3 Academy Rector
4 Humility
2 Mobilization
4 Orim's Prayer
4 Story Circle
4 Disenchant
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Oblation
4 Swords To Plowshares
4 Decree Of Justice
25 Plains
1 Kor Haven |
 Humility
R Us.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
 The Roadblock Deck (More Protection): This is
a fun Subtype. It tries to play cards that anticipate and shut down
routes of attack. This route of attack can be by creatures attacking or
it can include spells. Usually, shutting down these routes of attack
involves permanents. In football, imagine this deck putting great slabs
of rock onto the pitch preventing all ball movement from crossing into
the defensive side. Then the defense wins by launching balls with a
giant potato gun over the slabs and the players into the net. (I mean,
there is only so far you can take these sports analogies before they
start sounding a little strange).
There are a variety of ways that you can do this in a
deck. One simple way is by plopping down enchantments or other permanents
to stop opposing creatures from attacking. Then you play creatures that
get around your Roadblock. For example, you can play Moat, which prevents
non-flyers from attacking. Sure, it may work against you, but that's no
problem because you prepared by playing exclusively flyers.
Another version of the Roadblock Subtype is where you
play a defense that works against a type of permanent or color. For
example, you could play Story Circle. Then, whether direct damage or
creatures come your way, you are protected from it all. Yet another way to
use this Subtype is to block a strategy. For example, Ivory Mask will
prevent you from being targeted, which eliminates discard, milling, burn,
and other forms of direct targeting. This eliminates whole strategies.
Remember, the key to this deck is to have more protection than your
opponent can pierce. You want to insulate yourself from your opponent in
several key areas, and then pounce for victory once you have neutered most
or all of the opposing threats.
This deck uses several methods to control the board. The
first is the key element – the Humility. Play this enchantment and every
creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1. 1/1s aren't going to win
the game very quickly. Once you have a Humility out, you can actually
outrace most decks, because you can make tons of 1/1 creatures with no
abilities that are on par with all of your opponent's creatures. Using
Mobilization and Decree of Justice, you can outnumber your opponent and
swing for the victory.
Orim's Prayer works well because it causes you to gain a
life for each creature that attacks you. First of all, this slows down the
pain you receive from combat, so it's solid on its own. With Story Circle,
you can gain the life, then prevent the damage, which is a nifty little
combo. The real combo, of course, is the famous Humility-Prayer combo.
Turn their creatures into 1/1s, and then gain a life whenever they attack.
The combination means that they will never touch you with any creature.
Disenchant is included simply to take out offending
enchantments and artifacts. Your deck would insta-die to an opposing
Prayer, for example, so you'll want protection. You can also use this for
things like Sylvan Library and No Mercy. The set of Swords to Plowshares
are the ubiquitous White removal, and they fit here. It's very nice to
have a reliable removal plan that costs just one White mana. You feel safe
when wielding a Swords. I love Kor Haven because it shuts down one
attacker, guaranteed, but unlike Maze of Ith, it taps for mana. Sure, it
requires mana to use, and it's Legendary, but nothing is perfect, not even
Swords.
Oblation is a solid card because it is emergency removal
for any permanent that gets in your way. You can also use it on one of
your permanents (read: tokens) to draw two cards. The ability to either
draw or single-handedly take out virtually any permanent threats (save
lands, pro instants, and pro White cards) is a real lifesaver, especially
if you play in multiplayer. The role of the Decrees and Mobilizations has
already been discussed.
I like to only play of one of the tutors because most
formats only allow one. Therefore, there's just one Enlightened Tutor. I
tossed in a trio of Rectors though, because they can help you find the
enchantment you need. During a Humility, they'll be just 1/1s, so don't
even both playing them. However, Humility is often public enemy number
one, and gets targeted for removal quickly. Rector can be used then, and
also can get another Humility. With all of these roadblocks, I hope you
can see why I named the Subtype after that idea. This is just another deck
to help illustrate the principles of the Framework in action.
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