IBC Overview Mike Krzywicki No card has dominated a block like Cursed Scroll Despite R&D's outstanding effort designing the wildly successful Invasion Block, it appears that, as has been the case with every Block Constructed format previous to this one, the ideal of a diverse, balanced format has only partially been realized. Yes, it's true, for the first time in the history of the Block Constructed format, it is very likely that Invasion Block Constructed will escape this season without a single card being placed on its banned/restricted list, and this is truly a credit to those that designed the Block. Unfortunately, this time, it's not a Squandered Resources or a Cursed Scroll or a Thawing Glaciers that's causing all the redundancy at the top levels of play... it's a whole color. Between Fact or Fiction, Repulse, Exclude, and the plethora of amazing gold cards that involve some amount of blue mana in the casting cost (Mystic Snake, Prophetic Bolt, Absorb, and Undermine to name a few) that Invasion Block has to offer, there is practically no reason not to have at least some islands or blue-producing dual lands somewhere in your deck. The good news is that, due to this block's multicolor-friendly theme, there are tons of different and interesting blue decks to play, and even a few rogue non-blue deck designs that are taking down a few qualifiers here and there. Before we get down to all the blue decks, and there are a lot of them, here are the few decks in Invasion Block Constructed that have managed to garner some degree of success without the use of many of the format's most powerful cards. Red-green, Jason Means 1st Place, Worlds PTQ Toronto Main Deck Sideboard 10 Forest 9 Mountain 4 Shivan Oasis 1 Keldon Necropolis 4 Kavu Titan 4 Blurred Mongoose 4 Thornscape Familiar 4 Raging Kavu 4 Thornscape Battlemage 4 Skizzik 2 Flametongue Kavu 4 Ghitu Fire 4 Scorching Lava 2 Urza's Rage 4 Thunderscape Battlemage 3 Dodecapod 3 Jade Leech 2 Flametongue Kavu 2 Obliterate 1 Urza's Rage Surprisingly, this archetype has managed to hold its own this season despite the fact that this deck contains a whopping three Apocalypse cards (and they're in the sideboard). Though its gains from Apocalypse were slim, red-green has had to be substantially altered since Tokyo to compensate for the powerful cards that virtually every other color combination received For instance, Scorching Lava almost certainly wouldn't have a place in the main deck were it not for the presence of Spectral Lynx, the white River Boa. In combination with the annoying protection from green ability, the Lynx's regeneration ability makes it virtually indestructible against red-green, which is where the kicker on Scorching Lava comes in to save the day. Just like in Tokyo, this deck tries to get four or five power worth of creatures down, then clear the path and send a steady stream of burn as necessary to the opponent's head. Red-green doesn't really pack a lot of punch in the late game, with only Ghitu Fire and Urza's Rage to finish a game where the opponent has stabilized the ground game. Though susceptible to running out of steam after its initial threats have been dealt with due to the lack of cards that say "draw a card" on them in the deck, red-green will absolutely throttle a mana screwed opponent and has a good chance of beating anything if it wins the die roll, enabling it to play first in two of three games. Red-black, Antoine Ruel Top 8, Grand Prix-London Main Deck Sideboard 10 Swamp 10 Mountain 4 Urborg Volcano 1 Keldon Necropolis 4 Shivan Zombie 3 Nightscape Familiar 4 Phyrexian Rager 3 Pyre Zombie 4 Blazing Specter 4 Skizzik 2 Flametongue Kavu 2 Ghitu Fire 4 Terminate 3 Addle 3 Void 3 Crypt Angel 3 Phyrexian Arena 3 Ravenous Rats 3 Slay 2 Flametongue Kavu 1 Addle Apocalypse didn't really give black-red much either, but, much like green-red, the few alterations to the deck since Tokyo were most likely made with Spectral Lynx, Temporal Spring, Spiritmonger, and the numerous other Apocalypse bombs in mind. Shivan Zombie has replaced Ravenous Rats in the starting lineup since it can't be Vindicated, Death Grasped, Dromar's Charm -2/-2'ed, or be blocked by the very popular blue-white Solution's creature base of Voice of All, Spectral Lynx, Meddling Mage, and Galina's Knight, and it's a 2/2 for two mana to boot (something many versions of black-red in Tokyo were lacking). Also, while there might have been a good reason not to run four Terminates in Tokyo, now, with Spiritmonger, Spectral Lynx, and the plethora of amazing two mana, two power creatures in the format, the highly touted Planeshift instant is working overtime as a way to knock off humungous and/or regenerating creatures, but more importantly doing so in a timely manner. Where green-red and the two other very competitive creature decks in Invasion Block Constructed, the Solution and