It’s new set time! You know what that means: Virtually every article for the next three weeks on this ol’ internet will discuss Avacyn Restored. Get ready for what I like to call New Set Overload Syndrome, or NSOS for short. That’s when people talk so much about the new cards, mechanics, and flavor that we get tired of it. I’ll add my articles to the fire! Let’s build decks inspired by one or more cards from The Angel Set . . . er . . . Avacyn Restored!

No matter what sort of articles you read about cards from the latest set, at the end of the day, all advice is about what to include in your decks. Let’s just skip past all the advice and move straight to the endgame. We have five decks below for your pleasure. I hope you’ll find some ideas for your own designs here.

"Waving to Blood"

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Harvester of Souls
• 4 Blistergrub
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Soulcage Fiend
• 4 Solemn Simulacrum

• Spells (18)
• 4 Hideous End
• 2 Profane Command
• 4 Ambition's Cost
• 4 Killing Wave
• 4 Exquisite Blood

• Lands (24)
• 20 Swamp
• 4 Piranha Marsh

Buy This Deck

This deck is built around two Avacyn Restored cards: Exquisite Blood and Killing Wave. At first, I thought this might be a creatureless deck for Killing Wave maximization, but then I spied Soulcage Fiend in the spoiler, and that was a clue to add a few creatures that suit the deck.

I included a lot of creatures that do stuff when they die. Soulcage Fiend was the inspiration. It’s a powerful 3/2 for 3 mana that doles out 3 life in pain when it dies. If you have your Exquisite Blood, you will gain the life lost by others, and you won’t feel the burn. Another creature that doles out some love when it dies is Blistergrub. I enjoy the ’Grub because swampwalk is a nice option on the guy. Sapping 2 life from all opponents when it dies is keen!

Geralf's Messenger is another nice creature for our purposes. In this deck, it’s a 3/2 for 3 mana (and every land taps for ). You can dip a life total down 2 twice, and it will survive one death only to come back sharper and stronger.

Hideous End was an ideal choice for a removal spell because it’s basically a Syphon Soul as well (assuming your Exquisite Blood is out). I also enjoy Profane Command is this deck. With that Blood in play, it’s a Consume Spirit for your foe that also kills a creature or brings back a body from beyond. With all of this life-gaining, Ambition's Cost was a nice addition, but if you wanted to be cute, you could add Harrowing Journey instead. It costs an extra mana, but you could target a foe to drain him of 3 life. Finally, I added Piranha Marsh in the land section. When it comes into play, why not make your foe lose even more life?

This deck harnesses a plethora of Avacyn Restored cards to good effect. Try it out and see if you like it!

"Tokens to the Rescue!"

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Goldnight Commander
• 4 Kruin Striker
• 4 Thraben Doomsayer

• Spells (24)
• 2 Increasing Devotion
• 4 Gather the Townsfolk
• 4 Thatcher Revolt
• 4 Cathars' Crusade
• 4 Vigilante Justice
• 2 Butcher's Cleaver
• 2 Sharpened Pitchfork
• 2 Silver-Inlaid Dagger

• Lands (24)
• 12 Mountain
• 12 Plains

Buy This Deck

Why bother? Well, let’s look at some of the other cards we have here. Kruin Striker is a 2-drop 2/1 from Avacyn Restored. Whenever a creature comes into play, it gets +1/+0 and trample for that turn. If you make a few tokens, you can turn your 2-drop into a creature of Tarmogoyf dimensions.

And that’s not all! The Commander is another card from Avacyn Restored that has an ability when a creature enters your battlefield. All of your guys grow +1/+1 until the end of the turn. Imagine the pump from a simple Thatcher Revolt! It even pumps the creature that entered play, so that Revolt is now much more powerful. Great stuff, right?

Now look at Vigilante Justice. It’s a 4-mana enchantment that doles out damage when Humans enter your battlefield. Consider the power of a simple Thatcher Revolt. You play it and discover a free Arc Lightning for your trouble. I think that’s going to really mess with people. But wait, we have one more engine here!

