In our playgroup we often enjoy getting together and do some old fashioned kitchen table Magic, while we all have our EDH decks and Modern decks, its also where we enjoying breaking out casual decks that are just budget brews that aim to test out a fun concept or an idea. This can be building around a card or adapting a strategy to a certain card.
With HOU enough new cards were spoiled and Wildfire Eternal was pretty much a card that seemed fun enough for me to use for this. Since it has the Afflict mechanic I initially wanted to also include Merciless Eternal and go with a RB build, which resulted in the following first draft:
The deck isn't that efficient since Merciless Eternal just requires a lot of mana to use and in a lot of cases makes the Madness more a hassle than an advantage. I was well aware of this when putting the deck together but with the comments of others I agreed that it was better to move away from the Merciless Eternal in this deck and with that also the Madness cards.
Since Wildfire Eternal shares some similarities with Galvanoth and that with the Merciless Eternal gone I was no longer married to Black, I've opted to convert the list into an UR build instead that has a bigger and more splashy payload. So I've since been tinkering around with a list and done some goldfishing with the new build to see how it does and so far it looks like a decent new starting point:
I'm probably going to put a couple of Brute Strength into the sideboard, just so to push through a little bit more damage when my opponent blocks the Eternal. As far as Aftermath/Fuse cards, I did look at them but unlike the RB version, I don't think this list makes good use of them. I am still considering Spellweaver Eternal as a sideboard card in case the deck needs to go more into the aggro aspect.
That and getting the Madness to trigger the Thermo-Alchemist as well. I know manawise its definitely not the most efficient thing to do, but wanted some extra creatures in the deck and play around with the Afflict mechanic as well.
Merciless Eternal seems really bad. A discard outlet that costs 2B is just a terrible madness enabler. You'll end up paying MORE than it would cost just to cast the spell normally!
Split cards are a great way to abuse Merciless Eternal. Look into split cards where you can play both halves (Fuse or Aftermath)!
Toil // Trouble should replace Sign in Blood. 2B is an easier cost than BB in a 2-color budget deck, and when you cast it for free off Wildfire then you can cast both halves!
It’s true that the Merciless Eternal does require a lot of mana to make it’s ability work and while I initially included it to play a bit around with the Afflict creatures, taking in the comments and considering the list more. I probably do need to change that up, it also means that I could worry less about madness effects and make some changes to those slots.
Either way, Merciless Eternal was my main reason to run black, so taking it out has made space to look into other colors as well and decided to see what decks featured Galvanoth. Obviously, Galvanoth looks more consistent and doesn't require any aggro, but those lists are more geared towards a much bigger pay off as well to free cast.
So I went and looked at working in a build variation that more or less gears towards running Wildfire Eternal over the Galvanoth, switching out some pieces to help the Eternal a bit more and just some additional incremental value in case the pay off fails. Because of the addition of a few bigger spells and blue to help get to these cards more, I haven't added any Fuse or Aftermath cards yet.
This is my rough new draft of the deck and it will need some tweaking. Creature count might be a little on the high side and still trying to consider the inclusion of Reverberate, even if it could be amazing to pull off.
So after some tinkering around with the UR build around Wildfire Eternal and doing some goldfishing with the deck, confirming that indeed the creature count was too high. I opted to cut Charmbreaker Devils as while cute, the high CMC and randomness is just not something working out too well. Consistency will be more important than having another potential beater. Next it came down to Thermo-Alchemist and Guttersnipe, now the Alchemist has advantages with 3 toughness and coming down a turn earlier, but this being a fairly casual build the potential of swinging in with Guttersnipe just feels a tad bit more worth it.
The deck does have a tendency to run out of steam quite quickly, so it takes some planning in when you try to go off so to say. Noxious Revival has been an interesting addition, since we can chuck an early win condition and pull it back later on to use it. While it can also get some Guttersnipe triggers going out of nowhere. Downside is that its a huge strain on the deck's budget.
I also added Baral's Expertise, it clears the board nicely for Wildfire Eternal and can chain into an additional spell, though not being limited to Sorceries and Instants, Expertise also allows chaining into a creature which it did for me during most of my testing. Also, potentially hardcasting it isn't that bad either.
When it comes to win-conditions, setting up a Sorin's Vengeance seems to be the play for the deck. Cruel Ultimatum seems like a fun card to disrupt things as well, but Vengeance just gets there more it seems. I am contemplating to go 3:1 instead in favor of Vengeance but the discard might be more relevant when facing a more control style build. Which brings me down to Reverberate, it can definitely secure games quickly, but in most cases by the time you free cast Vengeance you already win with a single copy on the stack. Still looks great to pull off, but probably will add some Negate or Dispel to the side as alternatives for it, maybe even go with Censor since it can cycle.
Finally, the mana base is obviously not really tuned with other color fixing and for now I don't intend to really upgrade it any further either, as for a casual deck its just not worth the investing and the deck's pace isn't hampered that much by it. I made a minor tweak to the lands section and that is including a single copy of Ghitu Encampment, just in case we need an emergency blocker or even attacker.
The sideboard is still something I need to look into. The aforementioned 2-3 copies of either Dispel/Negate/Censor are likely to go in, as well as a few copies of Brute Strength for matchups where Eternal might get blocked more often and we need to push through damage more. Right now Titan's Strength is more favorable in the main, but the Brute version seems a decent option here as well. I probably also will want some creatures there to pull an aggro strategy for when an opponent goes more towards a control build to counter my win-cons. Currently looking at Spellweaver Eternal for that part.
Finally, I might toy around with a copy of Rishkar's Expertise, it does give the deck some potential drawing and the chaining of spells happens to be a neat way to deal some damage with the Guttersnipes.
