Hello again, and welcome. This is the column with articles dedicated to the casual player every time. Whether you are an avid multiplayer, hardcore tournament drafter, or occasional duelist, we all have an inner casual player. Today, I continue the series that began with the article from last week.
I have begun taking the opposing decks from Shandalar, showing them to you, and then modifying them. Then I update the deck for today’s audience. The value in this is as follows:
First, players of the great game, designed by no less as star than Sid Meier, can use my modified deck as inspiration for modifying the decks in their game. Thus, these articles could stand the test of time in that regard.
Second, and more importantly, these articles allow you to see some of the classic old school combos out there, and then see them in modern form, giving you a chance to try out some of these old ideas.
Therefore, there are two good reasons to explore the decks. Without further ado, let’s move into today’s decks — servants of the Red Archmage, and then the Archmage himself!
The Sorceress
One of the early foes you face is the Sorceress from Red.
Initial Sorceress Deck
23 Mountain
4 Hurr Jackal
4 Bird Maiden
4 Dwarven Warriors
2 Hurloon Minotaur
2 Dragon Whelp
4 Ball Lightning
4 Firebreathing
3 The Brute
4 Blood Lust
3 Iron Star
3 Meekstone
As you can see, the deck is happy to use Dwarven Warriors to attack, and then use Firebreathing to pump the creature, now unblockable, for some serious damage. Blood Lust will help this plan. Then add some creatures from Ball Lightning to Hurr Jackal, and you have your deck.
The first thing I want to do is pull The Brute from the deck. It’s not on theme, and it’s not that good. Not only will playing it not work with the Dwarven Warriors, but it could even stop you from untapping through a Meekstone.
I add two Dragon Whelp and one Nalathni Dragon
I do not like the Iron Star, but most colors have a lower level deck with the lucky charm in it, so I’m not pulling it. Not much change here, just an attempt to bring the deck into line.
Modified Sorceress Deck
23 Mountain
4 Hurr Jackal
4 Bird Maiden
4 Dwarven Warriors
2 Hurloon Minotaur
4 Dragon Whelp
1 Nalathni Dragon
4 Ball Lightning
4 Firebreathing
4 Blood Lust
3 Iron Star
3 Meekstone
After that, it is time to build my own version of this deck:
Updated Sorceress Deck
24 Mountain
4 Meekstone
4 Sandstone Warrior
4 Dragon Whelp
4 Dwarven Warriors
4 Blood Lust
2 Char-Rumbler
2 Rolling Thunder
4 Browbeat
4 Pyre Charger
2 Brute Force
2 Lightning Bolt
This deck keeps the core of Blood Lust and Dwarven warriors and Meekstone and Dragon Whelp. That’s a nice, powerful core. To that are added Brute Force, Char-Rumbler, Sandstone Warrior, and Pyre Charger. All of those cards add something powerful to the deck.
Finally, I rounded out the deck with a spot of possible and drawing and some burn for emergencies.
The result is the deck that keeps the theme, but also adds some power to it. Another way to go might have been to include Icy Manipulator to tap creatures and lock them down under the Meekstone.
Enjoy!
The Goblin Warlord
As I mentioned before, all colors but White have a tribal deck, and this is the Goblin one. It will get some serious help from the expansions.
Initial Goblin Warlord Deck
21 Mountain
4 Goblin King
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Mons’s Goblin Raiders
4 Keldon Warlord
4 Goblin Polka Band
4 Orcish Oriflamme
2 Immolation
4 Giant Strength
3 Manabarbs
4 Helm of Chatzuk
2 Tawnos’s Weaponry
We need to add many goblins to the deck. Expansions gave us Goblin Artisans, Goblin Digging Team, Goblin Hero, and Goblins of the Flarg (but not Goblin Shrine or Goblin Caves).
