Subject: Land Destruction in Urza's Saga with T2 Date: 01 Oct 98 19:26:06 +0100 From: "David Eastman" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Land Destruction in Urza's Saga with T2 LD seems to be one strategy that still gets fed a healthy dose of cards. In this article, I'm looking at: - Cards that destroy land directly, either asymmetrically or in a targeted manner - Cards that interfere with your opponents mana resources - Cards that work well in a mana advantage situation The aim is to see which US cards can be used in the context of T2 deck with an LD basis. First of all, the direct stuff: Lay Waste (Common) 3R Sorcery Destroy target land. Cycling 2. The one great thing about LD is that it isn't conditional; the only reason you may want to cycle it is because you have a mana problem. Even then, you wouldn't want the card discarded, just reshuffled. As a 3R this has nothing over Flowstone Flood, which can win a game by itself. Rain of Salt (Uncommon) 4RR Sorcery Destroy two target lands. Comparable to Conquer in the gain of a two mana advantage. but at this expense I can't see a slot for it. Raze (Common) R Sorcery At the time you play Raze, sacrifice a land. Destroy target land. Initially, this compares poorly with Wasteland. Its symmetric, but allows you to make the target choices. Without Gemstone Mine and Undiscovered Paradise to target, Raze looks considerably more flexible than Wasteland, but the price in card economy is heavy. Still, I suspect that a Sligh based deck would use Raze in preference to Sphere of Resistance. Unlike the Sphere, you cannot use it like a choke if you have successfully destroyed all your opponents land via Flowstone Flood. Befoul (Common) 2BB Sorcery Destroy target land or nonblack creature. A creature destroyed this way cannot be regenerated this turn. Kill target land, or kill target Tradewind Rider. Surely the 4cc choice for black majority LD. Rumbling Crescendo (Rare) 3RR Enchantment During your upkeep, you may put a verse counter on Rumbling Crescendo. R, Sacrifice Rumbling Crescendo: Destroy up to X target lands, where X is the number of verse counters on Rumbling Crescendo. The complete opposite of what LD is about. Here purely for comic relief. Next the interference cards: Back to Basics (Rare) 2U Enchantment Nonbasic lands do not untap during their controller's untap phases. Interesting but probably academic. The clamp effect is certainly strong (too strong, as it effects you), and the cost is low. However, its difficult to see this in a T2 main deck and harder to justify in a sideboard. Exhaustion (Uncommon) 2U Sorcery Creatures and lands target opponent controls do not untap during his or her next uptap phase. I like Time Ebb for its Time Walk effect. Exhaustion allows your opponent to draw and play a land, which means development is not hindered. An annoyance as opposed to an interference. Mana Leech (Uncommon) 2B Summon Worm 1/1 You may choose not to untap mana Leech during your untap phase. Tap: Tap target land. As long as Mana Leech remains tapped, that land does not untap during its controller's untap phase. The old Mole Worm is a bit puny for a 3cc, but the effect is hard core. I can tap your land and/or sit on it. So I can poke you with your City of Brass, or stop a Stronghold. Or just tap two Islands between your turn and my turn. Not an automatic choice, but works well in conjunction with standard LD. Mishra's Helix (Rare) 5 Artifact X, Tap: Tap X lands. And finally, the ultimate clamp. Floodwater Dam (Alliance) was harder to use but cheaper. At 5cc I want a spell that will win a game, and this will. In many situations, your opponent will simply have no mana during his main phase. This is good in any language. Belongs to the Leaning Tower of Pisa school of balanced cards. And finally the cards that exploit your hard won mana advantage: Argothian Wurm (Rare) 3G Summon Wurm 6/6 Trample. When Argothian Wurm comes into play, any player may sacrifice a land to put Argothian Wurm on top of owner's library. Less troubled by bounce than the Dirtcowl Wurm, this looks like the LD beatdown creature of choice. Just use it. 258 Greener Pastures (Rare) 2G Enchantment During each player's upkeep, if that player controls more lands than any other, the player puts a Saproling token into play under his or her control. Treat this token as a 1/1 green creature. I think this is possibly stronger than Well of Knowledge in terms of an advantage card. It costs nothing to use, and does nothing troubling if your opponent gains parity with you temporarily. Not hard to work this into a deck In summary, there are a good set of cards to support LD in T2, with the Wurm and the Helix as strong contenders for slots. David Eastman UI, Repository, Java Tools Group and other things too.