Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Mythic Society’s Set Roulette! This month, the MTG Cupid has chosen the following 6 sets as Valentines:
-Core Set 2012
-Shadows Over Innistrad
-Shards of Alara
-Fate Reforged
-Urza’s Destiny
-Visions
Those are some great milestone sets: The first set to use the terminology “dies” and the Keyword “Hexproof”, The introduction of Double faced Cards, The first non-core set to have the Mythic Rarity, The first set to be associated to 2 different draft formats in the same block without drafting all 3 together, the first non-edition set to be printed under the new 6th edition rules change, and the first expansion in the first block of 3 sets.
Here are the Hottest matches of this month’s format search:
Now that is a great collection of powerful magic cards from all the legal sets (mostly Urza’s Destiny).
The Red Zoners
20 1 Drops? Check. 18 Lands? Check. Mono Colored Aggro deck? Check. All things required to dub a deck “Boss”. Shadows of Innistrad goes a long way in resurrecting the White Weenie archetype in this format. With such a solid curve, maxing out at 1s and 2s, this deck is lower to the ground than a Lamborginy. Thalia’s Lieutenant and Honor of the Pure are the real work horses of this aggro machine, helping to buff the team for the low cost of 2 mana, did I mention all 32 creatures are humans? The sideboard has some more resiliency elements to combat the format’s sweepers and the Tithes are there to make sure you have enough mana to cast all your spells after sideboarding due to your increased mana curve. This is my pick for most aggressive deck in this month’s Set Roulette!
Nex up, we have the monster of mana:
Elvish Order
This deck has the power of explosive mana and the flexibility of a toolbox. Llanowar Elves, Rofellos and Elvish Archdruid are the backbone of the deck's mana engine. Natural Order and the Green Tutor targets are the decks flexibility. Tireless Tracker, Ugin, Garruk Masticore and Duskwatch Recruiter are the deck’s pay offs. These 3 core elements are a recipe for success, and turn 3 Ugin. The sideboard Plow Unders help you punch your Control opponents back to the Stone Age. The Elephant Grasses help you not get overrun by the aggro decks and the added Whisperwoods are there to fight sweeper and Ugin.
The Order
Once you know what is trying to attack you, it's time to defend yourself:
Seasons Past Control
Originally created by team Channelfireball Pantheon for Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad and piloted to a Top 8 finish by none other than the GOAT himself: Jon FInkel, this month's Set Roulette gives you an opportunity to relive this epic deck choice. With more tools then a Swiss Army knife, Vampiric Tutor teams up with Season’s Past to create a deck that is the full package. Ramp, removal, discard, tutors, dangerous treats, life, sweepers and artifact/enchantment hate, Season’s Past Control has every angle covered. The goal is to trade resources with your opponent until you can set up a loop of value via Vampiric Tutor and Season’s Past to bury your opponent in massive amounts of card advantage. More bullets and removal can be found in the sideboard.
The classics will always shine
UW Control
A classic recipe of Counterspells, Draw spells and Sweepers give this deck the tools necessary to compete with the other decks in the format. Alliance colored decks have a much better manabase then enemy colored decks in this format, thanks to Check lands and Shadow Lands. Most of the Draw spells are permanent based to favorably interact with Sun Titan. The sideboard gives you a bunch more tools Vs the control decks.
Bolas is here to make you suffer!
Cruel Control
Much like the UW control deck above, this greasy Grixis value pile is the summit of resource trading. Cruel Ultimatum capable of being a 7 for 1, it doesn't get much better than that in terms of value. While the sweepers in black are a bit worse then its white counterpart, Crux of fate and Infest make a good team in terms of black sweepers. Springle in some card draw, spot removal and counter magic, you have a solid control pile on your hands.
Spicy Synergies
Are you in the market to cheat fatties into play?
Reanimator
One part discard, one part fatty, one part reanimation, all part dangerous. Tormenting Voice, Lightning Ax and Zombie infestation/Sinister Concoction put your fat in the grave while Apprentice Necromancer, Necromancy and Quicksilver Amulet take care of getting it into play. As far as fat goes, it's hard to go wrong with titans. Besides Sun Titan and Inferno Titan, we have Rune Scarred Demon which can get you a back up plan or a solution to a problem or Kederekt Leviathan, which deals with every problem. It's nice to note the cute interaction of Necromancy with Kederekt Leviathan, Bouncing everything in play to its owner's hand every turn at instant speed for 3 mana. Sun Titan also interacts favorably with Apprentice Necromancer and Necromancy. Sinister Concoction turns Sun Titan into a big Nekrataal and can also mill a fatty off the top of the library if it was strategically placed there via a Vampiric Tutor.
The Man of Steel is here (but he isn't superman)
Blue Steel
Shards of Alara gives us access to colored artifacts which pairs really well with Metalworker. Tezzerert is a Tutor engine and a win condition. Masticore and Azure mage are mana sinks for the Metalworker and the rest of the deck is mana and Ugin. While Natural Order may be a better search engine than Tezzeret, the Blue artifact deck has counter magic and Engulf the Shores after sideboard.
Compared to last month's Set Roulette, the decks are a bit lower in power level. But, one of the things that this format has, compared to others is a wide array of powerful white cards to choose from. Black and Green also have great tools to build some sweet deck. Blue is a bit more focused on 1 thing then usual. Red is by far the worst color in this format, but who knows, maybe some of the brewers will prove me wrong.
Good luck to all the participants and I look forward to seeing what everyone brings to the table this Sunday.
Author: Philippe Gareau
