Subject: Oath and Dancing Dead things- my thoughts. Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 18:20:48 -0500 From: Rick Poehling To: G-Tech Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Greetings! Hi everybody. Seeing as how this is my first post on the list, I hope it's up to par. This is kind of personal, since I've been working with my own version of Dancing Dead Things for the month since Origins, and it's nice to see that another player came up with the same idea. First, here's my current decklist: Rick's Dancing Dead things -------------------------- 4 Survival of the Fittest 3 Recurring Nightmare 2 Firestorm 2 Living Death 1 Oath of Ghouls 2 Sylvan Library 2 Sonic Burst 4 Birds of Paradise 3 Wall of Blossoms 4 Spike Feeders 3 Man O' War 3 Nekrataal 1 Spirit of The Night 2 Mindless Automation 2 Uktabi Orangutan 1 Spike Weaver 1 Cloudchaser Eagle 9 Forests 4 City of Brass 4 Gemstone Mine 3 U. Paradise 1 Wasteland 1 Volrath's Stronghold 1 Swamp Okay, what are we looking at here? Well, this is the idea. The Recursing of the 187 Creatures is the key. All of them are necessary, and I think that I have them all in the right ratio after fiddling with the deck for the 80 bazillionth time. The only thing that I am unconvinced on is the 3 Man'o Wars, but they really beat the shit out of emperial armor, so that is important. The support cards are a little of my own tech. Sonic Burst is a Tradewind killer, and takes out any creature with toughness less than 4, thereby rolling back the Incinerate curve.The Spirit of the Night's most important feature is it's celerity- I can sac it at the end of the turn to the Nightmare, and still have gotten in my six points. This is one of the main reasons that I don't like Verdant Force- it gives that extra turn, which may seem in significant, but is not, based on my playtest. The mana ratio evolves constantly, but it all revolves around the fact I want the ability to cast a first turn Bird. Period. The Wasteland is there for opponent Strongholds, which are a pain in the ass. The Stronghold is there since, well, it's a pain in the ass! This deck is dangerous, but really tough to play. It relies on the player who plays it tailoring to his own playstyle, and some of the choices are subjective. First, the 'Creature Glacier' is hard to get going, since most people will not let a Survival in play. It allows for way too much card advantage, since you will not draw any creature that is not appropriate to the task at hand. Second, if you do, the smart player knows that this deck runs on the Nightmare, and will get rid of it. That is where beating the Oath deck is. The Nightmare is the card that singlehandedly beats Oath. Therefore, the smart Oath player never lets it on the table. Beating Oath relies on this one card. I find that the Oath of Ghouls version will not beat this reliably, since you are participating in a two-step process- bring the creature back, then recast it. This allows the permission player way too much leeway in what to counter. Rather, if he knows that he MUST counter the Nightmare, some of your other Threat cards will get through, especially after the sideboard. Why is the Nightmare such a threat? Simple. You have taken away the ability of the permission player to control which of your creatures come into play, and whether they come into play at all. If you have a creature in play when you cast Nightmare, they are in trouble. So, after playing against an Oath deck, which I think is this deck's toughest test, here is what I think. 1. Be careful with Survival. Knowing how many creatures you can dump into the yard is key. 2. The only Creatures that should come into play are the ones that you can sacrifice instantly. Automation, Spike Feeder, things like that. Same with the Oath- the only creatures you should see are the sac ones. 3. Overeliance on the Eagle. Never put the Eagle into play unless you can get rid of it. If your opponent lets an Eagle through, he probably has another Oath. 4. Know when to quit. You should lose to Oath the first game. When you are lost, concede and get to the board. What does everybody think? Yours in the Force, Rick Poehling Guerilla Tech Mage _________________________________________________________________ |This message is the opinion of Rick Poehling:"A young Jedi......| |a pupil of mine, till he turned to evil."- Obi-wan Kenobi | | ***** | |"The worker does not necessarily gain when the capitalist gains, | |but he necessarily loses with him." - Karl Marx | | ***** | |"Objection, your Honor! This case is being tried on the temporal | |plane!" - Ben Stone | -----------------------------------------------------------------