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The First

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:54 pm

Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 195 Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

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Get up to speed with the most important T2 pre-Guildpact "Izzet" cards.
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Only 1 more week and we can all go to the pre-release tournaments of Guildpact. I don’t think that I’ve been this anxious for a set to release since the release of PlaneShift. Just look at the facts: there is “super-aggro” with the Gruul (RG), major comboness with the Izzet (RU) and different types of control with the Orzhov (WB). All three combinations of colors are very dear to me. I remember the days that my Shivan Wurms ran through my friends’ defenses, that my Rakavolver ruled the board and that my BW weenie deck took my opponent’s life points and added them to mine.

But enough about the past. The reason that I wrote this article is to introduce you to the most interresting cards for the “Izzet pre-Guildpact” so that all you combo players out there are prepared for when Guildpact releases in about two weeks. Of course, there aren’t any actual Izzet cards in the T2 environment. I’m going to discuss all blue and red cards that are worth your time and money in T2 to collect and play with.

At the moment, there are 2 types of blue/red decks: the ones that are rather blue based and the ones that are rather red based. The first one is more control-oriented. Counterspells are its friend as well as big finishers like Meloku and Keiga. Pyroclasm and the like will get everything that’s small enough and that’s not worth countering. The second one is more combo-oriented and has smaller creatures. Doesn’t rely on Pyroclasm to sweep the board but packs counterspells and individual blast cards.

The first (blue based version) could look like this

8 Mountain
1 Shinka
8 Island
1 Minamo
4 Shivan Reef
2 Miren

Creatures

3 Meloku
3 Keiga, the Tide Star
3 Shard Phoenix
3 Ryusei
4 Jushi Apprentice

Other

4 Pyroclasm
4 Shock
4 Mana Leak
4 Hinder
4 Rewind

The second one could look like this

8 Island
8 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef

2 Hunted Dragon
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Glitterfang
4 Vianisho Sandstalker

4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Hinder
4 Shock
3 Rewind

4 Halcyon Glaze

SB:
2 Blood Moon
3 Yamabushi’s Flame
4 Pyroclasm
3 Drake Familiar
3 Smash

Counterspells:

Counterspells are very powerful in the current T2 environment. While we don’t actually have the original counterspell (counter target spell), there exist some good replacements:

Mana Leak : is very good at countering spells early game or big spells late game. A stapple for both types of decks. The most commonly used counterspell.

Remand : weird enough, while sending the card back to hand, this card does have its merit. Ok, it doesn’t remove the card – the opponent can play it again next turn – but when played early game, it is as good as a time stop and you draw a card as well. Mid to late game, you need to pay attention when you play it. That’s why I prefer to use this counter in the red based variant. It can still disrupt your opponent’s plans or buy you a turn when countering something big and expensive, but it won’t be very effective against something cheap.

Remove Soul : Is worth a place in the sideboard of the red based deck IMO. It isn’t the most useful spell in control decks as they have the Pyroclasms and Shard Phoenixes but for spot removal it is pretty good.

Hinder : probably my favorite counter spell because it can get rid of Grave-Shell Scarabs, Nightmare Void, Sensei’s Divining Top, etc… It places them on the bottom of your opponent’s library. In combo with Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, you can even remove the card from the game if you place it on top instead Wink

Convolute : Mana Leak’s big brother. For 3 mana, Hinder is the better choice IMO. Both Mana Leak and Convolute are just to much counterspells that can be undone with some extra mana.

Rewind : Not that bad. Use it in the blue based deck. It is nice to counter something late game and still be able to draw a card with Jushi Apprentice or play that Telling Time you’ve been wanting to play. It is too expensive for the red based deck. You can’t afford to keep 4 mana free all the time.

Disrupting Shoal : is not worth the trouble IMO. You either need 2 blue mana more than your opponent to pay for the counterspell’s cost or have a blue card with the exact same converted mana cost to counter the spell. That doesn’t sound very reliable and it isn’t.

Burn or Blast spells :

Shock : what can I say. R for 2 damage at instant speed to a creature or player isn’t bad at all.

