My friends, we are at a strange point in Magic's tourney history. We are at the point where the Magic community seems to be split on a particular topic, rather than everyone being a lemming and just following what the pros say. For those of you who haven't picked up on what I mean yet, I'm talking about the TurboChant deck that seems to have just "popped up" on the 'net in recent weeks. Some say "Wow!" Others say, "What a pile!"

Before I start, this is my first article to be published, so I feel I owe it to all of you to give you a little background on myself. I began playing Magic around the time Ice Age had been released. Yeah, not too interesting, I know. I wish I could say that I started playing during the "Black Summer" or "Combo Winter" and sound all impressive and stuff - but no. Anyway, I immediately took a liking to this amazing game. I tooled around with stuff up until about Mirage, then I took a short break from the game and came back the day Urza's Legacy was released to the public. At this point, I really got serious about the game.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big time Pro player. I'm just a local guy who enjoys playing with friends. This is about to change, as this year I'm going to take the first step to the big time and participate in Regionals. I have fairly good confidence in my playing, and I think I'm a pretty good deckbuilder. I can only hope to make a name for myself and my team (Team Sneaky Homunculus) - but if I don't, well, I had a pretty fun time trying!

Anyway, on to the namesake of the article.

The TurboChant deck, in my opinion, is a powerful one. Like all good things in the world, this comes with a price - and that price is that it is VERY difficult to play correctly, and definitely is not one that you should just go out and buy the cards for. Unlike other decks around, this deck definitely does not play itself, and takes a great deal of complicated decision making. You really need to practice a lot with it.

Let's take a look at a version I threw together, and then some analysis.

4x Orim's Chant
4x Howling Mine
4x Recall
3x Relearn
4x Counterspell
4x Absorb
4x Accumulated Knowledge
4x Tsabo's Web
2x Wrath of God
2x Rout
2x Millstone
1x Mageta, the Lion
3x Coastal Tower
4x Adarkar Wastes
10x Islands
8x Plains

Orim's Chant:
A no-brainer. I don't think I need to explain the importance of this card in this deck.

Howling Mine:
This is where the "Turbo" in TurboChant comes from. Since this deck relies on decking the opponent, this card becomes very critical for speeding up the game, as well as keeping your hand chock-full o' goodness and searching for the critical spells. Unless you're sure that the opponent can't get rid of this as soon as you cast it, wait until you can back it up with a counter. Smart players will realize that this is a critical spell in the deck, and will destroy it right after it gives them a card, thus making you waste two mana on nothing except a free card for the opponent.

Recall and Relearn:
Most other versions run only Recall, and I don't quite understand why. Recall is amazing, as it gives you your Chants back; however, the Relearn accomplishes this task to almost the same degree, substituting mass card recursion with not having the drawback of discarding, which at times can hurt. I have three in there because four may be overkill, and you really don't want to see one in your opening hand; you'd rather see Chants. You can also get counters back with these, which can become very important.

Counterspell and Absorb:
These are basically your defense, and nowadays pretty standard in any deck running blue and white together. You have to really be aware of what to counter, since eight counters is really not very much. By focusing on countering key spells that may slip by unChanted, such as Fires of Yavimaya and an opposing Millstone, you can really maximize the effectiveness of your counters. The Absorbs are also amazing (as if you didn't know that already!) because as this deck is slow(er), and doesn't have much defense against creatures, the extra life boost really does help.

Accumulated Knowledge and Tsabo's Web:
These just further help to thin the deck. Late game, the Knowledge becomes a bomb, often getting key spells and giving you Recall fodder. Tsabo's Web is just amazing, and I can't say enough about this card. I remember one situation where I wished I had these because I was getting three lands Ported per turn. (That's another thing you may wish to know about me: I absolutely despise Rishadan Port. I hate this card so much that I have absolutely no desire to ever play with it, no matter how good people say it is. I can't wait to see Masques Block rotate out just to see this card go.) And not only will the Web shut down annoying lands, it will always replace itself, which means it's never a dead card.

Wrath of God, Rout, and Mageta:
Although the Chant can shut down creature assaults, you WILL find yourself in situations where some creatures squeak by. These all help out a lot. I chose two Wraiths and two Routs because I thought running more than four pure removal spells is overkill, and each one has their strong points. Actually, since the current environment is running rampant with Chimeric Idols, the Rout is just a little better in my opinion, even if it costs more. The Mageta is in there for a few reasons, actually. The creature destruction is the obvious reason, but he's also there as an alternate win situation. I'm from a school of thinking where I believe every deck like this should have an alternate win card just in case. As the Boy Scouts say (And I am an Eagle Scout!), "Be Prepared."

Millstone:
Simply put, this IS your kill card. You can't rely on only the Howling Mines to deck your opponent just because they draw from it first, because you are using draw spells as well. This card is critical - and once out, needs to be protected at all costs.

