From Right Field: Trick or Treat?

{From Right Field is a column for Magic players on a budget or players who don’t want to play netdecks. The decks are designed to let the budget-conscious player be competitive in local, Saturday tournaments. They are not decks that will qualify a player for The Pro Tour. As such, the decks written about in this column are, almost by necessity, rogue decks. They contain, at most, eight to twelve rares. When they do contain rares, those cards will either be cheap rares or staples of which new players should be trying to collect a set of four, such as Wildfire, Llanowar Wastes, or Birds of Paradise. The decks are also tested by the author, who isn’t very good at playing Magic. His playtest partners, however, are excellent. He will never claim that a deck has an 85% winning percentage against the entire field. He will also let you know when the decks are just plain lousy. Readers should never consider these decks “set in stone” or “done.” If you think you can change some cards to make them better, well, you probably can, and the author encourages you to do so.}

There’s Halloween candy everywhere now. While walking through the local Sell-a-Lot, I noticed a bag of those itty bitty versions of Snickers. And it finally struck me. I’m not under-endowed. I’m Fun-Sized!

As you can probably tell, I love Halloween. Heck, I love all holidays. There’s just something a bit more special about Halloween. Women dressing up like pirate wenches a la Keira Knightley, dressing up like French maids, dressing up like naughty nurses. Yes, I love Halloween. It just so happens to be just a few days after States. With the MLB playoffs, NFL and NCAA football in full swing, Halloween, and States, October is, arguably, the second-best month of the year. After December, of course.

Halloween, of course, is the holiday of demons, witches, and fire. I mention all of this not because I’ve got a deck that uses Orange and Black – there’s no Orange in Magic – or a deck that has a lot of Demons, Spirits, and Horrors. I mention it because I couldn’t think of any other way to talk about the return of one of the best Red control cards ever: Wildfire. Also, I got to put links to three pieces of cheesecake early on in my column.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be discussing deck skeletons (good one, eh?) that I’m assigning you to work on for States. Pick one that looks like something you can enjoy running with, and massage it. While I’ve done some preliminary testing on these, none are by any means “done.” The idea behind each is solid, but there are problems that I want us – and by “us” I mean “you” – to solve.

First, up: Wildfire

This is the first deck that I pondered upon for States. States is notoriously about beatdown decks. No one can be absolutely sure why that it because no sociology students have done any studies. Armchair Magic sociologists like me, however, have some theories. First, the format is completely new. One entire block has rotated out, in this case Mirrodin. Another is coming in fresh (Ravnica). Second, beatdown is easier to play in a long tournament that sit-and-react control decks. Third, everyone wants to play with the shiny new creatures they were able to get from the new set.

Since beatdown r00lz, I like aggressive anti-beats strategy. Wildfire is king in that realm. For six mana, you get to pretty much obliterate the board. Unlike many Red mass damage spells, Wildfire doesn’t limit its four damage to ground-pounders. Everyone is taking a hit unless they’re pro-Red. Everyone’s also losing four lands. It’s like party favors in reverse. Because of this, you need two things: creatures with toughness greater than four and more lands than normal. Kinda like this deck:

25 Lands

4
“>Quicksand

21 Mountain



7 Creatures

4
“>Magnivore

3
“>Shivan Dragon



28 Other Spells

4
“>Pyroclasm

4
“>Volcanic Hammer

3
“>Fellwar Stone

3
“>Boros Signet

2
“>Threaten

4
“>Stone Rain

4
“>Demolish

4 Wildfire

Some of you are already screaming about rares. “Romeo, dude. There’s eleven rares in here! I’m not a rich Starbucks barista. How am I gonna get all of these?” The good thing is that both Magnivore and Wildfire are in the Red Ninth Edition precon deck, and it’s only nine bucks. If you figure ten bucks with tax, even if you own none of either of those, you can get those eight rares (plus other cards!) for forty bucks. Then, it’s just a matter of getting the Shivan Dragons.

