Subject: March Decks To Beat Date: 03 Mar 98 15:37:59 +0000 From: Nathan Donovan To: "fkusumot@ix.netcom.com" Dear Frank, I wanted to submit a deck to you for the March '98 "decks to beat". On the 2nd of February, Mike Donais had a listing in the Dojo for a deck called "5 Color Blue". I had checked again on the 4th, and it was gone, but someone else apparently had seen it as well and had listed a modified version of it in the tournament reports/decks section for TypeII later that week. This deck, I must say, completes the full circle of the 5 color decks, because it is one of the best blue based decks I have played since the CounterHammer in the '96 TypeII environment. I will give you the listing here as modified by the team in Ohio who have been playing it avidly. I have been testing with it all month, and have had nothing but success with it. It's problem areas mainly are sligh based decks and stompy decks, but most of the other popular medium paced decks out there like propaorb, trap, marogeddon, steelpox, 5cg, 5cb, big blue, and R/U beatdown suffer to it greatly. It's a control deck that focuses on card advantage than anything else, with a mana engine that is solid enough to handle 5 colors. Mike Donais originally created this deck, so I would like very much for him to get all due credit if you do decide to post it. A large bulk of my testing with it has been against 5cg, PropaOrb, and Canyon Stasis or Big Blue decks, mainly because that is what is played most often in my area. The recursion factor is basically the key to the deck, and I have thought about going up to 4 gaea's blessings. Recursing counters and lobotomies against blue based decks, and recursing wraths and gerrard's against creature heavy or burn based decks has served a huge advantage. Most often times the deck kills by decking, but if time is fighting you harder than your opponent is, the fireballs can often draw the game to a quick close. The sylvan was not originally put in the deck, but was a later modification because the sylvan/gerrard's wisdom life for cards engine is probably more efficient than necro in this environment. There are usually about 6-12 turns in a lengthy match where I find myself able to draw 1 or 2 extra cards from the sylvan, and gerrard a turn later for the life right back. The other strength of this deck, aside from the broken blessings, is what it "does not" have. There are no creatures, and virtually no permanents other than land, so propaganda decks, and decks with heavy creature/artifact/enchantment manipulation are at a percentage disadvantage. The main cards to counterspell have tended to be armageddon, nature's revolt, ophidian, medallions, and the obvious red stuff. The deck can suffer horribly if you cannot stop your opponent from drawing as many or more cards than you. For this reason it usually ties up with Canyon Stasis because that deck also has mad card drawing potential. Anyway, I thought I would include this intro as well, because as good an experience as I have had testing this deck, not a lot of people out there are playing it, and I think it deserves a lot more credit because it's really a solid deck. The last couple of weekends I have been bringing it to my place to play (Match Play in Mountain View, CA) it's been turning a lot of heads because no one there had heard of it or played against it. I got a lot of positive feedback from people though, on how to improve it and other nuances it holds which I had not yet seen. 5CU 2 Thalakos Lowland 3 City of Brass 3 Undiscovered Paradise 5 Island 3 Plains 1 Lotus Vale 4 Reflecting Pool 2 Gemstone Mine 2 Fellwar Stone 3 Dismiss 3 Dissipate 4 Counterspell 4 Impulse 2 Whispers of the Muse 4 Wrath of God 4 Gerrard's Wisdom 2 Disenchant 2 Sylvan Library 3 Gaea's Blessing 2 Incinerate 2 Fireball 2 Lobotomy Sideboard: 4 Warmth 1 Hurkyl's Recall 1 Dust to Dust 1 Disenchant 1 Lobotomy 2 Phyrexian Furnace 2 Earthquake 3 Pyroblast Take care, and as always, thanks for the effort you and the Dojo team put into this wonderful site! Nathan Donovan nated@greatwave.com //******************************* Nathan Donovan nated@greatwave.com Great Wave Software www.greatwave.com *******************************//