This Week: I take a standard legal legendary creature and make him the star of the deck. I move away from simple Boros combat based strategies and move into a lesser associated enchantment type to fuel the deck.
One of the most exciting times for deck builders and overall fans of the game is spoiler season. Even in the never ending spoiler season people get excited about new legendaries, killer spells, even lands. You would think this is a positive for #MEDHWA as everything is wide open and new. Not so. A lot of spoiler season is just people commenting on cards that are strictly better and worse or calling for bans because they believe something is overpowered in a vacuum. People even brew whole decks after seeing one legendary creature before they even have the chance to play with it and without seeing what other enablers will be available in the set. It's a race. For me spoiler season means I have these initial thoughts of what might make a great idea, but then I need to wait and see if anyone else was doing the same thing. That was a big problem for Wilds of Eldraine. A lot of the initial spoilers felt very derivative of things that had already been done before. How many Green White enchantress decks are there really going to be in the world? I got excited when I saw Brenard, Ginger Sculptor. I had been waiting for a Bant golem commander so I could play dedicated splicers. I had been sitting on that idea for a while. I felt it was very obvious and it didn't take long for me to be proven right as golem tribal lists featuring splicers started popping up.
I looked at the other legends from the set, Tap tribal with Hylda. Boros equipment/auras with Kellan. Erriet was just going to be pillow fort enchantress with pacifism or goad. I lost interest quickly. I lamented this point for a moment and when I brought it up, someone said I should just build the Bant Golems if that's what I wanted to do, regardless of if other people were doing it. That was a no for me. The fun of #MEDHWA is to build new things that no one else has seen to make opponents stop and say “huh?” So I tried to force inspiration again. I started from the bottom up. There was no way the most obvious, most pushed could have anything new to discover. From the bottom up, another tap option with Sharae of Numbing Depths, but it's middling at best. Ash Party Crasher maybe gets a counter, which makes you question why there are so many legendary creatures. I kept moving up the list. Nothing. Maybe this was a dud. I went and tried again the next day. Nothing. This set was cursed for #MEDHWA.
A few days later it hit me. I hadn't given a fair chance to some of the more pushed creatures. They seem so straightforward, but there it was. Search your library for an aura. Everyone read the adventure side of Kellan, Fae Blooded and saw the same thing. Tutor up equipment and auras, do Boros things, swing for lethal. It finally clicked. I'm not so limited. Curses are auras. I can tutor up powerful curses and punish my opponents. But is it viable? Maybe red has some decent options for curses. But white? White is the good color, right? It couldn't possibly hold its weight with curses. Lynde, Cheerful Tormenter is the curse commander and she's Grixis. I'm losing a lot trading black and blue for white. Would I really?
Overwhelming Splendor can destroy most players. Curse of Exhaustion will deal with the combo player. I even have Radiant Restraints to slow down the guy with the creature heavy strategy. Sure, I have to start with Radiant Grace but that's not a downside. I just make sure not to enchant Kellan. Then there's Faithbound Judge. He doesn't tend to stick around very long but I don't need him to. I want Sinner's Judgment. It's really a one off effect because of disturb, but to be able to put the arch enemy on a clock is a good feeling. The only problem is that I put a big target on my back once I cast it. I don't want to throw too many resources, ie curses, at the player enchanted with Cursed Sinner. It's a fun balancing act. Keep in mind, you can't always count on the other opponents for help in such a tenuous situation.
One of the more interesting challenges with the deck is the sequencing of curses. Often you tailor which curses to use to counter a specific strategy an opponent is employing. That works great in the mid game. The early turns are a little more straight forward. Turn 2 play the adventure Birthright Boon from the command zone. Tutor up Curse of Opulence. I generally drop Kellan on turn 3 and the curse the next turn. This changes a little if someone has a very aggressive deck and drops a creature before me. Then I incentivize that damage going elsewhere, play a 3 drop rock and hit a third party with Curse of Opulence so I wind up with an extra treasure to start my next turn. I don't have to be so predictable. If I start the game with only white mana by turn 3 I like to play Curse of Silence. I name the commander I expect to be cast first. It's like assigning commander tax with the potential to draw a card. The other good turn 3 option is Curse of Hospitality. This encourages people to be aggressive early and is best used against someone playing combo or spell slinger. The more cards that get exiled the more likely it is his win con gets disrupted. The only problem with a 3 drop curse like that is it slows me from playing Kellan turn 3. Whatever I do that first turn I always resist the need to tutor Overwhelming Splendor. Now is not the time.
You're probably saying to yourself “That's it?” It would be except I'm playing white. This opens up a world of bounce spells. Unsummon is a blue card but the effect lives in white too. Kellan is cool but a repeatable tutor in hand is incredibly powerful. The more often and more consistently I can play Birthright Boon the better it is to deploy my curses. This not only works as the tutor effect but also as protection for Kellan when he gets in hot water and as a way to keep commander tax in check. I like cards like Alley Evasion and Light the Way for this reason. Permanents like Jeskai Barricade, Erratic Portal, and Decoction Module get in on the game too. Barricade has Flash for the surprise effect and leaves behind a blocker. Portal and the Module provide a repeatable effect. Kellan does give a nice buff to other creatures in combat so it's not uncommon for me to play a little more aggressively if I know I can bail him out with one of these effects. The last one of these effects I want to talk about will lead nicely into the next paragraph. That card is Shepherd of the Flock. He isn't a lot on his own. A 3/1 with no abilities is not setting the format on fire. Usher to Safety stapled onto it though makes it worth it. To be able to save any permanent in times of trouble, to enable me to repeat the shenanigans with my commander's adventure for a single mana, to be able to bounce the Shepherd to my hand and repeat the process. This is absolutely an all star.
