Normally
when remaking a standard deck type Peasant decks lose some of the key cards.
This is especially true for non-creature based decks which normally rely on
powerful enchantments or sorceries to control the game. So far I haven't heard
many people seriously propose a mono-Blue Control Deck for this format. In
peasant magic Blue = Skies, or that's how the typical thought process goes.
Well that simply isn't the case. Try these control decks on for size.
Jalopy
(Remake of Turbo Chevy)
3
Thieving Magpie (Uncommon)
2
Living Wall (Uncommon)
2
Wayward Spirit
2
Waterfront Bouncer
1
Thalakos Scout
4
Opt
3
Portent
4
Accumulated Knowledge
4
Counterspell
2
Power Sink
4
Memory Lapse
4
Exclude
4
Repulse
2
Capsize
19
Island
Chevy
and Turbo Chevy are part of an Archetype that have been around for a good long
while but have generally been fairly quiet. Recently these decks have been
making a little bit of a splash in type II.
Turbo
Chevy says "I can't shut you down, but I can slow you down and that big
flying creature (historically Air Elemental) will rip your arm off and beat you
with the wet end in the mean time." The key to this philosophy is card
drawing. The deck doesn't have enough creatures to be a threat as a creature
deck, nor does it have enough counters or bounce to control the game. Instead
it has a balance of these three things and uses a massive amount of card
drawing so it has the *one* card it does need when it needs it. Unless you are
an experienced Blue player you will find that almost every game leaves you
gasping on the edge of your seat as you recover from winning. Experienced Blue
players often feel like the are a lot more active and that they are playing the
deck wrong because of it. Either way Turbo Chevy is fun and sometimes you will
play better because you are enjoying yourself the whole time.
The
next best thing about Turbo Chevy is that the deck loses very little to the
peasant format. The only really key lost to the uncommon restrictions are the
alternate casting cost counters. While you could still have the good ol' Force
of Will that would mean taking out the Thieving Magpie and this would really
kill the turbo charge of this deck. To compensate, this deck contains a little
extra land (compared to regular Turbo Chevy which have almost no land compared
to classic Blue control). Also, since this is a creature heavy format we can
afford to throw in 4 each of Exclude and Repulse into the deck. This provides
some service at slowing the opponent and also lets you draw those precious
cards.
The
core of the card drawing engine (how many more puns can I fit in this article),
however, is found in Opt and Accumulated Knowledge. Right now, Turbo Chevy uses
Slight of Hand instead of Portent since Portent isn't in Type II and since it
doesn't get you as deep into your library. What Portent does do, however, is
let you control the flow of the game and this can prove to be important. I
always use the Portent on my opponent's library and I try and push the threats
away for a few turns if at all possible. This works wonders in this type of
deck where one turn can equal 3 or 4 cards. Some players may wish to substitute
Gush for either Slight of Hand or Portent. This has the advantage drawing more
cards and getting deeper (or as deep) into the library, but it is also slower
and returning 2 Islands to your hand really equals slowing down your momentum
by 2 turns except in the mid/end game. Other great options are Omen, Impulse
from Visions which is lets you look at 4 cards, or Merchant Scroll which allows
you to pick your card but doesn’t get you deeper into your deck. Merchant
Scroll can also give a huge psychological boost since your opponent knows that
you can now counter any spell he casts.
The
creature component of this deck is what seems really odd to almost everyone.
The first thing everyone notices is the Living Wall. I almost didn't include
this card because when I started playing the game the picture always grossed me
out. Having said that, the card shines. Living Wall = Blasto-who? Alternatives
to the wall, if you don't care for the picture, include Glacial Wall, Wall of
Junk, and Shield Sphere. Both of the other artifact walls come out faster but
have some pretty hefty disadvantages attached to them. Glacial Wall is pretty
close. It comes out 1 turn sooner and has 7 on the backside instead of 6 but it
doesn't have the ability to regenerate or to block Karoo Meerkat (don't ask).
