Magic's FIRST Combo Deck: Pros Bloom | MTG Deck History #30 | Magic: the Gathering

[@RV1AND]

Funnily enough Mike Long is not the only person named Mike Long to be embroiled in a cheating scandal around that time. There's another Mike Long who dominated the Southern California competitive fishing circuit in the 90s and early 00s, setting a ton of lake records for bass size and winning a ton of money at competitions until he was caught with a hidden fish tank in his boat. It's an interesting story to read about, and oddly similar since that's basically the competitive fishing version of the hidden card trick.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Haha I found that when I googled Mike Long and though "What are the chances?"

[@hermodnitter3902]

Perhaps it *IS* the same Mike Long. Legend says he is still sometimes seen squatting and fishing...

[@JD-gk7eh]

That fishing story really puts "Rootwater Thief" into new context.

[@bradsievers9412]

It's actually the same Mike Long, he's just really Long

[@AronFigaro]

His brother was also a big deal in Pokemon and the team he founded in Canada rigged events for decades to come.

[@georgeducharme2819]

Give us a top 10 mtg controversies

[@Patashu]

top 10 mtg instances of cheating in particular I'd LOVE

[@kadenkks]

Some people unironically liked damage on the stack

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

I don’t know, can you even think of 10 controversies surrounding mtg? Without stretching the definition to include things like power creep, that is, because while that’s controversial among the community, it’s not interesting at all as far as controversies go. We’d need things that got the general, non-player public riled up for it to be juicy enough. It’s also worth considering that that type of video has a whole different vibe than his usual stuff. Parts of it would be inherently politically-charged, which is a whole slippery slope in and of itself that a lot of content creators want to avoid, as well as anger-inducing for a lot of people (think the whole 90s era where offensive imagery was put on cards like Invoke Prejudice). I’d still watch it, if there were enough interesting controversies to fill 10 slots, but the idea has more serious weight to it than one might realize at first. I’m just picturing two things that make me question it: a hostile comment section, and a potentially unexciting video. Just my two cents. Maybe I’m wrong, and he makes the video, and it goes over well. Maybe not. I also don’t love how “shameless clickbait”-y it feels, like something Buzzfeed would do, but that’s just personal preference.

[@SevenWD40]

@@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai well I am aware there has been some rules controversies, like pithing needle needing to name the exactly specific card. Dyrad arbor being put in your lands, but I'm not fully aware of enough for 10

[@williammoody4950]

Go ask nikachumtg to do this

[@hilocampus9361]

Mike Long bluffing Mark Justice and getting him to concede even though he had no more Drain Life in the deck was legendary.

[@EliMitchellLarson]

Was shocked this wasn’t covered! Incredible angle shooting story, first thing pros bloom brings to mind

[@camdenharper7244]

Another interesting thing with the Channel/Fireball deck. The original mulligan rule was all land/no land. That meant if you had all lands or no lands in your opening hand you could mulligan with no penalty. Some smart people figured out that if you had exactly Channel, Fireball, Mox Ruby, and Black Lotus in your opening hand you had a turn one kill. If you had lands in your deck you could mulligan endlessly until until you have those four and win every game on turn one. That's why they went to the "Paris mulligan"

[@MrJ6H]

Really enjoyed how you tied in some of the history of the players behind these decks! Outstanding video!

[@Titanreaver616]

I enjoy this version of the series a lot. Its fun to explore some highlights from specific eras of magic, and decks that could only really exist with those highly specific conditions. There is also a bit of nostalgia for these old decks, so that helps for me at least. Seeing how broad archetypes shift over time is also fun, but examples like this which are so unique is more fun to me. I think Trix would be another good example of that. Of course "The Deck" should probably be featured eventually just for its fame. Also I could have sworn this deck played Nev Disc somewhere in the 75. Maybe its just a different version, or maybe that was the Necro deck that came out after this. Doesn't really matter but I figure maybe you might know by chance.

[@mikluna4263]

Prosperbloom and Kismet/Stasis were my favorite decks back in the day. They really brought a cerebral element to M:tG beyond the more popular (though no less fun) weenie decks.

[@dilbert719]

I'd love to see this form of deck history video continue, perhaps alternating with the more standard version, especially for famous decks that really only functioned in a single environment like Pros Bloom, Rec Sur, or The Solution. One thing I'd like to hear more of in the single-deck history, if it's feasible, is a deeper breakdown of the meta at the time to help understand how the deck functioned against its primary competitors. I know you mentioned, for example, the white weenie deck in standard that thwarted PB in that format, but it'd be interesting to hear more about the matchup and what specific interactions made Bloom vulnerable, or what other decks were tried against Bloom and came up short.

