I realize the past few columns weren’t exactly the shiny, happy ones that I typically write, but you know what? It’s hard to keep my optimistic side down when there’s a new Magic set due out soon and we’re getting fed a bevy of fun and interesting spoilers! I’ll stress over Mythic issues later, for now I’m just going to daydream about what I could do with all these new cards!
Before I get into it, I would like to spend a few minutes following up on my EDH column last week. As a professional communicator (with a degree in Mass Communications), I know the bulk of responsibility for relaying a message lies with the communicator. My points last week got diluted and sidetracked along the way, and for that I apologize and I want clarify a few things.
First, I’m going to refrain from using the word “douchebag” from here on out. Unsurprisingly, people don’t take it well being called that and it certainly isn’t conducive to dialog and discussion. I will instead use the less offensive descriptor of “unfun,” since maximizing everyone’s fun is the ultimate goal of EDH games (at least the ones with no prizes attached).
Second, the goal of the column was to help illuminate to some players why the cards they play or the strategies they gravitate towards might be considered “unfun” by other EDH players, and to offer some ideas on how they might increase the level of “fun” cards in their deck. I wasn’t laying down a hard and fast marker, with things on this side of the black line being fun cards and everything else being unfun. It should be obvious that there are shades of gray, and context, and exceptions. I wanted to offer up suggestions and food for thought for those who were interested in better fitting into a typical EDH group.
Third, I was not endorsing all the #youmightbeanedhdbif stuff I put in my column; in fact, I actually do not agree with many of them. I merely thought some were amusing and wanted to share with those who don’t follow Twitter. In retrospect I think this contributed towards diluting the points I was trying to make so I probably should have added them as a footnote at the bottom.
Last, the basic thing I wanted readers to take away is this: when multiple players gather ‘round a table to play EDH, the goal should be for everyone to have a good time playing Magic, whether they win or lose. That’s a pretty simple and fundamental concept that should be nearly universal. If you and your group are succeeding with that goal, then that’s great—everyone’s a winner! But if some people in the group are not enjoying themselves, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at what’s going on and perhaps implementing some changes.
By the way, if you didn’t catch Sheldon’s column this week weighing in on this topic, make sure you do! Also if you’re interested in budget EDH, especially on Magic Online, scroll down to the bottom for a cool decklist sent in to me. Okay, moving on to the fun stuff…
Magic 2011
I was going to talk about Magic 2011 last week but the EDH content crowded it out. Man, am I ever glad I waited until this week since there’s been an avalanche of great stuff that’s come out since!
The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Exactly.
Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
I don’t know.
Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Put it up to eleven.
Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
[pause] These go to eleven.
So the question is… will Magic 2011 be one louder?
The answer for me, so far is… yeah, it looks like it might be! Before I get into the individual cards I wanted to first point out that the new deathtouch rules may end up being an awesome thing for Green mages. If you haven’t caught the new twist yet, basically the new rules state that any amount of damage dealt by a creature with deathtouch is considered lethal, and since a creature with trample assigns lethal damage to a creature first and then can assign lethal damage to the player or planeswalker behind the blocker, a creature blocking something with deathtouch and trample will only soak up a single point of damage no matter how much toughness it has. This means, basically, that combination of abilities is pretty darn close to being unblockable. Since Green typically gets a pretty fat slice of the trample pie, I’m thinking that Basilisk Collar might end up becoming quite popular in Green decks, so if you don’t have yours now you might want to start trading for them.
Let’s kick things off with the signature/premier cycle of M11, the mythic titans! Looking at these cards, I can’t help but feel like the Magic universe is a bit out of wack. We’ve got five powerful cards, and arguments could be made for four of them each being “the best” of the cycle… and the one that’s outside looking in is the Blue one? What?! That can’t be right! I’m going to stick my neck out and rank the titans in order of what I think are the most- to least-powerful, though the only one I’m positive on is #5.
Primeval Titan
4GG
Creature – Giant
Trample
Whenever Primeval Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Mythic Rare
6/6
I’m pretty sure I’m not alone when I point out that the first time I saw this card my subconscious automatically inserted “basic” in front of “land.” Which put it about in the middle of the titan pack as far as power goes, because I was like “okay, so you ramp from 6 to 8 and then to 10—outside of Eldrazi, what good is that?” Then my eyes took my subconscious to the woodshed and forcefully pointed out that, no, the word “basic” is no where to be found on this card. You can fetch any land cards. Any. Land. Cards.
Holy moly.
You’re ramping from 6 to 10 to 14 Eldrazi mana. Or you’re searching up a bunch of utility lands in Standard, or in older formats, broken lands. Is your Knight of the Reliquary running a little low on forests and plains to sac off? Green giant to the rescue. Ob Nixilis looking a bit bulimic for the prom? PT puts on his tux and brings the feast.
A word of warning to EDHer’s — don’t be angry when a control player burns off a precious counterspell on this fellow because, seriously, he’s in your deck to do some crazy things and you know it!
Sun Titan
4WW
Creature – Giant
Vigilance
Whenever Sun Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Mythic Rare
6/6
The first titan revealed knocked my socks off and had me convinced that it had to be the best of the cycle, hands down. Again, my subconscious initially substituted “creature” for “permanent” when I first saw this card and I was looking forward to rebuilding an army of previously fallen with this guy, starting with Dauntless Escort. When I realized this could fetch up any low-converted mana cost permanent—lands, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers (hello, Jace Beleren)—yep, another holy moly.
Inferno Titan
4RR
Creature – Giant
R: Inferno Titan gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Whenever Inferno Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, it deals 3 damage divided as you choose among one, two or three target creatures and/or players.
Mythic Rare
6/6
The Red and Black titans have been grappling for third place in my mind all week and are mostly in a deadlock though right this instant Heat Miser’s got the edge. Being able to mow down multiple weenies or go to the face immediately and then do it again when he attacks ain’t super-fancy but it sure gets the job done. Not to mention that Red’s the color of haste, and if InTi comes into play and attacks on the same turn? Yep, that’s the smell of napalm in the morning, folks.
Grave Titan
4BB
Creature – Giant
Deathtouch
Whenever Grave Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Mythic Rare
6/6
Seriously—this guy is fourth out of five? How insane is that! Ten power of creatures for six mana is crazy good, and if you get to attack too… Sorry, I just had to scroll up to look at the other titans again… yep, all four are just amazing. The deathtouch ability here feels a bit throw-away because how often is this guy not killing whatever creature he tangles with in the Red Zone?
Frost Titan
4UU
Creature – Giant
Whenever Frost Titan becomes the target of a spell or ability and opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless its controller pays {2}.
Whenever Frost Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, tap target permanent. That permanent doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step
.
Mythic Rare
6/6
Here’s a secret for you—Frost Titan first ability used to be Flash, but Aaron Forsythe stepped in at the last minute, cracked a few developer’s skulls together and said “Oh no—we’re not having another Command debacle! Pick another ability for this guy.”
I may or may not have made up that story… but it sounds plausible, don’t it? I will point out that his ability, while it seems a bit lame on the surface, does play nice with Mana Leak…
I have to say, the entire titan cycle looks awesome, and while I’m not looking forward to trying to run down copies for my tournament decks, I am looking forward to playing them… at some point. If I’m lucky.
Regarding Baneslayer Angel: I’m happy to see she’s back. Yes, she’s a ridiculously powerful creature and I hate how expensive she’s been as a mythic rare, but I’m glad I get another year’s mileage out of my copies and I’m happy that she’ll be easier & cheaper to acquire by those who want to use her going forward. There will be people who have a playset that will open her up in M11 and she’ll help them trade up for some of the recent ridiculously expensive mythics. Thumbs-up!
Knight Exemplar
1WW
Creature – Human Knight
First Strike
Other Knight creatures you control get +1/+1 and are indestructible.
Rare
2/2
Knights have generally been scarce in most card pools, so having a Knight “lord” seems weird. Someone suggested to me that Knight Exemplar is this year’s Vampire Nocturnus, a hint of a tribal theme to come in the Fall expansion. I dunno, having hordes of knights in a set feels like its cheapening what it means to be a knight, you know? Here’s hoping we’ll have just a handful of really good knights that you wouldn’t mind teaming up with this guy.
Roc Egg
2W
Creature – Bird
Defender
When Roc Egg is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a 3/3 white Bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
Uncommon
0/3
I’m much more of a Magic player than a Magic collector, but there are a handful of cards from Magic’s history that I’ve had the itch to collect, and many of them are now proudly displayed in EDH decks. One such card was original Arabian Nights Rukh Eggs, which I had collected four of in time for it to be Standard legal for a while in the not too distant past (though it was never really good in Standard, sadly). I’m a little bummed to see it turned white and Rukh changed to Roc, though I can certainly see the flavor reason why this was done, considering new players with a fantasy background who pick up Magic will likely have heard of Rocs more than they’d have heard of Rukhs. As far as playability, I do like creatures that you have to kill twice and while I’m not sure this will cut the mustard in Standard, it’s fun to have it.
Squadron Hawk
1W
Creature – Bird
Flying
When Squadron Hawk enters the battlefield, you may search your library for up to three cards named Squadron Hawk, reveal them, put them into your hand, and then shuffle your library.
Common
1/1
I won’t lie, this stings a little. Green got a cycle of these sorts of cards a long time ago in a nice attempt at helping give it some in-flavor card-advantage, and I hate to see the theme apparently moved over to the White side of the color pie. Given the Ranger of Eos precedent recently, I’m not surprised. By the way, so far I’ve mostly been hearing people talk about how awesome this is with Jace, the Mind Sculptor (gee, imagine that) by turning the copies back into “real” cards, but let’s not forget a Bird can pick up a Basilisk Collar and be a pretty nasty blocker.
Aether Adept
1UU
Creature – Human Wizard
When Aether Adept enters the battlefield, return target creature to its owner’s hand.
Common
2/2
I remember when Man-o’-War rampaged through Type 2 (what Standard used to be called), it was a royal pain the ass learning the hard way about tempo, and so I’m pretty well unhappy to see it coming back in a slightly less splashable manner. It further reinforces the constriction Jace, the Mind Sculptor has placed on creature threats now—if it costs more than a couple mana, the creature needs to have haste, be untargetable, or do something when it comes into play. Luckily, M11 actually provides some help along those lines.
Conundrum Sphinx
2UU
Creature – Sphinx
Flying
Whenever Conundrum Sphinx attacks, each player names a card. Then each player reveals the top card of his or her library. If the card a player revealed is the card he or she named, that player puts that card into his or her hand. If it’s not, that player puts it on the bottom of his or her library.
Rare
4/4
I’m in agreement with Chapin and others, this card seems positively nuts when Blue has so many ways to stack their deck. Of course, it’s not like half the metagame is playing blue and ways to stack the deck, making this a bit of a headache for mirror-matchups… oh, wait…
Leyline of Anticipation
2UU
Enchantment
If Leyline of Anticipation is in your opening hand, you may begin the
game with it on the battlefield.
You may cast nonland cards as though they had flash.
Rare
I’m torn on this one. My guess is that it will have nearly no impact on Standard, or will be a huge pain-in-the-ass for the next year. I do see where it might end up being an interesting way for decks with access to blue to fight against counterspells and sorcery-speed sweepers.
Mana Leak
1U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}.
Common
Personally, I thought the idea of making permission players come around on Cancel was the right thing for Magic, and I’m sad Wizards has apparently given up on that noble crusade…
Time Reversal
3UU
Sorcery
Each player shuffles his or her hand and graveyard into his or her library, then draws seven cards. Exile Time Reversal.
Mythic Rare
Thumbs up on the flavor, the old-schooler in me thinks it’s pretty cool to have Timetwister back for a more reasonable cost, though the other old-schooler in me (yeah, it’s crowded in here) is a bit nervous about what sort of combo deck this Draw 7 might fuel.
Captivating Vampire
1BB
Creature – Vampire
Other Vampire creatures you control get +1/+1.
Tap five untapped Vampires you control: Gain control of target creature. It becomes a Vampire in addition to its other types. (This effect doesn’t end at end of turn)
Rare
2/2
Considering how Nocturnus-fueled flying vampires kind of ruined my last Standard excursion, I can’t say I’m sad to see it go, but I do feel kind of bad for the Zendikar tribe, because even with Nocturnus they struggled to be a competitive deck, and this fellow is a pretty poor replacement. I can’t recall ever seeing five vampires on the other side of the board from me…
Demon of Death’s Gate
6BBB
Creature — Demon
You my pay 6 life and sacrifice three black creatures rather than pay Demon of Death’s Gate’s mana cost.
Flying, trample
Mythic Rare
9/9
Sacrificing three Black creatures seems like a pretty steep cost until you consider Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeletons and unearth creatures… Of course, then you remember Mana Leak, Aether Adept and Jace2 and you laugh to yourself and move this squarely into your casual stack.
Phylactery Lich
BBB
Creature — Zombie
As Phylactery Lich enters the battlefield put a phylactery counter on an artifact you control.
Phylactery Lich is indestructible.
When you control no permanents with phylactery counters on them, sacrifice Phylactery Lich.
5/5
I seriously love this card! I came to Magic in 1994 because it scratched my D&D fantasy itch, and it hooked many of my D&D friends as well. Fireballs, Lightning Bolts, summoning undead monsters, using artifacts—it was easy to connect emotionally to the game with those very familiar fantastical elements.
One thing I never quite got was the original Magic card Lich. I mean, I understand that it was supposed to be like you had turned yourself into a Lich, and that that was supposed to give you great power but with a unique vulnerability… but the “power” you got was never really practical and all too easy to just kill you in the end. It just never really hit the right tone for me. I had played D&D for years, and Liches were the most potent undead creatures you could face—they were powerful, scary and actually very difficult to kill because they masterfully hid their vulnerability. In my D&D campaign, I had a coven of Liches called the Bone Mages that schemed and plotted and manipulated events around the world in their quest for world domination. My player characters actually never got high enough in level to actual face them head-on.
That’s why I love Phylactery Lich—this is one scary cat! If your opponent isn’t packing anyway to destroy artifacts then there’s nearly nothing you can do to stop him. 5/5 indestructible for three mana is crazy good so long as you have some early artifacts worth casting… and you know what? With Scars of Mirrodin coming up, there’s bound to be plenty of good artifacts to be found!
Reassembling Skeleton
1B
Creature – Skeleton Warrior
1B: Return Reassembling Skeleton from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
Uncommon
1/1
I like this guy, and I like the sly design that harkens back to the early days of Magic and confusion about how exactly regeneration on Drudge Skeletons worked. In today’s Magic, a 1/1 dude dies to everything and kills very little, so I’m not sure how much real value he gives for the trouble of buying him back unless you’re doing some sort of graveyard and/or recursion shenanigans.
Stabbing Pain
B
Instant
Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Tap that creature.
Common
A year and a half ago, I argued that green could use a bigger slice of the color pie, and proposed that green get some Twiddle effects. This card has me thinking my argument didn’t make it into the halls at Renton (insert sad face).
Combust
1R
Instant
Combust can’t be countered by a spell or ability.
Combust deals 5 damage to target blue or white creature. This damage can’t be prevented.
Uncommon
This card made me laugh—there are strategy hosers, and there are color hosers, and there are land hosers—but rarely do I see a hoser card so blatantly created with such laser-like precision. If Baneslayer gets under your skin, this is your balm.
Goblin Balloon Brigade
R
Creature – Goblin Warrior
{R}: Goblin Balloon Brigade gains flying until end of turn.
Common
1/1
As an old-schooler, this card makes me smile—especially given that Goblins are rarely skilled at anything other than destroying things (including themselves).
Cultivate
2G
Sorcery
Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal those cards, and put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other in your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Common
I remember Kodama’s Reach being pretty awesome in Standard, and I definitely love having it in my EDH toolbox, so having another one available is pretty awesome. The big questions are—do we need to accelerate from 3 to 5 mana, and/or do we need to diversify our colors? M11 certainly seems to cement green’s role in color-fixing and mana-acceleration.
Fauna Shaman
1G
Creature – Elf Shaman
G, T, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library
Rare
2/2
First, let me say Thank You Wizards for not making this a Mythic Rare. Second, let me say Thank You Wizards for not not limiting this to pitching and fetching Green creatures. You know past incarnations of R&D would have gone there and made this card much less awesome.
Here again, we’ve got another great creature built to thrive in the Jace 2 era of threat creatures, only this one is a must-deal-with threat that’s cheaper to cast than the bounce you will face. I suspect many G/x decks in the next year will fill out their two-drops with a playset of these next to a playset of Lotus Cobras – one demands a mana each turn, the other gives you one or more mana each turn, and both demand immediate answers or else they’ll quickly get out of hand.
Gaea’s Revenge
5GG
Creature – Elemental
Gaea’s Revenge can’t be countered.
Haste
Gaea’s Revenge can’t be the target of nongreen spells or abilities from nongreen sources.
Mythic Rare
8/5
I can only imagine the huge grin on Jamie Wakefield face when he first gets to cast this card! Talk about a vicious drop-kick to the new Jace2 age of threat creatures, the abilities are awesome: 8 power, haste, uncounterability and semi-shroud that will get a lot better once Maelstrom Pulse rotates.
Garruk’s Companion
GG
Creature – Beast
Trample
Common
3/2
I’m not sure what to make of this. I mean, he’s obviously above the curve, three power and trample for just two mana. But creatures are so potent now, I’m not sure if he can earn a place on the first-string bench. His stock has risen with the new rules on Deathtouch since he’s got inherent trample and Basilisk Collar is such a good card anyway.
Mitotic Slime
4G
Creature — Ooze
When Mitotic Slime is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put two 2/2 green Ooze creature tokens onto the battlefield. They have “when this creature is put into a graveyard, put two 1/1 green Ooze creature tokens onto the battlefield.”
Rare
4/4
I would normally love this card, but this definitely suffers from the Jace2 era of threat creatures. It’s good to have in the toolbox for combating red decks and to feed any sacrificial strategies that crop up.
Obstinate Baloth
2GG
Creature – Beast
When Obstinate Baloth enters the battlefield, you gain 4 life.
If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard Obstinate Baloth, put it onto the battlefield instead of putting it into your graveyard.
Rare
4/4
Wowie. Ravenous Baloth saw play even without other Beasts around to snack on, and this gives you life right up front. People would probably play this even without the anti-Blightning clause that is oh such sweet icing on the cake.
Overwhelming Stampede
3GG
Sorcery
Creatures you control get +X/+X and gain trample until end of turn, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
Rare
I’ve never been a huge fan of Overrun because whenever I’ve played that card I’ve never been able to keep enough creatures in play to make it a game-changer, but everytime I’ve seen this card be good it’s in turning a bunch of 1/1s and 2/2s into giant player-killers. Underwhelming Stampede is only going to be as good or better if you already happen to have a creature out with 3 power or more. Green’s gotten a ton of great stuff so far in M11 so I can’t complain but… I gotta complain hee hee.
Plummet
1G
Instant
Destroy target creature with flying.
Common
What a beautiful card! Simple, cheap, fast, in-color flavor. I like that it has a broader application than Combust but you can definitely smell the whiff of anti-Baneslayer on this.
Sacred Wolf
2G
Creature – Wolf
Sacred Wolf can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
Common
3/1
This is an intriguing card in our Jace 2 era of threat creatures, but being unable to beat down a Wall of Omens probably keeps this in the Limited arena unless you’re going to be casting this on turn 4 with Oran-rief the Vastwood.
Sylvan Ranger
1G
Creature – Elf Scout
When Sylvan Ranger enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
Common
1/1
So Borderland Ranger got it on with Elvish Visionary (the hot FNM promo foil, of course) and we get this love child for half the card slots. I’m wondering if between this and Cultivate if you can cheat down the number of lands in your deck while still reliably ramping up to five mana in your deck…
Crystal Ball
3
Artifact
1, T: Scry 2.
