Hello, and welcome to 2015!

It’s been a while since I’ve penned an article of sixty-card decks just for fun without forcing myself to use the latest cards or with a themed article. Today, we’re just going to bring to you four separate decklists that rock the block. Each of these decks will tweak a different muscle. We have aggro, combo, and odd synergetic thing, and a midrange-ish finale for your pleasure!

Do you like tribal decks? Do you like seeing obscure cards that you have to look up to see what is happening? Do you like old cards that don’t see a lot of play? Do you like old-school, casual favorites that deserve another dance by moonlight? Do you like seeing some of the latest cards from the last few sets rocking the block?

Then welcome to the Attack of the Fun Decks!

Come on in; we’ve already started . . . 

Rise of the Damned ? Casual | Abe Sargent

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 2 Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath

• Spells (30)
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Demonic Collusion
• 2 Corrupt
• 2 Promise of Power
• 3 Syphon Mind
• 4 Damnation
• 4 Mutilate
• 2 Homicidal Seclusion
• 2 Triumph of Cruelty
• 4 Demonic Rising
• 4 Guardian Idol

• Lands (26)
• 20 Swamp
• 2 Mutavault
• 4 Mishra's Factory

Buy This Deck

There are a few tricks built around this synergy. The first is mass removal. If all of my creatures aren’t creatures at the time, or if they are just Demon tokens, we can easily sweep the board. We can use Damnation or Mutilate as ways to kill the other stuff, and then we can just animate and attack with our Mutavault, Guardian Idol, and Mishra's Factory.

Another fun card to toss in is that Homicidal Seclusion. You’ll often have just one creature in play, so you can gain the big bump and lifelink. I loved building around it in Draft, and you can love running it here! Don’t forget that Triumph of Cruelty. If you have out that big 5/5 Demon, or an inflated dork off the Seclusion, you’ll easily gain the trigger. You’ll also get it if you are the only one with a creature in play, which plays right into your sweeping-removal stuff.

Now just toss in stuff like Corrupt and Hero's Downfall for adjunct removal, a few Planeswalkers that work well with the mono-black theme, and a few card-draw options like Promise of Power and Syphon Mind. The Demons will rise indeed!

Of Ogres, Giants, and Clerics ? Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Battletide Alchemist
• 2 Daunting Defender
• 2 Guardian Seraph
• 2 Magma Giant
• 2 Master Apothecary
• 4 Callous Giant
• 4 Ogre Enforcer

• Spells (16)
• 2 Urza's Rage
• 2 Lightning Surge
• 4 Banefire
• 2 Lashknife Barrier
• 4 Divine Presence
• 2 Pariah's Shield

• Lands (26)
• 10 Mountain
• 10 Plains
• 2 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 4 Wind-Scarred Crag

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I remember playing Sealed Deck in the Invasion block days, and someone unfurled a Callous Giant on me. I had cracked the Divine Presence, and I thought that would be a fun combo to build around someday, but I never did. I just kept it in the back of mind all these years!

Take a look at a trio of awesome clerics: Daunting Defender, Battletide Alchemist, and Master Apothecary. The Apothecary can tap your six Clerics to prevent 2 damage to yourself or to creatures for no mana investment, which further keeps things alive and flowing. The Alchemist will simply prevent 1 damage to a player anytime you want (and more if you are rocking more Clerics) without tapping or using any mana. Similarly, the Defender will reduce by 1 any damage these Clerics take. Considering the damage reduced by your Barrier, Presence, and Apothecary, that’s a useful adjunct. (See also: Guardian Seraph.)

Damage won’t kill our stuff, right? So this is a nice shell in which to run Pariah's Shield. You could also toss in stuff like Worship. I also added in Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion because you are preventing damage from your creatures as well with the Presence. So instead of pumping its front, you may as well give double strike so it hits twice.

Your foes might feel safe behind the Divine Presence. That’s why I included eight burn spells that share a fun ability: They have damage that can’t be prevented. One requires threshold, another to be kicked, and the final one to have 5 mana put into its X cost, and when you invest in those, you unlock a powerful door of damage to finish your foes. This is an odd duck of a deck that really seems fun, with a variety of themes jammed in here.

