My Villainous Wealth Continues!

Many of you know I love brewing up rogue decks, and this new Standard with Khans of Tarkir has provided endless ideas for funky brews. I’ll sketch out
ideas, tinker with them a while, show them to friends who will poke holes in the concepts, and eventually I’ll sleeve one up and do battle with it at a
local FNM or Game Day tournament. My current Brew Queue includes a Temur Morph deck, a Sultai Inspired deck, an Abzan Meandering Towershell/End Hostilities
deck, and the Sultai Villainous Wealth deck I’ve written about before. The brew that tinkled my fancy the most was Villainous Wealth, and it’s the one I
put together first to put it through some paces.

Obviously, there are two things that can happen when you take a brew out for a spin: it will struggle and stall, or it will do surprisingly well. If it
does surprisingly well, I will give it another run where it will typically struggle and stall; the first time out perhaps I got lucky in my matchups or
opponents, but as with most home brews, inherent flaws will eventually show themselves and the tournament results will suffer. If the flaws look fixable
and the deck shows promise, then I may go back and do some more tinkering and eventually attain some success with the deck – like the Temur midrange deck I
worked on and tuned over the summer – but sometimes I’d rather go back to the Brew Queue and try something new.

My experience with Villainous Wealth has been pleasantly atypical! For its first run at FNM a couple weeks back I went 4-0 and was able to beat two
well-tuned decks – a Sultai Sidisi deck and a G/R Devotion deck – along with beating what seemed a slightly sub-optimal but still aggressive Rabblemaster
Red deck. A very promising start. After some modifications I was eager to see how it would do in another FNM last week. If it did well I could play it the
following Saturday for Khans of Tarkir Game Day; if not, I could sleeve up one from the Brew Queue and give that deck a run.

After the initial 4-0 outing and writing about Villainous Wealth before, I wanted to try a few new modifications. The first was to trim out the “make your
own Nykthos” land auras, Verdant Haven and Market Festival, and replace them with Dictate of Karametra and Karametra’s Acolyte. The auras had been fine,
but I felt that they increased the “air” in the deck quite a bit, a problem you can run into with any ramp strategy. One thing I’m learning about the
metagame is that removal is at a premium, and I’m running enough must-kill threats like Courser of Kruphix and Polukranos, World Eater that my mana dudes
are living more often than in Standard seasons past. Karametra’s Acolyte has a toughness of four, which makes her a pretty darn good blocker while also
usually providing a solid bump of mana when you need it. On the flip side, if my opponent points their precious removal at my early mana creatures, then
Courser or Polukranos hits the board and sticks around. Either scenario seems decent enough to advance a game-winning line of play.

Dictate of Karametra is definitely an “air” sort of card and one that can potentially be dangerous by giving your opponent lots of mana to fuel their
spells, but I thought its flash ability, two points of devotion, and the capacity to fuel gigantic Xs for Villainous Wealth made it worth the risk.

Here’s what the deck looked like for FNM:

Sultai Devotion

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 10-24-2014

Standard

Creatures (24)

Lands (24)

Spells (12)

Sideboard

I went 3-1 with the deck, with my single match loss against Abzan midrange that was able to compound my mulligans with hand disruption for two wins out of
three games. The last game I had to mulligan to five on the play and still came very close to winning despite that. It turns out that midrange green decks
are quite the delectable prey for a Villainous Wealth predator.

I set my personal best record for largest Villainous Wealth that night where X=27, and no, my opponent did not scoop on the spot but ground out a couple
more turns and made me kill him. It was quite exciting, but I realized after the game that I did it without a Dictate on the board. In fact, I didn’t draw
Dictate of Karametra all night, and was able to routinely cast Villainous Wealth for 5-9 or more with ease. If I were able to consistently generate enough
mana for game-breaking Wealths without Dictates, then the deck most certainly did not need to take the risk of running the card!

With the two extra slots I was pleased to replace air with more muscular mana sinks, and added another Arbor Colossus to the list. I also decided to give
Nylea, God of the Hunt a try. I was especially looking forward to Nylea giving my gigantic Polukranos and Colossus trample!

Here’s the deck as I took it to Game Day:

Sultai Devotion

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 10-24-2014

Standard

Creatures (26)

Lands (24)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

The deck and I performed pretty well. In fact, here’s a picture that was snapped at the end of the tournament.

Yep, it felt good to earn another Game Day Champion playmat back to back with rogue brews (for Magic 2015 Game Day I won with my Blue/Black Inspired Doom
deck I wrote about a few months back).

