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Nimbly's Nook

Inside The Game: The Monsters of Mana Control
 

7/26/05

Hey Pojo people! Here’s the Second installment in my Featured Article series. I was meaning to branch this article off of the last one about Creativity, but I went a different, but somehow similar route. Today, I’ll talk about a concept that TCGs have based its play on for years now. Mana.

We all know the concept of mana by now. We use these cards to gain enough energy to play monsters to eventually lead to the opponent’s downfall. It has been one of the strongest concepts of TCGs, and Duel Masters follows the same route. This game has several cards where mana cards are mostly affected. We’ll take a look into those cards and cards that could possibly work with them.

Have we invented a new word?...

To anyone who plays card games, we all know the term mana. It’s become part of our vocabulary. Do we know it? Yes. Do we use it? Yes again! For the game and the new car, Do we understand it? Uh…maybe?

Sometimes, we don’t always consider mana a major part of the game. In Magic, the mana were their own cards, and that was cool and all, but it lacked the fact that not every card can help you. Duel Masters, however, takes that idea, and adds effects to every mana card, so no card is meant for only 1 task. But the question is, is it a good thing?

See, the good thing about Magic mana is that the card has one purpose, and you instinctively know what to do with it, put in it your mana zone. With duel masters, you put any card you want in the mana zone, so it forces you to make tougher decisions and think more on which would be the better move.

Do we understand mana? It’s tough. We understand how to get it, even in mass numbers, but we can’t always control it. Mana can be a game altering sleeping giant that you’re not unleashing. How do we awake it…Perhaps I should create some sort of breed of 20-foot howling gorilla…

There are some major overlooked cards that attack the mana. Some are understandable to why they are turned away, but for the most part, we’ll check out the major heavy hitters of mana destruction. I’ll even give you some insight on later mana destruction. Let’s move on to the first type/concept.

Concept 1 – Cataclysmic Eruption

Here’s a card that we all probably overlooked for the most part, but it’s pretty effective in destroying some mass mana.  The card destroys an opponent’s mana for every nature creature you have in the battle zone. There are lots of advantages to using Cataclysmic Eruption.

The Card needs to be used with Nature. That’s kind of a dead giveaway, right? What’s great about that is that Green has those strong mana builders that can get you to 8 mana fairly quickly with getting the most out of the effect. Green has the spell mana reducer, Essence Elf, and another card to destroy mana, known as Mana Crisis. The red element adds its share of monster mana destructors, Engineer Kipo and Bombersaur, Destruction cards, such as Crisis Boulder, and has the speed element to hurry in a win before they build up mana again.

See, the greatness of this combo is that cards like Kipo and the Bombersaur do hurt your mana, but with green, you’ll always keep a leg up on your opponent. That’s really the point to mana destruction, to always have more than your opponent and keep them as low as possible.

I like the way this combo works out. It has an enormous amount of potential even though it lacks blockers and sufficient destruction. Know that the deck would also work well with lots of destruction, to keep your opponent low on every possible level so you have room to attack. Namely, use stuff like Searing Wave, Rothus, and the Boulder like I said before would be good.

Concept 2 – Hydro Hurricane

This card was also sufficiently overlooked until rather recently, when Hydro decks became noticed. It was first assumed that only 1 effect happened, but to new errata, (or at least errata to my knowledge), Both effects happen. Think of it as searing wave. That card has 2 bullets as well, and both effects happen, no matter positive or negative the effect.

This deck can be used solely with either Light or Darkness with Water, or all 3. I showed you my take on the form of the deck that I had for it, and that had all 3 Civs, evenly distributed at 16 apiece. The deck has small, cheap lights and darks with the shield manipulation element. Take a look back at the old article to check it out.

This card has a lot of great sides. Seeing as how Yellow Decks have an abundance of 1 and 2 costs, it’s easy to get out the cards you need for a wave of mana bounce. The deck I had put my opponent in a position where he had no mana and no monsters on the field by turn 12. Fun…

The Blue concept adds a lot of potential stall, so your opponent can’t take out an essential card or 2 you might need. It’s great for further bounce, so he takes back a Fighter when he has no mana. Blue adds draw and tutoring to the game as well.

Yellow adds the continuous draw power the deck needs to get out many cards no matter what your hand size is. That lies within Mist Rias. I got out 6 monsters with 9 mana. It’s amazing.

Dark adds the destructive force the deck needs. It also adds a lot of decent, high powered blockers and cheap attackers that can make this deck fast.

Overall, it’s a solid card that can totally screw up your opponent real bad. However, it really lags on the speed factor and it has 2 major weaknesses. As the deck is mostly blocker, Crystal Paladin and Holy Awe smack up like some sort of big handed monkey…

Concept 3 – Divine Riptide

Now I know what you’re thinking. Why was this card ever a rare? I thought the same thing when it came out, but with my crazy cool fun deck, it’s becoming evident why.

The great thing about this card is that you need Green to go with this card. 9 mana is a big number, so you need lots of mana build. That way, when all the mana is returned, you can get it all back faster than your opponent, or you’ll just gain it, if you can control your opponent…

Now, Green/Blue is a great combo. Green has power with speed, Blue has draw, blockers, and tutoring. It’s a really great combo. I mean, there’s those Ill-Folk decks, Beast Peoples, And a lot of others that can hurt. It’s a very versatile combo that has many different genres

Now, there’s a lot of cards that can really hinder mana building. What’s best is probably to use stuff like Mana Crisis when you build up your mana, and there is some new stuff in the next set to help out this deck really well.

So, the idea is to bounce all the mana, bounce monsters, and then start attacking when shield triggers least affect you, when your opponent can’t play off of that card.

Here’s the idea that came up recently that my friend came up with and I built. The deck’s purpose is to keep mana low, continuously low, while increasing your mana significantly. Key cards would include this guy, Smile Angler that can bounce an opponent’s mana by attack, Massive bounce cards like Spiral Gate and Teleportation, and the lord of mana Building: Bliss Totem…

Personally, I like this card and I can see it with some other great cards that hinder mana cards. Just always keep this card in mind, no matter how hard it is to do…

The Battle! Which one will last?...

I like Divine Riptide the best, but my opinion is biased because of my fun deck. I have seen Hydro decks competitive and Cataclysm I haven’t seen in play that often. Divine gets the job done by completely bouncing each mana card, which is more effective if you run heavy mana control. Cataclysm is good if you play it in numbers and Hydro is better if you play it to your advantage at the best moment for the card to be activated.

We’re near the Finish!...

To finish my article, the concept of Mana can be manipulated to affect every other aspect of the game. It’s a different way to look at the game, but playing these types of decks will give you a great sense of, dare I say, fun? So go out, come up with some cool decks using these overlooked cards and witness the shock in your opponent’s faces…it’s hilarious.

To Challenge Participants- The challenge for most creative deck is still up! I’ve gotten a couple of entries, but I could use more! People, bring in your decks and have a chance to win a cool prize. The contest ends on the Last day of July, and I’ll announce the winner the first week of August.

Well, that’s it for the Mana Control Article. I’m off to work on the next one. If anyone has a Question, Comment/Concern/Complaint, a reply to a review or Article, or anything about the game of Duel Masters, E-mail me at  nimbly@gmail.com

Later Days…

If you would like to see a topic written about, E-Mail me and I’ll get right on it! Your local squirrel Masta’ on Duty!