Of course, there are other Red creatures that have back ends of five or more. Some cost way too much. Others are in Ravnica. But, for example, if you have Ryusei, the Falling Star and want to use it, go ahead. Personally, I like the Shivan Dragon because of the Firebreathing.

How the Deck Works

The deck is designed to keep the opponent’s mana and creatures in check until you can unleash a beefy Magnivore or Shivan Dragon. While it’s not a Land Destruction deck per se, the LD element of the deck is strong. I have won almost every game that I’ve ever played in which my opponent hasn’t cast a spell.

Why is Card X in Here?

Did I leave Card X in the list? Dadburnit, I meant to take that out. The artifacts allow you to get off some early Wildfires or Dragons while also leaving mana after the Wildfire goes off. I’m using the Signet because, as far as I can tell, after Mirrodin leaves and takes the Talismans, the Boros Signet will be the only artifact that produces Red mana. It doesn’t, however, simply tap for mana. It needs mana to make it work. Fellwar Stone helps here. Unless your opponent has no lands. Then, the Stone makes nothing. (Regardless of how it works on MTGO, a Fellwar Stone on your side while your opponent has no lands does not make one colorless mana. It makes nothing.)

I flip-flopped between Threaten and Blaze for a couple of days. Sometimes, Blaze was better. I could just throw it at my opponent’s head and end the game. Killing a creature to allow the Magnivore to get through is nice, but Threaten was better in those cases, letting me swing with two creatures.

Problems and Holes

The Jitte was not that big of a problem. If they got it out, I could usually kill the creatures and/or lands before it could get any counters. And, of course, there’s Demolish. When each of those plans failed, Jitte was bad news. Then again, if this deck can’t wipe out creatures and kill lands, something is going wrong.

Speaking of stuff going wrong, one of the biggest problems was land gluts. At one point, this deck even had twenty-six lands. Often, I would be drawing too many lands. I tried Sensei’s Divining Top. As with other decks with no shuffle effects, this was less than wonderful. Topping three lands is less than helpful.

Regenerators are also a problem. Okay, so you don’t see that as a “problem,” but we found it to be. First of all, Ink-Eyes regenerates. There’s also another one that we’ll talk about in today’s third deck. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is also bad news . . . once. Typically, 8.5T gives himself pro-Red in response to Wildfire. With no more lands, though, there’s not much s/he can do. Of course, with a Jitte on it, that can be bad news.

So, what can you do with this? I’m curious to see.

New and Improved Wildfire! Now with More Colors!

I picked the brains of Bill Bryant, Wildfire proponent extraordinaire, and Karl Allen, blah blah blah blah blah. They both suggested adding Green. It gives mana acceleration as well as more sorceries, replacing the artifacts. Without further ado, here’s GWildfire.

25 Lands

4
“>Quicksand

7 Forest

11 Mountain

3 Pinecrest Ridge

11 Creatures

4
“>Sakura-Tribe Elder

4
“>Magnivore

3 Shivan Dragon

24 Other Spells

4
“>Pyroclasm

4
“>Volcanic Hammer

4
“>Rampant Growth

4
“>Stone Rain

4
“>Demolish

4 Wildfire

Now, you’re thinking that I’m really off my rocker. Rampant Growth over Kodama’s Reach? I’ve tried both. While both can get you a turn 5 Wildfire, only the Growth gives you a turn 3 Demolish. In addition, twenty-five lands might seem like a lot with land grabbers, but it’s not. I tried with twenty-three, and that was too little most of the time. Twenty-four was usually okay, but one more runs like clockwork.

This version ran a tad more smoothly. Eight of the spells pull lands from the deck, meaning that I didn’t have to simply rely on the draw. The Rampant Growths also meant that there were two more sorceries to hit the ‘yard. By thinning the lands, the deck clearly gave up more business spells. In addition, the Green gives you the opportunity to run Naturalize out of the sideboard for any nasty enchantments or extra help against Jittes.

There was still the problem with regenerators and critters with back ends bigger than four. Again, there’s aren’t many of those that will be seeing play after Mirrodin block hits the road, but the ones that do, like Kokusho, the Evening Star, are significant. The hope is that they don’t get to the six or so lands needed to cast those monstrosities before you can get Shivan Dragon, Magnivore, and Wildfire off.

