AK vs FoF

Beyond Dominia: The Type 1.5/1.X Magic Mill: AK vs FoF

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By Starscream on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 01:58 pm:

I was thinking of using Accumulated Knowledge instead of Fact or Fiction in my Counter Pheonix deck. The only true Counter Pheonix deck at worlds (Adrian Sayers deck) was running them and it got me to thinking about them. I would like to know what other blue players think of this (especially Counter Pheonix players).

This has a few advantages starting with the cheaper cost. I keep finding it hard to cast FoF and keep a forbid lock on. And the fact that I need the extra cards to get the forbid lock going well makes a bit of a catch 22.

The second advantage I see is if ID (the new Illusions Donate deck) catches on I can let them Intution for AK, counter the AK I hand to them and then cast my own AK. Even if you don't counter thier AK it's pretty good because you get one card more than him. Because ID dosen't draw off of all their AK's I should have an advantage. I think this is a very important point considering the meta game (I just read a starcity article praising ID). Mind you if Brian B's Malfunction Junction deck catch's on, more blue decks playing AK is only going to benefit him.

Thirdly My deck currently runs 26 land because I own no Thaws so a cheap cantrip effect like AK should let me run a couple less lands.

Lastly Counter Pheonix already runs Intution so I can use the AK Intution trick against decks without AK's of their own.

Please tell me if you think I am onto something or just full of it.


By IvoryGargoyle on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 04:41 pm:

Why not run both?


By BrianB, the Patron of Elves and Silly Combos (Brianb) on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 07:51 pm:

Running both might require you to bump out something more important. A deck only has so much room for cards that don't actually DO something before it starts getting run over by faster stuff. Adrian Sayers deck didn't even run brainstorm or impulse! If you run intuition anyway, AK isn't a bad call over FoF. With an AK and an intuition in hand, you can end up drawing 7 cards with 7 mana over a few turns (3+2+2). AK doesn't lag in the early game, but it's not super-exciting either. ForF has merit, and is the better choice if you don't have room for 4 such spells in your deck. (2 ForF can be worthwhile, 2 AKs are obviously useless). And yes, Malfunction Junction does love opponents with AK, but I wouldn't hold your breath for it to get big based on its poor performance (or poor piloting) at worlds.


By Starscream on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 09:30 pm:

Yeah I don't think running both would be good. I'd have to cut Impulse's for the AK's and they are just not the same card. AK brings card advantage later impulse card quality now.

I was mostly thinking of them as a metagame call for ID. There's a lot of talk about it and it might take off.


By magicdude on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 11:34 pm:

ID's already being played in my area, even though they aren't as successful as other decks. I personally run 4 both of AK and FoF because they are sooooo effective. AK provides early draws, and they actually can help a FoF by allowing you to draw more lands so you can have counter backup.

I don't know much about Counter Pheonix, but I know enough that the deck runs a lot better with AK than FoF. There is still a thing called mana-curve. Nevertheless, I would run at least two FoFs with the AK.


By IvoryGargoyle on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 02:34 am:

So then it basically comes down to how fast you want your card-drawers to be and how much synergy you want them to have in the deck. Since you're most likely running Intuitions, I'd play AK over FoF. At 4 mana I'd rather be casting a Disk in counter phoenix if needed than casting a FoF and you should be able to draw as many cards with AK in this deck.


By Starscream on Tuesday, August 28, 2001 - 09:45 pm:

magicdude how does ak work as a foil for ID? Any good?


By Tank on Tuesday, August 28, 2001 - 11:54 pm:

Catch 22 that's a good book.


By TracerBullet on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 02:23 am:

I'm actually reading that right now, My ex-girlfriend is a fan of both the book and the band......


By Tank on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 12:55 pm:

There's a band?


By TracerBullet on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 04:57 pm:

Yes, a Ska band. Quite good too. I'm personally fond of Bloomfield ave.


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