PREMODERN TOP 10 DECKS 2023 // METAGAME

A quick overview of the most played decks, metagame and archetypes in the premodern format.

[@greyman419]

Jumping back into Magic and loving Premodern. Started right where I left off - trying to get a mono black hecatomb control deck working.

[@IPlayMagic]

Welcome back to the game! I'm not exactly sure what hecatomb is, I will have to have a look.

[@oldbordergeek]

4 sengir aristocrats 4 ancient tomb and add white for tokens

[@kyslippy]

Would always leave two land open to float a disenchant when I'd see that contamination hit the table. Good times

[@Treglar_Shadowleaf_XJ9]

I just saw in the Facebook Group that you had this video up so I jumped over here to watch. Great Video! I am glad to see that you have some new content here. I hope it is not a year before you do another. 😀

[@IPlayMagic]

Thanks and Im glad you enjoyed it! I've had quite a lot of life stuff going on over the past 6 months so unfortunately haven't been able to make videos as often. But I hope to keep making them and hopefully I will be able to increase the number I make again in the future. By recording some of the matches I play that will also be a way that I can hopefully create more content as those are much easier to make than these kind of edited videos.

[@TheShloppydugan]

Thanks for making these, just starting out in this format and I find your video's super helpful. Really enjoying playing my old favorites in The Solution.

[@IPlayMagic]

That's awesome, welcome to the format and I'm glad you find the videos helpful. The solution is a cool deck but as a somewhat reactive deck it does take a bit of time to get used to the format and the matchups and isn't as beginner friendly as decks like goblins for example that can still win without too much format knowledge by just playing dudes and attacking. So don't get disheartened if you lose a lot at first, the format is huge and that often happens when joining with a reactive deck. I had that experience when I started with uw control for several months until I learned the format, matchups and different cards that I need to counter etc. But now I can do really well with it. I'm glad the videos are helpful though

[@MadMagicShow]

Great channel! Hadnt found it until your comment. Keep em comin! Premodern reminds me of the different standard formats of the 95-99 magic era. Great format

[@IPlayMagic]

Thanks, yeah it’s super fun and a really well balanced format. I definitely think this format does affect the prices of cards too although usually just the old frame versions. Stuff like ravenous baloth , exalted angel, call of the herd and parralax tide etc have all gone from worthless to $5 ish since the format started to get bigger in 2021 angel is one of the best cards and an angel so it’s gone up quite a bit actually

[@mc95975]

Great video mate 👏🏻

[@IPlayMagic]

Thankyou

[@tcgmetaslayer4202]

Lets go stasis! Woo 💪🏻😎👍🏻👍🏻

[@IPlayMagic]

I haven’t made the video for this year yet but stasis isn’t in the top 10 most played anymore

[@tcgmetaslayer4202]

@@IPlayMagic nice! Even better! I like playing rogue or less popular decks anyways 💪🏻😎👍🏻👍🏻

[@matthewbenoit3098]

My current personal favourite is The Rock. I haven’t played too many mid ranged decks and I’m really liking the pace. So much fun to play.

[@IPlayMagic]

It's a very cool deck with lots of options and ability to customise to your liking. I really like the natural order versions lately

[@julesverne5072]

Woow.. found this video random. I left mtg when Vintage died and in italy there were no more tournaments to play. I lived the last time of this beautiful game, before Wizard started to create cards to kill our beloved format. i loved my collection… so many years to build it up, so many beatifull cards… I wish i never sold it! It ‘s such a big regreet.

[@IPlayMagic]

Yeah I totally agree I love my old cards and will probably never sell them, I already did once and regretted it so much. Also wizards really have started to kill the game the past few years,now I only play old school and premodern and those both seem pretty hard for wizards to mess with too much. Although I am worried that premodern could be a target for them if it continues to grow. It also seems like they are going to reprint everything in old border versions but I can't sell my cards because I love them too much. Welcome to premodern, the decks are still very cheap$ at the moment so it wouldn't cost too much to join the format if you did want to start again. There are big webcam tournaments every month online.

[@kyslippy]

Coming back to mtg and am loving premodern, still have all these decks from back in the day. Only deck from that time that really kicked ass was goblins so it's no surprise it's number one copycat netdeck

[@oldmagemtg7008]

I see a new I Play Magic video, I click.

