Evolution of a Type 2 R/W/U Deck
by Brian Eha

Hello, everyone, my name is Brian Eha, known on the Internet as Razzy. This article is fairly long, so you'll have to bear with me -- but luckily for you, it's also interesting, and those are the best kind of articles. (Note: Standard is my favorite format, so unless I say otherwise, I am talking about T2 stuff)

Before I delve into it, however, I think you should know a little bit about how I play Magic. Everyone talks about archetypes and the latest "decks to beat", correct? I don't have to ask; I know you've heard them. You've seen the decklists, you've seen the articles pertaining to them, and you've played against the decks themselves. The environment is, for lack of a better word, dominated by them.

I don't play any of the decks to beat.

Allow me to elaborate: my creative streak doesn't allow me to simply play the same deck that hundreds or thousands of other people are playing. I never played Fires back during early 2001; why should I play R/G Rush or U/G Tempo now? At the same time, however, my competitive nature wants to win. I can't make weird, creative decks simply for creativeness' sake; they have to be good as well. So, what kinds of decks do I play? I play the ones that almost no one expects or prepares for, but that stand a good chance of beating the current top archetypes. As long as I've been playing Magic, those have been the kind of decks I tried to construct. And sometimes, I would create a deck that had the potential to break the environment open. As an example, for those of you who played Standard back during the Masques Block/Invasion/Planeshift era, it would be a deck that could beat Fires, but at the same time hand U/W CounterRebel and Angel Control their heads on a silver platter. Sound tough? Yeah, it is, sometimes. Other times it's easy, and you wonder why you're the first person (that you've seen) to play the deck.

When deckbuilding, I exploit a simple fact: all decks have weaknesses. No matter how strong the deck, no matter how seemingly invincible, you can make another deck that will beat it. The challenge is making a deck that can do that, plus still be a contender against the other popular archetypes.

Now, occasionally my creativeness will get the better of me. During the time when a format is winding down, like now, or when a new environment is just coming in, I allow my creativeness greater reign than normal. This often leads to some decks which, after polishing off the rough edges, are quite good. So it was with this creation, something for which I have no name, other than "that R/W/u deck."

Flashback (no, not the mechanic) to May 2001. Everyone (well, not everyone, actually) is eagerly anticipating Apocalypse, that joyous set which will bring with it environment-changing cards such as Spiritmonger, Pernicious Deed, Death Grasp, Desolation Angel, Gerrard's Verdict, and other such things. In Apprentice playtesting, B/G decks quickly rose to dominance, replacing the now totally obsolete Fires. B/W discard and Desolation Angel decks had a slower climb, but they too became serious contenders, able to beat the aforementioned B/G constructions. Now, my favorite deck in that Standard format was a deck I called Armageddon Angel. I won't go into it now; perhaps I will show it to you all another day. It utilized the much-derided Desolation Angel to devastating effect. With four Dark Rituals, the Angel could come out, with kicker, as early as turn five. With mana acceleration such as Star Compasses or Diamonds, turn four. It was even better after a Wrath of God the previous turn. I was one of the first people on Apprentice to play such a deck, and hardly anyone expected it. Until they saw the Angel in action, they thought she was horrible.

Ah, but I digress. Anyways, those who didn't want to play either B/G or B/W began toying with U/G, R/W, R/W/u, and other such combinations. I was one of these; I made a U/R CounterBurn deck with Ancient Hydra (I really wish he hadn't rotated out, but what can ya do?), a U/G Counter-Weenie (that one really sucked), and a few other things. But now we come to the point. One day my brother and I were tinkering around on Apprentice, seeing if we could come up with anything interesting. My brother, upon seeing Lightning Angel, had the idea to make a R/W/u deck featuring it as a win condition. I agreed that it would be fun to see if we could make a good deck with those colors, and so we set to work. My brother doesn't have much Magic knowledge, but he hears me talk about it enough that he knows at least a small amount about the environment, and he has even dabbled in playing it. So, it fell to me to determine which cards would be worthy of adding.

