Inpromptu Deckbuild #3: Combatshaping

So, another challenge has been issued.

This time around, I was given the Boros Battleshaper. A decent rare, sees a bit of use in EDH (that I have seen) but never really made a splash in Standard. Looking at the CMC, its no real wonder why; its PAINFULLY expensive. But, what if we were to build around it? Well, I think you might be surprised.

One, you take your battleshaper. Seven mana for a 5/5, he's a decent body, but look at the potential in that ability. You can literally determine whether your opponent attacks into your wall of meat, or if his creatures are too scared to block your 7/7 swinging into his face. He's got the potential, but at the staggering cost of 7 mana I can see for a fact that he needs a slow deck to be built around him. I could go for control, Boros has quite a suite of control in this standard, but the combat-based ability of the Battleshaper makes me want a decent creature line up. What deck does slow/beefy? Mid range.


Midrange in mind, as an archetype it needs its bombs. Red/white isn't the bombiest of colours, so I'm thinking of splashing some green, and making this a Naya setup. Keeping within the colours at the moment however, I am excited at the major Boros bomb to be revealed recently (as of last Monday, in fact); Iroas, God of Victory is an excellent mid-game bomb (As early as turn 3 if you ramp into him) and he himself shapes combat. Your attacking creatures will be unable to be damaged by blockers, and each of them cannot be blocked by just one creature. If your opponent has two blockers left? Your entire field is Unblockable.

Splashing out into and keeping with the combat-heavy gods, it's hard to NOT be persuaded by Xenagos, God of Revels. A decent turn 4 play w/ ramp, He can double the power of your incredibly big creatures, ripe to take out your opponent's forced blockers, or straight past the ones that can't block. The addition of haste also makes any play after he hits the field VERY tense for your opponent, as he may just be staring down a 14/11 Iroas with haste.

Stemming out from the gods, the battleshaper presents an interesting opportunity; in being able to force combat in your favour, he can force potent bombs through to your opponent's face, or at least force to attempt chump blocks in the absence of double blocking your onslaught. As a result, I'm leaning towards Giant Adephage as a bomb to close out with. With the right setup, the Adephage can swing for 14 on the turn he's out with Xenagos, which can be sped up to turn 5 in the right condition. If you shape the combat right, at least some damage will go right to the face which, due to the Adephage's effect, produces a copy of the giant beetle, making your next combat hit hard. With Selesnya in the colours of Naya, some token shenanigans could be in order. Another non-God (But might as well be) is the ever-popular Polukranos, World Eater. In a deck that desperately wants ramp as much as this one does, Sooner or later you're going to have enough mana to make him truly Monstrous. And hey, he's removal on a creature, what's not to love?

Speaking of ramp, there are two stand-out entries at this point. First, the Sylvan Caryatid. This guy sees 4-of play in every green deck in Standard for a reason. 2 Mana for a 0/3 hexproof wall is fair enough... Then you make that wall able to tap for ANY colour of mana. Not just green. ANY colour. It's a triple-colour deck's dream. My one regret is that you can only carry 4 in a deck. I must say though, as much as the Caryatid's fixing is nice, it's not quite the ramping power of my other choice for ramp; Meet Xenagos, the Reveler. He does more than create interesting time travel paradoxes when he and his God Form are on the field at once, I assure you. His +1 ability is the main reason I chose him, he ramps. Hard. He makes the 7 drops viable by just being there. Dropping a creature on Turns 1-3 then him causes him to almost pay for himself on entry, then just create value from there. His 0 creates a creature, synergising with his god form; want to break a wall? Throw 4/4 hastes at it until problem is dealt with. I'm assuming unless your opponent has no idea of how to deal with planeswalkers he won't let you get near your ultimate, but if, for example, you were to make his combat so it was impossible to touch Xenagos until he ults, well... Enjoy your free creatures and lands, this deck runs very few noncreature nonlands.

