Ye Olde Deckbuilding Challenge #12- 2003
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Aug. 2, 2013, 9:48 a.m. by doinitwrong
This challenge is for the Old Fogey that soothly misses the good olde days of Magic, before the mischievous age of Miracles, Infect, and Annihilator.
Want to request a challenge? Visit the YODBC Request Page.
For this challenge, we'll use the most recent standard we can for these challenges: June 2003, just a month before 8th edition, and the modern card style, were introduced.
What to do:
- Build up to two 60-card decks (Thou shalt not count to 61, nor to 59).
- You may use cards from the following sets:
- You may have a sideboard of up to 5 cards for use with wishes. It will not be accessible between games.
Post your deck here by Sunday, August 11th, at which time I'll take all submissions and have a tournament to determine the superlative one. The tournament will be a few rounds of swiss, with the top 4 (or 8 if enough submissions are made) doing single-elimination afterwards.
Banned List- For this challenge, there is none.
So, what deck will prove victorious? Will it be a netdeck from the era, or a random build made just for this challenge? UB Tog? UG Madness? Wake? Dragonstorm? Tribal? Good luck to all and may the best antiquarian win!
P.S. If anyone wants me to ping them when I post a new challenge so you don't miss out, let me know.
Even though I didn't submit a deck, it's nice to see the builds that were around in this period of magic. Good matches and nice write-ups too! Good luck all.
August 13, 2013 4:04 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #4
Swiss Round 1 Results (part 1) :
Dritz's Odyssey: The Tormenting Seventh Legion's Onslaught (0-1) vs. doinitwrong's Drinker of Ichor (0-0)
G1: Odyssey takes control early with bigger creatures and Worship . Gempalm Avenger and Longbow Archer beat down Drinker.
G2: Daru Warchief and Glorious Anthem make Odyssey's creatures huge, and he easily overpowers Drinker.
Odyssey: The Tormenting Seventh Legion's Onslaught wins 2-0
Look, Dritz, I'm not saying you should lose on purpose to the guy that runs these things, but could you at least make it a little less 1-sided?
Dritz's Slip Slidin' Away (0-1) vs. Azure124's YODBC 03 (0-1)
G1: Azure quickly ramps into some big creatures and quickly knocks Slip to 4, but Wrath of God stops them. Azure is slow to get more threats out after, giving Slip time to get Astral Slide out. The Slide holds Thriss, Nantuko Primus at bay while Exalted Angel goes to work, eventually getting the win.
G2: Slip mulligans to 5, but gets a T3 Astral Slide . Azure comes up with a clever way to morph Krosan Cloudscraper - stick Blanchwood Armor on it and force Slip to Slide it. Slide keeps the Cloudscraper in check while Exalted Angel goes to work on Azure. With time running out, Azure tries not paying Cloudscraper's upkeep in the hope he'll draw a land and be able to play Crush of Wurms . He does, but Slip simply cycles 3 lands to remove them and finishes the beating.
Slip Slidin' Away wins 2-0
atreyujames's It's Horror-ble (My Pun That Is) (0-1) vs. heuertag's Burning Bridge 03 (0-1)
Match played and written up by truble.
G1: Bridges mulls to 6 and Horrors keeps. Bridges is on the play. Mesmeric Fiend takes an Ensnaring Bridge but Shock puts it right back. Ensnaring Bridge hits the table for bridges. Boneshard Slasher comes in, gets Shock ed right away. Horrors misses a land drop and is stuck at 3. Another Boneshard Slasher is hit with Shock . Millstone comes down. Balthor the Defiled hits eventually but can't attack. Buried Alive puts three Faceless Butcher in the graveyard. Words of War comes down and makes things look grim. nothing is attacking this game. Horrors finds a Mana Echoes but can't cast it. The next turn a Diabolic Tutor finds a Mountain . Words of War knocks him to two and the Mana Echoes hits but cant combo until next turn. War of wards finishes him off.
