Introducing the Duel Deck Singleton Format (Part Three)

By Dante Boey
 

14th September

The time has come for us to go further in depth into the staples of our newly minted format, Duel Deck (DD) Singleton, this time by colour. We'll explore the strengths each colour possesses with regard to the existing available card pool, as well as the tools they bring to the table. To make it simpler to understand the different gifts of each colour, I'll subdivide them into categories. In this write-up we'll examine the colours of Black and Blue.   

Black

Black is the colour of ambition and death, so it makes sense that it provides spells that generate card advantage with the cost of life, as well as cheap creature removal. Black also has the means to reanimate creatures after they die, usually at a low cost. Finally, Black has access to what is possibly the most powerful card in the format -- Demonic Tutor.
 

Card Advantage

 

Enchantments like Phyrexian Arena and Underworld Connections net you an extra card at the cost of 1 life every turn. One time bursts of extra cards come in the form of Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper; these sorceries gain you two cards for 2 mana and 2 life. Black creatures have "enter the battlefield" (ETB) triggers that draw you cards and lose you life. The Phyrexian Rager and Phyrexian Gargantua are two such examples. At 4BB, you can summon Harvester of Souls, a 5/5 Demon with Deathtouch that allows you to draw a card whenever another nontoken creature dies, making it a card draw engine that thrives on carnage. Promise of Power is a sorcery that lets you draw 5 cards for 5 life, and if you pay the Entwine cost you get a flying Demon who's at least 5/5!
 

 

Phyrexian Arena , Underworld Connections and Sign in Blood

 

 

Night's Whisper, Phyrexian Rager and Phyrexian Gargantua

 

 

Harvester of Souls and Promise of Power

Removal

Black offers efficient creature removal like Victim of Night, an instant that destroys any creature that is not a Zombie, Vampire or Werewolf, for just BB. Black creatures like Nekrataal and Bone Shredder also kill when they enter the battlefield. But Black's removal can be subtle. It offers plenty of edict effects. An edict effect forces an opponent to sacrifice a creature and is named after the first card of its kind, Diabolic Edict (not found in any Duel Deck yet). Spells like Cruel Edict, Tribute to Hunger and Barter in Blood, and creatures like Gatekeeper of Malakir and Fleshbag Marauder can deal with a lone big scary creature your opponent controls, even if said creature has an ability like Hexproof or Shroud.

Note that Black has no removal options for artifacts or enchantments.
 

 

Victim of Night, Nekrataal and Bone Shredder

 

 

Cruel Edict, Tribute to Hunger and Barter in Blood

 

 

Gatekeeper of Malakir and Fleshbag Marauder
 

Life Gain

With so much lost in the process of drawing cards, Black needs to recover life to stay in the game. Fortunately, it has spells that deal damage to creatures while gaining you life. Tendrils of Corruption, Corrupt and Consume Spirit are such spells and the latter two can even deal direct damage to opponents. These spells allow you to get more value the more swamps you control.

 

Tendrils of Corruption, Corrupt and Consume Spirit

 

Boardwipe

A boardwipe refers to the process by which all creatures are removed from the battlefield. They may be destroyed by a spell or ability, or unsummoned to their owners' hands. Black has two boardwipe spells of note. The first, Mutilate, deals -1/-1 to each creature for each swamp you control until the end of turn. Creatures that die this way cannot be regenerated. It costs 2BB to cast and becomes more deadly the more swamps you possess. The second spell is Consume the Meek, an instant for 3BB that destroys all creatures of casting cost 3 and below. Use it to destroy a mob of token creatures or weenies.
 