Round 1, I was matched up against a Mardu Warriors deck. In the first game I took some early beatdown, but he didn’t have removal for my mana accelerants
so soon I was dropping Polukranos and Arbor Colossus and then a Villainous Wealth coughed up a Chief of the Edge, a Chief of the Scale, and a Butcher of
the Horde to add to the fun. One nice thing was I got to see he had a few tricks in the cards I exiled, like Deflecting Palm. Game 2, he came out guns
blazing and got me down to 5 life before I stabilized the board with a few huge creatures. Arbor Colossus took out his Butcher and Polukranos mopped up his
ground forces, and I had just played Hornet Queen. He seemed oddly nonplussed about the situation, and my spider senses put him on another Deflecting Palm.
Since damage from either of my large creatures deflected back at me would kill me, I simply attacked with Hornet Queen, her flying minions and a gaggle of
Elves and Satyrs on the ground while the big boys chilled at home. It took me a few turns longer, and the turn I was going to kill him he turned back two
points with Deflecting Palm to put me at three, but he was done the next turn.

Round 2, I played against Stephen with the Blue/Black Control deck similar to what was played at the Pro Tour, with 4 Perilous Vaults. He Despised a
Polukranos from my hand, Dissolved the next one, hit the third with Hero’s Downfall… but when I played the fourth he’d run out of answers. After a few hits
he played a Prognostic Sphinx to stem the bleeding, but I targeted it with Murderous Cut and he scooped it up. In the second game, he hit me with a Despise
again, taking a Polukranos and noting that I had a Negate in my hand. I drew Nissa and then another Negate and began to construct a plan-I would play into
his Perilous Vault, and when he tapped down to play it, I’d play Nissa and animate a land that would be immune to the Vault, forcing him to spend his next
turn activating the Vault, and then I’d protect the land with the two Negates long enough to hopefully kill him. As luck would have it (and a little help
from Sultai Charm), I ended up drawing and playing all four Negates to keep my animated Llanowar Wastes alive and knocking him down to 2 life. Having
burned through all Negates, I played Courser of Kruphix. His Dig Through Time found him a removal spell, and I begged him to use it on the Courser and let
that Llanowar Waste get the kill, but he laughed and blew up that troublesome land, leaving my Courser to carry the ball into the end zone.

Round 3 was against Troy playing G/B Devotion, and I had to mulligan on the play so I had a bit of a slow start and a questionable hand, with a little bit
of mana accelerants and a Villainous Wealth. I end up drawing two more Villainous Wealths and nothing else so I’m forced to fire off the Wealth for three
and luck into a Sylvan Caryatid. Next turn I Villainous Wealth for five and nab another Caryatid, an Elvish Mystic, and a Hero’s Downfall for one of his
creatures. The next turn I Villainous Wealth for eight and pretty much put the nail in the coffin with Doomwake Giant, Eidolon of Blossoms, and Courser of
Kruphix. For the second game, he gets a good mix of removal and disruption to keep me off balance long enough for his big guys to take it down. These two
games took so long that we ran out of time for the last game; even though I’d cast a Villainous Wealth for eight, he’d set up a pretty solid defense I
couldn’t punch through during the extra turns.

Round 4, I was paired up, and looking at the standings we realized we could draw into the Top 4 with no problem, so that’s what we did. Instead of playing
we ran around the corner to this local BBQ joint and threw down on some Carolina-style with coleslaw.

First round of the Top 4, I was paired against my first round opponent playing Mardu Warriors and it went pretty much the same. Game 1, he got me all the
way down to one life before I stabilized with large creatures and removal and then put the game away with a large Villainous Wealth. For the second game,
he had a more controlling hand, knocking out a lot of my early plays but putting no pressure on me, and eventually my large creatures stuck and pounded on
his life totals while I was still at a comfortable twelve life.

For the finals, I was paired against a Mardu Midrange “good stuff” deck chock full some of the best cards in red, white, and black. I can’t recall all the
finer details of the match, but we went to three games, and I was pleased to have access to Garruk, Apex Predator who took out both Sorin, Solemn Visitor
and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. In fact, I was so impressed with Garruk’s planeswalker-slaying ability that I think going forward I’m going to run him over
Hornet Queen.

I thought Nylea, God of the Hunt would be a good mana sink, and while she occasionally woke up to join the fun, she also was occasionally “air” when I
didn’t have enough devotion. Four is a lot of mana just for a +2/+2 pump, and given how flighty she can be as a creature, I think I’m booting her off the
island. On the other hand, Arbor Colossus was simply a terror, even against opponents with no fliers, and since it’s flying creatures I worry about the
most in this format (especially given that I have yet to face a Jeskai opponent and their Mantis Rider), I want to add a third Colossus to the deck.

