The Gunbuster

The Izzet League, also known as the Magewrights' Guild, is Ravnica's main source of technological breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the Guild is full of unstable wizards whose passion for knowledge tends to take them a bit too far. Nevertheless, their services as pyromancers has been unparalleled and their ability to make the most out of each cantrip and sorcery is beyond expectations. Even the Dragon Lord Niv-Mizzet has pledged his services to me, and while he is not the most skilled warrior, he is definitely a terribly powerful wizard.

The Izzet League's main strength is their ability to get more mileage out of their spells. Each spell is pushed beyond its potential through Replication-- while some of its weirds (artificial elementals) and creatures benefit from the simple casting of sorceries.

However, their weakness is that they require vast amounts of energy to sustain their spells--and although their vast boilerworks systems are able to meet this demand, their mana tends to be spent very quickly.

Let's take a look at the stock Izzet Gizmometry theme deck, fresh out of the box:

#	Name	Rarity	Cost
1	Gelectrode	U	1UR
2	Wee Dragonauts	C	1UR
1	Tibor and Lumia	R	2UR
2	Izzet Chronarch	C	3UR
1	Izzet Guildmage	U	(U/R)(U/R)
2	Petrahydrox	C	3(U/R)
1	Mark of Eviction*	U	U
2	Peel from Reality*	C	1U
2	Telling Time*	U	1U
3	Train of Thought	C	1U (Replicate 1U)
2	Convolute*	C	2U
2	Runeboggle	C	2U
2	Thunderheads	U	2U (Replicate 2U)
1	Vacuumelt	U	2U (Replicate 2U)
2	Frazzle	U	3U
2	Repeal	C	XU
3	Pyromatics	C	1R (Replicate 1R)
1	Rain of Embers*	C	1R
1	Reroute*	U	1R
1	Leyline of Lightning	R	2RR
1	Electrolyze	U	1uR
12	Island*
10	Mountain*
2	Izzet Boilerworks	C
1	Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind	U

As you can see, the stock theme deck has a good assortment of low-casting cost instants and sorceries that can be easily replicated by the Guildmage. (If you intend to follow the theme of any Guild deck, you should have at least two of that Guild's home turf magi.) Reroute, as novel as it may seem, is only a single piece and is not always useful. We make the following exchange:
-Reroute
+Izzet Guildmage

Let's look at the rares: Tibor and Lumia is a good, solid creature at 3/3 for 2UR. Its abilities, though uncontrollable, are very useful in mass removal as well as attacking. Each blue spell you cast gives a creature flying, while each red spell becomes more explosive, blasting every nonflying creature for 1 damage---a wacky ability in chaos games. It's best to give your weakest creatures (Gelectrode) flying before you resolve the shockwave ability. The only drawback to Tibor and Lumia is that most Izzet creatures can't take much damage. Apart from the Weirds, most Izzet creatures are a measly 2/2. The only creatures that don't really fear Lumia's nova buster ability are Wee Dragonauts and Niv-Mizzet himself. Use TnL with caution.

Leyline of Lightning is yet another example of a spell that adds more mileage to your damage. For an extra point of mana, any spell that you cast can poke your opponent for 1 damage. Furthermore, the Leyline can be played for free if you draw it in your opening hand. A very good card.

Both rares are very beneficial to the deck and should be kept. However, there are a number of noteworthy rares that belong to the Izzet:
-Cerebral Vortex
-Invoke the Firemind
-Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

Invoke the Firemind, despite its steep cost, is very useful when you have Niv-Mizzet in play. You can simply use the "draw X cards" option, while the Dragon Lord will deal mass damage due to the amount of cards you draw. What's really good about this is that you get to split the damage at will. Apart from this, Invoke the Firemind is a good finishing spell even without Niv-Mizzet.

Speaking of the Dragon Lord, Niv-Mizzet is incredibly powerful. Although he isn't as good as other dragons when it comes to fighting (being only 4/4 instead of the average 5/5), his ability to burn your opponent (or anything, for that matter) whenever you draw a card is incredibly helpful. His effect is very similar to Underworld Dreams, only it triggers on your draw and can be dealt to any target. Furthermore, Niv-Mizzet himself has an ultra-cheap "T: Draw a card." Ability. Niv-Mizzet's only weakness, however, is that he is all too easy to dispose of. (Don't tell him I said that, you know what kind of temper he has.) The common weakness of all the Guildmasters of Ravnica is that they are hard to cast and easy to kill. (Save for Ghost Council of Orzhova, which is easy to cast and hard to kill). Best to make sure that you have a good way of finishing off your opponent once ol' Niv hits the board.

