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16-06-2001
 Black & White in the new Type II
Hello folks, the Type II environment is changing rapidly at the moment, with 7th edition already in and Apocalypse soon to arrive. Apocalypse is a set with many playable cards, so its definitely going to open up a whole WORLD of new possibilities... one of them being truly competitive black/white decks.
I've been working on one lately, its turned out to be similar to the old
'Necro' land destruction decks. The deck list is below, and I'll state right
up its untuned at this point, but still seems to be quite competitive. I'd be
interested to hear anyone's thoughts on it for improvements -> just drop me an
email to: jwright3@bigpond.net.au Desolation ---------- 4 Duress 4 Gerrard's Verdict 4 Phyrexian Arena 4 Rain of Tears 4 Vindicate 4 Death Grasp 4 Befoul 4 Wrath of God 4 Desolation Angel Land ---- 4 Peat Bog 4 Remote Farm 4 Caves of Koilos 2 Dust Bowl 2 Dromar's Cavern (gating depletion lands is cool!) 6 Swamp 2 PlainsI know what you're thinking: Desolation Angel??? It costs 7! Welp, before dismissing it, I'd suggest trying it, I have yet to lose a game upon it resolving, and that includes a game where it died the turn it came out. So, it fulfils an important condition every deck needs: victory. The main issue is, can you get it out? So far, most of my testing has been against decks packing a *LOT* of counter spells (12-24!), I'd have trouble getting past all those right? Well, not really. If you look closely, you'll find there's not actually that many true counter spells to stop it in most decks. There is counter spell and Absorb/Undermine and then there's... well not many! Perhaps Dromars Charm if they are in those colours, but then they NEED all 3 colors. Duress, Gerrards Verdict, Phyrexian Arena and Land destruction will either deny them the ability to play the counters, or, remove them from their hand. The key is to keep the counter deck to 3 land or preferably less, since their hand will eventually choke up with uncastable spells (even if they fact or fiction, or drop an arena (which will generally lead to the first condition anyway). The deck has too many threats for them to answer them all, and the desolation angel is a threat which demands an immediate answer. Against 'rush' decks, you will generally go for their land and if you can find a wrath, that and the land destruction is probably going to wipe them out of the game. Alternatively, 8 of the 12 land destruction spells can also be used to kill the creatures doing the damage, which gives the deck considerable flexibility vs. such decks. You also have death grasp to both kill creatures and undo the damage they did. I've only tested against a couple of these decks, an early wrath will cripple them, otherwise, you're in for a fight, but its not a battle that can't be won since you have so much removal available. If they get off to a flying start and you don't, they are probably going to beat you unless you draw a wrath, but if they miss a beat that's generally enough for you to get on top - which is why you go for the land first unless the beating becomes intolerable. The other card particularly worthy of mentioning is the DUST BOWL. This card and Phyrexian arena is very, *VERY* nasty against multi-colour decks. With the arena out you can afford to sacrifice a land each turn just to wipe out their non-basics and that is enough to take someone down from having a strong mana base to being totally crippled... something well worth considering no matter what deck your playing.
Jeremy Wright |
