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Peasant in Standard: Peasants' IreBy VXF on May 8th, 2006 · Filed in Casual · Comments not available just nowIntroduction Every time I think about the cost of dual lands, my thoughts dampen a little. Splicing is a tricky ability, and it's not always easy to find the most optimal play, but there are a few main things one must keep in mind when playing with Splice: 1. Splicing requires lots of mana. Is it tempting to cast that Reach Through Mists on your first turn? Well, don't, because unless you have mana problems, then you should attempt to splice as often as possible to maximize the effects of your spells. 2. Try to do most of your splicing work during your opponent's turn. It's all well and good to splice a Glacial Ray onto Lava Spike, but what would happen if your opponent plays something during their turn and your Glacial Ray is the only answer? It makes more sense to splice during your opponent's turn (and as late as possible) so as to give you the maximum amount of mana (and therefore choices) when you must make a decision. 3. Try to apply multiple splice affects to different and easier targets. That way, if some targets become illegal, then the rest of the spell still resolves. For example, cast First Volley targeting a 1/1, then splice Glacial Ray targeting your opponen. This way, even if the 1/1 leaves play before First Volley resolves (thus rendering the First Volley target illegal), the Glacial Ray part still resolves and damage is dealt as normal. Keeping the above in mind, I would like to present the deck I've been working on in the past month or so:
Never stare directly at a glacier. EVER. Card draw is always good, and these are the best that arcane has to offer: Reach Through Mists is cheap, instant, and best of all, can be sliced onto. Some players would think to play it as early as possible to start filling up their graveyard, but its splice potential is high enough to warrant considering whether it should be cast early to draw or cast late to splice. I generally tend to cast it late to splice, but if you are running low of lands/spells, then you can always play this early to dig through your library as fast as your can. While Evermind may seem too expensive, it is strictly a late game card (turn 5 or later), and one that is essential to keeping your hand filled so you don't descend into topdecking mode. Remember, you have NO DEFENSE in this deck other than burn, so going into top-decking mode basically makes you a sitting duck in a shooting range. Only two copies are included, because you really don't want to see this card more than once in the first 5 or 6 turns of the game. Peer Through Depths is awesome for finding that elusive Ire of Kaminari, especially since up to that point you've already dug through half your library. The chances of finding the appropriate card increases dramatically as the turns go on. Oh, and it's also a splice target. Ideas Unbound may not be the Ancestral Recall that everyone thought it would be, but it still works very well here, as you draw into more cards you need and you can discard the ones you don't need. The card disadvantage can be a problem sometimes, but play a few games with this deck and you'll gain enough experience to know what to discard and what to keep. No, you're not going to kill ANYONE with Dampen Thought, but you CAN mill yourself. Repeatedly. For The Win. As long as you have a copy of Ire in your hand, you can mill away without worrying about losing your win conditions. On occasion you might mill away some of your Ires, but in a worst-case scenario (you mill away all 4 Ires), you still have 4 Lava Spikes and 4 Glacial Rays to kill your opponent with, so it's not impossible. Oh, and try not to mill too many cards, just in case your opponent tries to mill you to death or stall for the win. I generally stop milling after I have about 15-20 arcane cards in my graveyard. Originally this slot was supposed to be filled by Eye of Nowhere, but that proved too slow and not as effective against creatures so I decided to replace it with Psychic Puppetry. This has two important applications apart from splicing. First, you can tap creatures before they attack. Since you're casting most of your spells during you opponent's turn anyway, you might as well stop them from attacking. Second, you can tap your opponent's lands during their turn, so that they have less of a chance to respond to your spells during your turn (should you Ire them on that turn). Also, the splice cost is a measly  , so you can splice this on almost anything.Muddle the Mixture is the only non-arcane card in the main deck. While this deck ignores creatures as part of its strategy, game-destroy cards are usually in the form of sorceries and instants such as Cranial Extraction, Enduring Ideal, Early Harvest, and Invoke the Firemind. Muddle is here to take care of these threats, and also Transmute into any of the 19 other cards in this deck that have a converted mana cost of 2 (not including the 4 Muddles). The Red cards are fairly straightforward: Lava Spike, Glacial Ray and Ire of Kaminari all deal damage. Oh, and Glacial Ray splices. The sideboard was difficult to make because this deck is more or less self-contained, meaning a sideboard usually won't make it better. Still, it's better to have a sideboard, just in case. The Volcanic Hammer, Repeal and Consuming Vortex are anti-aggro, the Mana Leak is anti-control/combo. Repeal could also be used against combo/control, depending on what they are playing (mostly against key