Title: Introducing the Duel Deck Singleton Format (Part Four)

 

By Dante Boey

 

21st September 2016

 

In this segment we'll cover the Green and Red components of the newly introduced Duel Deck (DD) Singleton format.   

 

Green

 

Green is the colour of nature and the savage wild. Green cultivates the land, lending us the power to ramp or accelerate our mana output. Green creatures are usually big and efficiently costed, and many of them benefit from the Trample mechanic. Renewal is a theme found in nature, and Green has spells that allow you to bring back cards from your graveyard.

 

Card Advantage

 

Green has a limited selection of card draw enablers in this format. The most direct is Harmonize, a sorcery that nets you 3 cards at 2GG. Wirewood Savage is an Elf that allows you to draw a card whenever a Beast enters the battlefield. There are 7 distinct Beasts in Green and others in Red to consider putting into your deck to trigger the Savage's ability.

 

 

 

Ramp

 

Green is famous for her ability to let us search for lands and either put them on the battlefield or in our hand. As time passes, we gradually develop a mana base bigger than our opponent's and thus gain the advantage of summoning bigger deadlier threats. Creatures like Gatecreeper Vine and Sylvan Ranger searches for a basic land to put in our hand. Yavimaya Elder searches for 2 lands to put in our hand.

 

 

Other spells and creatures go one step further. They immediately put a land or more into play, allowing us to scale up our mana curve and cast expensive creatures without losing much tempo. Nature's Lore, Harrow, Wood Elves, Explosive Vegetation and Ondu Giant will increase the number of lands on our board than what is usually allowed (a rate of 1 land per turn). When Khalni Heart Expedition's quest condition is fulfilled, you get to put 2 lands into play.

 

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Certain Green creatures can be tapped for mana. They tend to be cheap to cast and contribute to a ramping strategy as well. Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow and Quirion Elves are examples of "mana dorks". Then there is Fertile Ground, an aura that lets the enchanted land add one more mana of any colour to its controller's mana pool.

 

 

Do note that another important function of ramp spells is to help you fix your mana (allowing you to plays spells from other different colours).

 

Removal

 

Creature removal in Green is limited and depends on certain conditions. Green removal mostly targets flyers, probably because the bulk of Green creatures are land based and cannot interact with enemies in the sky. Green has a boardwipe for flyers which costs XG. Windstorm is an instant that deals X damage to each creature with flying. Stingerfling Spider slays an airborne creature when it enters the battlefield.

 

 

Green's removal for everything else is a little bit more robust. Beast Within is a silver bullet you should play in any Green deck. This versatile instant deals with any permanent for just 2G. The flipside is you give the permanent's controller a 3/3 Beast token. Still worth the trade, if you ask me. Another silver bullet comes in Ooze form. Acidic Slime destroys a noncreature permanent when it enters play. And since it has Deathtouch, chances are it will trade with an opposing creature during combat. A Green common, Mold Shambler, also destroys a noncreature permanent if you pay a Kicker cost of 1G as you summon it. Finally, Indrik Stomphowler, a 4/4 Beast, destroys a target artifact or enchantment when it enters play.

 

 

Green creatures tend to be larger and tougher than any other colour's at the same cost, so spells that make creatures fight can be used as removal. Fight is a keyword that lets one of your creatures and a creature you don't control trade damage equal to their power. Prey Upon and Time to Feed banks on your creature's superior stats, but you can target a Deathtouch creature you control to ensure a kill.

 

 

Tutors

 

Green too has tutors that search for creatures, particularly Elves. Wirewood Herald and Elvish Harbinger are Elves that search for other Elves, although the former has to die to trigger the tutor clause. Green also has a powerful tutor that searches for a creature card to put in your hand -- Primal Command. For 3GG, in addition to this tutoring effect, you can gain 7 life, disrupt your opponent's reanimation strategy by shuffling his graveyard into his library, or waste his turn by putting a noncreature permanent he controls on top of his library.

 

 

Recursion

 

Return to the beginning of the cycle of life through cards like Eternal Witness and Regrowth. The former is a 2/1 Human Shaman who returns any card from your graveyard to your hand when she enters the battlefield. The latter is a 1G sorcery that does the same thing. These cards represent great value because they allow you to recur your threats.

 

 

Auras

 

Three auras will prove helpful for Green in this format. The first, Rancor, gives the enchanted creature +2/+0 and Trample. However, when Rancor is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, say after the enchanted creature dies, return it to your hand. This means that you can keep on pasting Rancor on new creatures! The second also costs a single G. Genju of the Cedars is an aura that can only target forests. Pay 2 mana to transform enchanted forest into a 4/4 creature. Like Rancor, when the enchanted forest dies, return this aura from the graveyard to your hand. The third aura works as a pseudo removal. Lignify transforms a threatening creature into a 0/4 Treefolk with Defender (it cannot attack) and removes all abilities from it.

 

 

Finishers

 

Lay down nature's fury with the Avenger of Zendikar, Plated Slagwurm and Polukranos, World Eater! The Avenger is a 5/5 Elemental for 5GG that puts a 0/1 green Plant creature token onto the battlefield for each land you control. Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on each Plant creature. As the game progresses, your boardstate will become stronger and stronger. The Plated Slagwurm is a simple 8/8 beatstick with Hexproof. Its superior stats mean it will keep on plowing through inferior creatures your opponent chooses to block it with, before finally landing hits on him. Polukranos is a great deal, a 5/5 Hydra body for 2GG. When it becomes monstrous, it bulks up and fights with multiple creatures, in all probability eating them.

 

 

The final finisher is probably the best Planeswalker in the Lorwyn block -- Garruk Wildspeaker. He is versatile: he lets you untap any 2 target lands to ramp, summons a 3/3 Beast to protect himself and you, and once he has amassed enough loyalty counters, he can overrun your opponent with your buffed up creatures.

 

 

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Red

 

Red is the colour of aggression and smoldering passion. Red's defining strategy is dealing the most damage within the shortest amount of time. Red derives her power from mountains, whose cavernous hearts beat with raging flames yearning to consume all. Red is home to the Goblins and warrior tribes who are always on the move. Many Red creatures have Haste which reflects their speed and power.

 

Burn

 

Red is most feared for her burn suite, a selection of spells that do a big amount of direct damage to a player relative to their low costs. Burn spells are most efficient at a cost of 1 or 2 mana, but since DD Singleton is a slow format, we can consider spells at 3 mana as well.

 

At 1 mana, there are no spells that can deal 3 damage to the face with no conditions. However, there is Firebolt, which does 2 damage and can be Flashbacked for 4R, and Forked Bolt, which deals 2 damage that can be split between 2 targets. Seal of Fire, Tarfire and Shock all also deal 2 damage. If you can spare a creature to sacrifice, you can cast Reckless Abandon, a sorcery that deals 4 damage to any target!

 

 

At 2 mana, there are still many efficient spells, many of them played in constructed formats. Incinerate deals 3 damage to a target and prevents the creature it burns from regenerating. With Landfall, Searing Blaze deals 6 damage in total (3 to a creature)! Arc Trail deals 3 damage in total, but you must dedicate 2 to one target, and 1 to another. Emberwilde Augur is a Goblin that can be sacrificed during your upkeep to deal 3 damage. Magma Jet only deals 2 damage, but allows you to Scry the top two cards of your deck.

 

 

At 3 mana, we have Urza's Rage, an instant that deals 3 damage and cannot be countered. Volt Charge also deals 3 damage and can Proliferate counters. Mudbutton Torchrunner is a 1/1 Goblin that deals 3 damage when it dies. Sulfuric Vortex is an enchantment that prevents players from gaining life and zaps them for 2 damage during their upkeep.

 

 

There are burn spells at 6 mana that can be cheated out by paying an alternate cost. Fireblast deals 4 damage and can be cast for free by sacrificing 2 mountains. Likewise, Flame Javelin deals 4 damage and can be cast for RRR instead.

 

Fireblast and Flame Javelin

 

Certain burn spells are scalable; the more mana you invest in them, the more damage they deal to your opponent. Banefire and Demonfire cannot be countered if certain conditions are met. Devil's Play is a scalable spell that can be cast twice.

Banefire, Demonfire and Devil's Play

 

Recursion

 

Red has a few creatures with built-in recursion. Elementals like Hellspark Elemental and Hell's Thunder have Haste and hit hard the very turn they are summoned but are sacrificed at the end of your turn. Fortunately, by paying an Unearth cost, you can bring these creatures back to the battlefield to beat face again.

 

Hellspark Elemental and Hell's Thunder

 

Red also has a spell to recur your sorceries. Recoup allows you to cast a sorcery in your graveyard once more for its casting cost. Use it to recur a 1 or 2 mana removal spell. The best thing about Recoup is that it has a Flashback cost itself. This means you recur yet another sorcery in your graveyard once you have enough mana.

 

Recoup

 

Boardwipe

 

Boardwipe spells in red deal a specific amount of damage to all creatures, and sometimes to all players as well. Pyroclasm deals 2 damage to each creature for 1R. At the same cost, Breath of Darigaaz deals 1 damage to each non-flying creature and player, but if you pay a Kicker cost of 2, it instead deals 4 damage to each non-flying creature and player!

 

Pyroclasm and Breath of Darigaaz

 

Certain Red creatures have the power to wipe the board through damage. Crater Hellion deals 4 damage to each other creature when it enters the battlefield. Pay its Echo cost the following turn after it's summoned if you wish to minimise your losses. Likewise, when the Thunder Dragon enters the battlefield, it deals 3 damage to each creature without flying.

Crater Hellion and Thunder Dragon

 

Finishers

 

Red's finishers help to set up a situation where you deal copious amounts of damage in one turn. Consider the Hellrider. This Devil deals 1 damage to the defending player whenever a creature you control attacks (including itself). It costs 2RR and has Haste. Ideally, if you cast a creature for each of the first 3 turns before casting Hellrider on your fourth and attacking with all creatures you control, your opponent must first take 4 damage before factoring any combat damage.

 

Hellrider

 

If your main colour is Red and you run a lot of mountains, then Koth of the Hammer is your man. He helps you ramp, transforms your mountains into 4/4 threats and when he gets to resolve his ultimate ability, you get to tap each mountain you control to deal 1 damage to any target!

 

 

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And that's the end of our short study of Green and Red. In the final segment of our introduction we'll look at White as well as noteworthy colourless spells. Happy duelling!