The time has come. The votes are cast. The Precon is awful.

The winner is…

"Mirromancy"

• Creatures (17)
• 2 Blisterstick Shaman
• 1 Fire Servant
• 1 Galvanoth
• 2 Iron Myr
• 2 Koth's Courier
• 2 Lumengrid Gargoyle
• 2 Neurok Commando
• 2 Ogre Resister
• 2 Peace Strider
• 1 Silver Myr

• Spells (19)
• 2 Arc Trail
• 1 Burn the Impure
• 2 Call to Mind
• 1 Crush
• 2 Foresee
• 2 Lava Axe
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Melt Terrain
• 1 Preordain
• 2 Quicksilver Geyser
• 1 Rally the Forces
• 1 Red Sun's Zenith
• 1 Sleep
• 1 Turn the Tide

• Lands (24)
• 11 Island
• 13 Mountain

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I may have been a little too enthusiastic in my description of this Precon two weeks ago. Or maybe you guys are just sadists. Looking at it now, staring it right in the face, I can't help but see a mediocre, unfocused limited deck. What have I gotten myself into?

And why is it called Mirromancy?

Let's play some games, and try to find out.

Game 1

I keep a beautiful hand of Blisterstick Shaman, Arc Trail, two Peace Striders, two Mountains, and an Island. My opponent kicks off the game with a Terramorphic Expanse and fetches a Plains at the end of my turn. Plains, huh? Looks like Arc Trail might be good this game!

Turn two he plays a Seachrome Coast, making me a little worried. I match it with a Mountain and pass. He has a Trinket Mage for Everflowing Chalice, then immediately plays the Chalice for 0. Hmmm . . .

On my turn, I play a Blisterstick Shaman, pinging my opponent for 1 and getting 50,000 points for first blood. On his turn, he casts Shape Anew targeting Chalice, revealing Blightsteel Colossus. Yeah, that guy's okay, I guess.

I spend my next two turns praying for Quicksilver Geyser, but I don't find it, so I lose to 22 poison counters.

0-1.

Game 2

I'm on the play, and my hand is even better than last game. Two Iron Myr, Neurok Commando, Foresee, and three land. I lead with a Myr, and my opponent raises with a Vampire Hexmage. The following turn, I use my Foresee to find Red Sun's Zenith and Quicksilver Geyser. He plays a Kalastria Highborn and a Pulse Tracker and bashes for 2.

I cast Red Sun's Zenith on the Highborn, and his Gatekeeper of Malakir keeps me from chump-blocking with my Myr. I try to stabilize with a Peace Strider, but his Lightning Bolt clears the way and I die to an army of bloodsuckers.

0-2.

Game 3

I have a hand full of Islands and Red cards, so I go to Paris. Once there, I see three lands—Iron Myr, Ogre Resister, and Foresee—so I keep.

I lead with the Myr and follow up with the Resister, while my opponent plays Green and White lands and nothing else. I cast a Foresee to load up on more creatures, and then play those creatures (Blisterstick Shaman and Iron Myr) the following turn. Maybe I should have been suspicious of my opponent's having no plays for the first three turns, but what Green deck plays Wraths? Oh, this one? Shucks.

With no board and no creatures in hand, I use Call to Mind to bring back my Foresee. My opponent plays a couple of Squadron Hawks, while I rip a Fire Servant and play it. This lets me cast my Arc Trail to wipe his board. Unfortunately, he has a Wurmcoil Engine, so I'm stuck looking for a top deck to win it.

Call to Mind, huh? Well, that's not what I need . . . except for the fact that I have a Lightning Bolt in my hand, and now I can do 12 damage to my opponent to kill him out of nowhere! What an upset!

1-2.

Game 4

My turn-two Myr is met with a Contagion Clasp, which is one of the most demoralizing plays in Standard. I play a Blisterstick just to get some damage in, but he has Tumble Magnet to shut it down. Next turn, I unload my double-Myr attack squad, while he plays a Chalice and a Voltaic Key. I use Foresee to try to find some better creatures, and he plays a Throne of Geth and starts Proliferating up his Chalice. The following turn, he's able to cast Ulamog and kill my Blisterstick (my best creature at this point).

I buy a couple of turns with a Geyser on the Ulamog and Chalice, but don't have enough pressure to capitalize. I have to Red Sun's Zenith to the dome for 8, and hope to draw running Lightning Bolts. I don't, and I get my board Annihilated. On the final turn, Kozilek makes an appearance just to see me off. Nice seeing you, old chum.

1-3.

