Subject: The New Bloom Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 14:02:05 -0500 From: AARON SOUDERS To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello, everyone, and welcome to Shazam's cavalcade of Broken goodness. Just a thought about what Type II will be dominated by for the next couple months (not like it really matters, without any major Type II events. Whatever) Anyway, with standards like Force of Will, Arcane Denial gone, Type II counterspelling is going to take a big hit. It will more than likely resemble the countering that happened in Mirv-Light, with maybe some Dismisses splashed in for fun. (Damn, that card is good.) With this in mind, I truly feel that a Cadaverous Bloom/Squandered/ Drain Life deck is going to roll the field, but I also think it is now possible to run without Prosperity. (What?) The only problem I have with prosperity is the fact that you are tossing your opponent 86,000 cards, and after a Natural Balance, have the mana to do something with it, as my playing the deck shows you can hit combo on third turn. I found this a huge problem playing against white. Even though it's power is far less than before, an Abeyance after a Prosperity on a Bloom player is completely disasterous. So we turn to cards of the Tempest bracket to avoid prosperity. I.E. Meditate Of course, it's silly to mention, but it must be said. Who Cares if you skip the next 2,000 turns when you're in the middle of the engine. Meditate allows a bloom player to have 8 Infernal Contracts (roughly, use your imagination) in the deck along with other stuff. You only have to get up to twelve cards in hand to do the 20 point drain. A brief overview of what the new deck looks like to me. 8 X Island 6 X Forest 6 X Swamp 4 X Gemstone Mine 4 X Infernal Contract 4 X Meditate 4 X Natural Balance 4 X Vampiric Tutor 4 X Impulse 2 X City of Solitude 2 X Drain Life 2 X Harrow 4 X Squandered Resources 4 X Cadaverous Bloom 2 X Scroll Rack The new keys to the deck: Harrow:This card is like having the 5th & 6th Natural Balance in the deck to grab some more blue for Meditate when you need it. Really helpful in the pinch, and is also why more Islands are being run than any other basic land, even though it is the least amount of mana focus in the deck. Scroll Rack:This cards completely makes the deck non-prosperity viable, letting you contract once or twice, drop the rack, and find two or three more, letting you fill up to twelve for the drain. Great with the tutors. Of course, Natural Balance becomes even more important, and it becomes crucial to know when to lose the islands, and what to do if, god forbid, you run out. The sideboard could run a multitude of things, mainly anti-bloom stuff & anti-counter. I found a great one against blue is Drain Power. With no Force, this becomes a must counter spell, as it taps them out, replenishes the blue you just used to cast it (more than likely), and leaves them defenseless. Just something to think about when you mull over your Tempest cards. Aaron "Shazam!" Souders -Atlanta Pro Tour Juniors Champion -DCI Certifed Level III Judge -Certifiable Master of Ser-VICE! "Believe in yourself. Achieve your dreams. I'm living proof. Beefcake. BEEFCAKE!!!!!!" -South Park's Cartman-