At first, in the very rough first draft, we utilized blue for countermagic. However, we soon realized that we didn't have the room (unless we wanted to make the deck bloated, which we didn't), and that the space could be better used by other cards. So, we resigned blue to the task of card-drawing and some protection. Red gave us burn, while white provided Story Circle and Wrath of God... and one other crucial card: Blinding Angel.

With Blinding Angel, we could drop a nuke on the board (read: we could play a Wrath of God), getting rid of their creatures, and then play a Blinding Angel on the following turn. They would have one turn to scrounge up a threat (which would be promptly dealt with by red's side of the equation), and then the Angel would start swinging. Backed up by four Captain's Maneuvers, she rarely got burned; counters were a problem, but it was okay if they did use one: it was one less that could be used on some other card. With Teferi's Moat, Story Circle, and Blinding Angel, the deck morphed into an offensive R/W/u control deck, with plenty of damage spells and no countermagic. Here is the original decklist, after we had chosen what we wanted:


- Creatures (10) -
4 Lightning Angel
4 Rakavolver
2 Blinding Angel

- Spells (23) -
4 Captain's Maneuver
4 Wrath of God
4 Urza's Rage
4 Brainstorm
3 Earthquake
2 Teferi's Moat
2 Story Circle

- Artifacts (4) -
4 Star Compass

- Land (26) -
6 Island
5 Plains
4 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefield Forge
3 Adarkar Wastes


- Sideboard (15) -
4 Wash Out
4 Shock
3 Disenchant
2 Tsabo's Web
2 Ghitu Fire


The Brainstorm and Star Compass got the deck off to a fast start, and then the paths diverged in a wood. If the deck was matched up against one which featured large creatures, such as B/G Monger, Wrath of God, Story Circle, and Teferi's Moat became the stars. Not to mention that little Blinding Angel. Against control, Urza's Rage and Earthquake (and Shock, after sideboarding) would be used to burn them down, at which point Rakavolver and Lightning Angel made an appearance. By playing threat after threat, the control deck got overwhelmed.

This deck was very fun to play for me personally, for several reasons. It was original, it was good, and I got to blow up the world several times over. And in an environment enamored with Spiritmonger/Saproling Burst/Dark Ritual combos, it was totally unexpected.

Now fast forward to the present. Saproling Burst, Dark Ritual, and Blastoderm are all gone, thus weakening the two most dominant color combinations of the previous environment. But lo and behold! -- Green once more gains several environment-impacting cards. Call of the Herd immediately gains a spot in the Blastoderm-less B/G decks. Bearscape is used as the kill card in many a deck, including a new crop of U/G Opposition variants. R/G also rises to power once more, this time on the wings of new burn spells and flashback green spells. Black, however, gets largely shafted, and so B/W falls from grace. R/W/u continues to be overlooked, except by a comparative few who play decks featuring Goblin Trenches, occasionally throwing in Counterspells and calling it CounterTrenches.

Now once again, my brother and I are sitting around, when suddenly my brother goes, "Remember that R/W/u deck we made?" to which I replied, "Yeah, that was a cool deck. I was just looking at it the other day. Except that now it loses several of its cards." And it was true; no more would Blinding Angel, Story Circle, or Brainstorm be seen in the deck. Could the deck survive losing three of its most important cards? That was the question I asked myself when I said, "It'd be cool if I could modify the deck for the current T2." And that was what I set out to do.

My first incarnation of the deck, version 1.5, wasn't very good. To be frank, it rather sucked; I could tell that just by looking at it, so I didn't play a single game with it. It was, for the most part, the old deck with the rotated-out cards gone and some shoddy replacements thrown haphazardly in to fill their shoes. I won't bother posting the decklist.

After that, however, I began to think more seriously about what cards should go into the new deck. It had taken a blow when the Masques block rotated out, so I needed to find some other cards that would strengthen it once more. I knew that the prospect of finding suitable replacements for cards such as Blinding Angel and Story Circle, that did essentially the same things as those cards, was nill. I knew that the strategy and play style of the deck would have to change; it could no longer be the same deck it had been. It could, however, be just as good as the old deck had been.

