Personal Premodern Retrospective
Personal Premodern Retrospective
PLUS: Is William Hirst broken in Premodern, multiple events in Germany next month, how good is Demonic Consultation
Today’s issue is a special one as it focuses on some personal Premodern highlights for me over the last year — and who doesn’t love talking about themselves? I’ll be showcasing the decks I played in the Webcam Monthlies as well as the many other ways I engaged with the Premodern community in 2022. If you’re feeling nostalgic for my 2021 recap, be sure to check it out here.
Next issue may be a Premodern round table (similar to the Legacy round table) so be on the lookout for that to start the new year!
Webcam Monthlies
The webcam monthlies, organized in the Premodern Online Play Facebook group by the wonderful Andrew Walker (when he’s not collecting Kird Apes), are the backbone of the Premodern webcam community. I wanted to share some of the decks I played this year, which leaned more established than last year’s roster of brews. Just check out the spice levels of 2021:
Interestingly, my results this year were far less impressive when it came to win rate, with only one Top 16 appearance compared to five in 2021 (though I did not compete/finish in the fourth quarter of this year). Perhaps there’s something to be said about the brewer’s advantage that I was missing while playing established decks. Let’s dig into it!
January 2022
GW Prison Oath is generally my preferred choice of deck if I’m trying to spike an event (which isn’t often). Built by green-white grandmaster and deft deck photographer Patrick Burt (you can hear him discuss the creation of GW Prison Oath on episode 139 and 177 of the All Tings Considered podcast), the deck really spoke to me due to my love of the Lands deck in Legacy. It’s one of my favorite decks to play though the games can go long and the opponent’s experience is often not a pleasant one when trapped under a Sphere of Resistance and Rishadan Port with an Oath of Druids threatening to trigger. Opponent enjoyment is something I value pretty highly in Premodern so I don’t break this one out that often! Went 3-3 this month, losing twice to Elves.
February 2022
BG BraidStax was a neat brewing challenge to include a few cards that are community favorites that don’t often see play: Natural Order, Braids, and Smokestack. I shared a few thoughts about the deck building here, but the main highlight was this was my first recorded video for my YouTube page! Ended up going 2-3 this month with some very close games (I think I also died to my own Phyrexian Arena more than once because I couldn’t sacrifice it to Braids).
March 2022
This month I played my favorite creation, False Cure Nic Fit! It wasn’t a particularly good month as far as my record went, but it was the first month I recorded the entire league. I also remember the games being very close, which spurred me to setup a hand camera for future months so that viewers could better appreciate the gameplay. I think I was also hit with a Meddling Mage in Game 1 naming False Cure nearly in the blind. The downsides of being known for a particular deck!
April 2022
I ran back GW Prison Oath in the Spring Fling and think I went something like 4-3-1? The tied game was due to both of us being so exhausted after such a long first two games that we decided to go enjoy the rest of the day. Videos for this have yet to be processed and uploaded but maybe I’ll do some processing on this series and up the playback speed and provide commentary…
May 2022
GW Enchantress is one of my favorite looking decks and I had to build it. It was also my first time trying to black border some cards, like the Brushland and Wild Growth. I was actually thinking of playing this deck if I had been able to attend the North American Champs! Videos here were the first ones uploaded with a hand camera.
June 2022
Sulfurous Sligh was my experiment to see if there was a way to combine the aggressive strategies of Mono Red and Mono Black and if the deck could have unique matchups against the meta as opposed to being a worse version of each. You can catch the recordings here but I did love the deck against combo but the painful mana base did hurt.
July 2022
Jundlhaups was inspired by Jokulhaups decks that had been tried out in Legacy in which the win condition was usually a planeswalker. I tried to find the best substitutes I could in Premodern, which would be enchantments. One of my favorite decks of the year and I think the amazement and joy of my opponents seeing Jokulhaups was worth it alone. Catch some of the videos here.
August 2022
I ran GW Prison Oath back once again, this time with minor tweaks with Triskelion and Ray of Revelation in the main. Recordings of the matches are uploaded for your enjoyment as well. Something I need to consider is whether to get the Japanese old frame foil (but new art) cards from Dominaria Remastered like Sylvan Library, Enlightened Tutor, Swords to Plowshares, and Mishra’s Factory… what do you think?
September 2022
Mono Red Control AKA Raging Glaciers was the lone deck I made it to the playoffs to this year. I had a ton of fun playing this deck even though some of the games went very long. This deck also struck a chord with a few people in the community and I think lots of improvements could be made in the future. My write-up of the deck is here while matches are uploaded here.
October 2022
TaxNought AKA Duty-Free was my attempt to combine two powerful combos increasingly popular in Premodern: StifleNought and Tax-Rack. The aim was to give up early card filtering and instead accrue card advantage later on, helping to recover faster if the opponent answered the first Phyrexian Dreadnought. Unfortunately I had to drop early in the Fall Brawl after only three matches, but I do plan to upload the recordings at some point.
