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Perhaps it is partly the effort required and no one has the time. The e-mail was wrong for several days on the original article, and perhaps some people gave up after trying to send it. Perhaps a little guidance was required. And that is what today's article will be about. The challenge is re-issued, the prize is still up for grabs, this time lets get some decks rolling in. I'll cover some cards or strategies that I think might work as peasant decks in this environment, but first, a recap of the rules for any entry:

• The deck must be at least 60 cards.
• The deck MUST be accompanied by a 15 card sideboard.
• Kamigawa Block cards only (Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa).
• At least 5 decks will be chosen (more if there are more distinctly unique archetypes) and played against each other.
• The decks will be chosen based on their design for the metagame, and well thought out sideboards. Include a brief description of the deck and sideboard options as I might miss some synergies or tech you've put into the deck.
• The deck that has more wins will win the prize.
• The prize is 6 boosters
• The last day for entries is 25.5.05. Please send them to the e-mail listed at the bottom of this page.

Here is a list of uncommons that I thought would be powerful choices. It's certainly not an exhaustive list, there are bound to be other gems I have missed as well.

Eradicate – It hardly needs explaining. In peasant, you rely a lot on creatures to deal your damage; if you figure out which ones are key to your opponents strategy, this can be a game breaker.

Forked-Branch Garami – In a spirit heavy deck, this could be a contender instead of the bigger uncommon creatures because it can offer good card advantage.

Genju's – All of the Genju's are great, probably more so in this limited format. A Genju of the Spires untended will end games very quickly.

Jetting Glasskite– This and its smaller cousin Shimmering Glasskite could form a creature base that dodges removal or forces card disadvantage, and also have evasion.

Ogre Marauder – In an aggressive deck where you don't need this guy to block, he's cheap for his stats. If your opponent plays instants on your turn you might be in trouble, in which case you might just side him out for that battle.

Sosuke's Summons– Going tribal, peasant style!

Blind With Anger – Solid card that can force advantage, or outright turn a game around and win on the spot.

Blood Rites – Pretty straightforward, allows you squeeze extra damage out of your dying creatures, or simply ping for the win in the late game.

Dampen Thought – Maybe this deck could exist at peasant level. Maybe…

Shuriken – Backed up by ninjas, this could be deadly to an opponent's creature base.

Hondens – Any of the hondens are good, Red and Green probably mean a little more in this environment than normal, although Blue gives solid card advantage.

Initiate of Blood – In the right deck this guy could be deadly.

Nezumi Graverobber – In peasant magic, card advantage can be a little harder to come by, and this guy can give it in spades if he comes out early.

Orochi Eggwatcher – Probably not up the power of the flipping rat, but none the less, being able to put creatures into play every turn is appealing, even if only to chump block while you wait for the big men to show up.

Sire of the Storm– Again, card advantage is harder to come by when using mainly commons, so this guy might make the cut.

Thief of Hope – In spirit heavy decks with black, this guy could make the cut.

Ire of Kaminari – Nope, not an uncommon, merely common. But I still think this is a card that can be built around if you think carefully enough and play a controlling red deck.

You might look at the uncommons above (or pick one or two not listed) and build around them. Alternatively, you might look at an archetype, and then try to fill it out from there. What I have found interesting is that given we have access to no rares and few uncommons, nearly all (if not all) archetypes I could think of had common ways to be answered or even crippled. It was hard to find something that was resilient to everything. So let's take a look at a few archetypes:

Green Beats – Kodama's Reach, Sakura-Tribe Elder and Orochi Sustainer can all accelerate you to the bigger stuff. Unfortunately in this block, a lot of the bigger stuff is uncommon. About the closest thing you'll get to a Scaled Wurm at common is Moss Kami. This archetype can suffer from black removal, especially Eradicate if it is relying on big creatures for the win. You probably need to include another colour to add more versatility.

Sligh – There's plenty of burn and a healthy range of creatures at low curve to make this deck a possibility. Genju of the Spires is probably a shoe in as your uncommon of choice if you decide to take this path.

Red Control – Red can take a more controlling aspect and go for a longer game, hopefully finishing with a few well timed Ire of Kaminari.

Soulshift – Decks could easily be built around the soulshift mechanic, and while you are at it, arcane triggers. Various colours could work, probably black/green offers the best, as well as a nice mix of creatures and removal.

Black control – Black has plenty of tools to deal with creatures. When you are ready, get Nezumi Grave Robber to churn out some advantage, or beat down with Genju of the Fens, or hold out for some big Consume Spirits.

White Weenie – I say White Weenie, but almost every colour has weenies in this block that could be contenders. Never the less, White offers samurai in abundance, which could be topped with Nagao, or maybe Ronin Warclub, or even Shuko to keep pressing the advantage. It gives you Cage of Hands to steal tempo from your opponent when they cast their bigger creatures.

Ninjas – Obviously black/blue, the ninja deck can do all sorts of tricks. Only having to deal with mostly commons makes it a little easier on a deck like this. Just watch your tempo vs. card advantage.

So there's a few ideas to get you started. Perhaps you'll take one of the ideas above and run with it, or build something completely different that might wreck everything else I've written about.

I would also like a little information from the readers here at mtgparadise. I was hoping this to be the first deck challenge, but certainly not the last (pending further support by mtgparadise, of course) to offer such prizes. Would you like to see more off-beat challenges? In particular, I would love to do some Vanguard challenges, but that will really depend on the support of the readers.

So hopefully I'll see some decks rolling in soon, and we can get this party started.

Michael Howell

Forum Name : Bacchus

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