I started playing Magic: The Gathering in 1996. I completely missed the birth of Type 2 in 1995 so I took some time to study it. It turned out there is a lot of misinformation and few decklists out there. That can be explained by the lack of Internet at the time and Wizards of the Coast's policy to frown upon people talking about their tech.
I will follow WotC's policy and not divulge the contents of any of the winning decks. (Sorry, guys.).
- US National 95' report by Scott Burke[1]
During my exploration I came across a deck named Vise Age which I instantly loved. Popularized by Henry Stern, it features everything I love about MtG. Namely Channel and Fireball! Here is a summary of what I learned.
According to the MTG Wiki documenting Standard Timeline[2][3], there were five periods in 1995. The most interesting are the last four after Revised and The Dark rotated out in June of 1995.
Jun 95 - Jul 1995 Aug 95 - Sep 95 Oct 95 - Nov 95 Nov 95 - Feb 96
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Sets:
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4th Edition 4th Edition 4th Edition 4th Edition
Fallen Empires Fallen Empires Fallen Empires Fallen Empires
Ice Age Ice Age Ice Age Ice Age
Chronicles Chronicles Chronicles
Homelands Homelands
Restricted:
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Balance Balance Balance Balance
Channel Channel Channel
Regrowth Regrowth Regrowth Regrowth
Ivory Tower Ivory Tower Ivory Tower Ivory Tower
Mind Twist Mind Twist Mind Twist Mind Twist
Feldon's Cane Feldon's Cane Feldon's Cane
Recall Recall Recall
Zuran Orb
Banned:
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Channel
Type 95 was a format using the end of the year period with additional tweaks (like a much needed Strip Mine restriction).
There were three expansions released and two major events (US National and World Championships)[4].
Jan 10 : Type 2 is born to allow people without Moxes to join the party! Apr : Release of 4th edition. May : First US Regional start of the rise of Mark Justice and Henry Stern. June : IceAge is released. July : Chronicles is released. Jul 13-16 : US National Championships (Mark Justice wins vs Henry Stern). Aug 5-7 : World Championships. Oct : The Dojo is born. Oct 14 : Homelands is released.
The 1995 US National Championship (a.k.a Origin 95') occurred on Jul 13-16 at Philadelphia convention center. It saw the victory of Mark Justice over Henry Stern's Vice Age. The event was documented by both Scott Burke[5], Mark Rosewater[6], and Henry Stern[7].
Only one "coverage" by three decklist officially survived.
Henry Stern's Vise Age
Scott Burke's Disco Counterboat
Peter Leiher's Monoblack Discard
Mark Justice's winning decklist was never published. There are many websites which incorrectly reported it (here, here, and here) as being Vice Age with Demonic Consultation. That decklist was denied by Henry Stern himself.
Being the person Mark beat in the finals, I think I can speak with some authority here :) Yes, Mark had *a* Johthull Wurm in his deck (and a few other big critters as well). No, he did not have any demonic consultations. Yes, he did channel-ball me a couple of times. Mark's deck was designed (very well, I might add) to beat people playing black(5 of the other finalists) and to beat people who play alot of artifacts or enchantments (me). If you were to play his *exact* deck in an open tournament you wouldn't get very far. However, a few alterations would leave you with a very playable deck.
- Henry Stern[8]
All that is known is that it featured Johthull Wurm[9] and did a good job of predicting the metagame.
4 Dervishes standard, 2 lifeforces standard(2 on the side?), 4? tranquilities standard, 4 crumbles standard (2 shatters in the side).
- Henry Stern[10]
The Demonic Vice Age decklist seems to actually have been played by Derek Rank who got the most points in Type 2 during the Championships[11].
| Henry Stern | Derek Rank | Peter Leiher | Scott Burke |
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The 1995 World Championships occurred on Aug 5-7 in Seattle. A little bit more is known than for the National[12]. Still, three out of the top8 are remain unknown[13] to this day.
This tournament saw the victory of Alexander Blumke over Marc Hernandez[14]. Note that despite Chronicles having been released before the tournament, it was not an allowed set. Ivan Curina's pre-Ernahgedon (named Selesnya Aggro) would have greatly benefited from Erhnam Djinn (instead they played Lhurgoyf and Force of Nature!).
Henry Stern's list cut the birds and played a single Shivan Dragon. He wrote a really cool report[15] about the event.
I am surprised to not see White Weenie in the top8 or even Black Necro. See Scryfal #9 for more explanations.
The Tundra Wolves ran a series of two videos (part 1 and part 2) about Vise Age. There is also this intentionally kitchy one.
To build my gauntlet, I picked the two decks which I thought were the most fun. Namely Vice Age and the Demonic Consultation variant. They are fast and brutal. I look forward bringing it to a Beast of the Bay meeting.
I always put candies in my decks. Even though these are completely unsleeved, you can still see a French Revised black border Shivan dragon and two FBB channels (French and Korean).
