I had started trying to grab some clean screenshots of these from unboxing videos: even running the German version of Assassin through google translate for my review of that. But why not put on my big boy pants and just send an email? So I did! Really appreciative to Doctor Alzheimers Academia Magica: definately worth checking out.
As usual with this types of posts everything following this line is just content transcribed from the booklet. Enjoy!
Pages 10 and 11
SECTION 111: THE DECKS
What follows are card lists and playing ideas for each of the four preconstructed Tempest decks. Each deck focuses on a different strength of this stand-alone set.
The Slivers is built around these unique creatures, which share a hive mind that allows any one Sliver to grant its powers to all other Slivers in play.
Flames of Rath makes use of Tempest’s impressive array of direct-damage and creature-removal cards.
Deep Freeze is a classic control deck, taking advantage of new counterspelling and creature-suppression cards.
The Swarm floods your opponent with hordes of green and white creatures and is supported by other Tempest cards that accelerate play.
Each of the four decks has a basic form, using only cards from the Tempest expansion. Each also has an advanced version that is more suited to the intense competition of tournaments. These make use of powerful cards from various in-print sets to make each deck even more effective. There are also design tips to assist you in fine-tuning the decks for tournament play.
Once you’ve got the feel of these decks, try experimenting with different concepts or add your own enhancements to make your deck unique.
Pages 12 and 13
THE SLIVERS
Basic Deck List
Number Card Casting Cost Rarity
Lands (25)
13 Island
1 Rootwater Depths – U
11 Swamp
Creatures (16)
4 Winged Sliver 1U C
3 Mnemonic Sliver 2U U
4 Clot Sliver 1B C
1 Mindwhip Sliver 2B U
4 Metallic Sliver 1 C
Other (19)
1 Whispers of the Muse U (Buyback 5) C
1 Ertai's Meddling XR R
2 Power Sink XU C
1 Spell Blast XU C
2 Counterspell UU C
2 Dream Cache 2U C
1 Dismiss 2UU C
2 Diabolic Edict 1B C
1 Fevered Convulsions BB R
2 Dark Banishing 2B C
1 Evincar's Justice 2BB (Buyback 3) C
1 Extinction 4B R
1 Lobotomy 2UB U
1 Essence Bottle 2 U
Pages 14 and 15
The Basic Deck
“The Slivers” is a deck designed for the long game, building up a card advantage. Ultimately, you want access to many more cards than your opponent, which will allow you to win by overwhelming him or her.
Early card advantage comes from Mnemonic Sliver, which lets you sacrifice a Sliver (including itself) to draw a card if your opponent uses a card to kill it. Later in the game, you can choose from several ways to get a large card advantage. One is to repeatedly use Whispers of the Muse, a buyback instant, to draw cards. Another is to play Dismiss, allowing you to both counter one of your opponent’s spells and draw a card. A different type of card advantage is removing opposing creatures: the buyback sorcery Evincar’s Justice can let you do this over and over, while the enchantment Fevered Convulsions can kill many creatures over time.
Your main job early in the game is simply to survive. You want to create a stable situation – that is, one in which your opponent can’t attack you with creatures. There are two ways to do this. One is using Dark Banishing, Diabolic Edict, Evincar’s Justice, and Extinction to kill all the creatures he or she plays. The other is to put a Clot Sliver into play, which allows you to block with your creatures and then regenerate them.
Mana management is very important in playing “The Slivers.” It will cost you two mana to counter your opponent’s spells and to regenerate or sacrifice your Slivers. So you should try to keep two mana available as much as possible, especially if you have a Clot Sliver or a Mnemonic Sliver on the table. You can use mana more effectively by playing some of your spells and abilities (such as Whispers of the Muse and Essence Bottle’s ability) at the end of your opponent’s turn, right before you untap. One of the more difficult parts of playing the deck is deciding when to tap out and when to keep your mana available. It may take quite a bit of practice to develop judgement in this area.