We have sixteen cards in the deck that trigger off your Humans or creatures arriving. Every creature in the deck is a Human. Imagine the power of your token makers in this deck. You have a lot of power in here.

Once we were done with that, I only had room for six other cards. At first, I was thinking of traditional support cards such Orim's Thunder, Lightning Helix, and Swords to Plowshares. Instead, I went another direction, keeping it in Block with some Equipment pieces that improve by being wielded by your Humans (as the Spathi would say). Not only can you pump your team or the Striker or deal damage with your Justice, but you can also gird your Humies with the latest in technology to wage war against the monsters of the world.

"Captain Doomsayer"

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Devout Chaplain
• 4 Captain of the Mists
• 4 Citanul Hierophants
• 4 Thraben Doomsayer
• 4 Tradewind Rider

• Spells (18)
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 2 Fact or Fiction
• 2 Path to Exile
• 4 Cultivate
• 2 Earthcraft
• 1 Sol Ring
• 2 Lightning Greaves
• 4 Umbral Mantle

• Lands (24)
• 5 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 6 Island
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 4 Seaside Citadel

Buy This Deck

1. Tap your Captain to make a mana, either through Earthcraft or the Hierophants.
2. You tap the Doomsayer to make a dude. Untap the Captain.
3. Tap the Captain and the dude you made. Make 2 mana. (You can tap the new dude with Hierophants by equipping it with Lightning Greaves or you can just tap for Earthcraft.)
4. Have Umbral Mantle on Doomsayer, and untap him by churning 3 mana onto him.
5. Tap it to make a dude, untap the Captain, and make 2 mana.

For each iteration, you use 1 mana to make a 1/1. The result is as many 1/1 creatures as you have mana. You could add another combo element, such as Fertile Ground or Cathars' Crusade. That would be fine. You are missing something, though. What’s that?

The Umbral Mantle. How big is the Doomsayer after using the Umbral Mantle a few times? Your Thraben Doomsayer is a 14/14 beater of death if you only did this four times. Any more iterations, and you have a lethal-sized creature. I think you can blow through opposing defenses. And if not, the next turn, all of those 1/1s have untapped and now make mana. You can double the number of your creatures each turn, and in just a few turns, you overwhelm your opponent or have a 50/50 Doomsayer and swing for game. You don’t need even more combo elements.

Once we have the combo ready to rock, the next thing we need is mana, searching, and aid. Sol Ring is a great choice for this deck, and four Cultivates should help us have the right mana to ensure a land drop every turn in addition to some acceleration. With a mana base that includes a full set of Seaside Citadels, I think we have our mana needs met.

The Tradewind Rider taps some dudes and itself to bounce any permanent. I initially wanted it to bounce blockers to slip your Umbral Mantled Doomsayer through for game, but it also works really well to save a key card from pinpoint removal. Since our combo uses our mana a lot, I like how these guys do their thing without requiring any extra mana investment.

I hope you like this fun combo deck. What’s next on the list?

"Does Anybody Else Miss Coca-Cola’s Surge?"

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Cinder Elemental
• 2 Krosan Tusker
• 2 Woodfall Primus
• 4 Galvanoth
• 4 Llanowar Empath
• 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

• Spells (14)
• 4 Primal Surge
• 2 Wild Evocation
• 2 Temporal Aperture
• 2 Thran Dynamo
• 4 Sensei's Divining Top

• Lands (26)
• 9 Forest
• 9 Mountain
• 4 Gruul Turf
• 4 Temple of the False God

Buy This Deck

I wanted to build a deck around Primal Surge, and this was my opportunity. Considering how powerful the Surge can be in a deck with a large number of permanents, I pushed that to its natural conclusion. Say “hello” with a deck in which the Surge is the only nonpermanent.

