Tips for getting into Old School Magic (93/94) “from scratch” and on the cheap

Originally written by DFB – Link to original article here

What should you buy first?

The backbone of colorless 93/94 staples that go into every deck
A solid base of inexpensive mono-color deck pieces that you can add to later (listed by color in the table below)
As resources allow, prioritize Reserved List staples that may never be cheaper than they are now (Chaos Orb, Library of Alexandria, CE/IE Power and Duals, Wheel of Fortune, Mana Vault, Copy Artifact, City in a Bottle, Su-Chi, etc. etc.)

If you buy one big-ticket item to get into the format, make it… Chaos Orb — expensive but iconic and one of the things you can play with in Old School that you can’t even play with in Vintage!

Accessibility first, pimp later

Revised, 4th/Chronicles, FBB/FWB, CE/IE are your friend.

Break the symmetry if you’re playing on a budget

If you don’t have Power 9 or Duals, use that to your advantage! Maindeck powerful but inexpensive hate cards like Blood Moon and Energy Flux, and break the symmetry of cards like Nevinyrral’s Disk, Shatterstorm, Titania’s Song, etc.

And then once you have your first deck together, look for webcam games on Skype/appear.in via Facebook or on Discord!

For a good audio intro to the format/advice for buying into Old School from scratch, and some more in-depth discussion of the list of staples and decklists below, check out the All Tings Considered podcast, episode #13!

And generally if you are new to Old School, for deck inspiration check out the Wak-Wak deck archetypes archives, past Eternal Central event reports, and the /r/oldschoolmtg subreddit for blog posts and other new content.

A basic Old School “shopping list” —

Colorless Staples — these go into most if not all decks. Start here.

Sol Ring (Revised)

Mishra’s Factory (4th Edition)

Strip Mine (4th Edition)

Maze of Ith (The Dark)

Fellwar Stones (4th Edition)

City of Brass (Chronicles or gold-border Championship Decks)

Additional $5 – $20 cards that are staples and give you a lot of bang for the buck —

Chronicles Blood Moons can be had for $16

4th Ed Sylvan Library can be had for $18

Psionic Blast, Sinkhole, Demonic Tutor, Blood Moon, Sylvan Library, Birds of Paradise

Table of inexpensive staples in each color —

WhiteDisenchantSwords to PlowsharesBalanceSavannah LionsWhite KnightTundra WolvesIcatian Javelineer (EC)Clergy of the Holy Nimbus (SWE)Order of Leitbur (EC)CrusadeSerra AngelArmageddonPreacherDivine OfferingDust to DustCircle of Protection: RedCircle of Protection: Black	BlueCounterspellPower SinkBlue Elemental BlastSerendib Efreet (Revised)Psionic BlastBoomerangControl MagicEnergy FluxBraingeyserRecall (Chronicles)	BlackDark RitualHypnotic SpecterBlack KnightSengir VampireSinkholeDemonic TutorMind TwistHymn to Tourach (EC)Order of the Ebon Hand (EC)TerrorParalyzeGloomDrain Life
RedLightning BoltRed Elemental BlastChain LightningFireballShatterEarthquakeAtogSedge TrollKird ApeStone RainShatterstorm	GreenErhnam Djinn (Chronicles)Birds of ParadiseRegrowthWhirling DervishCrumbleTranquilityGiant GrowthLlanowar ElvesArgothian PixiesScryb SpritesScavenger FolkAvoid FatePendelhaven	ArtifactJuggernaut Black ViseThe Rack (Revised)Icy ManipulatorTriskelion (4th Edition)Jayemdae TomeJalum Tome (5th Edition)Nevinyrral’s DiskDisrupting ScepterRelic BarrierSu-Chi (SWE)Fellwar StoneMana Vault

Some recommended starter lists —

(as of right now all are roughly at or below the $100 mark)

Keep in mind that players rarely (if ever) post text decklists in Old School. Call it a cultural thing, but our community values aesthetics, and the old art is so iconic that you’ll come to recognize the cards on sight pretty quickly. So, apologies for using images here, but this is really the way it’s done!

BLACK RACK — Eternal Central B&R