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Now, if you'll have to excuse me, Captain. I have an appointment with eternity and I don't want to be late. All good things must come to an end, or at least take a break. This may well be the last Ask Ken, but I'm still your host, Ken Krouner. Don't look for my face everyday in September; it won't be there. I'll miss this column, but it is hard to keep up with a daily column, a daily forum, and a near weekly column all while holding down a 9-5, finding time to play Magic, and keeping my poker skills sharp. Let's get to the first question of the rest of our lives.
Today's question comes to us from Edd Black. Edd writes:
What the hell is Trix? I hear about Trix a lot, and I have no idea what it is. I thought it referred to the Necro/Donate decks of Extended many moons ago.
Also, I played R/G Tooth at a PTQ this past Saturday. I went 6-1 vs. Ravager. That's games. With how it works, it looks rock paper scissors now. R/G Tooth beats Ravager, Ravager beats Red, Red beats R/G tooth, with a few rogue Mono-Green, and DC Green.
Also, what is the Rock?
-Redd
Well Redd, I am going to address the middle question first. Rock/Paper/Scissors formats generally mean that regardless of skill level deck 1 beats deck 2 deck, 2 beats deck 3, deck 3 beats deck 1. That isn't the case in Mirrodin Block. A good Ravager player is favored versus any deck, and a bad Ravager player can lose to any deck.
Trix technically refers to any deck packing the Illusions of Grandeur/Donate combo. While the original version had Necropotence, the Mono-Blue and Red/Blue versions after the bannings were still called Trix. This was the latest in a long line of combo decks named after breakfast cereals: Fruity Pebbles (the Enduring Renewal/Goblin Bombardment/Ornithopter combo), Coco Pebbles (the same deck with Necropotence), Wheaties (The Recurring Nightmare combo deck), and the mockingly named Full English Breakfast referring to the Fecundity combo. [For the record, I'm pretty sure that Paul Barclay is responsible for the FEB nickname and it's based on abusing Volrath's Shapeshifter and Survival of the Fittest. - Knut, not positive, but pretty sure]
The Rock is a Green/Black deck invented by Sol Malka. He named it after his favorite wrestler, The Rock. It was originally called The Rock and His Millions. The Rock was Phyrexian Plaguelord and his Millions was Deranged Hermit. This aggro-control deck has withstood the test of time and is expected to be one of the top decks in the upcoming Extended Pro Tour. Over time Plaguelord and Hermit were phased out, but the name stuck. Sol recently won a Block PTQ with a Black/Green deck of his own design. Way to not disappoint your fans Sol!
The source on going out in style,
KK
Well I hope you enjoyed this column. It was a ton of fun writing it. If I didn't get to your questions I apologize. I may still be back, no one can predict the future, not even me. Take care everybody.