[@IPlayMagic]

Haha thanks for the support

[@joehenderson1]

Love premodern!

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

i have a monoblack midrange, a sligh monored ,a ug madness, a uw landstill , a white weenie and a 10 lands stompy monogreen but i think i will build a three deuche green red instead.

[@stuvius]

Wow these cards are gorgeous

[@IPlayMagic]

Yeah the old cards are so much nicer, especially the foils

[@eric360elite]

I'm surprised the Parfait is not in the top 10. Super powerful deck with different versions and is fun to play with . 😁

[@IPlayMagic]

It's a strong deck for sure but this list is based on how common the deck was, not necessarily power level. I think the list was probably more heavily skewed towards the nostalgic decks this year because we had a lot of newcomers to the format who generally like to try their favourite decks from old standard first. I'm surprised deadguy Ale isnt there anymore because that used to be one of the most popular and played decks, although in my opinion it's not that strong and requires format knowledge and tuning the deck to the meta so I guess I shouldnt be too surprised.

[@hellasforever6242]

@@IPlayMagic DGA unfortunately suffers from being an enemy coloured deck. If we had enemy fetches I genuinely believe the deck would be better positioned. As it stands though, it just gets wastelanded to pieces

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

ok. now i have this decks : . white weenie . 10 lands stompy green . ug madness (not survival but i would buy them gold bordered one day) . mono black control . uw landstill . sligh . ankh tide control . rakdos rack . wg thresharmageddon soon i will build a gr fires and the iconic psychatog!

[@giulianobilofioravanti560]

That's the way

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

i have also all the cards for a black red machine head.

[@IPlayMagic]

That's quite a lot of decks and a nice collection.

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

@@IPlayMagic i wanna build a WG and UB deck too.

[@PremodernMTGO]

Pit rack and mono black are separate in tcdecks currently

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

yep,pit rack is so amazing imo.

[@tacky4237]

i personally like Mono B LD.

[@Locustnism]

With regards to UG madness - what are your thoughts whether survival is needed or not? Clearly asking for budget reason

[@eric360elite]

Not really in the UG version, it's a bit too slow. It sees play in RG version with Squee

[@Locustnism]

@@eric360elite would do UG madness without survival perform well in the meta?

[@eric360elite]

Sure it does. Solid choice to start Premodern if you are new to the format. Make sure to add a set of daze and circular logic and it's good to go.

[@JonnyFrost87]

Madness with survival is kinda a different deck it has a long term plan and a strong engine I don't think it THAT way better than classic UG withouth, for budget and lore reason I will just play the old version tweaked for PM days, so frantic, dazes, ecc ecc def both are available given the results they put up

[@IPlayMagic]

I personally think survival versions are better but you don't need them for the deck to be playable/ good. A fast beat down backed up by countermagic can go a long way vs combo and control decks. Also premodern is a huge format with loads of different decks so it usually rewards players that know their deck and the matchups really well more than trying to beat the 'meta'. Just because you could very easily play a 6 round event and see 6 different decks and only 2 or 3 of them be decks from the video. Luckily madness can be built for super cheap without survivals as a lot of the cards are commons and uncommons so you could try out a budget version in a few events and then if you don't like it change to something else

[@declanofarrell6642]

It’s not up there but my favourite is merfolk

[@IPlayMagic]

Yeah I like that deck too and it's good. This list is all about most commonly played decks so that's why it's heavily skewed towards the old standard classics that are nostalgic and often the reason new players want to try premodern

[@josephrogers8512]

do you have a list for the budget terrageddon?

[@IPlayMagic]

I don't but there are a few on TC decks I think

[@josephrogers8512]

@@IPlayMagic I havent found one that doesnt play mox diamond, thats honestly what i need a replacement for lol

[@chaucansk8]

UG PSYCATOG IS GOOD?

[@IPlayMagic]

You mean UB? It's a good deck but it doesn't see as much play as these.

[@chaucansk8]

​@@IPlayMagic thanks

[@brandonwallace4518]

dang no reanimator love. not even top 12?

[@IPlayMagic]

It’s not that popular at all, this list was about popularity more than power level. Noughtyhermit is definitely super powerful, but I’d say regular reanimator is more tier 2 even though it does have some insanely powerful starts sometimes