The Surprising Genius of the Worst Deck to Win a Pro Tour
36,132
Published 2024-08-06
While I'm pretty sure it's still this one I think Magic Pro Tour Legend Olle Rade doesn't get nearly enough credit for how innovative his deck really was.
While sure, it's an absolute pile that no one would be caught with in 2024 back in 1996 for how much Olle was doing wrong there's a lot right about this deck.
At the heart of the first win of one of the greatest Magic players to ever play and a first class Hall of Famer this deck spoke at length about how good Olle was at playing his style, metagaming and honestly outplaying everyone back in the early days.
Looks like Block Constructed got broken again and you won't believe the creatures that get it done.
Move over Bloomburrow, there are some old school monsters ready to take you back to the third ever MTG Pro Tour.
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Pro Tour History Playlist - • Pro Tour History
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Credits:
- This video features the songs 'Title' and 'The Void' from the game 'Orb of Creation', used with permission. Thanks Marple for being awesome.
You can check out Orb here: store.steampowered.com/app/1910680/Orb_of_Creation…
- Footage used is presumably owned by the WOTC and the PlayMTG channels. Everything was used with the intention of sharing the great stories of competitive Magic and credit was attributed as best I could.
All Comments (21)
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i love that he put himself on top of his 3 mana 3/3 on the custom card, such a power move
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I'm always baffled by how people call this deck bad. It won a ProTour and was perfectly metagamed to win....because he did. And then proved how genius he was by winning or placing highly (Top 8) in several future ProTour/World Championship events shortly thereafter. Olle Rade (and his deck) were legit....for its time. I actually played in a PTQ in hopes of playing in this very same Ice Age Block Constructed Pro Tour (that Rade eventually won), and even placed fairly highly in that PTQ, missing Top 8 on tie-breakers. Scott Larabee himself (of the Commander Rules Committee today) was even the Head Judge, so this was a legit event back in 1996. What I remember from then is exactly what you said: Decks back then WERE bad, by today's standards. And Rade's deck, with his efficient card choices and cantrip effects to "tighten" his deck list, were really ground breaking for his time. And then along came Buehler, Finkel and Budde (among many others), and the game's stars shifted in a very different direction.
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No Magic deck exists in a vacuum. Every deck is part of a format with its own card pool and metagame. An aggro deck that can lock out the meta-defining control deck is a magnificent achievement.
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It's really amusing hearing Mark Rosewater's voice in the clips and being like "oh yeah, he used to be a commentator."
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As someone who was playing then (and mainly playing RG), this was an absolute pleasure to watch. Love these slices of fascinating MtG history. More videos like this please!
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The very excellent and very understated moment of the Pyroclasm misplay into Wooly Spider: Fleischman casts Pyroclasm Ollie sets aside his other blocker Fleischman points at Wooly Spider Ollie just sits there silently going "Yeah, and?" Commentators / Judge: "+0/+2 when it blocks a flier." "Ooooooh, mistaake!"
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WotC thought we were missing Block constructed so much they went ahead and turned all eternal formats into Modern Horizons Block constructed lmfao
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I didn’t know that was how we got Safekeeper; the ability, in regards to the finals match, is a bit of a flavorful mesh of the way the match itself went.
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I feel like we'd be doing a disservice to the game itself if we called it a bad deck with bad cards when it won the tournament. Even if the cards are awful by themselves, if they dodge removal and are left unaffected by most threats in the meta, then it's not that crazy that he won?
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Seeing the old school solider tokens just made my week
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As someone who got into magic only just last year, I love these historical analysis style videos! Keep 'em coming!
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The vibes in the old footage remind me of the early GDC videos
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Awesome vid! Keep up the great work and thorough research. You are clearly so knowledgeable.
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It was this video that taught me a new bonus fact slash easter egg to discuss with people about Olle's invitational card. I knew Safekeeper was him but I didn't know the significance of the spider mount and I LOVE THIS lol
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I had vaguely heard of this deck being bad out of context, but like hearing it was a Block Constructed Tournament made it make it all sense. Even with years of improvement in deck building and set design building a deck with that a small of a cardpool you end with a lots of "Well we have to reach 60 cards somehow 😢" choices lol
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Hey PastryTime, as an Aussie that's been playing Magic for 28 years and League for 12 years, I can't describe how happy I am to find out not only are you into Magic, but you're producing these high quality videos delving into the past. This is fantastic content and you can bet I'll be back for every video. Thanks again.
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That Woolly Spider moment is such a stomach sink. We've all been there but to feel it on such a stage is something else
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This is a super great video man! I hope you make more like this in the future!
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“Thats my secret Tony every deck is terrible. ”
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I love this. This is the type of Deck I love: weird, outside of the established Meta and a lot of fun to play. I think Ole would be (probably is, don't know) and amazing Commander-Player 😁
