Yay! It’s that time again! Right after the second expansion in a
Block is released, people go into brainstorm mode on what dominating
decks to build. This is simply a strategy guide for those ‘decks to
beat’. I’ll have decklists in future articles, so for now, here are some
of the new decks that Darksteel will popularize.
Mono Green Hate
Mono Green hate is one of those decks that can seriously adapt towards
the new artifact based metagame. Darksteel brings us some bombs:
Fangren Firstborn and Pulse of the Tangle are amazing cards, with no
drawbacks, and enormous card advantage. Skullclamp is Magic’s new toy,
giving you some pump, and netting you serious card drawing, all in one
neat little package! Speaking of packages, take a look at the bomb
Viridian Zealot. This thing is burning up on the card market right now,
and it’s no wonder. One might argue that the mana cost is too much, but
the way I see it is that it’s another two-in-one, giving you a beatstick
and has a nifty Artifact-destroying ability.Altogether, I foresee that
this deck will be as big of a one-hit-wonder as the Baja Men. It’s going
to make a great show in Mirrodin Block, but will die down in the next
Standard (Mirrodin Block along with the “Earth, Wind, and Fire” block).
Affinity
Frankly, this thing is the new Madness. It’s not too expensive to
build, it’s a good deck, and dominates both Block and Standard. It
doesn't
get those great bombs like Mono Green Hate does, but it’s still got some
good cards:
Darksteel Citadel spits in the face of the people who find it funny to
destroy Artifact Lands. Vex is a solid Counterspell, but has a horrible
drawback, and will probably only be seen a little bit in some Rogue
Sarina Affinity builds. Machinate is another story. Affinity players
whine about not having enough Blue sources, but most Affinity decks have
up to sixteen or so Blue sources. By the the time you can play this,
you’ll be able to quickly sift through your deck for that essential
Override or Broodstar that you need for the situation that you’re in. No
predictions needed here. Affinity is already one of the most dominating
decks in Standard, and is sure to make a good showing in the cycled-out
Onslaught block.
White Weenie Equip
Truthfully, this is the most fun deck to play. Get a weenie into play,
and equip it with a Vulshok Morningstar and go for the win. The only
problem with the design of this deck is getting a good balance of
Equipment spells and creatures. I’ve seen some people have twelve
creatures, and twenty-four equipment spells. The best way to go is more
50-50, but that’ll be saved for a future article. Now, here are some of
the best new cards that Darksteel brings us:
Like I said, there are just too many cards to put on this list. Like
before, expect a large card-by-card breakdown for White Weenie very
soon. Anyways, Skullclamp is another “gimme-gimme”, while the Swords are
great cards for that color-hoser-lacking sideboard. Leonin Shikari is
great during the response to Attackers and Blockers steps, practically
as good as cheating your on taxes and not getting caught! (just kidding)
Vulshok Morningstar is going to be the Common of the block, for cheap
pump, and cheap cost. Auriok Glaivemaster is another great one-drop for
the deck, and with a second turn Bonesplitter can easily become a
second-turn 4/2 first striking dude. Auriok Transfixer doesn't help much
with non-artifact decks, but is a genius versus Affinity. As an Affinity
player, I can say that it ticks me off a lot to have my Myr Enforcers
tapped every turn. This will be a strong, cheap deck for block, but it's
a bit slow for Type Two. This deck can barely get a turn-six kill, which
by then, an Akroma’s Vengeance will have already hit.
Death-Cloud or ‘NeoPox’
Those of us that were around back in the good ol’ days remember Pox.
It’s still that one card that everyone swears at when they see it hit
the table. Death Cloud is a great card that will hopefully see
mucho-play. Neo-Pox only really gains two cards from Darksteel though:
Death Cloud is the core of the deck. A Death Cloud deck without Death
Cloud is like a Computer without a monitor - really pointless.
Darksteel Brute is an amazing card that can easily survive the Death
Cloud and is ultimately a ‘second win condition’. This deck hasn’t
really seen enough play for me to determine whether it’ll see much play
in Standard or future blocks yet.
Those are some decks that will hopefully see some good play. Unlike most
blocks, Mirrodin will probably provide a fairly diverse field. All of
these decks will see some play, but here are other ones to look out for…
R/G Beats/LD
This deck doesn’t have enough color support for all of the double
colored casting costs. It may see some play, but this deck will take a
lot
of tuning to get the ball rolling.
NeoTinker or Reshape.dec
This deck definitely got a boost when Reshape came out, but it will need
quite the boost from Fifth Dawn to see actual play.
NeoRock
Like R/G Beats, there is no color support for this deck. The lack of
Birds of Paradise and City of Brass is just too much for this deck. No
mana stabilization, but definitely some great cards.
NeoTog
Atog may be making a comeback, but I seriously doubt it. This deck gets
a nice protection bonus from Slobad, but I’m not sure yet.
NeoNecro
Just like all of the Neo decks (besides Pox) this deck seriously lacks
cards. Promise of Power and Consume Spirit are very bad win
conditions. I’d wholeheartedly recommend not playing this deck in
sanctioned tournaments.
Belcher
This deck is better left for Standard, where removal is a little better
to come by. Sorry belch!
I apologize to any decks that I forgot :). Next week, I’ll hopefully
have a good Mono Green deck followed by a deck analysis.
Thanks for reading!
If this article ticked you off, E-mail me at
fatcat20002002@yahoo.com
or AIM me at TheFatCat411.
Get your schpiel on!
-Isaak O. |