I toyed with some ideas in version 2.0, scrapped some of them, and kept others. Here is what the first serious new version of the deck, version 2.5, looked like:


- Creatures (12) -
4 Lightning Angel
4 Voice of All
4 Rakavolver

- Spells (23) -
4 Wrath of God
4 Urza's Rage
4 Opt
3 Captain's Maneuver
3 Squee's Embrace
3 Earthquake
2 Hibernation

- Land (27) -
5 Plains
5 Mountain
4 Island
4 City of Brass
3 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefeld Forge
3 Adarkar Wastes


- Sideboard (15) -
4 Goblin Trenches
4 Wash Out
4 Shock
3 Disenchant


As you can see, many things have changed. For one thing, the land ratio has changed, since I realized that so many Islands were not required, I cut them down to four. I added a Plains and a Mountain, but then cut a Plains. Four City of Brass replaced the Star Compass in a tentative decision. Voice of All is now in the deck, with four copies, no less. The protection ability is very good against U/G Opposition, R/G Rush, and many other decks. Plus, she's a 2/2 flyer, which isn't bad at all. Plus she combos great with Squee's Embrace, yet another new card.

I decided to put in the Embrace for a couple of reasons. First of all, the original deck had featured less creatures, so it hadn't worried as much about Wrathing. Now, with twelve creatures, I often killed at least one of mine along with theirs. Not only does Squee's Embrace pump up the creature it's attached to, but it also makes an opponent who's got burn or kill spells less threatening. And it allows me to Wrath with more impunity. And, of course, when it's attached to a double-kicked Rakavolver, it gains me more life. And that's always a good thing, considering the number of pain lands I have in here.

In a quirky decision (or perhaps not so quirky), Hibernation is maindecked. With green running rampant these days (when is it not?), in many different decks, Hibernation proved a nasty surprise for my opponent. Blowing all his Bearscape tokens away is very satisfying.

Finally, I sideboarded four Goblin Trenches. Against many counter decks these cards proved to be somewhat of a life-saver; they can Counterspell and Absorb and Syncopate my Angels and Rakavolvers all they wanted. Just when they began to run out of counters, I would drop a Goblin Trenches, sack some lands, and swarm them to death.


The deck was still not good enough, however. It was making progress, but it wasn't done yet by any means. For one thing, Opt was not nearly as good as Brainstorm, and Squee's Embrace didn't pop up quite frequently enough for my liking. I wanted to have it on hand when I wanted to Wrath, and I often didn't. So, version 3.0 was born:


- Creatures (12) -
4 Lightning Angel
4 Voice of All
4 Rakavolver

- Spells (23) -
4 Squee's Embrace
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Wrath of God
4 Urza's Rage
3 Captain's Maneuver
3 Earthquake
1 Circle of Protection: Green

- Land (27) -
5 Plains
5 Mountain
4 Island
4 City of Brass
3 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefeld Forge
3 Adarkar Wastes


- Sideboard (15) -
4 Wash Out
4 Shock
3 Lobotomy
3 Disenchant
1 Circle of Protection: Green


Discerning readers will notice a few significant changes. Fact or Fiction has replaced Opt, sacrificing early-game card advantage for mid-game frenzied digging. It quickly proved itself vastly superior. I kicked myself for not putting it in earlier. The Hibernations were dropped for a CoP: Green and another Squee's Embrace. Now it was not just a lifeline for my creatures, it was an enchantment that turned even Voice of All into a serious beatstick. The single CoP: Green was less debilitating if I played against a deck which didn't have green in it, but it was still useful against the decks that did. With Fact or Fiction, I could usually still grab it when I needed it. In the sideboard, I cut the Trenches down to three, and added another CoP: Green. Take that, elephant tokens!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the evolution of this deck, and perhaps you have gained some insight into how such a process works. The article isn't over yet, however, because now it's time for some card explanation. Below I have written about each card, and just why it is in the deck.



