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Jordan Sexton First and foremost, I'd like to thank the Reverend Toby Watchter for his excellent article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/strategy/sb20020130a) on SideBoard Online regarding the viability of a Blue/Black Odyssey Block Battle of Wits deck. Without his original ideas and effort put into testing the deck, I probably wouldn't be writing this article, much less playing the deck. I used to be one of many players who at first scoffed at the card and the deck: "Why, oh why, did I ever have to pull this horrible rare!" However, after playing the deck in both Standard and OBC, I am of a far different opinion. Firstly, as Rev. Toby mentioned, the deck is a blast to play. I've never had so much fun playing Magic, and even better, it is obviously good in Standard. I also concur with the Reverend regarding the viability of the deck in Block - it is indeed a force to be reckoned with, especially taking into account the limited amount of Enchantment removal and countermagic in Odyssey Block. That said, I am forced to disagree with several of Rev. Toby's choices for the deck. In order for this article to make any amount of sense at all, here is his decklist for reference: Creatures (64) 4 Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor 4 Cephalid Broker 4 Cephalid Looter 4 Cephalid Vandal 4 Chainer, Dementia Master 4 Faceless Butcher 4 Ichorid 4 Laquatus's Champion 4 Millikin 4 Mindslicer 4 Mortivore 4 Nantuko Shade 4 Psychatog 4 Sengir Vampire 4 Shadowmage Infiltrator 4 Thought Devourer Spells (84) 4 Battle of Wits 4 Buried Alive 4 Chainer's Edict 4 Circular Logic 4 Concentrate 4 Deep Analysis 4 Diabolic Tutor 4 Insidious Dreams 4 Liquify 4 Morgue Theft 4 Mutilate 4 Obsessive Search 4 Peek 4 Persuasion 4 Predict 4 Skeletal Scrying 4 Standstill 4 Syncopate 4 Traumatize 4 Upheaval 4 Zombify Lands (98) 4 Cephalid Coliseum 4 Darkwater Catacombs 36 Island 50 Swamp 4 Tainted Isle I believe, after extensive testing versus a variety of Odyssey Block decks, that there are several severe problems with Rev. Toby's version of the deck. Many of his card choices based on whatever projected metagame he used are well, to put it bluntly, wrong. I cannot speak for the Reverend, but I would hypothesize, that, at the very least, he was expecting a far slower metagame than OBC has transformed into. The Odyssey Block is the fastest Block format we have seen for quite some time. With many of the Spells, such as Wild Mongrel, Grim Lavamancer, and Fiery Temper, packing both a high power-to-casting-cost ratio and lightning speed, I've been at the receiving end of Tempest-era Sligh-like 4th turn kills at the hands of Red/Green decks. Whether it by Madness-powered Rocket Shoes or Draino-style decks, Sligh, or fast Black beats, OBC is blazing fast. In light of this fact, Rev. Toby's BoW deck has a few severe weaknesses. The first of these shortcomings is a nearly complete lack of good early removal. With Faceless Butcher, Chainer's Edict, and Mutilate forming the decks only removal, this version gets utterly annihilated by Creature-based decks. The second critical weakness is the deck's relatively high casting costs, especially those of Creatures. The Battle of Wits deck must win quickly, or not at all, and the high amount of five and six Casting Cost Creatures such as Chainer, Sengir Vampire, and Aboshan are too mana-intensive, and do not have a great enough effect on the game, to earn slots in the deck. When drawing such expensive Creatures, I found them sitting dead in hand more often than not, while I used my early turns to play other Spells. Something that came to my attention when viewing Rev. Toby's decklist for the first time is the life loss attached to a few of the Spells and abilities of cards in the deck. I understand that many players swear by Deep Analysis in any Blue deck, and I wouldn't think of playing Suicide Black without strongly considering Skeletal Scrying. However, with the metagame being composed of fast Creature-based beatdown decks, Battle of Wits cannot afford the price it would be forced to pay to use such Spells. Paying 3 life to Chainer, Dementia Master or Deep Analysis is simply bringing you that much closer to a final Creature rush, Fiery Temper, or Violent Eruption. Given the choice, I would rather not assist my opponent in depleting my quickly vanishing quantity of life. Finally, the most severe problem with Rev. Toby's version of the deck is its lack of focus. While several paths to victory are needed to ensure versatility, the goal of the Battle of Wits deck is, of course, to win using its namesake card. The Battle win condition relies on several inherent factors. The requirements of the deck can be broken down into the three categories of reliable search, early removal, and a stable mana base. Beyond these three concepts, there is a lot of room for the focus of the deck to become vague. While there is still a lot of filler between the necessary components of the deck, you surely don't want to play any cards that force you to make decisions early on which force you to work against your desired win condition or plan of action. Now, as I wouldn't dare to just state criticisms of Rev. Toby's deck (which is definitely not what this article is intended to do anyway) without giving you my current build of the deck. Here are my suggested revisions