Another year, another new type 2. Finally, we have freed ourselves from the masques block and the ridiculously unfair free counters, ports, and fading beasts.Arena decks have never been much of an influence in IBC, primary because it did not play either red or blue.
However, in the new type 2 format the deck is definitly going to make a good showing if correctly played. for the last 2 months i have been playing arena almost exclusively (altho my former deck was splash green) and i can tell you that this deck WINS.
my decklist for type 2
4 duress
4 gerrards verdict
4 spectral lynx
4 phyrexian arena
4 vindicate
4 death grasp
4 wrath of god
1 rout
2 haunting echoes
3 desolation angel
1 yawgmoths agenda
2 disenchant (almost certain to be removed for devoted caretaker x2)
sb
2 dodecapod
1 yawgmoths agenda
3 gravestorm
3 slay
execute
2 cremate
devoted caretaker
2 aegis of honor
the deck wins on the strength of arena
against control, your objective is to FORCE arena into play. that means early discard, vindicates on lands, reckless spell casting, whatever it takes. once arena hits, you win. no questions asked. if you cant force an arena, you still have a decent chance. discard hurts control a lot
against aggro you win or lose depending on HOW YOU PLAY
i have seen players cast turn 2 lynx to stem the bleeding, while holding a verdict in hand. that is NEVER the best play
lynx should always come out with 1 black open. and turn 2 verdicts will often net 3 life anyway. in this matchup, take advantage of arena only if your opponent has no fires of yavimaya on the board and if you are over 10 life. otherwise, hold your arena until you stablize. your vindicates are your best card in this matchup, even better than wrath, as you want to allow your lynx to live as long as possible. watch out for burn to the head tho, so stay above 7 life (even if it means poor grasping)
against aggro control the goal is simple. trade 1 for 1 at all costs. since you have arena and death grasp, it is always in your best interest. always cast verdict on turn 2 if you have 1, duress away COUNTERSPELLS, not threats. it is a relatively even matchup in all respects
<aside on percentages and matchups>
dont u hate ppl who list all their matchups as 70-30 in their favor and have their worst at 50-50. i mean, seriously, no deck is that good, for every deck there is a weakness. i wont deny that arena decks suffer against mono red decks. no deck is perfect, if that was what you were hoping for, GO HOME.
<end rant>
alrite
some questionable card options i chose to play
the 4th death grasp - this is essential to stand a chance against decks with urzas rage in game 1. without 4 you die to burn
2 haunting echoes - you have no idea how broken this card is in this deck. ESPECiALLY against control, during the midgame, if you can stock up 2 discard spells, a threat and the echoes, you almost always can resolve it.
the card is broken beyond belief, since your opponent no longer has counters or card drawing.
disenchants - since i seem to find squirrel nest BROKEN beyond belief in oppo-run, i feel disenchants have earned a role in the maindeck, altho i am leaning towards devoted caretaker since it solves the problem as well.
now for the sideboard
i am very proud of a few of my sideboard choices, especially gravestorm in 3 quantity
gravestorm - the most underrated card in odyssey next to ground seal
the card is the nut
against the aggro green decks this knocks off call of the heard, as well as elimanates hope for threshold. make sure you side out echoes when siding this in tho, the synergy between the 2 isnt the best
3 slay - i am scared to death of green beats. scared TO DEATH. green beats can overwhelm you and leave u low enough to be burned out. these are vital for game 2, no ifs ands or buts
2 cremate - for those annoying spells when u dont want to go for the gravestorm, very nice cantrip, and especially useful suprise to eliminate treshold
2 aegis of horror - i fear burn horribly
agenda - against control, its another must control
pods - self explanatory
im not gonna give you any BS on matchups, thats for you to figure out. remember tho, this deck is skill intensive, dont put it together before a tourney and start to win. the more you play, the better it becomes.
