1995 The Deck by Brian Weissman (Casual)

Brian Weissman’s “The Deck” can probably be called the first truly great deck, at least since the 60 card, 4-per-deck, and restricted list have existed. He is the well-known father of the school of Magic thought that deals with card advantage (in general, the player with more cards is more likely to win, and this fact is one of the most important fundamental aspects of Magic theory), and he was an early theorist that made most of his contributions on usenet.

The Deck was essentially a Five-Color U/W Control deck that was utterly devoted to drawing cards and reacting to the opponent’s plays. His use of restricted cards and powerful artifacts gave him the mana and card advantage he needed to leverage his permission and removal into a stable game state, where he would eventually win with one of his two Serra Angels (which could also serve double duty as defenders) or his Mirror Universe (also serving as life gain).

Mirror Universe was especially potent at the time, since you did not die as a result of dropping to zero, but rather you would die at the end of the phase. He would mana burn himself down to one life, then during his upkeep, he would tap a City of Brass, reducing his life total to zero. At that point, he would activate Mirror Universe, killing his opponent as soon as the upkeep ended.

The Deck was not just the first “true control deck,” but also the basis for countless decks to follow, including many today. The idea of playing 28 mana in a deck was revolutionary at a time when many people played between 20-24. In addition, his extremely limited number of victory conditions was unheard of at the time. Finally, his extreme dedication to card advantage and developing the game to a point where his victory was inevitable, rather than just racing to victory, has impacted essentially every format ever since.

The Deck might be the most important deck ever built