Uncommon
I love this card, it’s totally dripping with flavor, and has that “no duh!” feel of why haven’t we seen this on a card with Scry before? I’m pretty sure this isn’t worth the mana and card investment in Standard but I’m totally putting them in quite a few EDH decks, right behind Sensei’s Top.
Gargoyle Sentinel
3
Artifact Creature – Gargoyle
Defender
3: Gargoyle Sentinel loses defender and gains flying until end of turn.
Uncommon
3/3
Another very flavorful card that’s a decent option for decks that may find themselves lacking quality three-drops.
Steel Overseer
2
Artifact Creature – Construct
T: Put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control.
Rare
1/1
This is very obviously an advance sentry for the upcoming artifact creature army from the Scars of Mirrodin set, and I think it bodes well for the likely return of Modular.
Temple Bell
3
Artifact
T: Each player draws a card
Rare
As I was finishing this up, Aaron Forsythe spoiled this on Twitter as the replacement for Howling Mine. Howling Mine was a card that I can’t ever remember playing with, even in EDH because giving everyone else a chance to draw a card before I get mine never felt right. However, I have played the heck out of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea because you could time things so that you typically got to use that extra card before everyone else got to use theirs. Temple Bell fits right in with that principle and seems tailor-made for multiplayer decks of all stripes, and just might even find some play in Standard decks that can use the extra card flow.
Voltaic Key
1
Artifact
1, T: Untap target artifact.
Uncommon
This was a huge surprise I bet no one saw coming! This certainly telegraphs the fact that there won’t be anything remotely resembling Grim Monolith in the next year, but instead I bet there will be some number of artifacts that tap to do cool things that you might invest a card and a mana to reuse each turn. Something like Temple Bell above, maybe?
Bonus! Cheap EDH/Commander Deck
As promised, here’s a deck I heard about on Twitter; the creator indicated he pulled it together for 5 tix, and scanning down the list I don’t see any cards that would break the bank. It certainly lines up with my experience rounding out my collection with Commander singles recently, buying dozens and dozens of cards for next to nothing. Check it out:
Kaervek 5Tix EDH
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Absorb Vis
1 Act of Treason
1 Anathemancer
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Baneful Omen
1 Blaze
1 Breath of Malfegor
1 Carnage Altar
1 Conquering Manticore
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Deathbringer Thoctar
1 Disintegrate
1 Doom Blade
1 Dragon Roost
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Enslave
1 Expedition Map
1 Farsight Mask
1 Fiery Fall
1 Fireball
1 Flameblast Dragon
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Grim Discovery
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Infectious Horror
1 It That Betrays
1 Kaervek’s Purge
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Lightning Reaver
1 Magma Phoenix
1 Magmaw
1 Mark of Mutiny
1 Nekrataal
1 Nettlevine Blight
1 Pain Magnification
1 Phyrexian Vault
1 Pilgrim’s Eye
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Rakdos Riteknife
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Reiterate
1 Repay in Kind
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Rolling Thunder
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Screeching Buzzard
1 Shattering Spree
1 Shivan Harvest
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Smother
1 Sulfurous Blast
1 Terminate
1 Terror
1 Threaten
1 Tortured Existence
1 Traitorous Instinct
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Word of Seizing
1 Wound Reflection
1 Wrecking Ball
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Molten Slagheap
13 Swamp
16 Mountain
Here’s what Neale said about the deck: “It basically wins on politics, not on power. Phase 1: Appearing underpowered for a fair whack while protecting yourself. Phase 2: Stealing your opponent’s fat and sacrificing them for beneficial effect. Phase 3: Dropping your own fat or burning your opponents out. Cheers!”
Thanks, Neale! I may have to give this a try myself.
Take care!
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com
New to EDH? Be sure to check out my EDH Primer, part 1, part 2, and part 3.
My current EDH decks:
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (brain-eating zombies)
Phelddagrif (carrots & sticks)
Tsabo Tavoc (red & black nastiness)
Reki, the History of Kamigawa* (more legends than you can shake a stick at)
* I got an email from someone interested in my Reki deck, I promise to post that decklist next week!