Well, it certainly has been a while since I've written for any of the Magic websites. For those of you who don't know who I am, of which I'm sure there are several, my name is Jesse Sigler and I'm an average player from Wisconsin and recently Minnesota. The only real distinction I carry is that I've had the opportunity to work on or exclusively post work for almost every Magic journalism medium around. Most recently of InQuest Gamer, I now return to my roots here at SCG in hopes of convincing Ted to pay me on a regular basis. I've been playing since the dawn of time, have a few PTQ pins and have had sort-of-feuds with a lot of higher profile players, mostly because they wear t-shirts depicting bands that I don't like. I'm sort of fat, I investigate theft and loss for Wal-Mart and I really enjoy colorful forum critiques. I hope we get along.

Since there can obviously never be too many Type Two articles, I'm going to be taking a look at the ground works for an archetype near and dear to many player's hearts: Black and Green. We're in an interesting period of time for Standard, with Tooth and Nail on the outs and an unconfirmed set that's been posted all over the internet already due to hit shortly. Before long, message boards and article websites will get Hurricane Katrina'd by 2005 States propaganda, so I'm going to try to sneak one in early and avoid the loud, angry mob.

Everyone loves States! Maybe it's because of the extremely lucrative prizes (i.e. Plaque?) given out to winners, or the speed at which the event takes place (i.e. 22 hours?). I've had some luck over the years by trying to go with decks that are well-rounded, offering multiple outs and good, consistent numbers against all different types of deck. Big, flashy combo decks and mindless, thumping aggro is all well and good, but with as degenerate as States can be, I'd rather be packing the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook than banging my head against the table as some guy in a unicorn t-shirt massacres me with his Iname As One deck.

As decks start to line up as possibilities, I can't help but get jolly over the prospect of B/G, or "The Rock", as it is commonly known. By nature, it's a resourceful sort that joins steady card advantage and efficient creatures with solid removal and all the devious card drawing and disruption black has to offer. 9^th chimes in with some goodies and I'll take a look at some of the unconfirmed Ravinca material as well. The way that I view the upcoming format, players searching for fun and profit need to do a few things:

• Stop Umezawa's Jitte (Stop Skullclamp? Stop Psychatog?) or win the Jitte War.
• Provide ample threats and card advantage to overrun Blue-based control decks, as well as types of disruption to derail Gifts Ungiven-based decks.
• Deal with armies of little White men, as WW's popularity in Champs Block Cons will probably translate into the Standard scene.
• Have outs. The format looks like it could include a great number of viable decks, maybe the most since the tail-end of Odyssey Type Two, so color combinations that give you access to lots of nifty answers will probably be best.

And since we're dealing with "The Rock", I'm also going to try to educate my reader in the ways of good, healthy rock music along the way so that you don't find yourself wearing a Slipknot t-shirt and wondering why the rapture came and you were left here to die alone.

Audioslave - Halo
Great song, understated album, catch the live show.

Let's start off with some critters. What kind of critters? How about some mana ones! Llanowar Elves, Sakura-Tribe Elder and the possible returning Elves Of Deep Shadow are all steadfast options. Ultra-sexy black-bordered Birds Of Paradise are also on the horizon, but it's sort of hard to getinthere with an 0/1, and I'm all about gettinginthere. [I'll allow it. - Knut, jargon abuse arbiter] As for the rest, you want to get a good mix of utility creatures and big, angry killing creatures. Haru-Onna, Hana Kami and Viridian Shaman provide a full line of helpful products. Shaman is going to play a key role in any Green-based deck not packing Umezawa's Jitte, so it's best to get him on your team. Big men include the Black and Green legends from Champs block (who I'll touch on a bit later) while some new glimpses of Ravinca provide us with the following:

[The card links for Ravnica cards that follow will not work. They are put there for when humans of the future come back and read this. - Knut, trying to prevent confusion]

Keening Banshee 2BB
Creature - Spirit
Flying
When Keening Banshee comes into play, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
2/2

Carven Caryatid 1GG
Creature - Spirit
Defender (This creature can't attack.)
When Carven Caryatid comes into play, draw a card.
2/5

Hunted Troll 2GG
Creature - Troll Warrior
When Hunted Troll comes into play, put four 1/1 Blue Faerie creature tokens with flying into play under target opponent's control.
G: Regenerate Hunted Troll.
8/4

