Changing an Old School MTG Championship Finals deck!
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2018
- In this video I take you through 4 (kinda 5...) versions of the RUG Crazies aggressive creature deck for the Old School format. This deck has INDEED put up the results but it's also needed to change as the Meta shifts from one style to another. Here's a quick synopsis of the versions I walk you through.
1. GP Vegas 2017 version (finished 5th only due to a missed first game, 10 min late)
2. GP Vegas 2018 version (finished 2nd)
3. Summer Derby 2018 version (untested changes from Weissman)
3b... what I would do if sticking with Red-Green-Blue
4. A new version meant to cut red and be more resilient against hate cards... Blue-Green!
Here is that picture of Randy Buehler getting crunched for 20 points during GP Vegas 2017 I was talking about.
pBVe-AvZB_...
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/ edwin_the_magic_engineer
=== HOW TO CONTACT EDWIN ===
Email:
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This is a really great video showing the evolution of your deck. It's also very insightful just in terms of the general meta game... I'm thinking I probably need to play with more than one Nevinyrral's Disk..... Thanks!
Disk is amazing
It's cool to see the work you've put into your deck and the changes it's undergone. Looks really tuned now
Thanks Shaggy. It's changed a bit since this video but I am liking just blue/green for now.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer How does it look now?
@@jamesduncan3485 instagram.com/p/BqjBNziHVOZ/?igshid=j8t6cu745zt7
Edwin...I love that final U/G version soooooo much. I love the Psi Blasts main as a finisher, I love the shored up 2 color anti blood moon mana base, and I love that you’re using my favorite MTG card EVER; Psychic Purge. In your deck in game two that card shines bright. Awesome job!
Adam Berry totally agree, v 4.0 is Sooo Goood! Knocked it out da park there
Thanks guys I'm glad you like it. I have barely had a chance to play test it. If you do end up playing it yourself please feedback some details!
I tried the UG deck. But I played without Psionic blasts and replaced them by 3 giant Growths and an extra berserk. I also play 3 unstables. I played 2 games against a control deck that kills you with vises and underworld dreams. It used abyss to protect itself. Abyss is a problem, and the disk gets disenchanted a lot before it can be activated. I got smahsed 2 times against this deck. I also played a few games against a rukh egg deck, using tricks to make your creatures lose flying, and he used diamond valley to sacrifice his rukhs to create tokens. For defence, he used creaturues like wall of earth and burn spells. I won like 4/5 games. Lots of my creatures got removed, especially the folk, but having one creature and a few pump spells with a berserk always did the trick. I'm thinking about removing the disks, and replacing them by avoid fate. (2 copies). i also added one copy of serendib djinn. He is a house! a 5/6 flying for 4 mana is a great deal. I managed to giant growth him and berserk twice.
Hey there Edwin,
I have been watching your videos lately and am very impressed with your knowledge base and versatility. Honestly I have to thank you for helping draw me into the format, as i am pretty new. When i started playing back around mirrodin block, a good friend of mine gave me a big box of some extra old cards, but unfortunately I got into the modern mindset that they were old and not relavent anymore. Ive played on and off again whenever I felt there was a good set, or when friends really started nagging to play. But last year, not sure why but I started buying a ton of revised cards. I mainly wanted to play some of the cool alpha/beta/unlimited stuff i used to have but could not afford, but I was also realizing how relevant alot of these old cards are, especially when looking at the vintage formats. So I recently decided to make the jump and dive into the original expansion sets (arabian nights, antiquities, legends, the dark).
I really like how you are able to remember your past matches and change accordingly (im not as good at remembering such things) but i have been getting better at looking ahead and planning out my game 2-3 change-ups depending on what you are up against. I have made a few changes to decks that you have posted but this one so far has to be my favorite.
