May 1, 2025

Magic the Gathering format: Fun 40

During the Beasts of the Bay's "Quest for Urza's Chalice" event of 2026, a side tournament proposed to revive the late 90s. Custom boosters were distributed and the 80+ participants were invited to build a deck of 40 cards. Trading was very much encouraged during these three days. There were many cool cards in the set and many gorgeous decks were assembled.

Needless to say, I did not sleep much and had a blast during that "magical" weekend. So much so that I decided to build a set of six decks to recapture the spirit and play with my wife.

What is fun?

Here is a list of things that make a game of Magic The Gathering fun to us.

• Back and Forth. Many interactions between players are exciting.
• Spice. A player can occasionally recover from a desperate situation.
• Diverse borders. If everything is black border, nothing feels special.
• No Discard. It sucks to have no spells to play.
• No Land destruction. It sucks to be unable to cast spells.
• Mild Prison. Too much of it is boring. But Armaguedon is tolerated.
• Small decks. Sixty-card decks are hard to shuffle. Forty cards "feels" right.
• Pretty white borders. Portal Three Kingdoms and Fifth Ed white borders are gorgeous.
• Catnip black borders. Beta is the absolute pinnacle of MtG card beauty.
• Moxes/Sol Ring. They are a nice touch if not found in abundance.

White/Green

Erhnageddon is my second all-time favorite deck. Beta Serra Angels for candies, Balance to save the day, gorgeous Ravages of War from P3K. I am still unsure about having three StP but so far it did not feel like too much.

Green/Red

Finishing a game with a Berserk is incredibly satisfying. Candy Arabian Nights Erhnam Djinn, Beta Berserk. Might of Oaks is so fun. P3K's Rolling Earthquake is a great wiper. Thirst for Blood is also cool because they can feed the Berserk or weaken Serra/Vampires.

Black

Candy Nightmare. Will-O-The-Wisp and Royal Assassin. When I started, RA was the card everybody wanted along with Shivan. We made Imperial Seal an instant because it was more fun. The Wretched is one of the most beautiful cards in Magic. So weird that the drawing has wings but the creature cannot fly. Other than that, many one-off cards that can be tutored when needed.

Red

A hyper-aggressive red deck with a Beta Shivan, Whelps and Fork for candies. The combo Earthquake/Mogg Maniac is super fun. Warrior's Oath won many games in extremis. Three ball lightning may be too much. Homage to my "Urza Ante 2026" deck with a sweet, sweet Fireball. I tried to add a Gauntlet of Might but it was ridiculously broken.

Bant

When I started MtG, a friend explained all colors to me. "Blue" was the color of "back-stabbing" (yes he must have had MtG PTSD). Mahamoti Candy and the only non retro-frame card, Redirect, in the whole set because it is so much fun. I became enamored with Lu Xun, Scholar General but it is a bolt magnet.

Red/Black

Red/Black is my all-time favorite type of deck. Aggro Aggro Aggro. Candy Vampire and Assassin (that I got signed in-person at MagicCon 2026 in Las Vegas). The combo Rolling Earthquake/Maniac is phenomenal (and borderline OP).

Suggestions?

If you have suggestions of cards to add/remove or even other deck ideas, shoot me an email!