Let’s start with a quick story.

1995 was the year that I lost my Magic innocence. I graduated from high school just before summer hit full stride and had been accepted to the same college that my two closest friends were also attending. This was terrifying and exciting at the same time; we were finally getting the chance to go out on or own, but we knew we were also going to be giving up the comfortable existence we had grown to love.

I know I’ve told the stories about how I started playing Magic before on Dear Azami. At this point, the last few years had been a whirlwind of learning the game and acquiring cards before the days of the Internet. Lunch periods were a mad flurry of trade binders and pick-up games, and since two of us worked at the same gas station out by the interstate, we would often congregate and do nothing but play, trade, and play some more for hours on end. (We might have worked a little as well.) 

Before we knew it, though, we were moving into our dorms, marveling at the wonder that was the dining commons (chicken patty day!), and before too long we were meeting girls and sleeping through classes like seasoned college professionals. The old white cardboard long-boxes collected dust in the backs of our closets as we moved on to other things. Soon, we figured out how to connect Patrick’s Apple computer (this was before the first iMac came out and was likely an Apple IIc or something like that) to a dial-up modem. A few primitive SMS sessions later and we were loading up a binder with our first sets of power and dual lands to ship to some guy overseas so that we could afford to buy a decent set of instruments. (After all, the band we had started in high school was picking up speed with the built-in audience our tuition bought us.) 

Yeah, we even shipped first. And miracle of miracles, a cashier’s check actually arrived a few weeks later. That was that.

Sure, we all got back into Magic eventually (who doesn’t?), and we all ended up going through at least another set of Power each before we sold out again, only to eventually buy back in a year or two later all over again. I’m sure almost everyone reading this knows how that story goes.

The real point is that we never got back to the place we were in back in high school with Magic after that sale in 1995. Back then, it was a frequent occurrence to break a first-turn Black Lotus in order to cast an Air Elemental. Mox Emerald into Birds of Paradise just meant that Force of Nature was coming online on turn 4. We loved the game, and all we knew about it we developed strictly by playing against each other. There was no Standard, Extended, Legacy, Vintage, Type 1, Type 1.5, or Type 2. There were no Twitter feeds or deck tech breakdowns on blogs and strategy websites. There was just Magic.

1995 was the last time we knew what casual really was. By the time we got back into the game, The Duelist was a thing. People were playing in official tournaments. Suddenly, there was a metagame, and it didn’t start and end inside the doors of Exit 8 Mobil or the school cafeteria. We read, and we learned, and we got better, but we never truly found casual again.

Now that I can check off the sappy intro story, it’s time to get to work!

Christopher, this is the perfect deck for what’s happening today. My cowriter Sean mentioned to me that Dear Azamihas somehow never managed to take a pass at polishing a Malfegor deck before despite the fact that it’s a pretty iconic legend from a much-beloved block. What’s more, everything about this list (and this submission) seems perfectly suited to what we want to do here; it’s a casual deck from a casual metagame, which seems like a perfect place to start as we square off with our challenge today.

For those of you keeping score, Sean and I are going head-to-head Thunderdome style, each putting our own personal spin on this list and then pitting them heads-up to see which take resonates better with our dedicated readers. The plan is to keep the dollar figure under $20 and run out a minimum of twenty changes. I’m totally game; in fact, I’m going to try for thirty while still ending up with a solid deck for the same money.

Two men enter, one legendary Demon Dragon leaves. This should be fun.

Don’t forget to vote, folks. It’s on.

Here’s what I’m thinking; after reading the list over a few times, I kept coming back to tokens. There are quite a few references to them in the card-by-card breakdown, and there are some solid ways to make good use of them, such as Phyrexian Plaguelord and cards like Flesh Allergy. I think I want to do what I can to bolster the deck with a token strategy, adding in some decent producers and some new and improved ways to make use of them. I know you haven’t really touched on your mana base, Christopher, so I’ll also see what I can do to clean that up a bit.

If this goes well, it should end up a decent all-around gamer that should be right at home in a casual environment, and that seems like just where I want to be. Win or lose, this one goes out to the old gas station, a binder full of Revised Shivan Dragons, and playing the game the way it was designed to be played.

