Lets explore the color I've been playing most lately. White. White Weenie, to be exact.

Magic players have been playing White Weenie (also known as WW) decks from the start. WW tend to be easier to build and generally use cheaper cards - and they are very fun to play; a main consideration, at least to me.

WW decks can also get away with less mana. The mana base of a WW deck typically consists of 18-22 lands, which leaves you room for other important cards. I like weenies; I like fatties, but weenies are more fun, as you can get more of them out quickly and some weenies are almost fatties in themselves.

White has been blessed with weenies that are great for their cost: Paladin en-vec, White Knight, Warrior en-kor, Soltari Priest and Monk, Longbow Archer, Savannah Lions... The list goes on. The above examples are all high-class weenies, rivaling green's creatures... The color typically associated with having quality creatures!

Here's a WW deck, and it won the 1996 World Championships!

1x Order of Leitbur
4x Order Of The White Shield
2x Phyrexian Warbeast
4x Savannah Lions
2x Serra Angel (Great card; one of my favorites!)
4x White Knight

1x Armageddon (Why only one?)
1x Balance
4x Disenchant
1x Land Tax (I've heard this was very nasty.)
1x Reinforcements
1x Reprisal
1x Sleight Of Mind (But the player mislisted his deck and was not able to cast this spell.)
4x Swords To Plowshares

1x Lodestone Bauble
1x Zuran Orb
1x Kjeldoran Outpost (Heard this was some good...)
4x Mishra's Factory
15x Plains
4x Strip Mine

(Don't ask me why there are only 57 cards in this deck. I can only copy down what's listed.) :-(

WW decks are usually brutally fast, which can sometimes win the game for you without a struggle. Especially if your opponent has even a breath of mana trouble.

Here's a WW deck that Brian Hacker took to the top 8 in the 1998 World Championships. (He finished 7th, and thought he might have finished higher, but he built the deck to be strong against what he thought the top deck would be - Sligh. He didn't count on Survival/Nightmare being the top dog, and in the final 8, he won the first two games against a Survival deck - but was then swept three games in a row.)

3x Nomad en-Kor
3x Paladin en-Vec (Why not four?)
4x Soltari Monk (Great!)
4x Soltari Priest (Ditto.)
1x Soltari Visionary
4x Soul Warden
4x Warrior en-Kor
4x White Knight
1x Aura of Silence
4x Cataclysm
3x Disenchant
4x Tithe (Clever card!)
4x Empyrial Armor (The total bomb. A game winner all by itself!)
17x Plains (Fewer plains than normal due to Tithe, of course.)

WW looks to continue to have a future as long as staple cards like Crusade, Wrath Of God, and Armageddon are repeatedly reprinted.

And to finish this off, it's appropriate to show the new WW in action: My Rebel deck.

I recently dueled during a local tournament at a WotC store - which, by the way, has very nice employees. Aaron and Luke usually run the tournaments, and they are both very nice guys. They're friendly, and boy do they know the rules, which helps when a dummy like me turns every which way in desperation, trying to puzzle out the complicated rules of Magic.

I don't quite have all the pieces of my rebel deck put together, as I'm still deciding in my mind which cards are best to use. Sure, everyone and their brother follows a certain rebel formula, but I'm not convinced that I HAVE to play with four Fresh Volunteers, and - GASP!! - I'm probably not going to play with Longbow Archers, for the simple reason that everyone else does play with them.

Also, I'm a firm believer in the rebel search chain, and that's why I play with four Ramosian Captains. Sure it costs one more for the same skills as Longbow Archer, but there are a couple of good reasons, for me at least, why it is better. (Of course, I know no one will agree.) :-)

First, it has the ability to search for the next step in the evolutionary food chain, which in the case of my deck is Rappelling Scouts and Ramosian Commander, of which I have one copy each in my deck.

I'm considering putting one copy of Ramosian Sky Marshall and one of Jhovall Queen, so the chain will be complete. But even if I don't, the Scouts and Commander are probably enough, as no rebel deck I've seen so far has anything higher than 2/2.

Rebels are powerful, but not as swift as, say, a speedy Stompy deck, so I figure I'll sacrifice a bit of speed to get more staying power.

I also just run one Lin Sivvi. I figure I don't NEED to draw it to win, so putting three copies in just takes up space - especially if I draw a second one. Or even a third!

If I had decided to put two more in, I would probably have to remove two Armageddons, and two is all I have in my deck. I don't have any more room for them in the maindeck, but I have couple more in the sideboard.

And speaking of sideboards... Well, I guess it's not quite time to talk about my sideboard with its super tech. (Yeah, I know everyone will laugh at me when I produce this super tech - but it works. Believe me, it does!)

Anyway, I headed off to Wizards. I was lucky to have the car tonight and drove the one mile down Plaza Bonita road to the still pretty new and spiffy WotC.

