Opponent #1: Em, nothing else, go! [Thinks: His board is empty, I should be safe on 33 life.]
Me: End of your turn: Vampiric Tutor [pays life, searchy, searchy, puts card aside, shuffles, puts card on top] Draw, Entwined Tooth and Nail. Anyone have any responses?
All opponent's: [Thinks: I hope the next guy has something!] They don't: [thinks: D'oh!]
Me: [searchy, searchy] Ok, Avenger of Zendikar aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnd, em........ Flame-Kin Zealot? Sure, why not?! So, I have 8 lands so I get 8 little 0/1 plant token guys. This Flooded Strand should give all the plants +1/+1, that ok? No Stifle on the Landfall trigger? Ok, activate, Flooded Strand, pay 1 life, any responses? [fetchey, fetchey] And another landfall trigger gets me more +1/+1 counters on my guys. That's, let me do a quick count,....eh, 33 power of hasty attacking. Anyone on exactly 33 life?
Opponent #1: [groans]
Me: [evil laugh!]
When the itch gets you to build a particular deck, you just have to go out and build it. While reading over in the strategy forum about everybody's favourite Tooth and Nail targets, I decided to get it going on and have come up with a deck to make a very Rare-heavy change from our current decks (Balthor/Zombies and Ashling/Burn Peasant decks) This may just be the most expensive deck I've ever sleeved!!
Right, the idea is simple. Comb through everyone else's ideas
over on the other thread (thanks guys!), add a couple of my own, mix in some land and it's insta-deck time. So that's what I did.
There's a couple of cards I don't actually own that were listed in the thread, like Mephidross Vampire, so I excluded the Triskelion combo. The idea of the deck is to repeatedly hit Tooth and Nail for shennanigans either from your graveyard with Eternal Witness or back from your deck via Wheel of Sun and Moon with tutors.
There are a few caveats with the deck: You're totally running for the multiple Tooth and Nail plan, thus you have to forget about things like counterspells and boardwipes outside of what the combo can get you. You're also completely dependant on your manabase panning out so, if someone decides to Dust Bowl-lock you at 6 lands, you just have to accept that until you or some other nice soul finds a way past that.
I'm not suggesting this deck as anything competitive or complete, the obvious exclusions are testament to that. You're trying to TandN an Emrakul and Iona to semi lock a board or even some Flame-kin Zealot/Avenger of Zendikar/Fetchland goodness (damage easily into the 30's on this one!) out onto the battlefield so it's only fair that you leave a door open for your opponents to have some fun. No Wraths, No counters, nothing that's not already on a creature.
Here's the list:
Progentius - General
Creatures
Admonition Angel
Avenger of Zendikar
Butcher of Malakir
Clone
Crater Hellion
Duplicant
Empyrial Archangel
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Eternal Witness
Flame-kin Zealot
Fleshbag Marauder
Grave Titan
Iona, Shield of Emeria
It that Betrays
Karmic Guide
Keiga
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Primeval Titan
Rafiq
Realm Razer
Seedborn Muse
Solemn Simulacrum
STE
Sundering Titan
Sylvan Ranger
Teferi
Terastodon
Thrashing Wumpus
Vigor
Wood Elves
Woodfall Primus
Yavimaya Elder
Artifacts
Basilisk Collar
Brittle Effigy
Coalition Relic
Crystal Ball
Darksteel Ingot
Mind Stone
SDT
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Spells
Beseech the Queen
Cultivate
Demonic Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
Idyllic Tutor
Intuition
Kodama’s Reach
Harmonize
Mystical Tutor
Harrow
Tooth and Nail
Tunnel Vision
Vampiric Tutor
Wargate
Enchantments
Greater Good
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Survival of the Fittest
Wild Pair
Lands
Exotic Orchard
Fetch x10
Flagstones of Trokair
Forest x3
Gaea's Cradle
Island x3
Mosswort Bridge
Mountain x3
Plains x2
Shockland x10
Swamp x2
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Murmuring Bosk
Maze of Ith
Well, let's have a look then, shall we? There's a small group of players who exist only to work your mana base: Solemn Simulacrum, STE, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Elder and Sylvan Ranger are pretty much the bare minimum you can run without just hoping that your mana will sort itself out. Of course they have some support from the spell section but these guys run the double duty of chump blocking like champions.
After that we have the combos:
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with Rafiq or Iona, Shield of Emeria
Emrakul is pretty much the accepted archetype bad guy/gal at the moment. If you have something that can give her haste in play (like an untapped Kiki-Jiki and a Flame-Kin Zealot) you're pretty much bringing a bigger gun than most to the gun fight. With Rafiq of the Many, it's a gun that can upgrade or become very hard to deal with should you have chosen Iona instead. Of course you could just choose Flame-Kin Zealot and have her attack directly for 16.
