Mono Black vs Psychatog | Quarterfinals 4 - Quest for the Best Deck Ever

[@CardmarketMagic]

♞👾 Decklists: bit.ly/43om5Nb

[@ClubbingSealCub]

Teferi's Response looks like a weird card, but it was a card printed to deal with Rishadan Port at the time.

[@Spaccaspecchi]

Nothing feels better than countering Plague Spores in IPA limited with that thing.

[@hopinggirl1722]

ohhh cool ty for the comment :) i was thinking it was only good for strip mine/wasteland ofc but the permanent text does nothing. have a good day

[@Lightning_Lance]

such a blowout card. They don't print their anti-hate hate cards like that anymore..

[@mightyone3737]

I suspect it caught the odd Seismic Mage unawares as well, hard to believe they printed Seismic Mage after printing Dwarven Miner. Yeah, hitting a basic is sweet, but 4 mana for a 1/1 is always a terrible rate, and Dwarven Miner keeps way more fit, I kinda suspected that Seismic Mage got that name as a form of anti-fat bullying, the card is a real 'feelsbad' sorta card, having such a hilariously good hoser printed in it's block is just all the more heartbreaking.

[@milanmach2379]

​@@Lightning_Lance Veil of Summer

[@theweirdlyfriendlymushroom7920]

I wasnt't expecting this result, but in retrospect it makes sense Also Mengu really plaeyed incredibly, expecially in the last game where it was basically a masterclass on how to play aggro against control I guess Thoralf kept some risky hands knowing they would lose to the guildmage, but still very nice match

[@pinobluevogel6458]

Excellent remark, he knows exactly how to play it out. Being in the driver's seat against control is the only way to win.

[@naz-ghul6327]

exactly, i myself think i'm somehow decent (not good, decent) player (around top 1-2k in arena), and i'd allways drop on my 3rd creature on the board in the 3rd game instead of pumping if i know the oponent deck is control with 0 sweepers (as far as i know there is no sweep in atog deck? i didnt chtekted the decklist but i remember it having no sweeps aside of upheavel).

[@qazzaqstan]

@@naz-ghul6327 and TBF that is the default play in most cases.

[@ivancarabano]

For me the best monent is in third game, when he explains why is going to play a creature to prevent Thoralf playing fact or fiction.

[@jameswilson4328]

The fact that the semi finals is two matchups, where each deck is facing off against a deck 10 or 20 years apart is interesting and exciting. Will OG magic prevail?

[@Raijimura]

No not even close.

[@cameroncorrado3935]

I have both of these decks from the gold-bordered World Championship series that Wizards used to print. I also thought there was no way that Prismatic Black would beat Psychatog, but when I tested out the matchup on my own, sure enough, Prismatic Black kept coming out on top. A low curve plus cheap interaction is just such a solid way to win Magic games.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Yeah that deck spent the whole weekend proving us wrong!

[@loui299e]

I'm impressed how well Mengu piloted that deck whilst barely knowing half the cards in his deck for game one

[@DeathEatsCurry]

The way you guys convey important game information like hands and graveyard stuff without being over-the-top or obnoxious is absolutely top notch.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :)

[@Baritone_RyanHenry]

I'll keep saying it, this series is awesome! I can't wait for the semi-finals

[@DrSiddha]

The play around fact or fiction at minute 21:30 was impressing! Legend

[@obnomadic]

Thank you for the continued Mengu v Thoralf magic. I just love watching my two favorite magic pros battle it out.

[@caleb7882]

These 90’s decks are so pure and grindy, makes me miss the days of powerful spells and small creatures.

[@Phished123]

Magic was a lot more fun(not to say it isnt now) when creatures were bad, you had to be a lot more creative in your deck building.

[@valentinesdayman]

maybe you should have a look at premodern 😀

[@jii-ro7083]

@@valentinesdayman This is the correct answer

[@technyst]

Pauper plays like this too!

[@egoalter1276]

Pauper creatures are nowhere near as bad as 90s creatures were.

[@philipkelly7369]

these decks and this match seem insanely fun. Old school magic was just something else man. Awesome.

[@nathantripathy]

I love the insight into WHY certain choices are being made. Sometimes upper level magic goes against what you learn are basic automatic things.

[@eddiekalista3222]

I love that you're also giving us breakdowns of high level thought processes.

[@BenziTrain]

Playing a spell into a potential counterspell in order to prevent a FoF is some real heads up playing. Awesome.

