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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Lexilla

August 14, 2006

First, let me apologize for not doing any deck fixes for the past two weeks-- I was on vacation and didn't have internet access.  A pity, too, because I've been eager to sink my monkey wrench into today's project.
My companions and I attended the Coldsnap prerelease last weekend. During one of his various matches, one of my friends was stomped by a green/black deck running Allasaurus Rider (“Godzilla”) and Herald of Leshrac (“Lex Luther,” since he steals real estate at the expense of your opponent’s resources). When all was said and done, we began to divvy up our haul for the day. I was given all our Allasaurus and Heralds and assigned to build Lexilla.
 
The deck is to be casual Type 2 (including Cold Snap, obviously). I have access to most Type 2 cards for this deck, so budget isn’t an issue. However, I must run all four Godzillas and at least 3 Luthers.
 
The initial idea was to use Uzratron for acceleration. This led to the idea of adding Dark Depths as well because what’s the point in having all this mana if I’m not going to use it.
 
The main problem with type two Urzatron is I have no direct way in the current card pool to search my deck for the specific land I need (well, other than Diabolic Tutor which is slow and doesn’t splash well at 2 black mana). The solution I stumbled across is dredge. I’ll use the dredge cards to hasten my library into my graveyard, then Life from Loam the land I need to complete the combo. I also added Ohran Viper. He can help control my opponent’s onslaught as well as net a card or two (although, that presents the double mana cost issue again).
 
Other possible solutions I’ve been considering are as follows. Divining Top could help. Phyrexian Arena is also an option. It costs two black, but I’m more concerned with the life drain. This brought up another possibility. The Herald’s are the most likely to get stuck in my hand until I hit that 7 mana threshold, so perhaps I should invest in Soul Spikes.
 
Beyond that, if Urzatron is too unreliable, I could possibly forgo that option and change my mana base to White/Green/Black. This opens up more options card wise (Wraths, Heirarchs, etc) and might be a more solid deck. At this point however, I’m not willing to give up on Urza just yet.
 
 
Core Deck (60):
 
Creatures (20)
3 Herald of Leshrac
4 Allasaurus Rider
2 Indrik Stomphowler
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Ohran Viper
4 Birds of Paradise
 
Spells (14)
4 Putrify
2 Crime/Punishment
2 Darkblast
3 Zombify
2 Life from Loam
1 Naturalize
 
Artifact (4):
4 Golgari Signet
 
Land (22)
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Dark Depths

This looks like a fun deck to play, and it should be a fun deck to fix as well.  I like how Allosaurus Rider and Herald of Leshrac have some synergy with each other in that the Rider gets +1/+1 for all the lands that the Herald steals.  However, one problem does stick out at me pretty badly.  You have 22 lands in this deck, and only 8 of them produce colored mana.  Granted, those eight each produce both colors of mana that you need, and you also have Birds of Paradise and Golgari Signet, but that's still a shaky mana base.  To help smooth things out, replace Ohran Viper with Wood Elves.  Not only does this remove the double-mana requirement, it lets you search for a Forest.  And every Forest in your deck is also a Swamp. 
Another consideration is to take out Dark Depths and replace them with basic lands.  Yes, you'll need a way to use lots of extra mana after turn seven, but most decks have that problem and they don't use Dark Depths to deal with it.  They use mana activations of abilities on creatures that are actually playable even if you don't have a boatload of mana.  So, take out Indrik Stomphowler and add in Golgari Guildmage.  The Guildmage is excellent in the late game because you can use it to pile +1/+1 counters on your best creature, or you can sacrifice a no-longer-needed creature to bring back your MVP.  And since you're already running Zombify, I'm sure you can appreciate that your Heralds and Riders might be accidentally Dredged away or meet an untimely Mortify.
 
Now, for your noncreature spells.  Crime//Punishment seems out of place here, unless you're going up against a lot of creature tokens.  Darkblast just isn't effective enough, and you've got enough Dredge in Life from the Loam and Stinkweed Imp.  And that one lonely Naturalize can go too.  I know, I know, I took out all your ways of dealing with artifacts and enchantments, but if you really need it back, go ahead and put it back in.  It's creatures that decide most games anyway, and Naturalize and its ilk are sideboard cards.  With the five slots this opens up, add a fourth Zombify and four Recollect, to ensure you'll be able to bring back what you Dredge away...or what just goes to the graveyard as a matter of course.  Maybe I seem a little paranoid about bringing things back from the graveyard, but remember: Herald of Leshrac is still a card with cumulative upkeep, and they exist under a death sentence.  When your opponent runs out of land, your Herald will die and your opponent gets all their lands back.  Hopefully you'll have another Herald on deck to take over, or your opponent will be too dead for it to matter.
That should just about cover it.  Best of luck with your land-hoarding and dredging, and I'll see you all next time!
 
~BMoor
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