Journey Into Nyx Intro Pack Review: Voracious Rage

Some players in Magic the Gathering are not fond of spell usage or synergy between creatures and spells. In this case they prefer the aggressive, in your face decks that can keep pounding at their opponents life total every turn. For this play style, the Journey Into Nyx Intro Packs bring you Voracious Rage. With more minotaurs than you can shake a stick at this is the Red/Black aggro deck that keeps you on the offensive. But is the deck truly that devastating? Let’s shuffle our libraries and find out.

Creatures:

x2 Borderland Minotaur

x3 Deathbellow Raider

x1 Fanatic of Mogis

x2 Felhide Brawler

x1 Felhide Petrifier

x1 Insatiable Harpy

x2 Kragma Warcaller

x1 Minotaur Skullcleaver

x3 Pensive Minotaur

x1 Pharika’s Chosen

x1 Rageblood Shaman

x2 Ragemonger

x1 Spawn of Thraxes

x1 Warchanter of Mogis

Early on in the game you will start to notice how all the minotaurs in your deck work off of one another. You will also notice that getting out one of your Ragemongers as fast as possible is a great strategy since It decreases the mana cost of casting minotaurs. If you are unable to do this early however do not fear, as Deathbellow Raider and Felhide Brawler are cheap early game creatures that can start dealing good damage to your opponent. Mid-game you can aim to summon Felhide Petrifier and Kragma War Caller to give your creatures some great benefits such as Haste and Deathtouch. Late game do not underestimate the power of Warchanter of Mogis. The downside is that you have to summon and tap him in order for his Inspired ability to trigger. But, if you can pull that off, now you have the chance to give one of your threats Intimidate which can truly wreck your opponent.

There are some things to keep in mind when playing with the monsters in your deck however. First, do not concentrate solely on your minotaur game. If your opponent has creatures that you cannot get over by turn four, Insatiable Harpy is a perfect creature to counter that tactic. Combine this summon with Lightning Diadem and you can deal great damage, evade creature blocks and gain more life back. If you have Pharika’s Chosen in your opening hand with a Swamp, this is a great turn one play. Not just do you have a creature out, but now your foe has to worry about deathtouch straight from the get go. The trick with your creatures is that you must use what you have and synergise them together to create the ultimate play. Doing this will result in massive damage and great rewards.

Spells:

x1 Cast Into Darkness

x2 Flurry of Horns

x1 Lightning Diadem

x2 Magma Spray

x1 Pinnacle of Rage

x1 Rollick of Abandon

x1 Searing Blood

x2 Spiteful Blow

x2 Starfall

The first thing you will notice with the spells is that the majority of them are expensive to cast. Six of them require at least five mana whilst Magma Spray, Searing Blood and Cast into Darkness only require up to three. These spells can be really useful in the right situations, regardless of how far in the game you are. Magma Spray can either take out pesky enemies permanently or you can use this in combination with one of your minotaurs, if they get blocked, to deal with even bigger threats. Searing Blood can be used in the same way, but try to use this when you are guaranteed the creature kill to maximise the life damage. Cast Into Darkness can be very beneficial aswell as it can take any big early to late game threats and reduce their aggression, maybe resulting in your opponent using them as a blocker from now on.

With the more expensive spells it is key to note what is more valuable. Cards such as Starfall and Pinnacle of Rage can assist with creature and player threats whilst Lightning Diadem and Flurry of Horns can power up your side of the field. Spiteful Blow and Rollick of Abandon are both cards you do not want to cast straight away and keep for those perfect moments. For example, Spiteful Blow is perfect to play when your opponent has a big creature as well as a large mana pool on the turn he casted it. Rollick of Abandon is better off used when you are finishing your opponent off, giving your creatures more bulk. Better off using this one in conjunction with Rageblood Shaman so that you can deal more damage over blocking creatures with Trample. The spells are not the focus in this intro pack, hence why most of them are expensive. Keep the high cost cards to one side until the right time arises whilst you use the cheaper ones to deal damage from the get go.

Voracious Rage is a great, flavourful deck with minotaurs you can easily get behind. The creature synergy in this deck is unbelievable as long as your mana curve keeps at a steady pace. The problems with this intro pack mostly come with the high cost spells that you may never even cast if your creature game is played right. With only three cheap to cast early spells at your disposal, the true challenge of this deck is to decide when the best time to cast is. As long as you keep up the pain with your creatures and give them all the benefits with Deathtouch, Intimidate and Haste, then you can see yourself smashing your way to victory again and again.