10+1 Very Nice Spice Decks
PLUS: I come in second at the NYC meetup with Junk Terrageddon, Duress Crew's Winter Regional, and deck photography optimization
February has been a whirlwind of a month but I wanted to share a few quick hits before we enter March: a few notable decks from Spice Paradise, what I’ve been playing lately and my thoughts on them, pondering what shape deck photographs should be, etc. The important things in life. Let’s get into it.
Spice Paradise Midpoint Check-In
We’re halfway into the eight-week Spice Paradise league and I wanted to take a brief moment to highlight ten decks I’ve really enjoyed seeing. This is by no means a comprehensive list as all the decks I’ve seen so far have really showcased something special. If you’d like to see all the deck photographs collected so far, check out the slides here.
Not every deck here is going to be “fit” for competitive Premodern play but my hope in showcasing a variety of decks here (in no particular order) is that you’ll get inspired to take something for your own deck, appreciate the deck building skill, and enjoy what the wider card pool has to offer.
Sprite Rites by Brian L.
Originally played in NYC’s Endless Wurm spice tournament, Brian’s deck takes the Blue Skies shell and splashes red for some extra tools, including the namesake Rites of Initiation. I’ve seen a lot of revived interest in Blue Skies decks (I’d love to work on a UW version splashing for Swords to Plowshares and Armageddon) so this deck seemed very timely to provide additional inspiration.
Twiddle Storm by loveisgreen
Hunting Pack is a card that seen its stock rise in recent months with appearances in Elves and Iggy Pop. This Storm variant is just sweet, taking the classic strategy of untapping a multi-mana land with a nice Living Wish package. I caught some of this game live and seeing a Desolation Angel cast is still a joy, year after year.
Oathbomb by Koget
PandeBurst, in all its various forms, continues to intrigue and amaze. I’ve seen Oath of Druids variants before but this one is just super clean. If you want to play it, act fast! The deck may be on the watch list…
Dr. StrangeLands, or: How I Learned to Stop Durdling and Ramp Out Ice Age Rares by Varchild’s Hug-Givers (Gabe F)
This one is just a beauty and I was lucky enough to see the lock assembled with Ritual of Subdual alongside Chronatog. Ritual was one of the first cards I ever opened and decades later it’s cool to see it doing some work!
Combo Clerics by GibsonJunkie
After my unsuccessful run with Mono White Life in January it was neat to see this take on Tireless Tribe plus a small Life combo package. I think the Tireless Tribe group of players are some of the most innovative out there and this is no exception. This deck is just so tricky and difficult to answer given the numerous ways it can go off.
Bonus: Reverend Mix-a-Lot by QuirionGamer
I told ya the Tireless Tribe crew keep you on your toes. Here’s another take that features: 1) the Life combo, 2) Tireless Tribe combo, and 3) Cephalid Breakfast combo.
Keeper by Elendrile
A classic deck, updated for Premodern in 2025! If you’re winning by locking down your opponent with Elemental Augury and Millstone, then you’re winning at life too. A beautiful deck photograph and deck design.
Blasts by K-Run (Raphaël A. Caron)
As close as you’ll get to Painter in Premodern, this deck is just fun to behold. Distorting Lens and Blind Seer changing permanents and spells into different colors only to be hosed with efficient answers is peak Magic.
Black Ponza by Samuel Leng
This is a very neat take on the Gx Terra Oath shells, replacing the cards for rough equivalents in black. Besides, who doesn’t love to see Braids in a deck?
Dark Depths by BrandonE
You have to applaud this one. The plan is to bin enough Laquatus's Champion into the graveyard and then bringing them back with Living Death. Alternatively, if you Shallow Grave one into play, the opponent loses 6 life, you swing in for 6, then with the leaves play trigger on the stack you cast False Cure and the opponent loses another 6!
Evil Enchantress by Wim
This has always been one of my favorite takes on Enchantress and Wim has brought it back after defeating me in the first season of Spice Paradise with it (I was on a black-white Replenish deck). A combo finish without the pillow fort comforts makes this one a bit more all-in… but flashier too.
