Subject: Re: Looking for something New and Original Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 20:42:34 GMT From: tolun@ptdprolog.net (Tolun) Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Mathew Dyson wrote: > Okay, lets face it, type 2 is in a bit of a rutt right now. I mean, >we haven't really seen anything new since the releace of Tempest, and I Which completely changed the environment as it went from the largest pool of cards ever in that format to one of the smallest... No wonder WotC thinks they have to release sets every 3-4 months if people get bored with such sweeping changes after only a few months... The entire environment will change once more (and probably for the worse, just look at how many Mirage-block cards form the basis of the decks you see today), in November when Urza's Saga rotates in. Enjoy this incarnation of Type II while you can. >really doubt Stronghold is going to make much of an impact on the >enviroment. We really need something new to bring something exciting Stronghold (and most likely Exodus), being smaller sets, are mainly "support" cards. Stuff like Shock and Mana Leak gives various strategies a boost without changing the entire environment, and the Kor have the potential to rejuvenate white weenie... And the Spikes will probably make people think that green can still work, until the latest incarnation of SchneiderPox, with Perish sideboarded in, beats them into the ground... not much use flipping tokens around when everything is Poxed, Perished, and Edicted away... >back into the game. Of course, I'm not that great at making decks, but >to support myself, I'd be willing to post up my most original ideas.... >Maybe I'm waisting my time. but I'm sick enough of deadguy red, 4cBlack, >and Canyon Stasis to throw my half-formed deck-ideas out there.... >well... here they are... There's plenty of variety out there... it's just that when someone plays an unknown, non-Dojo deck, people call the players of these decks "scrubs" because they aren't tuned to perfection and able to crush all opposition. So the "scrubs" get disgusted with the reaction their efforts receive, and go back to the Dojo and copy the latest Schneidersumthing deck. > I don't really expect to change Type 2 as we know it, I'm just >hoping some of my rambelings will jump start something new, please, add >to this if you've come up with some original, workable decktypes! Some pretty decent efforts, there, I printed them out and was looking them over last night... the decks need some work, of course, but there is potential there, I think. Send them to the Dojo and watch for modified versions in tournament reports... :) Anyway, I have a few ideas I wrote up last night to pass the time at work. They're variations on decks I've built, but two of them are built according to Iwan's "Xy" mana/card distribution theory posted in a subsequent article. A few general notes: These are just off the top of my head, and are certainly not tuned to perfection here... if anyone wants to, they're free to use them as a springboard for their own ideas, and hopefully if someone takes one of them to a tournament, he'll email me a copy of the decklist and let me know how it works out... :) It was late at night when I wrote them up, so if anything obvious was missed, I blame lack of sleep. Each of these decks consist of 62 cards, 24 of which are land. Yep, SIXTY-TWO CARDS. This is intentional: I like to challenge established and rigid lines of thought, I dislike dogma in any point of view, and I don't hold that a deck must be EXACTLY sixty cards. For those who disagree, the two cards I threw in "just cause they're cool" are marked "optional," it shouldn't affect the deck to a great degree if you take them out. If anyone critiques them and says "you have to go down to 60 cards," I'll know he didn't bother reading my comments, so I won't bother reading his. I do this freely and of my own will, guys. In most of the decks I build, I've found that three is a magic number. Often, cards that are most useful have three copies in the deck or sideboard, and it takes considerable thought before I go up to four or down to two. Seldom do I include only one of a card, unless I only have one copy. This is just my personal preference, I suppose because just after I started playing, my most successful decks were a series of mono-color decks (and one all-artifact deck) that included every card (even land) in threes. I find that having three of a card means that I'll almost always see one or two without having too many in hand at one time. Some cards, usually utility cards like Counterspell and Incinerate, and important creature show up in fours more often, but generally I tend toward three copies. I offer no guarantees about the effectiveness of these decks. Use at your own risk. If you don't like 'em, I don't care. The Decks: Twelve Pack: This was inspired by a deck I saw in Inquest or something. Someone won a tournament with a counterburn deck that was 12/12/12. Twelve bolts, twelve counters, twelve creatures, and the rest land. Being 62 cards, this isn't EXACTLY twelve of each, but it's close enough. 