Of course, this strategy is nice, but we need to get there. So we may well need a few early beaters. With the size of the creatures coming down in subsequent turns, my good friend Experiment One will have to make an appearance. He's quite frankly too nuts in most green archetypes to not, a mid game threat with an early game cost. A choice that may give me flak is the inclusion of Wayfaring Temple. Why did I include this? Well, for 3 you get a */* that gets bigger as your field grows. That's nice and all, Crusaders of Odric are routinely seen as end game bombs in my local meta. But, say if you were to get the opportunity to get a free shot at the opponent's face with this monster, you get a populate. An extra token (which is not as small as it sounds, potential targets include Giant Adephage tokens and tokens from Voice of Resurgence) and that makes it even bigger as a result. The potential to stomp your way to victory is pretty attractive, in my opinion. As previously mentioned as well, Voice of Resurgence makes a play in here as well. My reasoning? Well, for one, this card is nuts. Like, super nuts. Guaranteed at least one token whose P/T mirrors your Wayfaring Temples. Add onto the fact that it discourages any Red/Black/Blue/Any deck with instants from doing anything during your turn, is amazing. Psychological Warfare. As I close out the token-heavy section of the build, I feel the need to mention that with every token that hits the board, Xenagos (Planeswalker) becomes more valuable, due to that +1 ability of his.

Now that we have our creatures out of the way, how about some other ways to shape combat? The obvious place to go is combat tricks, but with big enough creatures the only trick I feel is relevant to put in is in defense: Pay No Heed. A white instant reprinted in the Core Set, it nullifies all damage one source would do. Most likely the only creature your opponent attacks with that turn, because he's forced to. This can turn already awkward situations into demoralising losses for your opponent, all for one white mana.

When you see the decklist, you may note there is a one-of on the board: Assemble the Legion. This is a card that I see all the time as a pseudo-sideboard card: If you see it ever, you've stalled out way too long, and this is something to help you end it. To its credit, it does that very well; the exponential growth in field makes Xenagos more valuable, gives you chump blockers, and makes your Elemental tokens/Wayfaring temples bigger. I can only see a one-of of this card being useful, but that's just my opinion!

Thats it for this deckbuild, the full link to my decklist can be found at here if you would like to check it out/give it a try. For now though, see you next time.

Inpromptu Deckbuild #2: The Cunning and the Cruel

So, it's blog post time again, ladies and gents.

This time around, things are a bit different; I've had a request. I've been asked to form a deck for a specific card this time around, and this time around that card is a black mythic from Theros, that isn't a god. I am, of course, talking about Hythonia the Cruel. This card is one that I (and my significant other) have been wanting to put into a deck since we pulled one out of a Theros pack, and promptly pulled a second one later that week. Queen of the Gorgons, she has the power to wipe a field of non-gorgons, leaving her only more powerful and with any number of friends she cares to have left behind. Question is, what can we do with her?

First things first, I'd want to be able to use her effect when I need it. So i'll need a lot of mana. This deck being standard, luckily I know exactly what I want. A source of mana so rich and easy to work into a build it would be nuts to try and find something else. I am referring, of course, to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. With enough devotion, the normally staggering 8 mana cost of Hythonia's ability becomes negligible. Sure, you lose your devotion after. And sure, it only works once. But usually, once is all you need.

So, what do we use with her? First kneejerk reaction goes towards Gorgons, of which there are pitiful few in the set, some are present the the Golgari Swarm in Ravnica but our best bet is a stab in the Theros block. The only real one we can see to actually impact in any meaningful way would be Reaper of the Wilds. The scry-on-death effect will cause a mass delve into your library after a Hythonia wipe, as well as her in-built hexproof generation to protect her from removal. I'm a big fan of her work.

Looking outside the Gorgon box, preferably down the lower end of the CMC spectrum, we have few choices to be excited about, but they are solid  when we do find them. For one, we have Nighthowler.  Provides two black devotion to the Nykthos buff pool, survives Hythonia's wipe (if bestowed) and either is super-buff or super-buffs whatever it's attached to after the fact. Value upon value upon value. Just what i'm looking for.

Out of pure necessity and as my favourite creature in the whole Theros block, Good old Gary is included in my list. With Thoughtseize and Underworld Connections being serious contenders in our noncreature spots, the Gray Merchant rears his ugly head to fuel another of my black monstrosities.

Another honorable mention in this deck is Sylvan Caryatid. A flexible mana dork, with hexproof, which can provide an early wall against those pesky aggro decks. Only disadvantages would be that she is not Hythonia proof, and she doesnt contribute to our devotion counter.

