Subject: [DECK] Dark Hatred (Exodus) Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 02:48:32 +0200 From: "Karsten Dürotin" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Looking over the new Exodus cards with a friend, it suddenly dawned on me: First-Round kills are back! And what disturbed me the most is that those things are easier to get than any of the first-rounders we ever saw before, with the exception of Black Lotus/Mountain/Channel/Fireball. And the card that allows this was overlooked in everyone's reports on the new expansion, broken as it is! While I intitially planned this deck and combo as a surprise, I am not qualified for the German Nationals, and am not all that good as a player, I use this chance to be known as the developer of a new deck which will bring Black Weenie back to everyone's notice and most likely be a deck to look out for, if not one of the best for the time to come. And with this I proudly announce: _Dark Hatred_ First the FRK combo: 1 Dark Ritual 1 Swamp 1 Culling the Weak 1 Lotus Petal 1 creature costing 1 mana only 1 Nether Shadow 1 Hatred OR 3 Dark Ritual 1 Swamp 1 Nether Shadow 1 Hatred In both cases, the Rituals/Cullings/Petals are used to produce 7 mana. In the first case, you need to play the 1/1 creature first, and sacrifice it to the culling. Then, play Nether Shadow and attack with it. Play Culling the Weak and pay 19 life, giving the Shadow +19/+0, dealing 20 damage to opponent. Duh. What makes this combo interesting is this: 1. It only uses tournament-legal (or soon-to-be) cards 2. It uses only _1_ color. 3. It can actually be integrated in a deck which will work OK, and use the cards from the FRK combo alone and in other combos. 4. It uses only 6 (or 7) cards, which make a FRK possible under the new draw rule. Ain't that great? Expect Hatred to rise to around 15-20 dollars, if you ask me. Now for the deck: Creatures 4 Nether Shadow 2 Carnophage 3 Black Knight 2 Nekrataal 2 Erg Raiders Artifacts 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 3 Howling Mine Instants 4 Hatred 3 Touch of Death 2 Howl from Beyond Mana Sources 4 Dark Ritual 2 Culling the Weak Sorcerys 4 Drain Life Land 20 Swamp 2 Wasteland Sideboard 2 Wasteland (against Multilands feeding blue) 3 Gloom (WW defense) 2 Diabolic Edict (against Protection and Untouchables) 3 Perish (against Wall of Blossoms and Green blockers) 3 Bottle Gnomes (against Sligh) 2 Dark Banishing (against everything too fast with fatties) Strategy: Play it like you would Suicide Black; just attack and attack and... you know what. Try not to use the Dark Rituals for casting creatures unless absolutely neccessary. Combined with the Drain Life and the Touch of Deaths (which also allow you to draw a card, adding to speed) you should soon be able to have more life than your opponent. As soon as you have the 5 mana, play the Hatred and win. The main problems are counterspells of every kind; but since your opponent is practically forced to remain able to counter (you could always have the Rituals, and a Hatred), it stalls him extremely, something he can't really afford against a Black Suicide deck. Another advantage is that your opponent always has to block your creatures if possible when you have at least 1 mana and 3 cards in hand. It could be the last moment. Add to this the Howl from Beyond, which adds to the Hatred's threat, and your opponents will really sweat. The deck isn't tourney-legal now, but will be soon, and expect something like it in the first tournaments after Exodus' Introduction into Standard. Excuse my style; I'm just too excited to retain any degree of modesty. This is my best original deck ever, and I am proud of it like a father. If you have any annotations or want to talk about this deck, mail me at: rubbduck@mailandnews.com. I'll appreciate it.