Miscellaneous
Outside of actually touching cardboard, this year was filled with other ways I participated in the Premodern community. Here are some favorite highlights:
February: I unveiled the first version of my infamous alternate frame/Secret Lair Angel McAngelface deck. Here’s the deck as of November. I also published my first recorded video on YouTube, BG BraidStax vs. Slivers! Finally, I teamed up with a few pals to start a Banned Series in which we imagine what the Premodern format would look like with certain cards unbanned. I’ve been updating the thread here on the results.
May: I released the Premodern Deck Pricing Tool which helps people understand how relatively affordable decks in Premodern are. This has been a great way to introduce people to the format.
August: We held New York City’s first Premodern tournament, the New York Sleight of Mind. 90s MTG was on premise to record the event, which was won by Lanny Huang on Gro-A-Tog. Phil Blechman even recorded a song to celebrate the format and the event!
September: I polled the Magic community about which of Premodern’s most commonly played creatures they thought they could beat in an unarmed fight. A Bird of Paradise was the creature the community was the most confident about defeating while Ravenous Baloth, Ball Lightning, and Phyrexian Negator no one thought they could beat. I also adjusted my Premodern Deck Pricing Tool to help convert your deck lists into MTG Goldfish friendly formatting that defaults to old frame versions. This was especially useful for sharing deck photos!
November: I released the first iteration of my Introduction to Premodern guide, featuring a Quick Start Guide and information on gameplay, meta, decks, where to play, and content creators. I also launched this newsletter!
December: We made it a full year with monthly meetups in NYC! Thanks to Jeff Farris, Matt Perlman, Roland Chang, and Gabriel Shalom for their many contributions in organizing, hosting, promoting, and more. Here’s a quick rundown on Twitter of the most recent event.
Results
We may need to have a separate William Hirst section because in the same month he managed to take down the Midwest Premodern Championship on Mono U StifleNought and the November Webcam Monthly on Stasis (besting Mono U StifleNought). You can catch the stream for the Midwest Premodern Championships on CloudgoatRanger and the Top 16 deck lists on TC Decks.
Rich Shay and his Parfait deck took down the Fall Brawl, navigating a Top 4 that was otherwise filled with Mono U StifleNought. Top 16 lists can be found on TC Decks… special shoutout to Kyle Monson for his sweet deck featuring Contamination! Rich has now won two of the Webcam Monthlies this year after taking down June with Parfait as well.
Mishra’s Day took place in Barcelona, Spain earlier this month with both Premodern and Old School events raising over 1.7K Euros for a local charity focused on animals and plants. Great cause and I always love seeing how the community can give back. Devourer Combo (AKA Onigiri Shoot) piloted by Antonio Manrique took it down, a welcome sight to see after the deck has gone somewhat dormant after once having endured ban discussions. Three (!) Goblins decks also made it Top 8, as well as Dream Halls piloted by Iñaki Puigdollers (practicing what he preaches). Check out the rest of the Top 8 here.
Content
The Monster of the Week podcast featuring Seb Celia, Anton Glans, and Flint Espil is out with their rundown of the format in 2022, featuring the breakout decks and largest tournaments.
Mike Flores won a consecutive New York City meetup, this time playing Mono U StifleNought. He shares his thoughts on the deck, how his matchups went, and whether Portent is a good card or not.
Premodern MTGO compiled a list of the most popular/performing decks on TC Decks for 2022.
Fpawluszmtg competed in a tournament in Argentina and was able to record and provide commentary of his games while on UW StifleNought.
I Play Magic is out with another deck tech, this time covering Clerics.
What would Premodern look like if Demonic Consultation were unbanned? Check out Blade of Llanowar’s ongoing Banned Series… and you may even spot a familiar face (or set of hands) in Round 3.
The Premodern Never Give Up league shows off some amazing prizes!
Upcoming Happenings
If you have any events you’d like me to feature, let me know. Italics are events that were featured previously.
[Webcam] Signups for the January Webcam Monthly tournament have been posted in the Premodern Online Play Facebook group, be sure to fill out the form before the end of the month!
[Germany, Jan. 7] Ultra Comix in Nuremberg are holding their 7th Premodern tournament.
[Germany, Jan. 8] Et Cetera Freising is hosting their first Premodern event and proxies are allowed too. Facebook event details here.
[Germany, Jan. 14] The German Nationals will take place in Maintal near Frankfurt. Pre-registration and details available here.
[United States, Jan. 21] The first annual Battle for Richmond tournament will take place at Battlegrounds in Midlothian, VA. The tournament will allow proxies as well.
[United States, Jan. 22] Battlegrounds Gaming in Norwalk, CT are hosting their first Premodern event with the hopes that it could become a more regularly scheduled event. Details on Facebook.
[United Kingdom, Jan. 28] Callum Smith is organizing a Premodern event in London. The Legacy events he’s hosted have already become legendary so I would definitely try to make this if you can! Details on Facebook.
[United States, Feb. 11] Registration for the tournament in Seattle hosted by the Emerald City Trolls has opened up! The event is soft capped at 24 so be sure to pre-register if interested in attending. There will also be a charity raffle to benefit Mary’s Place, an organization that aids unhoused children, women, and families. More information can be found here.