Old School 93/94 Deck Tech (Budget White)

FIRSTLY: Please enter your questions below for the 1K Q&A!! My channel is almost at 1000 subscribers and I'll be doing a Q&A video for when I hit 1000 and perhaps some prizes will be given out too. If you have a question you would like me to answer please either list it below with the tag (1KQA) or can just email me directly at [e-mail]
Here is my 5th and final mono colored budget deck for the 1993/1994 "Old School" format. Like the others, this deck can be built on a budget and it is indeed competitive in the format. This deck stands as an example that you really don't NEED the expensive cards to be competitive in Old School Magic the Gathering!
Like the others, this list went for cheap aggressive creatures, with a disruption strategy and a recovery strategy that ties into the rest of the deck theme. Feel free to take this list and change it how ever you wish and if you find something that's a good budget card change that works really well... let me know!
Follow me on Instagram at: / edwin_the_magic_engineer
Mail (note medium size PO box):
PO Box 2333
Windermere, FL 34786
Here is the full deck list.
===Spells/Creatures===
4x Savannah Lion
3x Benalish Hero
4x White Knight
3x Order of Leitbur
3x Serra Angel
3x Crusade
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Disenchant
2x Wrath of God
3x Armageddon
1x Balance
3x Land Tax
4x Fellwar Stone
1x Sol Ring
== Mana ==
4x Strip Mine
15x Plains
== Sideboard ==
2x Karma
2x Wrath of God
1x Disenchant
2x Dust to Dust
3x Circle of Protection Red
2x White Ward
2x Jayemdaye Tome
1x Feldons Cane

[@DavidTimothy]

As someone who played White (and white mixes) on a middle schooler budget in the 4th/5th edition era this is hugely nostaglic seeing the deck and the cards. Thanks for the deck, maybe I'll dig up the old cards and see if I can build it with what I have. 😊

[@Raaanch]

Ack! Banding! lol I like this. big fan of the low cost creatures to put that early pressure and then wrath spells :)

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Raaanch! Yeah MTG players have definitely forgotten how good Banding is. They need to be reminded and this deck will do exactly that. The BEST feature of banding is something I completely forgot to mention in this video... it's banding while blocking. Normally you can have many blockers against one attacker. During damage resolution the attacking player (not the defending player) gets to pick where each point of damage is assigned. Well if you ADD ONE BANDING CREATURE to that defensive mix... now the DEFENDING player... not the attacking player... gets to assign the damage. Think... sacrificial lamb. I group up 4 of my creatures and take down your Force of Nature... and then let my Savannah Lions go to the yard while my Serra and 2 Black Knights swing for 6 the next turn. See how powerful that is?!? Trading a Force of Nature for some 1 mana first turn drop?!? Yeah trust me bro... people have forgotten about Banding. It's strong. If you play this deck be prepared to explain how it works LOL

[@Quadstriker]

You took me back in time. This was almost exactly how I made my deck back when 4e/FE were on the shelf. I remember going to a magic card auction and the only thing I bought that day was an Arabian Nights Jihad to add to my deck. Good memories.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Quadstriker! Very cool! How did this deck work for you back then?

[@Quadstriker]

It absolutely crushed my friends (we weren't playing in the competitive scene) the majority of times we played. I took down a grass-roots neighborhood tournament we put together fairly easily with it. Get ahead early. Armageddon. They just had no response.

[@iirgendsonTyp]

Great deck

[@mornon79]

Thanks for the last budget deck! In the description you put 3 blessing but I guess you mean 3 crusade :)

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Mornon whoops, thanks!!

[@joeb3874]

LOVE this series man and Im glad I found your channel. Im currently building up the black mono old school deck. Ive found that the mishras factorys and underworld dreams kind of hard to come by but its definitely fun finding old cards!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Joe Bussard Hi Joe! I totally agree, finding those old cards is a big part of the fun. And it's such a good feeling knowing that money put into those old cards is not thrown away!

[@mornon79]

Depending on the old school rules you're going to apply, you can also check for italian Underworld Dreams, they come extremely cheap! I've bought a couple few days ago for about 5 dollars each.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Mornon best I can find for original art, original border is 15 each! Where do you see them now for 5?

[@joeb3874]

Mornon Im trying to find the English version and I can only find a few. The ones I am finding on auctions are going for around 40$

[@mornon79]

Yes, English legends prices are similar here in Europe. That's why I go for italian one to save money. Probably in US the demand for the card is so high that even italian legends prices are spiking.