In order to help you load the top of your deck with Galvanoth, say howdy to the Top of the Sensei. After that, I wanted a few shuffle effects to reload your deck. Krosan Tusker, when cycled, can assist in that. Sakura-Tribe Elder also likes to shuffle your deck. Finally, we have recursive shuffling with the Rat-a-tat-tat of Temporal Aperture. Spin the wheel! What will you find?

Llanowar Empath is a decent body, and scry helps the Galvanoth in case you need some additional assistance. After that, we don’t have too much, so I slid into another plan adding Thran Dynamo to the deck with the right lands to pump our mana. With the six dudes that find lands tacked onto the Temple of the False God and Thran Dynamo, playing the Surge becomes more reasonable. It’s still a late-game play, but it’s doable.

I wanted a few big creatures to Surge into, and nothing says big like Emrakul. It’s a bit common in these sort of decks, but it’s still among the best choices available. Woodfall Primus is big enough to serve, and it blasts an opposing card. One of the reasons I included the Tusker here is that when it’s revealed off a Surge, you own a 6/5 body, which is no slouch at all; let me tell ya!

Finally, I have a secret weapon: Cinder Elemental. This Blaze on a stick is a nice way to use all of that mana you’ll have post-Surge to blast someone out of existence. I hope you like the deck!

"Basilisk Aggro"

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Ronin Cliffrider
• 2 Scalding Salamander
• 4 Ashmouth Hound
• 4 Dwarven Berserker
• 4 Goblin Wardriver
• 4 Laccolith Whelp
• 4 Somberwald Vigilante
• 2 Godo, Bandit Warlord

• Spells (10)
• 2 Infiltration Lens
• 4 Basilisk Collar
• 4 Nemesis Mask

• Lands (24)
• 24 Mountain

Buy This Deck

I fell in love with Somberwald Vigilante, and I knew that I wanted to slide it into a deck. I already liked Ashmouth Hound, and now we see a 1-drop that can ping blockers? Awesome! Basilisk Collar seemed like an ideal choice. Whenever a Collared Vigilante or Hound is blocked, you can shoot the blocking creature and slay it (due to deathtouch.) After that, two choices sprang to mind.

1. I could push my deck toward cards that would force blocks, such as Lure, thus killing opposing creatures by forcing them to block the Vigilante.
2. Or I could introduce cards that make my Vigilante large and powerful, thus dealing a lot of damage to my foe when he doesn’t block to avoid losing creatures.

I decided to go with Choice 1, and I added some additional Equipment to it. Then, I built an interesting aggro machine to use this engine. Let’s look at the creatures that run on the horsepower this engine provides.

At the 1-drop spot, we have the powerful Vigilante and Laccolith Whelp. We’ve already discussed the might of the Vigilante—it hits blockers for 1 damage before damage is dealt. The Whelp is awesome in this deck. When it’s blocked, you can shoot any creature the defender has for 1 damage, killing it with the Collar. It won’t deal combat damage when you do, but that’s all right. You can even shoot the creature that blocked the Whelp. At a multiplayer table, you can attack into Steve’s Wall of Blossoms and then send your damage to Kris’s Consecrated Sphinx and kill the Sphinx with the deathtouch damage. The power of the Whelp here is noteworthy.

The Dwarven Berserker is simpler. You force someone to block it, and then it gets +3/+0 and trample. It’s nothing major, but it adds to your bodies. Another good 2-drop is the Wardriver and its battle cry ability. In this aggro deck, that’s something nice and tasty! Don’t forget Ashmouth Hound either.

I included four each of Nemesis Mask and Basilisk Collar. With such a cheap slate of creatures, I expect mana to be used to pay for equip costs. I also added a pair of Infiltration Lenses. It seems like a perfect card to slide into the deck and a fun way to draw cards.

I really like this deck; it seems interesting. It’s aggressive and controlling at the same time. I hope you’ll like it, too!

Today, we saw four decks built from the latest set. I hope there was something in here that grabbed your attention. Next week, we will have the votes for the best deck from the 100 Combo Decks series, a few comments about those decks, and some other thoughts. Tune in!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent