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Main » Articles » CasualNation #45 – Decks for the Masses

CasualNation #45 – Decks for the Masses

Abe Sargent
Posted on August 9, 2011
 Reddit

Hello, Nation! As we near the end of summer, I wanted to write another article based on decks! Part of what makes writing columns fun is that I get to put on my evil scientist lab coat and make decks. Sometimes a deck is so interesting that it takes one whole column to talk about it. This is typical of Commander decks, which due to their length and “singletonness” require more text to discuss.

Sometimes, I write a column that just gives you some decks. At times, I may have a theme (such as using cards from the latest set, or pulling bad rares randomly from a bad-rare box). Other times, I just want to build some decks for you!

I adore making decks of all sorts. I view these deck columns as the ultimate experiment in deck art. There are times when I will really push the boundaries of deck-building. I want to make sure different people get different things from my decks, but I typically look for combos and synergies like the Johnny that I am.

When I come up with a cool deck idea, I might be working, watching TV, playing a video game, or whatever. I make sure to write down my core idea so I can build those decks later. I have a nice database of deck ideas that I mine for columns such as this, and I feel inspired to grab a few and make those decks. Ready? Alons-y!

"Proliferate and Mana"

I really like this deck. It’s very Abe-ish. It uses Proliferate cards to add counters to things that make mana, and then uses the mana to go off in several different ways.

The most obvious way to make mana with Proliferate cards is to play storage lands. Dreadship Reef was a four-of immediately. Put 1 counter on it, and then watch as you add more and more mana to it from Proliferate cards After that, I wanted some more mana-making. Pentad Prism can be played with 2 counters on it. Just add more and more. Each Proliferate makes a mana.

Then I wanted to make mana permanently. The storage lands and Prism only make 1 mana each, but there are a few cards out there that use counters to make mana permanently. Using Proliferate on them permanently increases their mana-making capacity. City of Shadows is rarely used, but it has serious power. With just eight creatures and two copies of Treachery, you won’t get many chances to use one, but just use it once to start the clock, and then Proliferate away.

The best way to have permanent mana-gains is via Everflowing Chalice. Every time you Proliferate it, it will tap for 1 more. This is your power card and your combo card. You want it in play as soon as possible so you can start pumping it.

What do you have to proliferate with? Twenty cards are dedicated to proliferating. You can kill a creature and proliferate, draw cards and proliferate, and counter a spell plus proliferate.

We also have eight cards of that twenty that can proliferate when you want. Contagion Clasp is another combo piece, as well as minor creature-removal. You can feel free to drop it early and then move to proliferate as you please. The other Proliferate permanent is Viral Drake. You can send it 4 mana to proliferate whenever you want.

In order to win, I included both Profane Command and Rocket Launcher for one-time uses. Whichever is best for the occasion is fine by me!

Note the usefulness of Treachery in a deck with City of Shadows, and Capsize as a way to take care of problem creatures and permanents in a deck that makes a lot of mana.

The final combo piece is Filigree Sages. They give you another set of creatures to sacrifice to City of Shadows (or block), and they also untap artifacts for 3 mana. There are a lot of artifacts, so let’s look at how powerful this is. You can’t easily combo infinite mana, but you can make a ton of mana for use with your win conditions.

  1. Earlier, spend 4 colorless mana and tap Contagion Clasp to proliferate. Put a counter on Pentad Prism, storage lands, Everflowing Chalice, whatever you desire. Do this several times to set up.

  2. Tap Everflowing Chalice for a ton of mana. Make u with the Prism or other sources of mana.

  3. Untap the Chalice with the Sages. Tap and make another ton of mana.

  4. Repeat until you run out of Blue mana. You’ll have a bunch of colorless. If you need to, use your last Blue to untap a Clasp and proliferate to put another counter on things, including the Prism.

By untapping the Clasp and Chalice, you can make a bunch of mana, and keep adding counters to things. It will explode into 20, 30, or 40 mana easily, which you then pour into a Rocket Launcher or use that Black mana you haven’t been using for Profane Command.

I remember brainstorming this deck at work. Now, let’s look at some others.

"Elspeth’s Manriki"

This deck came about from realizing just how powerful Manriki-Gusari is right now in an environment chock-full of equipment. I had also realized that there were enough Soldier-enablers that you could build a Soldier deck that felt like a Sliver deck. I put the two together, and you have this deck.

