MTG Salvation

Introduction

---

This is a deck I've been wanting to make for a long time. The Spider Spawning archetype in 3x INN Draft was my favorite deck to draft in that format. Most of the pieces for a Spider Spawning deck have always been there, but it was always missing something. And then they printed Ishkanah, Grafwidow which brings it altogether. This is a pillow fort, casual EDH friendly combo deck designed to pull at the heart strings of all nostalgic Spider Spawning Draft lovers.





Spider Spawning

---

Self-mill yourself as fast as possible and do semi-broken things. This includes things like Spider Spawning for dozens of 1/2 spiders with reach and casting Gnaw to the Bone to gain 30+ life. A few spiders and a little life? What's the big deal? Once you mill your entire deck, throw Runic Repetition and Memory's Journey to do it over and over again, ad nauseam. (Marshall Sutcliffe does a much better job at describing this at the bottom of his article HERE.)


Self-Mill

---

Bazaar of Baghdad, Magus of the Bazaar, and Seedborn Muse will mill your entire deck real quick. Not cheap, but I do think they're required for the deck. Throw in Golgari Thug, Life from the Loam, Stinkweed Imp, and Golgari Grave-Troll to super charge this engine. This is on top of all the usual suspects of Grisly Salvage, Tracker's Instinct, Forbidden Alchemy, etc. And let's not forget Sidisi, Brood Tyrant which is almost an after thought.


Mill Protection

---

When Runic Repetition and Memory's Journey fail, Academy Ruins, Volrath's Stronghold, and Bow of Nylea can save you.


Win Conditions

---

The thing I like most about this deck is that there are multiple legitimate win conditions:

1. Ishkanah Combo - First, cast Spider Spawning. Next, generate lots of mana with Gaea's Cradle, Deserted Temple, and Minamo, School at Water's Edge. Then reanimate Ishkanah, Grafwidow with Dread Return. Finally, sink all of your mana into Ishkanah and activate her ability multiple times. This can all be done with zero nonland permanents on the board and a full graveyard. I consider this a very fair combo to run in casual EDH. It takes many turns to set up, so your opponents have many opportunities to disrupt whatever you're doing.
2. Mill - Your creatures naturally have big butts. Phenax, God of Deception takes advantage of these big butts. With him, you can turn the corner from self-mill value into soul crushing offensive mill in a heartbeat. (Add Seedborn Muse to make this completely unfair.) With Sidisi & Concordant Crossroads, it's possible to EOT mill yourself to create zombies and then use the new zombies to mill for even more zombies. On your turn, either attack or mill your opponent with your entire army. Alternatively, if you mill Lord of Extinction and Dread Return, mill your opponent's entire deck with one creature.
3. The Swarm - Overwhelm your opponent with insects, rats, spiders, and squirrels and go on the offensive.
4. Swampwalk - Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Filth makes your entire team unblockable.
5. Hurricane - A lot of mana plus Hurricane equals a lot of dead players.

Pillow Fort

---

Almost every card non-combo card in this deck is mainly defensive. Spiders, deathtouch, Vengeful Pharaoh, Maze of Ith, and Island of Wak-Wak. And if you've already milled your entire deck, cast Moment's Peace indefinitely. Mana Drain and Mystic Snake as a small counterspell package.


The Swarmyard

---

There are many other, more powerful versions of this deck. These versions would run things like Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth. I thought about it and decided to pass. Instead, I decided to go more thematic. If you search for tribal spider cards, you'll eventually find Swarmyard. Regeneration is a perfect fit for a deck that already wants to go the pillow fort route. And along with it is an excuse to load the deck with rats, insects, and squirrels to go along with their spider buddies. (Hornet Nest, Ant Queen, and Hornet Queen.)


Forcing Action

---

Ideally, you'll be sitting behind a a wall of spiders, deathtouch creatures, and mazes. If all goes according to plan, you're going to be the last person your opponents will want to attack. Berserk is one of my favorite multiplayer cards of all time. Surprise blow out an opponent and destroy a large threat for a single green mana. Emrakul, the Promised End is used to great effect. Force an opponent to attack someone else with bad blocks or run them into your deathtouch creatures (and Hornet Nest), it's all win-win for you. And the best thing about Emrakul is that you can't soft lock someone out of the game like you can with Mindslaver.


Maybe List:

• Consecrated Sphinx
  
• Sphinx of Uthuun
  
• Rune-Scarred Demon
  
• Doubling Season
  
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
  
• Acidic Slime
  
• Arachnus Spinner
  
• Arachnus Web
  
• Arachnogenesis
  
• Stifle
  
• Reclamation Sage
  
• Acidic Slime

I like the deck. Cool idea looks fun. One thing I would like to point out is that Recurring Nightmare is banned in multiplayer commander. Also I'm wondering why you are not playing arachnogenesis? It is a fog, which is good for pillowfort and it produces spiders. It may not be the best card but it does fit the theme.

Quote from cowmark67 »

I like the deck. Cool idea looks fun. One thing I would like to point out is that Recurring Nightmare is banned in multiplayer commander. Also I'm wondering why you are not playing arachnogenesis? It is a fog, which is good for pillowfort and it produces spiders. It may not be the best card but it does fit the theme.

Oops. Didn't know Recurring Nightmare was banned.

Arachnogenesis didn't make the cut mostly because of Moment's Peace. The deck really only needs 1. But I'll add it to the maybe list.

List updated. Too many small changes to count.

Without going card-for-card, there were 2 big updates:

1. Increase the creature count to 30. In this kind of deck, it just feels wrong to have so few creatures.
2. Go a little deeper with the "Force the Action" theme that I updated in the OP. Edric, Bident of Thassa, Concordant Crossroads, Berserk, and Emrakul all fall into this category. Sit behind a wall of spiders & deathtouch and do your best to get your opponents to kill each other while you dig for your win conditions. I always felt like the deck was missing something. I think this may be it.