After the disappointment of the Knight vs. Dragons deck released a few months ago, I was wary with this duel deck release. However, I REALLY wanted a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and an Ajani Vengeant. This was likely the cheapest way to get them, along with some other potentially useful cards. My friend JR was willing to playtest along with me so that we could get an idea of how the decks worked, and where they'd need improvement. Let me start that I don't like the fact so many of these duel decks won't have more than two copies of a card in them. Anyhow, here's a turn-by-turn review of our duel:
Turn 1: G: Wins dice roll, played Evolving Wilds, searched for a Forest during JR's turn. JR: Terramorfic Expanse, searched for a Swamp during my second turn.
Turn 2: G: Vitu-Ghazi, The City-Tree, Sylvan Ranger =>searched for a Plains. JR: Island.
Turn 3: G: Ajani's Mantra, attack with Ranger for 1. JR: Mountain.
Turn 4: G: Plains, Loxodon Hierarch, attack with Ranger for 1. JR: Swamp, Fire-Field Ogre.
Turn 5: G: Jungle Shrine, Jade Mage. JR: Crumbling Necropolis, Pain//Suffering (Suffering) on Jungle Shrine, attacked with Fire-Field Ogre, blocked by my Sylvan Ranger.
Turn 6: G: Forest, Pride of Lions, attack with Mage and Hierarch for 6. JR: Island, attack with Ogre for 4, played Icy Manipulator.
Turn 7: G: Attacked with Pride, Mage, and Hierarch, JR responded by tapping Pride with Icy Manipulator, and was dealt 6 damage. JR: Island, Slave of Bolas on Pride of Lions, dealt 4 damage to me. Basic Landcycled Sylvan Bounty before end of JR's turn.
Turn 8: G: Mountain, Ajani Vengeant, JR tapped Hierarch. JR: Blazing Specter attacked and dealt the damage to Ajani for 2, played Blackwater Elemental during second main phase.
Turn 9: G: Spitemare, JR tapped Hierarch. Used Ajani to make Specter unable to untap. JR: Tapped Spitemare with Icy Manipulator, Ogre attacked, dealing damage to Ajani and destroying it, Hellfire Mongrel and an Elemental.
Turn 10: G: Behemoth Sledge, pay and equip to Spitemare, attack for 5. JR: Terromorphic Expanse.
Turn 11: G: JR tapped Spitemare after my untap step, two damage from the Mongrel, attached Hammer to Hierarch, blocked all of the damage and killed Hierarch. JR: Another Hellfire Mongrel, unearthed Blackwater Elemental and attacked, I used Vitu-Ghazi to produce a token and block the Elemental.
Turn 12: G: Used Vitu-Ghazi for a token and attached Sledge to it, JR tapped Spitemare during attack phase. JR: Mountain, unearthed Ogre, blocked with Saproling token.
Turn 13: G: Forest, Vitu-Ghazi for another token, Spitemare was tapped, attached Sledge to token. JR used Terramorphic Expanse for a Mountain at the end of my turn. JR: Crumbling Necropolis.
Turn 14: G: Essence Warden, Vitu-Ghazi for token, JR tapped my Sledged Saproling, attacked with Spitemare which was blocked, but the damage dealt to the Spitemare was dealt to JR for the win.
After the battle, JR and I talked briefly about how the decks played. JR used the Bolas deck and he believed that the deck was actually TOO slow, even for a control deck. I liked the Ajani deck since I don't think it would really take much to edit the deck and make it really playable. Would I say it's worth wha t I paid for it? Yea I'd say so since you get two awesome planeswalkers and a decent number of good rares...a couple of which haven't been seen since Invasion, which are primarily in the Bolas deck. I would love more of the Kird Apes and Loam Lions...I just wish Wizards would stop being afraid to add more than two copies of a card in their pre-made decks.
JR's rating: 3 outta 5.
Gambler's rating: 3 strips of Bacon in my BLT sandwich (meaning you can taste the bacon, but not quite enough to satisfy).
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