Above all, you need to be patient. Keep enough mana to regenerate or counterspell before moving on to other things. When you seem to be losing, don’t spend much effort attacking your opponent; instead, play defensively and try to weather the storm. With luck you will soon stabilise; if you can do this, you can probably go on the attack eventually.
Pages 16 and 17
ADVANCED DECK LIST
Number Card Casting Cost Set
Land (24)
8 Island
2 Quicksand – Visions
4 Rootwater Depths – Tempest
6 Swamp
4 Underground River – Fifth Edition
Creatures (16)
4 Winged Sliver 1U Tempest
3 Mnemonic Sliver 2U Tempest
4 Clot Sliver 1B Tempest
1 Mindwhip Sliver 2B Tempest
4 Metallic Sliver 1 Tempest
Other (20)
1 Portent U Fifth Ed.
1 Power Sink XU Tempest, Fifth Ed.,
3 Impulse 1U Tempest
3 Counterspell UU Tempest, Fifth Ed.
1 Dismiss 2UU Tempest
1 Drain Life 1B Fifth Ed.
2 Terror 1B Fifth Ed.
1 Fevered Convulsions BB Tempest
3 Stupor 2B Mirage
1 Lobotomy 2UB Tempest
2 Nevinyrral's Disk 4 Fifth Ed.
Sideboard
2 Chill 1U Tempest
1 Energy Flux 2U Fifth Ed.
1 Insight 2U Tempest
2 Propaganda 2U Tempest
1 Dread of Night B Tempest
2 Gloom 2B Fifth Ed
1 Perish 2B Tempest
2 Nekrataal 2BB Visions
1 Necropotence BBB Fifth Ed.
1 Living Death 3BB Tempest
1 Phyrexian Furnace Weatherlight
Pages 18 to 19
The Advanced Deck
To compete effectively in a tournament environment, you have to quickly find the cards you need. Portent and Impulse help the advanced version of “The Slivers” to do this. In general, try to play Impulse at the end of your opponent’s turn, so that you can keep your mana sources untapped as much as possible.
The advanced deck adds three Stupors for increased card advantage in the early game. Two Nevinyrral’s Disks will help get rid of nasty artifacts and enchantments. The Disks can also be used with the regenerating Slivers to kill off all your opponent’s creatures while keeping yours alive. Using the Disk in combination with Mnemonic Sliver allows you to draw cards when your creatures die.
The advanced deck has a somewhat different mana mix. There are more multilands, as well as two Quicksands to stop small ground creatures from attacking you and to provide colourless mana. Because of the flexible multilands and the cheaper searching cards, the number of land cards has dropped from twenty-five to twenty-four.
Sideboard
Since mana management is so important to this deck, Winter Orb can really hurt. Energy Flux shuts down those nasty Winter Orb decks by making it next to impossible for your opponent to keep artifacts in play. Play Necropotence to draw cards quickly against very slow control decks like “Deep Freeze” (p. 28), which won’t do much damage to you during the early part of the game. Living Death is very effective against creatureless decks, bringing back all your Slivers after they are killed or sacrificed.
Other sideboard cards help you achieve a stable situation against creature-based deck types. Propaganda stops fast creature hordes by making it too expensive for them to attack. Phyrexian Furnace from Weatherlight hurts decks that make heavy use of their graveyards (such as “The Swarm,” p. 38). The Nekrataals are good against decks featuring non-black creatures, but use them carefully, lest they end up killing your own Slivers!
The remaining cards work against specific colours. Chill and Gloom make things difficult for red and white decks, respectively, by making their spells more expensive. Dread of Night hurts white creature decks, and Perish kills off green creatures while leaving yours intact. Insight allows you to draw many cards when playing against green.
As with the basic deck, the most important thing in playing is your attitude – you’re not looking for a quick win. Rather, you should try to build card advantage over time, until your opponent’s position falls apart. So remember: stay alive, look to the long term, be patient, and good luck!