Goblin Polka Band is good because it is on theme as well as funny and interesting, but there is one major problem. Goblin Polka Band is not good in a deck with a lot of goblins. Here is what Goblin Polka Band does:
Goblin Polka Band
RR
1/1
Summon Goblin
X2, tap: Pay only R for X. Tap X target creatures determined randomly. Goblins tapped this way to not untap during their next untap step.
That is just “un-good” in a deck rolling a lot of goblins. This creature alone makes the Goblin Warlord a pushover, because they will try to tap your creatures, hit a few of their goblins, and screw themselves over.
Therefore, I have to pull them out, despite being on theme. I add four Goblin Hero in their place.
Next up, I pull the four Helms for 2 each of Goblins of the Flarg and Goblin Digging Team.
The result is simply a better deck from all angles. More reliable goblins are added.
Modified Goblin Warlord Deck
21 Mountain
4 Goblin King
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Mons’s Goblin Raiders
4 Keldon Warlord
4 Goblin Hero
2 Goblins of the Flarg
2 Goblin Digging Team
4 Orcish Oriflamme
2 Immolation
4 Giant Strength
3 Manabarbs
2 Tawnos’s Weaponry
Updated Goblin Warlord Deck
22 Mountain
4 Goblin King
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Goblin Digging Team
4 Keldon Warlord
2 Goblin War Drums
4 Goblin Shrine
2 Goblin Caves
2 Goblins of the Flarg
4 Manabarbs
4 Goblin Hero
4 Goblin Grenade
There are so many goblin cards out there, and I could have gone in any direction for this deck. Instead, I decided to stay true to the theme of the deck and build around the cards of the era.
There are not any cards later than Fallen Empires here, with its Goblin Grenade and Goblin War Drums. I added the goblin enchantments from The Dark as well.
I decided to keep in the Keldon Warlord because the theme of the deck was Goblin Warlord, not Goblin King or Goblin Chieftain or some such. You can easily pull them for more goblins if you prefer.
Manabarbs is also still in the deck as a fun way to deal some damage to opponents. I pulled things that did not work with the Manabarbs, such as Tawnos’s Weaponry and the expensive Orcish Oriflamme.
The Sorcerer
Another of the early foes you might face is the sorcerer. What tricks does he have up his sleeve?
Initial Sorcerer Deck
20 Mountain
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Mons’s Goblin Raiders
3 Ali Baba
3 Hurr Jackal
4 Sisters of the Flame
4 Manabarbs
4 Giant Strength
3 Immolation
4 Winds of Change
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Brass Man
I’m not even sure what the Sorcerer’s theme is. Bad Red cards, perhaps? It looks like a lot of cheap one-drops, and then Manabarbs. It’s all weird. Why is a Brass Man in a Manabarbs deck? Let’s harden its theme.
I pull the Brass Men. I add 3 Ankh of Mishra.
I pull 4 Mountains for 4 Strip Mines.
Now the Sorcerer deck is obviously about playing the small stuff and hitting your mana. With Manabarbs and Ankh of Mishra doing the heavy lifting, the small creatures are included just to nip it for a hit or two, and then nip back out.
Now the Sisters of the Flame have a purpose, giving you mana that won’t deal damage to you.
The Strip Mines make the deck much more powerful.
Modified Sorcerer Deck
16 Mountain
4 Strip Mine
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Mons’s Goblin Raiders
3 Ali Baba
3 Hurr Jackal
4 Sisters of the Flame
4 Manabarbs
4 Giant Strength
3 Immolation
4 Winds of Change
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Ankh of Mishra
Now let’s update the deck idea.
Updated Sorcerer Deck
16 Mountain
4 Strip Mine
2 Rishadan Port
4 Manabarbs
4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Jackal Pup
4 Tattermunge Maniac
2 Browbeat
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Goblin Cadets
4 Lava Spike
4 Glacial Ray
This deck tries to do the same thing the Sorcerer deck did, only much differently. It runs the Strip Mines, small creatures, some cheap removal, Ankhs and Manabarbs. However, its creatures are more efficient. The twelve 2/1s for one add some true power to the deck.