Mutilate and Consume the Meek

Reanimation

Reanimation refers to the ability to directly bring back creatures from the graveyard onto the battlefield, and belongs primarily to Black's domain. While White also lays claim to such an attribute, Black reanimation spells are usually cheaper. Death, one half of the card Life // Death, allows you to reanimate a dead creature for just 1B. The tradeoff is that you need to pay life equal to the creature's casting cost, but this is still worth it. Dread Return is a reanimation sorcery that costs 2BB and can be recast from the graveyard by sacrifcing any 3 creatures. Vigor Mortis also costs 2BB and benefits from a splash of Green. Rise of the Grave and Torrent of Souls top the targetted reanimation curve at 5 mana. Black also has spells that will reanimate all creatures from all graveyards under their owners' control. Twilight's Call is such a spell. And then we have Living End, which exchanges the creature contents of each player's graveyard and battlefield. These spells can end the game once you've determined the most opportune moment to play them.

 

Life // Death, Dread Return and Vigor Mortis

 

 

Rise of the Grave, Torrent of Souls and Twilight's Call

 

 

Living End

Tutors

A tutor refers to a spell or ability that allows you to search your library for a desired card and either put in directly in your hand or on top of your library. The term was coined in honour of the first card of its kind, Demonic Tutor. Yes the same card that is available for the DD Singleton format.
 

Demonic Tutor

"All my students have gotten 9 As. I've killed all who didn't."

 

It is not difficult to see why this card should be played in every Black deck as it helps you search for answers to deal with threats, or to play out your own threats. Besides the horned one, Liliana Vess can also tutor at least twice if left unchecked. And if you need to select and put a powerful creature into your graveyard before you cheat it out, you can summon Corpse Connoisseur.

 

Liliana Vess and  Corpse Connoisseur

Utility
 

Black is good with interacting with creatures, but has little to deal with other permanents. Black's strategy to deal with them is to proactively cast spells like Duress and Appetite for Brains, that allow you to look at the opponent's hand and choose what cards to discard, in a bid to disrupt his or her gameplan.

 

 

Duress and Appetite for Brains

Also, Black has ways to exile cards from graveyards. This interaction limits certain combos that rely on the recursion of cards from the graveyard, and of course your opponents' reanimation strategy if they play Black themselves. Faerie Macabre's ability cannot be countered and exiles 2 target cards from graveyards at instant speed.

 

Faerie Macabre

 

Finishers

A finisher, or bomb, is a card that can win you the game by itself. They frequently appear in the form of creatures, but certain planeswalkers or spells can fulfill this role as well. For Black, two recommended finishers are the Butcher of Malakir and Reiver Demon. Both of these creatures will manipulate the board to your advantage. The Butcher is a 5/4 Vampire with evasion. Whenever a creature you control dies, he forces your opponent to sacrifice a creature. The Demon, also a flyer, is 6/6 and costs a whooping 4BBBB. He is meant for dedicated Black decks. When you cast him from your hand, destroy all nonartifact, nonblack creatures and they can't be regenerated. Chances are he will clear the board of opposing creatures, leaving your Black minions to deal with your opponent at their leisure.

 

Butcher of Malakir and Reiver Demon

Blue

Blue is the colour of knowledge and logic. Blue values a methodology that involves preparation and self-education, so it has access to counterspells, which foil your opponent's well-laid plans, and the most efficient draw spells, the bulk of which, unlike Black, do not require any life loss. Blue is also the colour of technology, and has a close affinity with artifacts.

Card Advantage

One mana can do a lot in Blue. At this cost, Blue spells like Brainstorm and Preordain can dig the top 3 cards of your deck and let you pick the one you need most to put in your hand. Blue also has the most efficient draw spell in the format -- Ancestral Visions. This homage to Ancestral Recall (definitely not inside the format) still allows you to draw 3 cards for a single mana, albeit with a delay.

 

Brainstorm, Preordain and Ancestral Visions

If you control 4 artifacts, you can cast Thoughtcast to draw 2 cards for one mana. Blue even has a spell that draws you 2 cards at no mana cost. If you cannot afford the cost for Gush, you can just return 2 islands you control back to your hand.

 

Thoughtcast and Gush

Certain Blue creatures draw you cards when they enter the battlefield. Mulldrifter is a 2/2 flyer that draws you 2 cards, while Sea Gate Oracle lets you look at the top 2 cards of your deck, choose one to put in your hand and the other at the bottom of your library. Then there is Arcanis the Omnipotent. This legendary wizard can fight (his power and toughness is 3/4) and be tapped to draw you 3 cards!

 

Mulldrifter,Sea Gate Oracle and Arcanis the Omnipotent

If you are looking for more permanent sources of card draw, the poster boy of the Magic franchise is here to help you. Jace Beleren appears in two flavours in DD Singleton -- Original and Architect of Thought. The former allows you to at least draw 3 cards for 3 mana; you can prolong his longevity by letting your opponent draw too. The Architect of Thought can protect himself by giving all opposing attacking creatures -1/-0 for two turns, but it is his second ability that really shines. You get to reveal the top 3 cards of your library. Your opponent separates those cards into two piles. Put one pile into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library in any order. This means you can easily draw 2 cards in one turn!
 

Jace Beleren and Jace, Architect of Thought
 

Finally, this Blue enchantment allows you to play the game as though you have one extra card in hand. Future Sight lets you play with the top card of your library revealed, and to play this top card.
 

Future Sight

Countermagic
 

Blue's specialty has always been its ability to nib a problem in the bud. Countermagic prevents threats from being cast or put onto the battlefield. In this format, Blue has access to some of the most efficient countermagic. Counterspell is the textbook example. At UU, it allows you to counter any spell in the game, no conditions attached. Mana Leak counters any spell unless the spell's controller pays 3 more mana. Early game, it works as a hard counter. Condescend costs XU, and counters a spell unless the spell's controller pays X mana. The important thing is that it allows you to Scry the top 2 cards of your library. Dissipate is a hard counterspell at 1UU; spells that are countered by it get exiled instead. The scalable Prohibit costs 1U and counters a spell of converted mana cost 2 or less. If you pay an additional Kicker cost of 2 mana, it counters a spell of converted mana cost 4 or less instead.

 

Counterspell, Mana Leak, Condescend, Dissipate and Prohibit

Other counterspells are more subtle, but no less gamechanging. Memory Lapse counters a target spell but puts it on top of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Suppose your opponent taps out all his lands to cast a threat. You counter it with Memory Lapse and it goes back on top of his library. You have essentially gained an additional turn with 1U. Remand is a counterspell with a similar effect. It counters a target spell and puts it into its owner's hand instead of into that player's graveyard. Most importantly, it draws you a card, replacing itself. Duel Decks: Jace vs Vraska contains Memory Lapse, Remand, Prohibit, Future Sight and the Architect of Thought himself, making it a set to get if you wish to start your collection of countermagic and card draw engines.

 

Memory Lapse and Remand
 

Certain counterspells can be cast for free! Daze counters a target spell unless its controller pays 1 extra mana, but you can return an island you control to your hand instead of paying its casting cost of 1U. Foil is a counterspell which costs 2UU, but you may discard an island card and another card rather than pay its mana cost.
 

 

Daze and Foil

Finally, Blue has access to creatures who can counter spells. The Martyr of Frost can be sacrificed to counter a spell unless the spell's controller pays X extra mana, where X is the number of blue cards revealed from your hand as you do the sacrifice. The Martyr is a worthy consideration in a mono Blue deck. The Voidmage Apprentice can Morph himself at 2UU to counter any spell. It is interesting to note that Morph is a special action that cannot be responded to by any spell or ability, even at Split Second speed.
 

Martyr of Frost and Voidmage Apprentice

Bounce and Boardwipe

Unlike other colours, Blue cannot directly remove threats from the battlefield, Instead, it relies on bounce spells to send these threats back to their controller's hand. Considering that most creatures suffer from "summoning sickness" when cast, even if it is possible that an opponent can recast a creature after it has been bounced back to her hand, the creature will not be able to do anything for one turn. If she spent all her mana summoning a creature and it gets bounced, she just wasted an entire turn. Matches in DD Singleton are primarily won by creatures, so a 1 mana bounce spell like Vapor Snag is a very effective tool. For nonland threats, there are bounce spells that promise value. At 1U, Echoing Truth returns target nonland permanent and all other permanents with the same name as it to their owners' hands. Use this spell to get rid of an army of tokens. Also at 1U, Compelling Deterrence returns target nonland permanent to its owner's hand, and adds a bonus if you control a Zombie. Repeal is a scalable instant that costs XU and returns a nonland permanent with converted mana cost X to its owner's hand. It also draws you a card.

 

Vapor Snag, Echoing Truth, Compelling Deterrence and Repeal
 

There are Blue creatures that can bounce other creatures as their ETB ability. Cast Man-o'-War or Aether Adept to waste your opponent's turn and win tempo advantage.

 

Man-o'-War and Aether Adept

The boardwipes of Blue do not destroy creatures. Instead, spells like Aetherize and Whelming Wave (Both found in DD: Kiora vs Elspeth) return multiple creatures to their owners' hands. Aetherize will earn you a turn if your opponent attacks with all her creatures and if you possess a Kraken or Leviathan (norminally big Blue creatures), Whelming Wave can straight up win you the game.

 

Aetherize and Whelming Wave

Tutors

The tutors of Blue tend to find artifacts in your library. The Trinket Mage allows you to search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost 1 or less. Tezzeret the Seeker is a planeswalker who comes into play with 4 loyalty counters. He has an amazing ability. By removing X loyalty counters, you can search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost X or less and put it directly onto the battlefield!

 

Trinket Mage and Tezzeret the Seeker

 

Mimicry and Control

Blue is one of the few colours that can play permanents that mimic other creatures. One classic example is the Clone, which enters the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield. It will trigger any ETB abilities of the original creature. Another shapeshifter, the Body Double, enters the battlefield as a copy of any creature card in any graveyard. These creatures can copy the strongest threats in your opponent's deck.

 

Clone and Body Double

Blue can also take control of opposing creatures as a way to respond to such threats. Control Magic is an aura that lets you control the enchanted creature, while Ray of Command is an instant that lets you untap and gain control of a target creature for one turn, then tap it as you return it to its owner for spite.
 

Control Magic and Ray of Command

All 4 cards mentioned are coincidentally also included in Duel Decks: Jace vs Vraska, making the purchase of this product an absolute bargain.

Recursion

While Black has the means to return creatures into play from the graveyard, Blue has instruments to recur artifacts and spells. Argivian Restoration is a sorcery that returns an artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield. The Archaeomancer returns an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand when he enters the battlefield. Finally, Spelltwine copies an instant / sorcery card from your graveyard and another instant / sorcery card from an opponent's graveyard and casts these copies without paying their mana costs.
 

 

Argivian Restoration,Archaeomancer and Spelltwine

Finishers

As mentioned, Krakens and Leviathans are amongst Blue's biggest creatures. The Scourge of Fleets is a 6/6 Kraken. When it enters the battlefield, return each creature your opponents control with toughness X or less to its owner's hand, where X is the number of islands you control. It's casting cost is 5UU, so if your're playing a mono Blue deck, chances are it will return every creature of toughness 7 or less to its owner's hand, paving the way for your other creatures to swing for victory. Another finisher worth mentioning is Jace's Mindseeker, a flying 4/4 Illusion that grants value. When Jace's Mindseeker enters the battlefield, your opponent puts the top five cards of her library into her graveyard. You may cast an instant or sorcery card from among them without paying its mana cost.
 

Scourge of Fleets and Jace's Mindseeker

And this is it for today's episode. I'll cover Green and Red in the next segment of the Duel Deck Singleton series. Till next time, happy duelling.

[Jace, Architect of Thought; Remand, Memory Lapse, Prohibit, Aether Adept, Future Sight, Clone, Body Double, Control Magic, Ray of Command, Archaeomancer, Spelltwine, Jace's Mindseeker, Sea Gate Oracle, Underworld Connections, Night's Whisper and Nekrataal are just some of the valuable cards found in Duel Decks: Jace vs Vraska. This product promises to be a great deal and a gateway to the Duel Deck Singleton format. If you do not already own a set, consider purchasing one from the Dueller's Point website.]