Magic Potpourri

Posted on May 8, 2012

Hello, folks! Have you enjoyed the decktastic nature of this the last few months? It’s been rife with decks, including my 100 Combo Decks project, and even last week’s article with decks from Avacyn Restored. It’s decks-a-go-go!

Today, I want to wrap up the 100 Combo Decks project with our final vote, talk a little bit about things I learned from it, and then use this as an opportunity to talk about a few Magic things that have occurred that I was unable to discuss due to my concentration on the decks. It’s a Magic potpourri!

100 Combo Deck

Let’s begin with thoughts about the recent 100 Combo Deck series.

I created a variety of combo decks for this project. They included traditional combo decks that go off and others that used cards in combination to create powerful game states. Since I used my own deck stock, the decks available were limited to the physical cards in my possession. Therefore, I created some combo decks in different categories. Here are the categories of decks I made:

1. Tournament Caliber Decks From the Past – Using my card stock, I built a lot of decks around engines that have been powerful decks in the past. A perfect example is my Krark-Clan Ironworks deck. It has a powerful selection of cards and artifacts and runs very smoothly. It resembles the KCI decks that won tournaments after its release. We had several classics from the History of Combo Decks. Examples include an Oath of Druids deck that fetched up Emrakul, a Pebbles built around Goblin Bombardment and Enduring Renewal, a Stasis deck featuring Chronatog and Frozen Aether, and even the Life deck that uses en-Kor and Angelic Protector with Worthy Cause to gain infinite life. There are other examples as well, but these are decks that did well in tournaments, and I brought them to the project. For those who never saw those decks, you were introduced to some of the greats. For those who did, it’s a nice blast from the past to see a new version.

2. Popular Casual Combo Decks – Many casual players go to the same place year in and year out. It doesn’t matter how much experience they have or who they are—you just see the same combo deck slipping out every now and then from a deck box. When I sit down to duel someone new at the card store, there are some combo decks I’m never surprised to see. A classic example is the Megrim discard deck. Built around Megrim and now Liliana's Caress, this deck uses massive discard to kill the opponent and control the board. I had one in my project as well. Other good examples include my Underworld Dreams deck, which tries to force people to draw cards to die, a life-gain deck built around Searing Meditation and similar cards, and even a False Cure/Congregate deck that kills someone with a False Cure. There are others out there, too, and these decks are never out of style, so I desperately wanted to include them.

3. Low-Power Combo Decks WotC Gave Me – Wizards regularly likes to print uncommons that are built around a block mechanic. You can build around that uncommon using the mechanic, and the result is a little combo deck. It usually avoids the power level of tournament-caliber decks, but not always. The cycling deck built around Lightning Rift and Astral Slide was very powerful. Many decks included here were built around these cheap engines.

For some reason, most of these engines are red. Take Sacrificial Celebrations, for example. This deck was built around Furnace Celebration and many creatures that sacrificed themselves. Another deck was built around the Celebration and Barrage Ogre sacrificing artifacts. Phyrexian Rage centered on Rage Extractor and many Phyrexian mana cards. I built a flashback deck around Burning Vengeance and then added in Secrets of the Dead after it was printed.

Rumbling Aftershocks suggested a deck where virtually every card had kicker. I consider these decks to be suggested by WotC because of their presence all across these sets and mechanics. They certainly work, and they tend to be really cheap to make. For example, just now in the kicker deck, I hit the Buy it Now button for CoolStuffInc. The entire deck is $12.75. These sorts of decks are nice to have in the countdown because they show off the cheaper side of the spectrum. Sure, I have decks with really expensive cards—such as my Mind's Desire storm deck—but I also have these decks right next to them, and that makes the project fun. Everybody’s tastes are served.