It's early night, now. All the mall's lights are shining brightly, and bunches of pretty girls are walking around, laughing, talking and looking at what I presume are the cute guys.

For some reason there are tons of guys standing in booths trying their best go get me and any poor sucker who comes within their rather loud voice range to purchase a cellular phone. Man, are those guys pushy.

I follow the same path each and every time I come to a tournament: I quickly walk along the sides of the mall near the store fronts, as far away as I can from the salesmen. I hug the wall, with my face glued to each store as I pass, as if I'm totally fascinated by the displays of goods in the fine shops! Wow, look at those running shoes! And isn't that a neat Compaq computer in front of Radio Shack?

This way I avoid the shrill salesmen. I slide into Wizards unscathed, no poorer and with no new cell phone clutched in my hand.

It's cool in the mall, but when I step into Wizards I notice the heat was on. Seems the air conditioner was broken, and it stayed about 78 degrees the entire night. A bit too hot for me. At first there were only six players signed up, but after waiting a bit a bunch came in and signed at the last minute, so there was a pretty nice crowd.

My first round opponent was a young man I've played before. He was playing what I consider a good matchup for me - green. I was soon to find out I was wrong.

Amazingly, I won the toss and went first. That happens about once a month.

He forgets to drop a creature the first turn, and I'm happy as I drop my one and only foil Ramosian Sergeant. (I do have three more shiny Sergeants coming in the mail if a trader comes through.)

Things are going okay for me; I'm getting some damage in, but my opponent is playing that card on his lands that allow them to produce twice the mana. Wild Growth? Something like that.

So I'm going along, getting rebels out and a Crusade, when out pops a Rhox, which could spell trouble for me. Then he uses a Worldly Tutor, and here comes Rhox's twin brother.

It's a pretty tense battle... Until he attacks with both Rhoxes, Wild Mighting one and Invigorating the other. Can you spell d-a-m-a-g-e? Game over.

Hey, I thought, every time I played green, Rebels seemed to kick my butt. What the heck is going on?

Second game, I side in my super sideboard tech that no one uses. I know you are going to laugh, but I don't care - COP: Green. Yep, it stops anything green can throw at you.

So we both build up, but I get out a Circle and then a Parallax Wave. I pound him for a bit, and he counters by getting another Rhox or two out. The Circle stops him, and at the right moment I Wrath Of God. That game was mine.

Feeling better, I draw, getting a Circle in my opening hand! I'm happy, and there is not much to say as I develop my Rebel chain, Wave at the right time, and Reverent Mantra at the right moment for the final points of damage.

That's more like it. Rebels win again!

Second round I'm facing a short guy who was about twenty-five or thirty, looking bored, playing with a spell-something play mat. Spellground? Spellfire? Who knows...

Anyway, we shuffle and it's quickly apparent this guy is good. He's very fast and is very helpful when I do stupid things like tapping my Steadfast Guard.

He's playing black and I don't see much of his deck. Ravenous Rats, some sort of 1/1 regenerating guy. Maybe Chilling Apprentice? The rebels work out nicely, and I pound him two games in a row. His deck really didn't do much, and he was complaining to someone around he didn't have time to put anti-rebel tech into his sideboard before playing.

I asked him to play for fun afterwards, but he turned me down flat.

So after a quick trip to the loo - I'm British, don't you know? - I sat around until the next round came up.

Third round, I'm facing a blond guy about six feet tall, with a light tracing of acne scars. I've played him before. I remember because he played some sort of evil Replenish, or Bargain, or both. He completely destroyed me by making his enchantments creatures and pounding me to death.

This was a rebel-on-rebel match, and these types of matches always seems to be decided by who gets the better draw. Who gets to four mana first and who plays their - take your pick - Armageddon, Wrath Of God, or Parallax Wave first.

I won the first game, he won the second, and my Mantra decided the third.

He didn't look happy, but I sure was. One hour ago, after the loss of my first game, I had visions of going 0-4. But instead I was 3-0.

Last round I played Shauna, or was it Shawna? Sean vs. Shauna. She had beaten me a month or so ago, playing an evil black deck against my green deck, so I was happy for a rematch.

She wins the draw and starts off plains, Sergeant. Wouldn't you know it - another mirror matchup! Another total luck match. A top deck war.

She quickly wins the first game, as her Sergeant gets rebels out faster than I can by playing them from my hand. I forgot to drop land a couple of times, and got too far behind to mount a comeback.

The second game was a different story, as my super tech struck again with a COP: White!! That slowed her down, and my two Waves and Mantra powered their way through.

After the second game, we briefly discussed splitting first prize by drawing. After a bit of meager figuring on where everyone would stand if we drew, we both decided to duke it out like men - or in this case, man versus woman!

Uh oh - her first turn Sergeant spelled doom for me. She developed quickly, and my only hope was my two Circle Of Protections: White. Yep, I got two of those suckers in play. But I wasn't drawing much mana, and again it developed into a top deck war.

