Subject: [STRATEGY] Portal Strategy & Deck Design for Novices
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 04:22:42 -0500 (EST)
From: "Jonathan W. Mills"
To: webmaster@classicdojo.org
Horde vs. Horde: Strategy and Deck Design for Novices
-----------------------------------------------------
Jonathan W. Mills
jwmills@cs.indiana.edu
Disclaimer
----------
This posting is intended for anyone who is learning Magic:The Gathering by
playing Portal and Portal:The Second Age, and wants to design their own decks.
It is not intended for readers who are expert strategists and deck builders,
or who play the full Magic:The Gathering game. Please be patient with me if
you are an expert and decide to read this posting. As a newbie myself I'd
appreciate your suggestions and corrections.
All decks described in this article are 40 card decks composed only of cards
from Portal and Portal:The Second Age. They are intended for self-instruction
and friendly play between beginners, and are not tournament-legal.
Introduction
------------
The decks described here are constructed using one color. They are all "horde"
decks (also known as "weenie" decks) that put a lot of creatures into play as
quickly as possible. Even though all are horde decks, each deck has a
different "flavor" and playing style because each color has creatures and
sorceries with different abilities. These differences give each deck its
theme, reflected in its title:
White: "Blinding Charge" -- charges, charges, and MORE charges!
Blue: "Mystic Storm" -- when everything flies your opponent dies
Black: "Assassin Rats" -- swarms of rats, assassination free-for-all
Red: "Red Rage" -- do unto others first...then do it again!
Green: "Lure of Death" -- there are nasty BIG things in the woods
These decks illustrate the differences between the colors even more strongly
than the Portal:The Second Age pre-constructed decks. They also emphasize a
few sorceries typical of each color, and show how they can be combined with
creatures and other sorceries to win a game. As far as I can tell, most of the
cards used to build these decks are common or uncommon, but not rare. If I am
mistaken, I apologize.
I have played these decks against each other and against the Portal:The Second
Age pre-constructed decks (even though they only have 35 cards):
White: "Martial Law" -- a horde deck
Blue: "Spellweaver" -- a control deck
Black: "Return of the Nightstalkers" -- a "gimmick" deck
Red: "Goblin Storm" -- a burn deck
Green: "Nature's Assault" -- a slow big creature deck
The horde decks described in this note are faster than the pre-constructed
decks, but can lose to a deck with slightly bigger creatures if it is
relatively fast. Playing "Martial Law" -- the pre-constructed horde deck --
pointed out the need for a sideboard to tune these decks when white plays
white, for example. (A sideboard is a set of cards that you can substitute
between games to customize your deck to respond to your opponent's deck and
playing style.)
Each deck has a 10 card sideboard that is analyzed to help novices choose the
best cards to play against the other horde decks in this posting. For other
decks, you are on your own!
If you have four friends who play Portal, you can use these decks to have a
small and simple tournament along the lines of the "Grand Melee" described in
the "Magic:The Gathering(r) Official Strategy Guide" on page 117. You and your
friends might all chip in to buy a box of Portal and Portal:The Second Age
booster packs. This is expensive, but you can split up the cards and lands of
different colors, and each own a horde of a different color. (Sorry! :-) Some
stores might also remove all the cards from a box of boosters and sell them
individually if there are enough of you. Locally, our store only does this for
the Exodus and Tempest boosters -- there aren't enough Portal players here.
This note also identifies some of the Portal cards that "mix" regular Magic
sorceries and/or creatures into a single Portal card. This can help you learn
how to move into the full game.
A Dozen Guidelines for Building Horde Decks
-------------------------------------------
I started learning about strategy and deck design by reading the "Magic:The
Gathering(r) Official Strategy Guide". I found pages 92-96 helpful to explain
horde (AKA "weenie") decks. The color pictures of the cards and the
descriptions of their abilities and uses were also helpful to see how Portal
relates to full Magic. I then re-read:
- the deck building section of the Portal rule book
- the deck building and playing tip cards for two color decks that come
in the Portal booster packs
- the strategy guides that come in the Second Age, Stronghold, and Exodus
pre-constructed decks (deciding to concentrate on Portal while I'm a
beginner)
- strategy articles for beginning Magic players at The Dojo
(www.thedojo.com)
- the Magic "Fifth Edition" Rule book to explain how advanced features
work, and to figure out how some Portal cards combined creatures and
"fast effects" (AKA sorceries, although even that term can be divided
into several more categories that we don't need to consider here)
- strategy columns in "The Duelist" magazine
I drew a diagram to visualize the paths that the cards take during a game,
triggered by drawing and discarding cards, sorceries, just-put-into-play
abilities of creatures, and combat. While not at all complete (I'm working on
a much bigger one with charts to show combined effects, etc.), this diagram
can help you discover weaknesses in your deck -- look for paths that you can't
keep your opponent from forcing your cards to take, and add cards to your deck
that counter as many of those options as possible.