The burn is also better. Instead of messing around with Immolations, or pumping creatures with Giant Strength, we have straight up burn. 16 cards can deal damage straight to the face, and you might even get the Lava Spike-Splice Glacial Ray thing going. With the Manabarbs, Ankh, efficient burn, and efficient creatures, this deck is not something to mess with.
The Troll Shaman
Here is another foe with whom you might cross swords.
Initial Troll Shaman Deck
22 Mountain
2 Strip Mine
2 Oasis
4 Stone Giant
4 Hill Giant
2 Gray Ogre
4 Uthden Troll
2 Hurloon Minotaur
1 Shivan Dragon
3 The Brute
3 Eternal Warrior
3 Fireball
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Shatter
2 Conservator
2 Dancing Scimitar
This deck is a little… odd. It runs Conservator and Oasis but nothing like Earthquake to help prevent the damage. With The Brute, Oasis, Uthden Troll and Conservator, this would have been a nice Earthquake deck.
This deck obviously intends to be a mid-range deck, with creatures that start at 3 and end at 6.
I think it wants to use cards to protect itself, hence the Shaman side of the creature. Regeneration, Oasis, Conservator, cards like Dancing Scimitar and Hurloon Minotaur with higher defenses than power, and so forth.
And yet, there are no walls. It doesn’t want to play too much defense.
With a well-rounded card selection, including Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Shatter, it intends to go the long game, and it is one of the better prepared decks out there. Now let’s help it out a bit more.
I pull Eternal Warriors and The Brutes, freeing up six card slots. I’m not sure what Eternal Warrior is doing here.
I add two Pyrotechnics. These are great a generating card advantage and help in the long game.
I add a second Shivan.
Two Ydwen Efreets are added. They are 3/6 attackers for RRR and can block sometimes.
A third Bolt is added.
I then pull two Gray Ogre for two Cave People. Good on defense, can swing like a Gray Ogre on offense, and can give a creature mountainwalk.
The result is a nice little deck with some strong long game possibilities.
Modified Troll Shaman Deck
22 Mountain
2 Strip Mine
2 Oasis
4 Stone Giant
4 Hill Giant
2 Cave People
4 Uthden Troll
2 Hurloon Minotaur
2 Shivan Dragon
2 Pyrotechnics
2 Ydwen Efreet
3 Fireball
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Shatter
2 Conservator
2 Dancing Scimitar
Updated Troll Shaman Deck
26 Mountain
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Fissure
4 Browbeat
2 Fanning the Flames
2 Shattering Pulse
4 Shivan Dragon
4 Silent Arbiter
4 Uthden Troll
2 Hammer of Bogardan
4 Anaba Shaman
4 Bubble Matrix
This deck takes the idea of protecting its creatures to its natural conclusion with Bubble Matrix. This card really plays around with Red and opponents. With a full set of Silent Arbiters in the deck as well, there will almost always be a blocker for that one attacker. The blocker won’t die with a Matrix out.
You have Shivan Dragon to fly over defenses and get that one hit in, but if you need to hole up, you have several powerful tolls to rely on to serve as player kill. First of all, you have the reusable Fanning the Flames to deal damage over several turns to players. Second, you have the recurring Hammer of Bogardan to use, reuse, and slide around counters. Last, you can tap and retap Anaba Shaman, who also fit the deck because they are Shaman.
Bubble Matrix won’t always be out, and when it’s not, you can fire Lightning Bolt, Anaba Shaman Tims, Hammers, and Fanning the Flames at creatures to kill them. You have emergency Fissures. If Bubble Matrix is out, and you simply must kill a creature, perhaps that Deep-Sea Kraken is killing you, then you can Fissure it away.
This deck can handle any non-enchantment permanent, from Planeswalkers (burn them) to artifacts (Shattering Pulse) to lands (Fissure). Like the original, it is prepared for the long game.
