The set originally retailed for $125 US and became available in May 1996. They were the first of a series of high profile preconstructed decks for experienced players. Carefully chosen, they are imitations of the eight most successful deck archetypes present at the 1996 Pro Tour in New York. In order to avoid printing legal top rated tournament-level cards, all cards were made illegal for tournament play by printing them with a non-standard backside. Additionally the cards feature a golden border and have a gold signature of the deck's creator. The back of the cards feature the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour logo and are labeled "Inaugural Tournament New York City February 1996."
Part of each deck is a bio card which provides some background of each player and a deck list card which lists the content of each deck. Additionally blank cards were added to raise the number of cards per deck to 90.
This Pro Tour used an interesting deck construction format, a variation of the Standard or "Type II" format. In addition to the usual restrictions for Standard decks, each deck was required to contain at least five cards from each of the legal expansions. Meeting this requirement without lowering the efficiency of the decks gave the deck-builders an interesting challenge.
These cards were written under Fifth Edition rules.
- Deck I - Michael Loconto (champion)
- Deck II - Eric Tam (quarter-finalist)
- Deck III - Bertrand Lestree (runner-up)
- Deck IV - Shawn "Hammer" Regnier (quarter-finalist)
- Deck V - Leon Lindback (semi-finalist)
- Deck VI - George Baxter (quarter-finalist)
- Deck VII - Preston Poulter (semi-finalist)
- Deck VIII - Mark Justice (quarter-finalist)
These cards are not legal in any DCI-sanctioned tournaments.
1996 Decklists
Michael Loconto, Champion
“Loconto, a 26-year-old social worker from Grafton, Massachussets, played a blue-white Millstone deck that generally defeated his opponents by running them out of cards. One innovative concept was his addition of Hallowed Ground, which he used to protect himself against Armageddon, to activate his Land Tax, and to save his Mishra's Factories from destruction.”
   | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Island 4 Mishra's Factory 7 Plains 1 Ruins of Trokair 1 Strip Mine 2 Svyelunite Temple 1 Wizard's School Artifacts 1 Feldon's Cane 2 Fountain of Youth 2 Icy Manipulator 1 Ivory Tower 1 Jayemdae Tome 3 Millstone 1 Zuran Orb | Creatures 2 Blinking Spirit Other Spells 1 Balance 4 Disenchant 2 Hallowed Ground 2 Land Tax 4 Swords to Plowshares 4 Wrath of God 2 Control Magic 4 Counterspell 1 Deflection 1 Recall | Sideboard 2 Aeolipile 1 Jester's Cap 2 Serrated Arrows 2 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Divine Offering 1 Control Magic 2 Hydroblast 2 Sea Sprite 2 Steal Artifact |
Eric Tam, Quarterfinalist
“Tam, an 18-year-old student from Ontario, Canada, played a red-green-white deck with large and unvulnerable creatures, plus a variety of red and white spells for creature suppression. He created a mid-game lock with the only blue card in his deck, Zur's Weirding.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 4 Brushland 2 City of Brass 4 Karplusan Forest 2 Mishra's Factory 4 Mountain 4 Plains Artifacts 3 Fellwar Stone 3 Icy Manipulator 1 Jayemdae Tome 1 Zuran Orb Creatures 1 Blinking Spirit 1 Serra Angel 1 Orgg 1 Autumn Willow 3 Birds of Paradise 4 Ernham Djinn | Other Spells 2 Stormbind 1 Balance 4 Disenchant 1 Icatian Town 1 Land Tax 3 Swords to Plowshares 2 Wrath of God 1 Zur's Weirding 1 Earthquake 2 Fireball 2 Incinerate 1 Lightning Bolt | Sideboard 1 Apocalypse Chime 1 Disrupting Scepter 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Ring of Renewal 1 Serrated Arrows 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Divine Offering 1 Energy Storm 1 Icatian Town 1 Reverse Damage 1 Swords to Plowshares 1 An-Zerrin Ruins 1 Dwarven Catapult 1 Autumn Willow |
Bertrand Lestree, Finalist
“Lestrée, a 25.year.old business development strategist from Pantin, France, played the most popular deck type at the tournament, a green-white Armageddon/Ernham Djinn deck with strong mass destruction capabilities. Lestrée's most interesting playing quirk was his constant use of extra life (mostly from Ivory Tower and Zuran Orb) to draw extra cards with his Sylvan Library.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 4 Brushland 1 Havenwood Battleground 6 Forest 6 Plains 1 Ruins of Trokair 4 Strip Mine Artifacts 2 Fellwar Stone 2 Icy Manipulator 1 Ivory Tower 1 Zuran Orb Creatures 2 Order of Leitbur 1 Serra Angel 1 Autumn Willow 4 Ernham Djinn 2 Fyndhorn Elves 2 Llanowar Elves 2 Spectral Bears | Other Spells 3 Armageddon 1 Balance 4 Disenchant 2 Land Tax 4 Swords to Plowshares 2 Wrath of God 2 Sylvan Library | Sideboard 1 Black Vise 2 Abbey Gargoyles 2 Divine Offering 2 Circle of Protection: Green 2 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Karma 1 Order of Leitbur 1 Wrath of God 2 Whirling Dervish |
