Well, Invasion Block is but a distant memory. Gone are ridiculous Fires builds, that annoying Armadillo Cloak, and the monotonous counterspells Absorb and Undermine. But has the rotation only made things worse? It seems that Psychatog has reared its toothed head innumerable times over this season, even claiming the World Championships. Thousands of blue/green builds, from Threshold to Madness to Quiet Speculation, have made that color combination the default choice for a good deck. Another choice in that color combination is blue/green Opposition, already proven to be a powerful deck. But what if you could go one step further, adding in black for the creature elimination power that blue and green together sorely lack? Gabriel Nassif demonstrated this recently at the 2002 Magic Invitational when he posted a perfect 3-0 record with his black/blue/green Opposition build.  This build is similar to his but improves on it in a number of ways.
       The basic principle of the Opposition deck is contained here: to lock down your opponent's board and smash his face in with various creatures. This deck does it with a little more power and in a bit more focused way than Nassif's did, however.

Land (24)
       4 Polluted Delta
       4 City of Brass
       6 Forest
       5 Island
       5 Swamp

Creatures (20)
       4 Merfolk Looter
       1 Visara, the Dreadful
       4 Birds of Paradise
       4 Llanowar Elves
       3 Ravenous Baloth
       4 Shadowmage Infiltrator

Other Spells (16)
       4 Opposition
       4 Circular Logic
       4 Chainer's Edict
       4 Call of the Herd

       Here's a card-by-card breakdown.
      
       Polluted Delta Powerful in its own right, it allows you to thin your deck of excess lands, especially important in the late game when you would like more "business" spells to appear in your hand.
       City of Brass Smooths out any mana problems the deck may encounter.
       Merfolk Looter Serves as fodder for Opposition and a card advantage machine, helping to activate and magnify Circular Logic's abilities and also allow you to access the Herd's cheaper Flashback cost.
       Visara, the Dreadful If your Oppositions have all been nuked, she can end the game in a hurry with her 5/5 flying girth. Her neo-Terminate ability is also handy when your opponent gets around the sacrifice effect of Chainer's Edict by sacrificing a measly 1/1.
       Birds of Paradise Mana accelerators in the early game, one-mana Icy Manipulators in the late game.
       Llanowar Elves Same as Birds of Paradise.
       Ravenous Baloth A maindeck counter to Sligh and weenie builds that can also help you recover life lost to Polluted Delta, City of Brass, or an opponent's spells or creatures.
       Shadowmage Infiltrator A nigh-unblockable 1/3 that generates incredible card advantage. Need I say more?
       Opposition The heart of the deck's lockdown engine.
       Circular Logic A powerful counter in a tri-color deck considering it has generic mana in its casting cost. Its Madness and countering abilities can also be magnified by Merfolk Looter.
       Chainer's Edict A strong way to get around creatures such as Phantom Centaur that would halt black spot removal. Nassif had four Smothers in his deck instead of these, but I don't like very situational removal that won't always help me in a tight spot.
       Call of the Herd Enough can't be said. An efficient creature generator,  Opposition-powerer, and Sligh and weenie stopper all rolled into one card.

Anthony Anastasia, MtGKid700@aol.com (yes, I changed it)