The DIAGRAM is located HERE;
it is 17K; print it at 80% to fit it on an 8.5"x11" page.
I playtested the decks using a graph to keep track of each player's changes in
life and mana through the game. The "mana curve" is a well-known way to help
tweak a deck. Paired with a record of the way play affects life totals, it
helps you choose between two cards based on their effects.
The GRAPH is HERE; it is 5K;
print it at 100%.
With that background I wrote down twelve guidelines to build the one color
horde decks described in this note. You will see later that these guidelines
are NOT rules or laws, because you won't always follow them when you start
building your own decks. (You certainly won't follow these rules once you
become an advanced player. Just look at some of the MtG decks here. Wow!)
Here are the guidelines:
1. Try to keep the casting costs of creatures and sorceries to three mana
or less.
If you got three lands into play by turn three, you should have been able to
put three or four creatures into play, cast one sorcery, and be ready to start
damaging attacks. While a big creature or an expensive sorcery (or combo, such
as w:Blinding Light+w:Righteous Charge) may be a part of your deck, you won't
be able to play them early.
2. Use lots of small, fast, cheap creatures in your deck, even if they
are individually weak.
The idea of having a horde is to swamp your opponent with lots of "weenies".
Then you can win in six or seven turns if you play a "slow" deck that gives
you a chance to get more creatures out quickly without taking much damage from
big creatures or expensive spells. But...playing horde vs. horde means that
you also have to be a little cleverer than your opponent to win, or better at
bluffing, or lucky drawing cards, or that you understand your deck and
sideboard better.
3. Put creatures with "landwalk" in your sideboard.
Because all of these decks use only one color, you typically won't choose any
creatures with "landwalk", the ability to avoid being blocked if your opponent
has a land of a specific color in play. The various landwalks are:
- plainswalk (white)
- islandwalk (blue)
- swampwalk (black)
- mountainwalk (red)
- forestwalk (green)
Avoid creatures with this ability in their description because it costs them
one point of either power (attacking strength) or toughness (defensive
strength). Compare g:Grizzly Bears at +2/+2 to g:Lynx at +2/+1 (which has
forestwalk). Since forestwalk would make the Lynx unblockable if your opponent
had a forest in play, the Lynx would get through where the Grizzly Bears might
not. But if you don't play a green horde against a green horde, the Lynx's
forestwalk ability is wasted. You might want to include the Lynx in your
sideboard, though, in case you face a deck with green in it. Then a Monstrous
Lynx (Lynx+Monstrous Growth) can't be blocked.
4. Provide at least one creature that can fly, or that can defend against
flying creatures.
Flying creatures can deal damage without being blocked, unless you have flying
creatures, too (w:Armored Pegasus, u:Wind Drake, b:Bog Imp, g:Moon Sprite;
note that r:Goblin Glider can't block), or a creature that can intercept a
flying creature even though it can't fly itself (w:Alaborn Musketeer and
w:Keen-Eyed Archers; g:Tree Monkey, g:Giant Spider and g:Norwood Archer). The
blue deck "Mystic Storm" is the only flying weenie deck in this note, and can
add flying to Coral Eel (or any non-flying creature) for a couple of turns
using Cloak of Feathers.
5. Use global spells that make the horde strong.
You can make your weenies into BIG weenies...and a LOT of big weenies are
usually better than one big weenie. Of course the green deck "Lure of Death"
is an exception, using Monstrous Growth to add +4/+4 to a single creature such
as Lone Wolf (which has a stronger version of regular Magic's "trample" built-
in that deals damage directly to to your opponent).
6. Use global spells that slow down or cripple your opponent's horde.
You can slow your opponent using w:False Peace to prevent an attack on the
next turn, or r:Goblin War Strike to deal damage before you attack, or
g:Natural Spring to "back the game up" by giving yourself lots of life.
Cripple your opponent by adding "weapons of mass destruction" (AKA "reset
buttons") from the sideboard that can destroy all creatures and/or lands if
played. You can force your opponent to rebuild his horde, or restart his game
with cards like w:Armageddon; b:Nature's Ruin, b:Virtue's Ruin, and b:Rain of
Daggers; r:Flashfires and r:Boiling Seas. Some of these cards will destroy
YOUR creatures and lands, or deal you damage, but it can be worth it.
For example, b:Rain of Daggers costs you two life per creature destroyed, but
it can still win you the game. Suppose you have 15 life left and decide to use
it to kill all of your opponent's six creatures that have been blocking your
attacks: you will run your life total down to three, but you can then overrun
your opponent with a horde of weenies or a couple monstrous-sized creatures
and win in two or three turns before s/he can recover. Cool!
