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The Vintage World Championships Metagame, Part I

Perhaps the distinguishing feature of the Type One metagame since the restriction of Necropotence in 2000 has been the omnipresence of utterly domineering blue-based control decks. However, a combination of forces has conspired to wrest the upper tiers of the Type One metagame from Control’s exclusive, greedy clutches. Whereas the top tier was once defined as blue-based control decks, other decks began to seep in. Let me walk you through some of the most important decks in Vintage today, including Keeper, Forbiddian, Gro-A-Tog, TnT, MaskNaught, and Hulk Smash.

(Editor’s note: Don’t forget – this weekend, we’ll be covering the Vintage Championships live, as it happens! Stay tuned!)


Before we get under way, I’d like to take one moment to introduce this series. I’ll be writing a continuing series where each month, you’ll get a more serious look into the world of Type One. The topics will range from Metagame Analysis, such as this article, to introductory principles (such as The Ten Principles Of Type One), to in-depth analysis of an archetype as I did with $T4KS, sprinkled with occasional issues articles.


This upcoming weekend is a very special event in the world of Type One. After a serious decline in both respect and popularity of the format following the degenerate combo years of Urza’s Block, coinciding with a general decline in the format with the institution of Type Two, Type One has seen a turnaround. It’s been steadily gaining popularity over the last two years. What was once seen as a”dead” format is now known as a format whose tournament scene often surpasses Extended. Wizards has taken notice and has scheduled a spectacular event for the competitive Type One player: A Type One Championship. An”Ask Wizards” column from May 5th, answered that the tentative prize for the tournament is going to be a reinterpretation of Black Lotus by Christopher Rush – a piece of artwork that is bound to be worth enough money to draw some professional Magic players into the tournament. Mike Guptil, of Professional Event Services, has confirmed that there will be a piece of original artwork as part of the winner’s prize. But that’s not all! GenCon is full of great Type One events, including a $250 tournament.


Where Have We Been?

Perhaps the distinguishing feature of the Type One metagame since the restriction of Necropotence in 2000 has been the omnipresence of utterly domineering blue-based control decks. However, a combination of forces has conspired to wrest the upper tiers of the Type One metagame from Control’s exclusive, greedy clutches. Whereas the top tier was once defined as blue-based control decks, other decks began to seep in. The restriction of Fact or Fiction, the printing of Fetchlands, the Judgment Incarnations, and the errata given to Illusionary Mask provided a witches’ brew of potent cards that were employed to fight control.


But before I explain what impact these cards made, let’s take a look at some of the standard blue-based control decks that you might run into at Gencon. Let’s begin with what is perhaps the most well known Type One deck, or perhaps even, the most well known deck ever: Keeper, the modern ancestor to Brian Weissman’s”The Deck.”


Keeper, by Mikey Pustilnik (March, 2003)

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Sol Ring

1 City of Brass

4 Flooded Strand

2 Island

1 Library of Alexandria

2 Mishra’s Factory

1 Strip Mine

2 Tundra

2 Underground Sea

2 Volcanic Island

3 Wasteland


1 Zuran Orb

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Mind Twist

1 The Abyss

1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Braingeyser

4 Brainstorm

2 Cunning Wish

1 Fact or Fiction

4 Force of Will

4 Mana Drain

1 Merchant Scroll

2 Misdirection

1 Morphling

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Stroke of Genius

1 Teferi’s Response

1 Time Walk

1 Timetwister

1 Gorilla Shaman

1 Balance

1 Swords to Plowshares


Sideboard:

1 Burnout

1 Circle of Protection: Black

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Diabolic Edict

1 “Dismantling Blow

1 Ensnaring Bridge

2 Hydroblast

1 Misdirection

1 Mountain

1 Pyroblast

1 Pyroclasm

2 Red Elemental Blast

1 Swords to Plowshares


Paragon Keeper, By Steve O'Connell (June, 2003)

