Old School Magic: The Gathering Decks
I love collecting and playing 90s Magic cards. It's that amazing feeling of nostalgia that many of us get when we see that early edition print quality; how we can instantly identify each of those early editions' unique look and feel. I love how Unlimited is slightly blurry and overexposed, Revised images are crisp and the borders are exact, and 4th edition is ever so slightly saturated—or Alpha with its slightly more rounded corners.
The artwork in the new editions is good, but it's almost too good—probably because it is now all done in Photoshop with cutting edge computer graphic tools. Not to say that the new artwork isn't amazing, but in the old editions you can really see all the brush strokes, the color pencil lines, the roughness, and the hard work that went into each amazing art piece. Each edition has it's own little quirks and surprises. It's amazing to think about the evolution of the game and where it started.
Black Creature Deck
Red & Green Burn Deck
Artifact Deck
Grind Deck
Blue, Green, White Deck
Dragons & Direct Damage
My favorite editions are Fallen Empires, Ice Age, and 3rd Edition (Revised). Revised was my first starter pack and so it will always have a special place in my heart. I think the artwork in Ice Age is amazing and the whole theme surrounding the edition resonates with my love of snow. And Fallen Empires totally rocks. It didn't have the most powerful cards when it came out (like many editions do), but what it lacks in power it easily makes up for in character and subtlety.
I remember opening my very first starter deck in 3rd grade and how excited I was to join my friends in some epic wizard spell-casting awesomeness. My first starter was from the Revised edition and the perfectly mint rare included was a Nightmare!
I think of "Old School" Magic: The Gathering as "pre-rarity symbol" cards. That includes any edition released before the Exodus edition, which came out in 1998. "Old School" can also refer to the editions that came out in 1993 and 1994 including editions Alpha through The Dark. But I'm of the mind that old cards are anything from my childhood, the 90s.
Here are some of my favorite decks! There are a few newer cards in here but 99% of them are before 1998. I decided to list my favorite decks here so I can always re-assemble them in the case that I decide to take them apart to build new decks. Enjoy a blast from the past!
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