Disclaimer: This article is not building on a budget, and may require you to acquire more cards of quality, or to proxy.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on with the fun!

We've all read it in an article at some point, or heard someone say why they chose a particular card for a deck... “play the cards that are the best”. This deck takes that idea, and beats it into your head so hard you should have the Tylenol ready.

Arguably, the most powerful cards at both the uncommon and the rare level are multicolored. Think about the rares... Loxodon Hierarch, Ghost Council of Orzhova, Grave-Shell Scarab... and with uncommons like Putrefy and Mortify, gold cards clearly are setting a standard for excellence. What else do all these fabulous cards have in common? Well my friend, they all fall in to a black/white/green deck that operates under four different principles that I call, “The Rule of Four”. Without further ado, here is the deck that embodies The Rule of Four...

The Rule of Four: GWB Featured by Colin Rafferty on 2006-04-02 (Standard) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11625.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Grave-Shell Scarab 4 Hypnotic Specter 4 Loxodon Hierarch Enchantments 2 Debtors' Knell Instants 4 Mortify 4 Putrefy	Legendary Creatures 2 Ghost Council of Orzhova 2 Yosei, the Morning Star Sorceries 4 Farseek 2 Recollect 2 Wrath of God Basic Lands 5 Forest 1 Plains 4 Swamp Lands 4 Godless Shrine 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Temple Garden	Sideboard: 3 Watchwolf 4 Ivory Mask 4 Leyline of the Void 2 One with Nothing 2 Wrath of God
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Principle #1: Your deck must compete in a diverse field

The Standard field is wide open right now, with anywhere from sixteen to twenty viable decks in the format. Some strategists would argue that the best way to compete in this field would be to have your deck do what it is designed to do, and hope for the best matchups. I would like to submit that the best way to tackle such a diverse format is to have a deck that is flexible enough to compete against the majority of the field.

What makes cards like Mortify and Putrefy such quality is that little word “or” (okay, maybe “destroy” is a slightly stronger word). This makes Putrefy say, “destroy your Burning-Tree Shaman or destroy your Pithing Needle.” Mortify says, “lose your Dark Confidant or lose your Glare of Subdual”. With the overwhelming strength of R/G beats, having eight elements of spot removal isn't too shabby. For those times when your opponent seems to have all their threats out, there's also a handful of Wrath of Gods to hit the reset button.

Principle #2: 4/4 creatures are quality creatures

As any experienced player knows, a good deck is more than just removal: it also needs a way to win. The 4/4 creatures of the current format all enjoy reasonable casting costs and quality abilities. In B/W/G, this means Loxodon Hierarch, Grave-Shell Scarab, and Ghost Council of Orzhova will represent you in battle. Loxodon Hierarch makes up for early life loss, and puts a good-sized body in front of your opponent and their creatures. Ghost Council and Grave-Shell both also prove decent bodies, but have the added bonus of being very difficult for your opponent to deal with.

Having a body with four toughness means that an opponent playing Red can't use their Pyroclasm to wipe out your crew, but has to use a Char or Wrath of God to try and destroy out. The only creatures that appeared in the Honolulu decks that can take care of these boys (without the aid of a Jitte or a Moldervine Cloak) all have the words “Summon Dragon Legend” written on them.

This brings up another threatening creature in the deck: our good friend Yosei, the Morning Star. Many decks with Yosei look for the perfect way to get him in to the graveyard for a chance at a Time Walk. Some decks use Greater Good, some wait to get a second Yosei on the board for two turns without letting your opponent untap... this deck uses the Ghost-Council to put Yosei in the yard, while at the same time having your opponent lose a life and keeping the Ghost Dad alive for another turn.

The other threat (with the exception to the 4/4 rule) is the Black classic, Hypnotic Specter. There are few things that can hurt an opponent worse than an early game “Hippie,” forcing your opponent to play their hand or risk losing it.

While not every creature in the deck is a 4/4, the power behind Hippie and Yosei provide too much synergy and power to this deck to be ignored.

Principle #3: Cards that are quality in Draft can be quality in Standard

If the creatures above weren't enough to make your opponents cower in fear, imagine their fear if there was a way to have those creatures come back. Now if only Black or Green had graveyard recursion... something like Debtor's Knell or Recollect. Wait a minute... those Draft bombs are available in Standard!

The Knell can often mean Game Over for your opponent. This deck is all about synergy, and no card shows that more than the Knell. Imagine wiping out your opponent's creature with a Putrefy, only to return it during your upkeep. Better yet, picture this scenario... in play you have a Debtor's Knell, a Yosei, and a Ghost Council. Each turn you can sacrifice the Yosei to the Ghost Council and keep your opponent from untapping and returning Yosei to play during your upkeep. This is a situation that often results in your opponent entering their “scoop phase”.