Pages 20 and 21
FLAMES OF RATH
Basic Deck List
Number Card Casting Cost Rarity
Lands (25)
1 Maze of Shadows – U
19 Mountain
5 Plains
Creatures (18)
4 Mogg Fanatic R C
3 Fireslinger 1R C
1 Firefly 3R U
2 Lightning Elemental 3R C
2 Wild Wurm 3R U
1 Flowstone Giant 2RR C
1 Sandstone Warrior 2RR C
1 Flowstone Salamander 3RR U
1 Magmasaur 3RR R
1 Soltari Guerrillas 2WR R
1 Coiled Tinviper 3 C
Other (17)
2 Disenchant 1W C
1 Tahngarth's Rage R U
1 Searing Touch R (Buyback 4) C
1 Blood Frenzy 1R C
1 Goblin Bombardment 1R U
4 Kindle 1R C
2 Rolling Thunder XRR C
3 Lightning Blast 3R C
1 Furnace of Rath 1RRR R
1 Squee's Toy 1 C
Pages 22 and 23
The Basic Deck
“Flames of Rath” follows a tried-and-true theme: Burn, baby, burn. The deck contains a wide variety of direct damage such as Searing Touch, Kindle, Rolling Thunder, and Lightning Blast. It also employs several anti-creature cards such as Tahngarth’s Rage and Blood Frenzy, which can destroy a creature in the right circumstances while also providing an offensive threat.
Tempest contains a number of enchantments and artifacts that could create a problem for this deck. A splash of white for Disenchant provides some defence against this possibility.
The deck gets going fast, with cheap red creatures such as Fireslinger and Mogg Fanatic. Your goal is to get a couple of creatures on the table, then use the early direct-damage spells such as Searing Touch and Kindle to prevent your opponent from keeping any blocking creatures in play.
You can benefit further if you can get out Goblin Bombardment, which deals 1 damage to any target when you sacrifice a creature. Thus you can increase the potential direct damage and also get some benefit out of a creature that’s being destroyed by an opponent’s effect.
The deck’s inspiration, Furnace of Rath, is a good finishing card. Once the Furnace is in play, all of your direct damage is doubled. It shouldn’t take long to polish off your opponent.
Page 24
ADVANCED DECK LIST
Number Card Casting Cost Set
Lands (24)
4 Dwarven Ruins – Fifth Ed.
3 Gemstone Mine – Weatherlight
12 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool – Tempest
2 Scabland – Tempest
1 Undiscovered Paradise – Visions
Creatures (9)
3 Ball Lightning RRR Fifth Ed.
2 Lightning Elemental 3R Tempest
4 Steel Golem 3 Weatherlight
Other (27)
2 Disenchant 1W Tempest, Fifth Ed.
1 Repentance 2W Tempest
4 Incinerate 1R Tempest Fifth Ed.
Page 25
4 Kindle 1R Tempest
2 Thunderbolt 1R Weatherlight
2 Earthquake XR Fifth Ed.
2 Fireball XR Fifth Ed.
2 Hammer of Bogardan 1RR Mirage
2 Furnace of Rath 1RRR Tempest
3 Fireblast 4RR Visions
2 Jokulhaups 4RR Fifth Ed.
1 Thran Tome 4 Weatherlight
Sideboard
2 Disenchant 1W Tempest, Fifth Ed
2 Divine Offering Fifth Ed.
2 Havoc 1R Tempest
4 Pyroblast R Fifth Ed.
2 Earthquake XR Fifth Ed.
1 Boil 3R Tempest
1 Phyrexian Furnace 1 Weatherlight
1 Jester's Cap 4 Tempest
Pages 26 and 27
The Advanced Deck
The number of creatures drops greatly in a full tournament environment. Your goal now is to get out one attacker and keep the field clear of any blockers. Steel Golem from Weatherlight is a valuable addition to this deck style. It is a 3/4 creature that costs only three mana to play, and you aren’t really penalised by its preventing you from playing further creature spells. Ball Lightnings provide additional damage and breakthrough speed.
