|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
--- description ---
A cheap deck that has been posting outstanding results in Regionals all over Brasil!
--- end description ---
MAIN DECK
18 Swamp
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Mindlash Sliver
3 Stromgald Crusader
4 Dark Confidant
4 Ravenous Rats
2 Garza’s Assassin
3 Call to the Netherworld
4 Cry of Contrition
4 The Rack
4 Smallpox
4 Funeral Charm
2 Phyrexian Totem
2 Cruel Edict
SIDEBOARD
3 Blackmail
4 Withered Wretch
1 Garza’s Assassin
1 Stromgald Crusader
2 Cruel Edict
4 Underworld Dreams
This deck’s goal is pretty simple: abusing The Rack. You control the game by disrupting your opponent to the fullest, making him discard, lose creatures and lands, and beating down with cheap, expendable creatures that you won’t might losing. The real MVP of the deck is Dark Confidant, speeding up the process AND beating consistently enough to be a bother. If you want a shot at Regionals spending VERY little money on a top tier deck, this might just be your choice, although particularly I like the slightly more expensive version that runs 3 Damnation, 4 Brain Pry, 2 Persecute and 1 Extirpate on the sideboard, with 2 Extirpate maindecked.
Brewing Cost: U$ 83.75
Adding Future Sight to the Mix:
Future Sight brings a fantastic main deck addition, in the form of Augur of Skulls. Then, the rest is more for the sideboard, since Dark Confidant is unfriendly to costly spells, and the best ones you can get are Nihilith (comes down really early, and is a very solid beater at 4/4 with Fear) and Tombstalker (another beast, possibly and most likely a 5/5 flier for 2-3 mana), which can offset the dangers of having to rush damned Dodecapods. Then, if you want a slimmer deck, you can try out Street Wraith, as it’s a solid beater in, say, a mirror match, and it also cycles for no cost other than life, making you hand full of business spells quite early.
How to stop it:
White:
White has a hard time going, with all the untargetted creature removal (so Calciderm does squat) and Stromgald Crusader beatdown. However, white’s control tools are pretty effective, nominately Wrath of God and Faith’s Fetters, not to mention the now-returned Disenchant. Pull from Eternity is definitely rising in value with the new suspend strategies, and the abusiveness of Nihilith is another nudge to it. Then, white can pull of some crazy stunts and put up a great defense if it can get down something like Ivory Mask or Imperial Mask early on, preventing some of the discard effects, and even Seht’s Tiger can pop out every now andthe to say "hi" (and "bye") to a discard spell. A single Worship can throw a SERIOUS wrench at Black Rack’s plans, specially if you’re playing, say, Thallids...
Black:
An aggressive black deck CAN rush this one, specially since a single Plagued Rusalka out can totally ruin the armies of the Black Rack player. Control black would be pretty much a mirror, although some black/white verions have been successful as well.
Blue:
Blue has a REALLY hard time stopping the rush of Black Rack, but can try it by countering The Rack when it tries to resolve, and landing some solid defenses like Drift of Phantasms. Other than that, blue is a very good match-up for Black Rack.
Green:
Green can be pretty annoying due to the fast (and strong) creatures it can deploy early on making it very hard for you to steer off the beats accordingly (which is why I like the Damnation build more), and because of nasty Quagnoth, which pretty much shuts down a great part of our strategy just by being in hand. Any fast deck with some Quagnoths i the sideboard can pose a serious threat. Naturalize COULD be good, but so far, specially because of builds like this one, packing discard, I’vebeen more happy with Seal of Primordium.
Red:
Red is amazingly annoying, as well, since it’s packing quite a punch in the early game, and there’s no problem living off the top when your library is full of Char and other burn spells. Pretty much any red build (except LD since Black Rack is amazingly fast and cheap-costed) can try and race the deck, but unless you get a pretty good draw, Black Rack’s player will have the upper hand.
Golden:
Some cards like Teferi’s Moat and Castigate can be pretty good to have around, and RG has some pretty early good drops, like Burning-Tree Shaman and Rumbling Slum. GW has them, too, with Watchwolf and Loxodon Hierarch, and it’s a color full of artifact hate, so you might be able to hold it back.
Colorless:
And yet again this section deserves mentioning, because if any discard strategy is abundant in your meta and you happen to not have good answers for it, then pack Dodecapod. Of course, Black Rack can still try to play around it, but if you have some cheap creatures to sacrifice to Cruel Edict and Smallpox and can therefore keep it down, you’ll be forcing them to play very carefully, having to go around your whole strategy. |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
Forum index » Magic: The Gathering » MTG Deck Clinics » Standard (Type 2)