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08-11-2000
 Chaos Control
'An eerie type of chaos can lurk behind a facade of order - and yet, deep inside
the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order'
Recently I made the top 8 in the new type 2 environment playing a black/red
discard/land destruction variant, I received a magic play mat and boosters for my
efforts. In my opinion it was a good meta-game choice for a field made up of so many
multicolour decks and Rishadan ports, also the black discard was just too good to pass
up. Here's what I played: 4 * Dark Ritual 4 * Blazing Spectre 4 * Chilling Apparation 3 * Void 3 * Urza's Rage 3 * Seal Of Fire 1 * Scorching Lava 3 * Ravenous Rats 3 * Thrashing Wumpus 1 * Vampiric Tutor 3 * Pillage 3 * Pain/Suffering 1 * Pyre Zombie 3 * Rishadan Port 1 * Dust Bowl 4 * Sulphurous Spring 2 * Urborg Volcano 8 * Swamp 6 * Mountain SIDE BOARD 1 * Pillage 2 * Snuff Out 4 * Flashfire 4 * Boil 4 * PerishI couldn't quite get all the cards I wanted (Pyre zombies, Vampiric tutors), and in retrospect I induced quite a lot of pain on myself (Wumpi and pain lands) that I would have rather avoided. Harmful enchantments proved to be a problem having no real method to avoid them, save discard. I would have also liked to try and fit some Tangle Wires in. The sideboard was great against control, green beat down decks and rebels, I think I pillaged about 3 Tsabo's Webs. Here's a quick analysis: 4*Rituals, 4*Spectres, 4*apparitions These formed the base of my deck, and proved very strong. I think I ritualled these bastards out at least once, first or second turn in every match-up I played. The rituals were still good in the mid/late game to power the kicker on Urza's Rage, play fast voids and to give my Wumpus a secret strike if I only had 1 black untapped. Ravenous Rats were great to increase the discard pressure after attacking with the Specs/Apps. Also serving a few points themselves. I also used them to kill beat down critters with seals and rages, though I usually sided them out first. Void was the MVP, often gaining a 4-1 card advantage and killing Blastoderms, on occasions getting Skizziks in hand as well. Decks like green beat down and rebel were extremely handicapped against Void, with an abundance of similarly costed spells. I felt the best strategy to couple with the nasty discard was land destruction, Rishadan Ports, Pillages and Pain/Sufferings. I found it quite a good choice especially after side-boarding either Boils or Flashfires or both against some decks. The spot L-D killing dual lands and ports, the sideboard for mass destruction was just harsh. A little L-D under a port-lock, with a ritualled spectre on the warpath just absolutely destroyed a few of my opponents. All the discard/L-D had a second function built in so it would not be a sub-optimal draw in the mid-late game. Pain/Suffering was either, Pillage killed artifacts and the discard was built into critters. The burn was excellent, though more Pyre-zombies would have been better. It served to push through the Specters and as late game kill. Urza's rage won me a few games, (didn't see any Misdirections) and Scorching lava was for Nether-Go. Have fun in the new environment, I will ride the Blazing Spectre disrupting stick to a few more wins, no doubt.
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