Top-Notch Tech - Phyrexian Arena

Brian Kibler

There are few times that I enjoy more in Magic than the brief window between the introduction of a new set and the time the dust settles and the "Decks to Beat" in every format are plastered across the internet. New formats are a time of discovery and excitement, a time that rewards ingenious and inventive deckbuilders who are willing to try out even the most scorned of cards. Today, Necropotence is heralded as perhaps the most broken card drawer ever to see print, but when it was first released, its brokenness was outshined by such gems as Jester's Cap and Blinking Spirit. Over time, Necropotence - and its partner in crime, Demonic Consultation - have gone from the most disdained cards in Ice Age to the most revered and feared. How foolish we were then.

What can we learn from these tales of the past? Those deckbuilders who were able to realize the power of the skull and the demon early on were rewarded in spades, with Leon Lindback and Graham Tatomer wrecking havoc on the Masters and Juniors divisions of the first Pro Tour. Soon everyone knew about Necropotence, and they were quick to either ride its wave or find ways to stop it. The Black Summer ensued.

The point of all of this is that now is the best time for anyone hoping to make a splash in the world of constructed Magic. Now is the time to break through and qualify for the Pro Tour with your newest creation, with all of the tricks you found in the new set that everyone else missed. Now is the time to find the new Necropotence, or the new Fires of Yavimaya; that innocuous looking card that somehow manages to crown a whole generation of champions. In honor of this tradition, this article will explore the possibilities in Invasion Block Constructed for what many are calling the new Necro: Phyrexian Arena.

Phyexian Arena is an interesting card, and the reasons for comparisons to Necropotence are obvious, but somewhat misguided. Conceptually, the two cards are remarkably similar - they allow their user to exchange life for cards. Even their casting costs are very similar, allowing them both to be played first turn with help of a Dark Ritual. Functionally, however, this is where the similarities between the two cards end. Phyrexian Arena is a card drawing mechanism, while Necropotence is a card drawing engine.

Necropotence - and its cousin, Yawgmoth's Bargain - were almost indisputably at their most powerful when they were used as part of an engine. That is to say that the best decks containing Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain were designed with one purpose in mind; to get Necropotence or Bargain into play. The immediate raw card-drawing power of these two enchantments was enough to allow the deck playing them to essentially "go off", even without specific combo cards like Illusions and Donate, or Skirge Familiar and Soul Feast. Randy Buehler's PT Chicago 97 deck didn't have any of these combo pieces, but it, too, fully intended to function with the Necropotence engine in play every game. Four copies of Demonic Consultation ensured that as soon as Randy had an opening, the skull would be in play, burning through his deck in search of Lake of the Dead-fueled Drain Lifes.

Successive Necropotence decks have been no different. Adrian Sullivan's Phyrexian Dreadnaught/Pandamonium deck at Pro Tour Rome was a Necro-engine deck, using the power of the skull to facilitate redundancy by drawing massive numbers of cards quickly, allowing him to piece together his lethal combo. From there came Brian Davis's Free Necro deck and Necro-Pebbles at PT Chicago 99 - both clear cases of engine Necropotence decks, one using a combo like Adrian's and the other a similar Drain Life engine to Randy's. Then came the straw that broke the camel's back - or perhaps the seven ton anvil that did so - Trix. Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Consultation found Necropotence, which found Illusions of Grandeur, which fueled Necro to draw the perfect hand to donate and win. Engine Necropotence was at its peak.

Enter Phyrexian Arena. The moment Apocalypse spoilers leaked onto the net, everyone was ranting and raving about this "new Necro". But Necropotence it is not. Phyrexian Arena functions more like Jayemdae Tome than it does Necro, and the book and the skull serve entirely different purposes, and belong in decks with completely different strategies. Whereas Necropotence decks can abuse the massive immediate card drawing of Necropotence to go into an engine mode, where the cards drawn perpetuates further card drawing and so on, Arena - like Jayemdae Tome - simply provides a steady stream of additional cards. The difference between the two is the investment in alternative resources. While Jayemdae Tome cards come pain free, they require a four mana investment every time you want one. The Arena exacts its toll in blood each turn, but frees up your mana to use the cards you're drawing.

These similarities lead one to believe that the optimal deck for Phyrexian Arena would be similar to one in which Jayemdae Tome would have thrived. The book has fallen from the heights of popularity it once enjoyed, long ago in the heyday of Magic, as new and more efficient card drawing mechanisms have come along. One of the problems Jayemdae Tome faced was the lack of synergy inherent in a mana intensive card drawing mechanism anywhere outside the most dedicated control decks with no desire to use mana during their own turn - and even then, the initial four mana investment often forced the control player to give the opponent a window to act. It wasn't long before Jayemdae Tomes were brushed aside for cards like Whispers of the Muse and Fact or Fiction, instant speed effects that didn't force the control player to let down his guard.

What all of this means is that Phyrexian Arena is likely at its best in a sort of aggro-control deck, much like the R/W Serra Angel/Savannah Lion/Tome decks in the early days of Magic. The idea behind these decks was to play a large number of control cards to eliminate the opponents threats either one-for-one or in multiples - cards like Lightning Bolt, Fireball, and Wrath of God - while forcing them to death with early threats of your own, with hard to stop threats in reserve (the Lions and Angels). Once you trade threat-for-answer or answer-for-threat, the card drawing of your Jayemdae Tomes kicks in, eventually allowing you to overwhelm your opponent with sheer card advantage. It's no wonder this was the Type Two deck favored in Magic's dark ages by Brian Weissman himself.