Here’s to 1995.

The Lands

First off, I’m going to tweak the lands to get a little more utility and a better blend of color fixers. With the extra fixers that will be going in later, I’m also going to shave a land to leave the count at 37 and still allow me to shoehorn everything in I want to. To help out with colored mana, I’m going to add in a host of multicolor land choices that will back up Rakdos Guildgate to make sure the deck is hitting the correct mana when it needs to.

IN: Shadowblood Ridge, Akoum Refuge, Urborg Volcano

I’m slotting a trio of “baby fetches” as well:

IN: Rocky Tar Pit, Terramorphic Expanse, Evolving Wilds

And a bit of land destruction to make sure the deck can deal with any problematic real estate:

IN: Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge

Finally, some graveyard hate and some hand control:

IN: Bojuka Bog, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace

In order to make room here (and gain that one slot for later), the cuts are pretty simple:

OUT: 8 Swamp, 3 Mountain

The Sorceries

First off, Christopher, let me thank you for already having Damnation on the list. You’ve made my day.

I’m going to do a subtle realignment of utility here to try to get the rest of the deck where I want it to without losing any utility.

IN: Vandalblast

OUT: Shatterstorm

You don’t have a ton of artifacts in here, but you may as well have the scalability to take down everything you don’t own or make a single surgical strike instead of just nuking everything including your stuff.

IN: Grave Exchange

OUT: Unearth

Your recursion can afford to be a little more upscale since you aren’t trying to use it on turn one. Sure, it doesn’t dump your guy directly into play, but Grave Exchange isn’t limited to size so you can get at Malfegor post-sacrifice. It also takes care of those pesky indestructible or hexproof creatures as well. Value!

IN: Syphon Flesh

OUT: Innocent blood

Again, we’re trading up. A few extra mana here is the difference between having to sacrifice something yourself or just making your opponents do it and netting some zombie tokens in the process instead.

IN: Festering March

OUT: Twilight’s Call

All this talk of tokens has me concerned that your metagame might see more than a fair share of them. (That will certainly be the truth after today.) A little repeatable insurance in that area comes in here to take the place of your second pseudo-functional copy of Living Death. (Mainly for the reason you stated in your intro—going to all the trouble of forcing your opponents to sacrifice things only to give them back seems like a waste of time and effort.) 

One Living Death is enough.

The Instants

You know the drill by now, right?

IN: Cauldron Dance

OUT: Act of Aggression

You have a ton of “hey, lemme borrow that for a second!” effects, so I’m nabbing the most expensive one of the current group to slide in my all-time favorite bit of instant speed goodness. I’ve said it many times before, but the combination of recursion, haste, and…er…Sneak Attackness is too strong to not play in a deck that can support it. Try it and you’ll love it.

IN: Bituminous Blast

OUT: Terminate

Hey…you were going to cut it anyway. I thought a little removal plus a little something extra might be a decent replacement.

IN: Carrion

OUT: Slaughter

Without any real life gain in this deck, Slaughter is going to do a number on you if you recur it more than once or twice. For a situational piece of removal, I’m not crazy about that. Instead, I thought another sacrifice outlet that plays really nice with the token theme might be worth a slot.        

The Creatures

Okay…twelve cuts here.

OUT: Extractor Demon, Kuro, Pitlord, Blood Speaker

Not crazy about the soft mill or the expensive life hit just to use it on the first two, and Blood Speaker is not very interesting once the Demon count of the deck drops off by another two.

OUT: Plagued Rusalka

Better with the added tokens we’re bringing, but I need the slot for something else.

OUT: Rix Maadi Guildmage

Sorry…I know this thing is a pet card. However, neither ability is easy to leverage without a ton of mana to be truly effective, so I tend to shy away from Guildmages as a result.

OUT: Stinkweed Imp

It doesn’t fit the deck with the added focus on tokens and less of one on Reanimation. I’m sending it off to sulk in the corner with Twilight’s Call.

OUT: Dark Hatchling, Phyrexian Obliterator

You’re right—no one blocks Obliterator. They just use non-damage removal, and they do it in a hurry.

Dark Hatchling…meh. For six mana, you can do better than this in the removal department.

