UG Show and Tell

“Thank you Johnny, that was very nice. Alright class, who would like to go next? Very well, Timmy, show everyone what you brought.. AHH, WHAT IS THAT THING??” Back in the early days of Magic, the internet wasn’t nearly what it is today. Oftentimes, when someone would get a creature onto the battlefield, it could be the first time you ever saw it. While this wasn’t really the case throughout all of the Ancient era, it certainly could have been for some people. And what’s a great way to show off big creatures to those people? It’s simple really,  you just Show and Tell.

Mana sources. The deck includes a variety of different mana sources, with each one serving an important function(s). The Sol lands (Ancient Temple and City of Traitors), combined with Lotus Petal, allow for fast mana and thus fast starts. The Wastelands are very important, and it is surprising and sad that I added them so late. They are for Maze of Iths and Karakas’.  The fetch lands and coloured mana sources? They do the obvious.

Akroma and company. There is no question that Akroma is the #1 creature in the deck. She protects herself from 2 of the most relevant creature removal colours and she is tough. Akroma is the only creature I put in as a 4-of, because she’s just that strong. Nicol Bolas was another strong contender for including as a playset, but I decided against it for a couple of reasons. The first reason was that I wanted to showcase the versatility of the big creatures in the format. The other was that while he may be strong, Bolas doesn’t do everything. He doesn’t have the protection of Iridescent Angel or the Haste of Spirit of the Night, both of which can be relevant in certain situations.

Why U/G and Living Wish? There are a couple of reasons for these choices. The main one being that Ancient doesn’t have the card filtration that Legacy does. While Brainstorm is, well, Brainstorm; Sleight of Hand is not Ponder.  As such, I wanted to use a tutor-type spell to find the cards required for different scenarios. The other reason for Wish was that I wanted to make the creature list to be flexible. Because of the low power level of Ancient’s creatures, there aren’t really any that you can drop on the battlefield and win instantly with. You need to choose your targets more wisely, thus making a Wish a very important spell in the deck.

Why not Red? I decided on Quicksilver Amulet over Sneak Attack because Ancient creatures just don’t quite have the 1-punch impact of the more modern designs. In the end, I decided that the 1 creature that might fit this role wasn’t worth it, as I was set on adding Living Wish to the deck. Because of this, the deck loses some speed but adds consistency. I would add however, that if I were going to play Sneak Attack in the deck instead, then Bolas would definitely be a 4-of. Happy Brewing!

UG Show and Tell

Land

3 Island

1 Forest

4 Tropical Island

4 Ancient Tomb

1 City of Traitors

7 Fetch lands

4 Wasteland

Total: 24

Creatures:

3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Nicol Bolas

Total: 4

Spells

4 Show and Tell

4 Quicksilver Amulet

4 Living Wish

4 Lotus Petal

4 Brainstorm

4 Sleight of Hand

4 Force of Will

3 Misdirection

1 Intuition

Total: 32

Sideboard

1 Iridescent Angel

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Spirit of the Night

1 Nicol Bolas

1 Serra Avatar

1 Symbiotic Wurm

4 Naturalize

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Exalted Angel