Click Here!
         
  Magic Online Trading League Bulletin Board
  Articles
  B/W Arena, the Strongest Deck That No-one is Playing

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
profile | register | preferences | faq | rules | memberlist | search

UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone!   next newest topic | next oldest topic
Author Topic:   B/W Arena, the Strongest Deck That No-one is Playing
British Kavu
Banned
posted October 07, 2001 09:57 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for British Kavu Click Here to Email British Kavu Send a private message to British Kavu Click to send British Kavu an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
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]

 
wayne
Member
posted October 07, 2001 11:12 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for wayne Click Here to Email wayne Send a private message to wayne Click to send wayne an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View wayne's Have/Want ListView wayne's Have/Want List
I wouldn't play with so many Desolation Angels and Wraths...
Also, I'd make space for Orim's Chant.
 
Lord Atog
Member
posted October 08, 2001 12:20 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for Lord Atog Click Here to Email Lord Atog Send a private message to Lord Atog Click to send Lord Atog an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
I have been running an IBC B/W deck that is very similar to your T2 except mine is a little more on the aggro side. Everyone thought that just because I didn't have any blue or green in the deck it was sub-par. However I sure proved them wrong. The massive card advantage that the Arenas give you make sure that you will almost always get what you need. That is a key factor in going against control decks, which are very popular in T2 and IBC. Also since you are only playing 2 colors, you hardly ever have any mana trouble. Well anyway here is the deck as it stands now:

4x Spectral Lynx
4x Voice of All
4x Putrid Warrior
2x Desolation Angel
4x Addle
4x Gerrard's Verdict
4x Vindicate
3x Death Grasp
3x Phyrexian Arena
3x Orim's Chant
1x Yawgmoth's Agenda

4x Caves of Koilos
9x Plains
11x Swamps

__________________
The bane of all artificers, the legendary atogs devoured intricate tools to further their own twisted growth.

 
Glowing goo
Member
posted October 08, 2001 01:33 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for Glowing goo Click Here to Email Glowing goo Send a private message to Glowing goo Click to send Glowing goo an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
It's my main T2 deck right now. I play a different version, but I agree, it does win quite a bit.

~G

 
crosis_the_purger
Banned
posted October 08, 2001 04:43 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for crosis_the_purger Click Here to Email crosis_the_purger Send a private message to crosis_the_purger Click to send crosis_the_purger an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
A lot of people play that where I come from.

__________________
My Refs

 
crosis_the_purger
Banned
posted October 08, 2001 04:45 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for crosis_the_purger Click Here to Email crosis_the_purger Send a private message to crosis_the_purger Click to send crosis_the_purger an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
A lot of people play that where I come from.

__________________
My Refs

 
mtgccg89
Banned
posted October 08, 2001 05:26 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for mtgccg89 Click Here to Email mtgccg89 Send a private message to mtgccg89 Click to send mtgccg89 an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
You play this deck way off of the original way and the BEST way that it is able to play. My Black/White deck is the best way to play Black White and the best way to win. This deck is gonna take states. Here it is.

4x Vindicate
4x Death Grasp
4x Spectral Lynx
4x Phyrexian Arena
4x Gerrards Verdict
4x Duress
4x Wrath of God
4x Phyrexian Scuta
3x Desolation Angel
1x Yawgmoth's Agenda
4x Caves of Koilos
10x Swamp
10x Plains

Sideboard:

2x Disenchant
4x Orim's Chant
3x Dodecopod
1x Yawgmoth's Agenda
4x Coaltion Honor Guard
1x Legacy Weapon

Why it wins:

This deck has an answer for everything. Verdicts and duress's discard,Vindicates and Death Grasps kill stuff,Wraths take care over masses of creatures, Agenda lets you play all of them all over again. Lynxs block creatures and regenerate, keeping your defenses at full. Phyrexian Scuta gives you the offensive power. Arena gives you card power. Then Armaggedon on Viagra gives you the game winning blow.