Lands:
The lands are fairly basic. Only three Towers because of the "coming into play tapped" thing. Just watch the damage from the Adarkar Wastes. I considered running City of Brass, but realized that this is bad because Rishadan Port puts you on a very limited clock. (Another reason for Port-hate.)

Currently, I haven't worked a sideboard, but I'm waiting to see what is going to happen at Regionals. You may also notice that this deck is over 60 cards. This is supposed to be this way. It further prevents you from accidentally decking yourself. If you feel confident enough to go with 60 cards, then go ahead, but play extra carefully.

Some versions of this deck have run Enlightened Tutor, which is completely viable. I do believe that I will alter my deck and add at least two. Since the deck is absolutely reliant on getting out Howling Mines, the Tutor becomes very important. Also, I pretty much lost a game because both of my Millstones were at the bottom of the deck. This just makes sure you get almost all of the key cards when you need them.

You'll also notice there is the lack of a certain blue card that has become near and dear to every blue mage's heart. Yeah, you guessed it: Fact or Fiction. My advice is, don't play with it in this deck. It is a truly amazing card, but it simply thins your library too much, and can cause you to deck yourself. With Accumulated Knowledge, Tsabo's Web, and especially Howling Mine, you should have all the card drawing you need.

One of the strange aspects of this deck is the means in which it is played. As I mentioned before, this deck is difficult to play because it requires a lot of complicated decision-making; however, it is also difficult because it really has a variety of ways that it can be played. This is heavily determined by what kind of deck your opponent is playing. The best way for me to explain the different playing styles of the TurboChant deck is to explain what happens in certain matchups:


Rebels:
As much as people may disagree with me, this deck loves to play against Rebels. It was said by a pro player (whom I respect and who shall remain nameless) that Rebel players will just sit and grin when you announce "Orim's Chant with kicker," because they can just simply Rebel search, which the Chant can't stop. I say that you should let them Rebel search! (Just keep them from running you over!) By searching, they are essentially thinning their deck, which just makes it easier for you to win. Then, once they have a nicely sized army established, you hit with a well-timed Wrath of God. That'll teach them not to piss God off!

You must be wary, however, when you are playing against a CounterRebel deck, and you should always be on the lookout for Armageddon. If the opponent plays his CounterRebels well, he can essentially stop you dead in your tracks. Armageddon fits into a category of cards you MUST counter. A well-timed Armageddon will completely destroy you, as they will be able to recover from it much faster than you will.

Fires:
It is my belief that this deck eats Fires for lunch. You want to play the deck the same way as if you were playing a Rebel deck, except you need to be more on the lookout for Fires because one big creature can mean certain doom. Once you can establish the Chant lock, you should have no problem riding your Millstones and Howling Mines to victory. Stay on your toes, however, since all smart Fires players are most likely running Hull Breach, at least in the sideboard. Do not let them destroy your Millstones.

U/W Control:
This is one of the unique matchups where you will be forced to play the Chant deck in a different way. Instead of trying to establish a lock with the Chants, you need to use them to force key spells, like Howling Mine, Millstone, and Recall through. By casting the Chant first, you may be able to weed out any counters that they may be holding onto. If they don't counter the Chant, that can mean one of two things: One, they don't have a counter, or two, they have some other way of dealing with whatever you do next turn, such as a Dismantling Blow. Always be sure that if this situation occurs, you hold onto a counter to stop their key spells.

If you are playing U/W Control, make sure they don't get out Millstone. Once this card is out, you have no way of dealing with it, and it will put you on a clock even if you have your own Millstone out.

Luckily, U/W Control, while a very powerful deck, is designed to play in the current environment, which seems to be creature-based. Because of this, a good portion of their control cards will be dedicated to controlling critters and stopping damage. Since TurboChant has neither, these spells (such as Story Circle and Teferi's Moat) will be rendered utterly useless.

Blue Skies:
It's been mentioned before, and I'll mention it again: Skies is the hardest matchup that this deck will face. TurboChant can compete well against beatdown OR control. Skies is both, which makes it very difficult to play against because it becomes very difficult to judge how to play the Chant deck. You can play it as if you're playing against beatdown, or as if you're playing against control, and either can be wrong.

The "free" counters just further dig this grave, as you don't know whether to hold something back for fear of it getting countered, or go ahead and cast away. Essentially, Skies is a psychological deck that enjoys playing mind games with its opponents. This can seriously cause people to mess up and make mistakes. To play against Skies, you need to focus on what you're doing: Make sure you can back spells up with counters. If you can establish board control, then you'll be in good shape. If they get creatures out, you may be done for unless you can deal with those creatures.

Which brings me to my next point about Skies. Since it usually only uses a couple of creatures to ride itself to victory, it really doesn't care about Wrath/Rout. It'll simply cast a couple of more creatures and continue beating your head in right where it left off.

