My first attempt at a single card strategy will focus on my current 
favorite card: Coat of Arms. First off, here's the description:


Name: Coat of Arms
Edition: 7th Edition
Type: Artifact
Cost: 5 Mana
Text: Each creature gets +1/+1 for each other creature in play that 
shares a creature type with it. (For example, if there are three 
Goblins in play, each gets +2/+2)


Being a relatively new Magic player, I came across one of these in 
a 7th Edition Booster. I slipped it into a modified version of the 
Apocalypse: Burial deck, and I've scored more victories than I 
could have ever hoped for. Man, I love this card.


Okay, now the particulars. Badically, for each creature that has the 
"Goblin" type in play, for example, they will gain +1/+1 for each 
other Goblin in play. If you have 3 Goblins, each other Goblin would 
gain +2/+2. But if you were to have 4 of these babies in a deck, and 
managed to throw out 2 or three of them early on, things would 
really get interesting. 2 Coat of Arms cards = +2/+2 for every other 
creature type in play. 3 Coat of Arms = +3/+3 for every other 
creature in play. And dare I say the ultimate occurance of 4 Coat of 
Arms on your side at once? Your 3 Goblins all of the sudden gain 
+8/+8 a piece! MAN, I love this card.


Then again, there are downsides to this card as well. Coat of Arms 
affects all creatures in play, not just creatures that you control. Your 
Goblin creatures would gain +2/+2 yes, but what if your opponent 
had 5 Birds out? +4/+4 to all of your opponent's birds, and instant 
death to you if he attacks with flying. So be careful if you and your 
opponent are using decks based around a certain creature. You 
could get hurt.


With that in mind, however, here is a deck idea based around Coat 
of Arms to give you an army of nearly unstoppable creatures! For 
the sake of argument, we're going to pick "Zombies" as your 
creature of choice. Now, first you the Zombies to work with. Zombie 
Cannibal is a good creature just to get the ball rolling. Llanowar 
Dead works well in this deck if you need extra mana. Grave Defiler 
is also a nice weapon to get Zombies in your hand early. The only 
downside to is that you might be sacrificing future lands and 
weapons you might need. Now, for some Lords. Lord of the Undead
gives your Zombies' +1/+1 on their own, and Zombie Masters give 
your Zombies' a 1-Swamp regeneration cost ans Swampwalk. 
Round out the list with some Scathe Zombies for flavor. Their cheap 
and easy to weild. Here's your list this far:


4 Zombie Cannibal
4 Llanowar Dead
4 Scathe Zombies
2 Grave Defiler
3 Zombie Master
3 Lord of the Undead


Okay, we have 14 Zombies and 6 Lords to work with. Now comes 
the fun part. First, throw in the whole point of this deck: 4 Coat of 
Arms. Since you can bring out a ton of these creatures early, Coat 
of Arms would be very effective once played. Strength of Night is a 
tremendous fit, as once you pay the kicker, your Zombies gain 
+3/+3 for the turn. Feast or Famine gives you extra Zombie tokens 
to work with if you don't bury your opponent's creatures first. And, if 
your creatures just happen to die, Midnight Ritual will fix that by 
removing those creatures from play and replacing them X Zombie 
tokens in play. You'll be stacked with super-powerful Zombies, and 
your opponent won't know what hit them! Throw in some Dark 
Banishing till kill some more opposing creatures, and some Stream 
of Life to restore health to round that out. And you know what? 
Throw a couple Overruns in there to give your Zombies Trample 
and really screw your opponent over! Here's the list:


4 Coat of Arms
4 Strength of Night
4 Feast or Famine
2 Midnight Ritual
2 Dark Banishing
2 Stream of Life
2 Overrun


You got your Zombies, you got your Lords, you got your Coat of 
Arms. All you need is Lands. Personally, I'd just throw in 12 Swamp 
and 8 Forests, but it's really up to you. I'm not the biggest land 
person, and I don't really have any good lands for this deck yet. Oh 
well. So, here's your completed deck:


12 Swamps
8 Forests
4 Zombie Cannibal
4 Llanowar Dead
4 Scathe Zombies
2 Grave Defiler
3 Zombie Master
3 Lord of the Undead
4 Coat of Arms
4 Strength of Night
4 Feast or Famine
2 Midnight Ritual
2 Dark Banishing
2 Stream of Life
2 Overrun


And there you have it. Use this deck properly, I garuntee 12/12 
Zombies with a single swamp regeneration cost, maybe even 
moreso! And I believe if the situation were ever to arise, you could 
have these guys powered up into the 50/50 range! That's why I love 
this card!


Just don't play anyone who has protection against Black. Heh heh.


Alex Williams
tuxedoalex@home.com
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I didn't write this message. My pet monkey Foozles did. Can you tell the difference?
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