All of the creatures are Soldiers, and all make your troops better. Some give First Strike, others pump the front or back (or both), and a few others do something else. There is a smattering of creature-removal here with the Catapult Master and perhaps the Catapult Squad as well.

The Master and Squad require you to tap Soldiers to activate them. Unfortunately, Soldiers aren’t really known for Vigilance, so you may be forced to choose between them. No Soldier lord gives Vigilance, but Mobilization does.

You have creatures that cost 2, 3, and 4 mana. Elspeth will start spitting out Soldier tokens, while Mobilization can spend extra mana to join your growing army. With the Catapult dudes wanting bodies to run them, you can find uses for these new recruits.

Finally, they all can be given a Manriki-Gusari, which will enable them to destroy other equipment. With all sorts of swords, shields, boots, and more getting played, perhaps you’ll want to equip sooner rather than later.

"Taco Tuesdays"

The last time I played Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy a couple of weeks ago, I dropped a Temple Acolyte early. Then I had a fourth-turn Venser, the Sojourner join the table (enabled by Sakura-Tribe Elder) and proceeded to gain a ton of life by exiling the Temple Acolyte over and over again.

When I looked over my deck ideas, I saw “Augury Owl + bounce.” Then I remembered the Temple Acolyte-and-Venser combo that gained me 21 life and sealed the game in my favor. I figured that the two ideas could easily coexist, and there was my deck. I added some more creatures with ETB abilities, and rounded the deck with Venser, Momentary Blinks, Familiar's Ruse, Dismantling Blows, and Equilibriums.

Temple Acolyte (referred to as Taco) is a great 2-drop. So is Augury Owl. They gave me early creatures. The rest of my creature base is in the 5-to-7 range. Mulldrifter is an essential in any sort of deck like this, and I had to play four of it. After that, it was just two each of the Fact or Fiction of Sphinx of Uthuun, the bounce of AEthersnipe, the countering of Draining Whelk, and the life gain of Ancestor's Chosen. The eight cards that represent these last four creatures are the beef of the deck, so use them well.

I went a little Equinaut on the deck, and I have to admit that. Equilibrium was such a good addition! Just spend an extra mana when you play a creature to bounce another. You can use it to keep opposing creatures with a nasty disposition on the sidelines, but I prefer to bounce my own good stuff to keep things flowing. Having the ability to go in either direction will really help.

Venser was an obvious addition, so he can exile your stuff for another go. After he gets big enough, use his ultimate to really allow your deck to go off. In a similar vein, Momentary Blink is fine to flicker your stuff in and out for more activations, but you can always use it to keep your creatures alive through targeted removal or keep a creature from attacking you for a turn. This deck has a lot of tempo in it to slow down your foe long enough to win.

Familiar's Ruse will counter and bounce a creature to replay it for another go. I like returning a cheap guy or a Draining Whelk. Both of those are mega-ouch.

With no way of taking out artifacts or enchantments that met with my approval in the creature base of these colors, I went with Dismantling Blow. It will draw you cards if you have mana sitting around for the kicker, and in an emergency, it will serve as the removal you need. With only two in the deck, don’t waste one.

Note that if someone sweeps the board or something, Venser can still exile a Sejiri Refuge for a life or a Halimar Depths for its trigger. You still have options.

"Demon Control"

This deck was designed around the demontastic one-two punch of Rune-Scarred Demon and Reiver Demon. Both will empower your deck for many great things. Unfortunately, both have a high casting cost, so I needed a way to make mana. Enter Cabal Coffers, and more Swamps than normal. All of the Red cards in this deck cost just one r.

I wanted a lot of early creature control. Red was a perfect choice to add power to this deck. The 2-mana Terminate will clear out any creature it can target (barring indestructibility or something weird). It’s great removal early or late. Urza's Rage is a bit expensive for a 3-damage spell, but its ability to be kicked later into lethal territories is nasty. Finally, for the cheap stuff, we have a 4-mana Damnation rockin’ the deck and taking care of early threats.

For the early game, we also have some creatures. I wanted a threatening creature in the sub-4-mana range, because at 4 mana I had Damnation and Solemn Simulacrum. Vampire Nighthawk fits perfectly as a way of keeping back cheap creatures, nipping over a defense for 2 damage, and a smattering of life gain as well. It’s also useful later with a Deathtouch that can kill a bigger creature. Just like Terminate and Urza's Rage, it’s good on turn three or turn seven.

