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Main » Articles » Decks Inspired by Magic 2015 and More

Decks Inspired by Magic 2015 and More

Abe Sargent
Posted on July 7, 2014
 Reddit

We’ve had a lot of great cards that inspire from this set. A ton of decks demand building!

So, what I’ve done is build some decks while watching the round-of-16 games from the World Cup. Since I’ve built these decks while I’m watching games, I didn’t write many lengthy paragraphs about these decks. Instead, to make up for that, I have more than ten decks below with ideas from the new set just percolating!

Let’s build decks!

Engineering Golems

This deck was made during the Argentina–Switzerland match.

Engineering Golems ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This crazy Johnny deck uses some fun Golem-making to fuel more craziness with Chief Engineer. There’s a fun mega-combo in here:

Dross Scorpion
Erratic Portal
Ashnod's Altar
Precursor Golem
Summoning Station

  • Play the Golem. Use an artifact creature to convoke it if possible. Make two more Golem dorks.

  • Sacrifice the two dorks for 4 mana.

  • Tap Summoning Station three times to make two 2/2 Pincher creatures (untap it twice with the untap trigger from a dying creature via a sacrifice outlet).

  • Put Dross Scorpion’s untap triggers on the artifact creature that was tapped to play the Golem via convoke with Chief Engineer and Erratic Portal.

  • Tap Portal to bounce Precursor Golem. Untap Portal.

  • Use 3 extra mana to play Precursor Golem, and tap one Pincher via Chief Engineer and the untapped artifact creature with the other Dross Scorpion trigger.

Precursor Golem
Repeat this any number of times. You wind up with one untapped Pincher each iteration, and 2 total. So you can make four hundred 2/2 Pinchers Then, simply attack and win!

You can also make 1 colorless mana per iteration if you tap both Pinchers to convoke out the Precursor Golem. So you have infinite mana if you prefer. You can add some fun infinite-mana combos as well.

Note that you can put a bunch of counters on Arcbound Crusher with the artifacts arriving on the battlefield to give you an alternate path to winning. It has trample, so if it was already in play before this turn, load it up and make it a 100,005/100,005 creature, and swing all trampling-like at someone this turn—while you also have thousands of 2/2 Pinchers.

Any strategy that uses a large number of creatures benefits from Soul of New Phyrexia. They are exposed to mass removal, and the Soul can help. From aggro strategies to decks that spew tokens everywhere, Soul of New Phyrexia is solid. So in here, it can protect the horde, even if killed or discarded to something like, say, Thirst for Knowledge . . . 

Yay for dorky Johnny combos! Boo for Argentina winning. (I was rooting for the Swiss—I love rooting for an underdog.)

Next up, we have . . . 

Pestilence with My Baby

Pestilence with My Baby ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Brazil–Chile round-of-16 match! I was rooting for Alexis Sanchez and Chile to win. That would have initiated a huge, nationwide emo-gasm in Brazil that would have been fun to observe. (Because I was just building this deck while watching TV, I accidentally wrote Stillmoon Cavalier as Stillborn Cavalier. That’s a significant difference!)

Anyway, this deck this deck uses Shield of the Avatar to equip a creature and keep it alive in a Pestilence of love. Even if you have just one creature out with the Shield, it prevents 1 damage to the creature—and the Pestilence does . . . let’s see . . . 1 damage per iteration. Good stuff. After that, it was simply your modern take on a Pestilence.

Who’s next?

Brooding with Avarice

Brooding with Avarice ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This deck comes to you from the Nigeria–France game. I was rooting hard for Nigeria. Ah well. C’est la vie.

The goal of our Avarice Amulet deck here is run it, and then, if someone kills the creature, you have Brooding Saurian to take it back. And since we have Saurian anyway, why not add in cards like Starke of Rath and Fickle Efreet? I even added in some backup Gruul Charms!

I’ve built Brooding Saurian decks before. One of my favorites is this one, from StarCityGames, back in 2006, after Coldsnap was just released.

SnakeDrake

SnakeDrake ? Casual | Abe Sargent

This skeleton uses a creature with an enters-the-battlefield ability that swaps cards when it arrives (Gilded Drake, Vedalken Plotter). Now, the Saurian would swap them back at the end of the turn. That’s not very effective, right? So, you sacrifice the one you stole to something like Zuran Orb or Altar of Dementia. Then, you take back the one you played at the end of the turn, and you can bounce it (Erratic Portal) back to your hand for another ring around the rosy. The Traumatize supports the Altar of Dementia as a milling alternative to winning.

So, let’s modernize this deck!

