Hello, Nation! I hope that your week has been merry and bright. Today, I built some decks for your perusal and happiness. I hope you can find some ideas for your own deck-building.

Before we start talking about that, I have a confession. Although I am normally an ENTP with my things, sometimes I "I" (as in Introvert) out on something. Normally, I spend a few weeks on a video game or book or hobby, and then, I move on to something else. Well, here's my confession. For the last two years, I have worked on a labor of love. I have made a CCG, just for fun.

I was upset at the lack of substance that the two CCG Doctor Who games had gotten. The first was made in the late ’90s, when every IP ever was made into a CCG in an attempt to cash into the brand-new market. Many were very low-quality (especially Spellfire—yuck). One of the lower-quality ones was the Doctor Who game. The game mechanics were very simple, and they had nothing to do with the show at all. It was horrible.

It reminded me of the Middle Earth role-playing game from the ’80s by ICE. I've read that it was the second-best-selling RPG after D&D of all time, but because the game mechanics (which were very good and interesting) had nothing to do with the game world of Middle Earth, the disconnect prevented it from becoming more than it was. (On the other hand, the Middle Earth CCG that debuted in the late ’90s from ICE was, IMHO, the second-best CCG I've ever played, and that's due in no small part to the fact that the mechanics did support the world.) Have you ever wished that a dead game was still played? I would love to still play some ME: CCG, but that's not to be. (Let me know if you still play ME: CCG and are in the Detroit area or willing to travel to Detroit for games.)

Anyway, the other Doctor Who CCG is barely a CCG. It has cards you collect with various stats. Then you flip up a random card from each of player's stack, and whoever has the highest power or intelligence or whatever you are flipping wins. It's like war for Doctor Who. It's not a Doctor Who game any more than a chess game with figures from the show would be a Doctor Who game.

So, I created my own game. I used some elements that I thought worked in Magic, some from Middle Earth, some from a few other games, and a healthy dose of my own rules on top (including an interesting take on resource management). I tried to make a CCG experience that resembled the actual show and universe in which Doctor Who takes place. Just for fun, I thought I would show you one of each card type from the first set:

Anyway, this was done just for fun, not for anything else. I'm not trying to sell them or anything. But I have the full set, complete with a full set of rules, distribution, rarity of cards, and more. Anyway, I thought you would be interested in seeing that. (I did the cards with CCG Maker, and they have a bit of Magic look to them, I admit, since that's basically what CCG Maker was for).

Let's move to today's article!

"Mr. I. Doj Raths"

• Creatures (5)
• 2 Eternal Dragon
• 2 Darksteel Sentinel
• 1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 3 Gideon Jura

• Spells (24)
• 2 Akroma's Blessing
• 2 Return to Dust
• 2 Swords to Plowshares
• 4 Rout
• 4 Wrath of God
• 2 Genju of the Fields
• 4 Opal Acrolith
• 4 Darksteel Brute

• Lands (26)
• 15 Plains
• 2 Temple of the False God
• 4 Mishra's Factory
• 4 New Benalia
• 1 Kor Haven

Buy This Deck

I once wrote a framework for casual decks that included a ton of subtypes. One of those types was what I called a "sweep-and-keep" deck. The idea behind this subtype is that you play a lot of sweeping removal, and then also play a healthy number of creatures that survive the sweeping removal. A classic example of such a deck is a Pestilence deck with protection from Black creatures. I've built numerous others, including Retribution of the Meek + Thran Weaponry, or Earthquake + pro Red creatures, and more. I thought building one or two today would be fun!

This deck was built around Opal Acrolith and Gideon Jura. As I expanded the concept, I decided to roll with the traditional Wrath of God plus Rout. This eight-set of Wraths can take out almost anything, and I included just two Swords to Plowshares for emergency backup in the case of creatures that didn't die to the Wraths (like Blightsteel Colossus and that sort of thing).

I wanted some more creatures that would stay alive through Wraths, so I naturally added the indestructible Konda. Soon Darksteel Sentinel and Brute would follow, each giving me something different. Mishra's Factory seemed like a great adjunct to the deck, and Genju of the Fields was a good choice as well.

Despite all of these great ideas, I thought the deck could use a bit more power in the creature department. In went a pair of Eternal Dragons to smooth mana or recur post-Wrath. Finally, I also tossed in a pair of the original Elspeth. She can make tokens post-Wrath, and her abilities work well in this deck.

After I had my creature and Wraths, it was time to finish the deck. Return to Dust was a great way to make sure that a crucial enchantment or artifact won't ruin your day. Because I had room for just two, I didn't want to play games. This will exile the card in question, as well as have the potential to take out two if you need to.

Since this deck was about protecting your creatures, I felt a pair of Akroma's Blessings would help keep your guys in play. Despite the cost upgrade, it's better than Brave the Elements here because it will also protect your colorless creatures, and the cycling allows you to draw a card if you don't need it. I was torn between this and Shelter, and perhaps you may find Shelter a bit better for the deck. (Another option would be Otherworldly Journey).