BrItIsH KaVu
EDIT
apprentice tourney report added
6 rounds, 32 competitors, cut to top 8
Round 1
R/G Flashy Beats
I draw an opening hand of
Spectral Lynx
Caves of Kiolos
Wrath of God
Wrath of God
Phyrexian Arena
Duress
Swamp
He casts a turn 1 farmhand as i duress away a firebolt. turn 2 he casts a mongrel (one of the most useful cards in blocking shadowmage infiltrator) and swung with his farmhand. on my third turn i drop the lynx with a swamp open as he goes for the call. turn 4 i cast arena, waiting for him to get greedy. sure enough, he flashes the call, and i wrath. i have arena on the table and 13 life when i cast desolation angel (after duressing away his ghitu fire). he concedes
Game 2
i only board in 3 slays in favor of 2 echos and 1 agenda
he has a weak offense, partially because it consisted of 3 call of the herd, and partially because i drew 2 wrath of god. in the end, i cant find an angel so i death grasp him for 10, twice. i was lucky too, i pulled off my grasps when he was stuck on 11 land, and he showed me 3 rage 
Round 2
U/B Infiltrator Magpie
I draw a hand that does not lose to this deck
Swamp
Plains
Duress
Gerrards Verdict
Vindicate
Vindicate
Phyrexian Arena
Caves of Kiolos
He is very aggressive, with turn 3 infiltrator, turn 4 magpie, turn 5 infiltrator, turn 6 magpie. however i had duressed him and verdicted him for 2 counterspells, and my arena had hit play when he was tapped out for infiltrator. he drew 2 counters for my vindicates, but my wrath finished him. (note, i think he made the right plays by being aggressive, but he definitly should have let the vindicates resolve). after that i simply cast more threats than he has answers, arena is insane
Round 3
Oppo-Run
Game 1 he draws 3 squirrel nest, I only have 2 disenchant, he locks me
Game 2 he draws 3 squirrel nest AGAIN. i vindicate 1, disenchant the other 2, but by then he was 4 squirrels, 2 elves, a bird, and a snake, with the opposition for the lock. i made a crucial mistake by forgetting to duress turn 1, and inside doing it turn 3 =/
Round 4
Infiltrator - Go
i have more answers than he has infiltrators, plus he only has 1 island thanks to vindicate for most of the game
game 2
i suprise him with dodecapods from the board. does anyone notice that they block infiltrator? 
he concedes when he realizes he cant win
Round 5
Land destruction
his turns go
duress
addle
stone rain
stone rain
implode
implode
dwarven landslide
i concede
game 2
i draw a 6 land hand and keep it. he is killing lands to no avail. i run him down with 2 spectral lynx
game 3
see game 1, except this time with 3 duress and 3 stone rain
i need to win round 6 to make it...and i am playing against, LICH :shudders:
game 1
his chants are in the sideboard and i manage to disenchant the lich
game 2
its all about the painlands, as he dies on turn 4 to spectral lynx beatdown as well as painland damage. every land in the lich deck needs to produce black mana because lich needs to hit play turn 4/5
quarterfinal
r/G Beats
game 1
i stabilize at 12 life and 6 land, holding 4 more, waiting for my angel. he shocks me with epicenter, but i easily make a comeback with the land in my hand
game 2
in the midgame i grasp him 3 times for 25 total, but he rages me 3 times with kicker, along with a 6 point ghitu fire
game 3
in the first 4 turns i cast
aegis of honor
spectral lynx x3
he concedes
semi-final
White Weenie with blue for meddling mages
he drops a mage to wrath, longbow archer, 2 devoted caretaker. i ROUT.
he eventually casts a mystic crusader with standstill backup, but i dont care, as i cast arena and wrath. he draws 3 lands of the standstill and concedes
game 2
i cast agenda in the midgame but have no wraths in my graveyard. D'oh! he wins a close 1 when he manages to cast a fat moti after i use vindicate 6 times
game 3
he has no white mana thanks to vindicate
easy win
Finals
Oppo-Run
not again
squirrel nests keep making appearances, and backed by 12 1 mana creatures, as well as looters, i am easily defeated
he reveals that he is running only 1 orb, telling me that it is not necessary when you have a nest.
prizes : none :frown:
it was a good experience though, land destruction is strong, i talked to that player afterwards and he shows me the 3 maindeck trench wurm, although not strong against me, they wrecked the lich player as well as the 3-color control variants
green-red is not as strong as fires was, althoguh it is still in contention. call of the herd would have been broken against me if i didnt draw so many arenas/wraths/grasps
turn 1 duress is exceptional in the format, and i may even consider 2 addle maindeck
i still need a solution for oppo-run, but i dont want to up the number of disenchants. o well back to the think tank
[Edited 1 times, lastly by British Kavu on October 08, 2001]
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posted October 07, 2001 09:57 PM
