by deepspawners_3j44sm | Aug 25, 2018 | Stories
The Allure of MTG Old School
Old School MTG Revised
The words “Magic the Gathering” had been whispered to me. Rumor. Innuendo. And although I often frequented comic stores and card shops I had never actually seen it for sale until one day in 1994. While shopping in Los Angeles I spotted, behind the counter of some long-forgotten store, few Starter Decks of MTG Old School Revised. After convincing the friend I was visiting to try it out with me I bought one.
I’m sure you can picture it: two guys sitting on the floor, shuffling a Revised starter deck, reading through that ridiculous instruction booklet, learning how to play. Drawing off the same five color deck, mana screwed throughout most games. The winner would be determined by either the one who drew (and was able to cast) the Serra Angel, or whoever ended up with the Royal Assassin if Serra didn’t come out. The only other card I distinctly remember from that deck was a Scrubland, one which remains in my collection to this day.
My friend didn’t “get it”.
He wasn’t interested in playing magic after our initial six or seven games.
He’s never changed his mind on that. I was fascinated with MTG but, with nobody to play with, my old school cards went into a drawer and were mostly forgotten.
At some point in 1995 I passed a comic/card store previously unknown to me. I stopped in to check it out. They had tables set up in the back of the store. There sat a group of regulars who played Magic, mostly kids younger than myself.
They also had an advertisement for a release event that weekend: Ice Age.
I came in that weekend and actually learned how to play the game. My collection grew and I became hooked, playing every weekend and many evenings after work. Those older “mtg old school” cards went from mythical and into my personal collection, budgeting and saving and scraping together what I could to build a collection. I remember the day Chaos Orb was banned. The forming of “Type II.” The banning of Alpha from tournament play.
Playing on and off throughout the years, the last time I played Standard was around the time of Innistrad.
Life changes and Standard stagnation and I quit once again.
I never found an interest in Vintage, as the extreme power mix between the older and newer cards wasn’t interesting to me.
Sometime around the beginning of 2018 I found myself browsing through the Facebook “For Sale” section and somebody was selling a Collector’s Edition sealed set. I’d always wanted one, but never found it at the right time at the right price. Asking him about I expressed my surprise at the price jump to $3500. He told me the price hike was due to this new format called MTG Old School.
That sounded like just the thing…
I joined a few MTG Old School Facebook groups
I read up on the format and eventually inquired if there were any groups in Southern California who played. I was put in touch with Chris and the Spawner crew and have been hooked on MTG Old School ever since.
-SM-
by deepspawners_3j44sm | Aug 23, 2018 | Stories
Mike and I were always into competitive games against each other.
We wore out his amiga games while the loser drank till the sun came up. We raced slot cars on a track we owned together and the loser drank. We bowled, and we played magic. (Loser drank).
Strangely, I decided to join the Marines in 1993
So Mike and I only got to play when I was home on leave. We kept in touch when I was in Italy and bought Italian legends. He came to visit and we played in various duty stations I was in through the years. I also played almost every day on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on a Mediterranean deployment in 1996.
By this time I was rocking a deck featuring 4 time vault
I would feel final fortune turns to untap the vault. I played on the USS Washington in 97-98. My daughter was born in 1996 so like many, I didn’t play much except when deployed.
Her time capsule of when she was born still has a box of alliances in it.
I went a solid 10 years only playing magic the gathering occasionally
But mostly it was old school with my buddy Mike when I went home on leave. In 2009 I got divorced and had time on my hands.
I was a little nerdy and a little lonely.
I walked into the local game store, bought 2 boxes of M10, built a deck and played it un-sleeved that night at their FNM. I went 2-3 and I was hooked. Jesse and Damyan owned the store at the time. I still play with them both.
I deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 where I got with the local USO and arranged a weekly draft. Damyan sent me boxes of cards and the USO provided prizes by buying extra boxes. They trusted me to be fair and prize out the free events. I ran unsanctioned drafts for 14 months through 2 deployments in Afghanistan. It was a total blast seeing army rangers, Marine special forces, Navy, British Royal Marines, all kinds of people show up for the weekly event. Everyone was heavily armed and we had no judge nor any conflicts. Even better the sets we drafted were Zendikar, Innistrad, world wake, and rise of Eldrazi.
All great sets.
During this time, I return home on leave and Mike would get the old gang back together (his brothers and friends) to play.
- But I was way too competitive.
- My decks were finely tuned legacy decks and they were casual.
- Mike had all the old cards but it felt like cheating using power.
One day in 2015 I was in Damyan’s MTG shop.
We were talking legacy and a guy was there that was interested In Legacy. He was also a bit more mature than the rest and the 3 of us made plans to play legacy on occasion. We would later refer to him as “Savage”.
Our Thursday night vintage and old school game had started. Soon we had Shrek, Savage, Damyan, me, Senai, and usually a random player. Twice Jaco made the trek from LA.
