Subject: deck for posting on Dojo Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 16:09:28 -0400 From: "Greiner, Neil" To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" Here's the deck list and some insight on a deck I have been playing. It works well against most common deck types, and even has a large edge against Living Death decks. It can be played like a white weenie, but also holds a few combos that help the deck reach killing potency in a few turns. Creatures (24) Soltari Monk x 4 Pro-black, shadow Soltari Priest x 4 Pro-red, shadow White Knight x 4 Pro-black, first srike Soul Warden x 4 Life gain Welkin Hawk x 4 Flier Paladin En-Vec x 4 Pro-black, pro-red, first strike This is a solid, 24-creature base for a white weenie deck. Note that with the exception of the White Knights, the creatures are all from the Rath Cycle. Enchantments (8) Field Of Souls x 4 Goblin Bombardment x 4 These are the keys to this deck. They worked much better than I ever thought they would. Mana (28*) Mox Diamond x 4 Plains x 18 (often swap out 2 Plains for 2 Disenchants) Mountain x 6 The Goblin Bombardment allows the deck to deal direct damage by sacrificing a creature. Along with its direct-damage capabilities, the Bombardment also provides protection against Capsize and creature-stealing effects such as Legacy's Allure. The use of the Field Of Souls is, of course, the key to this deck. With a FOS and a Bombardment in play, each creature can be sacrificed to the Goblin Bombardment for one damage. Then, the Field Of Souls will generate a flying 1/1 token creature. This creature can then be sacrificed to the Bombardment for an additional damage. If there are 2 Field Of Souls in play, each creature can be sacrificed, generate 2 Essence tokens, have the tokens sacrificed, and wind up dealing 3 damage to any target. On top of this, the vast majority of the creatures in the deck have some evasion capability such as flying or shadow or protection. Thus, additional damage can be generated from an old-fashioned attack. The popular common Soul Warden works very well in this deck. With 24 creatures, there is substantial life gain capability inherent in this deck. The Essence token generated by the Field Of Souls will also trigger the Soul Warden's ability. With a Warden and a Field Of Souls in play, you will gain one life when another creature comes into play and gain an additional life when one of your creatures goes to the graveyard(generating an Essence Token). The combination of Soul Warden, Field Of Souls and Goblin Bombardment makes each creature "sacrificeable" for 2 damage and the equivalent of a 2-point life gain. The Welkin Hawks were added to the deck specifically to take advantage of the Field Of Souls/Goblin Bombardment combo. Each Hawk can be sacrificed to the bombardment for one damage and the Field Of Souls will generate a 1/1 Essence token flier to replace the Hawk. Then, using the Hawk's ability, you can search your library for another Hawk and bring it into your hand. If you have the 2 mana available to get the new Hawk into play, the process can be repeated. It is also important not to ignore the standard white-weenie part of the deck. Without the Field Of Souls/Goblin Bombardment combo, this deck can function as a standard white-weenie rush deck, overwhelming the opponent with creatures. The 8 pro-red creatures and the 12 pro-black creatures give you an excellent chance in the first game vs Sligh decks with many creatures and heavy black creature decks such as Suicide Black. In choosing the Mana sources, I chose to go with 24 land. This is high for a white weenie, even this one. The extra land is there to support the Mox Diamonds. The speed generated by the Mox is unparalleled. I also like the 5-color sideboard cards that the Mox Diamond can support, e.g. Mana Leak. The mana is also the biggest problem with the deck. The deck functions on 4 mana, with the Field of Souls being the highest-cc card at 4 mana. Before the 4-mana level is reached, the deck functions smoothly on 2-3 mana, generating a strong creature rush, putting pressure on your opponent. The large amount of mana in the deck allows for some flexibility in playing the deck. Removing 1-2 land does not usually hurt the deck. This allows me to often start cards such as a pair of Disenchants or, more often, put in 4 Wastelands for 4 of the basics. This second strategy is risker. With 4 Mox Diamonds and 4 Wastelands, you can set yourself up for mana screw. Since the deck is quite flexible, I've tried