Before I present my Howling Mine + Relic Barrier deck I've got a couple general deck building updates. Here's one, there is another about my deck testing practices to follow.

For pennies each I bought a couple Magic books published in 1995 and 96: Mastering Magic and Deep Magic. Though the computer game didn't come out until 1997, the card set it uses pre-dates these books, having no Fallen Empires (i.e. Hymn to Tourach). I have been building decks using a restricted (or banned if it's Type 1.5) list cobbled together from my memory. But there are a number of cards that were not restricted until later, or maybe never were, that played a prominent role in the game environment of the time. So I have updated my restricted list, these are the most notable removals:

• Balance
• Black Vice
• Psionic Blast
• Land Tax

Given how many cards just don't work in this game, it seems like a mistake not to fully utilize the ones that do. This will also (and here's where my ulterior motive slips out) enable me to put together a number of the decks in these books that I wouldn't be able to otherwise.

Update Ulterior motive #2: the restricted list is also the banned list if you're playing Type 1.5 and since most of the decks I'm build these days are, this restriction change gives me four completely deck transforming cards that I wouldn't otherwise be playing.

posted by Nils T. Devine  # Thursday, June 02, 2005