About: This is a re-imagining of the archetype popularized in the 1997 PTQ. This deck plays a minimal amount of lands, a high amount of low cost non-creature spells, and a few creatures with high synergistic value. This deck was built with this Wizard's of the Coast article by Alex Shvartsman in mind. A special thanks to SneakySnake for his assistance in designing this deck.
The 1997 PTQ list:
Land: 12 Total
4 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
2 Flood Plain
1 Island
1 Savannah
Creatures: 16 Total
4 Werebear
4 Quirion Dryad
2 Mystic Enforcer
2 Merfolk Looter
4 Meddling Mage
Spells: 32 Total
4 Sleight Of Hand
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Foil
4 Land Grant
3 Winter Orb
4 Gush
3 Swords To Plowshares
Shvartzman summarized the general idea of the deck, writing, "... Miracle Grow - a blue weenie deck splashing green for Land Grant and Quirion Dryad - which would grow quickly thanks to the many one-casting cost library manipulation spells."
Our gameplan remains the same as that of our precursor's. Minimize land counts and grow your creatures. Thanks to Deeproot Champion we have access to a replacement for Quirion Dryad.
The rest of the deck can similarily be built on the framework the 1997 PTQ finalists refined. Let's take a look at what some of the cards in the original list tried to accomplish.
Quirion Dryad is one of most obvious cards with a current substitution in Deeproot Champion
Werebear can be substituted for Incubation Druid, which is arguably an upgrade to the original slot. That said, I'm not 100% sold on the necessity of Incubation Druid.
EVEN BETTER THAN ENFORCER. With spark, we have God-Eternal Kefnet. Do you believe in miracles? I sure do. Currently testing Saheeli, Sublime Artificer here as well.
Spark gives us an upgrade on this one. Augur of Bolas
Augur of Bolas
Pteramander. OFFENSIVE CLOUT.
Pteramander
SLEIGHT OF HAND
U (CMC), Sorcery
"Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library."
Sleight Of Hand unfortunately doesn't work with the image code here, so you'll have to click the link. Its fairly even to Opt and both have their advantages. I'd call this a 1-for-1 replacement.
We have no direct replacement for Swords to Plowshares. Right now, the list is running Blink of an Eye in its place as well as Callous Dismissal which provides removal AND a body on the board! NICE!
No direct replacement exists for Winter Orb, however, Teferi, Time Raveler slots nicely here. Currently list does not have this slotted in.
The other cards are in a bit of a flux, and subject to change. Right now, I'm really enjoying the utility and protection of Dive Down and Spell Pierce. We also have very good options available for both land tutoring and low-cost card draw.
**One important thing to keep in mind**
You ideally want at least two mana sources in your starting hand.
That could mean one land and one land-tutor. Don't be afraid to mulligan.
You may see some changes to this write-up and the list. This is a work in progress, and I hope that anyone interested in bringing back this archetype will help contribute. So far its extremely rewarding to play, albeit quite difficult. Comment below, and I'll try to respond quickly.
THIS IS VERSION 2.0 WITH WAR OF THE SPARK ADDED.
The deck is now TURBOCHARGED and quite beastly.
12 comments
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Creature (12) | |||
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$0.25€0.190.03 | |||
$0.25€0.210.03 | |||
$0.35€0.180.02 | |||
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (31) | |||
$0.25€0.170.03 | |||
$2.91€1.970.02 | |||
$0.20€0.120.03 | |||
$0.19€0.090.03 | |||
4
Opt
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$0.25€0.120.03 | ||
$0.24€0.220.03 | |||
$0.70€1.300.03 | |||
$0.16€0.100.04 | |||
$0.23€0.090.03 | |||
Land (14) | |||
$1.24€0.940.02 | |||
3
Forest
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$1.05€0.110.03 | ||
3
Island
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$0.74€0.130.03 | ||
$16.43€15.350.17 | |||
Planeswalker (3) | |||
$0.32€0.180.03 |
$0.38€0.380.03 | |||
4
Negate
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$0.25€0.140.03 | ||
$0.15€0.030.03 | |||
$0.30€0.120.02 |
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1) Saheeli is SOOOO good here. The pre-spark list actually ran Murmuring Mystic, and Saheeli feels like a direct upgrade.
2) I agree with you 100% on Tamiyo. She didn't really do much unless you were already in the lead. I'd rather win *more often* not "win more".
3)did you get a chance to extensively test Search for Azcanta? I'm curious as to how effective it is.
1) Like the change to Saheeli. The flood of cheap 1/1's can really help slow down aggressive decks when you can churn out 2-4 chumps per turn.
2) Did not like Tamiyo. Felt like she was mainly there to protect Deeproot but most of the time I just used her to regrow a card I had milled.
3) Trying out Search for Azcanta in place of Curious Obsession. Not sure which I like better at this point.