Have you ever asked yourself that question? I certainly have. So, when I acquired 800 Lorwyn commons (between 2-12 of each one), I decided to find out. I built five forty-card, single-colour decks using only coloured Lorwyn commons and basic lands, then pitted them against each other in a Star game. Here are the decklists:
White
Lands – 14 cards
14 Plains
Creatures – 16 cards
4 Cenn's Heir
2 Goldmeadow Dodger
2 Goldmeadow Harrier
2 Kinsbaile Ballonist
4 Plover Knights
2 Springjack Knight
Other Spells – 10 cards
2 Neck Snap
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Surge of Thoughtweft
2 Triclopean Sight
Blue
Lands – 14 cards
14 Island
Creatures – 16 cards
4 Aethersnipe
4 Inkfathom Divers
2 Mulldrifter
4 Pestermite
2 Sentinels of Glen Endra
Other Spells – 10 cards
2 Aquitect's Will
4 Faerie Trickery
2 Glimmerdust Nap
2 Ponder
Black
Lands – 14 cards
14 Swamp
Creatures – 16 cards
2 Bog Hoodlums
4 Moonglove Winnower
4 Mournwhelk
4 Nightshade Stinger
2 Spiderwig Boggart
Other Spells – 10 cards
2 Eyeblight's Ending
2 Foodbottom Feast
2 Nameless Inversion
4 Weed Strangle
Red
Lands – 14 cards
14 Mountain
Creatures – 14 cards
4 Flamekin Brawler
4 Inner-Flame Acolyte
4 Mudbutton Torchrunner
2 Soulbright Flamekin
Other Spells – 12 cards
4 Lash Out
4 Needle Drop
4 Tarfire
Green
Land – 14 cards
14 Forest
Creatures – 22 cards
4 Battlewand Oak
4 Cloudcrown Oak
4 Kithkin Daggerdare
4 Leaf Glider
4 Oakgnarl Warrior
2 Woodland Changeling
Other Spells – 4 cards
2 Fertile Ground
2 Fistful of Force
As you can see, they're all fairly standard decks. Green has creature advantage, with a few more mana sources and boosters. Red capitalises on burn spells, while playing fast, cheap creatures. Black kills creatures, while playing a near-endless amount of creatures. Both blue and white control the board, but white focuses more on creature power; Kithkin is the only creature type in the deck. They all have an equal chance of winning, or do they? There was only one way to find out: play.
As I was writing down every move, there was only time for a single game. Here are the life totals throughout the game:
White: 20, 19, 18, 16, 15, 13, 12, 11, 5, 4, 2 |
Blue: 20, 16, 14, 12, 9, 6 |
Black: 20, 13, 12, 17, 15, 5
Red: 20, 19, 17, 16, 14, 11, 3
Green: 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14
So, red won. Hooray for all red players! It is interesting to note that, while black was on 5 and green was on 14, red was only on 3. But how did red win, you may ask. Well, let's have a look:
Opening hands:
White: Springjack Knight, Triclopean Sight, Springjack Knight, Cenn's Heir, Plains, Neck Snap, Plains.
Blue: Island, Faerie Trickery, Island, Island, Island, Island, Island. After Mulligan: Island, Island, Mulldrifter, Inkfathom Divers, Inkfathom Divers, Pestermite, Mulldrifter.
Black: Nightshade Stinger, Swamp, Eyeblight's Ending, Weed Strangle, Eyeblight's Ending, Weed Strangle, Foodbottom Feast. After Mulligan: Swamp, Swamp, Nameless Inversion, Mournwhelk, Spiderwig Boggart, Weed Strangle, Nightshade Stinger.
Red: Mountain, Needle Drop, Soulbright Flamekin, Tarfire, Mudbutton Torchrunner, Lash Out, Mountain.
Green: Cloudcrown Oak, Battlewand Oak, Kithkin Daggerdare, Battlewand Oak, Leaf Glider, Forest, Forest.
Notice how each hand has two lands in it? This might have been a problem for green, if it didn't have the Leaf Glider. Mulliganing the hand full of land was probably a mistake for blue, who had land problems for about half the game. Red had the best opening hand, with plenty of one- and two-drops.
Turn 1:
White: Draws a Surge of Thoughtweft, then plays a Plains and passes.
Blue: Draws an Aethersnipe, then plays an Island and passes.
Black: Draws a Swamp, then plays it, followed by a Nightshade Stinger, then passes.
Red: Draws a Mudbutton Torchrunner, then plays a Mountain and passes.
Green: Draws a Cloudcrown Oak, then plays a Forest and passes.
Turn 2:
White: Draws a Plains, plays it, then plays a Cenn's heir and passes.
