IBC: Doomsday Specter

Toby Wachter

A popular deck to draft in Invasion Block utilizes discard spells in conjunction with bounce effects. Spells such as Repulse and Recoil can bring back pesky permanents to the opponent's hand on end step, and then a Probe or Hypnotic Cloud can force most of those cards be discarded. It's a potent combination to say the least.

There are a few rares that make this draft strategy absolutely amazing, and in Block Constructed, players will finally get to build the perfect version of this deck. Some of the card interactions inherent in this design can produce some very broken effects, but it also makes each turn a decision. Playing this deck will be very challenging, but rewarding when the right plays are made.

IBC: Doomsday Specter
Main Deck
	
Sideboard

4 Salt Marsh
11 Swamp
9 Island
	
4 Crypt Angel
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Cavern Harpy
4 Vodalian Zombie
3 Nightscape Familiar
	

	

4 Recoil
3 Doomsday Specter
4 Wash Out
4 Probe
3 Spite/Malice
	

	

 

The base of the deck's strategy lies in the discard spells. Probe is the best spell for the job, as it allows you to cycle to your best cards, and forces your opponent to discard two cards as well. Don't be afraid to use this card on turn three if your hand is land light. Kicker is certainly an option, and one you might not always want to use. Keep in mind the existence of Ertai's Trickery. If your opponent has a Blue source untapped and you desperately need to find some more threat cards, it may be worth it to not pay the kicker.

Instead of using Bog Down and Hypnotic Cloud for additional discard, the deck uses the versatile Cavern Harpy/Ravenous Rats combo. Simply play a Rat, then bounce it back with the Harpy. Return the Harpy to your hand by activating its special ability, and repeat as desired. These two cards combined give your deck a great disruptive engine, much like a Disrupting Scepter that can attack for damage in the right situation.

Keep in mind that the Harpy is your workhorse. The number of tricks it can do is boggling. The most important thing to remember is that it can block big creatures such as Phyrexian Scuta, and then bounce back to your hand to be replayed next turn. Hopefully you'll have a Rat handy, and you'll be more than happy to fill the Gating requirement.

The deck's most powerful disruption tool comes in the form of Doomsday Specter. Unlike previous Specters, including the mighty Hypnotic, this Specter allows you to strip your opponent's best card every single time you attack with it. As an added bonus, you get to see what is in your opponent's hand every turn, which can sometimes be a bigger advantage.

Granted, there is a drawback to the power of Doomsday Specter. You will need to bounce a Blue or Black creature back to your hand when it hits play, but, in this case, it's not really something to get upset about. The best target for this Gating ability is definitely Ravenous Rats. By bouncing it back to your hand, you can recast it yet again and continue to chip away at your opponent's hand. Even if you don't get a draw that allows you to bounce a Rat, the deck has a decent amount of small creatures that will fulfill the Gating requirement.

Speaking of which, let's take a closer look at the creatures in this deck. Vodalian Zombie is quite possibly the most popular of the five "Protection Bears" for Constructed. Its ability to hold off large Green fatties serves as great protection against many decks in the field. Plus, it can't be killed by Banish type removal such as Annihilate because it is Black. If nothing else, it is simply a 2/2 animal for two mana that will attack and get through for some damage.

Another low end creature this deck uses is Nightscape Familiar. This card gives your deck two solid advantages. The most obvious is that it makes your Blue spells cost less, which makes your Wash Outs, Recoils, Spites, Probes, and most importantly Doomsday Specters cheaper. Keep in mind that Familiars are cumulative. If you have two out, your Wash Outs will cost two mana, and Probe with Kicker will cost three.

Whereas the "broken draw" of the Fires deck involves a turn four monster when a Fires of Yavimaya is already in play, this deck's optimal draw involves a turn two Nightscape Familiar, and turn three Doomsday Specter. While this may not be as impressive as the old first turn Dark Ritual, Hypnotic Specter start, it results in a similar situation. Either your opponent immediately eliminates the Specter, or they must win the game with very limited resources. It is the perfect definition of a threat that must be dealt with right away.

Besides making your Blue spells more efficient than they already are, the Familiar is also a regenerator, which means it can hold off any ground creature, regardless of color. However, keep in mind that while your ground defense is made up of Zombies and Familiars, large tramplers such as Kavu Titan and Shivan Wurm can get past them. These beasts will be the optimal targets for removal spells.

Perhaps the most broken aspect of this deck is Crypt Angel, and its insane interactions with Cavern Harpy. You can play the Angel to bring back a Blue creature (hopefully a Specter), and then repeat the process as desired. As long as this engine is going, your opponent will have quite a hard time dealing with all the Specters turning his brain into mush. No matter how often he kills them, they will simply keep coming back.

