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Main » Articles » Kaladesh Inpsired Decks

Kaladesh Inpsired Decks

Abe Sargent
Posted on September 19, 2016
 Reddit

Hello folks and welcome back to all things casual! Based on the spoilers thus far, Kaladesh seems right up my Johnny alley, with a lot of wonky and fun stuff coming soon to a booster pack near you. And it really revs up my Johnny Engines.

Combos and Synergies oh my!

So today I wanted to drilling down into decks built around such entries like Ghirapur Orrery, a powerful win-now engine using zero casting cost artifact creatures and Paradoxical Outcome, and then some Izzet Energy and Armorcraft Judge. Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

From Rath and Fiora to Kaladesh ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This deck was inspired by Ghirapur Orrery, the next in what I hope will be a long line of multiplayer-friendly Orrery cards starting with the hit Vedalken Orrery from Mirridon Block.

I think Burgeoning was on my mind due to its recent reprint in Conspiracy: Take the Crown. If everyone is drawing extra cards and able to drop more lands, then Burgeoning should be getting a lot more options to drop your lands. It seems like a natural and effective combo.

From there I was looking at a U/G ramp deck heavy in both card drawing and big stuff to cast off the mana acceleration. But as I looked at Ghirapur Orrery more and more, I saw a different, wackier deck than that.

I saw Null Brooch and Bottled Cloister. And then it hit me. Drop a bunch of stuff, and then discard your hand or drop more, and then get the free three cards from the Orrery each turn. They work well together. You can set your hand aside with the Cloister if you have any cards left, and then you don’t have to discard anything to use the Null Brooch. Or you can use the Null Brooch to empty your hand when someone plays a spell on their turn, in order to draw three more on your upkeep. You get the idea.

And then I liked having a bunch of cards you can drop for cheaper mana costs. Sure, we can have a few ways to use that mana later. So I liked the Saproling token spewing of both Verdeloth the Ancient and Nemata, Grove Guardian. Meanwhile you have Ezuri's Predation as a great later game sweeper of sorts and a 4/4 beats token maker as well, so it ends games. For the same reason I’m running Allosaurus Rider as a cheap card to play when you need to dump your hand and the mass synergy of a creature that has power and toughness equal to your many, many lands.

Then wrap up the deck with your normal fun stuff, like searching out lands and getting solid utility creatures or fetching out Panglacial Wurm, and everything will be good to go, Idaho. We have an odd Null Brooch infused Green ramp deck!

And while that deck was wonky and fun, get ready for the next one . . . 

Zero for the Win ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This eviscerating deck was inspired by Paradoxical Outcome:

The goal of the deck is to play a bunch of zero costing artifact creatures. Then once you have them all, you play Paradoxical Outcome to return them all to your hand and to draw a card for each one you pulled back. Once you’ve done that, you can replay them all at once.

Now there are a few ways you can use that. The obvious way is storm. Toss in something like Tendrils of Agony or something else. Shoot, you could make a Legacy Tendrils deck with Force of Will backup. Instead of Black you could layer in Red for storm, especially if you wanted stuff that was Modern legal. You could run cards that are free like Wild Cantor in order to have enough instead of much of the stuff above. Or you could run something like Storm Entity and Empty the Warrens for the win, which is good in multiplayer as you can keep the creatures around to kill multiple enemies.

And that works. I like Turnabout to untap my lands. Make some extra mana, and then hopefully you’ve drawn more Zero, or free, creatures, as well as another Paradoxical Outcome in case you want to later in more and more creatures.

And that all looks nice.

But I decided to go with a more kitchen table friendly version.

Take Bygone Bishop. All of these creatures are three or fewer mana, so you’ll make a Clue for each one. That will net you two enters-the-battlefield triggers for your artifacts. And who cares?

Glaze Fiend does!

But there’s a new card on Kaladesh that cares as well:

Now because it costs a mana to use and drain everyone’s life, you can’t do it ad nauseam. But what you can do is layer in a few triggers here and there to push your board state considerably. It helps to drain all of your foes and keep you alive simultaneously, and acts as emergency creature removal if you need.

But you already see it don’t you? This is not the combo I was talk about from Kaladesh! This is . . . 

Do you know what counts as a spell? Ornithopter does. Memnite does. Shield Wall does. You can gain an epic amount of life very quickly, and then kill everyone.

So the deck actually does have a storm-esque combo in it, it’s just not the one you are expecting!

Now you can see some expected support like the new Inventor’s Fair:

As well as Academy Ruins and Tolaria West to transmute for the Fair, Ruins, or a zero drop.

And ladies and gentlemen, that is not a nice deck. Nope! This is a nasty deck with a number of combos and tricks to find one that works for the win. It’s not for everyone, all right? All right

If you have the money, perhaps a card like Mana Crypt would work well here. What about Contraband Kingpin?

I choose to steer clear of the Kobolds because they aren’t giving me both artifact and creature triggers.

