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As a casual deck builder I constantly get new ideas. My problem is when I can't stick with just one. That's how I've been lately. I've been totally lacking a true focus for any one deck. My deck choices have bounced around like crazy. These decks and the ideas that go with them have been Helter Skelter. I would like to share these decks with you today. This decks aren't worthy of anything more than the "play it for fun". I do feel there is a benefit from analyzing the flow of the ideas.
Finding Some Soul
Many moons ago I brought you a deck I titled "Livin' the Life". It was basically the same concept as the "Soul Sisters" deck published and popularized later by Conley Woods. My deck list had a few cards different than Conley's. The most notable was my overlooking of Brave the Elements. In October a significant number of cards rotated out of Standard and the deck hasn't found much love since. I set out to see if I can make it happen again.
The main idea was to replace Leyline of Vitality for Soul Warden. Each card gives you the life gain that is the core for the original deck but they play very differently. Leyline survives your opponent's removal since it's an enchantment rather than a frail creature but it only gives up the life bonus for your creatures. The real difference is with their Mana cost. In the opening hand Leyline actually plays out superior to the Warden but as a top deck Leyline is to expensive for it's effect. With a Leyline in play a Pridemate on turn 2 is often a 4/5 when before it was a best case scenario of a 3/3. The old deck would potentially gain on your opponents turn as he played a potential blocker so really the change is pretty even.
"Soul Line"
- (60)
- 4 Soul's Attendant
- 4 Ajani's Pridemate
- 3 Serra Ascendant
- 3 Lone Missionary
- 4 Memnite
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Kor Skyfisher
- 4 Leyline of Vitality
- 3 Awakening Zone
- 2 Elixir of Immortality
- 4 Brave the Elements
- 4 Graypelt Refuge
- 4 Kabira Crossroads
- 4 Razorverge Thicket
- 4 Stirring Wildwood
- 4 Plains
- 2 Forest
After playing the cards for awhile I discovered the real loss was in October was Oblivion Ring. We just don't have any answers to Planeswalkers. The deck has potential to live a mighty long time but if your opponent focuses his removal on the Pridemates and Ascendants you don't have much of a win condition. Also, our own removal suite isn't that sweet. So after a few walks in the Casual room I started looking for another idea.
Questing
Then I found out about the Relic Wienie list that had been circulating around. I actually got a little embarrassed by it. Even though the rest of the world knew the deck I didn't. If you remember I wrote about it like it was a brand new idea a friend showed me. It was new to me but when he showed it to me it was already old news. I built the deck and even won some packs with it but ultimately it is too inconsistent and I don't enjoy playing someone else's list.
I started to scrape is all together but I found some inspiration for it through another writer. Josh Silvestri wrote about a list that he developed that supplemented the Relic deck with a Vengevine sub theme. Together they really clicked. I didn't want to copy another list and I'm not the type of guy who drops $100 for a playset of anything but the idea of supplementing the Relic list intrigued me. Since I can't/ won't afford the Vines I looked for a different approach.
Why couldn't we incorporate the Life engine with the Quest? Both wanted a high number of creatures played in the early turns. It was just a matter of which creatures we played. Kor Duelist and Glinthawk are both either overfocused or overkill so replacing them with Soul's Attendant and Pridemate was easy.
"Life Quest"
This deck was enjoyable and it felt like my own. The consistency of the new deck when compared to the original Relic didn't really change that much. The addition of the Big Pridemates and the Brave the Elements protection for the Armor wearer made for more midgame wins so I considered it an improvement over the original Relic deck. But alas, the Vengevine/Shaman addition was far superior. So I played that deck for a while but I still wanted to improve upon the Relic deck.
Trashday
Then I actually had a rare weekend to work on my yard and rake leaves. Not only was the weather good but the next day was free dump day and the local landfill. On my way there I got caught up in thinking about possible Relic decks and made a wrong turn. I missed the dump entirely and ended up burning a quarter tank of gas driving around the countryside looking for it. I had to laugh at myself since missing a turn thinking about Quest for the Holy Relic put me on a Quest for a Holy Landfill. Then I just had to do it. I got home and built a deck that mixed Landfall with Relic Quest. Now I had a sub theme with more punch and speed than the Life deck and still afforded me the Armor shenanigans. The Armor does come online a little slower with the new build. Mostly this is because of running a few non creature cards for removal purposes. Now it's the second part of a 1-2 punch.