[@metalfreekz13]

Thoralf is my all-time favorite Magic player. Such an awesome and down to earth dude, and super-knowledgeable about pretty much everything in the game!

[@untrainedear]

The most sure I've been of a result of these so far, largely because in my friend group we've played a v similar matchup with the same outcome pretty consistently. Great video as ever - this might be my favourite series so far!

[@mopanda81]

andrea almost laughing and crying at the same time when the teferi's response blows him out is amazing lol

[@asdfasdfas364]

The videos with old decks are my favourite. Great editing and commentary too!

[@daolothe]

I feel like the main thing this series has taught me is that playing creatures on curve is crazy good. Psychatog has way better cards than Prismatic Black, but still dropped a game because Black was able to get out 2 creatures before Pyschatog got to 2 mana and could start playing counterspells.

[@egoalter1276]

Playing creatures on curve, if the enemy doesnt block kills on turn 4, even with bad 90s creatures. It is the universal clock aroumd which all of the meta ever has been balanced.

[@Hopkins0316]

We love Mengu!! Definitely enjoy when you guys get to play together and I love this tournament format 🙌

[@el_pablodocus]

Great videos, thanks Thoralf, Mengu and all the production team @ Cardmarket

[@MajestixComicsClix]

Whenever Mengu looks at the camera during gameplay is just so funny

[@NerzugalRP]

Absolutely love Mengu's commentary. Gives a ton of great insights into the plays and decisions and there were line she made that I would have not considered that were perfect with context. Gotta have him back!

[@ultimateo621]

I’m rooting for prismatic black to go all the way now!

[@seanh2772]

Unfortunately there's no way Temur Energy loses even a single game to this. All the cards have some serious powercreep and are just great value.

[@alwaysplaythegame]

It would take some insane luck for it to win but you never know.

[@Mightypi]

Don't pay attention to the propaganda of BIG ENERGY. Prismatic Chad's rise up

[@Leuber]

I love how the final Memory Lapse really lapsed Andrea’s mind… well I guess he was too choked, eh stoked to play that 2 damage land destruction. 😂😂 Also: the play and explanation of Mengu top notch on this one. Well especially considering he has to read most of his janky cards as he draws them. Shows all the more he doesn’t need to know the exact cards, but he knows the matchup he is playing, and what that means, to get a strom gald on the game.

[@su0tin731]

On the poll I voted for the aggro deck, even if the creatures are kinda bad for today's standards, the deck looked consistent enough to keep constant pressure, and had enough interaction (better post-sideboard) to have a fighting chance, also the pychatog deck looked a bit on the slower side to fight an aggro deck, that usually fold to boardwipes.

[@pinobluevogel6458]

I do think the Psychatog deck doesn't exactly have a bad creature matchup. However, with these cheap beaters and just enough interaction (especially post board) it is far closer than you would like as a control player.

[@cameroncorrado3935]

It makes me wonder how Psychatog was so much better than all the other decks back in the day when they had access to Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, and Wild Mongrel.

[@edstone9890]

@@cameroncorrado3935 most tog decks ran innocent blood also usually 3-4

[@andrewneben7949]

Best series yet guy. Masterclass playing by both of you. Tough snap keep game three thoralf! Mengu playing for keeps!

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :D

[@killacorn1]

I can not WAIT for mono-black versus temur energy. That is going to be such an absolute stop 😂 and yes please bring the mengu back

[@CardmarketMagic]

Mengu made it to both quarterfinals, we have no choice but to bring him back 🙂

[@alizah8042]

The deck was truly really good but I also feel like there are few MTG players other than Andrea who could have piloted it to victory over a much newer deck!!! That was so cool!!! And I feel like I also learned so much about how to play from him in this video too. Thank you Mengu!!!!

[@nickraupp6104]

Wow! At first I couldn't believe prismatic black was in the top 8 but now I can see it! That's honestly kinda crazy, keep up the incredible content!

[@walgrimmtrouveur-dor3058]

18:37 Can you explain my Atog interaction plz ?

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thoralf had 20 cards in his graveyard and 2 cards in his hand. Once he would attack, he could discard both cards in his hand to make the Psychatog a 3/4, then exile the 22 cards in his graveyards to make it an 18/19. Which would be lethal :) feel free to ask any other questions you may have

[@durpien]

I knew mono black was gunna win. You get to play interaction in non blue and 2/2s arent flashy but they win games.

