Volcano Charger

Hello Pojoers! I’m back in full force for the Pojo COTD and articles. I hope folks aren’t tired of me yet, as I’ll likely be everywhere there’s Duel Masters coverage. The spell on tap for today is one of the best Chargers, Volcano Charger. Along with Corpse and Eureka, it forms what I’ve dubbed at my store as the “Holy Charger Trinity.” I give them that goofy nickname because those Chargers are, imho, the best ones, as they are card and mana advantage oriented two for ones. Using them allows any build running their respective civs to jump tempo, which can have rather profound applications on deck construction. Upon its inception in the Japanese meta Volcano Charger was a big hit, it’s been popularized and championed in the US meta by Tom Capor, and is a ton of fun in my Armored Dragon Control and Essence Elf Control decks (more on them later). Let’s check it out:

[Effects]

1. Destroy one of your opponent's creatures that has power 2000 or less.

It’s a cheaper Meteosaur without legs, a more costly Crimson Hammer, a Phantom Dragon’s Flame with a different mana advantage oriented effect. Well, to a certain extent. Like all of those other options it can only nuke one 2000 power or below target of your choice. It allows you to exercise greater control over exactly what types of creatures your opponent has access to in his battle zone. When that benefit isn’t overcosted or symmetrical it’s usually worth a test drive. At 4 mana, Volcano Charger can come online to disrupt the attacking, combo, and evolving plans of your opponent by nuking creatures like Horrid Worm, Emeral, and BAT. But, unlike those aforementioned choices, it’s mana advantage orientation makes it a 2 for one in resources trades. Sure, it’s slower than some of the similarly oriented choices, but it compensates for that fact by providing a way to jump tempo with its Charger effect.

2. Charger (After you cast this spell, put it into your mana zone instead of your graveyard.)

There are five important things to note about the Charger effect. First, Volcano leaves you with untapped mana on the turn you play it by placing itself into your mana zone. Sure, for many decks on turn 4 that one extra mana can’t be readily exploited, and it may be more desirable to go for a mana advantage oriented effect that simply makes it easier to field plays via coming for free of the trigger. But, when combined with earlier mana acceleration like BAT, Faerie Life or even Essence Elf you might be able to immediately transform that extra Fire mana into another play. Second, it’s never going to be a  “completely wasted” resource because it goes from your hand to your mana zone, possibly after having taken away one of your opponent’s options. Third, as a mana accelerator it can help you get your more expensive plays online sooner. That’s a thing of beauty when you consider that it also disrupts your opponent’s plays by nuking a creature. Fourth, it allows you to retain hand advantage. You don’t have to expend as many cards from your hand to achieve your ideal mana supply, which leaves you with more playing options and a way to get them into play faster. Lastly, the Charger ability is wonderfully synergistic with mana zone manipulation tools such as Thrash Crawler. Reclaiming Volcano Charger with Thrash Crawler not only allows you to re-use its effect, but also it decreases the need to draw more copies of the card to have access to removal and allows you to run less copies of the card to fit in other options. Plus, you’ll gain that card back as mana when re-cast. Delicious!

[Where To Deck]

IMHO Volcano Charger performs better and is a greater asset to Control strategies, and to a lesser extent it’s generally an acceptable option for Aggro-Control decks that are more Control oriented than they are Aggro. It has absolutely no place in a Rush deck, and is not really desirable in Aggro decks. My reasoning is this: Control decks have game plans mapped out for the long haul. They are designed to win card advantage wars, and are almost always in need of mana advantage to help them achieve that end. Many exact mana advantage from their shield triggers, but we aren’t guaranteed that luxury with shield negation and some degree of randomness in the equation. And, not everyone wants to run Nature to have the benefits of tempo gains form BAT. A Control strategy could create more time for it to fully abuse Volcano Charger, and is used to having options that can only deal with one target in the early game as well as not needing to use mana early on to build a rushing field. Its early mana is dedicated to defense, and Volcano Charger gives defense plus a way to get Searing Wave off sooner without having to use Nature. Volcano Charger helps Control by adorning that single target point-point removal option greater benefit to the deck on more permanent basis than say packing Phantom Dragons’ Flame for the mana advantage trigger action. In terms of its most common home, DWF, it gives that build more turn 4 plays besides Locomotiver or Cranium Clamp that don’t disrupt its tempo (ala Thrash Crawler). Basically, I apply the same line of reasoning to certain Aggro-Control decks that have room for the card, although my personal preference is Crimson Hammer due to needing a higher threat density than pure Control, needing less mana to operate, and wanting the option of fielding a threat and killing one for four mana (i.e. Crimson Hammer + Emeral).

