Subject: Article and Deck Submission Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:57:33 -0700 (PDT) From: nelson lesmerises To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Please find an article, and Deck Idea for Submission for the DOJO. nu1g@yahoo.com Nelson Lesmerises DCI# 719202 WHAT IS MAGIC TO ME I have only been playing Magic since the release of Alliances. So I am a new player in the game. Most of my decks are copies or modifications of decks. I have tried building a new deck idea many times. All of them fail miserably, but I do get educated with the attempt to try something that I have never seen or used from someone else. Where I play Magic, there are several Pro tour players one of them renouned in the Magic community. I respect all Pro Tour players very much. The ability to qualify for a Pro Tour is very difficult, I have tried it and usually finish in swiss round competition with as many wins as I do losses. So I never make the cut. In my first DCI tournament I actually finished 51st in a field of 186. I thought that was pretty cool. So I got hooked into the tournement scene. I consider myself a fair player, and if I could hold my temper down, I might make less mistakes. I have realized lately I am a bad loser when I play Magic. This has been very difficult for me to accept, but I must do so. When I lose, I will say Crap or sarcastically say nice deck or mumble some not so nice language to myself. I like to win, don't we all, but I hate to lose worse. So it is time for a change in my Magic playing. I have been a little better lately at losing. However, it is still frustrating for me to see people top deck the right card at the right time. I sometimes wish that I could be more lucky. Maybe if my attitude changes that will happen to me too. Perhaps if I did not care if I win or lose things will go better. I am starting to have more fun at playing Magic. At the beginning I expected to much of myself playing with some of the top decks expecting them to always win. Just because you have a good deck, does not mean you are automatically going to win every match. Almost 2 years of playing Magic, it is finally becoming apparant to me that you can not always win. So it is time for me to realize that winning is not as important as is used to be. Playing magic is supposed to be fun. I want to become a Pro tour player, and it is really important when one has that stature, you should conduct yourself that way. So it is time for me to start acting in a relaxed and pleasant way. So with all that said, I am going to share with all of you my new deck idea that I have not seen anywhere yet, So I hope I have come up with a deck idea that is original. I think it has potential. SQUANSIS The SquanSis deck is a Stasis deck. Sure there have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of variations. All of them work the same way. Get a Stasis/Kismet lock and maintain the lock. The problem with most Stasis decks is that you need to upkeep the Stasis. Because both players do not get a untap phase, is is therfore crutial that you provide a way of consistently upkeeping Stasis with Blue mana sources. Therefore the inclusion of Squandered Resources. This makes the Stasis deck more viable now. Now you have to have a multiple colored deck. It is more difficult to attain the right mana with basic lands. So with multiple producing lands, such as City of Brass, Undiscovered Paradise, Gemstone Mines. It becomes easier to maintain the upkeep of Stasis. There are also a few other problems with the Stasis Deck. EARLY GAME - Speed Decks 1 - Suicide Back Weenie 2 - RED BURN - usually pretty warm. 3 - Sligh You really need to have the perfect opening hand, to get a lock out on the following types of deck MIDDLE GAME DECKS - Counter Type Decks 1 - Tradewind riders very tough against Stasis 2 - Prosperity Bloom decks. I have my Stasis deck set up in 4 sections. COUNTERMAGIC, UTILTY, LOCK, and KILL. Generally in a Stasis you want to run your opponent out of cards, however my version is unique and when you see how I have constructed the deck you might see what I was thinking when I built it. The side board is very crutial in any tournement type deck and I found when I built a deck, it was good but the sideboard had cards that are were important but when interchanged, changed the style of the deck making it weaker. So when evaluating my deck, I realize other cards may work better, but this deck is pretty cool. First of all the deck COUNTERMAGIC 3X Counterspell - solid counter 3X Mana Leak - force opponent to tap mana, Let him pay for the spell going off :) 2X Powersink - another mana tapper... UTILITY 2X Boomerang - Great card that is now under used. So I thought I would. 4X Impulse - go after what you need and throw out the bad draws. 2X Disenchant - Yes, Nev's disk are a real pain. 2X Burgeoning - So whats so bad about playing a land on your opponents turn 4X Vampric Tutor - Go and get what you want, Who cares about life lose anyways. LOCK 4X Stasis 1X Kismet - When you got this baby out, its about over. 3X Squandered Resources - Need I say more, they Banned it in Weatherlight/Visison, didn't they. So it must be pretty strong 1X Equipoise - To phase out those silly Tradewind Riders, and all other creatures. KILL 4X Howling Mines - Let em draw cards, make em want them all.. 1X Megrim - All I can say is that your opponent is not going to enjoy the discard phase, and you have 3 Howling Mine out LAND 10X Islands 4X City of Brass 4X Rootwater Depths 4X Gemstone Mine 2X Undiscovered Paradise SIDEBOARD 4X Hydroblast - Replace your impulses with these: 4X Pyroblast - Replace your impulses with these: To ZAP those Tradewind Riders. SUPRISE!!! 2X Aura of Silence 2X Perish - Green can be quick. 3X Chill - If red wants to burn you up, These will certains put the CHILL on them. So there is my Deck, now What is the strategy behind all these ridiculous combinations of cards. When I played Stasis before, I never really had a way of killing my opponent. So what card out there was going to do it. I tried Misers Cage, Creatures that did not tap, et/all. So the inclusion of Megrim is the ticket. And 1 is all you really need. As long as you have 2 Howling Mines out, It will get pretty painful for your opponent to survive for very long. I did play with multiple Megrims, but found that I really needed a way to speed up my deck. So I included Vampiric Tutors. I want this deck to KILL my opponent, not to run them outta cards. I am tired of long draw out boring matches because of a Statis Lock Down.. Sure the Burgeoning's help with mana, THIS deck draws mana, all the time. I increased my land count from 22 to 24, I am even tempted to add 2 more lands, but I am holding off for a bit. Now, what about card drawing. Obviously the Impulses are a key, But the Vampric Tutors are the real answer. I have accepted the fact that my deck is going to produce a lot of damage to me. City of Brass, Vampric Tutor etc. On the average, I can get a Howling Mine, Stasis and Squandered Resources in 3 or 4 turns. PLAY FIRST ALWAYS with this deck. If you have Burgeoning in your opening hand, You can be almost be assured a victory. The tactical advantage of waiting to see if your opponent play's land on you is great, Blue players will have fits playing land. This deck does draw land, so your mana jump will be 2 to 1 advantage, so you can be ready to counter any real threat to you. Use your Tutors to go after your key cards, BUT always go after a Howling Mine first. You need to get cards early to get a jump, sure you will help out a counter deck, but they will not counter the Howlers yet. Be ready for a counter war. So far I have noticed that a counter player will allow the Squandered Resources, And will always counter the Kismet. So tie up thier mana with Mana Leaks, and Power Sinks. You gotta force your opponents to use up counter resources. You will out run a Counter deck, I have play this deck against a 20 counter spell deck, and was able to get a lock on them. How did I do this with 10 counters, VERY CAREFULLY!!! When you get a lock on, work to get Megrim out, then add more Howler's then you can watch your opponent squirm, while life totals dwindle. I know this article is lengthy, and I apologize for this, but this is something that I wanted to share. If you use this deck, and it works let me know. If it does not let me know also. If you have any ideas on how this deck can improve, or if its a complete failure. I would like to know. I can be reached at: nu1g@yahoo.com Nelson Lesmerises - DCI# 719202 _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com