Let's do the time warp again

The Dragon’s Maze (that name just reeks of focus group testing btw) pre-release was my first tournament since before I could legally drink. At the original Wizards of the Coast play area in the U district: Dalmuti’s. Now THAT’S a callback. Therefore a blow by blow re-enactment is a bit beyond my powers as I was just desperately trying to stay chill and not accidentally refer to manaburn, banding, interrupts or anything else that would immediately reveal my old fogie-hood.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my deck. Azorius with an Orzhov secret ally. I ended up with a loaded number of fliers and some good cipher spells so the game plan practically wrote itself. However, the truth of the matter was my winning or losing depending exclusive on my good friend: Ipseria.

Yup, she joins the party and it’s a win. No Ipsy and no good news for me. Gotta love sealed deck. I finished 2-2; nothing to sneeze at. My most clever move was dropping Ipsy on turn four with a ciphered Hidden Strings providing the two extra mana. That felt both awesome and dirty.

Much like a heroin dealer, the first hit is free and THEN Pete jacks up the price. I find myself seriously considering putting together a constructed deck for the first time since freshman year. We’ll be rummaging through some ideas and requirements for how to make a deck.

1)      Sustainable. I don’t want something so ridiculously combo heavy that if one card leaves the rotation I’m totally lost.

2)      Fun to play. And by ‘fun’ I mean ‘making decisions.’ Full-throated agro is well and good- I myself thoroughly enjoyed a good White Weenie deck centered on banding, Jihad, and Army of Allah- but they tend to be more fatalistic. I like the control gameplay.

3)      Bargain hunting. I want to be the Oakland As of deckbuilding; searching for overlooked gems, ignored gameplay, or shunned cards. I’d rather be more unique and lose than win with a net-deck.

I have quite a bit of homework ahead of me since I’m totally ignorant of pretty much anything before Return to Ravinica. Historically I’ve always played white/blue control and I’m too old to learn new tricks. I like the detention mechanic a lot, though it looks like existing white/blue needs those card drawing engines. Perhaps a Serra Angel for fond memories of introducing me to puberty? Also potentially undervalued abilities in defender (wall/control/detention/extort) or Scavenge (building around Varolz) Maybe. Open to ideas.