Im fairly happy with the creature count currently, as they all contribute towards the end goal, and the deck itself looks like it's leaning towards a control shell, so I may return but creature-light control decks are widespread. So, what next?

Thoughtseize. That's what. Getting into your opponent's head (or hand, in this case) seeing what he's thinking, and then DENYING him that strategy is a valuable strategy. Oh, it's one mana? Surely there must be some other setback. 2 life? I'll survive, but anything to eliminate that Detention Sphere, or that Gray Merchant. Literally the only thing this card can't touch is their land drop, which leaves a LOT of room to ruin their game, and possibly their day.

Next on the list of considerations, Golgari Charm. Usually a sideboard card against boardwipes like Supreme Verdict, but when your main win condition can expertly eliminate half of your creatures, a fallback in order to make it a one-sided field wipe for 2 extra mana (when you're probably swimming in the stuff from Nykthos) is nothing to be sniffed at. Also provides enchantment removal for the increasing impactful presence of enchantment creatures, and a Shrivel, which won't kill your creatures regardless.

Next, onwards to our suite of Removal. Being a control deck, being overwhelmed before you reach your ultimatum is not the best of ideas. As such, I have two suggestions for this decklist in particular. Bile Blight introduced in Born of the Gods is an incredibly versatile removal spell at BB, removing the prevalent Pack Rat as well as the host of tokens produced by Mono White and Mono Blue devotion decks. For everything else, however, there is always my good friend Hero's Downfall. Indiscriminate, same cost as murder, and ices planeswalkers, which are rising through the ranks with Superfriends builds being increasingly big (even moreso with a planeswalker lineup of Jace, Kiora, Elspeth and soon to be Ajani in Bant colours) and thats why I placed the Downfall over something like Putrefy. Putrefy would be a decent sideboard card by all means, but planeswalkers > artifacts in terms of wanting to remove them.

Speaking of planeswalkers, we have a very special inclusion in this set of colours: Vraska the Unseen. The reasons for including at least one include: Doesn't die to Hythonia, includes 1 black devotion, is a repeatable Bramblecrush (and stalls out attacks on you with her +1) and is also a gorgon, so flavourwise I'm a giggling schoolgirl. This hideously resistant inclusion to the deck will make opposing decks feel even more like they're running through tar the whole time, all the while you're fuelling your ultimatum.

To end out the deck, what's a control deck without a draw engine to fuel it? For this spot, look no further than Underworld Connections. Same as Vraska, adds black devotion (two this time, as opposed to one), is resistant to Hythonia's ability, and can draw you cards at instant speed. What's not to love?

Put those all together, and you have yourself one Deck List, containing one of the first ways (that I've seen) to give Hythonia the Cruel her competitive edge. It might not be incredible, but it'll be enough to beat a few people at FNM, maybe lose a few friends while you're at it. Have Fun!

Inpromptu Deckbuild #1: Gift of the Gods

So, I'm looking for a format which will properly frame the deck-builder's mindset into text form. As I've attempted before on this blog to frame my mindset, some decisions seem iffy even to me (and have even brought around changes to the decks - see my updated Wrath of Keranos build. So I'm shaking up the blog bag - I'm going to brew a deck right now, and transcribe my thought process to text.

For this deckbuild, I want to build around untapped power. Something that may be under-appreciated in standard, not quite as dominant as Master of Waves. For the locus of my deck-brew, I would like to present the epitome of Theros' untapped power - Gift of Immortality. When this card got spoiled people went nuts (I remember it well, it was my first spoiler season that I was a contributor on the MagicTCG subreddit for) but, in the wake of Esper, Mono-B and Mono-U decks, the Gift from the Gods did not see much use. So, wh
at could it use?

The first thing that comes to mind is 'What does this card synergise with'? My gut tells me enter the battlefield effects, so I'll work with that. After a quick look around the current standard format (No BNG just yet, patience) more or less any colour combination is amazing. Going Orzhov would allow the destructive Ashen Rider or more subtle Sin Collector, Azorius would allow Lavinia or just about any other detain creature there is. In white hybrids though, the cards I'm most excited to look at are Viashino Firstblade or Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, making me lean towards Boros or Selesnya. The Firstblade creates seemingly unrelenting aggro, but is janky with the Gift's effect; it would have to die in my main phase 1 in order to have its effect be of use. So, Trostani it is.