// Counter Magic

2 Duress

4 Force of Will

4 Mana Drain

// Kill

1 Masticore

1 Morphling

// Broken Utility/Card Draw

1 “Time Walk

1 Future Sight

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Skeletal Scrying

1 Library of Alexandria

1 Zuran Orb

// Tutor/Search

3 Brainstorm

3 Cunning Wish

1 Merchant Scroll

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Mystical Tutor

// Bullet

3 Swords to Plowshares

1 Balance

1 Mind Twist

// SoLoMoxen

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Black Lotus

1 Sol Ring

// Land

1 Strip Mine

2 City of Brass

3 Wasteland

1 Island

3 Tundra

3 Volcanic Island

4 Flooded Strand

3 Underground Sea


Sideboard:

4 Red Elemental Blast

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Diabolic Edict

1 Ebony Charm

1 Aura Fracture

1 Skeletal Scrying

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Gush

1 Disenchant

1 Shattering Pulse

1 Swords to Plowshares


This deck is obviously a rather strong, crushing control deck whose most noticeable feature is a high count of broken cards; few decks run both Yawgmoth’s Will and Balance. While its primary proponents advertise the deck as one of the strongest to play in a random metagame, I think its power comes from its inherent flexibility and adaptability in its status as the control deck which has all the broken cards. It can draw power from all the colors of the magic rainbow – a well of powerful cards that can answer almost any threat. (That’s one reason that Cunning Wish is functionally maximized in this archetype) Its heavy mana denial component, featured in multiple Wastelands and Gorilla Shaman (the good builds), has rarely been more game-breaking as it stands to be in the post-Gush metagame. The reasons why will become clearer when we enter the discussion of the up-and-coming combo decks.


Keeper is Vintage’s Rock. Nothing beats Rock, right? Nothing except Paper. It is the benchmark upon which most decks are based. The result is that the development of aspiring contenders has meant a relentless, never-ending assault on Keeper’s prominence. The result was a deck that was reduced to the fringes, clung to by an increasingly small, but devoted, group of players. It is too early to tell if Keeper will return in a big way, or in a little way. One thing is certain is that this deck is never to be underestimated.


Weaknesses

Its weaknesses include its own light mana base, a generally slow win condition, and increasingly difficult matchups. The proliferation of Misdirection has forced a mutation of this archetype, often leading to the removal of Stroke of Genius and Braingeyser from the maindeck. Its mana base is a prime target for heavy Wasteland decks like Sligh and Suicide Black to bolster a threatening board position. Sligh also proves difficult for Keeper, as Keeper lacks the permission to address each and every threat. In particular, the traditional game ender, Zuran Orb, is far more unwieldy with the addition of Fetchlands: there are fewer lands to sacrifice.


On the other side of the spectrum, the combo decks abusing Storm and Academy Rector have an incredibly high density of threats. They play threat after threat, and Keeper can have a difficult time stopping them all – something that requires more than a little bit of luck after the Keeper player has had their hand neutered by Duresses and Cabal Therapies.


Conclusion: Strong

Keeper is a strong contender, and should never be counted out. It’s ability to metagame to suit prevailing conditions means Keeper may be down, but never truly out.


Forbiddian

With the prevalence of control decks in the upper tier, a popular strategy was to find a control deck that would”out-control” other control decks, while having as good a game – if not better – against the other components of the metagame. An example of this was the misnamed Forbiddian, or Ophidian, decks. Recent testing (and the use of fetchlands) suggests a potential for this archetype beyond the color blue. Here is a listing of a recent multi-color Phid deck:


Four Color Phid:

3 Volcanic Island

3 Underground Sea

2 Tundra

4 Flooded Strand

2 City of Brass

1 Library of Alexandria

1 “Strip Mine

1 Wasteland

1 Island

7 SoLoMoxen



4 Ophidian

1 Morphling

1 Goblin Trenches



4 Force of Will

4 Mana Drain

4 Mana Leak

1 Misdirection


4 Brainstorm

1 Cunning Wish

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Mystical Tutor


1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Time Walk

1 Balance

1 Powder Keg

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Fire / Ice


Sideboard:

3 Red Elemental Blast

2 Flametongue Kavu

2 Shattering Pulse

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Dismantling Blow

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Diabolic Edict

1 Skeletal Scrying

1 Misdirection

1 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Aura Fracture


Drawing upon the power of the many colors, this deck is in many ways like Keeper with what many consider to be a superior drawing engine: Ophie, our favorite snake. The deck backs up its ‘Phids with counters a-plenty and Swords to Plowshares to remove potential blockers. The premise is simple: Counter all threats or remove them from game, build up tremendous card advantage, then play a Morphling or Goblin Trenches and attack for the win.


