Subject: [Deck]
Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 20:07:24 +0000
From: Douglas Tave <urania@harborside.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Subject:  [Deck]---Submitted by Kai Tave
Black/Green
Type II (To be Type I.V come Exodus)
Name: Graveyard Shift
Comments-This deck works very well due to the fact that your opponent
will be lucky if he can figure out what you're up to.  This deck takes
advantage of Weatherlight's graveyard manipulation unlike any other.  It
tries to dump creatures from its own deck with Buried Alive, and it then
uses three cards to hurt its opponent; Lhurgoyf, Tombstone Stairwell,
and Nature's Resurgence.  It's like Drunken Master Kung Fu; you gotta
mess yourself up to mess him up.
                This is a slow deck, and often takes several turns to
get rolling.  An early defense/offense consisting of River Boas, "Poof
Creatures" (Skulking Ghost and Tar Pit Warrior), and Nekrataal is
optimum.  Hidden Horrors are large, cheap, and their "discard a creature
from your hand" works well with getting creatures to power your
graveyard.  Don't worry about losing creatures; the deck's built that
way.  But, try not to be creatureless, as a really fast player can kill
you.
                The deck can be played as a straight weenie deck, but
that's no fun.  Buried Alives should come out early with Birds of
Paradise, Blood Pet, and Fallen Empires "Sac-Lands" to help.  The Buried
Alives get a good three creatures into the graveyard AND thins out the
rest of your deck for you.  Then, with about five or six creatures in
your 'yard, play one of the big three.  Lhurgoyf is BIG (most of the
time) for his cost.  At four mana for his special ability, he was too
good to pass up.  Remember, his ability feeds off BOTH graveyards, so
your opponent having lotsa dead stuff is good here.  If your Buried
Alives don't come out early enough, don't bother with these guys (except
as Hidden Horror discards or sacrificial blockers. . .).  Tombstone
Stairwell is just sick; during each upkeep, each player gets a 2/2
creature token that can attack the turn they're brought into play, and
at the end of each turn, bury the tokens just so you can put them back
into play again (untapped) next upkeep.  With five or six creatures in
the 'yard, you can stand to do 10 to 12 damage.  Rinse and repeat.  Now,
your foe gets critter tokens as well, so use Gaea's Blessing on him and
reshuffle three of his creatures into his library.  Natures Resurgence
is simple; Both players draw cards equal to the number of creatures in
their graveyards.  Just remember the Gaea's Blessing trick here, and
you'll be fine.  Got to discard due to a big hand?  Go for worthless
creatures.  ALWAYS try to have more dead creatures than your opponent.
                This is a fun, effective deck, but it has a lot of
secrets and techniques to perfect.  If you're willing to learn how to
play it, it will serve you well.

Land:   7 Swamp
            7 Forest
            2 Gemstone Mine
            2 Pine Barrens
            2 Havenwood Battleground
            2 Ebon Stronghold

Artifacts: 2 Nevinyrral's Disk

Black:   4 Hidden Horror
            3 Buried Alive
            3 Tombstone Stairwell
            3 Skulking Ghost
            3 Tar Pit Warrior
            3 Blood Pet
            3 Nekrataal

Green:  4 Lhurgoyf
            3 Birds of Paradise
            3 River Boa
            2 Nature's Resurgence
            2 Gaea's Blessing

Sideboard:
            3 Elephant Grass
            3 City of Solitude
            3 Dread of Night
            2 Perish
            2 Uktabi Orangutan
            2 Tranquil Grove