When Mark Rosewater put out the call for theme decks, I immediately thought chickens. Maybe you thought Goblins, angels, merfolk, elves or thallids… But I thought chickens. Those of you who read”The Casual Report: Week 2″ are probably not surprised. MaRo specifically stated that only one deck per theme will be available, so seventeen different theme decks will be used. I have to think that a chicken deck would be exactly something Rosewater would love and select.
Upon deciding to run a chicken deck, I needed to decide which chickens to run. This was made easy, as there are very few chicken creatures in Magic. I came up with this list:
4x Chicken-a-la-King
4x Mesa Chicken
4x Free-Range Chicken
4x Poultrygeist
As far as I could see, there is only one card in Magic based on chickens that isn’t a creature: Fowl Play. So I added that in, as it is actually a useful card against the imagined Dragon, Angel and Wurm decks.
4x Fowl Play
Now, only the Poultrygeist flies, so we will have to have a way to deal with flyers. The most obvious choice is Hurricane, and I am not very inventive — so Hurricane goes in.
We have no way to deal with annoying enchantments, creatures, artifacts, or spells. Let’s throw in the basics just to get things rolling. Now our deck looks like this:
4x Chicken-a-la-King
4x Mesa Chicken
4x Free-Range Chicken
4x Poultrygeist
4x Fowl Play
4x Hurricane
4x Disenchant
4x Counterspell
4x Terror
With a four-colour deck, probably every land should be a dual land, so…
4x Tropical Island
4x Tundra
4x Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author]
4x Underground Sea
4x Savannah
4x Bayou
Well, there it is: My crappy, uninspired Chicken deck. Obviously, I need your help. The mana base is wrong, the mana curve sucks, and the utility cards are lame and boring. (And furthermore, I am absolutely convinced that someone else can come up with more in-theme cards than Disenchant and Hurricane – The Ferrett) I’m not too worried about the fact that it is slow (I have goldfished this deck consistently at seven turns), as I expect that Rosewater will try and set the power of each deck somewhat closely, but it obviously needs help.
I need your help. Send me your chicken decks or suggestions for improving mine. The most helpful suggestions will receive a copy of a card from this deck, signed by me. Assuming the deck is actually used for the Invitational, the most helpful person will receive the prize Rosewater would send. That’s right, I don’t even want the prize — I just want to see a Pro Tour player stand up and cluck like a chicken in the middle of the Invitational. Somehow, I think Mark Rosewater would love that, too. (Heck, who wouldn’t? I’d pay for the video! – The Ferrett)
There has to be a few limits. The Chicken-a-la-Kings and the Mesa Chickens must be in the deck. I would agree to having less of them, but they have to be there. I am obviously open to all comers, serious or not. Let’s just get some feedback and have some fun with this.
I will be providing the StarCity readers with updates as often as I have them, and practically anyone who sends me an idea will get mentioned (or not, if you specifically say you don’t want to be mentioned). Remember, the deck doesn’t even have to get good, as long as it is funny to play with. My original Chicken deck included the Psychic Network for no reason, other than everyone looked silly with a card on their forehead. I’m open to anything.
Finally, a note to the sixteen invitees: Your comments would be appreciated as well. Remember, you might be using this deck in a few weeks.