Sideboard:

You only need 2 disenchants due to the 4 vindicates that you already have in your deck. And since you have arena, your chances of getting them are pretty good. The chants can help you against Blue decks pretty well. It helps ensure the landing of your Desoltion Angel, large Death Grasps, Vindicating of threats, etc. Plus you can use it to keep mass creature hordes from running you over. Dodecopod can be good for mirror matches with this deck, plus other various decks that make you discard. Since I think this deck may be numerous in numbers this season, I think these will come in handy.

The extra Yawgmoth's Agenda is good for when your playing against blue decks, due to Dismantaling Blow and Millstones. It is safe to have an extra in against these decks so that if one goes, you got another. The Honor Guards are just an awesome card, especially against rages, ghitu fires, and other burn cards. They are also good for forcing your opponent to use recoils,repulses, and other return cards on them, saving your other cards. I know Legacy Weapon is an odd one, but you'll understand when I am through.

Legacy Weapon is totally an anti millstone card. You have it in your hand, then discard for having too many cards. If he mills you down to nothing but a legacy weapon in your deck, then it will just keep returning, as long as you have a discard phase. Since when you discard it it goes back to your library, this card can save you against mill decks.


That is why this deck is so good.

mtgccg89

__________________
Peace, Love, and Epathy.
Kurt Cobain

 
trax72
Member
posted October 12, 2001 03:20 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for trax72 Send a private message to trax72 Click to send trax72 an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
British Kavu: I don't see the use of Devoted Caretaker against Squirrel's Nest, care to elaborate?

mtgccg89: Why don't you play any Routs? EoT Rout followed by Scoop Angel in your turn is usually game.

 
gtbeaker
Member
posted October 12, 2001 01:24 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for gtbeaker Click Here to Email gtbeaker Send a private message to gtbeaker Click to send gtbeaker an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
I agree, I don't really see how Devoted Caretaker is going to improve your deck. About the only thing it will help would be in protecting your Arenas from Disenchants.
 
wayne
Member
posted October 14, 2001 02:33 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for wayne Click Here to Email wayne Send a private message to wayne Click to send wayne an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View wayne's Have/Want ListView wayne's Have/Want List
mtgccg89: I feel that you're playing with too many Wraths and Scutas should not be played.
 
reinhart
Banned
posted October 14, 2001 04:03 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for reinhart Send a private message to reinhart Click to send reinhart an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
why is spectral lynx so popular? it conflicts with Wrath, Rout, and Beloved Chaplain is a better needler/blocker.

__________________
MagicTutorial.com teaches people how to play Magic

 
wayne
Member
posted October 14, 2001 08:53 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for wayne Click Here to Email wayne Send a private message to wayne Click to send wayne an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View wayne's Have/Want ListView wayne's Have/Want List
reinhart: It's harder to burn out Spectral Lynx and having a power of two is very different from having a power of one. Ever won the game with a Lynx or two?
 
Glowing goo
Member
posted October 16, 2001 05:29 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for Glowing goo Click Here to Email Glowing goo Send a private message to Glowing goo Click to send Glowing goo an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
Well, I guess I am just the strange bird of the group. I play my deck a little bit differently, but it works well all the same:

4x hymn to gerrard
3x duress
2x persecute
4x vindicate
3x wrath
4x grasp
2x haunting echoes
3x phyrexian arena
2x dega sanctuary
3x ravenous rats
2x necravolver
3x voice
2x deso
2x spectral lynx
4x caves
9x plains
9x swamp
SB 3x slay
SB 1x wrath
SB 2x tombfire
SB 3x pod
SB 3x aegis of honor
SB 3x disenchant

Obviously quite a bit different. First off, the sanctuaries. I like them with arenas, cause you can gain a life instead of losing one every turn. They also work well just generally to gain life with a black permanent.
Another thing many of you may find funny is that I only play 3 arenas. I find it is all that is needed. One arena is plenty to win you the game.
The volvers also probably look a bit funny in here, but they work pretty well too. Can't really say why, just medium sized fat I guess. One thing is for certain, they are a helluva lot better than scutas <--(never worked for me).
And finally the voices. I like them just because of their difficulty to deal with. If you call the right color, they become a royal pain for your opponent.