[@mikelong2756]

I got most of this deck on the way yesterday lol. Except for the land tax and strip mines. But it was fairly cheap thanks for the video

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Glad you liked it.

[@BresciGaetano]

yey finally my old mono white!!! I stil own it since '95.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Cool, what is your list?

[@BresciGaetano]

Is almost the same, maybe a bit cheeper :P I had 4 tundra wolves, at the time it was full of green elf decks and first strike was very nice + "4 Army of Allah" (or "Moral" if u wanna go very cheep), just 1 "Armageddon" and no "Strip Mine" nor "Land Tax" or "Felwar Stone", so 20 "Plains". Also to be fair i played since 95 so at the end i had 2 "Reprisal", and 4 "Order of the White Shield" and a "Zuran Orb" (before for life i would run "Howling Mine" and "Ivory Tower" but to sacrifice all land before "Balance" work as a second "Armageddon"). Is a very fast and aggressive deck and very easy to play with.

[@BresciGaetano]

I moved back to magic since very few and i started to build back that deck (i miss the wrath the armageddon and the zuran) and a mono blu old school to have fun with a friend. Then i found your channel and i was very pleased to see there is more people out there that as me consider that period as the deck builder's paradise :) when u started the "budget" series i was so happy to see what would have u built as blu and white and i have to say we go very similar, as well, as the format let us, we keep some difference that gives personality to the decks. For the blue as well we have a real similar build but i wish more control with "urza's glass" and more counter, i keep serendib efreet, mahamoti djinn and psionic blast for damage as you but no 1 mana drops nor unstable mutation, and 2 Leviathan as finisher (1 in deck 1 in sideboard). Keep it up with the videos great work !!!

[@nkmason8284]

The Banding ability only lets you band to one creature, not 2 or more

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

NK Mason Hey Dude, yeah it's a very confusing rule for sure. But notice I did say you can band with one other creature on attack, but many on blocking. I did forget to mention the most important part about Banding while blocking though!! The DEFENDING player chooses how damage is assigned, not the ATTACKING player. That is huge, because you can band-block with enough to kill the big attacker... then assign all damage to one chump creature and let just that one die. Here's a rule reference... mtg.gamepedia.com/Banding Blocking When blocking, if at least one creature blocking an attacker has banding, then the defending player may choose how the creature blocked by the creature(s) with banding assigns combat damage. This is a change from the normal rule in which the attacking player always chooses how his or her attacking creatures assign combat damage.

[@TankGuitar42]

banding allows to band with any number of creatures with banding plus one without i believe

[@EtienneDupuisMagog]

Unorthodox WW. +1 for creativity.

[@spinn77]

Hi Edwin, I've really enjoyed your videos since finding your channel. Now that your budget series is complete, would you give any consideration to deck techs for not quite budget builds? What I mean by that, decks that utilize some dual lands and other cards that maybe are a little more than 'budget' but maybe skip out on the power 9 and some of the other rather expensive power cards in the format. Or would that maybe become redundant when compared to your budget series?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

@spinn77 oh man, how did you get inside my head and put my thoughts here? That's EXACTLY one of the things I was planning on doing. The basic premise is by allowing dual lands I can show decks that are still less expensive but now multi-color old school builds can be put on the table. So it's like mid-level multi color Old School. That is a very diverse section too... the possible decks are just... wow. Really wide range of builds. I'll probably pick my most favorite ones to play and/or ones I'm the most familiar with so my comments can have the most validity.

[@mtgnoob9988]

Hey Edwin. I'm excited to finally get into oldschool (after watching it for the last year) I believe this is the first deck I will build since I have most of the weenies lying around and just need land taxes and more strip mines. Now for the question. I have two srublands (woohoo!) and 2 demonic tutors. If at all...what black splash would you put into a deck like this? Or just use those lands to use the tutors? Thanks!

[@berndigity]

The other videos you expanded on the deck getting improvements from more expensive cards what would you add into this deck?

