Mad Knowledge with Cyberpunker

PLUS: New podcast and blog launches, save-the-date for the European Champs, and the Strongest Deck in the Format

Welcome back to another issue of BANDING! This time we have an interview with noted Madness specialist Cyberpunker, who I was really excited to ask a few questions with given his dedication to a crowd-favorite deck and his work supporting events run through the Magic Online Society. Although I may have been scooped by William Hirst’s new podcast (more below in Content), I think those more textually inclined will appreciate this interview. The interview is a longer one than previous BANDING issues, but I think you’ll enjoy Cyberpunker’s passion for Madness and his thoughtful examination of the iconic deck. Stay tuned afterward for some great Premodern content highlights and upcoming events!

BANDING: How did you get into Premodern?

Cyberpunker: I got back into MTG in 2021 after a 10-year hiatus. I started playing MTG in 7th Edition and got competitive during Onslaught block. Then mainly was a Vintage and Legacy player up until I quit around 2012. When I got back in, I started off with the formats I knew, Legacy and Vintage. I found out about Pauper/Modern/Pioneer/Old School after reconnecting with all the friends whom I used to play MTG with. Back in the day, we did not really use Magic Online. All of us used Magic Workstation or Cockatrice to playtest. And so those are the programs that I started initially using when I got back. I found a person who wanted to play a format called “Premodern”. Curious, I joined the game and asked him what the format was about. He linked me to www.premodernmagic.com and the rest is history. I was excited to play UG Madness after so long, and after finding out it was a format that UG Madness would be competitive in, I immediately delved right into it, found the Magic Online Society, and started playing.

The deck you’re best known for is UG Madness. When I was younger, UG Madness was the first deck I ever “netdecked” due to its affordability and competitiveness. Did you play the deck back in Type 2? How did you end up becoming a UG Madness specialist?

Yes, UG Madness was the first deck I ever played in Type 2. This was during the time when Wild Mongrel was the best 2 drop in MTG. When Type 2 season was over, the guys I played with told me that it would then be “Extended Season”, which meant that more sets would be legal. I remember looking at the format in Extended (Type 1.X) and saw that people were also playing UG Madness. I looked at the cards and the rest of the decks in the format back then, and realized that UG Madness would still be competitive in Extended and even got a few more new tools.

And so I kept playing UG Madness through the Extended season that year. I kept playing UG Madness in Standard and Extended so long as the deck was legal. Eventually, I got into Vintage and Legacy and stopped playing Standard/Extended after UG Madness cards rotated out.

And in Legacy (but not Vintage sadly), I found that UG Madness could still be competitive, because it got even more tools in Dual Lands, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Survival of the Fittest. As a result, UG Madness became the main archetype I played, and by now I had developed a passion for the Madness archetype, having played it throughout middle school and high school and then college. I would go on forums like MTGSalvation, The Source, and Star City Games to find resources to improve my gameplay and my UG Madness build in Legacy. I was especially inspired by Roland Chang’s 2006 Legacy World Championship win and his post win interview. His insights into the deck in particular encouraged me even more to keep on going with UG Madness. [Side Note: I’ve met Roland Chang in real life when I was in New York but I don’t think I ever brought it up to him LOL (our conversations revolved around Vintage when Roland Chang and I hung out)]. At that time, Wild Mongrel was still the best 2 drop in MTG and that fact continued in Legacy until WOTC printed Tarmogoyf. After which, Wild Mongrel’s relative power declined and Legacy became about Tarmogoyf wars.