Other options might include Cursed Scroll and Shard Phoenix.
The Hydra
Along with Green’s Forest Dragon (Craw Wurm) and Blue’s Sea Serpent, this is one of the three serpentine enemies you must face, and the most deadly of the normal minions that serve the Red Archmagi.
Initial Hydra Deck
22 Mountain
4 Wall of Fire
2 Shivan Dragon
4 Mana Flare
4 Power Surge
4 Fireball
4 Disintegrate
1 Detonate
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Inferno
4 Onulet
2 Soul Net
3 The Hive
As you can see, the deck awkwardly wants to combine Power Surge and Mana Flare to fuel giant spells and effects like The Hive, Disintegrate, Fireball, and firebeathing on Shivan Dragon and Wall of Fire.
I guess it believes that if it forces you to have too much mana, you will be unable to tap all of your lands, but the problem is that you can just keep the extra lands in hand, or use them for very powerful and damaging effects.
Therefore, I’d like to see the deck pick a lane. In this deck, we are going to push the Power Surge. There are other decks with Mana Flares. This is the only one with Power Surge.
I pull the Mana Flares. In replacement, I add two Disrupting Scepters and two Dragon Whelps. The Scepters are a very valuable addition. They “encourage” your opponent to drop all of their lands, while also providing an outlet for your land. Without the Mana Flare, a Dragon Whelp pump will suffice to tap all of your lands to prevent Power Surge damage.
I pull 2 Fireball and 2 Disintegrate. I add 2 Strip Mine and 2 Mishra’s Factory. The deck needs more mana. The Strip should be used to take out opposing Factories, and the AI will usually do that with Strips. That way you remove a mana sink from your opponent. The Factories will serve as a sink as well.
I pull the four Inferno for 2 Bolts and 2 Rock Hydra. After all, this is a Hydra deck.
I yank the Soul Nets for 2 more Dragon Whelps. This is supposed to be one of the more powerful Red decks, and it should not be packing charms.
As a result, our modification is quite heavy, but gives the deck a serious theme.
Modified Hydra Deck
22 Mountain
2 Strip Mine
2 Mishra’s Factory
4 Wall of Fire
2 Shivan Dragon
4 Dragon Whelp
2 Rock Hydra
2 Disrupting Scepter
4 Power Surge
2 Fireball
2 Disintegrate
1 Detonate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Onulet
3 The Hive
Updated Hydra Deck
20 Mountain
4 Great Furnace
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Rolling Thunder
2 Rock Hydra
2 Fanning the Flames
4 Power Surge
4 Dragon Whelp
2 Shivan Dragon
2 Disrupting Scepter
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Mine
2 Aladdin’s Ring
2 Goblin Welder
2 Triskelion
I was working on this deck and discovered that I had a little artifact loving theme going on, so I pushed it with the Welder and the Triskelion and the artifact lands. You could pull that out for more creatures or cards on theme. You could also increase it with Mindslaver or Pentavus or whatever.
This is your basic Power Surge deck. It has 28 lands, Hydras, X spells, firebreathing, Scepter, Magma Mine, Aladdin’s Ring and some burn all mixed together with a minor amount of artifact lovin’.
A lot of these cards have appeared before, like Lightning Bolt, Rolling Thunder, and Fanning the Flames. At least I didn’t toss in Browbeat again!
The War Mage
Each color has a henchman that is supposed to be their most powerful. These guys will come at you a bit later in the game and they won’t even play for ante. The Red servant is the War Mage, and this is the highest ranked mono-Red deck, since the Red Archmage is playing other colors.
