Hello folks and welcome back to my second article for ManaNation! I hope you enjoyed the first. The feedback seemed to be really good! Today we're going to build some decks inspired by the newest cards on the block for you.

However, before I begin, allow me to clear up a common misconception. Casual does not equal budget. Are there budget players in casual land? Absolutely, and I should include them in articles from times to time. Are there budget players in tournament land? They are there too! Casual player are a Venn Diagram circle, and budget players are a circle, and while it intersects with some number in both groups, they are not the same thing.

There are a lot of casual players out there who have extensive collections and buy a lot of Magic. Frankly, there are also a lot of budget player who have big name cards from a few boosters they may have opened here and there over years of playing the game. I've seen admitted budget players who open perhaps 10 booster packs a set (or less) with Baneslayer, various planeswalkers, Darksteel Colossus, Akroma, Doubling Season, and more.

Today, when I create decks, I will do so without regard for the dollar value of the card. The goal is to inspire you to build your own decks. My decks are not battle tested and such. I want you to feel encourages to change the cards in the deck to match your own style and your own card collection. You might think of some cards that better fit the deck's theme. Great! Although I have an extensive knowledge of Magic cards, it certainly could use an injection of new card knowledge regularly.

Without further ado, let's build our first deck!

"Not This Time"

• Creatures (22)
• 4 Wall of Blossoms
• 4 Wall of Tanglecord
• 4 Acidic Slime
• 2 Platinum Emperion
• 2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 4 Krosan Tusker
• 2 Artisan of Kozilek

• Spells (12)
• 2 Asceticism
• 2 Sylvan Library
• 4 Harmonize
• 4 Cultivate

• Lands (26)
• 19 Forest
• 1 Yavimaya Hollow
• 2 Mosswort Bridge
• 4 Khalni Garden

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This deck was originally inspired by Wall of Tanglecord. I wanted a defensive oriented early game to emphasize a later game beatings, fueled by Green mana acceleration. I chose to strengthen the controlling nature of the deck by including a lot of card drawing.

The deck has Harmonize, Wall of Blossoms, Krosan Tusker, Cultivate, and Kozilek – all of which get you more than one card. Plus, Acidic Slime looks like card advantage, the Artisan will return a dead creature and Sylvan Library can draw you cards in a pinch. I then tossed in the new Asceticism to protect your big creatures from pain from abroad.

After deciding on the theme, I pulled some ideas, like a Darksteel Colossus. It could not be returned with an Artisan of Kozilek, so I pulled it out. The main issue with Platinum Emperion is that it is easy to kill, so with Asceticism in the deck already, tossing in a pair seemed like a good idea.

Your big creatures are Platinum Emperion, Kozilek, and Artisan of Kozilek. Krosan Tusker is pretty sizeable. Since you will cycle it early for a land and card, there should be one in the graveyard when you go to play an Artisan. The Artisan is ideally dropped after an Emperion or Kozilek dies, but it can be used simply to recur a 6/5 Tusker.

For lands, I decided to go with the defensive creature of Khalni Garden. Yavimaya Hollow can also regenerate your creatures, giving you a backup or alternative to Asceticism in case it gets destroyed. Finally, since the deck is prone to big creatures, a couple of Mosswort Bridge seemed like a good plan. It can play a beater for free when you have the trigger on the Bridge.

Wall of Tanglecord is great because it can block creatures bigger than your normal 2 drop wall (Wall of Roots, Wall of Tears, Wall of Glare, for example). You can spend a to block a flyer, so that also adds to its defensive capabilities for this deck. Wall of Blossoms is a battle tested card of amazingness. It draws and blocks. You have no worries about its effectiveness.

Harmonize is usually tossed into my Green decks, but after consideration, this one may not need the four mana sorcery. Perhaps you can find a better use for those four cards. I‘d look at perhaps two more absolute beaters and then two control/defense cards like Spike Weaver or Whirlwind or something similar.

