Fate Reforged/Intro packs

Fate Reforged has five bicolored intro packs.

Unflinching Assault
Unflinching Assault is a white/black intro pack centering around the Abzan Houses. Bolster you forces with the “Unflinching Assault” deck! Use your aggressive creatures to get damage in early, and if your opponent starts to stabilize with large blockers, pump up your troops until they’re big enough to break through.

Many cards in your deck become more powerful the more creatures you have on the battlefield. Because of these cards, such as Harsh Sustenance or Rush of Battle, you should be wary of trading your creatures off in combat. For the same reason, you’ll want to create a Spirit token with Sandsteppe Outcast rather than putting a +1/+1 counter on it.

Dragonscale General can really help you take over games, especially in conjunction with Cruel Sadist. The Sadist can take advantage of any +1/+1 counters on it to eliminate opposing creatures, not just those added by its own ability! And even if you don’t have Dragonscale General to push your Cruel Sadist into overdrive, building up +1/+1 counters with the latter’s own ability is well worth a few points of life.

The Fate ReforgedTM set has many other options for customizing the “Unflinching Assault” deck. The legendary creature Daghatar the Adamant can move +1/+1 counters around, making combat a nightmare for your opponent—especially when combined with your bolster effects. Citadel Siege is another perfect fit, as it gives your attackers more +1/+1 counters or hold your opponent’s best attacker or blocker at bay. If you’re looking for another finisher, Brutal Hordechief is the creature for you, as it cause your opponent to lose 1 life (and you gain 1 life) for each of your attacking creatures. <d title="Unflinching Assault"> Creatures 2 Aven Skirmisher 2 Mardu Hateblade 1 Cruel Sadist 3 Oreskos Swiftclaw 1 Chief of the Edge 1 Chief of the Scale 2 Abzan Skycaptain 1 Dragonscale General 1 Razorfoot Griffin 1 Gravedigger 1 Unyielding Krumar 1 Battle Brawler 2 Sandsteppe Outcast 1 Hooded Assassin 1 Merciless Executioner 1 Elite Scaleguard

Instants 1 Sandblast 1 Take Up Arms 1 Throttle 2 Honor's Reward 2 Harsh Sustenance

Sorceries 1 Diplomacy of the Wastes 1 Rush of Battle Enchantments 2 Debilitating Injury 2 Raiders' Spoils

Lands 3 Scoured Barrens 13 Plains 9 Swamp </d>

The rares in this deck are Cruel Sadist</c> and Dragonscale General</c>. The alternate art foil in this deck is Dragonscale General</c>

Cunning Plan
Cunning Plan is a blue/red intro pack centering around the Jeskai Way and Prowess. When you wield the “Cunning Plan” deck, your opponents will be left guessing just how big your creatures could become. By capitalizing on your opponent’s uncertainty, you can make early advantages snowball into decisive victories.

In many cases, when you attack with creatures with prowess, your opponent won’t block in fear of you having a spell or two. In these cases, casting some spells to get in extra damage might be tempting—but you might be better off saving those spells for your next turn so your opponent will continue to think twice about blocking.

While you’d prefer to be aggressive with your prowess creatures, this deck has enough staying power that you don’t always need to get off to a fast start. Quiet Contemplation</c> and Goblinslide</c> will help you survive well into the late game, and cards like Cunning Strike</c> and Weave Fate</c> will provide more fuel for your enchantments and prowess creatures.

Your most explosive card is Dragon-Style Twins</c>. Sometimes, it’s best to cast another threatening creature before Dragon-Style Twins in an attempt to “bait out” and opposing removal spell. Of course, if you don’t have any bait, you might as well just cast your creature with double strike and hope your opponent doesn’t have an answer!

