Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 03:53:41 -0400 From: EEYOO Subject: Deck Evolution...... Its amazing how our thoughts about deck concepts and specific cards change as the 'environment' changes. For Example, Mario Robaina, a name player who recently place well at the nationals, had this to say about Abeyance shortly after Weatherlight came out- 'This card and Peace Talks are crap.' And of Gerrards Wisdom, his comment was 'Never put this card in ANY deck that you are remotely interested in winning with.' These comments, and his decklisting for the nationals were both taken off the Magic Dojo (insert umpteen billionth plug for www.thedojo.com), where it can be seen that he was playing 4 Abeyances, and 2 wisdoms in the starting deck. Does this mean he wasn't interested in winning? Hardly. Rather it indicates the flexibility and willingness to experiment that marks a key difference between a good player and a finalist. How many people a year ago would've willingly included a card in their deck that milled 3 cards from their deck into their library? Yet Ertais familiar is now a featured creature in many decks, and I personally have thanked people for making me discard when I was holding uncastable Ashen ghouls. A friend of mine who's qualified for a couple of Pro Tours quickly embraced Sage Owl, yet doesn't see the value of Man o'War or Memory Lapse. He points out all the times you cant play Men because there aren't any other creatures out, and how lapsing a spell often only delays your death by a turn. While these points are valid (anyone who's played with Man o'war has sat holding them because there wasn't any targets for their effect), its also true that in many circumstances they are almost indispensible for the ability and economy of use. The point of all this is that there is no Right Answer, no magic formula that will guarantee the success of a deck. In all cases, the answer to the question 'Should I put this in my deck?' is 'It depends.' And the willingness to accept this indefinate answer and to spend the necessary time and effort to determine exactly in what situations the answer changes to 'yes' or 'no' is the determining factor in making the leap from one level to the next. alan webster A spiteful guy who wonders how a post that started so promisingly turned into such drivel Oh, yeah. Its 3:30 a.m.