Acid Is Dead!

Sigh. It happens. Games end. Lives change. People move on. Things shift. The only eternal aspect of us is that we change and we die.

And that’s not all. Many of my favorite games have vanished into the mists of time, no longer supported. No one plays them. Cards from the Middle Earth: CCG are gathering dust in attics or garages, never to be played again. I haven’t enjoyed a game of HeroScape in ages. Nostalgia hammers my spine in regret.

This is the way of games.

Oh sure, you might want something else. But it’s hard to fathom all of the hours and time invested into a game and a community just leaving as the doors close. I don’t want to think about what would happen to my Ultima Online or Guild Wars accounts. No pastime is immune. Magic is just one or two bad years by Hasbro away from being shut down or sold off.

It already happened to Topps and WizKids Games with HeroClix. Collective miniature gaming was making a huge amount of cash, and HeroClix was the best-selling game in that genre, and the company was bringing in many other lines as well. But due to the crash of collectible markets from the Topps brands, like sports cards and collecting when the economy sagged, Topps closed down WizKids for good and shuttered up their stuff. Only later did they sell their brands to NECA to jumpstart HeroClix and other games.

But you know what? NECA’s interpretation of HeroClix is very different from WizKids’s. The same happened when TSR went down and Wizards bought then out—Dungeons & Dragons was interpreted very differently by WotC, and it was a different game. The same happened when other companies started making BattleTech and MechWarrior after the original company, FASA, lost them. Just moving brands internally is the same. After Hasbro moved HeroScape to Wizards, WotC changed its concept to support the D&D line and just reprinted old miniatures with new print jobs on the cheap. The game changed. (It’s very annoying, too. Imagine that the next Magic set took art from previous Magic cards and created cards for them called Beholder Agent, Yuan-Ti Enforcer, and Drizzt Do’Urden—all to support their D&D line. That would be funky-bad.)

Another company’s Magic would be very different. It wouldn’t be our Magic.

That’s the way of games. If you aren’t an eternal game like chess or Go, you will fade. You will change.

It’s the sad side of a fun hobby.

I always feel an odd mixture of fondness and regret when I look back on really fun formats in Magic that aren’t commonly played anymore. The obvious example is Five Color.

I adore Five Color, and it still remains one of my favorite sets of all time. Go, Five!

Five Color was so popular that it was everywhere. There were Five Color columns on popular websites, it was part of a few major tournaments, everyone had Five Color decks at tournaments, and it was the default playing deck of countless playgroups.

It died for a lot of reasons. Commander took its place and then kept on, and now I think more people play Commander than most tournament formats like Vintage or Legacy.

Commander is the default play format for a lot of folks. That’s okay!

But I’m always going to miss the lack of Five Color in my life.

And this was recently exacerbated by a decision made by Wizards about half a year ago. Up until then, I could play Five Color online in a supported format called Prismatic. But they removed Prismatic from the casual format options, and thus, it vanished from the conversation. That’s very sad to me. I cannot play online anymore either.

Sigh.

There was an online variant of Five Color/Prismatic that was particularly awesome. It combined three major formats into one. You’ve probably heard of the other two:

Highlander — Singleton. You may not play more than one copy card, other than a basic land, in your deck.

Pauper — You may only play commons.

The online name of the first format was Singleton (to prevent copyright issues with using the name of a movie franchise). So people abbreviated this format online as PPS (Pauper, Prismatic, Singleton). In real life, I use the common, real-life terms for those—5PH (Five Color, Pauper, Highlander). On the pH scale, a score of 5 is acidic, so I called it Acid Magic for short, a name that others have come to use.

So in summation, here are your rules for Acid:

• Have at least three hundred cards.
• Have at least twenty-five cards of each color.
• Play only commons.
• Play only one copy of any given card other than basic lands.

And that’s it. Good luck.

(A few rules interpretations are required for those who ask. A gold card may count for only one color, but you can choose which—Terminate can count for either black or red, but not both. Also, a card counts as common if any iteration of that card was a common in printed form. Some online reprints shift the rarity of cards considerably. This is a real-life format; we only care about physical versions.)

So today, I want to build an Acid deck for 2016, using cards all the way up to Shadows over Innistrad and others in between. Ready for the Acid fun time to commence?