many other cards in it to varying degrees of success. I'm not saying that the deck listing above is the optimum, it's simply the current incarnation. Some other cards that have appeared in the deck. Aura Of Silence - I looked at this as a Disenchant replacement, but I wanted as much of the deck to be Rath cycle as possible. Empyrial Armor - This deck tends to drop its hand quickly and although you will be able to pile up land in your hand, the Bombardment does not reward you for sacrificing a 5/5 creature over a 2/1 creature. Firestorm - This worked well, as it does in most decks. The extra land becomes damage and can clear the way for a final creature rush plus mass sacrifice to kill the opponent. Spirit Mirror - One of my favorite cards. This works well with both Soul Warden and Goblin Bombardment, and it works well in multiples, but it does not trigger the Field Of Souls. Disintegrate - Actually quite nice. Sometimes you may be forced to sacrifice 4 creatures to kill a 4/4 attacker. One or two Disintegrates in the deck help against fat creatures. Plus the remove-from-game effect can be extremely useful. Bottle Gnomes and Mogg Fanatics - These don't fit in too well, I'm afraid. You can't sacrifice the Gnomes to the Bombardment and gain the 3 life at the same time. Also, there's no point in sacrificing the Mogg Fanatic to the Bombardment. Each of these cards is a bit redundant in this deck. Direct Damage such as Incinerate, Kindle, Shock, Sonic Burst - The red mana is a bit light in this deck, so loading up on red DD can result in a bunch of cards in your hand. Enlightened Tutor - This works very well in this deck. You can always use it to fetch another Field Of Souls or the missing Bombardment. I love this card, but there's no replacement in the Rath Cycle. Scroll Rack - Comes out fast, and works fairly well. Of course, I have yet to see a deck that doesn't benefit somewhat from one of these cards. Also, one of the important parts about this deck is that the important cards require no mana to use their abilities. This is one of the hallmarks of a great Magic card. Imagine having to pay 1 to use a Winter Orb or a Howling Mine. The continuous effects of the Field Of Souls, Goblin Bombardment and Soul Warden require no mana to use, so your opponent's mana deprivation strategies can be easily circumvented. Before I close, I want to give some pointers on how this deck plays against 2 popular deck archetypes - Oath Of Druids and Living Death. Oath of Druids is a harder match-up for this deck. It is very difficult to play this deck as a white-weenie rush if your opponent can Oath out a Spirit if the Night and protect it with counters. The Goblin Bombardment will allow you to sacrifice your creatures in response to the Oath, to prevent your opponent from using it, but that leaves you with no way to win. The deck will support Disenchants and Pyroblasts (not in the Rath Cycle), but it will have a tough time vs Oath decks until Gaea's Blessing leaves the format. One card that does work well is Boil. The Living Death deck is an easier match up for this deck. The Field Of Souls/Goblin Bombardment combo is the key in this match up. I'll describe one turn I had in the semi-finals of a tournament against a LD deck. In play, I have 2 Goblin Bombardment, 2 Field of Souls and 2 creatures. In my graveyard, I have 2 Welkin Hawks, a White Knight and a Soul Warden. I'm at something like 15 life and my opponent is at 19 life thanks to holding off my creature rush with a Spike Weaver and some life gain from a Spike Feeder. Of course, my opponent has a full graveyard and he casts Living Death. Here is how I respond. 1. I sacrifice my 2 creatures to deal 2 damage to my opponent. 4 Esssence Tokens are generated, and sacrificed to deal 4 more damage to my opponent, bringing him to 13 life. 2. The Living Death Resolves and I now have 6 creatures. I sacrificed 5 of them to the Bombardment for 5 more damage, bringing my opponent to 8 life. Who didn't I sacrifice? The Soul Warden. This generates an astonishing 10 1/1 fliers and gives me 10 life through the Soul Warden. I then sacrifice the Soul Warden, bringing my opponent to 7 life and generating 2 more Essence Tokens. 3. Finally, I sacrifice the 12 Essence Tokens to reduce my opponent to -5 life. Note that I would have had 10 1/1 fliers available to attack on my next turn. Even if only 1/2 had gotten through to damage my opponent, I could have dealt an additional 5 damage. I welcome all comments and criticism. My e-mail is greinern@fe.otis.com.