[@dtelad11]

I enjoyed the deep-dive format! With previous videos I often paused to look up the cards on Gatherer and figured out any interactions/combos/synergies. It was helpful to have it all in the video.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

ProsBloom was pretty idiot-proof too. I had heard about the deck, and wanted to try it out, so I loaded up Apprentice (a free CCG player for DOS) and grabbed a pre-made version of ProsBloom, challenged a friend to a match. Without having even looked at the cards before-hand, I was able to put the combo together and defeat him several times (technically the first time was the only 'I dont know how this deck is supposed to work' moment, of course)

[@simongunkel7457]

The Alpha degenerate combo deck one should note that it was any number of copies per card and 40 card decks in constructed. So the most consistent T1 kill deck would be 10 Black Lotus 30 Ancestral Recall You'd target yourself with ancestrals until you had 12 Recalls in hand and 12 Blue Mana and then could just target the opponent with ancestrals to mill them out.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Indeed, I went with the Channel/Fireball one because I could draw a direct line from the 1993 Channel Fireball Deck to 1994 worlds, which I had to explain wasn't a "combo" deck, despite running Channel/Fireball.

[@SunSwipePrime]

It'd be really cool if a Recurring Survival video could happen some time in the future. It was my favorite deck back in the day.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I'm sure it will happen.

[@Murph978]

These videos just keep getting better. I love hearing about some of the meta-history surrounding these decks, as a newer player I've hardly heard any of these crazy stories!

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

When I was listening to this while getting read to sleep, and thus not actually watching it, I nearly jumped up to comment on the channel-fireball stuff, cause yeah you need fast mana - a mountain and a black lotus, or some combination of a forest or mountain and three moxen to give you a minimum R GG. Or a mox and a black lotus. or, if you were *really* lucky, two black lotuses ($$!!)

[@JoshyBoy219]

Looking forward to your Kamigawa limited set review. The set looks like it's going to be fun. Also very interesting video. I find the history of mtg to be a very interesting topic.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Cool, thanks!

[@llongone2]

I remember when I put this deck together for the first time and I brought it to my LGS. I was just blown away by how consistent it was. It seemed like a jumble of unrelated cards, but when you got those three cards...the game was just over then.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

That is probably my favorite thing about MTG: taking a random assortment of cards, put them together into a deck and it somehow just consistently works, despite probability suggesting otherwise, it's like...well...Magic! :P LOL

[@mayaklein2995]

I would LOVE it if you had a new series covering the history of competitive magic. More stories like this cheating scandal, as well as an overview of the competitive structure and how it's changed over the years. Almost like a love letter to competitive magic since it's changing (disappearing?!) so much at the moment.

[@nmnate]

Ah, I still have a mirage cadaverous bloom somewhere in a box. That's about the era when I started collecting cards a little more regularly. Fun history. :)

[@JD-gk7eh]

Thank you for making this video! This deck was the big talk when I was new to the game and it's a deck I looked at with awe. I still do. I don't think any deck has ever had as big an influence on me and the way I look at the game as this one, as it really shaped combo thought. I never got to play it (because it was dead/out of standard when I started to play competitively and I didn't have the cards for it) but it's truly a work of art, even today. And it's amazing how all those cards got into two sets.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@turinturambar1159]

Just want to say that I've really enjoyed your work. There's a lot that I've learned about magic, the cards as well as the community, from watching your top ten lists and I'm really happy to see a continuation of you breaking down and analyzing this game as it plays out over many games in the community. There's just something about how you explain things that is easy for me to absorb and very informative, and I've never played in any tournaments, I've only been playing casually with my friends for about ten years, so you've kind of been like my tutor - although not a demonic one. Okay, enough of the sappy stuff. I'll be seeing you, keep up the good work, and good luck in all that you do.

[@emperornapoleon6204]

Excellent video, Nizza! The Bloom deck is really something else.

[@kyleucf]

A couple video suggestions for this series… tradewind-geddon was a house of a deck. Also, old extended where you had 3 tier 1A decks and it was a Rock Paper Scissors format between sligh, pox and tide.

[@pierredepasquale]

Brilliant! Clear, concise yet comprehensive and insightful. Thanks!

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jennietsai1260]

Loved this episode, would really enjoy to see more in-depth analysis of historic decks in mtg history

[@TheArctus]

Still have this deck built and absolutely love it. Super fun option for premodern, and definitely nostalgic. First combo deck I every built in the 90s

[@nickfanzo]

Premodern doesn’t have vampiric tutor

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

I love that Cadaverous Bloom is legal in EDH. I've had this card for a looooooooooong time in my binder and finally realized it works great in my Yargltani, ironically I use Exsanguinate for a massive life drain in the deck also ;p

[@eauzone806]

Balance + Zuran Orb... Good memories ! 😉

[@marcellosalis5063]

I thought you were talking about the story of Mike Long exiling his only copy of Drain Life to go off and then tricking the opponent into conceding, pretending the Drain Life was still in his deck (don't know if it's an actual fact or just an urban legend, though). Very interesting and detailed video!