Grave-Shell Scarab 2BGG
Creature - Insect
Dredge 1 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 1 card from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
1, Sacrifice Grave-Shell Scarab: Draw a card.
4/4

If the rumors are true and these are all accurate, you're going to have a lot of creature options. My favorite of these is the Grave-Shell Scarab. With Eternal Dragon-like recursion, a reasonable cost and that nifty card drawing thing, I see him as being the engine of my Black and Green machine. Carven Caryatid is extremely strong for the simple fact that you can play it on the second or third turn and it can withstand most early attacks by creatures carrying the dreaded Jitte. Hunted Troll seems to be, at this point, the best of several Ravinca creatures that let opponents gain creature bonuses, and could find its way into the right build.

Interpol - Evil
Lighter sound, lyrically strong, hear them now before they completely sell out.

Creatures are great and all, but the various sorceries and artifacts available to B/G really make it a spicy. In the way of removal, you have spot stuff like Rend Flesh, Dark Banishing and Cruel Edict. Edict is extremely strong - I wouldn't leave home without four in the maindeck. Outside of the venerable Persecute and overrated (I'm talking FSU National Title Hopes overrated) Cranial Extraction, I don't think the format is going to give B/G a whole lot of disruption. Depending on how the environment shapes up, both cards could be put to use, but I think this is going to be a more aggro-control Rock deck.

Time Of Need is an interesting little number. I've been looking at the possibilities of using it as Rock players used to use Living Wish, searching through the stack to cure what ails you. The targets are impressive, thus far.

Sisters of Stone Death 4BBGG
Legendary Creature - Gorgon
G: Target creature blocks Sisters of Stone Death this turn if able.
BG: Remove from the game target creature blocking or blocked by Sisters of Stone Death.
2B: Put a creature card removed from the game with Sisters of Stone Death into play under your control.
7/5

Kagemaro, First To Suffer
Iwamori Of The Open Fist
Ink-Eyes, Servant Of Oni
Kokusho, The Evening Star
Maga, Traitor To Mortals
Arashi, The Sky Asunder
Dosan, The Falling Leaf
Kodama Of The North Tree
Ayumi, The Last Visitor

With the list of legends growing bigger in Ravinca, you can really start to see how 4 Time Of Need and between six and eight legendary one-of's could really provide you with some utility. You've got some direct damage, some anti-control action, a little bit of evasion and a whole lot of big, beefy beats. Some of the legends, like Iwamori, Ink-Eyes and Kagemaro, should probably just be in the deck, Time Of Need or not. It'll be interesting to see whether or not the format will call for a more diverse approach with Time or a smoother, more tailored approach without it.

Radiohead - Talk Show Host
Stone Temple Pilots - Plush (Acoustic Set)
Pearl Jam - Bushleaguer
Chris Cornell - Can't Change Me
Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies Like Sheep (eMotive Remix)
An I-Tune for every possible mood any Magic: The Gathering player will encounter throughout his misunderstood, angst-ridden lifetime.

Here's where we really get dirty. Ravnica insiders have provided us with the goods as far as a few of cards that really seem to turn this newest incarnation of The Rock into a winner.

Putrefy 1BG
Instant
Destroy target artifact or creature. It can't be regenerated.

Plague Boiler 3
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a plague counter on Plague Boiler.
1BG: Put a plague counter on Plague Boiler or remove a plague counter from it.
When Plague Boiler has three or more plague counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, destroy all nonland permanents.

Overgrown Tomb
Land - Swamp Forest
(T: Add B or G to your mana pool.)
As Overgrown Tomb comes into play, you may pay 2 life. If you don't, Overgrown Tomb comes into play tapped instead.

Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
3BG: Until end of turn, Svogthos, the Restless Tomb becomes a black and green Plant Zombie creature with "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard." It's still a land.

