Goodbye Yellow Hexagonal Metal Plate Road

The era of Scars of Mirrodin and Titans draws to a close.  After 2 years of Squadron Hawks with Swords, followed by Delver with Swords and then Thrun with swords is all but done and will end for FNM Relax on Friday 14th September 2012 as we will not play standard again until after the release of Return to Ravnica and rotation.

Mill may have been king had it not been for the Eldrazi

The cycle of swords in the Scars block has been a defining factor for the decks in standard over the last 2 years (at least until Ancient Grudge arrived to spoil the fun).  I cannot deny my  enjoyment at attaching a Sword of War and Peace to a Bird of Paradise (BoP) on turn 3, and swinging for 9 damage and 5 life gain.

So I get to tap out, swing and then have all my mana back?  Really?

However, sticking swords on BoPs is not really something I would condone as being in the spirit of casual play at FNM Relax.  Since the inception of FNM Relax I have been playing one of the M13 starter decks each week with a few alterations to them.  However, I am now down to y last 2 starter decks, neither of which I particularly want to play.  Also, as with Extended tonight, I want to give Scars a good send off by playing a very Scars flavored deck.

Playing control?  Got 7 cards in hand?  Sucks to be you...

The other defining feature of Scars block was infect.  With the inclusion of Rancor in M13, infect has suddenly become an actual contender again.  UG infect is very fast and kills people.  I was at a loss what to play after my beloved Eldrazi rotated a year ago and spent several months killing delver of secrets with Virulent wound.

Rob and I raved about this card when no one else knew it existed.

So I was at a loss for what to play and did my usual thing of asking my son.  He gave me the answer with a shrug and a look that suggested I should have know the answer to the question all along.  So here is the deck he suggested:

4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Inkmoth Nexus
6 Swamps
6 Islands

24 Lands

4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Necropede
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Plague Myr
1 Skithryx, the Blight Dragon

14 Creatures

3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Virulent Wound
2 Livewire Lash
4 Ponder
3 Mana Leak
2 Dismember
2 Artful Dodge
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

22 Spells

Sideboard

1 Batterskull
2 Contagion Clasp
2 Dissipate
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat

And there we have it.  Sorry had to sneak one sword in there, but a combination of infect and artifacts would seem the perfect so long to Scars.  That's all I have time for now - don't forget we have a massive weekend of Magic with FNM tonight, Celebration day tomorrow and Steel City on Sunday.  Look forward to seeing you all there...