Subject: Strategy / Decks: Creating The Ultimate Metagame Deck Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 00:18:07 -0700 From: "Tom Gibes and Co." To: So, here I am, and the gears in my head are moving far too much for me to ignore them. I've been working on creating The Ultimate Metagame Deck! (Loud clash of thunder in background for effect.) First, the recipe. To make an UMD add the following: Cards that can beat the current popular decks And don't add: Cards that the current environment is geared against Shake and chill for 30 minutes. In the current type II environment the following things seem popular: Artifacts Wastelands Weenies Artifact Destruction So, to counteract these things, we must try to do a few things. The first thing we have to do is play without non-basic land. For this to be possible and done effectively we'll have to make the deck mono-colored. Also, we have to have a way of handling all those artifacts and not use any artifacts ourselves. We also have to have an effective way of handeling weenies, and not play with weenies ourselves. Why does doing these things help? By doing this we make a number of cards in the majority of opponent's decks less poweful or useless. The Wastelands become just colorless land and all the Disenchants, Uktabi Orangutangs, etc. become wasted cards. You already gain a card advantage by doing something like this! Now, which color to use? Black would have trouble. Black has no effective way to remove artifacts. That leaves it out of the race. Well, I suppose you could always try it, using effective fatties like Kezzerdix and Hidden Horror and weenie removal like Evincar's Justice or Crypt Rats, but withough effective artifact removal, this color is just weaker... unless you use discard as artifact removal! Red is a very viable possibility. It can handle weenies with things like Firestorm and Earthquake and it has lot's of effective artifact removal (Builder's Bane, Shatterstorm, Shattering Pulse, Goblin Vandal, Goblin Tinkerer). It does have a weakness, though, and that weakness is Pro-Red creatures. With no artifact removal, stopping Pro-Red creatures might be tough. Red also has ways to damage people without the use of weenies. There's Direct Damage and a few cool fatties (Shivans, Rathis, Orggs, etc.) Blue is somewhat possible. While having no direct way to deal with artifacts, it can always bounce them, and it has things to handle weenies (Propoganda, Man-O-War). This would probably be a heavy control deck with a few big fliers (Air Elemental, Silver Wyvern, Waterspout Djinn, etc.) Nothing too original, but as always, strong. The main weakness though is that it can't handle the first turn Scroll or the super fast deck very easily Green seems viable. It actually has very effective artifact removal with Uktabi Orangutangs. It can handle weenies with Fog-like things and Wall of Blossoms. Green is also the king of Phat as always. Endangered Armodon, Jackalope Herd, and Stampeeding Wildebeests are just a few. Green's weakness comes in the form of Perish. Make sure you have Reaps or Nature's Resurgence packed in your sideboard White is a possibility. Disenchant and Aura of Silence stop artifacts. Cataclysm and Wrath of God stop weenies. Effective Phat can come from either Staunch Defenders or a Empyrial Armored creature. White seems very viable in this case. White has very few weaknesses, it seems, and probably would be the most effective deck. So, here's some possible deck lists for the UMD (Ultimate Metagame Deck) of each color. Black: 4 Hidden Horrors (PHAT! Possible First Turn) 4 Kezzerdix (PHATTER! Possible Second Turn) 4 Funeral Charm (First turn play) 4 Thrull Surgeons (Second turn play, not a useless draw if opponents hand is empty) 4 Stupors (Card Advantage!) 