Hello all, and welcome back to the series that focuses on all things casual. I am your host and writer, and I’ve been here a while, as the number on my column title indicates.
Regular readers may remember that I write an article for my column when the newest set comes out and build some decks around the new cards. This is a chance for me to take the new cards for a spin and test them out.
In other words, in this article… Decks!
Now, I know you are interested in seeing decks and talking about decks, not in hearing me talk… So, let’s look at some deckage!
Creatures (28)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Blastoderm
- 4 Spiritmonger
- 4 Burning-Tree Shaman
- 4 Rumbling Slum
- 4 Madrush Cyclops
- 4 Spellbreaker Behemoth
Lands (24)
Spells (8)
I decided to build a quick pseudo-Fires of Yavimaya deck from Madrush Cyclops. I love this guy!
Now, I didn’t take the time to make it perfect with a great curve or anything. Because the curve is lessened, I felt okay adding CIP lands in Savage Lands. I mean, with a Birds of Paradise out on turn one, there is nothing for you on turn two unless you happen to have Burning-Tree Shaman in your hand. Feel free to drop your Savage Lands or Shock Duel then.
This deck sports a lot of creatures. Birds of Paradise allows acceleration into things like Madrush Cyclops, Rumbling Slum, Blastoderm and Spellbreaker Behemoth.
The Behemoth will protect itself from counters, as well as Blastoderm, Spiritmonger and Rumbling Slum. That will allow you to play a lot of beats, and Blastoderm is downright nasty when it is uncounterable. Ouch!
Creatures like Burning-Tree Shaman and Rumbling Slum are not only great for their size-casting cost ratio, but also highly capable of dealing extra damage to people with their abilities. A plink here and there from the Slum and the Shaman can add up.
The deck sports Lightning Bolt as its only removal. It would rather go through defenses than kill them for clean hits, but you can do that if needed. They also help to seal the deal and take out an opponent with ease.
Saproling Burst, from the old Fires deck, is back with its beatingess. Without Madrush Cyclops, it is not that good, but when that guy is out, the Burst is a kick in the potato sack. Three hasty 4/4s on turn four (or five without acceleration) is really nasty and then they drop to 3/3s and still have power, then meek 2/2s, then Pearl Trident-esque 1/1s before dying. Of course, by then, your plan has been to win.
This deck is very moddable based on your collection. The Madrush Cyclops is the only essential. They are not going for much money right now, so they are easily obtainable. After that, you can change out beaters. Call of the Herd is fine for the deck. Darigaaz the Igniter is a fine choice, as is Kokusho, the Broken Star. You can find some other creatures out there for this deck in your collection, I’m sure.
I’ll Kill You No Matter What Your Life Is!
4 Spellbound Dragon
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Gleemax
4 Brainstorm
2 Soul’s Fire
4 Erratic Explosion
4 Riddle of Lightning
4 Ponder
4 Djinn Illuminatus
4 Counterspell
2 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Boros Garrison
2 Rupture Spire
8 Island
6 Mountain
4 Plains
This deck wants to use Spellbound Dragon, Riddle of Lightning or Erratic Explosion to blow someone up for one million damage off a Gleemax.
The deck contains a lot of tricks for getting this task completed. First of all, you can Enlightened Tutor and put the Gleemax right on top for whichever card you have. Now your attacking Dragon becomes 1,000,003/5. That’s pretty powerful. Then after you beat someone with it, take a look at Soul’s Fire for even more damage. RAR!
You have Soul’s Fire, Erratic Explosion and Riddle of Lightning all rocking some fierce damage. Do you know what really likes these? Djinn Illuminatus. In addition to providing you another body, the Illuminatus also doubles your burn spells plus it doubles Counterspell, Ponder, and Brainstorm.
What happens if you draw a Gleemax? Brainstorm it back to the deck, or hold onto it for your Spellbound Dragon.
Note that after Erratic Explosion resolves, the cards go to the bottom of the library. Riddle of Lightning leaves the revealed card on top. You have to discard Gleemax to the Dragon, so you can use that trick only so many times.
There are ways to make this deck a little more interesting. Sensei’s Divining Top will always give you a chance to sort your deck and set up an Explosion or Riddle. Mirari can add to your ability to duplicate the spells in your deck significantly. I also considered adding some more artifacts for Enlightened Tutor, and then adding Tinker so you can actually use Gleemax. Other forking options may also strike your fancy, from Uyo to a certain Quanar.
Creatures (20)
Lands (24)
Spells (16)
This deck tries to use Mayael’s Aria to win the game by Sneak Attacking a Serra Avatar into play or having a Lhurgoyf in play for the win.
According to a WoTC article published Monday, the Aria triggers even if no creature meets the trigger. Then Sneak Attack out a Serra Avatar or Lhurgoyf for the win. Note that Sneak Attacking a Serra Avatar is generally a good plan and may very well be an alternate win to the Aria/Avatar plan.
The deck adds a lot of bells and whistles to this basic outline. Firstly, it protects the enchantments with two copies of Sterling Grove and a single one of Privileged Position. This will keep your Sneak Attack or Aria from being destroyed.