Now one has to decide what to do with the Izzet deck. It can go one of three ways (or a combination of two, but never all three)
-Aggro, utilizing creatures to attack
-Control, utilizing bounce spells to keep your opponent from being able to act
-Burn, self-explanatory.

I just felt that too many decks are Aggro-aligned, and that Control wasn't something the Izzet did really well. And so I went with the most obvious course of action: Burn.

To save time, here's the completed Izzet deck, which I call Gunbuster.

Creatures:
(12)
2x Gelectrode
3x Izzet Guildmage
4x Izzet Chronarch
1x Tibor and Lumia
1x Living Inferno
1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

Spells (Sorcery):
(7)
1x Mimeofacture
1x Stitch in Time
2x Vacuumelt
2x Train of Thought
1x Invoke the Firemind

Spells (Instant):
(17)
2x Early Frost
3x Electrolyze
3x Incinerate
3x Shock
2x Pyromatics
2x Telling Time
2x Convolute

Spells (Enchantment):
1x Leyline of Lightning

Lands:
(23)
10x Island
10x Mountain
2x Izzet Boilerworks
1x Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind

Total: 60 cards

Old favorites like Shock and Incinerate take their rightful places in this burn deck. They are easily replicable using the Izzet Guildmage, and aren't very difficult to cast. The old X-spells that were popular in ancient monored decks don't really have a place here, as they are not replicable by the Guildmage and need to be pumped full of mana to achieve their maximum effect. Electrolyze is an excellent card, taking its place among the Orzhov's Mortify and Golgari's Putrefy. It does what the guild does best, and while it is not replicable, it can easily benefit off both TnL and Niv-Mizzet.

Early Frost is rather out of place as it is a control spell, but it can be a good, replicable delaying tactic if you know your opponent's about to pull something big on you.

Four Izzet Chronarchs add even more mileage to your spells: They can even be bounced using Vacuumelt and played again to fish out more instants and sorceries from the graveyard. In future versions of this deck, I might replace the Vacuumelts with the cheaper (and easily replicable) Boomerang.

Gelectrodes are loads of fun. The large amount of instants and sorceries in this deck will allow you to recharge them continuously and spam your opponent with painful little shocks. Just make sure that you tap them first, then cast your instant or sorcery, then tap them again. The Gelectrode's only weakness is that they are far too easy to kill.

The Living Inferno is an oddity in this deck, but its ability is useful for cleaning out large swarms of opposing creatures, or otherwise incinerating beasts that are too big for your regular incineration spells (or Gelectrode).

One creature that deserves its place in Izzet heaven (and therefore, this deck) is the Djinn Illuminatus. Although it costs 5(UR)(UR) to play, it's a solid flying blocker and gives all of your instants and sorceries the Replicate ability. The Illuminatus is the ultimate replicator and should be the late-game replacement of choice for the Guildmage. Eventually, I'll take out the Convolutes for a pair of Djinni.

A novelty I was considering putting into the deck is Darksteel Colossus. Sure, it's a card from another plane, but if there was anyone in Ravnica who would be playing around with giant, indestructible mecha it would be the Izzet. Now if only I could get my hands on one. (The single Darksteel Colossus in this deck would be the deck's namesake: GUNBUSTER!)

That's all I have to say about the Izzet right now. More decks to come, including the updated ZEST SEVEN, Gate to Carnage (Gruul), and Serial Experiments (Simic). Now that Dissension is out, it's time to buy a box. :D

ZEST SEVEN

Dj'bre-el's assistance has moved me to explore a new plane, Ravnica, and I have taken a liking to the Orzhov Syndicate. The new tome I have penned, Zest Seven, works like the Seventh Sign in many ways, although it is more subtle and versatile. Because I fell in love with the Guilds of Ravnica, I felt free to rely more heavily on its interesting creatures once more.

