Have you ever been brewing a deck, had a clear vision, then once you get rolling on it realize there's a cooler thing to do with the deck? That's where I am now. Let's back up. The last couple MtG sets have not been very well received. It's caused a lot of Legendary creatures to go overlooked. I'm not just talking about the very low impact type legends usually printed at uncommon. Some heavy hitters are not putting up significant numbers. Some might call it a CRIME, but it's great for me. Everything seems a little weirder when no one has touched a card.
If you didn't catch it, I'm talking about a Legend from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. I'm surprised Kaervek, the Punisher got overlooked the way he did. There were about 400 other choices to build a deck around in the set, so that may explain it in part. When I first saw him I immediately though of the Toshiro Umezawa spellslinger deck. That deck runs a lot of targeted removal to enable you to cast more removal from your graveyard. Such a recreation would be too easy though. I put Kaervek on the back burner until I could differentiate the two. With a little time and and some more careful reading, I found my angle.
I like to push to normalize land destruction in Magic. I even did a whole deck around animating lands and destroying them. Check it out here. People are conditioned to overreact when land destruction happens. But there is no reason to let one player run away with the games by dropping a resource that is too taboo to be dealt with. No other resource is protected this way, and lands shouldn't be either. So what a better way to commit crimes than to target lands? That's one reason I'm doing things differently and publishing this before I get to do full testing. I want to put the idea out into the world and open more eyes to land destruction. Let's do it!
Choking Sands blows up a non swamp. As long as I'm not hitting a basic I'll also ping my opponent. Despoil works similarly without me having to worry about what type of land I'm targeting. I don't expect a lot of my opponents to be playing snow lands but I'm still looking to run Icequake. If I don't get the additional point of damage it will be ok. Rancid Earth, as long as I have Threshold, can punish a token player and knock everyone down a little, me included. Maw of the Mire goes the opposite direction and gains me life. That will be crucial with Karivek making me spend 2 life for each card I cast from the graveyard.
It's not just instants and sorceries that do this work. Blight enchants a land and tempts my opponent to use it and lose it. Boom Box is a little pricey to get off the board, but once it does I hit multiple permanents. Helldozer does double duty. It's tap ability allows me to blow up a land, which would be better if I could do some untapping shenanigans. The creature also happens to be a great beater when I need to push damage through. Although less of a threat in combat, Meteor Golem offers the flexibility to hit a land or other problem permanent. Some would argue this is more important in black since it has problems with enchantments, so I'm glad to have the effect.
There are some solid dedicated removal spells that I listed above. But EDH is more manageable when your spells offer more flexibility. So spells that enable me to commit crimes against creatures or lands do better for me. Befoul acts as either a Sinkhole or a Doom Blade. That's the kind of flexibility this deck is looking for. Stream of Acid acts the same way, in addition to conjuring a terrifying vision of a water feature. Spiteful Blow doesn't force me to choose and hits the creature and land at the same time. Break the Ice goes even harder. I can hit a problematic utility land, since they usually make colorless mana. Or, I could knock out a ton of lands that make colorless when the time is right. I don't expet to encounter a lot of Snow Lands in any given game but there are plenty of colorless producers to make this worthwhile.
That's a lot of crimes. My deck needs to be more than removal spells, otherwise it would be very one dimensional. I added in some Snow Lands of my own. That seems like a real danger when I have Break The Ice, but I want to live dangerously. There are 3 main cards I wanted to play that I could only do so with Snow. The first is Draugr Necromancer. This zombie acts a graveyard hate for me. Exiling my opponents' creatures is great, but the ability to recast them for myself from exile is too rewarding to pass up. Blood on the Snow is a very efficient board wipe, knocking out all creatures for only 6 mana. With enough Snow out there I can recur my greatest threat. This beats losing 2 life to just make a copy of it and leave open that potential for the future. The last one is Withering Wisps. This is an old enchantment that I wasn't familiar with until I started in on this deck. It lets me throw around damage to the table. This is very useful when there are lots of small token creatures running around. I just need to not get greedy and wipe out all creatures on the board with it. If it does however, I can get a second copy with Kaervek. Either way, I need snow permanents out to set the cap on how much damage I can do in a turn.