Note that blue and green don't have any common or uncommon mass destruction
cards, at least that I have been able to obtain. The blue horde depends on
spells that send individual creatures and sorceries to the graveyard (False
Summoning and Mystic Denial in the "Mystic Storm" deck), and the green horde
uses Natural Spring in the sideboard to buy time to rebuild if b:Rain of
Daggers is being used.
7. Have a specific reason to include spells that target only
one creature, and keep looking for a spell that works better on your
opponent's horde even if it isn't as good on individual creatures.
This is a refinement of guideline (5). If you use spells that affect only one
creature and last only one turn, they should be in your deck for a reason. The
reasons I have included some are that they:
- can disrupt an opponent's game (u:Mystic Denial, u:False Summoning,
u:Extinguish, and u:Tidal Surge; b:Assassin's Blade)
- can let you draw cards to speed up your game (u:Cloak of Feathers,
u:Sleight of Hand)
- can let one of your creatures break through to deal damage (w:Angelic
Blessing; g:Monstrous Growth and g:Alluring Scent (a combo))
- can prevent an unstoppable creature from entering play. For example,
u:Eye Spy can be sideboarded into "Mystic Storm" to be used to keep
b:Undying Beast from returning to play after it is killed off. You do
it in three steps: (1) during your opponent's turn you block Undying
Beast and kill it, (2) it goes to the top of your opponent's library,
(3) at the start of your turn you use Eye Spy to put Undying Beast
directly into your opponent's graveyard.
8. Avoid spells that destroy only one land.
These spells are better suited to combat two color decks, especially "splash"
decks that have only a few lands of one color. Destroy those lands and you
have crippled your opponent's spells of that color.
9. Use spells that force your opponents sorceries and creatures into the
graveyard, not back to his hand.
Destroy them. Bury them. You won't see them again, at least in these horde
decks (except for b:Undying Beast). There are sorceries that can bring them
back (b:Raise the Dead, u:Deja Vu), but these spells only slow down a horde
for a local and probably cost-ineffective advantage. When you play a horde
deck, look forward, not backward.
Note: "destroy" is NOT the same as "bury", as I have since learned. In MtG, a
destroyed creature can be regenerated, or returned to play (into your hand, or
into the unused cards in your deck). A buried creature is placed in your
discard pile (graveyard).
10. Use as many of the same spells as you can (up to four of each).
The basic horde decks use only two or three different kinds of spells each.
This makes it much more likely that you will get a spell that works with the
horde, and that you will know how to use all the combinations of sorceries and
creatures. As you move toward regular Magic you can build on your knowledge to
create more complex decks with interacting spells of many varieties. The
ability to build "balanced" decks with interacting spells is -not- covered in
this note.
11. Use spells that are effective individually and in combinations.
Finding combinations (AKA "combos") is part of the fun of deck building.
Finding spells that work both individually and as combos is tricky, though.
Read "MYTH: Combos Rule/Combos Suck" on pages 11-12 of "Magic:The Gathering(r)
Official Strategy Guide" for a discussion and some general advice about
combos. Specific advice is harder to find. A good start is to ask yourself how
you would play each sorcery in a combo and individually. Here are two
examples:
- g:Monstrous Growth + g:Alluring Scent (from "Nature's Assault")
Played together, Alluring Scent forces all attackers that can block one card
to do so, then your one creature with Monstrous Growth can get through. When
facing the blue "Mystic Storm", play Alluring Scent on g:Moon Sprite and send
in g:Lone Wolf enhanced with Monstrous Growth. Even if a u:Coral Eel blocks,
Lone Wolf will deal the rest of the damage to your opponent! You could also
play both Alluring Scent and Monstrous Growth on g:Grizzly Bears, and let all
your other attackers through while the big bears kill off another big
creature, such as an enhanced b:Swarm of Rats.
Individually, Alluring Scent can break a stalemate if neither you nor your
opponent wants to be the first to attack. Play it on the smallest cheap
creature you have, and attack with the rest, which will get through to damage
your opponent. Monstrous Growth can be played on Lone Wolf as a stalemate
breaker to damage your opponent.
- w:Blinding Light + w:Righteous Charge
Played together, Blinding Light taps all your opponent's creatures so that
your horde, enhanced by +2/+2 using Righteous Charge, can deliver a killing
blow that could deal up to 18 damage. Individually, Blinding Light is more
useful because it will let all of your creatures through even if they aren't
enhanced. Righteous Charge is useful if you have more creatures than your
opponent, or if your opponent thinks you only have one of them in your deck
and so blocks one big creature. The next Charge will be a BIG surprise!
(Note: Some of the arcane combos I've since read about in "The Duelist"
magazine and the newsgroup can deal hundreds or millions of damage, but I have
my doubts about their being used by the typical player. Our local players
haven't trotted out one of these combos when I've been watching them, and in
friendly play I was told that using one is in bad taste locally. Clearly
YMMV, so if you use 'em, more power to you!)
