The Mana Crypt TI Decks, Jul '96 - Mar '97
| There is one card in all of magic that confers
a speed advantage that is so fast it absolutely degenerate, that card is
'Mana Crypt'. This card was a book-promotional card released by Harper Prism.
It is a zero casting artifact that can be tapped for two generic mana. The
downside of this considerable mana advantage is an average of 1.5 damage
a turn. The key to using this card is its speed. Just as the Necropotence
player is willing to trade his life for cards, the Mana Crypt player is willing
to trade life for a distinct mana and speed advantage. In the arena of Type I deck construction, many different deck types have emerged. These decks can be loosely categorized as either "Active" or "Reactive". One can either strive to control the environment, and render the opponents cards useless, or one can strive to kill the opponent quickly. These are the basic paradigms of Magic, and of deck construction, whether you are playing TI or TII. The most sucessful decks have both in varying degrees, taking into account the varying synergy of the cards and components of the decks. Even the most permission-oriented control deck must at some time pose a threat that will defeat their opponent. On the reverse side of the coin, the speed-kill deck makes all their opponents cards useless - when that 20th point of damage is delivered. Before we delve into the Mana Crypt decks, we must have some specific knowledge on how key cards in the deck work and specific rulings pertaining to them. Specifically, the way that “Mana Crypt” and “Mana Vault” work: Mana Crypt: -As errata, play the mana producing effect as a mana source. [Mirage Page 2] The coin flip is an upkeep effect and not an upkeep cost. You can use the Crypt before dealing with the upkeep effect and thus avoid the coin flip entirely. This works because if it is tapped at the end of upkeep, it is turned "off" like all artifacts are when tapped. [Duelist Magazine #10, Page 44] Mana Vault: -As errata, it should read "Mana Vault does not untap during your untap phase. If it remains tapped during your upkeep, Mana Vault deals 1 damage to you. {4}: Untap Mana Vault at end of upkeep. Use this ability only during your upkeep. {Tap}: Add three colorless mana to your mana pool. Play this ability as a mana source." [Encyclopedia Page 208] [Mirage Page 2] -Does one damage if it ends your upkeep in the tapped state regardless of whether it was untapped at some point during that upkeep. [Aahz 06/06/94] The "If it remains tapped during your upkeep" should be worded "If it is tapped at the end of your upkeep". This has not been issued as specific errata, however. -You can untap a Mana Vault with mana from a Mana Vault or Basalt Monolith and you can untap a Basalt Monolith with mana from a Mana Vault. [WotC Rules Team 06/15/95] This is a REVERSAL of a ruling made on page 79 of Duelist Magazine #3. The more salient points are: 1. You don’t take damage from a tapped Mana Crypt if you use it during upkeep. 2. You can use the mana from Mana Vaults to untap Mana Vaults. The basic components for the Mana Crypt decks can be broken down into the following deck types: 1. Tome/Sceptre 2. Vise/Ankh/Atog 3. Vise/Armageddon 4. Prosperity/Vice(Basket) The Mana Crypt deck really started to become popular after the “Upkeep Effect” ruling in Duelist #10, so serious work on Crypt decks did not start until April of ‘96. Without the guaranteed 3 points of damage per turn, the question became “how to utilize 2 colorless mana, during upkeep?” One obvious solution was the use of Mana Vaults, the other was Mystic Remora. For starters, here is a deck from May‘96 that is representative of a good Atog deck for that time. As will be seen, the Atog is the only creature that this deck typically uses. This deck was designed by Niclas Alverup <d93na@efd.lth.se>.
This deck has many of the basic characteristics of the Mana Crypt deck, i.e.,
low land count (11), but 26 sources total mana. The Hurkyl’s/Fireball
combo is present, and the viscious Vise/Mine combo. With the Mystic Remora
out on the first turn, the card-drawing (and beatdown) are out and down before
the other player knows what hit him. For example, a good but fairly typical
draw could include land, vise, mox, mana vault, remora, strip mine, wheel.