So which removal spells will this deck use? The versatile Spite/Malice is a great choice, because it gives this deck removal and countermagic without taking up extra card spaces. Very rarely will this card sit in your hand as dead weight. Another removal spell which is a little more indirect is Recoil. This card's inherent tempo advantage makes it a great card in any situation, but backed up by this deck's discard capabilities it becomes even better.

Speaking of tempo advantage, Wash Out will often win you games all by itself. This card is outstanding regardless of combos, but this deck gives you even more ways to abuse it. For example, you could cast Wash Out on your turn, and attack with a Doomsday Specter. Now your opponent loses the most threatening permanent he just had on the table. Imagine what happens in this situation if you happen to have two Specters out.

Potential sideboard options for this deck include Warped Devotion, Fact or Fiction, Tsabo's Decree, Disrupt, Gainsay, Slay and Cremate. Warped Devotion is a card that this deck could probably be built around with a few tweaks. The power of the card can't be denied, especially when combined with Wash Out. Things can get especially ugly when multiple Devotions are out since they are cumulative. I'll leave the job of teching this card out to the Pros who will play at Tokyo, but in this case it makes a great sideboard card for heavy permanent decks such as Fires.

Fact or Fiction can prove to be key in a matchup against permission. A lot of this deck's spells are already "must counter" cards, and Fact or Fiction is yet another one. If this card manages to resolve, you are likely to pick up plenty more disruption cards to help you win the game.

Speaking of the permission matchup, Disrupt and Gainsay are good choices to give you an advantage. Disrupt is a subtle card that people will either walk into with abandon, or play around with extreme paranoia. Try to use these efficiently so that they net you some card advantage. More importantly, your opponent will never feel safe casting his mana-intensive spells if you have a Blue mana open.

Gainsay provides a slightly different service. This environment is noticeably lacking in countermagic for decks that do not run a White/Blue/Black configuration. Due to this, one colored counterspells are hard to come by. While Gainsay is certainly limited in what it does, it can stop the most important spells in a mirror match such as opposing Doomsday Specters and Probes.

Tsabo's Decree is the closest thing this deck will get to mass removal. Still, it has its uses. Against Fires decks, it can wipe out an entire Elvish army, or take out a few Kavu Titans and Chameleons. It will also be invaluable against the Black/Red Zombie decks that this set encourages people to build. The best part of all is that unlike other mass removal spells, it is impossible to play around the Decree.

Slay is a badly needed point removal spell, and the drawn card is a great reason to use it. Don't be too bothered by the fact that it can only target Green creatures- Shivan Wurm and Kavu Titan are your primary targets anyway. Another interesting card that should see a fair amount of play is Cremate. It is this deck's only way to get around a recursive Pyre Zombie, and it can disrupt an opponent's Crypt Angel/Harpy engine.
Cards to Look Out For:

Lord of the Undead

Now this guy will prove to be a major problem for this deck in the right situation. For starters, he's Black, which means Malice can't touch him. More importantly, all your discard won't mean a thing if your opponent can bring back a creature from his graveyard every turn. As if that wasn't bad enough, he also increases the size of the Zombie army he rules over. He even makes your Tsabo's Decrees less stellar, because he isn't a Zombie. Give him a few turns and he'll pick up the pieces of the army that Tsabo shattered.

Don't lose all hope though. A Specter can still take him out before he his play. Even if he does, one of this deck's many bounce spells can bring it back for the Specter to take care of. Wash Out and Recoil can buy you a turn, but often that will be a case of delaying the inevitable.

Kavu Titan, Shivan Wurm


The deck's worst nightmare
These two cards fully exploit what may be the only hole in this deck's strategy. While Nightscape Familiar and Vodalian Zombie hold down ground attacks fairly well, they won't do much against trampling creatures. Things can be a bit rough game one, but after sideboarding you should be well equipped to handle these monsters. Slay fixes the problem rather well, and Tsabo's Decree can produce an impressive amount of card advantage.

All things considered, this deck has potential to be a sleeper at the Pro Tour. It doesn't have the raw power of Fires, or the impressive utility of a White/Blue/Black control deck, but it has plenty of impressive tricks. Thanks to Crypt Angel and Ravenous Rats, Cavern Harpy produces an effect similar to Recurring Nightmare. Every turn you need to consider what trick you want to do. Do you want to bounce the Crypt Angel to bring back your Specter? Maybe you want to continue to attack your opponent's hand with the Rat. Perhaps you want to time it correctly so that you can follow up a Wash Out with a Specter's attack.

The decisions mentioned above only scratch the surface of the decisions this deck will face every turn. If played correctly, this deck can get out of just about any situation, or make a game in its favor practically unwinnable. Because of the deck's trick-based nature, it seems that it should be tough to play against as well. Let's face it - the potential for severe hand disruption is never comfortable to play against. I hope a variant of this deck makes Top 8 at Tokyo, because if nothing else it sure will make for some great reactions from the onlooking crowd.