Another goal of mine when getting into Old School was to create Power-less decks. I wanted to prove that it was possible to win against Power without having to have Power yourself. I made this decision for a variety of reasons.
One reason was that I didn't own any Power and figured it probably wouldn't be very feasible for me to acquire it. I don't have tens of thousands or even thousands of dollars to spend on Magic cards. I also haven't been playing Magic consistently since 94, even though that is when I started, so I don't have a big backlog of valuable cards to trade in for Power.
Another reason I wanted to build without Power is to prove to myself that I can win games based on my deck building and skill, not based on owning the most powerful cards in the format.
The third reason is that I never owned Power back in the 90s, nor did I ever play against it. It isn't part of my Magic-playing history. None of my friends had it and it was always seemed like an unobtainable goal. They were mythical cards and I almost want to keep them that way.
The final reason I wanted to build without Power is to prove to others that Power is not necessary to play Old School. In fact, its not even necessary to own dual lands.
So I want to dive into my Erhnamageddon deck. It has been evolving now for about a year. I have a number of photos of it's evolution and I will talk about each of them.
This is the deck I used in the Winter Derby. I didn't do very well and I got some good suggestions from my opponents. Some of the suggestions I took to heart and some I am still thinking about implementing.
Luckily I got some more great suggestions on how to improve it and I just recently acquired 3 Land Tax which will help out the deck tremendously.
Here is the newest version of the deck:
In the May Northern Paladin Skype League I played the above deck and I went 2-1, a much better result than before.
Some of the things I did were to add Rainbow Vales which play nicely with Land Tax, Fellwar Stone and Balance. By limiting the number of cards that are not Green or White, having only 4 Birds and 4 Rainbow Vales is just enough mana producers to make the deck work.
Another big change was just how many 4-ofs I have. 4 Disenchant, 4 Swords to Plowshares, 4 Armageddon, 4 Birds, 4 Llanowar, 4 Serras, 4 Erhnams. Most Erhnamageddon Decks I have seen have only 3 Armageddons. I have 4 and play them very aggressively. There were several games I won where I Armageddoned multiple times. Combine 4 Strip Mines with 4 Armageddons and the Land Taxs with Birds and Elves and I generally have the mana I need and my opponent generally doesn't.
I had concerns with City in a Bottle which seemed to pop up in almost every match I played in the April league. The Rainbow Vales also addressed the City in a Bottle issue. The only Arabian Night card in the deck is the Erhnams (and I am still searching for alternatives).
The Derelors and Clockwork Avians I can sideboard in when facing City in a Bottle in place of the Erhnams or if I need more flyers or if I am facing Black since terrors won't work against them. The Clockwork Avians also help against Moat or The Abyss.
I still have some consistancy issues with this deck. I am not always drawing what I need and I think the solution is probably Sylvan Library but I just don't have the budget right now to purchase several of those. A cheaper solution could be Jalum Tome but I am not sure.
This deck is still a work in progress and I will come back to it and continue to work on it in the future.
In the meantime I have a new deck I am brewing up that I haven't seen anyone else play in Old School.
I will debut it in the June Northern Paladin Skype League which just started.
I will post here how it does.
