D
DÛke
Guest
Ok, I was talkin' to Luke (Almindhra's boyfriend) a few days ago, and suddenly, the conversation revolutionized into Magic. Anyway, to get right into what we talked about: a deck by Luke. It uses Hanna, the ever-lovely Ship Navigator, to power up the Parallax cards: Parallax Wave and Parallax Tide. With Hanna, the Parallax is not longer a "parallax" due to the "reanimation" power of Hanna. So we have virtually endless Parallax Waves and Tides tyin' up the opponent.
With that said, Ankh of Mishra is included in the deck for 2 purposes: slowin' down the opponents, or at least, makin' them rethink their land plays, and as an addition, it works well with the Hanna/Tide combo...
Wrath of God is included to make sure the survival is assured long enough until the "lock" is set up. While Hanna does suffer from Wrath of God, it is not much of a problem for two perfectly "cool" reasons: Parallax Wave is used to save Hanna few turns before the Wrath of God, and the other, less effective but effective nonetheless method, is including 4x Hanna to make sure we get her into play early, and to make sure that IF she, somehow, is destroyed, we would have a soon-to-top-deck substitute.
With Hanna, many things are possible (trust me). Using few Seals of Cleanse and Seals of Removal wouldn't hurt at all, in fact, the Seals, just as the Parallax cards...are "reusable" -- with Hanna’s aid, that is.
The deck also includes Blinding Angel. Luke did not give me any "logical" reason as to why the Blinding Angel...but surely, Blinding Angel is a good card, and therefore, could be used in this deck. This Angel also works well with Parallax Wave by using the Wave to hinder a "would-be-blocker" to the Angel, which enables the Angel to go through combat, unharmed by blockers, therefore dealin' damage, and at the same time, rendering opponent's creatures nothing more than USELESS (for attacking).
Tefari's Moat and Enlightened Tutor just come in as-smooth-as-can-be to this deck. The Tutor being able to search for most of the key cards, and the Moat enables mid-game, heavy-duty control. Though, in my opinion, wouldn't Collective Restraint be better than the Moat in this particular deck? Moat is very effective, but Restraint is like Propaganda, and it works well with the Parallax Tide -- to an extent. The Restraint also costs less than the Moat, and is easier to play in this deck due to the splashy casting cost.
As you can tell, the deck is heavy control: locking the opponent down with Ankh of Mishra, Wrath of God, Parallax cards, Tefari's Moat (or Collective Restraint?), and the Blinding Angel: most this being super-energized by Hanna. Hanna's abilities in this deck are really powerful; if this deck doesn't break Hanna in T2, I don't know what will. Though, there comes a problem when a deck becomes SO reliable on a single card so heavily -- in this case: Hanna. After seeing what she can do, Hanna will for sure become a very hated and a wide-open target...and it's not like it takes much to get rid of her. A single Shock could ruin the day...in fact, it seems to me that Red itself could ruin not just the day, but also the whole deck. Black follows Red's footsteps on messing up this deck.
The problem is, after adding all that's to be added, the deck would not have enough spots for counter magic, or much to defend Hanna.
How would we defend Hanna? I suggest that if we're going to use Enlightened Tutors and Hanna, Diplomatic Immunity becomes almost as good as it sounds. Absorb comes to mind...but we need a way that is just a bit more stable. What do you think?
And, lastly, but not at the very least...what do you think about this deck? Personally, I think it's a very unique deck. I've never seen anything like it...very creative, very powerful...very...expensive too!
Tell me what you think.
With that said, Ankh of Mishra is included in the deck for 2 purposes: slowin' down the opponents, or at least, makin' them rethink their land plays, and as an addition, it works well with the Hanna/Tide combo...
Wrath of God is included to make sure the survival is assured long enough until the "lock" is set up. While Hanna does suffer from Wrath of God, it is not much of a problem for two perfectly "cool" reasons: Parallax Wave is used to save Hanna few turns before the Wrath of God, and the other, less effective but effective nonetheless method, is including 4x Hanna to make sure we get her into play early, and to make sure that IF she, somehow, is destroyed, we would have a soon-to-top-deck substitute.
With Hanna, many things are possible (trust me). Using few Seals of Cleanse and Seals of Removal wouldn't hurt at all, in fact, the Seals, just as the Parallax cards...are "reusable" -- with Hanna’s aid, that is.
The deck also includes Blinding Angel. Luke did not give me any "logical" reason as to why the Blinding Angel...but surely, Blinding Angel is a good card, and therefore, could be used in this deck. This Angel also works well with Parallax Wave by using the Wave to hinder a "would-be-blocker" to the Angel, which enables the Angel to go through combat, unharmed by blockers, therefore dealin' damage, and at the same time, rendering opponent's creatures nothing more than USELESS (for attacking).
Tefari's Moat and Enlightened Tutor just come in as-smooth-as-can-be to this deck. The Tutor being able to search for most of the key cards, and the Moat enables mid-game, heavy-duty control. Though, in my opinion, wouldn't Collective Restraint be better than the Moat in this particular deck? Moat is very effective, but Restraint is like Propaganda, and it works well with the Parallax Tide -- to an extent. The Restraint also costs less than the Moat, and is easier to play in this deck due to the splashy casting cost.
As you can tell, the deck is heavy control: locking the opponent down with Ankh of Mishra, Wrath of God, Parallax cards, Tefari's Moat (or Collective Restraint?), and the Blinding Angel: most this being super-energized by Hanna. Hanna's abilities in this deck are really powerful; if this deck doesn't break Hanna in T2, I don't know what will. Though, there comes a problem when a deck becomes SO reliable on a single card so heavily -- in this case: Hanna. After seeing what she can do, Hanna will for sure become a very hated and a wide-open target...and it's not like it takes much to get rid of her. A single Shock could ruin the day...in fact, it seems to me that Red itself could ruin not just the day, but also the whole deck. Black follows Red's footsteps on messing up this deck.
The problem is, after adding all that's to be added, the deck would not have enough spots for counter magic, or much to defend Hanna.
How would we defend Hanna? I suggest that if we're going to use Enlightened Tutors and Hanna, Diplomatic Immunity becomes almost as good as it sounds. Absorb comes to mind...but we need a way that is just a bit more stable. What do you think?
And, lastly, but not at the very least...what do you think about this deck? Personally, I think it's a very unique deck. I've never seen anything like it...very creative, very powerful...very...expensive too!
Tell me what you think.