My Empire Of Dirt

"How's that deck working out for you?" Caitlin asked.

It's a good question, one that is illustrating a recent mistake.

I got some games in against both Noah and Matt and the routine was pretty much the same: Hurt plays like a R/B aggro deck with some neat tricks from White, until I get something like Loxodon Warhammer and then it becomes scary. But I found myself disappointed with Personal Sanctuary, which I swapped in for three copies of Solemn Offering.

Redundancy is very important in Magic, especially if you're running non-Blue decks. One of the reasons Blue is the most powerful color, set after set, is that it often has the easiest access to tools that draw cards and smooth over the inconsistent bumps that other colors face when they try to execute their strategies. So, it would seem that if I can add in some cards that will help Hurt do what it wants to do, but do it more consistently, then that would be a good thing!

The mistake I made was thinking that Dega Sanctuary was the card I wanted to do more with. I don't win via Dega Sanctuary, I keep myself alive long enough to force them to lose. On top of that, multiple copies of Dega Sanctuary means that I gain more life, extending the time I have to find answers and win the game. Multiple copies of Personal Sanctuary doesn't do anything for me at all.

So I went in the wrong direction and the Personal Sanctuaries should come out of the deck. The question becomes; do I go back to the Solemn Offerings or not? My losses were to Noah playing Jeskai Tokens (whomever thought Jeskai Ascendancy should untap ALL creatures was insane) and the Offerings would also shore up my matches against Jason, doing whatever Jason does. Because he does it with artifacts or enchantments, for the most part.

The unsung hero of this deck has been Harm's Way. The first time I played that card, Noah exclaimed, "I almost lost to a Harm's Way!" (he survived by one. ONE!) I got it off twice against Matt to kill off one of his relevant creatures and protect my life total. That kind of smiling knife is something that is worth investigating, if only for its versatility but when coupled with the surprise factor? I may be onto something and I should push that for all it's worth.