As great as Kellan, the Fae Blooded is, Birthright Boon is the star of the show for this strategy. I wanted to make sure it was in good company so I added in Blessed Hippogriff, Crystal Dragon, Guardian Naga, and more. Blessed Hippogriff helps keep Kellan safe when I eventually do go to combat from the added flying and Tyr's Blessing helps keep any permanent safe from removal in times of trouble. Guardian Naga is a little lackluster. Sure it can attack with little worry but that's about it. Banishing coils is really where the card shines allowing me to deal with an artifact or enchantment permanently. It's the same with Realm Cloaked Giant. He's expensive for his stats but the added flexibility of Cast Off to clear the board in advance makes it an easy include for me. Horn of Valhalla is the real star here. I can tutor it up with my Commander. I get an instant army with Ysgard's Call and eventually equip Kellan with the horn to make my new army a true terror. With adventures floating around and the fact one keeps going back to my hand I added in Lucky Clover and Edgewall Inn. The clover doubles up my adventure spells and the Inn provides me with some recursion for the effects when something goes wrong.
All this talk of enablers and adventures when I just want to show off more curses. Curse of Obsession is a great way to get one over on people playing Thought Vessel and Reliquary Tower. I feel safer on my turns despite them getting extra cards on their own turns. I keep saying I'm going to put it on myself in the late game but never have. With stuff in exile on an adventure and my curses being sorcery speed anyway, the downside is more manageable, in theory. Plus I would churn through so much more of my deck. Maybe one day. Curse of Chaos is another one to encourage combat away from me. With it, we move away from chump blockers to chump attackers. People want to get rid of dead cards and this encourages that with some aggression. These white curses really feel control focused while the red ones encourage people to be aggressive. It's very consistent. These curses are also a great reason for Oblation. It's fine removal in White that's better here. Tuck a problem away and mitigate the feelbads with some cards for the opponent. I prefer to save it for when one of my curses is under threat. Is my opponent going to naturalize one of my curses? Well, I'll hit it with Oblation, send it to safety in my library, draw some cards and then on my turn I'll play Birthright Boon and curse that player all over again. Or just use Oblation and the Boon in this way to move the curse to a more promising target in a roundabout fashion.
A brief note on some payoffs and enablers. There are not a lot of great constellation cards in white. I'm playing Archon of Sun's Grace to enable the go wide ceiling of the deck. Ajani's Chosen also fits that role but with a decent pump to the team. Mesa Enchantress and Kor Spiritdancer are here to draw cards of course. Stuff like Starnheim Courser and Transcendent Envoy lower the costs of my curses. It would be cool if there were something more interesting in regard to enchantress payoffs and support than make it cheaper, or do the thing: draw a card or make a token.
Where does the deck stand? Here it is
Kellan, The Fae Blooded
Curse of Bloodletting Lucky Clover Alley Invasion
Curse of Chaos Auramancer Decoction Module
Curse of Conformity Open The Armory Erratic Portal
Curse of Exhaustion Mesa Enchantress Jeskai Barrier
Curse of Hospitality Blood Thirsty Blade Light The Way
Curse of Obsession Ajani's Chosen Loyal Gryff
Curse of Opulence Heliod's Pilgrim Sigil of The New Dawn
Curse of Shaken Faith Sram, Senior Edificer Stone Cloaker
Curse of Silence Kor SpiritDancer Whitemane Lion
Curse of Stalked Prey Arrest Sun Clasp
Curse of The Nightly Hunt Bonds of Faith You're Ambushed on The Road
Maddening Hex Cooped Up Meticulous Excavation
Overwhelming Splendor Planar Disruption Leave//Chance
Faithbound Judge//Sinner's Realmbreaker's Grasp Kor Skyfisher
Radiant Grace//Restraints Spectral Grasp Transcendent Envoy
Blessed Hippogriff Boreas Charger Danitha Capashen, Paragon
Crystal Dragon Oreskos Explorer Starfield Mystic
Giant Killer Austere Command Archon of Sun's Grace
Horn of Valhalla Doomskar Starnheim Courser
Realm Cloaked Giant Wear//Tear Boros Keyrune
Shepherd of The Flock Crush Contraband Boros Cluestone
Guardian Naga Oblation
Edgewall Inn Mistveil Plains Slayer's Stronghold
Hall of Heliod's Generosity Castle Ardenvale Temple of Triumph
Rogue's Passage Plains x12 Mountain x15
The deck is fun to play. Sure, the first couple turns can be a little repetitive in what you deploy. But Curse of Opulence is a wild card. People attack when they shouldn't or deploy blockers they should keep around for later if they feel pressure. Pressure to keep up, pressure to not look like a target. It makes it more interesting. As more curses get printed the deck has plenty of room to grow. I think the Arrest effects will be the first to get replaced.
Deploying a standard legal commander is a first for the series. I certainly feel like I can be more excited for spoiler season now. Do you think I need to let more time pass before I consider a commander for a strategy? What's the appropriate amount of time to wait and see if an idea is really unique?
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