Many players are apprehensive about the Knell's casting cost of seven, but with four Farseeks and four Birds of Paradise, the Knell becomes playable and falls only slightly ahead the rest of your deck on the mana curve.

Recollect is a key utility card for the deck. While the card may be viewed as something that shouldn't make the transition from the world of drafting to Constructed, it can effectively add to the spot removal of the deck, bring about another four life from a Hierarch, or wipe the board clean with another Wrath of God. Bringing back answers and threats only adds to the versatility of this deck, something so flexible it could be on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team.

Principle #4: Anyone can read a deck; you must also know how to play it.

The way the deck plays out is pretty simple: get your manabase solidified, and then react to your opponent before you beat them across the face. The early game is filled with Birds of Paradise and Farseeking your dual lands, to fix and advance your mana base. In the event that you can play a first turn Birds followed by a second turn Hippie, the Hippie is always the call. Otherwise, you may be sitting back and waiting to Putrefy or Mortify your opponent's early threats. From there, it depends on what deck you are playing (this is where the versatility comes in to play).

Against an aggro deck, you will continue to use your removal to keep your opponent's side of the board clean, until you can play a fatty like your Hierarch or Grave-Shell Scarab. Aggro decks power out quickly, so if you can remove their creatures consistently in the early game, you virtually wipe away their late game of finishers like Jitte, Moldervine Cloak, and Char.

Against a straight control deck, you'll be playing your threats and forcing your opponent's hand. Against a deck like Annex/Wildfire, the key to stopping your opponent from going off is to wreck their manabase quickly. Your early game Mortify target is the Annex itself, while Putrefy is used to stop Fellwar Stone or Signets. Without your opponent having enough mana for a Confiscate, you can really get in some damage with a Loxodon Hierarch or a Ghost Council.

Control decks that operate off of heavy countermagic are the most difficult matchup for this deck. Some cards like Grave-Shell Scarab don't mind the counter so much... unless that counter sends it back to the bottom of your library. As long as you can get a body to stay on the board, you're set against most mono-Blue decks... unless they can get a Keiga to hit play.

Against the Ghazi-Glare style of control, using Mortify to hit the Glare of Subdual is key. As long as your opponent can't tap down your bodies, you can out-power most of their deck. The one word of caution is to be cautious about Debtor's Knell for the lockdown; your opponent may have a Seed Spark that has been sitting in hand because your deck won't have any other targets for it.

Against combo decks, it all depends on how the deck goes off. Know that, and then discern what your strategy should be. For a deck like Heartbeat Combo, trying to gain as much life with Loxodon Hierarch, and try and neutralize the key enchantment of Heartbeat of Spring with a well-placed Mortify. Against most control decks, you will be able to identify the key cog (which will most likely be an artifact, enchantment, or creature), and then use a Mortify or Putrefy as appropriate in order to dislodge their decks chances at winning.

The sideboard is designed primarily to go against many of the top decks of Pro Tour Honolulu. Izzetron is combated by using Ivory Mask in place of Mortify. Izzetron does not have many targets for your Mortify, and forcing your opponent to use counter or bounce can be key. Also, subbing out Wrath of Gods and one copy of Putrefy for Watchwolf allows you to place more threats on the board early, and force your opponent to either use burn or countermagic.

Greater Gifts is easily combated with Leyline of the Void, as is Eminent Domain. In these matchups, Debtor's Knell proves too slow and Wrath of God is often a dead card. Replacing each of these with Leyline of the Void shuts down the graveyard abilities of your opponent's Dragons.

Some of the most difficult matchups for this deck are B/W decks that utilize pro-Black creatures. Against these decks, you will need to board in your extra Wrath of Gods and take out your Debtor's Knells. Also, depending on if the build is heavier on enchantments or artifacts, removing either Mortify or Putrefy for Watchwolf has been the call.

One with Nothing finally found a use in Honolulu as the strongest defense against Owling Mine, thus earning a spot in the sideboard. The strongest match-up for this deck by far has been any form of R/G beats and Zoo. Again, Debtor's Knell typically gets left at the wayside to make more room for Wrath of God.

In closing, adaptability and synergy are the two staples to operating this deck. You must be flexible enough to know whether your matchup deems the deck to be played as a control deck, or as a deck where you are to play your threats and wait for a response. You must also be willing to acknowledge the synergy of the deck. Most creatures here sacrifice for something: stopping Jitte counters, giving Debtor's Knell targets, providing the ability to take out one of your opponent's creatures, and the ability to take advantage of card drawing and life gain.

In a field of uncertainty, playing this deck will make you certain of two things:

1) You will have the answers to your opponent's questions, and...
2) You'll have spent a whole ton of money on one quality deck.

Thanks for reading
Colin Rafferty