[@stefanhonerlage4183]

Another great Dech Tech Edwin. :) You mentioned you playtested this one but what do you think... Which Deck will win if you would play this white one against the aggro black one you posted a few weeks back ? Because the whole black/white thing with protection from each other was kind of a big thing then.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Stefan! Great question. In my play testing it really went back and forth between white and black. It was literally a case of which deck drew the bombs against the other deck. If it's a black Underworld Dreams, Juzam, Spectre, Ritual, Bolt, Power Blue type deck known as (Dead Guy Ale) then I actually give the edge to this Mono-white deck. But if it's a more traditional black deck with Black Knights, Mind Twist, Hymn, Specter, Order of the Ebon Hand... then it's literally a toss up. Either way, Karma is REALLY DEVASTATING to a Black deck. Gloom hurts but it can be blown up. Mono Black will die to Karma unless it finds a disk and you DON'T disenchant the disk. That's why the Karma went into the SB. That's my findings with this to date anyways. If you have more experience, or if you play this deck and get more hands on experience please do come back and share!!

[@nkmason8284]

Tundra Wolves from Legends is a good cheap add on. Another $15 card that’s great is Preacher from The Dark.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Both VERY valid card options for this deck for sure! I strongly considered the Tundra Wolves several times but in the end I decided that the 4 Black Knights + 3 Order of Leitbur was enough first strikers and it was more important to get that extra attack power (Savannah Lions) and the Banding ability (Benalish Hero) into the 1 drop slot. But it's entirely possible that even more first strikers was better than the Savannah Lions.. tough call. Preacher would certainly make a great sideboard choice and he ALMOST made it into the Sideboard. In the end I just opted for 2 more Wrath of God in that SB slot so I could just clear the board rather than attempt to make my opponent give me the creature I want. Great feedback NK Mason :)

[@mikelong2756]

Sorry for being so enthusiastic but i have a challenge for you since you are much more familiar with 93 94 than me. I want to know what you would put in a deck based off 4x millstones and 3-4 meekstone? Figuring it to be a milling budget small creatures deck. Bc anything with power greater than 2 can't untap. And based on sceptering, milling, maybe hymming, mind twisting. I figure black may already be looking like the best color of choice. Also it's comical because off the rapper guy meek mills. I'm gonna name it meek millstone lol. And I'll make it and take it into my lgs as a joke deck and see what it can do.

[@henrikkallgren6450]

So guys 🙂 witch of the 5 budget monocolor decks would you say is the strongest? Im gonna build all 5 for a big game weekend me and my friends plans to have soon. I have the biggest collecrion so we probebly gonna do a journey through mtg history and play through all the sets in order haha. So this would be a nice start

[@GamingBear_Q_E_D]

Playing in Europe with Swedish rules, what might you suggest to put in instead of the 3 order of Leitbur as they are not legal in our format? :(

[@giorgiomassimello8260]

Hi Edwin , In Italy Format The Strip are limited... Then...The other 3 with cards can I replace? 1 Mishra's Factory and 2 Plains?

[@mikelong2756]

I've gotten most of this deck built since my last comment. I'm stuck on deciding if I should throw in icatian javelineers or not. I have 3 crusades and an army of allah :) 2 geddon and 1 wrath, 1 land tax, 1 balance which is amazing they're only 2 bucks all day on eBay I thought about buying a bunch for investment purposes lol. Of course swords and disens. I threw In a library of leng, ivory tower, a tome, 2 reverse damage, 2 divine offering, and 2 dust to dust. Only have 1 strip so far but I will prob put in another land tax and 3 strips next week. Oh yeah I'm debating throwing in factories but stones look better atm. 60 cards is very tricky with so many options in old school white

[@RabagaZt]

If you wanted to upgrade this deck, which cards would you cut and what would you replace them with?

[@TRTSMTT]

I gotta say, this: I will never play "old skool" Magic. But I am very Interested about the evolution of MtG, sepecially if it's bout the metagame and the language itself (compare old vs new library of leng; the text has become much shorter). Also, I see Banding different now. What a great ability. I used to play Magic from '99 to '06 and now I'm back at playing it.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

It's too bad you are going to avoid Old School format. It really is immensely fun, even if you are jumping in with a Budget deck. Yeah the thing I forgot to really stress about Banding is how good it is on blocking. The BIGGEST reason for banding is that YOU get to pick where the damage goes, not the opponent. That's massive when played right! Take down their Ernham Djinn and you lose a Savannah Lion? Yes please.

