My Lobstercon 2025 Report
🏆 1st in Unchained, 6-3 in Main Event
Preamble
Hello! Premodern is my favorite way to play Magic — I love its nostalgia, strategic depth, and the fact that the card pool rarely changes. This is my second year attending Lobstercon, and I am excited to play Premodern competitively. I had pretty good runs in both the Premodern main and Old School main last year and hope to build upon that this year
The Ride Up
Lanny picks me up (THANK YOU LANNY) and we record an episode of Spike Colony on the drive up in which we talk about Attunement, tournament prep, and some poker theory as it can be applied to Magic
After arriving, we splurge on the best and most spicy crab dinner we can find. It hits the spot —10/10 would order again
Thursday
I do not sign up for the Pandemonium event. My goal is to take it easy and save energy for Saturday. At the house we play with the 1999 Extended Battle Box1, which consists of 15 Extended decks from the three months after Mercadian Masques and before Nemesis
I tag along to Pandemonium, and on the way we pick up Lobster. Everyone gets Lobster sandwiches, and I do not eat gluten so I order boiled lobster
We get to Pandemonium, BK opts out, I take his spot and pilot Dreadnought with 4 Mystic Remora in the board. Remora is intended for any deck that wants to interact with me through noncreature spells. It’s a great way to kick off combo turns
I want fast games and resolve to play quickly, play aggressively, and always jam
I play against UW Tidestill and GAME (Gro A Mystic Enforcer). Both opponents have beautiful Beta basic Islands. Both rounds go 2-0 and both game 2s are dominated by Mystic Remora. After 2 rounds I am unreasonably hungry and drop to eat and go to sleep early
When I wake, I learn that my house roommate Bill won the event and brought home a Guru Swamp. Nicely done, Bill!
The Unchained Event
RIP Shockland Event 🪦
When Lobstercon is announced, I sign up for the Shockland event (in which the 5 fetches are banned and the 10 Ravnica shocklands are legal). Knowing my own limits, I want to conserve energy for the main event, and I expect Shockland to have the smallest headcount and represent the shortest day. My plan is to build mono red Goblins with Sol lands, Blood Moons, and Goblin Kings 🤷
When the Shockland event is cancelled, I sign up for the Unchained event. I want to brew a Balance deck and then time slips away and suddenly it is travel day and I instead decide to jam 4 Force of Will into Dreadnought which is already sleeved up
Games
Unfortunately my notes on this event are sparse, I have only life totals and vague memories. My goal is to conserve energy for Saturday, and to that end I again resolve to play quickly, play aggressively, and always jam. In the registration line, Lanny asks me what my record will be on the day, and I reply “5-0 drop”
R1 vs Billy on Sligh w/ Strip Mine
Bill plays an aggressive red deck with Strip Mines and Ports. He scoops game 1 when I make a Shrimp turn 2 OTP. He rolls me game 2 with Pup into Strip into Port into Lavamancer into Port. Game 3 I squeeze by with the win at 2 life 😮💨
Bill and I grab food at Sweetgreen and he tells me about teaching a college course on competitive Magic, in which his students learn to play Magic by studying Premodern!
