u/Competitive_Honey317

They took his home. His ONLY HOME away from him in Pauper. [[Atog]] works well in Old School and that made me think of our other homeless buddy [[Tetravus]]. So for that reason I present the following:

Atog's Breakfast Club

The Main Combo Pieces

1 Atog

4 Goblin Bombardment

4 Goblin Welder

2 Intruder Alarm

2 Tetravus

Alternate wincons

1 Triskelion

1 Masticore

Card Selection/Tutors

2 Tinker

2 Enlightened Tutor

4 Impulse

2 chromatic Sphere

Disruption

4 tangle wire

3 fire // ice

1 cursed scroll

2 phyrexian furnace

1 tsabo's web

Mana

1 Fellwar Stone

1 Mox Diamond

1 Undiscovered Paradise

1 Plains

3 Shivan Reef

2 Mountain

4 Gemstone Mine

1 Island

1 Dromar's Cavern

1 Crosis's Catacombs

2 City of Brass

4 City of Traitors

2 Ancient Tomb

SIDEBOARD:

3 Annul

1 Engineered Plague

1 Fire/Ice

2 Hibernation

1 Onulet

4 Red Elemental Blast

1 Sacred Ground

1 Sphere of Law

1 Tormod's Crypt

Let's break it down a little bit. Yes, there is only one Atog but lets be real. If this deck wants to have any kind of competitive viability even at FNM, it needs to focus on Goblin Bombardment which is way stronger. The main combo loop revolves around Goblin Welder, Intruder Alarm, an artifact in your graveyard (preferably a tetravus), and Goblin bombardment. Lets look at some of the lines this deck can do.

Line 1 - Primary wincon

Pieces: Goblin welder, Intruder Alarm, Goblin Bombardment, Tetravus.
Step 1, make 3 Tetravus Fliers by removing a counter
step 2, Sac Tetravus to Goblin Bombardment to ping for one
Step 3, return Tetravus to the battlefield with goblin welder sac'ing a Tetravus flier
step 4, untap, and repeat steps 1-3
Endstate - infinite damage on the stack and infinite 1/1 fliers

Line 2 - Value wincon

Pieces: Goblin welder, Intruder Alarm, Tsabo's web, Tetravus, artifact in the bin

Step 1, make 3 Tetravus Fliers by removing a counter holding priority with 3 intruder alarm triggers on the stack
Step 2, Welder away tetravus for the artifact in your bin
Step 3, Allowing one intruder alarm trigger to resolve, untapping Goblin welder to return Tetravus by sac'ing tsabo's web
Step 4, Repeat Step 1
Step 5, Welder away Tetravus for Tsabo's web, putting a "draw a card" on the stack
Step 6, Repeat steps 1-5 at your leisure, replacing tsabo's web with another artifact as needed.
Endstate - infinite 1/1 fliers, draw your deck

Tinker and Enlightened tutor enable a lot of these shenanigans, It's a very intensive combo that requires a few hoops to jump through, but that's where welder/tangle wire shines! Hopefully abusing these loops can protect you long enough to set up the endstate. Atog can step in for goblin bombardment as needed, and if your opponent decides to point a swords to try and save themselves you can just repeat the steps needed for infinite life. The cheeky [[Onulet]] in the sideboard enables infinite life almost all on its own as well!
Does the deck have a lot of weak points? Yes, absolutely. Do I think it's still viable? 100%. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Edit: Forgot to mention. Yes the mana is terrible, but that’s premodern babeeee!

Edit 2: I didn't read Tetravus thoroughly enough and It definitely doesn't work like I had outlined. Oh well. Maybe another time.

I’m a long time modern player. I tend to completely disregard standard, but with Modern season ending and rumors of pioneer reviving, what’s a good deck to get into? I primarily play of MTGO and in person. I ported over my modern deck (Boros Ponza), but it doesn’t feel like it fits in the format.

Disclaimer: I didn’t take notes and this is my first time doing this. I might get some details wrong, so if any of my opponents are reading this feel free to correct me below. I thought it would be fun to recollect and share my experience playing the most underrated combo deck in the format. End Disclaimer.

I’ve been playing Premodern for just about a year now and in my 10+ year timeframe playing Magic, no format has captured me the way premodern has. It started with a friend handing me a WUBRG Oath Ponza deck and saying “go to town”. I top 8’d my first tourney and I’ve been chasing the high ever since.
I played a little bit of Cephalid Breakfast in legacy pre-nadu, but had to sell the deck during Covid times. I still think about the combo quite frequently. I don’t have a lot of time to play Magic, so I try to be very deliberate in my deck choices. I’ve tried this deck in various shapes and forms, but I think I finally found the build that works for me. I’ve been playing this version with very slight modification for about six months now, so I think I’m content with the list as is if/until there is any large shakeup in the Premodern format. Intro done, lets get into the juice. Decklist and link posted down below.

Crab Cup Invitational Qualifier #7 @ Amazing Discoveries Tucson, AZ
https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/440039

Round one - Vs MonoU Dreadnought (KelseyTrough)

Game 1 on the play
I keep a hand with Hermit Druid and a Reanimation spell. He dazes my hermit druid, but ends up stuck on one island. He proceeds to stumble as I draw a tutor, make my land drops and pull off the combo on T3.

Game 2 on the draw
He lacks enough interaction to play through my hermit line. He stifles the first activation to buy time, but I brute force my way through with multiple krosan reclamations and finish the game. GGs!