SnakeDrake, 2014 ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Since it’s being reprinted in Magic 2015, I decided to leave in Yavimaya Coast. You could also run this idea through Confusion in the Ranks. Spawnbroker is nice, too. Barrin, Master Wizard is both a sacrifice outlet and a bounce effect in one card—he’ll do both! I’m sad that I missed how good he is in this deck in the first iteration. You could also use Dispersing Orb, but that’s a bit pricey on the cost. Perilous Research and Read the Runes are interesting, too. Sky Swallower with Brooding Saurian is also a solid combo—if that’s your speed. Reality Acid subs in for the Naturalize effects as a removal spell. I felt the Ambassador Laquatus was a better milling adjunct due to being able to block, attack, and be sacrificed. Daring Thief might also fit here.



I feel that we have hit a critical mass of creature enablers with Obelisk of Urd seeing print! So, let’s look at a few unusual decks that you can now play along with Goblins, Elves, or Soldiers, with lords and everything! I’ll toss out a bunch for you! (This next section was done while watching the Mexico–Holland round-of-16 match. In case you care . . . )

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 1 – Hunter Crocodiles

Hunter Crocodiles ? Casual | Abe Sargent

First of all: crocodiles, baby! This time, be the hunting crocodile!

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 2 – Attack of the Yeti

Attack of the Yeti ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Yetis are awesome! Don’t you want to attack with Yetis at your next Magic night?

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 3 – Whaling Around

Whaling Around ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Now, this one adds a few Changelings to the mix in case that’s your thing. Some don’t like the flavor of Changelings in their tribal decks, and others do. So, I figured we’d mix it up here with Whales, thus giving us some cheaper creatures.

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 4 – Shot through the Heart

Shot through the Heart ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Unicorns are driving their stakes through your heart and forcing you to love them! Love the Unicorns, and give them a tribal deck to call their very own!

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 5 – Devils Alive

Devils Alive ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Devils have arrived, so take them out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant before they blow up your deck box.

Build Your Own Tribe, Take 6 – Night of Horror

How about one more black-themed one? Otherwise, your black will become jealous! (Or more jealous than it already naturally is . . . )

Night of Horror ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Horrors! Oh no! It’s a Magic–Lovecraft opera. This deck is actually better because of well-rounded cards such as Phyrexian Rager and Dark Hatchling that do stuff. There are a ton of Horrors I didn’t touch, from Abomination to Witch Engine.



Boom, that’s a lot of tribal decks. But you get the point. And you can add Hall of Triumph, Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, Volrath's Laboratory, Riptide Replicator, Belbe's Portal, Cavern of Souls, and stuff such as Distant Melody or Urza's Incubator, and if you don’t mind granting the bonus to your friends, use Shared Triumph, Steely Resolve, and/or Cover of Darkness.

Grrrr . . . I was hoping Mexico could pull off the upset, too. Dang . . . 

The following decklist was written during the Costa Rica–Greece match.

Collecting Demons

Collecting Demons ? Casual | Abe Sargent

Ob Nixilis tends to shut down stuff such as land-searching and other effects—who wants to lose 10 life and sacrifice a creature to sacrifice his or her Sakura-Tribe Elder for a Forest? The problem is that opponents can choose to tutor if it’s really vital to winning, and there is no guarantee that people would tutor anyway . . . 

So, let’s change that! Let’s add in stuff like Veteran Explorer and Boldwyr Heavyweights that encourage your foes to search their libraries for stuff. Are you sure you still want to with an Unshackled Ob-Nixilis in play? And if that’s not enough, just run Stranglehold to turn them off altogether.

You have some cards that are great when you bring out a ton of lands via Collective Voyage or Veteran Explorer. Liege of the Tangle and Avenger of Zendikar are downright insane. And if you need to find the right cards, look no further than Maralen of the Mornsong and Beseech the Queen. In fact, Maralen and Stranglehold are a shutdown (your foes can’t draw cards at all).

This deck is for the inner griefer in each of you.

Go, baby! Go, Costa Rica! Oh yes, win that PK shootout!



I hope you enjoyed today’s bajillions of decks inspired by cards from M15! I also hope that you have enjoyed the festivities of the World Cup—it’s been a ton of fun to watch.

And now I get ready to turn on the USA–Belgium match. Here we go . . . 

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

P.S. For Chasm Skulker and Cruel Sadist: Don’t forget these for your Marchesa, the Black Rose Commander decks!

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TAGS articles, casual, spoiler, preview, core set, spoilers, abe sargent, decklist, previews, brewing, brew, magic 2015

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