CardShark Content - Nate Zmek (7/27/2006)

In every tournament that I have been to in the past 5 years, everyone sported the latest metagame decks, lacking all creativity. Every one had to have the latest ´´Tooth and Nail

Tooth and Nail
	Set: Mirrodin Cost: 7 Color: Green Type: Sorcery Rarity: R Number: 134 Artist: Greg Hildebrandt Text: Choose one - Search your library for up to two creature cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library; or put up to two creature cards from your hand into play. Entwine 2 (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.)

´´ deck, or more recently, the ´´Heartbeat of Spring

Heartbeat of Spring
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Number: 212 Artist: Rob Alexander Text: Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.

´´ combo deck.

Now I am definitely not saying that these decks are bad. (These decks have beaten me more than once.) But what I am saying is that there is no more originality in the decks anymore. I have built many decks all by myself, that have done very well, which are less than one hundred dollars, and have had the satisfaction of people coming up to me and ask, ´´What is the name of the deck?´´ Here are some essential points to think about when trying to build a rogue deck.


ONLY USE CARDS YOU HAVE, OR CAN EASILY TRADE FOR

One of the most common problems I have seen in my experience of building decks and giving advice, is that people come up with awesome ideas that are way above their ability to get the cards. There are many decks that you could build, that are based off other archetypes, to make the deck cheaper...such as swapping the 4 Umezawa's Jitte

Umezawa's Jitte

Set: Betrayers of Kamigawa Cost: 2 Color: Colorless Type: Legendary Artifact Sub Type: Equipment Rarity: R Number: 163 Artist: Christopher Moeller Text: Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, put two charge counters on Umezawa's Jitte. Remove a charge counter from Umezawa's Jitte Choose one — Equipped creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn; or target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn; or you gain 2 life. Equip 2

for Loxodon Warhammer

Loxodon Warhammer
	Set: Mirrodin Cost: 3 Color: Colorless Type: Artifact Sub Type: Equipment Rarity: U Number: 201 Artist: Jeremy Jarvis Text: Equipped creature gets +3/+0, has trample, and has 'Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.' Equip 3 (3: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery. This card comes into play unattached and stays in play if the creature leaves play.)

.


USE YOUR FAVORITE COLORS

In the game of magic there are 5 basic colors. Now my favorite color happens
to be black. What ever your color is, go for it. Also try to use mechanics that the color would be used the best with. I have seen some interesting red green replicate decks. (Djinn Illuminatus

Djinn Illuminatus
	Set: Guildpact Color: Multicolor Type: Creature Sub Type: Djinn Rarity: R Number: 142 Power: 3 Toughness: 5 Text: ((U/R) can be paid with either U or R.) Flying Each instant and sorcery spell you play has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost. (When you play it, copy it for each time you paid its replicate cost. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

)


YOU CAN ALSO CHANGE ARCHETYPES (FOR THE BETTER)

A prime example of this would be the storm mechanic. Storm decks had been out for a while, and had been tweaked with for a while, until a man named Steve Menendian came out with a revolutionary deck called TPS (The Perfect Storm.) Officially, the deck was mastered, and I have never seen a better storm deck. But the new mechanics are fresh (such as dredge or haunt) and have yet to be built to their fullest.


FINALLY, USE COMMONS AND UNCOMMONS

The worst decks in the metagame are the ones that are 99% rares. They are the worst. Even the famous deck ´´Meandeck Tendrils´´ has commons (the kill is an uncommon, Tendrils of Agony

Tendrils of Agony
	Set: Scourge Cost: 4 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Number: 75 Text: Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. Storm

). They are the lifeblood of every good deck. Here are some examples:


Deck/Kill condition

Astral Slide

Astral Slide
	Set: Onslaught Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Enchantment Rarity: U Number: 4 Artist: Ron Spears Text: Whenever a player cycles a card, you may remove target creature from the game. If you do, return that creature to play under its owner's control at end of turn.

decks/ Astral Slide

Astral Slide
	Set: Onslaught Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Enchantment Rarity: U Number: 4 Artist: Ron Spears Text: Whenever a player cycles a card, you may remove target creature from the game. If you do, return that creature to play under its owner's control at end of turn.

Channel

Channel
	Set: Revised Edition Cost: 2 Color: Green Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Artist: Richard Thomas Text: Until end of turn, you may add colorless mana to your mana pool at a cost of 1 life per point of mana. These additions are played with the speed of an interrupt. Effects that prevent or redirect damage may not be used to counter this loss of life.

