Almost exactly a month ago my brother linked me to a Tolarian Community College Youtube video titled "How To Start A Magic: The Gathering Club At Your School". The video gave details on Magikids, a non-profit organization centered on donating cards and materials to high school MTG clubs. Now, if you've seen my most recent slew of articles, you know that this sort of topic is incredibly relevant to me. For a few months now, I've been using some donated bulk to build decks with students and play with them after school, and while we've had plenty of cards to work with, we've definitely been lacking in other needed materials. Things like deck boxes, sleeves, and dice have been difficult to come by. So, I went to their website and applied our club for the program right away. A couple of weeks later, and look what arrived at my doorstep!

While I probably should have waited to open it with the kids, my two foster kittens simply couldn't wait to see what goodies lay inside.

Included in the box was a whole slew of goodies, including deck boxes, card sleeves, dice, life counters, and more! There was even a new set of bulk for the kids to peruse! Below is the whole lot set up in the classroom, ready for the kids to see!

Just look at all that loot! I was thrilled, and so were the kids. But, I couldn't just give it all away. That would have been boring, and not nearly worthy of the treasures bestowed upon us. So, I got to work. I wanted to encourage students to use the bulk and build their own decks, and I wanted everything to be a celebration. The holiday break was fast approaching, and I knew whatever we did had to be memorable. So, I decided on an MTG extravaganza that was equal parts tournament and scavenger hunt involving an MTG achievements system.

Students could use a pre-built deck, or one of their own design, and play against each other, earning achievements along the way. Opponents would initial the player's sheet when an achievement was earned, and the player would then spend these achievements as points to "purchase" rewards. These rewards consisted of many of the donated materials from Magikids, as well as rares from a binder, candy, and decks designed by yours truly. Students could earn points in other ways as well, such as by winning games with decks they built themselves using the bulk, or by winning against a gauntlet of forty-card casual decks designed with various themes.

When all was said and done, we ended up with a wildly successful two-day after-school event that served as the perfect send off for the kids before the holiday break. We had around twelve students show up the first day, and over twenty on the second! This is on the day before the holiday break, which is a day that traditionally has some of the worst attendance records of the school year. I could not have been happier!

Students were incredibly excited to earn achievements, pulling strings with parents to stay longer, and even attempting to skip required after-school tutoring for some. Many built their first decks and played their first games that day. Some students that I had barely heard speak a complete sentence were actually conversing and interacting with others in ways I never would have predicted, designing strategies and building ideas together. It was, dare I say, magical!

Looking back, I do feel that it should have been easier for them to earn their points, and there were other small issues I'd like to fix. However, this just means there's room for improvement for next time!

For today's article, I wanted to showcase some decks that students either played during our event, or won using the achievements system. First up is Ash! She had previously seen Tideshaper Mystic in our bulk box and thought it looked cool, so she asked me to build a deck around it. It took a bit of digging, but I ended up with the following list, just in time for her to play the deck at the holiday event!

Ash's Mono Blue Merfolk Deck | Casual | James Heslip

• Creature (20)
• 4 Library Larcenist
• 4 Riptide Pilferer
• 4 Streambed Aquitects
• 4 Tideshaper Mystic
• 4 Tide Shaper

• Enchantments (10)
• 2 Bind the Monster
• 4 Aquitect's Will
• 4 Aqueous Form

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Ring of Evos Isle

• Instants (6)
• 2 Cancel
• 4 Remove Soul

• Lands (22)
• 22 Island

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Cost: $9.50 at the time of publication

Both tide shapers work alongside Aquitect's Will as part of the deck's main strategy. By turning the opponent's lands into islands, Ash is not only able to disrupt their mana, but also make her own merfolk unblockable thanks to Streambed Aquitects. Library Larcenist and Riptide Pilferer are the typical choices for Aquitects's effect, as each brings their own form of card advantage with them into battle.

Aqueous Form is another choice for helping either of the aforementioned merfolk hit the enemy unblocked. The Scry trigger is particularly nice when enchanting Library Larcenist. No matter who she decides to give islandwalk to, Ring of Evos Isle is the perfect way to increase their threat level. Over time, Ash will draw extra cards, discard her opponent's hand, and grow her own threats, eventually taking over the game with her fishy friends.

With no true removal to speak of, Remove Soul is maxed out in an attempt to prevent large threats from hitting the board, with Cancel also helping in this regard. If one should sneak past, Bind the Monster taps it down permanently, allowing Ash to swing in without worry.