Gleancrawler
3 BG BG BG ("Guild Mana, Colored Mana Can Be either Black or Green)
Creature - Insect Horror
Trample
At the end of your turn, return to your hand all creature cards put into your graveyard from play this turn.
6/6

Golgari Guildmage
BG BG (Guild Mana)
Creature - Elf Shaman
4B, Sacrifice a creature: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
4G: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
2/2

Obviously, Putrefy is the brightest star in this particular sky, and possibly the strongest card in Ravinca. I have a feeling it's going to target a fair share of Legendary Equipment in the coming months. The B/G Guildmage doesn't really appear to be a dominating force, but you're still investing two mana for a 2/2 creature with useful and only slightly over-priced abilities. Gleancrawler could cement its self as a new Spiritmonger, being a cost-effective beater and allowing players to recur those Tribe Elders and various other expired charges for the low, low cost of cheap-as-free. Now, as far as the Plague Boiler goes, I'm a fan. It's not Pernicious Deed and it's basically just a high-maintenance Oblivion Stone, but I think that it's just good enough to provide the deck with that Cure-All factor this format will demand. That leaves us with a Tale Of Two Tombs, one being absolutely insane and the other just being a fringe card that will probably cause a lot of silly limited games. The dual, along with the B/G painland in 9^th, makes it easy for the deck to solve what is going to be a very colored mana-intensive deck.

If you're just joining me now, it's probably because you skipped all of the above rambling to just look at the decklist. What if I didn't post one? What would you do, then? Would you have to make your own, instead of getting fat off of the sweat of underpaid Magic writers like myself? Would it make you cry? Would you refrain? Would you trade a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

Here's your precious list, you pirate. I hope you choke. (Unless you read everything else above, in which case, enjoy.)

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
3 Carven Caryatid
4 Grave-Shell Scarab
2 Gleancrawler
3 Golgari Guildmage
4 Cruel Edict
4 Putrefy
3 Plague Boiler
3 Viridian Shaman
2 Kagemaro, First To Suffer
4 Overgrown Tomb

1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
1 Tomb Of Urami
4 Llanowar Wastes
8 Forest
6 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Persecute
3 Cranial Extraction
3 Rend Flesh
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Kagemaro, First To Suffer
3 Nezumi Shortfang

That particular list is the more direct version, relying on its own forward progression and making other decks come up with answers for it. It isn't polished, and with an archetype like B/G, you really need to have some knowledge of the format before you construct a working build. As the different players in the new Standard fall in line, it'll become more apparent what you need to prepare for. Here's a secondary list, one going with the theory of using Time Of Need, as I mentioned earlier.

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
3 Cruel Edict
3 Viridian Shaman
4 Putrefy
4 Time Of Need
3 Grave-Shell Scarab
2 Gleancrawler
1 Sisters Of The Stone Death
1 Kagemaro, First To Suffer
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant Of Oni
1 Kokusho, The Evening Star
1 Maga, Traitor To Mortals
1 Arashi, The Sky Asunder
1 Kodama Of The North Tree
1 Iwamori Of The Open Fist
1 Ayumi, The Last Visitor

4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
1 Tomb Of Urami
4 Llanowar Wastes
8 Forest
6 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Plague Boiler
4 Persecute
2 Cranial Extraction
1 Dosan The Falling Leaf
1 Kagemaro, First To Suffer
2 Gleancrawler
2 Rend Spirit

So there you have it. With the new wave of B/G stuff coming into the picture, you can bet that when I walk into Minnesota States this year, I'll be packing something big, Black and Green in my pocket. There's still obviously a lot of time and different things that could take place between now and then, but you could probably do a lot worse than good ol' Rock. While no man may be as prolific as two time two time two time State Champion Ken Bearl* (with the same deck both years), I'd hope that the millions of Non-Bearls out there give B/G a look and find a working list to go to war with.

Gaming in Minnesota is terrible, per usual, and since I don't actually talk to anyone anymore, I don't have any sexy namedrops for you to read, then randomly insert into conversations with your friends as if you have any idea of who the person is or what I'm talking about.

Or do I?

Fun Stories In Retail Loss Prevention!
At work the other day, I stopped three little Asian kids for stealing. They had come in with jackets on and proceeded to empty the entire Yugioh display area into a cart (Inconspicuous!), then rolled back to the Fabrics department. They stuffed about 200 packs into the coats, giving them very nice Younger Brother In "A Christmas Story" vibe, and tried to take off. I pulled them back inside and back to my 90 degree office, where we recovered the 500-some dollar haul of Yugioh. I made them keep their coats on, hoping it'd sweat the bad behavior out of them. When I asked why they did it, the oldest one told me that, and I quote, "I wanted to win more duels and become the best at my school, but it's hard because all the fat white kids' parents buy them as many cards as they want."

Until next time,
Jesse Sigler
jessesigler61 on AIM

*Like I'm not going to mention him. Honestly.