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by Mariano J. Benito
Deck-Messing First of all, I'd like to thank the many people who wrote me about the Chasing Sheep and Forceggeddon decks. The comments were highly interesting, and showed me some points I had missed while building the decks. I don't want to forget anyone, but Eve Goodmon's thoughts were so useful I cannot help but mention him. And Charles P. Schwartz suggested I use a drawing engine in Forceggedon. Although its not so good for that particular deck, his comment got me thinking about draw engines. What follows is the result of that thought.
One of the worst things in a long game, or when playing against a millstone deck, is getting your deck completely messed up. It takes some time to bring it back to some kind of order. This messing is not always bad. If your deck is a mess because you managed to draw most of it, chances are your opponent lost the duel. The more resources you have available during a duel, the greater your chances of winning it. This is called card-advantage, and many people have built their decks around this concept lately. So, let's make a card advantage deck.
Visions blue commons make excellent cantrips, but they are just cantrips, not card advantage spells. However, there is one common which can fill our hands if played correctly. Its called Betrayal, and it is going to be the key card in our deck.
Blue Enchant Creature Play only on a creature an opponent controls. If enchanted creature becomes tapped, draw a card. It would of course be better if we can get the enchanted creature to tap every turn, not just when its owner wants it to. And, if possible, without having it attack us. That critter could die, losing his lovely card-drawing "ability". Or we could eventually die because of the damage dealt. Not good in the long run. And here is where the Icy Manipulators enter the scene. Enchant a creature, and then tap it during his upkeep. Not only do you get rid of a creature (albeit temporarily), but you get to draw an extra card every turn. The engine starts working. Then, we'd like to assure we get the Icy's quickly. Some cantrips will do the work. I've chosen the Urza's Bauble, the cheapest cantrip and one of my favourite Magic cards, and Impulses from Visions. Playing a mono blue deck, some countering is good. Arcane denials fit perfectly because of the cantrip ability. Counterspell is so versatile and cheap we can't miss it. And I'll throw in Power Sinks, because I have no Force of Wills or Dissipates. I'm sure they will work perfectly in the deck. Boomerangs are good if you 'missed' something you really wanted to counter. Stasis and the like, I mean. Once we set up our defenses, let's go for him. First, some cheap but useful flying falcons (Zephyr or Bay, choose four). Insect-killers, attack and block. They will even die to give you a chance against weenies. And then, the heavy-hitters - some of the big, flying creatures I own from 4th Edition. This is one of the most flexible areas of the deck, for there is no special need for any of them. I recommend, however, to use some kind of mana curve, taking big creatures with different casting costs. As you can see, I have 4 4-cc (Casting cost), 2 5-cc and 2 6-cc. Somewhat expensive, but all of them fly, and are intended to appear late in the game to finish your opponent. Mahamoti usually makes your opponent think twice about sending his big guys to a certain death. For safety, I included a feldon's cane on the deck. If you have played your 4 betrayals, you'll be drawing 5 cards a turn. Ouch, let's take some more time to finish him before getting decked. One last word of advice: take your time shuffling between matches - the deck will usually be messed up.
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