10th Edition Decks on Magic Online.

The 10th Edition has given us 5 new 40 card mono-colour decks that can be played for free on Magic Online. This is a great way to learn the game and can be used as a gateway to registering for an account on MTGO, or simply using as is, to play the game without succombing to the expensive collecting aspect.

To assess the balance and playability of these decks I have decided to write a series of session reports – playing 3 games with each deck and commenting on its strengths and weaknesses.

I hope this will give a good introduction to the cards and the game, and provide some ideas for strategies to use when playing each of the decks.

It would be unfeasible to describe every card in the deck – so some knowledge of the game and the cards of 10th Edition is required to get the most from the reports. You can easily find out what an individual card does at the gatherer card lookup:
http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=drudge...

This is the Third of 5 session reports and is for Evnicar’s Tyranny (mono-black)

Rather than play a single match – I again chose to play a series of 3 single games only continuing those which are a different colour from the preceding – this way you get a better idea of a wider variety of the decks.

The Black deck is a mixed bag. It has some decent creature removal in the form of terror, assassinate, cruel edict, essence drain and consume spirit (which also doubles as a good late game finisher), it has a bit of average discard – 2 Mind Rot and a Thrull surgeon, and then it has some not very efficient creatures. There is also a Diabolic Tutor to help you find what you need.

Interestingly the best card in the deck seems to be the vampire bats. Played early this can whittle down quite a few life and at one mana is a faster threat than most of the other decks can manage. Ascendent Evincar, the decks namesake, is a 3/3 flier which grants +1/+1 to all other black creatures and -1/-1 to all non-black creatures. This card is ok, but slightly overcosted for it’s fragile 3 toughness. With only 12 other creatues in the deck (one of which is an anti-synergistic bottle gnomes) it is also rare you will have more than one or two others beasties out. The other main threat and game finisher is the Mortivore – which is a regenerating Lhurgoyf with power and toughness equal to the total number of creatures in graveyards.

The main strategy (if it can be called such) is to hope for an early Bat, and a Mind Rot, then follow it up with some mid-sized threats, supported by removing opponents creatures similtaneously fueling a late game Mortivore – hopefully sealing the deal.

Key Cards: Vampire Bats, Mind Rot, Consume Spirit, Mortivore, Diabolic Tutor.

Game 1

I get a good start with a first turn vampire bats. He plays a mountain giving away the red deck - ouch – this might not be an easy match-up.
I go in with my bats the following turn and he shocks it when I pump it.
I have to wait until turn three to play my drudge skeletons – this does however mean I have the mana to regenerate it.

He plays a bogardan firefiend 2/1 (when it goes to graveyard it deals 2 damage to target creature), then a second firefiend the following go.
I Terror one, in his turn and go in with the skeleton – this turns out to be a mistake.

He plays a lightning elemental 4/1 haste – attacking to take me down to 9 life.

I lay a dross crocodile- 5/1 vanilla, and keep my skeletons back.
He gets his legend Kahamal (6/1 haste tap to deal 3 damage to target creature or player) which he immediately uses to take out my croc.
In my turn I assasinate kahamal but have nothing else but land
Following turn he incinerates my loan blocker, goes in for 6 then incinerates me. Game over.

0-1

Game 2

A swamp from him reveals a mirror match up – this should be fun.
We both start slow, he gets a severed legion and a bottle gnomes. I get a bats and we knock each other down a few points.

He uses a consume spirit on my bats and keeps attacking. I get a mind rot forcing him to discard a swamp and a bats of his own – taking him down to 0 cards.

In his turn he draws and plays Envicar. In mine, I get a severed legion. He attacks and we trade legions. In my turn I assassinate Envicar and play a Mortivore. He responds by playing his own.
I draw a demonic tutor and go looking for an edict – which I play forcing him to sacrifice his bottle gnomes ( and in doing so not gain 3 lives for it).

We are now at deadlock and are reliant on the draw. We both draw and play mind rots and then each get a thrull surgeon which we use – taking out each other’s last cards – I just lose swamps. We slowly play some more creatures but stay balanced until I get a vampire bats and manage to whittle him down to 9 life until he gets the assassinate he needs to kill it. I threaten with my own Evnicar but it gets in one attack before being essence drained.

It is just a matter of time... I wait it out until I draw my consume spirit – hit him for 9 and finish the game in a suitably cheesy fashion.

1-1

Game 3

I win the toss and play first but with a lot of land and not a lot else I take a chance and elect not to mulligan. He is playing green so he could be a problem unless I draw the cards needed to take care of his creatures.

He gets a good land to creature ratio and plays a coupe of canopy spiders then the ramant growth and civic wayfinder to get the land he needs for some potentially very big creatures. Fortunately my gamble pays off and I draw the removal I need. I terror the wayfinder which is now 9/9 pumped with blanchwood armor.

I then get a mind rot forcing him to discard the scary enormous baloth and a forest.

The following turn I play and sac a thrull surgeon- removing a stampeding wildebeasts, (which could be a serious threat with a second wayfinder on the table. Then I play a big mortivore. He chump blocks for a couple of turns, fueling my mortivore until he can no longer afford not to block. When he runs out of blockers and with an empty hand he concedes.

2-1


The black deck actually plays better than you would think – it is definitely stronger than its constituent parts. While I lost to Kamahl’s Temper (the red deck), I made a couple of mistakes that game (in part lack of concentration taking notes for this session report), and in retrospect I could of won that game. Certainly there should be enough removal and some life gain to win in the mid game – if the initial rush can be survived. 8 of the 13 red creatures have only 1 toughness meaning that Evnicar’s power giving -1/-1 to all non-black creatures has the potential to take out most of the deck.

Evnicar’s Tyranny also plays well against Green. Blue seems to be a pretty even contest. White is a harder match-up as there are more threats than the removal to deal with them.

In any match-up, to play the deack well it is vital to know the deck – be aware of all your removal choices so you make optimum plays. For example, playing consume spirit on a 1 toughness creature is a waste – unless you are desperate, as it is such a great late game finisher. It is also key to protect your key cards – particularly creatures since you have relatively few.

Try to make sure you have enough free mana to regenerate, and don’t necessarilly play Evnicar at the earliest opportunity – wait for your opponent to play out the threats, removal and counters in his hand – meaning he is safer (and does more damage) when he hits the table. The gravedigger should also be saved for when you can retrive something useful and the mortivore when there are enough creatures in graveyards to make it useful.

Timing is also crucial for the mind-rots. Unless you are taking out two cards you are losing card advantage so don’t wait too long (and beware of instants)– you also don’t want to play when your opponent can simply discard useless land.

The black deck isn’t among my favourites – I get frustrated by its seeming lack of purpose and fragility, it also seems an odd balance between action and reaction/ offence and defence. In addition I don’t like the 2 cominations that are anti-synergistic namely: gravedigger/mortivore, and bottle gnomes/Evnicar.

Despite these criticisms the deck appears to hold up well against most of the other decks and is therefore a solid choice. It also presents some intersting choices in timing – and requires a cool nerve to play well. Have a go and see for yourself!

Look out for the next 10th Edition theme decks session report: Kamahl’s Temper (mono-red)

The Session report for Deck 1: Arcani's Guile can be found here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/209231

The Session report for Deck 2: Cho Manno's Resolve can be found here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/209481