Weaknesses

Rarely in modern Vintage has Ophidian been so weak. It is not only more difficult to clear the path for Ophie, but there seems to be an increase in stronger, efficient creatures in the format with the onset of Quiron Dryad, followed by Psychatog – not to mention the rise of Mishra’s Workshop-based decks, which pose problems on many levels for a deck which attempts to counter all threats and then swing in with a relatively small critter as the sole draw engine (as will be seen later in this article). The answer has been the employment of Swords to Plowshares – but all too often, this is a dead card. The result is a compromise which weakens the inherent versatility of the heavy counterspell concept.


One of the strengths of the earlier iterations of this concept was the use of Back to Basics. It was found to be so powerful, that Oscar Tan has suggested its restriction more than once. While that is a far-fetched idea to most of us, the answer to this card was found in the printing of fetchlands. Being able to fetch out dual lands provides incredible, unheard-of mana consistency with many colors… And the end result is that multicolor decks that would have been impossible to build in the past, are now easily achieved. So splashing another color becomes a relatively easy thing to do. With fetchlands, you can play four colors and yet also run basic land, adding to the mana stability against non-basic hosers.


Conclusion: Good

Despite a dip in strength over the past year, this deck poses a serious threat to the combo player. It is a deck which is likely to be present, but moreover, likely to win more than it loses.


Gro-A-Tog

At GenCon last year, Pat Chapin piloted an Extended favorite to a $250 prize.


Chapin Gro

Main Deck

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Time Walk

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Sol Ring

1 Regrowth

1 Cunning Wish

1 Opt

1 Divert

1 Disrupt

2 Daze

4 Force of Will

4 Misdirection

2 Foil

2 Merchant Scroll

4 Gush

4 Ophidian

4 Quirion Dryad

4 Land Grant

4 Brainstorm

4 Slight of Hand

1 Library of Alexandria

4 Tropical Island

4 Island


Sideboard:

1 Emerald Charm

1 Living Wish

3 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Morphling

1 Strip Mine

1 Hydroblast

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Timetwister

1 Back to Basics

1 Divert

1 Seedtime


While clearly illegal as of July 1st, modifications to the basic concept may prove that less-busty Chapin Gro is still a resilient concept. The power of Quiron Dryad cannot be denied; it is arguable that the restriction of Gush has hurt Psychatog more than Quiron Dryad (at least as a creature). The basic modifications might be the addition of black, using a GroAtog mana base – made possible by Fetchlands, and the addition of more cantrips, or possibly Accumulated Knowledges in the place of the missing Gushes. I would also look hard to find space for three counterspells.


Weaknesses

Chapin boasted at Grand Prix: Pittsburgh last year that he had tested against all the major archetypes, and found nothing that could beat it. But when Carl Winter asked if he knew what TnT was, he had never heard of it. Perhaps the biggest weakness of this deck was, and is, Tools ‘N Tubbies, also known as TnT. The power of a turn 1 Juggernaut followed by Goblin Welders and Survival of the Fittest is something that Gro has difficulty dealing with. That is why the addition of Psychatog was a demonstrable improvement on the concept. In late 2002, Chapin posted a”Chapin Gro 2003″ build on MTGnews.com, whose distinguishing feature was a white splash for Swords to Plowshares – something he felt would improve the mirror match, and also incidentally improves the TnT matchup.