Blue: Draws a Ponder, then plays it after playing an Island. Orders his cards Island, Faerie Trickery, Glimmerdust Nap, then draws the Island and passes.
Black: Draws a Swamp and plays it. Attacks green with the Nightshade Stinger. Green goes to 19. Black passes.
Red: Draws a Needle Drop, then plays a Mountain and passes.
Green: Draws an Oakgnarl Warrior, then plays a Forest, followed by a Leaf Glider, and passes.
Turn 3:
White: Draws a Plains and plays it. Attacks Red with the Cenn's Heir – Red goes to 19. White plays a Springjack Knight during his second main phase, then passes.
Blue: Draws a Faerie Trickery, then plays an Island and passes.
Black: Draws a Bog Hoodlums, then plays a Swamp. Attacks White with Nightshade Stingers. White goes to 19. Black passes.
Red: Draws a Needle Drop, then plays a Soulbright Flamekin and passes.
Green: Draws a Woodland Changeling, then plays a Battlewand Oak and passes.
Turn 4:
White: Draws and plays a Plains, then attacks Black with Cenn's Heir and Springjack Knight, clashing with Red. White reveals a Goldmeadow Dodger, red a Tarfire. Both keep them on the top of their libraries. After clashing, White plays a Surge of Thoughtweft, drawing the Dodger, then plays Triclopean Sight on the Knight. Black takes 7, going to 13. At the end of turn, Blue plays a Pestermite, tapping green's Battlewand Oak. White passes.
Blue: Draws a Glimmerdust Nap, then plays it on green's Battlewand Oak. Attacks red with Pestermite, putting him down to 17, then passes.
Black: Draws a Foodbottom Feast, then plays a Swamp and attacks White with the Stinger. White goes to 18. Black passes.
Red: Draws a Tarfire, then plays it on white's Springjack Knight, then plays another one on blue's Pestermite. Attacks white with the Soulbright Flamekin. White goes to 16. Red passes.
Green: Draws a Forest and plays it, followed by another Battlewand Oak. Attacks blue with Leaf Glider. Blue goes to 18. Black plays a Nameless Inversion, sending Battlewand Oak to the graveyard. Green passes.
Turn 5:
White: Draws and plays a Plains, then plays the Goldmeadow Dodger. Attacks red with the Cenn's Heir – red takes it and goes to 16. White passes.
Blue: Draws a Sentinels of Glen Endra and passes.
Black: Draws a Mournwhelk, attacks white with Nightshade Stinger, putting him to 15, then passes.
Red: Draws a Flamekin Brawler, then attacks white with Soulbright Flamekin. White goes to 13. Red plays, not one, but two Needle drops, dropping white to 11 and drawing a Lash Out and an Inner-Flame Acolyte. Red passes.
Green: Draws and plays a Forest, then plays a Cloudcrown Oak. Blue counters the Oak with a Faerie Trickery, removing it from the game. Green attacks blue with the Leaf Glider, dropping him to 16. Green passes.
Turn 6:
White: Draws and plays a Plains, followed by a Springjack Knight. Attacks black with the Goldmeadow Dodger, and red with Cenn's Heir, dropping black to 12 and red to 14. White passes.
Blue: Draws an Aethersnipe and passes.
Black: Draws and plays a Swamp, followed by a Weed Strangle, killing white's Springjack Knight. Black clashes with red and wins, bringing himself up to 13. Black keeps the Weed Strangle; red keeps the Mountain. Black attacks green with the Stinger, putting him down to 18. Black passes.
Red: Draws and plays a Mountain, then plays an Inner-Flame Acolyte. He has the Acolyte target itself, then attacks white with Soulbright Flamekin and the Acolyte. White goes down to 5. Red passes.
Green: Draws a Woodland Changeling, then plays another Cloudcrown Oak. Attacks blue with Leaf Glider, dropping him to 14. Green passes.
Turn 7
White: Draws and plays another Plains, then attacks red with the Dodger and the Heir. Red goes to 11. White passes.
Blue: Draws and plays a Ponder, ordering his cards as Island, Aquitect's Will, Aquitect's Will, then draws and plays the Island and passes.
Black: Draws and plays a Weed Strangle, targeting green's Cloudcrown Oak. Winning the clash with white, he brings himself back up to 17. Black puts the revealed Foodbottom Feast on the bottom of his library; white keeps his Cenn's heir. Black attacks white with Nightshade Stinger, dropping him to 4. Black passes.
