Unconventional Answers

Posted on October 11, 2012

Welcome back. The last three articles dealt with black budget answer cards that severely hamper single-creature strategies in multiplayer. This article is no different. What is different is that I am proposing unconventional cards. Please give them a try, though. These cheap answers can help you transform your games and shake things up.

Not So Special Now

Tragic Slip leads the way. This card fills an important niche. It eliminates indestructibles and regenerators. Its mana cost makes it available most of the time, and it easily deals with annoying early creatures that are usually kept out of combat, such as Shepherd of Rot and Prodigal Sorcerer.

Fatal Blow deserves mention as a card that serves the same niche. Tragically, it is inferior because it doesn't help against "tricky" or indestructible creatures, but when you need to chump and kill a Szadek, Lord of Secrets that has 15 counters, this is a better card. In blanket damage decks, using cards such as Pestilence Demon and the Bloodfire creatures, like Bloodfire Kavu, it shines.

Next up is Vampiric Link. A color-shifted Spirit Link, Vampiric Link is worthwhile because it doesn't eliminate the threat, but gives you a bonus if your opponent is in the mood to keep using it—unless he uses it against you.¹ However, you will probably gain life with it as your opponent notes your move but realizes that you haven't affected his ability to use his creature, and therefore, he’ll swing at someone else—which is exactly what you want! Its power declines if your opponent removes it or has a huge army. No card is perfect, though. As a bonus, it is quite good when placed on your opponent's Plague Spitter . . . or yours.

The last card hasn't been printed in years and has been forgotten. Sorceress Queen deals with the vast majority of creatures that can be targeted. If you are running effects that give negative toughness of 2 or more, it will deal with almost² every creature that can be targeted. Attacks your way are unlikely while the Queen is on the table while using wither and poisonous creatures, for example. However, you don't have to build around her for her to be decent. Threatening to hamstring a creature at an inopportune moment is all that is needed sometimes.

Continuing, she may seem at first to be a worse Royal Assassin. However, her target need not be tapped, which broadens her scope. Further, people aren't as worried about attacking when the Queen is on the table, as she doesn't kill outright as the Assassin does. Of course, another reason to run her is that she can affect other combats, drastically changing table dynamics: "Hey, Buddy, your blocking Vampire Nighthawk becomes a 0/2, gains you no life, and dies; no rattlesnake for you. Now what are you gonna do?"

That Hurts

The first card, Murderous Spoils, doesn't look too good. Look again. It is expensive, and there are a few really good Equipment that it doesn't deal with, such as the shroud ones—Lightning Greaves, for example—or protection ones—such as the Sword of Light and Shadow and the Sword of Feast and Famine—but while notable, such examples are few. Now think about killing opposing creatures and gaining a Loxodon Warhammer, its brother Behemoth Sledge, or a Sword of Fire and Ice. That would be superb.

If the aforementioned cards—or Umezawa's Jitte, Skullclamp, Sword of Vengeance, Sword of Body and Mind, Sword of War and Peace, Mage Slayer, Scythe of the Wretched, and the list goes on—are played, consider this card. A rule of thumb might be: If great Equipment is played regularly, say in 75% of your games, and decent Equipment is available in most of the other 25%, a couple of these can painfully surprise your opponents, even if all you grab are their Bonehoards, Sylvok Lifestaffs, Basilisk Collars, or Darksteel Plates.³ You may remain unconvinced. The next time you play, note the times when this card would be good. If there were several opportunities, remember that black has strong tutors, convince someone to lend you a copy, play it at your next outing, and catch someone with his metal pants down.

The next card was part of an ancient and awesome suicide black deck that used Erg Raiders to efficiently kill opponents.

"New Jersey Suicide (Standard) – John Chinnock - Dojo "Decks To Beat" – August 1998"

Lands (20)
16 Swamp
4 Wasteland

A white version, as "taxing" is now in white, would be terrific. Paralyze is the card, and it is still exceptional. 4 mana is a lot to pay to untap a creature before you even see your card for the turn. An opponent may untap the creature, but that 4 mana will really hurt. Also, as with Faceless Butcher from the last article, part of Paralyze's power is its impermanency. If a Primeval Titan is locked down, the Titan's owner is being thumped! One last note: It can be played on your own creatures to untap them—for example, if they are under a Meekstone.

Phthisis, the last card in the That Hurts category, definitely fits. I love this card. The first reason is that with suspend, it can promote a slowed board state in which no one wishes to put out a large creature for fear that he will be the unfortunate victim.⁴ Where it really shines, though, is when you ramp into it. It packs a huge punch in games in which 5/5 flyers and 6/6 ground pounders are common. Phthisis and Sheltering Ancient make a devastating duo in the deck below.

" Doran (B/G/W) – Vintage Legal, 75 cards"

Deck Notes: I will not attempt to budgetize this, as it would change the list greatly. However, the list that this is based on was for Magic Online, is budget, and is below.

Both decks seek to punish players for playing large creatures while also having answers to a creature crowd. Both then ramp into game ending creatures.

This deck generates awesome plays. The last I played it, I was able to use Mosswort Bridge to cast Phthisis in response to a player casting Martial Coup, killing another player. I then untapped and cast Netherborn Phalanx to kill the Martial Coup caster. Later, Deadwood Treefolk returned the Netherborn Phalanx, which I transmuted for Teneb, the Harvester, who subsequently proceeded to harvest heavily from graves. Unfortunately, I ended up in a king-making position because I reanimated several times from the same graveyard. A savvy opponent took many of my toys away by killing the creatures' owner. Lesson learned. Spread the love with reanimate abilities, even taking lesser creatures, so that you don't lose everything when a player is slain.

The following deck isn't as good at brute force. However, it makes up for it in finesse. Nezumi Graverobbers allow you to make use of opponents' awesome creatures, when they inevitably die, and the Ana Battlemages and Barter in Bloods punish large creatures, while Screams from Within help keep the weenies down.

"Multiplayer Treefolk (B/G/w) – Vintage Legal, 60 cards"

Mine!

Ritual of the Machine is the first of two cards that cry, “Mine!” In comparison to Control Magic or even Persuasion/Mind Control, this card may seem lackluster. Control Magic effects are not card disadvantage, as you are using a card to gain a card, and Ritual of the Machine is. Sometimes, though, you need a Control Magic effect and aren't in blue. Also, it doesn't have the frailty of an enchantment. Finally, Ritual of the Machine outperforms Control Magic when you are receiving a beneficial effect from the sacrifice. Luckily, sacrificing for advantage is part of black's shtick, and if nothing else, the look on your opponent’s face when you steal his Vampire Nocturnus with your mono-black deck will be priceless.

I will end quickly, as Enslave is straightforward. 6 mana is a deal for an off-color ability. It even has a small upside. Since Control Magic effects add to your board, making you a less attractive target for attacks, and subtract from another player’s board, increasing his attractiveness as an attack target, Enslave is excellent. You may have noticed it in the Treefolk lists. I use it with Netherborn Phalanx, as together, they provide a viable answer to two very common multiplayer problems: big creatures and huge hordes.

Thank you for taking the time to read. While it may be easiest to exploit enormous-effect cards, huge haymakers, and colossal combos, if everyone is doing it and not attempting to disrupt others or use their knowledge of the metagame, ennui is sure to set in eventually. I hope you found something interesting to mutate your multiplayer metagame.