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Main » Articles » CasualNation #42 – Magic 2012 Decks

CasualNation #42 – Magic 2012 Decks

Abe Sargent
Posted on July 19, 2011
 Reddit

Hello, Nation! Today, I want to take cards from the recently released M12 set and build decks around them. Sounds simple enough, right? Every time we see some new cards, I get a deck-building fever, and I have to write this article to soothe it.

When I build decks, I want to be sensitive to Johnnies. I like building decks around new and interesting ideas, but I don’t want to take all of the deck-building space away from a type of player who likes to find new ways to make a deck. Johnnies want to build new decks that others have not built. They typically don’t want to read my articles and then find out that they had the same idea for a card that I had and built around.

I’ll try to keep the more combo/synergy decks from being too much into the realm of the Johnny.

"Circle of Death"

This deck is built around the combination of Circle of Flame and Death Pits of Rath. Red has usually been the color of choice to combine with the Death Pits, and the Circle is just another good partner for it.

Since the Circle of Flame only deals damage to nonflying attackers, we need to make sure we have a flying defense. The clear choice is to rock Gravity Sphere. Now that everybody is on the ground, no one will attack into you.

Since people are not attacking you, they are likely sitting back on their creatures. You can swing through their defenses for serious damage with your eight Shadow creatures and two Fear creatures. You can also just destroy their defenses with Death Pits of Rath and removal.

Fireslinger wants to tap to deal a damage to enemies. The Death Pits will ensure their death. Rolling Thunder and Forked Bolt will each take out some dudes. You can also use Forked Bolt early to stop stuff and Rolling Thunder late as an x spell to also get past defenses.

Flametongue Kavu is a perfect tasty card. Not only will it normally kill stuff, but just in case you have something truly big, it will combine with the Death Pits to off it. Shriekmaw will also slay most things, especially flyers who may be trying to sail over. This slot was initially the more flavorful Hammerheim Deadeye, but I wanted more creatures to sneak through defenses, plus the Deadeye didn’t work well with Gravity Sphere—the Shriekmaw complied.

I also have Lavaclaw Reaches to nail someone for a ton of damage post-Wrath. One of the things you have to expect when playing a Death Pits of Rath is the possibility that your foes will also be rocking damage-dealing that can be split. Cards such as Fire // Ice are regularly seeing play. Don’t be surprised to see someone cycle Slice and Dice, and then sweep the board. Lavaclaw Reaches fills the role of having a threat after these board-wipes.

All right, there’s a deck built around Circle of Flame. What’s next?

"Buried Pharaohs"

This deck is designed to play Buried Alive and grab the right creatures from your deck for the moment. Ideally, you’ll stock the graveyard with removal and self-recursive creatures. Bloodghast and Ashen Ghoul are essential for it. I could have rocked others, but these were the best two options for this deck.

Krovikan Horror recurs to the hand, not to the battlefield. You can Buried Alive two creatures on top of a Horror, return the Horror to your hand, and recur the others. You can also get creatures that kill. Vengeful Pharaoh is great here, because it sits in your graveyard, lurking. It wants to kill attacking creatures, and if you get attacked, you can kill one for a Pharaoh on top of your library. Drawing it is not a bad idea at all, since it’s a cheap 5/4 with Deathtouch. If you don’t want to draw it, simply dredge it back to your graveyard with a Stinkweed Imp or Dakmor Salvage for another go. If you want defense, I’d recommend a Pharaoh, an Imp, and a Carrionette.

The Carrionettes are unusual. They can be activated for a one-time exile of any creature, but it costs some mana to use and it can be countered by spending 2 mana. They will lurk there, and you can punish them for tapping out. You can also activate it once, watch as they spend 2 mana, and then activate it again. They are quite useful.

I included a single Filth to grab from your deck just in case your opponent has Swamps. I also tossed in a pair of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to help out this plan. It’s not a major theme, but a way to exploit a weakness and add some power to the deck.

Necrosavant is the Black Hammer, named after Hammer of Bogardan. You can sacrifice a self-recurring creature for some mana to bring out a 5/5. I just included one for you to grab, in case you’re interested. If you’re not, that’s okay.

This deck is a powerful, family-sized pack of card advantage. In this deck, Skullclamp is crazy, and Infernal Tribute will yield a lot of options for sacrificing for cards. For example, suppose that you need to bring back some Bloodghasts who just died, and you have no lands in hand. Sacrifice a Dakmor Salvage to Infernal Tribute and draw a card. When you draw, trigger the Dredge and bring it back to your hand to self-mill two. Play it, and bring back those Bloodghasts. This deck has a lot of tricks like this.

Here’s another: Suppose your opponent attacks into a board with a tapped Vengeful Pharaoh. Sacrifice it to an Infernal Tribute or Krovikan Horror to put it in the graveyard, and then kill the attacker when it hits you. You’ve got serious power and synergy.

Oversold Cemetery is card advantage and recursion. Has that Krovikan Horror gotten buried under a noncreature? Do you want to play a Carrionette and equip it for two cards? Just recur with Oversold Cemetery.

There is not a lot of creature-removal here. Vengeful Pharaoh, Carrionette, the sacrifice on Krovikan Horror. I added Grave Pact to firmly control the board. It will rule the beach. With all of the dying you can do to Skullclamp, Infernal Tribute, Necrosavant, and these small creatures who can attack on a whim, you have considerable power.

One last surprise is a single, unexpected copy of Eldrazi Monument. In here, it’s quite good. Each upkeep, just sacrifice an Ashen Ghoul, Bloodghast, or Krovikan Horror. Then your creatures rock. Winning is easy from there.

I’ve played decks like this since Ice Age, and I always have a version of one built somewhere. I can’t tell you how happy I was when I saw Vengeful Pharaoh, due to its power in decks like these. I love it, and I ordered six copies from CoolStuffInc.com, in addition to what I open in boxes. They won’t be sitting in binders for long!

"Illusions Beat"

This is where I’d start if I wanted to build a Standard Illusion deck. Who knows what Innistrad will bring in terms of creature types, but only AEther Figment would rotate out.

I went with the obvious core cards—Lord, Bear, Automaton, Image, and Dragon. These are all in Magic 2012 and have a lot of power. To this group, I added a pair of AEther Figment. An unblockable 1/1 that’s in the tribe’s theme will be nice to sneak past any defenses marshaled to assist. It can be played for more later if the game goes that long.

This deck has eight to twelve lords, depending on when you draw and play Phantasmal Image. It could copy anything from a Dragon to an Automaton to a Bear based on what you have out. The best choice is Lord of the Unreal, because this remains an Illusion, so it would be a Lord in the tribe, instead of outside of it, and get pumped and Hexproof instead. I feel that this deck is just one good 1-drop creature (or perhaps one good bounce spell) away from being really strong.

When looking at spells, I went with Mana Leak to counter stuff. That was easy. Vapor Snag will bounce an offender and cause a loss of a life—minor, but perhaps pertinent for an aggro deck like this. Every little point matters. Then I was stuck. More counters? Grand Architect? Frost Breath? Dismember? Apostle's Blessing? Preordain?

I went with Gitaxian Probe, which you can play with Blue mana if you have it open. If your opening is going to be Bear followed by Lord, then you can play it for 2 life in order to get the knowledge of the Probe, and the replacement card.

Finally, I decided to roll with Mutagenic Growth. It’s basically trading 2 life for 2 damage. Like a mana-less Shock that can only go to a person’s head. You can use it to punch through a nasty defense or add 2 for no mana to a quick and powerful hand. I want this deck to be as explosive as possible, and this allows that.

Hexproofing your creatures is a really great way of keeping them alive. You have to go for the Lord of the Unreal first. Unlike most lords, it is not in the tribe, so it will not get pumped by an Automaton or another Lord, but it should prove very good in this deck, as an on-curve aggressor of significance.

Consider this opening:

Turn 1 – Bear.

Turn 2 – Lord, swing for 3.

Turn 3 – Automaton, swing for 6. Or, Image the Lord, Vapor Snag a blocker, and deal out 7 total.

