Gimme a Shamrock Shake with Rainbow Sprinkles
Legacy Avatar Budget Combo Creature Cheat Hexproof Indestructible
Creature (20)
Sorcery (8)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Instant (2)
Creature (1)
A user by the handle Andramalech approached me asking if I wanted to do a collaborative build of some kind. This intrigued me, but one look at my elementary school permanent record will tell you I don’t play well with others. To be specific, I’ve never built a deck in tandem with anyone else before and so I didn’t have the first clue as to how to go about doing it. I suggested the following instead: We agree on a mutual card to build around, and then each of us constructs his own unique version of a finalized deck.
The only ground rules were no communication during the design process and to limit the possible formats to Legacy, Vintage or Casual (I don’t play Commander/EDH and thus completely lack the skill set to build anything for it). The formats were dictated by the agreed upon card, namely one Willow Priestess. This is what I’ve settled on, and I really can’t wait to see what my collaborative counterpart came up with.
•20 Forests is sufficient. The average CMC per card is between 1-2, and we’ll never be hardcasting anything above 4 mana so factoring in Arbor Elf for 24 total sources of is more than enough. Trust me; I’ve done the math.
Any given strategy always looks better on paper than when you’ve got the cards in your hand after the game begins. You had everything worked out; cast this, chain that into this here, plop down that guy etc. But then all those useful cards have to go and get shuffled and mixed in the deck prior to the match! Fear not; they aren’t lost forever. With some carefully curated cards, we can find them.
•Commune with Nature has a decent chance of locating a key creature card, but remember the hierarchy. We want Willow Priestess as early as possible, followed by Morophon, the Boundless. Lastly we will need either The Ur-Dragon
or Child of Alara. Proceed in sequence; if you are already holding/have already played Willow Priestess, acquire the next piece and so forth. But be wise—if none of the above are 5 cards deep, don’t just throw it away as if it fizzled. Grab that Fierce Empath 2 cards in; at least that will acquire the final link in the chain. Be mindful of all available options.
•Speaking of Fierce Empath, it’s yet another way to acquire combo pieces while at the same time providing a viable blocker to soak up damage while we wait.
•Fog blankets the glade in a gentle mist, forcing peace through non violence. Let your opponent shake their fist at the wind while we preoccupy ourselves with more lucrative strategies.
•Tamiyo's Safekeeping will shield any one card on our side of the table from aught which assails it, and can help ward off any ping damage that manages to find its way through to us with a bit of post resolution life gain.
•Heroic Intervention is like a Cold War era sleeper agent. It goes about it’s daily task of safeguarding our boardstate, but can be activated at a moment’s notice to fulfill an ulterior agenda. More on that later…
Heh Hah No.
Instead I’ve opted to build a Mono Rainbow deck that starts off like any generic Stompy build, transitions into one that Pillowforts for time, then emerges as a soul crushing, reality smashing apocalyptic blight.
With Willow Priestess in play for a full turn, it’s finally time to call on her activated ability. her and select Morophon, the Boundless who—as a shapeshifter—conveniently counts as a faerie. If the ability resolves, go ahead and name Avatar as the creature type.
From here there are a few branching paths, sort of a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style of play.
As Morophon’s generous mana discount is a static ability, it’ll take effect immediately upon resolution, so if you have mana open there’s no need to wait a turn if you happen to have a copy of The Ur-Dragon in hand (which you likely will, either through natural draws or from Fierce Empath or Commune with Nature).
Feel free to attack with both heavy hitters next turn, battering the hapless opponent into submission.
A 6/6 coupled with an 11/11 Flyer (the 10/10 Dragon gets a +1/+1 bump from Morophon since it’s also an Avatar) will make short work of most anything else on the other side of the table. Top it all off with bonus draw(s) and the chance to play a permanent for free, and the advantage only increases.
Alternatively, there is the nuclear option. Morophon, the Boundless can also produce Child of Alara out of nowhere. Now you’re in control of a dynamic duo, a 6/6 coupled with a 7/7 with which to pummel the opponent (again, +1/+1 because it’s an Avatar).
Remember Heroic Intervention? Go ahead and cast it, bestowing the blessings of favor and approval on all our permanents and shielding them from any harm. Then follow up by casting Life's Legacy. Sacrificing Child of Alara dodges two pitfalls and creates an opportunity all at once; it bypasses the hexproof aspect of Heroic Intervention since we aren’t targeting anything, and it also sidesteps the indestructible portion of the card (sacrifice ≠ destroy).
The result? All non-land permanents are obliterated. Even if you’re staring at an opponent’s boardstate boasting, say, 185,000 permanents—we need but one Angel of Death to annihilate them all. Oh, and our permanents will be preserved alive, because of Heroic Intervention.
Leave your hapless opponent asking Show
•Protect and nourish your boardstate with Fog, Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Heroic Intervention. Be sure to hold onto at least one Heroic Intervention for when the reactor goes critical.
•Activate Willow Priestess’ ability, putting Morophon, the Boundless into play—being sure to name Avatar as the creature type of choice. Immediately cast Child of Alara for free, courtesy of the Morophon gives us.
•Cast Heroic Intervention, then cast Life's Legacy and sacrifice Child of Alara…thereby nuking everything on the other side of the board except lands—and drawing a tidy sum of 7 cards (6+1 owing to the bump in power granted by Morophon).
•Alternatively, use Morophon to plop down The Ur-Dragon and batter the opposition that way. Scraping together the additional mana required to cast him shouldn’t be an issue.
•Natural State is targeted removal of otherwise hard to hit non creature permanents, namely Artifacts and Enchantments.
•Beast Within is one of the few non-circuitous methods has to destroy something directly, albeit for a price.
•Life Goes On can really pull our Urza’s Baubles out of the fire if we’ve been weathering a storm of life loss. Offset it with a healthy 4 point chunk, and with a bit of foresight gain back double.
•Veil of Summer is an ace up our sleeve to forestall what are probably the two worst colors to have to deal with when trying to build a boardstate or assemble pieces of a combo.
Obligatory link to the deck in question: Willow's Finagle
”Happy will he be that grabs ahold and does dash to pieces Your children against the crag.”
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98% Casual
Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 2 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Legality | This deck is Legacy legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 8 - 0 Mythic Rares 12 - 0 Rares 4 - 4 Uncommons 16 - 7 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.80 |
| Tokens | Beast 3/3 G |
| Folders | Legacy, Read Later |
| Votes | |
| Ignored suggestions | |
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