"Gotcha!"

    by James A. Greenwell

         Aack! January 1 is past! Oh what are we going to do in that ever changing format of type II? Well, I'm sure glad you asked. This month I thought I'd examine my personal favorite deck type the U/R burn/counter deck.

         This deck type takes a lot more thought and strategy then some might have you think. Not a typical burn, burn, burn, run out of steam and lose deck, oh no. Play this deck by building up in the beginning of the game while dealing with your opponents quick weenie creatures via lightning bolt/ incinerate/tactics, them unleashing what I call the "surprise creatures". WotC started something special when they created the infamous ball lightning, and have developed this type of creature since its wide acceptance by the addicted magic masses. With the introduction of Visions, WotC newest expansion, there is finally enough of this type of creature with tournament potential to really do something with them. Ball lighting, Eron the Relentless, Talruum Minotar, and now the Viashino Sandstalker. With these you pack enough punch to knock down any unwary opponent.

         That takes care of half the deck, so what about the rest? I thought you'd ask me that. The blue half of the deck provides two things : the ability to draw more cards, and countermagic for things that red just wasn't meant to deal with. With dream cache, diminishing returns, and mystical tutor you should not lack for the right cards in your hand, with the added bonus of letting your opponent know without a doubt that you have a counterspell in your hand. I love the look they give you when you cast mystical tutor in there discard phase and they wimper, "another counterspell, right?".

         Any good player knows what cards will shut down their deck. Kismet, white and red instant creature removal, or any good "lock" deck is this deck's weakness. Always hold your counterspells for things such as this, and use the bolts and tactics for the creatures. So without further ado, here is this month's featured U/R deck aptly named "gotcha".

    "Gotcha"
    Red (creature removal / killers)
    4 lightning bolt
    4 incinerate
    4 guerrilla tactics
    2 Eron the Relentless
    1 Ball Lightning
    4 Viashino Sandstalker
    1 Volcanic Dragon
    1 Hammer of bogarden
    3 Talruum Minotaur
    1 earthquake
     
    Blue (control / card replenishment)
    4 counterspell
    4 arcane denial
    2 diminishing returns
    2 dream cache
    4 mystical tutors
     
    13 mountains
    11 islands
     
     
    Sideboard
    2 reb (counter-counters)
    2 beb (red burn slowdown)
    2 flashfires
    2 sleight of mind (pesky cops)
    2 pillages (dude ranches)
    1 earthquake (weenie hordes)
    2 pyrokinesis (fast big creatures)
    2 wildfire emmisary (white control decks)

    P.S. : I have thought about bringing you faithful magic masses a monthly column in which I take your deck ideas and break them down and build them back up. But to do this I need some feedback from the peanut gallery. So, If you have a deck you love that just isn't quite right send me a copy at J0***e@l***u.edu and I'll see what damage I can do with it. See you next month, same bat time, same bat channel.

    James A. Greenwell
    Email: J0***e@l***u.edu

    Magic: the Gathering is a Registered Trademark of Wizards of the Coast