Old overview and new ideas
By Frédéric Meurin on Friday 18 August 2006, 11:37 - On the web - Permalink
This old (2002) article
at Game players network is definitely out of date. It's overall
presentation of the format includes some mistakes, such as the strip
mine still listed as a common, and "powerhouses cards" such as...
desert.
But don't stop at this : Jason Chapman is no newcomer to
PEZ, and since then, he has been writing for the format. If not the
best, he's definitely one of the most active writers.
The many deck lists are more interesting. Even without some
real and current top tier deck 1, it's still a nice source of
inspiration for alternate lists.
I will list here some of my favourites, along with upgrades I can tought of.
Deck - Mono Blue Hermetic Crab
4 Maze of Ith
4 Desert
18 Island
3 Turnabout (Uncommon)
2 Curiosity (Uncommon)
4 Sigil of Sleep
4 Hermetic Study
4 Horseshoe Crab
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
2 Intervene
4 Opt
4 Impulse
There's definitely something to do with this, but I can't figure what... May be just having fun...
Deck – Phantom Cloak
14 Forest
8 Plains
3 Enlightened Tutor (Uncommon)
1 Land Tax (Uncommon)
1 Elephant Guide (Uncommon)
1 Aura Fracture
1 Tragic Poet
4 Quirion Elves
4 Phantom Nomad
4 Phantom Tiger
4 Nomads en-Kor
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Spidersilk Armor
2 Seton's Desire
4 Armadillo Cloak
4 Lay of the Land
This one is way more serious. I know how hard two colors deck are in PEZ, but this one should make something.
The Enchanted Phantom are definitely a strong mechanic, if you provide them color protection, especially from black and/or red. Elephant Guide should be out, such as Aura fracture, Tragic poet, Land tax, Seton's desire and Lay of the land.
This makes room for 2 uncos, better land tutors and mana producing elves.
Riftstone Portal is a great way to produce white and green mana, unsensitive to land destruction. Crop rotation is a one green mana land tutor, which can be used either to get Riftstone or to sacrifice it and have it in your graveyard. And it can help to get that missing Plains while you have plenty of Forests.
Quirion Elves are good but not enough. Skyshroud elves and Birchlore rangers are better, for example. You'd take Birchlore if you only wanted mana, but as you also want to keep a very agressive pace, I think Skyshroud are better : they virtually make every forest a plain.
Seton's desire is very bad without a discard engine. Tragic poet only helps to get back some Aura that would have been destroyed... What's the point when you can use Rancor ? It's a +2/+0 boost, recursive and for only one mana ! But the stompy star would actually be a bad choice here : remember we need to boost our phantoms' toughness. So we opt for Briar shield, +1/+1 for G, and can be sacrified to get +3/+3 till end of turn.
Enlightened Tutor is definetely a good card, but it seems a bit out of place here. The only real enchantment you'll need to get is Spidersilk armor, but you shouldn't have to need it so badly.
So you'll get 3 Phantom Centaur, that will make perfect finishers. Moreover they've got standard protection from black.
There you go with a lot more agressive deck, with better resistance. Of course, you can find better additions, and of course build a decent sideboard, but you have some ideas to work with !
Lands
12 Forest
6 Plains
2 Riftstone portal
Creatures
3 Phantom Centaur
4 Skyshroud elves
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Phantom Nomad
4 Phantom Tiger
4 Nomads en-Kor
4 Llanowar Elves
Other spells
1 Spidersilk Armor
4 Briar shield
4 Armadillo Cloak
4 Crop Rotation
Nota : you can copy this decklist to paste into Magic Workstation or Apprentice ;)
Last reviewed : 17 July 2007
Last reviewed : 21 January 2007
Last reviewed : 25 September 2006
Last reviewed : 16 August 2006
Affinity
Goblin Sligh
White winnie
Stompy
Phantom Cloak
Goblin storm
Elf-ball / Elf-Clamp
Mono black
Psychatog
Tortured existence / Reanimator
Ritual agony
Life
ProsTides
Kobold-Clamp
IsoBurn/Burn
Satin doll
IsoMUC
UG Tempo
Comments
I wonder if you could splash red for quicksilver dagger. I know it only targets an opponent but if you you use it with brass man or the brand new brass gnat you can really smack your opponent and draw a hanful of cards every upkeep. the gnat is a common too. kind of a stretch but you never know with high tide.
I've been testing a similar deck with Tallowisp in the uncommon slot. Turn 1 Tallowisp (off Lotus Petal) -- turn 2 Phantom Nomad searching for Armadillo Cloak -- turn 3 Cloak up the Nomad is a huge beating against much of the field, but especially against mono Red.
Cheers,
Chris
As shown here, the Horseshoe Crab deck is way too slow. I made a deck over this concept over here. Please feel free to comment and criticize it.
Tallowisp is a great addition to the Phantom Cloak deck, speeding it up a lot. But in a very blackened metagame, such as ours in Paris, I think you'd rather take Phatom Centaur.