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Editor: Audrey Chin-Quan. Sunday 27th March 2005.
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“ Betraying Rogue Secrets in Block. ”
While it is probably too early to determine which decks are going to be rogue and which will be actual Archetype decks for block when we are only two sets in, there are definitely some deck types that will be classified more rogue than tier X decks, which I would define as Black/Green Rock, Mono Black, Rats and Samurai. The rogue decks are those that many of you will have noticed that I have been posting on the forums. The three decks I will talk about today are Green White Arcane Slide, Blue White Dampen Thought and Blue Red Ire of Kaminari.
This deck relies on Hikari and Oyobi's interaction with the arcane spells in this deck to avoid removal and provide more attackers. Once you can power out an Oyobi, it shouldn't take more than a turn or two of flying beats to provide an easy win. The power in this deck lies in Otherworldly Journey. This card will single-handedly win you games due to its ability to dodge removal and interact with the Legends in the deck. This card does it all. It removes negative enchantments, it dodges every single removal spell in the game, it powers up a Hikari or Oyobi, and it provides Oyobi with another opening in the skies with which to summon a beat stick. That's why the deck plays Hana Kami and Rootrunner. Play a Journey, Play Hana Kami. Recur Journey with Kami, play Journey and Rootrunner. Pitch Rootrunner to its ability, plow a land, recur Hana Kami, recur Journey. This deck can get out more than ten Otherworldly Journey uses. This should be enough to win games.
The only weakness I have come across in this deck is Black. Its rats are often too quick for the deck, especially if you can't get a Kami of False Hope, and Cranial Extraction can cause bad, evil problems if used against you correctly. Some changes I was thinking of include Time of Need, and Kodama of the North or South Tree. For me it is hard to think which I would use, as Kodama of the North has some of the evasion that this deck loves so much built into it, yet it doesn't work with Otherworldly Journey. Kodama of the South has better synergy, but is more vulnerable. In the end I would probably use Kodama of the South, as the bonus to my flying army is hard to ignore
This deck is competitive and outstandingly fun to play. I piloted it to seventh at last weeks FNM, losing to Rock after repeated extractions, plus some rather annoying Plow Under, Witness, Plow Under which happened several turns in a row and also to Mono Blue, but both of these were Type 2 decks. I defeated a Red/Green Beats deck that features the Green Genju and Kumano.
"Splice Dampen Thought" - Ever since its success at recent Limited Events, these words have meant nothing but frustration to Draft players everywhere. Now the deck makes an appearance in block play. The idea of this deck is to use Dampen Thought and Soratami Mindsweeper in order to mill your opponent's deck. The deck uses River Kaijin and the Mindsweeper itself for defence, and holds a handful of defensive spells such as Ethereal Haze, Candles' Glow, Blessed Breath and Psychic Puppetry for further defence and for splicing. The Kabuto Moth also assists in these ranks for some combat trickery. The cards in the deck are solid and they support Dampen Thought well. If you can get a reasonable core of Arcane cards in your hand to support Dampen Thought, then between it and the Mindsweeper, victory should be close at hand.
Dampen Thought suffers greatly to black in block. The only other weakness is that it can't defend against everything while it is setting up its mana base. It needs to get to three mana before it can even think about using any combat tricks as well as splicing Dampen Thought. Clever management of the cards in hand is needed to use this deck correctly.
The only change that I can think of making to this list is the possibility of adding Patron of the Moon. If you have an accumulation of land in hand, due either to mana flooding or Soratami Mindsweeper, this is totally out of colour for blue, in its providing of mana acceleration.
This deck is slightly hit and miss, as you need the right cards in hand to match the board scenario, but it is really fun to play and well suited to those who enjoy watching the anger, frustration and helplessness all over their opponents faces right before they threaten some form of physical violence.
This deck takes a minute or two to understand, but once you have it down, it is really easy to play. Basically you have to get arcane cards in the graveyard and then use Ire of Kaminari to win. However you shouldn't just cast every spell the moment you see it. The key to this deck is utilising your opponents turn to your own advantage. When they declare an attack phase, for example, you cast Reach Through Mists, splicing Psychic Puppetry to tap an attacker, splicing Glacial Ray to take out another attacker or to take down some life points needing a smaller Ire to win. The counter spells, although you can't splice onto them, are a great help in stalling for time while you establish a suitable defence. Once you get a Dampen Thought that you can splice, its game on. Dampen Thought on yourself greatly accelerates the speed at which Ire of Kaminari can kill. Once you are happy, count your graveyard and thank your opponent for his ratings points.
Once again, Cranial Extraction hands this deck its hat. However if you sideboard Quash, then between it and Thoughtbind hopefully you can hold off an extraction. Shining Shoal also owns this deck. I suggest sideboarding to deal with those two cards.
Changes to this deck include perhaps fitting in The Unspeakable, once again maybe into the board. This allows you to regain arcane spells to splice onto. If The Unspeakable is included, Peer Through Depths is a possibility, as it lets you power out an earlier Unspeakable. Long-Forgotten Gohei is also a welcome addition to this deck, as you can go Turn 3 Gohei, Turn 4 Unspeakable in the right situation.
Of all the decks, I believe that this is the most fun. If it is the first time playing against the deck, no one really knows what is coming until you play Ire. It is probably more viable than the Dampen Thought deck, but perhaps less so than Arcane Slide deck. Enjoy playing it, I sure do.
I hope you have enjoyed my article and the decks contained within. If you have any feedback, be sure to contact me and I hope to see you sometime around the forums!
Cheers,
Reece "pikemania" Perry
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