Our take on B/W Control has shown the most promise. I find it hard to believe it’s nowhere to be seen among the top-tier Onslaught Block decks. It has all the tools to handle the current Tier I decks – Zombie Bidding, Goblins, MWC, Slide – but I haven’t seen a build that can beat those decks. That doesn’t mean I don’t think such a build exists. In my opinion, the right mix of cards hasn’t been found yet – the archetype is solid. So let’s take a look!
The flavor texts of Ice Age are given new substance in the novel The Eternal Ice. However, unlike The Dark’s novelization, the flavor texts from Ice Age serve in a much more environmental capacity than in a storytelling one. For example, Disa, the Restless has a large role to play in the flavor texts of Ice Age, but no place in the novel – and no real impact on the goings-on of the time period. Alternately, Jaya Ballard has many enjoyable quotes from this set and plays a large role in the story, but the two facets of her existence are not interrelated. Therefore, as usual, The Real Story Behind Ice Age will give further insight into the storyline behind the flavor texts….
Hey – what’s Oscar doing in the fun section? Well, after all the serious debate on the strategy behind the Vintage Championships, Oscar decides to show three improbable routes to victory… Including the famed Invincible Counter-Troll face-off!
Bennie clears house on his past articles, discussing why he really loves control (just not the hard counterspelly kind), goes back to see whether he’s been able to beat the notorious Chuck, and airs his views on Magic writing – and tells you why his viewpoint is valid even if he has no pro points, dangit!
The Claw, Darwin Kastle’s top 8 deck from Pro Tour: Venice, is dead… But this doesn’t mean you have to give your Kilnmouth Dragons away to the local kids! Although the modified Explosive Vegetation incarnation of the Claw is now obsolete, Dragons can live on as a version of a R/W Control deck. Basically, the Neo-Claw takes the powerful control elements of MWC, and adds board-controlling burn and important tools for control mirrors from Red to create a nice complement to the powerful flying finishers.
In Sweden, Type I is very popular (as is Magic overall). We have two sanctioned Type I events each week in the city I live in; last year’s biggest event had an attendance of about a hundred and thirty, and the largest this year was about a hundred players. Those were both our unofficial Nationals for Type I. So I was well-prepared for GenCon, even though it presented a whole new metagame…
When people in the Magic community think of me, I can only wonder what they think, but I’m sure that in between thoughts of”That guy’s terrible!” and”What was he thinking!?” they wonder why I play the most ridiculous decks every time without fail. And trust me – I have good reasons for playing a Cleric deck at Nationals!
Some of you may be thinking of tearing up cards that go to the graveyard, but that’s not what I’m talking about – that’s a different”Ironman.” This was an equally crazed version of normal Magic: Five-hundred card decks of all five colors, ten card hands and a hundred life, played at a table with as many opponents as you could find. And one more thing: Every single card, basic lands excepted, was restricted.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Goblins are terrible. They must be! Almost everyone I talk to plays a deck that crushes the Little Red Men. A deck that goes no worse than 70/30 against the marauding mono-coloured menace.
In a field in which Goblins are rightly feared, it seems everyone is gunning for them. Everyone has that special build, that ultra tech… Which ensures that a quick red rush has no chance of succeeding. Right?
When some alien race, say thirty or forty thousand years down the road, happens upon the charred cinder in space that used to be Earth – I think they might find an epitaph that tells a similar tale. A nearly blank tombstone standing in the middle of what used to be New York, or Mexico City, or Delhi. Just one line engraved in an otherwise featureless marble column.
“Just an upgrade.”
I recently received this e-mail from Grand Prix Atlanta Organizer, Anthony Edwards. He asked that I try to help spread the word. Well… consider it spread!
Speaking of Grand Prix Atlanta, be sure to visit StarCityGames.com for LIVE COVERAGE of this monumental event… courtesy of The Ferrett, Ben Bleiweiss, Ted Knutson and the rest of the StarCityGames.com Event Coverage Team!
NEW! Level III judge and StarCityGames.com rules guru, Sheldon Menery, has been confirmed as Head Judge of Grand Prix Atlanta!
So you’ve got forty-five cards, thanks to my advice on how to pick them in this article. Some are bombs, some are solid, some are last-pick garbage. Now, what do you do to put them together?
The Legions pack is a veritable treasure trove for the U/R drafter, and even with several U/W mages at the table, you can still clean up on quality U/R cards. Enemy mages will be grabbing Stingers and Deftblade Elites, and you should happily let them. With Echo Tracer, Willbender, Wall of Deceit, Keeneye Aven, and Mistform Seaswift all ripe for the plucking, you’re the real kid in this cardboard candy store. After a while, the cracking of pack two might start to trigger an almost Pavlovian response.
You might remember passing notes from the coverage about how Randy Buehler and some other people passed by the Type I Championships and watched a few matches. Players reported, however, that they weren’t just watching idly. Rumor is some serious talking was done. Something about… Updating the Restricted list?
The goal of the deck is to get enough mana to cast Insurrection and Day of the Dragons in the same turn. Win or lose, people are impressed by this deck – or at least, the sheer audacity of running a four-color deck based around a fifteen-mana combo. It has no real creature removal, no counters, no disruption… Just pure, solid, combo-assembling fun.