Fireball

Fireball
	Set: Revised Edition Cost: 2 Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: C Artist: Mark Tedin Text: Fireball does X damage total, divided evenly (round down) among any number of targets. Pay 1 extra mana for each target beyond the first.

combo/ Fireball

Fireball
	Set: Revised Edition Cost: 2 Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: C Artist: Mark Tedin Text: Fireball does X damage total, divided evenly (round down) among any number of targets. Pay 1 extra mana for each target beyond the first.

Heartbeat of Spring

Heartbeat of Spring
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Number: 212 Artist: Rob Alexander Text: Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.

/ Blaze

Blaze
	Set: Classic Sixth Edition Cost: 2 Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Number: 168 Artist: Gerry Grace Text: Blaze deals X damage to target creature or player.

Worldgorger Dragon

Worldgorger Dragon
	Set: Judgment Cost: 6 Color: Red Type: Creature Sub Type: Nightmare Dragon Rarity: R Number: 103 Artist: Wayne England Power: 7 Toughness: 7 Text: Flying, Trample. When Worldgorger Dragon comes into play, remove all other permanents you control from the game. When Worldgorger Dragon leaves play, return the removed cards to play under their owner's control.

Reanimate

Reanimate
	Set: Tempest Cost: 1 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Artist: Robert Bliss Text: Put target creature card from any graveyard into play under your control. Lose life equal to that creature's total casting cost.

/ Reanimate

Reanimate
	Set: Tempest Cost: 1 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Artist: Robert Bliss Text: Put target creature card from any graveyard into play under your control. Lose life equal to that creature's total casting cost.

and Buried Alive

Buried Alive
	Set: Weatherlight Cost: 3 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Artist: Brian Horton Text: Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them into your graveyard. Shuffle your library afterwards.

And there are many others. Have fun with your new deck, and don't forget that the most successful decks are the ones where their owners completely understand the structure, and the outcome of each situation they are in. The best way to do this is to build a deck yourself.

Here is a deck I made off of Heartbeat of Spring

Heartbeat of Spring
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Number: 212 Artist: Rob Alexander Text: Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.

:

Wicked
Creatures: 12
4 Bile Urchin

Bile Urchin
	Set: Betrayers of Kamigawa Cost: 1 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Spirit Rarity: C Number: 61 Artist: Dany Orizio Power: 1 Toughness: 1 Text: Sacrifice Bile Urchin Target player loses 1 life.

4 Wicked Akuba

Wicked Akuba
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Spirit Rarity: C Number: 150 Artist: Ittoku Power: 2 Toughness: 2 Text: B: Target player dealt damage by Wicked Akuba this turn loses 1 life.

4 Vinelasher Kudzu

Vinelasher Kudzu
	Set: Ravnica City of Guilds Cost: 2 Color: Green Type: Creature Sub Type: Plant Rarity: R Number: 189 Artist: Mark Tedin Power: 1 Toughness: 1 Text: Whenever a land comes into play under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Vinelasher Kudzu.

Spells 28
4 Early Harvest

Early Harvest
	Set: Classic Sixth Edition Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Instant Rarity: R Number: 222 Artist: Janine Johnston Text: Target player untaps all basic lands he or she controls.

4 Last Gasp

Last Gasp
	Set: Ravnica City of Guilds Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Instant Rarity: C Number: 93 Artist: Thomas M. Baxa Text: Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.

4 Zombify

Zombify
	Set: Odyssey Cost: 4 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Number: 171 Artist: Mark Romanoski Text: Return target creature card from your graveyard to play.

4 Kodama's Reach

Kodama's Reach
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Sorcery Sub Type: Arcane Rarity: C Number: 225 Artist: Heather Hudson Text: Search your library for two basic land cards, reveal those cards, and put one into play tapped and the other into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

4 Heartbeat of Spring

Heartbeat of Spring
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Number: 212 Artist: Rob Alexander Text: Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.

4 Overgrowth

Overgrowth
	Set: Stronghold Cost: 3 Color: Green Type: Enchant Land Rarity: C Number: 61 Artist: Rob Alexander Text: Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, it produces an additional GG.

4 Nightcreep

Nightcreep
	Set: Dissension Color: Black Rarity: U Number: 49 Artist: Jeff Miracola

Lands 21
13 Swamp

Swamp
	Set: Oversize Cards Color: Land Type: Land Rarity: X Artist: Tony Roberts Text: T: Add B to your mana pool.

8 Forest

Forest
	Set: Oversize Cards Color: Land Type: Land Rarity: X Artist: Tony Roberts Text: T: Add G to your mana pool.

The point of this deck is to attack with Wicked Akuba

Wicked Akuba
	Set: Champions of Kamigawa Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Spirit Rarity: C Number: 150 Artist: Ittoku Power: 2 Toughness: 2 Text: B: Target player dealt damage by Wicked Akuba this turn loses 1 life.

. Then you tap a whole lot of mana to drain their life.

Have Fun!

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