"Landfill Quest"
- (58)
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 4 Plated Geopede
- 3 Kor Skyfisher
- 3 Stoneforge Mystic
- 3 Kor Outfitter
- 4 Goblin Guide
- 4 Quest for the Holy Relic
- 2 Argentum Armor
- 2 Adventuring Gear
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 3 Journey to Nowhere
- 4 Arid Mesa
- 4 Terramorphic Expanse
- 4 Evolving Wilds
- 2 Teetering Peaks
- 2 Sejiri Steppe
- 3 Plains
- 3 Mountain
I found this deck won by landfall more often than it did via Armor. In fact I had multiple games where Adventuring Gear was more valuable than the Armor. Ultimately a straight landfall deck is probably superior.
I need a Life
All these decks I played casually and all were fun but I still needed to fulfill my original goal of making the Soul Sisters deck update. Then I had a spark. In my tinkering with a sideboard for Life Quest I had of course included Kor Firewalker for those speedy Red decks. In one Match I had the pleasure of having a Firewalker with a 4/4 Pridemate. My opponent kicked a Burst Lightning only to find my Pridemate had grown a size five butt. Then I thought "what if I was playing the Red spells as well?" If we put a good amount of red in the original Soul Sisters deck then Firewalker becomes a improved Soul Warden. So I tried to mix both Life and Landfall with the following.
"Lifefall"
This was more potent than Landfill Quest. The removal/burn package is superior and the speed is awesome. That's good since it has NO late game. Win fast, Win early, or just go home.
Enter the Draft
Sometimes ideas just happen in draft. I was in a Scars draft online when I was able to garnish two new ideas from the same deck. I had the fortune of being in a pod that total overlooked White as an option. Because of this I was able to gather multiples of Auriok Edgewright, Auriok Sunchaser, Sunspear Shikari, and a single Kemba, Kha Regent. Of course I also added in a large amount of Equipment so as to maximize every one of these low mana cost darlings. This deck scored me a couple of packs but the real difference maker in a couple of games was a Golem's Heart .
That draft inspired me to draft a new version of Life involving Artifacts. If Firewalker can take the place of Soul Warden why can't Golem's Heart? The Equipment part of the list has gone through many changes. There are so many good choices that any mix should work. Feel free to build to your own taste.
"Equipped For Life"
The bottom line is this. Don't play this deck. I rarely found pleasure in my wins or loses. Most of the games were a scrabble to survive. This is probably the worst deck in this article.
Draft idea number 2
The second thing that happened in that draft was I won a couple of games via Poison. I know you first thought must be something like ‘poison, in a white deck?' When I mentioned that I was able to draft a large amount of equipment I failed to mention that it included 2 Grafted Exoskeleton (a Mananation preview BTW). The mixture of First Strike and/or Double Strike with Infect is really juicy. Imagine a Metalcrafted Edgewright holding the Exoskeleton. If you chose to block you'll need at least 8/5 worth of Power and toughness to take him out. If you don't block then you'll be looking at 80% infection, that's worse than the meanest flu. I did that a couple of times, I even had a Accorder's Shield added to the mix once.
Then I started to build that combo up. Slowly it evolved into a White control deck that took its time assembling the pieces. Also the pieces changed. Edgewright became a Kor Duelist and Sword of Vengeance added in for lethal injection. The idea was simple. Clear the board with Grafted and Sword in play. Play the Duelist and equip so know we have a 5/3 with Double Stike, Infect, Haste, Trample, and Vigilance for the win.
"Graft Control"
What I play now
With the Graft Control deck I finally released myself from the Life fascination. Now I play a deck that frustrates a high number of opponents. What I decided was the Contagions were really good. With them in play I really didn't need to do all the Poison in one shot. Instead, I could build up slowly like a real sickness would. It only takes one germ and eventually everyone will succumb.
"The Real Sickness"
The Ramblings End
I admit this article is a little bit of a Hodgepodge but in the process I've given you quite of number of decklists to play with. Each deck has been fun to play in its own way and I would endorse them all in a casual environment. Hope you enjoyed the ride.