- Flame-kin Zealot with Avenger of Zendikar or Terastodon
Speaking of Flame-Kin Zealot, these are two moves that can pull out huge damage very quickly. Presuming that you're running the Tooth and Nail off 7 lands and 1-2 artifact mana sources, you're getting 17 points of attack by dropping Avenger/Zealot. However you're not going to do this unless you have the land or fetch in hand for the additional 7 or 14 points on your plants so realistically you're looking at 24-31 attack for this move. There's a few advantages to the Avenger over the Terastodon here: Firstly, you're scaleable so you can decide based on your land count if your potential damage is worth getting one or the other and secondly, you have a lot more targets that need to be removed to reduce the damage and thirdly, you can combo with other cards that you may have on the table such as Kiki Jiki (copying the Avenger with the Zealot's CIP ability still on the stack will double your tokens and double any +1/+1 counters any subsequent landfall triggers give you) or Primeval Titan (which will give all your plants +2/+2 if everything attacks together). You can see that going this route is really only a question of how far you can push the boundaries.
Choosing the Terastodon allows for slightly chunkier beaters and a set attack value but at the cost of three non-creature permanents which in turn may reduce your ability to repeat the Tooth and Nail any time soon if those three permanents were mana sources. What it lacks in scaleability, it makes up for in utility as the decks' main threat against opponent's non-creature permanents. Whatever Elephants you spread around the table will be smaller than your own as yours will benefit from the Zealot's +1/+1 until EOT ability. It's likely that they will throw their elephant under the bus anyway as the moma elephant, Terastodon, inexplicably for an elephant, doesn't trample. Major flavour fail Wizards!!
- It that Betrays with Fleshbag Marauder or Butcher of Malakir
This is a nasty little trick at a certain point in a game when all the chumps have been cleared away and all that's left are the big hitters. Drop It that Betrays and Fleshbag Marauder and collect a free creature from each of your opponents. If you have times it right, it will be something that was worth getting from each and every one. For a more long-lasting effect, go for the Butcher. This is especially good against larger armies if you control a means to kill off some of your own smaller guys, say, an Avenger of Zendikar with some tokens and a Thrashing Wumpus. Unless the potential return is apt to be a stunning sweep of unbeatable creatures, you're probably best advised to do this later on when you have ways to trigger the Butcher repeatedly. Oh, you also have a Skullclamp if you haven't already boosted your Plants past 0/1 for +2 cards and +X free creatures, a great way to spend some mana.
- Keiga, the Tide Star with Clone
What happens when Keiga and Clone both come onto the battlefield at the same time? You steal two target creatures! If it's legendary and you don't want it to go to the graveyard, or in the case of the Eldrazi back into their library, you only need to find a way to off your own Keiga to profit. That way is targetting it with your own Clone and killing both Keigas through the legendary rule. You then get two creatures from across the table.
If the creature concerned is not a legend, you can simply copy it with Clone and use the Keiga as a threat to steal the original. Obviously Clone is the perfect companion to a lot of other creatures in your deck, I think it goes without saying that 2 Avengers of Zendikar is better than one!
- Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker with Woodfall Primus or Grave Titan or Primeval Titan or Duplicant or Karmic Guide or Eternal Witness
Kiki Jiki, Mirror Breaker, what a stunning creature! It's simple and yet so powerful at the same time. I've included some of the options here but really it can go with anything non-legendary in the deck. One of my favourite plays was having it in play, playing a Tooth and Nail for Clone and Karmic Guide and having the Clone copy the Guide as well as Kiki Jiki. I went from just having the Kiki Jiki to having 3 Karmic Guides, a Flame-Kin Zealot, It that Betrays and a Fleshbag Maurader that had appeared, and were dealt with, in the early game. The Fleshbag/ItB combo brought me another 3 guys from the other players: Omnath, a 1/1 dork and a Bird of Paradise. Of course, I put the Flame-kin Zealot trigger on the bottom!
I'm fairly sure the combinations with Woodfall Primus, the Titans, Duplicant or EWit don't need to be gone into. They are all board or hand advantage doubled by Kiki Jiki.
- Realm Razer with Admonition Angel
This nasty little combo came straight off the EDH boards. Tooth and Nail for both parts and remove all lands from the game. Find a Landfall trigger and use the trigger to remove the Razer from the game with the Angel's ability. All the lands come back into play tapped but also giving you a pile of landfall triggers. You use these triggers to remove your opponent's threats. Now they have the dilema:
Do I kill the Angel knowing that I will also lose my lands?
- Teferi with Seedborn Muse
A variant on the Vedalken Orrery/Seedborn Muse combo, Teferi grants a little more protection by slowing your opponent's spells down to sorcery speed and allowing you to "EOT: drop a creature, untap" at every end of turn.
- Vigor with Thrashing Wumpus or Crater Hellion or Empyrial Archangel
This one is my personal favourite. Vigor is a 6/6 Elemental that makes your other creatures impervious to damage. Better still, for each damage they take, they grow that much instead. If you already have some creatures out, go and fetch Vigor with Crater Hellion to give everyone a permanent +4/+4 while destroying a large part of your opponent's board at the same time. For a more lasting effect, you can use Thrashing Wumpus, itself a good friend of Seedborn Muse. The ultimate defense pairs Vigor with the untargettable Empyrial Archangel to prevent all damage to you and turning the Archangel into a flying monster at the same time.
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| Vigor - Likes Birds. |
That's a quick tour of the deck and some of the possibilities involved though you can always mix and match between the given options. If you decide to run the deck, have a blast and don't be afraid to come back and leave some comments!
