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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Alex, The Sick Man's Black/White Deck
February 6, 2007

Alex here has been sending me quite a few E-mails about his "sick man's black/white deck" lately, and while usually sending me multiple E-mails is just annoying and doesn't accomplish anything for you, Alex's plea really spoke to me.  Also, when I read over his deck list, it really got me thinking of ideas to fix it.  So, despite the 30-or-so E-mails I received first, I'm going to let Alex here cut ahead in line.  Don't worry; I haven't forgotten you. 
Hello, Names Alex and Im a casual player who uses some very vintage cards but they're still effective so i dont mind. Alright so the overall deck strategy works like this. The white half of the deck is designed to set up the attack with low cost but strong creatures like the Knight Errant and Diving Griffin. Combo these guys with the two Glorious Enchantments i have in here for the nice +2/+2 making my griffons and every other low cost white creature very dangerous. The Pacifisms and Arrests are there to hose up my enemies and to stop any offense in its tracks. The Black half is the finishing move.....in coordination with Glorious Enchantment im using Intimidation which gives Fear to all my own creatures. The Dross Golems and the Abyssal Specters are the power offense who hammer though the remanats of my opponent and to clean up anything the white spells miss i have plenty of Dark Banishing and Hand of Death to mop up the mess. Major issues with this deck are swarm decks which have too many creatures for me to handle.....and overall speed though i have worked on it is sometimes an issue......open to suggestions. Thank you
 
Total: 60
 
10x Plains
8x Swamp
2x Dark Ritual (replaceable)
 
4x Knight Errant
2x Venerable Monk
2x Longbow Archer
2x Diving Griffon
4x Dross Golem
2x Leaden Myr
2x Abyssal Specter
2x Emissary of Despair
 
4x Pacifism
3x Arrest
2x Glorious Anthem
1x Holy Day
4x Dark Banishing
2x Unholy Strength
2x Hand Of Death
1x Pestilence (creature moderation in desperate situations)
1x Intimidation
Well, here's quite the kettle of fish.  Small, quick creatures backed up by enchantments like Glorious Anthem and Intimidation.  It's a good strategy, so you shouldn't have too much trouble.  And since you mentioned that you're on a tight budget, I'm heading over to ShuffleandCut.com to search prices and find out if there are any bargain rares that would help you.  I'll keep all my recommendations under $1.00 per card*, or at least try to.
 
Now, first of all, you creature base, while solid, could do with some serious work.  Luckily we recently had a set released called Guildpact, which was brimming with Black/White cards.  Now, for good creatures, look into Blind Hunter($0.49), Orzhov Pontiff($0.69), Mourning Thrull($0.49), or Orzhov Guildmage($0.56).  Also, since you have a copy of Pestilence but seem reluctant to use it, here's a trick you may not have figured out.  With a creature with protection from black in play, your creature will be immune to Pestilence's damage.  So you can wipe the board and be the only guy left with a creature.  And all the better for you, most pro: black creatures are white!  Try out Order of the Stars($0.49) for maximum effectiveness, since it can gain pro:black, or pro:whatever color your opponent is playing.  Duskrider Peregrine($0.56) also makes a nice creature as a 3/3 flier.
 
Moving on, you list your specific problems as dealing with swarms, and overall speed.  Now, for dealing with swarm decks, you could try Culling Sun($0.69).  Yes, yes, it'll kill your creatures too, but you know what?  If you're getting swarmed, your creatures aren't really helping much anyway, are they?  Better to wipe the slate clean and start fresh then get trounced upon, right?  Besides, black is the color of necromancy; a few Death Denied($0.49) and you're golden.  That Orzhov Pontiff I mentioned earlier could help here too-- most "swarms" are usually comprised mainly of 1/1 tokens assuming your opponent has no Glorious Anthem of his own.  And for general speed, get rid of those Dark Rituals-- they're one time shots.  Instead, try Orzhov Basilica($0.67) or Orzhov Signet($0.49).  That'll cover your fast mana needs; now you just need to draw cards to spend that mana on, right?
 
Well, there's a really good way for you to do that, but there's some bad news.  It's not really within "budget" as I've defined it.  I'm taking about the new Planar Chaos card, Mesa Enchantress.  It's currently going for $1.91 each, which is still decent, but it may be a bit much to ask for a casual player's resources.  But honestly, look at how many enchantments you've got!  Thirteen, and they're all pretty good.  And if you did splurge on a few Enchantresses, you'd be perfectly justified in switching out a few non-enchantment spells.  Dark Banishing, for example, would work fine as Seal of Doom($0.42) or Pillory of the Sleepless($0.64), and that Holy Day could defend against a lot more swarm rushes if it were a Hissing Miasma($0.49).  I totally understand if you don't want to spend the money-- I probably wouldn't either.  But do know this-- if some tournament rat makes a Mesa Enchantress deck and wins a PTQ with it or something, the price of Mesa Enchantresses will jump up like they'd sat on a tack.  So, Alex, if you think you're interested, fortune favors the swift.  Also, if you go the enchantent route, which si probably the more powerful route, you likely won't have room for Culling Sun and/or Death Denied on the grounds that you want more almost every card in here to be a creature, an enchantment, or mana.  It's still totally worth it, but it's your deck, so it's your call.  I'm just an enlightened tutor**.
 
One last thing to think about-- Mesa Enchantress is $1.91, but Three Dreams (the next best option) is $0.69.  Of course, Mesa Enchantress can get you any card, while for Three Dreams you're basically limited to an Arrest, a Pacifism, and an Unholy Strength, so really the Dreams barely even count as a replacement for Miss Mesa.  Just throwing out ideas.  I should end this article before I start to ramble.  Good luck, Alex!
 
~BMoor
 
*All prices come from ShuffleandCut.com, for non-foil near mint single copies (basically, the cheapest price listed).  Due to the instability of the secondary market, prices for single cards can fluctuate wildly.  Also, I am not affiliated with ShuffleandCut.com, though I have purchased from them and I would recommend them highly.
 
**Enlightened Tutor, while an incredibly powerful card in Alex's deck, is NOT budget by even the loosest of definitions.  You're lucky to get one copy for five bucks.


 

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