ZEST SEVEN
Black/White Orzhov Bleeder/Aggro Deck

Creatures (20)
2x Teysa, Orzhov Scion (2/3) (R, Guildpact)
1x Ghost Council of Orzhova (4/4) (R, Guildpact)
2x Angel of Despair (5/5) (R, Guildpact)
1x Orzhov Pontiff (1/1) (R, Guildpact)
2x Agent of Masks (2/3) (U, Guildpact)
2x Souls of the Faultless (0/4) (U, Guildpact)
2x Okiba-Gang Shinobi (3/2) (C, Betrayers of Kamigawa)
2x Orzhov Guildmage (2/2) (U, Guildpact)
3x Blind Hunter (2/2) (C, Guildpact)
3x Shrieking Grotesque (2/1) (C, Guildpact)

Spells (16)
{Sorceries} 9
4x Castigate (C, Guildpact)
3x Cry of Contrition (C, Guildpact)
2x Vindicate (R, Apocalypse)

{Instants} 3
3x Mortify (U, Guildpact)

{Enchantments} 1
1x Debtor's Knell (R, Guildpact)

{Auras} 3
3x Pillory of the Sleepless (C, Guildpact)

Artifacts (2)
2x Spectral Searchlight (U, Ravnica)

Lands (22)
9x Plains
9x Swamp
1x Godless Shrine (R, Guildpact)
1x Eiganjo Castle (R, Champions of Kamigawa)
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse (R, Champions of Kamigawa)
1x Caves of Koilos (R, Apocalypse)

Summary:
60 cards
Rares: 13
Uncommons: 11
Commons: 18
Basic Lands: 18

Zest Seven is pattered after the original Code of the Orzhov theme deck from the Guildpact expansion set. However, its aggression turns it into a very vicious variant thereof. Before I go on to explain Zest Seven, let me first explain the mechanics that the original theme deck was built on.

HAUNT---Haunt is an ability that allows the Orzhov to exert postmortem influence on the playing field. Instead of the living affecting the dead, here, the dead affect the living. Haunt works differently on creatures and spells.

Haunt on creatures: All of Orzhov's haunting creatures have an effect that triggers when they come into play. Blind Hunter, for example, steals 2 life from an opponent when it comes into play. When a creature with Haunt goes to the graveyard from play, it is removed from the game and attached to any target creature. (Of course, you can't haunt something if it's an illegal target) You can haunt either yours or your opponent's creatures that are in play. When the creature being haunted is put into the graveyard, the same effect that the Haunter had when it came int play triggers again. Let's make the example more concrete:

I have an Orzhov Guildmage in play. I then play Blind Hunter, which reads "When Blind Hunter comes into play or the creature it haunts is put into the graveyard, target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life." So the "Comes into play" part triggers: I gain 2 life and my opponent loses 2 life. My opponent plays Mortify on my Blind Hunter, destroying it. Once the Hunter hits the graveyard, it becomes a Haunter, haunting my Orzhov Guildmage. If my Orzhov Guildmage is sent to the graveyard, it triggers the ghostly Blind Hunter's ability again, effectively doubling the Blind Hunter's ability.

Haunt on noncreature spells: Haunt is a bit simpler on noncreature spells. Once a Haunting spell resolves and is put into the graveyard, it sticks to any creature in play, if there is one. When the creature being haunted is put into the graveyard, the spell's effect resolves again.

I have an Orzhov Guildmage in play. I play Cry of Contrition, a Haunt spell that causes my opponent to discard a card. After it resolves and goes to the graveyard, it sticks to my Orzhov Guildmage. If the Guildmage dies, the Cry's effect resolves again. Like the Blind Hunter, the Cry's effect is effectively doubled.

The Code of the Orzhov theme deck is a very slow-moving deck, taking its time to deny the opponent resources while it builds up its own. As such, it is very reactive in nature, relying on cards like Souls of the Faultess to stall the enemy until the opponent eventually runs out of life due to Blind Hunters, Agents of Masks or Orzhova, the Church of Deals---as such, it is called a "Bleeder". As cool as the Orzhov are, the preconstructed theme deck is slow and not very versatile---that is, not until you start throwing in the really cool rares that the Orzhov Guild has.

Zest Seven still retains the "bleed" philosophy, but it does more than just steal life. Zest Seven eats away at your opponent's hand and permanents in addition to his or her life. How does it do this?