You may also prefer to take out one of the walls and throw in Wash Out. This isn't
a bad idea but I'm not convinced that it is as good as it sounds. The wall will
be there for a good long time, Wash Out blows your whole load at once.
The
Wayward Spirit takes the case, in my own mind, as the best Blue creature in the
format. It's a 3/2 flyer for 4 mana, but you can return it to the top of your
library to keep it from being bolted. The other beat stick is more like a beat
twig but after all, this isn't a green deck. Thalakos Scout may be a weenie,
but he does have shadow and he too can be made immune to the bolt. If you have
to the Scout can win a locked up game. Also, and this may not be obvious,
please protect your Thieving Magpie. Every card you draw puts your opponent
further behind.
Forfetti
(Forbidian Variant)
2
Washout (Uncommon)
3
Forbid (uncommon)
4
Chaos Confetti
4
Ophidian
1
Wayward Spirit
2
Thalakos Scout
3
Counterspell
4
Exclude
2
Powersink
2
Capsize
4
Repulse
4
Opt
2
Gush
3
Desert
20
Island
Forbidian
was a power house. It was also darn expensive with all of those Morphlings and
Powder Kegs and other superpowered rares. The engine itself, however, was run
by an uncommon (forbid) and a common (Ophidian), thus making it worthy of it's
very own peasant variant.
The
first problem, of course is that the massive permanent control of the original
is all found in the rare (and very expensive) department. For our purposes,
Unglued comes to the rescue. If you never thought you would say that join the
club. Anyway, Chaos Confetti can be a very powerful form of permanent removal.
It can also be a disaster. This deck will not work in ventilated spaces nor
will it work without some practice throwing little bits of cardstock. Also, if
you are going to play this deck make sure you have a stack of Chaos Confetti cards
or that your opponents will let you rip up a proxy (you should always ask but
keep the judge in mind as well).
While
Chaos Confetti alone would not be enough, the Confetti is backed up by the all
powerful Washout. It is important to remember that once you have Forbid in your
hand you may need to clear the board of blockers to allow your Ophidian to
sneak through for the card draw. Because of this you may wish to save the
Confetti or Washout until needed. If your Ophidians are failing you the peasant
version of this classic contains a number of cantrips to help fuel Forbid. Both
Exclude and Repulse will give you no net loss, in a pinch you can also scrap
the Capsize or the Thalakos Scouts after buyback or bounce respectively. The
MVP for non-creature Forbid fodder is Gush. This will fuel 2 full uses of
Forbid all by itself. If it wasn't so critical that this deck have a start for
a fast start I would be more than happy to yank the Opt in favor of Gush and
Inspiration.
Desert
helps to scare off your opponents smaller creatures and don't be afraid to
block with the Ophidian if you need to. As a matter of fact, in a pinch all
your creatures can make decent blockers. Feel free to exchange a Scout for
another Wayward Spirit. They are kind of a toss up. Both can return to your
hand which is good, but doing so really causes some problems with the flow of
the deck. It may be a wise decision, especially considering the metagame, to
swap out 1 or 2 of your 3 finishers in favor of Weatherseed Faeries.
This
deck is hard to play. More so than even your standard Blue deck you need to be
patient and saving spells until you can stabilize the game through a well timed
Chaos Confetti or Washout is very important. Until that point you will be
almost defenseless or, if you toss away a lot of spells early, you will end up
unable to maintain a strong lock even with Forbid in hand. With some practice
this deck will win almost all of it’s games if it can survive past turn 7 or 8
and if you can throw the Confetti well (Try letting the pieces fall from above
or walk to your opponent’s side of the table, also practice with different
sized pieces).
Rhystic
Proposition (Propaganda Blue)
4
Propaganda (Uncommon)
1
Maze of Ith (Uncommon)
4
Rhystic Study
2
Rhystic Deluge
3
Daze
4
Counterspell
4
Power Sink
4
Exclude
2
Dream Prowler
1
Wayward Spirit
4
Repulse
1
Capsize
1
Withdraw
3
Slow Motion
1
Fade Away
21
Island
This
deck is nasty when your playing against creature decks. In fact, main deck
there are 17 cards devoted purely to dealing with your opponent’s creatures.
With 15 (11 not counting Exclude) counter spells you also have the ability to
stop the rest of your opponent’s deck. The main power of the deck, however, is
forcing your opponent to tap out their lands.
Obviously
you want to get the Propagandas out as soon as possible. By making your
opponent pay 2 mana per creature per Propaganda to attack you are really
forcing them to choose whether they want to cast spells or attack. Even if they
attack your are slowing down their deck as they will soon find the number of
creatures they can attack with is severely limited. Add to this the fact that
you can tap their best creatures with Rhystic Deluge and make them choose
between paying mana for every spell or having you draw a card because of
Rhystic Study and you can see how this deck can get annoying very fast. The
longer the game the worse it gets until you have a strangle hold on the game.
You
will notice that unlike the other blue decks there are no instants that allow
you to draw cards. The most obvious reason is Rhystic Study which will net you
a bunch of cards with any luck. Don’t be surprised, however, if this doesn’t go
as planned. Most good players will pay the extra mana 9 out of 10 times. This
will slow them down enough so that you can put your backup plan into effect.
Though slower than dedicated card drawing, both Exclude and Repulse will draw
some cards for you while slowing down your opponent. The rest of the backup
plan is more of the same (although without the cantrip effect), that is slowing
down your opponents game.
Be
aggressive in your use of early counters and bounce. Stalling your opponent is the
best way to win since you can’t start doing anything that produces a long term
advantage until you have more than 3 islands in play. Go all out, although this
is a defensive deck there is no hidden strategy be blunt and hold nothing back.
Once that first Propaganda hits the table you will feel the pressure start to
ease. With a Propaganda or two and Maze of Ith or Rhystic Deluge you should
have little to fear from their creatures.
The
only card that really needs much strategy in playing is Fade Away. This card
could be taken out and exchanged for something else with almost no problem. If
you need it in the early game it is okay, but unless they are tapped out it
will do little harm. In the mid/late game they will be tapped out thanks to the
Rhystic spells, Power Sink, and Propaganda. By now they will probably have a
fair number of creatures and Fade Away can put your opponent’s recovery out of
reach for good.
Your
own creatures are also made to help you deal with their creatures. As a 1/5
Dream Prowler is a good blocker and as we know very well by now, Wayward
Spirit’s bounce ability is so useful it borders on amazing. It will take a
while to kill your opponents with these guys out but never fear and just repeat
with me, “the longer the game goes the better for me.”
You
may have noticed that up until now the creature mix was almost always the same.
One reason is that Wayward Spirit really is that good in this format. Thalakos
Scouts or Mistfolk are also pretty hot choices. Here are some other creatures to
think about when you design your own decks:
Ghost
Ship: at 2/4 he can survive a bolt. He flies and for 3 mana regenerates. All
for 4 mana. With lots of decks packing Incinerate and Swords to Plowshares he’s
still not as safe as Wayward Spirit but he is darn close and may be better in
your deck. As a matter of fact, I still wake up at night and wonder if he is
even better than the Spirit.
Dream
Prowler: I used him in the last deck and he isn’t for everyone or every deck.
1/5 is good though and if your opponent is locked up it’s safe to attack and he
can’t be blocked. For 3 mana he’s a steal.
Whirlpool
Rider: This is an interesting card especially if you are looking for a combo or
a specific card in your deck. Save him for when your hand is full of chaff and
then play him for a look at 5 or 6 new cards.
Have
fun and be creative. There are lots of decks out there use your brain and if
your stuck go back and look at the archetypes and the decks that have been
played for years. I guarantee you will find something worth playing.
-
Jason Chapman