Finally, both cards of the combo must be cast during the same turn to work.
This means that you must have enough mana to pay for them, and -this- means
that in Portal you will probably play the combo late in the game, around turn
six or seven. That makes these combos "finishers", tools to let you end a
game. If you are taking a beating early, and have one of the combo cards,
don't save it -- play it, ASAP!
12. Use equivalent cards from Portal and Second Age to double the numbers
of desirable "weenies" in your horde.
Do you want more creatures that only cost one or two mana to play, but can't
include them because you would exceed the four-of-a-kind limit? Then you
should look through the cards in both Portal (designated by a P) and
Portal:The Second Age (designated by SA) to avoid the restriction. You can
include four of each of the equivalent cards, and keep your horde's casting
cost low. Here are some common equivalent creatures:
- w:Devoted Hero (P) and w:Volunteer Militia (SA)
- u:Storm Crow (P) and u:Talas Scout (SA)
- g:Grizzly Bears (P) and g:Bear Cub (SA)
The Portal diagram and these guidelines should help you understand why the
horde decks and their sideboards are built the way they are. But these decks
are not perfect (is any deck ever perfect? :-) so always ask yourself if there
is a better sorcery, or a fresh approach to the deck, and experiment. Play a
new deck against the Second Age pre-constructed decks. If you beat them
consistently, then you are on to something! If you win some of the time, but
not always, look at what went wrong, and try to replace the creature(s) or
sorceries that didn't work. Use the following decks to get started, and have
fun!
The Decks
---------
The general structure of each horde deck is:
16 creatures
2 creatures or sorceries
7 sorceries
15 lands, all of one color
Each deck's cards will be listed according to this structure, then playing
strategies discussed, and finally the sideboard will be described, along with
some ideas about how to use it.
Playtesting the early versions of these decks showed that some played better
with more sorceries and others with more creatures, so two cards of the deck
were left to "float" between the two. The sideboards are designed with this in
mind.
The White Deck: "Blinding Charge"
----------------------------------
# Card Cost Set Comments
- ------------------ ---- ---- --------
4 Devoted Hero w P
4 Alaborn Zealot w SA suicides & destroys creature it blocks
4 Alaborn Grenadier ww SA doesn't tap when it attacks
4 Armored Pegasus 1w P flying
2 Volunteer Militia w SA
4 Blinding Light 2w P tap all non-white creatures
3 Righteous Charge 1ww SA all creatures get +2/+2 til end of turn
15 Plains
Sideboard
---------
2 Charging Paladin 2w P gets +0/+3 for turn if it attacks
2 False Peace w P opponent cannot attack next turn
2 Rally the Troops w SA untap before you block attack
1 Warrior's Charge 2w P all creatures get +1/+1 til end of turn
1 Righteous Charge 1ww SA all creatures get +2/+2 til end of turn
1 Gift of Estates 1w P if opponent has more lands find 3 in your deck
1 Armageddon 3w P,SA destroy all lands (yours, too)
This is the second fastest deck ("Red Rage" is faster because two of its
creatures, Raging Goblin and Raging Cougar, can attack as soon as they are
played). Still, "Blinding Charge" is usually fast enough to win, with 10
creatures that cost only one white mana and eight that cost only two mana.
The strategy to win with "Blinding Charge" is to build up a lot of cheap
creatures, blocking only as necessary and letting the early attacks that could
destroy your blocking creatures go through. Once you have your army you start
charging using Blinding Light to keep your opponent from intercepting you.
This deck can win even with only three plains in play because you can often
play two creatures each turn. Once you get four or five creatures and six
lands in play you can cast a Blinding Light+Righteous Charge combo to deal
from 10 to 18 damage to your opponent! Of course, your opponent isn't just
sitting around while you assemble your army, so you may want to take some
damage and let one or two early attacks go by without blocking (and thus
destroying your creatures). Blinding Light will let your attackers get through
against any deck except a white deck, and is useful even if you don't have
Righteous Charge to play.
However, you should try to save at least one Blinding Light to use with one of
the three Righteous Charges in your deck. This combo plays with six mana,
tapping all non-white creatures (even yours, but you don't have any) so that
they cannot block. Then the Righteous Charge gives each of your creatures
+2/+2 extra, and lets your attack slam right into your opponent with 10 to 18
damage. If you are lucky and get a combo pair early, play it as soon as you
can if you are opposing "Mystic Storm". If you wait too long, an Extinguish
(costs 1u) or a Mystic Denial (cost 1uu) can break the combo, drastically
reducing its effectiveness.
You can also bury a non-flying attacker by NOT attacking with one of your
Alaborn Zealots, and using it to block the problem creature.
