fbpx

It’s Fof, Fof, Fof

We know Fact or Fiction is good – but does it belong in every deck? Let’s see if we can tweak the mana bases of several popular archetypes to have our cake and eat it too…

“Fof rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs,

and over the neighbor’s dog.

It’s great for a snack, it fits on your back,

It’s fof, fof, fof.”

– The Fof Song from”Ren and Stimpy”


We know Fact or Fiction is good – but does it belong in every deck? Let’s see if we can have our cake and eat it too…


(Of course, there’s no harm in having the ability to sideboard Gainsay either.)


First up, a deck known as”Sonne GR.” But it’s only really been known as that for the last week or so, because that’s how long it’s been since Jon Sonne won a cool two fiddy with it.


“Sonne G/R”


4 Llanowar Elves

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Wild Mongrel

4 Call of the Herd

4 Flametongue Kavu

4 Beast Attack

2 Thornscape Battlemage

2 Thunderscape Battlemage

4 Firebolt

4 Violent Eruption


4 Karplusan Forest

2 Mossfire Valley

2 City of Brass

10 Forest

6 Mountain


Mana (excluding Birds of Paradise):

18 Green

14 Red


Now lets try it with Fact and/or Fiction:


4 Llanowar Elves

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Wild Mongrel

4 Call of the Herd

4 Flametongue Kavu

4 Beast Attack

4 Firebolt

4 Violent Eruption

4 Fact or Fiction


3 Shivan Reef

3 Yavimaya Coast

3 Karplusan Forest

3 Mossfire Valley

1 Crosis’s Catacombs

1 Shivan Oasis

5 Forest

4 Mountain

1 Island


Mana (excluding Birds of Paradise):

15 Green


15 Red

8 Blue


Pulling the Battlemages means there is little need for the Brass Cities. Nine painlands will deal only slightly more damage than four or five painlands and two Cities, so the mana isn’t as painful as it looks. As much as I dislike a”comes into play tapped” lands here, I can tolerate a Shivan Oasis if it means avoiding ten painlands. Of course, the Battlemages may still be useful in the sideboard – and the reason I’ve chosen:


1 Crosis’s Catacombs

5 Forest

4 Mountain


Over


1 Treva’s Ruins

4 Forest

5 Mountain


is because the black kicker is better than the white if it ever comes down to it.


Next up is the BR deck known as”Kibler Braids”… But apparently, not enough people know this, and when you tell someone on Magic Online that you’re playing versus”Kibler Braids,” they think you’re actually playing Brian Kibler, a.k.a.”Kird”. It’s also been seen with white instead of red, which helps shore up the deck’s weakness when faced with Compost, Worship, and CoP: Black.


“Kibler Braids”

4 Nantuko Shade

4 Mesmeric Fiend

4 Ravenous Rats

4 Phyrexian Rager

4 Braids, Cabal Onion

4 Flametongue Kavu

3 Shambling Swarm

2 Ichorid

3 Duress

4 Chainer’s Edict


4 Tainted Peak

4 Sulfurous Springs

2 Mountain

14 Swamp


Mana:

22 (18) Black

10 Red


“Not Kibler Braids”

4 Nantuko Shade

4 Spectral Lynx

4 Mesmeric Fiend

4 Phyrexian Rager

4 Braids, Cabal Onion

3 Shambling Swarm

2 Ichorid

3 Duress

4 Chainer’s Edict

4 Vindicate


4 Tainted Field

4 Caves of Koilos

3 Plains

13 Swamp


Mana:

21 (17) Black

11 White


It’s important to note that while the decks look like they are abundant with black mana, those tainted lands don’t work without swamps; they merely help with the off color, and provide second and third black sources. The numbers of individual lands that provide black mana have been included in parenthesis. Unfortunately, replacing either the white or red mana with blue/X multilands will shorten the deck’s supply of black mana, and the Shambling Swarms and Nantuko Shades might complain to their union somewhat… So here is what it might look like with blue instead of the other colors:


4 Nantuko Shade

4 Mesmeric Fiend

4 Phyrexian Rager

4 Braids, Cabal Onion

3 Shambling Swarm

2 Ichorid

3 Duress

4 Chainer’s Edict

4 Recoil

4 Fact or Fiction


4 Tainted Isle

4 Underground River

2 Island

14 Swamp


Mana:

22 (18) Black

10 Blue


But perhaps a B/u/r Braids deck could work…


4 Ravenous Rats

4 Mesmeric Fiend

4 Phyrexian Rager

4 Braids, Cabal Onion

4 Flametongue Kavu

2 Shambling Swarm

2 Duress

4 Chainer’s Edict

4 Recoil

4 Fact or Fiction


2 Tainted Isle

2 Tainted Peak

4 Shivan Reef

2 Crosis’s Catacombs

1 City of Brass

1 Underground River

12 Swamp


Mana:

20 (16) Black

10 Blue

9 Red


And finally, one last… Mad creation.


Here is a strange G/B madness deck that looks like a lot of fun, but tends to run out of gas a good twenty feet from the station, so to speak.


4 Basking Rootwalla

4 Wild Mongrel

4 Call of the Herd

2 Shambling Swarm

4 Arrogant Wurm

3 Spiritmonger

3 Roar of the Wurm

4 Chainer’s Edict

4 Zombie Infestation

3 Strength of Lunacy

1 Pernicious Deed


3 Tainted Wood

4 Llanowar Wastes

10 Swamp

7 Forest


Mana:

17 (14) Black

14 (11) Green


But never fear! Up steps doctor Fof, and his Fact and Fiction!


4 Basking Rootwalla

4 Wild Mongrel

4 Call of the Herd

1 Shambling Swarm

4 Arrogant Wurm

3 Spiritmonger

3 Roar of the Wurm

4 Chainer’s Edict

4 Zombie Infestation

4 Fact or Fiction

1 Pernicious Deed


3 Yavimaya Coast

3 Llanowar Wastes

3 Underground River

1 Darkwater Catacombs

1 Treva’s Ruins

1 Darigaaz’s Caldera

7 Swamp

5 Forest


Mana:

15 Black

13 Green

8 Blue


But either way, Fact or Fiction or no,


(and I bet your opponent could wish for that”no” option over the other two piles)


I wish you all the best of luck at your Regionals.


(Especially because you’ve read this far, and not just copied and pasted the decks into a dot dec file translator.)


Until next time,

Ray


 


 


(blisterguy)


 


 


(beep)


 

What do YOU think? Share your
opinion with the community
and you just may walk away with some FREE Magic cards… courtesy of your friends at
StarCityGames.com!