Back in 2001, Wizards of the Coast released a new, limited-run boxed set. That boxed set was Deckmasters: Garfield vs. Finkel.
It came in a rather neat, decent-sized tin and included some really nifty things. But perhaps even more nifty is the story behind it.
Released in December of 2001, Deckmasters: Garfield vs. Finkel (also know simply as Deckmasters 2001) was a box set consisting of two 62-card preconstructed decks (including two foils apiece), a pair of 20-sided spindown life counters featuring the Deckmaster “D” as the 20, a full-color booklet containing decklists, analysis, behind-the-scenes stories, and biographies for both game creator Richard Garfield and famed Magic: The Gathering pro Jon Finkel, and a 10”x14” poster of a lhurgoyf fighting a goblin mutant. All of this was contained in a metal, latching case that itself is designed to hold more than 700 sleeved cards, or eleven 60-card Magic decks.
WATCH: Garfield vs. Finkel: A look at MTG's Deckmasters gift box
But there’s more to it than just its contents.
The two decks the boxed set included were special as they were the very same two decks that Garfield and Finkel would play against one another roughly a month after the boxed set’s release.
In that best-of-three match, game one was close with Garfield losing to Finkel due mostly to the game’s progenitor making a number of mistakes based on rules that had changed since he had invented the game some eight or more years earlier.
Game two wasn’t nearly as close as, after playing his first two lands, Garfield became mana screwed. Finkel easily finished him off with a Balduvian Horde, winning the match two games to none.
Now, what was in each deck?
Well, as they were each designed by their respective player independent of one another, they were strikingly different. In addition to normal deckbuilding rules, the gentlemen also had a few other guidelines to stick to:
- The cards in their deck can only be comprised of those found in the sets Ice Age and Alliances.
- No more that four rare cards can be included in each deck.
- No more than two copies of any one card can be included, save for basic lands.
- Color hosers (such as Justice and Suffocation) could not be used.
- Wizards of the Coast’s reprint policy must be taken into account (which means no use of non-reprintable cards such as Aegis of the Meek or Phelddagrif).
Richard Garfield wound up creating a red/green deck. The idea is to play creatures as fast as possible and use burn spells to clear the way so that they can get in some clean hits on the opponent. Furthermore, Garfield chose to use creatures with high toughness so that his opponent couldn’t do the same to his own creatures.
The deck consists of 12 mountains, 12 forests, and a Karplusan Forest for the land base. The deck’s 17 creatures consists of two each of Balduvian Bears, Folk of the Pines, Fyndhorn Elves, Giant Trap Door Spider, Storm Shaman, Woolly Spider, Yavimaya Ants, and Yavimaya Ancients, with one each of Elvish Bard and Lhurgoyf.
There are also seven artifacts: two each of Barbed Sextant, Phyrexian War Beast, and Walking Wall, as well as a single Elkin Bottle. The deck’s eight instants are two each of Death Spark, Incinerate, and Giant Growth along with one each of Shatter and Bounty of the Hunt. Finally, the deck’s five sorceries consist of a pair of Lava Burst along with one each of Hurricane, Pillage, and Jokulhaups.
Two of those cards – Lhurgoyf and an Incinerate – were printed in foil.
Jon Finkle’s black/red deck was constructed with efficient, hard-to-handle creatures complete with spot removal and card advantage.
Featuring a 26-card land base consisting of 12 swamps, 12 mountains, and one each of Sulfurous Springs and Underground River, the deck also has 15 creatures: two each of Abyssal Specter, Foul Familiar, Lim-Dûl's High Guard, Phantasmal Fiend, Goblin Mutant, Orcish Cannoneers, and Storm Shaman, along with a single Balduvian Horde.
Finkle included four artifacts – two each of Icy Manipulator and Phyrexian War Beast – along with 10 instants (two each of Contagion, Dark Ritual, Dark Banishing, Guerrilla Tactics, and Incinerate), six sorceries (two each of Soul Burn, Lava Burst, and Pyroclasm), and a single enchantment (Necropotence).
The Necropotence and one of the Icy Manipulators were foil.
While the product name of Deckmasters: Garfield vs. Finkel (or Deckmasters 2021, if you prefer) imply that this product was to be the start of a series of similar boxed sets. According to conversations had with Wizards of the Coast employees both current and former, that was never the plan.