But the biggest weakness of all has to be the loss of Gush. The deck had so much built-in synergy around Gush that its loss is a major blow to the archetype. Most of my control games against Chapin Gro involved two major counterwars, with the second war generally being game-deciding. What gave Chapin Gro the ability to really win those wars was a combination of Cantrips and Gushing – particularly the latter, whose minute, but critical, card advantage led to huge wins. The loss of Gush means that winning those counterwars is a more difficult task. For tuning, it needs to de-emphasize the pitch magic a bit more (because the card disadvantage is no longer worth it) and focus on a slightly longer game. However, the up-and-coming combo decks, as well as control decks, pose large threats to this concept.


Conclusion: Mediocre

There is no doubt that this deck can still win games. But it must now work harder at it, and usually can’t muster up the resources to get over a mid-game hump against an opponent with a more potent draw engine, or heavy spot removal.


TnT

That leads us to:


Tools ‘n Tubbies (TnT)

By Benjamin Rott

1 Black Lotus

1 Grim Monolith

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Sol Ring

2 Forest

4 Mishra’s Workshop

1 Strip Mine

4 Taiga

2 Tropical Island

3 Wasteland

3 Windswept Heath

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Juggernaut

1 Karn, Silver Golem

1 Masticore

1 Memory Jar

4 Su-Chi

2 Triskelion

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Time Walk

1 Tinker

1 Druid Lyrist

1 Quirion Ranger

4 Survival of the Fittest

1 Sylvan Library

1 Anger

4 Goblin Welder

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob


Sideboard:

4 Blood Moon

1 Bottle Gnomes

1 Elvish Lyrist

1 Flametongue Kavu

1 Genesis

2 Red Elemental Blast

3 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Uktabi Orangutan

1 Wonder


During the final month of Fact or Fiction in December 2001, Germany’s now-famous Dülmen featured the breakout of this archetype. The concept was rather complex, and the deck proved difficult for beginners. The idea is a Workshop-based Tubbies deck featuring fat like Su-Chi and Juggernaut (thus, the name Tubbies) with the resilience of the Squee-based Survival Engine (Tools). Once Survival became active, you could manipulate your deck through a tutor chain to get Goblin Welder, then Weld Su-Chi back and forth to generate enough mana to cast anything whilst making each artifact essentially uncounterable (because you could Weld out a Mox to get it back). It was designed to beat Mono Blue – something it succeeded enormously in. The Judgment Incarnations provided an amazing boost to this deck, especially with Anger – which you could now Survival out to get an”Angry Welder” and summon an army of fat to crush your opponent. Wonder and Genesis are used in various builds as well. The deck can survival up various”answers” to threats by using standard Toolbox cards like Elvish Lyrist, Scrapper, and so forth.


The most modern variants of this deck have borrowed from Stax, and are using Tangle Wires to help gain tempo while thier threats beat down (and sometimes even Sphere of Resistance). Both cards are useful because they are never symmetrical.


Weaknesses

Outside of a few Wastelands or Tangle Wires, this deck has almost no serious disruption. As such, it has earned a reputation for being unable to beat combo – a weakness that is only going to be accentuated at GenCon, which coincides with one of the largest explosion of Combo decks onto the metagame in years. Furthermore, even the Control decks see little reason to be concerned because most of them are hybrid decks which win by”comboing off.” At the moment, practically no control deck uses the uber-slow Morphling – a card that TnT loves to stomp over.


Conclusion: Mediocre

While this was the first aggro deck to earn a spot in the Tier One alongside blue-based control decks, its position there is no longer secure thanks to the rapid changes in the metagame. While this deck will run over random aggro decks – something that is traditionally omnipresent at Gencon – the larger prize and pride of a Championship will draw out opponents of a different creed and caliber. Look for this deck in the middle tables.