Char : 4 damage for 3 mana at instant speed isn’t anything to sneeze at. However, the 2 damage that you’ll take as backfire does hurt this card’s reputation in RB because neither of the two decks goes on speed and you’ll counter the bigger stuf anyway.

Pyroclasm : 1R for 2 damage TO EACH creature, is devine in the blue based version. The red version doesn’t use it often as you’ll kill your own creatures.

Volcanic Hammer : 2 mana for 3 damage is good. The fact that it is sorcery speed is not that bad in a control deck. Ok, instant would’ve been better but this card is just fine the way it is.

Blaze : It is always nice to have a Blaze in hand. It can deal damage at instant speed and you decide how much damage it does. It can even act as your finisher. Don’t use 4 of these though. 1 or 2 in a deck should be enough to get it when you most need it.

Then, there are the arcane cards. Splicing a Glacial Ray or Evermind can be a lot of fun along with Lava Spike and Ire of Kaminari, but that’s a whole other deck IMO.

Creatures :

Meloku, the Clouded Mirror : Blocker and finisher at once. This card is just soooooo versatile.

Keiga : 5/5 flyer with a confiscate ability build-in (at least when it dies). There’s nothing wrong with him.

Ryusei : I really like this dragon in my counterfire deck. Of course, he should be used either as finisher or in combo with Miren.

Kumano, master yamabushi : Kill AND remove from the game. This card is one of the better blast cards in the T2 enviroment for this kind of deck. Notice that he can also deal damage to your opponent.

Shard Phoenix : He’s divine if you want to get rid of every ground-based creature. A lot better than pyroclasm if used alongside Meloku.

Hacyon Glaze : I recently began to appreciate this card. It isn’t a creature the whole time so you can use mass destruction cards. Your opponent will have a hard time getting rid of it because it isn’t a creature the whole time… Works very well with Glitterfang for instance. Clear the board, play Glitterfang and attack for 5, for 6 even if you nin-jitsu the Glitterfang into a Ninja of the Deep Hours.

Card draw engines :

Of course nothing beats a Sensei’s Divining Top, but there are other good cards like the Jushi Apprentice or Telling Time to draw a few extra cards or to search for a specific one. I especially like the Glitterfang/Ninja of the Deep Hours combo. It is basically a 2/2 for 3 mana that allows you to draw a card.

For the red deck:

- Counterspells:
Mana Leak
Hinder Remand
Remand

- Blast:
Shock
Volcanic Hammer

- Card Draw Engines:
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Remand

For the blue deck:
- Counterspells:
Mana Leak
Hinder Remand
Rewind

- Blast:
Shock
Pyroclasm

- Card Draw Engines:
Jushi Apprentice

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:30 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

You could have just gone to mtgsalvation and looked up some cards. I'm not sure how this will be useful- when Ravnica comes, there will either be better cards to sub in, or U/R will be too bad to be worth playing. Perhaps you could try scouting some cards from the spoiler and including them, or including reviews or something. This just seems like a lot of stuff I already know.

The First

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:03 pm

Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 195 Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

La_Sin_Grail wrote:

You could have just gone to mtgsalvation and looked up some cards. I’m not sure how this will be useful- when Ravnica comes, there will either be better cards to sub in, or U/R will be too bad to be worth playing. Perhaps you could try scouting some cards from the spoiler and including them, or including reviews or something. This just seems like a lot of stuff I already know.

I’m sure that when Guildpact releases, that there will be good R/B cards. However, from the cards that I’ve seen this far, R/B goes for card advantage and burn, not counters and burn. If I were to add other cards, it would be a totally different decktype and because Guildpact isn’t out yet, all analyses and decklists would be pure hypotetical.

A decklist like this

3x Niv Mizzet
3x Soramaro
4x Jushi Apprentice
4x Remand
4x Mana Leak
4x Electrolyse
4x Shock
...