green-blue-splash red, have a standard set of twelve two mana, two power creatures, black-red has to get by with one good 2/2 and a Drudge Skeletons/Ruby Medallion... not exactly the deck's strong suit. But, much like Scorching Lava in the red-green deck listed above, Terminate is a way to maintain board parity in case you don't come out with one of the deck's seven two mana creatures on the second turn by essentially providing an anti-two mana play. Phyrexian Rager is the only Apocalypse card in the main deck, providing a virtually free threat versus control decks, and a blocker that replaces itself versus aggressive decks. As if that weren't enough for three mana, the Rager's comes-into-play effect has great synergy with the numerous bounce spells you are sure to face in the course of an Invasion Block Constructed tournament. One noteworthy sideboard addition is the three Phyrexian Arenas, which seem a little counter-intuitive at first considering the Arena was mostly thought of as a white-black card, considering that color combination received two amazing life gain cards (Death Grasp and Gerrard's Verdict) along with the Arena and there is no life gain anywhere in this particular deck or sideboard. However, that's why it's in the sideboard. Despite the lack of life gain, a third turn Arena will almost always overwhelm a control deck with card advantage before the Arena player's drops to a threateningly low level. Couple that with the fact that you can sneak it in under their countermagic if you play first (all the straight counterspell effects in Invasion Block cost at least three mana) or clear the way with an Addle naming blue, and you have a great sideboard card versus control decks. And then there was blue. The best way to understand why blue is such a popular color is to look at the blue cards that everybody plays with, and analyze their impact on the game. Exclude - This is quite possibly the defining card of the format... in fact, it is reminiscent of Hymn to Tourach during its Standard heyday, but better. First, all but two or three decks (Domain and Kastle's b-u-r) in the format run creatures in some form or another, so it's almost never a dead card, and, when it resolves, it is crippling. It will usually eat up your opponent's entire turn's worth of mana in the creature they tried to cast, and it replaces itself, providing card advantage while maintaining tempo versus aggressive decks. Repulse - Virtually every deck with blue mana contains at least some quantity of Repulses, and blue-based creature decks typically run at least three, and both with good reason. For the creatureless or creature-light deck, Repulse is an efficient means of keeping Spectral Lynxes, Shivan Zombies, and other cheap threats out of the Red Zone until you are better suited to deal with them, but where it truly shines is when used in tandem with your creatures. You can remove a creature from the path of an oncoming removal spell or Flametongue Kavu, or put combat damage on the stack and then bounce your creature, or get back a utility creature like Flametongue Kavu or Mystic Snake, drawing a card the whole way. Fact or Fiction - If you have ever been playing Invasion Block Constructed, and just drawn a card for your turn to increase your hand size to two, then look over to see your opponent sporting a full hand, Fact or Fiction probably had a large role in getting them to that situation. Despite being undoubtedly Invasion Block's most popular and efficient form of card drawing, costing four mana and one card for at least three cards if desired, it has been getting knocked for not being aggressive enough for the blue creature decks in the format (Prophetic Bolt is the card most people are favoring over Fact or Fiction in decks with red mana). Control decks, however, need every extra card they can get their hands on, so they pretty much unanimously run four copies of Fact or Fiction, although a few control decks with red mana run both (Counter-Trench). Prophetic Bolt - This card has been gradually getting more and more popular as the weeks roll by in the current Qualifier/Grand Prix season, eventually finding its way in practically every deck with red and blue mana. Four damage is enough to kill virtually every creature in the format, and, if there isn't a worthy target on the board, snagging twenty percent of the opponent's starting life total is nothing to sneeze at. Couple this with the Bolt's uncanny ability to fish out multiple copies of itself, and you have a card that provides card advantage to control decks and powerful game-ending burn capacity for creature decks... no wonder it's so popular. Fire/Ice - Everyone and their mother has been going on and on since the Apocalypse pre-release about how good Fire is all by itself, with some posing the question of whether it should have been half of a split card instead of a