How to Grow Your Own Local Premodern Scene
How to Grow Your Own Local Premodern Scene
PLUS: Supporting Mila, my Eternal Durdles appearance, and iconic Foglio and RK Post playmats
Hey everyone, it’s been a little bit since the last issue of BANDING! It’s been a bit busy with newborn twins, a new job, and posting nonsense on the bird application… anyway, let’s get to it!
As an unsanctioned format, Premodern won’t necessarily be found reliably in every local gaming community (though maybe you’re lucky and live in Valencia, Spain). Luckily there is a thriving webcam and MTGO scene for Premodern but new players still often get frustrated that they’re unable to sling some ‘95-’03 cardboard in real life. And I get it! There’s no replacement for the up close agony of an opposing player’s face as you resolve Stasis, a Goblin Lackey trigger, or float two red mana.
This issue features an interview with Javier Lugo who has gradually built a Premodern scene in Evansville, Indiana. I wanted to chat him up because I’m fascinated by local Premodern scenes and how they’re formed, grow, and thrive. I enjoyed this conversation and I hope to highlight more local scenes in the future, as well as potentially inspire Premodern enthusiasts out there to build their own local player base.
BANDING: Tell me a little bit about your Magic history. I saw in a Facebook comment that you had competed in the Junior Super Series from 1999 to 2001! How did you eventually get into Premodern?
Javier: I’m 37 now and I grew up in Orlando, FL. I first started playing during Tempest Block when Exodus was released. Didn’t appreciate or really understand it at the time, but Orlando had an amazing mtg scene with some very, very good players and large personalities. I became a regular at The Gathering Place and fell in love with the competitive scene there and luckily became friends with some of the regulars that included Will Reddy, Robert Wyatt, Stephen Hines, and Ryan G(rodfather.)
Orlando at the time was also the home of the Junior Super Series and Nationals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. So fortunate to have had JSS right in our backyard and 30 minutes away. I have fond memories grinding JSS with our playgroup and rooting for one another at this awe-inspiring and incredible event. Piloted my first love White Weenie in the 1999 Main Event, Stompy in 2000, and played Replenish in the JSSQ on the day after the main event in 2001.
Took a 20 year sabbatical from mtg, and re-connected with Robert and Will early in the pandemic on Facebook. They filled me in on Premodern. And when I realized I could use the same cards that brought me so much joy back in the day while also being able to purchase the cards I couldn’t afford on my allowance, I was hooked. First event was Fall Brawl 2021 and the rest is history. High point so far was making the trip to Lobstercon with our Orlando playgroup having not seen them in 20 years!
What kind of Premodern decks do you like to play? I think we’ve been in the same pod once for the monthly webcam event and I seem to recall two things, the first vaguely and the second clearly: 1) you may have cast Armageddon on me and 2) you were a really enjoyable opponent to play against.
At first, I spent a lot of time with White Weenie because of nostalgia, familiarity, the comfort of t1 Mom, and because I already had a majority of the cards. Plus, I just love Armageddon and apologies to anyone who was trying to cast spells when I blew up all the lands. After a few monthlies and several L’s under my belt, I decided to branch out into the decks that were beating me down.
These decks included Pit-Rack, Deadguy, Rock, and Blue-Green Madness. PM’s greatest hits. I didn’t think I had a type, but clearly it looks like I’ve got an affinity for mid-range. After those, I piloted Replenish around the time kiddo #2 arrived in November, which has led me to dial back on the monthlies for now. Although tweaking Replenish is still on my mind often…
You’ve been organizing Premodern meetups at Main Phase One in Evansville, Indiana since December 2022. What was the Premodern scene like before the inaugural meetup? Were there already several Premodern players or did you have to introduce the format yourself?
Lobstercon 2022 lit a spark in me. It was the most pure mtg experience I’d had and I wanted to share PM with others in my area. Plus, I was reading about the irl meetups in NYC, and seeing what the Misty crew was doing in Madison, and thought “why not here?” in Evansville and decided to go for it.
So I began by bringing up PM to people at LGS’s during prereleases or cube nights. I must’ve badgered enough people that word got around to Main Phase One’s owner, Jared Majors-Manley, and he reached out to me since he was interested in old school related magic. We met and pitched possible ways of growing the PM community from the ground up and potentially holding events at his store. He had a platform to get people into the door and a sweet LGS, and I had the decks and the PM knowledge. Perfect match! Not sure one of us without the other would’ve been enough locally to get it started.
So we’ve had 4 meetups so far with interest slowly growing. Prior to then, there was no PM scene in our city. So we started with 8 people, then 14 or so at our next one. I provided all the decks at first. We keep it very casual and I try to spend my time teaching and watching others play. I encourage people to swap decks often and to keep trying out new ones. I help players find a deck that speaks to them. I point out sweet combos and synergies like Bauble in Sligh, Tide+Holding Priority and Squee+Everything. I explain why some cards are iconic and important in mtg history. I try to keep the energy up in the hopes that they have a good time and bring a friend next time!
