Bear.dec, or the history of Rebels.

Welcome again to another edition of Tedman's Tales. First off, some news. Most of you have probably heard about the new bannings in Masques block: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero and Rishadan Port. I sort of saw that coming. I mean, Port completely discourages multi-color deckbuilding, which is a damper on any limited format. And Lin Sivvi is just plain broken, in Masque block constructed or Type 2. I believe Coolio said it first and best:

I cast my Lin Sivvi.
In response, I search for my Lin Sivvi.
Ok, my Lin Sivvi dies. Cast Last Breath on your Lin Sivvi. Go.

Well, I'm not going to go into Masques block at all until Prophecy's wide release. So here's one of my takes on Type 2.

When Masques was first released, Rebels and Mercenaries were regarded as equal, and neither were played in any competetive decks. They were mere theme decks, with nobody suspecting the imminent "dominance" of Rebels in the Type 2 environment. Here's a theme- deck Rebel decklist, without Prophecy or Nemesis.

4 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Steadfast Guard
4 Fresh Volunteers
4 Cho-Manno's Blessing
4 Worship
4 Disenchant
3 Ramosian Captain
3 Ramosian Commander
2 Jhovall Rider
2 Reverent Mantra
1 Rappeling Scouts
1 Jhovall Queen
1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary

23 Plains

Now that's just a silly deck I came up with for now, but rebel theme-decks weren't much different from that.

When Nemesis first came out, competitive Rebel decks were all similar. Here's the traditional Rebel decklist, Cradle-Rebel, by Chris Pikula.

4 Masticore
1 Devout Witness
4 Disenchant
4 Glorious Anthem
2 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
4 Longbow Archers
4 Mother of Runes
1 Nightwind Glider
4 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Ramosian Sergeant
4 Steadfast Guard
1 Thermal Glider

1 Dust Bowl
4 Gaea's Cradle
18 Plains

Now this decklist looks pretty simple. Get out a searcher and a Cradle, and use the cumulative bonus of the Cradle + searching ability to amass a gigantic army and win. It actually isn't that simple. The whole idea is mana-efficiency, and you normally have this choice - play a Rebel now, or wait until end of turn to search. That question can sometimes be a stumper. Also, the 4 Cradles may seem a bit extreme, but with 4 Masticores, it's actually a good idea.

Now, Cradle-Rebel is good, but not that good. Its first problem was that it wasn't fast enough, with 4 Masticores and a Devout Witness taking up room as expensive cards. I know that nothing in the deck costs more than 4 itself to cast, but you have to take into account all the activation abilities that are required. Also, sometimes you get mana-screwed due to the 4 Cradles. When I playtested this deck, I found that I got 2 Cradles far too often, usually ending up discarding the excess one to the Masticore only to see it get eaten by an imminent Dust Bowl. The deck had too many weaknesses.

Bear.dec. The name may not sound familiar, but believe you me, this deck is far superior to Cradle Rebel, and will soon become a force to be reckoned with in Type 2. Here is MY personal decklist:

4 Ramosian Sergeant
4 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Mother of Runes
4 Longbow Archers
4 Steadfast Guard
4 Fresh Volunteers
4 Crusade
3 Seal of Cleansing
3 Armageddon
3 Parallax Wave
2 Reverent Mantra

2 Gaea's Cradle
2 Kor Haven
17 Plain

As you can see, this deck is a LOT more beatdown oriented than just plain searching. The whole basic strategy is quite user-friendly.

Turn 1: Plains, Sergeant, go.
Turn 2: Plains, Steadfast (Bear), attack with Sergeant, go.
Turn 3: Plains, Sergeant, Crusade, attack for 5.
Turn 4: Cradle, Fresh Volunteers, Crusade, attack, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture.

Eventually, when you have the advantage, you want to Armageddon to press mana advantage, or to just pop off someone's Cradle so you can play your own, which I have done several times. Parallax Wave is an MVP in this deck- it's extremely versatile. You can use it to temporarily disable 1-3 creatures, or even use it as a card that reads "All your creatures become unblockable this turn," which, believe you me (twice in an article, there's a record), is quite useful. If you can win that turn if all your creatures gets through, you can even use Reverent Mantra, as well as wave. Mantra is a grossly underrated card. It's a great surprise card. Snuff Out? No. Arc Lightning on 3 Sergeants? No. Wave of Reckoning? I think not. Eathquake? No way, Jose.