For the 2005 Deck Challenge, I chose some pretty cruddy jobs: mono-Green, Green/White, these are not the things you looked to play when you saw Ravnica and the shiny toys like Circu, Dimir Lobotomist and Lightning Helix. While I worked on those decks, I was brewing an idea: using the tools at hand, figuring out what a truly nasty Green deck could be capable of.
Tip Number Seven: Remember that you have an opponent.
Sounds nutty, but it’s true. And what that opponent can do to (or for) you is enormous. But not as enormous as those Burger King fat boy breakfast sandwiches. Saw one on a billboard and it was so terrifying that I hid my children.
Today we hit the end of Control Week. Last year, my control deck ended up as one of the strongest decks in the States metagames and I’m going to add another saucy decklist of my own at the end of this article, but the main thing Knut wanted me to do was go over some of the other writers’ decks and give my comments and ideas on their implementation or viability.
The Magic Jerk returns and does jerky things like drafting and stuff.
I plan on playing at States this year, however considering how expensive the new lands are I’m not sure if it’s even worth trying to construct a deck. My dream would be to play Battle of Wits…
The right admirable Dr. Mox tackles this week’s 2005 Championship Deck Challenge assignment with his customary gusto, producing a solid control deck in spite of the fact that he is the most diabolical hater of control archetypes this side of the Mississippi.
This deck is not some amazing creation that came to me in a dream. You aren’t going to look at it and exclaim, “Oh my God, that’s the most clever thing I’ve ever seen.” What it is, is rather simple and most good players have had this deck in their testing gauntlet for at least a week or two. What it is, my brethren, is a relentless beating machine that has been really difficult to deal with in testing. What it is, my people, is a strong version of what is likely to be the most popular deck archetype you will see at this year’s Championships.
In years past, Jim Ferraiolo has produced decks on the cutting edge of Standard technology, earning numerous players Top 8 berths at States, Regionals, and Nationals alike. This year he’s participating in Control week and serves up a new flavor of Opposition-esque goodness for your consideration.
I know I promised in my last article that I was going to do a draft guide for the R/W Boros archetype in Ravnica Limited this week, but I simply didn’t get to draft the deck enough yet to know all of the inner workings. While doing my usual weekly barrage of drafts though, I did come upon another archetype that has turned out to be much better than I’d ever expected from just looking at the spoiler. That archetype is the Dimir Guild’s Mill deck.
How do you take 60 pages of text and summarize it in one pithy blurb?
John.
Friggin’.
Rizzo.
Parental Guidance is suggested.
Ted asked us if anyone would like to cover Constructed articles for States. He needed someone to do a deck in each of the viable archetypes, requesting for a group of someones to brave control. Recently the thought had occurred to me that far too many people have no idea exactly what it is they should do when they cast a Gifts Ungiven. They just do what they read people often go for, or they screw up really bad. It’s normally the latter on the PTQ scene, so today we’re going to cover Gifts decks for States and teach you how to cast that silly spell.
Guild Week in the 2005 Championship Deck Challenge concludes with the World Champ taking a look at what the Golgari Guild has to offer for States. Clearly Green/Black Control builds are best served by playing the Gifts Ungiven engine, but what does a more aggressive deck look like?
While working on the Ravnica Constructed Review articles, one of the new cards that really stood out to me was Sunforger. Sunforger costs three mana to play and three mana to equip, giving its bearer +4/+0. In and of itself, this repertoire would make Sunforger almost strictly worse than Loxodon Warhammer, a card long on potential itself, but one that has been completely absent from Constructed deck for the past two years. On a lark, I actually posted a potential Sunforger deck in the Ravnica Artifacts section… but later realized it might actually be good.
This is it, folks. The final installment for this monster review of what could be Magic’s best set yet. Today the legendary michaelj covers the Lands, Cycles (including the very powerful Hunted creatures), and the mechanics of Ravnica, detailing everything you need to know about Ravnica for Constructed. If you missed out on the earlier installments we’ve linked them all below for easy accessability.
It’s a little early to tell what the best Time Vault/Flame Fusillade combo deck looks like, but Stephen Menendian thinks he has a pretty good idea. If he’s right, Legacy is now broken right in half.