enchantments and artifacts). Strategies Alcohol + Explosive Spell components = BIG NO-NO Keep in mind that these are game two plans, meaning game one will still be using the main deck seen above. If it looks like I'm sideboarding in/out the same card for all matchups, it's because you don't need it game two, and the cards you sideboard IN won't necessarily work against an unknown opponent in game one. Against aggro decks: OUT 3 Dampen Thought OUT 4 Muddle the Mixture OUT 4 Lava Spike IN 3 Repeal IN 4 Volcanic Hammer IN 4 Consuming Vortex In game one, tap and Ray their creatures as often as you can, but don't expect to live very long as this is essentially a damage race from the start. After sideboarding, slow down and play control, bouncing as necessary and only splicing once you have the situation under (a reasonable amount of) control. Against Combo: OUT 4 Lava Spike IN 4 Mana Leak (Optional - depends on opponent's deck) OUT 3 Psychic Puppetry IN 3 Repeal Mostly against Heartbeat decks, the Lava Spike doesn't go very far in terms of damage when you can just wait one more turn and do an extra three damage with your game-winning Ire of Kaminari anyway. The Repeals are just there for any annoying enchantments/artifacts (i.e. [card]Heartbeat of Spring and Umezawas Jitte) while drawing you a card as well. Tempo is good. Oh, and Mana Leaks to counter that very first Early Harvest before all hell breaks loose (same strategy with Muddle the Mixture - don't transmute them unless you're absolutely getting beaten down by a Sakura-Tribe Elder or something). Against Control: OUT 4 Lava Spike IN 4 Mana Leak Against Aggro-Control, also: OUT 4 Psychic Puppetry IN 4 Consuming Vortex Let's face it, if you're playing against control these days then you're most likely playing against Blue. Keep your counters for when you need to back up your Ire, and don't hesitate to play threatening spells during their turn, because if they do respond and counter, that will just leave you with more room to play your game-winning Ire during your turn. Expect a very long game. If, however, you're playing against aggro-control, then expect fewer counters so answer their threats as necessary, but the aggro component means you'll still have to race them as you can't really kill any creatures like Loxodon Hierarch, Kird Ape, or Watchwolf. Beyond Peasant Adding a new level of desire to otherwise unplayable cards. What makes this deck interesting (at least to me) is that even though it so heavily depends on arcane/Ire of Kaminari to win, it can easily be transformed into another deck with completely different objectives. Here are some ideas for decks that I've had outside of Peasant but still very much within the boundaries of hilarity: The Mill deck: Traumatize Glimpse the Unthinkable Skyscribing Vision Skeins Adding Black to this deck allows you to cast Glimpse the Unthinkable, either on yourself or on the opponent, whichever way works. This and Traumatize work well with Dampen Thought to make a fun and exciting milling deck. The new cards Skyscribing and Vision Skeins add to the joy of milling an unsuspecting opponent into oblivion. The Blue/Red Control deck: Remand Convolute Hinder Quash Rewind Spell Snare Lots of counters + Glacial Ray + Ire of Kaminari = Win. At least that's what you can hope for. Don't use too many counters, otherwise you won't have enough arcane spells left for the Ire to be effective. The land control deck: Terrarion Crack the Earth Boomerang Shifting Borders Reweave Sunder from Within Annex Confiscate This may come as a surprise to most of you, but I consider Crack the Earth to be one of the most efficient land destruction cards ever made. Its cheap, quite effective early game, and spliceable late game. It is one of those cards that just seem to stand out above the rest. Need to get rid of that first turn land? Need a way to sacrifice Terrarion or Hatching Plans? Need another splice spell? This card does it all, and all for the low, low price of  . Think about it. As for the others, Terrarion goes well with Crack the Earth, and the Blue stuff messes with your opponent's lands as opposed to outright destroying them. All things are created equal. Except for dogs. Dogs and Jittes. Shattering Spree Izzet Guildmage Quicken Gelectrode Goblin Flectomancer Wee Dragonauts Splicing is based on instants and sorceries; Izzet is based on instants and sorceries. What's not to like? Just keep the important spells like Peer Through Depths, Muddle the Mixture, Lava Spike and Glacial Ray and the rest is pretty much interchangeable. You can also include Desperate Ritual if you want to play combos with Izzet Guildmage and Lava Spike, Psychic Puppetry if you want to TRY to abuse Geletrode (you might find it hard though) and Ideas Unbound+Quicken combine to draw 4 cards at instant speed for three mana, with only a very, very thin string attached: you'll be able to play those spells on your next turn anyway, so there's almost nothing to discard. Conclusion And there you have it folks. My second article about a deck you may or may not understand and/or care about. And for the rest of you hanging on my every word, let it be known that I'm one who is NOT afraid to dive back into the past to give you quality peasant decks that cost less than the price of a meal at a fast food restaurant. Until next time, never, EVER start eating a sandwich you can't finish in two sittings. Thanks to Yang for helping me to playtest. By VXF on May 8th, 2006 · Filed in Casual · Comments not available just now |
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