1-0 / 2-1
R2 vs Dustin on Pit Rack w/ Necro
I have vague memories of losing the game where Necropotence resolves and winning the game where it doesn’t. One game was a very long grind, and we begin game 3 at time in round on extra turns 💀
1-0-1 / 3-2-1
R3 vs Galen on Parfait w/ Balance
Galen tells me that he has only played 3 games so far and that both rounds went to time, and that our round may go long too. Fifteen minutes later we part ways. His deck is sweet, though. It has Sylvan + Abundance + Blessing ❤️
2-0-1 / 5-2-1
R4 vs Josh on Storm w/ Yawgmoth’s Will
Cards I remember seeing include Yawgmoth’s Will, LED, Wishes, Intuition, Brainfreeze, Rituals, Petals, Therapy, Duress. In game 1 I make an early Shrimp, Josh goes through a long and beautiful combo turn but I have the Stifle. In game 2 he wins around a Remora by landing Defense Grid. In game 3 I think I have it wrapped up, but then he pieces together a really impressive double LED line. I am saved because the line requires Intuition find 3 Yawgmoth’s Will, but one is in the graveyard (countered) and the fourth is in the sideboard 🙈
3-0-1 / 7-3-1
R5 vs Chris on Food Chain Goblins w/ Goblin Recruiter
Chris and I mostly talk about the Bay Area, where he lives and I once lived. I love the mixtapes made by the East Bay MTG community. Both games involve fast Shrimps and either FOWing or Annulling the Food Chain. At one point Sunny drops by and we stare at his foiled out Food Chain Goblins deck in amazement 👺
On Saturday Chris goes on to top 8 the main event with Angry Hermit and writes a great report
4-0-1 / 9-3-1
R6 vs Derek on Shrimp w/ Force of Will
We sit at the feature match table, but coverage doesn’t want to broadcast a FOW Shrimp mirror and I can’t blame them. We ID and play until I become hangry and go refuel at Sweetgreen 🥗
4-0-2 / 10-4-2
QF vs Drew on Stasis w/ Force of Will
Game 1 is all about Mishra’s Factories. Drew struggles to find Stasis. I Vision Charm him twice rather than discard, and each one mills a Stasis. I Portent him and shuffle away Tsabo’s Web. Eventually the Web is drawn and sticks. The game drags on until I jam a late Shrimp. In game 2 I must get under an early Black Vise and then jockey into a position to resolve Remora, jam combo, and protect it 🐟
5-0-2 / 12-4-2
SF vs Jacob on Reanimator w/ Entomb
This is a fun match. Game 1 Jacob makes a Symbiotic Wurm, chumps a Shrimp with it, and reanimates it again. The game is decided by on board combat math. It is a long day and we are tired. The Wurm and tokens are crashing in for lethal. If my Shrimp eats the Wurm, it cannot attack for lethal through the new tokens, and I will die. Instead I decline to block Symbiotic Wurm, eat a 1/1, drop to 1 life and win on the crack back. Game 2 involves a really early Akroma which drops me to 2 before I mise Chain of Vapor, stabilize, and make Shrimp 🪱
6-0-2 / 14-4-2
F vs Derek on Shrimp w/ Force of Will
Both Derek and I took the lazy route of jamming FOW into Dreadnought, and neither of us drop a match on the day until we meet in the finals. At this point I’m beyond tired and am ready to curl up in bed
I punt game 1 by letting Dreadnought resolve, then fighting over the enabler—knowing full well I should counter the Dreadnought 99% of the time. I watch myself make the mistake in real-time, detached, unable to intervene
I sideboard up to 64 cards and stay on the jam aggressively plan. Notes show that we both go 20 →19 → 7. So we both FOW something, make a Shrimp, and connect. I take an aggressive line that could cost me the game but get lucky 🤷
In game 3 we both spend lots of resources fighting over my Mystic Remoras, then my Factories do most of the work. A late Portent reveals two Dreadnoughts. Finally my resolution to always jam is challenged, but I shuffle them away b/c all I need to do is protect the Factory clock to win
7-0-2 / 16-5-2
At this point, with Bill taking down Pandemonium and me winning Unchained, our room at the house has 2 event trophies! I peek at the vanilla side event. If Heup wins the house has 3 trophies, and if Smits wins NYC has 3 trophies 🏆🏆🏆
Takeaways
Mystic Remora did work all day, generating piles of cards and forcing awkward lines from opponents. It's worth considering in vanilla Premodern sideboards, especially against combo or control decks leaning on noncreature interaction.
