Well, I am back in the saddle after a short hiatus. Regular readers of my work know that being a housing supervisor comes with a lot of down time most of the year, but a few times a year things get super crowded. (February, Early May, August through mid September, December are the busy times). When that happens, it can be difficult to fit in a few articles. What downtime I have tends to be quiet and isolated, not typing and frenetic.
As such, I haven’t written in a few weeks. Sometimes, writing can be like the prophetic bicycle, able to be climbed back upon at leisure. Other times, you need to ease back in. Luckily for me, it’s time for another round of shorter articles and I am here to deliver your daily deck dosage. This will be a nice segue back into the writing form I usually enjoy.
Nevertheless, that’s enough about silly old me. Let’s take a look at a deck that I hope you will all enjoy.
I was recently playing Mirage Limited online and I found that I was in a bit of a Mirage Mood. That’s similar but different than The Dark Disposition and the famous Mirrodin Mindet.
Now, what sort of deck will I build? A Zuberi griffon deck? Too easy. A Tombstone Stairwell deck? I already built that. A flavorful Telim’Tor deck? Too similar to my old Godo deck. A Spirit of the Night deck? That’s too much like what everybody else builds. Hakim, Loreweaver? I already used him in a deck as well. A Zirilian of the Claw dragon deck? Too blasé. Malignant Growth? Already used that in a deck as well.
What does that leave? What flavorful cards are left that I can use to inspire a casual oriented deck for the masses? Actually, there’s quite a bit left.
I first discovered Jungle Patrol using Abe’s Draft Pool to draft them during a draft when I needed creatures (Abe’s Draft Pool includes a lot of cards from a lot of sets that are used to make random packs of 15 cards…). I never really noticed Jungle Patrol before then. It was one of those cards that fell between the cracks of really bad and really obscure.
I remembered it well enough to correct a famous MTG.com writer who shall remain nameless who wanted to combine Wall of Mulch with Wall of Kelp in order to create a nice card advantage engine. I emailed that Jungle Patrol would do the same job, and it was in the same color as Wall of Mulch.
That’s how much I have liked Jungle Patrol. It was a subject of an e-mail to another writer. Sheesh.
Anyway, it makes perfect sense to try and see what I can do with a Jungle Patrol. It has several elements I could use. I like it making extra creatures. Ever since the printing of Breeding Pit, man has tried to find numerous ways to sacrifice and use extra creatures. It makes walls, which are marginally useful for tricks like the aforementioned Wall of Mulch. Last, it makes creatures that can store up and pop for a large, but not too large, amount of Red mana. As you can see, this is not going to be easy.
I figure that the best way to use the Jungle Patrol is to take advantage of all three aspects of the card.
Jungle Fever
4 Jungle Patrol
4 Wall of Mulch
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Yavimaya Elder
2 Shivan Phoenix
4 Glyph of Destruction
2 Goblin Bombardment
4 Kaervek’s Torch
2 Fecundity
2 Mogg Infestation
2 Pattern of Rebirth
2 Reincarnation
4 Shivan Oasis
6 Mountain
14 Forest
This deck tries to combine all of the elements of a Jungle Patrol into a sixty-card deck. Firstly, I built upon the Wall theme by tossing it the Wall of Mulch, Wall of Blossoms and Glyphs of Destruction.
The Glyph of Destruction is great creature kill and once you play it, opponents become leery of attacking into your walls again. If you think it might help, you could run one or two less Glyphs of Destruction to use Reincarnation Glyphs. I just don’t feel that they are as useful.
After building on the Wall theme, the next place I looked was the “can sometimes make a nice extra bit of mana.” I decided to toss in a quartet of Mirage’s favorite draft enders – the K. Torch. After the deck took its final form, it appears like the Torch may be the best route to victory that you have. Feel free to substitute another X spell of your choice if you’d prefer.
The next bit of work to do was to look and find a way to use these extra critters. Firstly, I had to use Goblin Bombardment, one of my all time favorite cards. That allows me to sac walls that have been Destruction Glyphed for damage before they die, finds use for extra 0/1 walls, and more.
After that, I really liked Fecundity. This deck should draw some cards between Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Mulch, but I wanted a little extra just to put things over the top. Fecundity turns Jungle Patrol into a one-mana Jayemdae Tome (it costs two mana to use, but you get one back from the sacrifice).
Another way to use dying creatures is to slap a Pattern of Rebirth on them. Put one on a Plant Wall token and then sacrifice it immediately, or alternatively, put one on a wall and sac to a Wall of Mulch, or alternatively again, put one on a creature and sacrifice it to a Goblin Bombardment. You can get a Jungle Patrol, Wall of Mulch, or one of the other two creatures I toss in the deck later (Hint: They are Shivan Phoenix and Yavimaya Elder).
Now that I had the framework of a deck, all that was left was to flesh it out and make it sing. I love Mogg Infestation, and it was so synergistic with the rest of the deck that I had to put it in. Mogg Infestation can always serve as a one sided Wrath of God that leaves behind a few goblins as a consolation prize. When that Akroma gets to be too much, Wrath of Mogg is here to help.
However, Mogg Infestation can also turn a bunch of walls and wall tokens into goblins that beat. You can go from five walls to 10 little blighters that can attack in one easy swing. If Fecundity is out, you’ll also draw five cards. If Goblin Bombardment is out, you’ll be able to deal ten damage at any point in time. I’m sure you can see how that goes.
Despite the presence of Mogg Infestation, Goblin Bombardment and Torch, I felt the deck needed a bit more in the way of true winning conditions. Enter Shivan Phoenix. It can return to be recast and combos with Mogg Infestation, Goblin Bombardment and Fecundity. It gives you a flying path to victory or mugs up the air.
I also wanted to supplement the deck in its early rounds. Adding Yavimaya Elder gave me the ability to tutor for lands, gave me another creature, and added card drawing t the deck. The Elder allows the deck to hum.
Finally, Reincarnation is seeing play as a way to bring back dead creatures when you are about to off a creature. Turning a Plant Wall token into a crucial Wall of Mulch or Jungle Patrol can make all of the difference.
I really considered adding Curse of the Fire Penguin to this deck in order to turn any wall, even a token one, into a mighty beater. Feel free to take out a Glyph for one if you are interested.
Sometimes, you finish a deck article, and you wonder, “Who is going to play with this crap?” This time, I really like the deck. It seems fun, yet has every chance of winning games. Enjoy your jungle fever!
Until Later,
Abe Sargent