[Format Ratings]

Constructed: 4/5 for Control decks, though I find Phal Control to be one of the Control decks that actually benefits from having one of the other “2000 or less” single target removals over it, like Crimson Hammer.

Limited: Sealed: 4.5/5. Removal is at a premium here because it is so scarce and creatures tend to stay in the field longer as most focus on busting shields ASAP. This sucker helps you retain a hand—very crucial in Limited as you don’t have juicy draw engines—kill something sporting a deadly Turbo Rush effect, and accelerate that bomb fattie. Draft: 4.5/5 Same reasons as Sealed.

Volcano Charger

The chargers broke onto the tournament scene with relatively mixed reviews. While many players saw great potential in many of these cards, nearly the same amount of nay-sayers pointed to their increased casting cost for already existing effects and cried foul. Now enough time has passed including two of the truly greatest test – the 2005 North American Continental Championship and the 2005 British National Championship.

Focusing specifically on Volcano Charger we saw some great showings at both of these events. Both Lee Paker (3^rd place 2005 British Nationals) and Tom Capor (1^st place 2005 NACC) choose to run four in their Water/Darkness/Fire decks. The future for Volcano Charger looks to be good.

Purpose:

On the surface Volcano Charger is a limited, pin-point removal spell. This means you will only be able to play it to remove one creature from play and even then it will have to be a small creature. While it sounds like I am degrading this card you must not misunderstand me. True, there is a limited amount of targets this spell is able to take out, however many decks require this early game removal or else risk certain defeat before they ever have the chance to establish their own field. This is where Volcano Charger fits in, right along with the classics such as Crimson Hammer.

Volcano Charger goes beyond removal, though. Like all the chargers, Volcano Charger is a mana accelerator, granting you the potential to field more powerful creatures and spells than you might otherwise be capable. In fact, with the likes of Volcano Charger and some other early nature mana acceleration you could easily be looking at playing hefty casting cost cards such as Bagagazeal Dragon as early as turn five!

Combining Volcano Charger with cards which return mana to your hand has rapidly become a popular strategy. With these cards you can play the Volcano Charger again and again so long as you can continue to return it from the mana zone. Example of this function can be found in the likes of Shtra and Mystic Dreamscape, however it is likely no other mana recycling card is a popular or as easily potent as Thrash Crawler has proved to be.

Type of Decks:

Rush

Volcano Charger is a rather poor choice for rush style decks as they are typically not going to be very concerned with possessing much in the way of mana – especially not five mana! Lesser casting cost fire removal cards such as Spastic Missile and Crimson Hammer take priority over Volcano Charger in any rush style deck. These alternatives will not force the rush player to drop that fourth mana thus allowing that card to be played as yet another pressing threat to the opponent!

Agro

The use of this card in an agro is purely a personal preference. Likely this choice will depend on whether the agro deck leans more toward the rush or the control side of pendulum. I believe, for the most part, Volcano Charger is a good addition for many agro decks. While a rush decks should require little mana to function, agro decks will often need to build up to five, six and occasionally even seven mana. Volcano Charger is a clear asset in such an occasion as it does not force you to drop yet another needed weapon into your mana zone.

Control

Volcano Charger clearly shines in control decks. A large part of playing control is maintaining a hand advantage while still being able to drop mana turn after turn, thus allowing you will be able to truly dominate in the late game. Chargers in general contribute to this and Volcano Charger goes a long way to being at the top of the list. While destroying creatures with a mere 2000 power may not seem all that powerful this is enough to take out a number of thorns in controls side such as your opponents rushing Kooc Pollon or that cyberlord in waiting (for an Illusionary Merfolk). 

Ratings:

Constucted

A strong constructed card so long as Volcano Charger is played in the right style of deck. While the casting cost can be a little bit of a draw back, like with many of the chargers, this card quickly makes up for it by contributing to your mana acceleration. 3.75 out of 5.

Limited

Typically, any removal you can get your hands on in limited is a gift from God. Volcano Charger is no exception. The casting cost is a little less prohibitive in limited as decks are typically not going to have the potential for as strong of a rush as they do in constructed. The ability to add to your mana work very well as this allows you to field a fatty a little bit sooner, which can be critical in a limited stale mate where you and your opponent dare not attack thanks to a plethora of blockers on either side of the field. 4.25 out of 5.