Digging into Premodern with Raphaël "K-Run" Caron
PLUS: Return of NYC's Sacred Torch Showdown and Big Apple Highlander webcam league, EPIC is back with a special guest, and a new brewing challenge
I think I need to make a change… this issue of BANDING is so jam-packed with good stuff that there was no room for links to the other incredible content from around the Premodern community that I usually include at the bottom. What this is telling me is that I should probably try to publish more than once a month. The next issue, which I think will come out end of next week, will have the return of the links to community content and also have a feature on preparing for the 2025 North American Premodern Championships at Lobstercon on May 2nd/3rd.
Today there’s an interview with one of my favorite deck builders in Premodern, Raphaël Caron, also known as K-Run. He’s amazing, loved chatting with him. I’m also deep in tournament organizing mode, launching the second season of the Big Apple Highlander webcam league (register here) and the return of the Sacred Torch Showdown, NYC’s tentpole Premodern event. Also in this issue is the return of the beautifully produced, packed with talent European Premodern Invitational Challenge (EPIC), the next Brewers Challenge Corner with Gabe Farkas, and several neat decks I’ve been playing lately. Enjoy!
Interview with Raphaël Caron
BANDING: How did you get into Premodern?
Raphaël Caron: Like many others, I was convinced to take a closer look at the format after seeing The Professor’s YouTube video about it. I had heard of Premodern before, but the scene seemed small, and I wasn’t interested in webcam play at the time. However, when the pandemic hit, webcam play became one of the only ways to play. While I’m a big EDH fan, I was also missing the 1v1 competition. Since I never sold my collection, I still had many of the staples, so I decided to build a Premodern version of Parfait. My first event was in September 2021.
You’re probably best known for designing the classic Vintage deck Parfait. What’s the origin story? How did it get its name?
Before 2000, Vintage was the most popular format in Eastern Quebec, where I lived. I didn’t own power cards or dual lands, so I mostly built mono colored decks. I had one for each color, but white felt uninspiring—White Weenie was the only real option—so I traded away all my white cards.
More than a year later, some friends gave me extra commons from Urza’s Saga they were going to discard. I ended up with white cards again! Determined to build something outside of White Weenie, I focused on white’s other strengths: protection, life gain, and artifact/enchantment synergy. The deck evolved into a control strategy using non-creature permanents, with Argivian Find as the key piece holding everything together.
As the deck improved, I kept telling my friends it was “almost perfect” because I felt it had answers for everything. Eventually, they started calling it “Deck Parfait,” which is French for “Perfect Deck.” The list gained popularity after I made the finals of a Vintage online tournament (played on Apprentice) hosted by the now-defunct Beyond Dominia forum.
Tell us about your journey of porting the Parfait deck to Premodern. When did it start, what did early lists look like?
When I started exploring Premodern, I noticed that others had already attempted to port Parfait. Their lists closely resembled my Vintage version—mostly mono white with a red splash for Blood Moon. In Vintage, I tried to keep the list as white as possible, but Premodern’s access to four Mox Diamonds made multicolor builds more viable.
My goal remained the same: silver bullets backed by fast early answers, leveraging the efficient Tax-Rack engine for draw. I quickly realized that Oath of Druids was the best anti-creature silver bullet, allowing me to play Gaea’s Blessing instead of slower recursion cards like Soldevi Digger and Argivian Find (though I kept Argivian Find in some versions).
I had some success with the deck, but I never felt the evolution was complete. I was still testing new configurations when Land Tax got banned.
What do you think of the “fake” Parfait decks that have risen up in the format after Land Tax was banned? I’ve seen some try to replace the Tax-Rack engine with Sylvan Library and Abundance, leaning more on Gush, trying out Oath of Lieges, or some combination of the above. Are these decks competitive?