Game 5

My hand of Commando, Blisterstick Shaman, and Peace Strider is trumped by his turn-one Kraken Hatchling. Luckily for me, he doesn't have another play until a turn-four Windrider Eel, while I develop my board of mediocre creatures. At one point, I run Commando into the Kraken just to Bolt it away. He plays a second Eel, but doesn't have a fifth land to make them dangerous.

I have a number of possible plays on turn five that are better than Galvanoth, but come on . . . it's Galvanoth. He slaps a Paralyzing Grasp on it (okay . . .), and hits me for 4 with both Eels. Galvanoth reveals Quicksilver Geyser, which bounces the Eels, and I play a Fire Servant. The next turn I have the 10-point Lava Axe for the win.

2-3.

Game 6

I didn't intend to play a sixth game, but I clicked on the wrong version of the deck when testing later in the night, so here we are. My opponent has Naya Allies, and plays Kazandu Blademaster, Kazandu Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, and two Oran-Rief Survivalists by turn four.

I'd like to take a moment to express my condolences to the families of the Iron Myr and Silver Myr that stood valiantly against that onslaught of Allies. Without them, I never would have made it to turn five. We may have lost the war, but those heroes will be remembered always.

2-4 (never forget).

Upgrades

As I suspected, the deck fails on multiple levels. The creatures are underpowered, and there isn't enough disruption to keep the opponent off his game plan. The games I won were due to the killer combo of Fire Servant and burn, with my opponents' mana screw granting the assist.

If you read my article two weeks ago, you know that there are a number of directions I can go with Mirromancy. The counterburn idea is probably the most competitive, but I recently wrote about a deck like that starring Kuldotha Phoenix. Besides, I'm hesitant to make another deck with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, especially considering that this series is starting to evolve into a budget-friendly place.

*Aside on Budgets*

I'm not going to make any promises or sweeping edicts regarding how many tickets I'm willing to spend on these decks, but I understand that people with playsets of Primeval Titan and Jace, the Mind Sculptor probably aren't interested in a Precon evolution article. So, in an attempt to cater to my loving and beautiful audience, I'll try to keep the decks on the cheap side whenever possible. At the very least, I'll let you know what budget options you can use in place of the money rares I play.

*End Aside*

Noel deCordova recently wrote about a Galvanoth deck (albeit not Standard-legal), so I'll set that aside for now. Instead, I'll focus on the first idea that drew me towards Mirromancy: Blue/Red tempo.

This type of deck looks to develop a strong board position early, then keep the opponent from mounting a defense with burn and bounce. Neurok Commando is the centerpiece of the deck, as she keeps our hand loaded with ways to remove blockers. Here's the first round of changes:

−2 Ogre Resister

−2 Peace Strider

−1 Rally the Forces

−1 Turn the Tide

−2 Blisterstick Shaman

−1 Burn the Impure

−1 Crush

−2 Iron Myr

−2 Koth's Courier

−2 Lava Axe

−2 Lumengrid Gargoyle

−1 Melt Terrain

The four-drop creatures are just too slow for the deck, and the more narrow instants are all going to be replaced with Lightning Bolts. Blisterstick Shaman intrigued me at first, but he's had virtually zero targets through six games. Myr are not aggressive enough, and since we're taking out the expensive spells, they aren't necessary. Lava Axe has never been good enough for serious play, and I hope it never will be. Lumengrid Gargoyle costs the same as Wurmcoil Engine. Think about that.

+4 Plated Geopede

+2 Neurok Commando

+4 AEther Adept

+4 Into the Roil

+3 Lightning Bolt

+1 Arc Trail

+1 Scroll Thief

+1 Surrakar Spellblade

Geopede is the best two-drop we could hope for, and following him up with AEther Adept can put the opponent way behind. Neurok Commando and Lightning Bolt get bumped up to four because they are the best cards in the deck. Into the Roil is an excellent follow-up to a Neurok Commando, and can buy us some time when the opponent is playing cards like Wurmcoil Engine. I wasn't sure if I wanted Scroll Thief or Surrakar Spellblade, so I put in one of each to see which one was better.

Playing Geopede means we need some fetch lands. If you don't have Scalding Tarn, you can play Evolving Wilds, but "comes into play tapped" is going to hurt your curve.

*Aside on Fetch Lands*

Did you ever play Diablo II? If so, you may remember Stone of Jordan rings (SoJs). These became the currency of Diablo II. Every item you wanted to trade was valued by how many SoJs you could get for it. Fetch lands fill a similar role in Magic. They range from $10 to $12, and absolutely anybody will trade for them—even giving up Jaces in some cases (check out Sean Morgan's articles about fungibility here and here to learn why this is so. You should get a set for yourself, and then acquire as many as possible, because they will hold their value for years to come.

