Subject: [Strategy] Date: Mon, 14 Sep 98 19:41:57 -0600 From:   To: Necropotence: The Renaissance (a little too dramatic but hey!...) It's coming! Just from the partial spoiler for Urza's Saga on mtgnews it looks as though the future of Necro is promising. Strong new cards, the absence of others, and fresh ideas of how it can be played are making it seem more and more likely Necro will make a return to type II. When we make the rotation this November alot is going to change. Many deck archetypes will loose their heavy hitters and others will gain some steam. Necro I believe is one of such decks that will gain rather then lose. Already there are strong new cards which have given Necro a boost. Peace of Mind/Necro is a powerful combo. As a friend said, "...it's really hard to lose when you draw that many cards [and gain that much life]...". In addition the Rath Cycle has given a Necro player alot of great creatures to choose from such as Dauthi Horror, Slayer, Carnophage, Sarcomancy, and even Thrull Surgeon. Already Urza's Saga has alot in store for Necro decks. The one card that really caught my attention was the seemingly innocent 0 casting artifact Claw of Gix. It reads "1, Sacrifice a permanent: Gain 1 life.". One life might not seem like alot, but with Necro it's another card. The Claw of Gix has the added advantage of turning excess cards into life such as land or creatures dealt lethal damage or even fizzling Capsizes. Most importantly the Claw allows for the removal of the Necro once it's no longer necessary. It's been hard to play a Necro deck in the past few months, excluding those based on Peace of Mind, because the highly tuned burn decks in type II make every life paid a death sentence. Some of this is due to the increased quality of red creatures in the Rath Cycle, the Mirage/Rath Cycle have truly set new standards for creatures, but also because of such power cards like Fireblast, Cursed Scroll, and Hammer of Bogarden. In November Cursed Scroll will still be an issue but that's only 4 cards in a deck to worry about and who's afraid of Giant Strength or Maniacal Rage anyhow? :) Necro has access to some of the best sideboard cards in type II as well. When the sets rotate this fall black will have an answer to Living Death/Recurring Nightmare, something that's not availiable in Rath Cycle costructed, Planar Void. Wow! This card is powerful not just in type II but in almost every format. Recursion will no longer be as safe as it used to be with the threat of an early Planar Void. How perfect, black is known for discard so once it's gone, it's gone! Plus black will have Dread of Night(Cataclysm WW could get huge), Perish, Lobotomy (to some extent), Thrull Surgeon, Megrim, and Bottomless Pit. If the trend towards blue continues, which it probably will (Rewind Another Amazing @!*%$ Counterspell!!!) then Necropotence may be the perfect foil. So in closing, a few words of advice, trade for four Necros, get rid of your Survivals and Recurring Nightmares, and stock up on Claws. -Steve Hernandez (khernand@mwci.net) "Robert Palmer is dead Kevin!"