IQ

Brainstorm
IQ on Magic: the Gathering
(RB) Turmoil
April 27, 2006

(RB) Turmoil

Land: 23

3x Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace

4x Blood Crypt

4x Sulfurus Springs

4x Mountains

8x Swamps

Creatures: 27

2x Nezumi Shortfang

3x Rakdos Guildmage 

4x Ravenous Rats

4x Drekavac

4x Dark Confidant

2x Rakdos Augermage

4x Avatar of Discord

4x Hypnotic Specter

Other: 10

2x Cry of Contrition

4x Blackmail

4x Rise//Fall

Turmoil – 1) A state of extreme confusion or agitation. 2) A violent Disturbance.

That covers just about everything this deck has to offer. Your opponent better be ready to kiss his hand good bye and play off the top of his deck while withstanding your aerial assault.

HOW TO PLAY

The deck is very self explanatory, cripple your opponents hand and let your creatures finish the job. Your first mission is to annihilate your opponents hand by hitting it as often as possible. Cry of Contrition and Ravenous Rats will pave the way for Blackmail, Rise//Fall and Hypnotic Specter and Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace should finish the job.

Lets not forget about Nezumi Shortfang, who can get cards out of your opponents hand at instant speed and can turn into a force to be reckoned with if you time things just right. This small 1/1 rogue for a black and a colorless can be your X factor once he flips and transforms into a 3/3 legendary Shaman who will drain your opponents life during each of his upkeeps. Short of knowing when to play what card the only thing to keep in mind is how to play them. Take Blackmail and Rise//Fall for example. If you have both in hand, play Blackmail first and your opponent reveals a land, you might want to get that land out of his hand because Rise//Fall can’t make your opponent discard any lands.

Once you get your opponent into a corner where he has to rely on his luck and play off the top of his deck it’s time to let your Specters, Shamans and Avatars do what they do best. Avatar of Discord is strongest but riskiest creature in the deck, as you can imagine no 5/3 flyer for only three mana comes with out a drawback. The catch for this heart stopper is that you have to discard two cards from your hand, which isn’t that bad if you can keep him in play. The best way to protect him is by making sure your opponent doesn’t play any spells that can nullify him the second he comes into play, and the best way to do that is to make sure your opponent has no spells at all.

The Avatar of Discord might be able to take out your opponent in 4 turns all by himself but it’s not required to achieve victory, just a really useful tool. The deck plays seventeen two drops to allow you to keep applying pressure but also so you can stand a fighting chance against those rush decks we’ve all come to hate and love. In a deck with so many cheap spells Dark Confidant is mandatory but with out a way to gain life he can be a double edged sword. His ability to draw you an extra card each turn in exchange for two or so of your life is as useful as it’s deadly. Make sure you keep a close eye on him and that you dispose of him at the opportune moment. He will provide you all the speed you need but trust me when I say you don’t want to have the match in your pocket only to lose to Bob.

THE SIDEBOARD

            Deck building is a never ending process because as the environment develops so does your deck. That applies twice as much when it comes to a sideboard, don’t forget that being prepared is half the battle. There’s that to keep in mind and to be honest I’m still going back and forth on the sideboard. So far the only thing on the menu is Seal of Fire and/or Shock to replace some of the discard against those fast decks that can play off the top. That should also answer the Jitte problem that may arise.

            The theory is that control/combo decks should doomed from the start but that’ll also depend on what new control/combo decks will surface from the current environment. Still searching for a way around protection from black and red (Flush) because Hand of Honor and Paladin En-vec can be a headache. The winged Avatar provides a fighting chance assuming he doesn’t get Mortified so it might come down to Jitte in sideboard.

That just about wraps things up on this end. Planning to come back and finalize the deck and sideboard once the dust settles and we can catch a glimpse of the environment. Until then feel free to kick things around and most importantly experiment and explore every archetype Dissensions brings us. I’m off to update My Space because too many friends keep raving about the lack of new content.

Q Signing off.