Massive beasts of Naya stomp across the battlefield. Their footsteps shake the earth and the wavering faith of those that flee before their advance. Who can stand against such mighty foes?
But able warriors await and stand tall. With remarkable gallantry and inspired tactics, they hold back the advancing behemoths... for now.
Reinforcements join the battle, rushing past the opposing combatants and striking the enemy behind their bruising front line. Can their noble effort deal a lethal blow before their defenders fall to the monsters thundering blows upon them? Who will prevail: the mighty or the meek?
I had so much fun creating my first Duel Deck (http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/duel-deck-elspeth-vs-xenagos) that I decided to try another. Rather than a clash between titans like Elspeth vs. Xenagos, this one is a clash between...well, titans are still on one side, but the other side is anything but titanic. It's beefy beaters versus weenies!
(The opposing deck is here: http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/duel-deck-strength-vs-numbers)
Here's the weenie half. Just like Wizards' Duel Decks, this is centered around one mythic and features primarily Modern-legal cards with some older ones mixed in (which, if printed, would get the new, current border and in some cases updated art as well). It also sticks to just a handful of rares and tends to go with a lot of one-ofs among other cards, with a small handful of key cards that may get multiple copies (and even then, usually only two). Also, unlike Event Decks and other feature decks from Wizards, Duel Decks lack sideboards. I tried very hard to keep with all those restrictions here... believe me, if this were your more typical constructed deck, it would look a lot different!
The mythic here is Sun Titan; yes, I know he just appeared in Heroes vs. Monsters, but I really couldn't come up with one better. He DOES fit very well here as one of only two creatures you have that can, without help, go toe to toe with opposing beasts and come out on top, but it's his resurrection ability that really makes him so good. Chump block away, then get those blockers back with Titan. The rares are Thoughtweft Trio (the only other heavy hitter), Daxos of Meletis, Intrepid Hero, Mentor of the Meek, Crackdown, Coastal Piracy, and Retribution of the Meek. Not much in the way of money-makers, but very thematic.
The name of the game is picking away at the opponent's life total, wittling it down with pesky, hard to stop creatures rather than big beaters tearing out large chunks like the opposing deck shoots for. Many of these creatures are low on stats and fly under the radar; the majority cannot be blocked by creatures that exceed a certain power or cost, so they can rush in through the legs of the massive beasts on the other side of the battlefield and hit the opposing player directly. You can beef them up with Wizened Cenn and a variety of auras and instants, and reap benefits from them getting through for damage with card draw (Coastal Piracy) and tapping down opposing creatures (Hands of Binding). Speaking of card draw, just like the other deck benefits from big creatures entering play, this one benefits from small ones being cast with Mentor of the Meek drawing lots of cards. And speaking of tapping opposing creatures, Goldmeadow Harrier can do that very effectively. Or you can just blow them up with Intrepid Hero, Reprisal, or a variety of defensive-minded combat tricks like Gallantry and Righteousness. Not so small now, are they? ;-)
And if all else fails, blow up the greater part of their army with Retribution of the Meek, leaving your forces intact. (Just be careful with Titan and Trio!)
As you compare and constrast this deck with the opposing big beater deck, let me know what you think of the balance. I tried very hard to give this a chance of holding down a couple of massive creatures long enough to get in lethal damage, but not SO much lockdown potential that the beast deck can't prevail with smart play. I wanted it to really be an even fight. How'd I do?
I appreciate any feedback you can provide here, good or bad. Anything I can improve? Any gaping holes that you see? Useful comments will get you +1 rep points and a virtual slap on the back. :-P Thanks for reading...hope you like it!