How many times have you been playing Magic and someone starts quoting the “Lore” of magic, rules that should be honoured and respected at every opportunity, deviate from these guidelines and your time playing magic is going to be long and painful. Today I intend to blow a few of those myths out of the water and put a bit of perspective into the game we love.
This set is crap …
We always here it, the Kamigawa block was great for flavour but poor on playability, Coldsnap was one expansion too many and I consider myself lucky I was retired from magic when Mercadian Masques was the current set. After time spiral will Lorwyn and co leave us similarly disappointed. But think back, how many of us had a play set of Jitte’s and Pithing Needles, would you say no to an Ohran Viper or a playset of Scrying sheets with your snow covered land. Store Team Challenge was popular and fun and whilst pro’s did not like drafting Coldsnap the casual player loved it, and the casual player seems to spend more money on their hobby.
It is Not ….
Some cards revisit broken cards or popular cards of the past. Cancel is no Counter spell, dark banishing isn’t exactly terror and no end of cards have tried to fix Necropotence. However, what other cards have been condemned even before they have seen play Smallpox for Pox, Ancestral Vision for Ancestral Recall and even Lotus Bloom for Black Lotus. No, they are not the cards they once were but all the cards are extremely useful and powerful in the current environment.
Net Decking is the place to be
Net decking is cheesy they say but how many people build their own decks, sure your own deck may lose but you gain some powerful insights into why it didn’t work or your play in general. I look over the FNM reports and you know what, I don’t see these casual decks that are supposed to be prevalent, what I see posted are Dragonstorm, Zoo etc all being played at FNM which is supposed to bring in new players, will they continue if they just get a battering ? I will give some thought provoking words from Craig “the Professor” Jones talking to Rich Hagon on Moxradio where he commented he was playing Dragonstorm at Worlds but was not confident as it was a stock net listing with no tech. A net deck can be hated out of the match after side boarding and you play more games after side boarding than without, Net deck at your own peril. Do not forget Andrew “boomer” Clayton designed his own deck that qualified for Nationals and then got to the semi finals, this deck was also piloted by other players through qualifiers to make the Nationals so a home build can do remarkably well. You don’t have to be Mike Flores to create a deck that competes.
You need a stable mana base.
I must admit I like my twenty four land in constructed but how many times have we read tournament reports about Japanese players running mana light or side boarding out land for spells to ensure the win as there is nothing worse than land late game. I must admit the conventional wisdom for sealed is seventeen or eighteen land but have got away with sixteen quite regular in limited though only if two colour and curve can cope.
Don’t go back to an old deck design
Well for every deck that collapses with set rotation and is no longer a threat there are other decks that get a second lease of life or even a third. Heartbeat of Spring wasn’t doing much and then Max Bracht played the Vinelasher kudzu variant to great success, Snakes which was a Kamigawa stalwart received a boost with Pataglia Viper from Dissension and Ohran Viper from Coldsnap and then we have Dragon Storm. Dragon Storm never really made it’s mark first time round but now it is the deck of the World Champion. The past is a good place to look for new deck ideas, the overall metagame can change plus a deck which was once Tier 2 can go Tier 1 with a few changes. Solar Flare was a good deck pre Time Spiral and many claimed come Time Spiral it would be no more, many decks though got an upgrade from Time Spiral and Solar flare was no different as many readers of this site know as Rich Bland took the new version to the Store Team Challenge finals and got him a nice trip to Paris.
Rogue Tech
Customising a deck can be bad, really bad as you can destroy a decks synergy by removing cards. Also cards may not work with the ethos of the deck and be controversial choices. However, see the words of Prof, you need to make a deck your own and push opponents into having to make their own decisions. I know I was playing Ghost Husk and had a couple of Kokusho’s in mine rather than Bob who used to always hurt me. The move threw my opponent’s off and the life swing swung the game. Sometimes, even one card can be an escape route when the main strategy fails you can have an escape route with a random Akroma or late game card.
This Card is Useless
There are few cards that everyone will agree are universally bad like Norin the Wary and Squire. Other cards though can make for controversy, for every player who denies that Bewilder is a not a combat trick there are twice as many players who have used it as a trick and another couple who have been on the receiving end of a Bewilder as a trick. Accepted wisdom of cards is all well and good but we should never forget the current game state or card pool. In RGD Selesnya has been considered a weak guild but with Hierach’s and Glare it soon improves and it’s guildmage is probably one of the best. For those who have been playing the game for sometime they will remember when Necropotence was a £1 rare and people couldn’t believe WOTC printed such a pointless card that killed you and your game, a few months later it was a £10 rare when a £10 card really was good and cries that the card was broken and even more screams when it made the next base set. Today’s crap card could be tomorrows tournament staple.
Life Gain is Bad !
Well we were all brought up on the idea that gaining life is really bad, gaining life doesn’t win you games. Old favourites like Healing Salve and Stream of Life don’t make Standard decks and even newer versions like Suns Bounty with recover don’t either. If life gain is so bad, why do WOTC keep creating the cards ? However, there are some cards where life gain is good and the Ravnica block has a lot to answer for Lightning Helix, Loxodon Hierach and Faith Fetters all have life gaining elements but do other things as well. Remember Loxodon Warhammer, it is still a bomb in limited though and should it stay in tenth edition will be wanted by everyone playing in this seasons store team challenge. Any other reason why life gain is actually good, oh yeah there is a common card from Coldsnap called Martyr of Sands, you use it in a combo with Proclamation of Rebirth, throw in a French Pro tour player and you have Martyr Proclamation going to the top eight at Worlds, the biggest show on earth. Yeah life gain is really bad ain’t it.
Conclusion
Magic is a game of opinions and many players also have the flocking principals of sheep who will recite the Magic mantra’s to beef their own ego’s and their persona to their piers. Just remember that your deck could be the one that breaks the mould, your use of a card could break your opponents tempo and above all remember to enjoy playing Magic.
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