Using the Sideboard
-------------------
- Charging Paladin
Swap Charging Paladin for two Armored Pegasus when playing a horde that has
few flying creatures (all except u:"Mystic Storm"). Play the Paladin in an
attack with a Righteous Charge, and it will become a +5/+7 creature. Two
charging Paladins facing creatures tapped by Blinding Light will deliver 10
damage to your opponent.
- False Peace
Slow your opponent down by swapping the two False Peace for Volunteer Militia.
Your opponent can't attack on the next turn, which gets you another card. Try
to complete a combo if you can, especially in mid-game when you haven't seen
one of the other combo cards out yet. Your opponent can still summon creatures
and block you, though. But if you have replaced one Blinding Light+Righteous
Charge with Gift of Estates+Armageddon, you can use False Peace AFTER
Armageddon to keep your opponent from attacking you with his creatures (which
keeps them from damaging you).
- Rally the Troops
Swap these for Volunteer Militia, and play it before you finish your turn
(this is legal under the extended game cycle of full Magic). Your creatures,
which had to tap to attack and so could not block in the next turn, now can
block. Play this early to slow down a fast red deck, whose creatures can
attack the same turn they are summoned.
- Warrior's Charge
- Righteous Charge
Do you need more charges? Then send the Volunteer Milita home, and add two
more Charges. Sure, Warrior's Charge is weaker (it gives your troops +1/+1
instead of +2/+2), but you have a four-of-a-kind limit, and an extra two
Charge cards means you're more likely to draw one when you need one.
- Gift of Estates+Armageddon
This is a great combo to play on all the horde decks in this note. You can
play Gift of Estates before Armageddon as long as you don't exceed the seven-
cards-in-your-hand limit, and as long as your opponent has more lands in play
than you do. Be careful about this, and plan to run defensively on one land
less than your opponent.
Here are scenarios to use with this combo.
Combo Status Strategy
-------------------- --------
Armageddon only play as soon as your opponent has three or
four lands; against blue and black decks you'll
prevent opponent from casting sorceries like
u:False Summoning or b:Assassin's Blade, and
delay all players (including you) from putting
creatures into play. Make sure you have a
advantage in the fighting that will go on. A
good time to play Armageddon is right before
you attack: you may have one more creature than
your opponent, and can prevent spells that kill
attacking creatures from working
Gift of Estates only play as soon as you can (you'll have 4 lands, your
opponent -must- have more than four lands in play;
keep the lands you get in your hand; play defensively
until you draw Armageddon; play creatures as opposed to
lands if possible; discard creatures if necessary
both if you're not taking much damage, get your
creatures out, sucker your opponent into putting
as many lands into play as possible, then summon
your last creature (hopefully a big one), play
Gift of Estates, and finish up with Armageddon.
(Gift of Estates is not effective after Armageddon;
you would have to wait until your opponent played
five lands, which would return the game's momentum
to your opponent.)
The Blue Deck: "Mystic Storm"
-----------------------------
# Card Cost Set Comments
- ------------------ ---- ---- --------
4 Cloud Pirates u P flying; intercepts only creatures w/ flying
4 Storm Crow 1u P flying
4 Coral Eel 1u P
4 Wind Drake 2u P flying
2 False Summoning 1u P,SA return creature to graveyard
4 Cloak of Feathers u P give 1 creature flying for turn; draw card
3 Mystic Denial 1uu P,SA return creature or sorcery to graveyard
15 Islands
Sideboard
---------
2 Man-o'-War 2u P return opponent's creature to hand
2 Sleight of Hand u SA draw two cards; one to your hand
2 Eye Spy u P discard top card of opponent's library
4 Extinguish 1u SA spell has no effect
"Mystic Storm" is a flying weenie deck with a control component that you can
tailor to combat the different hordes. Blue's one-casting-cost creatures are
weak (compare Merfolk of the Pearl Trident to w:Devoted Hero), so slightly
larger creatures were chosen. Blue weenies also have lower power and
toughness, in general, because blue is a "control" color: it has a lot of
counterspells to keep your creatures alive and your opponent's creatures out
of play. Thus the "Mystic Storm" playing strategy is to get your creatures
into play as quickly as you can -- which is more slowly than your opponent
c.an! -- but to even the odds using False Summoning and Mystic Denial.
You will also gain an advantage dealing damage to your opponent because the
deck uses flying to avoid having your creatures blocked. Cloak of Feathers
adds flying to Coral Eel, and also speeds up your play by letting you draw a
card. Blue decks tend to wait around to make their move in the late mid-game
or end game. Don't. Attack, attack, attack!