OUT: Slum Reaper, Gatekeeper of Malakir

There’s an overload on the “everyone sacs something” effect in this deck. I’d rather you work on getting value in your favor and be able to leverage some decent creatures that take advantage of killing off your opponent’s stuff instead.

OUT: Arc Mage, Manaforge Cinder

Too little of a return for the ability cost on the former. As for the latter, I greatly dislike my mana fixing to rely on a creature staying in play—even in color combinations that can’t seem to fix well and might need any help they can get like red/black.

Now then—time to go shopping!

IN: Marsh Flitter, Sengir Autocrat, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

Some solid token-creating creatures to fit the bill. Don’t worry, there are some toys coming that will make these guys all well worthwhile.

IN: Harvester of Souls

You called this one out, and with the number of creatures that should be leaving play regularly (even taking into account that it doesn’t work on tokens), this thing is a good fit. Nice call.

IN: Butcher of Malakir

Likewise, Butcher should be a pretty strong removal force with all the token sacrificing you’ll be doing.

IN: Mortician Beetle

While we’re on topic, here’s another great way to take advantage of it as well. This thing will get really large really quickly in this deck so it’s a good, solid, on-theme win condition.

The Artifacts

Looks like I still have seven slots from the creature cuts and the land slot I stole earlier. Hold that thought—I have nine since your list actually looks to be two cards light to begin with.

IN: Bloodstone Cameo

Because Darksteel Ingot costs a dollar. I’m counting my pennies here.

IN: Carnage Altar 

I want more card draw in this deck, and this is a solid way to get some extra value from your tokens while also giving you another way to sacrifice Malfegor.

IN: Phyrexian Vault

A wise man once said, ‘I want more card draw in this deck, and this is a solid way to get some extra value from your tokens while also giving you another way to sacrifice Malfegor.” Smart guy, that one.

The Enchantments

I think I saved the best for last. This is where the meat of the deck is.

IN: Leyline of the Void

You need graveyard hate with all of the removal you’re running, but you don’t want to be hating on your own at the same time.

Trivia fact: This is the most expensive addition to this deck. Weird.

IN: Grave Betrayal

Good lord does this thing get scary in a hurry! With the removal and forced sacrifice this deck produces, prepare to have everything. Like, literally.

IN: Mind Slash

You need ways to deal with certain things that red and black have issues with. Counterspells, for example, or board wipes. In these colors, enchantments can also be really problematic. Mind Slash is a great way to leverage your token hoard to proactively protect your board position.

IN: Shivan Harvest

I’m not crazy about mass land destruction, but I do think it’s good to have something on tap to deal with problems like Cabal Coffers or Kor Haven. You may not see anything truly abusable in your metagame, but the nonbasic stipulation will give you the option and still help to keep you honest at the same time.

IN: Malevolent Awakening

0/1 Thrull token, meet Malfegor. Thanks for helping out.

IN: Attrition

I figured that I took out a good chunk of balanced sacrifice options and some of the other functional Terror options as well, so I wanted to make sure that your back was still covered in the removal department. Attrition is an all-star, and you should see some serious benefits from the inclusion here.

Last But Not Least…

I don’t always foil my cards, but the commander needs to be shiny. That’s just the rule. I think I’ve saved enough cash to make a small aesthetic upgrade, assuming you haven’t already done this yourself.

OUT: Malfegor (Commander)

IN: Malfegor – Foil Prerelease Promo

What can I say? I’m nothing if not completely ridiculous.

The Decklist

Here it is, everyone. Christopher, I hope this does the trick.

And what you’ve all been waiting for…the price tag:

33 cards changed. And the grand total?

$19.95.

Cheers, everyone.

– Cass

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article, like Chad’s Karona, False God Ally deck or Doug’s Karn, Silver Golem deck. Only one deck submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to StarCityGames.com!

Email us a deck submission using this link here!

Like what you’ve seen? Feel free to explore more of “Dear Azami” here! Feel free to follow Sean on Facebook… sometimes there are extra surprises and bonus content to be found over on his Facebook Fan Page, as well as previews of the next week’s column at the end of the week! Follow Cassidy on his Facebook page here, or check out his Commander blog!