for his deck, and a short recap, using a card-by-card analysis of those modifications, followed by the actual decklist I'm currently using: - Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor Only a 3/3 with a prohibitive casting cost of six, Aboshan doesn't make the cut. With no other Cephalids left in the deck, even his "Opposition" ability becomes rather unimpressive, and his "Deluge" ability, costing UUU, is a bit too mana-intensive to be useful. - Cephalid Looter / Cephalid Broker While cheap and possessing a useful ability, these Creatures are too small to be of much use in a fast-paced game, easily sent packing by Firebolt, Volcanic Eruption, or otherwise. - Cephalid Vandal As much as the Vandal is sometimes useful ("Just think of him as a slow Traumatize"), I found that as soon as I played him, I was either forced to entirely change my game plan, or waste a valuable removal Spell to destroy it before it became troublesome. It's one of those cards that makes the deck lose focus - I don't want to be forced to make the decision to nullify Battle of Wits as early as the second turn, or to have a dead card in hand that might as well just be something else. - Chainer, Dementia Master A high casting cost, life loss attached to his ability, and only a Power and Toughness of 3 each, Chainer doesn't deserve a spot in the deck. Worst of all, if he leaves play, all your Butchers, Champions, Stalkers, and Fiends that are in play vanish, leaving you helpless in the face of an opponent who just got all he wanted back. Talk about card disadvantage… - Mindslicer This is another card that misses the mark of the deck's focus. I'm not sure that I want to cast a 4/3 Creature, only to be forced to discard my hand to a Fiery Temper, or even my own Mutilate. The Red/Green or Sligh player can afford to discard his hand - after all, he just needs to draw a few Creatures or burn Spells to finish you off. That's too much risk for something that is unnecessary in the deck - Sengir Vampire While normally superior to Thought Devourer, possessing a casting cost of five makes this card sub-par, even against Creature-based decks. - Deep Analysis As previously mentioned, Deep Analysis is too costly, both in terms of mana cost and the life loss attached to the Flashback ability. Six mana and 3 life for a Sorcery that nets you three cards isn't such a great deal for this deck. - Skeletal Scrying Once again, this is a great card in an aggressive Black deck, but doesn't belong in here, due to the costs entailed with playing it. + Mesmeric Fiend A little bit of hand disruption early on with a Fiend can limit the Opponent's options without unleashing a barrage of Madness-enhanced Spells or Creatures. + Shambling Swarm A 3/3 Black Creature for four mana and an excellent source of removal all in one neat package, the Swarm should be included in almost any OBC deck with a heavy Black component. The 1BBB Casting Costs is rarely a concern in the face of the card's obvious advantages. + Slithery Stalker While not as good as Faceless Butcher, the Stalker is another supplement for the deck's low removal versus fast decks, in this case Green or White ones. It deals with Mongrels and Rootwallas just fine, and works wonders against Elephant, Squirrel, and Beast tokens. + Careful Study Careful Study supplements the deck's cheap search, while utilizing discarded cards by Zombify-ing Creatures, providing fuel for Ichorid, and drawing off Obsessive Search. + Ghastly Demise Another of the cheap removal Spells in the format, Ghastly Demise is capable of taking out almost any opposing Creature, provided that it's not Black. + Innocent Blood Innocent Blood takes advantage of the deck's proportionally low Creature count (the equivalent of twelve Creatures in a 60 card deck) by eliminating your Opponent's Creatures at a low cost. + Rites of Refusal An additional boost to the decks countermagic supply, the Rites become even better when combined with Zombify or Obsessive Search. + Tainted Pact A very useful search card that was absent from Rev. Toby's deck, the Pact can get exactly you the card you need with a bit of luck, or, at the very worst, mill a few cards that you don't off the top, getting you that much closer to your goal. + Zombie Infestation Zombie Infestation creates blockers or attackers early on, while taking advantage of Zombify, Ichorid, Mortivore, and Madness Spells. Here, then, with the above changes, is my current version of the deck, optimized for the metagame:
As always, I'm open to any suggestions, criticisms, death threats, etc. Thanks for your time, and good luck playing Battle of Wits in OBC! Jordan Sexton GixJ1 on IRC Newnet apocalypticdestiny@hotmail.com Props Reverend Toby - Convincing me to play Battle of Wits in Odyssey Block. Jeff Ulrich - Lending me cards, making suggestions, playtesting, running tournaments. Matt Sims - Lending me cards. Everyone I played against with - Being patient with my shuffling antics. You - Reading this article, and (hopefully) being inspired to play the deck! Slops Everyone who says the deck sucks - You are dead wrong, and that's all there is to it. No portion of this web site may be used in any way without expressed written consent. All rights reserved. Magic the Gathering and it's respective properties are copyright Wizards of the Coast. Privacy Policy |
  
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