Jund 'Em Out! What does that mean? I'm not exactly sure. But that's the spirit of today's deck. And it's a weird one. Like most of my articles, this one comes with a story. I was doing a Gatecrash prerelease years ago and opened Spark Trooper. I remember thinking it was the dumbest creature I had seen. I was disappointed it was my rare. I didn't use it wisely and had mixed results with it. I hadn't had much experience with Ball Lightning prior to that and was underwhelmed overall. Why would anyone want to sacrifice a solid creature at the end of the turn? It sat in a box of rares not doing anything.
Flash forward many years and I was playing EDH against a Mr Orfeo deck. This uncommon Rhino seems underwhelming at first. A 4 mana 2/4 is way below rate. Doubling the power of a creature when it attacks has been done before and has never been a standout effect to me. This guy made it work. He built a low to the ground deck that played very fast. When I thought he would stall out or meet an unfavorable block he had a secret piece of tech, Greater Good. This card kept his hand full and was a lynchpin in keeping him dangerous The deck had some problems, but it recovered quickly and he dealt crazy damage whenever there was an opening. That's when I realized I found a home for my Spark Trooper, in spirit.
A 3 mana 6/1 is not something to brag about in this format. But a surprise 12/1 with trample is something everyone takes notice of. This is going to be my take on that deck, maximizing Ball Lightning type creatures and the sacrifice drawback they come with. There is something freeing going into combat and not caring if your creature survives or not. Get ready to attack with Reckless Abandon (which is not a card I have in the deck).
Who are the beaters? I have both red and green versions, Ball Lightning and Groundbreaker. Impetuous Devils is fun since it is scalable removal. I can pick a key creature and force it to block and die. Or I pick something small, like an X/1, and maximize the damage that gets trampled through. Opponents don't want to lose 2 creatures and almost never double block. Lightning Skelemental not only hits hard but will make opponents discard when it does. People are already disincentivized to play removal on these creatures since they sacrifice at the end of turn. I've heard opponents say “what's the point” more than once. There's always a degenerate graveyard player who will take the hit or chump block to put multiple cards in the yard. Skizzik on the other hand, has some flexibility to it. If I pay to kick it I don't have to sacrifice it. If I know the thing is likely to die I just don't pay the 1.
Speaking of flexibility, Lightning Serpent has been a decent mana sink for a turn. The more I pay into it, the bigger the threat. Hellspark Elemental is lower powered, but I can recur it thanks to Unearth and time it for when I don't have better options. Hell's Thunder works the same way. I just trade the trample for flying. Blistering Firecat offers me the ability to play it face down. I don't often take advantage of that. One time though, someone took out their phone to search for what card with Morph that acted like a Ball Lightning. I'm not sure how to feel about it. Is that clever, or on par with reading someone's deck list while you're playing a game?
That's all good and well. The Greater Good I mentioned before turns all my surviving attackers into cards in hand. The original deck was overreliant on this. Once it was removed the deck started to stall. I added in some redundancy for the effect. Life's Legacy and Momentous Fall are one time versions of this. I never tend to gain much life with the latter, but I never complain about 1 more life. Soul's Majesty is more expensive, but I don't have to sacrifice the creature it targets, so I can pop this off on my first end step and get some cards in hand right away.
Those were pretty straightforward. I leaned further into the sacrifice effect with 2 abilities: Exploit and Casualty. Those self sacrificing creatures are fodder for more. Sidisi, Undead Vizier is a classic tutor. Rather than sacrificing a 1/1 token I go for something bigger. Illicit Shipment is similar. When I sacrifice a creature I just get a copy of the spell and tutor up 2 things. Cut of the Profits is a double edged sword. I can trade a lot of life for a lot of cards. I've fallen into the trap of making X huge and doubling it. It never works out. I've found it's better to save the mana, pay a moderate amount into X, and then double it. Even with a Reliquary Tower out it's dangerous. The last one I want to highlight is Ob Nixhilis, the Adversary. People freak out about plansewalkers in this format. Having 2 of the same is troublesome since they can play off each other's abilities. When the copy enters the battlefield with 10, 12, or more counters and can ultimate right away, maybe across 2 turns, opponents are rightfully scared.
