New Standard is on the horizon, and what deck looks to be top dog?
Or should I say...top Snake?
Snakes!
Creatures (17)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Orochi Sustainer
4 Eternal Witness
2 Viridian Shaman
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Seshiro the Anointed
Spells (21)
1 Time of Need
4 Aether Vial
4 Blasting Station
4 Sosuke's Summons
4 Beacon of Creation
4 Fecundity
Land (22)
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
21 Forest
Sideboard (15)
4 Plow Under
3 Naturalize
2 Viridian Shaman
1 Rude Awakening
2 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
2 Cranial Extraction
1 Swamp
Never seen a Beacon Blaster deck before? Are you clueless as to how the deck works?
Watch as I go through every single card in the decklist!
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
This surprisingly useful land messes up combat math in good ways for you. It's likely the last land you'll play from your hand and sometimes it's just a Wasteland, but it more than deserves a slot.
4 Aether Vial
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Orochi Sustainer
Green's acceleration package is second to none. This deck doesn't abuse Aether Vial as good as some decks can, but Sosuke's Summons and Fecundity give you plenty to do on your turn even with an active Vial. I suggest leaving the Vial on two and only advancing it to three or four if you have the drop in hand. The Snakes are far better to Vial out early game because they provide acceleration while recurring Sosuke's Summons. When you enter the midgame you can swap to Eternal Witness parading for even more card advantage.
Orochi Sustainer actually outperforms Sakura-Tribe Elder if you use it to play a Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro on turn 3. The Sustainer also provides mana acceleration while sticking around for Seshiro to show up.
4 Eternal Witness
It's very hard to convince me to play a deck that doesn't feature four of this lady in New Standard. While this deck can't infinitely abuse Eternal Witness's ability, that in no way constitutes playing less than four of her.
2 Viridian Shaman
Maindeck artifact removal is simply assumed in green decks, so this deck must oblige. Viridian Shaman is my favorite artifact kill spell since she's a Shaman for Sachi and quite a tempo stealer. Another good choice is Viridian Zealot, an actual Warrior for Sosuke.
1 Time of Need
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Seshiro the Anointed
The Son, Daughter, and Daddy trio is just me being a casual green mage, but don't underestimate the power they bring to the deck. Originally I had two Sachis but I swapped one to a Time of Need before the tournament because I'm a sucker for versatility.
4 Sosuke's Summons (Pronunciation Guide: Sso-ssu-ke'ss Ssum-mon-ss)
This card makes the Snake variant of Beacon Blaster extremely attractive. It gives the deck the redundancy that this archetype is sorely lacking. If you've played a Beacon Blaster deck before, you've likely spent lots of time and mana digging with Sensei's Divining Top trying to find those Beacons of Creation that always seem to hide at the bottom of the deck no matter how much you shuffle. That's why these decks need another trick to work, and there are variants that include a Time of Need toolbox, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, excess Rude Awakenings, or Swords of Fire and Ice, which are all excellent in green decks.
Even late game lackluster topdecks like Orochi Sustainer become golden when you retrieve two or three Sosuke's Summons from your graveyard. I use cut up Tangle Asps for my tokens and cut up Marsh Boas to represent 5 tokens, which is rare but not unheard of.
4 Blasting Station ("RELOAD!" - sound effect from all arcade light gun games)
Blasting Station takes Skull Catapult and gives it the tournament worthiness of Goblin Bombardment. In the end, we a way to fling tiny green creatures at our opponent's creatures and dome with only a conditional yet flavorful untap trigger standing in the way.
Even if you aren't going crazy with massive token generation, Blasting Station lets you squeeze damage out of your creatures as they. It's surprisingly powerful to simply play Eternal Witness, regrow another Eternal Witness, sac to Blasting Station something, then untap Blasting Station. You can keep "parading" the Eternal Witnesses until you find something better to do. That's 1GG for a sorcery speed Searing Touch in the color least likely to have that kind of effect.
4 Beacon of Creation (In the beginning, he created the Heaven and the Earth and...the Insects)
Beacon of Creation is a potent threat generator that rewards a true green mage. As a warning, these Insect tokens will get hit by Echoing Truth and Echoing Decay all day long. Luckily that leaves the Snakes free to run rampant.
