Champions Block Deck - B/G/U Devouring Spirits Champions of Kamigawa is certainly one of the more interesting sets I think has been released in a while. Well, at least in block play. Yes, it is very predictable that Spirits will be the main type utilized. Their synergy with Arcane is alright, but it gets downright nasty with the cheap spells. Well, with that in mind, the most common Champions block deck that comes to mind is the Devouring-Zuberas. I would believe the typical deck is structured: Land: 20 7 Swamp 9 Forest 4 Island 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers Creatures: 26 4 Hana Kami 4 Ashen-Skin Zubera 4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera 4 Floating-Dream Zubera 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Thief of Hope Spells: 14 4 Kodama's Reach 4 Devouring Greed 4 Soulless Revival 2 Eerie Procession Artifacts: 2 Long-Forgotten Gohei Green's gotten way too powerful in allowing colors to be splashed easily. Sakura-Elder and Kodama's Reach are pretty much two givens in any green deck. I have seen versions splash in blue for Floating-Dream Zubera and Eerie Procession, and tend to like those more. The Zuberas are the main force of this deck. Cheap and splashable, Dripping-Tongue makes it so that you'll always have spirits on the board, while the other two promote hand-advantage. Sacrifice them all to Devouring Greed not only nets you the win, but should it not, you'll also have a boatload of spirit tokens/cards/discard from all those fun effects. To help build the forces, this deck needs to stall. Hana Kami's the most annoying thing you'll face against this deck. Sure, it looks like a lowly 1/1, but all spells in this deck are arcane and powerful; Reach out into the deck some more to thin out the land; Greed again in case you couldn't pull it off the first time; or go for the most annoying of them all: Soulless Revival. Combine with the Thief of Hope in a deck full of nothing but 2-drop spirits and arcane, and this deck tends to last quite a while. Of course, the stronger the deck, the easier it is to cripple. Taking out the spirits early and effectively means this deck's left with little to do; a pair of Yamabushi's Storm'll take out those cheap Zubera with their effects as well. In fact, red's new burn has that nasty little effect, so most should be able to hopefully put a nasty dent in it. Don't think concentrating on avoiding Devouring Greed to win; that's just the finisher. This deck is still very competent in hording. Plus, a combo of Thief-Hana-Soulless Revival means a steady life loss. You'd think all those black cards to remove stuff from the graveyard should be useful now, huh? Rag Dealer and Nezumi Graverobber are perfect choices to make sure certain annoyances don't come back. Of course, to finish off any combo deck, Cranial Extraction is the answer. Blue's has a tougher time against this. Don't think Cut the Tethers will do the trick alone. Saving counters for finishers like Thief of Hope and Devouring Greed seem the best choices. I'm not too sure, but I've heard Uyo, the Silent Prophet can also copy the spell and get the exact same effect. And since it's "last in, first out" the Uyo copy will resolve first, which might kill the player first. Unfortunately, blue has little it can do against a deck like this one. Both white and green have to somehow outrace the exploding spirit population. Green should have an easier time, but white has little to rely on. Weenie rush seems like the best strategy, since it is doubtful to block with the spirits they'll need to sacrifice later on. The best bet in the end, is to have a Shell of the Last Kappa out. Since sacrificing the spirits is part of the cost, you'll just suck up the spell, and they'll have lost most of their creatures. Then again, if that thing's already out, chances are they'll never play the spell anyways. - Natsume NOTE: This is just my version of what the deck should be, as well as my thoughts on playing with the deck and against it, although I think playing with it is self-explanatory. Should there be any concerns or better ideas, feel free to tell me so at FORTRAN_MAN@hotmail.com