G2: Ensnaring Bridge hits turn three again, but there is a Mana Echoes on horrors side. Burning Wish finds Buried Alive , Buried Alive finds triple Faceless Butcher . Words of War lands horrors is one mana short of combo a Faceless Butcher from hand gets a Disruptive Pitmage . Words of War plus a Shock kill the butcher. Burning Wish finds a Blaze . Patriarch's Bidding goes on the stack pitmage counters it but horrors pays one. One red open now, The Faceless Butcher combo nets infinite and Blaze is cast for the win
G3: Both keep 7s. bridge opens on Grim Lavamancer . Raging Goblin keeps up the beets. Buried Alive finds the butchers. double Shock takes horrors down to 10. Mindslicer helps stabalize horrors at 8 now. Patriarch's Bidding gets back three butchers to clear the board . Ensnaring Bridge lands. butchers put bridges to 10. double Book Burning and Millstone finish him off as as Ensnaring Bridge holds him at bay
Burning Bridge 03 wins 2-1
heuertag's Elf-Tribe 03 (0-1) vs. atreyujames's It's Madness (1-0)
G1: Madness has a slow start, not drawing many madness cards for Wild Mongrel to enable. Timberwatch Elf and Wirewood Pride makes things look grim. Madness is a turn away from a saving Starstorm when Elvish Champion arrives and finishes it.
G2: Madness starts with Wild Mongrel and some good madness cards, but the elves come strong as well. Both sides clear each other in combat, and it's a race of who can recharge first. Elf-Tribe does and wins with a Tribal Forcemage -fueled alpha strike.
Elf-Tribe 03 wins 2-0
August 13, 2013 6:19 p.m.
atreyujames says... #5
Well, for me this challenge is already a success. So happy that my deck got to combo off at least once =)
August 13, 2013 8:01 p.m.
Yeah, I was playing the match on trice, and you just had no way of dealing with ensnaring bridge, so I went for the combo really hard
August 13, 2013 8:54 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #7
Swiss Round 2 Results (part 2) :
Ruric's 2003 Goblins Deck (1-0) vs. truble's Reanimater 2003 eddition (1-0)
G1: Reanimator can't draw a way to entomb any fatties, and his Doomed Necromancer s get hit with Gempalm Incinerator . Goblin Piledriver and Goblin Warchief lead the blitzkrieg and Reanimator falls.
G2: Goblins burns through 2x Doomed Necromancer s before he has a chance to reanimate Scion of Darkness . Piledriver and Warchief again lead the stampede that overruns Reanimator.
2003 Goblins Deck wins 2-0
truble's Standstill Control (1-0) vs. Absinthman's Ye Olde Goblin Bidding (1-0)
G1: Standstill does a good job of shutting down Bidding's little green men with Standstill , edicts and Infest . Bidding gets manaflooded, leaving him vulnerable to an early Psychatog . Deep Analysis and cycling lands allow Standstill to swing for game before Bidding can get another goblin.
G2: Standstill struggles to hold Bidding at bay, but manages to stabilize at 7 life with the help of Crypt Rats , Bane of the Living , and countering Siege-Gang Commander . Bane beats away while counters keep the goblins out. Future Sight helps a lot here, and Bidding is defeated.
Standstill Control wins 2-0
Ruric's 2003 LD (1-0) vs. fluffybunnypants's Midnight City (1-0)
G1: LD starts very aggressively with Hystrodon and Krosan Tusker . Midnight's mana is disrupted enough that he's 1 Swamp shy of Mutilate killing everything. Instead, Tusker survives and mauls Midnight for the win.
G2: Midnight Duress 's a lot of landhate early, which helps him a lot, giving him enough mana to deal with threats as they come. Hystrodon , Krosan Tusker , and Chartooth Cougar all get hit by Chainer's Edict , and Rorix Bladewing is lost to Mind Sludge . Haunting Echoes is brutally effective, leaving LD with just Skirk Prospector , Starstorm , and lands in his deck. Two Corrupt s later, game 3 is forced.