This deck is close to Type Two legal. If you wanted to make it so, pull the Wall of Blossoms for Overgrown Battlement. The Krosan Tuskers can get pulled for more mana making. The Harmonizes should be pulled for two beaters and two defense cards as mentioned above. Replace the Yavimaya Hollow and Mosswort Bridges with three Forests. Sylvan Library becomes something else. Then you are done with the conversion.

Enjoy making very big creatures and then swinging with them!

"Inexorably Proliferating"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Cytoplast Manipulator
• 4 Djinn of Wishes
• 2 Echo Mage
• 4 Halimar Wavewatch
• 2 Novijen Sages

• Spells (18)
• 2 Capsize
• 4 Counterspell
• 4 Inexorable Tide
• 4 Ponder
• 4 Steady Progress

• Lands (26)
• 4 Halimar Depths
• 2 City of Shadows
• 2 Saprazzan Cove
• 18 Island

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This deck is built around Inexorable Tide and some thoughts and cards that follow. Whenever you play a spell, you proliferate. When you do, you can add counters to things that already have a counter on them. I thought that would work very well with Djinn of Wishes. You put another counter on it. Then you spend 4 mana and play the top card of your library for free. If it's a spell, you trigger the Tide again and reload the Djinn with another counter. That's a pretty good engine for a deck.

Steady Progress was an early four of. If the Tide is not out, it's pretty useful and since it replaces itself, it's never truly dead. It can get copied by an Echo Mage for more cards and proliferating while also triggering a Tide. It's a solid card here.

As you can tell from the first deck, I really like early creatures to keep off your opponent while you build. In this deck, the underappreciated Halimar Wavewatch is hoodwinked into helping. It's an 0/3, and can't block too much beyond the early stuff like Elite Vanguard and such. After just one level counter, it becomes a very useful 0/6 blocker. When you have extra mana, you can spend some, and at level five, it becomes a 6/6 islandwalker. It scales in power pretty well from beginning to middle to end of the game. And level counters can come free by virtue of proliferate. Just put one on yourself to get started, and then add for free when you trigger the Tide or Steady Progress.

Knowing that level up creatures seemed to work well with the proliferate mechanic, I tossed in a pair of Echo Mage. You can quickly get this 2/3 to a 2/4 and 2/5, with the ability to start Twincasting any spell that gets played. When it gets to double Twincast, it gains a lot of power. A simple Ponder become mega-powerful. You can double any spell an opponent plays, like Divination and Rampant Growth and Doom Blade. It's very powerful.

After that, I looked for creatures that I thought would work well in this deck. I came across two graft creatures – Novijen Sages and Cytoplast Manipulator. Both do things that add to my deck in many ways. For example, Graft can give a creature of your own a +1/+1 counter. If you have a Halimar Wavewatch with three level counters and a +1/+1 counter, then when you proliferate, it gets one more of one or the other, but not both. You'll probably want to level it up, but once you do, why waste future proliferates on level counters? Why not start jumping it in size by adding +1/+1 counters instead?

Plus, you can jump one to an enemy creatures, and then merely tap the Manipulator and a {U} to gain control of it. The Manipulator will untap and keep grabbing creatures, while your proliferate engine will make the stolen creature bigger and restock the Manipulator.

Meanwhile, the Sages can get bigger and bigger, and then you can remove +1/+1 counters from creatures for cards at a rate of 2:1. If you've been proliferating for a while, then than can be a lot of cards that you get from your deck.

In order to abuse the Djinn of Wishes engine, I included two each of City of Shadows and Saprazzan Cove. Get one counter on them, and then start adding them to your count when you proliferate. You can add some mana to those cards. City of Shadows taps for colorless mana equal to the number of counters on it, so it permanently is increased in power. The Cove, on the other hand, is just a storage land, and has to remove them for mana, but it can grow on its own.

You'll note that this Scars of Mirrodin deck does not have an artifact. This was intentional. I expect that the artifact count will increase significantly in casual decks over the next month. Artifact kill will also increases, and that will all be dead against you. This deck works with just the Blue cards.

