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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
White/Blue casual deck
December 29, 2006

Dear Deck Garage?  Did Greg here forget my nom de plume?  Or does he think I have a team of people working for me (don't I wish)?
Dear Deck Garage:
 
You helped me once upon a time on 091306 with my Prince & Pauper Deck offering some great ideas, and I'm hoping you have a few more to share on this new deck.  I have had great success playing casually with it and was wondering if it has the makings of going the next step and making it FNM or even Tournament worthy.  The deck has many interactions as you will see, but please make any suggestions you think best to change.
 
 
Land
10 Plains
7 Island
4 Azorius Chancery
2 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Urza's Factory
 
Creatures
4 Azorius Herald
4 Court Hussar
1 Ronom Unicorn
4 Errant Ephemeron
3 Riftwing Cloudskate
 
Spells
4 Remand
1 Disenchant
3 Devouring Light
4 Griffin Guide
4 Faith's Fetters
4 Wrath of God
 
Sideboard
2 Ronom Unicorn
1 Disenchant
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Devouring Light
3 Mana Leak
1 Muddle the Mixture
2 Debtor's Knell
1 Azorius Guildmage
2 Trickbind
1
Ivory Mask

 

 

 
Thanks again for your time in advance! 
 
Greg
 
Ah, White/Blue....Control?  Beatdown?  Combo?  I'm not entirely sure.  You've got Wrath and plenty of control cards, but control decks are typically more controlling and less flying creatures beating down.  You also mentioned "many interactions"...I guess we should start by finding those.  Here are the obvious ones to me, in the order that I found them:
 
Riftwing Cloudskate & Court Hussar/Azorius Herald
I'm kinda hoping this isn't what you had in mind-- to return your Heralds and Hussars to your hand in order to trigger their comes into play abilities a second time. Yes, I guess it's cool that you can do that if you really need 4 more life to win a damage race or something, but the Cloudskate is the worst way to do it.  You're spending 3UU or 1U and several turns to get a 2/2 flier and a Boomerang-- that Boomerang effect is there to return an opponent's cretaure, thus putting you way up on tempo.  Use the ability on your own guys, and it's like your wasting it.  Although, that does give me a better idea...
 
Disenchant & Griffin Guide
Oh, I REALLY hope this isn't what you meant.  Griffin Guide's power is in that it not only enhances your creature, but if they spend a card to kill the creature and the Guide, you get another creature, thus ensuring they can't get a 2-for-1 off you.  If you Disenchant your own Guide, you're spending two cards to get 1 creature.  That's a horrible disadvantage.
 
Wrath of God & Griffin Guide
Ah, now this must be what you meant.  After a Wrath, the Griffin Guide's Griffin token enters play as the only creature on the board.  Unless the opponent has a removal spell in hand, or a creature that can deal with a 2/2 flier, he's put in a really bad position there.
 
Wrath of God & suspend creatures
Continuing in that vein, if you can set up multiple creatures to suspend into play on the same turn, you can Wrath the previous turn and then come down with multiple fliers, leaving the opponent scrambling to recover.
 
So, then, the object of this deck as I see it is Death From Above(tm) from flying (and unblockable) creatures, while cards like Wrath, Faith's Fetters, and Devouring Light keep your opponent at bay.  Seems simple enough.  First of all, I'd like to refine your choice of control spells.  Second, we'll have a look at your creature base.  And third will be your sideboard choices.
Now, then, you've got 4 of 3 good white spells, 4 Remand, 3 Devouring Light and a Disenchant.  That single Disenchant looks kinda weird here, but I guess that makes sideboarding easier.  Four Wrath might be a bit excessive here-- Wrath of God is something to want to sit on for a bit, not just fire off randomly.  You play Wrath when your opponent has a serious advantage against you on creatures, not just because you have an Ephemeron coming out next turn.  I'd say 3 Wrath will be fine, and I have a feeling every slot we can get will help.  You can drop Griffin Guide to 3 copies as well, since a good percentage of your creatures are already flying, and even Griffin Guide is vulnerable to the 2-for-1 disadvantage of Auras if your opponent can remove the target in response to the Aura.  Fetters and Remand are fine, but in a perfect world, you could replace those three Devouring Light for a playset of Condemn.  Ah, but Condemn is a chase rare.  I won't do that to you.  We'll save those two extra slots we made for after we work with your creatures.
Your creature base is pretty straightforward as is, though a few tweaks are still possible.  FIrst, since the Cloudskate gives you a Boomerang effect and can be hardcast cheaper than the Ephemeron, I'd switch the numbers from 4 Errant E. and 3 Cloudskate to the other way around-- 3 Errant E. and 4 Cloudskate.  Next, take out Ronom Unicorn.  I don't know what enchantment you're so vulnerable to, but as far as 2/2's for 2 mana go, your best option is Azorius Guildmage.  She needs to come in from the sideboard, and I think those two slots I mentioned should be Guildmages as well.  3 of them would almost ensure you could get one out by Turn Two if you'd rather not suspend a creature yet.  This also has the advantage of lowering your mana curve and giving you options on Turn Two that actually come into play on Turn Two.
 
Now, to look at your sideboard.  I'm a bit curious about Muddle the Mixture here-- what is this countering that Mana Leak can't?  Is it transmuting for something?  I don't see much for it to transmute into.  I'd say make it a 4th Mana Leak.  And again, here, you don't need Ronom Unicorn.  More Disenchant would be better, if you can get them, and you should be able to get them since they were printed several times as uncommon.  Remember, old copies of reprinted cards are still tournament legal!  If it's only enchantments that you care about, then Demystify or Tempest of Light (is that Standard legal?) would also work.
 
I hope this gives you the help you need, Greg.  Good luck at the tournament, and remember-- save your Wraths and counterspells for when you really need them!
 
~BMoor

 
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