Whatever Happened to Phage? ? Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Lord of the Void
• 4 Hypnotic Specter
• 4 Slith Bloodletter
• 4 Vampire Nighthawk
• 4 Will-o'-the-Wisp
• 4 Phage the Untouchable

• Spells (12)
• 2 Hellfire
• 4 Ambition's Cost
• 2 Whispersilk Cloak
• 4 Lightning Greaves

• Lands (26)
• 20 Swamp
• 2 Bojuka Bog
• 4 Rogue's Passage

Buy This Deck

Despite another day in the sun in Magic: The Gathering—Conspiracy, I haven’t run into a lot of Phages around recently. She used to be one of the legendary creatures du jour in Casual Land. But her best Magic days seem behind her. So let’s bring her out for another ride on the coaster of love.

I liked this early selection because they worked well with what I wanted to do with Phage the Untouchable. I wanted to swing without being blocked, and both Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak will suffice. We may as well add in some creatures that I want to give unblockability to, right? The Bloodletter will swell, and the Specter force a random discard. I even tossed in a pair of Lord of the Void to add another level of threat to our good Phage deck.

You know what would be awesome with Phage? Lightning Greaves would. It’s not just good in Commander, after all! I adore the idea of playing the Greaves on turn two and then slamming that Specter out, equipping it, and swinging on turn three to trigger a discard. That’s some nice disruption, which should clear a path for our good Phage friend.

Want another way to clear a path? Hellfire! It won’t touch any of your creatures, but it can terminate a lot of opposing stuff. Meanwhile, Bojuka Bog can give you a tool to fight graveyard crap—or to exile your own dead Phage in case you fear a Living Death or something else that would kill you. Whatever happened to Phage? Bring her on back for another blast of fun!

It?s Elemental ? Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Briarhorn
• 2 Fertilid
• 2 Flamekin Harbinger
• 2 Forgotten Ancient
• 4 Brighthearth Banneret
• 4 Incandescent Soulstoke
• 4 Smokebraider
• 4 Titania, Protector of Argoth

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Koth of the Hammer
• 2 Nissa, Worldwaker

• Spells (6)
• 2 Call the Skybreaker
• 2 Molten Birth
• 2 Obelisk of Urd

• Lands (26)
• 10 Forest
• 10 Mountain
• 2 Haunted Fengraf
• 4 Wooded Foothills

Buy This Deck

Ever since I spied that creature-type line on Titania, Protector of Argoth (she’s an Elemental creature who makes Elemental tokens), I had her in mind for a fun Elemental tribal deck. This seemed to be a suitable place to stretch this deck’s legs out.

Call the Skybreaker and Molten Birth both make Elemental tokens, and both have the potential to be replayed. Then, toss in the surprise Briarhorn, the mana-fetching Fertilid, and the long-game-enabling Forgotten Ancient. The deck has a suitable amount of midrange stuff for fun.

Now take a look at the duo of Koth of the Hammer and Nissa, Worldwaker, both of whom will give you a lot of fun days animating lands and turning them into Elementals.

I was running a pair of Momentous Fall, but I decided to pull them for Obelisk of Urd. You could argue that decision long into the night, but I want to push the pump theme since much of the Elemental-enabling won’t do anything for Elementals in play. Welcome the Urd!

And that basically finishes up our elements of fun!

Man, I hope you had a blast checking out all of the crazy directions we went today. From cards you probably had to look up (Divine Presence, Callous Giant) to quality that could use some press (Hellfire, Lashknife Barrier), we have some fun stuff here. We have folks from Commander (2014 Edition) and Khans of Tarkir mixing it up with stuff that hits all the way back to Alpha (Hypnotic Specter, Will-o'-the-Wisp) and Antiquities (Mishra's Factory). Tools like Slith Bloodletter and Lightning Surge are seeing play. It’s a fun time to reacquaint ourselves with fun decks, new and old!

I hope you found something in here that speaks to you!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent