Seventh Edition/Theme decks

Seventh Edition was the first core set to have theme decks and they are monocolored.

Armada
Armada is a white theme deck.

The Armada deck lets you build your own army of Soldiers and Angels. To win with this deck, play your small creatures as quickly as you can to deal some early damage. If your opponent manages to hold off your attackers, establish a strong defense. Then you can start cautiously attacking again to get in those final points of damage.

Over half of your creatures cost one or two mana to play, so you can get them on the table quickly. Don't be afraid to attack with swarms of your small creatures if you can get through for some damage, even if you have to lose a creature. Glorious Anthem, an enchantment that gives all your creatures +1/+1, is a great card in this deck. Suddenly your small creatures won't be so small anymore!

Most of your creatures aren't very big, but Healers and Healing Salves can often keep them around. You'll usually want to save your Healing Salves and Healers to protect your creatures. If your opponent isn't doing damage to your creatures, use the Healer's abilities to prevent damage to you. Try not to use the Healing Salves just to gain life unless you're about to lose.

What can you do about your opponent's creatures? Crossbow Infantry and Heavy Ballista can take care of the smaller ones. If you just keep an Infantry or Ballista untapped, your opponent won't want to attack or block with small creatures. You can use Pacifism or Spirit Link to protect yourself from huge creatures. Remember that if you play Spirit Link on an opponent's creature, you gain life every time it deals damage!

Once you have your defenses in place, it's time to start attacking carefully. If you draw Serra's Embrace, your opponent will really be in trouble. It can turn even the smallest creature into a big flier. Since the enchanted creature won't tap to attack, you can send it in as an attacker and still use it as a giant blocker!  Lands 15 Plains

Creatures 1 Angelic Page 1 Crossbow Infantry 2 Eager Cadet 1 Heavy Ballista 2 Knight Errant 2 Longbow Archer 1 Master Healer 1 Razorfoot Griffin 2 Samite Healer 1 Serra Advocate 2 Standing Troops

Enchantments 1 Glorious Anthem 2 Pacifism 2 Serra's Embrace 1 Spirit Link

Instants 1 Disenchant 2 Healing Salve 

Note: The Official Deck Page incorrectly lists "Standing Troops" as "Standby Troops".

The 2 rares in this deck are Glorious Anthem</c> and Master Healer</c>.

Bomber
Bomber is a blue theme deck.

Fly the friendly skies? Your opponent will think twice about that after facing the Bomber deck. You'll take control of the game with tricky blue spells and Wizards, and then your big flying creatures will really deliver a beating. You won't always attack much in the beginning of the game, but by the end, you'll be on top of the world.

Bomber has several creatures that will protect you from your opponent's early assault. Glacial Wall</c>, Wall of Air</c>, and Horned Turtle</c> make great blockers. You can use the Prodigal Sorcerer's ability to pick off small creatures one by one. Definitely play your creatures right away, especially if they can get through to your opponent.

Blue magic is all about control. Inspiration</c>, Merfolk Looter</c>, and Ancestral Memories</c> help you draw the right cards when you need them. You can use Boomerang</c> and Confiscate</c> to disrupt your opponent's game plan. Force Spike</c> and Counterspell</c> both let you stop your opponent's spells. You should save your "permission spells" for things you can't deal with another way, like really big creatures or spells that would destroy your best creatures. Make sure you play Force Spike when your opponent can't pay the extra mana - that will usually be early in the game.

Don't worry if you don't do a lot during your turn. You'll play lots of spells and abilities during your opponent's turn that will either help you or interfe with your opponent's plays. In general, you should wait as long as you can to play your noncreature spells and abilities. Leaving lands and creatures with abilities untapped means that your opponent will never quite be sure what you're going to do next.

When you have about six lands in play, you start playing your big fliers: Fighting Drake</c> and Air Elemental</c>. Thieving Magpie</c>'s good, too, because it can get you more cards. Once the flying creatures hit the table, winning the game will be smooth sailing.