Ending round one 2-0
Round two - Vs GW Mad Dog (FrogMight)

Game 1 on the draw
I don’t recall this match too well, but I remember I had a sylvan safekeeper in my opener and that made his StP pretty useless. I cabal therapy T3 and see no interaction and jam the combo.

Game 2 on the draw
I sided in Fire // Ice which tapped down his tormod’s crypt on his turn before I go off. I believe I stripped his StP with Cabal Therapy T1. GGs!

Ending round two 2-0, undefeated so I’m feeling pretty good.
Round three - Vs UW Standstill control (Loman29)

Game 1 on the draw(?)
I already know this is my worst matchup, but somehow I’m able to play around his T2 Standstill and just jam Hermit druid(which sticks amazingly) and fight through his counter magic with multiple therapies to smack him with a large ghoul.

Games 2 and 3, draw/play respectively
I don’t recall these matches too well, but I had the pieces and just stumbled. I’ll have to take better notes next time for my worst matchups. GGs!

Ending round three 1-2. Still feeling good. I’m having fun playing my favorite deck so I keep jamming.

Round four - Vs Moneyball (Wilzinho)

Game 1 on the draw
This was close to a non game. I had iterative lines, but he had a withered wretch and was content to hold open 2 mana for the rest of the game while smacking me with his factories.

Game 2 on the play
EZ T2 hermit after a peek/cabal therapy T1/2 to strip his kill spell. Jammed the combo on T3 for the win.

Game 3 on the draw
I never found a way to kill his withered wretch and he was pressuring my life total too much. He had snuff out into smother so I came away defeated this round.I flooded pretty bad after drawing lands four turns in a row, but such is life. GGs!

Ending round four 1-2. 2-2 record overall. Feeling a bit trepidatious, but hopeful I still have a chance for top8.

Round five - Vs Sam Black Special[Nic fit, but it’s not Nic fit] (Robert McClelon III)
This round was my win and in, and Bob and I had been hyping up the matchup all day. I was super stoked to play against his deck since he is always on some spice.
Game 1 on the draw
I have a natural T1 Nomad into T2 Illusionist with a T3 kill line up. No therapy, but I think I could have jammed on T2 and therapy’d to strip whatever he had going on. I didn’t so he proceeded to take his T3 after I setup and establish the decree of silence lock after sacc’ing 2 veteran explorers.
Game 2 on the play
I land both hermit druid and Nomad/illusionist, but he sets up the decree of silence with academy rector which forces me to play the long game. 4 turns later of attacking with 3 1/1’s he misplays and taps his only green mana with a pernicious deed in hand. He concedes the game at 1 life. 
Game 3 on the draw.
I cabal therapy 2 swords and 2 academy rector, draw a tutor for druid and proceed to jam. GGs!

This round scraped me into top8 at low seed, but I made it!!! 3-2 for the day and I’m pumped.

Quarterfinals - Vs Elves (Bepis123)
Bepis is a very good elves player, so I’m a bit scared. I know his lines to kill me as we’ve played many times before. Let’s see how this goes.

Game 1 on the draw.
I jam nomad and illusionist T1/2 and he proceeds to generate 10ish mana and drop deranged hermit twice through quirion lines, but they don’t have haste. I’m stuck on 2 mana, but krosan back two gemstone mines and jam the combo on T3 and make a 55 power sutured ghoul for the win.
Game 2 on the draw
My hand is peek, fire/ice, fire/ice, Shallow Grave with mana so I snap keep vs elves. After T1 I’m working with near perfect information with Peek. He manages to land a priest of titania and the creature that returns elves. He manages to save priest for a turn, but I get it the next time it lands. He crop rotations for a forest, sacc’ing his gaea’s cradle to land tangle wire the next turn. The game stall out for a few more turns until I jam the combo, krosan more lands to play around the tanglewire and jam the combo for the win with shallow grave. GGs!

I take my first game 2-0 in the quarterfinals. I’m hyped.

Semifinals - Vs Moneyball (Wilzinho) The rematch!!
This round plays out almost exactly like our first match. He lands a withered wretch and stops me game 1. I jam the combo after he stumbles on one land game 2. And then I flood on game 3 ending in fourth place overall. GGs!

Ending notes: This is the best I’ve done with this deck so far and I am having a blast so far. I need to invest in MTGO so I can get more games in, but I love playing in paper. The Crab Cup Crew has some of the best Magic players I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, so if you’re ever in Tucson, give them a shot. Cheers all! I hope you enjoyed my write-up.

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/TuOKabQrXUO3ML7iL1B8Ig
MainDeck
1 Adarkar Wastes
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Cephalid Illusionist
4 City of Brass
1 Dragon Breath
1 Dromar's Cavern
2 Eladamri's Call
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Exhume
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Hermit Druid
1 Krosan Reclamation
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Mox Diamond
4 Nomads en-Kor
2 Peek
4 Reanimate
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Shallow Grave
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Tarnished Citadel
2 Terravore
1 Underground River
1 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Worldly Tutor
1 Yavimaya Coast

Sideboard
3 Absolute Law
1 Elvish Scrapper
2 Fire // Ice
1 Flaring Pain
1 Ghitu Slinger
2 Honorable Scout
1 Krosan Reclamation
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Scavenger Folk
1 Uktabi Orangutan