[@willch1337]

Seeing these retro decks going head to head was really satisfying. I love seeing old-school janky cards

[@kylecarson3318]

What a game! Thanks for the lessons Mengu. Today I learned

[@pinobluevogel6458]

Excellent games and a very fun video. It would help if you would consider playing out the Psychatog kill completely, or briefly explain how Thoralf was going to win with it. I know what it does, but especially with this series there might be a lot of players that have no idea how the deck or even the card itself functions. Other than that, it was superb, thank you.

[@wobwub8188]

Does he just pump it by removing his graveyard?

[@CardmarketMagic]

I know 🙄 I always tell Andrea not to shortcut and he always does it anyway 😅 - Carl

[@tiresome20]

This is the best series you guys have ever done. Love it

[@zleverton]

Getting to play with Fact or Fictions in standard is a high i have never come down from.

[@pinobluevogel6458]

Fact or Fiction is probably one of the best designed card draw spells in magic. It is a strong card, that can sometimes feel backbreaking. However, the opposition who plays against it, can also subtly infuence the caster to take or not take certain cards, in addition to having more information about their cards. Having innate drawbacks and slight counterplay in the card itself, is what makes it one of the more exciting and fun spells.

[@AbesOnAPlaneFilms]

Mengucci vs Thoralf, always a thrilling matchup! 😊

[@Verlisify]

This is my favorite MTG series right now

[@bricelory9534]

Before seeing the matches: I'm a dinosaur. I want Black to win, but I dont have high hopes. Edit: very clean aggro vs control matchup, really cleanly capitalizing on the stumbles and understanding crucial timings. Such good, clean, classic play all around! Makes my dinosaur bones happy to see such play on both sides!

[@Mightypi]

Sublime Lads. Andrea knowing hes the under dog, Thoralf's world class smack talk ( all good nature ofc). The Teffies, the shadow mages, only being able to make coloured mana for life. 10/10. Edditing is also on point, as always

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you! :D

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

9:15 God I love the art on some of these old magic cards. That "Exile" looks beautiful. I would love WotC printing a nostalgia set with retro art work and old border on modern cards.

[@waves-]

My favorite magic series on KZbin right now :D

[@rentierlucas378]

Great outcome. Never would've thought, that this Black deck would make it into the semis :D

[@zephid1868]

I don't really get to play anymore these days but I still watch all your videos because I love everyone's personalities.

[@CardmarketMagic]

That's so kind of you to say 😃 thank you

[@lucasrios2089]

Andrea made me laugh so much in this one! Always a treat to have him in the videos.

[@davec8385]

Another great video! Can't wait for the semifinals

[@KevinAllen619]

I can't get enough of the best deck ever series, and more Andrea please

[@leonardoross8133]

24:13 pasta yu!!

[@moralessanchezoscarelias6412]

Very well played you both! Yeah, I remember playing Psychatog and games always felt so close!

[@mgsBicycleO9]

Some low to the ground honest Magic. Great watch.

[@Degenerate8]

Thoralf just failed to realise that if you get hit by a 2 power creature 10 times, you die, no matter how bad the creature might seem

[@Eyrie007]

The play of the entire match was the Memory Lapse on the attacking creature game 3.

[@arivald6677]

I feel like there was little powercreep between mirage and invasion. Magic remained a fairly balanced game till Shards of Alara and Jund. ofcourse there were super strong blocks (Urza, Mirrodin) but for every strong block there was a time of powering down (Marcedian Masques, Kamigawa). After introduction of planeswalkers and mythic rares power creep started to go up...

[@ShadowAngel005]

This was the best one of the series so far.

[@zealcrux]

Teferi's Response was such a fun response! Also, I'm loving this series!

[@theBestInvertebrate]

Great games, was not expecting the out come. Really good plays to with explanation of why they were being made.

[@hopinggirl1722]

we love menguuu! also love this series :) cool to see mengu's explanations on the last match too, very insightful

[@Awesomesausages]

This continues to be absolutely brilliant! :D Feels like next match-up will be the end for Prismatic Black, but who knows, maybe it can throw us a surprise victory against a deck twenty years younger.

[@MrMarnel]

I only see 4 videos in the playlist for this series. Weren't there more?

[@dks6515]

27:02 Mengu says "Pauper legal" haha, that's how you know he's a real pauper player! Every pauper player lives which the curse that they need to instantly mention a pauper staple/legal card once they see it played somewhere lol, so relatable.

