The joy of (sometimes) playing with reprints and white borders

Reprints and which to allow is a controversial subject, my stance is generally I don't care. In tournaments I want at-least old-border, original art and non-foil cards. I will never buy CE/IE cards. I despise gold-bordered cards. I think proxies are bad for any format. But this post isn't really about this topic.

For over three months the old school magic world of AFK tournaments has been brought to a halt but the online world of webcam old school really has been thriving (70 people n00bcoM, 96 people Havenwood Battleground and 200+ signed up for Summer derby).

When I started playing you could still buy Revised starters but the sets that really shaped my teens were 4th Edition and Chronicles. The golden era was when you would spend the whole weekends trading and playing with your white-bordered cards. For some reason there was a steady supply of italian Legends on Åland aswell, so I cracked some of those packs.

I started a project trying to play as white-bordered as I could during the corona lockdown, buying lots of 4th edition and Chronicles cards and using eraser to white-border some cards not available in white-bordered versions.

Dust to Dust was my training run for the Mana Drain that had been sitting in my binder unsused since Bazaar of Moxen 2013. Both we're made for my version of The Deck in Atlantic.

I stick with white bordering Italian Legends for two reasons; they feel more nostalgic to me and  the colors fit better with all my 4th edition and Chronicles cards.

Some other cards I have been erasing the borders from. Chain Lightnings were for Dibatog and Order of Leitbur for Temple of Sped. Relic Barriers, Avoid Fate and Psychic Purge are for upcoming decks.

My first deck I finished 75 card white-bordered was the Dibatog list, there was a big error in not having the Giant Shark but I stuck with that whole white-bordered theme in this one which I corrected later on with regards to the Shark. I skipped playing Library of Alexandria because it's not white-bordered and changed a Falling Star for a Earthquake (I will get a italian Falling Star and white-border it).

I really need to get me some FWB Efreets for this list.

There has been some discussons with mg, Berlin and me regarding the rules of the Giant Shark after Will M brought it up. We have come to the simple conclusion that it should be included  in all "old-school" decks and formats with a sideboard (so not in singleton, but in singleton get it with your Ring of Ma'rûf and go for the beatdown). I found a "solution" for my Giant Shark.

My best solution was to make a DIY white border for the card (remember to remove the border when sideboarding in the card). It's not perfect but it atleast makes the deck pictures look better.

 

 Some of the sweet black-bordered cards reprinted with white borders.

Playing with these cards is a lot more nostalgic for me than just using the swedish legal cards, back in the mid 90s we didn't have the original cards on Åland. Sometimes we went to Stockholm to trade/buy for some duals and some FBB tutors to spice up your deck (for local people TV-spelsbörsen was the place, we did have to go to "Plattan" a local drug-dealing spot since deals weren't allowed at TV-spelsbörsen). The most exotic card I owned back then was a Library of Alexandria which I played in my unpowered 5cc (I was a big fan of The Deck back then). I traded 6-7 revised duals and half a cheese sandwich for that Library with a finnish guy traveling with only a tote bag containing a binder of expensive cards and a carton of cigarettes. 

There was only one piece of power available on Åland, a unlimited Mox Pearl. That unlimited Mox made us play the game "hide the Mox" which of course made it's owner furious. That guy has said he some day will play "hide my p9", fair enough!

My first 75 card white-bordered deck including the DIY Giant Shark.

To conclude, playing with reprints have brought back some really fond memories from 1995-1997 for me. I don't want tournaments in Sweden and especially n00bcon to allow reprints. To all other organizers out there, you are doing a great job and play with whatever reprint policies you like. It's the organizers hard work that makes us able to play, enjoy ourselves and meet new friends.