That being said, I still believed in UG Madness as a deck during the Tarmogoyf-era of Legacy, and so still kept developing it. By this time, I was picking up local Legacy wins in my area and with my circle of friends. And also by this time, I had realized that UG Madness in Legacy needed to run Survival of the Fittest. However, I did not have the resources as a high school / college student to buy my playset of Survival of the Fittest because I was busy buying Force of Wills, Dual Lands, and Power 9 (I was also simultaneously playing a completely different deck in Vintage and had to balance my budget in between building Vintage and building Legacy). As a result of my budgetary constraints, I had to develop a UG Madness build without Survival of the Fittest, and that led me to a UG Madness build of Roar of the Wurm, Anger, Intuition, and Lion’s Eye Diamond (this build, minus Anger, also sees play in Premodern as of now funny enough). I had some continued success with the Roar of the Wurm build in my local LGS stores up until 2010 when WOTC printed Vengevine. That’s when I finally scrapped together enough spare cash to buy my playset of Survival of the Fittest. However, I always regretted not playing Survival of the Fittest during the pre-Vengevine era in Legacy, because I knew that I could have done so much better in all my tournaments if I had access to Survival of the Fittest (again my money went into Vintage to play competitively in that format). This regret also plays a HUGE factor in why I play Survival Madness in Premodern. With Vengevine’s printing, all other UG Madness builds became obsolete in favor of Survival Madness. Survival Madness was all over the place, and I of course was one of the many pilots playing it. I was also by this time in my final year of college and I was studying abroad. I won a lot of local tournaments in Tokyo, Japan with Survival Madness and became known for it there for that 1 year I was in Japan. That was also the same year that Survival Madness dominated and I think won the Legacy World Championships and various Grand Prix events. Basically, Survival of the Fittest along with Vengevine broke Legacy. And so, Survival of the Fittest had to die for Vengevine’s sins. Afterwards, I migrated on to other decks because I did not believe that UG Madness could ever come close to Tier 1 in Legacy after Survival of the Fittest’s banning. However, I always kept an updated version of Survival Madness built in Legacy and continuously updated it with ever set released (just in case WOTC unbanned it). And I also kept a version of UG Madness that I thought would be the most competitive in Legacy. I would always keep up my Madness practice when I playtest with friends in hopes of one day being able to play the deck competitively again.

What’s your current UG Madness list?

My initial build featured Aquamoebas, Genesis, Counterspell, and Hail Storm. The idea was to maximize my aggro and midrange game. Here are 3 builds of that “version” which showed how Survival Madness evolved during my time playing Premodern so far. [1] [2] [3]

However, I realized that I was losing a lot to decks like Stasis or Stiflenought who had free counters and could outcounter me. Moreover, Elves was such a terrible and almost impossible matchup. And as a result Survival Madness then morphed into this in response to Stasis and Stiflenought: [1] [2]

That build successfully solved the problem of being outcountered by decks with free counterspells while not losing much power. I also found that transformation into SurvivalNought with Cursed Totem helped the Elves matchup a TON. However I realized that I lost too much game 2 with that transformation sideboard. I needed Hydroblasts and Naturalizes versus too many decks in the Premodern metagame, and losing that affected my win rate versus the rest of the field (despite improving my wins against Elves and Stiflenought and Stasis).

And so I’m currently trying different versions of the deck to try to “fix” the Elves and Enchantress matchups while simultaneously maintain a sideboard that can have Naturalize, Hydroblast, and some sort of way to “board wipe” Elves and Enchantress. As of now, I haven’t finalized that build yet but I look forward to the day that I can show you a definite list that works.

That all being said. I want to also give attention to another build that a player named Wings_Style_Spartan has been coming up with. He goes in another direction than I, however I think his build has the potential to be better than mine. Ever since he joined our league, I’ve been talking deck theory with him, and playtesting the mirror. I honestly think he is a better Madness player than I. And so I want to showcase his build.

I am also particularly excited about the development of Survival Madness Infestation as seen here. I think this build has the potential to be the greatest version of Survival Madness in Premodern. And I am also simultaneously working on my own take of this genius idea.

Your signature innovation in UG Madness is the inclusion of Survival of the Fittest. Tell me how your version of the deck compares to traditional UG Madness without Survival.

As said above, during my Legacy years I realized that Survival of the Fittest was the answer which UG Madness needed to break Legacy. I was especially proven right after Vengevine’s printing. And so, I firmly believe that Survival of the Fittest can do the same thing for UG Madness in Premodern that it did in Legacy (break it).

To better illustrate my point, we have to start with a fundamental premise that being able to flash creatures in and gain value is a close to broken mechanic in the Premodern era. That is essentially the Madness mechanic, being able to play instant speed creatures in an era of MTG that was still relatively low powered compared to the post-Tarmogoyf MTG era. Now, imagine if you can find a deck that can CONSISTENTLY flash in your creatures? That deck would be absolutely nuts in the Premodern era. Now, imagine if that consistently flashing creatures deck could be built in a way to give you card advantage every turn along with a tempo and aggro axis of attack? Now imagine that this deck also can effectively field counterspells in addition to card advantage spells? Add in a final cherry on top, those are big creatures (as opposed to 1/1 faeries) with which you are consistently flashing in, gaining card advantage with, and outgrinding your opponents with.

