Homebrew Decklist: Nulltread Aggro

Nulltread Aggro Ver. 1

Spells:

4x Nulltread Gargantuan
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Winged Coatl
4x Broken Ambitions
4x Cryptic Command
4x Sower of Temptation
4x Kitchen Finks
3x Great Sable Stag
3x Farhaven Elf


Lands:

4x Flooded Grove
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Ancient Ziggurat
2x Gargoyle Castle
10x Forest
4x Island

This was an interesting deck to build because I decided to go completely out of my way to include some cards that aren't usually main-decked in standard. With such a fast and creature heavy format I felt like I could include a card like Winged Coatl because of its speed and effectiveness against pretty much any creature card being played. I also felt like because of the popularity of Fae, 5cc and U / W Lark (and possibly Merfolk after M10) I could main deck Great Sable Stag. It is just an all around good beater than doesn't die to Fallouts and cannot be meddled with while entering the battlefield. It is also a great card to bounce back with my Gargantuan because I don't have to worry about it getting countered when i decide to play it again.

The cards that have real synergy with Nulltread Gargantuan are cards like Kitchen Finks, Sower of Temptation and Farhaven Elf. Kitchen Finks is fun because you can keep gaining life by bouncing it and re-playing after you've already played it and Persisted it once. You can grab something with sower and bounce it via your Gargantuan so you dont have to worry so much about bouncing something that is going to be important to your overall strategy. You can play your Farhaven Elf on turn two or three and then bounce it with your Gargantuan and then play it again to get twice the acceleration you normally could from the card making it's three mana cost a little bit easier to swallow. It is also great for this type of deck because until Zendikar enemy colored mana fixing is much harder to do and Farhaven elf can fetch either a forest or an island from your deck to help you get out the key cards that make this deck so much fun to play.

There are probably adjustments to the numbers and possibly the cards in the deck but I wanted to throw this out there because I've been getting so far behind on my posts and didn't want to continue putting things off. This idea has been slow to come together so I might come back next week with a more polished version of this decklist for your consideration.

Please comment, email (homebrew.magic@gmail.com) or tweet (@homebrew_magic) any constructive criticism you have pertaining to this or any of my posts. Your input is both needed and appreciated. Keep on Brewing!

(Links and Pictures provided by Wizards of the Coast Inc)

Homebrew Decklist: Jund Aggro

Since the "Homebrew Pick of the Week" for this week is Bloodbraid Elf, building a Jund deck around it was a no-brainer (just like everything I do...:P). For some reason I had issues creating the land base for the deck and haven't had a chance to actually test it but it looks good on paper.. er.. on my monitor..

Jund Aggro

Creatures:

4 x Bloodbraid Elf
4 x Putrid Leech
4 x Boggart Ram-Gang
3 x Anathemancer
3 x Chameleon Colossus
1 x Broodmate Dragon

Other Spells:

4 x Bituminous Blast
4 x Blightning
4 x Maelstrom Pulse
3 x Terminate
2 x Primal Command

Lands:

4 x Savage Lands
3 x Treetop Village
3 x Twilight Mire
2 x Fire-Lit Thicket
2 x Graven Cairns
2 x Karplusan Forest
2 x Llanowar Wastes
2 x Sulfurous Springs
2 x Reflecting Pool
1 x Forest
1 x Mountain


Sideboard:

3 x Guttural Response
3 x Kitchen Finks
3 x Volcanic Fallout
2 x Pithing Needle
2 x Thought Hemorrhage
1 x Anathemancer
1 x Terminate



This deck is relatively straight forward: Play cheap, powerful creatures that give you 2-for-1's and then attack with them. OK, OK there is a little bit more to it than that but not much! Your Bituminous Blasts can cascade into pretty much everything in the deck except for your Broodmate Dragon and Primal Commands. Your Bloodbraid Elf can cascade into your removal/damage spells as well as some of your cheap-yet-powerful creatures such as Boggart Ram-Gang.

Maelstrom Pulse and Terminate are your main sources of removal (besides DD removal like Bituminous Blast) and keep your opponents minions at bay until you can swing for their head. Maelstrom Pulse was an automatic 4-of because of how well they neutralize token decks as well as just being darn good, cheap removal. Blightning is good giving you tempo advantage both early and late game, it's just a freaking good card in this decklist! Anathemancer rocks the meta because most HQ decks out there are running very few basic lands. The fact that it has unearth makes it a great card to deal with 5 color control type decks as well.

Both the land base and the sideboard are still under construction but I wanted to post it for your consideration. Please comment, email (homebrew.magic@gmail.com) or tweet (@homebrew_magic) any constructive criticism you have pertaining to this deck or any of my posts. Your input is both needed and appreciated. Happy Brewing!

(Links and Pictures Provided by mtgfanatic.com)

Homebrew Decklist: Oh God Your Breath!!..of Malfegor..

Yeah...so this week's decklist is built, as usual, around the Homebrew pick of the week: Breath of Malfegor!!

Huzzah! Ohhhhhhhhhh Shiny..

Ok there is a definete possibility that I have been working too much and have forgotten how to write blog posts without sounding insane or just plain overly excited. I will try my best to overcome this sudden handicap and describe this weeks deck without scaring you too badly. Actually..I'm not sure I can do that so I'll just get straight to the decklist!

Oh God Your Breath!!..of Malfegor.. (Yes this is the name of the deck not just a clever post title..)

Spells:

4x Breath of Malfegor

4x Volcanic Fallout

3x Magma Spray

3x Incinerate

3x Terminate

4x Blightning

2x Banefire

1x Chandra Nalaar

Creatures:

4x Anathemancer

4x Hellspark Elemental

3x Shambling Remains

3x Viscera Dragger

2x Malfegor

Land:

13x Mountain

7x Swamp

This budget deck is fun to play in multiplayer. It is geared towards multiplayer gameplay but is also a great deck to give a new player because they only have to learn a few mechanics and it's pretty straight forward. You burn everything and everybody and you can get tons of mileage out of the creatures because almost all of them have the unearth ability. This is important in multiplayer games because of multiple decks running board wipes (at least in my playgroup). I like to play something like this in multiplayer because it allows me to not have to pay attention to every minute detail of my opponent's plays. I just burn them or everybody if I think they are getting to much board presence. The only problem arises when you burn too much too early which causes you to gain aggro from pretty much everybody at the table. If you are playing a deck like this just lay back and use your spot removal and get some unearth creatures in the graveyard by small attacks and blocks before really hitting them hard after establishing a decent mana base.

P.S. Sorry this post is 2+ weeks late. I will try and be better about getting posts out when I'm either busy or out of town.

(Pictures and links provided by magiccards.info and Wizards of the Coast Inc.)

Homebrew Decklist: Doran Lark

Since Reveillark is the Homebrew Pick of the Week I tried to find creative ways to utilize its ability. Out of the hoards of great lark targets that are currently type II legal, Doran, The Siege Tower is one of the most efficient and hilarious. Instead of getting back your little 2/2 with some decent ability you are essentially getting a 5/5 with an ability that severely changes the game state. Coupled with cards like the freshly printed Grizzled Leotau and Lorwyn's Treefolk Harbinger it makes your side of the board extremely mana efficient and, at times, just plain scary! Since both of those are also great lark targets it makes sense to build a deck around this idea of putting out low mana creatures with less than two power and huge toughness. That was the idea behind this week's Homebrewed deck: Doran Lark!



Doran Lark


Creatures:

3 x Doran, the Siege Tower
4 x Grizzled Leotau
4 x Tidehollow Sculler
4 x Birds of Paradise
4 x Treefolk Harbinger
3 x Ranger of Eos
2 x Reveillark


Other Spells:

4 x Crib Swap
2 x Behemoth Sledge
4 x Captured Sunlight
4 x Maelstrom Pulse


Lands:

2 x Brushland
2 x Fetid Heath
2 x Forest
3 x Llanowar Wastes
4 x Murmuring Bosk
3 x Plains
1 x Swamp
2 x Treetop Village
1 x Twilight Mire
2 x Wooded Bastion

The general idea of this deck is to get highly efficient creatures out quickly along with Doran to seal the deal. Tidehollow Sculler keeps their big threats at bay or at least forces them to use a path on your Sculler instead of Doran later on. Birds of Paradise is the main fixer for the deck and allows a turn two Doran which is blisteringly fast. It also can swing for one flying damage if once you get your Doran on the field. Treefolk Harbinger both tutors up Doran and can beat for 3 once he is out. It can also grab a forest if you find yourself up against a wall or getting mana screwed. All for one green! Grizzled Leotau is both a great lark target and a great card to pair with Doran both early and late game. Ranger of Eos is good in this deck because he can grab both your Birds and your Harbinger for yet another explosive play.


Maelstrom Pulse and Crib Swap are your main removal cards in the deck. The Pulse keeps tokens and basically any non-land permanents from becomming a problem. These are going to be especially good against the even stronger post ARB Black/White tokens match up. You may be asking yourself why I'm using Crib Swap instead of Path to Exile. Two reasons: 1) With a deck this efficient I'm not worried about spending the extra two mana to get a card with a lesser drawback 2) It can be tutored with a Treefolk Harbinger. This gives those Harbingers a viable target (besides a forest) if you already have a Doran in your hand or on the field.


The last two cards are fresh off the printing press and are especially fun/awesome in a deck like this. The first is Behemoth Sledge which is basically a colored Loxodon Warhammer. It is far superior to the Hammer in this deck because once Doran hits the field, the sledge remains equally useful while the Hammer loses quite a bit of its potency. It seems to be made for Doran and is very fun/funny to play in this deck. Cascade has brought a wave of useful cards to the meta and one of the most fun and great in this deck is Captured Sunlight. It mitigates the hurt of your numerous pain lands and can pretty much cascade into anything in the deck besides your Ranger.


Wait!!!!! What about Reveillark?


This deck probably seems like more of a Doran deck than a Reveillark deck and well...it is. Lark brings back most of the cards in the deck and makes for explosive middle and late game plays. It's the card that inspired me to build the deck and it is what makes it all the more potent against a slew of decks full of various types of spot and mass removal. It is the glue that holds the deck together, its foundation, its very life force!! OK enough with the metaphors already! I think you get the point! I'm still working out the kinks so let me know what you think of the decklist and how you think I can improve on it.

(Links and pictures provided by mtgfanatic.com and magiccards.info respectively)