Subject:      Two IA/AL Decks: "Army of Blinkie" and "The Infernalator"
From:         edt@admin.lsa.umich.edu (Eric Taylor)
Date:         1996/10/21

Here are a couple of IA/AL Decks for anyone who might still need ideas
for making an IA/AL deck.  The first, "Army of Blinkie", is the one I
used to qualify at Sandusky.  The second, "The Infernalator", is quite
a bit more powerful than my blinkie deck but not very sophisticated.

"Army of Blinkie"

White: 8

3 blinking spirits
3 swords to plowshares
2 disenchants

Blue: 13

4 counterspell
3 force of will
2 power sink
2 arcane denial
2 browse

Red: 8

3 stone rain
3 incinerate
2 jokulhaups

Artifact: 2

1 zuran orb
1 digger

Land: 29

4 thawing glaciers
2 kjeldoran outposts
4 plains
8 islands
7 mountains
4 adarkar waste

Sideboard:

2 disenchant
1 Jester's Cap
1 cop red
2 cop black
2 cop green
2 hydroblast
2 pyroblast
1 swords to plowshares
2 pyroclasm

This deck is very difficult to play right, so I don't suggest it for a
long swiss.  It has Fleishmanesque control features, and features from
the classic ia/al blue/red browse decks.  What this means is that you
have to remember at all times exactly how much land you have in your
graveyard, your library and land, whether it's safe to browse, whether
it's safe to 'haups.  The 'haups and the browse work at such
contradictory ends.  However, if you're willing to put in a lot of
concentration the deck seems to play ok.

The hi point of playing this deck was when I played Toby Tambor in the
final 8 in Sandusky.  It was simply bizarre.  A twilight zone matchup
of digger/browse vs digger/browse.

I played out my browse, protecting it with a counterspell, and he did
the same.  Then we both browsed like madman, filling up our hands,
dumping counterspells in favor of thawing glaciers to generate mana,
racing and drawing cards like crazy going to the end of the library.
We fought two 2 counterspell wars, in which I successfully disenchanted
his two browses, but I reached the end of my library before I was
really ready.  However, I felt like I had the upper hand, digger on
table, browse out, his browse gone.  Now if I could just have the time
to dig up a few counterspells I would get the lock.

Then Toby threw down a soldevi simacrulum he had been holding.  I
browsed up an arcane denial for protection, and was forced to play out
a blinkie to block the simacrulum.  Toby incinerated the blinkie to
keep it from blocking, and I had to counter with arcane else the
simalcrulum would kill me.  Then I looked at my mana.  All tapped out.

You have to draw that card from the arcane denial.  It's not a choice.
I couldn't dig anything into my library because I was tapped out.

During Toby's upkeep the arcane denial decked me.

The second game, again, we waited for a while for the other one to make
the first move.  I cast out a blinkie, won the counterspell war, and
then was tapped out.  Toby used this opportunity to lay out his
browse.  I followed with my browse.  Then once again we were screaming
to the end of our libraries.  However, Toby reached his jester's cap
before I got to my digger and was able to cap out my digger.  I was in
a pretty fix, unable to draw heavily on the browse without decking
myself.  However, Toby was taking a lot of damage from ever faithful
blinky.   If he could find no way to handle it blinkie would kill him
in two turns.  Toby noticed that he could kill me with two successive
lava bursts, and decided to risk it instead of bursting blinkie.  He
blasted me for 11 leaving untapped 2 mountains (I knew he must be
holding two pyroblasts for my counterspells).  However, I didn't have
any counterspells left, having blown them all a little earlier.  Toby
knew if I had a incinerate, he was finished.  I looked in my hand.
Jokulhaups.  Well, I was finished if I didn't do anything.  I had a
feeling that Toby was certain to burst me again the next turn.  I cast
out my Jokulhaups, and Toby had a priceless look on his face, like, how
dare I use both browse and Jokulhaups in the same deck.  He was mana
screwed and blinkie came back a few turns later to finish him off.

The last game, I layed out a kjedoran outpost on the third turn and
made a little dude, taking a big chance by laying out the outpost so
early.  Toby jumped at the opportunity to short my mana by killing my
post with his pillage.  I had one dude.  We began to build up our land
and counterspells.  I sat there waiting, waiting.  Toby apparently
could draw nothing but crap, which was fine with me.  If he wanted to
be passive, I could be just as passive as him.  I didn't have blue in
my deck for nothing.  The little soldier meanwhile plinked away at
Toby.  18 turns later, with Toby at 3, me at 22 life and the zuran orb
on my side, and the 1 hour nearly up, Toby tried at least to damage me
a little by pushing through a big lava burst, using two force of wills
via blue pitch spells, putting him at 1 life.  My token I had created
on the 3rd turn was still there to finish him off 18 turns later.

I made the "Army of Blinkie" because I had decided it made absolutely
no difference what kind of deck I played.  The only reason people
qualify at the pro tour qualifiers is because they get lucky.  So I
made a deck I would have fun with and I really wanted to play around
with my blinkies.  Oh by the way, like any blue control deck, if necro
gets going against you, you are dead with this deck.

The second deck here is wicked.  Plus it's easy to play, so you don't
get worn out after 7 rounds of swiss with it.

"The Infernalator"

Creatures: 16

4 black knights
4 Lim Dul's Cohort
4 Legions of Lim Dul
4 Abyssal Spectors

Spells: 15

2 Infernal Darkness
3 Soul Burn
2 contagion
4 icequake
4 necropotence

Artifacts: 1

Zuran Orb

Mana and Land: 28

4 Dark Rituals
4 thawing glacier
20 swamp

Sideboard:

2 Infernal Darkness
1 Soul Burn
2 contagion
4 dystopia
2 dark banishing
2 mind warp
2 jester's cap

Nothing much to say about "The Infernalator".  Play out the Zombies.

If he laughs at you for playing merely a "Zombie Deck" beat him to
death with your horde of Zombies.  Now, if he gets a frightened look
which means he knows you're a Zombie/Necro, well, what else can you
do?  Beat him to death with your Zombies anyway.  There isn't much
choice in this deck.  But take my word for it, it's really quite a fun
deck to play.  Zombies!

--- edt