Wouldn’t that deck allow you to be able to effectively play multiple different roles against different matchups? Answer is yes. That kind of deck would be able to play Aggro and swarm the enemy. That deck would be able to play Tempo, by disrupting the opponent and then sending in their threats. That deck would be able to out-Midrange the opponents during the long game. And that deck would even be able to play Control with its counterspells and post-board answers. That is a summary of Survival Madness. Survival of the Fittest lets Madness competently play any role it needs to depending on the situation. Survival Madness can be aggro, tempo, midrange, or control whenever it needs to and so can always find an advantage to win against its opponents (with a few exceptions as I will get into in your next question).

Traditional Madness has an Aggro aspect and a Tempo strategy. But it lacks power. By that, I mean Traditional Madness does not have a way to simply overwhelm its opponents and has to hope it has a strong Aggro curve (Turn 1 Study into Basking Rootwallas, Turn 2 Wild Mongrel, Turn 3 Arrogant Wurm) or that it plays its Tempo strategy well enough to clutch a win. In other words, Traditional Madness is too fair of a deck to be Tier 1, even in Premodern’s relatively low power environment. This results in a lot of games where you are either overpowered by decks with stronger strategies or in games where you have to play almost perfectly to clutch a win. Traditional Madness really punishes you for making play mistakes or miscalls because it is a very fair deck that often goes up against unfair strategies, and it does not have a “Powerful” strategy in and of itself.

In comes Survival of the Fittest. Survival of the Fittest functions as a tutor engine, card advantage engine, and enables your “best 2 drop” Wild Mongrel to be even more powerful. For example, tutoring for multiple Squee, Goblin Nabobs allows you to make your 2/2 Wild Mongrel into a 3/3 or 4/4 or 5/5 or even a 6/6 every single turn. That literally makes it into a Tarmogoyf, a card that literally defined a whole era of Magic: The Gathering. In fact sometimes my Mongrel is a better Tarmogoyf than Tarmogoyf itself would have been in that game state.

As said above, Survival of the Fittest allows you to tutor for silver bullets and for cards like Squee, Goblin Nabob for card advantage. And every creature you tutor for via Survival of the Fittest is a +1 card advantage if you discard a Squee, Goblin Nabob or a Basking Rootwalla (which also is a tempo advantage if you discard the Basking Rootwalla). In the Premodern era, card advantage is harder to build compared to today’s MTG (as seen in Modern/Pioneer/Pauper/Legacy). Being able to consistently get +1 card advantage every single turn gives Survival Madness the ability to outgrind every single deck, including Midrange decks like The Rock or control decks like Landstill. Tempo decks have no business outgrinding decks like The Rock or out-card advantaging decks like Landstill. Survival of the Fittest lets you do just that.

In short, Survival of the Fittest gives UG Madness consistency, power, and inevitability (this last quality is usually found only in Control or Midrange decks in the Premodern era). Meanwhile, putting Survival of the Fittest in UG Madness does not take away from any of its existing strengths. Survival Madness still has the same speed and aggressiveness that Traditional Madness has. Survival Madness still runs the same counterspells and Wastelands that Traditional Madness does (or at least Traditional Madness players should run those spells if they do not). Survival Madness wins more games against more decks than Traditional Madness, because it has Survival of the Fittest.

Now that we’ve established Survival Madness’ strengths, I want to move to address Traditional Madness’ weaknesses. For starters, I see a lot of decks using Circular Logic. I think that Circular Logic sucks. It is too hard to cast because it needs both a discard outlet on the battlefield (you usually only have Wild Mongrel or Aqueamoeba), a relevant graveyard (not good early game), and makes you even more vulnerable to graveyard hate. Without a discard outlet, it is a 3cc counterspell (way too slow). In other words, it is too inflexible, too situational, and there are just too many conditions that have to happen for it to be good. Circular Logic is a Type 2 card during Standard’s UG Madness. It is not good enough for Premodern.

