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Main » Articles » CasualNation #32 – New Phyrexia Decks

CasualNation #32 – New Phyrexia Decks

Abe Sargent
Posted on May 17, 2011
 Reddit

Hello Nation! Welcome to the article that will build several decks with the newest cards from New Phyrexia. I like to write one of these articles after every set review, because I am so excited to see the new cards in action! I hope that you will find some interesting ideas in here for your own decks. Perhaps you’ll even be inspired to try one of these for yourself!

"Bludgeon Craziness!"

This deck includes four cards from New Phyrexia! Phyrexia's Core, Vulshok Refugee, Mycosynth Wellspring, and Bludgeon Brawl are all in the deck. I wanted to build a deck around Bludgeon Brawl. As my idea formed, I wanted artifacts that you were not afraid to lose, since they would likely be targeted if they got out of hand. Mycosynth Wellspring was perfect for this—it gets you a land, it equips to give something +2/+0, and when it is offed, it can get you another land. It was perfect. Ichor Wellspring also came to mind, for the same reasons as above.

Now that I had my card I wanted to build around, I looked for other ways to expand the theme. I wanted a very expensive artifact for a late game ender with the Brawl out. Spine of Ish Sah is perfect. Kill it, and it comes back for more pain. It can take out something that stands in the way of victory. It’s great.

My deck moved to creatures to equip. I started with the Pro White and Pro Blue Akroma, as a fine finisher and nasty equip target. Then I wanted to rock the Vulshok Refugee for some Pro Red action as well. Since I had these guys in, I knew I wanted Slagstorm as mass removal to help keep you alive and take out opposing creatures.

Another card that I felt was virtually essential to this deck was Myr Quadropod. It stays alive through a Slagstorm, and its ability to change power and toughness can really mess with the equipment that’s on it, as you play with the numbers.

While Myr Retriever will die to a Slagstorm, that’s okay, because you can get back a Wellspring or Quadropod (or perhaps a discarded Spine). You want it to go. It’s in the deck to pump the artifact count and add some synergy, while also giving you another creature for an emergency equip. It fits a lot of holes.

With enough artifacts in the deck, I felt safe with a pair of the Kuldotha Phoenix. Their Metalcraft ability to return has a solid shot at going off. Unlike a lot of other Metalcraft abilities, you only need them in play to pull it out of the ‘Yard, you don’t need metalcraft consistently to keep it pumped or anything. More flying equip targets are good.

Finally, I tossed in a pair of Megatog. I wanted a sacrifice outlet for the Spine and Wellsprings beyond the land. You can sac a bunch for a final game ending swing, and the trample it gets from one sacrifice, plus the Spine of Ish Sah, well, that just brings a tear to my Norwegian eye.

Great Furnace sucks as equipment, but it can help out Megatog’s sacrifice or metalcraft off a Phoenix. Phyrexia’s Core is obviously another sacrifice outlet for stuff. After that, I considered cycling lands, but with the higher casting cost stuff in here, plus equip costs, I decided to keep this deck with just lands that are in play. Often, cycling lands cause you to end up with one or two fewer lands in play by the end of the game. That’s not what we want here.

Anyway, while I was building this deck, I came up with another good idea for Bludgeon Brawl. Want to see it?

"Blow to the Kitty"

This deck wants to use Bludgeon Brawl to make 0-cost artifacts equip for just no mana at all, and then put equipment on all of these guys that want equipment on them. You can move Ancient Den and Darksteel Citadel to Kemba or Raksha or many others as you have desire.

I started with the 16 artifacts that make mana plus the Brawl, and then I went looking for good equip targets. I knew I wanted the Skyhunter Cub, because it jumps up when you toss on that Great Furnace. Kemba makes you a bunch of tokens very quickly when you load it up with stuff. It’s perfect in this deck. I also liked Raksha, for the obvious reason. I wanted some more soldier or knights and kitties, so Leonin Den-Guard came in. I still wanted some value, and at this point, I left behind the cats to give me Auriok Steelshaper which gives me more umph, and Goblin Gaveleer. These both fit the theme, and the Steelshaper, in particular, is something that adds to the lords and leaders section of the deck.

I was left with 8 card spots, so I tossed in 4 Lightning Helix and 2 each of the good White Planeswalkers that fit the theme of this deck.

Like many Johnny decks, this one lacks a lot of stuff. It has one critical card (Bludgeon Brawl), and little in the way of finding it or protecting it. Without the Brawl, this deck is dead in the water. There’re several ways to counter this. In those final 8 cards, you could add search (such as Enlightened Tutor), protection (Privileged Position, Fountain Watch), and similar effects. I also wanted to toss in Auriok Salvagers or perhaps Salvaging Station to give me some recursion and a large equipment for later in the game. There’s a lot of ways you could flesh out the core of the deck. My PWs are really good for this deck however, so be careful. Elspeth’s tokens are pumped by Auriok Steelshapers, and if you build her up, I would absolutely use her ultimate, in order to protect your equipment, creatures and that Brawl.

This is a fun deck to see another way to build around Bludgeon Brawl. Okay, now let’s move on to something else.