With HOU enough new cards were spoiled and Wildfire Eternal was pretty much a card that seemed fun enough for me to use for this. Since it has the Afflict mechanic I initially wanted to also include Merciless Eternal and go with a RB build, which resulted in the following first draft:
4 Wildfire Eternal
4 Merciless Eternal
4 Thermo-Alchemist
INSTANTS [16]
3 Terminate
4 Fiery Temper
4 Titan's Strength
3 Brute Strength
2 Pursue Glory
4 Sign in Blood
3 Distemper of the Blood
2 Inferno Jet
LANDS [23]
9 Mountain
8 Swamp
3 Akoum Refuge
3 Bloodfell Caves
3 Alms of the Vein
3 Strength of Lunacy
3 Sure Strike
1 Terminate
1 Brute Strength
2 Wander in Death
2 Khenra Eternal
Since Wildfire Eternal shares some similarities with Galvanoth and that with the Merciless Eternal gone I was no longer married to Black, I've opted to convert the list into an UR build instead that has a bigger and more splashy payload. So I've since been tinkering around with a list and done some goldfishing with the new build to see how it does and so far it looks like a decent new starting point:
4x Guttersnipe
3x Merfolk Looter
4x Wildfire Eternal
INSTANTS [20]
4x Brainstorm
4x Magma Jet
2x Noxious Revival
2x Reverberate
4x Shadow Rift
4x Titan's Strength
2x Baral's Expertise
2x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Sorin's Vengeance
LANDS [23]
10x Mountain
8x Island
4x Swiftwater Cliffs
1x Ghitu Encampment
Wouldn't it be an option to go for split cards? Armed // Dangerous, Pain // Suffering, Toil // Trouble...
These are the decks that I have constructed, and are ready to play:
01. Ankh Sligh to be exact.
You could just play some other good creature for RB spells, like Soul-Scar Mage or Guttersnipe.
Split cards are a great way to abuse Merciless Eternal. Look into split cards where you can play both halves (Fuse or Aftermath)!
Toil // Trouble should replace Sign in Blood. 2B is an easier cost than BB in a 2-color budget deck, and when you cast it for free off Wildfire then you can cast both halves!
Other cool effects you can play are Cut // Ribbons, Never // Return, Armed // Dangerous, Turn // Burn, Far // Away. Fuse cards are great to cast for free. Aftermath cards let you trigger Thermo-Alchemist twice off just one card, because you get to cast a spell twice!
Either way, Merciless Eternal was my main reason to run black, so taking it out has made space to look into other colors as well and decided to see what decks featured Galvanoth. Obviously, Galvanoth looks more consistent and doesn't require any aggro, but those lists are more geared towards a much bigger pay off as well to free cast.
So I went and looked at working in a build variation that more or less gears towards running Wildfire Eternal over the Galvanoth, switching out some pieces to help the Eternal a bit more and just some additional incremental value in case the pay off fails. Because of the addition of a few bigger spells and blue to help get to these cards more, I haven't added any Fuse or Aftermath cards yet.
1x Charmbreaker Devils
4x Guttersnipe
3x Merfolk Looter
4x Thermo-Alchemist
4x Wildfire Eternal
4x Brainstorm
4x Magma Jet
2x Reverberate
3x Shadow Rift
4x Titan's Strength
2x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Sorin's Vengeance
Land (23)
8x Island
11x Mountain
4x Swiftwater Cliffs
This is my rough new draft of the deck and it will need some tweaking. Creature count might be a little on the high side and still trying to consider the inclusion of Reverberate, even if it could be amazing to pull off.
The deck does have a tendency to run out of steam quite quickly, so it takes some planning in when you try to go off so to say. Noxious Revival has been an interesting addition, since we can chuck an early win condition and pull it back later on to use it. While it can also get some Guttersnipe triggers going out of nowhere. Downside is that its a huge strain on the deck's budget.
I also added Baral's Expertise, it clears the board nicely for Wildfire Eternal and can chain into an additional spell, though not being limited to Sorceries and Instants, Expertise also allows chaining into a creature which it did for me during most of my testing. Also, potentially hardcasting it isn't that bad either.
When it comes to win-conditions, setting up a Sorin's Vengeance seems to be the play for the deck. Cruel Ultimatum seems like a fun card to disrupt things as well, but Vengeance just gets there more it seems. I am contemplating to go 3:1 instead in favor of Vengeance but the discard might be more relevant when facing a more control style build. Which brings me down to Reverberate, it can definitely secure games quickly, but in most cases by the time you free cast Vengeance you already win with a single copy on the stack. Still looks great to pull off, but probably will add some Negate or Dispel to the side as alternatives for it, maybe even go with Censor since it can cycle.
Finally, the mana base is obviously not really tuned with other color fixing and for now I don't intend to really upgrade it any further either, as for a casual deck its just not worth the investing and the deck's pace isn't hampered that much by it. I made a minor tweak to the lands section and that is including a single copy of Ghitu Encampment, just in case we need an emergency blocker or even attacker.
The sideboard is still something I need to look into. The aforementioned 2-3 copies of either Dispel/Negate/Censor are likely to go in, as well as a few copies of Brute Strength for matchups where Eternal might get blocked more often and we need to push through damage more. Right now Titan's Strength is more favorable in the main, but the Brute version seems a decent option here as well. I probably also will want some creatures there to pull an aggro strategy for when an opponent goes more towards a control build to counter my win-cons. Currently looking at Spellweaver Eternal for that part.
Finally, I might toy around with a copy of Rishkar's Expertise, it does give the deck some potential drawing and the chaining of spells happens to be a neat way to deal some damage with the Guttersnipes.