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It’s happening THIS WEEK! There’s still time to join the Premodern party in Valencia! 🐉🏆
I’m curious how people with a lot of decks organise their collections, particularly if you don’t buy multiple playsets of the same card.
I currently have around 9 decks across Old School and Premodern, and as the collection grows I’m starting to realise that keeping track of shared cards could become a bit of a headache.
For example, I have one playset of Hypnotic Specter, but it’s used in my Old School Mono Black, Moneyball Black and Pit Rack decks.
Likewise, Dark Ritual is used in Old School Mono Black, Clerics, Moneyball and Pit Rack. Then I have things like Cabal Therapy, Duress, Mishra’s Factory, Wasteland, Engineered Plague, Powder Keg, Dystopia, etc. appearing across several decks.
Obviously I could just buy additional copies, and I’ll probably do that with basics and very cheap cards. But I don’t really want to own 12 Hypnotic Specters, 20 Cabal Therapies, multiple expensive lands, etc. just so every deck can permanently sit complete in a box. I also like particular printings, so duplicating everything could get expensive very quickly.
I’ve been thinking about a few systems, but each seems to create another problem.
Keep all the real shared cards in a binder:
Every deck has placeholders/proxies and I take the real cards from the binder when I want to play it. Very easy to know where everything is, but after playing I have to dismantle parts of the deck and put everything back into the binder. I know myself and I can see that becoming annoying very quickly.
Leave the real cards in the last deck I played:
This is much more convenient because after playing I can just put the deck back in its box. But six months later, if I pick up another deck and find four Hypnotic Specter placeholders in it, how do I remember whether the actual Specters are currently in Old School, Pit Rack or Moneyball? With 2 decks it’s obvious. With 10, 15 or 20 decks, probably not!
Keep a spreadsheet/app showing where every shared playset currently is:
This solves the above problem, but now every time I move cards between decks I need to remember to update the spreadsheet. That feels like quite a lot of admin for something that’s supposed to be a hobby.
Buy enough copies to keep every deck complete:
Obviously the easiest solution organisationally, but potentially the worst financially, particularly when you care about original/old-frame printings.
I’ve also thought about some sort of dedicated “shared staples” box rather than a binder, placeholders in every deck, or only using the whole system for expensive cards while simply buying duplicates of anything cheap.
So I’m interested in what people who have large collections with lots of built decks actually do in practice.
Do you keep every deck permanently complete? Have one master collection and build decks from it? Use proxies/placeholders? Keep shared staples separately? Track which deck currently contains the real cards? Or have you developed some clever system I haven’t thought of?
I’m particularly interested in systems that still work when you get to 10–20+ decks, because I’d rather organise things properly now than create a nightmare for myself later.
I’ve been looking at the different ways Aluren is being built and I’m curious what longtime Aluren players think is actually strongest overall.” “Treva Aluren looks appealing because of the mana base and white tools like Swords to Plowshares and Meddling Mage. BUG gets Cabal Therapy and Academy Rector and a different disruption suite.” “I’m also wondering about Survival builds versus not playing Survival and whether Living Wish packages are worth it. I’ve seen some lists with Pernicious Deed and even really all-in combo takes like sam’s black versions that have put up results.” “For those of you who’ve played a lot of Aluren, what version do you think is strongest overall and why?
hey folks, I get that Clerics can stumble a bit on curve, but I’ve found it feels more resilient in practice. Rotlung Reanimator helps recover after removals and Pyroclasm while cabal archon seems to help a ton against sligh matchups. Overall it’s more explosive than money ball which should also help vs combos. That’s kind of where I’m at. But I might be missing something. Like, for those who’ve played both. When would you pick one over the other, and what pushed you that way?
Here is my take on Tinker Welder, the deck I love the most and am constantly refining with small, incremental tweaks.
For this version, I’ve added a single Meditate, which has been fantastic alongside Tangle Wire and Smokestack.
I’ve also increased the land count from the usual 21 to 24, making room for three Wastelands and one Mox Diamond. That said, I don’t really think of the deck as playing 24 lands. In my mind, it’s still effectively a 21-land deck, because the three Wastelands are often closer to spells than mana sources. Their primary role is disrupting the opponent’s mana, with the added benefit of occasionally fixing your own mana development.
The extra land count also helps against other prison strategies, particularly TerraGeddon and Ponza-style decks. Between Rishadan Port, Wasteland, Sphere of Resistance, and dedicated land destruction, those decks can sometimes lock us out before we get established. It’s still a difficult matchup, but having a few extra lands gives us a better chance to fight through the mana denial.
The Mox Diamond is there to enable more explosive openings. I could see playing a second copy, but for now I like just one. It also has the nice interaction of letting you preserve a City of Traitors by discarding another land instead of being forced to sacrifice the City.
I’m also playing a single Grafted Skullcap. Since we’re increasing the land count slightly, Skullcap lets us turn excess lands into fresh cards while simultaneously filling the graveyard for Goblin Welder. It keeps the cards flowing and naturally supports the Welder engine.
The rest of the deck is fairly stock. The only thing that might raise some eyebrows is the relatively light win condition package of just Black Vise, Karn, and Triskelion. Some players also include the Phyrexian Devourer + Altar of Dementia combo, and I’ve played it myself in the past. It’s undeniably powerful in certain matchups, especially against aggressive creature decks like Sligh, Goblins, or Mono Black, but I’ve never been completely sold on it.
From my experience, the decks that cause Tinker Welder the biggest problems are green-based strategies with Birds of Paradise or Wall of Roots. Those mana creatures largely ignore our prison plan. Those decks area also sometimes running Gaea’s blessing where the Devourer combo means auto loss. On the other hand, against decks like Dreadnought, I already feel reasonably favoured without dedicating slots to that combo. I wouldn’t rule it out in the future, but at the moment I don’t think it’s where I want to be.
The sideboard contains a single Null Brooch and a single Jester’s Cap, mainly for combo matchups. Jester’s Cap becomes particularly powerful when combined with Goblin Welder, allowing repeated activations, while Tinker gives us fast access to it when needed. Null Brooch is there primarily for the Devourer combo matchup, which I still consider one of the deck’s weaker pairings. They’re generally faster than we are and tend to be more resilient, so I’m still looking for better ways to approach that matchup.
Overall, I think the deck is fine. It struggles with against Sligh, the various TerraGeddon builds, Devourer combo, and, more generally, green creature decks that accelerate with Birds of Paradise and Wall of Roots. None of these ever feel unwinnable, but they can certainly be challenging. Against Sligh, even with Sphere of Resistance and Chill, they can still steal games with Price of Progress and Fireblast. I’ve seen some people suggest Ivory Tower as a possible answer. It’s an interesting idea, although I’m not convinced enough to include it myself just yet.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my current list and some of the reasoning behind the card choices. I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially from people who have spent time playing the archetype. Have a great Saturday!
Tickets for the big smoke Q3 in London are now live!
🔥 MONDAY. JUNE 15TH. REGISTRATION OPENS.
For months, players across Europe have been battling through qualifiers, chasing invitations, and preparing for the biggest Premodern event ever organized.
Now it's time.
⚔️ European Premodern Masters 2026
📍 Valencia, Spain
📅 October 10–11, 2026
500 players cap.
This isn't just another tournament.
This is the largest gathering of Premodern players in the World!
Only one will leave with the trophy.
From legendary cards and elite competition to artists, vendors, live coverage, side events, and two days of non-stop Premodern, Valencia will become the center of the format this October.
If you're qualified, your seat is waiting.
If you're not, the Eurofest is your last chance to earn your place among Europe's elite.
Registration opens Monday, June 15th.
Be ready!