[@CardmarketMagic]

It's a great curse! Because now you also get excited about the first 10 cards of the booster pack :D

[@alfredofranceschini5606]

Noooo vabbè ahahah amazing video and mengu plan! Need more mengu content ❤❤

[@thievthiev]

These videos are really intersting! It's really fun seeing thos old school decks I had no idea existed

[@mageius]

As a follow up to my last comment after looking at the deck list for the mono black deck I actually say that's chance of winning it all. It's creature lineup may not be good but it has a lot of good instant and sorceries and control tools that actually could make it a bit harder for it to lose.

[@brokensprites]

That was a lot of fun and very nostalgic for me. Thoralf did a great job with the Psychatog deck, sadly the speed isn't there to keep up with aggro black.

[@martylund8411]

Man, I remember Prismatic Black back in the day. So many odd decks popped up in the ages of Gemstone Mine and Undiscovered Paradise. Also, Shadow Guidemage is criminally underrated considering how long 90s Magic control matches could stall out. The utility of dodging removal spells and just being a 1-drop "Tim" (Prodigal Sorcerer) was just insane for the period. Can you imagine, just a year before this deck, we could play Knight of Stormgald, Dark Ritual, Order of the Ebon Hand, and Hymn to Tourach all at 4x. And by the end of 1997 we'd see the introduction of Cursed Scroll and Living Death.

[@CardmarketMagic]

I did not take cursed scroll seriously in the past, I have since learned that it is messed up cardboard 🤯 it's wild how many cards in the 90s were just absolute powerhouses

[@adamwee382]

Randy Buhler had already done this with gauntlet of greatness but idc, i love this. What i'd be very interested to see is instead of standard world championship decks, what about block decks that won pro tours or grand prix or something. Btw, i hate to say it but i think hazored is gonna win the whole thing.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Randy Buhler did wonderful work. We did not know about it till after this series, and we really wish we did, it would have taught us so much! We do plan on doing a different spin if this series goes well, but we kept on decks that won worlds because it already took us days to play all the Swiss matches and that is the smallest pool of decks we could find 😅

[@KlittoD]

Not watched it through yet but Iove Mengu as a guest! He even spits some wisdom of sequencing in the mix!

[@Duskraven377]

The power of basic aggro vs control. 🎉🎉🎉

[@martylund8411]

Don't underestimate the relevance of Contagion, though. It basically hard-countered the 'Tog forcing you to have to cover it with a Counterspell, maybe multiples once the sideboard brings in Pyroblast. Without Contagion in the equation (0 mana casts FTW) you could basically windmill the Psychatog on Turn 3 and win the game.

[@elaguitas409]

Was hoping to see one of the most recent couple as the last two but these were super cool, love this series!

[@deanlinden1635]

This is a fun series. I've been watching uploads just to see it.

[@locojoe3925]

I got excited seeing this. What a great way to start my lunch

[@oafkad]

The memory lapse was hilarious. Gave me a big grin.

[@parkcollie-zd6jo]

Great editing. Even though that second game was long and grindy, it felt like a lot of fun. Kudos.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :)

[@jazzfestyz9734]

I've been waiting for this vid! Great series

[@Loki-]

I see a Cardmarket MTG video, I hear the music, I click.

[@Razomka]

Another banger! Huge fan of this series. I kind of want it to come back in another way, like second place decks 😂

[@CardmarketMagic]

If it is successful, we'll try it again with an exciting new spin :)

[@beatnikyoufail]

Could we get a pinned explaination of the psychatog interaction? I understand it had a combo with upheaval, but beyond that not much.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Upheaval often helped, but, in this case, Thoralf had 20 cards in his graveyard and 2 cards in his hand. Once he would attack, he could discard both cards in his hand to make the Psychatog a 3/4, then exile the 22 cards in his graveyards to make it an 18/19. Which would be lethal :)

[@ncuco]

Hey! Andrea was giving advice on how agro beats control. It would be great to have videos with this kind of explanation and maybe exemplifying with the most played decks of formats like modern and pioneer. I am a brewer and one of my biggest difficulties is how to sideboard well, given that i only play BO1 with friends and when i recently started playing in FNMs i actually loose more after sideboarding. Though i think i am getting the jist of it, some professional feedback would be welcome (i play agro mostly)

[@CardmarketMagic]

We tried to do some "teaching" content with Andrea but it was some of our worst performing yet 😅 hopefully you can learn enough from the gameplay videos themselves. It is really important to learn how to sideboard though! You play most of your games in BO3 with a sideboarded deck. You can find sideboard guides for almost any deck online though :) and watching a streamer run your deck through a league is great for learning! The more you play and watch streams, the better you'll get at understanding sideboarding yourself :)

[@ncuco]

@@CardmarketMagic ok! Thanks

[@simonr6268]

This series is so fun to watch. Psychatog was the best creature for control decks till Tarmogoyf was printed.\ Please consider playing some ABC Magic, a 40 card format where you play a card that starts with every letter, the rest are basics.