[@NizzahonMagic]

What Mike did in the example you just mentioned isn't really cheating, just ethically questionable. The onus is on the opponent to make him go through the whole combo. I also didn't find anything about that one in my research, but it wouldn't surprise me!

[@marcellosalis5063]

@@NizzahonMagic I believe Mark Rosewater mentioned it in several occasions. By the way, yes: it's not cheating. I just thought you could be referring to it, but what you mentioned is far more relevant.

[@OrbGoblin]

I really like this style of deck history Nizza, I think you really excel at this kind of thing.

[@craig3067]

Excellent video and great description of the deck and all of its pieces.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@maskofthedragon]

10:21 I assume he sat like that because it throws off his opponents ability to spot any "odd movements"

[@glennsmith3834]

Actually this was another of Mike Long's petty cheats. He would squat in his chair like this and when someone was holding their hand out in front of them, he would quickly pop up standing on his chair and was able to look down on their hand. Disgusting human being.

[@TimC.1495]

I loved, that you got over every card in the decks today

[@rfs8194]

I love this in-depth look at one deck!

[@BionMTG]

I stuck prosperbloom in a Muldrotha EDH list. Really fun to explain OG combos to new players and a bit about the history of MTG.

[@crawdaddy2004]

I had put Bloom in mine, too. But it was too slow for the deck, but Squandered Resources is still an all star in the deck (especially if I’ve used Animate Dead on Gitrog).

[@alexwilliamfisher]

Nice episode. Makes me feel like I'm more apart of magic listening to it's history

[@bryanpodojil3884]

Best MTG site that is, was or ever will be: The Dojo

[@uvarighalvarado8677]

Oh yes! I really like this kind of deck history videos!

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you like them!

[@anarchymatt]

this is way more interesting that the usual 2 card combos

[@NizzahonMagic]

Fact

[@josephbelmaresiii7682]

I love your input and it was a very hard deck to beat

[@mladenpetrovski7487]

I remeber zvi moshowitz building a bloom deck to show everyone that bargain is broken... and jezz it was constant turn 3-4 kills never ending cards mana hella fun back then

[@friendo6257]

Great content nizzahon. Cheers

[@villadsk8]

yea this was a cool video concept

[@locoatarozo]

Definitely keep up with the old deck reviews.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

I've never heard of Pros Bloom before, but I'm always curious to see what weird decks I've missed out on.

[@Spiqaro]

Oh man, the Pre Modern era of MTG is my jam! You should look up the Tolarian Academy and Memory Jar decks that came out shortly after this. Nizzahon mentioned Combo Winter, that's what he's talking about.

[@ManaDrain315]

It helped that the one who won with the deck was cheating.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

@@Spiqaro Oh yeah I know of the infamous Urza's block and the brutal combo decks it spawned. I come from YuGiOh where now days combo decks are the norm and many decks feel like two games of solitaire with mild interaction, so I can imagine absolutely *loathing* that format, but lucky for me it started and ended before I was even born.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

@@ManaDrain315 Wait wait wait *WHAT?!*

[@ManaDrain315]

@@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor Oh yeah, Mike Long was caught with a combo piece in his lap during or after a match. Didn't even get suspended for it at the time, but that and all the angle shooting he did in matches has tarnished any legacy he may have had.

[@trentheselden8574]

Fun Fact (nobody asked for): The original version of this deck was the first serious deck I ever built (as a sort of homage) when I first got into Magic in 2014. Was fun to play against my housemate in kitchen magic games haha ;)

[@wanderinghistorian]

I was playing pretty heavily in the late 1990s and one of my friends had it in his head to make a Pros Bloom deck. It wasn't very good.

[@wanderinghistorian]

It's filthy work, planting them.

[@christopherprementine5287]

Have you covered the errata history of Time Vault? Cool stuff

[@willythewyno]

My first combo deck was a Thicket Basilisk+ Lure

[@xylerianproductions7245]

Are we gone get a 2021 update of the banned and restricted list?

[@Spiqaro]

Nizza! You need to do one for Tolarian Academy and Memory Jar! Smoosh them into one video, I don't mind.

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

I cast megrimb Ok sure. Memory jar. What? Oh shit

[@Spiqaro]

@@ThePhysicalReaction I've always enjoyed the degenerate decks. Which one is your favorite?

