This is a massive, long-form essay on the History of The Deck.

Most people are familiar with the 1995-6 versions of The Deck. But, for the first time, I unveil a number of versions of The Deck that have never been published, including the April, 1994 list and the 2016 list by Brian Weissman for Old School Magic.

http://www.vintagemagic.com/blog/old-school-magic-chapter-2-the-history-of-the-deck/

The changes to the list also serve as a history of the evolution of the Type I & Vintage formats. For that reason, there is much hear to learn and apply to modern Vintage and for Vintage history.

There is much more to say, but there are over 10K words in this article, so have at it!

Best,

Stephen

So sweet. Thanks a ton, Steve. We all appreciate your work very much!

What a brilliant article, many thanks. So nice to go back to those days.

fantastic article brother, brought back a ton of memories from the early 90's

Good read, with tons of research and actual information. I wish every Magic article was this good.

I have to say, the best part was finding out that Weissman is a fan of Duel Commander—unsurprisingly he prefers the American ban list, with the "he who spends more mana shall win" slant.

relatedly, the first time a good friend of mine and I sleeved up Old School, he correctly metagamed against my sleeving up the deck with mono-B Sceptre-Howling Mine. it truly is the greatest deck but there's always a metagame.

@Smmenen, your Moon control lists are the most interesting to me. What's your latest take on that technology?

Incredible article Steve. It's amazing how advanced some of these communities were compared to others. One of the things I loved most about magic in the mid 90s was the lack of internet and technology share. Each deck was a personal thing, to the extent that copying a friend's deck was almost sacrilegious.

Strategies were highly theoretic, but if you were able to grasp/find some of them, it was a tremendous advantage. Years later, it was always amusing to recall that maybe I won more games than I should have because I had the Ancestral and Library of Alexandria in my group, not because of stellar play, alas

the pic of Weissman's actual The Deck was a very nice touch. Thanks again.

Great article! I really enjoyed this one.

Well played Mister Menendian, you seem to enjoy these kind of productions very much.

This article is way beyond what would be expected in terms of information on an article of this nature.

I would recommend your History of Vintage compilation to anyone who has enjoyed this reading.

A very nice article! Reading the complete evolution of The Deck is some kind of a History lesson for not just who play Vintage but for everyone who plays Magic in general as well. Explanations regarding card choices and/or changes made me change my perception about metagaming.

I'm looking forward for your next article regarding the Zoo archetype. I hope you do mention there the RG beatz deck that took home the 2007 SCG Power 9 Event.

Thanks again Steve and great work!

@rageflash said:

A very nice article! Reading the complete evolution of The Deck is some kind of a History lesson for not just who play Vintage but for everyone who plays Magic in general as well. Explanations regarding card choices and/or changes made me change my perception about metagaming.

I'm looking forward for your next article regarding the Zoo archetype. I hope you do mention there the RG beatz deck that took home the 2007 SCG Power 9 Event.

Thanks again Steve and great work!

You have an eagle eye! The only mention of the next article was buried in the middle of the article. You must have read the whole thing!

I will be focusing on the archetype as of the early to mid 1990s, unfortunately. But the upside is that I will also be unveiling a video with the next article.

This is a 10 article series, so there will be something for everyone.

With this article, I was trying to create something that was more of a perennial project that would be useful for years to come. Even for people who don't like Old School formats as they are most often played, this serves as a historical piece.

No one before had ever compiled all of the published Weissman lists in a single article. I was hoping to write the "definitive" article on The Deck here. Let me know if I did so.

@Smmenen I did read the whole thing Steve and it not only fascinated me about the basic principles of deck building and what not but it also took me back to a time where playing Magic wasn't as expensive compared today. I just really wished that I can turn back time and should have invested for Power during those times Again, very nice article!

I'll still be looking forward for your Zoo article even Jamison's deck will not be included sadly; I'm a Zoo player myself so I'm very sure that it will be treat. Can't wait for that

FYI, Brian Weissman replied in the comments section of the article, so if you have questions for him, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to field them!

This was a wonderful article. I feel at risk of being enticed by your writing to enter another format, as happened to me with your Vintage articles on StarCity

@Smmenen Great great article. It almost felt like the whole early history of the game in a nutshell (which I understand you've also written?). It really helped me connect to the time before I started playing. Very cool.

Great article! Thanks for putting in the work to assemble the essay. It brings back memories.

Thanks Stephen, always enjoy reading your pieces. Your history of Vintage articles were really helpful and informative when I decided I wanted to get into this format and this one is not exception.

@Smmenen must one be member of the site to read the piece?

It seems to be generating an error when I go to read it. I have tried both the link and through the 'front page' of vintagemagic.com