[@Repaurcas]

8:10 that delivery cracked me up, good one!

[@romeo.graifenberg]

"Be patient with land destruction, you should wait to have some board presence." -> does the exact opposite in G2

[@Jorg05111980]

I also always said Stronghold!!! Wow...reading cards remains something important in MTG ;-)

[@user4x4w4]

I love this channel. I play EDH but I absolutely love watching them play modern and pauper.

[@nicobaur3076]

Id love to see a pauper game again , the two decks I’d like to see is naya slivers and or bogles . Loving the content these games are so much fun too . Much love

[@CardmarketMagic]

We all play a lot of pauper behind the scenes, we'll definitely be showcasing the format again once we are done this series :)

[@TheGameYGO]

i don't even play magic, and still i can enjoy this kind of content, keep it up 😄

[@justgeo4288]

I would love to see a two video series of the Cardmarket - Yugioh guys reacting to this video with someone from MTG side explaining, and then the reverse with a high level YGO game, so each side can see the differences in how the games play out at a high level. That YGO ridiculous speed vs MTGs intense level of interaction, strategy and playing around the opponents decks.

[@Zanji1234]

lol so basically mtg players watch yugi players do wombo combo and game is over in turn 3 ....

[@lamp_flower]

I've been wondering how you guys do those mini interviews where the players explain their plans. Do you just stop the game to record them, which seems like it would disturb the flow of the game, or do you record them after the game, in which case the players would have to remember what their thought processes were?

[@Ashen-Crow]

Prismatic black played solid aggro but oh boy temur energy is gonna eat it alive.

[@danl9030]

"That's what we call Time Walk in the market" at 18:10 really got me lmao

[@lytking2646]

Great games, love the idea/format! Keep it up

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you! We'll do our best to keep you entertained :)

[@budz2355]

Fun seeing flanking cards. At this time everyone was still playing dark ritual, mox, so seeing "type 2" is interesting to me as most magic players just ignored it.

[@CrrackTheSkye]

I was waiting for this video, really cool series!

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :)

[@Monkey12Ninja]

Rooting for Psycatog

[@vernonmeidlinger870]

Ahh I see you are also an mtg player of culture

[@giacomofasulo3861]

I've got some bad news

[@Monkey12Ninja]

I’m happy with this result, those were some sweet games

[@ivosrotir8962]

Go 5C Black! Go! 😃 As I am from Czech Republic, Jakub Slemr was my hero when I was a kid. We were so proud of him when he became World Champion. This deck was not really good even at the time but had very good sideboard and Jakub was excelent pilot. Fear the 5C Black! 😃

[@CardmarketMagic]

The sideboard is so full of amazing silver bullets! And pro white is surprisingly good :) we never thought the deck would make it so far but it became our favourite as soon as it reached the top 8

[@ivosrotir8962]

@@CardmarketMagic Happy to hear. I still have CZ magazine from 1997 dedicated to his victory. I pulled the mag out again due to your excelent series. 🙂There is report from the tournament, desceiption of his Top8 games, deck tech and interview with Jakub. The emphasis on SB is just there. The SB bullets were able elevate the deck to different levels. You guys see it well! ☺️👍

[@mageius]

Oddly enough if series ends up getting to play the energy deck I would actually give you head slightly to fairies. As the ability to have flying creatures and counter magic does give it some advantage with responding to the use of the energy being spent. Although I'd just love to see the deck from 26 years ago win it all though.

[@eriksegura3190]

Why did they skip the Psychatog interaction, I don't understand that card.

[@DeadlyGrim]

I was really sad to see mono blue tinker get knocked out, since I think that deck was one of the biggest examples of unfair Magic (why, yes, I do play blue. How could you tell?) But the fact that Prismatic Black Aggro has made it this far is so great! I don't think it'll go to the top, but if it does then I'm going laugh myself to death.

[@a.njeshi4749]

Whoever is your music director, deserves a raise!

[@CardmarketMagic]

I wish we had a musical director but it's just me making the videos for now 😅 but thank you! 😃 - Carl