As the game progresses, you get more and more likely to topdeck Beacon of Creation. In fact, given the choice, you'd probably like to topdeck this card every turn. And guess what, that's exactly what happens!
4 Fecundity (From the ashes of the fallen shall arise...cardboard.)
And here we have the deck's true engine. Fecundity acts like a Skullclamp that is only amazing in one deck: this one.
Don't let the symmetrical effect fool you. It's not symmetrical at all. It will benefit you about five times more than your opponents because all this deck does is generate creatures to inevitably die from chump blocks or mass removal. Since it's a "may" effect, you aren't morally obligated to remind your opponent to draw cards, which is a good thing.
While each combo piece is excellent on its own, when you assemble Fecundity, Blasting Station, and Beacon of Creation, you start a chain where you shoot your opponent in the skull for the amount of Forests you control then draw that many cards, which could include another Beacon of Creation. Needless to say, your opponent is in for a world of hurt.
The Sideboard
The sideboard really is both the hardest and least playtested aspect of tournament Magic. One thing you have to remember is not to cram your sideboard with more cards than you can realistically swap out from your maindeck for a particular matchup. That means not sideboarding 15 artifact kill spells just because you hate one particular deck.
4 Plow Under
Why not begin with green's best noncreature spell? Plow Under wrecks decks with mana hungry spells like control decks and big finisher decks like Tooth and Nail. You'll have a hard time justifying not having multiples of this card somewhere near your Forests in New Standard.
3 Naturalize
When the format opens up, that's the cue to change those Oxidizes to Naturalizes to deal with a wider variety of threats. At least until another deck starts dominating.
2 Viridian Shaman
Rounding out the rest of my artifact removal suite is the full set of tempo stealing Shamen.
2 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
I think Henry Stern was right. Against some decks the Sniper can lockdown big Dragons, snipe Birds of Paradise, and chumpblock to freeze even Troll Ascetic while fitting right into the Snake tribe. Quite the tight little package.
1 Rude Awakening
The best topdeck in Standard. Since every green deck abuses Sakura-Tribe Elder and Eternal Witness, it's only natural to finish up with Rude Awakening. This card absolutely belongs somewhere in the maindeck, but how many and what to cut is left as an exercise to the reader.
2 Cranial Extraction
1 Swamp
As I am wont to do, here is my savage tech to stop the big finishers and punish narrow decks that rely on a single card for the majority of their power. Use only at your own risk.
Noteable Exclusions
Echoing Courage
This card can come out of nowhere to steal games and completely wreck combat math but it's also a bit too random for me. Also, it's great to make your opponent play around this card all the time. That said, this card would be more attractive if it wasn't so easy for me to just dome my opponent for half his life total.
Umezawa's Jitte
Jitte just dominates the table if it manages to connect. The only problem is...it doesn't. In my limited testing, I've been able to either remove Jitte with a Viridian Shaman, Blasting Station the creature that wields it, or chumpblock and sacrifice so the creature never actually deals damage to get those game-swinging initial two charge counters on the Jitte. That first hit really ends the game in lots of cases. Jitte could prove to be strong enough to fit.
Sword of Fire and Ice
The Swords are very impressive but again this deck works as an engine, not a beatdown deck that's trying to race. Snakes can equally take the role of the control or the beatdown over the course of a tournament, but personal preference can push it far enough in either direction to merit a Sword.
Troll Ascetic
This guy isn't a snake even though he looks kind of like one. This is a Snake deck; we don't have room for trolls even if they are Shamen. Moving on.
Genju of the Cedars
Another guy to turn sideways, conflicting with the deck's purpose. Great. Even so, this guy does give blue mages fits so he's worth remembering.
Dosan the Falling Leaf
I would feel better about this guy if I had another Time of Need to fetch him since I can already Vial him into play. No one I know plays Mono-Blue Control anyway even though it's rumored to be the best deck in the format. I've tested some against it and I always wreck them somehow, but I'm all about wrecking blue mages so hard they call it quits and turn into green mages.
Iwamori of the Open Fist
This guy is fantastic is B/G since you can back him up with removal. But like I said, wrong deck, end of the line, sir.
