Type 1 Discard Deck

09.27.04 

Hey all, and welcome back to the Magic Deck Garage!

This week, Geoff has sent me a Type I discard-heavy deck. He wrote a nice bit of what he wants for it, so I’ll let the e-mail do the talking…

This one is for a Type 1. I swapped creatures out for some, as I see them, good artifacts. What I want to do is limit my opponent's hand to only what they draw as soon as possible so my Skullcages can take effect, while at the same time dealing Megrim damage with the Words of Waste/Mind's Eye combo. Ensnaring Bridge keeps their creatures off my back because Mists drops my hand 1 a turn too... Let me know what you think. :) Also, if you could give me ideas of what to sideboard. I think I may need a Whispersilk Cloak or two to save my Guiltfeeders from DD as well as a way to get them back from my graveyard.

Creatures:

Guiltfeeder x2

Non-Creature Spells:

Comsume Spirit x2

Dark Banishing x4

Darksteel Forge x2

Diabolic Tutor x4

Ensnaring Bridge x2

Extraplanar Lens x2

Geth's Grimoire x4

Megrim x4

Mind's Eye x2

Necrogen Mists x3

Skullcage x4

Words of Waste x2

Lands:

Cloudpost x4

Swamp x19

Thanks again!

The first thing I am noticing about Geoff’s deck is that it is doing a *lot*, which is not necessarily a good thing. We have Geth’s Grimoire, Necrogen Mists, Skullcage, Extraplanar Lens, Ensnaring Bridge, Guiltfeeder, and all sorts of other stuff hanging out, when we really just need some good discard and good dudes.

So, the first thing I am going to do is add the one card that needs to be in almost every Type I Black deck – Dark Ritual. For a lone mana, Geoff can add three black mana to his mana pool. How is this fair? It’s really not.

+4 Dark Ritual

Next, what would three mana on Turn 1 be without an insanely good creature to cast with it? Thus, I introduce to you such a creature: Hypnotic Specter. The Hippie will go with Geoff’s discard theme, and he can start going nuts on Turn 2.

+4 Hypnotic Specter

Following this addition, why not throw in one of the best discard spells known to Magic players everywhere. For two black mana, you force your opponent to discard two cards. And not only are they losing two, those two cards are at *random*. Yes, it’s…

+4 Hymn to Tourach

I can’t help it – since I’m on a roll, lets do another “discard at random” card. I think this one might only come in 3rd for Best Discard Spell Ever, but still, a Bronze Medal isn’t bad. Late in the game, it completely empties an opponents hand easily, because for XB, Geoff can make his opponent discard X cards at random.

+2 Mind Twist

My final immediate addition to the deck is one of my all time favorite cards. I ran this card into the ground when it was in Type II, and I still run it in Extended for, well, almost every match-up barring something crazy like Elves.

+4 Duress

Ok, after all of that damage is done, I’m going to have to go through and start pulling cards to make room. The first on my list is Geth’s Grimoire. It is really just too expensive, and if all goes well, by the time it hits play, Geoff will have already stripped his opponent’s hand down to almost nothing anyways.

-4 Geth’s Grimoire

Next, because it doesn’t do too much in the deck, and because it is so uber-expensive, Darksteel Forge gets to make a trip to the wayside.

-2 Darksteel Forge

On the topic of expensive spells, I think Skullcage might be a bit overpriced, especially in the Type I environment. However, I also think that Necrogen Mists might be getting a bit hefty on the discard. I also don’t want to completely maul Geoff’s deck to the point of no recognition, either, so I think I’ll leave two of each in. Geoff, these are probably the weakest cards in the deck, so pay close attention to them. If they are slowing you down, replace them first.

-1 Necrogen Mists

-2 Skullcage

Following this change, a bit down the list, I noticed Diabolic Tutor. Although decent, I think we can get away without it. In its place, though, I will throw in a couple of Restricted Cards. Normally, I wouldn’t (as I’m trying to keep this deck not-too-pricey), but since it would only require Geoff to pick up one of each…

-4 Diabolic Tutor

+1 Demonic Tutor

+1 Vampiric Tutor

I’m not sure that any huge mana accelerating is needed in this deck. None of its spells are too expensive (at least without Darksteel Forge), so we can probably drop Extraplanar Lens.

-2 Extraplanar Lens

If you look at the creatures roaming around Type I, you will notice a lot of them tend to be black, untargetable, or otherwise hard to kill. Thus, I suggest non-targeted removal over Dark Banishing – it will help get rid of the problem guys like Morphling.

-4 Dark Banishing

+4 Diabolic Edict

As with only two copies of each, the combo won’t go off too much, I think Mind’s Eye and Words of Waste have to go. In their place, I am going to throw in a pair of Guiltfeeders (as that looks like a major win condition) and a pair of Chainer’s Edict, just so Geoff is sure to have that extra bit of removal when it counts.

-2 Mind’s Eye

-2 Words of Waste

+2 Chainer’s Edict

+2 Guiltfeeder

Last but not least for the main deck, I’ve messed with the mana a bit, putting in Bloodstained Mire and Polluted Delta. Both will help thin the deck of mana once Geoff gets settled in with three or four swamps, so he can start drawing what we would call…”the goods”.

-4 Cloudpost

-5 Swamp

+4 Bloodstained Mire

+4 Polluted Delta

For sideboard, I would kick things off by playing full complements of Perish. For three mana, Geoff will be able to destroy every green creature on the board. And they can’t be regenerated. For three mana. Sick.

+4 Perish

Next, I’m not a fan of Cabal Therapy in Type I, just because there are *so many* decks out there, you often have no clue what to call. I’ve stuck it in the sideboard, however, to get to work against decks where you only really need to hit one card to slow them down considerably. It works really well with Duress!

+4 Cabal Therapy

Next, for any match that relies solely on “combo-ing out”, I’ve stuck in three Phyrexian Negator. Those decks usually won’t have a way to deal out too much damage, meaning there is little drawback to the 5/5, trampling monster that costs only three mana.

+3 Phyrexian Negator

Finally, I’ll use the remaining four sideboard slots to fill out the count on Ensnaring Bridge and Chainer’s Edict. These two will (hopefully) keep the hordes of creatures under control, and allow Geoff to set up for a win.

+2 Chainer’s Edict

+2 Ensnaring Bridge

With this final change, why don’t we have a look at what the deck looks like…

CREATURES (8):

4 Guiltfeeder

4 Hypnotic Specter

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (30):

2 Chainer’s Edict

2 Consume Spirit

1 Demonic Tutor

4 Diabolic Edict

4 Duress

2 Ensnaring Bridge

4 Hymn to Tourach

4 Megrim

2 Mind Twist

2 Necrogen Mists

2 Skullcage

1 Vampiric Tutor

LAND (22):

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Polluted Delta

14 Swamp

SIDEBOARD (15):

4 Cabal Therapy

2 Chainer’s Edict

2 Ensnaring Bridge

4 Perish

3 Phyrexian Negator

I hope that helps, Geoff, and good luck!

That about wraps up work for this week’s Magic Deck Garage. Keep those e-mails coming; I’ll see y’all next week.

-Paul Hagan

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