I mentioned in the previous entry that I played the magic of madness: blue and black. In other words, I used an old school discard deck with Hymn to Tourach, Mind Twist and Hypnotic Specters. The Discard deck is very disruptive, ruining your opponent's strategy by taking away his or her cards before they can be cast. However, if that's all it does, or if your opponent manages to actually play something, you're going to lose. Thus, discard decks of the past had to complement their disruptive abilities with counterspells, big creatures, or cards that thrive off your opponent's discarding (Megrim and The Rack). Times have changed, however, and pure discard is no longer very effective. Enter the Bleeder.

The Bleeder combines discard elements, permanent destruction, and big creatures to produce a versatile deck that cripples your opponent early while keeping itself alive to get out the haymaker. With Ghost Council of Orzhova, that really doesn't take very long.

It's revelation, soul castigation! Fire will burn us away!
Early to Mid-Game
The first step to crippling your opponent is to get rid of his cards before they can be cast. As I mentioned earlier, this is accomplished by discard. Cry of Contrition is a great discard spell---one card for one black mana is strong enough, but it has its Haunt effect which allows it to come back for another pass---for free. (Well, at the cost of a dead creature). Castigate is a staple for any Orzhov deck---costing just WB, you can permanently deal with any nonland card in your opponent's had, of your choice! It doesn't only throw stuff into the graveyard, it removes it from the game. (Cue: The Seven Angels. "It's revelation, soul castigation! Fire will burn us away!") Shrieking Grotesque can also be used for its discarding effect on the third turn, plus it leaves you with a nice 2/1 flyer. Ninja are cool, and Okiba-Gang Shinobi is no exception. Forget the fact that it's two ratwomen in ninja attire: it causes your opponents to discard TWO cards when it connects. The Ninjutsu ability allows the rat ninja to replace one of your unblocked attacking creatures with itself. If you have an unblocked attacking creature, then Okiba-Gang Shinobi becomes an uncounterable spell that causes your opponent to discard 2 cards and deals 3 damage to him or her. (Ninjutsu actually doesn't count as playing a spell, hence it's uncounterable.) If you're attacking with a Shrieking Grotesque and bounce it back for your Shinobi, you can play the Grotesque again next turn and make your opponent discard again.

In an ideal game, the play goes:
Turn One: Swamp, Cry of Contrition (better if you go second and your opponent cast a creature on the first turn: you have something to haunt)---Discard One
Turn Two: Plains, Castigate (take out early threats, but in the end, it's up to your discretion.)---Remove One from the game
Turn Three: Any Land, Shrieking Grotesque---Discard One
Turn Four: Any Land, Attack with Shrieking Grotesque, Ninjutsu Okiba-Gang Shinobi---Discard Two
Turn Five: Play Shrieking Grotesque again---Discard One

That's a total of 5 cards dealt with by turn 4, 6 by turn 5---and you only needed a total of 4 mana to do that! It doesn't matter what you discarded, they're gone and if your opponent will waste resources just to get them back, then you already have card advantage: You used one card to get rid of two. Of course, without going into the actual mathematics of it, you don't have a very high chance of actually playing this up to turn 3, let alone turn 4 and 5. That's why you have your midgame destruction spells: the speedy and versatile Mortify and the all-purpose Vindicate. Mortify and Vindicate both cost the same: 1WB, but Mortify is an Instant while Vindicate is a Sorcery. This early in the game, you're still probably busy casting stuff on your turn so you don't have leftover mana to Mortify your opponent's stuff on his turn. However, Mortify can be used to dispose of troublesome creatures or enchantments, early game or late game. If your opponent drops a massive Rumbling Slum or Burning-Tree Shaman, Mortify can easily deal with the threat. Vindicate, on the other hand, is more versatile, being able to destroy anything. There are only THREE cards in the ENTIRE database of magic that do that without conditions: Desert Twister, Vindicate, and Angel of Despair. Desert Twister is a green spell and is thus out of the question. Angel of Despair is also included in this deck, we'll discuss Angie later. Vindicate easily deals with threats that slip through your discard. If your opponent is mana-screwed, you can turn up the heat by destroying his lands.