I win a lot of store credit, because I'm awesome at FNMs (not so good at real tournaments, unfortunately). Usually it's somewhere in the $20 to $40 range, so I pick up as many fetch lands as I can for the amount of credit I'm given. Many players buy boosters in this position. This is wrong. Believe me, I love cracking packs as much as anybody, but cracking fetch lands is much more profitable.

*End Aside*

−6 Mountain

−2 Island

+4 Scalding Tarn

+4 Terramorphic Expanse

So, here's the list.

"Commando and Conquero v1.0"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Plated Geopede
• 4 AEther Adept
• 4 Neurok Commando
• 1 Scroll Thief
• 1 Surrakar Spellblade
• 1 Fire Servant
• 1 Galvanoth

• Spells (20)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Preordain
• 4 Into the Roil
• 3 Arc Trail
• 2 Call to Mind
• 2 Foresee
• 1 Sleep
• 2 Quicksilver Geyser
• 1 Red Sun's Zenith

• Lands (24)
• 9 Island
• 7 Mountain
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Terramorphic Expanse

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I left in a few questionable cards like Fire Servant, Galvanoth, and Quicksilver Geyser, because they were pretty good in the first six games, so I thought they earned another shot. They're like that young, husky boy in American Idol this season: mediocre, but charming enough to pass through the preliminary rounds.

I'm excited to see how Sleep performs, particularly if I get to Call to Mind it back.

The following games were all played in the casual room.

Game 7

I mulligan a hand with no Mountains and keep Island, Mountain, Scalding Tarn, Into the Roil, and two Commando. My opponent gets off to a blistering start with a turn-one Ornithopter, threatening at least 0 damage on turn two. He has no plays on turn two or three, while I play a Commando and get in for a card the following turn. I try a second Commando, but he has a Fuel for the Cause.

Then, my opponent said this: "Sorry mate, g2g, good game" which I think is Australian for "I tremble before your mighty deck-building prowess and humbly concede this hopeless match."

0-0.

Game 8

I mull a one-lander, then mull another 1-lander. On five cards, I have to keep a one-lander, plus Into the Roil, Commando, Scroll Thief, and AEther Adept.

My opponent leads with Blackcleave Cliffs, Viscera Seer. So I lose that one, right? Well . . .

I'm lucky enough to rip running lands, while my opponent reveals that he isn't Vampires with a Sign in Blood on turn two. He also sacrifices the Seer, clearly digging for a third land. I play my Commando and my opponent hits the land drop and plays Pyroclasm. Scroll Thief sticks around a turn while he plays a Sword of Body and Mind.

Thief steals a card and I drop two Geopedes, daring the opponent to have another Pyroclasm. He doesn't, and only plays an Abyssal Persecutor. With a hand of two Into the Roil, I can only smile.

Kicked Into the Roil finds me the land I need to pump the 'pedes, and I get in for 7 and a card. Then my opponent disconnects.

Now, maybe he had a Black Sun's Zenith or a Slagstorm and could turn the game around. Who can say? All I know is that I had a killer board presence, I was drawing three cards a turn, and I could answer up to two blockers. Then he quit. So I'm counting it as a win.

1-0.

Game 9

Mulligan (again), this time a hand with too little action (five land, AEther Adept, Fire Servant). I keep two land, Arc Trail, AEther Adept, Commando, Scroll Thief, but don't see a land for several turns. Meanwhile, my opponent is beating me down with Perilous Myr and his Lavaclaw Reaches. When he plays a Fume Spitter, I pull the trigger on Arc Trail, but his next man-land attack brings me to 6. I start unloading my hand, and he plays Mimic Vat + Skinrender, a brutal combination. I play Foresee to try to find an answer, and while I'm thinking about it (takes about five seconds), my opponent concedes without saying anything.

What . . . the . . . heck?

Still 1-0.

Game 10

I keep a loose one on the draw with one Island as my only land, but a Preordain to help me dig. I also had Arc Trail, Into the Roil, and Lightning Bolt to help me catch up, and Plated Geopede/Neurok Commando to make living the dream possible.

My opponent plays a turn-one Steppe Lynx, so I know my burn will be live if I draw a Mountain. I draw a Neurok Commando, cast Preordain . . . no land. Put both on bottom. Draw . . . not a land. My opponent plays a fetch land to hit me for 4 and a Kor Skyfisher to keep the pressure coming.

I draw another nonland.

My opponent starts playing two creatures a turn, and I never see a Mountain. Bad keep, sure, but no land in eight cards? Sheesh.

1-1.

