A Small Suite Of Things

Danny West has been doing an interesting series at CoolStuff and I think this article is a fine example of that.


And, I've notice I've been going 0-X in a lot of my limited formats, so I really appreciated what this article had to offer.

Always Thinking

There was a last minute change.

I did some goldfishing with Wasting Away and the glut at the three CMC spot really stood out.

Also, it became clear to me that Basilisk Collar on a Plague Spitter was a Death Pits of Rath, without having Death Pits out. So cards like the Wanderer and Lashknife Barrier really couldn't be taken out.

However, a Soul Link and a Death Pits could both be cut. The issue was: What to add in?

I opted for a Gideon, Champion of Justice for a few reasons. First, at four mana there isn't a lot of competition for that spot. Second, as a creature with indestructible, any activations of Thrashing Wumpus or Noxious Field wouldn't be a problem. Third, Gideon could represent a win condition that would survive many forms of removal.

Then the testing began.

Some games against Noah were interesting and very, very grindy. Gideon did some work but wasn't as threatening as I'd hoped. The High Priest, though, had some challenges.

The High Priest of Penance issues continued as testing continued. Even coming out on turn two, it just wasn't making much of an impact. Which makes sense: This is a deck that wants to prevent damage and the High Priest only works if it takes damage. Sadly, the axis this deck wants to win on isn't harmonious with the High Priest's ability.

Effectively, I think I have two options: run Kitesail Freebooter or find different board control elements.

I've been reluctant to put in the Freebooter because that was what was done in the deck tech that inspired this deck's elevation to the spotlight. But that's just pride getting in the way: the Freebooter does plenty of what I would ask for a card in that slot; It's cheap, disruptive, and as a flier it can get in for early damage, while also carrying a Soul Link and surviving a hit from Plague Spitter.

That should be worth testing, so I'm going to test it..

Least Powerful Favorite

This is a fun Twitter thread. (Which I realize goes against how most things from Twitter work but trust me on this one!)

I think Force of Nature might be mine. It's big, dumb, only costs six, and it has trample...what could go wrong?

Weeeellll...if we look at rare green creatures costing six mana and compare the creatures with the modern boarders to Force of Nature, it becomes pretty clear that creature design has gotten much more powerful.

Still, fun times from way back when.

Build It Up High

So far, Wasting Away has been performing like you might expect: If I can get a Death Pits of Rath in play and any source of damage, I'm set.

If I can't, I'm in trouble. So, the goal going forward is going to be twofold:

1) Ensure I can get the combo set up.

and/or

2) Command the Dreadhorde if that fails.

The games have been engaging so far, which means I'll be looking to improve instead of dismantle this deck.

Now that the prelim is done, let's talk changes.

Out
4 Dark Ritual

2 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant

2 Disenchant

3 Spirit Link

1 Terashi's Grasp

In

3 Command the Dreadhorde

3 The Wanderer

2 Basilisk Collar

4 High Priest of Penance

High Priest of Penance. Now, more copies of Basilisk Collar because I have some! And it's a better card than Spirit Link, able to enchant the Knights (which Soul Link can't) as well as continuing to exist if my creatures die.

With The Wanderer and Command the Dreadhorde additions, the cost of doing business goes up, so I wanted to find something inexpensive and cheap to help me get to the mid-to-late game. Enter, the High Priest.

Now, are there other cards that might fit in thematically? Sure. Am I using this good card effectively? Maybe not. Is it just a good card to stuff in a 2 CMC sized hole in this deck? Hell yes it is.

Let's see what happens!

Heuristics

I thought this was a fantastic article about decision making and you should definitely check it out.

Trying In Vain To Figure It Out

As always, I like to start by running the deck through deckstats.net.

What I learned; the manabase is divvied up evenly but I have more black cards. That there is nothing at the four drop spot, but 16 at the three.

While I have eight one drops, none of them are useful on their own; Spirit Link and Basilisk Collar need creatures to go on, Dark Ritual needs something to accelerate out.

As always, numbers don't quite tell the whole story.

The trouble is; how should I tweak this deck now?

Dark Ritual is better suited for fast combo decks. But taking out a one-drop and replacing it with four Command the Dreadhorde seems extremely unwise, because six mana is a lot to get to. I don't think I want four copies of Command anyway; three should probably do the trick.

Rune-Tail, Kistune Ascendant is definitely a "Living the dream" card. I don't want to cut all my creatures but The Wanderer just does what that does better.

So those are on the chopping block, but first a few games with Wasting Away: theorycrafting is fine but I still have to get some games in!

The planned changes will almost certainly mean mana base tweaks, so I'll need to keep that in mind as we go.

Wasting Away

Named after the Nailbomb song, I built this deck to use Death Pits of Rath and Lashknife Barrier to keep the board free of oppositing creatures, and win via creature attacks. Failing that, just activating Thrashing Wumpus with a Soul Link on it can go a long way.

Rules point: The reason this works is because each activation of the Wumpus resolves one at a time. So activating it three times will do three damage- but only one at a time, which means Lashknife Barrier prevents all the damage!

I'll admit, I was inspired to bring this deck to the limelight because of the video I saw from Strictly Better MTG. That's a Standard legal deck but Wasting Away is definitely mining similar thematic territory: prevent damage to yourself while clearing the board.

Let's start off with my original build.

1 Basilisk Collar

2 Order of Leitbur
1 Order of the White Shield
4 Plague Spitter
3 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant

3 Spirit Link
4 Death Pits of Rath
4 Soul Link
4 Lashknife Barrier
1 Noxious Field

4 Dark Ritual
2 Disenchant
10 Swamp
10 Plains
4 Shambling Vent

1 Terashi's Grasp

Now, what this deck doesn't have that the SBMTG deck does is a way to break the game open.

I can establish a soft lock with Wasting Away; Death Pits of Rath and any damage source means that the board is going to stay pretty clear for me. But winning is a bit more challenging-especially since I have my creatures protected far better than myself.

The last update to this deck came around the time of Kamigawa block, though and that was fourteen years ago. Magic has changed a lot since then and I think it's time to see if this deck is still engaging to me.