Strategy:
The goal of this deck is to take advantage of Child of Alara's ability to create devastating board-wipes and control the game by constantly recurring it from the graveyard. By sacrificing Child of Alara, you can destroy all nonland permanents, keeping the battlefield clear of threats and gaining an advantage over your opponents. This deck is built on a budget, focusing on affordable cards that support the overall strategy.
Key Themes:
Sacrifice and Recursion: Utilize sacrifice outlets like High Market and Phyrexian Tower to sacrifice Child of Alara and trigger its board-wipe ability. Cards like Fool's Demise, Disturbed Burial, and Journey to Eternity
allow you to constantly bring Child of Alara back from the graveyard, ensuring a steady stream of board-wipes.
Budget Ramp and Fixing: Use budget-friendly ramp cards such as Rampant Growth, Farseek, and Harrow to accelerate your mana production and fix your colors. This will enable you to cast Child of Alara and other spells more consistently, ensuring you have the necessary resources to control the game.
Value Creatures: Include creatures that provide value when they enter or leave the battlefield. Cards like Mulldrifter, Yavimaya Elder, and Sea Gate Oracle offer card draw and land ramp, while Fleshbag Marauder and Burnished Hart provide removal and ramp respectively. These creatures not only contribute to your overall game plan but also provide utility and resilience.
Budget Removal and Protection: Include affordable removal spells like Barter in Blood, Rite of Consumption, and Twisted Justice to deal with threats on the battlefield. Protect your own creatures with cards like Soul Manipulation, Undying Evil, and Worthy Cause, allowing you to keep your board presence intact while disrupting your opponents.
Artifact Support: Utilize budget artifacts such as Armillary Sphere, Darksteel Ingot, and Expedition Map to support your ramp and fixing strategy. These artifacts provide additional mana sources and ensure you have the necessary colors to cast your spells consistently.
I originally built this deck with no rares in the 99. It is built to sacrifice Child of Alara, let it go to the graveyard to destroy everyone's expensive nonland permanents and then recur Child of Alara. This deck only has three rares in the 99: Gift of Immortality is perfect for the deck, and the budget mythic Maze's End fixes our mana. I have never triggered the win condition of Maze's End and do not expect to. It just gets guildgates to fix your mana, a budget Thawing Glaciers. Worthy Cause let's you repeatedly sacrifice Child of Alara and Fool's Demise or Disturbed Burial lets you constantly recur it. High Market and Phyrexian Tower would be good in the deck. I have just added Keldon Necropolis since it seems good here and nowhere else.
Edit: added a fourth rare, Journey to Eternity
because I had one unused and it fits here like a glove. Removed Cessation because podkomorka got me questioning the card with his comments on this list.
Remember, this deck's strength lies in its ability to control the battlefield and repeatedly wipe out threats. Utilize your sacrifice outlets and recursion spells to maximize the potential of Child of Alara's ability. Adapt your strategy based on the threats presented by your opponents, and use your budget removal and protection spells effectively to maintain control of the game.
Edit: My newest iteration of this deck allows it to win with Maze's End since I added Scapeshift and Reshape the Earth plus Wizards dumped a lot of cool new gates. The deck is more fun to play against, too, since just constantly wiping the board was not really fun for my opponents.
