Fifteen years ago this summer, my friends and I got our first Magic: the Gathering cards. I remember well the day trip to Minot when my brother and I each bought that starter deck of Revised Edition. What a fruitful day at the mall that was...I also came home with NHL 94 for the Sega Genesis and Seal's second album on CD.
That first deck of mine contained such luminaries as Lightning Bolt, Fireball, and a Vesuvan Doppleganger that I soon lost as ante to my bro. Of course, those direct damage spells pushed me towards a preference for red decks that lasted for several years. Early examples of my deck construction style are the mono-red flyers deck and the red-blue landwalk+Unstable Mutation deck.
Since then, I've been an on and off player and collector of Magic. I haven't played much the last couple of years, but this summer's release of the M10 edition has me mildly intrigued, so I'll probably pick up a few packs for a test drive. I'm also still collecting a set of 6th Edition, but haven't seen any boxes in my price range for awhile. Every couple of years lately I've sold off part of my collection, so maybe it's time for another sale to fill the coffers and make room for new cards.
One part of my collection that I'll likely never sell is the two longboxes of thirty decks total that I've built up over the years. I'll call it my "deck vault". It has both fun theme decks and competitive tourney decks, some of which brought home tourney gold long ago.
Usually when I put a competitive deck in the vault it is a toned down version that generalizes the evolution of the deck. That is because the deck vault is as much about my favorite cards as it is the decks, and sometimes the best version of a deck didn't have some my favorite cards that a previous or later version of the deck did. Conversely, when I make a theme deck for the vault I try to give the deck some balance by not adhering slavishly to the theme, though sometimes I go all-out with the theme for the fun of it.
Anyways, to commemorate this inconsequential 15 year anniversary, I'll randomly choose a deck from my vault every now and then and post the deck list and a little commentary. I'll do it until I run out of decks or get tired of it. A roll of the d30 determines that today's random deck is...
"
Welcome to my garden"
4 bee sting
4 unyaro bee sting
3 unyaro bees
3 killer bees
4 giant spider
2 aquastrand spider
4 penumbra spider
1 goliath spider
4 silklash spider
2 storm seeker
2 lure of prey
4 eladamri's vineyard
23 forest
This is one of my favorite theme decks in the vault, but also perhaps one of the least likely to actually win a match. This deck isn't really built according to any official format. It uses a card from Portal, for crying out loud.
This was my attempt at fusing a few different themes into a single deck. The spider and bee themes are obvious enough. The third theme is mono-green direct damage. The "strategy" here is to set up a strong defense of spiders, then send the bees and the stings in for the win. Storm Seeker bolsters the direct damage theme and has great art.
Yeah, I'm pimping my Italian language Storm Seeker in this deck
The general problem with this deck, other than the fact that green direct damage is not very good, is that it is too slow. A early Eladamri's Vineyard can help it along, but even that's a crap shoot. This deck could use some cheaper creatures. I think I'll eventually add some Llanowar Elves and some more Aquastrand Spiders. There are probably new cards of these themes that could help the deck, but I haven't studied the new sets of the past couple of years.
Welcome to my garden
