The Deck

The Deck is a control deck created by Brian Weissman. Fundamentally, it functions the same as modern control decks: gradually gaining card advantage while answering opposing threats, then playing a single large threat that is sufficient to win the game. However, historically it has been constructed using many single-copy card drawing, deck searching and answer cards from every color. The result is a highly complex and variable deck, regularly said to be one of the most skill intensive decks in the history of Magic. Some players have even gone on to say that the deck contains no bad matchups, but only good matchups depending solely on skill of the player navigating it.

Description
The Deck used Counterspell, Mana Drain, Red Elemental Blast , Disenchant, Strip Mine and Swords to Plowshares to trade on a one-for-one basis with the opponent's threats. Then, when the Weissman Deck had somewhat stabilized, he could use Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser, Amnesia</c>, Jayemdae Tome</c> or Library of Alexandria</c> to gain card advantage. In the environment of the day, Moat</c> usually spelled the end, as could a Disrupting Scepter</c>. Demonic Tutor</c>'s use is fairly self explanatory, but it is important to note how it streamlines the deck since it justifies having fewer copies of silver bullet cards. (That is, specific solution cards.) Regrowth</c>, Timetwister</c> and Recall</c> gives the deck some resilience if unexpected things happened. A final strength of The Deck of course, is its sheer volume of "broken" cards (generally considered to be quite overpowered). Sometimes it could "just win" by getting a Serra Angel</c>, Black Lotus</c>, Tundra</c>, Mox Emerald</c> draw, or something of the like.

The Deck later evolved to use Fireball</c> as a win condition instead of Serra Angel, when Weissman was having serious troubles dealing with Necropotence</c> decks of the time. While previously objecting to the use of Fireball to render the opponent's creature removal useless, it was inevitable change to keep up with a changing game.

Original version
The following is Brian Weissman's original 1996 version. (Note that this version of the deck is not legal in any tournament format. For example, Strip Mine</c> was later restricted in Vintage.)

<d title="The Deck by Brian Weissman, 1996"> Lands 4 City of Brass 4 Island 1 Library of Alexandria 3 Plains 3 Strip Mine 4 Tundra 2 Volcanic Island

Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 2 Disrupting Scepter 1 Jayemdae Tome 1 Mirror Universe 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Sol Ring

Creatures 2 Serra Angel

Enchantments 2 Moat

Instants 1 Ancestral Recall 2 Counterspell 4 Mana Drain 2 Red Elemental Blast 4 Disenchant 4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Amnesia 1 Braingeyser 1 Timetwister 1 Time Walk 1 Recall 1 Regrowth

Sideboard 2 Red Elemental Blast 2 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Dust to Dust 1 Zuran Orb 1 Balance 2 Blood Moon 1 Tormod's Crypt 2 Mana Short 1 Amnesia 1 Feldon's Cane </d>

Donais U5C
Although The Deck was designed for Vintage (i.e. Type 1 or Classic), its ideas and unique style of play complexity soon influenced decks in Standard (i.e. Type 2). For example, from December 1997-July 1998 many variants emerged. One of the earliest and most popular was Mike Donais 5-color Control deck, or "Donais U5C" for short. It arrived following the release of Tempest and was popularized on The Dojo and during the United States Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. The core is a U/W Control deck supported by life-gaining/mitigating cards, targeted removal, card drawing and graveyard recursion (<c>Gaea's Blessing</c>). <c>Whispers of the Muse</c> replaced <c>Jayemdae Tome</c> as the card-drawing engine, <c>Wall of Blossoms</c> replaced <c>Swords to Plowshares</c> as a card advantage solution to single creatures and <c>Fireball</c> dual-functioned as a removal and game-winning condition.

