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by Mariano J. Benito
I Don't Miss My Erhnams 4th and Chronicles are gone. Some of our good cards are gone, for now, at least. People talk about Abyssal Specters, missing the old Hypnotic. Incinerates are good, but Lighting Bolts were a four-in-every-red-deck card. No Control Magic, either. Binding Grasp will suck up our blue mana, leaving less mana for countering. Erhnams will no longer be seen in type II, and sure, we will miss them. Then again, are you so sure?. I'm not. I think I won't miss my erhnam (as much as some thought). All of these "broken" cards have their substitutes in type II. Erhnam has his, of course. Some time ago there was a thread in the newsgroups about good and bad qualitites of Erhnam and Neetletooth. So, if we want to have a pseudo-Erhnam to replace our old friend, let's start with 4 of them. Now, let's try to find some more substitutes. Swords to Plowshares is also gone. But Pacifism is in. Tranquility will easily take them out, but in the meantime, it is a good choice. This deck needs some more offensive creatures. To avoid CoPs:Green, the creatures should be White. Serras used to fill these slots, but now we have to find something else. There aren't any good substitutes; unstabled mutated Zephyr Falcons don't count. So, let's use 4 Knights of Valor. He doesn't fly, but he does has flanking, and is cheaper to summon. Now, let's overcome Djinn's upkeep damage. Spirit Link is definitely marvellous. ``If this djinn attacks or blocks, I'll get 4 more points. If it gets pacified, well, nothing happens. ''. Double-Spirit-Linked Neetles are good; as he deals upkeep damege, you gain a point of life instead of losing one. Hummm, maybe I won't miss those Ivory Tower as much as I thought... Let's make this deck better. One of the funniest, and most overlooked, enchantments is living artifact. Every time you take a damage, you put a counter on it. You remove one during your upkeep to get 1 life. So is it defensive? Yes. But, with 2 in play, BOTH get counters and BOTH give you life. This sounds even better. So, with a Nettle and 2 enchantments (Spirit Link(s) on Neetle and/or Living Artifact(s)), we gain some life every turn. Good, just good. The worst thing about Living Artifact is needing artifacts to get enchanted. I can have mine, but a disenchant becomes a 2-for-1 card. Not so good. It's always better to enchant your opponent's artifacts. That way, instead of getting two for one, your opponent is forced to pick between either your Living Artifact, or one of your other artifacts. In case your opponent doesn't have any artifacts, we better include our own. 2 Rod of Ruin, although very mana intensive, are good for long games, which is usually the case against this deck. Let's also include 2 Crown of the Ages, so that we can move pacifisms and Spirit Links when something better appears. Now, let's add 2 Clay statues -- attackers when the situation suggests it, but regenerating blockers most of the time. We now have the main part of our deck. Now, let's add some more defense... 4 Disenchants, and 1 Creeping Mold. 2 Hurricanes will deal with flyers and can help finish him off. 1 Vitalizing cascade, if Neetle is damaging us too much. And two Elven Caches, for reusing any of them.. Mana production is very important. 4 Llanowar and 2 Quirion Elves can speed this deck enough. So, let's put it altogether.
I usually doesn't talk about sideboard, but here's my suggested sideboard...
Hope you like it. See you next month here, at Beyond Dominia.
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