Event Decks on the Horizon

With this block having an emphasis on picking a side, I thought I would examine the newly released ‘Event Decks’. These consist of 60 cards that are standard legal and also include a 15 card sideboard.

The full deck lists can be found here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/648

Into the Breach

This is a mono-red aggro deck (which I’ve discussed in previous blogs) and, therefore, seeks to win the game quickly before your opponent can react.

The interesting aspect of this deck is that, although being mono-red, it also contains a high proportion of artifacts. In a sense, this deck is based around ‘Kuldotha Red’ a deck which has been performing well at recent Pro-Magic tournaments.

The idea of the deck is as follows:

Turn 1: Cast a 0 mana artifact, play a mountain, cast Kuldotha Rebirth to generate 3 1/1 Goblin Tokens

Turn 2: Cast a kicked Goblin Bushwhacker to give your Goblins +1/+0 and Haste and attack for 8. (If you can cast another free artifact then potentially 10)

Of course, this is the ideal opening hand but the deck has other options. Goblin Wardriver and Signal Pest include the new Battlecry mechanic to pump up other attacking creatures whilst Goblin Guide can attack for 2 on turn 1 thanks to haste. If your creatures can’t inflict enough damage then Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Blast can provide the finishing blow.

In terms of cost, I think the deck is reasonably priced at £19.99. Not only do you get a standard ready deck but you get a pretty efficient one at that. If bought separately the 2 Goblin Guides would cost around £14 whilst 4 Lightning Bolts at £1.50 each would result in paying £20 on 6 cards.

Infect & Defile

This Phyrexian aligned deck is based around a Blue-Black control build. Its aim is to poison your opponent whilst using support cards to stall their advances. If your creatures cannot inflict 10 poison counters then the proliferate mechanic should induce the sickness.

Blue-Black control has risen to challenge Blue-White control in standard but so far, no ‘top’ decks have been built with the infect theme in mind.

Being a control deck, the amount of creatures is considerably less when compared to an aggro deck. However, the creatures included all have infect so they only need to deal 10 damage to your opponent to win. Amongst the horrors you can summon is Hand of the Praetors which pumps the rest of your creatures and gives your opponent a poison counter whenever you cast a creature with infect.

In terms of support, this deck includes cards with preordain thus allowing you to find the cards you need. Also in the arsenal are counter spells and creature removal such as Mana Leak and Smother. Then events take a twist, Contagion Clasp can be used to kill off smaller creatures and then proliferate any counters you wish (proliferate doesn’t target so shroud is made redundant). If all else fails, use Corrupted Conscience to steal an opponent’s creature and give it infect.

On the whole, I think this deck has potential but may need more modifications than its Mirran aligned counter-part. This may be why it retails slightly less than Into the Breach.

So if you’re a new player looking to compete or learn about deck building or a more experienced player wanting a competitive deck I would recommend picking up an event deck.

The Event Decks are on sale at our club sponsor; Kid’s Dreams, Boundary Road, Hove, along with other Magic related products.

I hope this article has been helpful.

John of Team Gambit.