[@xxNirvana1991xx]

Mesa Pegasus should def be over Hero's. Mesa has banding and is a flyer to get around moats witch would be there budget weenie flyer you need as opposed to Thunder spirit. Love love your videos!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

There's absolutely times that's a better creature to have. But what I was going for was filling up the 1 drop slot with a good creature that would keep the 2 drop slot open for Knights and Blessing. With 3 Disenchants main deck I'm not stressing over moats and having a good tempo and mana curve helps the deck keep the pressure on.

[@xxNirvana1991xx]

Makes sense.Thanks EME!

[@aglaisio978]

How about replacing the three Order of Leitbur with three Mesa Pegasus? Asking since that'd allow me to build this deck with all white border, a pet peeve of mine!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Aglais io Don't let me stop you, make the swap and play it! I bet it will work just fine :)

[@aglaisio978]

I'm a bit worried about the loss of power and pump potential, less so about the protection. Flying comes in handy, but it's mostly your plea for banding that made me consider the Pegasus.

[@beno3686]

Edwin what do you think about playing Maze of Ith in these aggressive creature decks?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I assume you mean because of the Vigilance Attacker trick with the Maze? It has potential.

[@malazoid757]

I've never used banding. I was just looking at the rules. Does the creature with banding only join with 1 other creature like your example, or can there be more banding? I've stayed away from that keyword for a long time because different players have told me different things about how it works.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Malazoid MTG Banding is one additional non bander to the group on attack. DEFENSE is really where Banding shines most of the time... You can always block with several creatures, but if the there is just one banding creature... you the defender... not the attacking player gets to assign damage. That's huge... spend time tthinking about how strong that rule reversal is

[@rapunzelstower22]

love u dad this is mcrazy ur kid

[@daRealJeRiKo]

What would be a good replacement for the Strip Mines if you are playing with Swedish Restricted List?

[@fpljosh9661]

mishras factory x 4 instead

[@donnasprague767]

What do you suggest pulling out to make room for thunder spirit?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

What is the Meta you are going to be running up against? What kind of decks, how creature heavy, what colors?

[@malazoid757]

From the green deck tech, what are the restrictions to casting berserk?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Malazoid MTG cast it any time on any legal creature target. If that creature attacked during the turn it was berserked... It's destroyed at the end of that turn

[@AngelCarmonaEgler]

1KQA I came back to magic after 18 or 19 years and I'm trying to figure out how to play Old School. What sets can be used to get those cards to keep the deck "legal" in the format? Cheers from a Spaniard living in Ireland. =)

[@mornon79]

Hi Angel, here you can find a resume about sets allowed and banned/rescricted cards :) Hope it may help! oldschool-mtg.blogspot.it/p/banrestriction.html

[@AngelCarmonaEgler]

Thank you very much for finding the answer for me and for creating such high quality content. You're doing it right!

[@bartonleingang]

Have you considered Pikemen in place of Benalish Heroes? Or in place of something else perhaps? One extra mana, true, but both banding and first strike.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Their first strike is not needed really. They are just needed for banding and getting them on the table faster is more important. Banding is mostly about what it does for your blocking force. The faster I can assign the damage for my fleet the better

[@Rabid_Wombat]

Ditch the Benalis Heroes for 3x Order of the White Shield and you pretty much have my White Weenie deck...minus the Mox Pearl and the Black Lotus, of course ;)

[@waaaghboss64]

I could be miss-remembering, but I'm fairly certain that by late 94 people were loving swords to plowshares. By 95 it was worth a few bucks due to being sought after.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I started in 1996 and even for my first few years there was a lot of people who still didn't recognize the value of STP.

[@rubix2007]

I want to build this deck or a close copy of it, but just wondering how to prepare for Red casting - Flashfires? Thx!

[@herlocksholmes9369]

Hi there! I know your comment is 5 years old, but did you find a way to deal with the Flashfires? :)

[@soldierofmankind]

Hey Edwin, can you make a deck tech on the deck named Quick Gunslinger Demo Deck? It was an old deck on a mtg magazine called Inquest. It's main win condition is 4 Black Vise. I'm having a hard time looking for that decklist list. Thank you mate.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Benjamin, can we consider this question part of the 1KQA? Something like this might be very fun to answer in a 1k Q and A video. I'll tell you this right now... I don't have that deck list. Please help find it!

