Update

Hey, since I finally get a break from school, I'm taking the next two weeks off.  So no new post today.  However, I have been working on decks: GW Spiritdancer, Monoblack Altar of Shadows Ramp, and a BW Ramp variant.  So in the unlikely event that someone is actually reading my blog, come back in two weeks.  I'll post something around then.

Forested Giant (Imprint deck 2)

In the past week, I've thrown together four imprint decks.  This is my favorite of the bunch, the Buyback Helix being number two.  This deck plays very simply: ramp up a ton of Forests into a giant Strata Scythe.

One thing to note: I run Farhaven Elf in here, and Wood Elves is definitely a better card.  I did so because my sideboard includes two Swamps, so they help fix mana.  If you don't have a sideboard or just get a monogreen one, Wood Elves should be in here instead of Farhaven.

Without further ado:

4 Farhaven Elf
4 Frontier Guide
1 Liege of the Tangle
4 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
3 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Sylvan Ranger
4 Traproot Kami

4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Nature's Lore
4 Strata Scythe

24 Forest

My sideboard, in case you're wondering, is this:
4 Doom Blade
3 Soul Reap
2 Swamp
3 Naturalize
3 Nihil Spellbomb

Until next time, play on.

It's Imprint Week!

Hey!  It's Imprint Week with regards to Daily MtG, so I figured I should throw together an imprint deck for you!  I've got a pretty good combo deck in the works but I'm still ironing out some kinks in the final piece of the combo, so here's something else: a deck designed to drop fatties via Summoner's Egg and Clone Shell.  Crystal Ball and Congregation at Dawn set up your library and since they're both an artifact and a creature, Nature's Claim and Martyred Rusalka give you options to kill them off to drop your fattie while giving you a bonus.  Without further ado, here's the list:

1 Authochthon Wurm
4 Clone Shell
3 Martyred Rusalka
3 Pathrazer of Ulamog
3 Plated Slagwurm
4 Summoner's Egg
4 Vengeful Archon

4 Congregation at Dawn
4 Crystal Ball
4 Nature's Claim
4 Selesyna Signet

1 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
4 Graypelt Refuge
3 Khalni Garden
6 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Until next time, play on.

Ozhov Shirei

I saw Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker a while ago and soon forgot about it.  I knew at the time that there was a good way to use it, but I couldn't think of anything at the time.  I then saw Kami of False Hope when I was working on a Razia's Purification/Barren Glory deck.  Wait, what?  On my opponent's turn, I can sac my Kami to prevent my opponent from dealing combat damage, and then get it back at the end of the turn?  That's crazy!

The deck started out in Esper colors, heavily reliant on Sphinx Sovereign for the wins.  I would play Sphinx's Herald and pop it three turns in a row to play my three Sovereigns.  Time progressed, the list fell apart.  I forgot about it.  Then I saw Teysa, Orzhov Scion for the first time in many months and my idea came back to me.

This is a Shirei/Teysa combo deck.  Squadron Hawk gets enough creatures for my Teysa to start killing stuff and I eventually overrun with tokens.  Exiling a creature per turn seems a good way to drag out the game.  Killing with 1/1's seems just fine to me.  I kept the Kami package but cut blue entirely.  Add some Transmute and bing! the deck builds itself.

1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
4 Kami of False Hope
4 Mourning Thrull
1 Pentavus
4 Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
4 Viscera Seer

2 Brainspoil
4 Dark Ritual
2 Dimir Machinations
4 Orzhov Signet

2 Evolving Wilds
7 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Fun combo when it goes off.

Until next time, play on.

A New Harvest

It always seemed to me that Worm Harvest was one of the most underestimated cards when it was in a position to see play.  You can recast it by discarding a land and it provides an immense amount of board advantage.  The list I have to show you today is a pretty crazy Harvest deck that can pull off some nuts draws, especially with the new(ish) card Realms Uncharted.

What if the game started off something like:
T1 Terramorphic Expanse, then pop it
T2 land, Overgrown Battlement
T3 land, Harrow, Realms Uncharted (one of the picks is a Dakmor Salvage, the land with Dredge)
T4 Terramorphic Expanse, another Realms Uncharted
T5 Worm Harvest for 7 1/1 tokens
And thanks to Dakmor Salvage, that's seven 1/1 tokens per turn.

Here's the list.  There are some weird synergies that it takes a moment to see, but you'll be surprised:
4 Krosan Restorer
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Wall of Roots
3 Tilling Treefolk
1 Sisters of Stone Death

2 Brainspoil
4 Darkblast
2 Edge of Autumn
4 Harrow
4 Realms Uncharted
4 Worm Harvest

3 Dakmor Salvage
2 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
4 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
4 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Fun deck with some explosive draws.  Great casual deck for a $10 budget, if you ask me!

Until next time, play on.

Joinin' the Bandwagon

Well, Infect has become a bit of a (weak in tournament play, but great in casual) bandwagon. It's all about poison counters. I even see non-infect decks splashing stuff to poison people to death because, well, it's fun. My experience with poison has been a mostly losing battle. These topdecked pump spells usually end games. But there's a better pump than that Might of Oaks (which my brother plays in his Legacy Infect deck) that's also Standard legal: Gigantiform.