Using the Sideboard
-------------------
- Man-o'-War
Swap Man-o'-War for False Summoning to get an extra two creatures that also
include the ability to force an opponent's creature back into his hand when
you play the card. Save Man-o'-War to combat w:Paladin, u:Wind Drake, b:Swarm
of Rats, r:Goblin General, and g:Lone Wolf or g:Grizzly Bears. This can break
a stalemate or disrupt your opponent's next attack, as well as clearing the
way for Man-o'-War to attack next turn. If you can play Cloak of Feathers on
it to give it flying, even better!
- Sleight of Hand
Speed up play against "Blinding Charge", "Red Rage", or "Lure of Death" by
swapping it for two Mystic Denial or Cloak of Feathers (two cards come off
your library instead of one; you choose which one to keep).
- Eye Spy
Use Eye Spy to keep b:Undying Beast from returning to play, or to kill any
card that returns from play to your opponent's library. It has limited
usefulness as a way to look for cards in your opponent's library, but
psychologically can annoy the hell out of him. Who wants someone looking at
the cards they have before they've seen them themselves?
- Extinguish
This is Portal's (cheaper) version of Magic's b:Counterspell, which costs uu.
Since Extinguish costs 1u it is more flexible. It is included in the sideboard
to nullify the Charge cards in "Blinding Charge", b:Assassin's Blade in
"Assassin Rats", r:Goblin War Strike in "Red Rage", and g:Monstrous Growth or
g:Alluring Scent in "Lure of Death". When playing the black rat pack, swap out
all of the Cloak of Feathers for Extinguish -- you'll need them!
The Black Deck: "Assassin Rats"
-------------------------------
# Card Cost Set Comments
- ------------------ ---- ---- --------
4 Muck Rats b P
4 Ravenous Rats 1b SA opponent chooses & discards one card
4 Swarm of Rats 1b SA has power = number of rat cards in play
3 Cruel Edict b SA opponent chooses one creature; destroy it
4 Assassin's Blade 1b P destroy any one attacking non-black creature
2 Mind Rot 2b SA opponent chooses & discards two cards
2 Vampiric Touch 2b P deal two damage to opponent; you gain two life
2 Final Strike 2bb P deal damage to opponent; destroy creature
15 Swamps
Sideboard
---------
4 Bog Imp 1b P flying
2 Feral Shadow 2b P flying
2 Undying Beast bb P returns to top of library if killed
1 Dread Charge 3b P black creatures blocked by black creatures
1 Rain of Daggers 4bb SA destroy opponent's creatures; lose two life
for each creature destroyed this way
This deck doesn't follow the guidelines for constructing a weenie deck, going
heavy on sorceries instead of creatures. Still, it may be the best of all in
this note. It plays quickly; it has a theme (lots of rats); uses a wide
variety of sorceries that let you take control of the attack; and has the
awesome Swarm of Rats creature, which gains power with evey rat card played.
With four Swarm of Rats and just a single Muck Rat in play, your opponent
faces four creatures that each have a +5/+1 rating. Even if you only get one
swarm into play, you can "slide" the power of your other +1/+1 rats down the
line, and use the combo:
Swarm of Rats + Final Strike
to deliver damage directly to your opponent. Because Swarms of Rats is a rat
card, it adds +1/0 to itself and to the other swarms. You should play your
sorceries and sacrifice your other creatures if you sideboarded them in (Bog
Imps and Undying Beasts) to kill your opponent's attacking creatures. Then
unleash the swarms!
"Rats" is weak defensively, so I eventually replaced creatures with sorceries
to destroy your opponent's creatures before the rats attack. Play Ravenous
Rats to force your opponent to discard a card -- you can do this once for each
Ravenous Rats played. Mind Rot forces your opponent to discard two cards --
your opponent can't play what he doesn't have. Cruel Edict forces your
opponent to destroy one of his creatures. Assassin's Blade saves your rat
swarms by killing your opponent's attackers directly, instead of blocking
them. Vampiric Touch lets you gain two life each time you deal two damage to
your opponent, helping you get more rats out while attacking your opponent and
defending yourself.
"Assassination Rats" stands up well to Armageddon. If you have Swarms of Rats
in play before Armageddon, then just one swamp will let you start adding power
to the swarm by playing one Muck Rat. Two swamps, and you can play your other
rats and your sorceries. Against this horde, Armageddon is just a "speed bump"
(a card that only trivially slows down a player).
Using the Sideboard
-------------------
- Bog Imp
- Feral Shadow
It's a toss-up. Creatures or sorceries? You may want to add creatures with
flying if you face the blue "Mystic Storm" horde because creatures stick
around longer than sorceries. If so, swap some combination of four of these
creatures for Muck Rats, and save the special rats for attack.
