Let’s take a trip back in time, all the way back to Rise of the Eldrazi. Emrakul was even more unbeatable if it resolved in those days, but fortunately it cost twice as much mana. Gideon was a sweet new planeswalker that everyone loved! How times have changed.
But the purpose for our time travel is to talk about Rise of the Eldrazi Limited and one of the sweetest Draft decks I’ve ever had. Three copies of Overgrown Battlement, two copies of Wall of Omens, and two copies of Stalwart Shield-Bearers to stay on theme. My deck ramped so well that I was able to easily cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truths.
The point is, Walls can make a lot of mana, and in addition to Overgrown Battlement, Modern features Axebane Guardian and Wall of Roots for the mana acceleration-defender combo.
So we have a deck that wants to assemble a critical mass of reasonably cheap creatures and then figure out something to do with a lot of excess mana. Chord of Calling and Collected Company are the obvious accoutrements, and I’m somewhat surprised to only see three copies of the latter, which can lead to some very explosive turns.
The Wall package isn’t as quick out of the gates as Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch are, but they are certainly more powerful while giving the deck some blocking potential against aggressive decks and the ability to dodge things like Gut Shot and the various red sweepers that exist in sideboards across the format. We even see a copy of Kozilek’s Return in the maindeck that would otherwise not be possible.
Given that you’re likely to be a little behind on turns 3 and 4 due to a higher curve, I like how combo-focused this deck is with its toolbox, with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker alongside Restoration Angel and Deceiver Exarch and Spike Feeder with Archangel of Thune. Spell Queller, Spellskite, and Dauntless Escort all help protect your various combo pieces, and the other singletons, Magus of the Moon and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, are one-card combos against certain decks.
You don’t quite get to casting giant Eldrazi and annihilating your opponent’s battlefield, but making ten million creatures is good enough.
Creatures (30)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- 1 Spike Feeder
- 2 Eternal Witness
- 2 Wall of Roots
- 2 Carven Caryatid
- 1 Magus of the Moon
- 1 Dauntless Escort
- 1 Perimeter Captain
- 3 Overgrown Battlement
- 3 Wall of Omens
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Spellskite
- 1 Deceiver Exarch
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 2 Restoration Angel
- 3 Axebane Guardian
- 1 Archangel of Thune
- 1 Spell Queller
Lands (21)
Spells (10)