Incidentally, if there was any Legendary Creature in all of Kamigawa block that should be overpowered, it's Iwamori. I mean look at the guy. Nothing screams "play with the new Legendary Creatures" more than a huge guy that will kill you if you don't. Also, the more he gets played, the worse he gets because if you drop Iwamori, I'll drop my Iwamori and you're out four mana.
Notable Problems
Night of Soul's Betrayal
This card destroys this deck like no other, so reach for those Naturalizes and keep Fecundity in play so when it does hit you'll draw into said Naturalizes.
Persecute
Monocolor decks don't like getting hit by turn 3 Persecutes and there's not much defense green has against it.
Isochron Scepter imprinting Echoing Truth
This trumps everything in the deck so you're going to have to force the Truth then sneak in a Blasting Station and Beacon of Creation to go to the dome while you wait to draw into dedicated artifact removal.
Huge Finishers
The very expensive spells that just end the game like Tooth and Nail, Rude Awakening, Death Cloud, and 20-point Fireballs trump this deck's defenses. Get those Plow Unders ready.
Fast Flyers
A flying weenie swarm backed up with card drawing (Mask of Memory, Curiosity) and disruption (Mana Leak, Umezawa's Jitte) is bad news. Matsu-Tribe Sniper is worth his weight in snakeskin boots in this matchup.
Enough with all the speculation; let's see how Snakes! handles the pressure of a Friday Night Magic tournament setting where everyone is out to get my $5 entry fee and call it his own.
On to the Tournament! On to Battle!
Round 1: Richard with Relentless Rats
Richard is playing the Relentless Rats deck that I've seen him play before. It can really get out of hand if you don't make a point to kill every Relentless Rat while it's still easy to kill.
Game 1: Green Mages don't need lands
I play a first turn Aether Vial and Richard just has a Swamp. I have a Forest and nothing and Richard starts his Relentless Rats parade with Chrome Mox. I play Sosuke's Summons to chumpblock but Richard just plays a Night's Whisper. I Vial out a Viridian Shaman to kill his Mox and one of my tokens Loses Hope. I get a Blasting Station out and fizzle a random Lose Hope. I also Vial out an Eternal Witness and hardcast another to loop them for 2 damage to kill his solitary Relentless Rats. Richard has to Death Cloud for 4 wiping all my creatures and lands but I parade all four of my Witnesses into play with my Aether Vial set on three without any lands.
Sideboarding:
-1 Seshiro the Anointed
-1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
-1 Forest
+2 Cranial Extraction
+1 Swamp
I think I'm heavily favored to win this matchup because of Fecundity, but it's just too tempting to remove all his Relentless Rats with Cranial Extraction.
Game 2: First turn Ancestral Recall is good
Richard mulligans to four on the play and has no Echoing Decay for my turn 3, 4, and 5 Beacons of Creation. I drew a Cranial Extraction but not the Sakura-Tribe Elder to fetch the Swamp, which reminds me that I am for once not playing with Birds of Paradise nor Solemn Simulacrum.
Match Record: 1-0
Game Record: 2-0
Round 2: Steve with Vial Affinity
Steve is a short and slim trash talker that can actually be a nice guy if he wasn't so disillusioned about image and ratings being paramount. Regardless, we share a fondness for Cogs and doing lots of useless things every turn.
The irony of this match is that Steve is borrowing my 4 Arcbound Ravagers, 2 Glimmervoids, and 2 Blinkmoth Nexuses until they prematurely "rotate" out.
Game 1: Enter the Scourge of Standard
Steve leads with Aether Vial into Atog and Arcbound Worker. I play Sakura-Tribe Elder. When Steve attacks, I block the Arcbound Worker becomes food for a Vialed Arcbound Ravager. I play another Sakura-Tribe Elder and an Orochi Sustainer. Steve swings into my Elder and adds Frogmite to his table. I tap my six Forests for Seshiro the Anointed, giving me two 3/4's on defense. I block Atog with my Sustainer and Steve lets Atog die while I drop to 14. Steve adds Myr Enforcer to his table.
This turn I steal the game's momentum by tapping seven Forests and Orochi Sustainer to play both Sosuke, Son of Seshiro and Beacon of Creation for seven Insects, emptying my hand. I simply chump his Cranial Plating enhanced Arcbound Ravager and Myr Enforcer with Insect tokens then swing back with my table. Steve chumps Sosuke with a Vialed Arcbound Ravager and takes 13 while I draw three cards thanks to Seshiro. What happens when you let the Beacon player draw lots of cards? He plays lots of Beacons! Double Beacon earns a concession and we shuffle up and I'm very thankful he drew no flyers.
Sideboarding:
-1 Time of Need
-1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
-1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
-1 Seshiro the Anointed
-3 Fecundity
+2 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
+2 Viridian Shaman
+3 Naturalize
The plan is to control Steve's flyers and of course blast Disciple of the Vault. I have near-infinite chumpblockability so it's possible I can leave his Cranial Platings alone, which worked last game and when I won the last FNM with Tooth and Nail. Leaving Cranial Plating alone can be dangerous though...
Game 2: Mana Fixing is not necessary
Steve leads with Arcbound Worker and Cranial Plating while I get the ever important Sakura-Tribe Elder to hold the fort. He adds Frogmite, Frogmite, and Myr Enforcer, then swings. I block the Worker and he modulars to make a 5/5 Myr Enforcer. I have quite a few options with my four Forests, the best two being Sakura-Tribe Elder and Naturalize or Viridian Shaman and Aether Vial. Steve has a red, blue, and black artifact land, so I elect to play Aether Vial and Viridan Shaman killing Myr Enforcer, hoping to chump the plated creature.
Wrong answer. Steve is holding Vault of Whispers, giving him the double black mana to hit me for 10 damage. I Naturalize the Cranial Plating but he has another one and kills me despite my seemingly good draw.
I frown. Playing against Vial Affinity, it's quite obvious that Naturalize is just not good enough. I can't remember any time in Magic's history ever thinking that Disenchant wasn't good enough when I needed to kill an artifact. You absolutely have to have the brutal efficiency of Oxidize to keep tempo.
Game 3: No flyers for you
Steve has a slow start, so I'm able to get out an Aether Vial to help play my 2-drop Snakes while also recurring Sosuke's Summons. This game is fairly long and drawn out, but everything goes according to plan. I get first one then two Blasting Stations online and manage to ping off a Disciple of the Vault and an Ornithopter that seemed haphazardly played precombat. I constantly block a Cranial Plated Atog is with Snakes and apply my Blasting Stations. It's best to tax the Atog because it's not a permanent nor modular bonus like Arcbound Ravager.
Steve's sacs his Arcbound Ravager and gives his Ornithopter two +1/+1 counters and I have a big decision to make. I decide that I just can't let him have an unchecked flyer, so I Vial out a Viridian Shaman to eat his Welding Jar, then I sacrifice my Viridian Shaman, a Sosuke's Summons, and an Orochi Sustainer to kill it, leaving me with just an Orochi Sustainer in play. He can't capitalize though, and I rebuild my table with a Vailed Eternal Witness into Sakura-Tribe Elder into all my Sosuke's Summons. I eventually overwhelm him when my Beacons of Creation finally show up.
Match Record: 2-0
Game Record: 4-1
Round 3: Cory with Hondens
Cory is fresh coming back to the game but he has learned the new cards remarkably quickly and just from my scouting, I think Cory is playing a U/R/W Honden deck with Obliterate. I think Obliterate means I lose, so that means I'm the beatdown. Ok, then let's beatdown with some Snakes!
Game 1: How many Hondens?
I slip an Aether Vial into play on turn 1 but walk a turn 2 Orochi Sustainer into Condescend. Cory's turn 3 is Honden of Infinite Rage. I take this opportunity on turn 4 to resolve my true bomb: Fecundity. Cory seems rather unphased as he pings me and passes the turn with just a red Honden, one Island, and three Mountains in play. I untap and try Beacon of Creation, which resolves. Cory pings an Insect and I draw a card, which prompts Cory to read Fecundity a little closer.
