Rasputin here, boys and girls. Let's go hunting naive card players and blast them to ash. I discovered magic about a year and a half ago, and have since found out why it is called "crack for gamers" in some circles. There is nothing as gratifying as seeing fear in your opponent's eyes as you finish him off or kill his biggest creature.

The possibilities in deck-building are of course limitless, but I have found that direct damage decks are, for me, the most fun to play. I tried several variations on the deck below before I settled on this one. I hope you find it to your liking.

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Dwarven Ruins
4 Man flare
4 Pyroclasm
1 Maze of Ith
1 Wheel of Fortune
20 Mountains
4 Chain Lightning
4 Disintegrate
4 Ball Lightning
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
4 Earthquake
2 Goblins of the Flarg
1 Fork
1 Candleabra Of Tawnos

With three kinds of lightning, you are sure to pull of at least two or three on your first hand. The goblins make handy blockers and great grenade bait, as well as Flyers and Moutainwalkers. Ball Lightning is good for nailing someone with no blockers. Earthquake and Pyroclasm are good for mowing down many creatures at once. The Maze of Ith works to keep you alive, while the Mana Flare and Candleabra provide much extra mana. The Dwarven Ruins provide red mana in case you get hit with Conversion. The fork is great if your opponent throws a Stream of Life.

I usually play in multi-player games of four or more opponents. This deck has won against seven players before. (I take great pride in the fact that one of those kids almost cried after that game.) I will play what I call the "Sleeping Giant"; that is, I sit back and get out my mana, special lands, goblins, and Candleabra. The first person who even looks at me wrong gets it.

With a good draw, you can easily do 20 damage on the third or fourth round. When playing in multi-player games, people either back off and leave you alone, or gang up on you. I win about 75% of the time with this deck, but when I do lose, I always take and least one person with me and make everyone else miserable. That is the fun part.

With a proper sideboard, you should be able to prepare for those nasty blue counterspell decks or annoying weenie decks, or worse yet, artifact decks.

Good playing to you.

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