Parfait provided a unique play experience that many enjoyed, so I’m not surprised that players have tried to recreate it with other engines. However, Premodern is a fast format. While some felt the Tax-Rack engine was too strong, I believe it was on par with the format’s other top strategies. Parfait’s success relied on an inexpensive draw engine, mana-wise, which was critical for gaining early control before opponents could overwhelm you or draw Disenchant effects.
Since the alternatives are slower and less powerful, the strategy now feels too slow for the format. That doesn’t mean these decks won’t win games—they still play silver bullets that can stop opponents—but they seem too fair to be serious tournament contenders… for now.
Have you found a consistent deck to play in Premodern following the Land Tax ban? Or have you mostly been trying out a variety of decks?
The Land Tax ban allowed (or forced?) me to focus more on creative deck ideas. I played my Sneak-a-Shino deck in three consecutive Monthlies (ending up with a 0-15 record!). I’ve also tested Mono White Thran Turbine and some Parfait-like decks.
That said, I’ve lost some interest in Monthlies. I now prefer spending my limited MTG time on Premodern variants like Big Apple Highlander and Spice Paradise. These formats serve as excellent testing grounds for discovering new tech that might eventually influence competitive Premodern.
You’re easily one of my favorite deck designers in Premodern. What’s your process for brewing up decks?
I’m an avid Scryfall researcher. I often search for specific card traits, like “all non-aura white enchantments with the word ‘prevent’” and analyze the results one by one. I then ask myself: in what context could this card be great? I believe my deep knowledge of available cards helps me find synergies others might overlook. To evaluate a card’s potential, I look at all the metrics: mana value, power/toughness, abilities and drawbacks, etc. and think about how those metrics could be exploited, in different ways.
Here’s my brewing process:
Identify 2-3 cards with interesting synergy and build around them.
Construct a rough 60-card draft quickly to see the bigger picture.
Include a variety of one-ofs to test multiple cards at once. Playing with a bunch of unoptimized selections sometimes leads to nice discoveries. That said, my first drafts are often bad because I leave out staples.
Find synergistic support cards and answers. For example, a deck running no creatures with power over 2 could play Meekstone; that in turn makes me think that Whipcorder would be a nice addition. Looking at your decklist can help you realize what answers are more synergistic with your deck: for example, if you realize that you run no artifacts in your 75, Null Rod might be a very good answer to artifacts.
Brewing can become frustrating: when you keep on losing, you might be tempted to scrap the idea. Don’t! Just leave the deck aside for an extended period of time and pursue other projects. The day you’ll come back to your brew, you will probably see it in a different light and get better ideas on how to improve it.
Realize that some ideas are not meant to be “the main thing” but rather an addition to an existing archetype or the basis of a deck for a Premodern variant. For example, the Parallax Realms deck I’ve played a few years ago is likely to become a BAH deck, since it was just a worse Replenish deck in regular Premodern.
As someone who also brews a lot, your words about frustration when losing a lot really resonated with me. Do you have any other tips about how to handle the mental/emotional side of brewing and losing?
As with anything in life, failing is a necessary step to learning. As you keep losing many games in the process of brewing, you might want to keep some things in mind:
One of the first steps is to try to build a deck that won’t lose to itself: land count, mana curve, presence of “nonbos” (cards that have poor, negative synergy), threat/answer ratio, etc. You can learn a lot on that aspect of your project by simply goldfishing. Drawing several starting hands and goldfishing until turn 4-5 will show you if you run enough mana, run sufficient answers to get a fast one in your opening hand, etc. Finding and solving those problems before playing a real game will prevent some losses for sure!
Once you have something that you’re comfortable with, try playing vs some non-Tier 1 decks or other brews. That will show you the inherent strengths of your build, in a fair environment. The games should be closer and losing won’t be as painful.
Try to identify the reasons why you lost: were you short on mana? Were you weak to a particular card you had no answer for? Did you run out of cards too quickly? Take notes: this brewing history will allow you to see how your brew evolved and you will feel something is progressing even if you keep losing.
