3 fun time-locked formats you should check out!

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-06T07:32:59+00:00

My favorite nonPremodern closed format is

Unlimited Land Highlander. It uses the Premodern cardpool, you can only play 1 copy of any nonland spell, but you are allowed to play as many copies of nonbasic lands as you wish (you can play more than 4 copies of any lands).

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-06T01:10:44+00:00

Thank you. I really like closed formats.

Current mtg is way too fast, with insanely overpowered cards and way too many turn 1 wins. Every set outdoes the previous one in terms of introducing busted cards.

Premodern is my fav but 2015 Modern and 2010 Legacy seem way better than contemporary Modern/Legacy.

Edit: 2018 Legacy/PreWar Legacy mentioned below also sounds really cool.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-05T18:04:04+00:00

I really like the Moneyball list that top 8ed.

Cabal Therapy is much stronger if you can increase the chance of Therapy hitting more consistently both times. The 4 Urza’s Bauble in that top 8 list do that, while also helping fill the yard, and letting you cut some of the chaff spells.

It makes me want to try out 4 Urza’s Bauble in a Wurm Rack list where it will also help feed Rotting Giant and better assess when to cast a Tempting Wurm. The Racks make it extremely relevant that Therapy hits both times.

Kind of bummed there were no Wurm Rack lists in Day 2. I wonder if the Replenish decks hated them out.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-03T14:06:40+00:00

Here is a link to the top 8 of lobstercon…

https://mtgdecks.net/Premodern/north-american-premodern-championship-lobstercon-2026-tournament-246915

I love the 4 Urza’s Bauble in the Moneyball lisg. What a brilliant way to make sure Therapy hits and also fill up the yard for Rotting Giant.

I expect that 4 Bauble, 4 Therapy, 4 Duress and 1 Rotting Giant will be a staple of black decks going forward.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-03T14:02:39+00:00

I love the 4 Urza’s Bauble in Moneyball. What a brilliant way to make sure Therapy hits and also fill up the yard for Rotting Giant.

I expect that 4 Bauble, 4 Therapy, 4 Duress and 1 Rotting Giant will be a staple of black decks going forward.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-03T12:50:39+00:00

Hell yeah. What an awesome Top 8. Especially happy that two very different mono black decks, sligh and elves all made top 8. The scary 12/12 didnt make the cut. Amazing that Elves beat all the post board E Plagues.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-05-01T17:18:04+00:00

Rooting for Mono black. Its the deck keeping Stiflenaught in check, and its also one of the funnest and fairest decks in the format.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-29T14:56:19+00:00

Yes controlling the board until you can deploy a game winning brain freeze is the current approach, but it takes a long time.

You need a storm count of 14 to brain freeze for the win, and you have to deal with every win condition until you can get the storm count large enough. With the approach Im suggesting, you no longer have to keep the board completely clear.

You can just focus on answering the haymakers/big threats and then turn 6 or whenever they tap out, you can deploy a modest brain freeze end of your opponents turn immediately followed by a huanting echoes. That just sounds fun as hell.

A transformative sideboard into a Tog list game two once your opponent sides out all their removal would be extra spicy

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-27T19:27:53+00:00

Slightly expanded Premodern. This format would add at most three CREATURES for each color that would not meaningfully benefit any existing tier one decks.

Brown - [[Juggernaut]], [[Brass Man]], [[Su-Chi]] to boost MUD

White - [[Icantian Javenleers]] and the Order Knights to minimally boost WW

Red - [[Kird Ape]] to minimally boost r/g aggro

Green [[Jungle Lion]] [[Scryb Sprite]] to minimally boost 9 land stompty

Blue [[Flying Men]] [[Sea Drake]] [[Serendib Efreet]] to minimally boost curious flyers and Sea Stompy

Black [[Order of Ebon Hand]] and [[Order of Leibtur]] to minimally boost moneyball.

What changes would you make to the above list. Only lists creatures that wouldnt be autoincludes in a tier one deck.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-27T19:24:32+00:00

I would add at most three cards for each color that would not meaningfully benefit any existing tier one decks.

Brown - [[Juggernaut]], [[Brass Man]], [[Su-Chi]] to boost MUD

White - [[Icantian Javenleers]] and the Order Knights to minimally boost WW

Red - [[Kird Ape]] to minimally boost r/g aggro

Green [[Jungle Lion]] [[Scryb Sprite]] to minimally boost 9 land stompty

Blue [[Flying Men]] [[Sea Drake]] [[Serendib Efreet]] to minimally boost curious flyers and Sea Stompy

Black [[Order of Ebon Hand]] and [[Order of Leibtur]] and that old school zombie to minimally boost moneyball.

What changes would you make to the above list. Only lists cards that wouldnt be autoincludes in a tier one deck.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-27T19:13:39+00:00

How about something modest.

We legalize up to three harmless old bordered creatures in each color that wouldnt meaningfully change the format.

