Pre-Constructed Deck Review 

Morph Mayhem
Rating: 1 out of 5

Okay, this is a terrible deck. This one is as bad as the Zombie deck was good (see last weeks column).  There are cards in here that I wouldn't even play in limited, much less in any constructed format. Even the ones I might consider in limited would be really iffy. This is probably one of the worst pre-constructed decks I've seen..

Let me give you the deck listing, and then we'll go over some of the cards:

#	Name	Rarity	Cost
1	Daru Mender	U
2	Deftblade Elite	C
4	Glory Seeker*	C
1	Whipcorder*	U
2	Wingbeat Warrior	C
1	Aven Redeemer	C
1	Liege of the Axe	U
1	Ironfist Crusher*	U
1	Daru Lancer*	C
1	Swooping Talon	U
1	Imagecrafter*	C
2	Voidmage Apprentice	C
1	Wall of Deceit	U
2	Willbender	U
2	Echo Tracer	C
2	Ascending Aven*	C
1	Master of the Veil	U
1	Chromeshell Crab	R
1	Mistform Mutant*	U
1	Weaver of Lies	R
2	Pacifism*	C
1	Akroma's Blessing*	U
1	Improvised Armor*	U
1	Discombobulate*	U
11	Plains*	L
11	Island*	L
2	Lonely Sandbar*	C
2	Secluded Steppe*	C

The problems with the Morph Mayhem deck are the following:

A total lack of focus - Is morph the focus here?  Uh, sorry, but the morphing creatures used here are weak and overcosted. Maybe if you had some morphers that actually did something useful....

Lack of defense - You have little way of defending yourself here against any significant threats. Maybe you bounce it or something, but your opponent should have several things for you to have answers to, and you just won't find them in this deck.

Lack of removal - With a lack of defense, you better have some removal to get rid of threats...nope, almost none of that here, either.

Lack of offense - With little defense or removal, I suppose a good offense would work...uh, no, not here.

Heavy Evasion? - Nope.

Win condition? - Uh...Improvised Armor? No.

Ugh, I just hate thinking about how poor this deck is, since it is a deck we carry in stock.  I guess that's why we have the price so low.  But if you'd like a more serious deck, check out the link at the bottom of this article to get a better idea of what else is available.

Just for kicks, I'll go over some of the okay cards in the deck:.:

Whipcorder is one of the few cards that I see on the list that can be a worthwhile constructed card. It's a tapper white bear.

Wall of Deceit is a decent trick card in here. If you have the mana, you block, flip it face down, damage on the stack, then unmorph it to protect it. Tricky.

Willbender can also be used to play tricks. What makes it worthwhile is that it can redirect spells AND ABILITIES.  Just one or the other would make it worth much less, but both makes it playable.

Pacifism is just a decent card. You'll see it in limited a lot, and it's okay for this format.

Aven Redeemer - Much better in limited, and unfortunately one of the "better" cards of this deck. Nice ability though, and one of the few true removal threats this deck manages to have.

Now for the WTH?!? cards:

Imagecrafter - Why is this in here?? I'm baffled. The ability is sound, but I just don't see it being part of any focus of this deck whatsoever. Oh wait...that's right!  This deck doesn't HAVE any focus. DOH!

Mistform Mutant - Same as Imagecrafter. Incredibly overcosted as it is even if you had a good play strategy for it in your deck. This deck doesn't have any, so it just an overcosted horrible creature.

Daru Lancer - Great in limited, overcosted in constructed. Sorry, but with this deck, the morph ability is just too costly... 7 mana total to make it work from the morph position, 6 at once to play it straight up. pfffff...

Ascending Aven - Paleeeeze. What a pile. It often doesn't make the cut in limited. It can't block ground-pounders, and it costs 4, including double blue.  Forget it.

Ironfist Crusher - Again, way too much mana for very little. So he can block multiple targets. Woohoo. He only has 2 power, so he isn't going to kill much, if anything. If you're using him to block "any number of creatures," you're probably up a creek without a paddle anyhow.

So, the only *almost* interesting thing I see going here is Chromeshell Crab, Weaver of Lies and Master of the Veil.  Since most of the creatures in this deck are crap, if you had enough mana, you could get a kind of combo going where you kept exchanging your poop for their game winners. Only problem with that strategy is, you'll never MAKE the late game with this deck, and if your opponent has any game winners, then they've already won, haven't they? Heck, you won't even make the MID-game, since this deck has little to no defense at all. White is well known for being defensive and for life-gain, neither of which are found in this deck with any consistency. Oh well. For Legions, I'll stick with the Zombies Unleashed or the Sliver Shivers decks, thank you very much.

Compared to other Pre-cons, I'd rate this one a 1 out of 5 as is, and 1 when modified since it's not really salvageable in the normal sense.

When I review Pre-cons, I usually recommend some cards that you can take out and replace with better cards. Unfortunately, the base on this deck is so bad, that you'd have to redo the entire deck to make it playable. Sorry, but I just won't waste your time. Anyhow, here are some general guidelines for tuning up Pre-cons:

Important!  Be sure to keep your deck right at 60 cards. When you add a card, remove a less useful one from your deck. The smaller your deck, the more it increases your odds of drawing a good card.

Remember that you can also go outside of the cards used here by Wizards (highly recommended in this case). You can use the Pre-cons as a base for a deck, and then add some of your favorite stronger cards that you feel will be helpful. Remember not to stray too far away from the focus or theme of a deck (except in cases like this where there is no theme), as that will generally weaken it.

Most of all, have fun with it!  Be constantly on the lookout for cards that you can add to your deck to make it better. If you are a good trader, you should be able to do it all for a small investment, and eventually have a much improved deck!

For those of you that are interested in the list of (better) Pre-cons, you can check them out here: www.ShuffleAndCutGames.com. That will give you an idea of the different decks available and their pricing. I'll review a new deck again soon, so...

Until next time...

 ~ Christine