What I’ve Been Playing Lately
UW Wizards
I’ve been intrigued by Wizards ever since Anthony Harrison played a list on the second season of the Premodern Showdown Series (yours truly went 1-6 in that spice-focused event) and have worked on my own list in my brewing spreadsheet on-and-off for years. I finally decided to sleeve up my own take on the deck for the February webcam monthly because I felt like the deck had some interesting things going for it:
Meddling Mage and counter magic (Voidmage Prodigy, Patron Wizard, and Counterspell) to gum up combo decks
Swords to Plowshares, Stormscape Apprentice, and Aphetto Grifter handle singular, large creatures exceptionally well
Prison plan with Winter Orb (one-sided with Aphetto Grifter), Armageddon, and Patron Wizard
Access to Disenchant and Annul
Solid mana base
But… sometimes the plan doesn’t come together. I ended up winless in matches (0-6) for only the second time since I started playing the webcam monthlies back in June 2020 (the first time I went winless was on a sweet Bladewing’s Thrall plus Artificial Evolution brew). In the monthly, I lost to BG RecSur (twice), Blue Skies, Oath of Lieges Parfait, UW Landstill, and The Solution/Patriot/Angel McAngelface. Despite the clean wipeout, I liked the deck a lot. Here are my takes on it:
Originally, I wanted to stretch for Gush as a way to break parity of Winter Orb and Armageddon, as well as provide the deck some sorely-needed card advantage. In the end, I couldn’t get the numbers to work but when I give this deck another go, I would try removing Rishadan Ports and adding in Mox Diamonds to help support Gush. Too often, I would fall behind and there was no way of catching up and turning the tables.
There was some tension between wanting T1 Swords to Plowshares into T2 Counterspell, potentially solved by Mox Diamond’s inclusion. Alternatively, Mana Leak seems like a fine choice given the mana pressure already provided by Patron Wizard, Winter Orb, and Rishadan Port.
A full set of Shared Triumph in Anthony’s list was a nice call given how fragile the Wizards are. I like that it also provides a win condition against some decks and included two in the sideboard. I had hoped between Annul and Counterspell I’d prevent most Engineered Plagues from landing and only two Triumphs would suffice. I might try squeezing in one more.
I really liked Information Dealer. Pretty unassuming guy but he ended up being the top target of removal and when left alone he helped smooth over the deck immensely.
This is one of those decks that punishes mistakes or suboptimal plays pretty dearly. There isn’t an oops-I-win play or a catchup mechanism to gloss over things. This is why despite not winning any matches, I enjoyed the deck and see potential in the deck. I’d love to give it another shot in the future, perhaps with the Gush plan, with a black splash (Shadowmage Infiltrator, Cabal Interrogator, Patriarch’s Bidding), or maybe Temporal Adept?
4C Magpie Decoy
In the last issue of this newsletter, Gabe Farkas challenged people to build a deck around Thieving Magpie… and I happily obliged for my first deck in the Spice Paradise league. This brew went 2-1, defeating UG Ponza and Cycling Pyromancy, while falling to Devastating Lands. Super enjoyable deck — some quick hits:
I wanted to take advantage of Magpie’s ability that doesn’t specify combat damage, so I threw in Hermetic Study and Psionic Gift. Combined with Mind Over Matter provides a win condition in which you ping the opponent for one, draw a card, then use Mind Over Matter to discard the card to untap the Magpie and repeat.
Once I committed to the Study/Gift plan, I added in other creatures that could benefit from the “Tim’s Embrace”: Horseshoe Crab to mimic a Fireball, Lowland Basilisk to mow down creatures, Avenging Druid to ramp out lands, and Fungal Shambler as an alternate win condition with Show and Tell or Mind Over Matter.
Avenging Druid overperformed. Slow card but after a hit or two the power of putting lands directly into play untapped snowballed fast. Binning cards into the graveyard was also very neat for Call of the Herd and I can imagine a neat deck built around Avenging Druid.
I had an alternate version of this deck that utilized Survival of the Fittest, plus cards like Wirewood Symbiote and Quirion Ranger to give you extra untaps. Ultimately, it felt a little too much like an exceptionally watered down Elves so I shelved it.
Finally, I originally called this deck “One-Three” because most of the creatures are 1/3s but renamed it “4C Magpie Decoy” because I brought it to jam between rounds at the NYC Premodern meetup. My round two opponent and I finished our match quickly so it was time to let the Magpies fly. Later on, my future round three opponent happened to see us playing and assumed it was my actual deck…
Source: @fivewithflores/X
Junk Tempting Terra
I brought my take on Junk Terrageddon to the February Manhattan meetup, going 4-1 and losing in the finals to the meetup maestro SWB on a fearsome aggressive Elves deck while defeating Elves, Burn, Burn, and Dance Academy on the way. My concept for the deck was to mash up existing Junk Terrageddon lists with the latest trend of jamming Tempting Wurm (“the best black card”, as Michael Flores says) alongside bountiful discard. I had good experiences with the Tempting Wurm strategy in my Guilty Oath deck in August 2024 and so I dug them out again.
When designing the deck, I thought it presented tough questions for the opponent in terms of management of cards between hand and battlefield. Usually, opponents will squirrel away lands in hand in order to play around Armageddon or Weathered Wayfarer, which no longer becomes as feasible when you have cards like Gerrard’s Verdict, Stupor, and Chain of Smog attacking your hand. Similarly, Gerrard’s Verdict becomes even trickier as you can either discard land (gaining life and growing Terravore) or discard spells. Discard similarly clears the way for Tempting Wurm, while Armageddon can punish opponents who choose to put too many lands into play off the trigger. Originally, my list had two copies of The Rack instead of two Call of the Herd. This presented other considerations (terrible after an Armageddon but potentially good after discard or Tempting Wurm) but in the end I opted for something more direct.