Now the game just gets crazy. Cory plays a Honden of Seeing Winds. I play a Sosuke's Summons and a Sakura-Tribe Elder, which gets killed by the red Honden, so I draw a card and fetch a Forest. Cory plays some Darksteel Ingots and passes the turn. I attack into his telegraphed Echoing Truth, then drop Seshiro the Anointed. I take two from the red Honden and Cory plays a Honden of Cleansing Fire.
Wow. Red plus white plus blue Honden equals not good for the beatdown player.
I swing, draw some cards, then play Sosuke's Summons and ironically Sosuke himself. Cory kills a Snake, draws a bunch of cards, gains a bunch of life, and drops a Honden of Night's Reach. Riiight. At this point, I'm almost certain I'm totally screwed. After all, I've already got both Seshiro and Sosuke in play, so I'm out of amazing topdecks like Rude Awakening or hasty Shisato to steal the game away.
I swing, draw a mess of cards and play out most of my hand, but I lose a Forest and Eternal Witness to the black Honden. Cory draws 4 cards, gains 8 life, and aims 4 damage at Seshiro the Anointed. Luckily, I have Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers to save him. Cory draws for his turn, does some math, and scoops?
I'm quite dumbfounded, but I do a quick tally and I do indeed have him dead on the board. He's amazingly not drawn an Obliterate or another Echoing Truth, just more lands, Ingots, and Hondens. Amazing.
Sideboarding:
-2 Viridian Shaman
-2 Blasting Station
-1 Sosuke's Summons
-1 Orochi Sustainer
-1 Forest
+3 Naturalize
+1 Rude Awakening
+2 Cranial Extraction
+1 Swamp
I think this is the first time I have ever sided out maindeck Viridian Shaman. I have no idea how to sideboard in this matchup so I just do some trimming and pruning.
Game 2: My Sideboard wants to play, too
Cory is quite busy charging up his 3 Mirrodin's Cores and plays a turn 3 Honden of Infinite Rage. I play a turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into a turn 3 Fecundity, then sac the Elder to draw a card and fetch a Swamp when he tries to ping it. Next I play an Eternal Witness and replay Sakura-Tribe Elder. The Witness gets pinged so I get a card and Cory adds Honden of Seeing Winds to his side.
While the red Honden is almost useless, the blue Honden is almost assured defeat. I Naturalize the blue Honden immediately and play another Sakura-Tribe Elder. Cory drops a couple Darksteel Ingots so I take the time to slip another Fecundity and a Blasting Station into play. My Fecundities get hit by an EOT Echoing Truth, so I pop my two Elders for 4 cards and two Forests.
My new hand is quite gassy. I go for my secret tech and play a Cranial Extraction through a Mana Leak and Condescend for 2 and hit the Obliterate in his hand the two in his library. He is clearly impressed by this play, and can only manage a Honden of Life's Web, revealing that he does play all the Hondens while simultaneously missing out on my Fecundity party.
With Cory sitting at 19 with no hand, I decide it's time to kill him. I play Rude Awakening with Entwine floating three mana, then play a Beacon of Creation shooting Cory for 10 and draw ten cards, then swing for another 16. It's got to be an extra salty wound when the green mage combos out the blue mage.
Match Record: 3-0
Game Record: 5-1
Round 4: Corey with Vial Affinity
Corey and I do the unpopular Intentional Draw 1-1-1 dance to quell our hunger pangs. Five feet through the wall behind me is a Subway and I mise 8 coupons for a free 6-inch with purchase of a medium drink.
Match Record: 3-0-1
Game Record: 5-1-1
Semi-Finals: Shawn with R/G Land Destruction
From scouting during my food break, I guess that Shawn is playing a full complement of Stone Rain, Molten Rain, and Plow Under. Apparently he doesn't like losing to combo and control decks but thinks he can pull out games 2 and 3 against Affinity.
Game 1: It's that Time again
Shawn mulligans to 5 so I start off way ahead. However, he Magma Jets both of my Orochi Sustainers, scrying 2 cards to the bottom before finding his third land. Shawn can't muster much of a defense as I simply Time of Need for both Sosuke and Seshiro and run him over.
Sideboarding:
-1 Seshiro the Anointed
-1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
+2 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
I know Shawn sideboards Damping Matrix so I board out a couple expensive guys for my Snipers which help kill Birds, recur Sosuke's Summons, and simply lower my mana curve. I make a point to save Viridian Shaman for Damping Matrix should it show up.