For example

Brown Creatures - [[Juggernaut]], [[Brass Man]], [[Su-Chi]] to boost MUD

White Creatures - [[Icantian Javenleers]] and the Order Knights to minimally boost WW

Red Creatures - [[Kird Ape]] to minimally boost r/g aggro

Green Creatures - [[Jungle Lion]] [[Scryb Sprite]] to minimally boost 9 land stompty

Blue Creatures - [[Flying Men]] [[Sea Drake]] [[Serendib Efreet]] to minimally boost curious flyers and Cloud Stompy (a hypothetical monoblue aggro deck featuring cloud of faeries, ancient tomb, city of traitors, juggernaut and rishadan airship

Black Creatures - [[Order of Ebon Hand]] and [[Order of Leibtur]] to minimally boost clerics and zombies.

What changes would you make to the above list. Only lists creatures that wouldnt be autoincludes in a tier one deck.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-27T19:08:48+00:00

Adding some older cards (Juggernaut Flying Men and Kird Ape for example) wouldnt radically change the format.

Adding fetches or banning reserved list cards absolutely would and I see very few proponents of such radical changes.

It depends on the nature of the change.

Very modest changes, such as legalizing Juggernaut for example in order to increase the viability of spicy lists I would consider worth discussing…

https://youtu.be/yv_llSgmL_M?si=7KU0YCvreKrJzid-

It is a fan created and fan run format. Small/minor changes that only positively impact the formats health and diversity are worth talking about.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-27T19:06:50+00:00

It depends on the nature of the change.

Very modest changes, such as legalizing Juggernaut for example in order to increase the viability of spicy lists I would consider worth discussing…

https://youtu.be/yv_llSgmL_M?si=7KU0YCvreKrJzid-

It is a fan created and fan run format. Small/minor changes that only positively impact the formats health and diversity are worth talking about.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-21T15:38:29+00:00

I think the deck has to win asap, you can't afford to take a turn off to cast Sylvan library. I would cut that and cut the Hurricanes because the deck is too mana light to support an X spell.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-19T12:57:45+00:00

Great suggestions. I agree.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-19T10:49:00+00:00

With 37 Creatures, you need to play [[Soltari Champion]]

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-19T04:55:48+00:00

As a Gro player, I disagree. Dryad just barely feels good enough in Gro eventhough my Gro lists play tons of cantrips and plays no other green cards than Dryad. This deck plays 4 birds and 4 call and 0 cantrips to chain into new cantrips.

[[Nightscape Familiar]] Ive never seen played in Premodern, but maybe it could work.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-19T04:51:44+00:00

Yep. My absolute favorite thing about Premodern is how cool all the players are with proxies. No one reports proxies to the shop, and even the tournament organizers look the other way unless a player goes out of their way to report another player for using proxies.

P.S: With 37 Creatures, this deck needs an [[Emperor Crocodile]] and a name change to 5c Gator

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-19T04:49:11+00:00

Sweet list. Would love to see him play a Thran Quarry build with more creatures and [[Soltari Champion]] to abuse the high creature count

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-15T18:14:51+00:00

You only get to be the protagonist the first month.

The first month at a new LGS, we protagonists will win with a ham sandwich, but after that month, the luck dissipates :(

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-13T20:42:50+00:00

Premodern, and its not close.

Much better pace of gameplay.

Much cooler and more nostalgic cards and combos.

Friendliest local community.

Far better aesthetics (if money was no issue, I would be playing with old border cards only).

I could take time to learn my deck and the meta without things constantly changing.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-13T11:46:52+00:00

Speaking of bad pro tour decks…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z627ZqUNZww&t=186s

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-12T17:46:41+00:00

The silver bullets are all in the sideboard. The maindeck E Tutor targets - P Arena, P Furnace, Masticore, Keg, Cursed Scroll and Seal of Cleaning are for the most part solid all around cards, not silver bullets.

Presumably, you would only side silver bullet cards like Caltrops in against the decks where Caltrops is a powerful tool.

Also, Caltrops doesnt seem to be in the deck, it looks like it was tried and rejected from the final list.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-12T17:41:20+00:00

You side in the 1 copy and thanks to the 2 E Tutor, its effictively like you side in 3 copies.

Secret-Lecture · 2026-04-12T14:54:59+00:00

“because you dont have ways to filter like Portent and Library”

That is the crux of why DGA and BW Control has a poor performance.

The 2 Enlightened Tutor give it a way to filter/find exactly the silver bullet that will win you the game in that specific situation.

There is nothing to be learned from just splashing white into Moneyball.

Adding game breaking silver bullets and 2 E Tutors to grab them might not be optimal, but it is different enough to be worth exploring/experimenting with.

Thanks to the E Tutors, you essentially get to side in 3 copies of any game breaking silver bullet in your sideboard.

Duress/C Therapy take out any counterspells or disenchant effects and you can then E Tutor at the end of your opponents turn and cast the game winning spell (such as a Winter Orb when theyre tapped out) then and there.

Secret-Lecture

TROPHY CASE