With the recent release of M10, there’s been a glut of focus on it in just about every corner of the Magic world. Set reviews, Grands Prix, and tons of articles. It’s almost made me forget that we just had an awesome set come out in Alara Reborn. So I thought I’d dig into the ol’ Dollar Rare Bin and see what little gems we might be missing.
I mean, a guy can only get so much Baneslayer Angel before his taste buds start to shrivel.
Of the 50 rares and mythics in Alara Reborn, 35 are currently listed as $3 or less. The cards range from sideboard standouts (like Identity Crisis); to couple-ofs in established decks (like Finest Hour); to cards currently outclassed or without a home in today’s metagame, but that I think will stand out in the future (like Blitz Hellion or Mycoid Shepherd).
So what else is in there?
Fight to the Death ($0.99)
In the last PTQ I played in, my first round was against a Red-White “Planeswalker Control” deck that used just about as much board control as would be possible in those two colors. In the creature-heavy metagame that existed immediately prior to the release of M10, this was a stroke of genius. The deck (as I recall) only had four creatures, and strove to keep the board as clear as possible for as long as possible to set up the Planeswalkers and let them do their thing. I was playing Doran for this particular PTQ, and I remember that, at one point, all I had on the table was Doran. That’s a fairly humbling experience.
I really like the idea of “mostly creatureless” control. I’ve played Mono-Black Control in the past, first with just Nantuko Shades, and then with just Korlash and Demigod of Revenge. It must be some sort of mental illness, getting joy from blowing up your opponent’s creatures. In any event, this deck struck me as potentially “cool” and I did move into the part of my memory banks where cool ideas reside. It was tucked between “artichoke flavored ice cream” and “ride my bike to Denver”.
That part of the memory banks may also contain a lot of bad ideas.
That being said, losing Wrath of God in a deck like this is brutal — now you’re forced to either use multiple red damage-based mass removal spells, or you’re looking at the 5+ casting cost white Wrath variants. So I’m thinking, “How can I use Fight to the Death as my two-mana instant Wrath?”
The real question, I guess, is “How can I make enough blockers that Fight to the Death isn’t just one-for-one removal?” If I’m making chump blockers, I’m not overly invested in their survival — I’m just looking to protect myself long enough to find a way to deal with them permanently. But I’d rather not spend my early turns dropping Soul Wardens just so I can eventually block that Chameleon Colossus and kill it with Fight to the Death. There’s never going to be card economy unless I can figure out some way to make more than one blocker per card.
Spells (35)
Rare Cost Summary:
Fight to the Death ($0.99 x 4 = $3.96)
Martial Coup ($4.99 x 2 = $9.98)
Rakka Mar ($0.99 x 2 = $1.98)
Springjack Pasture ($0.59 x 2 = $1.18)
It certainly has removal, and it certainly has the ability to create chump blockers. The problem is, it doesn’t really have a great road to victory, if you know what I’m saying. It’s a war of attrition to say the very least — you’ve got to keep wrecking their board while keeping something around to attack. The nice thing is that Fight to the Death works both ways — if you’ve created a decent lot of tokens, you can comfortably send them in when you know that they’ll trade even with the enormous stuff on the other side of the board. Having Fight to the Death makes those little 1/1’s crazy adventurous.
The game plan is probably to use the damage sweepers and singleton removal as long as possible, then start generating tokens.
Wargate ($0.99)
It took me a long time to figure out why Wargate, in a set filled with undercosted gold cards, had the same converted mana cost as Chord of Calling but was three colors and a sorcery. I honestly think I was looking at Wargate as a gold Chord of Calling, and when I would contemplate decks with it, I would only look at creatures to fetch out.
But it fetches out ANYTHING. EN-EE-THING.
This could be the perfect card for a budget builder. Often you find that you only have one of an important card — Planeswalkers come to mind — and while you include them into a deck, you can’t seem to get to them with any consistency, especially when they matter most.
If you’re willing to spend three extra mana, Wargate certainly can solve that problem.
The next question becomes, what would you only want one of in your deck? Cards like Oblivion Ring, good multi-purpose cards, you would want four of — not that you couldn’t fetch one out with Wargate if you needed it. You’ve also got to consider Wargate’s sorcery speed — which means fetching out stuff to influence combat or do things in the end-step are out. You’ve got to be a pro-active “tap-out” deck.
Creatures (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (29)
Rare Cost Summary:
Mesa Enchantress ($0.99 x 4 = $3.96)
Wargate ($0.99 x 4 = $3.96)
Declaration of Naught ($0.99 x 2 = $1.98)
Hoofprints of the Stag ($0.75 x 2 = $1.50)
Sigil of the Empty Throne ($1.25 x 1 = $1.25)
Puca’s Mischief ($0.59 x 1 = $0.59)
Wheel of Sun and Moon ($1.99 x 1 = $1.99)
Indestructibility ($0.99 x 1 = $0.99)
Hive Mind ($0.99 x 1 = $0.99)
It’s like “Dollar Rare Days” here at Wild Dave’s Deck Emporium. That is a LOT of rares for a deck I put forth in this column, but the total cost of all the rares is under twenty bucks.
I think putting Wargate into the Enchantress shell is perfect. No, it doesn’t draw you a card when you fetch out an enchantment, but enchantments are the perfect permanent type to use a “toolbox” approach. With the Enchantresses, it’s usually fairly likely that you’ll draw a ton of cards. I stuck with the usual “mana ramp” approach that you usually see in Enchantress decks — it also helps get Wargate up and running — although there may not be enough mana ramp in the deck.
Most of the enchantments should make logical sense. You have win conditions (and you should have no problem churning out Hoofprint tokens), you have control elements, and you have some quirky one-ofs that inspire the Johnny in me to “see what happens.” Particularly, I’d like to fetch out Hive Mind once, just to see what I’d get copies of. And Puca’s Mischief has been getting some press thanks to Colfenor’s Plans — but I still think it’s perfectly acceptable when you’re swapping control of, say, a Fertile Ground for your opponent’s Figure of Destiny.
Reborn Quick Hits
I’m really sad to see Mycoid Shepherd and Knight of New Alara and Blitz Hellion in the dollar-rare bin. It’s a little sad when you realize that a 5/4 for four mana just doesn’t cut it in today’s metagame. Spellbreaker Behemoth is in there too. Wasn’t he going to be a big hit? I’m rethinking my deck choice for next weekend’s PTQ and thinking about going back to GW Little Kid, which I have had some success with. Dauntless Escort is no longer really necessary since there’s no more Wrath; I wonder if Mycoid Shepherd would be a responsible replacement?
Sad to see Enigma Sphinx never broke through as a one-of in Five Color. I really liked that idea. Having a recurring win condition never hurts — especially not one who might bring along a Broodmate Dragon.
Is Retaliator Griffin just too small for the casting cost? In a deck with a fair amount of lifegain to offset being forced to take damage, I could see Retaliator Griffin as something fairly big. I had one in one of the Limited events I did during the Alara Reborn Pre-Release weekend, and it was always golden for me — but Magic is littered with “good in Limited” cards.
I want to make a Counterburn deck with Spellbound Dragon. With Flame Javelins, obviously.
Next Week
Next week I’ll be back after my PTQ, and may or may not regale you with stories of my success. I know no one wants to read when I do poorly.
… Which is probably why you see so few tournament reports in my column.
Until next week…
Dave
dave dot massive at gmail and davemassive at twitter and facebook