There are a number of other strong Fate Reforged cards to try out in this deck. Monastery Siege</c> is an excellent fit, as it gives you a choice of finding more spells to trigger prowess or protecting your permanents from removal spells. Another great option is Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest</c>. Like Dragon-Style Twins, this legendary creature can lead to quick victories thanks to the strength of double strike. <d title="Cunning Plan"> Creatures 1 Monastery Swiftspear 2 Jeskai Elder 1 Welkin Tern 2 Jeskai Windscout 1 Bloodfire Expert 1 Dragon-Style Twins 1 Riverwheel Aerialists 2 Jeskai Sage 2 Lotus Path Djinn 2 Mistfire Adept 2 Aven Surveyor 1 Sage-Eye Avengers

Instants 1 Refocus 3 Lightning Strike 2 Crippling Chill 1 Whisk Away 2 Winterflame 1 Weave Fate 1 Cunning Strike

Sorceries 1 Void Snare 1 Arc Lightning 1 Hordeling Outburst 1 Bathe in Dragonfire

Enchantments 1 Quiet Contemplation 1 Goblinslide

Lands 3 Swiftwater Cliffs 12 Island 10 Mountain </d>

The rares in this deck are Dragon-Style Twins</c> and Sage-Eye Avengers</c>. The alternate art foil in this deck is Sage-Eye Avengers</c>.

Grave Advantage
Grave Advantage is a black/green intro pack centering around the Sultai Brood and Delve. Show your opponents just how tough you are with the “Grave Advantage” deck! Fill your graveyard using cards like Satyr Wayfinder</c> and Scout the Borders</c>, then use your graveyard as fuel to cast huge creatures like Gurmag Angler</c> for as little as one mana! When playing this deck, you can delve with reckless abandon to power out your creatures more quickly, but sometimes you want to carefully ration the cards in your graveyard in case you draw a more expensive delve spell. The sooner you control a creature with high toughness, the sooner you can take advantage of cards like <c>Kin-Tree Invocation</c> and <c>Abzan Beastmaster</c>. <c>Archers’ Parapet</c> and <c>Wall of Mulch</c> help you buy you time as well as having high toughness themselves.

<c>Sultai Flayer</c> and <c>Kheru Bloodsucker</c> will punish your opponent for killing your creatures with high toughness, but you can also use the Bloodsucker to sacrifice these creatures to simply finish your opponent off. <c>Kheru Dreadmaw</c> is another way to sacrifice your creatures, but its ability should usually only be used if you desperately need life.

If you’re looking to give the “Grave Advantage” deck a little extra kick, <c>Soulflayer</c> from the Fate Reforged set is a good place to start. Soulflayer has delve, and it gains abilities from the creatures you exile when casting it; many combinations of these abilities are possible! <c>Whisperwood Elemental</c>, another from Fate Reforged, is an imposing creature that uses the new manifest mechanic to give you more fuel by turning cards from your library into 2/2 creatures. <d title="Grave Advantage"> Creatures 2 Archers' Parapet 1 Highland Game 1 Satyr Wayfinder 1 Wall of Mulch 1 Carrion Crow 2 Kheru Bloodsucker 1 Gravedigger 1 Sultai Flayer 1 Undergrowth Scavenger 1 Kheru Dreadmaw 1 Rotting Mastodon 1 Sultai Scavenger 1 Hornet Queen 1 Shambling Attendants 1 Merciless Executioner 1 Abzan Beastmaster 2 Sibsig Host 1 Archfiend of Depravity 2 Gurmag Angler

Instants 2 Grim Contest 1 Become Immense 2 Sudden Reclamation Sorceries 1 Kin-Tree Invocation 1 Dark Deal 1 Rakshasa's Secret 2 Scout the Borders 1 Hunt the Weak

Lands 3 Jungle Hollow 10 Forest 13 Swamp </d>

The rares in this deck are <c>Hornet Queen</c> and <c>Archfiend of Depravity</c>. The alternate art foil in this deck is <c>Archfiend of Depravity</c>.

Stampeding Hordes
Stampeding Hordes is a red/white intro pack centering around the Mardu Horde.

In the aggressive "Stampeding Hordes" deck, you'll find all sorts of creatures willing to go to battle for you. Use the dash ability to deal damage quickly and overwhelm you opponents before they can get set up.

It might be tempting to use dash as soon as possible to get some damage in, but it's also important to build up a presence on the battlefield. The more creature you control when you cast <c>War Flare</c>, the better. <c>Mardu Scout</c> is valuable because of its cheap dash and mana costs, but don't count out <c>Goblin Heelcutter</c>'s ability to fend off the opponent's blockers or <c>Vaultbreaker</c>'s ability to trade in excess lands for more threats.

