Duel Decks- Divine vs Demonic: Divine Deck Review (Part 1 of 2)
Flush off the success of 2008’s Duel Decks: Jace vs Chandra, Wizards alternated back to the “tribe vs tribe” theme that had kicked off the series (Evles vs Goblins) with the April 2009 release of Divine vs Demonic. Featuring some of the all-stars of the Angels and Demons factions, the set pits a mono-White deck versus its mono-Black counterpart. In both cases, the designers have followed a strategy of “large creatures, light ramping.” This balance tends to yield a relatively uneventful early game with things picking up in the mid- to late-game- heavily lopsided games are always possible (this is, after all, Magic: the Gathering), but in general there should be some dynamic interactions between the two decks.
Today we’ll be taking a look at the mono-White Divine. Packing in an impressive fourteen Angels, the question then becomes whether or not the deck sacrificed some playability for flavour. That said, Duel Decks aren’t like your normal preconstructed products, as they’re generally only intended to be balanced against each other. A deck can be nearly unplayable, but if its opposite number is equally so then voila! Balance!
Obviously it is not in Wizards’ interest to develop an unplayable product. Instead, what this means is that in reviewing the Duel Decks, we shouldn’t judge too harshly when we note that there are a higher-than-comfortable number of very expensive spells in the deck if it is a component of the play experience the Duel Deck is trying to foster.
With that said, let’s now turn to Divine and see how the deck has been constructed, starting of course with the creatures.
Tempest: Deep Freeze Review (part 2 of 2)
Reviewing Deep Freeze was a wonderful exercise in nostalgia for a deck and set that I have very fond memories of. If there was one thing that could top that, though, it was actually playing a game from that vintage set. Sam cracked open The Swarm, a Green-White creature-heavy deck, and we set about to recreating 1997 on our kitchen table. Here are our game notes.
Wizards Registers “Duel Decks: Ajani vs Nicol Bolas” Trademark
In a piece on ManaNation today, it was revealed that Wizards of the Coast has registered “Duel Decks: Ajani vs Nicol Bolas” as a trademark. Another White Planeswalekr duel deck in the offering? Expect a ton of lifegain, no doubt. But Nicol Bolas? Could we see the return of Cruel Ultimatum? We can’t waitt to find out!
Tempest: Deep Freeze Review (Part 1 of 2)
In 1997, a series of events occurred without which there would be no Ertai’s Lament. The first of these events- the overarching theme- was the release in October of the start of ‘the Rath Cycle’ with Tempest. Tempest is, to date, my favourite set, as enshrined, ensconced and untouchable as most any other long-lived memory (I was 22 then), and I had returned to the game relatively recently after taking a couple sets off.
I’d first started sensing something different with Magic during the Weatherlight set. I’d picked up a box of Mirage and Visions which, while intriguing, seemed as loosely-threaded as previous expansions of the game. But beginning with Weatherlight, Magic had the start of something new: a story.
Scars of Mirrodin: Relic Breaker Review (Part 2 of 2)
If there’s one unwritten rule for our reviews that’s developed over time at Ertai’s Lament, it’s that just as each deck is reviewed just once, so it will be in opposition just once. This left poor Sam in the unenviable position of having to square off against Relic Breaker (the most stridently anti-artifact deck in Scars) while piloting Metalcraft (the most artifact-dependant deck in Scars). I console her by fibbing slightly, telling her that each deck is designed to ‘hold its own’ against the others in the same set. This is something that one tends to believe in principle until one is using the mono-White Kor Armory against Rise of the Vampires and a Malakir Bloodwitch hits the table, but it’s good enough for now. Sam gamely starts to shuffle, and we’re off to the races.
Scars of Mirrodin: Relic Breaker Review (Part 1 of 2)
Welcome to the final review of the Scars of Mirrodin intro packs! So far we’re explored the tribal-based Myr deck, a Proliferate-based strategy, a healthy dose of Infect, and the Metalcraft mechanic. The predominant theme here is obvious- Artifacts- and wouldn’t you know it but Wizards has included a solution to all these problems. And that solution comes in the form of the Relic Breaker deck, tapping the bash-n-burn strategy so well suited to a Green/Red combination.
While that is the deck’s greatest strength, in some ways it is also going to be its greatest weakness. The other four decks of the set are largely self-contained affairs in that they don’t much care what your opponent is playing. Sure, Deadspread would like you to have critters, and you probably will, but generally they will perform the same regardless of the opposition before them.
Not so with Relic Breaker. So much of its effectiveness hinges on a single question: is my opponent playing lots of artifacts? It’s not an unreasonable assumption in the midst of an “Artifact block,” but may well hinder its effectiveness in a broader setting (versus an M11 precon, for instance). That said, let’s see what’s on offer here and how reliant the deck is on facing down artifacts, and we’ll begin with the beaters.
Scars of Mirrodin: Metalcraft Review (Part 2 of 2)
As mentioned in the deck analysis, the Metalcraft deck is- not surprisingly- the flagship deck for the ‘fixed’ version of Affinity, Metalcraft. Not only did I want to see how it was going to perform in the field, but I also determined at the outset that I wanted to record one additional metric, which was the number of turns that Metalcraft was ‘turned on,’ and how long it took me to get there. The deck places a great deal of importance on having three or more artifacts in play, and indeed a scan of the cards shows that without the mechanic engaged, the deck itself is somewhat mediocre. I expected to struggle a little in the early game, then hit the ‘turbo boost’ once my third artifact manifested itself.
Volunteering to sit across the table was the ever-reliable Sam, who opted this time around to give Deadspread a try. I was pleased at the selection, as I’d wanted to see Deadspread in action a few more times. Today I would get my chance.
Scars of Mirrodin: Metalcraft Review (Part 1 of 2)
We return to the endangered plane of Mirrodin today with a look at the next deck in the Scars set: Metalcraft. Although somewhat unimaginitively named, it is nonetheless simple and straight to the point. Just as the previous decks have been crafted around a theme or mechanic of Scars of Mirrodin, so is this Blue/Red Artifact-heavy construction.
The question, then, becomes a matter of how well the theme is supported. As we’ve seen, it can well go either way. Phyrexian Poison was a very solidly-crafted deck that anchored around its mechanic and employed it well. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Deadspread, whose fault might have been more one of ambition than execution, in that Proliferate may not (yet?) be strong enough to build around.
Metalcraft gives its keyworded cards extra power or ability when you have three or more Artifacts in play, and the deck is heavily reliant upon the expectation that you’ll achieve this in short order- there are 17 cards with the mechanic in the deck. Indeed, better than one out of every three cards you draw will be Artifacts, so even the occasional bit of Artifact hate shouldn’t keep you off optimising your cards for long. Let’s take a closer look at the contents of the deck, beginning with the creatures, to see how effectively it meets its ambition.
Wizards Announces Duel Decks: Knights vs Dragons
Today Wizards announced the next in the series of Duel Decks, Knights vs Dragons! You can read the article here, but aficionados of heraldry take note- any similarities to the Rebel Alliance are strictly coincidental!
Duel Decks: Knights vs Dragons will be released on 01 April, 2011.
Scars of Mirrodin: Deadspread Review (Part 2 of 2)
They say evil turns upon itself, and that was very much evident as Sam and I selected our decks to do battle. For my part, I’d be piloting the Blue/Black Proliferating Deadspread. Opposite me at the table was the Green/Black Phyrexian Poison. When last we left Deadspread, we were admiring the intricate beauty of Proliferate, but very concerned that the deck had few tools to defend itself early. Would they be enough, or would I end the evening choking on poison? Here are the notes to our field testing.
Ertai's Lament 