4. Crazy Combo Decks for Johnnies – In this project, I should have some combo decks that are just out there. These are decks that typically go off to win but have elaborate ways of doing it. A good example is a deck built around Kobolds that uses Skullclamp and Mortuary to sacrifice them and draw them again, replaying them to trigger Shrine of Burning Rage and Genesis Chamber to make tokens and set the Shrine to go off. In another deck, I use Ashnod's Altar, Myr Sire, Dross Scorpion, Scarecrone, and Chalice of Life to win the game. These are the crazy decks that uber-Johnnies love to build and see. We had to have some!

5. Light Combos for the Casual Player – The last group of combo decks are those on the lighter side. Not every player wants a deck that immediately goes off and wins. Not every playgroup wants decks built around Obliterate or designed to drop an Eldrazi by turn three. I hear you. Some people want decks that aren’t cutthroat for their next Magic night.

I included many ways to massage this side of the spectrum as well. I have a deck built around Ashes of the Fallen and Return of the Nightstalkers. Even when it works, which takes a while, all it does is put two or three creatures into play. Another deck uses Whispersilk Cloak, not to make something like Phage unblockable to win the game immediately, but just to ensure hits with Blinding Angel and Hypnotic Specter. A third deck uses Xenograft to turn all Eldrazi into Allies so Eldrazi Spawns count as Allies for your Ally deck. These decks show the nicer side of combo, and they are great fun to see alongside some of the other categories.

Why did I look at this categorization? Well, now I want to present the Top Deck of each week, as voted on by you. At the end, you can vote for which of these winners your ultimate favorite was. I want to place each of the winners into categories to see if one category dominated. The categories that you tend to enjoy are likely to show up more often in my articles. Are you ready? Here we go!

Article 2, Deck 1 – Tombstrad Stairwell

This deck is built around Tombstone Stairwell and includes cards such as Vengeful Dead and Mesmeric Orb combined with many of the new cards from Innistrad, including Forbidden Alchemy and Armored Skaab. It is a Category 2—the Stairwell is a very popular casual combo deck.

"Deck 1 – Tombstrad Stairwell"

Article 3, Deck 13 – The Firebird of Death, Magma, and Stalling

With a one-vote win over my Stasis deck, the winning deck uses Molten Firebird and cards such as Jokulhaups and Obliterate to keep just the bird out. It also features a backup combo to win the game with Darksteel Reactor and Ensnaring Bridge and a third backup combo with Culling Dais and the Firebird. It is a crazy combo Johnny deck with many elements in it and triple combos for the win. (Category 4)

"Deck 13 – The Firebird of Death, Magma, and Stalling"

Lands (26)
22 Mountain
4 Darksteel Citadel

Article 4, Deck 30 – Pandemonium in the Streets

While Pandemonium was a popular combo with Saproling Burst in a tournament setting, this version of the deck resembles the more popular casual use of the card, and it is Category 2 as well. We are using Pandemonium, Warstorm Surge, and Electropotence to fuel big damage off a lot of cheap creatures with high power.

"Deck 30 – Pandemonium in the Streets"

Lands (26)
12 Forest
12 Mountain
2 Gruul Turf

Article 5, Deck 40 – I Miss My Cemetery Gates

In the first article, the deck built around pro red creatures and Earthquake received a lot of votes, so a win for the Pestilence deck is no surprise. This casual favorite (Pestilence decks are still all the rage) used pro black creatures as well as cards such as Sphere of Grace to sweep the board and keep it swept.

"Deck 40 – I Miss My Cemetery Gates"

Lands (26)
11 Plains
11 Swamp
4 Orzhov Basilica

Article 6, Deck 50 – Mono-Brown . . . er, Mono-Gray . . . um, Mono-Red/Gray

I’m not sure which category to put this in. Goblin Welder and Metalworker decks are usually a staple of tournament artifact decks in many formats. Using them to drop casual friendly cards like Bosh and such isn’t. Still, the ability to slam a powerful beater after playing the Metalworker or recurring it with the Welder seems more aligned with the tournament pedigree of the cards, so I am placing it in Category 1.

"Deck 50 – Mono-Brown . . . er, Mono-Gray . . . um, Mono-Red/Gray"

Lands (26)
26 Mountain

Article 7, Deck 59 – Eldrazi Go Rawr!

