Subject: [G-TECH] Dancing Dead Things Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 11:56:52 -0400 From: Bennie Smith Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy GUERILLA TECH POST "Dancing Dead Things"-- A success story! The good news: I played Dancing Dead Things this weekend at a small local tournament, and I won! The bad news: I neglected to take notes, so I really can't write a decent tournament report. I do have some thoughts on the deck; below is the card lineup I played with, though I also have some ideas on changes, as discussed later in the post. "Dancing Dead Things" beta version 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Spike Feeder 3 Mindless Automaton 2 Maro 2 Spike Weaver 2 Uktabi Orangutan 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 1 Nekrataal 1 Verdant Force 4 Oath of Ghouls 3 Recurring Nightmare 2 Living Death 2 Creeping Mold 3 Undiscovered Paradise 3 City of Brass 2 Pine Barrens 1 Reflecting Pool 13 Forest Sideboard: 4 Hall of Gemstone, 1 Uktabi Orangutan, 2 Cloudchaser Eagle, 2 Nekrataal, 2 Scragnoth, 2 Spike Weaver, 2 Gaea's Blessing Quick recap of the tournament: Round 1-- played vs. 5cB, swept him, undefeated Round 2-- played vs WW, swept him, undefeated Round 3-- played vs Blue (just creatures and counters, mostly), swept him, undefeated Round 4-- played vs Suicide Black, lost 1-2 (RATS!), top seed going into the Final 8. FINAL 8 Round 5-- played vs. Round 3 opponant, Blue, won 2-1 Round 6-- played vs Suicide Black, sqeaked out a victory 2-1 Round 7-- final match, played vs Round 2 opponant, beat him first game, he conceeded the match, felt like he could not beat my deck. Number one observation? I really REALLY wish I had some Elephant Grass in the side. Suicide Black is just brutally fast. They get a Ritual almost every first draw, it seems, and start the game with 3-4 permanants in play before you lay your first land. The Grass should hold them off long enough for you to get your mana developed so you can begin to play your game. I think I will make room in the sideboard for 3-4 Elephant Grasses. Second observation? The deck is a control deck. It's slow. It has some beatdown, but not enough to win fast; it *feels* like a control deck in play style, with early maneuvers for board control, then finally the dramatic swing towards victory. I don't know how 5cKastle plays, but I imagine it's similar. Third observation? Oath of Ghouls and Survival of the Fittest work wonders together. These two cheap cast enchantments allow for some truly amazing graveyard manipulation, and pretty much guarentee you are the only user of the Oath. Plus, Survival acts as a deck thinner, sort of a reverse Thawing Glaciers; with a Survival out early, I never got mana screwed as I thinned the deck of creatures, the land ratio improved. Thus the deck operated on 22 mana (plus 4 mana birds) fairly well, with little mana screw. Fourth observation? Mindless Automaton is the bomb. It slides into this deck like butter dripping off a hot biscuit. It's like a non-Perishable Wall of Blossoms (replaces itself) that can attack and pump. The *threat* of the pump is often all you need; your opponant has an untapped Quicksand out, you attack with your 2/2 Automaton. You've got cards in hand and mana untapped. Of course he doesn't use his quicksand, so you get in for 2 and then use your mana for something else. With an Oath of Ghouls out (or more than 1), you get to basically pump him for free. Fifth observation? Maro is the bomb. Between recurring Walls of Blossoms, Recurring Nightmares bouncing back into your hand, and Oath of Ghouls returning creatures to your hand, Maro is consistantly a 7/7, 8/8, or 9/9 (even a 10/10 once thanks to 2 Undiscovered Paradises) when attacking. He is your beatdown if your Verdant doesn't come calling. Sixth observation? I need to squeeze in a Fallen Angel into the lineup; as someone pointed out to me, she would really shine in this deck. He proposed dropping Verdant Force for the Angel... I may give it a try, even though VF is such a huge threat creature, many people conceeded once I got him out. Anyway, the deck is a lot of fun to play; you always have a lot to do on your turn, so make sure you don't forget anything (I forgot to use my Oath of Ghouls once or twice). Here's my thoughts on altering the deck: "Dancing Dead Things" 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Wall of Blossoms 4 Spike Feeder 3 Mindless Automaton 2 Maro 2 Spike Weaver 2 Uktabi Orangutan 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 1 Man o' War* 1 Nekrataal 1 Fallen Angel* 1 Verdant Force 4 Oath of Ghouls 3 Recurring Nightmare 2 Living Death 3 Undiscovered Paradise 3 City of Brass 2 Pine Barrens 1 Reflecting Pool 13 Forest Sideboard: 4 Hall of Gemstone, 1 Man o' War*, 2 Cloudchaser Eagle, 1 Nekrataal, 2 Scragnoth, 4 Elephant Grass* *changes from the beta version In a way, it seems to be similar to 5cKastle; I would be interested in hearing from anyone who's played that deck-- give this deck a try and compare and contrast. Thanks again to everyone who helped inspire elements of the deck. Comments and critiques welcome. Bennie Smith Guerilla Tech Mage