Game 11

My opponent has one of the coolest decks I've played against in a long time. Temple Bell keeps our hands full while Dissipation Field and Whiplash Trap make sure I don't have a strong board presence. Walking Atlas puts all those cards to good use, and Psychosis Crawler is (a) humongous and (b) a constant source of damage. Then Time Reversal can finish the job by draining me for 8. I'm sure he had Runeflare Trap in there, I just didn't see any.

Unfortunately for my opponent, I had a general sense of what I was up against as soon as I saw the third-turn Temple Bell with two Islands and a Mountain in play. I was around when Howling Mine was popular, so I know how to play against it: Dump your hand as soon as possible. At the end of his turn, I used both of my Bolts on him, then untapped and played two Geopedes. When he played Dissipation Field, I wasn't worried, because I had Quicksilver Geyser to bounce it and the Bell. All of this set him back far enough for me to get in some attacks and finally Red Sun's Zenith him out of the game.

2-1.

Game 12

My opponent is playing CawBlade. Yeah, the one that just won a Pro Tour. With foil Mana Leaks and Jaces and everything. The only difference is that his version has at least ten counterspells (that's how many he played against me).

Still, I gave it my best effort. After my Geopede got Mana Leaked, I stuck a Commando, but a Squadron of Hawks got in the way. Arc Trail would have been nice, but both of mine got countered (another Leak, then Spell Pierce).

Shortly after that, he played Jace, and I didn't resolve any more spells. Somehow, I managed not to complain during the whole twenty minutes it took for me to die. Finally, holding back all of my frustration, I simply wrote, "You may find stiffer competition in the Tournament Practice room =)". SICK BURN!

2-2.

Well, at least I had plenty of time to think about the deck during that last game. There are a few holes in our current deck list. The first is that we need more two-drops, so that by the time we start chaining bounce spells, we have a lot of pressure on the board. Second, our mana base isn't great. I think upping the Preordain count to four will help us find our colors, with the added bonus of making it more likely that we have a two-drop when we need it. Finally, those charming oddball cards are clogging up my hand and costing me games. They have to go!

−2 Call to Mind

−2 Foresee

−2 Quicksilver Geyser

−1 Fire Servant

−1 Galvanoth

−1 Red Sun's Zenith

−1 Scroll Thief

−4 AEther Adept

The Foresees are unnecessary with the added Preordains and the Commandos doing their thing. Call to Mind was fine in those long, drawn-out affairs, but our new, sleek build doesn't want it. Fire Servant is just too expensive, as are Galvanoth and Quicksilver Geyser.

AEther Adept is a tough card to evaluate. When I'm curving out beautifully and my opponent is playing creatures, the card is fantastic. But when I don't have any two-drops and/or my opponent is basically creatureless? It's basically dead. This tells me it may be a fine sideboard option for the future.

+3 Preordain

+4 Kiln Fiend

+3 Surrakar Spellblade

+2 Sleep

+2 Distortion Strike

I never got to play the Spellblade or Sleep in my practice matches, so I'm adding more copies to see if I like them. Kiln Fiend is the best two-drop available after Geopede, and plays nicely with the burn and bounce cards. Distortion Strike is a draft favorite with Kiln Fiend, but I'm worried I'll draw it when I have Neurok Commando out, and I'll wish it were more burn. We'll see.

That brings us to . . .

"Commando and Conquero v2.0"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Kiln Fiend
• 4 Plated Geopede
• 4 Neurok Commando
• 4 Surrakar Spellblade

• Spells (20)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Preordain
• 2 Distortion Strike
• 4 Into the Roil
• 3 Arc Trail
• 3 Sleep

• Lands (24)
• 9 Island
• 7 Mountain
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Terramorphic Expanse

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Game 13

I keep a pretty nice hand with three burn spells, a Surrakar Spellblade, and three lands on the play. My opponent plays a Swamp and a Darksteel Axe on turn one, and the same play on turn two, while I use a Preordain to find Kiln Fiend—awkwardly enough, a turn too late to curve out.

My Spellblade on turn three is met with a Darksteel Myr, and as I'm pondering how I'll get around it, I rip Distortion Strike. That coupled with a Bolt to the head nets me two cards off the Surrakar, and I finish my turn with a Kiln Fiend. He Assassinates my Spellblade, but the rebounding Distortion Strike plus two burn spells in my hand make Kiln Fiend lethal. Ah, just like Rise limited.

1-0.

Game 14

I mulligan no lands into Kiln Fiend, Arc Trail, Into the Roil, and three land. Pretty good! My opponent goes first and plays an Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. I draw a Geopede, and play my Terramorphic Expanse. He plays a Basilisk Collar and passes. Hmmmm . . . 'pede or Fiend first? I figure I'll want to cast Arc Trail against my obviously Elves opponent, so I cast the Fiend.

