The Deck
The Deck is a control deck created by Brian Weissman. It functions on the same premise as modern control decks: gradually gaining card advantage while answering opposing threats, then playing a single large threat which is sufficient to win the game.
This is the version he ran in 1996.[1] (Note that this version of the deck is not legal in any tournament format, as Strip Mine was later restricted in Vintage.)
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| Lands 4 City of Brass 4 Island 1 Library of Alexandria 3 Plains 3 Strip Mine 4 Tundra 2 Volcanic Island Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 2 Disrupting Scepter 1 Jayemdae Tome 1 Mirror Universe 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Sol Ring Creatures 2 Serra Angel | Enchantments 2 Moat Instants 1 Ancestral Recall 2 Counterspell 4 Mana Drain 2 Red Elemental Blast 4 Disenchant 4 Swords to Plowshares Sorceries 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Amnesia 1 Braingeyser 1 Timetwister 1 Time Walk 1 Recall 1 Regrowth | Sideboard 2 Red Elemental Blast 2 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Dust to Dust 1 Zuran Orb 1 Balance 2 Blood Moon 1 Tormod's Crypt 2 Mana Short 1 Amnesia 1 Feldon's Cane | |
The Deck later evolved to use Fireball as a win condition instead of Serra Angel, when Weissman was having serious troubles dealing with Necropotence decks of the time. While previously objecting to the use of Fireball to render the opponent's creature removal useless, it was inevitable change to keep up with a changing game.[2]
Basically, the deck used Counterspells, Mana Drains, Red Elemental Blasts, Disenchants, Strip Mines and Swords to Plowshares to trade on a one-for-one basis with the opponent's threats. Then, when the Weissman Deck had somewhat stabilized, he could use Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser, Amnesia, Jayemdae Tome or Library of Alexandria to gain card advantage. In the environment of the day, Moat usually spelled the end, as could a Disrupting Scepter. Demonic Tutor's use is fairly self explanatory, but it is important to note how it streamlines the deck since it justifies having fewer copies of silver bullet cards. (That is, specific solution cards.) Regrowth, Timetwister and Recall gives the deck some resiliance if unexpected things happened. A final strength of The Deck of course, is its sheer volume of "broken" cards (generally considered to be quite overpowered). Sometimes it could "just win" by getting a Serra Angel, Black Lotus, Tundra, Mox Emerald draw, or something of the like.
Though Magic has changed tremendously in the 11 years since this deck's creation, the fundamentals behind The Deck still apply. It requires a skillful pilot to win consistantly against everything that Classic has to offer, but it has no terrible matchups and many that are extremely favorable.
For those interested, this is an exact list of The Deck that Brian is using now.
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| Lands 3 City of Brass 1 Island 2 Polluted Delta 1 Flooded Strand 1 Library of Alexandria 1 Strip Mine 4 Wasteland 1 Tundra 4 Volcanic Island 3 Underground Sea Creatures 2 Gorilla Shaman 1 Morphling Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Sol Ring | Instants 4 Brainstorm 1 Cunning Wish 1 Fact or Fiction 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Stroke of Genius 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Mana Drain 4 Force of Will 1 Red Elemental Blast 2 Swords to Plowshares Sorceries 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Mind Twist 1 Yawgmoth's Will 1 Balance 1 Time Walk 1 Regrowth | Sideboard 1 Blue Elemental Blast 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Darksteel Colossus 1 Tinker 1 Fire/Ice 1 Disenchant 2 Pyroblast 1 Red Elemental Blast 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Shattering Pulse 2 Gorilla Shaman 1 Diabolic Edict 1 Zuran Orb | |