RUG Crazies
BIG NOTE!!! since using Berserk is a must for this deck and flying is not so much of an issue to go up against, i found a new beater that i think has probably went very overlooked by most players. the rabid wombat, Yes a tad pricey for a vigilant 0/1 creature at (GG**) for a manacost, but when you combo that with cheap creature enchantments and the berserk,+2/+2 for every creature enchantment, as well as firebreathing giving it +2/+2 AND the option for pump, only for one mana?!?! I personally think it is HUGE and really adds to that multiplier. give the list a read over and let me know what you think :) like i said i am somewhat new, and dont have access to alot of the money cards, but i think this version could give alot of decks a run for their MONEY ;)
----- 65 CARDS -----
CREATURES
-------------------------
2x Birds of Paradise
3x Kird Ape
4x Verduran Enchantress
2x Serendib Efreet
4x Rabid Wombat
SPELLS
-------------------------
4x Berserk
2x Giant Growth
3x Swords to Plowshares
4x Unstable Mutation
4x Firebreathing
2x Counterspell
2x Disenchant
1x Regrowth
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Manaflare
1x Dark Ritual
ARTIFACTS
-------------------------
2x Fellwar Stone
LAND
-------------------------
3x Mountain
2x Island
4x Forest
1x Plateau
1x Savannah
1x Tundra
3x Mishra's Factory
1x Maze of Ith
4x City of Brass
2x Strip Mine
SIDEBOARD
-------------------------
2x Scavenger Folk
2x Citanul Druid
1x Orcish Oriflamme
2x Disenchant
1x Swords to Plowshares
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Counterspell
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Mountain
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Wow, very thorough reply with a lot of details. Thanks for typing all of that out and for trying these kinds of decks. I'm glad you found your way to Old School, where money invested in cards is not thrown in the trash, brewing your own decks is welcome, and events are held without WoTC's blessing, control or permission.
About your deck...
I think it's a great start for somebody fairly new to the format. I think with time spent you'll experience why those card selections are not optimal but rather than attempt to hard to make my point and skipping you ahead... I suggest you play that deck a LOT against a LOT of other decks so you can experience/learn as you go.
Your mana base is very weak and you'll OFTEN get easily denied the colors you need for cards. If your opponent simply Disenchants your Fellwar Stones and Bolts/Plows your Mana Birds you're in hurtsville for getting that needed mana.
One of the reasons RUG Crazies works with the creature selection is that I can pressure my opponent with the base creatures before any boosting effects are played to use their removal. Say I drop a Kird Ape... punch him in the face with it a few times and make him bolt it. THEN drop your other Ape and Unstable+Berserk it when his removal is gone. You cannot do that early pressure game with Birds and Rabid Wombat, you need the boosters to make them beaters. People with good answers and good timing will 2-for-1 you a lot and eventually win via the card advantage.
That's what I suspect you'll find... but by all means try!
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer my main argument to the manabase would be, i only have 3 duals in there for now because i do not own those ones at the moment, but figured there could be 6 in there, also, with the enchantresses, you will be drawing cards every time you lay down an enchantment on your creatures. you would have to work some sideboard trickery between games and catch them off guard but i think this deck could pull it off. thank you for the GREAT base for this deck
Remember that your opponent will look for and target your card advantage source. If they see Enchantress and they know you are packing enchantments they will make a point to kill the Enchantress. I sure would, card draw = the win in this format.
If you don't own the duals that's of course understandable... but it does not mean the deck has a solid mana base. I still believe the mana base will get attacked and you'll often find yourself either without the right colors or you'll be force to tap the City of Brass a LOT and self-inflict a lot of damage. I still suspect your build will be more reliable if you can cut down the number of colors somehow.
Best of luck though, let me know how it goes!
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer i hear ya, ill play around with it a bit more and ill let you know how it goes :)
something stupid happened to me while playing against my own deck.....my friend figured he could berserk my own creature (so his opponent) and then maze of ith said creature to negate any combat damage, then bam! my creature kills itself
Man flying men and Ernie bring back memories!
for sure!
GREAT VIDEO!!! One of your best!!!!