When playing vs a stronger Tier 1 deck, remember that some games would’ve been lost even if you had a Tier 1 deck instead of a brew. Some games are just impossible to win: discard those losses from your analysis – and from your mind!
Don’t forget that a deck is 75 cards: your sideboard and the way you deal with your opponent’s sideboard cards are super important. Sometimes, a sideboard adjustment will completely change your win-loss record.
Possibly my most important advice – that I need to put in practice myself – is to playtest more OUTSIDE of tournaments. As a brewer, I’m sure I’m not the only one who had the sad experience of being stuck with a defective brew, only realizing a “nonbo” or another design error after the first of my six mandatory matches. Tournaments should be the final test, not the first (unless it’s Spice Paradise, as you can modify/switch your deck every week!).
You’ve participated in both seasons of Spice Paradise! What are some of your favorite decks you built for it?
I’ve had lots of fun with my Misty Zombies deck, which focuses on emptying my opponent’s graveyard and abuse cards like Oath of Ghouls and Mists of Stagnation. I need to replay that deck soon!
Another cool deck is NecrAssault, which aims to kill my opponent with a Necrologia-powered Seismic Assault! I played the deck on Day 2 at Lobstercon 2024 and had great games, despite getting an average record.
The Distorting Lens / Blasts deck I’ve played this 2nd season is an updated version of a brew I premiered in the January Monthly. I look forward to playing it again soon, but since I really want to play a different deck every week, this one will have to wait a moment.
No mention of your Banding deck from season one! What do you think of the mechanic in Premodern? Is there a viable strategy to be built around it?
While I love banding, the creature suite is overcosted and that really limits the viability of a banding-based deck. Also, banding is only useful if 1) you play creatures, 2) your opponent plays creatures and 3) there’s actual creature combat.
That being said, banding is interesting if you can 1) generate tokens or 2) give banding to good creatures, meaning that, sadly, Helm of Chatzuk is probably the only banding card you’ll ever “need” in Premodern, and it’s probably better used as a sideboard card vs. creature-heavy decks.
The banding deck I played in 2024 tried to turn the high cost of banding creatures into an advantage by using the card Pure Reflection to generate bigger tokens to band with. It’s a fun deck for Spice Paradise tournaments and you can expect to see it again!
In my mind, you have an encyclopedic knowledge of every artifact and enchantment in Premodern. If you had to choose, what is your favorite artifact and enchantment? What is an artifact and/or enchantment that more people should be playing?
Favorite Artifact: That would have to be Anvil of Bogardan. That card is a brewer’s dream. Cheap to cast, easy to use as an enabler, as a draw engine… I just love that card.
Favorite Enchantment: Tough question but I’ll say Oath of Ghouls. For very similar reasons to Anvil’s.
Propaganda should see more play and I invite people to take a look at One with Nature (you can cast it on your opponent’s fast creature).
What’s your Premodern scene like? Or are you primarily a webcam player?
I am primarily a webcam player, but there are some IRL events in Quebec City, which is 2.5 hours away from me. I try to go as often as possible!
Anything else you’d like to share or promote?
Since my ideas are unlimited but my time is not, I’ve decided that I would share my findings so others might pursue them. This is what my Bluesky is all about: @raphael-a-caron.bsky.social .
What I’ve Been Playing Lately
Please Try to Enjoy Each Elemental Equally
The Tribal Wars league run through the BeardBrothers Discord is one of my favorite Premodern variants. In my fourth time playing in it, I decided to play Elementals (deck list), which during my research I discovered there are exactly 20 green Elementals (part of the deck building rules is that you need at least 20 creatures that share the same creature type) so I played one of each. It was super fun to play some of my childhood favorites again, like Rushwood Elemental. The board states got pretty wild, like this one from my first game with the deck:
I ended up going 3-0 in my pod, defeating Apes, Kavus, and Clerics — onto the playoffs! Also… if you’re a Severance fan, enjoy this mysterious and important deck list (with working word search):
Junk Tempting Terra
After coming in second in the February meetup in Manhattan, I decided to take my Junk Tempting Terra list for a spin in the March webcam monthly, going 4-2 (deck list). The deck is largely similar to my first list, except I took out 2x Stupor and 1x Undiscovered Paradise for 2x Cabal Therapy and 1x Darigaaz’s Caldera in the main, thanks to suggestions by Matt P. and a few others in the Terravore Discord. In the sideboard, I removed Kor Haven, Warmth, and Crumble in favor of Plague Spitter and 2x Compost. I had been expecting more black decks in the webcam meta and fewer Stiflenought decks and wanted to try Compost. I ended up playing two Stiflenought decks (won one, lost one) and only one black deck (Compost wasn’t relevant).
