4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Ghitu Slinger
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Wall Of Diffusion
4 Incinerate
4 Mages' Contest
2 Urza's Rage
2 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
2 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
4 Aftershock
2 Ghitu Fire
20 Mountain
4 Ghitu Encampment |
 Mono-red
Contest Control.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
There are two basic Contest strategies. One is
for players who do not know how the play the card, and the other is for
the surgeon who knows exactly where and how hard to strike.
The first strategy is to keep betting more than the other until one
folds. You bet one, your opponent bets two, you bet three, your opponent
bets four, and so forth until someone says eight, and the other person
doesn't go to nine.
The problem with this is that, psychologically, it's a flawed strategy.
Suppose you really want to counter the spell. The longer you bid, the
more likely your opponent is going to up the ante. Let's say you think
that five life is a reasonable cost to counter a spell. If you build up
to five, your opponent becomes more involved. She has more time to
think, more time to become invested in her card. She'll possibly think,
“I already bid four, why not bid six?”
The second option is to go straight to the key number. If you go
straight to five, then she'll be less likely to say, “Six.”
Before you play Mages' Contest, you need to know what your own number
is. If you are playing mono-Red and your opponent plays Akroma, then
you'll likely pay a lot of life in order to keep Akroma off the table.
On the other hand, your opponent knows how good Akroma is, and is likely
to bid highly for her. If your opponent is at, say, twelve, and you have
an Incinerate and Lightning Bolt in your hand, then bid five. Your
opponent will bid six (thinking that they are going to deal six with
Akroma this turn) and then you can burn them to death.
This example shows that you need to work your Contest. Always know what
you want to do with a Contest before you play it. Then, every time you
need to bid, confidently state your bid immediately. You start the
bidding at one, as per the instructions on the card. Your opponent
likely bids two. Then bid five, or seven, or whatever. Now your opponent
is often taken aback by your jump and your confidence. They didn't have
time to plan a strategy. What do they bid? Do they go above you? Do they
let you win?
If you want to win, then you want to bid the lowest total that you can
without them jumping over you. If their limit is six, then you want to
bid six.
If you want to hit them for life, then you want to bid the highest total
that you can that they jump over. If their limit is six, then you want
to bid five.
What you need to do is figure out what their limit is, what your limit
is, and then use the card to exploit the difference. With a clever
Mages' Contest, you can easily change the course of a game.
I wanted to build a nice Mages' Contest deck to show off its power. I
think I may have missed a bit:
This deck uses several methods to control the game until heavy hitters
come online. Wall of Diffusion, Lavamancer, and Slingers come down early
and burn, block, and otherwise harass early plays. Later we have
Flametongue Kavu and the legendary creatures to establish board
dominance. Toss in Incinerates for removal, Ghitu Fire as a surprise
kill, and a pair of Urza's Rages to go to the dome in a counterspell
emergency.
In addition to this slate of Red control, I've added the aforementioned
Mages' Contest. It will be a surprise at first, then later a nice
adjunct to either the control element or the burn element of this deck.
Remember to use your opponent's life total against him. If he is at five
life, use Mages' Contest and bid four.
I also have a quartet of Aftershock. With all of this burn, creatures
with high defenses or immune to damage can survive the wake. Dawn
Elemental or Child of Gaea can really wreck your day. Incinerate can pop
your regenerators and Aftershock can take out Dawn Elementals.
Aftershock also doubles as artifact removal and triples as land removal
in an emergency.
Enjoy your Mages' Contest!
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