In this experiment, we weave an endless stream of lies by combining the power of morph creatures that span three different blocks.

Khans of Tarkir previews are fully underway after this weekend’s Magic PAX party. A card previewed before even then, due to its role in Wizards of the Coast’s Buy a Box Promotion, is Rattleclaw Mystic.

This card doesn’t appear too flashy, though it oozes efficiency at every corner. A strict upgrade from the likes of Golden Hind (despite the Mystic’s lack of the regal creature type), Rattleclaw Mystic provides the additional options to generate or . Morph allows us to cast it as a 2/2—rather than as a 2/1—for instead of , but perhaps most interestingly, its unmorph trigger pays out more mana than it requires. For only , we can make . We can only do this once, however, and we have to have paid at some point beforehand.

At first glance, I passed this card over, looking for something more compelling. But the Mystic lingered in the back of my mind, reminding me that making more mana than something costs always portends potential.

Turning Face Down

The problem with making for is that once we’ve done it, we’ve done it. Face down and face up are statuses much like tapped and untapped, but unlike being tapped, there’s no unmorph step to start out each turn. That means we’ll have to find another way to turn our Mystic face down again if we want to repeat its mana generation. And if we want our exchange to be profitable, we have to turn the Mystic face down for 1 mana or less.

Astute readers—and I, after further consideration—would realize that Skirk Alarmist’s superpower turns the Mystic face up. What we need, however, is a way to turn the Mystic face down. Turning face up is something it can do for itself just fine.

So, in searching for a way to turn the Mystic face down, I found Weaver of Lies. This Beast can turn any number of other creatures face down for . That means we can have several Mystics and have them all turn down in one fell swoop, ready for further mana generation. But Weaver of Lies doesn’t turn itself face down, so we need a second copy, and since Rattleclaw Mystics only net 1 mana per morph cycle, we’ll need at least six of them to account for the Weaver’s expensive morph cost.

So the combo is to have two copies of Weaver of Lies, at least one of which is face down, and six Rattleclaw Mystics—all on the battlefield. Notice a problem with that?

(Hint: Four is the maximum number of copies of a card Magic: The Gathering allows us per deck.)

Finding Value

Well, there actually is a way we can have more Rattleclaw Mystics. Vesuvan Shapeshifter, which just so happens to be among my favorite cards, can function as either a Mystic or a Weaver, and as a Weaver, that expensive morph cost is reduced to .

We control: Weaver of Lies (face up), Vesuvan Shapeshifter (face down), four Rattleclaw Mystics (face down)

• Tap two lands to pay for a Rattleclaw Mystic, generating .
• Pay 2 of the generated mana for another Mystic; repeat for remaining face-down Mystics. We have 6 mana.
• Pay to unmorph Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying Weaver of Lies and turning all our other creatures face down. We have 4 mana.
• Pay 2 mana to unmorph a Mystic; repeat for remaining face-down Mystics. We have 8 mana.
• Pay to unmorph Weaver of Lies, turning all our other creatures face down. We have 3 mana.

After that, our board position is the same as it was initially, except that we have two tapped lands and 3 mana. Each iteration will generate for us 1 more mana. And if we control an Aphetto Runecaster, we can draw until we reach a Bonethorn Valesk, cast it with our surplus mana, and repeat the morphing and unmorphing until our opponents are dead. Note that up to two of the Rattleclaw Mystics could be replaced by Vesuvan Shapeshifters, but having two will prevent us from generating any excess blue mana.

Here’s an alternate setup that requires only five permanents rather than six.

• Tap two lands to pay for a Rattleclaw Mystic, generating .
• Pay 2 of the generated mana for the other Mystic, generating again. We have 4 mana.
• Pay to unmorph Vesuvan Shapeshifter, copying Weaver of Lies and turning all our other creatures face down—except Weaver of Lies. We have 2 mana.

After that, the 2 mana we have floating simulates us having tapped the two lands at the beginning of the process. From there, we can repeat, alternating Vesuvan Shapeshifters and keeping only 2 mana after each cycle. We won’t be generating mana, but we will be drawing cards with Aphetto Runecaster or dealing damage with Bonethorn Valesk. If we do have a third Rattleclaw Mystic, we can start generating mana as well.

Round It Out

Our combo requires a lot of copies of our key cards, so our base is four Rattleclaw Mystics, four Weaver of Lies, and four Vesuvan Shapeshifters. Of course, I’ve talked plenty about Aphetto Runecaster and Bonethorn Valesk, so they’ll make appearances as well.

Ixidron is almost a given in a morph-themed deck, as it forces opponents’ creatures into a state of 2/2 colorlessness, and it resets all our morphs. Oh, and it’s probably pretty big.

Inversely, Ixidor, Reality Sculptor makes all our morphs big, and it can turn them up for cheap. In fact, with Ixidor thrown into some configuration of our above scenarios, it can potentially change how many of each thing we’ll require before we start to net value.

Bifurcate serves as a way for us to find a bunch of Mystics or Shapeshifters. For a bit, I had one Doubling Chant written in to the list, but with all the one-of morphs I wanted to run, it just didn’t make a ton of sense.

The last card of individual mention here is Zoetic Cavern. It’s the only non-one-of morph that isn’t part of our combo, but it’s also a land. It gets pumped by Ixidor, pumps Ixidron and Primal Whisperer, and is a 2/2 for 3. To compensate for sometimes wanting to cast our lands as creatures, I upped the total land count to twenty-six (from the usual twenty-four), splitting the Zoetic difference.

The Morphweave ? Casual | Andrew Wilson

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Echo Tracer
• 1 Fortune Thief
• 1 Hystrodon
• 1 Primal Whisperer
• 1 Root Elemental
• 1 Skirk Marauder
• 1 Thelonite Hermit
• 1 Thousand Winds
• 1 Voidmage Apprentice
• 1 Wall of Deceit
• 1 Willbender
• 2 Bonethorn Valesk
• 2 Ixidron
• 4 Aphetto Runecaster
• 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
• 4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 4 Weaver of Lies
• 1 Ixidor, Reality Sculptor

• Spells (2)
• 2 Bifurcate

• Lands (26)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 4 Island
• 4 Hinterland Harbor
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Zoetic Cavern

Buy This Deck

Whether you’ve been waiting eleven years to play with Weaver of Lies or if you’re just excited about Rattleclaw Shaman, give this deck a try—oh yeah, also if you just like Temur colors.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com