SHADOWMOOR & LORWYN: A FIRST DATE

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MISTDRIFTER

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Something tells me I don't really need to say any more. But I will.

Will Turn to Mist usher in the reign of Mulldrifter in Block, mirroring the flying fish's role in Standard? The hybrid Blink's lower power level can be overlooked in a lower-powered environment. The lack of flashback disallows for the same level of unholy card advantage accessible to WU in Standard. But it's still pretty sick card advantage. Also notable is that Turn to Mist can be played as mono-blue, which means it teams up with Mulldrifter just fine in any deck he wants to show up in (which, basically, is any blue deck out there).

Mulldrifter is already an auto-include in any deck with Islands. It's a card that inspires a blue splash in otherwise blueless decks. These two cards are going to become fast friends in Block, like it or not. An aggro-control, tempo-oriented deck using these cards, Pestermite, Oblivion Ring, and so forth would constitute the new WU "Mistdrifter" archetype. (Would that make the UR version "Burnt Mist"?)

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Bear with me here, folks.

MERFOLK MILL

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People didn't think the WU Merfolk combo deck would work, either, and that was the first gold medaling deck of the Lorwyn Block format. But, what about this line: "People have always tried mill decks in PDC and they've never worked." Is that a fact? Well, they haven't had the tools we have, in the limited environment we have. Check it out.

You can take the basic skeleton of the WU Merfolk Combo deck we've seen and inject the five cards above into the mix. (Some aspects of the previous version, even the combo, may have to be sacrificed for full devotion to the mill theme.) Activating the Conspire ability on Memory Sluice brings that card up almost to the level of the rare Glimpse the Unthinkable, and the Conspire ability works perfectly with the merfolk M.O.: tapping your guys is good. Otherwise, you just have to protect your key fishies and live long enough for your opponent to draw his last card.

I am very encouraged by the large number of mill cards in the small format of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block. I'll be working on this idea for BPDC 3.01. Beware!

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B/R ELEMENTALS

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My experiences playing Shadowmoor limited have caused me to fall in love with the ashy, charred, but unbelievably sexy body of Ashenmoor Gouger. (I even let it gouge me in all the right places, but that's another article.) Unfortunately, that card is an uncommon, so we can't use it. However, I still like the tools we have in BR for an elementals build. You've got all the goods from Lorwyn and Morningtide (many of which have been appearing in one-, two-, even three- and four-color elementals builds already). These hybrids only add to the elemental juiciness. (Perhaps splashing blue for Mulldrifter, a notable elemental in that color, would be a good idea.)

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R/G WARRIORS

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This was already a strong and ass-kicking archetype before the cardpool expanded. We didn't get a whole lot that trumps the already powerful cards in this deck, but there are a few noteworthy options. Unless -1/-1 style removal gets big (which I don't predict in constructed), Hungry Spriggan is a pretty sweet addition. Giantbaiting could really wreck a bad hand or a tapped-out control player. Otherwise, just stick with the cards that have already proven themselves.

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G/W ELVES

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This is the other archetype I'm really excited about. (Pretty obvious, since my first use of Lorwyn cards was the as-of-yet ill-fated GW 'Elven Ambush' deck.) Elves are finally back in the "good" half of the color pie where they belong. Shield of the Oversoul is begging to be tried, and perhaps along with it, Presence of Gond. There are certainly options for sheer power, too. Dipping into black for removal is a possibility, but white already has some great options at its disposal. This deck will need a way to handle blue's card advantage (perhaps token generation...?) and the sweepers of black (Festercreep) and red (Hurly-Burly) (Surge of Thoughtweft or Shields of Velis Vel). Elves re-unite!

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There are clearly more options for making use of Shadowmoor than those I've presented here. I hope you've enjoyed the read and maybe picked up a new idea or two for the upcoming season. I love Shadowmoor an unhealthy amount (it's everything Ravnica wished it could be) and I really hope I can share my enthusiasm with all of you at BPDC for Shadowmoor Season. See you there (in a couple weeks -- stay tuned for more news and announcements)!

And don't forget that Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 8:30pm EST is the BPDC Season 2 finale! Come check out what decks players bring to try and topple the metagame!