4 Kami of the Crescent Moon
4 Aether Spellbomb
4 Serum Visions
4 Ebony Owl Netsuke
4 Howling Mine
4 Echoing Truth
4 Boomerang
4 Eye of Nowhere
4 Regress
2 Crystal Shard
20 Island
2 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea |
 Blue
Owl.
Description of deck by it's author
(quoted):
Games with Blue Owl are unlike most other
Magic games I've played. The idea is to overload my opponent with cards
while simultaneously limiting her ability to play those cards. It's sort
of like Blue's version of a land destruction deck, but with lots of card
drawing. On the first turn, I play Serum Visions or AEther Spellbomb and
after that my job is to bounce everything my opponent places on the
table. Boomerang, Eye of Nowhere, and Regress target lands while the
Spellbomb, Crystal Shard, and Echoing Truth handle the rest. Thanks to
Kami of the Crescent Moon, Howling Mine, and Mikokoro, Center of the
Sea, I'm constantly refilling my hand with bounce. Eventually my
opponent is discarding cards by the boatload while Ebony Owl Netsuke
does its thing. By the sixth or seventh turn, it's usually clear whether
my deck is humming or whether I'm going to lose badly.
The second and third turns are the most critical ones
with this deck. If I'm going first and my opponent does nothing but play a
land on Turn 1, an Ebony Owl Netsuke on my part will often allow me to win
the game in five quick turns. If I'm going second, usually the better play
is either a Kami/Mine or to bounce an opposing land. The choice of which
to do is mostly dependent on my hand--If I have a lot of bounce then I
start bouncing now; If I don't then I focus on drawing cards.
If my opponent can get enough land, the game gets a lot
harder for this deck to win. As a result, bouncing a land (or more) each
turn is important. I also target Mana-producing cards like Llanowar Elves
and Fellwar Stone with bounce, as well as any expensive card that takes my
opponent an entire turn to cast. If I handle the resources, the deck takes
care of itself. This means that huge weak spots are against White Weenie
decks and aggressive Green decks that can produce a lot of cheap threats.
I've won against these decks, but it often requires a good start from me
and a marginal start from them.
What the deck loses from Mirrodin... Although the total
number of cards that Blue Owl loses to Mirrodin Block are high, none of
them feel particularly devastating. The one I miss the most is Regress,
since having twelve ways to bounce land is vital to the deck. AEther
Spellbomb and Echoing Truth are both really solid bounce spells but
replaceable. The great thing about the Spellbomb was that it gave me both
a first-turn play and potential card-drawing in a pinch. Echoing Truth's
stock would have gone up in the token-friendly environment of Ravnica, but
if my deck is working I shouldn't see those hordes of tokens in the first
place. Serum Visions is terrific, serving as a way to dig for meaningful
cards cheaply, but Blue has lots of card-drawing available to it. Crystal
Shard, frankly, was a nice-to-have card but never struck me as a
cornerstone.
That said, the key card-drawers are still there. The win
condition is intact. The best bounce (Boomerang and Eye of Nowhere)
remain. If I can find enough bounce to fill what I lost, I feel fine about
this deck's transition.
What the deck gains from Ravnica... Unfortunately, I'm
not thrilled with what Ravnica has to offer this deck. I suppose that Mark
of Eviction is decent as a replacement for AEther Spellbomb. Peel from
Reality is awful given that I am only relying on one creature in the deck
and it's a creature I want to stay on the table. Vedalken Dismisser simply
costs too much, and I would be better off with Kiri-Onna if I needed a bad
Man-o'-War. After that, most of Ravnica's Blue cards slant towards House
Dimir, a guild much more interested in milling an opponent to death than
bouncing her permanents. Maybe Phantom Wings can come back into the deck
as more creature bounce, but I would prefer something more reliable.
The only gem in Ravnica is Clutch of the Undercity.
Although it costs one more mana (and to boot), it's more than a worthy
replacement for Regress. Not only is it instant-speed, but it helps supply
some extra damage to support Ebony Owl Netsuke. The transmute cost is lost
on this deck, but that's fine since the card's effect is exactly what I
want to use. The only problem with Clutch, of course, is that it involves
splashing a second color. If I had access to Underground River and Watery
Grave, I wouldn't mind at all. Without these cards, splashing Black
becomes dicey at best.
Three other cards I think might fit into the deck are
Lore Broker, Remand, and Telling Time. If I squint, Lore Broker is sort of
like a non-legendary Mikokoro with legs. Telling Time is worth considering
as a replacement to Serum Visions, though it makes the first turn empty
and crowds the second turn. Finally, Remand is a viable option if I end up
patching the deck with low-end counterspells like Mana Leak.
The Verdict... It feels a little too soon to reincarnate
Blue Owl. I have a feeling that once we've seen Guildpact, Dissention, and
the other three Blue-based guilds that enough pieces will fall into place
to make a resource-denial strategy viable. Right now the cards seem one
power level too low to be effective, even as a casual deck. File the idea
away, though, because Ebony Owl Netsuke, Kami of the Crescent Moon,
Howling Mine, Boomerang, and Eye of Nowhere are going to be part of
Standard for a long time.
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