That year, me, Savage, and Mike went to eternal weekend in Columbus. I even managed to begin the vintage tourney 5-0 that year but the real fun was the old school tournament Jaco had organized. I had the prestige of not only having the most fun, but also placing dead last out of 87 with a sweet black white abyss deck.
After the tourney, mike and I crashed Dan Bocks hotel room, got all his employees hammered and played till 4 AM.
In 2017 we had a private MTG Old School tournament
Savage, Damyan, Shrek, Senai, Mike, The Preacher, and I for a long weekend of magic at my cabin in Big Bear Lake, California.
We ate, drank, and played all weekend. We knew it would be an annual thing from that point on.
Another eternal weekend.
This time I played a cool mirror universe combo deck that did pretty well.
Forward to the second Risk at my house.
I think we had 36 people but not all at once. Mike and his brothers flew out. We ate, drank, and played a lot of cards. Mostly, we met a lot of local old school players. I arranged a few events at bars but the next big one was the off site GPLA event. We capped it at 32 but I know we could of had 50 easy. I ate, drank, and played cards.
Magic got me through the times when I needed some camaraderie.
I hope some of the new old school players have memories like mine…young and excited to play awesome cards.
It’s why I play.
by deepspawners_3j44sm | Aug 23, 2018 | Events
Magic the Gathering
Old School Southern California Event
Anyone that’s played Magic during the Golden Age (1993-1994) knows how nostalgic it feels to play this format. As a player myself since 1994, I stopped during Tempest which was around 1998 – 99. I played every here and there, but not like I did in the old days.
The new magic sets just didn’t interest me as much.
Then about a year ago, I found out that there is an Old School group of players that only use 93/94 cards. I was thrilled when I discovered them, and I was lucky enough to have kept a few of my cards from back in the day.
So I immediately tried to construct a deck and with a few cards missing, I found out the prices today were crazy! I remember thinking, “does anyone really play this format still?” “Can anyone even afford it?”
Fast forward a few months…
I met a few guys who played the Old School format
Instantly I was hooked. Playing Old School again gave me the ultimate nostalgia and playing it with like minded people made it even more fun!
One of the guys I met introduced me to another group of Old School players called the “SoCal Deep Spawners,” an awesome group of individuals who loved the game as much as I did. They were the kind of people that you can be proud to be friends with.
I got to know them better and was able to attend my first SoCal Deep Spawner event called “The Risk.” The event is held once a year and you get to play magic all day, drink beer, eat good food and have fun with friends. It was a great experience, and that’s pretty much what started it all. Shortly after that, I became an official member of SoCal Deep Spawners!
(Sorry had to tell a little back story — I just wanted to express how awesome this group is!)
With Grand Prix (GP) Los Angeles approaching, our group wanted to host an Old School Tournament for other \ players interested in playing the format we all love. The event was spearheaded by Elusiv (Chris), one of the original Deep Spawners, OldSchoolDrew, and Brian.
The venue was a challenge because we had to find a place close to the LA Convention Center where the GP was happening. And since Los Angeles is not a cheap city, our options were very limited. Up until the last minute, we thought wouldn’t have a venue. But we managed to put it together just 2 weeks before GP Los Angeles.
The place we picked was a cool restaurant and bar just walking distance from the convention center. We had to charge $50 entrance, which included dinner and prices. At first, we were worried that people wouldn’t register with an entrance fee of $50. ,But low and behold we were already at full capacity one week before the event…
With more people wanting to register!
Our private tournament went viral at GP Los Angeles, and people were approaching us, asking if they could score an invite to the event. At this point we already had about 10 – 15 people on the waitlist, so as much as we wanted to accommodate everyone, the space we rented was limited.
SoCal Deep Spawners’ Old School Los Angeles Event was the talk of the town
For us Old School players, we didn’t expect to garner that much interest but we’re happy the old school MTG format is growing!
There were a total of 32 players at the event. We did 5 rounds of Swiss and enjoyed good food, drinks and conversation. There were a few AWESOME prizes, including a complete, un-sleeved old school deck rubber band — which Elusiv himself actually rocked during the event!
Another good thing
At this event, a few of the participants got back into old school or just got into the format and this was their first Old School Tournament / event in a long while! It was great to see all the “new” old school players at our event having a blast.
It was an awesome night of Magic!
The event started at 6pm and ended almost at midnight. All in all it was a massively successful effort. Hopefully next time we can accommodate more people.
It was a pleasure playing with old friends and making new ones trough Magic. That’s the true essence of old school.
- It’s not about winning
- It’s about having fun.
- It’s about spending time with friends and making a ton of new ones!
We are very thankful for everyone that attended and excited to see everyone again for our next event!
Discover SoCal Deep Spawner events are on the scheduled here.