Turn 4 – Everything is online, including your mega-beater.

And that’s just an average opening. Fun stuff!

The Jace deck from Duels has Krovikan Mist, and that’s one place I’d look if you want to make this un-Standard.

"Chandra’s Vengeance"

This deck was created when I was looking at Sorin's Vengeance and thinking that this was a card that would be amazing when Forked. You could kill someone easily. Perhaps later in the game, you could off two foes. Then I remembered the new Chandra has a Fork ability, and my theme for this deck was complete. The goal is to drop Chandra, the Firebrand, and use her a few times, then a few turns later, play Sorin's Vengeance and Fork it. Ouch!

Once I had that core built, it was a simple matter to find other spells in-color that would be great at the Forking. I envisioned dropping Chandra on turn four, and then playing a major spell on turn five. Beacon of Unrest and Syphon Flesh were good choices for that major spell.

Profane Command is great as a Fork target, and remember that when a spell is Forked, any costs paid for the spell are also Forked. If you use Chandra’s ability and sacrifice a Goblin for Goblin Grenade, the second one doesn’t need to. By having a Fork that costs no mana, you can put an extra 2 or 3 mana into a Profane Command and then Fork it.

Flame Slash is great in the early game for creature-removal. It will be a while before a player has a creature with a big enough butt to not get killed by Flame Slash. With only eight creatures in the deck, and none meant to attack for game, Damnation is a perfect choice. Sweep the board and keep opposing creatures off your back.

Steel Wall is a great 1-drop that can block for a few turns and keep the annoying ground-pounders off your deck and life total. It’s quite good here. Similarly, Silent Arbiter can block on the ground and also prevents your opponent from attacking you with anything more than a single creature. These sorts of cards are ideal at focusing your deck on how it wins—spells.

You do have a few routes to victory in the creature area—Syphon Flesh, Lavaclaw Reaches, and Beacon of Unrest are all ways to give your team some beef. Play Damnation and then play and Fork Beacon of Unrest for two of the best creatures you just killed. Meanwhile, Chandra, the Firebrand will ting your foes for damage, and ultimately will nail them for 6. She is a clock and win condition, too. (Plus Profane Command and Sorin's Vengeance are both win conditions.)

A few other cards round out the deck. No Mercy is there to kill those opposing creatures who manage to break through your defenses. If someone tries to get out of hand, just cut it off! Finally, Syphon Mind is keen at card advantage, and when Forked by Ms. Firebrand, will be double the trouble for the table.

Let’s do one more deck.

"Webslinger"

Last week, I mentioned that I absolutely adored Arachnus Spinner and Arachnus Web from Magic 2012. Since I love them so much, why not build a deck around them? This is that deck.

I knew that I wanted a Spider-themed deck, so I went with the best ones—Silklash, Stingerfling, Deadly Recluse, and Jungle Weaver. This gives you a quick Spider, cycling, a Hurricane Spider, and a Wing Snare Spider. With these, you have a variety of Spiders from the small to the quite large.

Next I wanted some cards to work with the Spiders. Adaptive Automaton is a good choice, as we don’t have a Spider lord normally. This will give you a nice ability to jump your creatures up in power. A quartet of Swarmyards also went in. Tap to regenerate a Spider? Yes please!

Finally, I wanted to draw cards, and so I am rocking Harmonize in a four-set and a pair of the new Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk can make creatures with a great deal of speed and then draw you a ton of cards. Play him, drop a Jungle Weaver, and draw five? Okay!

This is a simple deck, but I had to build it after I came across Mr. Arachnus and his Web Friends.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s article! Next week, I intend to do a fun little experiment. I will choose a Legendary creature at random and build a Commander deck around it. Interested?

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

P.S. What happened to CasualNation #41? Well, I was looking through the back catalogue of my articles here, and discovered that one of my articles went unnumbered, so this is actually #42 and not #41, so I’m fixing the numbering with this article.

TAGS articles, casual, magic 2012, m12, decklists, abe sargent, casualnation, casual nation

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