whole card on its own. While Fire is amazing in certain situations and a good solid burn spell in many others, the ability to cycle with Ice when Fire doesn't have an immediate use makes this easily the best of the ten split cards in Invasion Block. But when you use Ice, you aren't just cycling... you're getting a useful effect in addition for the same converted mana cost as the cycling ability in Urza's Block (2 mana). When you play first, a second turn Ice as a Port is a great substitute if your hand doesn't contain a two mana creature, denying your opponent the ability to drop a turn two bear. A third turn Ice on land protects that four mana creature in your hand from any Excludes that may be lurking in the opponent's hand. Tapping a Skizzik so you can Flametongue it without taking damage, tapping down that last green source so g-u can't Mystic Snake your spells, getting that last blocker out of the way... there's almost never a wrong time or wrong thing to Ice (and even then, you'd still draw a card). W-u "The Solution" Brock Parker Top 4, Grand Prix-Denver Main Deck Sideboard 9 Island 6 Plains 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Coastal Tower 1 Salt Marsh 4 Galina's Knight 4 Meddling Mage 4 Spectral Lynx 4 Voice of All 3 Stormscape Apprentice 4 Absorb 4 Repulse 3 Fact or Fiction 3 Exclude 3 Disrupt 4 Aura Blast 4 Gainsay 3 Crimson Acolyte 2 Unnatural Selection 1 Stormscape Apprentice 1 Exclude Look familiar? It should, considering something Zvi Mowshowitz used something very similar to win the Invasion/Planeshift Constructed Pro Tour earlier this year. Spectral Lynx beat out Crimson Acolyte for main deck status, giving the deck twelve two power, two mana plays. Though red is still a very popular color in Invasion Block, the Lynx's protection from green is equally useful now with the rise of the u-g-r deck, meaning there are two decks that play predominantly green ground creatures. Also, with the addition of Caves of Koilos and the lone Salt Marsh, the Lynx can regenerate, giving it a psuedo-protection from red ability as well. Another nifty bonus of having black mana in the deck is that Stormscape Apprentice can serve as a finisher in matchups that prevent your creatures from attacking via Collective Restraint or Teferi's Moat, such as the dreaded "Domain" deck, improving the Solution's chances against those decks significantly. There are several offshoots of this deck which have added black mana of varying quantities in order to play Undermines, Desolation Angels, Dromar's Charms, and various other goodies, but that requires playing a full complement of come-into-play tapped lands, which can be crippling in the early game when drawn in multiples. Also, in most cases, those decks have gradually decreased their creature count to the point that they are considered true control decks. G-u-r, Ben Stark Finalist, Worlds PTQ Main Deck Sideboard 4 Shivan Oasis 4 Shivan Reef 4 Yavimaya Coast 6 Island 6 Forest 4 Blurred Mongoose 4 Kavu Titan 4 Gaea's Skyfolk 4 Mystic Snake 4 Exclude 4 Repluse 4 Fact or Fiction 4 Fire/Ice 4 Urza's Rage 3 Dodecapod 4 Gainsay 4 Jungle Barrier 4 Flametongue Kavu Cheap creatures, counters, card advantage, and a little bit of burn to finish the job... this is how the deck has earned the nickname "Monkey, May I?," named after an old Type 1 deck credited to Mario Robaina which used Kird Apes, Serendib Efreets, Erhnam Djinns, along with the best countermagic of the day, Mana Drain, most of the Type 1 restricted list for card drawing, and Black Vises and Lightning Bolts to finish the job. Nowadays, it's Gaea's Skyfolk and kicked Kavu Titans, with Mystic Snake running backup and Fact or Fiction to fill the hand. With a full complement of the "power blue" cards listed above, minus Prophetic Bolt, and the most cost efficient creatures in the format, g-u-r doesn't really have a bad matchup against anything. Versus control game one can be tough because they won't have much to Exclude, but this deck absolutely annihilates creature decks, the Solution included, by burying them under a mountain of card advantage which only gets bigger after sideboard with Flametongue Kavus making an appearance. G-u-r also has another unique facet, since it has the ability to generate more than four hard counter effects in the course of a game with Repulse and Mystic Snake. This makes it easier for the g-u-r player to use the Snake early to gain card advantage/tempo on what might not be the most important spell, knowing that there are a comfortable amount in reserve. This deck, along with w-u, bridges the gap between beatdown and control, playing the role of "Counter-Sliver" in the IBC metagame. So we've got the equivalent of Sligh, Aggro-Black, and Countersliver... what about the "Oath" deck, and the "Counter-Phoenix" deck? Do they exist in IBC? They most certainly do, they're just in disguise.