MaskNaught

By Chris Flaaten (slightly modified)

1 Seal of Cleansing

4 Dark Ritual

1 Demonic Consultation

1 Demonic Tutor

4 Duress

1 Hymn to Tourach

2 Hypnotic Specter

1 Necropotence

3 Phyrexian Negator

4 Tainted Pact

4 Unmask

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Yawgmoth’s Will



1 Ancestral Recall

1 Time Walk

1 Black Lotus

4 Illusionary Mask

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Sapphire

4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

1 Sol Ring

1 Badlands

1 Bloodstained Mire

3 City of Brass

2 Gemstone Mine

2 Polluted Delta

2 Snow-Covered Swamp

2 Swamp

2 Underground Sea


Sideboard:

2 Blood Moon

3 Contagion

2 Dystopia

1 Phyrexian Reclamation

2 Planar Void

1 Timetwister

1 Lord of Tresserhorn

2 Recoil

1 Zuran Orb


Vengeur Masqué

By Carl Devos


Maindeck:

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Sapphire

2 Flooded Strand

4 Forest

4 Island

4 Tropical Island

2 Windswept Heath

1 Wooded Foothills

4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

4 Illusionary Mask

1 Ancestral Recall

3 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

1 Gilded Drake

1 Morphling

1 Time Walk

1 Tradewind Rider

1 Voidmage Apprentice

3 Volrath’s Shapeshifter

4 Birds of Paradise

1 Nantuko Vigilante

2 Quirion Ranger

4 Survival of the Fittest

3 Wall of Roots

1 Flowstone Hellion

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob


Sideboard:

3 Back to Basics

1 Bottle Gnomes

1 Druid Lyrist

1 Elvish Lyrist

1 Genesis

1 Masticore

2 Misdirection

1 Ravenous Baloth

1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

2 Uktabi Orangutan

1 Waterfront Bouncer


In September 2001, few were paying attention when a DCI ruling made clear that Phyrexian Dreadnaught could be played under Illusionary Mask without the drawback. Even fewer realized the implication. MaskNaught, or”Tainted Mask,” was made potent by the printing of Tainted Pact and made stronger by the printing of fetchlands. Vengeur Masqué is a unique, and powerful, variation on that theme that seeks to abuse morphs such as Willbender without having to pay the morph cost thanks to the Mask. It is more in the tradition of Full English Breakfast than an adherent to Flaaten’s design.


The powerful hand disruption of MaskNaught is more potent than it has been in some time, now that Misdirection has cut its numbers in the upper tiers. Moreover, the combo itself is ridiculously easy to achieve. Tainted Mask quickly became another non-blue based control entrant into the Tier One.


Weaknesses

As sick as it sounds, one weakness of this deck is that it still takes two turns to win. Another is that resolving the Mask is a rather important event. It is almost pointless to analyze both decks under the same framework, but both decks do suffer some consistency problems. Monthly, Carl Devos posts strong finishes with this deck… But never the top spot. Perhaps that is suggestive that the attacking route, no matter how fast, may not be the best path to victory?


One other weakness is a particular hatred of Goblin Welder – a prominent creature in Type One right now. In combination with draw-sevens, Gorilla Shamans, or Smokestacks, (all of which deposit your artifacts into the bin), Goblin Welder will make your life a living hell, Welding your ‘Naught out of play and then subsequently Welding each artifact into the ‘Naught as a form of spot removal. Vengeur might care less about that when a Volrath’s Shapeshifter is active, but it still remains a threat nonetheless.


Conclusion: Strong

Either deck is likely to be represented in the top 8 of GenCon. One final variation on the theme has been to use Shadowmage Infiltrators in a Tainted Mask variant with a heavier blue component to support cards like Force of Will and Brainstorm. Watch out for the crazy Masked Avenger. For more on Tainted Mask, check out my primer on it.


Hulk Smash

Finally, there is a deck that was developed at about the same time as GroAtog, but which was basically abandoned by most players as inferior to GroAtog.


T1 Psychatog (Hulk Smash)

By JP Meyer

5 Island

4 Polluted Delta

3 Underground Sea

3 Tropical Island

1 Swamp

1 Strip Mine

1 Library of Alexandria


5 Moxes

1 Black Lotus


4 Psychatog


4 Force of Will

4 Mana Drain

4 Brainstorm

4 Accumulated Knowledge

3 Intuition

2 Misdirection

2 Cunning Wish

2 Merchant Scroll

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Gush

1 Time Walk


2 Sylvan Library


1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Demonic Tutor


Sideboard:

3 Duress

3 Back to Basics

2 Pernicious Deed/Hurkyl’s Recall

1 Mind Twist

1 Smother

1 Berserk

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Naturalize

1 Mana Short

1 Lim-Dul’s Vault


The basic idea is a Psychatog deck transplanted into Type One. This deck has taken a big hit with the restriction of Gush… But it is still an independently powerful deck, which abuses the Intution/Accumulated Knowledge Combo. It also has the potential to Wish out Berserk and stampede an enormous Tog over the opponent.