Lightning Angel:
When you get right down to it, 4 mana isn't that much to pay when you're getting a 3/4 flyer with haste who doesn't have to tap when it attacks. Not only is Lightning Angel a good beat stick (and a very nice blocker for those Elephant tokens), it also consistently draws a counter against permission decks. Thus, I am occasionally able to play the Angel as a feint, draw the counter, and then drop the real threat, such as a Wrath of God (against U/G Opposition). All in all, I'm surprised more people don't use Lightning Angel, despite her three-color casting cost.


Voice of All:
There's just something about Voice of All that makes me want to stick four of her in every white deck I make. (I resist the urge most of the time, unless of course she fits in the deck) This time was one of the times when the urge was warranted. Her color protection is great against green or R/G beatdown decks She can either get protection from green and thus block all day long, or become an unblockable attacker. Or, with protection from red, she'll be immune to burn spells. Take your pick, ladies and gentlemen. And her flying nature is great too, since it means that... well, I won't go on more about Voice of All. You guys know her good points.


Rakavolver:
This guy is not only great, he's essential to the deck. I often find myself losing life to cast Wrath or Voice of All, due to all the pain lands. Rakavolver can gain me life, while at the same time rack up damage on my opponent. Double-kicked, which isn't hard to get with this deck, he's a 5/5 flying monster who nets me five life every time he deals damage. If Lightning Angel and Voice of All can't do the job on their own, this guy is yet another win contition. How much better can you get?


Fact or Fiction:
One of the things I have realized about this deck as I played it is that it needs card drawing in order to keep up with the faster decks that are out there, and to defeat the slower decks before they can get fully set up. Unfortunately, Brainstorm is no longer legal in Standard, and neither is Accumulated Knowledge for that matter. While I would normally snap up Brainstorm for this role, I am now using Fact or Fiction instead. Opt just wasn't strong enough, and while Fact or Fiction doesn't net me really early card advantage, it does gain me valuable cards a bit later on. Plenty of times I have needed a certain card, and lo and behold -- I topdecked a Fact or Fiction! This card is definitely good enough to warrant four copies.


Wrath of God:
Gets rid of those annoying Spiritmongers, not to mention the Blurred Mongooses and Wild Mongrels. In fact, practically no matter what creature it is, it dies to Wrath of God. The only problem is that Wrath doesn't work too well against Call of the Herd and other such cards. I have other methods to defeat them, fortunately. Oh yes, and Wrath of God combos great with Squee's Embrace.


Urza's Rage:
Uncounterable direct damage seems good. Against permission decks, I usually try to hold one of these in my hand until they're in range of the three damage, and then I let fly. This strategy is occasionally met with such civil comments as, "You son of a bitch." (props to those players who don't lose their tempers so easily) So, in summary: not useful for winning friends; very useful for winning Magic games.


Captain's Maneuver:
I love using this card. Sure, it takes quite a bit of mana, but many times it's worth it. Redirecting that three damage from an Urza's Rage back to its caster is no end of fun. One of the best times I have had yet with this card was when I redirected all 9 of a Devouring Strossus' damage back to its owner. I have, however, cut the number down to three, since it does usually take quite a bit of mana, and because its use is more narrow than, say, Wrath of God. Still, I'm considering dropping a Wash Out for a fourth Maneuever in the sideboard. It does what it does very well indeed.


Squee's Embrace:
When you saw this card, you might have said to yourself, "What is dis foo' smokin'?!" Or something along those lines, anyway. Well, I was thinking a few things, actually, when I decided to add this card. First of all, it works great with Voice of All, turning it into a fearsome blocker and a potent offensive threat. Second, if I slap it on a kicked Rakavolver, I gain two more life each time he deals damage. And third, it works very well with Wrath of God. If my opponent is laying the beatdown on me with Bearscape, but I have a Voice of All out, I can slap an Embrace on that puppy, swing for four, and then drop the Wrath. Next turn I can replay the angel with pro green and perhaps block some more. Thus it served as both a delaying action (at this point I'm probably digging for either an Earthquake, an Urza's Rage, or a Disenchant), and it got four damage on my opponent. All in all, Squee's Embrace isn't what I would call an amazing card, but it works great in this deck.


Earthquake:
A very nice reset button when the board is clogged with non-flying creatures, and it does damage to your opponent too, so it doubles as a dual-purpose burn spell. I run three maindeck; I guess I'm just a sucker for those "Blow up target world" spells.


Circle of Protection: Green:
These days, green is in many of the top decks, and so I made the decision to maindeck a a CoP: Green. It works great against Call of the Herd players, since I can prevent the damage from the tokens all day long, or at least until I draw an Earthquake. It has numerous uses, in different types of situations. (They all seem to involve saving my butt) Combined with sideboarded Wash Outs and one more Circle of Protection, green is in trouble.


City of Brass:
Really, there isn't much to say about this card, since you all know everything about it, I'm sure. I only mentioned it because it currently has a tenuous place in the deck. I am considering putting the Star Compasses back in (replacing the Cities), since they're mana acceleration. On the other hand, City of Brass allows me to recover from Balancing Tings easier, and it's a land, so I don't have to delay an Earthquake if I want to play it. On the other hand, with Star Compass I could play both it and a land on the same turn... as I said, I am currently undecided. I am going to continue playing with the Cities for a while, and if they don't work out as I had hoped they would, I will find something else to take their place.


On to the sideboard cards!


[outdated]Goblin Trenches:
Unlike the vast majority of R/W/u decks, this isn't a Trenches deck. Nor is it CounterTrenches. But, I do have three Goblin Trenches in the sideboard. Why, you ask? Because, says I, the strategy of the deck doesn't revolve around Trenches. In fact, version 3.0, even more than the others, is a beatdown deck, but with control elements. Wrath is control; so are Maneuver and Circle of Protection: Green. Even Earthquake and Voice of All are borderline control. But, one very important factor jumps out at you when you look at the decklist: this deck runs a lot of land. And what does Goblin Trenches need to work? Land, the more the better.

Not only that, but against R/W/u Trenches decks, I will be able to control the tempo of the game, I believe, with Wrath and other such cards. Then, I can drop a Goblin Trenches of my own, using their own strategy against them. Sort of a skewed mirror match, if you will.

And against R/G Blitz (or Rush, take your pick), I can use Wash Out, CoP: Green, Earthquake, and Wrath of God to keep them from getting too many creatures out (or through to damage me). Then, when they start to run out of gas, a Goblin Trenches hits the table and I overrun them with Goblin Soldier tokens.[/outdated]


Lobotomy:
The card that replaced Goblin Trenches in the sideboard is Lobotomy, and no, I am not on crack. I left the Goblin Trenches stuff because this is currently a tentative change. It's less tentative than it was at first, but just in case, I wanted to show you the Trenches' info. However, I believe that it will work out.

Lobotomy only takes one black mana (I already have the blue), and I can use City of Brass for that. This card is mainly in there to stop Balancing Tings dead in its tracks. Balancing Act/Terravore decks have rapidly become the most popular archetype in the current Standard environment. After getting beaten by them, I decided I needed some anti-Tings tech, and this is it. Those who read the article by JSS winner Brent Eyler saw that in it he named Duress as the best card against the deck. (He played Balancing Tings, and went all the way) However, I will venture to say that he is wrong. Duress is the second-best card against the deck. Lobotomy is the best.

Imagine the situation. I cast fifth or sixth-turn Lobotomy (I could actually cast it fourth turn, but I only have four City of Brass... time delay effect) and snag a Balancing Act. Then, I search his library, graveyard, and hand for any more copies of it and remove them from the game. Oops, there goes his whole strategy.

And yeah, he can cast Terravore without causing me to lose my permanents (and relying solely on his own sac lands to beef Terravore up), but then not only will the Lhurgoyf be considerably smaller, but I'll have a much easier time finding an answer for him. Wrath of God, CoP: Green, Wash Out... I won't really be worried. And then, after a Fact or Fiction or two, I may very well net another Lobotomy, which I can use on Terravore, or Obliterate, or Nimble Mongoose, for heaven's sake. Lobotomy is my secret tech, although not so much now that I'm broadcasting it to all of you... but that's okay.