Unfortunately, he isn't playing Elves, as he plays a Sacred Wolf. Wow, Shroud is good against me! I decide to attack with the Fiend and hope he trades. He does. I cast Geopede and pass.

Thrun, huh? Ouch.

As I'm wondering how I can ever beat a Thrun, I draw a Sleep. That might help. I play a Commando so that Sleep has some value besides just a few damage and pass the turn.

My opponent plays another Sacred Wolf, equips the Collar, and passes. I cast Sleep and attack, playing another Commando and leaving mana up to bounce the Basilisk Collar with Into the Roil. Instead, my opponent plays a Gaea's Revenge and takes a huge chunk out of my life total.

I attack with two Commandos, leaving Geopede back to block, but I keep drawing bounce spells and Arc Trails. My opponent is way too high on life to burn out, but I can't hit the creatures, so I just use my Bolts to dome him.

I'm able to bounce one Collar, but not the second one he plays, and he starts catching up on life. It gets to the point where I can stay alive if I draw another Sleep, but I don't, so I lose. Shroud.dec is a nightmare matchup, apparently.

1-1.

Game 15

I lose the die roll, but other than that, everything goes perfectly. My hand of Terramorphic, two Islands, Kiln Fiend, Surrakar Spellblade, Into the Roil, and Sleep looks great. I drop the Fiend on turn two. My opponent's first play is Pilgrim's Eye, and I have two options: Play the Spellblade and "go off" next turn, or play Preordain and Arc Trail and get in for 7 (plus 2 from the Trail). I opt for the latter play.

He plays a Tumble Magnet, shutting down the Fiend, so I summon Spellblade and hold off on my Preordain. I'm not sure if he's going to Wrath, so I don't know exactly what I'm digging for with the neo-Ponder. Besides, if he taps the Spellblade instead of the Fiend, Preordain is like a Lightning Bolt to his head. He plays Peace Strider and taps my Fiend during my upkeep.

I play my Preordain and find a Distortion Strike, which I use on my Spellblade to give him his second counter. I could Into the Roil here to draw an extra card, but I decide to save it to bounce his Magnet at end of turn. I draw a second Distortion Strike off the Spellblade trigger, and his Venser isn't enough to save him from 17 unblockable damage (oh, and I draw seven cards, thanks).

2-1.

Game 16

On the play: Preordain, Plated Geopede, Lightning Bolt, Sleep, 2 Islands, Mountain. Cool.

I lead with my Preordain, which gives me a Kiln Fiend, while my opponent plays Llanowar Elves. Since my plan is to Bolt the Elves next turn, I play Kiln Fiend. He has a Nest Invader and another Llanowar. On my turn, I cast Preordain, seeing Kiln Fiend (ship it) and Sleep (keep it), and cast my Geopede. My pair of Sleeps should be enough to attack for lethal over the next few turns.

My opponent throws me a curveball by tapping out to play a not-tired-at-all Chimeric Mass for 6, so I play a Bolt on his lone blocker (the Nest Invader). After playing a fetch land, I attack with my two creatures for 7. My opponent plays a Kozilek's Predator and hangs back to block. You can't block when all your creatures are Sleeping, silly!

He makes the right play and floats a Green from his Llanowar, activating Chimeric Mass after Sleep resolves, but he has to chump-block the Geopede (which is a 7/7 with the uncracked fetch from last turn and this turn's Terramorphic). The following turn, he plays an Overgrown Battlement, which proves that walls get tired, too, as I cast Sleep and attack in for exactly 13. Man, I love Sleep.

3-1.

Game 17

Second-turn Kiln Fiend, third-turn Surrakar Spellblade, fourth-turn Arc Trail and Distortion Strike, fifth-turn double Into the Roil plus the rebounding Strike. What was my opponent doing? Does it matter? All right, all right, he was playing Cultivates and Arbor Elfs. Seriously, that's all I saw.

4-1.

The deck has really hit its stride after the last round of changes. Sure, I didn't play against any decks with an abundance of removal, but everything in the deck is working together as I imagined. Next week, I'll do some final changes, slap a sideboard on this beast, and see how we do in Tournament Practice. That's the real test.

I'll also check out some of the paths not taken with Mirromancy. It'll be a good time—you should join me.

If you have any ideas for the deck or sideboard, hit me up in the comments. Thanks for reading,

Brad Wojceshonek

Bradwoj at gmail dot com

BJWOJ on Twitter