Red: Draws and plays a Mountain. Red attacks white with Soulbright Flamekin and Inner-Flame Acolyte. White plays Neck Snap, targeting the Acolyte. White takes 2, going to 2. Red plays Lash Out during his second main phase, targeting Cenn's Heir. Clashing with white, he doesn't keep his Flamekin Brawler, with white also saying no to his card, Cenn's Heir. Red plays a second Lash Out, this time targeting Goldmeadow Dodger. White gets another Cenn's Heir and puts it on the bottom, while red keeps a Tarfire. With that, red passes.
Green: Draws and plays a Kithkin Daggerdare, closely followed by a Woodland Changeling. Attacks black with Leaf Glider, putting him down to 15, then passes.
Turn 8:
White: Draws a Plover Knights, playing it after a Plains, then passes.
Blue: Draws an Aquitect's Will, then plays a Sentinels of Glen Endra and passes.
Black: Draws an Eyeblight's Ending, takes green down to 17 with Nightshade Stinger, and passes.
Red: Draws and plays a Tarfire, targeting white and knocking him out of the game. He then plays a Mudbutton Torchrunner and passes.
Green: Draws and plays a Forest, then a Kithkin Daggerdare and a Woodland Changeling. Attacks blue with Woodland Changeling and Leaf Glider. Blue blocks the Leaf Glider with Sentinels of Glen Endra, and green gives the Glider +2/+2 by activating Kithkin Daggerdare. Blue takes 2, going down to 12. Green passes.
Turn 9:
Blue: Draws Aquitect's Will, then evokes Aethersnipe, returning Mudbutton Torchrunner to red's hand. Blue passes.
Black: Draws and plays Moonglove Winnower, then takes another 1 life off of green with the Stinger, then passes.
Red: Draws and plays a Mountain, followed by a Mudbutton Torchrunner and a Flamekin Brawler. Attacks blue with Soulbright Flamekin, dropping him down to 10. During the second main phase, red plays a Needle Drop, putting blue onto 9 and drawing an Inner-Flame Acolyte. Red passes.
Green: Draws a Fistful of Force. Attacks black with Leaf Glider and the two Woodland Changelings. Black blocks Leaf Glider with his Moonglove Winnower, to which green responds by activating the two Kithkin Daggerdares, targeting a Changeling and the Glider. He then plays Fistful of Force, targeting the same Woodland Changeling, and clashing with red. Green wins the clash, keeping Fertile Ground, while red doesn't keep his Needle Drop. Black is devastated, taking 10 damage and going to 5. Green passes.
Turn 10:
Blue: Draws an Aethersnipe. Evokes a Mulldrifter, drawing two Islands. After playing on of them, he plays an Aquitect's Will, targeting a Mountain, and another Aquitect's Will, targeting a Forest, then passes.
Black: Draws a Mournwhelk, then attacks green with Nightshade Stinger, putting him down to 15. Black passes.
Red: Draws and plays a Mountain, then activates Soulbright Flamekin three times, targeting each of his creatures and adding the mana to his mana pool. He uses the mana to activate Flamekin Brawler, to which black replied with an Eyeblight's Ending, targeting the Flamekin Brawler (waiting, of course, until all of the mana was used up). Red then attacks blue with the Torchrunner and Soulbright Flamekin, dropping him to six. Red passes.
Green: Draws and plays a Fertile Growth onto one of his Forests. He then sees the opportunity to devastate red, attacking him with two Woodland Changelings, powered up by the two Kithkin Daggerdares. Red goes to three, and green passes.
Turn 11:
Blue: Draws and plays an Island. Plays an Inkfathom Divers, and orders his cards Pestermite, Island, Island, Island. Blue passes.
Black: Draws and plays another Nightshade Stinger, then attacks green with Nightshade Stinger, dropping him to 14. Black passes.
Red: Draws a Lash Out, then plays it, targeting blue's Divers. Losing the clash to black, he decides not to keep a Mountain, while black keeps a Weed Strangle. Red plays Inner-Flame Acolyte, targeting itself, and attacks blue with Mudbutton Torchrunners, Soulbright Flamekin and Inner-Flame Acolyte, knocking blue out of the game. Red, therefore, wins.
Well, can you imagine watching that? Because every move had to be written down, that game took around an hour and a half! Blue might have been more successful with more land, been able to bring out Aethersnipe sooner. If green had decided to direct his last attack at black, the game may have gone on for a lot longer, where red and green would have been trying to take out each other, not wanting to have a tie. Or red might have taken out blue anyway, seeing that green had too big of a lead, and forced a tie rather than losing. Black should have been evoking the Mournwhelks, then returned them to his deck with Foodbottom Feast and evoked them again, which would have created discarding madness and possibly changed the outcome dramatically. Perhaps the decks will have been changed by this time next week, when the players get together to play another game, and possibly even take red's crown!
