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Warring Brews

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Hello, everyone! War of the Spark has only been out for a few weeks now, and every day it seems like there's a new deck popping up. It's always a fun time when a new set releases, but with the amount of legendary creatures and planeswalkers in War of the Spark, it seems like people's creativity is really on fire. This week I have three very creative decks to share with you. Let's get started.

Feather's Legion

The first deck I have for you features Feather, the Redeemed alongside her guild mates in the Boros Legion. Let's take a look at the deck:


Feather, the Redeemed
I played a very budget version of a Feather, the Redeemed deck at my last Friday Night Magic (FNM). While my record was less than stellar, I really enjoyed certain things about the deck. One of those things was how incredibly good Tenth District Legionnaire is when you are able to play it on turn two. Assuming that you have at least one other card that targets Tenth District Legionnaire in your hand, you really are able to start putting pressure on your opponent right away. Don't forget that targeting Tenth District Legionnaire with a spell not only puts a +1/+1 counter on it, but it also allows you to scry. Early in the evening at FNM, I forgot to scry twice and both times it came back to bite me in the butt. Scrying will allow you to find your heavy hitters faster, allowing you to keep up with your opponent when they begin playing bigger threats.

Speaking of heavy hitters, Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice works really well alongside Feather, the Redeemed. While you might have to put in some work to get the most mileage out of her mentor ability, the fact that she can give a +2/+0 bonus, trample, and vigilance to every other creature in this deck allows her to turn the smallest threat into a massive one every combat. I love the synergy she has with Swiftblade Vindicator especially. While you waste the trample and vigilance that she provides, giving that +2/+0 bonus to a creature with double strike more than makes up for it. Plus, she can mentor the Vindicator to make it a better threat on future turns.

Feather, the Redeemed allows any instant or sorcery spell that you cast that also targets a creature you control to return to your hand at the end of the turn. This allows you to reuse them continually, turn after turn, which can really cause your opponent trouble. It not only works on your turn, but also on your opponent's turn. Keep that in mind when you are using tricks to save your creatures.

Nissa's Druidic Vow

The next deck I have for you features Nissa, Who Shakes the World. It shows just how crazy her static ability really is. Let's take a look at it:


Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Have you ever wanted to play a game where the way to win goes against everything you've been taught? If so, you might want to give this deck a try. The object of this deck is to stall things out for a few turns so you can dump your entire deck into your discard pile and then win the game via Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. You can also win by making some lands into creatures with Nissa, Who Shakes the World's +1 loyalty ability, but winning that way doesn't earn you as many style points as winning with no cards left in your library does.

Stalling out can be difficult, but luckily, there's a few cards in this deck that will help you stay alive while you're trying to get cards into your discard pile. Gift of Paradise will give you three life when it enters the battlefield. Root Snare helps you control the amount of combat damage you'll take, but you'll want to use them wisely. Tatyova, Benthic Druid also helps you gain a point of life (as well as draw a card) for every land that enters the battlefield under your control. Thanks to Growth Spiral, Kamahl's Druidic Vow, and Nissa's -8 loyalty ability, you'll have the potential to draw a bunch of cards and gain a ton of life.

Liliana's Army

The final deck I have for you features Liliana, Dreadhorde General leading an army of Zombies. Let's take a look at the deck:


Liliana, Dreadhorde General
If George Romero is to be believed, zombies are notoriously slow. The same can be said of Zombie decks. With this deck, you have ways built in that combat the slowness. With Ajani's Welcome, you'll gain one point of life for every creature that enters the battlefield under your control. With Dreadhorde Invasion in play, that life gain will offset the first time you amass. If you use that Zombie Army to chump block and it dies, you'll get another one next turn with no drawback as long as Ajani's Welcome is in play. Fountain of Renewal is another way to gain additional life each turn, so you won't fall behind while amassing your army.

With Death Baron in play, all of your other creatures will have deathtouch. Because of this, the only removal spell in the deck is Spark Harvest. The nice thing about Spark Harvest is that it has multiple casting costs. You can either pay one Black mana and sacrifice a creature you control, or you can pay three generic mana and one Black mana instead. That makes this spell pretty versatile. Most of the time, you can choose to sacrifice either Reassembling Skeleton or Gutterbones, as you'll be able to get either of these back onto the battlefield in the future. There will be times that you'll want to keep your battlefield presence, though, so it's nice that you can choose not to sacrifice a creature for those times.

Both God-Eternal Bontu and God-Eternal Oketra act as finishers for this deck. With God-Eternal Bontu, if you have Open the Graves on the battlefield, you're able to sacrifice any of your nontoken creatures that are smaller than 2/2 to make a 2/2 Zombie token for each of them. Keep in mind that Open the Graves only works when a nontoken creature you control dies and having multiple copies in play will equate to you getting multiple 2/2 Zombie tokens for each creature that you control that dies. Getting 4/4 Zombie Warrior tokens with God-Eternal Oketra isn't as difficult to achieve. All it requires is for you to play additional creatures. Remember that a token is created whenever you cast a creature, whether it resolves or is countered. This makes going wide very easy, and it will end up being difficult for your opponent to successfully block your Zombie horde, especially if you have Death Baron on the battlefield.

Wrapping Up

When I go to FNM this week, I'm not sure which of these decks I want to build. Each of them appeals to me in different ways. One thing's for sure, by trying one of these out I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun and a decent chance of doing well.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes

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