Initial War Mage Deck
23 Mountain
4 Ball Lightning
2 Wall of Stone
2 Smoke
4 Mana Flare
4 Fireball
4 Earthquake
4 Disintegrate
1 Detonate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Vault
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Aladdin’s Ring
Here is the original deck. As I mentioned before, there are other decks that pack Mana Flare, and this is one. With Fellwar Stone, Mana Flare and Mana Vault, this deck has a whopping 35 cards that make mana or increase your mana. After that, it’s just X spell, X spell, X spell, and Bolts, with some Ball Lighting, Smoke and Aladdin’s Rings for backup.
I like this deck, but it is just a bit too weak, and I think it needs some massaging.
This deck does have some questions. For example, why is Fellwar Stone included in the deck? Why is Wall of Stone in the deck when Wall of Fire would be better, allowing to mana sink extra red Mana?
I pull 2 Wall of Stone for 2 Wall of Fire. There are not too many creatures that the Wall of Stone will stop but will kill the Wall of Fire — Craw Wurm, Personal Incarnation, Fire Elemental, that’s pretty much it. I mean, you won’t be swinging into Elder Land Wurms or having islands for Sea Serpents. No one currently runs Juzam Djinn in their deck (which will change later). Also, the Wall of Stone will survive a bigger Earthquake, but again, I think this deck would prefer a regular outlet for extra mana than a bigger defense wall.
I yank the Fellwar Stones for a Wheel of Fortune and a Pyrotechnics.
Modified War Mage Deck
23 Mountain
4 Ball Lightning
2 Wall of Stone
2 Smoke
4 Mana Flare
4 Fireball
4 Earthquake
4 Disintegrate
1 Detonate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Vault
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Pyrotechnics
2 Aladdin’s Ring
Updated War Mage Deck
24 Mountain
2 Mishra’s Factory
4 Mana Flare
4 Rolling Thunder
4 Fireball
2 Volcanic Geyser
2 Gauntlet of Power
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Wall of Lava
2 Aladdin’s Ring
1 Maze of Ith
3 Arc Lightning
4 AEther Flash
I keep the core of the deck intact but I decided to head in a different direction with some of the ancillary cards. I thought Wall of Lava was a better partner. It serves as both a mana sink and as a way to keep creatures away. It is virtually unique among Red creatures as inflatable for R mana instead of just firebreathing for R. With enough mana, you can block, kill, and survive the biggest creatures on the ground. Hopefully this deck will have enough mana.
I added some of the usual suspects like Rolling Thunder. I tossed in Volcanic Geyser as a nice instant, and gave this deck 10 total X burn spells. I pulled the Earthquakes because I wanted to go in a different direction with this deck.
In addition to massive quantities of burn as creature control, this deck includes four AEther Flash, which I thought was a good addition. That will help keep the weenies away. Get as many down as you can find, because you can pump your Wall of Lava to survive multiples when you play it.
I liked the Mana Flare mechanic so I added two Gauntlets of Power for redundancy. You could also look at Gauntlet of Might or Extraplanar Lens.
From Aladdin’s Ring to Maze of Ith to Mishra’s Factory to Arc Lightning, there are a lot of nice adjuncts to the basic idea of Make Lots of Mana.
Kyzz’n — The Dragon Lord
The final foe in Red is the evil Archmagi Kyzz’n. Kyzz’n is also the only one of the Archmagi to have a multicolor deck. It will need a bit of amping up in power. Let’s take a look:
Initial Kyzz’n Deck
2 Plains
18 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Gem Bazaar
2 Prismatic Dragon
2 Elder Land Wurm
2 Disenchant
4 Shivan Dragon
4 Dragon Whelp
2 Mana Flare
3 Winds of Change
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Faerie Dragon
2 Craw Wurm
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Dragon Engine
2 Celestial Prism
1 Ivory Tower
As you can see, this is a Dragon theme deck. Now remember that the Archmagi are supposed to be the most powerful decks around. But, here we are with no Moxes, no Wheel of Fortune, no Balance, no Regrowth, and a woefully inept mana base. I mean, look at this. We have double Green in the casting cost with two Forests. Ick.
We are going to fix all of these things.
