When I go to FNM or sanctioned tournaments, I Play to Win. I bring either Faeries or Five Color Control, and I play as tight as I can. When I randomly stop by the shop on a Wednesday night, I play for fun. With that in mind, here are some fun, moderately competitive decks that I think you guys might like. None of these are monster tech, but they do have some cool ideas that I've had a lot of fun with.
| The Truth is Out ThereMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Creatures 4 Mulldrifter 4 Tidehollow Sculler 4 Shriekmaw Sorceries 4 Thoughtseize 4 Spectral Procession 4 Profane Command | Enchantments 3 Bitterblossom 4 Glorious Anthem Artifacts 2 Loxodon Warhamer Instants 4 Esper Charm Land 4 Arcane Sanctum 4 Fetid Heath 4 Mystic Gate 3 Adarkar Wastes 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Plains |
This deck was inspired by Kyle Sanchez, who in sheer hippity hop coolness referred to Tidehollow Sculler as "Scully." The very next article I read had Mulldrifter called "Mulls" and from there, I decided to make an X-Files themed deck.
Obviously, Scully, Mulder, and the Cancer Man are the three creatures (Cancer Man Kills, natch). Profane Command is the X, while Bitterblossom is an obvious reference to Faeries and their paranormal inferences. Spectral Procession makes spirit tokens, so it's an obvious addition. From there, I just kinda filed it out with what seemed decent. I've had a lot of fun playing it, especially the nerdy catchphrases you get to use while playing the deck. Give it a whirl some night around the kitchen table. It's pretty fun.
Next up is a fun token Reveillark deck I put together for multiplayer games.
| Token LarkMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Creatures 2 Knight of the White Orchid 3 Knight-Captain of Eos 3 Siege-Gang Commander 3 Reveillark Planeswalkers 3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 3 Ajani Vengeant | Enchantments 4 Bitterblossom 4 Glorious Anthem Sorceries 4 Spectral Procession Instants 4 Mirrorweave Artifacts 3 Loxodon Warhammer Lands 4 Vivid Meadow 4 Reflecting Pool 4 Rugged Prairie 4 Fetid Heath 4 Plains 2 Battlefield Forge 2 Caves of Koilos |
This deck runs a bit slow, but can still be amazing early. The main idea is to stockpile tokens, using them to chump and play defense, until a major Mirrorweave to alpha strike somebody. A Reveillark trigger returning Siege Gang and Knight Captain is nuts, as you have 7 men on the board. Loxoon Warhammer is there to keep you out of range from other players, and to mostly negate your own Bitterblossom.
Our next 60 was basically me loving Quillspike, and wanting to build a deck around him. Obviously, the infinite combo with Devoted Druid came to mind, and I looked for ways to use that. Here's the result:
| Infinite GRaBMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Devoted Druid 4 Quillspike 4 Kitchen Finks 4 Nantuko Husk 4 Murderous Redcap 4 Broodmate Dragon | Planeswalkers 2 Sarkhan Vol 2 Garruk Wildspeaker Sorceries 4 Rite of Consumption Instants 4 Soul's Fire Land 4 Savage Lands 2 Twilight Mire 2 Fire-lit Thicket 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Llanowar Waste 4 Forest |
Soul's Fire is another win condition if you can get the combo infinite, or even jst really high with the persist guys and Nantuko Husk. With Redcap, Husk, and Quillspike out, each mana net's you +3/+3 on the Quillspike and 2 damage to the opponent. It runs a little like this:
Sacrifice Redcap to Nantuko Husk. Nantuko Hsk gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Persist triggers and resolves
Murderous Redcap comes into play with a -1/-1 counter and it's ability triggers.
With that ability still on the stack, activate Quillspike's ability, removing the -1/-1 counter.
Resolve Quillspikes ability.
Resolve Murderous Redcap's ability for what is now 2 damage. The ability checks the power of Murderous Redcap again upon resolution.
Rinse thoroughly, repeat as necessary.
Another cool interaction from this deck is Sarkhan Vol and Nantuko Husk. Steal a creaure with Sarkhan Vol, and then Sacrifice it to the Nantuko Husk. "I'll take that. Yeah, you can have it back... in your graveyard!"
The Broodmate just gives you another win condition, just in case you need it. Besides, it's so dang efficient, why wouldn't you?
And now we come to our final deck of this evening's entertainment. Check this out:
Yeah, that's a goofy decklist. The idea (and the fun part) is to resolve an Ad Nauseam for a whole lot of lands, which you then get to use to kill your opponent via Seismic Assault. You could also make a pretty good Swans package out of this by going and using all the sweepers in Standard right now (Firespout, Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout) to enable the card drawing. But this way is a lot more fun, at least in my experience.
