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UW Halo Control
Posted On 05/06/2008 01:08:19

Runed Halo - WW
Enchantment
As Runed Halo comes into play, name a card.
You have protection from the chosen name.

How good is it? Well I wouldn't mind getting protection from Tarmogoyf, Incinerate, Thoughtsieze, Rift Bolt, Flame Javelin, Stupor, Chameleon Colossus, Meadowgrain Stalwart or, heck, even Mulldrifter! It's a weaker Ivory Mask and a stronger Pacifism all rolled into one two-casting cost enchantment! I'm sure that's an excellent bargain, being able to effectively nullify with just one card a maximum number of four cards in an opponent's deck. It's virtual card advantage, and sometimes even tempo advantage if ever an opponent has two or more copies of a creature card with the same name in play. I'm inclined to believe that this card, in the right deck, may even be better than its name-a-card predecessors Meddling Mage, Cranial Extraction, and Pithing Needle, for the simple reason that the Halo can also effectively deal with beatdown creatures on the opponent's side of the table.

That said, the Halo still has its limitations. It is not an auto-four-of in any deck sporting white. It is best in a dedicated control deck. While aggro decks would want to win in the early- to mid-game, control decks bide their time. When a game reaches the late-game, the possibility of drawing multiple copies of the same card is higher. The Halo becomes more powerful as the number of copies of cards it effectively negates increases.

I'm surprised how there seems to be little buzz for Runed Halo. At this moment, this underrated Shadowmoor card has been selling for only around four dollars. Fulmiunator Mage started out as the most expensive card in the set, but the hype is slowly dying down -- together with its price tag. The Flores-backed 2/2 tempo card started out at 15 dollars a week ago, but now sells for only about 13. Both the Mage and the Halo are very good cards no doubt. The problem is that they currently don't fit in any Tier One deck. I hope that situation would change soon, at least for the double-white-mana enchantment. Here's a sample deck which packs in main-deck Runed Halo.

UW Halo Control

4 Runed Halo
2 Declaration of Naught
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Visions
4 Wrath of God
2 Careful Consideration

2 Voidstone Gargoyle
4 Vendilion Clique
2 Sacred Mesa


4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mystic Gate
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Dessert
6 Plains
4 Island


The deck is a new twist to the classic Blue-White Control deck. The "name-a-card" spells (Runed Halo, Declaration of Naught, and Voidstone Gargoyle) offer a new, interesting strategy for control. This deck's disruption spells are no longer limited to counter-magic. You can virtually nullify the strategy of your opponent's deck by naming its key spells. This is how true-blue (pun not intended) control players want to win -- by rendering an opponent's deck useless.

Vendilion Clique lets you "peek" at your opponent's hand to see which immediate threat would be the best target for your name-a-card spells. The 3/1 pseudo-Coercion faerie also shines against opposing control decks. The deck's other win condition is Sacred Mesa, which can create its own version of "faeries" sometimes faster than Bitterblossom.

UW Halo Control excels against creature decks and Red-based burn decks. "Protection from Tarmogoyf" or "Protection from Flame Javelin" just sounds so good that those words might actually spell a win. The various counterspells help against Reivellark decks. A Declaration of Naught naming the 4/3 flying elemental can pretty much seal the game.

Tempo decks packing some counterspells are a challenge though. As long as Faerie and Merfolk decks abound, most control decks would have difficulty achieving Tier One status. Faeries in particular are difficult to beat especially due to Bitterblossom. I hope the four main-deck Desserts would be enough to give the deck a fighting chance against Tinkerbell decks.


For me, Runed Halo is the most underrated Shadowmoor card right now, much like Meddling Mage in the early days, but ironically unlike the over-hyped cards Pithing Needle and Cranial Extraction. In the right deck, Runed Halo might prove to be Shadowmoor's sleeper. I hope it soon wakes up to its true potential.

Tags: Standard Decklist

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The "X" Card and the Metagame
Posted On 04/24/2008 21:43:00
(Originally published in my other blog http://www.polarnest.blogspot.com/)

A tournament's coming up, so you've scoured the Net and found the deck that fits your playing style like a glove. That deck had just won a recent Grand Prix so you know that it just had to work. You copy the deck card-for-card down to the sideboard. You practice the deck and know its strategy by heart. But coming into the tournament, you realize that you forgot to add a sideboard card against certain decks that have just become popular. And that decks were redesigned to beat your deck. You walk out of the tournament empty-handed despite having the best deck money could buy. You didn't do your assignment. You weren't prepared against the local metagame.

"Metagame" means using out-of-game strategy in-game. As used in Magic parlance, it loosely refers to what decks to expect in a coming tournament. "Metagaming" is preparing for popular decks either by (1) using a deck that can handily beat such popular decks, or by (2) adjusting certain card choices in a your main deck and/or sideboard in order to give you an edge against such popular decks.

Unfortunately, not many of us have the resources to change decks at a whim. Many of us own a limited supply of Magic cards with which we can assemble only one or two tournament-level decks. Magic cards aren't cheap after all. To the rest of us who aren't blessed with an endless supply of cards, we can still do metagaming. We can simply adjust certain card choices in our existing deck. We can replace the "X" card with other more relevant cards depending on the metagame.

The "X" card is that card in a deck that even if replaced with a similar card would not affect the deck's strategy. In algebraic terms, the "X" cards are the variables, all other cards the constants. Even if we replace the "X" card, the deck would still function just the same. An example is in order.

The strategy behind snow-based Mana-Ramp decks is to use mana acceleration early in the game in order to play powerful high-casting cost creatures at the mid-game, while using cost-efficient creature-kill against weenies. It is a mid-range deck. For me, Garruk, Into the North, Skred and Harmonize are "constants"; replacing any of such cards would affect the integrity of the deck. I used to think that Bogardan Hellkite and Siege-Gang Commandos were constants, until many players replaced either of them with Cloudthresher. Built-in Pyroclams were replaced with instant-speed Sulfurous Blasts which can also kill oft-played Wren's Run Vanquishers. Knowing that faerie and elf decks were going to show up in large numbers, Mana-Ramp players replaced the "X" cards with more relevant cards without sacrificing the deck's strategy. That's metagaming. In the future, if ever Mono-Black decks become popular again I'd go for Chameleon Colossus instead; if Gaddock Teeg shows up more than usual, I'll revert back to Pyroclasm.

In a faerie deck I would happily replace Oona's Prowler, which underperforms against Reivellark and the mirror match, with Oona's Blackguard and go semi-Rogue for even bigger faeries with bonus disruption. In GB elf decks, I'd rather use Wrens Run Packmaster than Chameleon Colossus as the former is more efficient against the mirror match and Reivellark decks. (Heck, you can't even use your own Profane Command for the fear ability on your own Colossus!)

Needless to say, all sideboard cards are "X" cards. But integrating the "X" card theory in your main deck gives you the advantage as early as Game One. So whatever deck you show up in a tournament with, do your assignment by researching the current local metagame, lest you want to go home empty-handed despite having the best deck money could buy.

Tags: Strategy

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