The first thing we need to do is fix the manabase.
-1 Plains, -1 Forest, -4 Gem Bazaar, -8 Mountain
+4 Plateau
+2 City of Brass
+4 Taiga
+4 Savannah
Whew. The deck needed that! Let’s keep going.
-4 Birds of Paradise
+1 Sol Ring, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald
Now we have 24 lands plus those four artifact mana sources. Okay, the deck is just about fixed mana wise. Let’s pull out some crap now that the mana is fixed.
-2 Mana Flare
-2 Celestial Prism
-2 Fellwar Stone
+1 Regrowth
+1 Wheel of Fortune
+1 Balance
+1 Nalathni Dragon
+2 Fireball
I really like Fellwar Stone, but with a full set of duals and two Cities, and more, they are not needed. I add the triple power cards from the colors to help round out the deck. The deck can also use a Nalathni Dragon, as it is on theme. Finally, I think the deck could serious benefit from some X spells, so I added a pair of Fireballs.
-1 Winds of Change
+1 Disenchant
The Prismatic Dragon is this:
2WW
2/3
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, Prismatic Dragon changes to a random color
2: Change Prismatic Dragon’s color to a random color.
Thus, it is on theme.
The problem with this deck is that, because of the theme, it branches into other colors but does not add their power. It adds White, but no Moat, no Serra Angel, no Swords to Plowshares, no Wrath of God, and no Armageddon. I thought about pulling the Wurms and Dragon Engine for Moats and just flying dragons. I think there might be some value in that. At that point, however, perhaps you should just pull Green altogether because all that would be left in Green is the Faerie Dragons and the Regrowth. The Prismatics deal more damage, so fill out that section of the deck, and you could increase the Nalathni count as well. Then you could find room for Swords to Plowshares. That would be a very different deck.
This deck is the best I can do with the subject, while still keeping the old deck’s flavor.
Modified Kyzz’n Deck
10 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Forest
4 Plateau
2 City of Brass
4 Taiga
4 Savannah
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Regrowth
1 Balance
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Disenchant
2 Prismatic Dragon
2 Elder Land Wurm
1 Nalathni Dragon
2 Disenchant
4 Shivan Dragon
4 Dragon Whelp
2 Winds of Change
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Faerie Dragon
2 Craw Wurm
2 Dragon Engine
2 Fireball
1 Ivory Tower
Updated Kyzz’n Deck
1 Canopy Dragon
1 Jugan, the Rising Star
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Exalted Dragon
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Viashivan Dragon
1 Shivan Hellkite
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Dragon Whelp
1 Pearl Dragon
1 Alabaster Dragon
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Nalathni Dragon
1 Volcanic Dragon
1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Crimson Hellkite
1 Flameblast Dragon
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Fledgling Dragon
1 Furnace Whelp
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Two-Headed Dragon
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Kodama’s Reach
2 Orim’s Thunder
2 Fireball
3 Plains
4 Forests
4 Rupture Spire
4 Jungle Shrine
9 Mountain
Instead of building a deck fully tricked out with Dragonspeaker Shaman, Zirilian of the Claw, Kilnmouth Dragon, Imperial Hellkite and such, I decided just to go with the basics. I played one each of the dragons in color that interested me. Then I added some burn, some removal, and some land search.
You could add card drawing, Moats, Regrowth effects, and different removal in order to make the deck your own. You can also change the dragon selection to suit your own tastes and collection. Perhaps you’d want Palladia-Mors or you might have a Thunder Dragon to add. You might want to add Harsh Mercy or Crucible of Fire or Shared Triumph or even Coat of Arms. Perhaps Draco, Dragon Engine, Clockwork Dragon, and Lotus Guardian are calling your name. Whatever direction you choose, what matters is that you have fun!
And that brings us to the close of another article. I hope that you enjoyed installment two of this series. Stay tuned, and I’ll see you next week!
Until later…