With all this sacrificing going on I wanted some additional payoffs. Mayhem Devil has a bad reputation, so I take some heat when I play it. There are enough tokens out there that this Devil always does work either clearing out value creatures or softening life totals. Sifter of Skulls nets me some mana on later turns, or blockers to protect myself when opponents want to get revenge. I'm adding in Scavenger's Talent. The Food is a resource or a source of life when I need it to be. Level 2 is more mixed. I just have to target the person not abusing the graveyard.
In an early build of the deck, I had multiple Edict effects. The kind that forces opponents to sacrifice creatures when one of mine dies. Stuff like Butcher of Malakir, Dictate of Erebos, and Grave Pact. With all these Ball Lightnings, these effects are powerful ways to clear the board. I found they are largely unnecessary though. They're also useless when it comes to board wipes and players who don't run a creature strategy. So they were cut.
I want to go back and talk about Mr Orfeo. He needs a little more attention. He's a 4 drop and having him out ASAP is helpful. Turn 2 ramp is therefore key. There's so much available these days, you can pick your favorite. My preferred spell is Rampant Growth to ensure proper fixing. Farseek is the same for me in the early turns. I already have green so another forest isn't crucial. Turn 2 ramp is great, but I'm not opposed to ramping on turn 1 either. Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth. Sprawl is better since it fixes any color I might be missing. Growth nets me another green, so I really need a Forest, Mountain, and Swamp on turn 3.
Staying on the topic of Mr Orfeo, we need to talk about protecting him. My first instinct was Kaya's Ghostform. It's cheap and I'm not trying to trick anyone into wasting removal, so I don't mind telegraphing the fact Orfeo is safe. I have Thrull Retainer too for similar reasons. The +1/+1 is only a benefit if an opponent is wide open and I attack with my Commander. Regenerate removes the creature from combat, so it doesn't make sense to put on any of my attackers.
I'm a very giving person when it comes to playing Magic. I also like to make a good deal every now and then. I learned my dealmaking from my Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest deck years ago. I would often attack a player early on and run up commander damage. I would show that opponent I had a pump spell in hand that would push the damage over 21 and offer to not cast it. All he has to do is not attack me or target any of my stuff as long as the other opponents are still in the game. People almost always took the deal. They didn't want to sit out and they always thought they could get the upper hand later on. I needed the breathing room too and it took some of the heat off of me as my new ally would draw some of the heat from other opponents. This giving nature inspired my next set of creatures for the deck.
The Hunted cycle includes powerful creatures, at a discounted rate, that give an opponent a couple of tokens. Hunted Troll is great to play on Turn 3, then attack on turn 4 after I play Mr Orfeo. The lack of Trample is a problem later on, but thanks to Regenerate I'm not worried about it attacking. Hunted Bonebrute gives me flexibility to not give the tokens out and is evasive enough to push in some damage. Clackbridge Troll changes the naming convention but provides more upside. I don't even refrain from playing it when the token player has a huge board. I get some life and cards out of the deal. The best option is Hunted Horror. A 2 mana 7/7 is increible. Just give the Centaurs to someone you don't want to attack anyway. The dream is to Utopia Sprawl turn 1 naming black mana, turn 2 drop a swamp and play the Horror, turn 3 play a mountain to Cast Mr Orfeo and attack for 14. What's going to block that early on? A Lanowar Elf? Take 13.
There's a little more to the deck. I knew I could push further, but the question was where? In these instances, you can choose to reinforce your Plan B, fight for a new strategy, or double down on what the deck is already doing. The trouble with the first option, I don't really have a plan B. If I went with option 2 any new direction would be fighting for cards and space with the primary plan. I knew this was a powerful plan and didn't want to dilute it. So I sharpened what the deck was already doing. I needed to push through damage and save on mana costs.
