The top decks from the U.S. State Championships '98 and top tournaments around the world are listed below. These decks are the decks to be prepared for... because you will be playing against them . The environment is in an extreme state of flux. The rotation of the Mirage block out of Type 2, and the addition of Urza's Saga, has shaken up the scene. The addition of several combo oriented cards (such as Tolarian Academy, Great Whale, etc) has done two things to define the environment. 1) Decks need to be able to pro-actively deal with threats or 2) Decks need to be extremely narrow and fast. This has made the dominance of the Tolarian Blue and the Deadguy Red type decks the two strongest archetypes in the environment. Other decks, such as Rec-Sur and Counter Phoenix attempt to deal with the metagame by foiling one or both of the Tier One deck styles. Althought the environment is currently dominated by one or more of these four decks (depending on your local metagame) there is still quite a bit of room for strong rogue decks based on the creature rush style (Suicide Black and Stompy) and combo-oriented decks using oddities such as Gaea's Cradle or Sneak Attack.
"Academy" played by Andrew Johnson |
4 Power Sink 2 Intuition 2 Brainstorm 1 Capsize 4 Time Spiral 4 Stroke of Genius 4 Windfall 3 Mind over Matter *NOTE - Key parts of this deck will be banned on Jan 1st, 1999. |
4 Mana Vault 4 Lotus Petal 2 Mox Diamond 3 Sapphire Medallion 3 Voltaic Key 2 Scroll Rack Sideboard: 2 Rebound 4 Chill 2 Counterspell 1 Capsize |
4 Tolarian Academy 2 Wasteland 12 Island Sideboard(Cont): 2 Turnabout 2 Annul 2 Wasteland |
"Deadguy Red" played by Paul Jordan |
4 Jackal Pup 4 Goblin Patrol 4 Mogg Fanatic 3 Fireslinger 4 Ironclaw Orc 4 Ball Lightning |
4 Shock 4 Kindle 4 Incinerate 1 Sonic Burst Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 4 Bottle Gnome 3 Meltdown |
4 Cursed Scroll 4 Wasteland 16 Mountain Sideboard(Cont): 2 Boil 2 Spellshock |
"Rec-Sur" played by Steve "Vineyard" Shears |
4 Wall Of Blossoms
4 Survival Of The Fittest
4 Bird's Of Paradise
2 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Wood Elves
4 Reccurring Nightmare
4 Duress
2 Thrull Surgeon
1 Priest Of Gix
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3 Tradewind Rider 1 Great Whale 1 Peregrine Drake 1 Stern Proctor 1 Shard Phoenix 1 Anarchist 1 Fireball 1 Monk Realist Sideboard: 1 Shard Phoenix 1 Shattering Pulse 1 Monk Idealist 1 Gilded Drake |
4 City Of Brass 3 Thran Quarry 3 Reflecting Pool 2 Karplusan Forest 2 Sulfurous Springs 2 Underground River 5 Forest 2 Swamp Sideboard(Cont): 1 Monk Realist 1 Dark Hatchling 1 Spike Feeder 2 Lobotomy |
"Counter Phoenix" played by Ian Slattery |
4 Counterspell 4 Mana Leak 4 Forbid 2 Dismiss 4 Intuition 3 Capsize 1 Whispers of the Muse |
4 Shard Pheonix 4 Shock 3 Nevinyrral's Disk Sideboard: 1 Rebound 1 Earthquake 3 Meltdown |
4 Reflecting Pool 8 Mountain 16 Island Sideboard(Cont): 3 Arcane Laboratory 3 Propaganda 4 Pyroblast |
"Cursed Elves" played by Granger Petersen |
4 Llanowar Elves 4 Elven Lyrists 4 Scavenger Folk 4 Spike Feeders 4 Trained Armadons 1 Mirri Cat Warrior 3 Lhurgoyf 2 Scragnoth |
4 Eldamri's Vineyard 3 Gaea's Cradle 4 Cursed Scroll 4 Null Broach Sideboard: 2 Lifeforce 4 Crumble 2 Scragnoth |
2 Wasteland 17 Forest Sideboard(Cont): 4 Desert Twister 1 Jesters Cap 2 Spike Weaver |
"Draw-Go" played by Tom Pahutski |
4 Force Spike 4 Counterspell 4 Mana Leak 4 Forbid 3 Dismiss 4 Whispers of the Muse 3 Legacy Allure |
3 Spire Owl 2 Silver Wyvern 4 Nevinyrral's Disk Sideboard: 1 Legacy Allure 2 Rootwater Hunter 4 Bottle Gnome |
2 Stalking Stone 4 Ice Flow 2 Remote Isle 18 Island Sideboard(Cont): 4 HydroBlast 4 Wastelands |
"Suicide Black" played by Tim Kryzwicki |
4 Carnophage 4 Sarcomancy 4 Erg Raiders 4 Dauthi Slayer 4 Dauthi Horror |
4 Dark Ritual 4 Duress 3 Bad Moon 3 Unholy Strength 2 Terror 1 Lurking Evil Sideboard: 4 Planar Void 4 Sphere of Resistance 3 Dread of Night |
3 Cursed Scroll 4 Wasteland 16 Swamp Sideboard(Cont): 2 Spinal Graft 1 Perish 1 Coffin Queen |
"Pooh GUN" played by Sean McKeown |
4 White Knight 4 Soltari Priest 2 Soltari Monk 4 Warrior en-Kor 3 Paladin en-Vec 4 Disenchant 3 Armageddon |
4 Incinerate 2 Earthquake 4 Tradewind Rider 4 Mox Diamond Sideboard: 4 Pyroblast 3 Meltdown 4 Pariah |
4 City of Brass 1 Reflecting Pool 2 Adarkar Wastes 3 Wasteland 2 Mountain 10 Plains Sideboard(Cont): 3 Sleight of Mind 1 Earthquake |
"NWO Big Papa Pump" played by Chris Donahoe |
4 Llanowar Elves 4 Scavenger Folk 4 Elvish Lyrist 4 Albino Troll 4 Spike Feeders 2 Lhurgoyf 3 Symbiosis 2 Hurricane 2 Gaea's Cradle |
4 Fireslinger 4 Incinerate 3 Cursed Scroll Sideboard: 4 Winter Orb 4 Pyroblast |
4 Wasteland 4 Karplusan Forest 3 City of Brass 1 Thran Quarry 2 Mountain 7 Forest Sideboard(Cont): 4 Wall of Blossoms 3 Spike Weaver |
"Counter Sliver" played by Shane Duffy |
4 Muscle Sliver 4 Birds of Paradise 3 Wall of Blossoms 4 Crystaline Sliver 3 Victual Sliver 3 Mox Diamond 3 Winter Orb |
4 Winged Slivers 4 Counterspell 2 Forbid 4 Portent 2 Disenchant Sideboard: 3 Worship 4 Pyroblast 3 Energy Flux |
4 City of Brass 3 Brushlands 2 Adakar Wastes 6 Islands 5 Forests Sideboard(Cont): 2 Disenchant 3 Annul |