One of two prize decks featured in today's article, this Simic landfall list has been a favorite of Connor since I first showed it to him a few weeks ago. After completing the prerequisite five achievements, he immediately decided on buying the list for himself to play against friends during the winter break.

Connor's Simic Landfall Deck | Casual | James Heslip

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Fathom Seer
• 2 Oboro Breezecaller
• 2 Sporemound
• 4 Kazandu Stomper
• 4 Kazandu Nectarpot
• 4 Living Tsunami
• 4 Llanowar Scout
• 4 Scaled Herbalist

• Enchantments (10)
• 2 Khalni Heart Expedition
• 4 Ior Ruin Expedition
• 4 Retreat to Kazandu

• Lands (24)
• 7 Island
• 9 Forest
• 4 Thornwood Falls
• 4 Evolving Wilds

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Cost: $10 at the time of publication

Having played the deck against my own friends a few times, I can vouch for the sheer inevitability of this deck. Scaled Herbalist and Llanowar Scout allow for extra land drops every turn, which means multiple landfall triggers every time they untap. Ior Ruin Expedition and Fathom Seer draw tons of extra cards, while Kazandu Nectarpot and Retreat to Kazandu gain massive amounts of life. Once the engine is online, it's extremely difficult for anything in the meta to handle it. Eventually, the opponent will either be overwhelmed by Sporemound spawns, or multiple large beaters made larger by Retreat to Kazandu counters.

Instead of simply playing a higher-than-average land count to help trigger landfall consistently, this list makes use of different bounce effects to return lands back to Connor's hand, ready to be cheated back into play by Herbalist and Scout. Fathom Seer has already been mentioned, but there's also Kazandu Stomper as an end game beater, and Living Tsunami and Oboro Breezecaller for consistent returns, as well as some evasion. Any and all of them hold +1/+1 counters off of Retreat well.

Simic Growth Chamber was considered for the additional bounce effect, but in the end Thornwood Falls was decided on for the potential to abuse the life gain through bounces and replays. Though it's not always easy to pay the morph cost, Fathom Seer is so good when it does work that I am definitely considering playing a full four of the tricky...jellyfish? Bubble man? To be honest, I'm not sure what Fathom Seer is...

Cyrus is a student that has not really had the chance to come to club since things began. Instead, his brother and he have played a fair amount of Magic with me at a tutoring event held every Monday. Typically, I'll help them complete their homework, and we'll spend the remaining time jamming cardboard or playing DnD until it's time for them to go. I've made decks specially requested by them, but those will be showcased in a future article. Instead, I'll present the deck Cyrus spent his hard-earned achievement points on: "Mono-Brown" Robots!

Cyrus' Robot Deck | Casual | James Heslip

• Creature (34)
• 2 Barricade Breaker
• 2 Jhoira's Familiar
• 2 Workshop Assistant
• 4 Bonded Construct
• 4 Chief of the Foundry
• 4 Foundry Inspector
• 4 Juggernaut
• 4 Ramroller
• 4 Self-Assembler
• 4 Sparring Construct

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Pacification Array

• Lands (22)
• 2 Radiant Fountain
• 4 Dread Statuary
• 4 Quicksand
• 4 Sunscorched Desert
• 4 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
• 4 Zhalfirin Void

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Cost: $16 at the time of publication

Really, this list was completed on the fly after finding a full playset of both Chief of the Foundry and Foundry Inspector. They are the most important creatures in the list, with almost everything else being filler threats. While Juggernaut and Barricade Breaker are big and bad in their own right, the dream is to use Inspector and Jhoira's Familiar to easily spit out four Self-Assemblers. Pacification Array is the deck's only interaction with the opponent. It taps down threats, or clears out blockers for big attacks.

What really sets this deck apart from other casual lists we've built is the land base. Tomb and Fountain give tons of life gain in a deck that plays multiple creatures that must attack every turn. This means Cyrus can heal up any damage he takes on backswings. Meanwhile, Void helps filter draws, Quicksand deals with smaller attackers, and Sunscorched Desert and Dread Statuary give even more aggression.

All in all, I was thrilled with the success of the event, and none of it would have been possible without the kindness of Magikids. To anyone affiliated with the organization that might be reading this, thank you so very much! To everyone else, consider donating to help other students and teachers like us grow and learn with Magic!