The mix of direct damage has also changed. Rolling Thunder is just not efficient enough in a expanded environment – Fireball and Earthquake make better choices. Jokulhaups is added as a “reset button,” along with a few Dwarven Ruins so you can cast it earlier if needed. A good combination is to play Jokulhaups and then sacrifice two mountains for Fireblast, since they’re on their way out. Fireblast and Incinerate make for very efficient direct damage, while the Hammer of Bogardan and the Thran Tome provide card advantage.
The supporting spells offer a variety of protection against opposing creatures. Repentance allows early defence against some larger green creatures such as Maro, Aboroth, and Uktabi Efreet. Earthquake protects against white weenie and black speed decks. The Kindles are very useful throughout the game. You can use one to kill a small creature early, and later, when you have one or two in the graveyard, you can kill a larger creature or deliver a finishing blow.
The Sideboard
The biggest enemy of “Flames of Rath” is a blue permission deck. The sideboard includes Pyroblast and Boil to guard against this. The one Jester’s Cap is a good threat card against decks based on combos with Stasis and the like, especially with Pyroblasts to ensure it gets cast successfully.
Against a white deck, the Disenchants are used to stop Warmth and Circles of Protection, and Havoc provides some additional early damage. The player of a white deck will usually deal with Havoc by losing 2 life to Disenchant it. Thus it provides some defence for the Steel Golems and the Furnace of Rath, even given the usual short lifespan of artifacts and enchantments against white.
Disenchant and Divine Offering provide additional ways to remove troublesome artifacts like Winter Orb and Nevinyrral’s Disk. And Phyrexian Furnace is a good addition against graveyard-dependent decks using Nature’s Resurgence and Living Death, as well the occasional Hammer of Bogardan.
Whatever the situation, keep the deck concept in mind. As long as the only creatures on the board are yours, the Flames will keep on burning!
Pages 28 and 29
DEEP FREEZE
Basic Deck List
Number Card Casting Cost Rarity
Lands (24)
13 Island
11 Plains
Creatures (12)
2 Master Decoy 1W C
2 Soltari Lancer 2W C
1 Knight of Dawn 1WW U
1 Cloudchaser Eagle 3W C
1 Avenging Angel 3WW R
2 Wind Drake 2U C
2 Horned Turtle 2U C
1 Sky Spirit
Other (24)
1 Anoint W (Buyback 3) C
1 Disenchant 1W C
3 Pacifism 1W C
1 Invulnerability 1W (Buyback 3) U
2 Repentance 2W U
2 Power Sink 1X C
1 Spell Blast 1X C
3 Counterspell UU C
1 Legacy's Allure UU U
1 Time Ebb 2U C
1 Dream Cache 2U C
2 Gaseous Form 2U C
2 Dismiss 2UU U
1 Precognition 4U R
1 Puppet Strings 3 U
1 Emmessi Tome 4 R
Pages 30 and 31
The Basic Deck
The key to winning with “Deep Freeze” is establishing control. Counterspell, Dismiss, Power Sink, and Spell Blast prevent your opponent from playing spells that would cause you problems. In addition, the deck contains eleven cards to suppress large ground creatures. This lets you use creatures with flying or shadow to repeatedly hit your opponent. Pacifism and Gaseous Form nullify opposing creatures’ damage-dealing capacity, while Repentance removes most creatures from play. Puppet Strings and Master Decoy keep the dangerous creatures tapped.
“Deep Freeze” also offers several ways to gain card advantage on your opponent. One is simply not to give up a card when you play it. Anoint and Invulnerability are buyback damage-prevention cards: pay the buyback cost when you cast the spell to get the card back rather than put it in the graveyard. (However, you shouldn’t be afraid to play such cards without paying the buyback cost, when the situation warrants it.)