Weaknesses

Rector Trix and focused discard can prove very detrimental to this deck, and there is little that Hulk can do about a resolved Academy Rector. This deck has the same problems that most blue-based control decks have against the Workshop decks, and in particular Stax. They are generally too slow to deal with Sphere of Resistence, Tangle Wire, and Smokestack (let alone Goblin Welder) unless they have decided to bring in a lot of hate. And Hurkyl’s Recall is generally too slow to deal with the problem, as Hulk lacks the pressure that GroAtog had. There is also going to be a proliferation of Red Elemental Blasts in various sideboards at Gencon – something no Psychatog build is pleased to see. Also, decks like Suicide Black can pose a real problem if they force discard on an Accumulated Knowledge or attack the mana base early on.


Conclusion: Good

While this is an inherently powerful concept, it seems that the deck could use some tuning. Perhaps splashing White for Meddling Mage (for combo) and Sacred Ground (for Stax) might give this deck greater resilience.


Combo, Combo, Combo

That about brings us up to date with the exception of a discussion on GroAtog (GAT), something that has been discussed extensively elsewhere, and requires little more than a sidenote here. GroAtog was the supreme evolution on the Gro theme. The restriction of Gush has basically eliminated its potency altogether. Over the course of GroAtog brutal half-year of domination, there were two decks that happened to develop, powerful in there own right, as foils to GAT.


The first is:


Stax (or $T4KS, the Four Thousand Dollar Solution).

By Stephen Menendian, Matthieu Durand, and Kevin Cron


4 Mishra’s Workshop

1 Tolarian Academy

4 Volcanic Island

1 Badlands

4 Polluted Delta

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Strip Mine

1 Island

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Emerald

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Diamond

1 Black Lotus

1 Lotus Petal

1 Sol Ring

1 Mana Crypt

1 Mana Vault

1 Grim Monolith

4 Sphere of Resistance

4 Tangle Wire

4 Smokestack

4 Goblin Welder

4 Meditate

1 Timetwister

1 Ancestral Recall

1 Memory Jar

1 Tinker

1 Wheel of Fortune

1 Windfall

1 Time Walk

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Yawgmoth’s Will

1 Karn, Silver Golem

1 Triskelion


I have written nearly twenty pages on how good this deck is and how it operates here, and so rather than discuss it in any more detail, I will merely explain a little how this deck should perform at GenCon and what some of its weaknesses are.


Weaknesses

The biggest problem this deck has is other decks being prepared for it. Spells like Energy Flux (if it resolves), Hurkyl’s Recall, Fire / Ice, Null Rod, Sacred Ground, and the like present real problems for this deck. It may be able to overcome many of these issues by properly sideboarding against the hate… But there are larger issues at stake here as well. While turn 1 Sphere of Resistence is likely to pose insurmountable difficulties for most of the combo decks, going second against them is likely to make Sphere a dead card. This deck can have real issues against some Combo decks (especially the ones which back Force of Will). Spells that proliferate the format, such as Duress, provide real obstacles to the explosiveness of this deck because it has such a low business-spell-to-mana-source ratio. There is also the inherent weakness, present in all decks with such high mana counts, that it will just get a crappy, mana-heavy (or mana-light) hand and have to mulligan more frequently than its competitors. This problem is compounded by the fact that this deck really hates to mulligan.


Conclusion: Good

In the absence of a significant amount of hate, this deck becomes”Strong.” However, in spite of its recent publicity, it is still likely to crush Mike Long’s Burning Academy (if it is playing first), and Tendril’s decks which lack Force of Will. It also remains an inherently powerful deck with the tools to handle almost anything.


Stephen Menendian

I can be reached at [email protected].