Source: Inquest #18 (Oct 1996), p.55; author: Jeff Hannes

"When Alliances was released Pillage helped give Type II land destruction a new lease on life, and now it's one of the hottest deck types out there.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out the strategy behind a land-destruction deck - kill your opponent's land so they can't cast anything and then crush them with big beasties.

The theory is a lot like the Erhnamgeddon, but the red / green approach is more selective and much more aggressive.  The only problem with this kind of deck is that it's possible for your opponent to get a large clump of land, and if that happens you may not be able to recover.

However, more often than not, the 16 landkill spells are more than enough to completely screw with your opponent's carefully laid-out plans.  The Erhnams are all too familiar, but using red also lets you employ the services of the big bad Balduvian Horde.  Unless your opponent's packing cheap creaturekill cards like Swords to Plowshares or Terrors, they're going to be in for a world of pain.

Four Lightning Bolts, a Stormbind and a Black Vise round out the damage-dealers, and the must-have Icies give some creature defense (if you should need it) as well [as] some additional land depletion.

HOW TO PLAY IT
- Kill, kill, kill!
Always play your land-destruction spells as soon as possible.  Never let your opponent get a lot of mana if you can prevent it.  The last thing you want to see is an angry Erhnam staring you in the face.  First-turn Strips are great, but if you've got other landkill spells in hand and it looks like you'll be needing that Strip Mine for your third mana, hold onto it until you've picked up another land or fired off all the landkill cards in your hand.

- Attack the mana-producing colours.
If your opponent's playing with Elves, get their green mana first so they can't play their Elves.  If they're using Dark Rituals, attack the swamps.  If your opponent's playing two or more colours, pick one and go after it.

- Tap away.
If you've got an Icy out and nothing better to do, tap your opponent's land during their upkeep.  It's almost as good as destroying the land, and you can be selective about which land you tap every turn.

-Fear the Land Tax and Lodestone Bauble.
Yeah, it's not much of a tip, but these cards suck for you.  There's not much you can do about the Bauble, but try to get rid of the Tax as soon as possible.

HOW TO BEAT IT
- Play with artifact and creature mana.
'Land' destruction is just that; besides Pillage, these decks usually don't bother with other means of mana deprivation.  By using artifacts like Fellwar Stone and Sol Grail and / or creatures like Llanowar Elves and Elvish Spirit Guides, you vastly increase your chances against any deck employing a large amount of landkill.

- Expect the first land you play to be destroyed.
Here's what we're getting at: if you have two mountains and a plains in your opening draw, play a mountain first and expect it to get blown up.  The basic rule is to play the land you want least first.  So if you don't care much about losing that City of Brass, make it the first land you play.

- Save your creaturekill for the biggies.
Don't bother knocking off the Birds unless your opponent is having serious mana problems.  The exception is if your opponent plays one on the first turn.  In that case it depends on what you've got in your hand.  If buying an extra turn before you start losing land will let you play something important, like a Fellwar Stone, then knock off the bird.  Otherwise, save it for something much more troublesome, like an angry mob of Balduvians."