by Aziz Al-Doory In a small, undeveloped format, pro players usually take one of two routes. They either exploit the strongest cards in the set by building decks around them (ala Recurring Nightmare, Living Death, Tradewind Rider, Hatred), or they make a really fast beatdown-style deck. Most playtest for hours deck against deck, with and without sideboards, trying multiple combinations of cards to best determine which cards work the best against the widest variety of other decks. This process often includes a gallon or two of lubricant. For more information on lubricants and similar products, call Worth Wollpert of Team Deadguy or email him. He loves to talk slippery. One particular "power card" not included in my examples above was Humility. It's power is obvious, turning all creatures into crappy little 1/1's without special abilities, and combo-ing very well with Orim's Prayer. These cards were a cornerstone of one of the more successful decks at Worlds '98, christened here on the Dojo as, "Hacker's Prayer." The deck turned in notable performances for, of course, Brian Hacker and his teammate, John Yoo. (emphasis on the word "mate." Hacker is world famous for being the first male to bear children. John Yoo is widely believed to be the "Daddy"). With Rath Cycle qualifiers in full swing, and people not sure which way to go, "Hacker's Prayer" may be the answer. Hacker's Prayer - by Brian Hacker and Brian Schneider ----------------------------------------------------- 4 Counterspell 4 Forbid 4 Intuition 3 Propoganda 1 Capsize 3 Whispers of the Muse 2 Disenchant 3 Orim's Prayer 4 Humility 2 Reclaim 2 Scroll Rack 2 Grindstone 3 Mox Diamond 2 Reflecting Pool 2 Vec Township 4 Thalakos Lowlands 6 Plains 9 Island Sideboard: 1 Peace of Mind 3 Dismiss 2 Grindstone 2 Disenchant 1 Light of Day 1 Wasteland 1 COP: Red 1 Boil 1 Whispers of the Muse 3 WarmthSome of you people are likely scratching your heads after seeing the sideboard. Yeah, it's a little "out there." I attribute much of this to the fact that control decks often don't need to sideboard much. Either that or the player doesn't think they need to sideboard much, which means they spend little or no time thinking/testing a sideboard. I've noticed that many players spend far too little time on their sideboards, not just people who are planning on playing control decks. That's another issue altogether, and I'm not going to talk about it today. So how does this deck win? Obviously, it runs people out of cards with Grindstone, but that's not a very good answer. Since nearly all the decks in the format are creature based, Humility becomes a fat kick to the johnson. Think about Mono-Red and Mono-Black Hatred...............keep thinking..... How can either of those deal with a Humility, an Orim's Prayer or even a Propaganda? There is no Disk in Rath Cycle, nor is there a Pyroblast or Gloom. I've seen Helm of Possession used to get around Light of Day, but "Hacker's Prayer" has no creatures to burgle. So all a "Hacker's Prayer" player needs to do is get out a Humility by casting it normally, or Intuition-ing for it. An Orim's Prayer will show up soon enough, since you'll be Whispering, using Scroll Rack, etc. Then you sit back and counter anything that threatens your lock The Mox Diamonds are a great way to get going against the really fast decks I mentioned earlier. Even though they can't deal with Humility, they can win through pure speed. This possibility is also why the deck features Propaganda, surviving the early beatdown. For those rare times when the opponent can kill your Humility, you have Reclaim. Reclaim is also great for getting back sideboard cards if you don't have three of them. For instance, Hacker only had one Light of Day, so he couldn't normally Intuition for it. But he could if he had a Reclaim. Got it? Another Intuition trick is using it like Tithe. Late game you knock three land out of your deck, making it more likely that you draw something useful. One last tip: Don't make the mistake of believing that the object of this deck is to quickly run people out of cards. As long as you can maintain control via your lock, efficient counters, and card drawers, the win will come to you. You never need to force it. That's it for this week. As always, you can get this deck, another like it or just some singles and boxes at New Wave Mail Order, (770) 753-0606. Email at efreet@mindspring.com, check www.newwave.org or you can reach my personal email for questions or comments at aaa8557@garnet.acns.fsu.edu Aziz Team ThinkTank New Wave Mail Order |
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 10:26:15 -0400
To: Frank Kusumoto
From: "New Wave Inc."