Subject: [STRATEGY] Rath Cycle Report Card Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 15:37:23 -0400 From: Bennie Smith To: Magic Dojo [STRATEGY] Rath Cycle Report Card Hello! I decided that analyzing the cards used in the winning decks of the Regionals would be a good gauge as to what cards from the Rath cycle are making an impact on the Standard scene. I drew deck listings from most of the regionals in the U.S. and around the world that included at least one deck listed, and though the data was far from complete, I think it represented a fairly accurate sample for my purpose. Without further ado, here's the Top 10 cards from the Rath Cycle that were used in winning decks at the Regionals: #10 Living Death - in a surprise resurgence of reanimator-style decks, the often game-altering Living Death makes an impressive showing, placing higher than Reflecting Pool, Spike Feeders, and Shock. It also showed up in creature heavy decks to combat efficient creature removal. A Living Death counters a Wrath pretty nicely, don't you think? #9 Wall of Blossoms - green's only showing in the top 10, the Wall operates under the assumption that card drawing is good. This Wall helps slower, control-style decks immensely in slowing a creature attack. Solid tech in a creature-heavy environment. #8 Bottle Gnomes - the omnipresent Bottle Gnomes provides solid defense against the very powerful red decks out there, and being an artifact helps explain why they're showing up in any deck and sideboard. Combos nicely with graveyard recursers Living Death and Corpse Dance. #7 Dauthi Horror - black speed weenie decks are hot on the scene, and black has a solid cast of aggressive shadows with the Horror topping the list. Can't be stopped by the only other colored shadows that matter (white)! #6 Tradewind Rider - a solid creature and arguably one of the best creatures in the game. Easy to splash finds it both in multi-color critter decks, as well as more blue-style control decks, Tradewind is all good. It gives creature decks some control they needed. #5 Jackal Pup - Okay, so you don't want to play an Earthquake with him out (unless you are the opponent), but the speed of the Pup fits red like a glove. Red weenie rush has never been so strong, and Jackal Pup is the second creature of choice for these decks. #4 Mogg Fanatic - And the Goblin Skydiver proves to be the both the top creature of choice for red weenie rush as well as the top Rath cycle creature, period. He's a fast critter, he's Direct Damage (even if summoning sick, or tapped), he's just plain good. #3 Cursed Scroll - Ah, the defining card of Rath, the Scroll's reusable damage found its way into all kinds of decks, mostly notably, of course, the red decks. This card alone has brought about a revolution in deck strategy, rebuffing Card Advantage for speed and versatility. #2 Mana Leak - Stronghold made little headway into the top 10, but this heavy hitting, effective counterspell made its way into control decks and aggro decks alike. Like Tradewind Rider, its splashability made it usable in multi-colored decks as well as more blue-oriented control decks. The new Arcane Denial, it is everywhere. #1 Wastelands - the number one card is a land! Wastelands showed up all over, obviously in response to the glut of special lands everyone is using. It proved an especially devastating weapon against multiple colored control decks (i.e. Donias U5c), slowing its development lethally. Wastelands gives mono-decks the boost they needed from the pounding they took from Rath's punishing color hosers. Now I will rank the colors in terms of the number of them used (Rath Cycle only) in the winning Regionals decks: #6 White - the big loser in the Rath Cycle, white's shadows were the most used, along with it's solid color hosers. The en-Kor also made an appearance. Not much else to say, unfortunately. 1) Soltari Priest 2) Warrior en-Kor 3) Soltari Footsoldier #5 Artifacts - in reality should be ranked higher, but because it's a smaller number of total cards it falls to here. The top 2 fall in the block's top 10, and are solid performers. 1) Cursed Scroll 2) Bottle Gnomes 3) Ensnaring Bridge, Torture Chamber #4 Green - green's only consolation prize from the Rath Cycle is that it isn't the *worst* color, but when you balance that with the quality cards white and green have from the rest of the Standard-legal cards, you can see why green's got the right to complain. Green's got two solid creatures from Stronghold, a wacky card from Tempest, and that's about it. 1) Wall of Blossoms 2) Spike Feeder 3) Eladamri's Vineyard #3 Red - in addition to solid cards from 5th ed. and the Mirage block, red got lot's of goodies from Rath; it's easy to see why red is just plain hot (pardon the pun) right now. Cursed Scroll should be an honorary red card. 1) Mogg Fanatic 2) Jackal Pup 3) Shock #2 Blue - the Mirage block really boosted the power of blue, and Rath just keeps on giving. The new counterspells are solid, better even than Dissipate, and this color has the best buybacks, period. Chill provides a solid sideboard weapon against red, and Intuition, Legacy's Allure, and Silver Wyvern provide solid utility. 1) Mana Leak 2) Tradewind Rider 3) Propaganda #1 Black - the big winner in the Rath Cycle, it's no wonder black weenie rush (Suicide Black, Swamp Gas, et. al.) did so well in the Regionals. The surprises are the #2 black card, and Sarcomancy, a card I think was almost universally loathed as a waste of a rare slot until fairly recently. Sarcomancy came in a close 4th behind Diabolic Edict in use! Another surprise was the huge appearance of Perish in many sideboards... black's still not taking chances on green, huh? Dread of Night was also vastly used. 1) Dauthi Horror 2) Living Death 3) Diabolic Edict Validating complaints that Stronghold is a weak set, only 25% of Rath Cycle cards used in the winning decks came from Stronghold. While a smaller expansion, it contributed a disproportionate number of quality cards; whereas Tempest is rife with flexible, tournament worthy cards, Stronghold has too many narrow-use or downright unplayable cards. It's still early, though; Stronghold and the Rath Cycle will still be with us for well over a year, so who knows what may come about.