My Name is Mort

My friend Charles, the one who invented Ravager Affinity, he loves Mortivore. Always has. In fact, he runs them in his casual, multi-player Fatty deck. That thing gets mighty huge when four or five people are playing. Normally, he’d be pretty good anyway. Much of the Black removal couldn’t touch him since it says it can only target non-Black creatures. Plus, he’s pretty beefy. When you realize that he can regenerate, he’s just friggin’ ridiculous. Ever since I saw that Morty was back in 9E, I’ve been pondering a deck to use it. The Dredge mechanic in Ravnica made the difference.

22 Lands

4
“>Llanowar Wastes

2
“>Quicksand

9 Forest

7 Swamp

22 Creatures

3
“>Elves of Deep Shadow

3
“>Llanowar Elves

4
“>Sakura-Tribe Elder

4
“>Stinkweed Imp

4
“>Nantuko Husk

4 Mortivore

16 Other Spells

4
“>Kiku’s Shadow

3
“>Naturalize

3
“>Loxodon Warhammer

3
“>Phyrexian Arena

3 Kodama’s Reach

I know, I know. Again with the eleven rares. Hey, you should have seen the first version. It didn’t have Deep Woods Off Elves. Those were Birds of Paradise, which, by the way, if you got ’em, use those instead. The Elves of Deep Shadow did a fine job, though. Think about it. Why use BoPs in a G/B deck? To get Black mana. Obviously, barring lotsa land destruction, you’ll have a land that produces Green mana. How else do you get the BoP or Elves of Deep Shadow out? So, you shouldn’t be needing either of those to make Green mana. Sometimes, it would be nice, and the Birds trump. If you can’t afford them, though, the Elves should be fine.

You’re laughing at Stinkweed Imp, aren’t you? Look at it again, bub. Sure, it’s only a 1/2 flyer for three mana. That’s not great, although the flying part is awesome because of this part: “Whenever Stinkweed Imp deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature.” Unless a creature is unblockable, it has to get around the Stinkweed Imp. Doesn’t matter how dig it is. Jugan, the Rising Star? Stinkweed takes it down. Magnivore? Gone. The 9/9 Grozoth? Buh-bye. Now, look at that Dredge 5. Ya think Mortivore likes that? I can tell you from experience that he does. Very, very much.

Unlike the first two decks, this one has Loxodon Warhammer. While Magnivore and Shivan Dragon would gladly pick up that piece of Equipment, it’s better used here. This deck only has four pieces of real removal (not counting Quicksand), and they’re all one-for-one. The two Red decks have twelve pieces of removal, eight of which can kill hundreds of things at once. What that means is that there is often some random 1/1 critter that can stand in Morty’s way. That sort of thing doesn’t often happen in the other two decks.

I haven’t added Overgrown Tomb to this deck. Given the focus of this column, I’m trying to stay away from suggesting four copies of Ravnica rares. Getting them in time for States will be tough. In addition, the rare lands from Ravnica are going to be chase rares. When the first one debuted, our little group batted around what we thought those things would start at. Most were saying $12 to $15. I figured more like $20. It looks like it will be higher than lower. Of course, if you can afford them, buy them. And buy them here. You’re only getting to read the articles on this web site because people buy cards from here. The same goes for Birds of Paradise. If you have any, please, replace Elves of Deep Shadow with BoPs.

The Assignment

I’ve done the groundwork, laid the foundation, so to speak, for these decks. As anyone who watches HGTV will tell you, the foundation is the most important part of the structure. Work with these for the next week. Throw out ideas for changes. See how those work. For example, is there a place for Flame Fusillade in the Wildfire decks? Is Kodama’s Reach better for the G/R Wildfire deck than Rampant Growth is? What about Dimir Machinations in the Mortivore deck? After all, it can fetch Phyrexian Arena. Class will convene next week. Be prepared for more decks.

You are dismissed.

Dr. Christopher B. Romeo, J.D.