3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Cruel Edict
3 Sudden Death
4 Last Gasp
4 Stupor
4 Smallpox
4 Cry of Contrition
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Plagued Rusalka
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 The Rack
18 Swamp |
 Black
Rack.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
After the prerelease I talk to some old magic
players about the card and they tell the card was very powerful back in
the old days. It was used in decks that abuse Stupor, Funeral Charm and
Pox, emptying the opponent hand and winning with the The Rack. I found
that very interesting. Back at home I download the apprentice Time
Spiral patch to see all the Time Spiral cards, and for my surprise
Funeral charm and Stupor where time shifted cards, then I get exited. I
make a little research in apprentice and there where many cards that can
support a Rack themed deck, so I started building it.
First I went to all the one mana cards; Funeral Charm,
Blackmail, Cry of Contrition and Plagued Rusalka came up. Blackmail and
Funeral Charm are very good but the synergy of Cry of Contrition and
Plagued Rusalka is great, turn 1 Plagued Rusalka, turn 2 Cry of Contrition
haunting the Plagued Rusalka and chump bloking a 2/2 creature to make an
opponent discards another card, this is a 2 for 3, Rusalka and Cry of
Contrition for and opponent creature and 2 cards from his hand, both
Blackmail and Funeral Charm are 1 for 1. Also we add The Rack, the deck is
all about this card.
Next for the two mana spot. Ravenous Rats is obvious,
then lets add some new flavor to the mix, one the top 5 cards from Time
Spiral, introducing the small version of Pox, Smallpox.
Aggro decks are still very popular so we also need some
creature removal spells. So we add Last Gasp and Cruel Edict, a targeted
removal and a non-target removal, for those protection from black
creatures like, Paladin en Vec, Mystic Enforcer and Akroma, Angel of
Wrath.
Stupor is a 2 for 1, and the fact that the first discard
is at random it just makes it better. Another great card from Time Spiral
is Sudden Death, a removal with split second. We also need some way to
draw some cards because to keep the pressure, so the only black drawing
spell is Phyrexian Arena. Two cards a turn is enough to keep the pressure.
Then the Deck fatty, Hypnotic Specter, 2/2 flying is not the greatest
fatty ever but once you play this your opponent will be empty handed and
with no creature in play so you just swing for two for some turns until
The Rack appears.
Why 18 swamps only, because the deck most costly spell
cost 3 mana and is also mono color. At first I tough it will mana screw a
lot but after doing the math and testing it the result where very good. 18
land in a 60 card deck, will give you a land for every 3 cards you draw
(1/3), so you will have 2 swamps in your opening hand and draw the third
land in the next 2 turns. Also staying low on lands will allow you to draw
utily spells more often.
The Sideboard will have cards like Leyline of the Void,
because I think Flare will be very powerful. Deathmark is against GR agro
builds and Defense Grid wrecks control. There also some other cards that
definetly will make in the sideboard but we have to wait until the
metagame develops a little more. Until next time and hope to have some
advice from you people. |
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