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Don't you love it when a new card that doesn't look like anything too exciting reminds you of a deck from the past? Then suddenly you discover there are a bunch of new cards that give the deck a whole new look!
I was looking at all the new goodies from M21 when I spotted Hooded Blightfang. First off, doesn't deathtouch on a snake just make perfect sense? A venomous bite and you die. I just love how that makes complete sense. For me that is right up there with flying on a bird. It is just a perfect fit.
Even the last part, about a deathtouch creature destroying a planeswalker makes sense. I can see how the venomous bite would take down a planeswalker. Again, great flavor with the card!
What doesn't makes sense to me is that middle part. How does a snake simply attacking make every opponent lose a life and give us a life? Is everyone suddenly afraid? I really don't understand the top down flavor for that.
In the end, a 1/4 creature with deathtouch that gives other deathtouch creatures a bonus got me thinking about other deathtouch creatures, and especially one deathtouch creature in particular that I have a particular fondness for.
Then I went a little further down the list of new cards and saw Chandra's Magmutt. Admittedly not a dog I'd want to pet without fire retardant gloves, but I do love creatures that can tap for a point of damage. The obvious downside to the Magmutt is that it doesn't do a point of damage to a creature. The usefulness of a Tim creature was normally its ability to add damage to a creature. It messes up combat math horribly for opponents, so quite often they aren't willing to block. The Magmutt loses that, so for most of you, this pooch looks like a punt. However, I was still thinking of my favorite 1/4 with deathtouch and the Magmutt works perfectly with it! Add in the beefy 2/2 frame instead of the standard 1/1 build for most Tim creatures and it gets a little resiliency. It also works really well with the next card I saw...
Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner is another card that just doesn't seem all that exciting. A 2/3 haste creature for three mana is fine, but not too exciting. The second ability seems a little narrow, but I can see it being wonderful in the right deck. There are plenty of decks that are happy to fill their graveyard, even if it is with the cards in their hand. There are other decks that play out their cards just that fast, so discarding their hand often involves discarding no cards at all!
What really clinched Subira for me was the second ability. Spending just one mana to make another creature with the power of two or less unblockable for the turn works so well with my favorite 1/4 deathtouch creature! If you haven't figured out which creature I'm talking about yet, this will all seem bizarre. The creature has deathtouch so why would you want it to be unblocked? In fact, the creature also has first strike, so wouldn't it make more sense to force creatures to block it so you can kill them?
Not when we are talking about Master of Cruelties!
This Dragon's Maze mythic is just delightful! For five mana you get a 1/4 creature with first strike and deathtouch. This alone makes the Master of Cruelties a defensive powerhouse. Any amount of power with first strike and deathtouch means that it kills anything it blocks without any chance of your opponent taking it down too. Nothing screams deterrent like a creature that promises to take out the best thing they want to send at you!
However, the Master of Cruelties doesn't just want to play defense! When it strides in at an opponent all alone and isn't blocked, that player's life total becomes one. That's right, the Master doesn't care if you started at 20 life or 40 life. It doesn't care how much life you have gained. You might have 158 life before he swings in, but if he connects, you only have one now. I like to compare this to Commander damage in that an opponent's life total is irrelevant as you just need to get to 21. In this situation, I just need to hit once with Master of Cruelties, then find a way to get in the final point of damage.
Suddenly Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner makes so much more sense! Without Subira, the Master of Cruelties rarely hits. Everyone has a way to chump block, and there is nothing quite so annoying as to waste the talents of a Master to eliminate a mere token creature! With Subira, I spend one mana and make the Master of Cruelties unblockable for the turn. Obviously, this only needs to happen once to make someone's day miserable.
Chandra's Magmutt makes sense too! I don't need to worry about tapping to do damage to a creature with Master of Cruelties out since it can threaten death all on its own. What I really need is a way to do a point of damage to opponents. You really don't want to attack with Master of Cruelties and leave your opponent at one life. They can get all kinds of petty and want to kill you back! I know, that seems ridiculous considering their precarious position, but I've seen it a lot and you don't want to let up. With the Magmutt, you can simply wait for the Master to do its thing, then tap the dog for the coup de grace. It is a beautiful thing.
And hey, if your deck isn't playing along, Subira can give Chandra's Magmutt unblockable as well. I understand that it is quite friendly and a lick from the Magmutt will do two damage.
With all of that in mind, here is the decklist:
A Master and Magmutt | Casual | Bruce Richard
- Creatures (16)
- 4 Chandra's Magmutt
- 4 Hooded Blightfang
- 4 Master of Cruelties
- 4 Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner
- Instants (8)
- 4 Rakdos Charm
- 4 Terminate
- Artifacts (12)
- 4 Lightning Greaves
- 4 Mimic Vat
- 4 Rakdos Signet
- Lands (24)
- 3 Swamp
- 6 Mountain
- 1 Bojuka Bog
- 2 Rogue's Passage
- 4 Canyon Slough
- 4 Luxury Suite
- 4 Temple of Malice
The remaining cards make a lot of sense. Terminate is fairly obvious. There are some creatures that are dangerous not because they do damage, and Terminate is there to deal with those cards. It can also fill in for Subira, when she is MIA and you just need their one remaining blocker gone. The Signets are there for ramp purposes. Relying solely on your lands to get you to the five mana you need to cast the Master of Cruelties isn't always the best plan, so I like to supplement with the Signets. Lightning Greaves is another obvious include. When the Master of Cruelties is cast, it becomes the target for the table immediately. It has to be. Giving it haste just means that opponents must have the answer already in hand and ready to go before the Master joins the fray.
The land package may be too slow. Several of the lands enter the battlefield tapped. I'm usually okay with up to 25% of my mana base entering the battlefield tapped, but this goes well beyond that. I expect that I don't need this many lands that tap for both kinds of mana, but I'll let the games decide how that works out. I wanted to go over a little to make sure the Rogue's Passage never really comes back to bite me. I also like the Scry option from the Temple of Malice and the cycling from the Canyon Slough, so we'll see.
Mimic Vat is likely a surprise inclusion, but it is there to help prop up the creature base. The Hooded Blightfang is the only creature that I would want to chump block with and in my meta, this is a low creature count. Mimic Vat gives me some variety in game play and allows me to see a variety of creatures on my side of the board, while limiting my opponents' graveyard options just a little.
Rakdos Charm is an absolute monster for this deck. Destroying an artifact is probably the weakest option, but there are times when that needs to happen. Exiling an opponent's graveyard is also a delight. If you have been reading my articles for a while, you know I like to limit my opponents' options when it comes to graveyards, and the Rakdos Charm hits at instant speed and people are often shocked when you use it that way.
Finally, the Charm can provide that last point of damage you need after the Master of Cruelties hits. Almost everyone has at least one creature on the board, so you can get that last point in without even needing the Magmutt. What I like is the collateral damage the Charm will deal here. There is always someone who is running a ton of creatures and this just hammers players out of nowhere! While you may not be worried about their life total when using the Master of Cruelties, taking them down to a spot where others could end up doing the work for you is also a delightful thing!
I hope you enjoyed my look at a snake, a dog, and a camper from M21 and how they brought new life to an old demon!
Bruce Richard