Malleus Maleficarum--the Law!
Creature decks are still very prevalent nowadays, despite that despicable Onslaught block being rotated out of Standard play. Thus, this deck has some creature-stopping spells that can be used to strangle your opponent in more ways than one: Pillory of the Sleepless. This spell stops creatures from attacking and blocking, while pinging your opponent every turn for 1 life. Remember, life loss is unpreventable. Of course, the Pillory is used on aggressive or defensive creatures. Don't use it on creatures that are more useful for their abilities (like Vedalken Entrancer or Teysa, Orzhov Scion). In the end, though, it all boils down to what's threatening you and what you have. If you got mana-screwed and that Eager Cadet is beating you senseless, feel free to Pillory it.

Endgame: ZEST SEVEN
You will usually end up slaughtering your opponent before you ever get to put the pieces of this deck's crowning combo into play, but there were times when I was lucky enough to put the entire thing into place before my opponent perished. The pieces are:

-Debtor's Knell (4 [WB][WB][WB])
-Angel of Despair 3WWBB
-Ghost Council of Orzhova WWBB
-Teysa, Orzhov Scion 1WB

Debtor's Knell is a nifty enchantment on its own: during each of your upkeeps, you get to pull a creature from ANY graveyard into play under your control for free. You can either reanimate your own stuff, or add insult to injury and steal the your opponent's dead creatures.

On its own, Angel of Despair is a good, solid creature. She may be slow and unwieldy at 3WWBB, but Angie smacks a permanent of your choice when she hits the board, is a hefty 5/5, and she has flying. When Angie is in the graveyard, the Knell can return her to play and reactivate her comes-into-play ability. Enter the lynchpin of the deck: Ghost Council of Orzhova.

The legendary Guildmaster of the Orzhov Syndicate is the most well-loved of all the Guildmasters thus far, plus they're the easiest to play. At WWBB, the Ghost Council can be played as early as turn 4. They hit for 4 damage every turn, in addition to their life-leeching when they come into play. In addition to this, they have their personal evasion ability that only costs 1 mana and a creature. It allows the Council to sidestep any spell directed against them (and every thing else your opponent tries to do that turn)---and unlike Phasing, it returns to play at the end of your turn. IE:
-You still have a blocker on your turn
-You trigger the life leech ability once more, punishing your foolish opponent for his impudence

If you got the Council out early, your opponent will be dead really fast. However, if the dons arrived late or if you can't get through your opponent's wall of creatures, the Ghost Council can be the ignition key for the ZEST SEVEN combo. I'll explain in a bit.

Teysa is actually an optional piece. She's good on her own as a creature remover and token producer, but ZEST SEVEN's combo can work without her. Just that she makes it soooooo much better. Teysa produces 1/1 white flyer tokens whenever a black creature you control is put into the graveyard, apart from Teysa.

Step-by-step ZEST SEVEN:
-Sacrifice your Angie to Ghost Council.
-Teysa generates a 1/1 flyer.
-Ghost Council returns to play at the end of turn: you gain 1 life and your opponent loses 1 life.
-Debtor's Knell returns Angie to play next turn, nuking an opponent's permanent.
-Repeat as necessary.

Of course, you can just beat your opponent to death with Angie and the Ghost Council (sounds like some weird band o_O), but if he or she somehow has an impenetrable defense or an annoying combo that keeps you from damaging him or her enough, ZEST SEVEN is guaranteed to push your opponent into a painful position.

Resources

Before we finish this discussion, let's take a look at the lands. There's 18 basic lands, 2 legendary lands, 1 shockland (Godless Shrine) and 1 ouchland (Caves of Koilos).

Naturally the Godless Shrine and Caves of Koilos are there to lower your chances of getting mana screwed. In an ideal world, I'd have 4 Scrublands, 4 Godless Shrines and 4 Caves of Koilos, but it's nearly impossible to get all those. It's best to have an equal number of the basic lands in the deck, since the colors in this deck occur in nearly equal amounts. (Most cards are either gold or hybrid: the only ones that are solid-colored are the Grotesques, Cry of Contrition and Okiba-Gang Shinobi.)