It?s All about That Acid ? Acid | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (99)
• 1 Aethersnipe
• 1 Arashin Cleric
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Aurochs Herd
• 1 Batterhorn
• 1 Blastoderm
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Cackling Fiend
• 1 Cadaver Imp
• 1 Carrion Thrash
• 1 Centaur Healer
• 1 Chittering Rats
• 1 Citanul Woodreaders
• 1 Civic Wayfinder
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Custodi Squire
• 1 Deadshot Minotaur
• 1 Deputy of Acquittals
• 1 Desecrator Hag
• 1 Dimir House Guard
• 1 Dimir Infiltrator
• 1 Drift of Phantasms
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Embodiment of Spring
• 1 Errant Ephemeron
• 1 Faceless Butcher
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Fierce Empath
• 1 Gatecreeper Vine
• 1 Gemhide Sliver
• 1 Ghitu Slinger
• 1 Gravedigger
• 1 Gryff Vanguard
• 1 Guardian of the Guildpact
• 1 Hammerheim Deadeye
• 1 Haze Frog
• 1 Hunting Drake
• 1 Igneous Pouncer
• 1 Ingot Chewer
• 1 Invasive Species
• 1 Izzet Chronarch
• 1 Jhessian Zombies
• 1 Kavu Climber
• 1 Kor Sanctifiers
• 1 Kor Skyfisher
• 1 Kozilek's Predator
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Lifespring Druid
• 1 Liliana's Specter
• 1 Llanowar Empath
• 1 Lone Missionary
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Mardu Warshrieker
• 1 Matca Rioters
• 1 Mist Raven
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Mold Shambler
• 1 Mournwhelk
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1 Ondu Giant
• 1 Pale Recluse
• 1 Phyrexian Rager
• 1 Pit Keeper
• 1 Ponyback Brigade
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Quirion Explorer
• 1 Ruination Wurm
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sea Gate Oracle
• 1 Shambling Shell
• 1 Sigiled Starfish
• 1 Silverglade Elemental
• 1 Sporemound
• 1 Stinkweed Imp
• 1 Streetbreaker Wurm
• 1 Suture Priest
• 1 Temple Acolyte
• 1 Tenement Crasher
• 1 Valley Rannet
• 1 Vedalken Dismisser
• 1 Vine Trellis
• 1 Walker of the Grove
• 1 Warren Pilferers
• 1 Werebear
• 1 Whitemane Lion
• 1 Wickerbough Elder
• 1 Wild Celebrants
• 1 Wormfang Drake
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Zhur-Taa Swine
• 1 Alloy Myr
• 1 Esper Sojourners
• 1 Moriok Replica
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Sanctum Plowbeast
• 1 Scuttlemutt
• 1 Skyreach Manta

• Spells (94)
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Comparative Analysis
• 1 Crypt Incursion
• 1 Death Denied
• 1 Dismantling Blow
• 1 Dizzy Spell
• 1 Exclude
• 1 Expunge
• 1 Fate Forgotten
• 1 Forbidden Alchemy
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Gravepurge
• 1 Jilt
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Momentary Blink
• 1 Muddle the Mixture
• 1 Murder
• 1 Orim's Thunder
• 1 Otherworldly Journey
• 1 Perplex
• 1 Rend Flesh
• 1 Resounding Silence
• 1 Return to the Earth
• 1 Rock Slide
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Scour from Existence
• 1 Staggershock
• 1 Sundering Growth
• 1 Survive the Night
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Think Twice
• 1 Worldly Counsel
• 1 Nameless Inversion
• 1 Arc Lightning
• 1 Bitter Revelation
• 1 Brainspoil
• 1 Brilliant Plan
• 1 Brilliant Spectrum
• 1 Compulsive Research
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Deny Reality
• 1 Exploding Borders
• 1 Fade into Antiquity
• 1 Far Wanderings
• 1 Firebolt
• 1 Foresee
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Last Thoughts
• 1 Map the Wastes
• 1 Midnight Recovery
• 1 Oblivion Strike
• 1 Probe
• 1 Pyrotechnics
• 1 Read the Bones
• 1 Reap and Sow
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 1 Skull Rend
• 1 Swirling Sandstorm
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Tribal Flames
• 1 Unnerve
• 1 Urborg Uprising
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 1 Font of Return
• 1 Hobble
• 1 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Tin Street Market
• 1 Abzan Banner
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Astrolabe
• 1 Bonesplitter
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Flayer Husk
• 1 Fleetfeather Sandals
• 1 Manalith
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Mycosynth Wellspring
• 1 Obelisk of Jund
• 1 Opaline Bracers
• 1 Prophetic Prism
• 1 Seer's Lantern
• 1 Serrated Arrows
• 1 Sickleslicer
• 1 Strider Harness
• 1 Sultai Banner
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Vulshok Morningstar
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (94)
• 11 Forest
• 8 Swamp
• 9 Island
• 9 Mountain
• 9 Plains
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Bant Panorama
• 1 Bloodfell Caves
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Esper Panorama
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Fertile Thicket
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Grixis Panorama
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Holdout Settlement
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Jund Panorama
• 1 Jungle Hollow
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Naya Panorama
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Rugged Highlands
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Sejiri Steppe
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Shimmering Grotto
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thornwood Falls
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 1 Transguild Promenade
• 1 Unknown Shores
• 1 Warped Landscape
• 1 Wind-Scarred Crag

Buy This Deck

Let’s start with the lands!

A few years ago, we used to have an atrocious mana base in part due to the decided lack of quality lands. The only common mana-fixing land cycle of value were the Karoo lands from the first trip to Ravnica block—cards like Gruul Turf and Selesnya Sanctuary. But then, we headed back for a return trip and added another slate of ten cards with the Guildgates. The world of Tarkir brought another ten set of cards with stuff like Wind-Scarred Crag. Then, layer in the five Panoramas, and the three fetch lands (Terramorphic Expanse through Warped Landscape) and the duet of Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade. That’s a quality list of forty lands that hit your colors hard. You can flavor with your choice of other lands as needed, but now, we are in a different place as a format, and all formats with rarity-sensitive needs, like Pauper, are in rich territory.

After pushing my mana around, I fleshed out the deck above as you see as a useful sample into the format.

I used a few parabolas for the above deck to help illustrate the basic needs of the format for you:

1. One-to-One Answers — Commons are rife with a lot of great one-to-one answers to things: Lightning Bolt, Murder, Fade into Antiquity, Rewind, Return to the Earth, Path of Peace, Cancel, and more. We can use all of the burn, removal, and countermagic across the history of Magic to answer things.
2. Potential for Card Advantage — Unlike many others, Acid Magic is a format that’s extremely sensitive to card advantage. There are no card-draw engines. There’s no Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin, Rhystic Study, and such. There’s no mass-card-draw cards like Recurring Insight, Wheel of Fortune, Stroke of Genius, or Necrologia. The card-draw is expensive and limited. I ran most of the good stuff above. There are multiple angles of attack for this one.

The first is to run cards that cantrip and draw you a card in addition to their use. Exclude counters a spell and draws you a card as well. Cards like Recover, Dismantling Blow, and creatures that replace themselves—like Kavu Climber—are useful examples.

Another angle of attack comes from cards that can do multiple things. Orim's Thunder, if kicked, can blow up two cards. Cultivate fetches you two lands. Font of Return can retrieve multiple cards. If you have any creature tokens (unlikely with this deck), you can populate and have a removal spell like Sundering Growth.

Red, in particular, has some useful burn effects that have the potential to kill multiple foes. Cards like Arc Lightning, Rock Slide, and Rolling Thunder are just devastating to a board position. Also check out one of the format’s few major sweeping effects: Swirling Sandstorm.

Finally, you can push through other various effects. Deny Reality’s cascade effect nets you two spells. Walker of the Grove will grant you a beater on the front end—and another after it invariably dies. Draw a card with Last Thoughts, and then cipher it on a free attacker and start to draw some cards. Shoot, I even have Aurochs Herd in here! (Fetch up Nameless Inversion . . . )

3. Win the game. I finally tossed in a few creatures that are designed to win the game, such as Zhur-Taa Swine and Ruination Wurm. At the end of the day, you’d like to serve with more than Temple Acolyte and Fertilid. The biggest flyer in the format naturally is the (occasionally) 5/5 Skyreach Manta. If you get the sunburst to fall perfectly, it’s a 5/5 flyer for 5 mana. You also have the 4/4 Errant Ephemeron. They will tend to out smash other aerial threats. You can lean on them as well. Cards like Blastoderm and Tenement Crasher are here to party.

Anyway, that’s a quick look into all things Acid Magic—with Pauper, Highlander, and Five Color all involved.

Now there’s a lot of room for different takes.

You could run an aggro deck that runs the best quick, common beats, such as Blade of the Sixth Pride and Dauthi Marauder. That would be a perfectly fine option. Another way to build a deck would be to use the various artifact creatures and pro-artifact cards. Stuff like Trinket Mage, artifact lands, and Cranial Plating could create a nice deck, and one without fear of mass artifact removal like Vandalblast and Akroma's Vengeance (and without the powerful cards like Arcbound Ravager, the interesting affinity cards, and more). You could run a control-based build, tempo-based ones with bounce effects and tapping ones (Repulse, Recoil, Undo, Hands of Binding, etc.), and ramp-based ones leading to big beats and X spells like Fireball. There are a lot of interesting ways to push your deck and enough commons printed to head in that direction.

So build a deck that uses the dopey commons you already have sitting around and taking up space without doing anything useful. Build a cheap, powerful deck that plays differently each time. Break out of your daily molds and routines to embrace a different playing style—and to give others a respite.

Acid is dead! Long may Acid reign!