Subject: Black Speed ?!?!
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 15:09:12 +0100
From: Wouter Witkam <w.witkam@student.utwente.nl>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hello,

Last week I also played in the PS Masters in the Netherlands, just like
Victor van den Broek. I played a black speed deck and during the tournament
i was constantly asking myself: Can something like this still work in the
current enviroment, a deck that is alreadry more then four years old.
I scored 5 out of 7, the two loses against mono-red sligh.
But I have beaten 4 monoblue or mostly blue decks, decks like "Mana
Overload", and decks like that with their temporal control are strong these
days.

This is the deck i played:

4x Sarcomancy           (sometimes they really hurt, but no pain no gain)
4x Shadow Guildmage

4x Black Knight
4x Dauthi Horror        (maybe Dauthi Slayers ?, because of fireslingers, fanatics
                        and firewalkers)
4x Erg Raiders
4x Knights of Stromgald (today i have replaced to of them for Sea Sprite
against                            Red)
4x Fallen Askari

2x Necratog

1x Drain Life
4x Bad Moon
3x Cursed Scroll        (A very powerfull card in a deck like this)

3x Dark Ritual

4x Underground River
2x Undiscovered Paradise
1x City of Brass
12x Swamp

Sideboard (most of the cards were useless, I played the metagame badly)

2x Perish
2x Dread of Night
3x Lobotomy
3x Nevinyrral's Disk
2x Mindbend
1x City of Brass        (for if i sideboarded lobotomy or disk, and to give the
guildmages a little more red agains certain decks)
2x Coercion

In my new version of the deck, I replaced two Knights of Stromgald with two
Sea Sprites. My sideboard includes now 3x Chill and two more Sprites
against red.

The deck looks a little like the deck Brian Hacker played last year in Pro
Tour Dallas but i cann't remember that deck exactly.

Why Dark Rituals (first time in the last three years): if you draw one in
your starthand against blue you can cast two or three things uncountered,
even if they have forcespikes. Also good to empty your hand (I don't
believe myself saying that !).

Some people asked why i don't play with Man-O-War.
My reasons:     - MOW is not black, so it will not profit from Black Moon.
                - MOW costs three mana, not something my deck can always produce on
                  turn three, making the card in a deck likes this not very good
                  because speed is the main factor of the deck. Against some decks
                  you want to emty your hand in turn four so you can start
scrolling.

Is this the way to beat temporal control (read: blue) ?

Greetings,

Wouter Witkam