Mono Black Reanimator

They say that once you go black, you never go back. So, if you’re a fan of the UB version of this deck then you may not want to ruin that by trying out today’s brew. Long time fans might remember that I already wrote about the more traditional UB shell a long time ago. So, why go Mono Black? Other than the fact that it is a more budget-friendly, there are genuinely practical reasons for doing so as well. Not only is it consistent, but it can go off very fast and give you a very strong turn 1 start against your opponent. But enough teasing; let’s read on about Mono Black Reanimator.

One of the main problems with UB Reanimator is that you have to include a lot of blue spells for Force of Will to be a worthwhile inclusion. So why is adding so many blue spells a problem? For starters, Blue is easily the secondary colour in the deck. For the most part, all you really want to play it for are a couple of spells, namely counterspells for creature protection, and as a secondary form of getting creatures into your graveyard. The thing is, black can do both of these things just as well (and even better), without adding those less desired cards. Allow me to elaborate.

Discard spells are a great way to aggressively remove opponents’ threats to your creatures. Not only does it do that, but it also gives you information about your opponent’s hand, strategy and their options. Knowing both of these things can in turn help you develop your own lines of play. I think that all of these aspects of discard are a perfectly fine tradeoff for dropping counterspells. In fact, because of Dark Ritual, you can actually ‘go off’ on turn 1 along with attacking your opponent’s hand, giving you a serious edge in tempo as well.

Discard’s versatility isn’t just limited to use on your opponent either; it can also be used to help you get your own creatures into the graveyard. Some great examples of flexible discard are Cabal Therapy and Blackmail. Both of these spells read ‘target player’, and thus you are able to cast them on yourself if you need to. With Blackmail, just be sure to reveal the reanimate spell that you plan on using, so as to mitigate the amount of information you are giving your opponent.

Volrath’s Stronghold. This seems like a strange choice I know. After all, you are trying to get your creatures into the graveyard from your library, not the other way around. So why include it? Quite frankly, it’s there to protect them once they’re in there. Tormod’s Crypt is a thing, and returning the creature to your library in response to a Crypt activation is a great way to protect it. You can also use it in response to Planar Void, which can be quite relevant in certain situations.

Threats and omissions. Since the deck focuses on getting rid of your opponents’ answers via discard, Nicol Bolas seems like a perfect fit for the deck. After all, not only does he swing hard, but he can also destroy their hand. The problem with Bolas however, is that you do not have the mana to keep him alive long enough to swing in. Adding the colours necessary to keep him alive would seriously slow down the deck, and it is because of this that I did not include him. The rest of the threats that I did include should need no explanation. They all have a use in different situations. I encourage you to browse through the other creatures available to you and see if there are any you might choose instead. Happy Brewing!

Mono Black Reanimator

Land:

5 Swamp

1 Volrath’s Stronghold

4 Wasteland

7 Fetchlands

Total: 17

Creatures:

1 Iridescent Angel

1 Dragon Mage

1 Magma Giant

1 Reya Dawnbringer

1 Crosis, the Purger

1 Spirit of the Night

2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Total: 8

Spells:

4 Animate Dead

1 Buried Alive

4 Dark Ritual

4 Entomb

4 Exhume

4 Reanimate

1 Recurring Nightmare

4 Duress

3 Blackmail

2 Cabal Therapy

4 Hymn to Tourach

Total: 35

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Terror

2 Engineered Plague

1 Blackmail

2 Innocent Blood

2 Cabal Therapy

Controlled bURn

What can YOU do to prevent wildfires? Apparently play today’s deck. There are a couple of reasons this might make sense. Option 1. You are an arsonist and playing Magic distracts you from your other passion. No? How about option 2. You partake in a Controlled bURn.

The idea of today’s brew is to use the speed of a burn deck, while adding some control to it, so that you can win the game quickly without allowing your opponent to do the same. The tricky part about a deck like this is deciding how much you want to focus on each aspect. Because burn decks are so consistent, I didn’t want to lose that, and chose aggression over control.

