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| Mirrodin Prerelease Report by Josh |
| Once again a new set has come out and it is time for the rogue deck builders of the world to try to claim all the good ideas as our own before the internet claims them. This is a deck I�ve been working on ever since I realized just how fast you can accelerate your mana with the new Mirrodin talismans. Decree is my first attempt at abusing this quick mana. Decree: Lands 4 Seat of Synod 4 Great Furnace 4 Vault of Whispers 5 Mountains 5 Plains Creatures 4 Myr Enforcer 4 Frogmite Other 4 Talisman of Dominance 4 Talisman of Indulgence 4 Thoughtcast 2 Rush of Knowledge 3 Decree of Annihilation 3 Decree of Pain 2 Skeleton Shard 4 Mana Leak 4 Aether Spellbomb Sideboard 4 Annul 4 Terror 4 Stabilizer 1 Decree of Annihilation 2 Insurrection Deck analysis: The goal here is to pump out as much mana as you can as quickly as possible and blow up the board. No matter what aspect of the board you blow up, you should have an advantage over your opponent. Decree of Pain draws cards for every creature you destroyed, while they get nothing. Decree of Annihilation destroys all lands, but leaves you with Talismans to continue playing cards. Questionable card choices: Rush of Knowledge: This can either completely refill your hand, or it can be an expensive Inspiration at sorcery speed. Because it is so swingy, only two are included. Skeleton Shard: There are only eight creatures in the deck, and none of them are incredibly large. The ability to bring them back is priceless, but it is only a late game card, so only two are included. Insurrection: As you�ll see below, I don�t suggest boarding these in for any of the dominant archetypes. However, this card is extremely powerful and can swing the game in your favor if faced with a rogue deck (which we are very likely to see at The Foul Line). Cards that didn�t quite make the cut: Plague Wind: With so few creatures in this deck, the card advantage from Decree of Pain is more useful than the ability to exclude your own creatures from the wrath effect. Ornithopter: These were originally in the place of Frogmite. However, in this case, the speed is less important than the ability to trade with opponents� creatures. My play testing isn�t exactly what you�d call extensive. I�ve run games against the following decks. I can�t give win percentages (they are likely to be inaccurate� less games makes for a larger margin of error), but I can tell you the important cards in each match up, and some sideboarding strategies. Against Goblins: Every deck has to be able to beat goblins, or it won�t work in the new standard. This deck has some problems with goblins (but then again, who DOESN�T have problems against a deck that insanely fast?). Goblins were the reasons for running several cards that might seem sub-optimal. Ornithopters are virtually useless here. They chump block, but they don�t do much else. Frogmites on the other hand, come down a turn or two later� but just in time to trade with a Goblin Piledriver. From the sideboard, it�s obvious the Terrors need to come in. Beyond that, Annuls might be necessary if they go for Sulfuric Vortex (because Decree has no way of removing enchantments once they are in play, and goblins will generally hit for 5-10 points before you can stabilize the board). Also, my first mistake in play testing was to board out the land destruction and go for creature destruction. Instead, Rush of Knowledge and Skeleton Shard should be boarded out. Both of these are huge in the card advantage department, but this match up is too dependent on speed for them to matter. Because many of the goblin player�s game breakers are 4+ mana, Decree of Annihilation is much better than I originally thought. Against White Weenie: The match up against White Weenie is much worse than the Goblins match up. White Weenie, while less explosive than Goblins, is much more consistent. While blowing up all of a Goblin player�s lands might leave him drawing Siege-Gang Commanders and Clickslithers, White Weenie can easily operate on two lands� and a conservative player will probably have a few in hand. Just like Goblins, the four Terrors come in here. Only bring in Annul if you REALLY fear the Empyrial Plate. Against R/W Slide: This match up essentially depends on three cards: Lightning Rift, Exalted Angel, and Akroma�s Vengeance. Save your counters for the Vengeance! Akroma�s Vengeance will wreck Decree like nothing else. Lightning Rift and Exalted Angel are their win conditions. If you can shut these down, all should be okay. Your goal should be to blow up the lands ASAP. However, there is good news. Decree packs a lot of sideboard hate for this match up. Bring in Annul, Stabilizer, and the other Decree of Annihilation. Your goal here is to out-control them until you can blow up the lands. Then the game should come pretty easily. Against Mono Black Control: The main thing you have going for you in this match is how many dead cards they have against you. Frogmite and Myr Enforcer are immune to both Terror and Smother, and Myr Enforcer can�t be killed with Infest or a cycled Decree of Pain either. MBC likes to do much the same thing Decree does: build up a huge mana base and then overwhelm the opponent with powerful cards. Therefore, it is vulnerable to land destruction� and that�s exactly what the Decree of Annihilations are there for. Save counters for Oblivion Stone! The stone wrecks you much like Akroma�s Vengeance does. From the sideboard, bring in the other Decree of Annihilation. Overall, I�ll admit this isn�t going to be the hottest deck around. It should probably be lumped into the big �rogue decks that just missed the cut� category. However, I�ll be tweaking it and hopefully I�ll get some much needed advice on the message boards. If you like this deck and are interested in playing something similar, you can find another affinity deck here. (http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=5939) I question a lot of his card choices (particularly the statement, �Because the deck includes four Talismans, it can afford to run just eighteen land.�) However, much like Decree, it is unlikely that he has play tested as thoroughly as needed. Hopefully I�ll be writing more of these� this gives me a chance to throw around ideas that I otherwise probably wouldn�t get to look into. If you�ve read this far, I really appreciate it. And if you want to see more, let me know on the message boards. See ya at the next tourney� -Josh Cornwell- |