"5 Chancellors and a Partridge in a Pear Tree"

This deck works simply. It wants to maximize your Chancellor-ness. You have a 1/3 chance of any given card in your hand being a Chancellor. That means between 2 and 3 should be in your opening hand. Then you reveal them to give you a big edge. At turn 4, you drop one of your big guns, and win with Sneak Attack, Eureka, or Pyromancy.

The only trickiness is Serum Powder. If you get an opening hand with few Chancellors, you don’t want to drop to 6 to get more, because your chance of en-Chancellor-ness is reduced. Therefore, Serum Powder works to give you a shot at another seven, to try and get a much better Chancellor hand. Plus, with the lack of the cards you let go, your chances of a big Chancellor hand grow. Imagine this is your opening hand—2 Serum Powder, 1 Chancellor of the Spires, 1 Mountain, 1 Forest, and 2 Sneak Attack, feel free to pull them out. Then, with 53 cards and 19 Chancellors, you have a better chance of each card being a Chancellor (it’s not too much, it’s like an extra 3% per card, but it adds up to an extra 21% per hand of getting a Chancellor you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten, and that’s a real chance).

This deck is purely for fun, with little chance of winning. While it certainly is a one trick deck, I added Rupture Spire to give you a slight chance of playing Chancellors if the game gets that far. I thought you might enjoy this concept deck.

"Isolation in Groups"

This is a deck built around Isolation Cell. I wanted a way to force people to play creature spells, so I decided to make a bounce deck. If they don’t play creature spells, then just kill them with man lands or tokens from the Factory.

Since you are being all bouncy bouncy, I went with several enchantments to keep creatures in their player’s hands. Dissipation Field will bounce anything that damages you, such as an attacking creature, perhaps. It’s a great defense when starting down the barrel of an Isolation Cell.

Similarly, Sunken Fiend bounces a creature every turn. It will bounce yours, and it will bounce your tokens, so don’t go all Urza crazy until someone takes it out. It is the single most annoying enchantment you have, so it won’t be in play for the entire game. If it remains in play, just make one token, then make another each upkeep and swing with the one already made—or keep making tokens off it while making a Conclave a creature and then bouncing and replaying it.

Warped Devotion punishes anyone for bouncing a card to their hand by forcing a discard. Every bounce is a Recoil, and that’s nasty. Because of Warped Devotion, I changed the deck to not play any creatures of my own, and you don’t see things like Man-o’-War in the deck as a result. Warped Devotion is a hammer. It forces your opponent to not play anything for fear of both bounce and discard, or to try and overload your bounce by playing their entire hand—each of which plays into your strategy. With no cards in hand, every bounce spell is a Vindicate. If they aren’t doing anything, then you will basically win by default. It’s perfect.

Recoil is a 4 of because it’s the only bounce in the deck that will bounce a permanent, instead of just a creature. You can bounce an annoying enchantment, Planeswalker, etc. With Warped Devotion, Recoil becomes mega nasty. The other 4 of is the cantrip Repulse, as an instant bounce that draws you a card. I had Evacuation in the deck, but after consideration, I think it’s usually a dead card and too much overkill.

I wanted to rock a strong amount of counters to stop a crucial Disenchant, Tranquility, annoying things of my opponents, and so forth. With the tinging Isolation Cell may do, getting in a little extra damage with Undermine is sweet. You may need only a few hits with a token or land to finish things.

I almost had Teferi’s Response in the deck, but even here felt it a bit too narrow when I often want to counter something targeting my enchantments as well. It would stop things like Wasteland that are currently unstopped, so there is value in running it, if you are so inclined. I’d pull two Forbids for two of them.

The creatures are obvious. Creeping Tar Pit is a must include as a land that both makes mana of the right colors and swings for unblockable damage. Faerie Conclave gives you Blue mana and an attack in the air. Finally, the aforementioned Urza’s Factory can give you an army over time to crush through defenses. The combination of these cards leaves you with an interesting controllish comboish deck that I think will really appeal to some of you.

"Golems ’R’ Us"

This is the obligatory Golem deck. I like how the splicers and their golems fell mechanically different from other tribes in the past, and I think WotC should give themselves a pat on the back for that reason.

I wanted to make sure that my final cards supported the theme, rather than covering holes like Swords to Plowshares or Absorb or Beast Within might do. Tempered Steel is good in this deck as It gives the golems serious power. Momentary Blink can abuse the Splicers, especially the Maul Splicer. It can also save a Splicer if you prefer. Since this is an artificer deck just as much as a Golem deck, I went with a single copy of Coat of Arms, to pump them as well. I don’t usually want too many of these, because I’m often bit in the behind by another tribal deck or a token deck at the table. I like one as a surprise; also as a surprise we have one True Conviction.

Our mana base is smooth as butter, with the Citadel and Ruins. The Ruins can bounce a land and make the mana you need, and since we have 7 lands with CIP abilities that can be reused, it has some value in that department as well.

Building a deck like this is simple, but not everyone wants to see crazy Johnny decks. Some people want simpler decks like this. Why should I deny the masses? Here you are, a nice little Golem deck.

I try to keep these articles at 4 or 5 decks, and we did five today. I hope you found a starting point for your own deck building in today’s article.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

TAGS articles, casual

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