Hello and welcome back. Today is bittersweet because, although I’ve been able to write several of my favorite articles, I am now done. Ay me. Sad hours seem long.
In the forum for Monday’s article, a suggestion was made for one of my articles. A reader wanted a Magic: The Electronic exclusive. What an excellent suggestion! I have taken it upon myself to build a fun, yet recent, deck that can be played in casual rooms everywhere. (Well, just the one casual room, but you can access it anywhere.)
From my occasional forays into Magic: The Electronic, I have noticed the rather large pricetag that accompanies IPA cards. Although I may use commons from those sets, I am going to stay clear of anything more. Now that I have an idea of the sets that I can use, the next step is to look for a deck idea. My first idea is to look at White or Black. Although every color was represented in Tuesday’s deck, these two colors have bee neglected. I definitely wanted to steer clear of Blue, because every deck so far has had a Blue component.
The obvious question lingered. Why not build a White/Black deck? There were several good reasons not to do so. Some of the best cards are in Apocalypse. The only good archetype that I can think of is a Black/White cleric deck, which everyone has seen. What do I do? I could play a Spirit deck. I can never get enough spirits. I love them to death. However, I’ve written several articles about just spirits and arcane, so I figured that I’d give them a pass today. I came up with a quick idea, but I ultimately found out that a key card in making it work was from Masques. No help there. (Maybe I’ll publish that deck someday. It is a good idea.)
Then inspiration struck, and I came up with an idea. I’ve always wanted to build a Shirei deck. Now I can. Let’s take a look:
Shirei and the Clerics
4 Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker
4 Capashen Unicorn
4 Dark Supplicant
1 Pilgrim of Justice
1 Pilgrim of Virtue
4 Benevolent Bodyguard
3 Bile Urchin
4 Kami of False Hope
2 Nova Cleric
2 Hell’s Caretaker
3 Scion of Darkness
4 Sanctum Guardian
4 Caves of Koilos
12 Plains
8 Swamp
Let’s talk about the deck title for a second. Every time I hear the title, I think that a Doo Wop band from the 50’s is about ready to take the stage. Make sure that you sing the title with a little 50’s flair. Alternatively, you can pronounce the title like you are an announcer on stage. “Now presenting that band with the hippest sound: Shirei. And. The Clerics! (Sound of teenage girls screaming).”
The basic theme of the deck is simple. Use cheap creatures with sacrificial abilities to create virtual card advantage through Shirei. Another option is to either use the Caretaker as an adjunct to Shirei or to reanimate a dead Shirei (or cycled Scion).
This deck does play with a solid number of clerics, so I made sure to include Scion of Darkness and Dark Supplicant as a backup plan. With a Shirei out, sacrificing three clerics will result in those clerics coming back into play to do it all again next turn. Spitting out a Scion every turn can overpower a lot of players rather quickly.
Another Scion option is to cycle him early for a card, then use Hell’s Caretaker to reanimate him back into play. With Shirei out, you should be able to get back whatever you sacrifice to the Caretaker. If you need to, you can even sacrifice the Caretaker to itself to bring back a Scion, then it comes back due to Shirei.
There are several powerful creatures to reuse. The first group are the White stalling machines. One Kami of False Hope combines with a Shirei to present a problem that is up there with Isochron Scepter–Orim’s Chant in difficulty to swing through. An opponent simply cannot attack through it. However, they do have other options, like burn, so they can also off Shirei and solve all problems.
In answer to the first problem, we have defensive creatures like Sanctum Guardian and the Pilgrims. Burn is typically either Black or Red, which is great since we have both Pilgrims in this deck. They can sacrifice to prevent damage from that color, then be used again and again as they are recurred with Shirei. Alternatively, you can simply sacrifice Sanctum Guardian to prevent anything. Sanctum Guardian is our universal defensive outlet. You can sacrifice it to prevent virtually any damage to you or a creature. That’s a pretty powerful ability, especially with the recycling Shirei.
The other problem is solved by Benevolent Bodyguard. The Bodyguard can help to protect Shirei against evil removal. Shirei is a very important component of the deck, and it is vital that you use every method available to protect him. Pilgrims and Guardians can protect Shirei from burn, but Bodyguards have to be used against other forms of removal. Between Bodyguards, Pilgrims, Guardians and Hell’s Caretakers, you have a lot of ways of protecting Shirei or getting him back.
There are a few other cards that really operate well with Shirei. Chief among them is Bile Urchin. All by itself, an Urchin can slowly kill an opponent. If you draw a second, then your opponent’s death clock becomes very quick.
As a quick rules note, remember that Shirei brings back creatures at the end of the current turn. That means that you can sacrifice a creatures for an effect on your turn, and it comes back, and then on your opponent’s turn, and it comes back. One Bile Urchin essentially causes an opponent to lose two life every go around, instead of just one. It’s a very steady death.
I wanted to use a few removal options. Capashen Unicorn can take out artifacts or enchantments. Having a nice reusable disenchant effect can really help advance your cause against certain decks. I also tossed in a pair of Nova Clerics. You’ll rarely want to pop one off, but this deck doesn’t run any enchantments, so you can when necessary. The Nova Cleric can also be sacrificed to Dark Supplicants.
Remember to play defense. Block with a Bile Urchin, then sacrifice it. Block with a Capashen Unicorn, then sacrifice it. Use your 1/4 Sanctum Guardians to good effect defensively. Feel free block away when Shirei is out, because creatures will come back anyway. Who cares if Hell’s Caretaker gets smashed by a Kavu Chameleon when it will come back?
Since this deck is designed to be played on Magic: The Electronic, my suggestions for other possibilities will be similarly themed. If I wanted to add a third color, I really like Hapless Researcher. I think it would be a great complement to the deck. You could also run Daring Apprentice. This might be one of the few decks where that card could be considered viable.
Another option would be to look at Mirage cards. Since Mirage is about to be added to Magic: The Electronic, it makes sense to see what can be added. The first option is Vigilant Martyr. This is a 1/1 for one mana that has two different sacrifical effects. It can be sacrificed to regenerate a creatures, which is okay, but I’d rather have the Benevolent Bodyguard. Its second ability is to counter a spell that targets an enchantment. Yeah, that won’t be used much. Its also a Martyr, not a cleric, so it can’t be used there, either.
The card I really like for this deck from Mirage is Blighted Shaman. It’s a 1/1 cleric, so it fits the theme. It can sacrifice a creature to give another a +2/+2 bonus for the turn. Sacrificing a creature that will come back anyway is a nice little ability. It a pinch, you can tap it to sacrifice a Swamp for a +1/+1 instead of a +2/+2. You’ll rarely use that ability, but you never know.
The last real option from Mirage is Wall of Corpses. As a cheap 0/2 wall, this creature won’t stop much. However, you can sacrifice it to destroy a creature that it blocked. Having a recursive Wall of Corpses should really hinder opponents from attacking. This might be worth experimenting with, but I like our defensive creatures being clerics for the Scion synergy.
Well, I hope that you have enjoyed our final foray into the world of decks. It’s been another fun week. I’ll keep writing them if you keep reading them.
Until Later,
Abe Sargent