G3: LD gets and early Hystrodon . Duress and Cabal Therapy neutralize Midnights landhate, and Mind Sludge hits a hand full of good stuff. Haunting Echoes takes out everything but Rorix Bladewing and Chartooth Cougar . Chainer's Edict and Visara the Dreadful deal with those threats as they are played, and Undead Gladiator gets the slow victory.
Midnight City wins 2-1
Swiss Round 3 Pairings :
- YODBC 03 (0-2) vs. Drinker of Ichor (0-2)
- It's Horror-ble (My Pun That Is) (0-2) vs. It's Madness (1-1)
- Odyssey: The Tormenting Seventh Legion's Onslaught (1-1) vs. Ye Olde Goblin Bidding (1-1)
- Slip Slidin' Away (1-1) vs. Elf-Tribe 03 (1-1)
- Burning Bridge 03 (1-1) vs. 2003 LD (1-1)
- Reanimater 2003 eddition (1-1) vs. Midnight City (2-0)
- 2003 Goblins Deck (2-0) vs. Standstill Control (2-0)
August 14, 2013 1:38 a.m.
WOW!, even though 2003 LD lost im really excited to read the next match!
August 14, 2013 7:42 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #10
Swiss Round 3 Results (part 1) :
Azure124's YODBC 03 (0-2) vs. doinitwrong's Drinker of Ichor (0-2)
G1: Drinker counters a turn 4 Silvos, Rogue Elemental . Azure sticks Blanchwood Armor on his Llanowar Elves and starts beating with him, soon adding Thriss, Nantuko Primus to the mix. Drinker has trouble getting removal, and is defeated.
G2: Azure gets Blanchwood Armor on Silvos, Rogue Elemental and Birds of Paradise . Drinker has trouble getting anything going and is beaten down quikly.
YODBC 03 wins 2-0
atreyujames's It's Horror-ble (My Pun That Is) (0-2) vs. It's Madness (1-1)
G1: Horror mulligans to 5 and still gets manascrewed. Madness beats him down several turns before he has a chance of comboing off.
G2: Wild Mongrel leads to cheap burnspells for Madness, and all of Horror's early creatures get taken out. Horror has a lot of combo pieces in his hand, but the Mongrels move too fast and he is defeated again.
It's Madness wins 2-0
Dritz's Slip Slidin' Away (1-1) vs. heuertag's Elf-Tribe 03 (1-1)
G1: Elf gets a ton of early ramp, leading to a turn 4 Crush of Wurms . Wrath of God , however, spoils all that before they can attack. Exalted Angel shows up right after and starts beating. Astral Slide keeps Elf down while the angel and Decree of Justice soldier tokens bring game 1 to a close.
G2: Elf starts early with Elvish Vanguard and Timberwatch Elf . Slip has to Wrath of God to stay alive. Afterwards, Lightning Rift and Slice and Dice keep hating on any elves played. Eventually, Exalted Angel arrives and cleans house.
Slip Slidin' Away wins 2-0
heuertag's Burning Bridge 03 (1-1) vs. Ruric's 2003 LD (1-1)
G1: Bridge burns LD's little guys, but then LD obliterates Bridges landbase. Hystrodon and Krosan Tusker then get played. Bridge can't get another land out, and is summarily pulverized.
G2: Bridge does a good job of burning LDs creatures. LD colorscrews Bridge out of blue. Disruptive Pitmage , Words of War , and Grim Lavamancer slow LD down, but can't completely stop the steady stream of fatties. Krosan Tusker and Chartooth Cougar manage to power through for the kill.
2003 LD wins 2-0
August 14, 2013 2:32 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #11
Round 3, part 2 will be up soon. Sorry for the delay, blame sleep.
August 15, 2013 12:01 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #13
Swiss Round 3 Results (part 2) :
Dritz's Odyssey: The Tormenting Seventh Legion's Onslaught (1-1) vs. Absinthman's Ye Olde Goblin Bidding (1-1)
G1: Both sides get creatures quickly, and a brief stalemate ensues. Smother and Gempalm Incinerator end the stalemate in favor of Bidding. All of Odyssey's soldiers get killed, so despite Worship , Odyssey still falls.
