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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Terrence's Knight Blade Deck
July 7, 2009

A small bit of news before I start today's fix: I'll be headed off for a vacation this week, and then next week I also expect to be out of town to visit family. I know that I won't have Internet access on vacation, but I may when I 'm visiting family. If so, I'll try to write some articles then. It's no real concern, you guys have put up with me going longer than that without an update. The only reason I mention it is because of the Five Colors, Six Choices Contest. It ends on the 14th, and I may not be here to "officially close" the contest. I will be checking the timestamps on E-mails, though, and July 14th is your absolute last day to send them in.

Now then, what's the problem with today's deck?


Creatures:
3x Esper Stormblade
3x Grixis Grimblade
2x Jund Hackblade
1x Naya Hushblade
2x Marisi's Twinclaws
1x Rafiq of the Many
1x Sages of the Anima
4x Knight of New Alara

Spells:
1x Martial Coup
2x Naturalize
3x Path to Exile

Enchantments:
1x Glory of Warfare
2x Maelstrom Nexus
1x Mayael's Aria
3x Oblivion Ring
4x Trace of Abundance

Artifacts:
1x Fieldmist Borderpost
1x Firewild Borderpost
1x Mistvien Borderpost
1x Veinfire Borderpost
1x Wildfield Borderpost

Lands:
3x Seaside Citadel
7x Forest
6x Plains
3x Island
2x Swamp

Hi my name is Terrance, my original idea was to use all the blades in one deck but that didn't work out to well. I want to use Knight of New Alara to its full potential in this deck. Thats why I included Twinclaws and all the blades.

Problem: I can't seem to pick and choose what I like in the deck. I think this deck is not efficient running as 5 colors. I want to try and cut it down to 4. I don't know what I was thinking trying to add the Maelstrom Nexus in there. If so I need help trying to cut the deck's color down to 4 or even 3 if possible. I just really dont know where to start. It would be nice to take out the Grixis Grimblades and Jund Hackblades to make the deck strictly bant colors but I'm afraid that I would be losing the deck's theme. As you can see I am in a real jam. The main idea of this deck is to really use Knight of New Alara. Also there are a couple of cards I haven't added in yet and those are Dauntless Escort and Wall of Denial. I want to try and make this deck Type 2 tournament quality. Please help me!
Thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, Terrence, let's get started.

First of all, it sounds to me like you already have a good idea of what's eating this deck. I might even go so far as to say that you already know how to fix it, and you just need me to give you a second opinion-- my blessing, if you will, to pull the trigger on those changes. Well, you say five colors isn't working for you? Then take some out. It's as simple as that. Take out black and red, and put this deck squarely in Bant territory.

Don't worry about "losing the deck's theme". You said the theme was Knight of New Alara, and Bant supports that nicely. I know it hurts to pull Jund Hackblade and Grixis Grimblade, but look on the bright side-- now you can add in Bant Sureblade, a card I'm surprised you don't already run.

That gives us the Knight, three Blades, and the Twinclaws. Now that we're three colors, next you can take out Maelstrom Nexus, Mayael's Aria, Glory of Warfare, and everything else you no longer have the colors to cast. It'll be simpler this way, trust me. This will let you go ahead and add in Dauntless Escort. Wall of Denial, on the other hand, I don't like. Too defensive. You want to bring the fight to your opponent.

If it's flying you're worried about, Esper Stormblade takes care of that. And if it's blockers you need, I advocate Winged Coatl. Not only is this basically a kill spell, but with Knight of New Alara giving it +2/+2, it could be viable to flash in EOT and then swing with. Wall of Denial can't do any of that. And it gives you more ways to kill creatures.

Next, I think you should take out Sages of the Anima and Rafiq of the Many. Sages will draw you creatures, but nothing else. And Rafiq may become a 6/6, but your deck isn't about one lone attacker. It's about swinging with a pumped-up team. Rafiq won't help you anymore than Rhox War Monk will, and I wasn't even going to recommend Rhox War Monk. Though now that I think of it, the Monk would be pretty sweet here.

The card I was going to recommend was Messenger Falcons. Like the Twinclaws, it gets +3/+3 from the Knight. Unlike the Twinclaws, it can fly overhead. And it draws you a card.

Finally, my main concern with your deck is its vulnerability to Infest, Volcanic Fallout, and Jund Charm. You see, two damage to everything on the board kills the Knight, which leaves everything else but the Twinclaws small enough to die to the damage that's already on them. The solution? Multiple Knights, of course, so that each will buff the other as well as give your Blades, Twinclaws, and Falcons +6/+6. You can do this with Clone, who also gives you a way to copy anything good your opponent drops, and with a card I've been itching to find a deck for: Clarion Ultimatum. With this you can find a second Knight of New Alara, a few extra Blades, maybe an extra Oblivion Ring, and ensure undeniable board superiority. Maybe a second Escort wouldn't hurt, either. Even if all you get is a Knight, a Naya Hushblade, and three lands, you now control two 9/8's with shroud, plus ten lands with which to cast anything you happen to draw.

Good luck!

~BMoor