We just left spoiler season behind and happily entered....a new spoiler season. That didn't take long. Along the way of Aetherdrift being spoiled I came across a Legendary Creature that got me very excited. I was busy writing about some other decks until I saw this card. I got very distracted thinking about the possibilities and knew I wanted to put a list together ASAP. When this happens to me I'll throw a list together and put it away until I can devote the proper time to it. I did something different along the way, I sent out a tweet about my thoughts on the creature and gave away my plan. So I decided to put out this article before I put the deck together and test it out. I'm that confident in the idea.
The Legendary Creature that started all this is Samut, the Driving Force. She is a powerhouse. At 6 mana she better be. 3 key words stick out on top: First Strike, Vigilance, and Haste. If I have to wait to cast my commander I want it to be impactful right away. Haste allows that and Vigilance means I'll be able to protect myself after the fact so I can be more at ease when she attacks. Next up is the gimmick mechanic for the set, Start Your Engines! Even though it's a gimmick Speed is a useful key word. It's not exactly parasitic since I don't want to maximize the number of Start Your Engine cards in my deck. The second Start Your Engine card I play doesn't increase my Speed. It's probably more powerful if I have Max Speed than if I didn't. Balancing the number of Start Your Engines cards will be more of an art than a science.
Believe it or not, there's more to talk about with Samut. The next 2 abilities are tied to your Speed. There's a static pump effect that gives my other creatures +1/+0 for each increment of Speed I have. This will top out at +4/+0. That's a lot of power on a wide board. This means I want to be playing creatures. The last ability reduces the cost of my noncreature spells by 1 for each increment of Speed I have. Saving 4 mana on each spell means I'll get to chain multiple spells together and work toward a spellslinger strategy. This go wide creature strategy was at odds with the spell slinger path. I wanted to maximize both, but 100 cards in a deck doesn't leave a lot of space for 2 full themes. If only there was a way to get these ideas to work in harmony, to maximize the benefit of bothe abilities. It turns out there is. My mind quickly jumped to Adventure cards to bridge the gap. These spells have 2 parts to them a permanent, almost always a creature, and an instant/sorcery that I can cast and let the card sit safely in exile until I'm ready to play the creature side. There was my hook.
There are lots of Adventures compared to a couple of years ago. So I don't need to pick bad adventure cards just to fill out the theme. I prioritized 2 effects. I wanted to make creature tokens and I wanted to clear the way for my attackers. Brightcap Badger and Ardenvale Tactician are representative of this mindset. Fungus Frolic makes me 2 saporlings. Brightcap Badger continues to make more saporling tokens. With it, I can either use the fungus to attack or to ramp out more creatures. Dizzying Swoop taps two creatures to open the way for profitable attacks. The fact the Tactician has flying is an added benefit. Attacking with 6 power in the air is quite the message. Horn of Valhalla isn't a creature but it does have the potential to make a ton of Soldiers. 4 extra soldiers in fact if Samut is out with Max Speed. Speaking of Max Speed, if I have it, it wouldn't be a long shot to cast Train Troops and Imodane's Recruiter in the same turn. This opens up the possibility of attacking that same turn thanks to the Recruiter giving Haste to them all. That means I would drop 3 2/2 creatures, that each get +4/+0 and an additional +1/+0 after everything is said and done. That's 21 damage, not even including Samut or any other creatures I happen to have on the field.
A lot of this is riding on having Max Speed. Since it's a new mechanic I think it deserves a little discussion. Once I cast a card with Start Your Engines my Speed becomes 1. It can increase by one on each of my turns if an opponent loses life on my turn. I can also cheat and copy the trigger with something like Strionic Resonator or Lithoform Engine. Without something like that I'm looking at 3 turns minimum to reach Max Speed. I'll want to get a Start Your Engines card as early as possible and follow it up with an attacker. The first Speed cards I looked at were lands. Muraganda Raceway, Amonkhet Raceway, and Avishkar Raceway are just colorless lands on their own. The fact they get great abilities when I have Max Speed is what makes them worth playing. I can afford 3 land slots for the potential for double mana, card selection and Haste. It's hard to get going for no mana but I did add some cheap cards to keep the plan moving. Point the Way and Hazoret, Godseeker are great examples of this. Point The Way is good before I have Speed while Hazoret is better to cast if I already have Max Speed. At the end of the day, Samut, The Driving Force can start me building up my Speed. Do I want to wait until turn 6? No. But the option is there if I have to.
Since I don't want to wait until turn 6 I'm prioritizing early ramp. I already mentioned Point the Way and I'm also including Starting Column. It's like Commander's Sphere but tweaked for Start Your Engines. I'm in Green so I'm including classic land ramp options like Farseek, Rampant Growth, and Cultivate since destroying lands automatically moves you into a Bracket 4 deck. More interestingly though, I'm adding Awakening Zone. I used to see this show up in decks but not anymore. The ramp it offers is nice but I'm more interested in the creature token. A 0/1 isn't formidable but if I give 2, 3, 4 or more of them +4/+0 with Samut they become a real army.
