Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the release of Mirage, and what essentially amounts to the 2nd birthday of the Classic format. Classic has come a long, long way in that time, so I thought I would capture in digital ink what I thought were the most important and defining moments of Classic’s short history

Without further ado, and in ascending order, are the top ten most important moments in classic history are:

10 – The Release of Time Spiral

The days leading up to the release of Time Spiral were filled with excitement and hope for Classic. Chief among these was that the “Timeshifted” cards would bring a new level of power from days gone by to the Classic crowd. (And maybe, just maybe, lower the price of those damned expensive Meddling Mages!)

As it turned out, Time Spiral added very minimally to the Classic scene, and very few of the cards from the set were ever used as anything more than support cards for existing Classic decks. Arguably the most played cards from the set in Classic were Gemstone Mine and Empty the Warrens (as well as The Rack more in casual circles), and the only reason that Mine was even important as a release was that we did not have the Weatherlight online in a timely manner. Still, Time Spiral’s release caused an awful lot of people to recall the older days of magic, and caused quite a lot of discussion between newer versions of old cards, and the ability of the Time Spiral versions to have a potential effect on Classic.

However, Time Spiral did do one thing no one expected – it created a small resurgence in MMV drafting due to the easy accessibility of common cards in that block that were Timeshifted and playable rares in Time Spiral. That’s something, anyway.

9 – The Release of Visions

This release opened to such little fanfare it wasn’t funny. Once the average person realized just how boring Mirage was – perhaps not so much draft-wise, but certainly constructed-wise - it didn’t take long for the masses to dismiss Visions as well. For one thing, Visions did not solve anything with respect to the relative “swinginess” of Mirage Block drafting, with its bomb commons and poorly laid-out design. MMV drafting did not fare very well.

The reason this was such a significant moment was that it was the release of Visions that pretty much told the powers that be just how few people were actually interested in the Classic format; at that time, it was VERY few people. Classic Quarter wasn’t even a clan then, and Premier Events for Classic, which were firing roughly once in a blue moon, ceased altogether.

But hey…we got Vampiric Tutor, Goblin Recruiter, Fireblast, and several other useable cards, so it wasn’t all bad. At the time, however, it certainly looked like it was.

8 – UnCon 2006

While history will probably show that many more people were interested in Classic after MED was released (and we’ll get to that one), the UnCon Classic Event of 2006 was, in my mind, the “coming out party” for Classic.

What essentially happened was this – Wizards of the Coast runs an online convention every year around October, which they use to try and attract users to their various games, giving away prizes for participation. They call it “UnCon”. I was asked to run a PRE (Player-Run Event) for MTGO in the Classic format, having done so many times before, albeit on a lesser scale. Originally, the discussed prize support was going to be a draft set of IPA, but the actual prize was far more enticing to the general public – you would win packs of unreleased Time Spiral. That drew 114 people to the event, which to date is still the largest Classic-based tourney – PRE or PE

7 – The Release of CSP

This set has not been well received by the Standard or Extended folks, but it was a big boost to Classic when it was released. Several of the cards in the set are Classic staples – notably Counterbalance, Jotun Grunt, and Rite of Flame - but they generally are not why Classic enthusiasts received the set so well.

We loved the Pre-Cons.

The Pre-Cons contained many cards which were only useable in Classic, and while that might have stuck in the gullet of those who enjoy only those formats that rotate, it was great for us. Most notably, the Kjeldoran Cunning Pre-con contained a single Swords to Plowshares – the gold standard of creature removal in the format - and three, count ‘em, three Brainstorms. Other Pre-Cons from the set contained Gorilla Shaman, Ashen Ghoul and several other useable cards that really spiced up the format during its’ release, and also served to satiate the crowd that was clamoring for the next Classic release. How it achieved this was very simple – with such useful Classic-only cards, Classic tournaments finally stopped resembling nothing more than Extended tournaments.

At least, a little anyway.

6 – Classic 8-Man Queues

I’ll be honest with you; I’ve never ever played in an 8-man queue. This has nothing to do with the format (or sanctioned events in general), and everything to do with how these queues pay out prizes. Nonetheless, the day MTGO started running Classic 8-man queues I did a little dance, as it seemed like a validation of sorts that the format was now sitting right alongside the dynamic duo of Standard and Extended in the tiny room reserved for “Main Constructed Formats”. You see, no other queues have ever been run in that spot. (Possibly Block… maybe, but I can’t recall.) For Classic to be included, it was like telling the populace that Classic wasn’t just an “alternate format” – like, say, Prismatic or Singleton or Tribal. This was a format that they expected people to play.

Even though this queue fires infrequently, its’ mere presence in the system is a constant reminder that Classic would no longer be relegated to the formats that WoTC takes a more reactive stance with. While the queue is there with the other big boys, Wizards is going to have to be at least proactive with respect to how the format is treated.

5 – The Errata of Flash

The effect that the errata of Flash had was staggering in several ways. First, the Flash errata went unnoticed by the vast majority of the people who were in the best position to take advantage of it – the bot owners. Since very few of them actually paid attention to anything outside of Extended or Standard, they weren’t quick enough to re-price or remove that particular product from their stores. And it was bought up by those in the know – quickly. Very quickly. Within a couple of days, every last “2 for 1” copy of Flash was either long gone or replaced with the exact same version, except this time priced at $9. This was significant, because it taught bot owners they would have to pay much more attention to what was going on in Classic for fear of being ripped off, as many of them were that weekend.

But as heavily as the Flash errata hit the market place, it hit the meta game even harder. For the first time, Classic had a clearly defined “best-deck”, and caused a massive meta game sensation. And the sensation was this: Classic isn’t Extended, and it never will be again. The people who had been playing Classic at this point were waiting for this day - a real coming out party, in full, that began when Coldsnap was released but was never fully realized until Flash was finally viable. Suddenly, everyone was interested to see the result of Classic tourneys, whether they were invested in the format or not. And I think it also goes without saying that as long as people are talking about the meta game and how to affect it, you have a format that is healthy enough to either survive as is or survive after a fix is applied…which is exactly what happened. Essentially, that was the moment when the meta game for Classic truly began. Everything before that time was merely dipping your toes in the water, when that big green Hulk started going straight to the graveyard, do not pass go, do not collect $200, you had to dive right into the meta game to really have a chance to survive in it. Gone were the days of auto-piloting a slightly-modified Extended build to a top-8. Boros Deck Wins – your time is up.

Of course, eventually Flash tilted the meta game so hard that something had to be done about it, which segues nicely into the next item on the list…

4 – The First Restrictions

When the first Classic restrictions came down from WoTC, I don’t think anyone was surprised to see Flash and Vampiric Tutor on the list. Flash decks had dominated (though not overwhelmingly so) and realistically, it opened up the meta game for other types of decks that simply didn’t have to warp themselves around Flash.

This small quote from Aaron Forsythe told us so much about the format:

“Now that Classic is a tournament format in Magic Online, the DCI has to start maintaining it. The big decision was whether to have a banned list, like Legacy, or a restricted list, like Vintage. We settled on being more like Vintage than Legacy because philosophically, Vintage and Classic perform similar roles, even if the power level of Classic's decks is more in line with Legacy. Classic is the last bastion of playability online—if a card were to be banned there, it wouldn't be legal in any of the traditional 4-of-limit, 60-card-deck formats, which is not something we want to happen.”

3 – The Release of Mirage

Yup…this is what inspired the article in the first place, and yet I still can’t give this one event top billing as the most important thing to ever happen to the Classic format.

Of course, before the release of Mirage, Classic wasn’t really a format. Sure, you could choose it in the MTGO client, but the sole purpose of the selection was to keep you at the 60 minimum, 4-of rule, while still allowing you to play Extended with the three Chuck’s Virtual Party cards (Morphling, Serra Avatar, Sliver Queen). That’s not really a format; it’s more of a gimmick to support a gimmick.

A lot of people do not remember this, but when Mirage was released, there were actually three PEs scheduled for Classic per week! Some of those first events were won by decks like the Shallow Grave/Sutured Ghoul combo build, but eventually they ended up being won by Extended decks with no Classic cards in them whatsoever. The events quickly fell out of favour, and by the time Visions was released, they were gone completely. It really didn’t help that they were at horrifically bad times for North America, but even if they had been better scheduled, I’m fairly confidant they would have failed to fire anyway. I still get a good chuckle when I think how foolhardy it was to try to run three PEs a week for the format at the worst possible scheduled times – what were you thinking, Mr. Larabee?

