It’s the holiday season, and you know what that means? Sure, mistletoe and stockings and trees and all of that. We take breaks at Christmas time from work and school but call them something else so as not to offend anyone. (No, no, it’s a “winter break, ” I swear). The great lie we tell our children will commence once again. (That Santa is real is the great lie, in case you were wondering). Christmas films about how Santa is actually real but adults just don’t understand commence. Bad Christmas specials assault the airwaves. My favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard, and I make sure to tell people that whenever they have a conversation about good Christmas flicks. Now I have a machine gun, Ho Ho Ho.

The themes of any holiday change throughout the years. New traditions are born, and old ones fade. Halloween alone has evolved massively since my childhood. There’s the introduction of safe places for kids to trick or treat, our moving from candy to other gifts, the introduction of massive decorations from lights to full-blown tombstones and live events in yards—it’s changing.

Other holidays are the same. The creator of Mother’s Day is from in West Virginia. By the 1920s, she was disappointed by how commercialized it had become and asked that it be ended. She felt that doing something small, such as flowers, chocolate, or dinner to honor your mother and then ignoring everything else was against the spirit of the holiday. (She said, “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world”). It’s become massively more commercialized since the creator’s death.

Christmas has changed as well, but one aspect has stayed pretty solid for my lifespan, and that’s the giving of presents. Platitudes such as, “It’s better to give than to receive,” are heard, and we spend massive amounts of money to buy presents. My local mall is the King of Prussia Mall. My bus to seminary goes right by it. One year on Black Friday (the shopping day after Thanksgiving when many look for deals and are shopping for Christmas gifts), this one mall had more than one billion dollars spent in that single day. We buy stuff for others (and a bit for ourselves; let’s not kid anybody). In that spirit, I introduce to you our first deck.

Gifts Are Given

"Gifts are Given"

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Veteran Explorer
• 4 Bazaar Trader
• 4 Hunted Wumpus
• 4 Wall of Blossoms
• 4 Bronze Bombshell

• Spells (16)
• 2 Fruitcake Elemental
• 2 Goblin Game
• 2 Harmonize
• 2 Hypergenesis
• 2 Insurrection
• 2 Reforge the Soul
• 4 Confusion in the Ranks

• Lands (26)
• 13 Forest
• 13 Mountain

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This deck is intentionally red and green since those are the colors for Christmas. It evokes red bows on green wreaths. This deck gives stuff to others. Not only does it give them stuff from you, but it also encourages them to give stuff to others as well. Let’s take a look.

The next gift-giving specialist is one of my favorite cards for multiplayer: Veteran Explorer. Everyone is happy when he dies because they all get two lands right into play. He even makes sure those lands are untapped so they can be used right away. What a nice present he provides!

Another gift giver is Hunted Wumpus. When this vanilla 6/6 arrives on the scene, anyone else can drop a creature right onto the battlefield without having to pay any costs at all. Isn’t he nice? Joining his niceness is Hypergenesis. Everyone can play lands, enchantments, artifacts, or creatures for no mana—as many as they have and want to drop. This deck is nice!

Around Christmas time, there is a gift exchange that is fairly popular often done at work. I know it as a White Elephant Gift Exchange, but I’m sure it has other names. The first person opens a gift and then keeps it. The next person can either take the first person’s gift or open a new one. If he takes a gift, person one opens a gift and that ends round two. Each round, you can move gifts around, and there are a couple rules to keep things moving. One option is that once a gift moves three times, that’s it, and it can’t move again for the rest of the exchange. Another option is that a gift can’t move more than once per round, but there is no limit to how many total times it can move.

In a similar way, we have a set of Confusion in the Ranks. When someone plays something, he can swap with someone else who has something he wants more. It’s like the gift exchange. You can trade your small creature for a nicer one. And everybody gets to participate. And like the White Elephant, some gifts (or creatures) are wanted more, so they become hot potatoes. Imagine a Confusion with something like a Hunted Wumpus or Hypergenesis. It’s all crazy!

You don’t mind giving away your creatures—except for Santa. You can give someone a Wumpus because it’s already done its thing. You can donate a Veteran Explorer because it doesn’t matter who owns it when it dies. A Wall of Blossoms, post-card-draw, is just a 0/4 blocker. And you have one more gift: four Bronze Bombshells. You definitely want to give those away.

Fruitcake Elemental slides here so nicely. If you don’t have any, replace them with land-search such as Cultivate unless your group allows proxies. Many do, and most won’t mind a proxy Elemental in a heavy theme deck such as this.

After all of that, I rounded out the deck with a few cards. I felt Goblin Game gave the deck a little extra fun for the holidays. I wanted card-drawing, so Harmonize went in, but I also included some card-drawing for everyone, with Reforge the Soul here as well. I rounded out the deck with twenty-six basics and called it.

Let It Snow

One thing that is deeply connected with Christmas in the U.S. is snow. It’s cold out here! Brrr. Bring your blankets, warm up the fire, and make some cocoa! Think of all of the snow-themed aspects of our celebrations. Take Frosty the Snowman for example. It’s snow literally as part of our celebrations. We have people from the North Pole, where it’s quite chilly. And that’s not all. Many of our Christmas celebrations have a deep connection with snow in the shows and films. Everything from the Grinch sliding down a snowy hill to Rudolph skating across a frozen pond demonstrates the cold and snow of this era.

