Thought about building my childhood MTG deck…

[dashcol]

Nostalgia has been setting in, especially with my son getting into Pokémon cards. I thought maybe I would just rebuild my childhood tournament deck. I started playing MTG in 1994, so alpha and beta cards were easily found. I grew up very poor, and never had money to buy cards, I would do some odd and end jobs around the LCS and in return, he would give me a booster pack of MTG, and a pack of baseball cards. I would also get cards from friends they didn’t want, and I eventually built up enough to build a tournament deck and not just a deck to play with my friends, mainly filled with Unlimited and Revised cards.

First tournament I placed second, which gave me a $20 gift card to the LCS. Needless to say, I bought myself some Magic. I played a Black/Blue deck, so I grabbed myself my first Royal Assassin and a couple boosters.

Over time, I built myself a nice deck by winning tournaments which was usually a blaster box or a starter box as a prize. Those would either be sold back to the LCS to get singles I wanted, or opened and the rares traded for what I wanted. My final deck was made, and I kept it even after I stopped playing. After joining the Navy and having a pregnant wife as an E-3, I needed money. I guy I was in training with offered me $240 for the deck, and I immediately took it, that was a month’s worth of groceries and family was more important than cards. Well, I could afford to collect cards now, so I decided to start rebuilding. Here is what my deck consisted of….

Mana
4 Alpha Underground Sea
8 Alpha Swamp (some of each design I don’t remember how many of each)
8 Alpha Island (some of each design I don’t remember how many of each)

Artifacts
1 Alpha Icy Manipulator (Alpha was the important to have, as it could be used multiple times, many tournaments banned the alpha version, or made a rule to only play it once)
1 Alpha Black Lotus
1 Alpha Mox Jet
1 Alpha Mox Sapphire
1 Legend Mirror Universe

Blue cards
4 Alpha Counter Spell
2 Alpha Clone
2 Alpha Unsummon
2 Alpha Drain Power
4 Alpha Doppleganger
4 Alpha Spell Blast

Black cards
1 Alpha Lych
4 Alpha Royal Assassin
4 Alpha Demonic Tutor
2 Alpha Drudge Skeletons
2 Alpha Hypnotic Spectre

And I can’t for the life of me remember what the last 4 cards were, but that’s at least the majority of it, it was probably 2 more Drudge and 2 more Spectres….

So I went to eBay to start my buying….ummmm…okay….maybe I won’t rebuild this deck! It is crazy what these fo for now!

I know the rules have changed a lot in the game and what cards you can use, but are people still playing with these or is it pure nostalgia that is driving these prices?

I am also thinking maybe I shouldn’t have sold my deck…who needs to eat?

[soonerfreak]

Yes, I see those cards playing commander at my LCS sometimes. Most people use proxies though instead of bringing these cards in person. There is also a vintage format that can use these cards.

[dashcol]

Originally Posted by soonerfreak

Yes, I see those cards playing commander at my LCS sometimes. Most people use proxies though instead of bringing these cards in person. There is also a vintage format that can use these cards.

Interesting that they let them play with proxies. I remember not being allowed to play with a proxy, and most tournaments wouldn’t even allow you to have the cards in sleeves while playing because you could mark the sleeves in a certain manner to be able to guide your deck into the order you wanted.

Even when we were allowed to play with proxies, the proxy was only allowed in the deck, and as soon as you played it, you had to replace the proxy with the real card on the table. I specifically remember this being the thing because I’m one tournament, a guy one and had all the P9 in his decks as proxies, but then later it came out that he never owned any of the cards.

Interesting that they allow it now, but that was also 30 years ago, and the cards were maybe $100-200 each, not the thousands that they seem to be now.

[ychui1]

I want your deck.

[soonerfreak]

Originally Posted by dashcol

Interesting that they let them play with proxies. I remember not being allowed to play with a proxy, and most tournaments wouldn’t even allow you to have the cards in sleeves while playing because you could mark the sleeves in a certain manner to be able to guide your deck into the order you wanted.

Even when we were allowed to play with proxies, the proxy was only allowed in the deck, and as soon as you played it, you had to replace the proxy with the real card on the table. I specifically remember this being the thing because I’m one tournament, a guy one and had all the P9 in his decks as proxies, but then later it came out that he never owned any of the cards.

Interesting that they allow it now, but that was also 30 years ago, and the cards were maybe $100-200 each, not the thousands that they seem to be now.

I see these cards in casual commander decks so no one cares. IIRC the vintage format has a set number of proxies per deck in the official format because of the price of the cards. I'm shocked they ever bring the real cards with how much theft can happen at game stores. My friend plays with someone who never takes their main deck outside the house as replacing it would cost around $20,000.

[dashcol]

Originally Posted by ychui1

I want your deck.

I want it back too!

Originally Posted by soonerfreak

I see these cards in casual commander decks so no one cares. IIRC the vintage format has a set number of proxies per deck in the official format because of the price of the cards. I'm shocked they ever bring the real cards with how much theft can happen at game stores. My friend plays with someone who never takes their main deck outside the house as replacing it would cost around $20,000.

Interesting. So basically, I could create whatever deck I want with proxies, and just say that I have the cards at home and who would know?

[soonerfreak]

Originally Posted by dashcol

I want it back too!



Interesting. So basically, I could create whatever deck I want with proxies, and just say that I have the cards at home and who would know?

It is all about who you play with, no one I play with cares. Some may get mad, others may roll their eyes, but in a casual environment when you are just playing for fun no one should care.

[rroboo]

Originally Posted by soonerfreak

It is all about who you play with, no one I play with cares. Some may get mad, others may roll their eyes, but in a casual environment when you are just playing for fun no one should care.

The newest generation of proxies are so good you would not be able to tell without light testing or magnification on the rosette pattern. No one will get mad or know, and you aren't risking thousands getting stolen or scammed when purchasing.

[FantasyMagic]

Maybe 4x Sengir Vampire?

[dashcol]

Originally Posted by FantasyMagic

Maybe 4x Sengir Vampire?

Maybe, I know I used to play with those, but ultimately they cost too much to get out quickly so I want to say I moved on from them.

You could be right though.