Subject: Card Disadvantage and how it affects the Rath Cycle
Date: 10 Jun 1998 23:20:41 GMT
From: etrangerns@aol.com (EtrangerNS)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy

has anybody looked at the Exodus spoiler list lately? one of the trends that i
think is rapidly increasing is the concept of "card disadvantage," where you
overextend yourself to gain some advantage (usually from Ensnaring Bridge,
Cursed Scroll, etc.). lots of cards in Exodus are based around this concept,
such as Peace of Mind, Ogre Shaman, and many of the new blue fliers.

i have a feeling that, in the upcoming Standard environment (when Exodus enters
sometime in November), there will be a great divide between the typical "card
advantage" decks such as Necropotence and Mono-Blue and the "card disadvantage"
decks like Cursed anything and Suicide Black. you will probably find discard to
be a fairly useless strategy; Stupor (or even Fugue) does not bother a player
who is trying to thin their hand down so they can Scroll you into oblivion.
board control will become even more of a necessity as you will find people
aggressively emptying their hands, thus forcing a more pro-active style of
play.

ever since the advent of Mirage, i believe that decks have gotten much faster.
Sligh was the basic predecessor of this, and it soon lead to Fish, Armored
Weenie, Stompy, Suicide Black, and even ProsBloom to some extent. control-style
decks have always gotten some advances (Propaganda, Pendrell Mists, and even
Static Orb come to mind), but only to deal with the faster and faster rush
decks that have become prevalent.

in order to be successful in Standard play, one will have to be ready to deal
with an early onslaught of offense; 3rd turn kills are not impossible anymore,
and the famed "incinerate incinerate double fireblast" combo will not be dead
until November.

my question to all of you now is: how do we deal with such a prevalent concept?
will Standard become a divisive battlefield where you either play control or
aggro, and lose a good deal of the "midpath" decks that have been so popular as
of late? what will we have to do to metagame against the new archetypes, and
how will they shape and change the environment?

i am eager to see what comes of this post, and eagerly await any reply.

sincerely~

Nicolas Sabin

Nicolas B. Sabin
Green Mage of Les Enfants du Noir
Proud to be a Social Deviant since 1996

"Anger is a gift." ~ Zack de la Rocha