Really? One of the best? Wow!
Looks fun! I know Blood Moon is on your mind, but I could not resist playing a Pendelhaven or two there just to make the crazy 1/1s more relevant when there's nothing for them to kamikaze into.
More solid content, keep em coming!
Thx, and ok!
Thanks so much again Mr. Edwin! My favorite card has always been Berserk, I had plenty of “gotcha” moments for two decades against 98% of people, before it became a known through Infect.
Berserk is just amazing. You know what the BEST play for Berserk is?
In a Commander/EDH game. When one opponent attacks another with the biggest creature on the board... you berserk it. One opponent takes double damage, the other loses his best creature... all for 1 green Instant.
YUUUUS!! Hahaha!
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer how about you berserk them for like 32 damage turn 5, and plow your own creature since its going to die anyways?? :D talk about some longevity, eh?
I've done that type of thing many times. In fact, nearly that situation in a video game played against WoTC artist Jesper Ejsing just a few videos back. :)
Nice tech about the evolution of your deck ! I actually also play RUG, but on a more aggressive version which appears to be quite effective vs ‘the’ deck and monoblack control. It basically replaces most of your control elements (folks, Druids, disks) by the full set of blasts (psionic and chain lightning) plus some sylvan library and black vise (and mana drain just like you for the surprise effect). It’s much more ‘all in’ but still requires to take good decisions (in fact more than one might think of when talking about a burn deck). And I can tell you really get the full potential of timetwister and wheel of fortune, no more need to control anything. I have the same issue than you with blood moon but luckily I haven’t met so many of them so far (unlike you it seems). I always had the feeling that 3 BEB + mox sapphire and emerald were enough but I might be wrong :o I’m actually more scared about city in a bottle which is definitely our worst nightmare, don’t you think ?
Great feedback, yeah in my Meta I see a LOT of The Abyss, Moat, Blood Moon etc. It's definitely shifted that direction. I also see a LOT of main deck Red Elemental Blast (which is why I didn't play Turbo Stasis at GP Vegas...)
I definitely think your build of RUG is effective. In some metas its a better build than mine. In other Metas it runs out of steam fast. I've seen good lockdown decks with Ivory Towers just crush RUG decks with lots of direct damage.
Meta is really important in Old School. I think my main reason for doing so well at GP Vegas Old School Championship was that I read the meta correctly. My reason for doing so badly in the summer Derby was a terrible meta selection due to no time to observe and adjust.
Wow main decks REB is brutal, but I can only understand this choice :( sorry you have to put your stasis deck on stand by, it was really cool !
But yes, like any format or perhaps even more in old school, meta is super important to consider. I actually face quite a lot of prison decks with ivory tower in main deck, that’s why I decided to main deck black vise on my side ! It’s the perfect answer and is never a dead card in most matchups, in a format full of ancestral recalls, library of Alexandria, etc... plus : did you know that they still get damage from the black vise before they gain life from their tower ? because they put their « at the beginning of upkeep » on the stack first because they are the active player, then you put you trigger on top of it, and your black vise resolves first :)
I’m always amazed to realize how good these first sets are, even decades later !
Just rewatched this again and it's funny. It looks like we both went through the rug path only to end up with UG. I'm still hanging onto my 4 copies of berserk in it though. I'm sure I'll cut a few for some giant growth.
i used to run r/g pump aggro. it was my first competitive mtg deck way back in 94. i had no berserks and ran trash like scryb sprites. if you cut blue you can find draw in sylvan library and j tome. your deck reminds me of all those early games.
Love the final build, how did it work out for you?