It was my first time playing a Terrageddon deck and it worked pretty smoothly. If I had to make changes, I’d probably take out the Kor Haven and Warmth from the sideboard. Kor Haven I think is not super great against Stiflenought anymore and just a speed bump against opposing Terravore decks. Could be great against Shallow Ghoul decks though. Might swap for a Thornscape Apprentice, which has a similar effect. I think the deck is solid enough against red that I don’t need the Warmth. In the main deck, I’d consider a Darigaaz’s Caldera instead of Undiscovered Paradise. I’m also not sure about the right mix between Stupor / Chain of Smog / Duress / Cabal Therapy. Might just be a meta call. I like the first two because you get value and potentially lands, while Therapy is nice to make use of late-game Wayfarers who aren’t doing anything.
Talking Deck Photography
I spend way too much time thinking about deck photographs — recently I moved from a 10 across x 6 height orientation (square) to 6 across x 10 height (portrait) with partially covered cards (less information, but the art shines through). Before square, I used to do landscape. Working in social media, I wonder if my evolution aligns with the shift from Facebook (landscape) to Instagram (square) to TikTok (portrait). Instagram changing the way images look like on your grid broke me a little and I began to appreciate the joys of portrait orientation optimizing for mobile viewing thanks to NYC regulars ferret and SWB. What do you think, how do you take your deck photographs?
Or maybe the real answer is that deck photographs should be in artistic shapes:
The Duress Crew’s Winter Regional Charity
Unfortunately there are only a few hours left, but I do want to highlight that our friends at The Duress Crew have opened up their charity raffle to the community. Their efforts benefit the Worcester County Food Bank and features amazing prizes like a shadow-signed set of foil Duress and hard-to-get crew swag. Check out here for the ticket form. Also, don’t forget to check out their stream tomorrow, starting at 11AM ET. Sold out with 108 attendees planned!
Bluesky Musings
Sometimes I still post nonsense…
Content
Read
📸🎴 Michael Flores recently began uploading beautiful deck photographs on his Instagram with fun background stories. Worthwhile follow!
🥦🥣 The Shared Discovery Crew wrote a primer on Broccoli Soup for The Well of Knowledge
📖🙏 Båldø Scïaccä and the UK community launched the first issue of their Premodern zine, Lands & Legends! This one contained lots of fun articles, including an interview with Nick Mayo of The Duress Crew and Elves fame.
🧙♀️🏆 Vitor Massucato writes a tournament report after winning the 38-player Brazilian league with Enchantress
Listen
💀🎤 Hardcast features a rather lovely episode with Jay McCowan discussing tournament preparation and how to enjoy the game more
🍑🤝 Will Hirst chats with The Shared Discovery guys on I’ve Got ?????’s. Very nice chat, these guys are excellent deck builders.
🇵🇱🏆 Monster of the Week had two great episodes, one featuring the rise of Premodern in Poland and the other covering the new BG Pitless Rack deck
💔🖤 Spike Colony has an interesting chat on the state of red and black in the current Premodern meta
Watch
💯👀 I Play Magic released a monster of a video featuring every “combo” in Premodern, though it’s closer to a primer on common interactions as opposed to combos. Still an exceptional worthwhile watch for new and experienced viewers alike!
🍄🍄🟫 Shroom showcases a high quality, in-person match between UR MUD and Psychanought
👺🤺 The always enjoyable Mengu’s Workshop is back with Goblins vs. White Weenie
⛈️🧙♀️ Heavy Play features a match between Frantic Storm and Enchantress in the Portland monthly
🧠🥶 More Frantic Storm action as Cardboard Crack shows off the deck on MTGO
🔵⚪️ The Impulse Crew has the blue-white (or white-blue?) matchup you’ve been craving… UW Flippi vs. UW Landstill
💀🖤 Laycro plays Contamination on the Moxforge channel
🔥⚡️ Is Burn considered a combo deck? Close enough as Tony Scapone, combo connoisseur, tackles the deck
🔥🏭 Speaking of Burn, Lannynyny tries to adjust Burn for a Stiflenought meta
🐲🍑 While we wait for the Duress Crew’s Winter Regional, enjoy this video from the Autumn Regional with a fight between BW Control and GWr Terrageddon
🧙♂️👼 Baronbounty lives the Finkula dream on Moxforge
🍖⛓️ Crucible of Worlds continues brewing with Food Chain
😡🔥 Brightsdays has a classic matchup between Survival Madness and Burn