"So what does this mean for me and Pro Tour New Orleans qualifiers?" Well, this history lesson and theory session does have a point, and as I said at the beginning, it's using Phyrexian Arena in IBC. Given what I've said about the nature of Arena and the types of decks it ought to be played in, I've formulated the following decklist.

Gladiator
Main Deck
	
Sideboard

7 Swamp
6 Plains
4 Elfhame Palace
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Llanowar Wastes
	
4 Spectral Lynx
4 Voice of All
4 Spirit Monger
	

	

4 Phyrexian Arena
4 Vindicate
4 Death Grasp
4 Gerrard's Verdict
3 Addle
4 Pernicious Deed
	

	

4 Armadillo Cloak
4 Mask of Intolerance
4 Dodecapod
1 Addle
2 Overgrown Estate
	

This deck functions very similarly to the Tome decks of old, presenting early threats in the form of Spectral Lynx and Voice of All, both of which are difficult to destroy and which also serve as great defensive creatures in a pinch. The position of Serra Angel is handed over to Spiritmonger - a fair trade if I've ever seen one - as a late game creature that can end the game quickly and is difficult to deal with, as four toughness creatures were in the age of Lightning Bolt rather than Flametongue Kavu.

The utility spells are similarly in sync with history, as Vindicate, Death Grasp, and Pernicious Deed provide considerable potential for versatility and card advantage, as did Wrath of God, Disenchant, and red damage spells. Gerrard's Verdict and Addle are catch-alls, the former also providing fuel for Arena in many circumstances, as well as shredding the opponent's hand. Lastly, of course, comes the Arena, which should by this point need no explanation.

Sideboard options for this deck are quite extensive. I've listed only some obvious possibilities, against common decktypes, but there are many more possibilities, given access to black, white, and green mana. One important consideration in any deck with discard nowadays is how big of a threat Dodecapod presents. Will many players sideboard it? If they do, can you deal with it? Is it worth sideboarding out all of your discard altogether in order to stick your opponent with hill giants in his hand? If so, what goes in? It's a complicated game of cat and mouse, and whoever wins benefits remarkably.

This is all well and good, but what really matters in the end is performance. How does this deck stand up to the format's tried and true? The question of matchups is a hard one to answer about a format in transition, but it's fairly easy to ascertain what new cards will make their way into existing decktypes, and what general archetypes - like this one - will come out of the new environment.

The top contender in the old IBC was Domain. While many may contest this, citing R/G's dominance of the swiss rounds in Tokyo, it must be noted that the Toyko-era Domain decks were comparably untuned, and much fewer in number. The Barcelona Masters series was when Domain truly shined, among the best of the best, taking not only the championship but also two of the top four spots. While there are many powerful cards for Domain in Apocalypse, this deck is one example of why Domain is unlikely to remain the top dog for long. While most decks in pre-Apoc IBC ran little-to-no maindeck enchantment removal, making Collective Restraint a virtual lock against most of the creature-heavy environment, the presence of Vindicate and Pernicious Deed turns this safe bet upside down. Powerful discard in the form of Gerrard's Verdict can often sufficiently disrupt the delicate balance of the Domain deck in order to force it to play a Restraint before it can be protected, allowing a Deed or Vindicate to slip through and crack the fortress. Mask of Intolerance out of the sideboard complicates this problem further, and soon enough, Domain is dethroned.

Gomar decks will be improved by Apocalypse, with the off-color painlands being the most important addition, smoothing the deck's mana to an acceptable consistency. Vindicate replaces many of the random Repulses and Recoils, giving the deck a catch-all for whatever might slip through, and Spectral Lynx likely replaces Galina's Knight. With that in mind, the Arena deck can't make good use of its Pernicious Deeds, but can still quite possibly overcome with simple card advantage and judicious rationing of threats against Rout. Voice of All and Spiritmonger are both very difficult for any deck to stop, particularly when backed up by Addle and Verdict. This matchup is likely quite difficult, but not unwinnable, and can be shored up with additional sideboard cards.

Aggressive decks are the Arena player's dream. With Spectral Lynx, Voice of All, and Spiritmonger playing defense, Pernicious Deed and Vindicate go to work on their threats, while Phyrexian Arena slowly overloads their capacity to break through the defenses. Death Grasp serves as removal, Arena fuel, and a finisher all in one, and these are the matchups where all three come in handy the most. Armadillo Cloaks out of the sideboard turn Voice of All and Spiritmonger into virtually unstoppable life-gaining machines - sadly Lynx can't wear a cloak due to being Pro Green. Cloak is so good that it has made me consider Necravolver for the maindeck. At 5/5, he's out of Flametongue range, and the life swings he brings about are completely game breaking. If aggro is big in your area, try him out. I imagine you'll like what you find.

That may not be all of the decktypes out there, but it's a good starting point. Once things settle down a bit, we'll all have a better metagame to aim at with our tech. Some old archetypes - like R/B and U/B control - are almost singlehandedly defeated by the existence of certain cards, Dodecapod being the most prominent among them, and seem unlikely to make a significant impact on the qualifier season. Certainly new builds will spring up, and perhaps they will be able to handle what previous incarnations could not. And there will certainly be new decks in the winner's circle, as there always are this time of year.

Will this deck be one of them? I don't know. I haven't put this list through nearly as much testing as I would something I'd intend to play in a major tournament, so I encourage you to test and tweak and overhaul whatever you see fit. If you have any specific questions or comments about this article, feel free to contact me at majesk@aol.com - I make take a while to get back to you, but I reply to every email I receive. Good luck; maybe you'll find the next Necro.