atog - boréal
IDEAS AND DIFFERENCES?
There are a few things going on here. The core of the deck is the classic Ankh / Vise damage prison where the opponent will take damage from playing lands, but also take damage from keeping lands in their hand. That combination has great synergy with the Atogs, who can eat the Ankhs and Vises to get huge and end the game. The deck plays fast mana with all 5 Moxes, Sol Ring, and Lotus, which can power out the large threats such as Serra or Shivan, and then be fed to an Atog. It also packs plenty of burn to finish the job. At the end of the day, the deck wants to dump its hand as quickly as possible and reload from a Timetwister or Wheel, which should hopefully force the opponent to take Vise damage.
​The first big difference from most Atog lists is that this deck isn’t playing Serendib Efreet. With 4x Serendibs, Ankhs, and Cities of Brass, Atog decks are typically even more aggressive, but are also constantly doing a ton of damage to themselves. This one is designed with a thought to the Atog / burn mirror.
The Angels can block opposing Serendibs all day and are generally OK to attack them, while the Shivan Dragon laughs off a Blood Moon.
Another unusual aspect of this build is that it’s running white cards. It’s a frequent topic of debate as to whether or not that’s a good idea. However, it’s hard to argue against Balance, and if you are going to have access to white mana in Old School you may as well throw in a couple of Disenchants. Finally, this version of the deck purposely also doesn’t run a Mind Twist. That’s because it doesn’t play well with the Vise plan, and it just ends games with no interaction, which I don’t personally find very enjoyable.
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MEMORIES OF PLAYING IT?
I typically run some variation of this deck so it is hard to pinpoint memories from this list exactly, but nothing puts a smile on my face faster than a first turn Lotus into an Angel, Dragon, Wheel, or Timetwister. Fork is also criminally underplayed, this deck has Forked it's own Ancestral or Time Walk countless times. Probably the best all-time casting of Fork was casting Fork an opponent's Ancestral, drawing a Red blast from it, and blasting the opponent’s Ancestral before it had a chance to resolve.
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SIDEBOARD SUGGESTIONS?
The sideboard is pretty typical with Red & Blue Elemental Blasts, 1-2 Earthquakes, and the other Disenchants. 95% of the time I will run 4x Psionic Blasts which are excellent against opposing mono black decks as well as any decks running x/1 creatures such as mono green decks, the Fallen Empires clerics, or Savannah Lions.​
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source: Joel Bowers - Geocities of Brass
picture: @oldschoolmtg
Joel Bowers's list
CREATURES
4 Atog
2 Serra Angel
1 Shivan Dragon
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SPELLS
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Anhk of Mishra
1 Balance
1 Black Lotus
4 Black Vise
1 Chaos Orb
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Disenchant
1 Divine Offering
1 Fireball
1 Fork
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Psionic Blast
1 Sol Ring
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
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LANDS
4 City of Brass
1 Library of Alexandria
​4 Mishra's Factory
4 Plateau
4 Strip Mine
4 Volcanic Island