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The Magic Chest 11: Dueling Grounds

Dueling Grounds 1GW
Enchantment
No more than one creature may attack each turn.
No more than one creature may block each turn.

In my review of Invasion, I compared Dueling Grounds to Propaganda as a defensive card. If your deck is vulnerable to fast weenie decks, this is worth considering as a defense. Sure, multiples aren't useful like Propagandas are and your opponent doesn't have to pay to attack with the one creature he can attack with, but it'll slow him down, alright.

This card has lock potential as well. If you have a blocker your opponent can't get through with just one creature, he won't be able to damage you. Let's try to build a deck around that concept. We have to use green and white at the very least, but I'd like to put in a splash of red as well to get access to one of the dragon legends.

Dueling Grounds: This card is vital, so play with four of them.

Sterling Grove: An enchantment for GW, with the text: "All other enchantments you control can't be the targets of spells or abilities. 1, Sacrifice Sterling Grove: Search your library for an enchantment card and reveal that card. Shuffle your library, then put the card on top of it." The decks needs a way to get a Dueling Ground fast and Sterling Grove works ok. The fact that additional Groves protect your Dueling Grounds is just a very nice extra. I'm not sure what the rarity of Sterling Grove is yet, but if you don't have four, use Enlightened Tutors or even Academy Rectors.

Rith, the Awakener: A 6/6 dragon legend for 3RGW with the text: "Flying Whenever Rith, the Awakener deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2G. If you do, choose a color. Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play for each permanent of that color." This card is just a possible kill card and you can do without if you don't have one. Any other big flyer will do. This one just happens to be cheap, big and with an interesting ability. Ok, with a Dueling Ground in play, the ability won't be that good, but it's still fun to make those tokens, especially because they're green. Each time you hit your opponent, you'll double the number of saprolings you control.

Artifact Mutation: A very useful card, but not in this deck, because the Dueling Grounds and the 1/1s you get don't work together very well. You could add a single Goblin Bombardment, but that'd make it a different deck entirely. The same goes for Aura Mutation.

Seal of Cleansing: This is the best version of Disenchant for this deck, because you can tutor for it and it's easier to cast than Aura of Silence.

Seal of Fire: A bit of spot removal is invaluable against creatures that don't need to attack to be nasty or to finish off something your blocker couldn't on his own. The fact that it's an enchantment just makes it better, because you can tutor for it.

Crystal Chimes: With at least 12 enchantments that can be sacrificed for a useful effect already, this is bound to be a useful way to reuse them. Obviously, if you have Replenishes, use those instead.

Charging Troll: A 3/3 that doesn't tap to attack and has G: regenerate for 2GW. Most cheap green regenerators will do in this spot, I just picked this one because it's new. Albino Troll might actually be a better choice, especially if you have a fast environment. River Boa is another option, but the 1 toughness could make it too easy to get rid of.

Hunting Kavu: A reprint of Giant Trap Door Spider. At 2/3 a very useful blocker and the ability will come in very handy against shadows.

Swords to Plowshares: Always a good choice in any white deck.

Arrest: Sometimes it's nice to be able to tutor for some removal. A single one is enough, though.

Elfhame Sanctuary: An enchantment for 1G. It allows you to tutor for a basic land each turn, but you have to give up your draw step to do it. If this deck needed a lot of mana, I'd use this, but most of the spells are pretty cheap and there are no x spells. Even with 4 of these in play, you'd still rather draw a card than get 4 lands you have no use for.

Harrow: It's a good way to speed up your mana development and make sure you have a plains and a mountain in play as fast as possible. There are other good options, like Yavimaya Elder, but for this deck, I like Harrow for its speed.

Circle of Protection Red: You're almost powerless against direct damage, so you need these to keep you alive against burn. You can tutor for these, but I'd still play with four, because you'll need the Dueling Grounds to stop the red weenie rush as well.

Circle of Protection Black: Mainly against the big black damage spells like Drain Life and Corrupt. Because those are late game spells, you only need three of these.

Scalebane's Elite: In case your opponent is playing with a lot of removal, you could do with a few extra creatures, especially if they have protection from black.

Kavu Chameleon: More extra creatures if you need them. This is a 4/4 for 3GG that can't be countered and has built-in protection against Perish and a lot of black's other removal (G: Kavu Chameleon becomes the color of your choice until end of turn). This one is useful against permission decks as well. The creatures in the sideboard are also meant as a way to thin the useless cards out of your deck if you're playing against something like a creatureless deck (side out the Dueling Grounds and Swords to Plowshares for 8 more beatdown creatures).


And so, the deck becomes:

One at a Time!
4x Dueling Grounds
4x Sterling Grove
4x Crystal Chimes

2x Rith, the Awakener
4x Charging Troll
4x Hunting Kavu

4x Seal of Cleansing
4x Seal of Fire
4x Swords to Plowshares
1x Arrest

4x Harrow
7x Forest
4x Elfhame Palace (G/W)
4x Shivan Oasis (G/R)
3x Plains
3x Mountain

Sideboard:
4x Circle of Protection: Red
3x Circle of Protection: Black
4x Scalebane's Elite
4x Kavu Chameleon

Have fun!

 
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