G2: Glorious Anthem and Longbow Archer s hold Bidding at bay until Gempalm Incinerator and Smother clears them. Goblin Piledriver leads the charge, and Odyssey falls before he can get another soldier out.
Ye Olde Goblin Bidding wins 2-0
truble's Reanimater 2003 eddition (1-1) vs. fluffybunnypants's Midnight City (2-0)
G1: Reanimator runs into several edicts, sacrificing Akroma, Angel of Wrath at least 4 times. Nothing but a few Duress es happen for some time. Finally, Midnight topdecks a Corrupt for 10. Reanimator gets Strands of Night and sets up a pattern of bringing back Phantom Nishoba , swinging for 7, then sacrificing it to an edict. Midnight tries using Corrupts to stay alive, but ultimately can't stop the reanimation and succumbs.
G2: A Duress war hurts both players, but Reanimator is also helped. He brings back Akroma, Angel of Wrath , but Midnight has more edicts than he has reanimation spells, so it soon dies again. Visara the Dreadful arrives for Midnight, and she starts beating away. Reanimator is knocked down to 1 life when he draws Strands of Night , so he can't use it and is killed.
G3: Again, Midnight has more ways to kill than Reanimator has to reanimate. Midnight gets the Mirari to twincast everything. Eventually, he is able to twincast a pair of Corrupt s for massive, lethal damage.
Midnight City wins 2-1
Ruric's 2003 Goblins Deck (2-0) vs. truble's Standstill Control (2-0)
G1: T1 Ostracize hits Goblin Piledriver . A pile of early goblins die to Infest . Edicts and countermagic minimize subsequent goblins, but Standstill's reliance on Underground River and Cephalid Coliseum causes pain. Psychatog lands and deters attacks from Goblins. Engineered Plague is humorously cruel, reducing Reckless One from 3/3 to dead in no time flat and allowing Tog to attack. Bane of the Living is hardcast, and Standstill proceeds to win.
G2: Ostracize , counterspells, and Crypt Rats do a good job of preventing all goblins. All, that is, but Goblin Goon . Standstill can't get anything to remove it once it hits, and it pummels him down to force game 3.
G3: Standstill gets a turn 3 Engineered Plague and turn 4 Standstill . After countering Goblin Goon , Psychatog arrives ant starts beating. Any goblins that could survive the Plague are countered after tripping Standstills. Tog marches on to victory.
Standstill Control wins 2-1
The Top 8:
- Standstill Control (3-0) (6-2)
- Midnight City (3-0) (6-3)
- 2003 Goblins Deck (2-1) (5-2)
- Slip Slidin' Away (2-1) (4-2)
- 2003 LD (2-1) (5-3)
- Ye Olde Goblin Bidding (2-1) (4-3)
- It's Madness (2-1) (4-3)
- Reanimater 2003 eddition (1-2) (3-4)
August 15, 2013 12:44 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #14
Midnight City went 2-0 in round one, should be 6-2 =/.
August 15, 2013 1:23 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #15
fluffybunnypants Sorry, my mistake. You're still #2 after tiebreaks, however.
August 15, 2013 2:13 p.m.
Absinthman says... #17
Cool, I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the top eight. Nice to see that my deck is working. At least to some extent...
August 15, 2013 5:43 p.m.
potatoedoughnut says... #18
This is cool. I missed these sets during my magic hiatus so it's cool seeing what kind of archetypes were around. I like the land destruction and MBC.
August 15, 2013 6:26 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #19
Sorry for the delay guys. This week's been really busy for me. I'll get the rest of the results (and next challenge) up by tomorrow.
August 15, 2013 11:43 p.m.
