Brewing with LOTR after a short “Reprieve”

Hi all,
I’m back writing at The Mana Base after a short Reprieve. Sometimes, life takes precedence.
Speaking of a reprieve, that is exactly the card I wanted to talk about today. Reprieve is a card from the new set Tales of Middle Earth: Lord of The Rings that is very similar to one of my favorite cards of all time: Remand. Remand is an all-star when it comes to tempo. But what is tempo? What makes Remand so good?

Understanding Tempo

Tempo can be difficult to understand for newer players, but it basically boils down to creating or maintaining an advantageous board-state—typically in a way that is mana efficient. Lets look at an example: Wild Nacatl is a great tempo creature, because it puts a lot of stats into play at very little cost. This allows us to progress our game plan of killing the opponent right away. Lets say our opponent tries to stabilize the board by casting Omnath, Locus of Creation. We respond to the opponents Omnath by casting Remand. This act alone does not create tempo. Tempo is only created by remanding the opponents spell while we have a Wild Nacatl in play. Remanding Omnath while we are ahead on board in this way allows us to continue the beat down. That’s tempo, baby!

Where Does Reprieve Fit In?

After some thought, I came upon a brew from about a year ago that died with the Lurrus ban: RW Crack the Earth. This deck aims to force the opponent into a resource-light game by playing mana efficient land destruction backed by mana-efficient threats. This strategy is very tempo focused , and stands to benefit a lot from the addition of Reprieve. Reprieve makes it harder for the opponent to pay for Esper Sentinel, and it makes it much more difficult for the opponent to play around Mana Tithe. Additionally, you get access to some sweet lines. When you Reprieve a spell, you gain information on their hand—you know exactly what it is that they’ll want to cast later on. This information lets you understand your best targets for Boom. You can destroy their best land to cut them off from casting the spell you just reprieved!

Here is a list you can try:

RW Crack the Middle-Earth

Modern
by Ryan “GR_DONKIN”

Creatures (15)4 x Esper Sentinel4 x Dragon’s Rage Channeler4 x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer3 x Fury MH2

Artifacts (6)4 x Mishra’s Bauble1 x Mishra’s Research Desk1 x Shadowspear

Spells (19)4 x Mana Tithe4 x Crack the Earth4 x Lightning Bolt3 x Reprieve4 x Boom // Bust

Lands (20)4 x Urza’s Saga4 x Flagstones of Trokair4 x Arid Mesa4 x Sacred Foundry2 x Inspiring Vantage2 x Mountain (343)

Sideboard (15)3 x Prismatic Ending3 x Wear/Tear3 x Surge of Salvation3 x Relic of Progenitus2 x Ratchet Bomb1 x Pithing Needle

Buy This List

You can find all these cards and more at Fusion Gaming — Amazing customer service, competitive buy-list, and great deals on Magic Singles.

Final Thoughts

Thank you for Reading! This list is sure to tilt your opponents and lead to some close and interesting games. If you’re looking to change up the list, I would love to find a way to fit some Fables into the deck. I also think my exclusion of Prismatic Ending from the main is a little sus. Keep those things in mind while piloting the deck!

Until next time,
Ryan “GR_DONKIN”