- Undying Beast
This big beast can kill off attackers over and over, as long as you have
enough swamps to cast it repeatedly. Put two of these in place of two Muck
Rats, and set up a "sideshow" -- once your hand is full -- playing the beast
while you use sorceries to destroy your opponent's creatures. When your hand
is empty, DON'T block with the beast unless it will win, thus uncorking your
library to draw fresh spells. Blue can kill the beast with b:Eye Spy, but it
takes a little effort.
- Dread Charge
Use Dread Charge when you have several Swarms of Rats in play with supporting
rats, and you can end the game. Use it early if necessary to buy some
breathing room, especially against the "Red Rage" deck. If you have both Dread
Charge and Final Strike in your hand, play the Charge first, then use Final
Strike to deal damage directly to your opponent.
- Rain of Daggers
Dealing damage to yourself can be good. Use Rain of Daggers to clear away a
horde of weenies, then even your tiny rats can get through. It is possible to
win when you only have one life left -- if your attack can bring your opponent
down to zero!
The Red Deck: "Red Rage"
------------------------
# Card Cost Set Comments
- ------------------ ---- ---- --------
4 Raging Goblin r P,SA no summoning sickness
4 Goblin Glider 1r SA flying, can't block
4 Goblin Raider 1r SA can't block
4 Raging Cougar 2r P no summoning sickness
2 Goblin General 1rr SA all goblins get +1/+1 when it attacks
3 Scorching Winds r P deal one damage to each attacking creature
4 Goblin War Strike r SA deal opponent damage = number goblins in play
15 Mountains
Sideboard
---------
2 Goblin General 1rr SA all goblins get +1/+1 when it attacks
2 Raging Minotaur 2rr P no summoning sickness
2 Tremor r SA deal 1 damage to each creature without flying
2 Flashfires 3r P destroy all plains
2 Boiling Seas 3r P destroy all islands
"Red Rage" is the fastest horde deck because several of its creatures (Raging
Goblin, Raging Cougar, Raging Minotaur) are not affected by summoning
sickness, and can attack the turn they are played. It's not uncommon to play a
mountain and a Raging Goblin in the first turn, then attack your opponent and
deal one damage -- for starters! Your sorceries are also cheap, so you may be
able to cast more than one during your turn. Hammering away at your opponent
is known as "beat down", and you can do a lot of beating (although a blue deck
can cause you problems).
Your Goblins that can't block (Goblin Glider, Goblin Raider) can help you win
two ways. First, they can attack (no surprise), but second they contribute to
the total damage you can deal to your opponent with Goblin War Strike. When
the goblins power and toughness is increased by playing your Goblin Generals,
even a wimpy Raging Goblin becomes a +3/+3 creature, and you typically will
have several in play.
The key to "Red Rage" is to tune it to keep your opponent off balance during a
very fast attack, and finish him off with pumped up goblins, war strikes, and
perhaps a big creature. Let's see how the sideboard helps.
Using the Sideboard
-------------------
- Goblin General
If you don't need a flying creature to get an attack through, replace two
Goblin Gliders with two more Goblin Generals. Your Goblin War Strike will be
equally likely to deal as much damage as it did before, but your goblins could
all get up to +4/+4.
- Raging Minotaur
Raging Minotaur can replace two Raging Cougars if your horde needs more
strength in the late game. You can play it as early as turn four because the
minotaur is not affected by summoning sickness.
- Tremor
Tremor is a good way to hurt a rat swarm. The rats don't have flying, and all
can be killed by one damage, even the b:Swarms of Rats. This is a nasty
surprise for a black horde that has no counterspells, or a blue deck with no
counterspells available. (Things get even worse for blue, as we'll see.)
- Flashfires
Replace two Goblin Gliders with Flashfires when playing the white "Blinding
Charge" deck. It costs four mana, just like Armageddon, but doesn't destroy
your mountains. You have two, so you may be able to get it into play before
your opponent gets an Armageddon, and get out one or two more creatures before
he can recover. That might be enough to give you the winning edge.
- Boiling Seas
Replace two Goblin Gliders with Boiling Seas when playing the blue "Mystic
Storm" deck. Blue depends on mana to cast counterspells, so save your
sorceries until after you boil water, leaving your opponent unable to prevent
them from taking effect.
The Green Deck: "Lure of Death"
-------------------------------
# Card Cost Set Comments
- ------------------ ---- ---- --------
4 Tree Monkey g P can block creatures with flying
4 Norwood Ranger g SA
4 Moon Sprite 1g P flying
4 Grizzly Bears 1g P
2 Lone Wolf 2g SA may deal ALL damage to opponent if blocked
4 Monstrous Growth 1g P,SA target creature gets +4/+4 this turn
3 Alluring Scent 1gg P,SA choose 1 creature; all creatures that can
block it must do so this turn
15 Forests
Sideboard
---------
2 Lynx 1g SA forestwalk
2 Mobilize g P untap all your creatures
3 Deep Woods 1g SA damage by attacking creatures = 0 this turn
2 Needle Storm 2g P four damage to each creature with flying
1 Natural Spring 1g P you gain 8 life
"Lure of Death" has several creature/sorcery combinations that make your horde
a "pop-up" swarm instead of a bunch of same-sized weenies. The key to playing
this deck is remaining alert to your possibilities, and choosing the right
combo at the right time. Let's talk about them.
