From: blumke8@uni2a.unige.ch (Alexander Blumke)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc
Subject: Re: Deck Evolution......
Date: 6 Aug 1997 03:03:30 GMT

In article <33E2E785.650C@aol.com>, EEYOO <EEYOO@aol.com> wrote:

> 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.

These spells, like Abeyance (or Powersink), are so good because at their
best they enter the Time-Walk-mimicking category, giving you one more
round of attack in beatdown decks (even making the attacking forces bigger
in the Man-O-War's case), or one more round for getting resources in
defensive decks. The Man-O-War, especially, is incredibly versatile: its
functions goes from Time Walk to creature enchantment destruction
(Pacifism, Armors) through recycling of creatures (Nekrataals or
Biskelions) and sometimes even setting up weird locks (with Dragon Mask or
Shadow Guildmage/Ophidian) and probably other things I forgot here
(someone want to start a "Uses of the Man-O-War" trend?). The argument
"But he's useless if there are no creatures in play" is as right as the
statement "But disenchant is useless if there are no enchantments in play"
- which is perfectly true but which doesn't prevent players from using
this card in tournaments.

Also watch out for the (sometimes) doubletimewalk card I consider far
superior to the more played Coercion and Stupor: Agonizing Memories.

Hope this will convince your friend (Hullo Jamie W). And if he really
fears having a Man-O-War in hand with no creature in play, tell him to
play with Crystal Rod.

-- 
From the top of his Ivory Tower, he looked to the east: the dark and barren grounds seemed to stretch to the infinite.
From the top of his Ivory Tower, he looked to the west: fertile rye fields extended beyond the horizon. No cliffs, no mountains, only rye fields as far as one could see.

                                                  Alexander Blumke
                                               blumke8@uni2a.unige.ch