Gaining cards is the easiest way to get an advantage. Dismiss and Legacy’s Allure both help you do this, though in different ways. Normally, you play a card to remove your opponent’s card. With Dismiss, though, you get an extra draw, while Legacy’s Allure not only removes a creature from your opponent but also gives it to you. Every turn, Emmessi Tome can give you extra cards. Precognition doesn’t give you any numerical advantage, but allows you to control your opponent’s next draw. Late in the game, this makes it very difficult for your opponent to draw his or her best cards.
The key to playing this deck is patience. It usually doesn’t hurt to take 5 to 10 damage early on. If at all possible, don’t play your creatures until you also have enough mana to play a counterspell before you untap. Once you have established control, it will be virtually impossible for your opponent to harm you further.
Pages 32 and 33
ADVANCED DECK LIST
Number Card Casting Cost Set
Lands (26)
10 Island
6 Plains
4 Adarkar Wastes – Fifth Ed.
3 Thalakos Lowlands – Tempest
1 Svyelunite Temple – Fifth Ed.
2 Quicksand – Visions
Creatures (10)
2 Avenging Angel 3WW Tempest
2 Man-o'-War 2U Visions
2 Suq'Ata Firewalker 1UU Mirage
2 Rainbow Efreet 3U Visions
2 Sky Spirit 1WU Tempest
Other (24)
1 Angelic Renewal 1W Weatherlight
2 Disenchant 1W Tempest, Fifth Ed.
3 Wrath of God 2WW Fifth Ed.
1 Portent U Fifth Ed.
2 Whispers of the Muse U (Buyback 5) Tempest
4 Impulse 1U Visions
4 Counterspell UU Tempest, Fifth Ed.
1 Dissipate 1UU 1UU Mirage
2 Binding Grasp 3U Fifth Ed.
1 Inspiration 3U Fifth Ed. Visions
2 Dismiss 2UU Tempest
1 Desertion 3UU Visions
Sideboard
2 Disenchant 1W Tempest, Fifth Ed.
2 Mangara's Blessing 2W Mirage
1 Light of Day 3W Tempest
1 Wrath of God 2WW Fifth Ed.
2 Hydroblast U Fifth Ed.
2 Mind Harness U Mirage
1 Dissipate 1UU Mirage
1 Wall of Air 1UU Fifth Ed.
1 Emmessi Tome 4 Tempest
2 Quicksand – Tempest
Pages 34 and 35
The Advanced Deck
Improved card cycling and card drawing is vital in a tournament environment. Four Impulses and a Portent help you cycle cards. Impulse allows you to pick the best of the top four cards of your library, and should be played at the end of your opponent’s turn. This allows you to keep your mana available for counterspelling during your opponent’s main phase. For card drawing, the advanced version of “Deep Freeze” includes two Whispers of the Muse and an Inspiration. It’s all right to play Whispers early in the game without paying the buy- back cost; you need card cyclers early to help you set up your defenses.
The advanced deck also has upgraded control ability. Power Sink and Spell Blast have been pulled in favor of an extra Counterspell, Dissipate, and Desertion. The lat- ter also contributes to card advantage, by not only coun- tering an opponent’s spell but also giving you control if it’s a creature or artifact spell. Three Wrath of Gods and two Binding Grasps replace the creature-suppression spells of the basic deck. Angelic Renewal allows you to return to play a creature just put into the graveyard, so you can play Wrath of God a little more freely. It also allows you cast a Rainbow Efreet earlier, even you don’t have the mana available to phase it out immediately.
The advanced deck also features a revamped selection of creatures. Avenging Angel and Sky Spirit remain from the original deck, but there are now two of each. Added are two Man-o’-Wars, two Suq’Ata Firewalkers, and two Rainbow Efreets. Both the Avenging Angel and Rainbow Efreet combine well with Wrath of God. Man-o’-War unsummons any creature that has broken though your counterspell defenses. The Firewalkers help control fast creature decks that have cards such as Knight of Stromgald, Order of the White Shield, and Frenetic Efreet.
Finally, this deck has extra dual-mana lands. This allows you to add two Quicksands for extra creature suppression, with minimal effect on your colored mana production.
The Sideboard
“Deep Freeze” needs plenty of mana to run properly; the card you fear most is Armageddon. Jokulhaups and Winter Orb are also enemies of this deck. Defend against them by playing patiently and saving mana for your counterspells. However, if you have a Rainbow Efreet in play and keep enough mana available to phase it out, this should curb your opponent’s desire to play Jokulhaups.
Pages 36 and 37
Fast creature decks are a problem, since “Deep Freeze” goes for a slow control approach. Against a green-red creature deck you should add Mind Harness and Hydroblast for cheaper control, replacing Angelic Renewal, Portent, Binding Grasp, and Quicksand. Wall of Air, Quicksand, and the extra Wrath of God are here to protect against fast creature decks like “The Swarm” (p. 38).
A fast black deck is also a big enemy. To tackle this, substitute Mangara’s Blessing and Light of Day for Binding Grasp, Portent, and Desertion. Light of Day stops black creatures, while
Mangara’s Blessing shuts down the discard threats of Abyssal Specter and Stupor.
Emmessi Tome is a good surprise card once your opponent sideboards out his or her artifact destruction.
Whatever you face with “Deep Freeze,” play for time. Patience will pay off in the long run.
Pages 38 and 39
THE SWARM
Basic Deck List
Number Card Casting Cost Rarity
Lands (23)
14 Forest
7 Plains
2 Vec Townships – U
Creatures (26)
3 Master Decoy 1W C
2 Soltari Trooper 1W C
1 Soltari Crusader 2W U
3 Skyshroud Elf 1G C
4 Muscle Sliver 1G C
3 Pincher Beetles 2G C
3 Rootwalla 2G C
1 Krakilin XGG U
3 Trained Armodon 1GG C
1 Elven Warhounds 3G R
2 Ranger en-Vec 1WG U
Other (11)
1 Anoint W (Buyback 3) C
1 Disenchant 1W C
3 Pacifism
1 Elvish Fury G (Buyback 4) C
1 Needle Storm 1G U
1 Aluren 2GG R
2 Overrun 2GGG U
1 Recycle 4GG R
Pages 40 and 41
The Basic Deck
“The Swarm” is a fast white-green creature deck that wins through sheer numbers. Start by playing creatures quickly and inflicting as much damage as possible with them before your opponent stabilises the game. After that point, build up and overwhelm your opponent with more creatures than he or she can handle. In addition to creatures, “The Swarm” contains Pacifisms, Master Decoys, and Needle Storm for creature suppression, and Disenchant for artifact and enchantment removal. It also has a few tricks thrown in, in the form of several new noncreature cards.
The first trick is Aluren, which can often be played on your third or fourth turn. This enchantment allows players to play creatures with total casting cost 3 or less at instant speed. Since almost all of the creatures in “The Swarm” cost three mana or less to cast, Aluren lets you play your creatures at the end of your opponent’s turn and then attack with them on your next turn. This also ensures that you will get to attack with your creatures at least once before your opponent can eliminate them with a sorcery like Fireball or Wrath of God.
“The Swarm” also has tricks for later in the game to help finish off more tenacious opponents. Recycle lets you draw extra cards, and by the time you can afford to cast it you will have enough mana to play several cards per turn. Make sure not to play Recycle unless you have at least two other cards in your hand, since it allows you to draw only when you play a card. Once you have six mana available, try to keep two lands in your hand so that you’ll have cards to play if you draw Recycle and want to use it.
Other cards for later in the game are Krakilin, which can potentially be a very large creature, and Overrun, which makes all of your creatures bigger and gives them trample for one final, massive attack. Anoint and Elvish Fury are also helpful cards later in the game, as they can be played repeatedly once you have sufficient mana available – able to pay their buyback costs.