Game 2: Why do your cards hate you so much?
Shawn plays Forest, Mountain, City of Brass, Stone Rain. Meanwhile, I play Forest, Forest, Orochi Sustainer, Forest, Fecundity. Shawn plays a Molten Rain, still stuck on three land. I play Sosuke's Summons. Shawn plays Stone Rain and another City of Brass.
That's three land kills so I'm stuck on an Orochi Sustainer, Forest, and some Snake beaters. I play a Sakura-Tribe Elder and he drops his bomb of Oblivion Stone. I'm fearing Plow Under about now, so I just stay at one land and play another Sakura-Tribe Elder. Shawn plays yet another City of Brass and blows up the world, which sounds bad for me, but it's really bad for him.
Shawn has taken 7 from his own Cities along with some Snake beats going to 6 while I'm still at 20. I also draw five cards from Fecundity and get two Forests with my Elders. Six is not a lot of life when you have an empty table and only two lands that aren't City of Brass.
I take my turn, playing a Forest and Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, retrieving Sosuke's Summons. Shawn plays a Mountain and...Zo-zu the Punisher?
Well, between the Blasting Station in my hand, my multiple Sosuke's Summons, his Zo-zu, and his Cities of Brass, there's lots of ways for Shawn to die. You can pick some combination of those that add up to 6 and we'll say that's how I won.
Match Record: 4-0-1
Game Record: 7-1-1
Finals: Corey with Affinity
Corey and I settle where he gets the win and 3 packs and I get 12 packs. Yes, I can be bought because ratings don't mean anything to me except the look on your opponent's face when they look up your rating and discover how many points they lost.
I pull Umezawa's Jitte, Final Judgment, and Kumano, Master Yamabushi and no Sakura-Tribe Elders. Frown.
Match Record: 4-1-1
Game Record: 7-3-1
And that's a wrap. All the cards in the maindeck got to see some love during the tournament, and I even got to reuse Time of Need with Eternal Witness to find the rest of the family like I wanted.
In closing, here's another Matrix parody, if a little outdated. Imagine it's still February as you jack in to find yourself in a crisis situation against the Scourge of Standard...
Kenneth Nagle
NorrYtt
Casual Green Mage Extraordinaire
NorrYtt@gmail.com
2005.3.11
Further Reading:
"A Beacon of Fun" by Bennie Smith
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8654
"Creationism: Battling The Satanic Advocates Of Evolution To A First Place Finish" by Andrew Ross
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8784
Photoshoppery by Xero_FX
Niobe: These match results confirm the worst fears of R&D. The artifacts are overpowered. They're destroying Standard from the first round straight down to the finals.
Tirant: And I thought you had good news.
Soren: They'll avoid the entire March 1st bannings.
Ice: How fast are they goldfishing?
Niobe: Control decks estimate their descent at one match an hour.
[captain]: How broken are they?
Niobe: Almost one hundred percent of every Spike's and Timmy's decklist.
Tirant: What about the scans from the Top 8?
Ajax: They can't be accurate.
Niobe: They may be.
Ice: What?
Ajax: It's not possible.
Kali: That'd mean there are a quarter of a million ravagers out there.
Niobe: That's right.
Ajax: That can't be.
Morpheus: Why not? A modular target for every Shatter, Naturalize, and Viridian Shaman in the Metagame. That sounds exactly like the thinking of a ravager to me.
Niobe: Morpheus, glad you could join us.
Morpheus: Niobe. My apologies to all. As you are undoubtedly aware, it has become increasingly difficult to locate secret sideboard tech.
Vector: Welding Jars eat all our best spot removal.
Ice: The format's crawling with artifact creatures.
Ghost: And if Niobe's right, in 72 hours there's gonna be a quarter of a million more.
Ballard: What are we gonna do about it?
Niobe: We're gonna do what the Metagame ordered us to do. We'll evacuate all other archetypes and return to playing monogreen.
Morpheus: And does the DCI have a plan for stopping 250,000 ravagers?
Niobe: A strategy is still being formulated.
Morpheus: I'm sure it is.
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