The Unchained format feels unexplored, and given the opportunity to play it again, I want to brew something within the space rather than jam 4 banned cards into a stock list
The Main Event
Deck Choice
Roughly 6 weeks before Lobstercon, I realize I have no idea what to play. The time to commit is now. For long tournaments, I index on familiarity more than anything else. Over 9 rounds I want to make as few decisions as possible; most plays should be automatic. I consider running it back with GR Oath from last year. I look over my decks and decide Terrageddon will do the trick. I played a variation of this deck last summer and expect it to be better positioned than Oath
I start testing with Rich Shay’s “Aggro Parfait”, which is a streamlined GW Terrageddon deck with Sylvan + Abundance engine and Gaea’s Blessings, along with red blasts and Pyroclasms in the board. First I run it through a meetup. Then I swap the sideboard red blasts for Meddling Magess and run that through a monthly
Ultimately I cut the Blessings before the big event because in practice I’m rarely casting multiple Blessings per game. I swap them for Abeyances and squeeze Meddling Mages into the main, and run that to top 4 at “GP Andy” the Sunday before Lobstercon
Games
R1 Gerrod on Astral Slide
In both games I aggressively pay life to Sylvan Library and stick a threat into a game ending Armageddon, and Gerrod does not get to play much Magic ⚡
1-0 / 2-0
R2 Jay on Elves
Jay reminds me that we had a great match in Nashville two years prior. I remember he introduced me to the power of Elves and its ability to win seemingly out of nowhere with a huge combo turn. Jay is again on Elves, and this is bad news for me. Terrageddon struggles with Elves in general, and the ways I’ve tuned my list make it even weaker to Elves. Coming into the event, I expect Elves to be underrepresented, and this costs me. I do manage to steal game 2 and to make game 3 feel close, which is a minor victory 🧝♂️
1-1 / 3-2
R3 Jonah on Dreadnought
Finally, a blue deck! I feel very prepared for this matchup, and even have a chance to cast the maindeck Abeyance to clear out a Dreadnought. Postboard with 2 Abeyance 2 Chant and Aura, the game goes long and I take some damage from a Factory until I Chant into the miser’s Armageddon not boarded out, then eventually close out with Terravore 🍤
2-1 / 5-2
R4 Michael on Terrageddon
The mirror! This is a matchup I hope to avoid as it can feel like Chess and has the potential to involve far more thinking than I want to expend this early in the event
In game 1 I Plowshares a Wayfarer, stick my own Wayfarer, and pursue aggressive mana denial lines. Eventually I assemble double Sylvan + Abundance and this is enough
Game 2 is much closer, but thanks to some combat math made tricky by my Zuran Orb, Weathered Wayfarer gets to deliver the final point of damage
Afterwards Michael comments on the Unglued Goblin token visible through the back of my translucent deck box. I keep it there for laughs. Michael says his friend sat across someone with a Goblin token visible through the back of their deck box, mulliganed accordingly, and then lost to Oath Ponza. This means they played Bill! Bill is seated a table over, and afterwards Michael and Bill and I have a good talk about Denver and food 🪞
3-1 / 7-2
R5 Greg on Squirrel Opposition
Greg is a New Yorker and we played a match in Top 4 of Dave Kaplan’s beach volleyball 1K last year, in which I played Oath and Greg played Squirrel Opposition, which he is also playing today
The longer the game goes, the worse my chances get. Game one is short:
T1 me: Land + Mox + Sylvan
T1 Greg: Yavimaya Coast + Bird
T2 me: Pay 8 life. Treva’s into Terravore + Mox + Plowshares the Bird
T2 Greg: Land go
T3 me: Armageddon, attack for 6
T3 Greg: Draw, miss land drop, scoop
Game 2 is much closer. I keep a hand containing Cataclysm and sculpt my entire game plan around slow rolling it. Due to missed land drops, I am stuck on 3 mana and cannot cast the Cataclysm! Finally, after I plow a Hermit mid-combat to avoid dying to Greg’s army of squirrels and dorks… I peel an untapped land off the top and cast a 20-for-4 Cataclysm which leaves me with a gigantic Terravore 🐿️
4-1 / 9-2
R6 Nicolas on Iggy Pop
Nicolas and I met on Friday when he stopped by the house and played the 1999 Extended Battle Box. I know that he is on Iggy Pop, and I sort of know how the deck works
Game 1 I have 2 Meddling Mages, Game 2 I have 3 Meddling Mages plus Abeyance
In each game, Mages are played after Merchant Scrolls or Cunning Wishes to snipe whichever card is tutored for. Me having Abeyance means that Nicolas cannot combo off without leading on Orim’s Chant with my Abeyance already in the graveyard. This particular build of Terrageddon seems really tough for Iggy Pop 🦁
5-1 / 11-2
R7 Cameron on UB Shallow Grave + Dreadnought