Ball Lightning. Originally these were actually Frenetic Efreets. Going back on deciding what aspect I wanted to focus on; I was thinking of just how hard the Efreets are to destroy versus how good they are at damaging the opponent. As I stated before, defense is secondary in this deck, which is why I replaced them with Ball Lightning. This decision also had an effect on the mana base, as they require RRR to cast. While I do not recommend changing a mana base for a single card, the rest of the deck tends to focus on Red as well, while the Blue cards are pretty splashable, so I thought it was worth doing.

Another change I made after my original draft of the deck was removing 2 Fact or Fiction for 2 more Fire // Ice. First of all, this card just screams burn control. Not only can it ping your opponent, but it can also take out 1-2 small creatures, control tempo, find you a new card, et cetera et cetera. The card is fantastic in this deck. So, why not play Fact or Fiction? While it can help you in the card advantage department, that’s looking at a long game that we are not looking to play. Fire // Ice can also generate CA, while also allowing us to focus on our game plan of burning the opponent first and controlling them second.

So if the deck wants to focus on being aggressive, why the Maze of Ith? Because of the low mana curve of the deck, it can afford to play a land that doesn’t produce mana. Because this is a red deck, many of your spells can’t take out big creatures, nor do you want that to be their main focus. Ith thus buys you time against decks such as those, and can be played as a singleton due to protection from counter magic. Maze also makes the Stifles particularly good in the deck because they can not only create tempo but also protect it from opposing Wastelands.

I know this is often the part of the article where I explain card choices, omissions, et cetera et cetera. I did that during the main part of the article because I thought it would be interesting for the readers to see how my thought process works when designing Ancient decks. I don’t know whether this inspires you or not, but I hope it at least gives you something to consider when building your own decks. This format has a vast number of options and it is important to consider which ones best fit in your game plan. Happy Brewing!

Controlled bURn

Land

1 Island

3 Mountain

4 Volcanic Island

4 Wasteland

1 Maze of Ith

8 Fetch lands

Total: 21

Creatures

4 Serendib Efreet

4 Ball Lightning

2 Grim Lavamancer

Total: 10

Spells

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Stifle

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Chain Lightning

4 Counterspell

4 Fire // Ice

1 Psionic Blast

Total: 29

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Pyroclam

3 Blood Moon

1 Chain of Vapor

2 Annul

2 Pyroblast

2 Gilded Drake

TurboLand

When a deck name contains the word “turbo”, what sort of expectations do you have for it? To me, it means that the deck does something fast. Therefore, when I think of Turbo _____, my expectation is usually of a deck that is capable of winning quickly. So if you’re like me.. prepare to be disappointed by today’s brew. Don’t let the name fool you, it can be a very slow and control-y path to victory with this one. I am of course talking about TurboLand.

So how does it work? The general breakdown is that you want to get Exploration and Horn of Greed into play. Together, these combine for some serious ramp and serious card advantage. So how is a deck that combines both of those things so slow? The win conditions! Allow me to elaborate..

Despite containing the best manland ever made in Mishra’s Factory, it is not the biggest of beaters. What it does do however is tap for mana, avoid sweepers and pump itself and its fellow Factory Workers. These, along with Treetop Village and Faerie Conclave, are the vast majority of ‘creatures’ in the deck. There is one exception of course, the lone Multani, Maro-Sorcerer, which I included because it is a big beater with Shroud. Whether or not you want to play any is entirely on you.

Another sort of unsung win condition of TurboLand is Time Warp. The card is amazing when combined with the mana acceleration and card advantage of the deck, as both allow you to draw into and play Warps in the early stages of the game. Not only does this allow you to play even more lands and draw even more cards, but it provides you with additional opportunities to beat down on your opponent.

Crop Rotation is another 1-of in the deck, but I sort of wanted to play more of them. Obviously I decided not to eventually, but Crop is really great because it acts as a sort of double for any of your lands. The reason I decided against additional copies is because the deck just doesn’t contain that many toolbox lands. I had also considered replacing it with a Living Wish and putting Tabernacle and/or Karakas in the sideboard, but that is just a bit too slow versus the decks you want those cards against - especially Tabernacle.