Pages 42 and 43
ADVANCED DECK LIST
Casting Cost Set Number Card
Lands (21)
4 Brushland
11 Forest
4 Quicksand
2 Vec Townships
Creatures (30)
1 Sacred Guide W Tempest
2 Birds of Paradise G Fifth Ed.
4 Llanowar Elves G Fifth Ed.
4 Muscle Sliver 1G C Tempest
4 River Boa 1G Visions
2 Skyshroud Elf 1G Tempest
4 Llanowar Sentinel 2G Weatherlight
3 Uktabi Orangutan 2G Visions
1 Trained Armodon 1GG Tempest
2 Lhurgoyf 2GG Fifth Ed.
2 Arctic Wolves 3GG Weatherlight
1 Force of Nature 2GGGG Fifth Ed.
Other (9)
1 Spirit Link W Fifth Ed.
3 Armageddon 3W Fifth Ed.
1 Hurricane XG Fifth Ed.
1 Aluren 2GG 2GG Tempest
3 Nature's Resurgence 2GG Weatherlight
Sideboard
4 Disenchant 1W Tempest, Fifth Ed.
2 Spirit Link 1W Fifth Ed.
1 Armageddon 3W Fifth Ed.
2 Light of Day 3W Tempest
2 Blossoming Wreath G Weatherlight
1 Feral Instinct 1G Visions
3 City Of Solitude 2G Visions
Pages 44 and 45
The Advanced Deck
The advanced version of “The Swarm” adds three Nature’s Resurgences for faster card drawing, since you typically will have many creatures in your graveyard. This deck also substitutes four Brushlands for plains, giving you better access to green and white mana.
Three Armageddons give you a chance to destroy all lands once you have a creature advantage or have Aluren in play (allowing you to play most of your creatures for no mana). Hurricane is preferable to Needle Storm: you can still remove flying creatures from play and add the capability of direct damage to finish off your opponent. Llanowar Elves and two Birds of Paradise will provide mana for you even after you’ve played an Armageddon.
A variety of creatures from other card sets work well in “The Swarm.” Uktabi Orangutans are 2/2 creatures that replace the Disenchants while still providing artifact destruction. Arctic Wolves let you draw a card on playing them; once you stop paying the upkeep cost of any of them and let it go to your graveyard, it lets you draw extra cards with Nature’s Resurgence. Lhurgoyf is especially useful when there are a lot of creatures in your graveyard. Finally, Llanowar Sentinel combines well with Aluren: you can play a Sentinel from your hand at no cost, leaving you plenty of mana for bringing additional Sentinels from your library into play.
The Sideboard
A blue permission deck can cause trouble for your enchantments and larger creatures. To deal with this, replace Spirit Link and one or two Arctic Wolves with City of Solitude to prevent your opponent from countering spells you play on your turn. When you’re facing another deck full of troublesome enchantments, Disenchants can take the place of Spirit Link and a creature or two.
A predominantly black deck is bad news for green and white. To tackle this, replace Spirit Link and one Armageddon with Light of Day to nullify black creatures. To shut down mana-intensive decks, replace Force of Nature with an additional Armageddon and replace one Arctic Wolves with Feral Instinct. This “cantrip” card is easier to play than the Wolves after Armageddon, and helps you get a land out of your deck faster.
Finally, what do you do when you come up against another creature-heavy deck? Try replacing Aluren or Nature’s Resurgence with Spirit Link, Blossoming Wreath, and Feral Instinct. That way, you can enhance and benefit from your creature advantage without helping your opponent in the process.
And that’s it. Just after the Nemesis one now – the last expansion to offer inserts in this format – so if anyone had one of those lying about and wanted to send in some photos that’d be rad.
I’ll chuck in an announcement, too, in regards to the final post of the bracket I’d been doing. I’m a touch over a dozen cards needed to put together the two decks (Islands making up a fair chunk of those) and I’ll coerce someone into helping with an actual playtest. It feels like that’s the best way to do this.
Beats and Skies 
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