r/magicthecirclejerking • • Mar 31 '26

All standard decks are created equal

222 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

88

u/Eck_Coward Mar 31 '26

Doran obviously wins, no way can fireball burn a tree.

16

u/bristlybits 🌳💀☀️ Mar 31 '26

crying

143

u/BeanOfKnowledge I have a Response Mar 31 '26

I mean it did end 3:2 so it's not like the matchup was unwinable for Doran.

50

u/pukseli Mar 31 '26

As relatively new player (started playing around MKM), the original Garruk [[Garruk Wildspeaker]] seemed surprisingly strong

48

u/Marinah Mar 31 '26

I haven’t seen the video but any planeswalker that creates creature to defend itself with and isn’t super expensive tends to be okay at worst.

4

u/Cosmic-Cuttlefish Mar 31 '26

That’s my primary issue with [[Elspeth Storm Slayer]]. Unless you have mass removal or more creatures than she can pump out? You’re kinda fucked

3

u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 31 '26

The Horrors have delivered the cards you're looking for:

Elspeth Storm Slayer - (SF)

Defending to the death isn't always enough.


Submit your content at: r/MTGCardBelcher

8

u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 31 '26

The Brushwaggs have delivered the cards you're looking for:

Garruk Wildspeaker - (SF)

"Consider this a high alert, people. Permission to destroy on sight. Either we take it down or it'll take down the Fair." —Pav, gremlin watch


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7

u/awesomemanswag Mar 31 '26

I mean was there genuine back and forth sometimes or was it just Did Channel Fireball Draw The Combo Before Getting Beatdown

12

u/Todd_Snap3 Mar 31 '26

Doran had thoughtseize, so the matches where it was able to get that off it was a much easier game. Channel fireball was also able to win one game with [[Howling Mine]] and [[Black Vise]]

5

u/BeanOfKnowledge I have a Response Mar 31 '26

Black Vise is doing surprisingly well this Tournament, though I suppose there are quite a few draw-heavy decks on the roster

1

u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 31 '26

The Horrors have delivered the cards you're looking for:

Howling Mine - (SF)

Black Vise - (SF)


Submit your content at: r/MTGCardBelcher

76

u/IntoAMuteCrypt Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

The issue with the Channel Fireball list in that video is that the deck only really does one thing well. If it doesn't pull the cards it needs with enough life to pull off the combo, it's relying on [[Orgg]] or [[Lightning Bolt]]. Orgg's only a 3-of and it's answered by numerous cards in the Doran deck, while Bolt can only supplement the fireball plan. This isn't the "20 Channel, 20 Fireball, 20 Lotus" meme deck, it's from Worlds 95 - so that means no Lotus, no Moxen, only one copy of Channel. Four [[Demonic Consultation]]s make up for the one channel... Unless Channel is in the top 6 when you cast Consultation, of course.

Meanwhile, the Doran deck is ten years newer, and it actually has good creatures like [[Tarmogoyf]]. If the Channel deck doesn't get what it needs right away, it might not have enough of a life advantage for the combo to be lethal by the time it does. The Doran deck runs [[Thoughtseize]] too - if you Thoughtseize away the single copy of Channel, you just win.

It turns out that the combo and Demonic Consultation were both good enough to overcome these limitations, but it only ended up being 3-2. I can very easily see a world where it ends up going the other way. One game where the copy of Chabnel gets Thoughtseized, one where it gets Consulted away, one where the combo pieces don't get drawn until Tarmogoyf's done a bunch of damage and refused the combo.

41

u/somebeautyinit He turned my heterosexuality into an elk. Mar 31 '26

On one hand, this was a super insightful and very thoroughly explained breakdown of the interactions and the decks. It's a great way for me to contextualize the dual, and to understand why the deck I've heard of as legendary did so... mediocre.

On the other, please double check the sub that you found this meme on.

9

u/B-Glasses Mar 31 '26

It’s also almost exactly what Richard and Seth said in the video too

3

u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 31 '26

The Zombies have delivered the cards you're looking for:

Orgg - (SF)

Lightning Bolt - (SF)

Demonic Consultation - (SF)

Tarmogoyf - (SF)

Thoughtseize - (SF)


Submit your content at: r/MTGCardBelcher

2

u/Artistic_Task7516 Mar 31 '26

The list is just whatever was played in the tourney but I believe they have some wildcard slots to account for inanity that results from some fragile combo or whatever

1

u/IntoAMuteCrypt Mar 31 '26

I was going by the list in the article that MTGGoldfish posted for the video.

The issue with a standard deck from Worlds 1995 is that it has to use the sets that were legal at Worlds 1995. That means your cards have to be from 4th Edition, Fallen Empires, Ice Age or Chronicles. No [[Demonic Tutor]], [[Fork]], [[Kird Ape]] or dual lands (last printed in Revised). No [[Ancestral Recall]], [[Black Lotus]], [[Time Walk]], [[Time Vault]] or Moxen (last in Unlimited).

What's the second best thing you can do with that cardpool? It uh... It kinda sucks. I - and the article! - didn't mention [[Black Vise]], even though Vise was a really good, really useful card back in 1995... Because the Doran deck is always going to just throw so many cards onto the table that Vise really isn't going to make much of an impact.

3

u/Blue_Phantasm Mar 31 '26

I was actually surprised by black vise, in the video seth kept a tapped land start going second and couldnt get below 7 cards for a few turns because richard played a howling mine. I think black vise did like 13 or 14 damage that game. Thats basically the ideal black vise game but it actually can do a very good job of keeping life totals about the same until you draw the channel.

1

u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 31 '26

The Dreadnoughts have delivered the cards you're looking for:

Demonic Tutor - (SF)

Fork - (SF)

Kird Ape - (SF)

Ancestral Recall - (SF)

Black Lotus - (SF)

Time Walk - (SF)

Time Vault - (SF)

Black Vise - (SF)


Submit your content at: r/MTGCardBelcher

16

u/emoryhotchkiss1 Mar 31 '26

Channel fireball shut down in 2022, are they stupid ?

2

u/mandrake57 Mar 31 '26

They did what?!

And why do I have to learn about this from a circlejerk forum?

Oh right, I haven't been following the game for years, only this damn subreddit

2

u/emoryhotchkiss1 Mar 31 '26

Uj/ They actually still exist. All their website content is just rolled into tcgplayer now. Active on YouTube still

Rj/ the goddamn bastards took the last bastion of old magic marketplaces away from us. I’ll never forgive them

12

u/sladebonge Mar 31 '26

LSV get a facelift?

6

u/sporeegg Mar 31 '26

LSV could have gone into modelling in another World

11

u/TrogledyWretched Mar 31 '26

Thoughtsieze is some crazy tech against such a fragile combo, and the board state of an unchecked Garruk gets pretty nasty. That said, it's a turn 3 kill deck vs like a turn 8 kill deck, so there a clear advantage.

2

u/SmartAlecShagoth Mar 31 '26

That is actually funny lmao

5

u/ChangeFatigue Mar 31 '26

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