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Main » Articles » My Own Worst Enemy

My Own Worst Enemy

Mike Likes
Posted on August 17, 2018
 Reddit

With the Guilds of Ravnica prerelease happening in six weeks, we'll soon be heading toward decks featuring just two colors. But there's no need to wait until then to partake in the two-colored fun because this week I have for you some decks that feature enemy-colored pairings that have done well on Magic Online (MTGO) or show innovation. This is also a good way to get used to using the Guild names for the two-color combinations as well. Since I have five decks for you, we'd better get started.

Simic

The first deck I have for you is a Simic deck. It focuses on members of the Construct tribe. Let's take a look at ug Constructs.

U/G Constructs | Magic 2019 Standard | RULLSTOLSNISSE, (5-0) MTGO

With 19 artifacts in the main deck, you should have very little problem finding one when you play Glint-Nest Crane. The problem might be finding the one you need at any given time. With that being said, if you happen to already have a Karn, Scion of Urza in play, it might not even matter which artifact you find since any of them will help increase the size of the Construct token Karn produces. Those tokens are one route to victory that you can use with this deck.

Another route is by playing Verdurous Gearhulk. It's no secret that this creature is a powerhouse, but if you happen to find this Gearhulk with your Glint-Nest Crane, you can put the four +1/+1 counters onto the Crane making it a 5/7 flying threat. You'll also still have a 4/4 with trample (the Gearhulk), so your opponent will need multiple pieces of spot removal or a sweeper in order to get rid of your powerful threats.

Don't forget about the interaction Scrap Trawler has whenever an artifact goes to your graveyard. You can use this with Walking Ballista as a repeatable way to return the Ballista to your hand. For example, let's say you sacrifice Implement of Ferocity to put a +1/+1 counter on a Scrap Trawler. If you have a Walking Ballista in the graveyard, you can return it to your hand with the ability Scrap Trawler has since its converted mana cost (CMC) is 0. But if you happen to have the Walking Ballista in play with one or more +1/+1 counters on it already when you decide to sacrifice the Implement of Ferocity, you can activate the Ballista's ability to deal one point of damage to any target as many times as it takes to remove all of the +1/+1 counters from it with the Scrap Trawler's ability on the stack. Then you can target the Walking Ballista as the artifact to return to your hand in order to recast it and deal additional damage in future turns.

Golgari

The next enemy-color pairing belongs to the Golgari Guild. The deck I have for you features Winding Constrictor. Let's take a look at it.

B/G Constrictor | Magic 2019 Standard | MICHAI, (5-0) MTGO

The basic idea behind this deck is that getting one +1/+1 or energy counter is good, but getting two is better. To do this, you'll need to get a copy of Winding Constrictor onto the battlefield. This snake enables your Walking Ballista to add two +1/+1 counters every time you activate its ability to add counters (and it makes a newly cast one enter with an additional counter as well). Winding Constrictor also enables Jadelight Ranger to get up to 4 +1/+1 counters when she explores and Verdurous Gearhulk to potentially supply your team with up to eight +1/+1 counters. It also adds to your energy total for Glint-Sleeve Siphoner.

Since Winding Constrictor is such a key piece for this deck, it's important to keep it on the battlefield. You can do so with the help of Kitesail Freebooter, which can get rid of a key piece of removal from your opponent's hand. But all is not lost if your Winding Constrictor happens to die. Games are still able to be won without Winding Constrictor, but there just a bit more difficult since you're playing more fairly.

Orzhov

The next deck I have for you this week is a bw midrange deck that fights both on the land and in the air. Let's take a look at it.

B/W Midrange | Magic 2019 Standard | BUDDHA715, (5-0) MTGO

Of the knights in this deck, you'll have an easier time getting the bonus for Knight of Malice than you will for Knight of Grace. That's simply because you have a lot more White permanents than Black ones. Just remember that these two knights will fill the requirement for each other, so getting them on the battlefield at the same time is quite good.

I like the addition of the single Ravenous Chupacabra to this archetype, as it not only provides you with another Black permanent to enable the bonus for Knight of Grace, but it also gives you another source of creature removal. And it can be repeatable removal to boot with the help of Liliana, Death's Majesty's -3 loyalty ability.

Boros

The next deck I have for you is in my favorite colors. Let's take a look at wr Aggro.

W/R Aggro | Magic 2019 Standard | MINI_GNARLS, (5-0) MTGO

Hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast. That's what this deck wants to do. It combines the fastest, most resilient parts of a Mono-Red deck with a little bit of White for a couple of key cards to create a deck that doesn't fold as easily if the initial all-in assault fails.

One reason to go wr is the addition of Relentless Raptor. For 2 mana, you get a 3/3 with vigilance. Sure, it has to attack each turn if able, but that's hardly a drawback in a deck as aggressive as this. It'll take a decent-sized chunk of your opponent's life total each turn while still being able to play defense for you.

Another reason for the White is the ability to play Path of Mettle. When it enters play, it deals 1 point of damage to most of the creatures your opponent is likely to be playing. All of your main deck creatures are immune to this damage except for Soul-Scar Mage, who happens to combo nicely with Path of Mettle if you have him in play. Once transformed, Metzali, Tower of Triumph is a great way to discourage your opponent from attacking as well as giving you the reach needed to deal those last few points of damage needed to finish off your opponent.

Izzet

The last deck I have for you this week isn't one I found in the MTGO lists. Instead, I found it when I was notified by mtgdecktechs.com that they had created a deck tech video for a ur Nexus of Fate deck similar to the one I was thinking of brewing that I mentioned at the end of my article last week. Their video discussed the following deck that was streamed by @bustedsleeves. Let's take a look at it.

U/R Nexus of Fate | Magic 2019 Standard | bustedsleeves

This deck includes Primal Amulet; a card that I thought would allow Nexus of Fate to be even more busted than it already is. It allows your Nexus of Fate (and any other instant or sorcery) to cost one mana less for each copy you have in play, since it's not legendary. Then when it transformed into Primal Wellspring, if you use it to help cast Nexus of Fate, you can take two additional turns instead of just one. That can help you close out the games quicker.

The deck also runs a couple of copies of Fight with Fire. While this card is good creature removal for its normal mana cost, it's bonkers when it's kicked. And with Jaya Ballard helping to provide three Red mana toward its cost, reaching the nine mana needed to kick it is easily obtainable. With it, you can deal that 10 damage directly at your opponent which can end games quickly. And if it's kicked with the help of Primal Wellspring, you could end the game on the spot by dealing 20 points in one fell swoop. I'm looking forward to giving this version a try at an upcoming Friday Night Magic.

Wrapping Up

Enemy-colored decks can be a lot of fun to play. While the combination of White and Red is my favorite, there are certainly aspects of each of these decks that I find appealing. Which of them is your favorite? You can let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes

TAGS articles, metagame, constructed, standard, decklist, mike likes, magic 2019 standard, 08172018

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