Type 2  Not Showing its True Colors?
         by Eric Housman


One day, as I was skimming down the Magic: The
Gathering ; Gossip section on Pojos Message Board, a
topic entitled Is Anyone Else Upset With This New
Emphasis On Artifacts? really grabbed my attention. 
I didnt bother to read the post, but just the title
of it made me think.    It certainly seems as though
the Type 2 Tournament scene is being dominated by
artifacts.  It is hard to find a deck these days that
doesnt  run artifacts, such as Skullclamp.  

I attended a Type 2 tournament this past Saturday.  It
was a rather small tournament, with only 10
participants.  Out of those 10, 2 people, including
myself, ran Ravager Affinity.  Another person ran an
Atog Affinity deck.  Thats 3 people out of 10
running Affinity.  One more person ran an Artifact
heavy deck, with March of the Machines, Darksteel
Ingot, Culling Scales, and Darksteel Citadel, among
other Artifacts.  Other decks played include
Blue/White Control, Mono White Control (Which took 1st
place, x0xJarethx0x on the Pojo Message Board), and a
very original Black/Green Elf deck.  

What exactly is my point?  As I looked at the
sideboards of other decks, mainly the ones that
werent affinity, I saw a lot of Artifact-Hate.  It
seems as though Artifact-based decks are really
everyone elses main concern.  When Mirrodin was first 
released, we all knew that artifacts could be a force 
to be reckoned with, with Affinity as a new mechanic.  
Broodstars, Ornithopters, Myr Enforcers, and the like 
were running wild all over.  After Darksteel, Affinity 
decks got even more powerful, with cards like Arcbound 
Ravager.  Now, Fifth Dawn, the 3rd set in the Mirrodin 
Block, is about to be released. 
One of its top cards known of so far, Razormane
Masticore, is an Artifact, which can easily shut down
2 popular Type 2 decks: Goblins and Elves.  

Soon, the Onslaught Block will cycle out of Type 2. 
What will happen to the Type 2 Metagame?  My opinion:
It will be dominated by Artifacts and Affinity decks. 
Everyone will be running Artifacts at tournaments. 
There will be no more Blue/White Control,  Mono white
control, no more anything.  It will all be Colorless. 
Sure, there will be a couple of Rogue Decks here and
there, but, as said before, almost everyone will be
running artifacts.  Will Fifth Dawn break the cycle of 
Artifacts being all-dominating, or will it prevent 
Color-Decks from being on top of the Type 2 Mountain 
for another set?  All we can do is wait, and maybe the 
Type 2 environment can show its True Colors once again.

                            x0xRedEyesx0x