The Lightning Bolt is indeed for pro-black creatures (that are immune to The Abyss), plus they are generally pretty good against all weenie swarms. I sometimes have run 2 in the board. The Abyss is also the reason I have 3 Underground Seas (and 4 when I'm not making room for Strip Mines) versus 2 Volcanics ... being able to play The Abyss immediately can be the difference between winning and losing. You aren't wrong about all the red cards in the sideboard, so at my last event I actually changed the SB'ed Island into a Volcanic Island so you can swap depending on whether it's an Abyss matchup or a Red Elemental Blast matchup. (Of course that doesn't help versus Blood Moon so I have considered having 2 lands in the board ... at Eternal Central events anyway. If Strip is restricted you can just run all the Undergrounds and Volcanics (or maybe turn 1-2 into Fellwar Stones). As for Timetwister, I think it's purely a "win more" card and I have yet to ever lose a game where I had control and got to the late-game. If I ever fail to kill my opponent then maybe I'll start worrying about running out of Mishra's Factories, but between Regrowth, Recall, and Fireball (and Braingeyser once) I have never failed to actually kill someone. Spending a card to have no impact on the board and give your opponent 7 cards in hand is just not an effect I am interested in. Think of it versus the Fireball. Fireball can win me the game if all my factories die (which shouldn't happen anyway if you are careful with them, for example use the Disrupting Scepter or Mind Twist to clear all the Plows and/or Bolts out of your opponent's hand before you activate them) but Fireball can also help me stay alive in the early game. It plays the role you are using Timetwister to play, but also has early and mid-game utility. As far as mid-game Timetwister improving your future draws ... who cares? You shouldn't need that. You should be drawing 2 - 4 cards per turn in those games anyway so you're already finding everything you need (and probably discarding to hand size). Timetwister is training wheels, and we all ran it in control decks back in the day so our decks could go infinite, but we were wrong.

Thanks for another excellent Old School video! Keep them coming.

bro, i just subbed. this is the third time i clicked on one of your vids and found an old favorite deck i used to play. i used 3 balance in my version :) i think i even had the jmd tome in there! cool deck

Thanks Edwin! :)

Man nice video! I'm fascinated by "The Deck" since 1996 when I started playing, too. Time by time I built up my own copy of the deck. But I have a bit more black elements. Sinkhole for land destruction and 2 hypnotic specters because of it's discarding abbilty. :) To be faster I also have 2 Dark Rituals. If you're interested I can send you a picture or decklist. :)

awesome deck tech!! this is a format i really want to get into once i have all the power in my cube done, this should be my next project (need pearl, emerald, sapphire and lotus). Your explanations are well thought out and the ability to twist is great for later game, given that u have 2 tutors, makes it more possible. Factories are under rated as when blocking 2/2 becomes a 3/3 really easily even with one factory :) having 4 though...wow!! I really like your take and the side board cards are an excellent choice, surprised that the elements blasts are forgotten that the destroy AND counter....

I wanna build this deck....looks like I'll have to proxy for a WHILE.

Hi Edwin! I really like your deck techs for Old School. I currently play Legacy and I play Smokestack and Pox. Is there a Pox-like deck in old school that uses Chains of Mephistopheles, Nether Void and The Abyss that you've seen? If I not I might give creating it a go. Also, thank you for the videos! I've liked every video that I've seen.

You should never net deck the side board, that's a meta decision atm. Decent deck.

Do you have a list up somewhere? :]

Hello Edwin, would love to see a video talking about the use of proxys on oldchool magic! we all know a lot of people cant aford all the power, for example i live in portugal and never had a chance to buy beta/alpha or unlimited here... in the other way, i love the oldschool feeling because reminds me when i start playing (Revised) and the in Mirrodin i sell my stuff.... now im getting slowly back in the game, and cant find anyone in my country with power/old school cards to play, soo im thinking going on skype to play... but with some proxys of course! I honestly cant stand the new card frame and quality of this new sets.

Nice, now let me just pop out 200k and build the deck.

Hey Edwin weird question but I don't know how does one get cards signed?

First I've ever heard of "old school". Pretty close. WE play "OLD SCHOOL". OLD SCHOOL, includes FOR ANTE. No bans, no restrictions, unglued and unhinged legal as well! I've lost rishadan ports, and won spirit of the nights and force of wills. A sol ring was in an ante once but that guy ended up winning. Usually winners will bargain for your card back if losing it breaks your deck. EDIT: Ok just read the old school rules. Lame as bird crap on a door handle. What would be the logic of banning reprints that don't feature original art but allowing reprints that do? Seems a pretty silly personal preference that just throws up an unnecessary barrier to entry.

How come you didn't make it legal in actual oldschool?

Thought it used moat

Looks like a very expensive deck... Powerful yes but so expensive...

I LOVE YOU DAD LOL ON M0MS ACCOUNT

4 Strip mines, ok so yeah, those are restricted, but who cares??? Lets play 4 timetwister 4 black lotus 4 lightning bolt 4 time walk for infinite turns, and can't forget 4 wheel of fortune and 4 Ancestral recall, might as well play four Yawgmoth's will too.

Oh cool lemme just get $25,000 to buy all this 😫

This is a deck that reduces your opponents hand to zero cards. Giving them 7 cards and restoring their library is not a good strategy. Don't play the Twister.