It seems like Red decks, except for Stupid Red Burn, have been slowly disappearing from the PEZ environment. I can’t explain it since Red decks have historically posted good numbers. This year, with a few new cards like Spikeshot Goblin and with more White Weenie decks focusing on Black instead of Red it may be time for all those Goblins and Dwarves to take up arms again.

Before I get Krark-ing I have some business to attend to:

Summer Convention Tournaments

Just like voting: sign up for these events early and often!!!

Saturday, July 10 at 12:00 (Noon) – event #ME-966 -Gamefest Milwaukee. BTW/ this is a great convention in its 3rd year, http://www.advantageconvention.com/

Friday, August 20 at 9:00 AM – event#TCG00401 – Gen Con. https://registration.gencon.com/regsystem/listevents2.cgi

Saturday, August 21 at 2:00 PM – event#TCG00402 – Gem Con. https://registration.gencon.com/regsystem/listevents2.cgi

Upcoming Rules Announcement

Soon, any new bans or restrictions will be announced so keep an eye out on message boards, my articles, and on the PEZ rules page at http://www.geocities.com/peasantmagic/rules.htm or http://www.cardshark.com/peasant/banned.asp

Forgotten COTD Comment

Okay, I really like Blind Creeper – maybe much more than it deserves. But, what I forgot to mention is how good this beastie interacts with Skullclamp. The Skullclamp serves the double purpose of making him larger and of dissuading your opponent from playing any spells. Think Standstill on a stick. Again, very good synergy between these two cards and now that Skullclamp is banned you will have to play PEZ to test it out.

Back to the Mountains

Okay, we are back with some sample Red decks for this summer’s PEZ season. I must say that I am particularly excited with some of the additions to Red’s arsenal. Though none of the decks feature interaction with Krark-clan Shaman this card could be super powered in PEZ where mass removal is king. While it may be difficult to run a well balanced deck with enough artifacts to make it worthwhile the Shaman has great interaction with the Goblin Sledder and Mogg Raider. Since all your little Gobs will die when you activate the Shaman (remember you can sacrifice multiple artifacts at once for greater effect) you may as well sacrifice them to the Sledder/Raider and that should allow you to keep a few creatures in play. Plus, your creatures will now face a field without blockers and can swing with freshly pumped power. This, of course, works with Bloodfire Dwarf but the Shaman is a goblin and can blow up for more than 1 point. This is definitely something to consider especially since each of the cards is powerful on its own.

Other new cards for Sligh decks include the amazing Spikeshot Goblin. This card is awesome if you can keep it in play past summoning sickness. This, of course, should indicate a combo with Reckless Charge which is very sweet indeed. Even better the Goblin can be pumped with the aforementioned Sledder/Raider and even Skullclamp. This card is seriously good. Also strong in the 3cc slot is Vulshok Sorcerer. While the damage potential isn’t as good as the Spikeshot, the Sorcerer should probably be preferred for many decks because the Haste effect guarantees you will get a shot off. The Oxxida Golem may replace Phyrexian War Beast in some decks also because of the powerful effects of Haste.

Anyway, lets hit the lists:

Geeba Clamp

4 Goblin Sledder

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Mogg Raider

3 Mogg Conscripts

4 Skirk Prospector

2 Sparksmith

1 Goblin Recruiter

3 Spikeshot Goblin

4 Skullclamp

3 Fireblast

3 Lightning Bolt

3 Reckless Charge

3 Goblin Grenade

1 Mishra’s Factory

18 Mountain

Okay, this deck tries to speed up Sligh. To do this, you should use the Skullclamp aggressively to search for additional Burn and better creatures. Any time, a creature becomes useless, or is only good as a blocker, you clamp its butt. Heck, I often clamp stuff away after they attack when I know that there is a chance I will pull a more useful card. Usually the deck will deal the damage expected of a Sligh build but will clamp into Fireblast, Spikeshot Goblin, of Goblin Grenade for the win maybe a turn early. It works out as a risk/reward situation – the deck has higher risk than traditional Sligh but generates a deck that draws better. This deck isn’t like Stupid Red Men of years past, you need to think about what you are doing throughout the whole game since every card has beneficial abilities but most require you to sac a card.

Of course, there is one Uncommon slot available. Anarchy and Furnace Whelp come instantly to mind. Also, this deck can be modified. If you want to take advantage of the Krark interaction suggested above. Try the following substitutions as a starting point: -5 Mountain, +4 Great Furnace, +1 Mishra’s Factory, -3 Lightning Bolt, +3 Pyrite Spellbomb, -1 Reckless Charge, +1 Lightning Greeves, -4 Skirk Prospector, +4 Krark-clan Shaman. Also, if you don’t want to go geeba you can try these changes: - 3 Goblin Grenade, +1 Lightning Bolt, +1 Fireblast, , +1 Oxxida Golem , -3 Spikeshot Goblin, +3 Vulshok Sorcerer, -3 Mogg Conscripts, +3 Bloodfire Dwarf. Those are just some initial changes if you want to try something a bit different.

Sligh

4 Raging Goblin

3 Bloodfire Dwarf

4 Mogg Fanatic

3 Sparksmith

4 Mogg Flunkies

3 Vulshok Sorcerer

2 Oxxida Golem

3 Browbeat

4 Lava Dart

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Fireblast

2 Mishra’s Factory

18 Mountain

This is Sligh without the Clamp and without the straight goblin theme. It plays like traditional builds and is easier to run. Note that this build has 2 open Uncommon slots waiting to be filled and while you could maindeck the Furnace Whelp that card may be to vulnerable and running 2 Anarchy in the SB may be a better option. Of course you can change this into a geeba build by taking out non-goblins and replacing them with picks from the deck above.

Iso-Burn

3 Bloodfire Dwarf

1 Shock

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Chain Lightning

4 Incinerate

4 Kindle

4 Flame Burst

4 Guerilla Tactics

4 Disintegrate

3 Fireblast

4 Isochron Scepter

4 Mishra’s Factory

17 Mountain

The deck that went through the most changes was Stupid Red Burn, all because of one card. In the past, straight burn decks couldn’t afford to waste Burn spells on creatures because they would be dead in the water as soon as they began to top deck. With Isochron Scepter the world was turned upside down. Now, Burn likes to focus on creatures first and once board control is established then this deck starts shooting for the head. This deck makes Burn a much stronger contender and it is so simple to build. If you can’t find Chain Lightning, try Shock or Spark Spray or Lava Dart as a replacement.

Conclusion

Well that is about it. As you know I don’t spend a lot of time on SB options but I do have to note that Red may have a huge advantage this year if Affinity decks contribute to as much of the field as I would expect them to (because they are popular in the current format, are strong, cheap, and need minor changes to be PEZ legal). Remember to include, at the very least, the classic Mox Monkey (aka Gorilla Shaman). That should give you a good start in shutting down Affinity. Next week is Blue so I will see you then.

Jason Chapman – chaps_man@hotmail.com

 

Jason Chapman - chaps_man@hotmail.com