I mostly like the main, though I may trim one Tempting Wurm for another threat, perhaps Anurid Brushhopper, Exalted Angel, Call of the Herd, or Mystic Enforcer (the Spike Colony propaganda is getting to me). The deck can be a little threat light sometimes. The Chain of Smog is OK, not great, I could maybe see that becoming a Cabal Therapy or Duress… or maybe back to Stupor! I could also be a bit scarred after using Chain on a Madness opponent and having them dump two Squees and a Basking Rootwalla (yes, I bounced it back since I had a Tempting Wurm in hand that I thought could get there). For the sideboard I’ll likely take out the Plague Spitter in favor of one-toughness utility creatures like Sylvan Safekeeper, Xantid Swarm, Thornscape Apprentice, and/or Plaguebearer.
The Dark Hope
For my second deck in Spice Paradise, I chose to play my own take (deck list) on Baronbounty’s The Dark Hope (primer). Their original concept utilized Blood Celebrant to power out an early Avatar of Hope but I wanted to try a version that was lowered your life total using aggressive creatures instead. Death Wish was a fun card played purely because this was a spice league and you don’t have many chances to cast it, unfortunately I don’t think it’s very good. Flesh Reaver was fun but it’s rare you’ll be ahead on life so maybe it should be swapped too for something like Wretched Anurid or Fledgling Djinn. The deck was super fun with 11 morph creatures as it created real moments of unknown for the opponent. I ended up going 2-0 with the deck, defeating Recycle Storm and Warped Devotion Prison.
Separately, I also recently acquired one of the original sketches used for the card Convalescent Care by Greg Hildebrandt, so I knew I had to build the deck and include it in the deck photo.
Tradewind Screech
After listening to the Spike Colony episode with Sam Black that mentioned different takes on Tradewind Rider, I decided to try my hand at making a list (deck list) with it alongside cheap white creatures for my last Spice Paradise deck — plus I got to use the exclusive Bird tokens made for Big Apple Highlander participants (yes, I know I still owe several of you these tokens). The deck performed pretty decently, going 1-1 with a win against Aggro Enchantress and a loss against Merfolk. I was never able to get Tradewind Rider up and running (bouncing opposing permanents or your own Tangle Wire and Parallax Wave) but the creature suite is pretty solid. I’ve been interested in Wall of Hope for a while and it felt like a nice shell to try it out in. So not enough reps yet to say whether Tradewind Rider is good here, but I’m definitely interested in trying this out again.
EPIC Returns!
The second season of the European Premodern Invitational Challenge kicked off earlier this week featuring an impressive lineup — with Martin Berlin, Premodern’s founder, as a participant as well! Catch all the action (and seriously impressive overlay graphics) on the WakWak stream every Tuesday.
2 Big 2 Apple
Signups for the the second edition of the Big Apple Highlander webcam league event launched, open through Friday, April 4th! Pod play will take place between Monday, April 7th and Friday, May 9th. This proxy-friendly webcam league is organized through the Premodern Discord (finds us in the #highlander channel). Congrats again to Lanny H. for taking down the first season with this beauty:
If you need deck inspiration or more information on the format, check out the BAH homepage.
