-By John Hornberg

THIS is what we all call stepping over the line. Breaking two rares that have absolutely no play value what so ever is a cardinal sin of this game, and as a pre-April Fools- joke-Christmas-present to my readers, I’m going to break Impulsive Maneuvers and Chance Encounter. 

This proves to all of you that I suddenly have a little to much free time on my hands, and I listen to my friend Darren a little too much. 

Well, for those of you, I guess I should tell you what these cards do, then perhaps you’ll see why this combo is so embarrassing, and why both cards are the last pick in draft every time:

Chance Encounter -Odyssey Rare - 2RR
Enchantment
Whenever you win a coin flip, put a luck counter on Chance Encounter. At the beginning of your upkeep, if Chance Encounter has ten or more luck counters on it, you win the game.

Impulsive Maneuvers - Odyssey Rare - 2RR
Enchantment
Whenever a creature attacks, flip a coin. If you win the flip, the next time that creature would deal combat damage this turn, it deals double that damage instead. If you lose the flip, the next time that creature would deal combat damage this turn, prevent that damage.

Now, I have a question to ask all of you - Is this not the STUPIDEST combo you’ve ever seen!?!

Remarkably, though, it works. All it needs is the right supporting cast of burn and control. Thus, it’s time to us that brain that’s been gathering dust for the past hour or so and to start thinking of burn spells in type II.

Here’s a good scenario for this deck - You’re on a budget, say $10. These rares, which are so incredibly stupid that they are literally given to you, are not a factor in getting. Basically, I’m implying that you have no

Rage’s, Ghitu Fire’s, or any good rare burn spell. So, aside from these eight rares, you can have probably two others.

Heck, since it’s a theme deck, lets put in Mana Clash’s. Now, this card doesn’t apply to Chance Encounter, as back in September it was ruled like so:

“This card (Mana Clash) has no winner or loser (9/24/01 Barday)” Which means this card doesn’t help to speed the combo up, but still is a fun card that makes your opponent groan when you play it. It is for that sake that I’d play it in this deck.(Smiles wickedly, then laughs maniacally).

Now, if you want to keep your burn cheap, you’ve got your box of priced-to-own cheap burn. Yes, all those Volcanic Hammers, Shocks, and Firebolts are going to see a lot of play. For this deck, you need something to hold off opposing creatures, and the cheaper the burn, the better. 

Now, when you look at the weaknesses, you notice on predominant problem - counters. Yes, those vicious little counterspells that are everywhere in this format that will ruin this combo. The key problem is that you have no real defense against it; Molten Influence isn’t really very good, and Mage’s Contest, while fun, isn’t all that great either.

Your best hope is with the ultimate way to draw counters out - Land Destruction. Land destruction will force counters out, because no control deck likes seeing their land blown to little bite sized bits, and will usually try and defend it with their counters.

Thus, cards like Pillage, Stone Rain, Lava Blister, and Dwarven Landslide will work really well in this deck, and could help to control your opponents land, which ultimately helps to control counters.

Which is why we have our one drop burn - so we have decoys for our combo cards. I realize some players are not counter happy, and will be patient, but when they get down below ten, life is precious. They need to stop your burn.

So they counter the burn, letting the combo right by. 

Okay, when I thought up the deck, worked out the kinks, and put it down on paper, this is what I came out with:

Creatures (8)

4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Skizzik

Spells (29)

4 Firebolt
4 Shock
2 Blaze or Ghitu Fire
2 Mana Clash (Having fun with an opponent who’s rolling their eyes)
3 Mages Contest
4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
2 Lava Blister
2 Chance Encounter
2 Impulsive Manueurs

Land (23)

2 Petrified Field
2 Mossfire Valley
4 Barbarian Ring
15 Mountains

Sideboard (15)

4 Hull Breach
1 Mages Contest
4 Mogg Sentry
2 Obliterate
4 Price of Glory

Now, I threw in a few things that I did not talk about above. One such thing are the creatures that I threw in - Skizzik and Flametongue.

Flametongue is there for creature removal along with the burn, plus he’s an added threat to the board that your opponent will have to worry about.

Skizzik is basically the same way.

Now, the filter land has a reason... Now, I know what you’re saying...

“John, filter lands, you have got to be kidding me!”

Look at the sideboard. It allows you to play Hull Breach, and to destroy enchantments and artifacts. Obliterate screws control up horribly, which is why it’s in the sideboard. Otherwise, this deck is pretty much a fun deck. This is not meant for any serious tournament play. It’s meant for causing opponents to roll their eyes in disgust when you play stupid cards like Chance Encounter. Breaking Chance Encounter, who would have thunk of it?

Signed,

John “The Happy Heretic” Hornberg

“Causing opponents to roll their eyes since 1998.”
If you have any comments, criticms, complements, or just want to tell me,“What the HECK were you thinking!?!” then you can e-mail me at promiseland85@hotmail.com . I will take into considerations any suggestions you have.