Subject: My Take on Exodus
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 12:41:17 EDT
From: DEF1AE@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

     Well, I didnt get a chance to play at the prerelease, I was a judge at
the tournament.  I saw a few nifty combos, some great cards, and all I kept
hearing was how the new set sucked!!  Now, it is true that Megrim could take
apart 80% of this set with all the discarding going on, but to tell you the
truth.....I LIKE THIS SET.  It certainly isn't gonna make me forget Visions,
for to me it really doesnt have a strong creature base, but the spells in this
set are good.  I like Cataclysm (Balance) and Hatred (Channel for creatures)
and I love Reaping the Rewards (Zuran Orb).  Life gain for white could become
a real problem to burn happy mages like myself.  I see a few abusable cards,
that I am sure everybody has covered in other articles, so I won't do it here.
      To clarify, the creature selection isn't all bad either.  My favorite
art in the set also belongs to the first Exodus creature going into a deck for
me.....Carnophage.  I just love the idea of first turn dark ritual, and any
combination of Carnophage and Sarcomancy.  Turn  2, bad moon, take 9 opponent.
In sealed, Ertai was a complete FORCE, as long as you had the mana to use him.
Mirri has incredible ability for her casting cost as well.  There are also
TERRIBLE creatures (Jackalope Herd?) as well, and I guess that is why I didn't
rate the set high in that category.
     So after going through the possibilities, I have come to conclude that in
future type 2 tourneys, be prepared to play LONG games taking up most of the
round.  Life gain and locks will be a force in this new cycle.  I am gonna
concentrate on speed, starting with this black deck.  My buddy Will (Cypher)
is insisting that Culling the Weak will speed it up, and so the arguments
begin........have fun with the new cards, and I hope to see some new decks
spring up out of this set.

Tony Engel
Redmage of Team Shivan