I rounded out the deck with four Counterspell and two Capsize. This really could be anything. Faerie Trickery and Tidings, or Counterspell and Dissipate, or Rewind and Dismiss, or whatever. Suit these six slots to your tastes and cards. You could push the theme more, or have cool spells – whatever you desire.

At first, this was a Green/Blue deck with Experiment Kraj and Novijen, Heart of Progress. I didn't feel that there was enough Green to support the deck, so I slid to mono-Blue, and I think the deck looks really good.

"Venser is Fun!"

• Creatures (28)
• 4 Venser, the Sojourner
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Archon of Redemption
• 4 Karmic Guide
• 2 Angel of Mercy
• 2 Aven Cloudchaser
• 2 Sawtooth Loon
• 2 Sunblast Angel
• 4 Kor Cartographer

• Spells (8)
• 4 Momentary Blink
• 2 Test of Endurance
• 2 Saltblast

• Lands (24)
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Sejiri Refuge
• 8 Island
• 8 Plains

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This deck was based off the expensive but fun Venser, the Sojourner. I like to abuse enter the battlefield (ETB) effects of creatures, and I'm sure many of you do as well! This deck plays a little differently than a normal blink deck, but it has similar features.

Venser and Momentary Blink are the only blink effects in the deck. I did not want others, like Flickering Wisp. After that, I added a full set of Archon of Redemption. This is a key card for the deck. Since every creature in the deck (save one) has flying, the use and reuse of creatures will trigger the Archon repeatedly. This results in a massively increased life total. Then I included two Test of Endurance. You can sneak one down and try to win that way, if the red zone is too mugged with creatures.

I also included Sunblast Angel in case of danger. You can play it and kill those tapped. You can also reuse it again and again, and the threat of on the board should keep many creatures home until it is permanently handled. That may be hard to do with your Blinks and other cards.

Karmic Guide was another must of, with the ability to flat out Resurrect any creature from your graveyard to play. It does have echo, so it's not the best creature ever, but it still works very well in this deck. Imagine playing this, and then using Venser on it to reuse it and get two creatures back. Who cares if you pay echo? Make sure engine creatures recur, and keep going!

It doesn't fly, but Kor Cartographer will get you lands to accelerate your mana base and keep your engine trucking. I don't normally add duel lands to casual decks unless they are needed, and in this case, Kor Cartographer can get them. If you don't have duels, perhaps you want to slide into Solemn Simulacrum or even Pilgrim's Eye instead. They won't accelerate your mana, but they will give you both colors.

Angel of Mercy jumps your life even more quickly if needed versus a burn deck, or when the Archons are hard to find or quick to be killed. Mulldrifter obviously draws you a ton of cards. Aven Cloudchaser can pop enchantments. Note that it will kill your own Test of Endurance, so only reuse it there are other targets out, and I'd generally drop the Test only when you can win with it out.

Finally, one last card to mention is the Sawtooth Loon. I went with this over other self-bounce options (like Whitemane Lion and Dust Elemental) because it can always bounce itself, and it draws you two cards like Mulldrifter. You can to place two on the bottom of your library, but it's a great way to send back cards you don't need for those that you do, while bouncing a creature to replay and reuse its ability. You can bounce the Loon back to your hand, and then shuffle it if you want, so you can send it away if it's not too helpful at the moment. It's just there for redundancy and another way to reuse your ETB abilities.

Alright, let's do one more, and then call it a day.

"Mimic This!"

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Ghitu Fire-Eater
• 2 Bloodfire Colossus
• 4 Spitebellows
• 2 Avatar of Fury
• 4 Thopter Squadron
• 4 Mindless Automaton
• 4 Palladium Myr
• 2 Inferno Titan

• Spells (10)
• 4 Mimic Vat
• 4 Fissure
• 2 Shattering Pulse

• Lands (24)
• 2 Keldon Necropolis
• 2 Tower of the Magistrate
• 20 Mountain

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Mimic Vat is a very strong card from Scars. Not only does it seem ripe for many deck ideas, but it also appears like a good choice for just tossing into decks. Creatures will also be dying, so there should always be something to imprint and mimic.