Sterling Grove doubles as either protection for your enchantments, or as a tutor for them, while Academy Rector similarly tutors. Sneak attack out a Rector, chump block and kill it, or just let it die from the Sneak Attack and get the enchantment of your choice. Remember that Sneak Attack is really strong.
Activating Greater Good just once with a Serra Avatar is likely to give you so many cards you can easily win the game with a bunch of Sneak Attacked Serra Avatars, Lhurgoyfs and Fling-ready Brion Stoutarm.
I like Brion in this deck. He is a solid creature that can play offense or defense, he adds to your creature density, he can occasionally nip in for some damage and life gain, and of course, he can Fling a Lhurgoyf or Avatar at something for a lot of damage and a lot of life gain.
Wall of Reverence is another great defensive creature that adds to your life total while keeping the bad guys away and is another opportunity to add to your creature density.
I round out the deck with a few cards like Harmonize and Orim’s Thunder. The deck really doesn’t need creature kill too much but you could run into a variety of enchantments or artifacts that could slow you down and prevent you from winning. Harmonize is a great way of drawing cards that I put into tons of my Green decks. Harmonize is to Green what Counterspell is to Blue or Swords to Plowshares is to White.
I decided to give Mage Slayer a whirl in just a R/G deck without splashing colors. You are not going to find any lifelink, or discard like Hypnotic Specter. Instead, it’s just a few abilities, some decent creatures, and a solid deck.
To start with, only three creatures included have abilities that trigger off the Mage Slayer. Avenging Druid will get you an extra land off the trigger, Marsh Viper will assign two more poison counters, and Deus of Calamity will destroy a land.
In addition to these creatures, I am rocking Flameblast Dragon and Ohran Viper. The Viper is nice card draw but it will not draw you an extra card off the Mage Slayer because its ability triggers only on combat damage. I really love a Flameblast Dragon with a Mage Slayer. Deal 5+5+Blaze mana. That’s quite strong, especially if you have triggered the Druid several times to stockpile a nice big stack of land.
Deus of Calamity will not only deal a lot of damage, but it will also take out some lands, which can really help in the long game.
I added some raw burn and card drawing to the deck in order to give you some options.
I also tossed in a pair each of the Swords. They can help get your creatures through, like the Ohran Viper or the Druid or even the Marsh Viper. They also give you some card advantage in each. Note that you cannot equip Mage Slayer on a creature already equipped with the Sword of Fire and Ice, because it gains Pro Red and the Mage Slayer is Red. You’ll have to move the Sword to another creature, then move the Slayer and return the Sword.
I think Marsh Viper is really difficult to handle in this deck. It only has to hit 5 times in order to win you the game, no matter the life total of your opponent. Mage Slayer on it when it attacks will count. You could easily kill someone with it.
Note that Mage Slayers will stack. Two on an Avenging Druid will deal two damage and get your two lands. This can be very deadly.
The result is an interesting deck combining small utility creatures and creatures of some size, with equipment and support. Enjoy!
Creatures (10)
Lands (24)
Spells (26)
This deck tries to harness the power of Standstill by proving a reason to pop Standstill or give you 2/2 lizards every turn.
In multiplayer, Predatory Advantage is going to give you some 2/2 lizards anyway. People are not going to force a creature down just to keep you from getting a Grizzly Bear into play. Therefore, you are going to get creatures anyway.
The Standstill just adds to that. Once you have an Advantage out, drop a Standstill and watch the tension mount. Someone is going to break the Standstill in order to stop you, and then you draw some cards. Perhaps you’ll drop Standstill again.
Eternal Witness was originally Auramancer, but why play that when you can play the better Witness in color? Now you can get back any of your cards, including a valuable Advantage or Standstill.
The is the first deck I’ve ever built that plays Muraganda Petroglyphs. They fit here perfectly, as your creatures of beatingness don’t have any abilities. Predatory Advantage is good when you are getting 2/2 lizards; it is downright broken when you are getting 4/4s instead.
I tossed in 6 walls to help your early defense. Wall of Blossoms blocks and draws you cards to keep the deck moving. Steel Wall can be played early with any color, so it is really helpful.
I find myself using Privileged Position more and more in my decks as I have been increasingly impressed with it in real life. You can play it here and keep all of your stuff from getting targeted (except the Position itself, obviously). This can keep your Petraglyphs and Predatory Advantages from getting targeted while your lizards similarly dodge targeting.
I was able to slide in some supporting cards. Electrolyze can serve as early creature removal and adds to your card drawing. Condescend gives you Scry along with countermagic. Counterspell is ubiquitous in its usage. Finally, I added a pair of Kaervek’s Torch as finishers in case the deck stalls, which could be possible. One Teferi’s Moat shuts you down. Rather than add Naturalize, or bounce, I decided to add Torches since you can use them as creature removal too, and I thought the deck could use some of that.
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And with that, we have another five decks done and ready to go. I hope that you enjoyed today’s walk through some different decks. Hopefully, at least one will trigger your own deckbuilding fancy. I’ll see you next week!
Until later…