Subject: Current Arena Season
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 05:53:25 GMT
From: Arthur Kimes <artki@ANNEX.COM>

Yamada Gakuen (yamada Gakuen) <NFCC@TELEPORT.COM> said ...

] I am interested to hear from anyone else in Arena who has changed their
] decks.
]         For example,
]                 What new cards did you insert?
]                 Did you change the theme?
]                 Why did you put those cards in?
]                 What did you take out in return?

  I made a sideboard for each deck.
  For the 3 decks which weren't Deep Freeze I decided to concentrate on
buyback - either preventing the opponent from using it or abusing it
myself.

  Swarm.
Added a couple of Geddons (all I have) to discourage buyback.  I had
planned on loading up with Flankers but ran out of space.  I settled on 2
JoRael's Centaurs.  Also added a Maro and a Lhurgoyf.  Could have gone
with 4 Maro's but that would have been against the swarming nature of the
deck.  Put the Aluren, Recyle (too unreliable for me) and a couple of
Beetles in the side.  My buyback cards also went to the side but will
comeback if I side out the 'Geddons.  The Beetles return vs. the Flames.
Main deck is now up to 28 creatures.  Sideboard cards include Citys of
Solitude, Phy Furnace and anti-enchantment/artifact cards.  Plays pretty
well.

  Flames of Rath.
Winter Orb x 4! (anti-buyback) Also added 1 red diamond, 2 white diamonds
and a U. Paradise to make it easier for me to work under the Worb.   A
couple of mountains, the firefly, the furnace and the DESPISED WILD WURMS
went to the sideboard.  Also added 2 Disenchants and 3 Honorable Passages
to the side.  After losing a match vs. another Rath deck I wonder if I
might be better off with 4 Paradises instead of the artifact mana as that
would give me more flexibility in my sideboarding.  I could bring in stuff
from any color while still being able to operate better under the Worb.
I'm not sure I like how this deck works - needs more testing.

  Slivers
  I plan to ABUSE buyback here.  Added 2 more Whispers, a capsize and a
disturbed burial.  Also increased the control elements with one Propaganda
(all I have) and 2 floods.    To make space for them I took out the hard
to use Dream Caches and, heh-heh-heh, the 4 Metallic Slivers!  Replaced
the Bottle (the lifegaining artifact) with the easier to use Fountain of
Youth.  Against Red the Bottle comes back in.  Sideboard cards include 4
Energy Fluxes (anti-Worb).  Against Armageddon I either counter the Geddon
or die.  In testing the deck still works well.  It's by far the best
comeback deck.

  Deep Freeze.  A tough deck to work with and made tougher by the fact
that I don't have any Wraths of God.  I decided to increase the stall and
the theft components and hope for the best.  Wound up replacing 11 or 12
cards in the main deck.  Added stuff like Legacy's Allure, Binding Grasp,
Time Ebb and Man-O-War's.  Took out Gaseous Forms, Spell Blasts and such.

"We'll have no unnecessary floating aboard this ship." - General Merritt