Alara Reborn spoilers are popping up all over these days.  Before we get too excited about an expansion that won’t be released until late April, lets take a closer look at some cards we are playing with now.  There are many cards and combos from the Conflux expansion that have not been fully fleshed out.  While cards like Knight of the Reliquary and Master Transmuter are obviously great, not every Conflux gem is so quickly incorporated into a deck.  Some of the more interesting ones take a little time to develop into deck ideas.  The following are three cards we can build around.

Inkwell Leviathan and Progenitus are included as a single card for a Simic deck any Timmy would love.  After landing either of these fatties we are only a turn or two from victory.  Of course we don’t need any lengthy sermons to tell us these guys are killers, that is not the issue.  The issue is playing them reasonably early in the game.  To play them early enough we need green.  The best mana acceleration color and, thanks to Dramatic Entrance, the only color that can get us a turn five (or sooner) Progenitus.  Using Glamerdye, or some color-switching substitute, we can use DE for our Leviathan as well.  In addition Master Transmuter can land us an awful early Inkwell, and for the same mana, serendipitously green Elvish Piper can play us both nasties.  The key here is getting our combo by turn four, or if it doesn’t happen that early, playing solid defensive cards until it does.

Our first of two white enchantments, Mark of Asylum provides an array of  advanced strategies.  Sure, this card is great against board sweeping cards like Pyroclasm, Firespout, and Volcanic Fallout.  But where is the creativity in that?  We’ll need to be a bit more aggressive finding our deck here.  Creatures need to play a major role, and there are many ways to use them with MoA.  First we can set up a frightening offense with cards like Sunflare Shaman, Reckless Enbermage, or Hammerfist Giant.  We can tweak an already strong white-blue sliver deck by adding a few Psionic Slivers and MoAs.  We can also use the aforementioned damage-alls in one sided fashion.  For a touch of spot removal we can add the now enhanced Arena.  Finally we can protect ourselves from any burn with True Believer, or Spirit of the Hearth.  A powerful defensive card, Mark of Asylum provides the foundation of some great offensive decks.

This final deck was played against me recently, and it really caught my attention.  A standard legal deck that uses Sigil of the Empty Throne to finish once the board is locked.  For efficiency there are no other creature sources in this deck.  Our first goal is to land at least one Greater Auramancy (a second really helps), followed by a quick Story Circle.  If all goes right, we will have a firm defense by turn four.  The next step is setting up our hand.  Endless Horizons thins the deck of any land, and provides a constant source of mana.  We also need something to provide us with any-color mana.  Now we can play Abundance to re-order our library any way we choose (just name creature or land and the rest is easy).  Finally we are ready to play Sigil of the Empty Throne.  For added effect we could use Mistveil Plains to re-use cards, and Shimmering Wings to produce an arbitrary number of Angels in one turn.  Sounds like fun, right?

There you have it.  Three deck ideas to help us make use of some of the more unique cards in Comflux.

Like this article? Try these:

1. Deck Building – No Creatures, No Worries
2. Worldwake Spoiler Wrap-Up 1/22/09
3. Three Up and Three Down – Conflux
4. Let’s Open a Booster – Conflux
5. Spike’s Corner: A Worldwake Deck Idea