I have an idea, I have a theme. I'm pretty sure I want it standard - if not I'd have a few more ideas from standards past. But, keeping with Standard, what would we do? Trostani gives life gain and can populate, we could work off of that, but bearing that in mind, we want something to work with the Gift. What are our options?

It doesn't take long to find a fitting combo piece - Armada Wurm, Selesnya Battering Ram instantly springs to mind. Take time to think of all the interactions between these 3 pieces. An immortal wurm recurring indefinitely would create 10 toughness worth of life gain per recursion from Trostani, as well as providing a token which we can sink mana into to populate. The interactions are delicious.

Now that we have a combo core, my thoughts turn to the mana curve. Sets of 3, 4 and 6 CMC - hardly healthy. We need to quicken the curve, by adding in some weenies to stop our faces getting caved in before we can drop our combo. With the idea of constant big creatures hitting the board, I looked into the Simic mechanic, Evolve, for inspiration. Immediately I found Experiment One; renowned aggro beatstick and evolve outlet, he sees copious use in a lot of strategies involving big creatures as the front runner. Or shambler. Or however an ooze moves. Glorious.

Add in sets of each, and we're at 16 cards. Add in land (assumed 24, we aren't playing aggro - which could legitimately run less) and we're at 40. Boy, that went fast. But, we're not quite done yet. In case of spanners in the works- primarily Naturalize - I want to run Auramancer. In a deck so dependent on the combo of Gift of Immortality, losing even one would be a hefty loss to us. Hey, even slap a Gift onto the Auramancer - infinite recursion!

Next, getting to that 6 land as quickly as possible to drop our Gatecreeper Vine. Allows the grabbing of land on entry and - best of all - allows infinite grab with a Gift attached. Not that you'd necessarily want gatecreeper to have one, but it certainly breaks those land veins apart and thins our deck to find more land. He's not exactly the most durable fellow either - he's often killed early game, but is a valuable source of stall against weenies - even evolves Experiment One, whats not to love?
Wurm into play is a perogative. For this, taking note of the gaping hole at 2 CMC, I suggest

On the other hand, the deck's now at 48, and is all creatures. Lets see what spells can offer the Immortal Selesnya Engine. Immediately before looking anywhere I know i'll want Advent of the Wurm, which produces half an Armada Wurm. Not exactly Giftable, but will allow Trostani to do something while we twiddle our thumbs waiting on the big guy himself.

As much as I hate on it, artifact/enchantment hate is important, love it or hate it. I could go naturalize but while looking through cards Sundering Growth may be
helpful. This could be moved to the sideboard but at this point it may be useful. Populate is a godsend as well.

Speaking of enchantments to hate on, I have an idea. With Trostani providing us so much lifegain, why not supplement this constant stream of life gain with Angelic Accord? Token spawning providing life, which then provide tokens... that provide life. You get the picture. Props to synergy during sundering growth at this point, populating in your opponents turn would cause an angel to spawn at your opponent's end step too.

That makes 60 cards, but one last minute gem in the sorcery section catches my eye - Call of the Conclave. A 3/3 on turn 2 is nothing to sniff at - even less a 3/3 that can be populated. This is a kneejerk last addition into the mainboard, opting to lower the numbers on Trostani and Armada Wurm to 3 each, as the high CMC pieces are a nightmare if drawn in the early game; and Trostani, being legendary, has the disadvantage of only being allowed onto the board one at a time. Sundering Growth, being a situational addition, is reduced to a 2 of so it's less likely to be drawn when unneeded.

With the cards sorted, I look to tweak the mana base. With a purely basic set of land, the split of mana symbols of the deck is almost equal, white having 4 more than green. In which case, I alter the skew so it is 11 forests to 13 plains, to ensure I draw the right colours when I want to. In terms of nonbasic land, I obviously want Temple Garden. Its flexibility is unparalleled, so I cut down 2 of each basic for a full set. Also, I know I said no BNG, but the scryland from BNG, Temple of Plenty, will do wonders in this deck. In order to keep the balance of lands equal again, I remove 2 of each for a full set. And the deck is done.

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did, and I hope this fulfils its purpose - to give people an insight into the mind of a deck builder. The decklist of the made deck in today's article is available here. Happy Deckbuilding!