For the lands, I knew that my lack of card-drawing would result in me grabbing a set of New Benalias. The scry helps. I felt Temple of the False God was a good addition to a deck that had a lot of activation costs. I also included a single copy of Kor Haven, so you can swing with everything post-Wrath and not worry about keeping things back to block anything that survived (or has haste).

Anyway, I think this deck is pretty cool, and it gave me the idea for another sweep-and-keep deck, so let's do that next.

"Ms. Dee Rotisserie"

• Creatures (20)
• 4 Llanowar Sentinel
• 4 Nesting Wurm
• 4 Nissa's Chosen
• 4 Skyshroud Sentinel
• 4 Squadron Hawk

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 2 Nissa Revane

• Spells (10)
• 4 Desert Twister
• 4 Hallowed Burial
• 2 Reito Lantern

• Lands (26)
• 6 Plains
• 8 Forest
• 2 Temple of the False God
• 2 Wirewood Lodge
• 4 Graypelt Refuge
• 4 Mistveil Plains

Buy This Deck

This deck was initially built around the interaction between Hallowed Burial and Squadron Hawk. Hallowed Burial is one of the best Wrath effects ever because it ends any shenanigans. Creatures that come back from death—gone. Creatures that survive a traditional Wrath—gone. The legendary Commander—gone. Reanimation—gone. Incarnations—gone. Everything goes away. They may be able to shuffle their deck and draw it again, so it's not perfect. It is really good, though.

I realized that if I could pull those creatures back into my hand with something like Squadron Hawk, I would really be on the fast road to recovery.

I chose not to play Howling Wolf, but every other creature that had the Squadron Hawk ability is included. I even decided that Nissa Revane and her Chosen would be good additions to the deck. I wanted a bit more, so in went Llanowar Sentinel and a reprise of Elspeth, Knight-Errant.

The result is a very creature-heavy deck that has a nice Wrath effect in the center that it can easily deal with. Nissa Revane can bring back her Chosen, Llanowar Sentinel can bring back those at the bottom directly into play, and the others can put the extras in your hand.

Because of this flexibility in the creature base, I thought having cards that would put my creatures back into the deck would be quite useful. Reito Lantern is a nice little card to use again and again. It can also be used to return any problems in someone else's yard that snuck past your Hallowed Burial. Perhaps a Genesis or Glory or Wonder or Vengevine or Ashen Ghoul is causing you problems. Reito Lantern will end it. I also tossed in a quartet of Mistveil Plains. There aren't that many White permanents in the deck, but since this land will tap for White mana anyway, I decided to toss in four in case you need it to restock your library.

While talking about mana, I felt that Temple of the False God was useful here as well, when you need mana for playing and replaying things, Nesting Wurm, using Reito Lantern, and so forth.

With just four slots left after I tossed in everything, I wanted the single most flexible removal these colors had. If this were Black/Green, you would have seen Maelstrom Pulse, and Vindicate for those White/Black decks. In Green/White, you have . . . the original Desert Twister! It's not that hot, I know, but I didn't want to split the cards 2:2 for creature removal and other-things removal. It's flexible, and it's never as bad as people think.

All right, let's leave behind the sweep-and-keep deck strategies and move to something else.

"Time and Tide Wait for Shaman"

• Creatures (17)
• 2 Consecrated Sphinx
• 2 Draining Whelk
• 2 Elvish Soultiller
• 2 Scalpelexis
• 2 Trygon Predator
• 3 Whippoorwill
• 4 Riftsweeper

• Spells (17)
• 1 Quash
• 1 Time Stop
• 2 Fact or Fiction
• 4 Dissipate
• 1 Regrowth
• 1 Splinter
• 1 Time Spiral
• 2 Cultivate
• 4 Time Reversal

• Lands (26)
• 7 Forest
• 8 Island
• 2 Flooded Grove
• 2 Lonely Sandbar
• 2 Tranquil Thicket
• 4 Yavimaya Coast
• 1 Yavimaya Hollow

Buy This Deck

This deck was built around the interaction of Riftsweeper and Time Reversal. The goal of the deck is to regularly Time Reversal to draw cards and clear out stuff. Meanwhile, playing Riftsweeper will put that Time Reversal right back in your deck so you can keep going. The deck is not your typical four-of-this-and-four-of-that all up and down the card list. This is a much different deck.

Because of the regularity of the draw-seven cards, the singles and pairs are included in order to increase the deck's diversity while not losing consistency.

The deck includes some power cards for the concept. An extra Time Spiral for emergencies is included (and it can be Riftsweepered as well). The deck has two routes of victory. The first is creatures, and it can certainly win via creatures. The second is to deck an opponent by exiling so much of his deck that he exhausts his library.

With that in mind, I had to play a quartet of Dissipate as my counterspell of choice for this deck. I included a single Quash as a surprise card. You also have a surprise Time Stop, which can be used to exile anything on the stack, or to stop something fierce that comes your way if you cannot end it in any other way.