[@Sauvenil]

@@Spiqaro The favorite degenerate deck I've come up with involves Dark Ritual, Cabal Therapy, Goryo's Vengeance, and Nicol Bolas. Nicol Bolas swinging on the first turn is pretty broken.

[@Spiqaro]

@@Sauvenil Nice.

[@Sauvenil]

@@Spiqaro Another degenerate thing a friend and I came up with... involves Donate, Divining Witch, Rainbow Vale, and Mindslaver. You Donate them the Witch (using the Rainbow Vale so you make sure your opponent has a black source, though Urborg would work too) then pop the Mindslaver and use the Witch to look for the most powerful card in Magic history: the Apocalypse Chime. Since they're not using the clearly overpowered card in their deck (clearly they're a noob) they end up exiling their deck.

[@christopheryoung2874]

love this series thx!

[@vintagepennies6899]

Prosbloom was some good!

[@jacksonlittle5993]

One of the main reasons I play digital magic. I play for fun, so babysititng every opponent across from me in paper to make sure they aren't cheating just kills the entire experience. I was playing against a guy with a full non english deck which is somehow legal at fnm's(8 years or so ago)??? was playing against me and it felt like a burden for me the person not playing a full non english deck to have to check every word on every card to ensure the game was happening properly every time anything happened. I eventually just stopped checking the cards because it was just so time consuming and frustrating and I feel like my opponent took advantage of it. My first fnm experience and it was pretty bad. I like digital because it's essentially impossible to be cheated and I don't have to loom over a 40 y/o man to make sure they are honest.

[@noobtuber10]

So I actually play this combo in Grismold edh running a bunch of enchantresses and recycle, null profusion, Then I can just kill with tendrils :D

[@tomcleaver6686]

I would disagree with some of the comments made. I successfully ran a 5CG deck for some time, got me well up the rankings, beat every Pros Bloom I played. It was too unwieldly to defend against small green fast damage and counters/Armageddon/Undiscovered Paradise

[@VivaTorf]

And what about Turbo Stasis? Stasis + Kismet is not a combo?

[@NizzahonMagic]

I would say that's the first Prison deck, but not a combo deck.

[@chrisoliver3642]

My Magic claim to fame is asking Mark Rosewater if they knew the "ProsBloom" engine was present in the block before they released it. Mark, visibly annoyed at the question, told me "no, of course not."

[@toniskoppelmann8165]

Do you plan to continiue the banned and restricted list series?

[@NizzahonMagic]

Eventually, yes. I'm into 2020, which seems pretty recent for "history."

[@Jude30]

Have you considered just doing a blank top 50 of all magic cards. I curious as to how many points the Power Nine has accrued. What are the truly most powerful cards?

[@rareroe305]

Are you just The Glorious Lobster Emperor in disguise?

[@Mop-Tollsy]

Fabulous video

[@NizzahonMagic]

Thanks 🤗

[@notjarvis1413]

Top 10 mtg top 10s

[@azatheunholy]

love these make 1000s of them plz kk thx

[@bstachutheuneatable1727]

I can't wait until you make another Banned & Restricted list just to hear what you have to say about Alchemy

[@fmtpulmanns7593]

The sad thing about Mike Long is that he was good enough that he didn't have to cheat, but did so anyway.

[@stepniak18]

Magic community lost its mind? In 1998? Some things never change.

[@tron_the7the9]

i love birds

[@12post]

I made this deck in 98 or 99. I thought I was so cool. lol

[@wickhawk]

Justin Cooper created this deck.

[@shaftlamer]

So channel/fireball was the first combo deck. Make up your mind, which was the first 😂

[@NizzahonMagic]

I explained why it isn't a "true" combo deck, given the difference in deck construction.

[@kyleucf]

Am I old if I played this deck?

[@ericksonfaustino1631]

channel/fireball

[@bloom4110]

it me

[@ClubbingSealCub]

'Mike Long was crouching, for some reason' He hid this to try and get a peek at his opponent's hands.

[@DiabloTommaso]

Long ruined this deck, crouching it s suspicious if you have a bloom in your chair

[@Nobody-zl3kk]

History of magic cheating scandals when?

[@NizzahonMagic]

I feel like other channels cover this pretty well, and I mostly want to stay away from the extreme negatives in this game haha.

[@Nobody-zl3kk]

@@NizzahonMagic oh yeah, understandable, keep the good work man 👍

[@somepl3b]

The deck was consistent because everyone who played it was cheating!

[@andynonya1490]

Makes me cringe seeing un-sleeved cards at a pro tour

[@NizzahonMagic]

You should see them shuffle.

[@cornball7883]

Mike Long: cheater.