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by Gandalf
Deck Genesis: Gandalf's Strategy from 0 to 60 In a tournament environment as varied as the current Type II environment, it was only a matter of time before ‘unstoppable’ or incredibly efficient deck types surfaced. Most people would think that these deck types have surfaced, and will be set in stone until the Tempest expansion is released, again changing the environment. I am of the opinion, however, that these deck archetypes were made to be broken apart, to determine the common themes. And knowing these themes, a successful foil deck can be created…for example, Turbo-Stasis was the successful foil of the Necrodeck of last year, because it consistently beat Necro, and fared well against the remainder of the field. The deck types that have surfaced now give me the impression, flat out, that while the most imagination in deckbuilding is possible, the least imagination possible is used. Except for Counter-Burn and Turbo-Abeyance/Turbo-Stasis, most of the modern Type II decks win by overwhelming creature attacks backed with resource denial or board control. Senor Stompy (Monogreen creature deck; Mr. Stompy here in the North =) uses cheap and effective creatures in combination with Winter Orbs (and the ability to evade these Orbs) to kill effectively. Buried Alive uses recursive Black creatures to effectively summon creatures for a onetime investment, and some pack Nevinyrral’s Disks as a means to control the board and abuse the recursive creatures’ abilities even further. Sligh is Red weenies backed by probability theory (although most fail to realize this fact) and massive Burn abilities... there is no better Board Control than a dead opponent. Big Blue and Counterpost are similar, using creatures backed by Counterspells and disruption effects to allow the ‘weakest color for Creatures’ to have a strong finish. The list goes on and on, and while the decks themselves may be totally different, the concept that drives them is the same. In Type II, it’s all about more creatures and better board control... even Prison follows that premise, thanks to its massive board disruption and ability to lock up an opponent’s spellcasting. It’s time for something different, or at least so I would hope. But Turbo-Abeyance/Turbo-Stasis are the only startlingly different deck archetype, as they use only the massive board control aspects and forego damage-dealing as a method of winning. Which brokers the question... Is there really anything else? In an environment where speed is the deciding factor in games, what slows down all the ‘popular’ decks that one might expect to face? Prison is the best of these, since its White spells and board control shake the game early and keep the opponent hopping. But does Prison have a chance, where such an Artifact-heavy and mana-intensive deck can be stopped by threats the likes of Null Rod and Serenity? Probably, although not a very good one. Prison is usually a metagame deck, but all in all I think it begins too late in the game to have a solid chance against the Senor Stompy decks that take the offensive as early as possible, and have been filling the field with a sea of green at tournaments all over since its success at the Florida Type II State Championships. Low mana and a fast deck that can work well both offensively or defensively would seem to have the best chance. Board disruption a la Prison would also be effective, but I would like to break it of the dependency upon Artifacts. With this in mind, I take a closer look at the Forgotten Orb deck. It is basically disruption effects like Memory Lapse and Man o’ War in conjunction with the Winter Orb, backed by creatures and control sufficient to take advantage of the ‘time advantage’ the deck generates. First, I must choose the sufficient Lock, and colors. The lock would be Winter Orb, Anhk of Mishra (able to stop the game on turn 2 against the right deck), and an Icy Manipulator effect upon Lands. Blue is a definite, thanks to the exceptional Man o’ War. Of all colors, Black is my other deck choice... because besides Icy Manipulator, the best land-manipulation effect is Mole Worms. For total control and funkiness, Contagions and Null Rods should also be standard, as they hose other decks’ abilities to break this lock as well as, in Contagion’s case, adding additional creaturekill effects to the deck. Contagion is effectively a zero-casting-cost spell, and while it loses card advantage in some cases, it is still extremely effective.
In the tradition of Black Ice, the rest of the deck should be constructed of aggressive creatures with defensive abilities as well. The creature base is basically transposed from your average Black Weenie deck, taking only 2cc and 3cc creatures.
The Land total should be low, with 21 sources supplying enough colored mana to ensure the ability to cast any spell in the deck off of 3 lands. While there are only 4 Blue spells, these spells are vital and we want to play the Lands to cast these spells by roughly turn 3 or 4. So Damage Lands will be heavily used…
For a total of 60 cards. Playtesting of the deck at the New York State Type II championships showed the need for such a versatile mana supply, as well as the deck’s flexibility under different stresses. In one match, I overran my opponent with creatures on turn 5 or 6 without bothering with either Anhk or Orb (mostly because I didn’t draw them, though =) thanks to a fortuitous draw of all four Man o’ Wars in my opening 12 cards. When I Man o’ Warred his last-hope blocker, a Balduvian Horde, he conceded the game. In the Quarterfinals, I had possibly the two best games of the match, even though I lost the match. After being eaten to death by a Flanker Attack the previous game, I get a perfect Angband lock on my opponent on turn 4 by a Turn 3 Mole Worm, turn 4 Anhk + Orb. Contagioning away his army left the board clean for me to take my sweet time in killing him with Creatures, as long as I kept a Hydroblast in my hand and one Blue mana available (I believe he had Pyrokineses in his Sideboard, like most Red players would). Game three was the decisive game in the match, because winner went on to Semis. I wanted the plaque, and my deck crapped out on me by giving me the infamous City Of Brass Is My Only Land draw. I go into Suicide Mode, Contagioning wildly, using Vampiric Tutor for a Swamp... before my opponent had a chance to lay into me, I was at 12 by my own doing. And the deck started rolling of its own accord... creatures began popping through to hit my opponent. But my hand was just too empty, from having Contagioned three times already =), and I couldn’t deal with the Flanker that was busting through my defense of Fallen Askaris, Skulking Ghosts, and a lone Black Knight. I drew the Man o’ War I needed to win the game at one life, so I couldn’t cast it even though I wanted to. Ended the match with my opponent crapping his pants at 7 life. I lent the deck to a reader in Cinncinati for a tournament the same day as my State Championships; he took second in a varied field with a match record of 7-1-0. So, the deck has proved it has the surprise value and staying power to hurt most decks in the environment. This is probably due to the versatility with which it can be played, as you can notice from my tournament experiences with it above, it can work on several different levels depending on the situation it is in. The sideboard is crucial. The deck has a natural tendency to beat Blue-based decks, or anything that relies on Undiscovered Paradise/Thawing Glaciers. Its main weaknesses are Green Machine/Senor Stompy, Buried Alive (although it is still generally an effective deck against BA) and monored Burn.
All in all, it is a deck most people would not expect to see, and would fear to play. Its effectiveness against every major deck type is not in hoser cards, but in a hoser strategy... withdraw all mana from an opponent, remove creature threats or creature mana sources, nullify artifact mana sources and threats, and eat your opponent to death with small creatures. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or requests that I might be able to answer or help out with... my email adress is [email protected]. See you all here next month, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
Sean McKeown
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