Wash Out:
O, how I love thee, Wash Out. Let me count the ways: thou art good at stopping mono-black Infestation in its tracks, and forsooth, thou doth lay the smacketh downeth on Bearscape/Opposition players. And lest I perchance forget, thou owneth when playing against a R/W/u Trenches player. Yep, I think I said it all right there.


Shock:
Shock, as everyone knows, is Lightning Bolt's younger brother, and were the Bolt legal in T2, Shock wouldn't even see play, in this deck or any other. (Unless maybe you really, really needed tons and tons of burn in your deck and you already had 4 Lightning Bolt in there) Still, Shock is efficient as two damage for one red mana at instant speed. Useful for solving all manner of problems, and of course, always good to throw at your opponent's head. Shock, the Quick and Easy Fix for Small Problems and Nuisances. (Side effects may include nausea, blinding flashes of light, a burning sensation, and having your hair stand on end)


Disenchant:
Quite frankly, I would be an idiot if I didn't have this card in here. With all of the Oppositions and Pernicious Deeds and Bearscapes (let's not forget the Goblin Trenches and Zombie Infestations) running around, it is absolutely necessary. I only wish I had room for it in my main deck.



Well, now that we're done with that, it's time for some analysis of the deck matchups. For the uninitiated (read: the hopelessly ignorant), this is the part where I take a look at my deck's chances against the current popular archetypes and decks to beat. For the first matchup, we have G/R Rush.


G/R Rush

This deck, as I'm sure you know, is crammed full of Raging Kavus, Call of the Herd, Flametongue Kavu, Skizzik, and other such cards. So, how do I deal with the beatdown strategy of this deck?

Game One:
Pretty much, I'm going to be doing "draw, go" for the early game. I will be Wrathing and Earthquaking and Raging. Then I can drop a pro red Voice of All and stick a Squee's Embrace on him. Once I'm a bit safer, I can begin digging with Fact or Fiction for my CoP: Green and Rakavolvers. While the first game isn't certain by any means, I have a fair chance of winning.

Games Two and Three:
After sideboarding in the Wash Outs, Shocks, and second Circle of Protection, I have a much better chance of winning. Captain's Maneuver becomes a star against cards such as Kavu Titan and Flametongue Kavu. Also, a mini-strategy in this matchup is to not drop many creatures, except for pro red Voices. This forces the Rush player to either hold onto his Flametongue Kavus, or else scorch his own creatures.

All in all, with Wrath, Earthquake, Captain's Maneuever, Voice of All, and Circle of Protection, I can beat Rush in games two and three, even if I lose game one.


Balancing Tings

This extremely popular deck features the Balancing Act/Terravore/sac lands combo to produce a very large trampling creature who goes across for the win. It is becoming perhaps the deck to beat in the current Standard environment.

Game One:
Lightning Angel becomes very important because of its haste (thus swinging at least once before the Orim's Chants can begin to fall). If I can get a Squee's Embrace on a Lightning Angel the turn I play it, the game tempo will have swung my way just enough to give me the edge. Also, I throw Urza's Rages at my opponent's head. He has no creatures which I could use them on anyways (Nimble Mongoose is untargetable), and pretty soon he'll be playing that Balancing Act. Use Voice of All and CoP: Green to stop Mongooses, and then drop an Earthquake if you can. Game One is iffy, but my deck stands a fair chance.

Games Two and Three:
This is when the advantage becomes mine. I'll be siding in the Shocks, the Lobotomies, and the other Circle of Protection. From the first turn I will be putting the pressure on my opponent, with Shock, Urza's Rage, and Lightning Angel. I may even go so far as to drop an unkicked Rakavolver simply for the early beats. Besides, I can always play an Embrace on him to beef him up if necessary. Lobotomy will get to strut its stuff by hopefully removing from the game all of my opponent's Terravores or Balancing Acts. I can end it with either a double-kicked Rakavolver, an Earthquake, or an Embraced Voice of All.