<d title="Bomber"> Lands 17 Island

Creatures 1 Air Elemental 1 Coral Merfolk 1 Daring Apprentice 1 Fighting Drake 1 Glacial Wall 1 Horned Turtle 1 Merfolk Looter 1 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident 1 Prodigal Sorcerer 1 Sage Owl 1 Thieving Magpie 1 Wall of Air 2 Wind Drake

Enchantments 1 Confiscate

Instants 2 Boomerang 2 Counterspell 1 Force Spike 1 Inspiration 1 Unsummon

Sorceries 1 Ancestral Memories </d> The 2 rares in this deck are Ancestral Memories</c> and <c>Daring Apprentice</c>.

Decay
Decay is a black theme deck.

The two things black cards do best are destroy creatures and make your opponents discard cards. The Decay deck does both. Your plan is to use your discard efforts to cripple your opponents - they can't play what they can't hold on to! If your opponent does manage to play a creature or two, you've got the spells to send those creatures straight to the graveyard.

Early in the game, play any spells you draw that make your opponent discard cards, like <c>Duress</c>, <c>Ostracize</c>, and <c>Mind Rot</c>. If you have extra mana, play some of your cheap creatures, like <c>Drudge Skeletons</c> and <c>Foul Imp</c>. When your opponent plays a creature, figure out if it's somthing to worry about. If a creature is going to be a problem, just wipe it out with <c>Dark Banishing</c> or <c>Befoul</c>.

If your opponent gets more creatures on the table than you have, use your <c>Crypt Rats</c> to level the playing field. If you have enough swamps in play, you can use the Rats' ability to deal a bunch of damage to everything in play. Sometimes you can get rid of all your opponent's creatures!

<c>Corrupt</c> is one of the best spells in Decay. That's because you gain life equal to the damage it deals. Since all your lands are swamps, you can use it to destroy a big, pesky creature. Sometimes you can make a comeback with just this card! Even though it's tempting to use Corrupt on your opponent, try to wait to kill a dangerous creature instead.

One thing to remember about the Decay deck: Don't be afraid to hurt yourself a little to hurt your opponent a lot! Cards like <c>Greed</c> and Foul Imp cost life to use or play, but they're worth it. <c>Fallen Angel</c> gets bigger when you sacrifice your own creatures, but that's okay if you're about to deliver the final blow to your opponent. Play fearlessly and you'll be victorious.

<d title="Decay"> Lands 16 Swamp

Creatures 1 Abyssal Specter 2 Blood Pet 1 Bog Imp 1 Crypt Rats 1 Dakmor Lancer 2 Drudge Skeletons 1 Fallen Angel 1 Foul Imp 2 Gravedigger 1 Looming Shade 1 Serpent Warrior

Enchantments 1 Greed

Instants 2 Dark Banishing

Sorceries 1 Befoul 1 Corrupt 1 Duress 1 Mind Rot 1 Ostracize

Artifacts 1 Charcoal Diamond 1 Phyrexian Hulk </d>

The 2 rares in this deck are <c>Fallen Angel</c> and <c>Greed</c>.

Infestation
Infestation is a red theme deck from 7th Edition.

You can describe the Infestation deck in four words: Goblins, Goblins, Goblins, and Goblins. Of the decks's sixteen creatures, twelve of them are Goblins. You even get the <c>Goblin King</c>! How do you win with Infestation? Overrun your opponents with Goblins. While your opponent tries to fend off your horde, you can use your instants and sorceries to blow things up.

During your first few turns, slap down the Goblins as fast as you can, and then attack with them. You can play eleven of your creatures with three lands or less in play. That means you'll be playing lots of cards during the early parts of the game. Surprise your opponent with <c>Raging Goblin</c> and <c>Goblin Chariot</c>. Since they have haste, you'll be able to attack with them right away. Don't hesitate to use <c>Goblin Digging Team</c>'s ability to blow up any Wall in your way so you can get through with your other creatures.