Community building definitely takes time, so I’m enjoying this one meetup at a time and trusting the process that showing up is half the battle and that people will enjoy PM once they’ve given it a shot. Several months in, we’ve got a group of regulars turning up at meet-ups with their own brews. We’ve even got a few LobsterCon commitments. We’re giving our first formal tournament a go on April 8 with the Midwest Premodern Regional and excited to see how it all shapes out!
What’s your pitch to new players about the joys of Premodern? You said above that you will bring up the format at Prereleases and Cube nights, do you target players of those formats specifically or is that just what you yourself like to attend?
I’ll casually bring up PM at mtg events I go to if I feel like that person would be interested. Right now, Prereleases and Cube nights are the only non-PM Magic events I may go to. Prior to making the pitch, I try to gauge what kind of audience I am working with. Is the person I’m trying to convince around my age and maybe grew up with the premodern format? Or is this person maybe 20-25 years old and grew up in the modern era? And I always make sure to bring up that there’s a thriving global PM community via Facebook/Discord that they can be a part of. And since the vast majority of my interactions with people in the PM community have been pleasant and joyful, I highlight the positivity and good-nature that most folks are bringing to the table.
If I’m talking with an old mtg grinder like myself, then the pitch centers around appreciation for the nostalgia of the individual cards, decks, and gameplay. “Enjoy making FoF piles? Remember Psychatog ruling Type II? Enjoy turn 1 Hippy?” “Remember that Terrageddon deck you wanted to pilot back in the day?” You can re-live all of those dreams again!
If it’s a player who grew up in the modern era, my discussion revolves around learning the history of the game, affordability, and the format’s immunity to power creep. Don’t have to worry about buying into sets like MH2 every other year to stay competitive. And since newer players probably grew up on commander, I tell them that they have a lifetime to bling out their decks and customize them without fear of getting rotated out. I also explain how the meta shifts at a healthy pace despite there never being new cards introduced into it.
How did you choose which decks to introduce new players to? Do you think certain decks are better or worse to lend to players getting into the format?
To me, PM is a great format because all types of decks are viable. There are so many expressions of magic within it. I’m seeing all types of Aggro, Mid-Range, Control, Combo, and Prison when I see results posted. And for that reason, I keep an open mind on what kind of decks a prospective PM player may be interested in.
That being said, when I first started introducing decks to people new to the format, I wanted to preview decks that I felt were intuitive, relatively competitive, affordable, and evocative of the pre-modern format. For those reasons, I highlighted Stompy, Sligh, White Weenie, Blue-Green Madness, Red-White Cycling, Rock, Pit Rack, Blue-White Control, Goblins, and Deadguy Ale. I wanted to try and provide decks that would lead to interactive games between both players so they felt like they were playing magic with one another and not just getting run over quick. I thought a big part of getting PM to stick within our community is having players start building their own decks, and I felt like these were all practical places to start.
On the other hand, I made it a point to show off some of the more busted, unique, and fun things that exist within PM. Flipping over your deck into the yard with Hermit Druid. Stifling a Naught. Tax Racking, Fluctuating. Devouring. I felt like demonstrating these interactions would create awe and aspiration that would lead prospective players to start thinking about building decks for the future. Maybe they can’t afford to invest in these decks now, but perhaps they become goals for 6 months or years down the road!
If you’ve ever played Stiflenought, Devourer, Dead Guy Ale, Psychatog, Tireless Tribe, or Reanimator & Tell, then you’ve probably checked out one of Tom Metelsky’s lists. He’s a huge part of the Premodern community and his daughter, Mila, needs our help as she undergoes surgery.
For every $25 you donate to her GoFundMe I will give you one entry into a raffle for one of a few prizes:
1x Promo Foil Enlightened Tutor
1x I’ll make a deck based on your pet card and play it through a webcam monthly
1x Other TBD Premodern cards
Donate before April 1st; email or message (Twitter, Facebook, Discord) your confirmation to enter. Will ship worldwide, with a maximum cost of $25 and the difference paid by you.
Content
👀 I joined the Eternal Durdles crew to discuss Premodern, this newsletter, and Legacy’s Popeye Stompy! Have a look/listen.
Last year I had commissioned Phil Blechman to compose a song dedicated to Premodern. His Eternal Durdles co-host, Zac Clark recently made a video for it featuring lots of your favorite Premodern cards!
📊 Federico Kleiner joined the Premodcast to discuss the format’s meta from a quantitative perspective.
👹 Manos Kokkinis and Martin Lindström join Anton Glans and Seb Celia on Monster of the Week to chat about Parallax Replenish.
🍳 Mike Harris is on William Hirst’s I've Got ?????'s podcast to discuss Hermit FEB.
⚔️ Francisco Pawluszek and Tom Metelsky are back with a second episode of Dueling Grounds, this time with the theme of Tribal Wars. A battle between 5C Slivers and RG Beasts? A must watch.
🖊 Zansher Husref, a pillar of the Singapore Premodern scene, has launched a Premodern podcast! The first episode delves into motivations, burnout, and more.
