Every now and then, you see a card that just screams "build a deck around me!" You channel your inner Johnny and scour every card in Gatherer to figure out how you can make this card work in a comprehensive fashion. Finally you settle on 60 cards, and everything just clicks. You steamroll your opponents, win your local FNM, and have your deck adopted by pros around the world.
This week’s BOMB article has nothing to do with that.
Instead, I channeled my inner Vorthos. UUAway, AKA Blew You Away. I loved the name, but I had no clue what would be in the deck. I pulled up Gatherer and looked at every blue, artifact, and land card in Standard. Here’s the deck I came up with:
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (2)
Spells (46)
As usual, a quick price breakdown:
Total Cost: 25 Tickets (Exactly!)
Since this is UUAway, I needed cards to fit the theme:
- Cyclonic Rift and Whelming Wave UUAway!
- Mnemonic Wall UUAway a second time!
- I wanted Nightveil Specter so I could UUAway with the opponent’s cards.
- Astral Cornucopia helps me blow the opponent away even harder.
- Does the opponent have a deck? UUAway with Jace’s 0 ability!
- My creatures UUAway? Let’s get more of them with Stolen Identity and Fated Infatuation.
- And last, who doesn’t like it when I UUAway with the opponent’s creatures courtesy of Domestication?
Game 1: k3vos, Young Pyromancer
I got a turn 2 Frostburn Weird and turn 3 Nightveil Specter. My opponent dropped Young Pyromancer and burned out my Specter. I Fated Infatuationed my Weird, did it a second time, and then used the three Weirds to power up a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for Jace, Architect of Thought. I went nuts with my mana and cards and eventually ended up casting Domestication on a Young Pyromancer and making multiple copies of it with Stolen Identity on one of my Weirds.
UUAway so hard with your own dorks that your connection blew up and you timed out on the ninth turn!
Record: 1-0
Game 2: Neowolverine, B/G Graveyard
My opponent played an early Deathrite Shaman (shutting down two copies of Mnemonic Wall in my hand) and proceeded to throw down Lotleth Troll, Nighthowler, Nemesis of Mortals, and Shadowborn Demon. I was always one turn behind, and I really wish I had drawn a Domestication early on for their Shaman or Troll to keep the rest of the creatures from getting online.
Record: 1-1
Game 3: tyrusbell, U/B Mill
My first three plays were Frostburn Weird, Frostburn Weird, and Fated Infatuation for a third Frostburn Weird. This let me play a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for a three-counter Astral Cornucopia, and I was able to swing with some huge Weirds early for a quick win.
UUAway with mana!
Record: 2-1
Game 4: rpm88, Jund Monsters
While I was able to Dissolve a turn 4 Corpsejack Menace, my opponent’s next two plays were Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch (unleashed!) and Kalonian Hydra.
UUAway? UMeAway this time. 🙁
Record: 2-2
Game 5: bahamuto, G/R Ramp
And here’s the first person who asked if I’m the guy who writes the Building On My Budget column. Thank you, bahamuto, for the recognition! I’m sorry to say that my opponent got stuck on three mana and I got Frostburn Weird beatdown going.
UUAway!
Record: 3-2
I took a long look at what was working and what was not. I’d drawn Jace, Memory Adept multiple times, and every time I’d wanted to use the +1 ability instead of the 0 ability. Coupled with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Astral Cornucopia, I figured I was better off ditching Jace (which is a costly option in terms of tickets) in favor of Opportunity.
I’d also loved every time I’d drawn Domestication (it counts two toward devotion!) and Nightveil Specter. I added in a third Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx; took out Syncopate and an Island; and was ready to say "UUAway" version 2.0!
Out:
In:
New Total Cost: 14.4 Tickets (Holy Budget!)
Game 6: snipe82, Mono-Green Monsters
I got a turn 3 Nightveil Specter, which hit once before it died to Boon Satyr backed with Time to Feed. My next turn was another Specter followed by Astral Cornucopia plus Stolen Identity on the Specter. I found out that the true definition of UUAway is copying your Specter, hitting with your Specter (making another copy), drawing a land off the top of your opponent’s deck with the first Specter, and then attacking with three Specters the following turn! When Stolen Identity works, it’s really good—plus you can copy any creature on the board on any hit of the ciphered creature, so if they drop a giant monster, you can just hit with your Specter and then copy it!
Record: 4-2
Game 7: ISAOG, Grixis Mill
This was my favorite game of this batch. I got a Nightveil Specter, and ISAOG answered with Desecration Demon. I built up with double Astral Cornucopia (one on one counter and one on two), and I Dissolved their attempt to Hero’s Downfall my Specter. He finally attacked with their Demon and dropped Herald of Torment.
Here’s where I UUAwayed! Domestication + their Desecration Demon = OH NOES!
I grabbed their Herald of Torment, attacked with Nightveil Specter (which netted me more creatures), and dropped a second Specter. I then started feeding their own guys to Desecration Demon, allowing me to smash through with Specters. The game ended with them trying to remove my Specters and me using Cyclonic Rift to clear their board, redropping my Specters, and then casting Domestication on all their blockers for a winning creature strike.
Record: 5-2
Game 8: Psycho1970, U/W Heroic
Timing is everything. Psycho dropped Judge’s Familiar and multiple copies of Archetype of Courage. I got down Nightveil Specter, but it was taken off the board with Detention Sphere. The mistake Psycho made this game was tapping out to cast creatures pre-combat, which let me use a Cyclonic Rift on their Detention Sphere to eat a creature with Nightveil Specter. We ended up playing the same game of chicken three (!) times, with a final Detention Sphere taking down two (!) copies of Domestication.
I went down to four life, but I UUAwayed with Opportunity, more Domestication, and Frostburn Weird. The concession finally came after my second Opportunity, when it was clear that I had control of the game.
Record: 6-2
This deck was a blast to play and is probably my favorite deck I’ve built so far for this run of Building On My Budget. The best parts are that the deck costs under fifteen tickets to build (current Magic Online prices), it beats down judo style, and it UUAways! So if you want a really versatile deck that has lots of neat tricks you can pull off to turn a defeat into a decisive victory, you can say this deck UUAway too!
Next week: Embrace your inner beatdown.