[@soldierofmankind]

Hi Edwin, sure - you can use it as part of the 1k Q and A video. Yup, I'm still trying to find it during my free time. It's a bit hard to find it's decklist because internet is still on it's early stage during that time and the only way to check tournament results and card prices are thru Inquest magazine. White weenie is my first deck on 93/94 Magic. Thank you mate and more power on your channel.

[@kakahpt8525]

Edwin, what about Army of Allah to finish it up ? love your 93/94 deck tech!!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

That's definitely a great card, and it DOES fit the theme of weenie creatures for sure. In the end I decided that I wanted those final card slots to be devoted to the Armageddon+Land Tax disruption strategy (to keep the game state in early-game) and also for the "answer" cards (Plow, Disenchant, Balance, Armageddon, etc.) It's worth stating though... if you skip the cards I just mentioned and add more fast creatures and Army of Allah that's also a valid strategy! I just personally think I've had more consistent match ups if I can put a little disruption or board state manipulation into deck. It's amazing how Armageddon just ends the game.

[@razorx540]

There are two different sets of rules right? I thought I had read that you couldn’t have revised or 4th ed cards.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

razorx540 it's really three sets of rules. But only two sets used in the everywhere but Sweden. Almost everybody uses either Eternal Central rules, or Channel Fireball rules. In both of those rule sets any print of the cards originally made in Alpha-fallen Empires is legal IF... - original artwork - not foil - original card frame (not the weird future sight, full art, or the modern card frame with squared up text boxes etc.) So YES 4th edition, Chronicles, etc is still legal. The Swedish are the only ones insisting it must be Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, or original print expansions through Fallen Empires. But the rest of the world sees that as an exclusive elitist attitude.

[@mikelong2756]

Also what do you think about spirit link like if you banded a bunch of creatures could you spirit link it like it's one creature? And I was thinking maybe one jesters cap in the deck so I can go right in their library and get rid of their time walk, ancestral, and twister haha. Effective budget counter effect or?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Jesters Cap is Ice age... not legal for Old School. Spirit Link is for sure a great card and I have used it many times. Sure it CAN be a good card in most decks... but when you spirit link a creature it tends to get bolted/plowed so they can get a 2for1.

[@mikelong2756]

Thanks for answering my questions sir. I haven't played in so long I forgot some rules lol. I am itching waiting on the post office. It feels like a great 80 bucks spent lol. I love all the art in this from the lions to serra to crusade. Got 1 geddon and 1 wrath. 1 sol ring. 3 stones. 3 crusades. Karmas, reverse damage, polarity just bc the art lol

[@ZenTeT]

how can i give you my deck list mono black weenie ?

[@dreadfirewyrm8337]

Great video man. I have thoroughly enjoyed your budget deck series. Are you gonna by chance go into some of the other decks played? I'd really like to see something with kobolds! By the way I sent a message your way on Instagram under the name Dreadfirewyrm.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi DreadFireWyrm! I'm replying to you on Instagram right now. I definitely have done, and I'm planning to do other formats of decks. I might move to Vintage and/or EDH for a bit now. I need to start prepping for Vintage so I can be ready for GP Vegas 2018! A Kobolds deck is probably not on the short list of decks to design unfortunately. They are cool though!

[@paoloproverbio670]

Hi I would need an info, this deck in which category does it currently fall?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

This is a budget deck for Eternal Central rule set of the Old School 9394 format.

[@fpljosh9661]

What’s restricted in this deck

[@elgrecko3244]

recently bought 3 taxes (for about 60€) for premodern.... played them just one time and now it is banned :-/ but for kitchen table games it works fine :-)

[@MakeThisPlaceIgnite]

I like seeing that it’s not powered and not all unlimited or back because i cant afford any of those cards. Pimping an old school deck (or legacy) for me is getting an unlimited dual or plow so this video makes the format less intimidating.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Do remember that you DON'T need to go with Alpha/Beta/Unlimited or even original expansion cards for most Old School tournaments or kitchen table games. Just use Revised, 4th Edition, 5th Edition, Chronicles (reprints) etc and save a ton of cash.

[@joeb1522]

Does white ward save your creature from wrath of god?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Nope, but responding with A Tawnos Coffin or Safe haven can.

[@Adrian-ng9pb]

Hello, I wanted to make a banding comment, you can't ban all of them together. You can only have 1 creature without banding in your band.