My only real advice for playing against Skies is make sure your sideboard can handle it, and stay focused when you play. Don't let it torment you! Most likely, use your Chants (sparingly) to force key spells through and to establish the lock, if you can.

Nether-Go:
Although this deck is not considered amongst the top four power decks (the preceding ones), it is still a powerful deck that should be taken into account. Basically, you should play against it as if you were playing against U/W Control. Your best bet is to attempt to keep the Nether Spirit from attacking through Wraiths, Routs, and Chants. If you can somehow get more than one Spirit in their graveyard, you'll be in good shape. This deck has so much drawing power that it will do a great deal of your job for you, and the game will go faster.

Ankh-Tide:
This is another deck that isn't really considered amongst the elite four; however, this deck can seriously screw you up if you're not careful. As I said before, Armageddon is a problem. This is because you can't function this deck with few lands. The Parallax Tide itself is a tremendous hindrance. By Tiding out your lands they can buy themselves enough time to get the combo off and win VERY quickly. Since this is essentially a combo deck, I would say to play it as if you were playing a beatdown deck. Try to get a Chant lock as fast as possible, because it will completely shut them down. Also, beware of counterspells, and always pack your own in case a Tide manages to sneak through.

TurboChant:
Ahh, the mirror match. Essentially, this game could be very fast. With both players having active Howling Mines out, there will be a lot of cards being drawn. Essentially, the first one to establish a lock and get out a Millstone wins. If you can get a lock, then go for it; otherwise, use Chants to force things through. Always save counters and try to hit them off-guard with them. This match is determined by the decisions you make. Think hard before doing anything, and stay focused on what the opponent is doing.

If you decided to run Mageta, as I have, and will continue to do, this may be one of the times that you wish to use him to win. Make sure he gets out, then relentlessly assault them with him. Hold back plenty of counters to stop Orim's Chants from preventing you to attack. Once he gets out, the opponent will have to focus on dealing with him before they have any hopes of winning. The sideboard for this deck will most likely run Rootwater Thieves. Once game one is over, stick these guys in and use them to strip the other player of his Chants. If you can beat them through damage, do it!

Rogue Strategies:
When playing a rogue deck, one should always try to figure out what the opponent is trying to accomplish by playing his/her deck. How are they going to beat you? The best strategy is to pay attention to what the opponent is doing. Your sideboard will most likely not have anything to combat certain rogue decks due to the metagame, so don't be discouraged if a rogue deck beats you first game. Just make sure you know what to do to stop it in the second and third.

So why play this deck, you ask? Like I said before, this deck is very difficult to play, and should be approached with extreme caution. I have found through playtesting that this deck does not play well against extremely fast decks. Reverend, or Rev, of Team Sneaky Homunculus has an incredibly fast red burn deck that absolutely decimates this deck. The great thing is, however, his deck is purely a Rogue deck, and won't really be seen at Regionals since everyone will be playing almost the same decks there. This still, is however, no reason to disregard this type of deck. It could just be the pro's "secret tech." I may pack Chills in my sideboard just in case. It doesn't hurt to have them in there against Fires, either.

Essentially, this deck may be a Rogue deck as well. I have to say this - so forgive me - but the vast majority of what happens in the Magic community is influenced by the pros, and this is really bad for the game. The pros are doing all the thinking - and then people say the environment is stale because the only decks being played are the ones the pros say are good! (This is essentially a plea to get people to think of, and create, good decks of their own.) Since the pros seem to be panning this card, and only really mildly respecting the deck idea, then most of the community will probably think the same way. So if this is not so popular around the time of Regionals, no one will be expecting it, and it will really catch people off guard.

Unfortunately, the pros, in my opinion, caused the demise of Replenish at last year's Regionals. This is a shame, because this deck is so incredible. Since they made such a hype about it last year, everyone either played it or played something to beat it. Plus, everyone was prepared for it - and thus, it didn't do what everyone expected. This deck could go there. It could become very popular, and then everyone will be playing it. The other path is that everyone disregards it, and it becomes a fierce competitor that turns some heads.

So let's see what happens. This version should not be considered the best version by any means, and it definitely needs work, which I will be doing to it. If it doesn't get hyped up, I'll probably play it, as it IS a good deck, no matter what the pros say. If it does get hyped up, then I suggest not playing it. Play something that you enjoy playing, a version of Rev's deck, or Skies. (Which also eats this deck, as well as others, for dinner. Shhh, you didn't hear that from me!)

Well, that's about it for me today. I really hope you enjoyed reading my first article. Sorry it was so long! Please send feedback, as I would really like to make my writing to everyone's liking. All CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. Also, if you'd like to discuss anything I said further, just drop me an email.

Andy Dominguez
"Ming the Merciless"
~Team Sneaky Homunculus