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Tags: magic the gathering
Published : 3 months ago (Thu, 22 May 2008 07:55:43 PDT) Searched: http://slayride27.livejournal.com/88827.html 0 links Related posts
Spectrum is an Invasion Preconstructed Deck that uses green to gain access to the other four colors to abuse the Invasion “Domain” spells and by having mostly green permanents, keeps the Djinn from losing power with their drawback. I picked it up for $4.00 USD on e-bay, well worth it at that cost.
Lands (22) 14 Forest, 2 Plains, 2 Islands, 2 Mountains, 2 Swamps. This deck needs 2 more lands. The Djinn are 6 mana apiece, Wandering Wayfarer and Sabertooth Nishoba are 6 mana, Serpentine Kavu is 6 mana with the kicker, Probe costs 5 if you use the kicker, and Global Ruin, Ordered Migration, and Kavu Climber also costs 5 mana. That is 11 spells that really need the 24 land count. In addition, although Harrow gets 2 basic land, you have to sacrifice a land in order to use it. Harrow is really effective at thinning your deck as a result of the low land count.
Creatures (22) 3 x Thornscape Apprentice. (see Barrage review for stats: http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285) This guy exists in your deck to either lock down opponent’s creatures for W or chump block. In a deck with little early defense, this creature is about all there is. 1 x Nomadic Elf. (see Barrage review for stats: http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285) Chaff. 1G = 1 colored mana of your choice is still awful, especially when a common land that taps for 1 colorless now does this. Another chump blocker. 2 x Yavimaya Barbarian. Cost: GR. Creature—Barbarian Elf. P/T: 2/2. Abilities: Protection from blue. An Invasion ‘bear’ with the allied colors hating on their mutual enemy color. This card, Nomadic Elf, and Thornscape Apprentice are the only 6 cards for less than 4 mana that summon creatures, a major curve problem. Thornscape Apprentice can actually make this card relevant in combat by giving it First Strike. 2 x Quirion Trailblazer. Cost: 3G. Creature—Elf. P/T: 1/2. Abilities: Card Name CIP, search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped, shuffle your library. This card is outdated now, but it is still very good. The Shadowmoor equivalent is Farhaven Elder, a 1/1 for 2G, same ability. The Trailblazer is great at getting one of the two basic lands of the other four colors, and getting a chump blocker. 1 x Serpentine Kavu. (see Barrage review for stats: http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285) . In the right deck, this is an awesome kavu and beater, but Spectrum is so slow that 6 mana for a 4/4 with Haste is just not a bargain. 2 x Kavu Climber. Cost: 3GG. Creature—Kavu. P/T: 3/3. Abilities: Card Name CIP, Draw a card. It is a 3/3 that replaces itself by drawing a card. Not much to complain about, especially when Coiling Oracle and Sakura-Tribe Elder are considered great cards that do the same things for 2 mana and draw a card for 1/1s. 1 x Sabertooth Nishoba. Cost: 4GW. Creature—Beast. P/T: 5/5. Abilities: Trample, Protection from red and blue. Rare. This guy was printed? Sure he is no Oversoul of Dusk with the additional and more useful Protection from Black, but Trample is nothing to sneeze at. For this deck, a big beater with a relevant reach ability (Trample gets damage to players) is a great card. As a collector of beasts, I was really glad to get this card. 2 x Voracious Cobra. Cost: 2GR. Creature—Snake. P/T: 2/2. Abilities: First Strike, Combat Damage Deathtouch. Uncommon. This card is the first one that is a chump blocker that can probably eliminate the threat. Stops 2/2s cold, a huge portion of which are in Invasions, especially kavu and the “bears”. As a snake collector, awesome card.
The last 4 creatures are the interesting “domain” creatures. 1 x Wayfaring Giant. Cost: 5W. Creature—Giant. P/T: 1/3. Abilities: Card Name gets +1/+1 for each basic land type among lands you control. Uncommon. The card seems awful at first glance, 6 mana for a 1/3? Rip off! But if you have all five basic lands in play, this creature is a 6/8, which seems like a bargain for 6 mana. Still, on average, you are probably going to end up with a 4/6, which assumes you have 3 of the 5 basic lands, which probably is not all that great for 6 mana, since the card is vanilla otherwise. The Zanam Djinn and Halam Djinn are very weird domain creatures. Play a lot of green permanents and keep these colors from dominating the table to strengthen these creatures. Zanam Djinn. Cost 5U. Creature—Djinn. P/T: 5/6. Abilities: Flying. Card Name gets –2/-2 if blue has the most or is tied for the most permanents in play. Uncommon. A poor man’s Mahamoti Djinn. Still the Evasion is very relevant here. Halam Djinn. Cost 5R. Creature—Djinn. P/T: 6/5. Abilities: Haste. Card Name gets –2/-2 if red has the most or is tied for the most permanents in play. Uncommon. Haste is still not great in this deck.
Spells (20) 3 x Fertile Ground (see Barrage for stats http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285). This spell is very necessary to keep the number of green permanents up, and helps you cast other color spells without getting the lands you need, but it does not synergize with Harrow well.
3 x Harrow. Cost 2G. Instant. Sacrifice a land, search your library for 2 basic land cards and put them into play, shuffle your library. What is really good about this card is that it activates your domain abilities, thins your deck out, and sickly allows you to keep mana back to counter creature spells with Exclude. Cost 2U. Instant. Counter target creature spell, draw a card.
2 x Tribal Flames. 1R. Sorcery. Card Name deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the number for basic land types among lands you control. If you have all 5 basic lands, this deals 5 damage for 2 mana. This is pretty bad if you only have 1 or 2 basic land types in play, but on average you probably will have 3, for 3 damage, about right for a 2 mana cost burn spell.
1 x Global Ruin. 4W. Sorcery. Each player chooses from the lands he or she controls of each basic land type, then sacrifices the rest. Rare. Armageddon that just kills the other decks.
1 x Ordered Migration 3WU. Sorcery. Put a 1/1 blue Bird creature token into play for each basic and type among lands you control. On average you’ll get 3 1/1s, but 5 1/1s is awesome for 5 mana. Uncommon. The Evasion makes this a good finishing card.
2 x Wax//Wane Mana Cost: G//W. Instant. Wax gives target creature +2/+2. Wane destroys target enchantment. Uncommon. Wax is good for your weak creatures, Wane gives the card a versatility against enchantments (enemy Fires) that Giant Growth lacks.
2 x Assault//Battery (see Barrage for stats http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285). Terrible Shock + Elephant Token. The 3/3 blocker is usually the best option, unless Assault can combine with Tribal Flames to kill a creature or player.
1 x Fires of Yavimaya (see Barrage for stats http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_80285). Haste is still not getting it done, but the +2/+2 for sacrificing Card Name can really help your weak creatures.
2 x Probe (see Dismissal for stats http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_78541). I still don’t like this card, but in this deck, it is really good for sifting through your deck to get the cards you need, especially lands to improve your domain spells.
1 x Spite//Malice ( see Dismissal for stats http://slayride27.livejournal.com/?skip=20#entry_78541). This card still has a huge black creature hole.
All in all, Spectrum is a fun Preconstructed Deck, since it is essentially try to get one land that produces each color and then try to put some huge finishers out there to win. It also shows you how to make a cheap common multi-color land base. The card quality of the deck is very good. I like the two rares, an Armageddon and a huge Beast. I think the uncommon quality is exceptional, one Fires, two Assault//Battery, two Wax/Wanes, and two Voracious Cobras are some good cards, and the common quality is good too, as Harrow and Fertile Ground are great mana thinning and acceleration respectively, and Tribal Flames is insane in the right deck. |