Avacynian Decisions

Just throwing cards together and seeing what sticks

So M13 is breathing down our necks and it's high time for me to comment on the previous release. Better late than never! I've settled into my new house, with my new fiance, and my mind has room to intelligently communicate via keyboard once again. Before we continue I promise that Magic is not going to be all I write about. I feel I have a Firefall beta post brewing in the depths. So, hold your pinky up to the computer monitor, smart-phone, tablet, or any other gadgetry used to divine this page from the aether. Promised. Now, on with the ideation!



So what could I do with this set that I haven't done already? Well for one I'm going to seriously consider inserting Tamiyo, the Moon Sage into my U/B Control deck. While my deck has always been good for removal, sometimes I get impatient and find myself devoid of of counters/removal and then I'm staring down the barrel of a Sun Titan, or a Grave Titan, or that bastard Primeval Titan and his merry band of inkmoth nexuses and kessig wolf runs. God I hate the Titans. I cannot stress that enough. More on that a different time. It would be nice to have a permanent that can effortlessly lock down these fatties until I can replenish my hand. Maybe it will help, maybe not. Maybe I'll hate Titans more until they rotate out and other 6 drops can have some glory, or at least have a reason to use a 7 or 8 drop. It's worth noting that Control-style decks are gonna be hurting real bad when Scars of Mirrodin and M12 rotate, unless Return to Ravnica yields some fun and sassy counter/removal spells.

I'll also look at sideboarding some of the counters in this set, since cheap and efficient counters can surprise an opponent. I'll also be maindecking 4 Ghost Quarters since Wizards thought that Cavern of Souls would be a nice way to kick sand in my deck's face. Seriously, that card was actually printed. I suppose Control decks had it coming, especially U/B Control (Quick tutorial: B=Black, U=Blue, G=Green, R=Red, W=White. Get it? Got it? Good) . They are a thorn in everyone's side but they haven't run rough-shod over the scene like Delver decks have. So, we will see how Cavern effects tribal decks, though all you need is one to be declared for "Titan" and you're well on your way to winning your game. Excuse me while I maindeck 4 Ghost Quarters.

I've deliberated if Killing Wave would be a worthy addition. Being Control, I won't have to worry about many critters on my side of the board. The right Killing Wave, with the right mana spent, at the right time, will deliver a quandary to your opponent that smells like foreboding, with a hint of win. You don't want the life lost per creature to be too low, as they may just take it on the chin, putting you nowhere near striking distance of victory and the board state unchanged. Too high and they will clear their board, which is a good thing mind you, but I would need my Wurmcoil Engine out and ready to attack for this situation to be optimal. And no way would anyone let that pass unless they were already holding on for dear life. Now if the decision was "keep a creature or take 5 life" and they had 4 beasties out by turn 6 or 7, then things might get dicey for them. Maybe they split the difference, saccing 2 of their creatures and taking 10 damage. I'm no aviating veterinarian, but that puppy flies in my book. I'm betting that there is a good formulaic approach to casting this spell that will maximize impact on board state and opponent life total.

Challenge accepted.

As for a brand spanking new homebrew, I dub thee "Flirting with Disaster". It's a working title. Comment below if you've got something wittier that captures the essence of the masochism this deck sets in motion. In order for this deck to work the way I intend it to, one needs to have a decent understanding of triggers and playing the stack properly to line up your spells in a way that will not end with you shooting yourself in the foot. Aggression is the name of the game.
The basic idea revolves around creatures that are undercosted given their power and toughness. Due to their economy, they do come with mad baggage and therein lies the rub. My one drop is Vexing Devil. While any player worth their salt would immediately grant that wee monster a one-way ticket to the graveyard, I would choose to not drop it first turn if I had an Undying Evil. Turn 2 I share my VD with my opponent, and upon it entering the battlefield and the trigger going on the stack, I throw down the Undying Evil to make sure the VD sticks around for a while. Either that or they take 4 damage, and get a 5/4 back on the field or take another 4 damage. 8 damage by turn 2? Now that's...Vexing. Now the reason I do this before the trigger resolves, allowing my opponent to choose what to do with their VD problem, is because I'm certain that I do not have the ability to cast Undying Evil in between the choice and the sacrificing of the Devil. Maybe I'm wrong on this, so if you're a judge, feel free to comment below and straighten me out. Even if I don't have Undying Evil, there's also a chance I have Postmortem Lunge, so I wouldn't care if the Devil dies. VD will strike again! Knowing that it gets exiled at the end of my turn may lull my opponent into a false sense of security knowing they can take the 4 damage and be done with it forever. That's where Fling and Undying Evil can come into play for further shenanigans. Later in the game I can throw down my 4 drop, Demonlord of Ashmouth, and set up Vexing Devil as the fall guy.  The combos are simple, cheap, can come from different angles, and can really aggravate.