Of course, it has been said many times before, but the decision to start with Mirage was made because Mirage was the first set made with drafting (Limited) in mind. Most people would agree they still didn’t do all that great a job building it for limited anyway (look at all those common bombs!), and that for constructed purposes, Mirage was quite possibly the worst block they could have started with. One would wish they could go back in time and tell the MTGO department to get in touch with the R&D department, and figure out that releasing Ice Age with the impending Coldsnap set would have made much more sense…or that starting with a much more constructed-friendly block like Tempest, would have been much better. It might have even made more sense to start with Mercadian Masques and work backwards. This “ugly duckling syndrome” is probably what prevents the release of Mirage of reaching the top of the list.

2 – The Resurgence and Rescheduling of PEs

If it was a blunder to have picked Mirage to start with two years ago (and thus very quickly lose traction on PEs), then possibly the smartest move Worth Wollpert and crew have made since then was to institute those PEs in a major time slot (which was Sunday early afternoon) right when the Classic hype was reaching a new high with the errata of Flash.

What the new PEs have done is gather all the people who were interested in Classic and given them a focal point to work around. Previously, people could come to this site or participate in our Eternal Struggle tourneys, but I have no problem saying that they were only filler, and they certainly didn’t have nearly as many participants as the PE have had.

Constructed tournaments are vital to the health of Classic. For one thing, since big prizes can be won, it creates a healthy secondary market for cards that will help you win those same prizes. After the restriction of Vampiric Tutor, I was sure the cards would slip down in sales to something more reasonable, somewhere around roughly 15 tix. At its’ peak, Vampiric Tutor was selling mainly at the “MTGO threshold” of 32 tix. (It is a threshold because you can only put thirty-two items in any trade - any more than that and you have to do the dreaded and risky “double trade”, so very few cards break that total). Long after its restriction, though, Vampiric Tutor is still selling in the mid to high twenties; this can only mean that it was possibly being devalued for fear of restriction or banning. It is entirely possible that if it had not been restricted, we would be seeing a 40 or 50 tix Vampiric Tutor price .

And this is all a direct result of tournament data that showed that using Vampiric Tutor in your Classic deck would give you a damn good chance of winning a Classic event.

1 – The Announcement and Release of Master’s Edition

When coming up with these moments, I tried not to personalize any of my choices. In particular, I avoided mentioning the formation of Classic Quarter or the construction of this website, because a) I think that would be egotistical, and b) I’m pretty sure someone else would have done it if I didn’t. Another thing I wanted to avoid is personalizing it on the MTGO level too. So it was hard not to include a couple of events that may belong in this list. For example, the promotion of Randy Buehler to being in charge of all things Magical had great effect, as Buehler is a known Eternal enthusiast and gave birth to Classic with Mirage.

But even more important was the hiring of one Worth Wollpert. When I list the concept of the Master’s Edition as the single most important event in the two-year history of Classic, if you feel you must personalize the events in some way, the credit for Master’s Edition goes to the man known as Optimus Worth.

The Master’s Edition announcement was, to the Classic enthusiast, like a dream come true. It was like sending out a letter to Santa with a hundred things you thought you’d never get and getting a letter back that said “Sure, I can make some of that happen”. When Mirage was released back in 2005, it naturally followed that people asked the question: “Well, what about the cards before Mirage?” Some people speculated about what could, should, or would happen, but I truly believe very few people actually expected that Wizards would ever take the time or provide more than a token effort to whip something up out of the 1,500 or so pre-Mirage cards that exist. When the announcement came down that they were, that dream was finally really coming true.

When Master’s Edition was finally released, the actual impact on Classic was only somewhat lessened by the quality of the cards it contained. Without a doubt, the one-hundred eighty card set had more Classic staples and constructed-worthy cards than likely any other regular set of that size would, but the potential for a much larger impact was there. The lack of “real duals” (the Alpha/Beta/Unlimited/revised dual lands) was a sore point for many, as most expected a much larger splash. In retrospect, that may have proven to be one of the better points of Master’s Edition; with the virtual promise that all ten of the original duals will be in Masters Edition II, and the fact that that Edition will very likely be released in MTGO version III, it’s likely that not including the dual lands in MED will represent the most intelligent move to ensure that Version 2 veterans and Version 3 newcomers will have equal access to the most important staples of the format.

Essentially, the very concept of Master’s Edition itself shows what kind of support Classic was going to get moving forward from MTGO. I don’t think there is a single person left who is waffling over the decision to join the ranks of the Classic community because they are still unsure whether or not WoTC would be supporting constructed play for the format. Master’s Edition clearly wiped all such possibilities off of the table.

The only thing remaining with Classic’s growth as a format is to see just how far Wizards will take it from here.