Brewers…unite!
New sets coming out mean very great things. First of all, I will probably start to play a ton more Magic Online because to be honest, I was getting a little bit bored of all of the U/W Humans/Delver decks and such. Hopefully, this format will be full of many more color combinations. The funny part is I usually like playing U/W decks when no one else does. It is almost like a circle or some other geometric figure.
Another reason to be happy is that this set looks pretty sweet! I didn’t look at too many spoiled cards until they were all revealed. I was blown away with quite a few of the cards that were created. Here is an example of a card that Alex Wong from the suite explained to me:
Alex: So Jonathan…there is this card. It is an instant that gives -1/-1 to a creature until end of turn.
Me: Wring Flesh but worse?
Alex: Well, it has a morbid effect.
Me: Let me guess…it turns into a Last Grasp. That would be pretty good.
Alex: Better! It gives -13/-13 until end of turn instead.
Me: What?!?! It must cost around 1B at an uncommon level, right?
Alex: Nope! It is a common for only a single black mana.
Me: I don’t believe you.
Alex: The best part? Its name is Tragic Slip. (He proceeds to imitate the person on a “Wet Floor” sign.)
*I look at him in disbelief.*
However, enough of my gibber-jabber. The point of what I’ve been trying to say is that this set is sweet, and it is time to get those creative juices flowing. Right now, I am going to post decklists (hoorayyy!!) along with my justification for card choices. Be warned; I do not believe that any of these decks are refined enough to be considered perfect, or it is possible that the idea just sucks. What matters right now is formulating ideas and running with them. For a similar reason, I don’t think it would be right to post sideboards in this undefined metagame.
Let’s see how my first idea of a deck seems:
Creatures (8)
Lands (23)
Spells (29)
This decklist attempts to be a slightly newer version of a personal favorite of mine. Everyone usually associates me with two cards from Innistrad: Laboratory Maniac in Limited and Burning Vengeance in Constructed. After seeing Secrets of the Dead, my first reaction was that now everyone was going to try to build decks around this card and Burning Vengeance. Well…all aboard the train headed to Burning Vengeance Land!!
However, one problem I’ve been having is that I have two distinct ideas for what I want to try to do with Burning Vengeance and Secrets of the Dead, but I’m not sure how I want to execute them. The first idea is along the lines of just U/R with just pure card advantage. A few considerations could be to splash black for Forbidden Alchemy or even Fires of Undeath to shoot Mirran Crusader. The sideboard would probably need Phantasmal Image to have extra answers to Geist of Saint Traft. Also, more Secrets of the Dead could be good in the control matchups.
The second idea is along the lines of either blue and black or red and black. Why these color combinations? I just want to take advantage of Gravecrawler with Burning Vengeance and/or Secrets of the Dead. The reason for this is because I believe Gravecrawler is virtually impossible for several control decks to deal with. Also, the synergy with Gravecrawler and…well…more Gravecrawlers seems really unfair.
A little combo that one can do is to have a Gravecrawler in your graveyard with a Gravecrawler and two Burning Vengeances in play. Now, for a single black mana, you can cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard and use a Burning Vengeance to Shock your own Gravecrawler and the other one to shoot whatever you want. In fact, you can just keep on paying black mana for Shocks every turn!
For that reason, I tried making the following list.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
This list has one element that I have been trying to add to decks for a while. That element is Phyrexian Crusader. If the metagame even slightly resembles the metagame pre-Dark Ascension, this guy can be quite the power player for a similar reason as to why Sword of War and Peace is a billion tickets on Magic Online. In this deck, a huge selling point is the fact that Phyrexian Crusader is in fact…a Zombie! This goes perfectly with Gravecrawler. The only problem could be if cards with undying gets popular. Infect is no bueno if you are playing against creatures with undying. Just saying…
An oldie but goodie is Chandra, the Firebrand and Chandra’s Phoenix side by side. Zapgaze on Magic Online has been playing a Grixis control list for quite a while and highly recommends it, along with constantly borrowing cards from me for it. Whenever I build a deck with Grixis elements to it, I turn to Zapgaze’s list.
Chandra, the Firebrand has been popular in Grixis decks for a while. It is a great answer to Moorland Haunt and very synergistic with Chandra’s Phoenix, allowing you to constantly generate 2/2 fliers. However, I chose to include both Brimstone Volley and Tragic Slip into this list because with Chandra, the Firebrand’s -2 ability, you are able to have your copy kill a three-toughness or one-toughness creature respectively; then your original copy will have morbid active and be able to slay huge creatures (you can even make a Tree tragically slip!).
Anyhow, the rest of the list seems fairly self-explanatory, but I just wanted to get a list down to formulate my ideas. The blue version of this list feels like it is a little bit more like a U/B Aggro-Control deck with Gravecrawlers. It may be a good idea or may just be an obsession; only time can tell!
Creatures (16)
Lands (23)
Spells (21)
This list is very…weird to say the least. At first, it looks like a huge mishmash of cards. The list itself may very well be terrible. Or…this deck could be sweet! I like to give under-tested / unperfected decks a chance before I cast judgment, and even though the list is rough, to me, it can be a blast to play.
You are playing an aggro-control deck with quite a few cards I have been meaning to stuff into decks for a while. One of them is Skinrender. He is a Zombie that has not been seeing much play at all. However, even though he will probably be slightly to late the party, he has a good chance at killing a Delver of Secrets unless they have a counterspell. He can synergize really well with Havengul Lich, giving you multiple opportunities to send -1/-1 counters your opponent’s way.
While Skinrender is cool and all, Call to the Grave is something I’ve wanted to see in decks for quite some time. I haven’t seen this card played since Onslaught block, but there are quite a bit of non-Zombie decks out there. Maybe even all of them aren’t Zombie decks! Go figure. Whether or not this card is better than Curse of Death’s Hold, I am not completely sure. That choice seems metagame dependent because I know I wouldn’t want to play Call to the Grave against Lingering Souls. And with all of the Sorin, Lord of Innistrad hype, I should probably have the Call to the Grave be a Curse of Death’s Hold.
One card that could be a little bit of a stretch is Reap the Seagraf. It might just be easier to splash in Desperate Ravings, but I wanted to keep this list only two colors. In a way, Reap the Seagraf is like a really junky Lingering Souls because Reap only gives you a 2/2 while Souls gives you two 1/1s with flying. However, I don’t want to count this card out yet! It does give us a way to put Zombie tokens into play and gives us more flashback cards for our Secrets of the Dead. In order to synergize with Reap the Seagraf more, it could be right to play more Forbidden Alchemies, but then this deck goes a little bit closer to control, making Reap the Seagraf slightly worse. I feel like Nephalia Drownyard can give you the late game fuel that you desire.
Anyhow, there are a bunch of deck lists with justification as promised. To be honest, I would not consider playing any of these decks in a real, high stakes tournament such as a StarCityGames.com event. However, I would definitely consider playing one of these decks in a playtesting session. The power of Burning Vengeance, Secrets of the Dead, and Gravecrawler is not one to be underestimated. Mark my words!
Happy brewing!!
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan “Watchwolf92” Sukenik