Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 14:40:23 -0400
From: Phil Romans <romans@midget.towson.edu>
Subject: sand poise

Hey,
	I saw your post on Dojo about the Sands/'poise thing. And I must state
that my friend and I are working on this combo right now. He first tried
the deck with the Mana Vault and got eaten alive with them. This is the
current deck listening for him....

Lands:
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Underground Sea
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Brushland
2 Adarkar Wastes
4 Island
2 Swamp

Gold:
4 Squandered Resources
2 Lim-Dul's Vault

Artifact:
4 Sands of Time

Black:
2 Aku Djinn
3 Dark Ritual

White:
3 Equipoise
2 Enlightned Tutor

Blue:
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Arcane Denial
2 Ancestral Knowledge
2 Vodalian Illusionist
1 Tawiwha
1 Suq'Ata Firewalker
1 Impulse


The basis of this deck is the Sands of Time/Equipoise combo. To help this
along there have been several ways of looking at this.
1) You need to get the key cards out fast, otherwise DD and weenie swarm
eat you alive. My answer has been to put in the Lim-Duls and Ancestral
Knowledge. My friends first answer was to put in Enlightned Tutors and Dark
Rituals. Both of which are working together now.
2) Keep your defenses down to prevent them from getting anything to work.
With the 'poise out and the Sands you can pick everything off and keep them
away. Hence the need for Squandered Resources which provides a two fold
affect for you. a: you keep your land down to a minum allowing for phasing
of thier land b: you get more punch for your land.
3) Need to keep your stuff in place, hence the counterspells. Easy to
figure out really.
4) Being able to phase stuff out then crush them with something. In the
past with Stasis decks, just running them out of cards was the key. This
relies on crushing them with a big nasty while they can't do anything.

I have read about the Diamond use, and I am not sold on it. I cannot
justify thier use while I am using Squandered which provides a two fold
affect. The diamonds also will get the Sands affect on them if not used,
which disrupes the use of Counters if you need to use them. Ever need a
blue to cast that Arcane and all your blue is tapped? No problems with the
Squandered.

Finally, there is a need to watch what you are playing against. Fast decks
provide a bit of tense moments as you get the lock out, but with the
current 'sped' up version to get the lock... I have no longer have to fear
it all. Also, untouchable creatures are pain... Centaurs provide a source
of damage which I am not sure of how to handle yet. (sort of Wraths in the SB)

hope this provides some basises for the Sands players out there. We are
always looking for folk to provide insight.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Phillip Romans	   	email:   promans@towson.edu
Helpdesk Specialist		Phone: 410.830.3956
Towson University		Fax:      410.830.2661