"Thrash and Thrive" is one of two new event decks from Wizards of the Coast's latest "Magic: The Gathering" set "Gatecrash" ("Rally and Rout" is the other). Revealed today Feb. 4, 2013 in an article on DailyMTG.com, "Thrash and Thrive" is a blue-green Simic deck that ramps up into deadly spells and creatures.
Like the "Return to Ravnica" event decks ("Rakdos: Wrack and Rage" and "Golgari: Creep and Conquer"), "Thrash and Thrive" features a full deck of 60 cards, 15 card sideboard, spindown life counter, strategy insert, and deck box.
In "Thrash and Thrive" you'll discover that:
The Simic Combine has no qualms about pushing the limits of life. Take command of its unrestrained ambition to engineer monstrous minions fueled by abundant mana. Let your creations loose at your enemy’s microscopic army. It’s feeding time.
"Thrash and Thrive" event deck decklist
Creatures (23)
2 Acidic Slime
4 Arbor Elf
3 Borderland Ranger
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Dungeon Geists
2 Fog Bank
1 Gruul Ragebeast
2 Mist Raven
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
3 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thragtusk
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
Other Spells (14)
1 Bramblecrush
4 Farseek
2 Ground Assault
3 Urban Evolution
4 Verdant Haven
Land (23)
2 Evolving Wilds
10 Forest
6 Island
1 Mountain
4 Simic Guildgate
Sideboard (15)
4 Dissipate
4 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Naturalize
2 Negate
3 Rancor
"Thrash and Thrive" works by accelerating its mana with spells like Farseek and Arbor Elf. One trick is to use Arbor Elf to untap a Forest enchanted by Verdant Haven to produce even more mana. You can then cast Urban Evolution to refill your hand with more cards and further develop your manabase.
You'll be sacrificing a lot of life in the early game in order to stabilize with mid to late game threats. Strangleroot Geist pulls double duty as both an aggressive attacker and chump blocker until you've finally acquired a sufficient amount of mana. Then you'll be able to cast powerful creatures from Thragtusk to Gruul Ragebeast or Sphinx of Uthuun.
Every threat in the deck has a powerful "enters the battlefield" ability that'll help turn the tide in your favor. You're able to abuse these creatures with Deadeye Navigator to repeat their effects over and over again.
The sideboard's counterspells like Negate help deal with more controlling decks while Flames of the Firebrand will shoot down multiple targets against weenie decks. Rancor is another great tool to bring in when facing aggro decks, allowing your creatures to trample their way to victory.
The included insert suggests fixing your mana base with rare shocklands and adding three overwhelmingly powerful mythic rares to the deck: Bonfire of the Damned, Sphinx's Revelation, and Craterhoof Behemoth.
Alternatively, there's less financially expenisve cards to consider. Chromatic Lantern will accelerate your mana while also allowing your lands to produce any color. Mizzium Mortars can help you deal with early threats and still provide a great effect later on. Instead of adding a fourth color for Sphinx's Revelation consider running more Sphinx of Uthuun and Thragtusk. You'll also want to include another Deadeye Navigator to abuse with all your creatures.
Rating: 4 out of 5. Thragtusk alone makes "Thrash and Thrive" worth more than the cost of admission, and there's no denying the product's worth. Contrary to it's name as a "Gatecrash" event deck it doesn't actually contain many "Gatecrash" cards. An avid "Magic" collector will have many of the deck's one off reprinted rares. If you're looking for a sampling of a new cards you may be better off with "Rally and Rout."
"Thrash and Thrive" hits retail shelves Feb. 22, 2013 for an MSRP of $24.99. It'll be printed in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese.
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