2001)

The Quick Aren’t the Dead

Its no surprise that speed dominates. It can be held down, but that’s a feat in itself. Repeating blow after blow is quite a path to victory. My article ´´Burn Class 101´´ explained burn. As with recursion, speed isn’t just Red. Actually, all colors have had their hand in speed. So I will then explain certain speed for certain colors that have proven to ´´fill the boots.´´

BLACK

It isn’t a surprise that Black has most of the popularity as far as speed goes. I believe it was 1996 (correct me if I’m wrong) that was dubbed the Black Summer all because of one card: Necropotence. (This is also my favorite card.) It rewrote the book of speed. Its “Oomph” was also added with some other speedy disruption. (Strip Mine, Hymn to Tourach, Dark Ritual, Hypnotic Specter and Black Knight to name a few) The newer Necro deck was even nastier with Duress.

Old Necro (type 1)

Black (30)

4:Hypnotic Specter
3:Necropotence
4:Sinkhole
4:Dark Ritual
3:Drain Life
1:Ishan Shade
4:Black Knight
3:Mind Twist
4:Hymn to Tourach

Artifacts (7)

3:Ivory Tower
1:Jayemdae Tome
3:Nevinyrral’s Disk

Land (23)

17:Swamp
2:Ebon Stronghold
4:Strip Mine

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 7
2cc: 15
3cc: 7
4cc: 4
5cc: 1
Xcc: 3

I believe it was that or something very similar. So, if I’m wrong, e-mail me and say, ´´hey, it’s yadda yadda yadda ´´ Next is on of the most popular black speed decks: the Suicide deck! (Dah-dah-dah-DUH! That was supposed to be a dramatic reverb interlude, so please pretend you heard it)

Suicide Black

Black (40)

4:Dark Ritual
4:Carnophage
4:Black Knight
4:Phyrexian Negator
4:Foul Imp
1:Infernal Contract
2:Hatred
4:Maggot Carrier
3:Skittering Skirge
2:Skittering Horror
4:Unearth
4:Duress

Artifacts (4)

4:Mox Diamond (I just use lotus petals)

Land (16)
16:Swamp

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 20
2cc: 8
3cc: 10
4cc: 0
5cc: 2

Just play creature, next turn drop another. Creature enhancers are also a good idea. Try Spinal Graft, Unholy Strength, Sinister Strength, etc.

BLUE

Blue’s speed relies in the fish. I’m only going to post one deck for Blue and White speed because most of their really successful decks are a little slower. (Of course that’s in my opinion, I could be wrong…)

Fish

Blue (40)

3:Dominating Licid
1:Rootwater Shaman
4:Counterspell
4:Forbid
4:Coral Merfolk
4:Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
4:Manta Riders
4:Capsize
4:Boomerang
4:Sandbar Merfolk
4:Lord of Atlantis

Land (20)

4:Saprazzan Skerry
16:Island

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 12
2cc: 16
3cc: 11
4cc: 1

Yeah, I know most other Fish decks use, well, Fish, but I decided to utilize the Lord of Atlantis and make his ability more useful. Good fish to use: Hammerhead Shark, Dandan, Man-O-War, School of Piranha. You get the idea.

WHITE

White is usually associated with “white weenie”. The deck had one and two drops backed up with Armageddon and Crusades. It can be very powerful and devastating to the slow opponent. For this article, I have chosen to look at another deck instead.

Now, this isn’t my idea. I was given the idea of Turbo Chant from a friend. All he told me was what it did, not what was in the deck. So, this is my take on the very speedy, very controlling, Turbo Chant.

Turbo Chant

White (38)

4:Orim’s Chant
4:Abeyance
3:Disenchant
4:Aura of Silence
3:Abolish
4:Mageta the Lion
4:Glittering Lynx
4:Glittering Lion
4:Parallax Wave
4:Topple

Land (22)

18:Plains
4:Remote Farm

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 8
2cc: 7
3cc: 15
4cc: 4
5cc: 4

GREEN

Green is king of speed because of the elves. They just speed things up a lot. If you think elves would only help a little, but not too much, you haven’t played this Green deck.

Stomp!

Green (44)

4:Llanowar Elves
4:Fyndhorn Elves
4:Hunted Wumpus
4:Emporer Crocodile
4:Ernham Djinn
4:Wall of Blossoms
4:Hunting Moa
4:Pouncing Jaguar
4:Eldamri’s Vineyard
4:Scent of Ivy

Land (20)

16:Forest
4:Hickory Woodlot

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 20
2cc: 4
3cc: 4
4cc: 12

Speedy elves chuck those Wumpusses (is that a word? Is Wumpus even a word? Oh well…) and Blastos (???). There isn’t too much to say about this one. Eldamri’s Vineyard gives you a big edge and your opponent mana-burn in most cases. Scent of Ivy is a quick boost.

RED

This deck we’ve all seen, but here it is again!

The Usual Sligh

Red (36)

4:Jackal Pup
4:Ball Lightning
4:Incnerate
4:Shock
4:Mogg Fanatic
4:Sonic Burst
4:Seal of Fire
4:Mogg Flunkies
4:Raging Goblin

Artifacts (8)

4:Cursed Scroll
4:Lotus Petal

Land (16)

16:Mountain

Mana cost analysis:
1cc: 24
2cc: 8
3cc: 4

Other familiar additions were Fireblast, Bottle Gnomes, Boil, and Earthquake (as a reset button). Tempest was Sligh’s shining moment. It gave Sligh Cursed Scroll, Lotus Petal, Mogg Fanatic and Jackal Pup. And some cards not used here, but in most other Sligh decks from Tempest were Giant Strength, Canyon Wildcat and Rathi Dragon. Tempest was the main sligh set, but what about the other sets? Can someone say Goblin Grenade?
Well, in conclusion, speed decks have been around since players noticed that turn one was more than just a turn to play a land. Channel/Fireball has proven itself to be awesome. Stay tuned for the follow up on how good control is. This has been another article by Nick Rohr, signing out.

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