AAA: Playing for Keeps
There are many Magic the Gathering experiences you can have depending on how you choose to relate to the game. For most people this culminates in playing on Magic Arena and jamming games of standard with the most recent sets over a 5G internet connection on your phone. Maybe you find yourself going to a store participating in a pre-release or a draft on a Friday night, or even some Commander. What if we dug a little deeper? Modern or Legacy? No. Let's get offline completely, cut the cord, and jack into a mode of play that echoes the birth of magic itself: AAA.
AAA is the format of the sets Alpha through Alliances, plus Ante cards. Now the Ante cards let's embrace them, love them, say them with me: Amulet of Quoz, Bronze Tablet, Contract from Below, Darkpact, Demonic Attorney, Jeweled Bird, Rebirth, Tempest Efreet, and Timmerian Fiends. This mostly black and artifact collection of cards adds a wild subset of decisions and games of chance to lose and gain cards from your opponent permanently, and they have no place in magic except here, so let's use some. When playing a game for ante after you present your deck and your opponent cuts it, they remove the top card from your deck and set it aside. That is your ante. You do the same to them. Then you both draw your opening hands and resolve mulligans.
AAA uses the Old School rule set, you have to play original art and original frames for the cards you use and there are 9 sets from which to build your decks, and keep in mind Mana Burn is still a thing here, so your Sol Ring isn’t always free. Out here in Central Mass we play with a subset of rules and restricted list built off [thisolddeck.com](https://thisolddeck.com) and what we have come to adopt as [The Worcester Accord](https://www.zoocrew.team/aaa), where you can find more information.
This format is so damn fun. You play unsleeved, very casual and you are encouraged to sign or draw on the cards you lose. AAA isn't about min/maxing your threats and riding the train to value town, it's about tinkering, being unique, and bravado. Now I could wax poetic about the ins and outs of the format like I was Bill Shakespeare, but rather than do that I'm going to post some pictures of my decks and then talk about them. So without further introduction, here are some unsolicited deck pics and my feelings on them.
First up is Mono Black Aggro. This deck hits the ground running and tries to put pressure on the opponent with lots of good value 2 drop creatures and then close the game with a fatty flyer like Sengir Vampire. You get to play the most powerful card in the format Contract from Below, a one-sided wheel for 1 mana, Bad Moon to buff the squad...and your opponents too if they are on black, and a nice spread of removal to disrupt the board. Things of note; I only play Hymn to Tourachs I've won, card is insane and can make non-games, I'd rather play magic though, so I'll use my spoils and earn my Hymns. Special shout out to the altered Hypnotic Specter I use and won off Kess Express, resident Queen of the Withering Wisps and all things old-school magic. I heard she retires to a Hecatomb at night.
Blue Red Brain Burn, as I call it but the deck evolved past the 4 Mind Bomb in the main and got to place with more creatures and a more balanced approach. You get to play...a lot of burn with this one and the Portents make the deck hum, they increase your range of keepable hands by a lot in a format where every time you mulligan you see the Ante card move further and further into the aether, it feels especially good to snap-keep off a castable portent. Braingeyser is cra-cra-cracked, huge power swing in a card but it is restricted for good reason, but my favorite card in the deck is Gorilla Shaman. I started with 1 then 2, now 4, there are lots of power artifacts like Sol Ring and Fellwar Stone which I also run, and the shaman can clip those wings and keep your opponent from flying off into the endzone. I run a 1-of, fun-of Balduvian Horde, and it's nothing to sneeze at with a 5/5 for 4 mana stats, it's great on rate. Not exactly my type of card but I won it off The Cultivation Kid and the alter he did on it is so sweet I had to run it.
If you played in the early days of magic you knew someone who ran a Merfolk Aggro deck, and I got to rebuild the one my brother Jeff had when we were kids. With lots of little fish and 4 Lord of Atlantis to buff them, you can quickly overwhelm your opponent. Especially when you keep up protection like Force of Will which I run 3 of, and other power cards like Serendib Efreet and Psionic Blast. I've tuned this deck a lot and I love where it's at, but I did just lose my only Dance of Many which was my 5th lord, hoping I can find one cheap or win one from some Duress Crew flunky. Things of note about the deck, I'm currently on my 9th Lord of Atlantis, when I lose I always seem to lose the lord, please let me keep my fish. [Phil likes green dot deck]
Lastly I have Zoo Lords as I call it. This is my favorite deck. I made this deck when I was a child but it just didn't stay good, and it was quickly made obsolete. With AAA I don't have to worry about a bunch of cards coming down the pipeline to upstage my deck. I call it Zoo Lords for the 6 creature buffing effects, Juniper Order Advocate and Kaysa both give green creatures +1/+1 and all other creatures in the deck are green minus a pair of Serra Angel, because she's the boss. When the angel flies in, you bow your head. Lost half my set of Swords to Plowshares which hurts but I get to run a Regrowth which is awesome and a new standout Scars of the Veteran which has stolen me many games. Sylvan Library is often leaned on here but not having a way to shuffle the deck is certainly felt when you hit those clumps of altered plains I keep winning off Kess. This deck also affords me the opportunity to run a nice 2/2 for 2 mana like Barbary Apes over something like Balduvian Bears or Grizzly Bears, which is a clear style win.
I hope you enjoyed checking out what I've been up to in AAA, and on this site here we have many tools for helping to build decks in the format and stay in legality of the rules. Also on Friday May 29th, Zoo Crew are running a casual Premodern and AAA event at The Wooden Bar in Worcester at 6pm, it's my birthday so it's a bit of a celebration and we have some surprises in store, as well as the bar staying open late for the occasion. Food at The Wooden Bar is super good, you won't be disappointed.
We actually give out prizes to the people who lose the most cards from their decks at the end of the night, instead of who won the most games. A tradition started by Ray Karkman, local AAA expert with experience going back to the foundations of magic itself. Either way, catch me at Wooden Bar or at a local Premodern event and know if you see me...you know I keep that thang on me. And by thang I mean an AAA deck 24/7, I stay strapped.
https://www.zoocrew.team/events/feeding-time-birthing-ritual/