- (any creature) + Monstrous Growth
You can Growth a creature to make it bigger, then attack with it to destroy
several smaller creatures that block it, or leave the monster untapped to
block and kill a big attacker. However, this sorcery is better when played on
some creatures rather than others:
* Tree Monkey: use to block large flying attackers
* Moon Sprite: ditto, also use if no flying creatures are in play to
deal heavy damage to your opponent
* Lone Wolf: if blocked, you may choose to have it deal 6 damage to
your opponent instead of the blocking creature; if it
isn't blocked it will deal the damage anyway! Lone Wolf
will usually survive to do it again, as the monster wolf
is a +6/+6 creature
- (any creature) + Alluring Scent [+ Monstrous Growth]
I learned about this trick from the pre-constructed "Nature's Assault" deck.
Play Alluring Scent on your smallest creature and the rest will get through.
Or, play it on a monstrous creature, and deal lethal damage to as many as six
smaller creatures (like a +1/+1 bunch of rats or w:Devoted Heros). You will
need five mana to cast Alluring Scent and Monstrous Growth, so you may decide
to play each sorcery independently, and hope to get them both, with enough
mana, in hand to finish off your opponent.
Using the Sideboard
-------------------
- Lynx
Swap the Lynx for the two Alluring Scent when you play a green deck. The Lynx
will be unblockable, and be even more effective when Monstrous Growth targets
them.
- Mobilize
Untap all your creatures to defend against an upcoming attack. Block with Tree
Monkeys to damage other +1/+1 weenies, or with Grizzly Bears to destroy them.
You can also buy time by playing Mobilize -- your opponent may choose not to
attack, and give you an extra turn to play another land or draw a sorcery.
- Deep Wood
Swap these in in place of Tree Monkeys, especially when facing w:"Blinding
Charge" or b:"Assassination Rats". You can make your opponent's attack fizzle.
Deep Wood is also good as a defense against another green horde playing Lone
Wolf -- a monstrous wolf can't hurt you.
- Needle Storm
Use Needle Storm against the blue "Mystic Storm" deck. It will kill all flying
creatures. (It actually forms a combo AGAINST your opponent if he plays
b:Cloak of Feathers: Cloak + Needle Storm = damage to an otherwise untouchable
creature). Since Needle Storm damages your creatures with flying, swap it for
Moon Sprite.
- Natural Spring
Natural Spring gains you 8 life, which can buy you time to develop your
attack, especially since it costs four mana (which you might not have until
you have taken some damage). This card won't finish off your opponent, but it
will give you a chance to play the "if I'm not dead I haven't lost" strategy!
Conclusion
----------
You can have a lot of fun designing Portal decks and playing them. The 40 card
deck size makes Portal a good "magical laboratory" to explore techniques
individually, before you move on to full Magic and 60 card decks and complex
sorceries and an expanded flow of play. Some topics I've been studying using
Portal and hybrid Portal/Mtg 40 card decks include:
- Two-Color Portal Decks
- Creatureless Decks
- Creating & Using Portal/MtG Unblockable Creatures
- A Portal/MtG "Theme Engine" Deck
- Various Themes: Wurms, Spikes, Slivers, Elves, Lions'n'Tigers'n'Bears
And this is something that may be out there, but I haven't found it yet, so
I'm building one of my own:
- Visualizing the MtG Metagame
This is a huge graph with an additional page of symbols you can cut out and
gluestick to it to show actions during a turn. It's an extension of the
incomplete flowchart I mentioned earlier. Since I teach computer architecture,
I've designed a "Magic Processor" -- a bus architecture that shows how cards,
mana, and life flows are related.
I've also devised a table that shows what effects a card has, in terms of the
graph, and how those effects relate to other cards. This can be used to build
"plug-in" modules for the Magic Processor (on 3x5 cards) that let you see the
effects of combos and identify their weaknesses. This is VERY helpful when
looking for cycles, such as the Recurring Nightmare & Two Gravediggers
(Duelist v5 n8, "Duelist Picks & Tricks").
The chart doesn't address the issues of the mana curve, ratios of cards that
give you the probability of drawing and casting a combo, or game strategy (how
to set up a deck so that you have a path to a win under various sequences of
draws). What it does do is help you identify a side effect you might have
missed, look for interesting card interactions, and figure out why some
(apparently) useless cards are real winners. All of which is helpful to
newbies like myself!