BMoors's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage



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Pojo's MTG MTG Home Message Board News & Archives Deck Garage BMoor Dolf BeJoSe Columnists Paul's Perspective Jeff Zandi DeQuan Watson Jordon Kronick IQ Aburame Shino Rare Hunter Tim Stoltzfus WiCkEd Judge Bill's Corner Trading Card Game Card of the Day Guide for Newbies Decks to Beat Featured Articles Peasant Magic Fan Tips Tourney Reports Other Color Chart Book Reviews Online Play MTG Links Staff		BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage Sunburst Deck September 6, 2007 Okay, folks, I know that I haven't been updating much at all lately, and I do apologize. However, please don't think that the Deck Garage is going under. I've still got plenty of decks to fix, and despite how busy I've been lately, I intend to fix them. Like this one: Hey, my name's Dylan, I've been playing magic for a while now, but never terribly seriously until the last few months.. I have a small group of friends that I enjoy playing with, and I can hold my own until close to the end.. but that never extends into a victory. I believe I've only won maybe 4 times. The deck I'm concentrating on lately is an artifact deck, mostly concentrating on sunburst abilities and adding +1/+1 counters to the creatures. Some major staples are Suncrusher's ability to destroy a creature by removing some counters, Energy Chamber's ability to add counters, Darksteel Ingot, and Infused Arrows ability to weaken creatures. Opaline Bracers and Skyreach Manta always help me out, as well. Total: 63 Land: 24 6-Plains 4-Swamp 5-Island 4-Mountain 5-Forest Creatures: 20 4-Skyreach Manta 4-Suntouched Myr 2- Lunar Avenger 2- Gold Myr 2- Spinal Parasite 2- Heliophial 1- suncrusher 1- Sawtooth Thresher 2- Etched Oracle Artifacts: 17 2- Chromatic Sphere 1- Wayfarer's Bauble 3- Pentad Prism 2- Infused Arrow 1- Opaline Bracers 3- Darksteel Ingot 2- Talisman of Impulse 2- Energy Chamber 1- Darkskull Cameo Other spells: 2 1- Labotomy 1- Channel the Suns It's got a number of problems with it that I've discovered so far.. a majority of the cards come right out of one of the fifth dawn deck boxes, there are no cards that protect an opponent from destroying the artifact creatures with instants and sorceries, there's 63 cards, and I just don't have enough suncrushers or Energy Chambers I realize fifth dawn cards are relatively hard to come by, but don't let that effect any card choices (I haven't been reading your articles long enough to know if you DO let that effect you or not), both my friends have a large arsenal of fifth dawn cards that I could acquire cards from, and while sometimes pricy, the internet is my friend. Thanks at least for reading, Dylan Ahh, the Sunburst mechanic. If only Mirrodin and Ravnica had shared Standard, then it might've taken off. I suppose that's not the first time someone wished Kamigawa Block hadn't existed, though... At any rate, the first step to optimizing this deck is to take a look at all the Sunburst cards you're playing, and see if they're worth playing/outclassed by other Sunburst cards. Looking through your creatures, I can see a few candidates ripe for removal. Gold Myr-- A 1/1 artifact creature is the easiest thing in the game to kill, and you don't want your mana creatures costing two mana anyway. Spinal Parasite-- Five different colors of mana for at most a 4/4 with a very narrow ability. Sawtooth Thresher-- There's plenty of big creatures you can use that do other things besides make themselves temporarily bigger by making themselves permanently smaller. And as long as we're making cuts... Darkskull Cameo, Chromatic Sphere, Talisman of Impulse, Channel the Suns-- you really want your mana acceleration to be both colorless and capable of providing any color of mana. Pentad Prism and Darksteel Ingot should be sufficient to cover your needs. Lobotomy-- Too random. Okay, now that we've removed twelve cards, let's talk about what to add back in. You''ve already got Skyreach Manta and Etched Oracle, two of the best Sunburst creatures there are, but I'd say the third best is Arcbound Wanderer. It can't fly like Skyreach Manta can, but when it dies it can move its counters onto something that can. Also bring your Etched Oracle count up to four. I'd recommend more Lunar Avengers, but they cost seven mana and you don't really want too many expensive spells. For your noncreature spells, you've already found the best ones in Opaline Bracers, Infused Arrows, and Heliophial. Yes, Heliophial is not a creature. I'll just chalk it up to a typo that you counted it as one. However, there is one more artifact that you could get good use out of: Blood Clock. It may not be from Fifth Dawn, but it's a great help to you. Seeing as how Pentad Prism, Lunar Avenger, and Infused Arrows use up their counters over time, you can use Blood Clock's upkeep ability to return them to your hand when they run dry, and replay them with a full compliment of counters. And if you decide you don't want to return anything anymore, just return the Blood Clock itself. And then maybe replay it that turn, so your opponent keeps having to return cards or pay life. Also, I'd like you to find room for Darksteel Forge. Even if it's just one copy, you really are vulnerable to artifact hate. I can't find any cards that would save your artifacts from both Shatterstorm and Hurkyl's Recall, but the Forge stops Shatterstorm, and that's the more debilitating of the two. Finally, in your land base, find room for four Terramorphic Expanse. You should probably drop one of each land except Mountain or Swamp for them. It'll make things easier, I should think. Good luck! ~BMoor
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