In game 1 Cameron mulls to 5. I make a fast Sylvan, he plays only Polluted Delta. I pay 8 to Sylvan and drop a 2/2 Terravore. Meddling Mage is in my hand but I do not know what he is doing so I hide it. He misses his land drop two consecutive turns, but spends considerable time eyeing his hand before passing the turn. This gives me the impression that he is on a Dark Ritual deck capable of winning off of one land. I Armageddon and start attacking for 6 and that’s enough
After only seeing Delta and getting the impression that Dark Ritual may be in the deck, I suspect maybe a Shallow Grave deck so I bring in Furnaces, Chants, Abeyance
In game 2 Cameron makes an early Dreadnought but I plow it. He casts Buried Alive binning 2 Dreadnought and a Sutured Ghoul, so I Meddling Mage on Shallow Grave. The Mage starts chipping in and I drop a second Meddling Mage… what should I name here? At the time I name Corpse Dance, but in hindsight naming Shallow Grave again is better. I aggressively pay life to Library, and eventually an Elephant and Treetop join the party, along with a Phyrexian Furnace. When Cameron casts Duress and sees both Naturalize and Plowshares, he scoops 🍤
At this point I feel very happy with the deck so long as I can fade Elves
6-1 / 13-2
R8 Will on Elves
Oh no! I fail to fade Elves. Will sat next to me in a prior round so I know things look bleak. In game 1 I plow the turn 1 Llanowar but fail to produce pressure, and Will deploys Priest into Ranger into Kamahl and now I feel like a fool for burning my Plowshares. I draw blank and die to Kamahl’s Overrun
Game 2 is a slog, and it feels like I almost stabilize, but I am never in the driver’s seat. I pay 8 to Sylvan early to clear bricks off the top. I find Pyroclasm and cast it, expecting to feel ahead, but Will’s hand is still full thanks to Symbiote + Acolyte. Elephants do their best to hold the ground, but Wirewood allows attackers to chip through. Again the top of the deck is bricked so I pay more life to Sylvan hoping to find action and slowly die
My big mistake this game is playing out a second copy of Sylvan Library rather than sandbagging it. By playing the second copy, I disincentivize Will from ever spending Naturalize on a Library. Eventually I find the Abundance and deploy it, hoping to draw 5 cards next turn, but Will has the Naturalize. If I sandbag the second Library, he may Naturalize the first Library, opening a window to assemble Sylvan + Abundance later 🧝
6-2 / 14-4
At this point I am out of contention for top 8 but am happy to still feel physically well after 8 rounds of tournament Magic
R9 Derek on Burn
Derek starts the event 0-2 and then wins out. He is on Burn, which is a matchup I feel pretty good about. I do not know what Derek is playing when mulliganing, and my hand lacks cards that are important vs Burn. The Sylvan which was supposed to fix my hand is now blank. I plow a couple Pups but apply no pressure and give him too many draw steps and he burns me out
In game 2 I keep a 7 that contains no sideboard cards on merit of being well rounded and containing Mox and Terravore. After a few turns the Terravore is 4/4 and Derek is at 11. He casts Price of Progress which would deal each of us 4 damage. One of my nonbasics is Wasteland. He has two fetches in play, no lands in graveyard, and appears content to make his PoP into a Flame Rift. I misread the situation and make the mistake of Wastelanding my own land to prevent all of the damage to me, not realizing this is bait for a sandbagged Tormod’s Crypt which kills the Terravore 🪦
It takes me a while to find a Call of the Herd to apply pressure again. Meanwhile Derek appears to flood out on basic mountains, working up to 6 of them. I think I’m safe as I sit comfortably at 18 life, but he untaps and 18s me with Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast, Fireblast, Fireblast 💥
6-3 / 14-6
Thoughts
This deck is weak to Elves, and I’m not sure how to fix that. I’m OK having bad matchups, but it’s too bad I faced Elves twice
The deck can struggle with Survival decks and go-wide aggressive strategies. I lost to mono black Clerics at GP Andy and to Goblins at the Mass monthly. Sweepers are not always enough, and it’s possible I want to max out on Engineered Plagues in the sideboard
I’m a big fan of City of Traitors in the deck. It allows you to “play from behind” with Wayfarer without actually being behind on mana, and it pairs well with the Lair lands
I’m happy playing this build into a field of blue decks and decks that do not go wide. Shoutout to Lan for the suggestion of Abundance last summer and for the suggestion of Abeyance this year, and to Rich for sharing his take on “Aggro Parfait”
Lobstercon is my favorite MTG event of the year! A huge thank you to all who organize this event and make it happen. It’s truly a special event 🦞
The 1999 Extended Battlebox is a project with Cayce from Music City Old School. You can read more about its first 8 decks here!