Here’s how the deck looks currently:

Sultai Devotion

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 10-24-2014

Standard

Creatures (25)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Garruk, Apex Predator

Lands (24)

Spells (10)

Sideboard

After playing the deck so successfully, I can say whole-heartedly that Villainous Wealth is an absurdly powerful card, and it truthfully makes Genesis
Hydra look laughable in comparison. It’s massive card and mana advantage-say I cast Villainous Wealth where X=5, and I reveal a Courser of Kruphix, a
Hero’s Downfall, and a Doomwake Giant along with two lands I can’t cast. I’ve spent eight mana to “draw” and play three cards that cost a total of eleven
mana, so in effect I’m being given three cards and three mana for free.

Another thing that’s sweet about this deck is that it’s got a lot of the strengths that normal mono-green devotion decks have-fast Coursers, Polukranos,
and Arbor Colossus, and easy to activate monstrous abilities. The Sultai manabase gives me additional ways to interact with my opponents through Sultai
Charm, Murderous Cut, and Garruk, Apex Predator. The Villainous Wealths are the game-breakers, the game-sealers. So long as midrange decks are Tier 1, then
I think Villainous Wealth decks can do well as a midrange deck that can also prey against other midrange decks.

As I was finishing up this column I decided to check the StarCityGames deck database to see if anyone else has been having success with Villainous Wealth
and found a few interesting takes.

Sultai Ramp

Dylan Farmer

2nd Place at Star City Games Invitational Qualifier on 09-28-2014

Standard

Creatures (12)

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Lands (23)

Spells (22)

Sideboard

Dylan Farmer, who got 2nd place at a StarCityGames.com Invitational Qualifier, avoids going the devotion route and instead supplements the premium mana duo
of Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix with Embodiment of Spring, Kiora, the Crashing Wave, and a full four copies of Dictate of Karametra to fuel
gigantic Villainous Wealths. To prevent his opponents from benefiting too much from all the extra mana, he’s running a ton of removal, including a full
four copies of In Garruk’s Wake! He’s even got Aetherspouts to run the sick play of stacking your opponent’s deck with good creatures before untapping and
casting Wealth to bring them over to your side. If I wanted to run a more controlling version this would be one way to go!

Sultai Devotion

David Petalas

3rd Place at States on 10-11-2014

Standard

Creatures (29)

Lands (24)

Spells (7)

Sideboard

Then there’s David Petalas and his version, which took him to 3rd place at States. He’s a lot closer to a more traditional Mono-Green Devotion build,
running Genesis Hydras and Villainous Wealths both. Me, I would just hate to cast Genesis Hydra and blow past Villainous Wealth and end up with an Eidolon
of Blossoms. Just give me Villainous Wealth forever! Still, gotta respect another guy who’s walking a very similar path to victories.

How many of you have given Villainous Wealth a try? Care to share your thoughts and experiences with the deck, either in your hands or facing down one?

BONUS DECK!

You might have noticed at the beginning of this article I mentioned a new brew: an Abzan Meandering Towershell/End Hostilities deck. When I first saw
Meandering Towershell I was initially pretty dismayed at what seemed a really terrible creature. But after I jumped on the same badmouthing train everyone
else was on, I started feeling bad for the little big guy. And I started thinking of ways where he actually wasn’t that bad. For one thing, his ability to
“blink” out into exile when he attacks had me think that it would be nice to pair him up with End Hostilities. Just think, when you attack with him and he
takes a detour into exile, you can either cast End Hostilities during your second main phase, or you can wait until your next turn, cast it during your
first man phase, and then declare your attack step and have the turtle swing in unblocked for five. As a bonus, the green and white color combination can
play Fleecemane Lion, which can also become immune to End Hostilities.

So I had that nugget of a deck idea percolating in my head when I was listening to the Eh Team podcast, and they started talking about Meandering
Towershell, and someone brought up that his ability works like a bush-league Obzedat with Whip of Erebos: if someone manages to kill Meandering Towershell,
you can Whip it into play, and when his own exile ability triggers it gets to more or less ignore the Whip Exile trigger if you stack it right. How cool is
that?

So with Whip added to the mix, we’re with Abzan, which gives us sweet Siege Rhino love, nice removal, and disruption. And Rakshasa Deathdealer, which
happens to also be able to survive End Hostilities with enough mana.

Eh TeamTowershell

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 10-24-2014

Standard

Creatures (16)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands (24)

Spells (18)

Sideboard

Right now this is on the bottom of my Brew Queue but damn, doesn’t it look sweet?

New to Commander?

If you’re just curious about the format, building your first deck, or trying to take your Commander deck up a notch, here are some handy links:

Commander Primer Part 1
(Why play Commander? Rules Overview, Picking your Commander)
Commander Primer Part 2
(Mana Requirements, Randomness, Card Advantage)
Commander Primer Part 3
(Power vs. Synergy, Griefing, Staples, Building a Doran Deck)
Commander Starter Kits 1
(kick start your allied two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 2
(kick start your enemy two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 3
(kick start your shard three-color decks for $25)