Here’s my quick Legacy storm build, in case you wanted to go for a quick and easy kill:

Zero Storm: The Legacy ? Legacy | Abe Sargent

And if your kitchen table is more of a modern deck:

Zero Storm: Modern ? Modern | Abe Sargent

I’m sure we all agree that the combo has too many cards to set up in a proper Legacy or Modern tournament. My Outcome tech is not going to make the next major Modern or Legacy pro tour. But a lot of kitchen tables want their 60 card decks to meet one of those two legalities. So here you are!

Now, let’s move to the nicer side of Magic, and get our Selesnya on!

Ajani?s Counterstorm ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This deck was inspired by Armorcraft Judge.

And so you can tell exactly what sort of deck it’ll be, right? It’s a fun +1/+1 counter deck. And Armorcraft Judge is a cool version of Inspiring Call. No indestructible for your en-countered stuff but you still draw the cards.

Ajani is the ruler of the +1/+1 counter pack, so I tossed in both Goldmane and Mentor of Heroes here. They will suit the deck. And that chose my colors for me as well. Ajani for the win, right?

With the G/W theme in place, I really like adding Armorcraft Judge to some of the G/W cards from Tarkir that represented the Abzan Clan . . . er . . . uh . . . sorry, Dragonlord Dromoka and followers. They have a good number of +1/+1 counter cards.

After looking at the outlast stuff, the one I knew I wanted was Tuskguard Captain. Too often these creatures get big but can’t smash through. And while flying or something can help, there’s just as many flying blockers as ground based ones. But from Fog Bank to Typhoid Rats trample smashes through a lot of junk.

Another great early beater is Avatar of Resolute, which can come down and swing early, or get bigger later as you have more counters on your stuff. It’s good in multiple stages of the game. That flexibility is key for decks like this. You can also see the Lil’ ‘Fenza and the Fox here as cheaper bodies that immediately effect the game.

I saw a real “We must protect this house” theme so in addition to the Fox and the Inspiring Call, how about a pair of Archangel Avacyn? More cheap pressure emerges, such as Fleecemane Lion.

After that, I tossed in some Aura Shards to provide a powerful anti-artifact and anti-enchantment tool, which seems particularly vital in a post-Kaladesh world. Anytime you are playing in an artifact block’s era, the increase of that type at the kitchen table is immense. So act proactively to add cards to your decks to handle them. Brush off those Vandalblast or Into the Core.

Hardened Scales is obvious. As is . . . 

Not only will it increase +1/+1 counter on a creature, but you can add a loyalty to Ajani as well as make a bunch of 1/1 Servos from placing those +1/+1 counters on your stuff. One Ajani Goldmane activation for four creatures would give you some more if you spend a little mana.

And that’s a deck! All nice and fun for you.

Now it’s time for the obligatory deck. Here you go!

Izzet Energy ? Casual | Abe Sargent

There you go!

This deck is built around the various intersections of energy for red and blue. You have a bunch of energy focused cards from the block in your colors (or in artifacts) to harness and use. Let’s take a look at a few!

The most important of these is Dynavolt Tower. You have the normal Izzet themed instant and sorcery fun times. Push it to make energy for free, and then collect free Lightning Bolts against people and creatures as needed. It’s a nice way to make energy, as well as to use what you have stored to do some proactive killing.

Speaking of proactive killing . . . 

Harnessed Lightning is another threat to creatures. Spend the amount of energy you need to kill something at instant speed. And then the left over goes into your pot. What if you have a creature with a 4 or 5 toughness? Then use stored energy (or the two energy made by that Tower) to kill some more. That’s what it’s here for!

Speaking of something that’s here for energy synergy, you have to acknowledge that Aetherworks Marvel just suits this deck perfectly, right?

Right! Pay that six energy and get a free spell for your side! That’s so Izzet, it’s screaming Red and Blue, despite the artifact type. It’s also another energy maker as well. It’s Marvel-ous. (That pun is already overused, sorry)

Even Aether Hub will make and use energy as well.

Now don’t forget that every deck needs a way to win. Right? Right! One way is Territorial Gorger. It’s a rare card that basically has a variant of Landfall. Only instead of getting +2/+2 when you drop a land, it’s when you get energy. As many of the effects in this deck get you energy, it can get big in a turn. And don’t forget that trample either!

Oh, and you don’t want to die either! So Thriving Turtle is to the rescue! It’s a 0/3 for 1 mana and a decent enough wall. It brings some energy, and you can pump it by swinging and spending some energy if you want.

There’s also an obvious place for proliferate here as well, right? We might as well have ways to make more counters, which gives us more energy. Tezzret’s Gambit, Volt Charge, Fuel for the Cause. It’s all here. And that proliferating energy will also trigger the Gorger too, and increase my winning conditions. Finally we wrap up with stuff like Cyclonic Rift, Capsize, and Whispers of the Muse, just like you’d expect.

Are you ready Izzet Energy Shenanigans?

I know I am!

So what did you think of our decks? Any thoughts on what you would change up? What excites your Johnny Juices?

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TAGS articles, casual, constructed, analysis, deck list, abe sargent, design, brews, #mtgkld, kaladesh

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