I am a casual deckbuilder, and a passionate one at that. Like a mechanic who builds, an artist that paints, or a jigsaw puzzler who jigs, deckbuilding is a never-ending quest of discovery and innovation.
I have at my disposal more than thirty complete decks built, boxed, and ready to play that I carry on my person whenever I play locally (this number would be up around fifty if it weren't for one particular deck). This is not something I consider impressive; I've met players with more than a hundred decks. It is more of a measure of how casually you play Magic, which I explore in more detail in this critique.
The tournament Spike players that make up the bulk of my playing circle can't even fathom the logic for such a reservoir of decks. To them, deckbuilding is just a bypassable process in the few hours-long quest to convert X entry fee dollars into Y prize packs. When a new set comes out, all they care about are the good cards, the cards that can be applied to this equation for financial gain. What is one to do with all the remaining “chaff”...?
Casual decks, my friend.
None of these casual decks are built to win tournaments. They are not driven by profit. They are built to create an experience. Casual players don't have cash prizes or ratings points or qualifications or even a reputation to maintain. When I play casually, the end goal is entertainment, which is not necessarily the same as winning.
A new deck must create a different play experience or it will not endure in my deck collection. This includes decision trees and uniqueness of gameplay. The dredge mechanic is a great example of a deck theme that is different and unique from anything in the past. While Dan Paskins might be able to relish in the cerebrally delightful and subtle differences between playing Sligh, Deadguy Red, and Red Deck Wins, I cannot. There is room enough for only one of these decks. I usually build my casual decks with Multiplayer in mind, with Multiplayer Free-for-All being the end-all pinnacle of Magic formats with massive social interaction and perfect balance.
Because there are quite a few decks, it will take me a long time to cover all of them. I've placed no limits on myself for scope or brevity, but I will try to follow a formula for each installment. Many of my decks are very simple. A few are quite complex. Some of them are ever evolving. A couple are set in stone. They run the gamut of power levels.
All my decks appeal to me in some way. Hopefully, at least one will appeal to you, too.
My first deck in this series is fittingly my first deck ever, way back in Ice Age.
Inspiration
Just to give you a better perspective on just how bad Constructed Magic decks were back then, I'll begin with a narrative. The setting - Ice Age, circa 1995. School was out for the summer, and the local card shop ran Friday Night Magic tournaments. The format was Standard. The exceedingly broken Dingus Egg was restricted at that time, and Necropotence had too many “drawbacks” to get played.
The local store clerk, whose name escapes me at this time, though it was possibly Sy Johnston, was running a homebrew Dimir concoction that was greater than eighty cards. Some highlight cards include:
Hypnotic Specter
Sengir Vampire
Derelor
Mahamoti Djinn
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Counterspell
Terror
Dark Ritual
Nevinyrral's Disk
Zuran Orb
Deflection
Soul Barrier
Howling Mine (!)
Mike Teague, a martial arts instructor, was with his signature Boros deck, highlighting:
Serra Angel
Shivan Dragon
Swords to Plowshares
Lightning Bolt
Disenchant
Spirit Link
Fireball
Mana Flare
These were good players with decks full of expensive cards (Howling Mine, due to demand from casual players, was essentially unattainable except by busting it in a pack), so there was quite an audience watching the games unfold. The intriguing and unique element of these games was the fact that the Dimir deck ran both Howling Mines and Nevinyrral's Disk.
These were the most back-and-forth games of Magic I'd ever seen. One player would draw up a mess of cards due to Howling Mines, kill their opponent's guys, and deploy something menacing. Then the other player would do the same, and the board would rock back in his favor. Huge swings every turn, with expensive cards being flung left and right.
At some point, the Dimir deck would drop a Nevinyrral's Disk, and the game would change to a quest for equilibrium, as neither player wanted to lose too much. One aspect of the Dimir deck was, because it was eighty cards or so, it could survive the world exploding multiple times while the Boros deck would eventually run out of threats and answers.
One critical play involved a Disenchant on a stray Soul Barrier which was Deflected to a Circle of Protection: Black, enabling Sengir Vampires to start swinging to undo most of the Spirit Linked-Shivan Dragon-attacking-into-Will-o'-the-Wisp life gain. Eventually, however, a Mana Flare-fueled Fireball ended the game when no Counterspell was there to meet it.
This match prompted me to play Soul Barrier, a very popular card during Ice Age that is in the wrong color and absolutely laughable by today's standards. Soul Barrier was popular enough to get reprinted in Fifth Edition, a criterion that also worked for other Ice Age cards like Brainstorm, Knight of Stromgald, Order of the White Shield, Lhurgoyf, Urza's Bauble, and Necropotence — in what is, in my mind, the most haphazard reprint policy ever.