[@Adrian-ng9pb]

For example, you can have 2 heroes and 1 white knight in your band but you can't have 2 white knights and 1 hero in your band

[@mikemaniaci8529]

No Tundra wolves? No thunder spirit? Spirit Link works great on other players creatures. Karakas? Exorcist for the sideboard

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

The reality is that there is lots of options on how to build that deck that are all valid/good for different reasons. There is no way to make everybody happy and there is no one optimal solution. Feel free to adjust the list however you want of course. But about the Thunder spirits... they are now too expensive to call this Budget.

[@mikemaniaci8529]

@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I appreciate the reply sir. I was just giving you a hard time. And you are right about the budget. i did notice that in your old school mono black you did run the stone-throwing devils. I like your videos a lot tho. keep up the good work

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

@@mikemaniaci8529 i appreciate the comments and feedback, keep it up. :)

[@joeb1522]

@@mikemaniaci8529 Good suggestions. Thunder spirit is a $100 card and stone throwing devils are about $7. Karakas is expensive and not all that useful. But nice to add if you already have it.

[@fpljosh9661]

U need update this crusade been banned so honour of the pure needs to go in instead cause they banned 6 old cards for racism

[@alwaysplaythegame]

"Still being competitive" doesn't really work though. Standard decks that cost $5 are "still competitive" but people don't often play them often because a $100 deck will increase your win rate by 5%. The same would be true of the old school budget decks... with the exception that it'll likely cost you a thousand dollars to "buy" an extra 5% in win rate. People will almost always gravitate towards the best decks in any competitive format regardless of cost. Old school can survive casually, but people aren't going to bring "budget" old school decks to competitive play.

[@The_Erik_Saga]

Please play four disenchant. Do not play wrath of god, that’s like playing chains of mephastophles in the deck.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Well you can certainly build this deck how ever you want... right?

[@steffensgary]

I highly disagree with benalish over javaleneers.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I'm with ya for some Metas. Against Goblins, or Mana Birds, or pump knights etc the Javelineers would be better. But against beefy creatures like Erhnam, Juzam, Su-Chi etc I prefer banding. So I really think it comes down to the Meta you expect to see.

[@iandelandro]

Crusade banned

[@bridesinblack9414]

Icatian Javelineers is absolutely superior to Benalish Hero in just about every way. It takes out a birds of paradise, elves of deep shadow, llanowar elves, savannah lions, order of leitbur, royal assassin, Stone Throwing Devils, Flying Men....etc....etc.....etc....drop the Benalish Heroes. NOT GOOD. Banding doesn't really matter.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

This deck already has removal with Swords and Wrath. And you don't always need card for card removal when you can band together creatures for a phatty to attack or block. Banding is much better than people think. Especially on defense.

[@bridesinblack9414]

Banding is not important enough to put Benalish Hero in this deck. You want to play a turn 4 Armageddon with your bodies on the board.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I did play test this with both options and in the current Old School Meta against the decks I tested... banding was better than you are giving it credit for. I fully understand you disagree. But you gotta play test this list against other popular Old School decks to see what I'm saying. It's not a case of compare card to card... this is apples to oranges man. The Icatian J's are about directable damage. The Hero is about turning smaller weenies + crusade into fatties and about spreading out damage on defense such that it's ineffective. Totally different tactics. You can argue Shock is worse than Lightning bolt because they are doing the same thing and Bolt is just better. What you are doing is arguing that directable damage is just better and what I'm telling you is that's a different tactic and it changes how you play the deck. Get what I'm saying?

[@bridesinblack9414]

Let's just agree to disagree. I could write 5 paragraphs. You would respond with 5 paragraphs. All good.:)

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

LOL ok fair enough. Just know that I did play test the Javelineers and with this build and the way it plays their ability didn't impact the games as much as at least having a single banding creature on the board did.

[@lonsmithicus]

WRONG-Protection from black does NOT get around the Abyss because the abyss just makes a player CHOOSE a creature. Not Destroy Target Creature.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Skyler Lon Smith its not a sacrifice, its a target. www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/778773-the-abyss-and-targeting

[@lonsmithicus]

Is it the same then with Drop of honey and all colored sacrifice effects? Or is it just The Abyss that was errata'd to be target creature instead of how it's worded on the card??? I'm about to start playing oldschool so this is a very serious question for me. Is there a youtube video on 9394 rules that someone could recommend? Thanks for the help folks.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Great question, I don't know off the top of my head and things are really busy at the moment. If you find out please list that info here!