Shawn "Hammer" Regnier, Quarterfinalist
“Regnier, a 27-year-old comic bookstore owner from Manchester, New Hampshire, played a blue-white Millstone deck with very heavy permission (including 12 counterspells). A former professional arm wrestler, "Hammer" had a very relaxed, conversational style which he used to unnerve his opponents.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 1 City of Brass 4 Island 3 Mishra's Factory 6 Plains 1 Ruins of Trokair 4 Svyelunite Temple Artifacts 3 Icy Manipulator 1 Ivory Tower 3 Millstone 1 Zuran Orb | Other Spells 1 Balance 4 Disenchant 3 Land Tax 4 Swords to Plowshares 4 Wrath of God 4 Counterspell 4 Power Sink 1 Recall 4 Spell Blast | Sideboard 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Fountain of Youth 1 Abbey Gargoyles 1 Arenson's Aura 2 Circle of Protection: Black 2 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Divine Offering 1 Truce 2 Memory Lapse 1 Sea Sprite 2 Steal Artifact |
Leon Lindback, Semifinalist
“Lindbäck, a 20-year-old electrical engineering student from Stockholm, Sweden, played an all-black speed/discard deck. Most noticeable in his deck were four Necropotences which Lindbäck would play early to continually fill up his hand.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 2 Ebon Stronghold 4 Strip Mine 17 Swamp Artifacts 1 Ivory Tower 1 Jalum Tome 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 2 Serrated Arrows 1 Zuran Orb Creature 4 Hypnotic Specter 3 Knight of Stromgald 4 Order of the Ebon Hand | Other Spells 1 Dance of the Dead 1 Dark Banishing 4 Dark Ritual 4 Drain Life 4 Hymn to Tourach 4 Necropotence 1 Soul Burn | Sideboard 1 City of Brass 1 Safe Haven 1 Apocalypse Chime 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Jalum Tome 1 Meekstone 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 3 The Rack 1 Serrated Arrows 1 Ashes to Ashes 1 Stromgald Cabal 1 Torture |
George Baxter, Quarterfinalist
“Baxter, a 23-year-old author (of a number of Magic strategy books) from Dallas, Texas, played an almost all-black speed/burn deck. Baxter included enough red mana to support direct damage and just enough green mana to play with four Ernham Djinns.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 3 City of Brass 3 Karplusan Forest 1 Lava Tubes 2 Mishra's Factory 2 Sulfurous Springs 12 Swamp Artifacts 2 Barbed Sextant 1 Zuran Orb Creatures 4 Hynotic Specter 1 Ihsan's Shade 4 Knight of Stromgald 4 Order of the Ebon Hand 2 Sengir Vampire 4 Ernham Djinn | Other Spells 4 Dark Ritual 4 Hymn to Tourach 3 Fireball 4 Lightning Bolt | Sideboard 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 2 Serrated Arrows 2 Dark Banishing 2 Ihsan's Shade 3 Red Elemental Blast 2 Shatter 2 Tranquility |
Preston Poulter, Semifinalist
“Poulter, a 22-year-old chemistry graduate student from Irvine, California, played a variation of the tournament's prevalent green-white decks. With only nine creatures in his deck, Poulter used Aelopiles and Hurricanes for creature suppression and direct damage.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lands 4 Brushland 4 Forest 2 Havenwood Battleground 4 Mishra's Factory 8 Plains 1 Ruins of Trokair 2 Strip Mine Artifacts 2 Aeolipile 2 Fellwar Stone 2 Icy Manipulator 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Zuran Orb Creatures 2 Autumn Willow 3 Elvish Archers 4 Ernham Djinn 1 Spectral Bears | Other Spells 2 Armageddon 1 Balance 3 Disenchant 3 Land Tax 4 Swords to Plowshares 1 Wrath of God 2 Hurricane 1 Sylvan Library | Sideboard 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Ivory Tower 1 Serrated Arrows 1 Armageddon 1 Disenchant 2 Divine Offering 2 Karma 1 Land Tax 2 Reverse Damage 1 Autumn Willow 2 Essence Filter |
Mark Justice, Quarterfinalist
“Justice, a 25-year-old card shop owner from West Walley City, Utah, played a red/artifact control deck with a touch of white for Balance and Swords to Plowshares. The creatureless deck used Winter Orbs to lock down the opponent until the direct damage could finish them off.”
| | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 City of Brass 4 Dwarven Ruins 1 Havenwood Battleground 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Mishra's Factory 3 Mountain 3 Plains Artifacts 1 Black Vise 1 Elkin Bottle 1 Feldon's Cane 3 Fellwar Stone 4 Howling Mine 4 Icy Manipulator 1 Ivory Tower 1 Jester's Cap 3 Winter Orb 1 Zuran Orb | Other Spells 2 Stormbind 1 Balance 3 Swords to Plowshares 1 Detonate 1 Earthquake 3 Fireball 2 Incinerate 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Shatter | Sideboard 2 Fountain of Youth 3 Serrated Arrows 2 Anarchy 1 Detonate 2 Eron the Relentless 1 Pyroblast 2 Shatter |