Also winning by one vote over a deck that had infinite attack steps, this deck used Hellrider, Raid Bombardment, and Broodwarden to threaten with many Eldrazi Spawn tokens. This is a good example of a Category 5 deck that uses the combo for nice things. In this case, it’s for making 0/1 tokens real players at the board. No matter how cute it is, it dies to Wrath of God or many other combo decks in the list that shut down creatures. It’s fun to attack with your little Eldrazi dudes!

"Deck 59 – Eldrazi Go Rawr!"

Lands (26)
10 Forest
10 Mountain
2 Gruul Turf
4 Shivan Oasis

Article 8, Deck 62 – Kobolds of the World, Unite!

I discussed this deck above as a great example of a crazy combo deck in Category 4. It really is crazy! Play and replay Kobolds and Memnites for triggers, cards, and winning.

"Deck 62 – Kobolds of the World, Unite!"

Article 9, Deck 80 – A Different Sort of Pebbles

I had originally built this deck around the core Pebbles combo: Goblin Bombardment, Enduring Renewal, and 0-mana creatures. I tossed in a Grinding Station to back up the Bombardments since I only had two copies to spare. Included were some creatures to help stall until we arrive at the combo: Goldenglow Moth, Teroh's Faithful, and Pilgrim's Eye. This is a re-envisioning of the classic combo deck Fruity Pebbles, and it is clearly Category 1.

"Deck 80 – A Different Sort of Pebbles"

Article 10, Deck 81 – Saffi for the Cause!

Because of this deck’s relation to Project X, a tournament deck, it could be Category 1. I published a version of it a month before Project X arose in an online article for casual players. That makes it more of a Category 4. How it is today? Most people looking at it probably see it as a Project X deck, so we’ll call it Category 1. We use Saffi Eriksdotter and Crypt Champion to bring back creatures that trigger anything from Algae Gharial to Field of Souls.

"Deck 81 – Saffi for the Cause!"

Article 11, Deck 100 – The Horse’s Mantle

This is the final deck of the countdown! It uses Workhorse and Nim Deathmantle to bring it back and forth into play and to trigger cards such as Glaze Fiend. It has been suggested that this Category 4 deck may not work as I suspect because I don’t have time to pull off the counters before the Deathmantle attaches itself. If that’s the case, since it’s already black, we can accommodate that with Heartless Summoning and Night of Souls' Betrayal and then shift out of the 1-toughness combo elements and into ones that are bigger or noncreatures. Examples include Grave Pact, Deathbringer Thoctar, Dross Harvester, and Gristle Grinner. It still works . . . with some modification if needed.

"Deck 100 – The Horse’s Mantle"

Lands (25)
25 Swamp

Category Breakdown

Here are the category numbers:

1. Typical Tournament Combos: 3

2. Typical Casual Combos: 3

3. WotC-Suggested Combos: 0

4. Wacky Combos: 3

5. Light Combos: 1

As you can see, we had no winners in Category 3 and just one of the last category. You like the others evenly: crazy combos, tournament combos, and those you’ll see at the kitchen table regularly. Gotcha!

Of these ten decks, which is your favorite? Vote at the end! Then, we can crown an Uber-Fan-Favorite Deck of all 100!

My Favorite Decks

Which decks were my favorite?

My top three in no particular order:

Deck 75 – Aether Pits – I really enjoy the interaction of Death Pits of Rath and Aether Flash. Then, add in all sorts of cards that work with both, from Circle of Flame to Forked Bolt and from Evincar's Justice to Genju of the Fens. Just a fun and great deck.

Deck 51 – Infinity of Attacks – I’m very sad this was one vote away from tying for its week. It’s still a deck that goes off, but it doesn’t make ten thousand 1/1 tokens or mill someone or make a bajillion mana or deal 5,000 damage—instead, it gives you infinite attacks, one attack step after another. That’s cool, and it plays well, too. Aggravated Assault gives you an extra attack for 5 mana, and both Bear Umbra and Nature's Will untap your lands so you can activate the Assault over and over again. It’s simple and powerful.