Seriously, resolve that Ad Nauseam for 16 lands and watch your opponent get more and more horrified as they finally realize what's going on. Really, you can get down pretty low on life with this deck and still be drawing favorably.
But, since we're on the topic, let's try that out anyway. I haven't built it yet, so let's walk through the construction of it together.
First we need 4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
Next, we'll need Seismic Assault, also a 4-of.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
Now, onto the sweepers. Let's include all three. They can help to clear out opposing creatures while we set up. They may end up being too much, but I feel like each and every one is going to be a good draw.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
Okay, the combo pieces are there. We'll probably want about 28 lands, so that leaves us with another 12 slots. We are in Blue and Red already, so we have to decide: More Burn, or more Control. I think a healthy mix is good. Control can help us avoid Wrath of God and Path to Exile, which is really bad for us, while Burn can be used as both a finisher, and draw us more cards by pelting our Swans.
Okay, for Control, we're going to want something that can protect our Swans the turn we cast it. Remove Soul is only good against Shriekmaw, so let's pack Negate as a 3-of. We're also going to want Cryptic Command, because, let's face it, it's awesome.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
We have 6 slots left for burn. Shard Volley is alays one of my Favorites, so let's put three of those in. For the other three, I'd normally want Flame Javelin, but we're already looking pretty gruesome in Mana requirements. In that case, let's go with Incinerate, as it's three damage, and only a single colorwise.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
That's 32 spells, let's move onto the lands. Since we're going to be drawing a lot of cards, I want Reliquary Tower in there. We can afford one set of colorless lands, and we can always pitch extras to the Seismic Assault for more damage.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
I need a lot of Colored Mana, so the rest from here on out need to produce Red for sure, and probably Blue. We have a lot of Red, and only 3 Blue Spells, although the require a lot of it (Triple on Cryptic, Double on Swans)
Let's go with a playset of Vivid Crags to start off.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
4 Vivid Crag
Since we're running Vivid Crag, we should add Reflecting Pool as well. That seems like a pretty easy add to make, since we'll frequently want multiples of the same mana color.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
4 Vivid Crag
4 Reflecting Pool
We might consider running a playset of Vivid Creeks in there, but I don't want them to become useless early on if we have to burn both counters early. We'll keep them in mind, but for now, not quite there. What is good enough, though, is Cascade Bluffs. It givs us the chance to translate mana into the opposite colors. Easy add for us.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
4 Vivid Crag
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Cascade Bluffs
Since we expect to be rather diligent in removing the oncoming Hordes, at least until we can get a blocking Swans in the house, the ShardLand with both Red and Blue seem appropriate here. That one would be Crumbling Necropolis
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
4 Vivid Crag
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Cascade Bluffs
4 Crumbling Necropolis
Only 8 more land slots left, and as I see it, we have 3 options:
Mountain
Vivid Creek
Shivan Reef
I'm not particularly enamored of any of the three, as each has more weaknesses than I'm willing to bear. Vivid Creek seems the best of the three, both because of it's utility, as well as adding another 4 lands to switch on our Reflecting Pools.
4 Swans of Brynn Argoll
4 Seismic Assault
4 Pyroclasm
4 Firespout
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Shard Volley
3 Incinerate
4 Reliquary Tower
4 Vivid Crag
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Cascade Bluffs
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Vivid Creek
So, we are left with 4 more land slots. However, I'm not going to fill them.I want to hear what you think, and how you would fill them. What four lands would you finish it off with, and why?
On other idea with this deck is to remove the extra burn, adjust to 8 counterspells of your choice (Broken Ambitions and Cryptic, perhaps?) and add a playset of Nucklavee to really kick it into overdrive.
So, there's a few Firestarter's for you in the forums. With that done, I want to switch gears a bit.
I have some good news and some bad news. Well, okay, I have news that is both good and bad.
I have been offered a weekly column at Star City Games, and I can't turn that opportunity down. Unfortunately, it means I won't be writing for MTGSalvation.com anymore. If you'd like, you can find my articles over there by following this link.
I want to thank Eli Shiffrin for the opportunity to write for MTGSalvation. If it weren't for you giving me a start, I wouldn't even have this chance, so thank you very much. I have enjoyed my time here very much, and I am sad at leaving, but this is a dream chance to write for Star City Games.
I also want to thank the community here for their support and feedback. Without you guys, I couldn't have become the quality of writer I am. You guys are all awesome. Keep on tapping the mana.
So, this is Jeff Phillips, reminding you one last time: Don't make the Loser Choice.
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