#140, #142, #145, #143, and NOW it’s #144? Well, the Ferrett’s evidently gone off his rocker, but it’s too late to do anything now. And unlike the editor’s righteous inconsistency, I start off the blue section of the Hall of Fame pretty much the same way every time, telling you how blue has a lousy time in multiplayer – its natural strength in duel is its major weakness in group.
Today, we’ll be constructing a basic skeleton or framework for the 5-Color deck you’ll be playing. We do not want to fill it up with tutors, or removal, or mana, or whatever – not yet, anyway. All we want is the tasty nugget. Figuring out the skeleton, however, may be a little bit harder than it appears at first.
We begin with what was the most talked-about enchantment in Type I circles, obviously because this card has explosive potential…. But what deck does Future Sight belong in? With Future Sight in play, Academy can turn over Moxen and keep fueling cheap card drawers until it puts together the combo. But is it a good idea?
It’s easy to discount the actual process of deck shuffling as an afterthought, instead focusing on play ability and deck choice. While these characteristics are naturally important, it’s also very important not to make the mistake of overlooking the necessary skill of shuffling. Shuffling improperly or carelessly can give your opponent a decided advantage throughout the duration of a match.
It’s nice to see T2 and limited catching on – but multiplayer deckbuilders have been doing tribal all along. Looking back over my past articles, I see fun decks built around sea creatures, elves, zombies, soldiers and more. It’s a common multiplayer idea – but I want to talk about how to build such decks in general, not about any specific tribal deck.
Red’s trade-offs usually feel pretty chaotic -“I can get a powerful effect, but I’m likely to get burned in the process (either by actually getting burned, or losing random cards).” Black’s trade-offs are a bit more cold and calculating -“I lose this predictable resource to make X happen to everyone else.” So how does black fare in multiplayer?
During OBC Season, I got stuck testing R/G Beats extensively – and discovered that it was the Little Deck That Couldn’t. For States, I’ve been testing six different builds of U/W Mobilization – and once again, I have discovered that none of them work. Let me warn you why this is one deck you should not even CONSIDER taking to States – and wonder why I am so clearly drawn to sucktacular decks….
I’ve seen people do it:”End of turn, tap Flooded Strand to go look for a …” The point is that there is clearly no actual reason to use the fetchland – because you’re short on land! You want to draw a land next turn. Use the damned things right.
“Life’s just much too hard today,” I hear every player say. They just don’t appreciate getting killed. But maybe that’s just because getting killed means that they lose yet again. It gets tiring very fast. And do you know what they just lost to? To my broken Plague Post deck.
The thirty-five best white cards in multiplayer, plus over ten neatly organized staples for you law-and-order types. And a request to prove Anthony wrong! Shouldn’t be too hard, folks.
Anthony’s last week at StarCity starts off with the thirty-five best red cards in multiplayer… Plus over ten”staples” every self-respecting mountain mage has in their collection! Which Onslaught card has zoomed to #9 on the list? No, it’s not Insurrection.
My foray into mediocrity at the last Houston Qualifier led me to try it again at one of the early PT: Chicago Qualifiers. After all, what’s a better way to spend an afternoon than going 3-3 with your friends?
Neither of these decks are groundbreaking. I mean, where are all of the Onslaught cards? But you gotta remember that sometimes, new cards just don’t help certain decks. Look at PTQ Chicago in 2000: Fires decks were all the rage. But what won the thing? A good, solid Rebel deck. Invasion didn’t give Rebels anything… But it also didn’t take anything away.
“Hi, my name is Dave, and I’m a Wits-aholic….”
“Hi, Dave.”
“But back when Battle of Wits occasionally won tournaments, Toby and Brock ran the same number of counterspells: Thirty-six. Are there even nine counters in Standard today that are worth playing? And does that mean that Wits is dead?”
Before you start the Hall (which begins today), read this primer so you know how to get the most out of its new, interactive features! Damn, we’re starting to look good on this site – and we’ll look even better now that Alongi’s announcing his StarCity retirement, which should also boost our image.