With a need for Swamps to activate Cabal Coffers, Solemn Simulacrum is the deck’s sole mana-ramping card. It will pull out a Swamp, put it in play, and then jump in front of an attacking creature for a card. It’s nice here because you don’t mind if it gets caught in a Damnation.

For the longer game, we have an Oblivion Stone. It can save a few permanents of yours over time, but its main purpose is to add to the sweeping removal our deck has. It will wipe out artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers in addition to the usual creatures. It fits perfectly between Vampire Nighthawk and Solemn Simulacrum on one side, and the 7- and 8-mana Demons on the other. Since this is in the deck, I didn’t run any artifacts that I didn’t want to lose.

Suffer the Past is included in the deck as a way to take the cards in someone’s graveyard and remove them as a threat for recursion. With the large amounts of removal this deck rocks, I fear a Living Death, Replenish, or Patriarch's Bidding. I also fear a humble Oversold Cemetery or Genesis. This will also cause life loss on your opponents’ part and life gain on yours, so you can use it as a Drain Life to kill a player. Due to its instant speed, and your mana-making with the Coffers, you can play it at the end of an opponent’s turn, then untap and take yours. You can use it early in response to a dedicated reanimation deck’s attempt to bring back a severe beater. If Dan casts Exhume after playing Entomb on the first turn and getting It That Betrays, feel free to use this in response to exile it.

Finally, we have Ambition's Cost as a simple two-of. I wanted a little extra card-drawing to jump-start the deck when needed. I don’t think this deck needs a lot of raw card-drawing—it has enough built-in card advantage with tutor Demons, the ten mass-removal cards, and Simulacrums. It shouldn’t need too much, but a smattering here to help push you when needed should prove helpful.

All right, let’s do one more deck.

"Green Slimes, Ochre Jellies, Black Puddings, Grey Oozes, and Gelatinous Cubes"

I wanted to finish today with an Adaptive Automaton deck. I was wondering what tribe to build and I realized that I hadn’t used Green yet in a deck, so I wanted a tribe in Green. I saw an Acidic Slime, and I had my deck. Everything from there was candy.

In addition to including the good Oozes from Green and Red, I decided against adding the valuable Black ones as well, since I wanted to keep this deck simple. In went Oozes of different colors and sizes. On top we layer in a quartet of the Adaptive Automatons.

We have Oozes that cost 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, and 5—a very nice mana progression. Add to that Rampant Growth, Growth Spasm, Winds of Change, and the late-game Gelatinous Genesis. I wanted every card to fit the Ooze theme, so the non-Oozes included also fit the theme—growth, change, and such were emphasized.

After that, it was a simple matter to add four Kazandu Refuges and call it a deck.

Let’s look more closely at those Oozes.

Acidic Slime will knock out many different targets with its caustic nature. This is your kill-card for artifacts, enchantments, and lands. If any of those get out of hand, you have an answer. As a Deathtouch creature, it will end the life of an opposing creature. Since it’s seen print, I’ve played tons of Acidic Slimes, and the creature type I’ve killed the most with them is easily Eldrazi. I can’t tell you how many Artisan of Kozilek, Hand of Emrakul, and more I’ve taken out with this guy.

Scavenging Ooze is the new power of the Ooze tribe. For 2 mana, you get Grizzly Bears that also remove cards from graveyards and grow the Ooze. Very flavortastic!

Other Oozes include the 5-mana, splits-when-it-dies Mitotic Slime, the 3-drop growing-and-mana-hogging Earthen Goo, and the 1-mana early-game-grows-with-Green-creatures-in-play Bloodhall Ooze. Each of these gives us a useful Ooze for the deck.

Don’t forget to save the Eldrazi drone token for something big, like a Gelatinous Genesis, if you have no other use. If your hand sucks, feel free to hoard cards and send them back with a Winds of Change.



That ends today’s article. We had tribal, control, combo, and aggro decks. Not a bad little selection of decks. I hope you found them interesting, and perhaps found an idea for a card here or a deck there! (Feel free to use and modify at will.)

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

TAGS articles, casual, constructed, decklists, abe sargent

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