Black/White Discard
By Armyhead July 14th 2001

Metalhead wrote:
"here's my deck that I am trying to work on for july type II. The main thing I'm going for is getting a megrim or two into play, then forcing the discards with spells and my creatures. If you guys could help me to get this deck tournement legal I'd love it. Thanks,"

Black Discard
17 Swamp
4 Phyrexian Scuta
2 Greel, Mind Raker
2 Abysall Spector
4 Soul Feast
2 Rhystic Tutor
4 Megrim
4 Dark Ritual
4 Persecute
3 Ostracize
4 opprestion
4 Currupt
4 Duress
4 Mind Rot

My Comments:
Well the first thing I have to say is playing with only 17 lands is suicidal. I know its tempting to play less than 24 mana sources but even if every card in your deck has a low cost 17 lands will cause you mana drought more often than not. Interestingly, even though Metalhead wants it to be July type 2 he used no cards from Apocalypse. There are a couple that fit the deck concept well, unfortunately they are all gold or off color and this deck is dedicated to black. Without the additional card pool I dont think this deck has a chance at all so my advise is to add a color.

Multicolor Discard
4 Desolation Angel
3 Chilling Aparition
3 Spectral Lynx
2 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Vindicate
4 Bogdown
4 Duress
4 Megrim
4 Death Grasp
4 Dark Ritual
4 Peatbog
4 Ancient Spring
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Plains
8 Swamp

Sideboard:
2 Persecute
4 Addle
4 Wrath of God
3 Tsabo's Decree
2 Disenchant

Card By Card Analysis:
Desolation Angel: The new Armageddon. Forget that its a Flying 5/4. Its main purpose is to cause all your opponents lands to disappear.
Chilling Aparition: The trade off of not having flying is worth the ability to block Blastoderm repeatedly.
Spectral Lynx: This card holds the ground along side Chilly. Quite handy against Green creatures.
Gerrard's Verdict: This card can either net you a healthy lifegain and kill some lands or get you straight Card Advantage. With Megrim it can be a hefty blow as well.
Vindicate: A multipurpose card for a reasonable price.
Bogdown: Talk about combos with Megrim. This card abuses your opponent if they dont hold land.
Duress: Often this card is enough to hurt control badly. It might be the best discard spell in type 2.
Megrim: One of your victory conditions. If you can get it out early enough you may kill your opponent quickly.
Death Grasp: An alternative way to win the end game and creature removal all in one.

The Mana Sources: You will notice that instead of 21 mana sources the deck has 28. The increase is due to the inclusion of Desolation Angel. Armageddon effects (Armageddon, Obliterate, Jokulhaups, etcetera ) require more your mana to be more efficient and abundant.
Dark Ritual: Goes without saying. The ability to speed up the deck is tremendous. Third turn Angels are very possible.
Peatbog and Ancient Springs: Sac lands are important because you will be destroying your lands with the Angels and the loss of lands is not as acute for you because your cards are cheap.
Caves of Koilos: The Deck needs to have 4 to make the mana work.

The Sideboard
Persecute & Addle: The fact is that people are sideboarding Dodecapods a lot because of the prevelance of discard. If you suspect your opponent will do this side out the Bogdowns and Gerrard's Verdicts. Its not that you cant handle one more fatty but why give it to them for free? You dont have to if you sideboard accordingly.
Wrath of God: Some decks will swarm you with creatures and your blockers wont be enough. Wrath of God is your answer.
Tsabo's Decree: My advise if you play black is always keep these in your sideboard as long as rebels are in print.
Disenchant: Vindicates may prove to not be enough enchantment/artifact removal against certain matchups.

Final Thoughts:
This deck is designed to destroy control decks. It will likely falter against the most aggressive of aggro decks. This is ok. You will likely see more Control than Aggro in the coming weeks. Discard decks are always fun to play as they give you a sense of power over the game. You are proactively preventing your opponent's plans without using counter magic. Adding White to the mix gives you the ability to access all of white's great spells like Disenchant and Wrath of God. In this deck Spectral Lynx, Gerrard's Verdict, Desolation Angel and Vindicate all add significantly to its strength. Mono Color is just not as viable a strategy in the current environment since many of the best cards in print have been made specifically to encourage multiple colors.

Enjoy!
Magickly,
Paul Emerson Leicht
armyhead on IRC
Deck Clinic Director