That means play... land, remora, mox, vise, second turn pay upkeep, play
vault, strip, then wheel... and play another vice, atog, etc. The next deck, designed by Chris Cade, concentrates on turning the mana advantage into a qualitative card advantage by use of multiple tomes. The deck can quickly cycle through cards to find an Armageddon, which in short order introduces the opponent to the synergy between the Vise and the Ankh (damned if you do, damned if you don’t). Four Strip Mines are included for spot land destruction in the first 1-3 turns, by then an Icy and artifact mana source should be out, with a vise and ankh down, and arcane in hand. Not surprisingly, Chris was using this deck at the same time that he was developing “The Prison”, and it is interesting to note that this deck could be considered the Type I version... although Chris called it:
Chris had these comments: The next deck is a less wieldy, but still high effective, version of the Mana Crypt archetype with Atog's:
This deck is a standard example of an Atog-Monstrosity Deck. Opening hand
look for the vice, ankh, lotus/timetwister, these are all good starts, also
atog/walk can be good. Cast the hurklys'/fireball before you attack with
the atog then eat all of the artifacts. This should be obvious, but is still
a common mistake. Of key importance is learning when NOT to cast anything
when a vice is in play and your opponent is playing counters. Keeping them
in vise range is critical and a must learn skill with this deck. Also keep
in mind the trick of tapping the mana crypt for two mana burn to avoid taking
three. Learning how to take damage with this deck is as important as managing
your life with a NecroDeck. Learning when to use the atog to block and sac
and when to just take the djinn damage is critical. When learning to play
this deck, many players will often make mistakes and lose because they are
too timid (block too much) or too bold (take too much damage). With the introduction of Mirage in October of '96, the tutors became obvious choices for the Mana Crypt deck, and helped to greatly increase its consistency. This next deck represents an attempt at redefining the old MRB deck, with the quick "Balancing Tactics" allowed by the Mystical Tutor.
Chris had these comments: After the documented success of these decks, the research and testing of Mana Crypt decks became quite intensive. Although it generally became apparent that earlier designs were very draw dependent, it was also apparent that a few good draws (by the luckier players) could easily translate into a tourney win. Heavy LD and Hand destruction can beat a Mana Crypt deck slightly more than 50% of the time (ala TI Necro), fast creature decks are also problematic (esp. before sideboarding), but with a decent draw, a lucky player can beat any of them handily (and quite quickly). Hence the appeal to those inclined to gamble. To battle some of these inconsistencies, Andrew Marshall suggested this deck (in outline form): *"The Itch" (U/r/b) Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mystic Remora, Mana Drain, Browse, Nether Void, Strip Mine, Pillage, Cyclopean Tomb, Fireball, Black Vise, and various hitters (usually Wildfire Emissary, Serendib Efreet, Derelor, etc.). The idea is to slow down slow decks with mana manipulation while nickel-and-diming her with critters or 'Vise, then when the lock deck goes for the get-me-out-of-this-mess spell, counter it (hopefully with a 'Drain), and DD her to death. The Mana Vault (and 'Crypt to power it) makes it possible to cast just about anything under Nether Void, and your HUGE Fireball is a threat through- out the game. It also works very well against quicker decks. This is one deck that is a severe pain in the neck to play against no matter what you are playing -Andrew Marshall. As of April '97, Mana Crypts are a staple of the current, wildly popular Type I Prosperity/Vise deck. The calls for restriction or banning of Prosperity in Type I have been coming often because of this deck. Basics are the following:
Basically, use countermagic to stall until you can drop a huge Prosperity on youself and the opponent. Drop a couple Vises under counter-cover and hit them before they can react. Kills as early as turn 2 or 3 are not uncommon. Unfortunately, the prosperity decks are not very stable, and are even more draw dependent than the older Atog or Armageddon versions... the kills are much more spectacular though. The deck can be improved with the addition of red and possibly black, but that is left as an exercise for the reader. Olle takes Hong Kong!
The Mana Crypt engine was also used by Olle Rade at the Hong Kong Invitational
with the addition of Snake Baskets. This deck was designed under the “4
of each expansion” rule, i.e., four cards from every expansion from
Arabians through Visions... so the deck had to be designed with these limitations
in mind. Alexander Blumke of Switzerland came up with the original deck.
After Blumke tested it against Amiel Feldman and the Swedes, Amiel and Olle
decided to use their own modified version of it (not much room for alteration
though). Even with the design limitations, Blumke managed to come up with
a very TI competitive Prosperity-Vice deck. It is interesting to note the
similarity between this deck and Chris Cade's Balance deck, with the synergy
between the LED and Balance (although strictly speaking, this is not what
the deck was designed to do, e.g., no racks).
Carl Devos had these playing tips: Drop your whole hand, tutor
for some card drawing (early on it's Twister of Wheel, later a Prosperity).
Cast it and if it's not countered, sack your hand and LED for UUU in hope
to get something interesting (like Hurkyl's Recall and a Prosperity). The
LED Balance combo is nice but used only in emergency. The Magic Dojo© 1997-1998 Frank Kusumoto. Please report bugs or problems to webmaster@classicdojo.org.
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