2x Minamo (to untap Jushi when flipped or Niv-Mizzet)
4x Shivan Reef
4x Shockland
6x Mountain
6x Island

sure would be cool though.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:00 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

Erm.... not to be rude, but niv-mizzet is really unplayably expensive. 6 for a card drawing engine is not very good. At six mana, you should play a win condition(Kokusho, Keiga), not char bait. Don't forget to use gelectrode as well!

And please, R/B is red and black. U/R is red and blue. I got confused when you started talking about R/B deck.

The First

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:53 pm

Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 195 Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

La_Sin_Grail wrote:

Niv-Mizzet, a card drawing engine? ok, 6 for a 4/4 flyer ain't THAT good, especially since all other dragons are 5/5 flyers but his ability IS pretty good IMHO. At the end of turn you can flip him to draw a card and deal 1 damage or you can combine him with cards cycling cards to let him kill some creatures or to deal some extra damage to your opponent. I don't think that Izzet decks are meant to rush or kill through heavy beaters in the first place. Izzet is tricks and control to me.

inresponse

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:30 pm

Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 162 Location:

I think Niv-Mizzet is a powerful creature, and a powerful card drawing engine. His ability to ping is just amazing, and he will hit for at least 2 a turn, plus more with cards like compulsive research and invoke the firemind.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 8:17 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

Well, I just got back from the sealed prerealease ( I went 3-0-1 for 11 packs) and I have a few points to make.

1) Rumbling slum = get four. Now.
2) Don't do sealed with anything not including red and green
3) Go three colors in Rav. sealed.
4) Izzet is weak, Gruul is strong, and Orzhov is only good if you get really nice pulls.
5) I hate people who pull four at least part red rares in sealed, like the guy I would have faced last round had we not drawn.
6) Firemind is bad because there is a fair bit of destruction around. Creatures with big bodies are a must. 4 power is char, wildfire, and ribbons bait, as well as many combos with gelectrode etc. 5 is a big bit better.
7) Bloodthirst is awesome. One guy in particluar, Skarragan Skybreaker, is incredible.
Cool

Living Inferno is surprisingly good. In limited, he's a must play if you see him.
9) Petrified woodkin isn't bad in limited, either, just make sure you keep an aggressive deck.

Good luck with anybody going tomorrow!

P.S. Remember to bring a trade binder. I got myself an alpha sol ring for nothing good except two avatars of woe and a chrome mox (sylvan library, entomb, replenish, a little more), and gave two temple gardens for an overgrown tomb, three anthems and two isamarus.

The First

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:03 am

Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 195 Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

I agree with you Mr. La_Sin_Grail. 3 colors IS probably a must. Red and Green are very powerful. Orzhov is kinda cool in sealed though because they have decent removal and cards like Pillory of the Sleepless make a strong defense a win condition. But it isn't the most reliable deck out there.

I myself played a B-U-G deck (2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss) and my findings are that flyers are still very strong in sealed. Bloodthirst rules. Nothing nicer than a 3/1 coming through because they don't want to loose their mana producers and then play a 5/6 beatstick instead of a 2/3 body. I only lost to a Boros deck. My friend was able to build a W/R deck with Legionaires and Trompeters and even some good removal... I played him for the first place in the last round and didn't stand a chance. So if you CAN play Boros, I would advice you to do so.

PS: some trades include 2 Ink-eyes for my Life From the Loam and Boseiju, Arashi for my Scarab and a Twilight Drover.

inresponse

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 4:43 pm

Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 162 Location:

the first, you got ripped off on both trades.

sin grail, those trades are about even, with you getting a slight upper hand. (-the alpha sol right, good work on that one)

play at least 3 colors in limited now because it is easy to combine 2 guilds. in sealed don't be afraid to play four. bloodthirst is insane in limited, especially the common 2 mana guy. and always play the new shamn type creature that takes out the good new artifacts as well as signets.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 5:52 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

Trading, I got the better on both because garden is only worth 14, tomb is 17, isamarus are 4 per, anthem 3 per.

14*2=28
17+(4*2)+(3*3)=34

I win. And sol ring, yea.

As for the first, I'm not sure what he was thinking on that second one... first one is pretty fair.

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