Make what you will of it, I find it works well. If someone has something to say about it, please do.

~G


[Edited 1 times, lastly by Glowing goo on October 16, 2001]

 
wayne
Member
posted October 16, 2001 08:14 AM   Click Here to See the Profile for wayne Click Here to Email wayne Send a private message to wayne Click to send wayne an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View wayne's Have/Want ListView wayne's Have/Want List
Glowing goo: Fragile mana base...
 
Crater Hellion
Member
posted October 18, 2001 11:04 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for Crater Hellion Click Here to Email Crater Hellion Send a private message to Crater Hellion Click to send Crater Hellion an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View Crater Hellion's Have/Want ListView Crater Hellion's Have/Want List
The loss of Idol's and dark rit forced me to change my b/w deck. I have a different take on the deck

4x Mindslicer
3x D-Angel
4x Duress
4x Gerrads Verdict
3x Addle
4x Phyrexian Arena
4x Vindicate
3x Death Grasp
4x Haunting Echoes
4x Wrath of God
1x Rout
4x Caves of Koilos
10x Swamp
9x Plains

sb
3x Slay
3x aegis of honor
2x Disenchant
4x Spectral Lynx
3x Persicute- may be a little overkill on the discard but i cant think of anything else to fill the slot

 
British Kavu
Banned
posted October 21, 2001 03:31 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for British Kavu Click Here to Email British Kavu Send a private message to British Kavu Click to send British Kavu an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
crater hellion: go easy on the echoes, after the first the rest are basically dead
 
Crater Hellion
Member
posted October 21, 2001 05:56 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for Crater Hellion Click Here to Email Crater Hellion Send a private message to Crater Hellion Click to send Crater Hellion an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote View Crater Hellion's Have/Want ListView Crater Hellion's Have/Want List
Yes but because i play with the Mindslicer's I need four. I need to be able to draw Echoes after the Mindslicer discards my hand. If i only play two the chances of me drawing it quickley even with Arena's is slim
 
Franchise
Member
posted October 24, 2001 12:22 PM   Click Here to See the Profile for Franchise Click Here to Email Franchise Send a private message to Franchise Click to send Franchise an Instant Message Edit/Delete Message Reply With Quote 
I'd like to bring up a point about the sideboard because everyone seems to think this. Running 1 Legacy Weapon won't do you any good versus a mill deck. Think about it. You're forced to draw 2 cards a turn, right? One's the Legacy Weapon. What's the other? Nothing, because I only have one Legacy Weapon. Thanks. I believe if you're worried about mill that bad that you need to run 2 in your sideboard. I'd have 5 maindeck Wrath-like effects. So, my sideboard would look like this:

2 Rout
1 Wrath of God
2 Legacy Weapon
2 Aegis of Honor
3 Slay or Execute (depends on your metagame)
3 Cremate (Pyre Zombie is still a threat)
3 Orim's Chant

Here's the reason why I would definitely play that sideboard. I took a deck very similiar to this to a tourney about 2 months ago and faced off against a grafted/bridge deck that played to win by mill and burning you out. If you don't have an Arena in play, the one Legacy Weapon works great against these decks, but if you have Arena on the board, you may as well pack up because your sideboard tech is either a) not enough or b) useless. That's why I'm a fanatic. Later everyone.

Mike

__________________
Mass murder makes me happy.
Dead bodies make me happy.
Say what you will of me, I'll always have Juggalo family!

 

All times are PDT (US)

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move | Delete Topic | Make Feature Article
Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | MOTL Home Page | Privacy Statement & TOS

© 1996-2012 Magic Online Trading League

Powered by Infopop © 2000
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47e