4 Crypt Rats (Die weenies, DIE!) 4 Diabolic Edicts (Slow down the opponent) 4 Wall of Souls (Stoping the Weenies) 2 Nekrataals (Stopping more Weenies) 2 Drain Lifes (Can be a finisher) 1 Corpse Dance (This can hurt with most of the creatures) 1 Kaervek's Spite (Big finisher) 4 Dark Rituals 18 Swamp Red: 4 Incinerates (No comment) 4 Shocks (Good against most weenies) 4 Fireslingers (Pingers = No weenies) 4 Mogg Fanatics (Most efficient 1/1) 4 Rolling Thunders (Card Advantage!) 4 Wall of Resistance (Stops shadows) 4 Orggs (PHAT!) 4 Ball Lightnings (6 Damage for 3 mana? Sounds good to me!) 2 Earthquakes (Stopping more Weenies) 2 Rathi Dragons (Flying Phat) 1 Shatterstorm (Debating between this and Bane and Pulse and Vandal) 1 Builder's Bane (Deals Damage too!) 1 Goblin Vandal (Reusable) 21 mountain (Mana heavy, possibly, but that's no problem with the X damage spells) Blue: 4 Force Spikes (Must have a way to stop the first turn Scroll. Very useful. Underused) 4 Impulses (No comment) 4 Counterspells (Duh) 4 Legacy's Allure (Creature Control) 4 Suq'ata Firewalkers (Die Weenies!) 4 Whispers of the Muse (Obvious) 4 Man-O-War (Good weenie Control) 2 Dismisses (Draw a card!) 2 Dissipates (Against reusable stuff) 2 Forbids (Buyback counterspell? You're in!) 2 Mindgames (Good with Firewalker or against artifacts) 2 Silver Wyvern (Redirect spells to Firewalker or Man-O-War or Allured creature) 22 Island Green: 4 Stampeeding Wildebeasts (PHAT) 4 Spike Feeder (Great with Wildebeasts) 4 Spike Weaver (Ditto. Stops weenies) 4 Wall of Blossoms (See Spike Weaver. Card drawer!) 4 Llanowar Elves (Speed, baby!) 4 Wall of Roots (More speed!) 4 Creeping Molds (Versitile) 4 Desert Twisters (More Versitile) 4 Winter's Grasp (Land D!) 3 Uktabi Orangutangs (Die scroll, die!) 1 Overrun (Finish card!) 2 Whirling Dervish (To punish Black decks using Perish a.k.a. Green Kill Card) 18 Forest White: 4 White Knights (Weenie but hard to kill) 4 Freewind Falcons (See White Knight. Sligh killer) 4 Cataclysm (Win card) 4 Armageddon (Ditto) 4 Empyrial Armor (Phat!) 4 Soul Wardens (Life Gain!) 4 Soltari Monk (Against Black Shadows) 4 Paladin En-vec (Against Red -and- Black) 4 Tithes (Spiffy) 2 Staunch Defenders (PHAT and life gain in one!) 2 Disenchants (Duh) 1 Aura of Silence (Another Duh) 1 Wall of Nets (Catch those weenies! Watch out for Dark Banishing) 18 Plains Now for a quick summery / explanation of the decks: Black: Heavy discard with Rats and Fatties doing the killing, along with a few 'surprise' kill cards. Hope to get rid of artifacts w/ discard, since you can't handle them otherwise. Red: Burn 'em to the ground then stomp down with the Orgg or the Rathi! Not much else to say, really. Still trying to decide on the best artifact removal. Blue: Heavy control. Firewalkers for early damage, creature control. Draw extra cards with Whispers. Drop the Wyvern and kill! Make sure you have a redirection target for it. Mindgames and counterspells are your only way to stop artifacts. Wyverns could be replaced with Air Elemtentals. Green: Land Destruction and Wildebeast beatdown. No Vineyard because, well, I just don't like it. I don't like giving my opponent an advantage. Uktabi Orangutangs handle artifacts just fine, and your 8 walls can stop weenies cold. Quick and deadly. White: It may seem like a weenie deck, but it's actually not. The key is the Empyrial Armors. Lay it down and apply beatdown. Cataclysm is a win card if you have a Fat creature out. Utilizes many hard to kill Weenies. Could use Crusades or Wraths or Gerrard's Wisdom instead of 'Geddons. Remember, though, all these deck ideas are just sketches and first drafts. They have not been playtested, but still should perform well in most tournaments, since very few are prepared for them. The White and Green decks do look similar to some of the top 8 decks in the U.S. Nationals. Now you can see why those decks were so succesful. They gave their players an advantage before they even shuffled. But be careful because in a few months the Metagame Decks become the norm and then you have to Metagame against them! Keep creating. Tom Gibes tgibes@execpc.com