You will usually want to avoid losing creatures in combat, but sometimes you'll have so many that you can afford to attack with them all anyway. <c>Bathe in Dragonfire</c>, <c>Ride Down</c>, and <c>Act of Treason</c> are all effective at getting blockers out of the way, and if an opponent is foolish enough to attack you, <c>Deflecting Palm</c> will teach him or her a lesson that won't soon be forgotten!

If you're looking for new cards to try out in this deck, the Fate Reforged set provides a number of options. <c>Outpost Siege</c> is an enchantment that lets you either play an extra card each turn or deal damage when your creatures leave the battlefield (which combines well with your dash creatures). If you've lost creatures in combat or to opposing removal spells, <c>Alesha, Who Smiles at Death</c> will bring back some of these fallen minions. And the impressive <c>Monastery Mentor</c> can generate an entire school of Monks with prowess if you cast enough noncreature spells. <d title="Stampeding Hordes"> Creatures 2 Firehoof Cavalry 2 Leaping Master 2 Valley Dasher 2 Goblin Roughrider 1 Geist of the Moors 2 Goblin Heelcutter 1 Razorfoot Griffin 2 Highspire Mantis 1 Thundering Giant 2 Wandering Champion 2 Mardu Scout 2 Sandsteppe Outcast 2 Vaultbreaker 1 Flamerush Rider

Instants 1 Deflecting Palm 1 Ride Down 2 War Flare 2 Heat Ray 1 Collateral Damage 1 Dragonrage

Sorceries 1 Act of Treason 1 Pyrotechnics 1 Bathe in Dragonfire

Lands 3 Wind-Scarred Crag 13 Mountain 9 Plains </d>

The rares in this deck are <c>Deflecting Palm</c> and <c>Flamerush Rider</c>. The alternate art foil in this deck is <c>Flamerush Rider</c>.

Surprise Attack
Surprise Attack is a green/blue intro pack centering around the Temur Frontier. Your enemies will never know what him them when you play the “Surprise Attack” deck. When most of your creatures are face down and you have mana open, opponents will be hard-pressed to attack or block effectively.

<c>Secret Plans</c> and <c>Temur War Shaman</c> are two of your most powerful cards. You have plenty of spells with manifest and creatures with morph, meaning that you should have no trouble getting these cards to trigger. Temur War Shaman’s ability lets you pick off opposing creatures rapidly, which can really turn a game into a rout.

It can take a while to make the most of your stronger cards, so you’ll need to slow your opponent down. <c>Embodiment of Spring</c> can block and then accelerate your mana, both of which are quite useful. You should often use <c>Icefeather Aven</c>’s ability on the first possible opposing creature, but the Aven provides a huge advantage if you can afford to wait and return a large creature to your opponent’s hand. Cards like <c>Whisk Away</c> and <c>Singing Bell Strike</c> aren’t permanent answers to threats, but they will buy you time to set up.

If you’re looking to build on this deck’s themes, <c>Whisperwood Elemental</c> from the Fate Reforged set is an amazing addition. Not only does this Elemental let you manifest a card every turn, but it can also be sacrificed to punish your opponent for destroying creatures. Another card that would work well is <c>Wildcall</c>. On turn two, you can cast it to manifest a card if you have nothing else to cast, but late in the game the manifested creature becomes enormous—and the card you manifest could become anything! <d title="Surprise Attack"> Creatures 3 Embodiment of Spring 2 Icefeather Aven 1 Monastery Flock 1 Roaring Primadox 1 Scion of Glaciers 1 Nimbus of the Isles 2 Pine Walker 2 Glacial Stalker 1 Temur War Shaman 1 Thousand Winds 1 Arashin War Beast 1 Wall of Frost 1 Woolly Loxodon

Instants 1 Awaken the Bear 2 Whisk Away 2 Ethereal Ambush 1 Waterwhirl 1 Reality Shift

Sorceries 2 Formless Nurturing 1 Hunt the Weak 2 Write into Being

Enchantments 2 Secret Plans 2 Singing Bell Strike

Lands 3 Thornwood Falls 11 Forest 12 Island </d>

The rares in this deck are <c>Thousand Winds</c> and <c>Temur War Shaman</c>. The alternate art foil in this deck is <c>Temur War Shaman</c>.