I was so bad at Magic back then. Everyone was bad at Magic. There weren't winning decklists available online immediately after (or during) events. Decks were as unique as the people that played them. My deck's uniqueness was based on an underpowered four-drop 1/1 that only played well with others. This common Imp had microscopic game text and stellar art for such a criminally bad card. The card that “got me hooked.”
The month leading up to Coldsnap were exciting for Norritt. Since the beginning of 2006, Norritt has been referenced by name no less than five times at MagictheGathering.com:
“Fangs, but No Fangs” - Chris Millar — “There's a Norritt in my Corn Flakes!”
“Ask Wizards — April 10, 2006” — Randy Buehler answers Eric
Norritt taps to kill Souls of the Faultless (and Carven Caryatid, Drift of Phantasms, Traproot Kami, Minamo Scrollkeeper, Opal-Eye, Woolly Razorback, and more).
“The Trouble with Tribals” — Chris Millar — Imps go from annoying to stinking.
“Non-X Beware!” — Magic Arcana — Use of ‘non' on cards.
“Asks Wizards — June 6, 2006” — Devils versus Imps
Now, more than a decade after Ice Age, we have Coldsnap. Knowing that many of you are sick of reading Coldsnap rants, I promise to say nary one word on its Constructed power level or its Limited randomness (they are fine). I have my own Coldsnap controversies.
Coldsnap has no tribute to Norritt. The card with the highest Illustration-to-Power gap in Ice Age and the spark that ignited my deckbuilding passion was cast aside for other, far less deserving tributes.
First we have Panglacial Wurm, the newest thematic companion to Alliances's Thawing Glaciers. Are you sick of that clunky “main phase”? Draw your cards and present your threats at instant speed, just like Control decks did back in the olden days. Could it have been any easier to make this guy a Snow creature, seeing that he burrows through glaciers? By extension, why doesn't Thawing Glaciers fetch snow lands in the first place, seeing as they are landscapes that were recently covered in glaciers?
Allosaurus Rider, a homage to Pygmy Allosaurus, is an Elf Warrior, not a Dinosaur. What makes Ice Age's Pygmy Allosaurus cool is that it is a Dinosaur (you can argue over the semantics of dinosaurs living during the Ice Age, but the flavor is spot on). Shivan Raptor came afterwards in Urza's Saga and was denied Dinosaur status, with only Old Fogey managing the Dinosaur subtype since then (thank you, Gottlieb). Dinosaur as a creature type is (I'm presuming) too “real world referencing,” and no one can copyright dinosaurs. Imagine all the fantastic dinosaurs Green and Red could have stomping around in all their Timmy-esque grandeur: “I'll block your Triceratops with my Dimetrodon!” “I attack with Tyrannosaurus Rex! Two of ‘em!!” The ear-splitting shrieks of glee from kids would be deafening. But alas, our Arc-Sloggers, Frenetic Raptors, Laccolith Titans, and Krosan Colossuses are Beasts, not Dinosaurs. I for one feel gypped.
I mean, who feels nostalgia emanating from Frostweb Spider?
The Pro Tour-winning block deck contained both Woolly Spider and Giant Trap Door Spider, forever linking Ice Age with Spiders in players' minds. — Aaron Forsythe, “Putting Nostalgia in the Cold”
In case you didn't realize from the fact that freakin' spiders were dominating tournaments, creatures were bad back then. Really bad. I believe it was the Great One who spoke: “Creatures suck; all they ever do is die.” And it was true... once upon a time.
Back in those days, Dark Confidant would have been a BBB enchantment and Meloku would cost eight mana. Nowadays, you could trim three mana from Norritt and it would still be unplayable in Constructed (though you could kill plenty of Carven Caryatids with it if you needed to...).
To top it off, R&D even managed to sneak in a couple VS System cards into Coldsnap. Skeptical? Behold:
But Coldsnap has arrived, and it can't be changed. Of course, in the casual deckbuilding world, we don't have to change, either. In fact, I indeed still have one deck — my very first one — which I haven't changed, because just like girls or a classic film, you don't need to change something that you already love.
There's more love poured into this deck than the rest of my decks combined. I really can't express in words just how truly awesome this deck is. I can only assure you it's every bit as awesome as if the first deck you ever built, locked away in a time capsule, then brought back to life with a passionate kiss and a stirring waltz.
How you can resist a deck so sexy? Look at that creature base, that mana curve, and all those singletons. That's exactly what Magic decks looked like more than a decade ago. It has survived unchanged... for the most part.
I gave my Norritt deck a 10-year birthday present - updating the manabase from basics and Wizards' Schools to something slightly more powerful while still adhering to my deckbuilding philosophy at the time — Lands that deal damage to you suck. Dealing damage to me is what my opponent is trying to do; why should I help his cause?
Boy have I learned volumes since then. But it never hurts to be reminded.
Select Card Comments
4 Zuran Spellcaster
Back in Ice Age, I was taught a lesson by a Magic elder: “Tim (Zuran Spellcaster et al) is one of the most powerful creatures in Magic.” Today, Tim is about one mana overcosted in the wrong color. In Mirrodin-Champions Standard, Red mages were reluctant but eventually succumbed to running Vulshok Sorceror(ess) to combat the rampant ground-clogging Sakura-Tribe Elders and Eternal Witnesses (where is our Core Set 2R Tim?).
But back in Ice Age when noobs smashed their decks against each other, Tim was guaranteed damage turn after turn. He was card advantage. He was a combat trick. He wasn't shut off by Icy Manipulator and it didn't require commitment until the very last second. Tim locked your opponent out of playing his own Tims and could destroy a Thallid deck single-handedly. And best of all, Tim was Blue.
Learning how to optimally use Prodigal Sorceror culminated into a massive leap in my play skill. I was no longer losing with my Force of Nature deck; I was winning games with Zuran Spellcaster! It was obviously very important that I play with Tims, and more of them.
4 Norritt
2 Skeleton Ship
More Tims it is, while maintaining a curve. I want to reiterate the power level of creatures at the time — Skeleton Ship back then is analogous to Visara, the Dreadful today.
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Jester's Cap
It is almost comedic how extraneous these two cards have become. Feldon's Cane was once restricted because of its ability to “recur” other restricted cards. Now, the inclusion of a maindeck Feldon's Cane is ineffable. Soldevi Digger came later in Alliances, accompanied with hushed, scared whispers...
whisper...whisper...infinite Counterspell...
whisper...whisper...neverending Wrath of God...
whisper...whisper...unkillable Serra Angel...
Jester's Cap, on the other hand, has declined in status from $20 Ice Age rare to second-string silver bullet against only the narrowest of decks. There are rumors of Heartbeat players losing to kids playing their Ninth Edition precons by dropping a fourth-turn Jester's Cap through Heartbeat's Muddle the Mixtures and nabbing their win conditions.
You'll notice that there are no counterspells in this Blue/X deck, which is often viewed as a violation of Magic law, but this isn't a deck that leaves mana open past its main phase. Norritt doesn't trade countermagic for threats on a one-for-one basis and draw cards in the meantime. Norritt relies on repeatable effects to control the board as its means of card advantage.
Synergy
Norritt + Zuran Spellcaster
Norritt + Sengir Vampire(s)
Norritt + Skeleton Ship
Norritt + Icy Manipulator
Norritt + Mahamoti Djinn
Norritt + Vesuvan Doppelganger
Norritt + Time Elemental
Norritt + Reveka, Wizard Savant
Norritt + Nebuchadnezzar
What can I say? It's a Norritt deck! I daresay I'm the only Magic player in the world to have An-Zerrin Ruins dropped on me naming Imp, which only happened because the first An-Zerrin Ruins on Wizard was a bad play.
Here are some ins-and-outs that didn't make it to the final build:
Zuran Enchanter (who has nothing to do with enchantments) — a good lead in for Nebuchadnezzar. “I don't think so, Tim.”
Krovikan Sorceror — a precursor to Merfolk Looter, with an added bonus of cashing in unnecessary Dark Rituals for twice the profit. He didn't last because Jayemdae Tome is more robust and doesn't require discarding lands. Most of the board control requires very little mana, which makes the Tome a mana sink, which rewards you for playing out lands, which occasionally keeps your Skeleton Ship alive and enables double Time Elemental.
Flood — Believe it or not, Ice Age Icy Manipulators were $10 uncommons and a tournament staple. I had to use this “poor man's Icy” until I busted my own Icys.
Giant Oyster — Despite this hilarious pic, I did put Giant Oyster to some good use with Norritt (in tournament play, even). Clamping down on a fattie meant it would die when Norritt provoked it. The pre-Sixth Edition ambiguous game rules meant I could use Giant Oyster with Norritt during my opponent's upkeep to put -1/-1 counters on multiple guys and still keep one frozen.
Armageddon — Wizard's School can produce White mana, and for at least one tournament I had a single Armageddon in the maindeck, and it won games. Back in those days when my Magic comprehension was exploding, I had a motto about two very powerful white cards: “Play Wrath of God when you are losing; play Armageddon when you are winning.”
That concludes more than you ever knew about Norritt. My next installment has genuine Coldsnap cards in it.
Decks need love like everything does. If you love your deck, keep to together. Always.
Kenneth Nagle
NorrYtt
NorrYtt@gmail.com
Image by Yawgatog.
Note: Impone means to stake, to wager, or to pledge according to www.dictionary.com.
There is also the implied portmanteau of Imp and owning.
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