Subject: Article(US t2 decks) Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 03:03:23 EDT From: NateRenaud@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com The following is an article submission by Nathan Renaud (NateRenaud@aol.com) It is also attached as a text file. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- I've been looking all over for clever articles on the new t2 and haven't found any. So here is my attempt to get the ball rolling. Here in Tally the playtesting seems to involve a lot of blue. It seems US will be all about control and weird combo decks. Oath/Avatar/Fling seems obvious enough and easy to make from past archetypes, but I'm more interested in entirely new decks. Seems to me the best combo is a mana engine with a Stroke of Genius on your opponent for 100+ cards. Unless he's got a Pursuit of Knowledge out, he loses. No waiting till end of phase, no COP, no Invulnerability or Honorable Passage. Two great mana engines that taste great together 1) Horseshoe Crab+Fertile Ground+Earthcraft 2) Recurring Nightmare+2 Great Whales/Perigrine Drakes Hmm, that seems easy. The second is very hard to disrupt because most of the cards can be in your graveyard. So here is my deck, there are others in Tally that may be better, but I can only give away my own secrets: FREE WILY (gosh I hope that name catches on, you saw it here first) the critters 2 Great Whale (he's free ya know) 2 Peregrine Drake 1 Horseshoe Crab (could be more but I emphasize the other combo) 1 Tradewind Rider(can't resist) 1 Scrivener (the more you use him, the more you like him!) 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Hermit Druid 1 Wood Elf 1 Thrull Surgeon (I've taken him out 5 times, but I always put him back--unlimited hand denial combo is hard to resist) 4 Wall of Blossoms (unlimited card drawing combo with 6 land, Nightmare, and the Whale) 1 Mindless Automaton (still finding more ways to use him in this deck. Awesome!) 1 Monk Idealist (he saves you after you lose your Nightmares to counterspells) the spells 3 Intuition (to put whales in the grave) 2 Earthcraft (too good with Recurring Nightmare and entering play effects) 4 Fertile Ground (for the alternate combo) 1 Capsize (one is all you need--easy to find and retrieve with the Scrivener) 4 Power Sink 1 Stroke of Genius 4 Recurring Nightmare 1 Living Death (last resort) the land 9 Forests 4 Swamps 3 Islands 2 Rootwater Depths (I know they usually suck, but pain lands kill you if you try the combo) 2 City of Brass (I may add the Quarry) It's hard to tell what the metagame will look like, but this does very well against most of what we're testing right now. It takes a LOT of intelligence to play. There are a lot of subtleties to the manipulation of your deck and hand to get where you want to be. This should be very popular with the now orphaned ProsBloom players out there but it's even more complicated. For total "fishbowl" deck, play the straight "CrabCraft" instead, it is usually is a turn faster (or two) on average but is more specialized and more easily disrupted. With this deck, you may find yourself just beating someone down with your Wily or your Drakes without the combo against heavy counters--and that's fine too. Best part is half the people you play won't get it even after you kill them, then they still have no idea what to counter or how to stop it. Have fun! Nathan -------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been looking all over for clever articles on the new t2 and haven't found any. So here is my attempt to get the ball rolling.
Here in Tally the playtesting seems to involve a lot of blue. It seems US will be all about control and weird combo decks. Oath/Avatar/Fling seems obvious enough and easy to make from past archetypes, but I'm more interested in entirely new decks.
Seems to me the best combo is a mana engine with a Stroke of Genius on your opponent for 100+ cards. Unless he's got a Pursuit of Knowledge out, he loses. No waiting till end of phase, no COP, no Invulnerability or Honorable Passage.
Two great mana engines that taste great together
1) Horseshoe Crab+Fertile Ground+Earthcraft
2) Recurring Nightmare+2 Great Whales/Perigrine Drakes

Hmm, that seems easy. The second is very hard to disrupt because most of the cards can be in your graveyard. So here is my deck, there are others in Tally that may be better, but I can only give away my own secrets:

FREE WILLY (gosh I hope that name catches on, you saw it here first)

the critters
2 Great Whale (he's free ya know)
2 Perigrine Drake
1 Horseshoe Crab (could be more but I emphasize the other combo)
1 Tradewind Rider(can't resist)
1 Srivener (the more you use him, the more you like him!)
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Hermit Druid
1 Wood Elf
1 Thrull Surgeon (I've taken him out 5 times, but I always put him back--unlimited hand denial combo is hard to resist)
4 Wall of Blossoms (unlimited card drawing combo with 6 land, Nightmare, and the Whale)
1 Mindless Automaton (still finding more ways to use him in this deck. Awesome!)
1 Monk Idealist (he saves you after you lose your Nightmares to counterspells)

the spells
3 Intuition (to put whales in the grave)
2 Earthcraft (too good with Recurring Nightmare and entering play effects)
4 Fertile Ground (for the alternate combo)
1 Capsize (one is all you need--easy to find and retrieve with the Scrivener)
4 Power Sink
1 Stroke of Genius
4 Recurring Nightmare
1 Living Death (last resort)

the land
9 Forests
4 Swamps
3 Islands
2 Rootwater Depths (I know they usually suck, but pain lands kill you if you try the combo)
2 City of Brass (I may add the Quarry)

It's hard to tell what the metagame will look like, but this does very well against most of what we're testing right now. It takes a LOT of intelligence to play. There are a lot of subtleties to the manipulation of your deck and hand to get where you want to be. This should be very popular with the now orphaned ProsBloom players out there but it's even more complicated. For total "fishbowl" deck, play the straight "CrabCraft" instead, it is usually is a turn faster (or two) on average but is more specialized and more easily disrupted.
With this deck, you may find yourself just beating someone down with your Wily or your Drakes without the combo against heavy counters--and that's fine too.
Best part is half the people you play won't get it even after you kill them, then they still have no idea what to counter or how to stop it.
Have fun!
Nathan