Subject: ProsperBloom Deck Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 11:59:00 -0400 From: "R. Kinyon" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Frank, There hasn't been a ProspBloom deck posted in a while, so I thought I'd post mine and see what people think. ProspBloom ---------- 4 squandered resources 4 natural balance 4 cadaverous bloom 3 prosperity 1 drain life 4 meditate 4 infernal contract 3 intuition 3 vampiric tutor 4 abeyance 3 memory lapse 4 city of brass 4 gemstone mine 5 swamp 4 island 4 forest 2 lotus petal Sideboard --------- 3 emerald charm 3 dread of night 3 wall of blossoms 3 pyroblast 3 lobotomy The first thing most people will notice is the lack of a fourth prosperity. This version shifts the focus from _NEEDING_ the prosperity to being able to win (up to 40% of the time) without every casting a prosperity. I've won games without even _SEEING_ a prosperity. The second thing noticeable is the lack of the "best card in magic," long a staple of this deck. But, let's look at its replacement - Intuition. What are we really trying to do with this deck? We're trying to get a combo. Ok, so what gets the combo faster - a card which, for 1U, lets you look at 4 cards or a card which, for 2U, lets you say "Which one of these three identical cards do I get?"...I'd say the latter. The extra cc very rarely is a factor and if you need to impulse for land in this deck, you're already losing. In addition, intuition helps you continue the card-drawing cycle because you can intuition for one of the prospserities you haven't seen yet. (The only problem is if you need to intuition for a prosperity after having used one. I only have to say that the problem hasn't come up in over 100 games of playtest and tournament.) The third thing is the lotus petals. All I have to say about this is "Blue mana is SOOO important, especially in mid-cycle." The last is the sideboard. The sideboard is an experiment, to allow both the tutors and the intuitions to get sideboard cards, especially the dread of night. Now, there's no light of day because I fear aura of silence more than discard. I can recover and even win (and have done so) under discard. Doing so under aura is more difficult. A trick I've noticed in play is that when you cast the natural balance, do so (if possible) without having played a land that turn. The ability to play a land in mid-cycle and have two more blue mana available is so nice. (Or white mana or red mana or whatever.) Just be careful when playing this deck - every color has an answer and those answers can be very nasty. (Like the surprise pyroblast...Blech!) Rob Kinyon