For much of the game I had a Parallax Wave and two Armageddons in hand, but since she had more creatures around I had to leave most of my mana free for my Circles to work their wonder. And they did their best, protecting me for quite a long time.

Then luck came into play. Luck for her. But I'm not complaining, as it could've easily been me topdecking like a pro. She plays a Wave, fades some stuff, and attacks with a bit more than my Circles can stop. Then when one wave is done, she plays another! Fades more stuff and attacks for a few again.

And when she has eleven creatures out, she then Reverent Mantras, attacking with all eleven creatures! I can stop ten of the damage with my circles and five free mana, but eight damage gets through, and I was at seven.

I survived the two Waves, and if it hadn't been for that stupid Mantra I might have come out of this, as my rebel engine was about to kick in. Afterwards, I forgot to ask her if she had top decked that Mantra of if she'd had it all along. Oh, well, it's probably best that I never asked, as I was a bit bitter about her luck in her draws. (Why couldn't it have been me with the lucky draws?) Can't complain, though, because as I've said before, the mirror matchup is a blind luck draw. My third round opponent just had worse luck than I did, and that's why I was playing for all the marbles and not him.

(One reason why rebels are a blast is the fun factor. Maybe they're not quite as fun as a barrel full of (Uktabi) monkeys, but they are quite fun to play. And I like the fact that the decktype isn't mindless, like Stompy. There is some thought involved. Play a creature now, or search during your opponent's end step? Get to four mana and play Parallax Wave, or Armageddon, or Wrath? Which choice is correct? Plus, there's the bonus that rebel cards are so shiny in foil! Looks are an important part of decks to me, which is why I try to play with all foil lands if possible. A nice factor is that a lot of rebels are easily acquired, as for the most part they are commons and uncommons!)

Anyway, it turns out I was in second place due to my wonderful tiebreaks, and I received nine booster packs. Highlights were a foil Urborg Volcano, and the better rares were Treva and Dromar. The other rares were okay, but nothing to shout about. Did get an Armadillo Cloak, which looks promising to me. (Kind of like a poor slob's Rancor.)

So I've finished second twice. So close. At least the prize foil wasn't something I craved. Enlightened Tutor. Nothing special to me.

Maybe all of you out there can help me with a couple of questions: Should I run four Armageddons in the main deck? Or how about none, making it a sideboard card? Maybe use one maindecked Wrath? Someone also mentioned that this deck would be even better if I used Tangle Wires.

Dare I consider Disenchant as a sideboard card and add four more rebels? Is Blinding Angel a good choice, even though it isn't a rebel?

Just how, exactly, was the universe formed?

I guess that's enough questions for the moment.

Me and my rebel buddies had a good night, but now it's time to stop writing as it's almost midnight, and I have to get up at 5 a.m. to prepare myself for a grueling day of work. I'm working on a master plan (pleading with my boss) which may result in me getting Saturdays off and working an extra day during the week. We'll see how that plays out, as we've recently had two people start working here and then suddenly decide to not show up anymore. One employee decided to quit last week, and another got a better job and cut down her hours to weekend duty.

Such is life...

Last minute note!

I've just had the crap beat out of me. No, no one took me outside and pounded on me; nor did I argue with anyone. Here's the scoop, in case anyone is interested: There is a big race each year down in Baja, California, which is really in Mexico. (Go figure.)

Anyway, this year, in celebration of the new year - which is almost gone, so don't ask me for the logic in this - the race is called the Baja 2000. It might have been nice if the car race was actually 2000 miles, but he powers that be, whoever they are, decided to make the race 1700 miles.

And for you math wizards out there, no, it doesn't come out to 2000 kilometers, either!

So it's been very busy at work. Millions of racers walking in for insurance, and millions more faxing in their orders or calling them in on the phone.

It got so tiring that at the end of a long day I'd find myself heading off to bed by 8:30, which is pretty darned early to me.

Friday was supposed to be my day off, but I was called in to shore up the line of troops. After a hard day at work, I struggled over to WotC for Friday night Magic. I was so tired that I quickly found out I couldn't play. Did stick around for a few Extended matches and found out what I already knew: Sligh loses badly to Extended WW, with shadow and a bunch of protection dudes. I took two out of six games and was happy for that.

Next up was a guy's Nightmare/Survival deck, which pounded on my Sligh. At least I got revenge when my type 2 Brawler/Sligh deck beat his type 2 R/G deck.

So I went home early, somehow managed to make it to work on Saturday morning at 7 a.m.! And found out that I had received my wish. After today, I had Saturdays off!!

Yes! Now I could play in tournaments, come home late Friday night and stay up in the wee hours - which is about 11 p.m. to me - watching Stargate on Showtime.

Life is good...

Sean Erik Ponce
Deranged Dad
(The Serra Angel Guy)