Subject: [DECK] Eleanor Riggby's Dancehall Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 20:08:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Kep Keplinger Reply-To: kep@mindless.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello Folks! After quite a bit of pressure from the local playing scene as well as a few knowing people abroad (that's you Foster and Staton), I am finally publishing my Five Color Reanimator: Eleanor Riggby's Dancehall. The new popularity of Comer's Godzilla deck made a lot of folks around here feel I deserved a bit more credit than I might otherwise receive, and have finally convinced me to publish. Initailly this deck looks quite similar to Godzilla, which is why folks have suggested I get my just due... however, I believe they are varient enough to qualify as two distinctly different decks. I've been playing one version or another of this in local tournaments (10-40 people) and winning rather consistently with it for 9 months. At the regional (US Forces Korea) qualifier for nationals I took this deck to 3rd place (a tie). The other folks in the top 4 were all playing white weenie in one form or another. Unfortunately, while I knew I was weak against white, I didn't come prepared well enough for it, and it is the only thing I lost to... sigh. Without further ado, here's the deck as it was at Regionals. I have since begun revision, but Version 4.0 is not quite ready. Kep! Keplinger's Five Color Reanimator aka Eleanor Riggby's Dancehall (Version 3.2): Main: 1x Tradewind Rider (less useful than I hoped) 1x Thundermare (Not the best card to bring out last with a living death... chuckle) 3x Verdant Force (Eleanor Riggby in the title... You know 'em... you love 'em) 3x Bottle Gnomes (Tastes great, less filling) 2x Volcanic Dragon (fly, be free) 4x Ball Lightning (Gotta play with Balls!) 4x Lotus Petal (I stuck them in as filler, and they stayed cause they had to!) 4x Living Death (the dancehall in the title) 4x Mulch (YES! Its the Card du Jour!) 4x Mind Bomb (Classical. But why screw with what works?) 2x Vampiric Tutor (I need a Living Death NOW!!!) 3x Shallow Grave (Remember the order of play... a Ball still can go to the graveyard) 4x Reanimate (Did you just Reanimate a Verdant Force??? You bet your ass!) 4x Animate Dead (Old, cold, and still the best of the bunch) Land: 1x Island (personal decision) 2x Wasteland (not too many, not too few) 4x Gemstone Mine 4x Reflecting Pool (wouldn't trade them, but suck with only a Wasteland on the table) 4x City of Brass (Ow! Ow! Ow! How much life did I lose? Ah well) 3x Undiscovered Paradise (It's back... again... again... again...) Sideboard: (Admittedly, this needs work) 2x Uktabi Orangutan 2x Sliver Queen 1x Light of Day 2x Maze of Shadows 4x Chill 2x Gloom 2x Sudden Impact Discussion (In no particular order): The first thing to make note of, is this deck is NOT for the faint of heart or conservative player. If you want to win, it's a balls-to-the-wall-full-frontal-don't-quit-'til-your-opponent-screams-for-a-Berry-Manillow-song assault. In other words, there is very little defense, and a lot (A LOT) of calculated risk-taking. There are several little oddities and finesses with this thing that are worth noting. The most interesting (at least to me) is it has never lost the first game in a match to ANYTHING other than mana-screw (and only once). While there may be a factor of luck, after several hundred games, I have another reason: No one sees it coming! A first turn Verdant Force happens near 25% of the time (or at least enough to make it feel like one out of four times). 90% of games are over by turn 4 or 5. Between turns one and four are Ball Lightenings, Dragon's, etc. Strangely enough, the Tradewind rider (which looked SO perfect) sat around and braided its nose-hairs more often than not. There goes my idea of combining it with the Force's tokens... ah well. The reanimation principles here are reasonably obvious. 1: Mindbomb and Mulch serve double duty to get creatures into the graveyard and either card-denial/damage or increasing my land position. Of the two, it's hard to say which is more valuable, but I certainly gained a love for Mulch using it here. 2: Of all the cards I personally love to bring back from the grave, Ball Lightening beats all (even the Force) by a good margin. I'm amazed more reanimation decks don't use Balls (take that how you like). But, when it's a five-color deck the 3-red mana just don't matter none if you want to cast it straight one turn and bring it back the next. And the next. And the next! Yup, you gotta have Balls! 3: Living death has been talked to death and doesn't need any more discussion... except that it's another great card to play with Balls. Looking back on the questions this deck has received, there are two questions that keep coming up: Q1: Why so few land? Only 15 of them can produce any color... and what the hell is the island for? A1: The deck has no more and no less than it needs. With Mulch pulling double duty (incidentally, it used to be Vision Charms instead), the land has never been an issue. As a matter of fact, it has actually won a game with no land on the table for more than a turn at a time (a nasty LD deck went to town on me)... what the poor guy didn't realize was I only need a mana source a few times, and my opening draw had all four Lotus Petals... close call. The one island is in there on a personal note, and isn't required... I have always thought of myself as a blue player, and just can't seem to be happy with a deck without islands. No, I'm not kidding. Q2: Did you REALLY just use Reanimate to bring back a Verdant Force??? Are you NUTS??? A2: Yes... and yes, but no. I'll pay the life... especially first or second turn to bring back a Force the hardway. The reason is surprise value... assuming it survives to the next turn (and it's a rare occasion it doesn't... though Edict and Paralyze do exist) it and it's children will do an awful lot of damage to the opponent before he can sneeze. Like I said earlier, it's got a few finesses that make it work, and being footloose and fancy-free with life in the early game is a big part of it. I'll admit, however, that I have lost more than one game due to this flagrant disrespect to life, and have included the Bottle Gnomes for just that reason. Living Death and Bottle Gnomes are a wonderful combination for a quick 6 life per gnome (do the math, class), and has saved my butt more than a few times. Ok... I've talked to death on this one. I reckon I missed a few things here and there... but my fingers hurt. Please feel free to direct any comments, questions, or outright chortles towards me... I can take it. Goodnight from Seoul, Korea, Kep! Keplinger kep@mindless.com (your best bet) or tunt@yahoo.com (checked now and again) _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com