Treacherous Pit-Dweller follows for BB mana. I know I know I know. I refer you to my working title. Unless I get out the BR speed dual land 1st turn, it would be hard to capitalize on both a Vexing Devil and Mr. Treacherous in the first two turns. That being said, he's a 4/3  on turn 2 without any immediate baggage. I'm only worried if he dies. My deck has two solutions to this. One is Torpor Orb. The other is Fling. Torpor Orb actually makes this deck run a lot more smoothly by making aggro way less risky. Vexing Devil's existence is no longer in the hands of my opponent. Treacherous Pit-Dweller becomes "Cooperative Pit-Dweller". Demonlord of Ashmouth doesn't commit fratricide. Groovy.

Now with Fling, I have a window of opportunity between the Undying trigger resolving and the "entering the battlefield from the graveyard" trigger being put on the stack. I throw a Fling down as soon as he enters the battlefield and ba-da-boom. 5 damage on my opponent's chin, my opponent doesn't get my Pit-Dweller, and he can sit in the graveyard until I need him to Fling one more time to finish off my opponent. Excellent.

My three-drop is the mutually destructive Soulcage Fiend. A 3/2 for 3 CMC (Converted Mana Cost, or the absolute amount of mana required to cast the spell) aint too bad. Geralf's Messenger is undoubtably better in this slot, but his BBB cost is a bit hard to reconcile. I can make do well enough if all I have 1 Mountain and 2 Swamps by turn 3. Soulcage Fiend is here for a couple reasons. One is that if this deck is working as envisioned, I won't have to worry too much about poking myself in the eye for 3 damage when he dies. My opponent should already be below me in life and as long as my life total isn't 0, I don't care. He's a capable damage dealer on his own, and he can do even more with Undying Evil/Fling. I could easily see someone letting him slide by for 3 damage early in the game, one less blocker after all, but then I can juice him full of undeath and hurl his sorry ass at my opponent. And now my opponent has just been dealt 9 damage for 3 CMC in 1 turn. And now there's a 4/3 beatstick just begging to die so that he may contribute at least 12 damage total to the cause if nothing else. On the chance that I had cast at least 1 Vexing Devil by this point in the game, my opponent is probably at 7 life or less and is looking for ways to stop the bleeding.

The last creature in the arsenal, as you saw above, is the Demonlord of Ashmouth (or as my brother eloquently puts, "Ass-mouth"). His baggage is like a boomerang due to his Undying. You stand to lose to creatures to him real quick if he dies. And if you can't sacrifice something, you lose him altogether into the void that is exile. But in return for my risk-taking, I get a 5/4 flyer that stands a chance of becoming a 6/5. Boosh! Even without Torpor Orb to block his nasty trigger, he is my clean-up crew. That's not an axe he's holding. That's the world's sharpest mop.

The last few items that will conclude the deck list include Rush of Blood, Scroll of Griselbrand, and Galvanic Blast to shore up removal, though I may consider Tragic Slip in the event that my Pit-Dweller decides to go all Benedict Arnold on me. I like Rush of Blood since it can have the double-whammy effect of doubling attack damage and make Fling even more flingy.

There's plenty of other possibilities, especially now that M13 is just around the corner. I'll explore jumping on the Delver bandwagon, but I'd see if I can't make a U/G color combo that works instead of the more common Delver variants out there racking up Top 8 spots.

Whew. This post was a doozy to finish and many beers enjoyed while crafting it. Of the ones I've quaffed, I do recommend the Flying Dog Oyster Stout. And yes, as the name would imply, they made it with real oysters! Sounds gross, however much like Magic the Gathering, fortune favors the bold.

Sláinte
-WF