4 Counterspell 2 Dismiss 2 Dissipate (possibly Disrupt) 4 Mana Leak 3 Ophidian 3 Tradewind Riders 2 Frenetic Efreet (optional, I just got three and I think they're cool...) 2 Fireblast 4 Incinerate 2 Kaervek's Torch 3 Mogg Flunkies 4 Shock 3 Suq'Ata Lancer 2 Caldera Lake 10 Island 10 Mountain 2 Reflecting Pool Sample Sideboard: 4 Nevinyrral's Disk 3 Capsize 3 Hydroblast 2 Whim of Volrath 3 Pyroblast This is a "control" deck that burns away opposing creatures (against decks running too many pro-red creatures to deal with otherwise, use the Whim to change it long enough for the kill), counter other threats, and establish control via Ophidian drawing and Tradwind bouncing, then move in for the kill with hard hitting creatures like the Flunkies and Lancers. ------------------------ Black Forest A while back I made a deck with green and black, first of all to see if I could do it (I once told a friend green and black can work very well together, but the decks I built with his limited card selection weren't that impressive), and second because I seldom play decks with any green component. The first few versions were feast or famine: either I didn't draw enough land to get started, or my supply of land, elves, and other mana sources was overwhelming. After a little tinkering, I came up with a deck that won fairly consistently against creature decks (which is 90% of the decks I play against), and is pretty fun to play, as well. This is a variation of that deck. This version only exists on paper just now, but I intend to build it and use it a while, modifying the deck as necessary. 3 Bottle Gnomes 3 Black Knight 2 Corpse Dance 3 Diabolic Edict 3 Fallen Askari 1 Grave Pact (optional) 3 Gravedigger 3 Nekrataal 2 Wall of Souls 3 Harrow 3 Jolrael's Centaur 3 River Boa 2 Uktabi Orangutan 1 Verdant Touch (optional) 3 Wall of Roots 9 Forest 2 Pine Barrens 13 Swamp Sample Sideboard: 3 Cursed Scroll 3 Bottomless Pit 2 Forsaken Wastes 3 Tranquility 2 Uktabi Orangutan 2 Nevinyrral's Disk This deck (as are most of my decks, to some extent) is designed to do three things: 1: Win the game. 20-some creatures that can attack provides more threats than most decks can easily deal with. Recycle "utility" creatures with Corpse Dance and Gravedigger... 2: Disrupt the opponent's strategy: Massive creature destruction to put the opponent on the defensive, and a sideboard that deals with strategies rather than colors for maximum usefulness of each card. When facing creature-light decks, for example, you can put in Tranquility instead of Nekrataal, Nev's Disk instead of Wall of Souls, etc. Grave Pact and Verdant Touch have the potential to perform "land destruction" of a sort, by Corpse Dancing a Gnome, then Touching one of the opponent's lands and saccing the Gnome for Life... fun... 3: Prevent the opponent from disrupting your strategy: This is accomplished mostly through speed, the "kill him first" idea. Lack of countermagic/discard makes anti-disruption difficult, but the sheer number of creatures means it's likely that you can recover quickly from sweeping destruction, few artifacts and enchantments to avoid problems with Disenchant, and cards like Forsaken Wastes and Bottomless Pit give you hope against control decks. --------------------- Korburn I think the Kor represent a great potential to make white a decent color once more. I made up a deck which has the potential to use the En-Kor/Mogg Maniac combo to kill the opponent, but is also strong enough to carry on without it. 3 Earthquake 3 Incinerate 3 Mogg Maniac 3 Shock 2 Armageddon 2 Disenchant 4 Flickering Ward 2 Gerrard's Wisdom 3 Nomads En-Kor 3 Shaman En-Kor 2 Spirit Mirror 3 Wall or Resistance 3 Warrior En-Kor 2 Zalfirin Crusader (optional) 8 Mountains 14 Plains 2 Scabland Sample Sideboard: 3 Pyroblast 2 Armageddon 2 Disenchant 2 Gerrard's Wisdom 3 Solitari Monk 3 Solitari Priest The deck is simple and direct. Attack and block with a couple of Kor, dump the damage they take onto another creature, maybe one of the Kor protected by Flickering Ward, or a Spirit token, a wall (which gets bigger if it survives), a sacrificial Mogg, etc. With an Armageddon, a Spirit Mirror, and a couple of Kor you have a good chance to take control of the game as you kill off their creatures and keep your own alive. If you happen to be able to drop several Kor and a Mogg, and have an Earthquake in hand, all the better. Quake for as much as you can, and dump all the damage onto the Mogg, which will (hopefully) be enough to finish the opponent off. Just watch out for Honorable Passage! Tolun