<d title="Donais U5C by Mike Donais, 1998"> Lands 1 Adarkar Wastes 1 City of Brass 1 Flood Plain 3 Gemstone Mine 1 Quicksand 4 Reflecting Pool 1 Svyelunite Temple 2 Thalakos Lowlands 1 Undiscovered Paradise 1 Vec Townships 1 Wasteland 1 Forest 3 Island 1 Plains

Creatures 2 Uktabi Orangutan 4 Wall of Blossoms

Instants 4 Counterspell 1 Disenchant 4 Dismiss 3 Dissipate 4 Impulse 4 Whispers of the Muse

Sorceries 2 Fireball 3 Gaea's Blessing 3 Gerrard's Wisdom 4 Wrath of God

Sideboard 2 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Hydroblast 2 Lobotomy 1 Mangara's Blessing 1 Null Rod 1 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Pyroblast 2 Teferi's Realm 2 Warmth </d>

T2
The popularity of Donais U5C quickly led players to target its unstable manabase, using <c>Wasteland</c>s, <c>Dwarven Miner</c>s and other cards that punished non-basic lands (e.g. <c>Price of Progress</c>). Responding to this, Cathy Nicoloff and Brian Weissman developed a version for the 1998 United States National Championships, called The 'T2' Deck. It reduced the manabase weakness by limiting the amount of non-U/W spells, increasing colorless spells, and nearly-halving the number of non-basic lands.

<d title="The 'T2' Deck by Cathy Nicoloff & Brian Weissman, 1998"> Lands 2 Adarkar Wastes 4 City of Brass 2 Thalakos Lowlands 1 Undiscovered Paradise 9 Island 7 Plains

Artifacts 3 Nevinyrral's Disk

Instants 4 Counterspell 2 Disenchant 3 Dissipate 4 Impulse 3 Power Sink 4 Whispers of the Muse

Sorceries 2 Fireball 2 Gaea's Blessing 4 Gerrard's Wisdom 4 Wrath of God

Sideboard 1 Disenchant 1 Dissipate 4 Legacy's Allure 2 Lobotomy 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Power Sink 1 Rainbow Efreet 4 Warmth </d>

2006 version
Though Magic has changed tremendously in the 20+ years since The Deck's creation, the ideas behind it still apply: a skillful pilot is required to navigate consistently against every possible matchup. Its matchups depend more on skill than nearly any other deck. In fact, when played correctly it could be said to have no unfavorable matchups, but rather only those that are favorable.

In 2006, Weissman posted an updated version of The Deck.

<d title="The Deck by Brian Weissman, 2006"> Lands 3 City of Brass 1 Island 2 Polluted Delta 1 Flooded Strand 1 Library of Alexandria 1 Strip Mine 4 Wasteland 1 Tundra 4 Volcanic Island 3 Underground Sea

Creatures 2 Gorilla Shaman 1 Morphling

Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Sol Ring

Instants 4 Brainstorm 1 Cunning Wish 1 Fact or Fiction 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Stroke of Genius 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Mana Drain 4 Force of Will 1 Red Elemental Blast 2 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Mind Twist 1 Yawgmoth's Will 1 Balance 1 Time Walk 1 Regrowth

Sideboard 1 Blue Elemental Blast 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Darksteel Colossus 1 Tinker 1 Fire/Ice 1 Disenchant 2 Pyroblast 1 Red Elemental Blast 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Shattering Pulse 2 Gorilla Shaman 1 Diabolic Edict 1 Zuran Orb </d>

Old School
In 2018, Weissman posted an updated version of The Deck following his experiences of competing in 'Old School' (aka 93/94 Magic) format tournaments that year.

<d title="The Deck by Brian Weissman, 2018"> Lands 4 City of Brass 1 Library of Alexandria 4 Mishra's Factory 4 Strip Mine 4 Tundra 4 Underground Sea

Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 1 Chaos Orb 3 Fellwar Stone 3 Jayemdae Tome 1 Ivory Tower 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Sol Ring

Enchantments 1 Copy Artifact 2 The Abyss

Instants 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Counterspell 3 Disenchant 1 Divine Offering 1 Mana Drain 4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries 1 Balance 1 Braingeyser 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Mind Twist 1 Time Walk 1 Recall 1 Regrowth

Sideboard 3 Blue Elemental Blast 2 Control Magic 1 Disenchant 1 Divine Offering 1 Dust to Dust 3 Hymn to Tourach 1 Ivory Tower 1 The Abyss 2 Wrath of God

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