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Around the time that Master's Edition 2 was to be released for Magic: the Gathering Online, Streetz asked his writers if we would like to write an article in honor of its release. I quickly scanned the list for cards that I would like to write about. One card quickly stood out as a classic: Necropotence. Unfortunately for me, Necropotence has been done on MDV, and done to death in general. Fortunately for you, that means I had to think outside the box for my second choice, Dystopia! Some of you may recall that Dystopia is my favorite card ever, and I'm pleased to see it getting love from Wizards by including it in ME2. What exactly makes Dystopia so wonderful? As a fan of the card, I could try to convince you of how great it is; but why not let someone on the other side of the table express how he feels about Dystopia? When he heard I was going to do an article on Dystopia, this is what Tynion had to say:
Observe that the protagonist believes he has the "God-hand", that elusive confluence of cards under which you cannot lose. Note also that his sinister opponent has fiendishly dug into his sideboard and swapped in a card that, when played at the right moment, can beat the "God-hand." Dejected, our hero extends the hand in defeat and shuffles up for game three (which, I am told, was also lost to the real star of the story, Dystopia). That's right, Dystopia is a wrecking ball, under the right circumstances. What exactly is it about Dystopia that makes it so good? Lets go through some of the finer points:
Having already demonstrated that Tynion hates Dystopia, and Dystopia hates everybody, how do we showcase a fairly narrow sideboard card for an entire article? Obviously, building a decent Black deck and sticking four Dystopia in the sideboard doesn't sound very challenging. No, we're going to have to jump through a few hoops to give our card more of a central role in the main deck! The central issue we face when trying to run Dystopia in the main deck is that only about forty percent of all opponents will be playing Green or White. Forty percent isn't that great, considering that ideally you want to win more than fifty percent of the time. We need to find ways to keep Dystopia relevant, no matter what opponent we face. What can we do to keep Dystopia relevant? Dystopia has a cumulative upkeep. Is there a way to make that relevant? We could find ways to take advantage of the life loss, like Magus of the Mirror. We could also run cards that crave counters, like Chisei, Heart of Oceans. Still, this doesn't seem like the most sensible method - there are better ways to lose life and easier ways to supply counters. Approaching the problem from a more practical angle, we need to find a way to make sure that the opponent is affected by Dystopia. Off the top of my head, I came up with three ways to do this. The first is to change the color of opposing permanents to one of the colors Dystopia affects. The second is to alter the text of Dystopia such that it matches the colors of permanents your opponent plays. The third is the easiest, but also the most underhanded: ask your opponent to play his or her Kithkin deck. Sneaky. We will run with the scheme where we make sure our opponent is affected by Dystopia. This first deck's plan of attack is to alter the playing field so that the opponent is forced to have a White or Green permanent during his upkeep, thus having to sacrifice it to Dystopia. With Dystopia and Distorting Lens against a non-White, non-Green deck, you can pick and choose any targetable permanent your opponent controls, to force him to sacrifice it during his upkeep - even lands! Alternately, Painter's Servant makes everything more colorful:
Beseech the Queen digs up Dystopia and Damnation until you gain control, at which point you tutor a Loxodon Warhammer to regain all that life you paid for Dystopia, and grant Trample when necessary. Braids is just plain fun. Damnation gives you a little protection from faster decks, and it's price has dropped significantly since it rotated out of Standard. Life from the Loam is your card advantage engine, recycling lands to be fed to your Harvester's upkeep drawback. Other possible cards for this type of deck include Persecute, Sinkhole, and the always fun Spreading Plague. Taking a break from decks and strategies, there is an interesting observation to be made about the art of Dystopia. The figure in it seems to resemble the same character in the cards Justice and Surge of Strength, although in Dystopia, he seems to be a little depressed.
All three of these cards were painted by fantasy artist Ruth Thompson for the Ice Age and Alliances sets of the original Ice Age "block." Unfortunately, no flavor text indicates the identity of this character, and no corresponding character can be found in the Ice Age block novels. It seems Ruth Thompson simply chose to paint a mini-series of card arts that featured this unknown hero, or is it villain? Either way, it seems the fellow in question has pointed ears, leading some to believe he is an Elf. I'm not sure I agree with this conclusion, as he really isn't very Elf-like, compared to the other Elves of Dominaria. There's just one more thing you didn't need to know about the art of these three cards: the hands and feet of the character in question were very likely modeled after the artist's husband's hands and feet. Enough of this artistic frivolity, let's get back to making Dystopia maindeck-worthy. How about if we change gears, and, instead of making your opponent's creatures Green or White, we just change Dystopia's text to match what your opponents are playing? This second deck cuts back on changing the color of the opponent's permanents in favor of altering your own permanents. Glamerdye and Swirl the Mists change White to Blue or Green to Red, whatever you need to mess with your opponent:
A couple other good targets for text-changing are Gloom and Llawan, Cephalid Empress, both of which hinder the opponent's ability to play their spells. The lone Blind Seer is a concession to the fact that large artifact creatures like Razormane Masticore, being colorless, are very difficult for this deck to remove, and Blind Seer is your only hope to Dystopia away a Darksteel Colossus. In addition, Blind Seer is your one opportunity to play Urza in a deck! One card that didn't make this list, but certainly could under other circumstances, is Deathgrip. Countering your opponent's spells for only two black mana and no cards is either evil, fun, or both. So, the next time your Chameleon Colossus is taken down by a mono-Black deck that sided in Dystopia, be sure to thank your opponent for reminding you just how wonderful Dystopia can be. Until next time, paint it Black! (or Green, or Red...)
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums
here.
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God
I hated Dystopia... GAHH!HHH!HHH!HH!HHHH!HH!HHH
!H!HHH!HHH!H!HHH!H!H!H!HH!H!
Outside
the Lines. 
Since
we are using both Painter's Servant and Dystopia, it is possible we might have
to sacrifice some of our own permanents. Fortunately, Rancor can help with this
situation, as well as making the Servant an actual threat. In addition, I've
been waiting a long time to use the delicious synergy of Rancor and Greater
Harvester, so this seemed the perfect moment. Since Rancor returns to your hand
if it goes to the graveyard from play, it can be recycled by the Harvester and
Dystopia, so that you don't lose card advantage to your own card's drawbacks.
Rancor also grants Trample to your Harvester, and if there's one thing you
really want to do, it's connect with your opponent with Greater Harvester. Some
may disagree, but I think very little in MTG is more satisfying than attacking
with two Greater Harvesters into an opponent's board of four lonely lands.
Dyes-topia. 
Glamerdye
really makes this deck hum. Of all the text changing spells available, this
latest one seems to work best in this deck, which has seven card-drawing
creatures with which to draw extra lands, and Glamerdye makes deciding what to
discard to Looter il-Kor so much simpler. Dye Dystopia to pick off the
opponent's permanents. Alter Dunerider Outlaw to put the pressure on fast. Make
sure the opponent can't stop you, because your Razorjaw Oni says that Green (or
Blue, or White...) creatures can't block!