Psiblast is a huge difference maker, with the format basically relying on your creatures being bolt-proof for any non-aggro deck, with being able to answer Serra Angel in particular. When you had the Tomes earlier, I was expecting you to switch those out for Sylvan Library; have you considered that even as a 2 of to help topdeck your wincons or essential answers? Love the Tranqs in the SB since I agree completely with how artifact and enchantment reliant a lot of decks are. I've been leaning back and forth in testing my BW deck, namely for mainboard how many Wrath of Gods and how many Disks (running 3 of each total, might consider 2 Wrath 2 Disk main and 1 of each SB, since also got maindeck Balance as another virtual WoG). But once again, was a very enjoyable video and that deck looks like a lot of fun to play.
Sylvan is for sure a better choice in general but I was trying to couple the Tomes with the Su Chi's (to sink the 4 colorless mana). In practice they tomes were way way too slow and worked against the tempo of the teck. I think the Sylvan's would be much better if I had more shuffling effects... because with City of Brass, Psi Blast, and Serendib Efreets I'm already doing a lot of damage to myself for speed.
Edwin I like the U/G concept the only issue I do see is the amount of counter magic is to small a single mana drain won’t cut it. An unanswered Abyss or opponent getting ahead with ancestral can be game breaking your almost forced to have an answer.
Abyss is a huge problem for this deck but that's what the concordant crossroads are for.
There are times a single counter is good. If the opponent does not know they will not be expecting it the first time. After that... they will play much more defensively which you also take advantage of because you're not sitting there holding counter magic... you are playing aggression into their defensive play style.
Awesome
I'm gunna smash on 93/94 with my earthquake shatterstorm tranquility wrath of god conrol magic steal artifact deck. I'm almost done building. When's the next event? Where?
Stay connected with the crew on the Old School Magic online Facebook group.
Did you consider Sylvan library or Sylvan plus sindhbad? Or splashing black for demonic and mind twist?
Considered yes for sure. But they are not a fit for my build I think... because when you go Serendib you are already all in to the aggression plan. SL + Sinbad is a great draw engine sure, but it's too many cards dedicated to board position and takes away a lot from early game pressure.
Refine your mana curve through gold fishing. Don't try to add tomes and counterspells. Go balls to the wall. You are racing to beat your opponent before they can gain control of the game.
Yep!
Possibly eliminate blue altogether and focus on Red/green Beatdown.
4 Kird Apes
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Giant Growth
4 Berserk
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Blood Lust
4 Ball Lightning
2 Ernham Djinn
2 Juggernaut
2 Shivan Dragon
1 Regrowth
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 Mishra Factory
4 Strip Mine
4 Taiga
4 City of Brass
3 Mountain
3 Forest
1 Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
I know you love vintage (as do I) but do you play and collect any other formats? Legacy maybe?
Yes... but my very limited time has been spent on Old School and CZcams lately.
Try 4x Stormbind and 4x Howling Mine instead of the 4x Berserk + 4x Unstable Mutation. Being able to hit the opponent for direct damage in the late game can be huge for aggro.
Stormbind is Ice Age and illegal in Old School (Alpha-Fallen Empires). Adding Howling mine would create quite a different deck and give the opponent a target for their disenchants again. I want those to be mostly dead cards.
The Howling Mines would be useless without the Stormbinds so forget that.
Disks just feel so anti-synergistic for you.
I was thinking a pair of ice storms in the spot could put more pressure on the Mana base potentially
Disk takes care of any Moats as well, or if they play midrange or permanent based control. Or if you’re just plain behind!
Exactly, disk takes care of many things that MUST be dealt with. Like Moat, Blood Moon, The Abyss, or just play getting behind.
I am cutting blue from mine and going Red Green. Also Jalum Tome is a cheaper card drawing engine alternative to Jayemdae Tome.
cheaper sure... but my experience is usually that it's not better. It's cheaper to dig for key cards yes, but often times I'm trying to build up another hand to overwhelm my opponent in a single turn.
It deserves to be play tested, but my feeling is that most of the time Jayemdae Tomb is better because late game when you are activating the Tome and drawing additional cards the extra 2 mana is easy enough to get.
I considered cutting blue and going red/green... but Recall, Time Walk, Twist, Serendib are just broken level powerful and win games.