New York’s Hottest Tournament is…
The Sacred Torch Showdown is back after a year hiatus! Hosted by the Order of the Sacred Torch (New York City Premodern), it’s the in-person tournament that I personally put the most effort into organizing. Held on Saturday, July 19th in Manhattan, this event has everything:
$2K cash prizing
Winner receives a custom deck list card and plaque (in my biased opinion one of the coolest trophies in Magic), as well as an Order of the Sacred Torch commemorative card
Stamped Ravenous Rats for all participants (Top 8’s will be altered)
Exclusive token with art commissioned for the event (you can view past examples here)
Charity raffle benefitting No Kid Hungry
Spice/brew prize
Video coverage (potentially broadcast the day after)
And this is just to start! More details will be released closer to the date but check out the inaugural Sacred Torch Showdown’s tournament organizers report for photos of the 2023 event. We’re already over halfway to our 50-person capacity, check out the registration page here — I would hugely appreciate it if you could pass along this event to any interested players. Reach out to me with any questions and hope to see you there!
Guest Segment: Brewer’s Challenge Corner with Gabe Farkas
Hi Premodern People! Gabe Farkas here again, with the second installment of Brewer’s Challenge Corner. As a reminder, I’m picking an unused or underused card in the Premodern card pool for everyone to brew around and submit their deck ideas. Then I review all the submissions, and present the best or most intriguing ideas, as well as add some commentary and/or my own interpretations of it: other cards to consider adding, apparent strengths/weaknesses, etc.
In the last installment, we started with a card that saw some play in Standard in 1999-2001 but never did break into Extended or formats with a larger card pool: Thieving Magpie. What’s interesting about this Urza block creature is that it draws a card on any damage dealt, not just combat damage (like Shadowmage Infiltrator or Hystrodon). Also, it’s not a “may” ability, and doesn’t replace the damage actually being dealt (like Ophidian).
Thanks to everyone who submitted lists and ideas. After looking through them, they fall into a few categories of approaches:
Enabling ways to ping the opponent (e.g., Hermetic Study), and/or ways to take advantage of drawing cards (e.g., Mind Over Matter).
As part of a larger card draw engine (e.g., alongside Shadowmage Infiltrator, Graveborn Muse, Curiosity, Arcanis the Omnipotent).
As part of a larger “triggers on doing damage” engine (e.g., alongside Avenging Druid, Lowland Basilisk, Fungal Shambler).
Around enchantment-based protective elements (e.g., Alexi's Cloak, Flickering Ward, Diplomatic Immunity).
Special shout-out to Carl Winter for reminding me of his nearly 24-year-old SCG tournament report where he ran a Thieving Magpie deck!
After reviewing the lists, here’s the approach that I think looks like it has the best possibility of success, with what I see as the key core cards:
Ping and Untap
Thieving Magpie
Hermetic Study and Psionic Gift, possibly also Quicksilver Dagger
Mind Over Matter
Pemmin's Aura
Counterspell, Mana Leak, etc.
Aphetto Alchemist
Curiosity
This blends some of the best elements of submissions from Phil Nguyen and Dustin H.. It gets you to around 30-32 non-land cards right there, and still almost entirely Mono Blue. The other 6-10 cards can probably splash into any of the other four colors for supporting and protective elements to fill out the list. White defensive enchantments (hat tip Sam L.), or Black disruption (hat tip Rusty Shackleford), seem like the best options.
For our next challenge, I’m going with a card that has been overshadowed both in Extended and Premodern by others in the same cycle: Restless Dreams. Dump your library into your graveyard with Hermit Druid, then get back the creatures you need, to then discard to a Shapeshifter? Stall out while going off with Fluctuator and need to reload? Or just need to get back a key creature that was destroyed by the opponent? There are a lot of possibilities with this card.
As a reminder, complete deck lists are preferred. However, it can be just the shell of the deck idea, as long as you include the card as a central part of whatever the deck is trying to do. Send your submissions to premodernbrewing@gmail.com with "Restless Dreams" in the subject line by Friday, April 18th. Ready, set, brew!