Mailday 9 – Finishing some final (!) playsets

Once again I have ventured out in the markets. I have bought and traded some more old cardboard. I know, I know, difficult to believe – who would do such things? Well, I would.

The last month or so, I have been finishing some playsets of … creatures…!

Yep, I am as surprised as you are. Who plays creatures in this format (aside, of course, from Verduran Enchantress)? I mean they don’t really do anything. They are not really broken, and you only really need Serendib Efreet, Atog, Su-Chi, Savannah Lions and maybe a single Shivan Dragon to be competitive. Right?

Well, yes to all of the above. But then there are uncannily nostalgia-imbued cardboard like this:

Aaaah yes! The Ball Lightning. And as I mentioned this is just the last piece of the playset. Behold:

Uh-hu-huuuuu. Shivers. That’s right. Going down my spine. Ball Lightning is the first card I really relied on in a “competitive” deck back in elementary school. Together with Lightning Bolts, Fireballs, Incinerates, Shivan Dragons and Mana Flares. You know the drill.

I only once ever saw a copy from The Dark. But when I recently saw a deck with Ball Lightning, Unsummon, Animate Dead, The Abyss and other great stuff, I knew I had to own a playset of the original Balls…

The deck I am talking about also contained some other creatures. For example:

Or, again, rather:

Ha-ha-haaa! These things! Why are they so incredibly hard to find for trade? Yes, I reckon they are very played these days, but still! And €150 a piece or thereabout! That is not something to scoff at. But here they are, in all their damaged glory!

And then for something really, really cool as well as REALLY hard to find for trade. I mean, it is almost certainly easier to find power up for grabs than these guys.

Writing this, there are 24 available on Magiccardmarket. There are more than double that, available of Unlimited Black Lotuses, 52.

One can understand why. It is some damn fine artwork. A killer card. It is, of course, this guy:

As mentioned, the Ball Lightning was one of the hottest and baddest assed cards in the school back then. But this one? This was also very much on fire, and going into many a pile!

And would you just look at the intense, immense, beauty of four of these scary dudes:

This also means that I have another AB60 deck ready now. This guy and Evil Presence. That is just, well, evil! Throw in an Unholy Strength? It simply becomes a back-breakingly, jaw-droppingly vulgar display of power…

So there you have it, I now have four complete playsets of these very beautiful creatures. But wait, there is more.

Because when I saw all these cards, I figured I was going down a dangerous path. The path of actually playing creatures. So I bought myself another card:

That’s right. The last playset of this post is the one that makes all of the above so very bad:

I bought my fourth Maze. Nope, I am not even ashamed. I even assembled and played two different decks containing the complete set, when I played some kitchen table Magic the other day. Yep. I know, but it IS a very powerful card, and as my readers should be aware by now: I like playing control, prison and combo more than anything…

That is it for now. Except: As I have thought many times before, I actually think that I am almost through my major wants for Old School Now. Of course one can always upgrade stuff, but aside from 5 Beta Swamps I am pretty much set for the bigger cards (at least the ones I can ever afford – looking at you Diamond Valley and Candalabre of Tawnos). That is actually kind of nice!

Have a great one! I am working on the next MEGA-article. I think I have mentioned that at least twice before, but one of these days! (/Weeks…)

3 thoughts on “Mailday 9 – Finishing some final (!) playsets

  1. (I’ve enjoyed reading all of your articles so far, but only just now starting to comment 😀 Know that there are probably many like me out there enjoying your writing – keep up the great work!!)

    I remember playing in my first constructed tournament when I was ~11-12 with a deck that sounds virtually identical to the one you describe with Ball Lightning (playset of 4th edition Balls)! I made it to the finals, where I was handily crushed by a sweet Underworld Dreams + Ivory Tower + Icy Manupulator brew and a stack of duals, but I loved every second 🙂

    I’m excited about potential upcoming content around this second AB60 deck, and in the MEGA series. As an idea for related content – perhaps…you could brew up some A40 league enchantress decks too!

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