Icarus's blog: "Augurs, Martyrs, and Agnostics"

I think that's how you spell Chimp... Anyway.



My Goddaughter is down for the next couple of weeks
and she is some adorable half asian half kraut monkey child.
I approve.

She climbs on everything, spins, clonks her head, and just keeps screaming and playing.

So I was over at my goddaughter's grampa's house (if that's not confusing)
Putting up siding with that guy in the wedding pictures
he's going to Iraqiyastanifgali (or as I call it "the song that doesn't end") in a couple weeks.
After a couple hours of halfheartedly putting up siding
I got to watch monkey girl run around, and she liked me that day
that's the thing about kids and visitors.
They change their mind about you day to day.
I've come to terms with this fact.

Then my mom (in her infinite wisdom) brought my 130lb dog to meet my 30lb goddaughter.
I think they liked each other, but it took three people holding my dog down, to keep my goddaughter on her feet.

My puppy likes people- and it was ALMOST manageable with my goddaughter gently patting my doggy, and me holding her down, when more people came out of the house to pet the doggy, and my goddaughter got up to give doggy a toy.

That was actually kinda scary cuz my dog bucked a bit, and bumped Mackenzie pretty good with her nose.
But monkey girl was alright.
Giant dog got pats. All was well.

After I went home (after playing a game I don't approve of with a button configuration I loathe)
I called my brother back

He's got me working on two decks for Magic.
I've been trying to come up with the opposite philosophy to my decks which are predominately "overwhelm, win, win, win some more, then eat the defeated"

The first is a concept deck I've been chugging in my head for quite some time
"White bubble" (white being a color that has heavy protection and delay capabilities)
(Bubble being a concept of "you can't hit me")
But the problem is White Bubble keeps you alive
rather well
but how does it WIN?

Traditionally you either cast spells or summon creatures to take your opponent's life total down from 20 to 0.
You can gain life, prevent damage, redirect attacks, block with your creatures, etc
Every deck in magic resolves the issues of defeat and victory uniquely to the deck it faces.

So
Sometimes my brother will construct a creatureless deck that wins by unconventional means
Often referred to as an "alt win" (alternate victory) or "control" deck.

My brother loves control decks. He decides the flow of resources, flow of battle, flow of spells by focusing the development of his deck on preventing my actions.
I love unblockable GIANT creatures or infinite life combos, infinite resources
and indisputeable victory.

"White bubble" is definitely more of a "control" deck. And some of the better ways to build it is to emphasize control over protection.
If you take their gun away- you don't have to make a bullet proof vest.

But you could take their gun away, make a bullet proof vest, make a giant impenetrable wall, and then outlaw guns.

This is what I'd like to do with my "white bubble" deck.
I think we're well on the way to doing that, and there are some synergetic cards in Magic now, that may make this possible
in two unlikely places
White protection cards
and Black control/loss of life/discard cards

I am quite alright with working in "Black/White" they're often seen as two conflicting colors, but some of my favorite combos, synergetic functions, and creatures come from this unholy matrimony of light and dark, life and undeath.

Basically- there's a white card
"Solitary Confinement" that comes out into the field of play
once its out it prevents all damage to me, and I can not be the target of spells or abilities.
I have limited invulnerability.
The problem is that every turn I have this card
"during my upkeep"
I must discard a card to maintain this spell.
I also must skip my "draw step" (which is the part of every turn where I take a card from my deck and place it in my hand, without other spells or enchantments- I cannot gain cards)
So
"solitary confinement"
without a card drawing mechanic pretty much eats itself and goes away after only a few turns, right?

Well
My brother found a black card called "Gibbering descent"
Every player's upkeep (that's a key concept here- its a phase of turn and its important so remember that term)
That player discards a card, and loses 1 life.
If I (the person that played the card) have no cards in hand
I skip my upkeep.

So
With both of these cards out
and if I have no cards in hand (which is inevitable with both of them forcing me to discard a card every turn)
I skip my upkeep step (which is when gibbering descent makes you discard AND lose life)
and I have limited invulnerability.

Since I'm skipping my upkeep- I don't have to discard a card to maintain solitary confinement.

I stay invulnerable, I sit back, and watch my opponent wither away into nothing, they draw a card, they discard a card, they lose 1 life, they can't target me anyway.

Now my brother doesn't think this deck needs to "do anything else"
I strongly believe in putting a superfluous lazer cannon
ON TOP OF
a lazer cannon.

I feel it potentially necessary to make this deck destroy all lands, creatures, and resources. Normally people only draw 1 card a turn which means in the right situation with my combo in play, they will never play a card again, but there are ways to gain a life every turn, or reshuffle your discarded cards back into your deck. Etc.
There's a potential for my "bubble" to be popped.
And I'm thinking of ways to either kill more efficiently
or to preserve my bubble.

White has ways to destroy all resources.
Black and white have ways to destroy all creatures.
White has ways to protect or recycle solitary confinement and gibbering descent.

I have to ask myself what will be more effective (or at least more fun to play)
Preservation
or sadism?

Hmm?
The second deck?

Pox.

"All players lose 1/3 of their life. Discard 1/3 of their hand. Sacrifice 1/3 of their creatures. Sacrifice 1/3 of their lands"

And it can be done very early in the game.
I guess the main concept is to play with one hand tied behind your back
but to have already lived most of your life with one arm cut off.
In other words
Pox is an equalizer
a handicap
And YOU have structured your livlihood around its inevitability.

Fighting blindfolded is no detriment to the blind.

So, its kinda weird constructing this deck, and grasping the idea of Pox.
I likened it to learning to read backwards
in french
or using your left hand to write.

The approach is essentially opposite to basic logic in Magic
"Have more than your opponent"
But with pox
its more like "have less of less".

The good news is I get to play with nothing to lose.
One of my favorite ways to approach things
and I get to be hateful and spiteful with this deck.
Another plus.

Apparently pox decks often qualify in international tournaments (shit I do not care about, tourny deck builders are some of the least imaginative single-minded and BORING players imagineable, no feel for aesthetics, artwork, or beauty in concept- they just play to win, and often with decks I would consider inefficient and situationally inflexible)
This is good news for me, it means the concept has been tested and proven to have a high win percentile. I just hope its because of people playing it correctly
and not BUILDING it correctly
a deck that does nothing but wins lacks tension, lacks fun.
No one will let you play it, or you just get into some lame arms race where you're both trying to use your three card combo to kill the other guy faster.
If I wanted to play russian roulette I'd PLAY russian roulette.

I just want to play a deck well. I want MY timing, MY mastery of the deck to be apparent, not the mastery and projected card draw of the deck to win.
Yeah-
desiging a GOOD and winning deck is difficult, but once you've done that
the adventure is over
the challenge is over
it does one thing
it does it VERY well.
Its a machine that I press play or pause on.

Boring.
No soul.
No mind.
Just a meat grinder.
I want an extension of my self in my deck.

So an added challenge to the pox deck
is to make it MY pox deck.
Not one that has been proven to win 90/100 times.
Not one that mathematically wins EVERY fourth turn.
Not one out of a magazine that every chode has built.

A deck I can affectionately refer to as
Herpes; the gift that keeps on giving.