Edwin the Magic Engineer i saw too many games lost because of life taken from Serendib upkeep. Thats why the blue cut. The rest of the deck I am totally revamping. Main deck blood moon. Etc. Will send a pic when its ready. Would love to play test it and get opinion as well.
Edwin, what are your thoughts on Book of Rass?
Main deck blood moon is great, it shuts down a lot of decks and it's a primary reason I needed to change my build.
Serendib's upkeep can be bad yes... but it's won WAY more games than it has lost. The trick is that IF you use Serendibs you gotta go all in on aggression. You cannot slow play with Serendibs, you gotta hit hard and fast.
That's why he works so well in RUG Crazies or UG Crazies... that deck is all about nonstop pressure from turn 1.
fix the camera reflection, the idea is very cool but the white alone is quite frustrating
The new lights came in, so I think the glare is better now.
why use counterspell instead of mana drain ??
Mana Drain is restricted in Old School
nice)
thx
If you want to play RUG aggro without berserk the best choice, by far, is QuickSilver
Sorry, which card?
Keep in mind the format is Old School using Eternal Central rules. Alpha to Fallen Empires only.
Yes, yes I know it. I´m a big fan of the Old school format.
QuickSilver is not a card is a deck name It's is RUG with the all the good arabian's creatures, burn spells and good draw spells. Here you can see a photo of the deck
gyazo.com/25de40c74a3ae5a2f535f42c6216e4a7 This list wons the Old school league 2 years ago.
You can chek in Facebook "Liga madrileña de Old School Mtg" To see a lot of differents decks if you want. We play every month in Madrid and we post all the decks online.
Yeah that's very similar to what I've played for the last few years in Old School. I took 2nd at the GP Vegas 2018 championship with one of the lists I showed in this video. It's a great list but I want to make it work with just blue and green since blood moon is so huge in the meta right now.
Yes, that is true. The QuickSilver deck is very vulnerable vs City in a bottle too... I have a friend that play a monogreen deck with ice storm, strip mines and crumble to destroy moxes and Llanowars for ramp to erham and Ifh-Bíff Efreet.
City in a bottle not a thread where you play?`
I have had City in a Bottle played on me probably 7 times now and I was always able to work around it.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer How? Sorry for asking this years later. City in a bottle literally hits a quarter of your deck. I'm too afraid to go Kird Ape, Serendib Efreet, Juzam Djinn, City of Brass like you do.
@@blazingelse9104 The City in a Bottle hits several cards when it comes out yes. It's a threat and it makes an impact. But the fact is MOST of the games it was played against me I was able to work around it. Scavenger Folk, Nevinyrrals Disk, and Chaos orb all remove it, and factories, juggernauts, and bolts all play around it.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I see. It's just - when it comes down it eats like a third of the permanents in this deck. Seems hard to recover. Nice to hear that it is manageable. Beautiful deck! Keep up the good content. ❤️
loa is worthy of ban
Nah, Lord of Atlantis isn’t that busted
@@mtgmeansmagic4758 all hail the goblin king!
LOL @MTG Means Magic
@liekens tijl
In a 1 strip mine environment I fully agree it's worthy... although it would make me sad because it's such a fun card. Even when I'm losing to it. I would rather lose games now and then to a Library then see it banned.
In a 4x Strip Mine environment it's held under control.
agree, most people in our community dislike 4 strip mine. i don't understand why, 4 strip keep format healty... but thats my opinion... Weissman wrote a great atricle about strip/loa btw : www.vintagemagic.com/blog/my-thoughts-on-the-restriction-of-strip-mine-in-old-school-format/
Dear Engineer. The glare is making this video unwatchable.
Hi Patrick, yeah I agree it needs to be solved. I'm trying to think through ways to solve it easily on an ongoing basis.
I'm bouncing diffused light off the walls/ceiling when doing this, I might just add black paper to that section of roof directly in the reflection line of the camera.