Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the fourth article of the series, Vanguard: Across the Formats!

Those readers who have read any of the previous editions of this article will be aware that the purpose of this article is to lift the illusion surrounding Vanguard; that it exists only as a stand-alone format. The beauty of Vanguard is that it is a format enhancer; the rules can be applied to nearly any other format!

In each article, I utilize the old 'Hat of Fate' method to select a random format and two Vanguard avatar's, which could be an original card printed or the new online avatars. Once I've done this, I create a deck for each avatar for your viewing pleasure. I do this with the hope that more people will be drawn to this unique and interesting rules format.

Prior to typing out this article I made use of the “paper and hat” method in order to choose two different avatars and a single format. When I saw what format I was going to be working with; I went away and made a pot of coffee, dug out the number for the pizza joint around the corner and settled in for a long haul.

Prismatic: Apparently 60 cards is not enough!

That’s right guys; I have entered flavor country – All five varieties to be precise. Now before we get started; I’d like to point out that my experience with this format is limited so please bear with me.

Now, as is customary at this point; a quick recap of the rules to Prismatic. The following is a direct extract from Wizards’ own website and refers to the online version of the game:

Prismatic is a five-color, Casual Constructed format with the following deck construction rules:

• Your deck must contain at least 250 cards.
• Your deck must contain at least 20 White cards, 20 Blue cards, 20 Black cards, 20 Red cards, and 20 Green cards. Multicolor and split cards count as one color or the other, not both.
• Your deck can't have Battle of Wits in it; it is banned.

Prismatic also has a special mulligan rule.

• If your starting hand has 0, 1, 6 or 7 lands in it, you can take a "big deck mulligan" for free; that is, you can get back a fresh hand of seven cards. After that, you'll have to Paris mulligan as normal if you don't like your hand. Note that if you take a "big deck mulligan," your opponent has the opportunity to take one too, for "free." Same goes for you if your opponent takes a "big deck mulligan."

Okay, now that we have that out of the way let’s look at our first avatar. Etched Oracle is sporting the same ability as Fist of Suns which can be helpful in a Prismatic deck; the ability to play any spell at the same cost cannot be ignored. The extra card in hand from the start is nothing to sniff at either, but she’s a little weak at a starting life of 16 so we need to compensate for that.

It is at this point that I would also like to note that I will not be touching the Moxen or THE Lotus in my deck build. Though there are no rules governing the use of these cards in Prismatic that I can find; I find their use to be a weak “fallback” tactic that far too many people use these days – I feel I can do fine without them.

Now, even though my experience in the format is somewhat limited I have managed to glean a useful piece of information for the format during that short time in which I have played the format: Build a two/three colored deck and use the rest as padding.

The Concept

The Oracle allows me to play big finishers for cheaper; granted that WUBRG is slightly harder to achieve by normal means. But what I need to do first is consider my win condition(s) and how best to achieve them.

Well, I’m a Blue player at heart and my favorite way to win is through locking down the opponent and slowly pulling him to pieces; perhaps there is a way I can achieve that condition.

Okay guys, this is going to take a while so stay with me. Now, let’s start off with win condition number one: The Primary Deck Mill Engine.

It’s a little clunky, but if you can have Earthcraft, Squirrel Nest, Doubling Season and Supreme Inquisitor in play whilst holding an Artificial Evolution then you’re smiling. What this combo allows you to do is create infinite little Wizard tokens which you can then use to systematically pull your opponent’s deck apart with; piece by piece if you like or all in one go. The reason you need doubling season is because you need to tap one of the two created ‘Squirrel-Wizard’ tokens to untap the enchanted land.

Personally, I’m an evil person so I like to pull them down to as few cards as possible; ensuring they are all pointless or easily dealt with and let them play on, safe in the knowledge that I just forced an opponent to deck out in a Prismatic game – but hey, that’s just the sick kind of person that I am!

But that’s not the only way to mill, no sir. A little bit lighter to play; you can drop Artificial Evolution, Doubling Season and Supreme Inquisitor all in favour of the Altar of Dementia as it doesn’t mind the little Squirrel being tapped down when he’s sacrificed.

Or how about infinite damage? Simply replace the Altar with Blasting Station and the job’s done. In fact, the infinite token engine can be used in a vast number of ways in this deck; however this does make it vulnerable to attack from deck-ripping tactics such as Cranial Extraction.

This is where the 22 counterspell type cards come into play, protecting your deck and on the field components. Of course, they should be saved to deal with instants and sorceries as the second fiddle colors of Red, Black and White are more then capable of dealing with lands, artifacts and creatures; leaving only enchantments unscathed. Not to mention White and Black help you get a hold of the key components of your combo; although Blue itself has a stab at tutoring in the form of Drift of Phantasms.

The only other real thing of importance to mention is the Joiner Adept: This is the most useful card in Prismatic – Period. It means that regardless of the draw you will always be able to play the spells you have in hand. Plus, when this ability is joined up with our Vanguard’s own ability; it allows us to play such fatties as Plague Wind and Hour of Reckoning a lot faster.

The only real problem so far that I have found with this deck is creature decks will beat this thing to the punch; Zoo, Affinity and White Weenie are the true banes of this deck. Your only hope is to pull into one of the combos before they get to you and even then your chances are slim. This fate could be overcome by including such cards as Propaganda and Ghostly Prison, but that’s a matter of taste.

Okay, now that the first one’s down; on to the next beast of unwieldiness! As always I return to the hat of fate and draw forth my next avatar:

Well it seems that fate has decided that I must show you how to defeat the deck I have just created – crazy how these things work out.

Okay, Akroma suits and boots our creatures out with two random abilities making the obvious choice creatures. And given that she will tool them out for use, it would suggest we’re looking for vast numbers quickly. In other words, we want tokens and vanilla creatures in order to get lots of little guys quickly; White/Green country here we come!

All right, this deck is rather simple but that doesn’t mean that it’s weak or useless: Far from it. Depending upon the luck of the cards, you should be able to drop a creature every turn with more coming in each turn.

While Akroma makes your creatures that much better, the abilities are different on each creature; so why not use Concerted Effort to balance the field of play out and before you know it you’ll have an army of fully tooled out creatures.

Cards like the Anthems, Castle and Serra’s Blessing run as added support for your creatures whilst the equipment adds a little spice to the mix; making for one sweet deck (And hence, the deck name).

Okay folks, that’s about all we have time for this round; I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Remember to drop me some feedback if you can spare the time; it will be greatly appreciated.

So until next time readers,

This is Luthervamplord; Signing Off

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Find other articles from this series here.

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Articles Spotlights from 2007:
Lorwyn Theme Week Intro & Schedule of Events
Blink And Bounce: Timing is Key
Going Blind: XCB Metagaming - A Prolonged Conclusion.
The Science of Magic: Genetic Engineering, Part Two.
Shifting Lineaments: Casual Metagaming (Pt. 2).
The Dungeon Of Malefict: Pure Evil!
Combofusion: Legends Timeshifted.
Land Week Introduction & Schedule.
One Card to Rule Them All: Coastal Piracy
Irrational Love: Chimeras. The Lego's of Magic.