Another criticism I have is a card like Deep Analysis. Deep Analysis in Extended and Type 2 was used to refill your hand after you play your threats, or if the opponent answers your threats. Survival of the Fittest is simply a better way of doing that. Also, it really makes your aggro matchups less good, especially against Sligh where Deep Analysis is a potential dead card or at best a very bad card. Overall though, Deep Analysis IS playable in Premodern Madness, but it is merely an “ok” card (like Aquamoeba, another “ok” card). Tier 1 decks (like Survival Madness 😉) shouldn’t run “ok” cards if they have better alternatives.

A final criticism I have about other Premodern Madness builds is Roar of the Wurm. In my experience with Roar of the Wurm builds during the era which Legacy UG Madness was playable, you absolutely needed Anger for Roar of the Wurm builds to be competitive. I see that Premodern is not as powerful as 2006 era Legacy. However, the problem of running Roar of the Wurm without Anger is still relevant. A 6/6 that does not have haste gives the opponent 1 more turn to look up an answer. That is a turn too many. It is vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares, Smother, Pernicious Deed, and even Seal of Removal. And keep in mind you are playing 4 mana for it. 4 mana for a 6/6 without haste is mediocre, even in a low powered format like Premodern. It is too vulnerable to removal, and the tempo loss you incur if it is answered is too much for a Tempo deck like UG Madness (you need to be able to guarantee at least 6 damage on the same turn you cast the 6/6 for it to be worth the risk of the tempo loss if the opponent kills it). Unlike Legacy, Premodern does not have dual lands. And so that makes splashing red for Anger very very difficult to do without resorting to suboptimal mana bases or suboptimal overall builds.

These are all the ways Survival Madness is different compared to Traditional Madness and all the reasons why Survival Madness is better than Traditional Madness.

What are some common mistakes that players new to Madness often make? Are there any sequences or plays that come to mind that are often overlooked by new players?

Survival Madness I think is a very straightforward deck once you get the hang of it. That being said though, there are several mistakes that I want to point out that I see people making.

Fetching for Squees vs fetching for Rootwallas. Your Survival of the Fittest can let you go 3 directions. You can either go “wide” and explode with multiple Rootwallas in the field, or you can go “tall” by getting multiple Squees and making your Wild Mongrel a 4/4-6/6. You can finally go “big” by getting Arrogant Wurms end of turn. Against slower decks like Landstill or decks with mass removal as part of their strategy, like the Rock, you want to go “Tall” or “Big”. Going wide opens you up to board wipes. Against decks like MUD or Stasis, you want to go wide. It’s a simple thing to figure out once you get your practice in. But that’s something that I see some people do.

Siding out Wonder. Usually its not a good idea to side out Wonder. There will always be someone you want to fly over. Wonder usually always stays unless there is a very very good reason it has to go out. I have not yet found a matchup where Wonder gets sided out. Perhaps versus Stasis, but usually I keep it in as another creature to beat with.

Blind Study. Sometimes you have no choice except to Careful Study and hope you draw into a Squee or a Rootwalla. But usually, if you have the choice, I would advise you not to Careful Study if you don’t already have something to discard it with (a Rootwalla or a Squee or a Wonder or a Genesis; 2x Survival or another Careful Study/Frantic Search in hand is also fine to discard; 2x lands are not ideal but better than nothing). If you have Careful Study turn 1, and you don’t have to cast it (you don’t have a 1 land hand for example), you should hold on to it for 1 more turn to see if you can get something to discard it with. Another tip is that even with a 1 land hand, I would wait until turn 2 to Careful Study in case you do draw a 2nd land (this is of course assuming you have nothing to discard, if you have something to discard, by all means go nuts with Careful Study).

Casting Wild Mongrel or Survival. Usually you want to cast the Survival. Against aggro decks though, Wild Mongrel needs to land ASAP. Against control, you may want to bait with a Mongrel to resolve your Survival if you think they have countermagic.

Casting Rootwalla or Playing Lands. You should hold on to your Rootwallas unless you need them to block a Lackey or you have to get the aggro going as soon as possible. Otherwise you should hold them for Survival, Mongrel, or Careful Study/Frantic Search food. You also should think about hold on to your lands if you already have played 3. If you have played 4, you really should keep your lands in your hand for discard food.

Siding Out Squees. You can at most side out 1 Squee to make yourself a 3 Squee deck. But I would not go below 3 Squees.

