So I don't update this blog very often, and it's starting to look like when I do, my decks are dramatically different.
For one, that Elf deck I deck-listed in my previous post? Doesn't exist anymore. It got torn down to make a sillier deck. Not to worry, though; it's still green.
Anyways, the second deck I was going to talk about was my planeswalker control deck. Wouldn't you know it, that one's gone too. I found that it was too extreme, either drawing all the hate before you had a chance to stabilize, or controlling the board without a simple wincon and prolonging the game. So, I went to a new strategy: creatures.
Let's be honest: for most Magic decks, creatures are your main source of actually winning the game. Instants and sorceries may keep you in the game, and artifacts and enchantments may buff up your creatures, but in the end, the preferred method of victory has been creatures. So, why not look for the most useful creatures and put them all together?
What is a creature's most useful effect, the one that's the hardest to stop? It's "when this creature enters the battlefield" effect. There's only one card that stops that permanently (Torpor Orb) and only a few that stop triggered abilities. Plus, since creatures are such fickle things, they can be brought in and out of play easily, allowing you to use their abilities multiple times.
So, what do you look for when you want useful creatures?
Creature, etc. Control
Bone Shredder (Terror on a dude, and if you flicker it before the echo trigger, it sticks around and gets to Terror again)
Duplicant (exiling creatures is stronk)
Man-O'-War (straight better than Aether Adept)
Massacre Wurm (really the only creature I can find that can do any type of board wiping from a flicker. Most have to be played)
Angel of Despair (Vindicate on an angel)
Kederekt Leviathan (Evacuate+ on a dude)
Woodfall Primus (RIP Sylvan Primordial)
Avalanche Riders (still the best land destruction dude I can find)
Acidic Slime (almost a Woodfall Primus)
Stonecloaker (graveyard hate and self-bounce, all in one)
Loaming Shaman (either mess with someone else's shenanigans or last-resort your own graveyard back in)
Graveyard Recursion (in case of removal)
Puppeteer Clique (it only hits their yard, but since it exiles the creatures at end of turn, it's graveyard hate and reanimation all in one)
Reveillark (you knew this was coming)
Riftsweeper (the only exile recursion creature I could find)
Sun Titan (works well on small dudes, lands, and Crystal Shard)
Karmic Guide (the best graveyard recursion)
Eternal Witness (the second best graveyard recursion)
Deadwood Treefolk (self-repeating recursion)
Pharika's Mender (hitting enchantments gets relevant)
Good Ol' Advantage-bringers (cards, life, etc)
Thragtusk (also called Swagtusk)
Rune-Scarred Demon (because tutors for 7 mana are so in this year)
Sphinx of Uthuun (eotfoful?)
Wood Elves (this is why you play dual lands)
Prime Speaker Zegana (yay, cards)
Draining Whelk (counter-critters part 1)
Mystic Snake (counter-critters part 2)
Diluvian Primoridal (if someone played a Cackling Counterpart, you now have infinite Primordials)
Mulldrifter (yay, cards)
Brutalizer Exarch (1-card combo)
Farhaven Elf (get dem lands)
Solemn Simulacrum (get moar lands)
Kor Cartographer (not enuf lands)
There's more utility dudes, of course (Avenger of Zendikar, Anathemancer, Sakashima and her student, Molten Primordial, and Grave Titan). And there's dudes that facilitate your creature plan (Prophet of Kruphix, Deadeye Navigator, Mistmeadow Witch, Purphoros, Roon, and Restoration Angel). But there's also a decent suite of non-creatures.
Evacuation (board wipe and reset your creatures)
Erratic Portal/Crystal Shard (bounce my own guys unless I pay 1. And I usually don't)
Creeping Renaissance (rebuild after a board wipe)
Flickerform (pick one effect, then go to town)
Venser, the Sojourner (flicker at the start, exile later, wincon in the middle)
Sunken Hope (lets you recur your creatures, plus it effectively shuts down Voltron-style decks)
Mirari's Wake (I'm playing green and white. I have to play this card. It's a law or something)
Chord of Calling (expensive and totally worth it)
Conjurer's Closet (free flickers are never bad)
Mimic Vat (reusable creatures are stronk)
Lifeline (in case of uneven boardwipe, reset the board and get your effects again)
Rite of Replication (you kinda have to)
Most of this deck translates well into a Roon deck. I personally like the range a 5-color deck gives you, but having a consistent flicker effect on a commander would be nice.
Oh yeah, the mana base.
All 10 Ravnica duals
All 5 Zendikar fetches, plus Krosan Verge
All 10 Ravnica bounce lands
All 5 Visions bounce lands
9 basics (3 Forest, 3 Plains, 1 Island/Mountain/Swamp)
Command Tower
Reliquary Tower
All the bounce lands let you have a land drop on pretty much every turn, meaning your mana base is increasing every turn, and that's without one of your four mana-finding dudes.
Anyways, that's the decklist of the week (month? Every other month? I dunno). When I remember to update this thing, I'll be posting my Melek decklist, which is my least consistent deck, but the most explosive when it wins.
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