Deck 13 – The Firebird of Death, Magma, and Stalling – I have to admit a fondness for this deck as well. I have three combos in the deck, and it can win through any of them. It can hide behind Ensnaring Bridge and deck you (Firebird plus Culling Dais), win by Darksteel Reactor, or win by swinging again and again with the Firebird after mass removal.

Potpourri

Now that we are putting that project behind me, let’ talk about other stuff. Sure, I’m clocking in at 2,750 words right now, but much of it has been talking about decks I’ve already posted in previous articles. We want new stuff!!!

My favorite article written by another author thus far in 2012 is Chas Andres’s article over at ChannelFireball on theft in the Magic world and how to protect yourself. I’d recommend any person who plays Magic to check it out. I think reading it is even more valuable for casual players who infrequently head to tournaments. No one wants to lose a precious deck or card binder.

I recently had to take apart Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy (a 2,500+ highlander deck which is my signature pride and joy). I know; it’s a sad day. I was going to replace my Twisted Abomination with the foil one from the Graveborn deck, and I couldn’t find it. Apparently, it was missing! Then, I couldn’t find one of the lands from Eventide, and I couldn’t remember if I had put Thwart and Foil into the deck or not. With all of those issues, I just decided to take it apart and do a good scour. It looks like I’m missing other cards, too. For example, I don’t have a Kozilek in it. This is my time to upgrade the deck in a few ways.

What cards from Avacyn Restored will make the cut into Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy? Let’s take a look!

White

Angel of Glory's Rise – This just makes the cut due to lack of symmetry on bringing back Humans.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope – Obvious

Defy Death – I like adding more reanimation.

Divine Deflection – A great tool

Entreat the Angels – Good late game

Goldnight Redeemer – Flyers with life-gain are always a nice choices.

Herald of War – I’m not super-sold on it because: How reliable is the mana-reduction ability going to be? But a 3/3 flyer that grows as it attacks may be enough on its own; we’ll see.

Restoration Angel – Absolutely

Terminus – More Wraths are always wanted.

Blue

Devastation Tide – I like the nonland aspect of the latest mass-bounce spell.

Geist Snatch – I love hard counters.

Ghostly Flicker – Maybe. I recently pulled some similar cards, and I want to gain some firsthand experience with this before making a final decision as to whether it is in or out.

Lone Revenant – It’s a body.

Lunar Mystic – I’m leaning toward, “No.”

Spirit Away – The newest Yavimaya's Embrace

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage – Sure!

Temporal Mastery – Unquestionably

Black

Dark Impostor – While a bit mana-heavy, the repeatable removal is nice.

Griselbrand – Another obvious addition

Harvester of Souls – My favorite addition from the black cards

Killing Wave – Mass removal-ish and very handy

Red

Bonfire of the Damned – I like this miracle madness!

Hound of Griselbrand – I love the powerful body we have here.

Mad Prophet – I have all of the other looters, no there’s reason not to run him, too.

Malignus – For multiplayer, I expect this to roughly be an 8/8 that swings at people and destroys blockers. Occasionally, it’ll be a 13/13 or 22/22 and kill someone at the table with a normal life total. It’s worth a tryout in multiplayer.

Reforge the Soul – Yeah, baby!

Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded – Come on in, Mr. Planeswalker. Have a seat!

Green

Craterhoof Behemoth – Big daddy is coming to the big deck.

Natural End – A very nice card indeed

Primal Surge – The dream begins.

Rain of Thorns – My favorite green addition

Somberwald Sage – I have a lot of creatures in my deck.

Soul of the Harvest – Another great card for the deck

Wolfir Avenger – It has a nice body, regeneration can keep back some beaters, and flash is a plus.

Other

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight – An awesome addition

Sigarda, Host of Herons – A good body for the cost and a decent ability

Angelic Armaments – +2/+2 and flying is nice enough to play.

