T1 - Brave Lions deck

Deck list

land:

1 Library of Alexandria
1 Gemstone Mine
3 City of Brass
2 Mishra's Factory
4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island
4 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

artifact:
1 Black Lotus 
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring 
1 Zuran Orb
2 Jayemdae Tome

blue:
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Braingeyser
4 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Serendib Efreet

green:
1 Regrowth

red:
1 Fireball
2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Lightning Bolt

white:
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
4 Savannah Lions
3 Swords to Plowshares


sideboard:
3 Force of Will
2 Dwarven Catapult
2 Pyroblast
2 Disenchant
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Disrupting Scepter
1 Jester's Cap
1 Zuran Orb



Here is a little deck analysis.

 My Lion-deck is mostly fast/low casting cost creatures deck 
with lots of removal/permisson. Sounds like a ideal deck, eh ?

This deck can get full control against most T1-decks in current 
environment. With fast creatures you can easily beatdown The 
Deck-style decks. With removal/counters you can beat Zoo-  and 
Whiteweenie- decks.

Necro is a problem, you need to get a good draw if you think of 
beating necro, good thing is that, with this deck 80% of draws 
are good enough to beat necro. :-]

A good sligh is pretty hard to win. Most monoreds can be shut 
down simply with CoP: Red, but really fast sligh usually needs 
a really good draw if you think of winning.

'Why do you have Savannah Lions in deck, they suck'

1st turn 2/1 - control decks have to do something about it - it 
can block other weenies + it has Healing Salve effect against 
burn decks. ;-)

Most T1 decks dont have so much removal anyways. 2-3 Swords to 
Plowshares is usual and the recursion decks have hardly removal 
at all. Against Zoo/Necro/Sligh they are nothing  special, but still 
good.

'Tempest is in - lets abuse it'

I am sure Strip Mine gets banned/restricted 1st of Janjuary, so 
we have some time to Strip Mine everything. All good T1 decks 
had 4 Strip Mines, now they have 8. 

'I allways read Quarum Trench Gnomes when I make t1 deck - it reads 
'Use counters'

4 Mana Drains is enough  against most decks. Sideboard has 3 Force 
of Wills and 2 Pyroblasts for recursion/permission decks.

'Is that a Zoo-deck?'

I have 11 creatures in deck, so it means it is fast creature 
deck - but with removal / Jayemdae Tomes it is also a good control 
deck. It is simply a Lion deck.

Sideboard

Catapults is great removal card against - Necro, Zoo, Whiteweenie 
and Sligh. Enough to put it in a deck. 5 extra 'counters' - you 
usually need them. CoP: Red and extra Zuran Orb against burn.

Jester's Cap and Disrupting Scepter specially against The Deck-style 
decks. 2 extra Disenchants to take care of Moat/Abyss mostly - maybe 
Disk/Worb/Mishra's Factory too.

So - thats it. With 4 Strip version of this deck I've done really 
well in several T1-tournaments.

Now 77th in classic rankings.

Mikko Makipaa
email  mkpaa@cc.spt.fi
A.K.A   HoBBe5