👴 OLDMTG plays UW Control against UB Zombie Infestation. It’s a new channel so give them some love!
📚 Reddit user u/semarlow has uploaded the 41-issue complete collection of The Duelist magazine to browse! Check it out for nostalgia and maybe some hidden tech to bring to Premodern…
🦐 Ruizi Lin recaps his win on Facebook at the Singapore monthly with UW Stiflenought. The Singapore community is great, just check out this Prophecy booster pack opening from the event!
😎 Southern California now has their own Discord server for Premodern!
Results
Sam Black won the Spring Cup at Misty Mountain Games in Madison, Wisconsin with his UWg Tax Control deck, defeating Gro-A-Tog in the finals. The event was also streamed on Cloudgoat Ranger too.
Black had apparently tuned his list to address the local meta of combo and control but it’s neat to see Tax-Rack decks exploring Gush more heavily recently (Marc Eric Vogt took down the Bologna event with his Gush Parfait list). Keep an eye on this deck! We know that Martin Berlin certainly is…
The rest of the Top 8 had a nice variety of decks, though I recommend checking out TC Decks instead of some other options…Tom Metelsky (The Rock based on Lanny Huang’s Phyrexian Rager build) has won the February webcam monthly, defeating Aaron Dicks (Bauble Burn). Two legends playing classic Premodern decks, what more could you ask for?
Pablo Marcos took down the 53-player PNG Annual webcam event with Parfait Oath, defeating Pyrostatic Oath in the finals. More lists from the Top 16 can be found here… including UB Shadow and Zombie Tax.
The 40-player Chile Premier League entered the Top 16 stage. Check out the playoff decks here… lots of usual suspects but nice Zombie Tog and PandeBurst lists, as well as two appearances by the UR Tinker Welder deck that has gained popularity recently.
Just as a heads up, the Foglio Kickstarter is doing a last call before they lock in orders for the latest batch of playmats featuring Premodern era favorites like Recycle and Bottle Gnomes. The deadline is this Thursday (tomorrow).
Also relevant to Premodern era playmat fans is RK Post showing off some playmats of iconic art now available in his shop: Avatar of Woe, Lightning Angel, Morphling, and Unmask.
Events
Send me your Premodern events! Items bolded below are newly added.
🇬🇧 [United Kingdom, Apr. 1] Rogue’s Quarter Cafe in London is hosting another Premodern tournament after a successful debut in January. Registration and information can be found here.
🇺🇸 [United States, Apr.] Cape Fear Games in Wilmington, NC is looking to host a Premodern event in April. Vote in the Facebook group on the date and to keep up with details.
🇺🇸 [United States, Apr. 1] The End Games in Charlottesville, VA will be hosting a Premodern event at 12pm. Gold-bordered cards and up to 15 proxies allowed.
🇺🇸 [United States, Apr. 8] Main Phase One in Evansville, IN is hosting the Midwest Premodern Regional, starting at 11am.
🇺🇸 [United States, Apr. 13] Phoenix Comics and Games in Seattle, WA is hosting the monthly Thursday night Premodern meetup at 6pm.
🇦🇺 [Australia, Apr. 22] Premodern in Melbourne, Australia!
🇺🇸 [United States, Apr. 23] Cape Fear Games in Wilmington, NC is hosting an event, signup on their website.
🇨🇱 [Chile, Apr. 29] The National Championship will take place in Santiago, Chile with registration available here.
🇨🇿 [Czechia, May 20] The Czech Premodern Championships will be held in Prague and is already sold out! Waitlist and event details here.
🇸🇬 [Singapore, Jun. 2] Interest is being gauged on Facebook about holding a “Singapore Premodern Championship” during the South East Asia Regional Championships.
🇺🇸 [United States, Jun. 2-3] Details for the North American Premodern Championship at LobsterCon in Boston have been revealed with registration opening up Tuesday, February 7 at 12pm ET. The event will be capped at 256 players. More details here.
🇫🇮 [Finland, Jun. 10] The Finnish Premodern Nationals will take place at Bar & Cafe Lategame in Tampere, Finland. Facebook event details.
🇺🇸 [United States, Jul. 1] Misty Mountain Games in Madison, WI is back with the annual Midwest Championship with Twitch coverage courtesy of Cloudgoat Ranger. More information on Facebook.
🇦🇷 [Argentina, Aug. 12-13] Dates and location (Buenos Aires, Argentina) are now confirmed for the South American Premodern Championship!
🇺🇸 [United States, Sep. 23] Misty Mountain Games in Madison, WI is hosting the Fall Cup with Twitch coverage courtesy of Cloudgoat Ranger. More information on Facebook.
🇩🇪 [Germany, Sep. 30] The European Championships will take place in Darmstadt, Germany with further details to come. Sign up on their website to receive updates for registration.
🇺🇸 [United States, Dec. 9] Misty Mountain Games in Madison, WI wraps up the year with the Misty Mountain Finals with Twitch coverage courtesy of Cloudgoat Ranger. More information on Facebook.