Hey, I am going to be taking a break from magic for a while. If I end up winning I want Sing to the Jhoira Tune to be the deck that gets advertised. Thanks
August 16, 2013 1:08 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #21
Top 8 Results (part 1):
Ruric's 2003 Goblins Deck vs. Absinthman's Ye Olde Goblin Bidding
G1: Burn and killspells prove the decider in this game, as both sides obliterate each other's Goblin Warchief s, Goblin Piledriver s, and Reckless One s. Bidding is more efficient here, and manages to keep a Piledriver alive long enough to knock 2003 down to 2 life. After that, the combo of Goblin Sledder and Goblin Sharpshooter take care of the remaining life for the victory.
G2: After both sides get a few attacks in, a massive stalemate develops, which somehow ends in both sides' boards being cleared. 2003 hits a land pocket, can't reestablish board presence, and is thus defeated in the mirror match.
Ye Olde Goblin Bidding wins 2-0
fluffybunnypants's Midnight City vs. atreyujames's It's Madness
G1: Chain of Plasma does a lot of damage to Midnight, along with Fiery Temper . Madness can't maintain board presence, however, due to edicts. Haunting Echoes takes out a lot of Madness cards. Visara the Dreadful deals with the small army of Elephants Madness makes, the a second Echoes leaves Madness with 2 Gigapede s and 9 lands in his library. Visara and Corrupt take out what's left of Madnesss life.
G2: Madness has to mulligan to 4, but still manages to build up a small elephant army (which is promptly lost to edicts). Cabal Coffers gives Midnight an early Visara the Dreadful , She, along with multiple Corrupt s, end the match before Madness can do much else.
Midnight City wins 2-0
Dritz's Slip Slidin' Away vs. Ruric's 2003 LD
G1: LD gets a quick Hystrodon and Chartooth Cougar , but Slip gets 2 quick Astral Slide s. While constantly flickering LD's bombs, Slip manages to morph 2x Exalted Angel s, which fly over for the victory.
G2: Both sides set to work removing any creatures the other plays. Land destruction colorscrews Slip out of red, and also minimizes the shenanigans that can be done with Eternal Dragon . Ultimately, the Lightning Rift played on turn 2 proves the difference as Slip is able to slowly cycle and burn away.
Slip Slidin' Away wins 2-0
truble's Standstill Control vs. Reanimater 2003 eddition
G1: Reanimator gets a quick Scion of Darkness , but Boomerang neutralizes it. Haunting Echoes takes out Doomed Necromancer and Zombify . Both players kill any creatures that get played in a very long stalemate. The last card in Stanstill's library is Crypt Rats , which he wanted activate for lethal in response to Smother for the unexpected win. Unfortunately, however, he had Engineered Plague out naming rats. He can't do anything and decks out.
G2: After a bitter stalemate, Reanimator manages to get Strands of Night out, constantly bring back Phantom Nishoba , and beat Standstill down.
Reanimater 2003 eddition wins 2-0
August 17, 2013 1:46 a.m.
Rockin' stuff. I'm slow to comment again as I am out of town and just got back from a 5 day camping trip. Loving the stuff, keep it coming!
August 17, 2013 4:40 a.m.
Absinthman says... #24
Made it to top 4, heh. Things went better than expected I suppose.
August 17, 2013 10:22 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #25
Top 8 Results (part 2):
fluffybunnypants's Midnight City vs. Absinthman's Ye Olde Goblin Bidding
G1: Bidding has to mulligan to 5, and Midnight easily handles the goblins he plays early. Midnight gets a turn 5 Visara the Dreadful , which ends the game quickly with help from Corrupt .
G2: Bidding has to mulligan to 5 again. A pair of Siege-Gang Commander s give Midnight trouble, but he manages to deal with them before they kill him. After that, Midnight is able to get stable and remove any goblins played. A pair of Corrupt topdecks give Midnight the match win.
Midnight City wins 2-0
truble's Reanimater 2003 eddition vs. Dritz's Slip Slidin' Away
G1: A well-timed Persecute hits a bunch of cycle cards, so Slip can't use Astral Slide to bounce Phantom Nishoba and is overwhelmed.
