Subject: Urza Saga (deck, strategy, and metagame) Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 12:37:19 -0700 From: "Matthew T. Zbrog" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hey. I've done a LOT of playtesting with the new cards. a LOT. I've tested out the following decks against each other. New sligh (using razes instead of Fireblasts and lightning dragons instead of hammers) New suicide (few changes) new WW (worship, more pro whatever dudes) new Stompy (surprising ly strong with echo) new Draw go (catalogs replace impulse energy fields or pit traps replace quicksands, rewinds for dissapates) Empty hand lock decks (very fun) Abundance/sylvan combo (extremely fun to ancestrall every turn) Recur Cycle (as usual) I have tried them all, and here's what I have discovered. SLigh- very strong. With fireblasts gone, it gives draw go the edge though. Suicide Black-also very strong. Speed is essential. WW-cool, but a bit slow to beat Suicide and Sligh Stompy-Very fast and versatile, but paying echo costs helps control decks beat it. Draw go-by far one of the most powerful decks. tough first game against sligh-50 50 chance. with 4 douse and 4 chill in sideboard though, games 2 and 3 are lopsided towards blue. Recu Cycle: Great first game, mut missin monkeys and man o wars hurt. bad. so did the multi lands. dark hatchling replaced nekrataal. Sideboarding killed the deck. carrion beetels, presence of the master, lobotomy and planar void hurt, even with 4 realists and 4 cloudchaser SB'ed in. OUCH. all other decks: too slow. The decks are all fun, but take too long to develop. So, I think blue is the best deck. Here is a listing. 4 Force Spike 4 COunter Spell 4 Mana leak 4 Forbid 4 Disimss 4 Rewind (wins counter wars) 4 Whispers 4 Disk 4 Energy Field 4 Catalog 3 Stalking Stones 1 Ephemoron 16 Islands SB: 4 Chill \ 4 Douse / (kkkkkkombo) 3 Wasteland 4 YOu may want to put in root water depths for a half black sideboard. I would like to up the land count to 18 just in case, but im not ssure what to take out. ITs up to you. Analysis Energy Fields are soooooo key. drop one turn 2, build up mana, draw a disk, play it ...wait and blow it and seize control. It shut s down everything..and delivers the middle game!! This is a new environment, so i dont wanna be hasty. But blue looks good. Matt