Good evening folks, Shdorsh here again with a very janky deck. I don't know why, but lately I've been kinda stuck on Selesnya. On another note, I've been harvesting coins to get Anthology 5, which I have to say is pretty good value for historic janks. It comes with the Phyrexian Praetors, that are funny as hell. I've found Ilharg, the Raze-Boar and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur to be a ridiculous draw combo, but that's not what we're here for today, no no...

So, what are we going to jank today?

"Phyrexia's purity leaves room for no other"

- Xantcha

This is the main combo. "What's so combo about this?" You may ask. Well, to put it simple, Overwhelming Splendor removes all abilities and rules text from any opponent creature in play. Very funny when someone tries to remove your Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite with Plaguecrafter, Ravenous Chupacabra, Kogla, the Titan Ape or other funny stuff. It also turns them into 1/1, where this combo comes into real play:

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite meanwhile, gives all opponent creatures -2/-2, and 1/1 plus -2/-2 is what the end combo is all about: Denying an opponent's every creature spell so long as he can't deal with the combo and his creatures come into play with -1/-1. At this point, you also get a nice bonus to your own creatures, +2/+2 for all of them weaponizing them further and setting yourself up for the big winning swing.

Problem with this is that our 2 main pieces cost a lot, so we will have to figure something out about how to get mana quickly or put the card right onto the battlefield.

Tons and tons of ramp

The only way to get this mana is obviously by ramping up as fast as we can. You might remember the Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale, which I used to ramp up my Azorius Hammertime deck. It comes back in here, with a good little friend: Battlefield Raptor, which enables you to fly past the barrier you just created.

Migratory Greathorn also works nicely with this, as it buffs up your creatures and puts a land into play for each mutation. This synergizes especially well with the Battlefield Raptor, as it gets both first strike and flying from it.

The Arboreal Grazer is a good way to start the game, as you get a wall with reach that saves you some time and becomes a real attacker with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and puts an additional land onto the battlefield.

Other than this we got now some fresh Harrow from jumpstart. What can you not love about this card? It is instant speed so you can sneak it past blue counterspells. The lands also come in untapped, so it is quicker than the usual Cultivate or Roiling Regrowth, as you can chain Harrows after only 4 mana or use a Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale right after it. It also compresses the deck more as you remove 2 land cards from it, assuring you to draw your combo pieces easier.

Carddraw and cheating stuff onto the board

With as much mana as we will be generating, The Great Henge will work out nicely: You get to draw for each time you put a creatue in play. With Auspicious Starrix, and a bit of luck on the creature-side, this can be actually quite nice. Not only this, but Auspicious Starrix gives you a chance to put some of your expensive 7 mana or 8 mana combo pieces onto the board for nothing. What a bargain!

Sixth Sense and Oakhame Adversary are other good ways to draw cards. While Oakhame Adversary acts as an additional threat and might be a target for removal spells, Sixth Sense is actually a good second turn play on Battlefield Raptor, as it is our main evasion creature.

Good interactions vs bad interactions

There are some things that I need to warn you about, with this deck, though, just so you know where you stand:

Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale can interact in funny ways with this deck. You should be careful if you played tons of them and filled your opponent's battlefield with 0/2 plants.  This means the following:

• Your Overwhelming Splendor will turn the 0/2 green plant creatures with defender into 1/1 creatures without defender, effectively weaponizing the dagger's effect against you. This can provide your opponent with a lethal swing if he managed to bring you low enough while you were ramping up.
• It forces your opponent into having a green creature, which lowers the cost of your Oakhame Adversary. This means also that your Oakhame Adversary will have to attack through walls if you want to get an additional card.
• Your opponent won't be getting any token 0/2 plant creatures if Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is in play, and any 0/2 will be removed upon having Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite enter the battlefield, unless the opponent manages to put a +1/+1 counter on it.

Mutating on the top can be abused in many ways. I did a vehicle deck where I first crewed, then mutated them to have permanent creatures as their old type gets removed and they become the card with mutate, only with added rules text. This can be used to mutate away legendary creature type, and enhance your Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in funny ways:

Since you can't control what you draw with an Auspicious Starrix, you might end up with 2 legendaries on the battlefield, having to sacrifice one of them (Shut up with your laughter, Tergrid, this isn't going to happen).  in that case, putting the Auspicious Starrix on Norn Elesh, Grand Cenobite might make it squishier by 1 toughness, but it gains 2 strenght and you can play an additional Elesh Norn without having to sacrifice either. In other words: Opponent creatures get a whopping -4/-4, all your creatures gain +4/+4 except for the Elesh Norn-Starrixes, they get +2/+2 .

This is an unlikely scenario though, as normally, Elesh Norn either ends the game or gets removed.

Good Matchups:

In general, every creature deck that relies on squishy creatures, though some more than others:

• Scute Swarm suffers massively from both pieces of the main combo: It loses its ability to reproduce massively, if it wasn't already fully removed by Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
• Rat Colony doesn't fare much better, as it gets turned into regular 1/1s or die outright just in the same fashion.
• White decks are especially reliant on their triggers. Would be kinda bad if something happened to those, eh?
• If you ramp your mana fast enough, goblin decks will be especially fun with this: Since most goblins buff up others, it can be a chain reaction of destruction, as Elesh Norn rips through them as she enters the battlefield.

Bad Matchups:

One special creature deck archetype and mostly non-creature decks maybe?

• If your opponent has a deck that gives its creatures quick +1/+1 counters without creature triggers, you're going to have some big trouble. Hydra's Growth is not advisable.
• If you encounter a mill deck with Ruin Crab, all you can hope for is that you draw into a Battlefield Raptor and just mutate it to kill the opponent while disregarding his milling. Since this deck draws a lot of your lands away, it is going to be tough, though it is possible.
• Normally, I'd be scared about Izzet spells matter decks, but it seems they can't really kill the big hitters like Aspicious Starrix or Norn Elesh, Grand Cenobite without running out of spells to fling onto your face. Anything black control with destroy effects will be a severe pain in the butt, though. Then again, isn't that always the case?

In conclusion

A very funny and janky creature denial deck, that I believe gives Xantcha's quote a new meaning. Yes, as I start reading more and more into the lore, I kinda find myself getting some Vorthos kind of traits.

Disregard the following passage if you aren't into Vorthos pedantry...

Anyway, this is a funny deck when it triggers. Just seeing other people play some random 10/10 creature, only for it to be sent directly to the graveyard is priceless. I had people returning a big chunk of their graveyard with this deck, only to have it go flying in their face. Very funny. That's why you should read the cards, folks.

The problem is that this deck has quite many mythic cards and some rares, so it might be a bit difficult to complete. Anyway, if you're a historic player, I'd advise you should get the fifth anthology, as there's many funny cards that could be nice finishers. The fifth anthology is I believe still sold until the 12. August as far as I know and there's a chance there will be a 6th one that will be out soon if it overlaps just like before.

I still am waiting to get some more mythics so I can maybe get more Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, which could be very meme-y as I said before. Anyway, that's it for today's jank, hope you liked it. As usual, feel free to leave me a follow to see what other shenanigans I can come up with and until then, stay fresh, stay cool and I'll see you next time!