The Kamigawa Legendary lands (Eiganjo and Shizo) are cool because they can produce mana just like a basic plains or swamp, respectively. Not only that, they have cool utility effects that you can use to bolster the Ghost Council or Teysa! With Shizo, you can have a Fear-boosted Teysa sneaking through your opponent's enemy lines that can be Kawarimi-no-jutsu'd by your Okiba-Gang Shinobi, or you can simply beat away at your opponent with the Council. Eiganjo can be used to save either one's life in the event that they take a bit too much damage. Otherwise, they behave almost exactly like regular lands.

My planned modifications are the addition of another Ghost Council and a very, very rare Umezawa's Jitte. If anybody can find me one, please let me know.


Thus ends my commentary on ZEST SEVEN. In the next entry I shall discuss my down-to-earth Gruul warriors who received a boon earlier today. As I wandered around Ravnica, I came across a distraught elemental made up not out of stone or fire, but brick and mortar---the remnants of a slum district from the City itself. The elemental was known to its Gruul compatriots as a "Rumbling Slum." Such creatures are very rare, and this is my second one. It was accompanied by a Gruul shaman of high rank---not a simple Guildmage, but a Burning-Tree Shaman. Another rare occurence, as Gruul shamans usually die very quickly in battle. Like the Slum, this is the second Burning-Tree Shaman that I've met. Something tells me that my Gruul muscle will now be very difficult to deal with.

The Prelude

I decided to begin chronicling my days as a planeswalker. I have spent 10 millennia traveling across the multiverse. Every day I'd spent in each plane has taught me a myriad of things that are unique to each plane, and although my brain is now infused with the planeswalker spark, I wished to share my learnings with my disciples and with anyone willing to hear the rantings of an old man.
You might be new to these things. I can already sense it. "What on earth is a planeswalker, you ask?" I would normally direct a seeker's attention to the ancient tomes compiled by the scribes of Wiki, but I have time to write about it now and I enjoy telling stories.

A planeswalker is a very high-level wizard capable of planeshifting, that is, traversing space-time in order to move to another dimension. (Although time-space manipulation has often been associated with Blue wizards, which we will discuss later, the Planeswalker Spark allows a planeswalker to manipulate space-time even if he or she never really touches the mana of Islands.)

Planeswalkers are invariably immortal---once the Planeswalker Spark takes over one's body, one stops aging and no longer dies easily. Even if a planeswalker's body is destroyed, he or she usually has a contingency plan for housing the spirit anew. Alas, my spirit has left its original body several millennia ago---battered beyond recognition, I had to house my spirit in a vessel of magically-forged steel, white mana, and the souls of angels who gave their lives to revive me when my cousin Ma'Cha-el first slew me. In those bygone ages, I had manipulated the magic of mind and madness, blue and black magic. Since then I have turned to the ivory planes of justice, but I continued to employ the services of the swamps---after all, justice requires death at times.


My name is Rah'fi-el. Unlike many other planeswalkers, I do not walk the aether because I thirst for power. I do it because I enjoy it. I enjoy studying the idiosyncrasies of each plane, its people, its cultures. Of course, I do my best to employ the services of each plane as well, as doing so gives me the ability to defend myself from the many wicked 'walkers in this multiverse. My brother and foremost disciple, Dj'bre-el, has proven a very good companion throughout my journies, and he has proven a worthy ally and friendly rival. In fact, it is he who helped me return to planeswalking once more---there came a time when the condition of the plane I was in so sickened me that I sought to extinguish all forms of life in it---and so did I write the Tome of the Seventh Sign---a tome of pestilence and jugment, extinction and purification.More on this later. Now, let us look at the colors of Magic.

White: The color of light, justice, purity, righteousness, healing and order. Drawing its energy from the sun-soaked Plains, white strives to maintain order and equality, balance and harmony. White controls by imposing laws and rules. However, towards this end it sometimes becomes fascist and intolerant. White is not good in and of itself---each color has both its good and evil parts. White generally employs soldiers, politicians, and angels. White's traditional enemy colors are black and red, while its allies are blue and green.

Blue: The color of intellect, knowledge, time-space, air and water. Drawing its energy from the mysterious Islands, blue is dedicated to learning, manipulation, and like its ally, White, control. Blue controls by outsmarting its opponent and by misdirection. It loves mystery. It is logical and cunning, but it can be cold and calculating. Blue also controls the domains of water and air. It employs creatures of the sea, of the air, and of the mind; thus, merfolk, sea monsters, wizards and djinni tend to be blue. Blue's opponents are red and green, while its allies are black and white.

Black: The color of death, decay and undeath, of selfishness and shadow. Drawing its energy from fetid Swamps, black is about power. Power at all costs. It does not care how it achieves power, even if it trades its blood and life for it. Black is the color of ambition and is most familiar with the concept of sacrifice (which is NOT a bad thing), yet it can be spiteful and murderous. Black is not completely evil in the same way that death is not evil. Black employs the undead, disease, creatures of nightmares: skeletons, zombies, and demons. Its opponents are green and white, while its allies are blue and red.

Red: The color of chaos, destruction, violence, earth, fire and blood. Drawing its energy from the rugged Mountains, Red is dedicated to warfare. Red is passionate and powerful, though it lacks long-term vision and lacks variety. Although it acts quickly, it is very predictable. Fire and earth are in Red's domain. The creatures that Red usually employs are barbarians, goblins, ogres, giants, and most dragons---all manner of chaotic beasts. Red's opponents are white and blue, while its allies are black and green.

Green: The color of life, nature and wildness. Green draws its energy from the lush Forests, and dedicates itself to preservation, like its ally White. However, it answers to no one but natural order, and thus it is like its ally Red---unrestrained and masterless. Green's creatures are massive---wild animals and nature spirits. Green loves life, but it does not hesitate to trample upon the weak. After all, survival of the fittest is the law of nature. Green's allies are white and red, while its enemies are blue and black.

Each color shares something in common with its allies: white and blue share their controlling nature, for example, while red and green share their wildness. These shared strengths are easy to discover and master.

However, if one studies the colors more, one will see that even opposing colors have complimentary abilities. Green grows, Blue adapts. White defends, Red wages war. Black gives power, White gives direction to that power. Opposing colors are difficult to master, but in the end, they are more rewarding. This planeswalker is personally partial to the white-black color pair.

SEVENTH SIGN
Black/White pestilence/immortality deck

Creatures (8)
2x White Knight (2/2)
2x Order of the White Shield (2/1)
1x Silent Arbiter (1/5)
1x Myojin of Cleansing Fire (4/6)
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath (6/6)
1x Serra Avatar (*/*; *=controller's life total)

Spells (25)
{Sorceries} 6
2x Wrath of God
2x Consume Spirit
2x Vindicate

{Instants} 8
3x Dark Banishing
3x Disenchant
2x Swords to Plowshares

{Enchantments} 6
3x Pestilence
1x Rule of Law
1x Worship
1x Ghostly Prison

{Auras} 2
2x Screams from Within

{Mana Sources} 3
3x Dark Ritual

Artifacts (6)
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Scroll Rack
2x Darksteel Ingot
1x Lotus Petal
1x Feldon's Cane

Lands (25)
12x Plains
11x Swamps
2x Cabal Coffers

Summary:
64 cards

Seventh Sign is designed to deal with any and all creature threats. Dark Banishing kills specific targets at instant speed, Wrath of God deals with runaway masses of little havoc-wreakers. If they're indestructible, Swords to Plowshares can get rid of them.

Seventh Sign's winning plan is to enchant one of the creatures with Pariah, which redirects to the enchanted creature all damage dealt to me. The usual target for this is the Myojin of Cleansing Fire, which is immune to damage due to its indestructibility. I can then use Pestilence to kill everything else. All my creatures are immune to Pestilence (either due to Protection from Black or Indestructibility). The only exception is Serra Avatar, which is just too massive to get killed easily by Pestilence.

However, Seventh Sign is very slow and passive, and the deck's size causes problems. Also, Seventh Sign is not versatile enough to deal with various decks. I just really hated the Onslaught block, which just had creatures, creatures, and creatures. (Of course, it still had Akroma, the block's only redeeming factor). Thus, everybody was using silly little creatures with bizarre little abilities. I dedicated Seventh Sign to the old style of playing Magic. Seventh Sign is fun to play---I just love squashing those annoying creature-lovers with it---but eventually it became inefficient. This leads me to my next deck.

I have spoken enough in this entry. In my next entry I shall discuss the new tomes I have penned since my foray into the wonderful world of Ravnica.