The exile theme continues with a single surprise Splinter, which can mess with someone's day in today's artifact-heavy environment. It won't go begging for a target. You also have the Scalpelexis to hit someone for a few cards, and perhaps a few more if you get lucky. Finally, you have the subtle but clever Whippoorwill. Not only will it act as an early creature for this deck, and stop regeneration, but it also exiles creatures that get destroyed. Use it before combat damage kills an opposing creature, or in response to removal, and your foe's friends will go bye-bye.

I knew that the deck needed some more creatures. I tossed in Trygon Predator to help keep targets down. I also threw in a pair of Elvish Soultiller to restock your library with crucial creatures (Like "Elf" for Riftsweeper and the Soultiller). Consecrated Sphinx will draw you a ton of cards, so it adds to your beater count while also being a needed card-draw engine. Finally, you have another beater in Draining Whelk, which ups your counter count to eight (basically) and your creature count to seventeen.

I tossed in some spells to round out the deck. Regrowth is clearly a force in this deck to grab a needed card for another go. Good choices include a dead Riftsweeper, Splinter for a key artifact, or whatever else is needed at the time.

Although Time Spiral/Time Reversal and Consecrated Sphinx are your main card-drawing outlets, I wanted a tad more, so I added a pair of Fact or Fiction. These are meant to help early to set up or to give you more ammo to keep going. I also included a pair of Cultivates, because ideally you'll pull as many lands out of your deck as possible in order to ensure that your cards post-Reversal are as few lands as possible.

I think this is definitely an interesting deck. How often do you see Whippoorwill in a deck? Exactly!

What's next?

"Bird Soldier Horror, Rar!"

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Dragonstalker
• 1 Wingbeat Warrior
• 2 Aven Cloudchaser
• 2 Aven Liberator
• 2 Aven Smokeweaver
• 2 Gustcloak Savior
• 2 Possessed Aven
• 2 Treetop Sentinel
• 3 Phantom Flock
• 4 Aven Archer
• 4 Aven Brigadier
• 1 Major Teroh
• 2 Commander Eesha
• 2 Lieutenant Kirtar

• Spells (4)
• 4 Battle Screech

• Lands (26)
• 8 Island
• 8 Plains
• 2 Daru Encampment
• 2 Jwar Isle Refuge
• 2 Seaside Haven
• 4 Sejiri Refuge

Buy This Deck

I decided to build a deck around Aven Brigadier, which meant a deck chock-full of bird soldiers. They get pumped by both abilities of the Brigadier. The birds are all exclusive Aven from Onslaught block. Even other cards are from the block. In fact, only Sejiri Refuge and Jwar Isle Refuge are not from the block (so, if you wanted to make it Block for some random reason, it would be an easy conversion). Despite the limitations of the block, I felt these represented the best cards available for this idea. Not even the changelings were good enough to warrant inclusion. Let's take a look under the hood.

You begin with the cards that annoy people. We have Commander Eesha's ability to block anybody who attacked and to be completely unblocked herself. That's clearly very good. Next we have Treetop Sentinel and Aven Smokeweaver with protection from Green and Red, respectively (I even included one Dragonstalker, just in case). Again, that has a lot of value in this deck. Possessed Aven becomes a nasty 4/4 Black creature that can spend some mana to tap and kill Blue creatures. I included a pair of Jwar Isle Refuges, just in case you want to use its ability (otherwise, it's a 4/4 flyer for 4 mana with Threshold, and a 6/6 one with a Brigadier out). Finally, Major Teroh is a major pain for Black decks.

Lieutenant Kirtar is a bit different because he can sacrifice to exile things that attack you, so he plays very good defense. The cards above can typically play great offense too. Aven Archer can tap to deal 2 to attackers or blockers, so it can help on either end, but you'll find it will typically be untapped when you attack, and then untapped when you pass your turn, and playing defense.

Gustcloak Savior is an obvious addition to the deck. It gives you some additional flexibility. Imagine an untapped Aven Archer, a Savior, and your opponent with a lot of blockers that would die to an Archer. Normally, you attack with everything, and they can gang-block or trade, losing one to the Archer. Now you just Archer one and kill it, then untap anything you want to save it. It's nasty.

Wingbeat Warrior and Aven Liberator give you a bit of tricks while also adding to your creature count. We also see Battle Screech adding some dues to the table as well. Finally, I rounded it all off with a pair of Aven Cloudchasers, (since I'm not playing any enchantments), and a trio of Phantom Flocks, which are quite powerful with an Aven Brigadier out.

For lands, I just included Refuges, and two each of the soldier and bird lands, to give your deck some added flexibility. It's a pretty simple deck, with a lot of tricks for being just a bunch of creatures, with nothing else (such as removal, Wraths, land search, raw card-drawing beyond two Seaside Havens, etc.).

Well, I hope that you found something useful in these four decks. Perhaps you will build and play one! Or perhaps you found an idea to build around in a very different way. Or perhaps you just enjoy seeing classic Abe-decks in all of their Johnnytasticness (Time and Tide Wait for Shaman is a very classic Abe-deck). Whatever your fancy is, I hope you found something here.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent