Mailday / Work in progress
I always keep a few wishlists in my Cardmarket account for when I order cards. It’s a great way to grab some inexpensive but juicy extras. Little by little, this approach has helped me build 3 old-school and a few premodern decks, and it’s been a lot of fun!
Now, my latest project is to put together a few $30 budget vintage decks (value vintage), a format I find fascinating for playing with non-hardcore Magic friends. It’s accessble but allows for a very big card pool.
I’ve chosen three decks to build:
High Tide – A combo deck that can generate ridiculous amounts of mana for powerful turns.
Thopter Swords – A control deck built around assembling an infinite life-gain and token loop.
Cascade/Initiative – A ridiculously fast aggro deck that slams threat after threat.
High Tide is already complete, and Cascade/Initiative is nearly there—I just need to track down a few missing cards in my collection, which I’m currently sorting.
Thopter Swords, on the other hand, is still a work in progress. I have most of the cards, but they’re scattered across various binders, and I’d rather these decks not exist in a quantum state!
The most challenging part of this project is figuring out the sideboards. Online lists tend to cater to very specific metagames and often rely on situational cards. In past projects, I’ve found this part tricky, and many decks stalled after assembling the initial 60 cards and a small sideboard.
How should I approach building sideboards for projects like this?
I’ll make an update on my progress and hope to start playtesting soon. It’ll be great to see how these decks come to life!
