Music. From dubstep to doo-wop, and from alternative to world, music is our life. It refines it—defines it.

I hope you’ve been following Ant Tessitore’s We Make the Plane feature here at Gathering Magic. The community is collectively making decisions about the nature of a plane with all of the suggestions coming from us.

But I miss the music. Sure, musical elements could come in later. But it was nice to see music take center stage, especially given how important it has been in many different human cultures for years.

The musical nature of Magic reminded me of a deck project I created long ago . . . 

I can still remember playing Wall of Wonder at that table. It was around 11:00 P.M. or so on a school night. Because it was after quiet hours in the dorm, we were playing in a lounge, right off the commons area. There were usually around four to six of us at any given point. Multiplayer was the rule of the night. It was a freshman hall, and I was a sophomore in my first year as a Resident Advisor (a job that would lead to my career). Winter had begun, and the snow-kissed hills of Morgantown, West Virginia kept us mostly indoors. And to us, that meant Magic!

I had built my most extremely themed deck. No one knew what the deck was about. I played Wall of Wonder. I then opened my mouth, and out came the opening chorus of "Wonderwall" by Oasis.

Wait . . . what?

Every single card in the deck, other than basic lands, was a song. And I would sing my cards!

It was a crazy, iconic deck for the day. It was winter of 1997, and there were not a lot of cards in the card pool to choose from.

Obviously, the deck was not designed to be functional. It didn't win games. But it made an impression. And that's what Magic is about. Seventeen years later, no one remembers most of the decks played at that table.

But they remember The Chorus, the singing deck.

So let's make a modern version of the deck!

Every little thing she does is . . . 

The Chorus ? Music Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Air Elemental
• 1 Black Cat
• 1 Breathstealer
• 1 Cloud Dragon
• 1 Elvish Bard
• 1 Elvish Piper
• 1 Musician
• 1 Nameless Race
• 1 Sorceress Queen
• 1 Tradewind Rider
• 1 Wall of Wonder
• 1 Wild Dogs

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

• Spells (21)
• 1 Autumn's Veil
• 1 Kor Dirge
• 1 Thunderheads
• 1 Biorhythm
• 1 Harmony of Nature
• 1 Mind Grind
• 1 Poison Arrow
• 1 Aspect of Wolf
• 1 Bad Moon
• 1 Carnival of Souls
• 1 Control Magic
• 1 Decree of Silence
• 1 Field of Dreams
• 1 Heartbeat of Spring
• 1 Midsummer Revel
• 1 Armageddon Clock
• 1 Citanul Flute
• 1 Heartseeker
• 1 Siren Song Lyre
• 1 Springleaf Drum
• 1 Vial of Poison

• Lands (26)
• 8 Island
• 8 Swamp
• 9 Forest
• 1 City of Brass

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Most of these cards have songs attached to them. A few are just here for flavor, such as Elvish Bard, Musician, Kor Dirge, Harmony of Nature, and a few of the instruments (Springleaf Drum, Citanul Flute, etc.). After all, someone has to actually sing The Chorus!

Want to know which songs the cards are tied to?

Cards and Their Songs

• Wall of Wonder (“Wonderwall” by Oasis)
• Air Elemental (“Elemental” by Tears for Fears)
• Bad Moon (“Bad Moon” by Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• Tradewind Rider (“Riders on the Storm” by The Doors)
• Heartseeker (“Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar)
• Biorhythm (“Rhythm of the Night” by Corona)
• Aspect of Wolf (“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran)
• Sorceress Queen (“Dancing Queen” by Abba)
• Poison Arrow (“Poison Arrow” by ABC)
• Vial of Poison (“Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe)

• Field of Dreams (“All I Have to Do Is Dream” by The Everly Brothers)
• Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver (“Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright)
• City of Brass (“Summer in the City” by The Lovin' Spoonful)
• Cold-Eyed Selkie (“Cold Hearted Snake” by Paula Abdul)
• Control Magic (“This Magic Moment” by Jay and the Americans)
• Cloud Dragon (“Puff (The Magic Dragon)” by Peter, Paul & Mary)
• Heartbeat of Spring (“Heartbeat” by Don Johnson)
• Breathstealer (“Take my Breath Away” by Berlin)
• Decree of Silence (“Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel)
• Mind Grind (“Bump N' Grind” by R. Kelly)

• Armageddon Clock (“Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets)
• Thunderheads (“Thunderball” by Tom Jones)
• Black Cat (“Black Cat” by Janet Jackson)
• Wild Dogs (“Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley)
• Nameless Race (“Where the Streets Have no Name” by U2)
• Autumn's Veil (“Autumn Leaves,” the jazz song done by lots of folks)
• Carnival of Souls (“Carnival” by Natalie Merchant)
• Midsummer Revel (“Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly and the Family Stone)

Here are a few ideas I had that didn't make the cut.

• Satyr Firedancer (“A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran)
• Evermind (“Always on my Mind” by Elvis Presley)
• Clockspinning (“You Spin Me Round” by Dead or Alive)
• Eternal Flame (“Eternal Flame” by The Bangles)
• Gut Shot (“Shot Through the Heart” by Bon Jovi)

Researching and building this deck took a lot longer than normal. I wanted to keep things a little different, so we have a few categories of cards:

Exact, or Nearly, Card Titles with Song Titles – A perfect example is Poison Arrow. Shoot that Poison Arrow through my heart! The card title lines up perfectly with the song title. Another is Black Cat or Bad Moon. I think Wall of Wonder/”Wonderwall” counts, too!

A Near Match of Titles – Sometimes, I'd drill and match just one word from the title. Heartbeat of Spring is a fun card for multiplayer, and you can sing "Heartbeat" by Don Johnson. Others are Vial of Poison with “Poison” with Bell Biv Devoe or Air Elemental with “Elemental” performed by Tears for Fears.

I did a similar thing with Tradewind Rider. I changed the lyrics of "Zoot Suit Riot" to fit it, and for today's project, I instead used “Riders on the Storm,” which is a better match for the concept of a Rider of Tradewinds.

The old deck had things like "Lightning Strikes" (Lou Christie) being sung with its nasty falsetto chorus to Lightning Bolt or false lyrics to Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" to Wall of Fire. ("I fell into a burning Wall of Fire." That actually that makes a lot more sense.)

Play your card, and then annoy/enthuse/entertain/vex your foes! If playing Magic is about having fun, this deck is Magic to the core. (For you logicians out there, that's a bad argument; I know. It's a logical fallacy to claim that if A leads to having property B, and X has B property, X must be A. But who cares, this is a Magic article!)

So leave the logic behind, clear your throat, and start singing.

See you next week.

Abe Sargent