Gilded Drake. This is a play mistake that I always kick myself for. Against decks like Reanimator, Oath, or Stiflenought, you will be tempted to let them resolve their Oath or their Stiflenought or their Reanimate when you have a Gilded Drake in hand, or have Survival online to get it. Don’t do this if you have a counterspell available. Always try to counter their Dreadnought, Oath, or any other threat. Gilded Drake should be your plan B. Yes, it is a blowout Plan B. But relying on Drake is asking for trouble if the opponent can stop it. If you can Counter their threat, do so. Never let an Oath resolve or a Dreadnought happen if you can prevent it in the first place. Those decks need to resolve their threats to win. You don’t. You can sit back and build card advantage while grinding down.

You’ve spent time thinking about deck classifications before (e.g., Aggro, Control, Combo, Tempo, Midrange, etc.) and often share various charts to help guide discussion. How would you label Madness?

It really depends on the matchups. In short, Madness as built is a Tempo deck. Premodern Tempo is not as obviously built as Tempo decks in Legacy or Modern. Without cards like Brainstorm/Force of Will and cards like Ragavan/Dragon Rage Channeler, Premodern Tempo revolves around resolving creatures like an Aggro deck, while building card advantage like a Control deck. In a vacuum, Survival Madness naturally plays out like a Tempo deck. Your countermagic, Wastelands, and bounce effects would ideally keep them off balance enough for you to take the win. However, Survival Madness itself can and should play according to your matchups.

Survival Madness is unique in Premodern in that it can play various roles efficiently. It is a deck that is able to be flexible enough to play the Aggro, play the Control, play the Tempo, and even play the Midrange (with Genesis and Survival grinding it out). Each matchup would require different styles of play. Survival Madness should not try to out aggro the Aggro deck (Sligh/Goblins). It should not try to out Control the Control deck (Landstill; although with Careful Study and Frantic Search, Survival Madness can overpower Landstill through card advantage). It should not also try to out-Midrange the Midrange deck (against the Rock, you want to be just 1 turn faster at least, and keep Genesis or Survival active to recover against their removal).

That being said, Survival Madness can and should try to adapt to each of its matchups by picking a role that can win versus the other deck. For example, against Sligh or Goblins, you want to play a sort of Midrange game, with Wild Mongrel keeping their creatures at bay. And eventually you want to build up card advantage and stabilize with Mongrels or Wurms. Ideally, you can side in some removal depending on your build (Hydroblasts, Swords to Plowshares, Pyrokineses, Hailstorm etc.). Versus something like Stiflenought, you want to play straight up Control, holding up all your counterspells and building up card advantage. Versus Landstill you want to play Aggro, resolving your threats, protecting them, and building up slow card advantage. Versus the Rock, you want to out Tempo them. They don’t build card advantage very easily except through their mass removal, or Recurring Nightmare. You want to resolve 1 threat, bait them into trading you one for one. Survival and your blue spells and Genesis will slowly build up card advantage. Then make sure they do not resolve their threats until it is too late. Occasionally you can let them Deed you for 2. But your Survival or Genesis would be the cards that help you recover from that.

Basically, Survival Madness isn’t the most broken thing on the field. By design, it will never be unless everyone is playing a fair deck. The Madness mechanic is a fantastic mechanic that lends itself to a Tempo build. But that also means Madness will never be a deck that anyone is too afraid. Conversely, Survival Madness will always have a way to win against anything the metagame throws at it; even Elves or Enchantress. Survival Madness’ strengths are its flexibility. Depending on how you build it, you can have it tuned to any expected changes in the metagame. People have a very hard time “hosing” your deck, because there are too many different angles that you can build towards and attack from. And it is that flexibility that makes the deck I think potentially the best deck in the format.

What decks are you most excited to play against while on UG Madness? What decks and sideboard cards do you fear?

Best Matchups are decks like Deadguy Ale or Mono Black Decks, especially those with smaller creatures or “hit yourself” creatures like Phyrexian Negator. The fact that Wild Mongrel changes color blanks removal like Vendetta. The fact that you have Squee and Madness creatures makes cards like Gerrard’s Verdict actually good for you. Survival Madness creatures outsizes all of their creatures, meanwhile they have no way of incurring card advantage to outgrind you (Phyrexian Arena helps you kill them faster making it hard for them to play the long game). In short, their strategy of discard and trading 1 for 1 does not work when Survival Madness wants to discard and has bigger creatures than theirs.

