I got the idea for this deck from an article Sheldon Menery posted a while ago over at SCG. The general idea is that nothing in the deck has a converted mana cost higher than 5, with the exception of X spells. I liked the challenge of limiting myself to 5 CMC or less, so I went for it. I fully expected the resulting deck to be easily outclassed in a typical 4-man game, but that has been anything but true. It turns out that early pressure and a strong recursion package is actually a pretty solid strategy. Without further ado, here's the list:
The general strategy is to cast Nath as soon as possible and make political use of his discard ability to generate a few tokens. From there, you have several different options:
1. If an opponent discards a large creature, the deck has the ability to "borrow" it with Animate Dead and Beacon of Unrest. There's nothing more satisfying than using someone else's win condition to kill them.
2. Skullclamp and Sadistic Hypnotist turn your tokens into more cards or more tokens, both very good things.
3. Bramblewood Paragon teams up with Nath, Imperious Perfect and/or Doubling Season to make trampling tokens. Search out Oran-Rief, the Vastwood to turn on trample for the non-warriors in the deck, or to make your tokens even bigger!
Notable Exclusions:
Corpsejack Menace - While this guy is a solid body with an occasionally advantageous ability, adding +1/+1 counters to creatures isn't the main plan of the deck.
Parallel Lives - This works well with Nath and Imperious Perfect, but beyond that it doesn't do as much as its big brother Doubling Season. A more token heavy build will certainly want to include this card.
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1 Nath of the Gilt-leaf
//Creatures
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Blood Artist
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Riftsweeper
1 Sakura-tribe Elder
1 Withered Wretch
1 Eternal Witness
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Wood Elves
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Masked Admirers
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
1 Acidic Slime
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Shriekmaw
1 Stingerfling Spider
1 Vulturous Zombie
//Instants
1 Crop Rotation
1 Beast Within
1 Putrefy
1 Spore Cloud
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Explore
1 Profane Command
1 Regrowth
1 Victimize
1 Damnation
1 Dread Return
1 Harmonize
1 Ill-gotten Gains
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Syphon Mind
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Restock
//Artifacts
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Coalition Relic
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Memory Jar
//Enchantments
1 Rancor
1 Animate Dead
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Doubling Season
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Buried Ruin
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Gilt-leaf Palace
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Homeward Path
1 Jund Panorama
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Strip Mine
1 Tainted Wood
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Twilight Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
8 Forest
8 Swamp
Wishlist:
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Card Choices:
Playing the Deck:
1. If an opponent discards a large creature, the deck has the ability to "borrow" it with Animate Dead and Beacon of Unrest. There's nothing more satisfying than using someone else's win condition to kill them.
2. Skullclamp and Sadistic Hypnotist turn your tokens into more cards or more tokens, both very good things.
3. Bramblewood Paragon teams up with Nath, Imperious Perfect and/or Doubling Season to make trampling tokens. Search out Oran-Rief, the Vastwood to turn on trample for the non-warriors in the deck, or to make your tokens even bigger!
Notable Exclusions:
Parallel Lives - This works well with Nath and Imperious Perfect, but beyond that it doesn't do as much as its big brother Doubling Season. A more token heavy build will certainly want to include this card.