I'm in black, so I'm happy to trade life for cards in hand. Think about spells like Sign in Blood and Read the Bones. I also have Cremate. It seems very low level, but removing a problem in a graveyard while drawing a card is a small up front cost for 1 mana. At the end of the day it's a cheap way to commit a crime and open up the opportunity to cast more cards from my graveyard. I further diversify my draw with Morbid Opportunist. I'm going to be removing a lot of creatures. I can time my removal spells right to draw tons of cards across multiple turns this way.
But can I go further and weaponize my draw spells? Everyone loves the idea of targeting an opponent with Sign in Blood to drain their last 2 life and winning the game. I can build on that. If I'm in a bind I can use these next couple spells to draw cards myself. Otherwise, I can make a deal, commit a crime, cause an opponent to lose life and open up a key card in my graveyard. Spells like Foreboding Fruit. I can draw or crime, either way I'll make Adamant happen and make a Food token to gain some life back. Painful Lesson and Blood Pact are very straight forward. Sometimes I want to simplify my play and not think about all the angles. Then there's Pact of the Serpent. I'm not overloaded on any one creature type that this is going to set my world on fire. But I will hit someone making a ton of tokens or playing elf ball with it. It would be very easy to hit the right deck for 20 in almost any given pod. Someone is always loading up on one creature type or another. The fact Pact of the Serpent is only 3 mana means I can probably cast this spell twice in one turn to finish someone off. It's risky giving an opponent so many cards to answer your follow up haymaker, but that's the kind of game people talk about after the fact. The kind of game I want to play. Last to highlight is Damnable Pact. This is also high risk, but I can mitigate the downside by timing it and zapping someone at a low to moderate life total.
With all this self inflicted life loss I was starting to worry about my life total. I needed ways to gain some of that life back. Magecraft provided me powerful and natural way to payoff all these spells I'm casting, copying, and recurring. Professor Onyx is a standout. She offers removal right away or I can also use her to draw some cards. Either way, her ability takes my removal and draw spells and turns them into a drain effect against my opponents. Sedgemoor Witch is a little more roundabout as it creates a Pest token that gains me life when it dies. Those pests will make a formidable army when I want to attack or as great blockers. Dread Presence works similarly to Onyx. Every time I drop a Swamp I'll have the option to drain or draw. Twilight Prophet does it all if I have the City's Blessing. Extra cards in hand, gain life, and have opponents lose life. I'll be rushing out 10 permanents just to ascend.
So what did the first version of the deck look like? Like this.
Kaervek, The Punisher
Murderous Rider Imp's Mischief Befoul
Hero's Downfall Puppeteer Clique Blight
Feed the Swarm Pact of the Serpent Boom Box
Defile Atrocious Experiment Break the Ice
Go For the Throat Cremate Choking Sands
Ravenous Chupacabra Read the Bones Despoil
Noxious Gearhulk Sign in Blood Helldozer
Malicious Affliction Greed Meteor Golem
Force of Despair Blood Pact Rancid Earth
Drag to the Underworld Foreboding Fruit Stream of Acid
Baked into A Pie Dread Presence Brink of Disaster
Oubliette Painful Lesson Destroy the Evidence
Professor Onyx Damnable Pact Maw of the Mire
Sedgemore Witch Jet Medallion Pooling Venom
Morbid Opportunist Liquimetal Torque Spiteful Blow
Undying Evil Charcoal Diamond Ratchet Bomb
Undying Malice Star Compass Decree of Pain
Supernatural Stamina Black Market Dead of Winter
Not Dead Afterall Crypt Ghast Blood On the Snow
Stunning Reversal Lilliana of the Veil Draugr Necromancer
Darkness Thumatic Compass Withering Wisps
Ebon Death, Dracolich
Hagra Mauling/Broodpit Cabal Stronghold Tectonic Edge
Demolition Field Dust Bowl Encroaching Wastes
Field of Ruin Ghost Quarter Volatile Fault
Snow-Covered Swamp x10 Swamp x15 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
That's pretty tight. Fun angles, lots of removal, and interesting lines of play to keep games feeling fresh. So what was the thought that upended my sweet land destruction plan? Since Kaervek, the Punisher can hit permanents and make copies of them I wanted to get a little weirder. Not just Instants and Sorceries, or even Creatures. I'm going after Curses. I learned some interesting lessons from curses thanks to my Kellan deck. If you're unfamiliar with it take a look here.