The damage part was the easiest to figure out. I already didn't care if my creatures survived the end of turn or not. I also had trouble with fog effects and when someone flooded the board with tokens. It's frustrating when someone throws a dozen thopters at your Groundbreaker and blanks the attack. Luckily I have options. Green lets me suckerpunch opponents, letting my creatures damage them directly. Nature's Way is even good with a creature that doesn't sacrifice at the end of the turn thanks to vigilance. Now it can block for me too. Ram Through allows me to remove a troublesome blocker and push the extra damage right to an opponent. Then I can attack and essentially double the damage the opponent is taking. Red is no slouch here either. Fling is a classic effect that turns creatures into fireballs. Thud was an easy way to double up on the effect. Black has a significant addition here as well thanks to Essence Harvest. Not only am I doubling up on the life loss my creature causes but I also gain a ton of life.
The second part I mentioned is saving mana. How could I get a better rate than the Ball Lightning creatures were giving me? I did it in a sneaky way. Sneak Attack just means all those creatures go down to a single red to cast. Some of those creatures have very mana specific casting costs. I can throw all of that out the window if I happen to have a Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded on the field. This cost reduction means I'm more likely to be able to cast 2 and 3 spells in a turn.
I already mentioned my trouble with token swarms. I needed to shut them down. This would keep me safe from any crackbacks and allow me to trample in maximum damage. 2 cards made this happen. I'm talking about Crawlspace and Silent Arbiter. These effects limit the number of attackers and blockers any player can bring to the fight each turn. These have proved very useful and were no brainers to include in my version of this deck.
Where does the deck stand now? Like This
Mr. Orfeo, The Boulder
Ball Lightning | Crawl Space | Life's Legacy |
Arc Runner | Silent Arbiter | Greater Good |
Blistering Firecat | Feldon of the Third Path | Lightning Coils |
Groundbreaker | Fling | Momentous Fall |
Hellspark Elemental | Thud | Gravitic Punch |
Hell's Thunder | Mayhem Devil | Soul's Fire |
Impetuous Devil | Thunderkin Awakener | Chandra's Ignition |
Lightning Serpent | Cut of the Profits | Callous Sellsword |
Skizzik | Illicit Shipment | Ob Nixilis, The Adversary |
Spark Elemental | Razaket's Rite | Flesh//Blood |
Clackbridge Troll | Sidisi, Undead Vizier | Whip of Erebos |
Flamerush Rider | Rampant Growth | Loxodon Warhammer |
Tainted Strike | Wild Growth | Rhonas's Monument |
Disciple of Bolas | Utopia Sprawl | Ram Through |
Greed | Farseek | Essence Harvest |
Soul's Majesty | Jet Medallion | Nature's Way |
Scavenger's Talent | Emerald Medallion | Toxic Deluge |
Sifter of Skulls | Ruby Medallion | Kaya's Ghostform |
Sneak Attack | Hunted Troll | Thrull Retainer |
Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded | Hunted Bonebrute | Necrogen Communion |
Jaxis, The Troublemaker | Hunted Horror | Lightning Selemental |
Maestro's Theatre | Reliquary Tower | Blast Zone |
Temple of Malady | Temple of Abandon | Temple of Malice |
Swamp x8 | Forest x8 | Mountain x9 |
Blood Crypt | Stomping Ground | OvergrownTomb |
Canyon Slough | Sheltered Thicket |
Mr Ball Lightning is more nuanced than people give it credit for. Knowing when to play a beater, who to attack, those are just the beginning. Do I let the creature die in combat and trample through damage, or do I activate Greater Good and draw a ton of cards instead? Those are the constant variety of questions I have to ask. It adds a layer of sophistication to the deck.
It's also wide open to further customization. Since my creatures die at the end of turn why not throw in some Static Orb effects and slow down opponents? Or load upon Threaten effects and hit players with their own creatures? I don't have to give them back if I sacrifice them at the end of turn.
Let me know which way you would take the deck. As always, don't forget to use my Mana Pool link or TCG Player link to help fund these off the wall strategies.
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