U/G Opposition

I think everyone knows the strategy of this deck by now. Basically, it's loaded with countermagic in the form of Counterspells, Syncopates, and Mystic Snakes. (Either that, or the Syncopates are taken out in favor of Beast Attack or the like.) After countering the opponent's early threats, they drop an Opposition, and use their mana creatures, Snakes, and tokens to tap out the opposing player. Then they come across for the win.

Game One:
Voice of All and CoP: Green are the stars in this matchup. I can make a Voice of All pro blue, giving it immunity to Opposition, and then I can stick a Squee's Embrace on it, allowing to block Elephant tokens with impunity. Earthquake and Wrath of God will draw counters while my Lightning Angels and Voices slip through the proverbial cracks in my opponent's wall of countermagic. Once I get a Lightning Angel with a Squee's Embrace on it, the game is pretty much over.

Games Two and Three:
The Disenchants and perhaps the Shocks get sideboarded in. Captain's Maneuver gets to be a flash in the pan, redirecting the damage of Herd tokens to their controller. Like an Urza's Rage and a Circle of Protection all wrapped up into one. Of course I Disenchant the Oppositions whenever I get the chance, and if I drop Wraths and Earthquakes like nobody's business. They have to tap out sometime, or else they won't be playing those Calls of the Herd and Beast Attacks; in either case it's good for me. Double-kicked Rakavolver with Squee's Embrace also spells game over; I'll be gaining seven life every time he attacks; more than enough to negate the damage from two Herd tokens.


T2 InfestationUpheaval

I'm very glad that Torment is going to be "the black set," because right now black is fairly pitiful. While this U/B/r deck is pretty good, it's a three-color construction, and thus black doesn't have to carry as big of a burden (and it couldn't if it had to). It uses the Upheaval/Zombie Infestation combo (hence its name), and maindecks Void as well for some fun with numbers. Although some Upheaval/Infestation decks drop the red (and sometimes the blue as well) and use Zombify, Devouring Strossus, and Entomb to lay the beats down, I personally prefer Kurt Buehler's deck. It is much tougher, in my opinion.

Game One:
My opponent begins with early Duress and a Nightscape Familiar or two. I begin with... land. Yes, my deck is a little slow until about the third/fourth turn. It used to be quite a bit faster, but then Brainstorm rotated out. Ah, well. I Urza's Rage his Infiltrators and make my Voice of Alls pro red, to prevent Flametongue Kavu cheese. We both Fact or Fiction, and he drops a Void, naming four. I lose any Voices or Lightning Angels that I had out (I will be trying not to play too many at a time because of this). I also lose any Wraths in my hand. Ouch. I respond with Earthquake, wiping out his creatures and burning us both. Then a double-kicked Rakavolver hits the table and begins dishing out the beats.

Games Two and Three:
The Disenchants and Shocks are sideboarded in, for obvious reasons. Perhaps a couple of Wash Outs or Lobotomies as well, depending on what the exact build of my opponent's deck is. Now I can come out of the gate fast, Shocking his Familiars. Wrath will be saved for when he has an Infiltrator out, and Captain's Maneuver for the Flametonge; I want to be able to send my Rages to the dome. I Disenchant his Zombie Infestations, and he will probably play an Upheaval. After building back up, an Embraced Lightning Angel will make an appearance. It will most likely be Terminated, after swinging for three (or hopefully five). He will play an Urza's Rage, and I'll Maneuver it back to him. The game will go back and forth (this is assuming that I'm playing against Kurt's version of the deck which is actually competitive), and then I'll play a bomb. It will either be a double-kicked Rakavolver, an Earthquake, or perhaps a kicked Urza's Rage (the last one is doubtful). Game over.


Whew, that's enough for now. Any more and I'd surely bore you to tears (if I haven't already). Although I hoped you enjoyed reading it at least as much as I enjoyed writing it.


Until next time, this is Brian Eha (aka Razzy), signing off.


If you wish to contact me, my e-mail is vindicator63@hotmail.com; I welcome any comments you may have for me.