G2: A pair of Duress es hinder Slip, and Reanimator's Akroma, Angel of Wrath nearly bets him down. Slip recovers, however, and uses Wrath of God + Morningtide to deal with Akroma for good. Decree of Annihilation is cycled, and Slip is the first to rebuild his mana base. After Lightning Rift does some damage to Reanimator and Slip regains some life with Renewed Faith , Exalted Angel arrives and finishes Reanimator off.
G3: Slip gets 2x Astral Slide and Lightning Rift early, so he can easily deal with Akroma, Angel of Wrath . When Reanimator tries adding Phantom Nishoba , Slip plays Wrath of God and Morningtide to remove 2 of Reanimator's wincons. Scion of Darkness arrives, but the Slides handle him easily as Eternal Dragon beats him down.
Slip Slidin' Away wins 2-1
August 18, 2013 10:21 a.m.
Absinthman says... #26
Well, my luck has been depleted it seems. Good games guys, and good luck in the finals, fluffybunnypants.
August 18, 2013 10:27 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #28
Sorry this tournaments been strung out so long, guys. Ill do my best to keep that from happening in future challenges.
Top 8 Results (part 3):
fluffybunnypants's Midnight City vs. Dritz's Slip Slidin' Away
G1: Duress and Cabal Therapy cripple Slip early on. A Mirari -copied Corrupt would have been lethal but for Renewed Faith . Slip slows Midnight down by cycling Decree of Annihilation . While players recharge their mana bases, Haunting Echoes exiles 20 of the 30 cards left in Slips deck, including all wincons but Decree of Justice . Next turn, Corrupt does the final damage.
G2: Slip gets an early Lightning Rift and Astral Slide , but Duress and Cabal Therapy again wreak havoc on him. 2x Lightning Rifts do extremely well for Slip, though, as he is able to burn Midnight surprisingly fast. With 1 life left, Midnight topdecks Diabolic Tutor , finds Corrupt , and copies it with Mirari for the unexpected win.
Midnight City wins 2-0
Congratulations fluffybunnypants, you are the winner of Ye Olde Deckbuilding Challenge #12!
August 18, 2013 11:35 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #31
doinitwrong: when I was building the deck, I was considering dumping my two Smother s into Innocent Blood and dropping Skeletal Scrying to one for an extra tutor. Did either of those cards prove useful?
August 20, 2013 10:01 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #32
Next challenge will be up either today or tomorrow, I just need to run through the card pool and make banned/restricted list.
fluffybunnypants: Your opponents usually didn't have more than 1 creature out, so Innocent Blood may have been better than Smother . Skeletal Scrying was a great EOT drawspell, whether it was for 2, 5, or 8. I liked it better than Diabolic Tutor because it drew cards en masse. Plus, it was way more fun than tutoring.
August 20, 2013 11:03 a.m.
Thanks again for running these doinitwrong. I'm looking forward to seeing the next challenge.
August 20, 2013 11:49 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #34
Seconded! It's a lot of work to pull this off and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to participate.
August 20, 2013 11:56 a.m.
doinitwrong, yep thanks a lot i do appreciate it too, my days as an active MTG player have passed now im just casual player like once every 15 days or so, and as a Johnny player watching the deck i made being played is really satisfying ...hope it happens again soon
August 20, 2013 12:18 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #36
Thank you everyone who participated, and thanks for the appreciation. I'm glad you guys like these challenges as much as I do. I'm a lot like Ruric: after spring semester ended and I was cut off from my casual playgroup, my inner Johnny got tired of playing my own decks against each other.
By the way...
Ye Olde Deckbuilding Challenge #13- Mirage is up! Bonus points to whoever makes a good ProsBloom or Doomsday build!
Ruric says... #1
what a match! i stay with It's Horror-ble (My Pun That Is) vs 2003 LD G3 it is really cool a tournament were there's variety of archetype
August 13, 2013 8:16 a.m.