Alright, so that about covers the deck right? What? It doesn’t? Oh, you want to know about THAT.. I know I know, Portent over Brainstorm seems strange. Surely this must be some sort of joke! Honestly, I know how weird it looks but the thing is, TurboLand does not contain any fetch lands; and without them Brainstorm can really hinder you. The fact of the matter is, even though Portent is a slowtrip, the deck already draws you a ton of cards so it doesn’t really matter. I recommend you try it out and see what slow/cantrip suits you.

Lastly, I want to talk about some cards I didn’t include in the deck. One of these cards was Summer Bloom. The reason I didn’t is actually quite simple – I needed to cut down on cards and it was a 1-of. Greener Pastures also got cut early on, but if you are going for a more control-y type of build then it might have some potential and could be worth looking into. Happy Brewing!

TurboLand

Land

1 Forest

1 Island

4 Tropical Island

4 Mishra’s Factory

4 Treetop Village

3 Faerie Conclave

4 Maze of Ith

4 Wasteland

4 Rishadan Port

1 Petrified Field

1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

1 Karakas

Total: 32

Creatures

1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer

Total: 1

Spells:

4 Exploration

4 Horn of Greed

4 Portent

4 Force of Will

2 Daze

3 Counterspell

4 Time Warp

1 Crop Rotation

1 Nostalgic Dreams

Total: 27

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Naturalize

2 Elephant Grass

2 Evacuation

2 Zuran Orb

1 Gaea’s Blessing

WUR Standman Lands

Today’s brew is both fun to play and fun to say. Despite being quite slow, it’s a different sort of draw-and-go; ‘cause when you get the lock, opponents’ can only talk. But hey, if you’re tired of reading this rhyme, then let’s jump right in to deck time: WUR Standman Lands.

Today we are focusing on a bit of a different take of an old genre. I changed the name of the deck because 1. I wanted to and 2. its style of play, which combines aspects of both UR and UW Landstill to form something different from either. Like most control builds, this deck focuses on stopping the opponent from playing their game before beating them down slowly. Sound familiar doesn’t it? Want me to elaborate? Let’s dive right in!

Most decks that play Standstill tend to use it as a semi lock/control piece, and Standman is no different; seeing it more as a sort of secondary form of control. Along with its lesser known brother, Hesitation, the two act as more of a deterrent for your opponent than anything else. How? There are actually a couple of ways it does this.. while Standstill provides the opponent with a choice of seeing who cracks first, they almost always do so because of the manland threats that we provide. I could elaborate on this, but I think the card is pretty self-explanatory to be honest, so I’m going to focus more on the inclusion of its brother.

Hesitation provides the same control role as Standstill, but it also stalls them in other ways: since they know they need to wait on their mana to get a second spell through. It can also act as a pseudo Time Walk as they have to waste mana on a spell when it’s inopportune just to get rid of Hesitation. Lastly, Hesitation can be used as a sort of free counter spell, because untapping your lands with it on the board frees up your mana for other things, the main one being manland activations.

So if Standstill and Hesitation are merely alternate forms of control, then how does this deck seek to lock out the opponent long-term? The answer lies in the deck’s White enchantment: Humility. Because of the way Humility works with manlands, you are able to get a serious advantage in combat, resulting in the majority of your creatures staying their ‘normal’ size while your opponents’ do not.

Why Frenetic Efreet? Good question.

Other than the Humility lock and the manlands, the rest of the deck mainly focuses on stopping your opponent from producing any threats. Swords to Plowshares acts as removal for the bigger creatures, while Lightning Bolt and Fire // Ice act as the ever flexible removal/direct damage sources that they are. Also..

Alright, alright - why Frenetic Efreet. In all honesty, I had actually debated going down to 1 copy, and even removing it outright from the deck, because of Humility (without it, I’d consider playing 4 of them). I decided to leave 2 in because they act as great blockers, add some more offense to the deck and because they evade your own Pyroclasm(s). But of course, I suggest you try both and see what best fits your play-style. As always, Happy Brewing!

WUR Standman Lands

Land

4 Tundra

3 Volcanic Island

4 Mishra’s Factory

3 Faerie Conclave

4 Wasteland

7 Fetch lands

Total: 25

2 Frenetic Efreet

Total: 2

Spells

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Standstill

1 Hesitation

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Counterspell

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Fire // Ice

3 Humility

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Pyroclasm

Total: 33

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Pyroclasm

2 Pyroblast

4 Stifle

3 Disenchant

1 Chain of Vapor

WUG Flash

Ok everyone, today we are going to be talking about something important that we haven’t in some time: casual decks. Now they may not be the safest choice at a tournament, but they can lead to some surprisingly unexpected fun. Just remember to protect your cards in sleeves, because if you perform well then everyone’s going to want them. So, do I have your attention? Let’s talk about WUG Flash.

Lands. Tundras and Tropical Islands are very important in this deck. You want mana open for counterspells, but you also need it available for the many creatures in the deck. Because WUG Flash plays as a Draw-Go type of deck, you want mana that is flexible, allowing you to cast your creatures while keeping counter magic open as an option.

Why Flash? Not only does it allow you to save your mana to react and control your opponent, but Flash creatures can also be used as pseudo removal. How? If your opponent is attacking with a creature, you can flash in one of your own and block it. This is especially effective in Game 1, when they probably do not know what deck you are playing. In fact, not only can these creatures be used as pseudo removal, but some of them have other uses as well. In particular, let’s take a look at Mystic Snake and Fleetfoot Panther..

Mystic Snake’s uses are pretty straightforward, but I think it is worth noting at least some of them. Snake can be used to counter any spell, which means just that: counter. any. spell. (that is counterable).  Not only can it be used to stop your opponents’ threats, but it can also protect your creatures from spells that are targeting them. Snake’s versatility makes it very important, as it does everything this deck wants to do – control your opponent while providing a threat.

Fleetfoot Panther also has a lot more uses than meets the eye, but in a very different way. His ‘drawback’ of bouncing a creature when he comes into play can actually be used to your advantage. Along with Flash, this means he can help a creature evade a removal spell, thus going back to your hand instead of the graveyard. He can also be used to save a creature that is chump blocking, as you announce your blockers, then bounce one before it dies. Despite these uses however, I decided to only put 3 copies of Panther in the deck, as you don’t want too many of them in your hand at once.

When I started putting this deck together, it contained Red instead of Green. Fleetfoot Panther, Mystic Snake and King Cheetah really cemented the idea that the deck should contain Green however. Another option was adding both R and G instead of White, but the benefits of Red were outweighed by White’s ability to control, which is why I went with WUG. This might not be the correct choice however, and I encourage you to try things out and see what works for you. Happy Brewing!

WUG Flash

Land

4 Tundra

4 Tropical Island

1 Island

1 Plains

4 Wasteland

8 Fetch lands

Total: 22

Creatures

4 Benalish Knight

4 Defender of Law

4 Mystic Snake

3 Fleetfoot Panther

2 King Cheetah

Total: 17

Spells

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Daze

4 Counterspell

1 Psionic Blast

Total: 21

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Naturalize

1 Regrowth

2 Psionic Blast

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Hydroblast

2 Wrath of God

3 Force Spike

UB Dream Halls

Not that long ago, I wrote about a deck that is not fun to play against. Guess what; today, we are going to be talking about another one. It’s fun to read about though, so don’t stop reading! Alright then, let’s get the awkward intro out of the way so we can dive into the deck. What can cause an opponent to simply not want to play against you? When most of the game involves them just watching you play. Any time this happens, we can refer to it as living the [UB] Dream Halls.

Let’s get started. There are two things you want to do with this deck – 1. get the engine out and 2. then get it going. The engine in this instance is the namesake of the deck: Dream Halls. To do this, it is important to incorporate mana ramp, so you can get Halls out ASAP. Sol lands and Lotus Petals are great ways to do so; the latter also being of use in later rounds. The other aspect of getting the engine out is collecting the combo pieces. The deck contains lots of cantrips and tutors in order to find both the ramp and the centerpiece of the deck, and their importance cannot be stressed enough.

The main thing you want to do once the engine is out is get it running. Since this is a Storm deck, that means drawing and casting spells to a critical mass before destroying your opponent; in this case via Tendrils of Agony. Because the deck mostly contains Blue spells, once Dream Halls hits the board it should be very easy to cast all the spells that you want and win the game.

Mana Severance. Admittedly, despite containing two copies of the card, this was the one that came closest to being cut. While it can certainly help you minimize on dead draws once you get going, the fact is that with Dream Halls out you shouldn’t lose anyway. I had debated switching them out for two Omen, but decided to leave it in anyway because it’s a pretty unique card that has its uses, and also as a sort of nod to Zvi’s first incarnation of the deck.

Mono Blue. When I began writing about the deck, it was originally going to be just one colour. Had that been the case, I probably would have just used Brain Freeze as the win condition. To be honest, this might be the correct route to go since a mono coloured deck has obvious advantages with Dream Halls.  However, I find the main problem with Brain Freeze is that Gaea’s Blessing can really ruin your plan. As always, I encourage you to tinker and see what works best for you. Happy Brewing!

UB Dream Halls

Land

4 Underground Sea

3 Island

4 Ancient Tomb

3 City of Traitors

7 Fetchlands

Total: 21

Creatures

Total: 0

Spells

4 Dream Halls

4 Lotus Petal

4 Brainstorm

4 Impulse

1 Omen

4 Sleight of Hand

4 Force of Will

4 Meditate

1 Future Sight

3 Intuition

4 Tendrils of Agony

2 Mana Severance

Total: 39

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Counterspell

4 Duress

1 Pyroblast

2 Chain of Vapor

BRaGging Rights

Whoever claimed a 3-colour control deck had to contain Blue, clearly never tried playing a deck like this before. While it may not have the ability to sculpt its hand or counter any threats, it does draw you lots of cards and [thus] lots of answers. What’s the best way to beat a Blue-based control deck? Attack their resources/answers and overwhelm them with your own. Today we are going to learn how to win and earn our BRaGging Rights.

Let’s start off with the mana base. Being a tri-colour deck, you want to ensure access to all three colours. This build focuses more on Black mana, but contains enough Red and Green to not go too light on either of them. I should point out that only Black cards contain more than 1 of their respective mana colour in their casting cost, so tweaking the mana base is certainly an option.

I put a copy of Thunderscape Apprentice in the deck because it is just so versatile. You can use him to help protect your creatures, and should that not become necessary, just ping your opponent for 1 at the end of their turn. This spot was originally open for a Nimble Mongoose, but the deck started to focus more on control and less on tempo as it evolved. Another benefit being that Apprentice is Red, meaning he can grow any Dryad(s) that are in play.

Card advantage. Because the deck lacks any sort of hand manipulation via cantrips, the best way for it to get the cards it needs is to draw them. Phyrexian Arena is a card drawing machine, and if you can land it early on, you have a serious advantage over your opponent. The other side of card advantage is when your opponent doesn’t have a hand – Hypnotic Specter, Hymn to Tourach and Duress all do their job at ensuring this to be the case. And what do all of these cards have in common? They all cost Black mana. A turn 1 Dark Ritual can really give you the edge by allowing you to play these early on.

While Specter, Hymn and Duress act as forms of card advantage, they also act as a means to control your opponent. They are not the only means of doing so however; as both Lightning Bolt and Terminate are excellent forms of control.  Lightning Bolt is an amazing card, which I don’t really need to get into. Terminate tends to be less known, which is a shame as it is probably the second best form of single creature removal available (Swords to Plowshares being #1).

As previously mentioned, this brew started as something different before becoming the control-style deck that it did. As you all know, this really is an open format with a lot of deck building potential and I encourage everyone to go through their old card lists and see what interests them. Happy Brewing!

BRaGging Rights

Land

3 Taiga

3 Badlands

3 Bayou

1 Forest

1 Swamp

1 Mountain

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Wooded Foothills

4 Wasteland

Total: 24

Creatures

4 Quirion Dryad

4 Werebear

1 Thunderscape Apprentice

4 Hypnotic Specter

Total: 13

Spells

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Terminate

4 Duress

4 Hymn to Tourach

3 Phyrexian Arena

4 Dark Ritual

Total: 23

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Red Elemental Blast

2 Pyroblast

2 Pyroclasm

3 Hull Breach

1 Avoid Fate

1 Regrowth

1 Pernicious Deed