The Dark. Of all the sets in Magic, I’m guessing that the least is known about the Dark. I mean, people may mock Homelands, but most players have heard of Autumn Willow and Baron Sengir. Fallen Empires may be as Old School as tube tops, but some idiots are still writing articles about Thrulls and Thallids. Not so with the Dark. Here’s a test: Name a character (he or she need not be a Legend with his or her own card) from the Dark other than Uncle Istvan.
Were you thinking of Lord Ith, Tivadar, Maeveen O’Donagh, or Mairsil the Pretender? Or were you just about to protest that Uncle Istvan, being non-Legendary, isn’t even a character himself (“Uncle” was a popular given name in the multiverse at that time), so the entire question was a trick and, thus, null and void? No, I don’t blame you. And that’s why we’ll explore this slice of darkness together. Feel free to squeeze my hand if it ever gets too frightening.
Although its name may conjure up thoughts of a Torment-like Black-heavy set, the Dark is balanced in color and flavor. Whereas Torment stressed the dichotomy between Black/Red and White/Green, the Dark’s world can be seen as one in which Black has stained the other colors of mana. Conversely, one can look at the Dark as a celebration of Magic‘s eschewing of a Good-Evil dichotomy; in the Dark, nothing is darker than White. If you’re the kind of person who thinks that the only good priest is one who’s been photographed performing depraved sexual acts and has, consequently, brought well-deserved condemnation upon the Church, you just might like the Dark. If you feel otherwise, you’d do well to remember that neither Jesus nor his many Christian helpers are met with anywhere in the set (despite the crucifix in the art on Fasting).
As Fasting suggests, the predominant philosophy of the Dark’s White is, “You can do whatever you want and kill whomever you’d like so long as you don’t have fun.” It’s true; a comprehensive search of all 19 White cards in the set reveals not a single individual having a good time. Even in Festival, where it appears that people are reveling, the flavor text informs us that it’s all a trick. Still, some folks are having worse times than others. The Goblin in the Tivadar’s Crusade art has seen better days. If Silver Knight isn’t enough for you, this sorcery is a more maniacal-laughter-inducing method of beating that annoying Goblins deck your friend (“I can build a tournament deck for $5, and you’re still fiddling with Deep Spawn.”) always plays. Blood of the Martyr and Martyr’s Cry prove that Goblins aren’t the ones who suffer, and when played before Wrath of God, the latter card is a nifty way of giving your White Weenie deck some late game punch.
Unfortunately, when it comes to early game punch, you’ll have to look elsewhere than the Dark because Squire is the set’s most efficient White creature. In terms of utility creatures though, the Dark’s White is tough to beat. Exorcist can single-handedly win games, and Witch Hunter (stealing two of Blue’s traditional abilities and suitably eerie thanks to Jesper Myfor’s picture) dices as well as it slices. Speaking of stealing, Preacher similarly swipes a Blue effect. Preacher’s ability may be difficult to optimize, but Witch Hunter helps in this regard. First, you sniff out and bounce the bad guys with Witch Hunter (the only representative of the creature type Hunter in the game). Then, you convert the malleable with Preacher. Angry Mob also needs help to do its job, but unlike Preacher, it depends on your opponents. In multiplayer games, Angry Mob can be a killer and, interestingly, gives you a reason to kill off non-Swamp playing opponents first.
In common with one of those flashy, battery-powered spinning tops, the color wheel keeps on turning. Holy Light is the sort of combat trick that White would never get today. Similarly, Cleansing could be used to diabolical purpose in a multiplayer life gain deck. However, as the saying goes, there are two sides to each groin, and Fire and Brimstone is not only out of flavor for White, it’s also absolutely worthless.
The Dark, however, can serve as the basis for a serious Mono-White deck:
Inquisitive White
4 Death Speakers
3 Clergy of the Holy Nimbus
2 Festival
1 Squire
2 Jinxed Idol
4 Order of the White Shield
4 Exorcist
4 Keepers of the Faith
4 Holy Light
4 Preacher
4 Witch Hunter
2 Skull Catapult
24 Plains
The deck’s religious fanaticism theme is somewhat compromised by Jinxed Idol and Skull Catapult, but both of these artifacts aid Preacher in picking off your opponent’s creatures. The Witch Hunter/Preacher interaction is nice as well, but it really only works if your opponent controls just two creatures. Because the deck lacks aggressive creatures besides Order of the White Shield, you’ll want to play Control, an easier task if your opponent happens to be Mono-Black.
The Dark’s White is so tasty a color that, in comparison, Blue looks like nothing so much as an overripe blood sausage. Still, it has some appeal. Blue gets a powerful defensive enchantment in Flood. More interesting though is the notoriously rules-texty Dance of Many, an enchantment-based reworking of that old crowd-pleaser, Clone. Despite the fact that Dance of Many is only seldom used to make copies of Slugs, the trippy-hippy Sandra Everingham art portrays a trio of winged sea slugs dancing up a flight of stairs. And well they may dance for, coming after the strong 1-drop Flood and 2-drop Dance of Many is the decidedly un-Blue Apprentice Wizard, a mana producer that could set you up for a Turn 4 Giant Shark. Whatever Giant Shark’s merits, it’s undeniably a triumph of flavor. You see, the Shark becomes more dangerous if there’s blood in the water (that is, if its blocker has taken damage before blocking was declared).
So, is the Dark more exciting than you’d imagined? Are you salivating at the thought of sinking your teeth into the set’s other three colors? Does the idea of looking at the Dark’s Artifacts and Lands as well give you goosebumps? Please, don’t tell me. In any case, you’ll get all those things (and more!) in the next article of this series.
Skål!
-Adam Grydehøj
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