Want to make your Goblins truly love you? Play the Goblin King to give all of your Goblins +1/+1. Your Goblins will turn into real threats. Unfortunately, the Goblin King is a Lord, not a Goblin, so it doesn't get the bonus. Don't attack with the Goblin King unless your opponent has no blockers - you don't want your pumped-up Goblins to suddenly get smaller.

Infestation has some spells that will help you get your Goblins through your opponent's defenses. "Burn spells", like <c>Shock</c> and <c>Lightning Blast</c>, deal damage directly to a creature or player. Hold on to them until your opponent plays a creature that could block your attackers, and then use one of your burn spells to get that potential blocker out of the way. The enemy creatures won't be able to attack you, and you'll be able to send in your creatures to do more damage.

Sometimes Goblins alone aren't enough to finish off your opponent, so Infestation has a few big creatures to do the job. <c>Trained Orgg</c> or <c>Fire Elemental</c> can do some serious damage. Above all, don't hold back. If you hesitate, other decks will gain the advantage. Go all out and you'll win. <d title="Infestation"> Lands 16 Mountain

Creatures 1 Fire Elemental 2 Goblin Chariot 2 Goblin Digging Team 2 Goblin Gardener 1 Goblin Glider 1 Goblin King 1 Goblin Matron 2 Goblin Raider 2 Raging Goblin 1 Trained Orgg

Instants 1 Lightning Blast 2 Shock

Sorceries 1 Blaze 2 Pillage 2 Spitting Earth

Artifacts 1 Patagia Golem </d>

The 2 rares in this deck are <c>Goblin King</c> and <c>Trained Orgg</c>.

Way Wild
Way Wild is a green theme deck.

You may think other decks have big creatures, but Way Wild will have their wimpy little creatures running for cover. You win by playing cards that let you get more mana faster so you can play big creatures long before you opponent can.

Some of the creatures in Way Wild are really big and expensive, like <c>Thorn Elemental</c> and <c>Spined Wurm</c>. Play cards like <c>Wild Growth</c>, <c>Llanowar Elves</c>, <c>Fyndhorn Elder</c>, and <c>Wood Elves</c> as soon as you can. The next step is to start bringing out the huge creatures - Treefolk, Wurms, and all the other nasties. They're so big that they're really hard to deal with. Even if your opponent manages to block with a couple creatures, you can still have <c>Pride of Lions</c> and Thorn Elemental deal their combat damage to your opponent - even if they're blocked! And some of your creatures have regeneration so if you leave a land or two untapped, they can survive almost anything.

Two cards in Way Wild are kind of tricky to use. <c>Lure</c> is a creature enchantment that forces all your opponent's creatures to block the creature with the Lure on it (if they can). Wait until you have several creatures in play, and then play Lure on the smallest one. Your opponent won't be able to block your big creatures and they'll get through for a lot of damage. <c>Giant Growth</c> is an instant that gives one of your creatures +3/+3. You usually don't want to use this card just to get in a few extra points of damage. Wait until one of your creatures would die from blocking or being blocked (or from a red burn spell). Then play Giant Growth on that creature so it gets an extra boost. Your opponent's creature will probably die instead of yours!

The key to winning with Way Wild is to keep the big creatures coming. Your opponents will be so busy trying to deal with your monsters that they won't be able to attack you. Don't worry if one of your huge creatures bites the dust. There's another one on the way.

<d title="Way Wild"> Lands 14 Forest

Creatures 1 Ancient Silverback 3 Grizzly Bears 1 Fyndhorn Elder 2 Giant Spider 1 Gorilla Chieftain 2 Llanowar Elves 1 Pride of Lions 1 Redwood Treefolk 1 Spined Wurm 1 Thorn Elemental 2 Trained Armodon 1 Wood Elves

Enchantments 1 Blanchwood Armor 1 Lure 1 Regeneration 1 Wild Growth

Instants 1 Giant Growth

Sorceries 2 Creeping Mold 1 Stream of Life

Artifacts 1 Rod of Ruin </d> The 2 rares in this deck are <c>Ancient Silverback</c> and <c>Thorn Elemental</c>.