The Surprising Genius of the Worst Deck to Win a Pro Tour
10,762
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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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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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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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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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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Awesome vid! Keep up the great work and thorough research. You are clearly so knowledgeable.
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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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Seeing the old school solider tokens just made my week
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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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Great video! I've always wondered about the context surrounding this deck
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thanks for making this, I never knew the whole story
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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 😁
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Your videos are great. You research well, have a smooth voice and can tell it in a reasonable time
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Love the shout out to Marplr in the description
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Expected you to have like 200k subscribers, so good!
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I think you summed it up well early on: every deck in this tournament was terrible. The winning deck was well-crafted, sure. But oh my god I can't stand to look at it. Think of it this way: Every animal species alive is well-adapted to their environment. We are talking about a template for bloodlines that have lasted for millions of years. That doesn't mean every animal species is great. Some of them suck. It's just that we defined what it means to suck from a particular perspective. That perspective results in "all of this sucks" from a critical standpoint. And that's fair because it's at least consistent. Yes, the spiders in this deck were able to eat the shittier creatures. They still suck. If you have a job that pays well but the work sucks, the job sucks regardless of whether there are better or shittier jobs. It's not my fault the rest of this block sucks. To say that the deck sucks is ultimately a criticism of the format, not of the person who figured it out.
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Great stuff maynard
