[easybox]This deck was originally published on Aug. 26th, 2009. We are reprinting it as part of our 2009 Holiday Hiatus.[/easybox]

Today in the classroom I would like to go through a recent build I completed. I thought it would be a good example to share with you since it involved the Rule of Nine and a simple single card strategy (SCS) web.

Building a SCS web is very much like putting together a model or playing with Legos. Start with a central piece and start attaching stuff that would go with it. In a great build your second level pieces will support each other as well as the foundation piece supports them. I’ve even seen some SCS’s that the tertiary pieces have utility with each other as well. This one isn’t that complex. It just uses its pieces to make the focal card achieve greatness. While the deck may be just for casual play (like all of my favorites) I do think the process will benefit your own deck building process.

The single card that I am going to build around is Protean Hydra. I begin my web with the Hydra in the middle of my paper. I did mine on paper. [Editor note: For ease of reading, I've gone in and inserted the cards rather than use his text chart. -- Trick]

First let’s focus on it’s text: Protean Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. If damage would be dealt to Protean Hydra, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it. Whenever a +1/+1 counter is removed from Protean Hydra, put two +1/+1 counters on it at the beginning of the next end step.

This means a few things for our build. First impact is the X/X from mana spent. Whenever we decide to play the Hydra we know that we will be getting one less Power/Toughness than the mana we spent to play it. For example if we spend 5 we get a 4/4. Not very powerful considering the P/T we can get from cards like Wooly Thoctar, Mycoid Shepherd, or Spellbreaker Behemoth. In order to make the Hydra as strong as possible we are going to want to get some quick mana acceleration on board.

In the realm of mana acceleration right now I prefer the spells & enchantments that give us extra mana over the “mana dorks”. (A mana dork is a creature that taps for mana like Llanowar Elves). The mana creatures die too easily to commonly played cards like Volcanic Fallout and then all of our mana development is wasted. So in my Single Card Web I draw a line going from Hydra to Fertile Ground, Trace of Abundance, and Rampant Growth.

The second line of the Hydra’s text prevents all damage that it may take. The “drawback” is the fact that if the damage is enough to remove all of its counters then it’s just a 0/0 and immediately goes to the graveyard. When I first saw this line I reminisced about my first Magic purchase. It was back in the days of Odyssey Block, Judgment expansion. I picked up the Pre-Constructed deck entitled Spectral Slam. In it where the “Phantoms”. The Phantoms were Creatures that lost a counter anytime they were damaged instead of taking that damage. The coolest part was giving them some external source of toughness so that when you prevented their damage there was no counter to remove yet they still lived. It was almost as good as the not yet used mechanic of “indestructible”.

The Hydra can be abused the same way. In my searches for some way to give it some artificial toughness I come up with the following goodies. Favor of the Overbeing with bonus Vigilance, Oakenform, Shield of the Oversoul with bonus Indestructible (redundant), Reins of the Vinesteed, Gift of the Diety with bonus Lure effect, Runes of Deus with bonus Trample, and Epic Proportions. The card that really caught my eye though was Holy Strength at it is only 1 mana to cast. It would mean I was going into another color so I put a ? behind it on my web.

Now we don’t want to just depend on combat and our opponent to damage our favorite Multifaceted Snake. Instead we want to look for some way to damage it ourselves in controlled amounts. It’s like getting the flu vaccine. We’ll take a little of the bad stuff now so our bodies will be stronger later.

In Green there isn’t any real ability for controlled damage. It’s just not a green thing to do. Branching into white since we already have Holy Strength on our list we do find one repeatable sustainable damage source. Harpoon Sniper can do some damage but still depends on us attacking our blocking. There are some notable one shot sources in white as well like Harm’s Way but I just want repeatable effects on my web for now.

Having very little to add from Green or White I look to the best damage color Red. In red we have a plethora of damage sources along with some good control mechanisms like Volcanic Fallout, Pyroclasm, and Firespout but the repeatable sources are also pretty thin. Flamekin Spitfire (a little mana intensive), Power of Fire (another enchantment), Stun Sniper, Knollspine Invocation, Prodigal Pyromancer, and Vithian Stinger. I decide to add all of these to my Web even though I know I won’t use all of them. I really have a love/hate feeling for Power of Fire. I don’t want to risk another 2 for 1 from cards like Doom Blade but the idea of a Hydra biting itself to make itself bigger appeals to me.

So now my SCS Web looks like this.

Now we have to consider odds and probability. Really having only one card as a central strategy makes it improbable that we will get to the card in any given game. There are basically three ways to get to a single card win condition.

First you try to control the game and just keep from losing until you can get your powerhouse online. We can’t really go this route because of how many cards that we’ve already committed to playing.

The Second route is to maximize on your filter cards. Ponder is a prime example of a card for the plan. Unfortunately for us most filters are Blue and we’re already considering 3 colors for our web.

The final route is Tutor. The question is do we have enough ways to search for our Hydra friend? The answer is yes and we don’t need black either. To the SCS Web we need to add Primal Command and Ranger of Eos. Notice that the Hydra is both a creature and a 1cc.

We’re getting close now. In fact if we want to we could build an All-in type strategy. I don’t feel solid for this deck yet. I really want to add is some removal, just in case. I’ve already mentioned a couple of prime choices with Firespout, Volcanic Fallout, and P[card]yroclasm. They are all great because the can remove some blockers and make the Hydra stronger. The cool piece of subtle removal that I would also consider is Mirrorweave. That’s right Mirrorweave is removal. If I have my Hydra in play I can play the weave coping it. That makes all creatures 0/0 with death coming at instant speed. Honor of the Pure and cards like that will still save their users just our enchantments save our Hydra from a no counter death. I still like it though so it stays in the web for now.

Now our web is complete but as you can see we are way over the Rule of Nine. As I look at it right now we have four choices. We can go mono Green if we add an alternate win condition like Chameleon Colossus and a couple of other Mana makers. We can go with a Green/Red build and only lose the Mirrorweave, Ranger and the very cheap Holy Strength immortality. Another route would be to go Green/White losing a lot of damage sources as well as removal but maybe gaining the ever cool Harm's Way tricks. Finally we can challenge our mana bases and go with the best of all three colors but then we really have to work to pick just 9.

That is my challenge to you. In the comments I want to see you post the 9 cards you will choose for this deck. If you want to add a card not on my SCS web, feel free but you must use at least 7 of the cards on my SCS web.

Good Luck on the homework challenge. There’s the bell. Class dismissed.