Other good matchups are combo decks like Doomsday (decks that are mana hungry and run lots of nonbasic lands). Wastelands + Daze + Counterspell or Foil really do completely wreck them. They also usually have less answers for you game 1 and can’t really fix themselves enough for you game 2.

“OK” matchups which I would say Survival Madness is 55 / 45 against if played, built, and sideboarded correctly are decks like Sligh, Goblins, The Rock, Landstill, Stiflenought, and Stasis. Sligh and Goblins are winnable usually if Survival Madness can halt their initial advance (Wild Mongrel vs Sligh and wiping out Lackey/Warchief vs Goblins).

The Rock is beatable if you have Survival of the Fittest (or Genesis), and you are glad to trade 1 for 1 against them (even if they do get 2 for 1 vs you with their Pernicious Deed). You will win the long game vs a midrange deck, and that is really special. The main worry I have against the Rock is that they can time me out because they can keep indeed keep my board clear of threats (while not having any themselves), or if they somehow get the Recurring Nightmare engine going before I can get the Survival of the Fittest engine going. The fact that Survival Madness has cantrips like Careful Study or draw spells like Frantic Search/Gush makes that unlikely that the Rock will get their engine before Survival Madness gets its engine.

Same thing goes for Landstill. Survival Madness can keep up with Landstill’s card advantage, while at the same time beating down. Very hard for them to deal with. My losses against the Rock and Landstill revolves around them preventing me from using Squee to gain card advantage while gaining cards themselves. If you play right and build right, that should not be an issue, but yes do protect your card advantage engine versus The Rock or Landstill.

Stasis is an ok matchup because you usually can survive long enough to Wasteland their Forsaken City while discarding extra cards to Mongrel so that their Black Vise doesn’t kill you. You can also usually match them Counterspell for Counterspell if you run Foil. Your Naturalizes game 2 and 3 would further even out the score. Stiflenought is a lot like the Stasis matchup in that you have to win the Counter War. If you do, you have inevitability. Your Naturalizes game 2 and 3 will further this.

Finally I think Survival Madness can “outmuscle” every single other “fair” deck in the Premodern metagame due to the fact that Survival Madness has bigger creatures for the same mana, and can run a Tempo/Control/Midrange game against all other fair decks depending on the situation.

Unfavorable matchups are any deck that has Oath of Druids. I would say it is 40/60 in their favor. The reason being that Madness has to play creatures as part of its strategy. Oath literally wants you to also do that. However, Survival Madness also has access to Counterspells, Enchantment Removal, and bounce spells like Waterfront Bouncer or Gilded Drake (I consider this like a bounce spell). So you are not totally dead in the water if Oath resolves, and Survival Madness has the tools to prevent Oath from resolving. However, sadly you usually have to play your creatures to win, and you have to fight over the Oath. Oath cannot ever resolve if you can help it.

Another unfavorable matchup is any deck that can combine land destruction or mana denial with creature beatdown and creature removal. Meaning, if any deck can simultaneously remove your creatures, keep you off mana, and beat down, then that deck will cause Survival Madness (or any Madness deck) problems. Madness decks are threat light, run only 20-22 lands, and needs to be able to properly curve out or explode out threats that stick. Any deck built to attack this strategy will win lots of games versus Madness decks.

Really bad matchups are decks that go too wide or develop too fast. Chief among them are Elves and Enchantress. Elves simply goes too wide too fast for Survival Madness to keep up most of the time (although sometimes it is possible, but those times are rare). I would say I have a 20% win rate vs Elves as of now. That is a problem that literally dictates every single Survival Madness build I come up with. My builds are all about trying to figure out how to even out the Elves matchup. Another bad matchup is Enchantress. They simply draw too many cards for Madness to keep up with usually. However, I think that is solvable with cards like Reverent Silence or any other mass enchantment removal. I would still say it is a bad matchup but not as bad as Elves.

Finally, here are a list of relevant cards against Madness that I think I would be afraid of in and of themselves, regardless of what deck plays them (in no particular order): Dystopia, Elephant Grass, Exalted Angel, Haunting Echoes, Oath of Druids, Phyrexian Furnace, River Boa, Swords to Plowshares, Tangle Wire, Withered Wretch. These cards are the cards that I think can single handedly take down the entire Survival Madness deck or are so large of tempo gains for the opponent when they resolve against Madness that it strengthens any deck that has them.

Premodern has a thriving scene on MTGO organized through The Magic Online Society (“TMOS”). What is TMOS and how are the Premodern leagues and events structured?

The Magic Online Society is the main and only way to play competitive Premodern on Magic Online! We now have leagues with over 50 people with a variety of different decks that run the whole gamut of the Premodern metagame. Our team has come up with a very nice description of our tournament and prizing structure here.

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Content

• 🔊 Tom Metelsky joined Bryan Manolakos on the All Tings Considered podcast to discuss a potpourri of Premodern topics. As mentioned in the episode, please consider donating to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

• 🤔 I've Got ?????'s, a new Premodern podcast by William Hirst, has launched with two episodes so far. The first features an interview with Madness enthusiast Cyberpunker (great minds think alike) and the second features Lanny Huang and his recent innovations to The Rock.

• 🪦 Before Jace, a new Premodern blog, has launched with a first post about trying to port the Dredge archetype to Premodern.

• 💪 Anton Glans created an early contender for Best Theme Deck of the Year (a prestigious award up there with a Nobel Prize or Oscar) with his Strongest Deck in the Format packed with Premodern’s beefiest artworks. Check it out on Facebook and be inspired to do ten push-ups immediately afterward.

• 🇦🇷 Fpawlusz took UW Stiflenought (dubbed ArgenNought after the colors of the Argentinean flag) through another Magic Online Society playoffs.

• 👩‍🏫 The Banned Series has released the Mystical Tutor episode, featuring a PandeBurst combo deck with Mystical Tutor against a gauntlet of established Premodern decks of Stasis, Devourer, Angry Hermit, and UW Tide!

• 🧟‍♂️ I Play Magic uploaded a deck tech and a few matches of Zombardment against Stasis, Junk Toolbox, and Rector Combo.

• 📜 MaxMakesMagic posted on Twitter a rather neat tool they created to find old articles on the Wizards site that are no longer accessible since their site was overhauled and links were broken. Lots of great Premodern inspiration buried within those archives!

• 🥷 Surgical Ninja uploaded an in-person gameplay video between RG Goblins and Devourer.

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Results

• Romancing the Stones wrapped up their Middle School Dance Party webcam league with a Top 4 consisting of Sligh, Survival Elves, Psychatog, and UW Stiflenought. Check out the deck photos here and the VOD on their Twitch.

• The Super Gauntlet (Americas) wrapped up with Ryan Grodzinski’s Oath Parfait taking down Ricardo Barros’s UW Stiflenought in the finals. You can check out the 64-deck bracket results here, of which Nils Håkon Delphin won with the most points from correct predictions (3 of the Top 4 decks). He was awarded an altered Predict, featuring Portent flourishes from David Lee. Thanks to Michael Arnold for organizing a wonderful event!

  

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Events

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Feb. 25] Collector Legion in Southern California is hosting their second Premodern tournament, building momentum after a successful launch. Registration on their website.

• 🇮🇹 [Italy, Mar. 4] The famed 4Seasons tournament series in Bologna, Italy has a Premodern event in their Winter tournament. Register here.

• 🇩🇪 [Germany, Mar. 4] Ultra Comix in Nuremberg, Germany is hosting their ninth Premodern tournament. Facebook event here.

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Mar. 9] Phoenix Comics and Games is hosting a monthly Premodern meetup in Seattle, WA.

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Mar. 18] Mill City Old School is hosting a two-headed giant Premodern event in Roseville, MN. More details here.

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Mar. 19] BLADE Gaming in Roanoke, VA is hosting a Premodern tournament. Facebook event here.

• 🇦🇷 [Argentina, Mar. 19] Magic Lair in Buenos Aires, Argentina is hosting an Open event in the lead up to the Championship in August. Tickets here.

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Mar. 25] Misty Mountain Games in Madison, WI announced their 2023 schedule for Premodern events (with Twitch coverage courtesy of Cloudgoat Ranger), starting off with the Spring Cup. More information on Facebook.

• 🇺🇸 [United States, Mar. 26] The Premodern scene in Atlanta, GA continues to gain momentum with a monthly meetup on every fourth Sunday at The Wasteland gaming. More details and upcoming events on Facebook.

• 🇬🇧 [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.

• 🇨🇱 [Chile, Apr. 29] The National Championship will take place in Santiago, Chile with registration available here.

• 🇺🇸 [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.