As I put this list together I started to notice something. There are a couple of parallels between this and my Kellan Curses. It's not enchantments, hear me out. The colors obviously overlap between the decks. I'm also running a lot of Adventure cards. Are there any further lessons I can take away from that deck to this one? The answer is Yes. In that deck, I used bounce spells to return Kellan to hand so I can replay Birthright Boon to get more curses. I'm just going to expand the bounce plan to return my Adventure creatures to hand and recast both portions of them. Meticulous Excavation and Erratic Portal are repeatable sources of this. Jeskai Barricade and Loyal Gryff surprise players. I'm most excited about Shepherd of the Flock since it's an Adventure spell and a bounce.
Casting all these Adventure spells should be enough of an upside for me. I'm essentially doubling the number of spells I have access to. I can get more advantage out of this though. There are cards that reward me for casting spells from exile. Red is great at this. Take Nalfeshnee for example. This Beast Demon doubles up the spells I cast from exile. That means all of my creatures come with a token copy until the end of turn. Passionate Archeologist, in conjunction with Samut, starts throwing damage around the board when I cast an exiled spell. Unstable Amulet is similar but only pings for 1 damage. I'm not adding in any other energy support so I'll only get to use its other ability once. Pia Nalar, Consul of Revival snags me a thopter, which she conveniently gives Haste so I can work to increase my Speed. Rocco, Street Chef gives everyone a chance at casting cards from exile because he exiles their cards. Whenever it happens I'll get counters and Food.
Since I have a lot of creatures in the deck and because Samut is so important to the plan, I want to protect my board. I've got an extra copy of Flawless Maneuver laying around, so I'm going to take advantage of the free casting potential. I've got Unbreakable Formation to save me in a pinch but also create very profitable attack options. I'm adding in Revivify too. This works if things don't get saved but I'm torn on wanting to “roll” less than 15 or higher. If the cards go to my hand then I get another chance to cast the Adventures. If I roll high I'll get to take over the board ahead of my opponents. Neither option is bad but one is clearly better.
I want to highlight a couple more Adventure cards before I close out since they're so important to the deck. Kellan, Daring Traveler offers Map tokens to either let me hit my land drops or pump up the creature that explores. Giant Killer is a favorite of mine. It kills a beater and then, as a creature, keeps the best blocker or attacker tapped down. Embreth Shieldbreaker is great for early Artifacts. I'm not afraid to hit that turn 1 Sol Ring. I really Like Ferocious Werefox here. The Monster role is great with Samut out with Max Speed. The Trample pushed that extra damage through. The fact that the Fox also has trample is just a good addition. Flaxen Intruder is an odd ball. It rewards me for holding onto the card so I can get the 3 bear tokens even though the Human creature is so much cheaper to cast.
Draw and removal can get overlooked in a deck like this but can really push the plan forward. I have Return of the Wildspeaker for the draw potential but using it as an Overrun is a great way to close out the game. Since I have so many creatures, Shamanic Revelation is a no brainer. The extra life it offers is a great benefit. Pest Infestation is a great way to clear away problem permanents from opponents. It also fills up my board with creature tokens. Both are more impactful with Samut and Max Speed.
After all that, let's take a look at the deck.
Endrider Spikespitter | Strionic Resonator | Beanstalk Giant |
Hazoret, Godseeker | Lithoform Engine | Ardenvale Tactician |
Lightwheell Enhancements | Edgewall Innkeeper | Brightcap Badger |
Outpace Oblivion | Lucky Clover | Crystal Dragon |
Perilous Snare | Charred Foye//Warped Space | Embreth Shielbreaker |
Point the Way | Faldorn, Dred Wolf Herald | Ferocious Werefox |
Pride of the Road | Nalfeshnee | Flaxen Intruder |
Racer's Scoreboard | Passionate Archeologist | Giant Killer |
Starting Column | Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival | Horn of Valhalla |
Jeskai Barricade | Rocco, Street Chef | Imodane's Recruiter |
Loyal Gryff | Unstable Amulet | Kellan, Daring Traveler |
Meticulous Excavation | Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma | Oakhame Ranger |
Erratic Portal | Requisition Raid | Ratcatcher Trainee |
Leave//Chance | Wear//Tear | Shepherd of the Flock |
Revivify | Winds of Oblivion | Tlincalli Hunter |
Unbreakable Formation | Starfall Invocation | Virtue of Loyalty |
Flawless Maneuver | Vandalblast | Dazzling Theatre//Prop Room |
Awakening Zone | Pest Infestation | Rishkar's Expertise |
Liquimetal Torque | Garruk's Uprising | Shamanic Revelation |
Farseek | Rampant Growth | Growth Spasm |
Cultivate | Chromatic Lantern | |
Avishkar Raceway | Amonkhet Raceway | Muaganda Raceway |
Edgewall Inn | Scavenger Grounds | Command Tower |
Jungle Shrine | Temple of Triumph | Temple of Abandon |
Temple of Plenty | Ghost Quarter | Forest x8 |
Plains x8 | Mountain x8 | |
I'm excited to put this deck together. There's a lot going for the deck between pay offs and doubling the spell slots since my adventures are instants/sorceries and creatures.
As always, don't forget to use my TCG Player and Mana Pool links if you're buying cards or other products.
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