Your Mana Horoscope: Round 2!

Magic: The Gathering Strategies

Comments

Tyson Fraleigh - May 5, 2021

Ah, welcome back adventurer. Did you miss this little hovel of mine?

Another mana reading? I see – not satisfied by just one, hm? Very few people only use one mana type nowadays anyway.

Let’s do something a little more complex for you. Got your favourite two mana colours in mind? Good. Let’s get to it.

Izzet

There is nothing better than fighting fire with whiskey, huh?

Not only do you control your opponent’s board, but you are able to wipe the floor with their creatures. There are a lot of board wipes in this kind of deck, so be prepared. I would suggest starting out with a Giant deck from the Kaldheim release – you can do a lot with Battle of Frost and Fire and a Doomskar Titan.

Azorius

Ah, someone who wants total control over their destiny. Control over the board isn’t good enough for you, hm?

Aside from Dimir, Azorius is the most frustrating deck to face. Azorius is very good using Saga’s, flying creatures, and ghosts to their advantage. With cards like Elspeth Conquers Death mixed with Yorion, Sky Nomad, you aren’t going to have any trouble fazing creatures in and out of the field in order to trigger multiple entering effects at once.

Boros

Ah, I see – The history nerds at their finest.

Boros relies heavily on spirits, enchantments, and artifacts to boost their creatures. Many Boros cards have big bonuses when artifacts enter the field, such as giving allies indestructible. This deck has been really boosted in the past two sets by Velomachus Lorehold as well as the Magda, Brazen Outlaw to Goldspan Dragon combo. All to say – you have lots of options if you find this deck interesting.

Rakdos

Are you okay?

Like really, are you sure?

Rakdos is just… death. Incarnate. You just kill everything on the board.

That’s it. As for cards… check out Rakdos, The Showstopper and Rakdos Return.

Orzhov

Ghosts don’t bother you – really, any undead creature is more of a friend than foe.

Orzhov relies a lot on resurrection, sacrificing, regaining health, and boosting creatures. For this reason, Vampires are a common archetype in Orzhov. Check out Teysa, Orzhov Scion to imagine what kind of combos you could chain.

Simic

Mixing nature and science to make powerful creatures? This isn’t your parent’s naturopath.

Simic decks have crazy monsters. They have the capability to flash deadly creatures to the board, but also counter opponent tactics. Between these two aspects, Simic is always a very deadly option to consider adding to your deck collection. The best card that shows what Simic does best is Koma, Cosmos Serpent from the Kaldheim release.

Dimir

Ah, yes – the mischief makers.

Dimir decks are good at two things – making your opponent take a lot of damage to their face and making your opponent out draw their deck. Dimir never wins in the traditional way. The best cards that illustrate this are Ruin Crab and Elspeth Conquers Death. Just be ready when you opponent rages when you win – people have a tendency to do that when you beat them in such an unexpected way.

Selesnya

Ah, the goodie two shoes, no doubt. But don’t underestimate yourself – the good guy’s usually win for a reason.

Selesnya decks focus on board swarms and boosts. Why worry about one big creature that could be targeted easily when you could just crowd the board with an army? Not only that, but with enough time, you could boost them all into big creatures. Check out Karametra, God of the Harvests for a big boost to this kind of deck.

Golgari

You know how in slasher films the killer just seems to keep getting up, no matter how many times you shoot him? Imagine that as a card archetype.

Simply put, Golgari are gravediggers – bring back your big scary monsters back to the field right after your opponent destroyed them. This kind of deck is going to be a lot of sacrificing and resurrection. I would suggest you check out the Pest mechanic in the Strixhaven release if this deck interests you.

Gruul

Big boi’s and big boom’s. What could be better than that?

Gruul, at it’s heart, is what happens when you wrap an angry Giant in TNT. It’s not exactly subtle, but it will be a good show no matter what. Deal high amounts of damage both with instant spells and big creatures. If you want this deck to pack an extra powerful punch, look for Bonecrusher Giant and Embercleave to start swinging for the fences.