It would be remiss of my deck-building duties if I didn’t do something similar. With the winter, snow, and cold such an important aspect of our festivals and celebrations, let’s not leave that behind. Take a look at our next deck!

"Let It Snow"

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Goblin Snowman
• 2 Avalanche Riders
• 2 Barbarian Guides
• 2 Bloodbraid Elf
• 2 Farhaven Elf
• 2 Keldon Champion
• 4 Rimescale Dragon
• 4 Skred
• 4 Stalking Yeti

• Spells (12)
• 4 Avalanche
• 4 Into the North
• 4 Arcum's Weathervane

• Lands (25)
• 8 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 9 Snow-Covered Forest
• 2 Mouth of Ronom
• 2 Scrying Sheets
• 4 Highland Weald

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Since you are making opposing lands snow anyway, I tossed in Barbarian Guides. I can pay 3 mana to tap my Guides, who are just a 1/1s who cost 3 mana. When I do, it can make one of my dudes snowwalk you. That ability is obviously so powerful that it comes with the disadvantage of bouncing my creature back to my hand—they had to balance it somehow.

What I did was use that disadvantage as an advantage, and I included some creatures I want to bounce. I remember an old Inquest article that said you should play it with Ball Lightning, and then you can bounce the Lightning back to your hand rather than sacrifice it. Let’s look at some of the creatures we can bounce.

I began with some fun triggers. Farhaven Elf seems like a good choice to bounce. I can play it for 3 mana, fetch a land, and then bounce it back to reuse. I have a full slate of Stalking Yeti. When one enters the battlefield, it fights with target creature. These Yetis are a fairly good at clearing out smaller dudes. You can bounce it for a little snow mana. Or you can use the Guides to give them snowwalk, smash for 3, and bounce the Yeti that way—whichever you prefer.

Skred is an auto-inclusion in a deck with red and snow lands. You don’t even question it; you just toss it in. It’s like a 1-mana Murder. I lied. I added one more creature, Goblin Snowman. I had to; I’m sorry. I also tossed in Into the North to find me lands.

For lands, I went with Scrying Sheets and Mouth of Ronom to give me some spice. Then the rest were four Highland Wealds and basics. We have twenty-five lands, which should be enough. This deck has a few nods to Christmas, such as an Elf, the North Pole (Into the North), and Frosty the Snowman (Goblin Snowman). Enjoy!

Tropical Festivals Bring Presents for Me!

Do you remember those Corona commercials in the U.S. that happen every Christmas? They have some person in the tropics going out at night to turn on some Christmas lights in a palm tree. The above Holiday-themed deck assumes you live in a place with snow, but what if you don’t? Moreover, what if you live in the southern hemisphere, where it’s summer right now? This next deck is for you!

Forget snow and cold. Embrace palm trees and warm ocean breezes and the good life, right? After all, there is a reason that people head south for winter vacations in the U.S. They want beaches and sun. We have those! This is a deck with islands and tides. However, I also want a holiday theme. In the first deck, we had a theme with giving a lot of presents. Christmas isn’t just about giving presents. It’s about receiving them as well! Let’s take a gander at the next deck.

"Tropical Festivals Bring Presents for Me!"

• Spells (34)
• 2 Commandeer
• 2 Desertion
• 2 Reins of Power
• 2 Spelljack
• 4 Fact or Fiction
• 2 Tidings
• 2 Annex
• 2 Legacy's Allure
• 2 Spirit Away
• 2 Volition Reins
• 4 Control Magic
• 4 Take Possession
• 4 Crystal Chimes

• Lands (26)
• 26 Island

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Some reallocate creatures. Control Magic will gift you with another creature with a cost of just 4 mana. If you don’t have any, use Mind Controls or Persuasions. Spirit Away reallocates that creature to your side, and it pumps it +2/+2 while grating it flying. You can procure something nice, and it becomes even better. Dragons grow bigger, green tramply creatures become good and flying, and there’s always something that wants the upgrade. The last creature-only stealing is the early drop Legacy's Allure. Put some counters on it, and then you can sacrifice it to steal something nice. I chose it over Vedalken Shackles because I can recur them with Chimes, and I don’t have to worry about artifact destruction.

You can also snatch lands. Annex will take a land for your cause. While I’m sure you want a great land, such as Maze of Ith, you can be happy with mana lands. Annex is like land fetching in blue. For 4 mana, you get a land. Finally, the last four enchantments reallocate any permanent to your side. Volition Reins steals it and untaps it for you. Take Possession will steal something, and with split second, no one can respond.

With so many of these effects being enchantments, a lot of foes may take out the enchantment to return the cards to their sides. They may also flicker reallocated permanents or bounce them. All of these are bad for your Auras. For protection, Crystal Chimes is included, so you can sacrifice it and bring those enchantments back to your hand for another go.

Finally, we want some card-drawing, so in goes Tidings and Fact or Fiction. The deck is rounded out with twenty-six Islands. If you don’t have the cards, look at things such as Vedalken Shackles, Confiscate, or Dominate. You can always find stuff to steal!

I hope you enjoyed these three Christmas-themed decks; let me know what you thought!

Until Later,

Abe Sargent