Gigantiform, that card that makes the enchanted creature 8/8 and gives it Trample. Remember it? The wincon for Sovereigns before Conscription. Here's a rough UG list. I apologize for not having a "scroll over to see the card" kind of plugin. I don't know how to get one. Regardless, without further ado, here's the Standard-legal list.

4 Blight Mamba
3 Corpse Cur
4 Cystbearer
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Necropede
3 Thrummingbird

3 Contagion Clasp
1 Contagion Engine
4 Gigantiform
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain

1 Bojuka Bog
2 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
7 Island
4 Terramorphic Expanse

I have a sideboard for the deck, but it's really up to you to customize one to your meta. Feel free to make one up.

Until next time, play on.

The Cryptic Colossus

Last week was really crazy with work, so I couldn't post anything.  I would work on this to post tomorrow, but I have a meeting tomorrow about a research internship I did a few months ago, so I won't be able to finish this to post then.  So, without further ado, here's the budget deck I nicknamed "The Cryptic Colossus."

The build is based around Cryptic Gateway.  Ever heard of it?  Probably not.  It's an older card that didn't see much use due to the fact that it only had limited success.  In a weenie deck, it just tapped two creatures to put one into play -- for five mana.  Not efficient at all.  In decks utilizing fatties, it wasn't great because you generally don't want to tap two Darksteel Colossuses (Colossusi?) to play another one when swinging with the two would end the game.  So what's the solution?  A deck that can tap small creatures to play big ones.  And what kind of creatures can be tapped for a Darksteel Colossus, Progenitus, or Emrakul?  Changelings.

Yes, that's right, a workable way to use Cryptic Gateway to drop huge creatures to deal massive damage.  The version I prefer is based solely on artifacts, so I have nicknamed it "The Cryptic Colossus."  I chose an artifact build due to incredible synergy between Fabricate, fatties, and the Gateway.  You can Fabricate either piece.  As for the rest of the cards, the deck is still in transition between a Transmute base to a Ponder/Preordain base.  Here's the Transmute version.  Note that you can turn a Drift of Phantasms into a Fabricate and from there either of your needed cards.  Or just turn it into a Changeling.  The best thing is that this deck only costs around $15 and looks like fun to play.

3 Darksteel Colossus

3 Drift of Phantasms

2 Ghostly Changeling

4 Moonglove Changeling

4 Mothdust Changeling

3 Shapesharer

1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

3 Cryptic Gateway

4 Dimir Signet

4 Fabricate

4 Mistvein Borderpost

4 Perplex

2 Dreadship Reef

6 Island

4 Jwar Isle Refuge

4 Swamp

4 Terramorphic Expanse

1 Vault of Whispers

The sideboard should be geared to deal with cards that can stop your Colossuses without killing them, like Pacifism or Mistmeadow Witch.  Into the Roil and Echoing Truth are my best answers, but a sideboard is meant more so to counter the meta than hate on two cards.  If the above types of cards are prevalent in your meta, then by all means, put in 3 Truth and 3 Roil.  If not, leave the space for defensive or hate cards.

Until next time, play on.

--Nick30075

New to this, but here's something to make up for it

Alright, I've never blogged before, so this is going to be an attempt at a blog devoted to Magic: The Gathering.  I have a ton of ideas (not just for Type II) about random combos and decklists.  If you see a bad card, I might actually be able to find a use for it.  The list below is something I've been working on using TCGPlayer with a few other people.  This is an infinite turn loop deck (the style was nicknamed "Wildrazi" by arxanas, a TCGPlayer member) that I designed around Wild Evocation for the Build Around contest.

I don't think I've heard of any deck that used Relic of Progenitus, Battle Rampart, and Selective Memory as any part of a combo.  But this is one.  The combo (in Type II, at least for now) is rather convoluted, but here it is.  You should have out a Battle Rampart, Relic of Progenitus, Mirror of Fate, and Wild Evocation with no cards in your hand other than Selective Memory.  Then, cast the Memory exiling two copies of Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.  Pop the Mirror making your library into those two copies of Emrakul.  Then pop the Relic removing your grave from the game and drawing you an Emrakul.  During your next upkeep, since it's the only card in your hand, you cast it for free, then draw the other one.  You get an extra turn, swing with the hasty Emrakul, then end.  Your next turn begins, you cast Emrakul #2, the legends rule sends both to the graveyard, and your graveyard (consisting only of 2 Emrakul) reshuffles.  You draw one Emrakul during your draw step and cast it on your extra turn granted from the casting of Emrakul earlier in the turn.  The cycle continues until you've killed your opponent.

Here's the list:

3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Joraga Treespeaker
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Battle Rampart
3 Mirror of Fate
4 Foresee
4 See Beyond
3 Selective Memory
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Wild Evocation
3 Fog
24 Lands

As far as the manabase goes, it's really up to you to decide how to do it.  If you want to spend $200, then feel free.  If not, then at least run a Raging Ravine or two so that you have an alternate win condition in case you go off without a Rampart.  The lands are really up to you to decide what to do.  I would look at something including four copies of Terramorphic Expanse and two copies of Evolving Wilds, but that's just me, a budget player.

Note that a more interesting build of this deck is still in progress.  It's for Legacy, so the loop is established with Doomsday making your library into 4 Beacon of Tomorrows and one Emrakul.  The most recent version is on TCGPlayer, but I don't really know where it's going.

Until next time, play on.

--Nick30075