar, the Banisher color manipulation deck...but that's very ambitious. If it proves too difficult I'll probably go with Hanna, Ship's Navigator. Right now I have a decklist of applicable cards on Archidekt here hopefully I find the time to put into it soon.
I absolutely love your deck because it just brings back this mono-colored nostalgic feeling. I used to love Fallen Angel and the fact that it could be replaced by a million and one modern cards but still makes it into your deck is glorious. I'm really hoping to be able to capture that feeling with mine.
January 18, 2021 1:38 a.m.
Thank you kingc0rn, I really appreciate the kind words!
Those both sound like really cool Commanders to play around! It will be sweet to see what kind of nostalgic things you include! :)
January 18, 2021 4:30 p.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #7
So the big question at this point is: are you going to use any of the "timeshifted" cards from the new Timespiral set?
March 23, 2021 12:31 a.m.
That's a good question, Metroid_Hybrid - someone from my playgroup was wondering that too! For me, I'm going to keep it to just cards printed before 8th Edition. It also helps that I'm pretty much running a very un-optimized build anyways. I think it would be much more tempting to include some of those higher powered Staples (like Gray Merchant of Asphodel ) if I was running a more competitive list. I know other people that build old-border decks who are really excited though and are definitely going to be updating some of their slots for some of these Timeshifted cards - so everyone is a little different! :)
Even though this deck won't see any, I think it is awesome they made these and I am excited to try and get more old-border love in my other decks :D Looking at you Sram, Senior Edificer
How about you? Do you plan on getting any of Timeshifted cards for your decks?
March 23, 2021 6:15 a.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #9
I wasn't at first, but then I heard the set was a limited print run...
So I bought a bunch of foils I wanted before they disappear/skyrocket. I bought stuff for my Legacy Eldrazi deck, a couple of smaller things for my Konrad deck, plus stuff for my Yawgmoth deck.
Yes including
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
himself.. If there ever was a card that deserved the old-border treatment— it's the OG supervillain of the MtG universe.. I was actually considering getting an old-border alter before this came around..
March 23, 2021 8:38 p.m.
Wow, Yawgmoth looks amazing and so at home timeshifted! Something about those black old-borders just look so damn good. It's awesome you got to snag one before the prices shot up! :D
March 24, 2021 4:01 p.m.
Goblin_Guide says... #13
This has some cool ass cards. Good work. My favorite art in the deck: Morgue Thrull . My favorite card in the deck: Gravestorm .
March 26, 2021 5:46 p.m.
Thanks, Goblin_Guide! That means a lot :) I totally agree, Morgue Thrull has some awesome art! Definitely one of my favorites! Gravestorm is such a cool card too! Drawing an extra card or thinning a graveyard out every upkeep is so nice here - and it looks incredible while doing it :D
March 27, 2021 3:08 p.m.
CaptainToll says... #15
May I suggest Crypt Rats from Visions as a possible boardwipe? Combos nicely with Scythe of the Wretched aswell and even goes infinite with Priest of Gix from Urza's saga.
March 30, 2021 8:46 a.m.
Unfortunately CaptainToll, Scythe of the Wretched is just not quite old enough for me to include in this deck. Mirrodin was the first non-core set to use the first iteration of the modern border style. It's kind of a weird limitation but I'm only using the old-borders found in sets from Scourge back.
I love Crypt Rats though - I might have to see if I can room for it!
March 31, 2021 2:50 a.m.
suarkdivad says... #17
Getting some good ideas from this, here's a similar thing I did.
I cheated and used the judge promo Crucible of Worlds and Sword of Feast and Famine because they're really good with my deck.
April 30, 2021 3:18 a.m.
I'm so glad you like it, suarkdivad! It's a labor of love and by far my favorite deck.
It makes me really happy when I find other people build old-border decks too :D
April 30, 2021 3:49 a.m.
This deck is crazzzzzyyyyyy cool man. Been wanting to build an old-school mono black deck just like this.
June 7, 2021 1:15 p.m.
Thank you, Mark3sie! It is still by far my favorite deck to play :) Even after many months, I still find new pieces to try out for it too!
If you do ever make an Old-School deck yourself, I would love to see it!
June 7, 2021 11:59 p.m.
This deck really is a greatest hits of old school jank (fun) and I love it. Any thoughts on adding Uncle Istvan ? He has to be one of the icons of this type of magic
FormOverFunction says... #1
A deck after my own heart!!! Seeing decks like this makes me feel less insane for having my screwball decks. +1 for certain!!
December 21, 2020 2:10 p.m.