Subject: Answer to TE-constructed? Date: 2 Feb 1998 22:13:50 GMT From: "Jeffrey Lucash" Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy Tempest has rekindled (pardon the pun) my fascination with this game. The new concepts introduced, the continuous storyline, the great art; everything fascinates me. I've been playing the game since revised and have never been so entranced by a set. And it's not because there are a lot of power cards, because clearly there are not. It may be that there are no _terrible_ cards. I mean, mogg fanatic would have been unheard of a year or two ago, when 1CC creatures were supposed to be pretty dull (ie. mons' goblin raiders). At this rate, I would not be surprised to see 0CC mons'. I mean, people still probably wouldn't really use them except in combos and whatnot. wotc has finally seen what kind of cards people will play with. I mean, most cards in tempest are, at the very least, playable. Anyways, to the point.. As I've seen it, TE constructed has gone through many phases. After the set was released, the first TE-only decks were basically reincarnations of type 2 decks with the occasional sliver deck here and there. Then, as people began to analyze the set and notice the trend of low-toughness creatures, a new deck style emerged. People began to take advantage of the various tims found in the set (guerillas, firewalkers, fanatics, mawcors, hunters, etc.) Games with 2 of these decks pitted against each other were usually fairly dull, with the game coming down to whoever goes first (unless u played with fanatics.) Although these decks were very competitive and often won tourneys, they were fairly inconsistent. The next phase was characterized by Tom G.'s article on the cursed scroll. Many people noticed the lack of artifact removal coupled with the general low-toughness of the creatures and saw cursed scroll as a viable deck, especially at breaking the tim-stalemates that characterized the last phase. More and more people started using scrolls, taking it _almost_ to the point of broken-ness. Tom's stirring 'expose' got to so many people, that 4 cursed scrolls really became a 4-in-every-deck card. I mean, I've seen it used in reactive decks, lock decks, coupled with whispers, and with just about any deck. Some scroll zealots even preach it's broken-ness in type 2 and extended, where it is clearly not broken. Basically, the effect of Tom's article had been to educate everyone with the least amount of playing experience to the power of cursed scroll in tempest constructed. So, now with 4 cursed scrolls in every deck, people begin looking for a way to deal with it in the environment. The environment, is now one in which there are decks trying to utterly take advantage of the scroll, or those out to utterly nullify it's effect. With this in mind, I have come up with a deck, that I had thought to be unbeatable until taking my first loss to a humility/prayer lock deck (at least i won the match). The deck now stands at something like 12-0, after playing for 2 or so weeks. Without further ado, the deck (and comments/reasoning): damage (reusable): 4x Bottle Gnomes // Out of Scroll Range, making them a great blocker, sac.able, creating card advantage, and i can attack with them. Plus, with cursed scroll, they make the ultimate combo in this environment. 4x Mogg Fanatic // Using them for their sheer efficiency. They make good early creatures as they can take out most of the opponent's creatures after dealing a couple points to the opponent. Also combos with Corpse dance for 1 or 2 damage every turn. 1x Rathi Dragon // Debatable. I like the idea of being able to cast an early fatty in a mostly black-less environment. Unfortunately, it does not combo with the dance very well. 2x Pallimud // Very underrated for being unscroll-able. The opponent is almost always tapping mana for something. Also, makes for a good one-time punch with corpse dance when the opponent is tapped out. I'm keeping the number low to get around allures and the like. 4x Cursed Scroll // Hey, it's broken, right? Well, it won me the games against the humility/prayer lock and it does help a lot. damage (one-time): 4x Kindle // Direct removal/dd is good. Proactive nature is necessary to run a scroll, as is the low casting cost. Disruption: 4x Rain of Tears 4x Stone Rain 4x Wasteland // These are to hinder early development and to hurt a deck running scrolls. It's amazing how potent just one or two can be early in the game. Most people play with reflecting pools at the very least, so wastelands bring my LD count to 12. 2x Coercion // I'm going for the necro-like disruption here. Pure Gold against the control decks that have been giving me problems. Control: 4x Diabolic Edict // I hear playing with creatures is the new rage.. They seem to work considerably better than dark banishings, even if only for the one less mana. I rarely see more than one or two creatures on the board at once. 1x Evincar's Justice // Almost a black wrath. When there is more than one creature out, this sweeps the board. I have never bought it back because my mana is usually tied up dancing/scrolling. The Soul: 3x Corpse Dance // Extremely underrated. This makes up my deck. It's useful just about every time I draw it. With a bottle gnomes in the graveyard, you gain 3 life every turn. I fell in love with the combo playing bottle necro, and haven't had to abandon it yet. Unless you're playing against a blue deck, you win at 10 mana on the table. Mana: 4x Cinder Marsh 2x Reflecting Pool 8x Mountain 5x Swamp // Seems like the right mana mix, with wastelands being able to bail me out of a tight situation. Any suggestions for the deck are definatley appreciated. I feel that this deck is very powerful, but I'm looking for a way to take out artifact/enchantments. So far it hasn't been all too necessary, but the future might see me including white. SB is completed and consists of boils/perishes/others.. Clearly, cursed scroll is not broken, as displayed by the numerous anti-scroll decks that have been popping up lately. ^---- shameless trend-starter -nate quik_ag on IRC