Moonsilver Spear – We’ll try it out, but I’m not expecting too much.

Vessel of Endless Rest – I need mana smoothing of all sorts.

Alchemist's Refuge, Desolate Lighthouse, Slayers' Stronghold – These are all great cards with very useful abilities, and you want them in a deck like mine.

Cavern of Souls – Sure, let’s try it out and see what happens.

Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth

Okay, just one more thing, and then we’ll be done!!!

I’ve been playing through the Venser vs. Koth deck, and I’ve noticed that it’s just not as much fun or consistent as some of the other duel decks. Is anybody else noticing that? While I appreciate the Koth deck’s love of stone in some cards, there was still a bit too much fire for my tastes. While the flavor may lean Koth, the mechanics are still too similar to other red we’ve seen. For every Jaws of Stone or Greater Stone Spirit, we have a Bloodfire Colossus or Pygmy Pyrosaur. It’s more of a mash of stone and flame, and that’s better than some, but I wish they would have more fully embraced the geomancer aspect of our guy, you know? And again, it’s a deck with firebreathers, burn, bad flying, and so forth.

Venser’s deck is also too scattered but in a different way. Is Koth’s deck fire or rock? Is Venser’s deck about sneaky attackers or enters-the-battlefield (ETB) creatures and abuse? The ETB creature base isn’t exactly strong. Sure, it has the big guys at the top, Sunblast Angel and Sphinx of Uthuun. It has some minor ETB creatures, such as Augury Owl and Cryptic Annelid, and then a single medium creature: the Kor Cartographer. That’s really it.

Jedit's Dragoons is a horrible ETB creature to abuse, and Neurok Invisimancer makes something unblockable for a turn. There’re just seven creatures and one copy of each for traditional ETB triggers. There are arguably more cards that abuse ETB creatures than there are actual ETB creatures in the deck—Whitemane Lion just ETBs to bounce one of your guys, and it isn’t a traditional ETB creature; the same is true of Sawtooth Loon. Then, add in Venser, Mistmeadow Witch, Galepowder Mage, Clone, Cache Raiders, and possibly Vanish into Memory to the list. That’s eight cards to bounce, copy, and flicker a creature and just seven creatures with abilities to use them on. Are you serious?

Then, add the other theme of sneaking in a free hit. Since Venser’s second ability revolves around unblockability, the deck includes some cards that will benefit, such as a pair of Scroll Thief, one Coral Fighters, the Aura Sigil of Sleep, and two Slith Striders. Enabling these guys are cards including Minamo Sightbender, Steel of the Godhead, the Invisimancer, and Venser. That’s a subtheme? Five attackers, and that’s it? If you had pulled Sightbender, the Invisimancer, the five attackers, and the two Auras, you could focus more on the ETB theme. Then, the deck would have made sense. As it is, it’s way too much of a hodgepodge of ideas.

One is a deck that tries to be two things in terms of flavor and ends up being a mess. The other tries to be two things mechanically and ends up being a mess. The one thing they can do is fight each other—because they are so scattered that you don’t notice. Take a look at the Jace deck; you know exactly what it is. Consider the Ajani deck. It has a subtheme of Cats, but every single Cat fits the first theme. You could have a non-blocking theme that works with the ETB creatures besides the Invisimancer, such as Ninja of the Deep Hours and Azorius Herald. And I understand not wanting to make the deck too good, but these two decks are a far cry from the other planeswalker decks we’ve seen. Is this really the best you could do?

Anyway, I thought this article would be a nice home to fit all of these less-than-article-sized things into. Don’t forget to vote on your number-one deck from the challenge. I hope that you enjoyed these change ups, and expect us to talk about cards, finances, and Commander real soon!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

Which deck was your favorite one?

[poll id="154"]

TAGS articles, casual, review, deck lists, kitchen table, abe sargent, avacyn restored, 100 combo decks, kitchen table tuesday