Curses work great when you have a critical mass of them on one opponent. There's a sweet spot you have to find. Too many on one opponent and the other 2 players escape unscathed. Once the main target dies you have to start all over in the late game with few of the auras left to effectively counter the remaining players. If you spread the curses too thin around the table no one gets enough of an effect to be properly hobbled or removed from the game. The plan is more of a nuisance to opponents than an effective way to win the game. Kaervek changes the calculus. With him I want to throw all my curses at one opponent and let him get knocked out ASAP. Kaervek opens the door to replaying all those Auras in my graveyard and cursing the next player. With player 1 knocked out I can now commit crimes against player 2, throw cheap removal that way, and finish a turn up by copying the curses in my graveyard and enchanting player 3 with them. It seems so effective.
There are good curse cards in Black. I'm going to play some of the best and not just jam every curse just because I feel like I have to. I'm playing Curse of Disturbance and Curse of Shallow Graves to encourage attacks to to go toward my opponents. If a player can get 2 2/2s out of one attack he is encouraged to throw creatures into combat. Anyone who doesn't risks falling behind in the coming arms race. Trespasser's Curse hammers whoever is playing a creature strategy and the life gain will be greatly appreciated over time. Most importantly I'm playing Curse of Misfortunes. It is exactly what I want in this strategy. It tutors up my best curse and enchants the same player. This gets me to my desired critical mass much faster.
I traded out some of the land destruction spells in this version. They tended to be a little expensive anyway. I still want to be heavy on the overall removal. Curses need time to be most effective and they keep working even after the board has been cleared, so if I remove some permanents along the way, all the better.
I also tweaked the mana base. It's not the most exciting topic, but it is worth talking about. The first build had a lot of Ghost Quarter effect, lands that you can sacrifice to destroy other lands. I moved further from the land destruction mindset with tis second build. I wanted to smooth my draws so I added in Cycling lands like Barren Moor and Desert of the Glorified. Once I'm at a good spot with my lands I can trade those cards for more Crime based spells.
By this point you want to see the finalized deck list. So here you go.
Kaervek, The Punisher
Murderous Rider Imp's Mischief Curse of Disturbance
Hero's Downfall Puppeteer Clique Curse of Fool's Wisdom
Feed the Swarm Pact of the Serpent Curse of Misfortunes
Defile Atrocious Experiment Curse of Oblivion
Go For the Throat Cremate Curse of Shallow Graves
Ravenous Chupacabra Read the Bones Curse of Restless Dead
Noxious Gearhulk Sign in Blood Curse of Vengeance
Malicious Affliction Greed Curse of Thirst
Force of Despair Blood Pact Trespasser's Curse
Drag to the Underworld Foreboding Fruit Torment of Scarabs
Baked into A Pie Dread Presence Cruel Reality
Oubliette Painful Lesson Meteor Golem
Professor Onyx Damnable Pact Grim Return
Sedgemore Witch Jet Medallion Feign Death
Morbid Opportunist Liquimetal Torque Blood Hustler
Undying Evil Charcoal Diamond Ratchet Bomb
Undying Malice Star Compass Decree of Pain
Supernatural Stamina Black Market Dead of Winter
Not Dead Afterall Crypt Ghast Blood On the Snow
Stunning Reversal Lilliana of the Veil Draugr Necromancer
Darkness Thumatic Compass Withering Wisps
Ebon Death, Dracolich
Hagra Mauling/Broodpit Cabal Stronghold Barren Moor
Demolition Field Dust Bowl Desert of the Glorified
Field of Ruin Blasted Landscape Polluted Mire
Snow-Covered Swamp x10 Swamp x15 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
You wanted me to build 2 decks. Now the question for me is which version do I build first? Which would you prefer to play? Go for curses or a simpler build loaded up with land destruction and removal?
Go ahead and use my TCGplayer link if you plan to build your own version or if you're looking to pick up other cards along the way.
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