I decided to build around a few Red creatures that I thought would fit in well with a Mimic Vat. The first was originally Shock Troops, but I dropped them to the cheaper and similar Ghitu Fire-Eater. I'd rather pay three mana than four for the ability. The Ghitu Fire-Eater must tap to sacrifice itself, but under a Mimic Vat, it has haste, so that is not much of a restriction. It can't attack first, and then sac for two like the Shock troops can, but it can still block and do so. You might prefer the cheaper, but requires a mana to activate, Ember Hauler. All fit the same role in this deck.

Bloodfire Colossus is a standard casual card for years. It is a major threat on the board, requiring just one {R} to activate and sacrifice for a giant boom. Having a rattlesnake Inferno on the board is a great way to keep creatures away from you and off the board. Off a Mimic Vat, it can swing or block mightily, and then sac for 6 to everything (and every player).

Spitebellows is the opposite. It does not sac for a big gain, but gets you one when it dies. Since it will trigger when the token is exiled, it will deal 6 to things and regularly kill them. You can kill a really good opposing creature, and then put it under the Mimic Vat. Otherwise, it is great repeatable creature kill, and will eventually open up a hole that your 6/1 Spitebellows can exploit on the attack.

I thought this would be a great deck for Wurmcoil Engine but it does not have a "leaves the battlefield," but a "goes to the graveyard" trigger. Since the token made by Mimic Vat is exiled at the end of the turn, a Wurmcoil Engine would not make tokens. The Spitebellows does have a "leaves" trigger, so it works.

I wanted some more creatures that were synergetic with a Mimic Vat, so I mined Exodus for two rare artifact creatures that use counters. The first is a Thopter Squadron. It comes into play as a 3/3 flyer, and you can attack if you want. Then (only as a sorcery) you can remove counters to make 1/1 flying thopter tokens. Those won't die when big daddy goes. It costs a mana each to make them, but you can make a little flying thopter army very quickly.

The other creature I went with was Mindless Automaton, which is a lot like Novijen Sages, from an earlier deck in this article. It comes into play with two +1/+1 counters, and you can remove two to draw a card. That gives you some amount of card drawing in this deck. You can also discard a card for a mana to add a counter to it, so you can turn two cards into one. It's not that useful, but imprinting one with a Mimic Vat and making replicas for cards is not a bad way to filter your deck and find what you need.

I then wanted a few big beaters. I decided to go with Inferno Titan and Avatar of Fury. You can drop the Avatar for cheap in the mid-late game, and it is a great card for the Mimic Vat as it makes 6/6 firebreathing flyers. The Titan can kill something with it enters the battlefield and when it attacks. If you imprint one after it dies, you can activate the Vat, bring an Inferno Titan token to play, Arc Lightning things, attack for 6, and then Arc Lightning again. That's quite devastating.

This deck wanted mana, so I tossed in a quartet of Palladium Myr from Scars. They can get you to the big stuff quite quickly. Drop them on turn three, and you have 6 mana on turn four. That's enough for a lot of stuff in your deck to get played.

I really liked the idea of instantly killing anything on the board, and then using the Mimic Vat to put it into play. That requires the Fissure. It takes a bit of mana, but it's nice to kill something like an Avatar of Woe or a Spike Weaver or an Avatar of Zendikar or even an eldrazi.

Because I expect that the number of artifacts played will rise massively, I included two flashback Shattering Pulse. They are better than Shatter because of the flashback, but if you need to play one early as just a Shatter, don't be afraid to.

I didn't have space for a sacrifice outlet in the deck, but I thought one would be very handy, so I tossed in a pair of Keldon Necropolis in the lands. I also wanted a tiny bit of defense, so I included a pair of Tower of the Magistrate. I think these will rise in play value sharply over the coming year.

And that concludes today's article! I hope that you enjoyed our four decks. I think there are some great cards in Scars of Mirrodin for the casual crowd, and I hope I highlighted a few today. Remember to find some ideas, make them your own, and most of all, to enjoy Magic!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent