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3 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
3 Cranial Extraction
4 Relic Barrier
2 Echoing Decay
3 Horobi, Death's Wail

Sandler's MBC.

Description quoted from www.magicthegathering.com by Mike Flores:
Chrome Mox is an almost universal inclusion that works very well with Death Cloud specifically. Though at first blush, we think of Chrome Mox as being ""card disadvantage"", that is, a spell that costs us an extra card for the same general effect as a basic Swamp, its interactions with Death Cloud itself are very attractive. The extra card from hand doesn't matter that much, because a lot of the time, players play Death Cloud for many more cards than they are actually holding; it doesn't matter if you have three cards or four, for example, if you plan to Death Cloud for five ""X"". But as much as Chrome Mox acts like a land, it doesn't actually count as one. Artifact cards like Chrome Mox will continue to produce mana long after Death Cloud has crippled the opponent's land base.

More interesting than Chrome Mox is Josh's more unique inclusion -- Guardian Idol. As I said before, Chrome Mox is a prettty basic inclusion. I had it in my sample Rats deck, and Sol Malka mentioned playing it in his B/G Death Cloud build (you can review either listing in last week's edition of Swimming with Sharks). Guardian Idol does nearly everything Chrome Mox does in a deck like this... but does many other things even better. Like Chrome Mox, Guardian Idol continues to function after a Death Cloud; it is no more affected by that powerful sorcery than the previous mana accelerator. Yet Guardian Idol yields no automatic disadvantage... If Guardian Idol were to be hit with an Oxidize, the opponent does not automatically go up a card.

While Chrome Mox is very good in a mono-black Death Cloud deck, Guardian Idol is essentially perfect. Though it lacks Chrome Mox’s pure speed, Guardian Idol doubles as a creature threat that doesn't actually count as a creature to sacrifice for Death Cloud's purposes. It accelerates mana so that the mono-black deck will likely be ahead on the board, helping a deck like Josh's annihilate the opponent's land base, while helping to preserve mana of its own. But more than any of that, Guardian Idol is a two mana card that consistently sets up four mana on turn three.

Why is having four mana on turn three particularly important? Horobi.

Josh chose to run Horobi in the sideboard, but whether he showed up in game one or two, this new Champions of Kamigawa threat terrified Affinity players from one end of Neutral Ground to the other. Not only is Horobi a 4/4 flyer for four mana, efficient almost to a fault, but its ""drawback"" can actually be an incredible boon in the current environment. Think of cards that scare most players and most decks: Cranial Plating. Arcbound Ravager. Cranial Plating can't equip without killing the creature it is supposed to boost, and Arcbound Ravager no longer recoups lost power with its modular ability. And at the end of the day? Blinkmoth Nexus will stay a tiny 1/1.

In addition to Horobi, Death's Wail, Josh ran its perfect compliment. Relix Barrier.

The young finalist played this great defender on the first turn against Mike Clair, and slowed the eventual champion down considerably. Relic Barrier can slow down the opponent’s mana like a Rishadan Port or hold off almost any attacker. While Relic Barrier is fantastic by itself, with Horobi, Death's Wail in the mix, Relic Barrier is like a two mana Visara the Dreadful!

Speaking of giant six mana 5/5 flyers, Kokusho, the Evening Star also served Josh well. A tremendous threat for its cost, Koshuko is potentially half of a two card kill with this deck's signature card. Five damage from Kokusho goes a long way, and two hits represents certain death. Ten in the air followed by a five-point Death Cloud adds up to 20 life pretty quickly, given this Legendary Dragon Spirit's triggered ability!

A tier one card at last?
And speaking of life loss, Phyrexian Arena may have finally found a home in a tier one deck. Originally conceived of as the “fixed” Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena has never lived up to the legacy of the original Best Card Drawing Engine in the History of Magic (tm). But in a deck like Josh’s, Phyrexian Arena seems quite strong. Complimented with Consume Spirit, Phyrexian Arena’s drawback is lessened, while as an enchantment, it is yet another card that survives a Death Cloud. In a deck like this one, Phyrexian Arena’s continued work post-Death Cloud helps the deck re-establish its mana base while the opponent is forced to topdeck lands the old fashioned way.

Maybe the coolest measure of this deck, and how different it is from what was expected, is to compare it against the field, to look at its lands, in relation to everybody else’s.

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by Josh Sandler / 2004 Champs 2nd Place - New York

CONTROL: Death Cloud - Kokusho, Falling Star [HISTORIC]