Introduction
The original design of this deck was an Abzan sacrifice deck that used expendable creatures to enhance its board state. This allowed for card draw with
Vampiric Rites
and token generation with
Abzan Ascendancy
and
Murder Investigation
both of which created downside for my opponent killing off my creatures, but great incentive for me to sacrifice a 10/10 Mana gorger Hydra especially late game with too many big opposing creatures for trample to matter, but enough tokens to push through damage.
That being said, the deck would win, but needed a strategy, it needed something more, and it needed to survive rotation. Enter, The Nantuko Tomb of Zulaport
Key Cards
-
Murder Investigation
an all star in the original deck,
Earthen Arms
a Mana gorger Hydra and attach investigation, then sit back waiting for the opportune moment to crack him and overwhelm an opponent. One great upside is, any kill or destroy spell they use on the Hydra only makes your board even more creature heavy. To top it off, it gives him 1 last counter before he goes.
-
Zulaport Cutthroat
and Kalastria Healer every creature you own, whether it's entering or leaving the battlefield will give you life and burn your opponent. These also enable some win cons.
-Rogue's Passage if anyone knows about the Zulaport budget deck, you know the win con this enables.
-Blisterpod and Hangarback Walker further token generators with downsides to killing them off, due to budget reasons though, walker is a 2 of, and while a playset would be good it isn't a win con on its own to us.
-Duress this is a midrange deck with weaknesses early game, so you'll want to get rid of some nasties like counter spells, mass removal, planeswalkers, and the limited burn/ removal spells in the format. Even if you just need a look at what your up against, 1 mana isn't a high cost for knowledge.
-March from the Tomb a value, win con enabling card
-Nantuko Husk as you've probably guessed, a combo or two is on the way with this one, which leads nicely into:
The Win Cons, and Strategies
So first off: -we can race our Kalastria Healer's into the graveyard, via sac or discard outlets then use March from the Tomb to bring them back, they all trigger each other causing 16 damage and 16 lifegain to you! Okay 16 isn't outright lethal. However, by the time you get this combo off (espcially if a cutthroat was in play when they were sent to the graveyard) then that 16 damage is probably going to kill them. If it doesn't? Then 16 lifegain is hopefully something they can't pull back from.
Secondly: -generate tokens anyway you can. Or late game hopefully you'll have enough creatures to use Nantuko Husk swelling it to a massive beater with its sac ability. With a
Zulaport Cutthroat
in play, hit for a few damage before the inevitable Rogue's Passage makes the husk un-blockable and you can swing in for lethal.
Lastly- build a huge Managorger Hydra as you cast away, then
Murder Investigation
it to create a token generator (this also works to some extent with Hangarback Walker, then sac it with Bone Splinters to kill off your biggest obstacle and swing in with a hoard for lethal.
Zulaport Cutthroat
and Nantuko Husk can make this extra tasty if you use the tokens to burn your opponents life total to single figures, then storm in for the kill.
The Sideboard Explained
Call the Scions
will add those extra tokens to your deck to beef out the Nantuko Husk strategy, OR speed your mana base up to March from the Tomb a little early. With the latter in mind:
Gather the Pack and accidentally graveyard every one of your Kalastria Healer's to make that burn out win more likely.
Evolutionary Leap works much the same as Gather the Pack along with being an additional Sac outlet and also letting you bring another threat out without having to discard 2-3 other cards.
Vampiric Rites
adds an extra sac outlet, but also helps when topdecking becomes an issue.
Secure the Wastes these are useful at a few stages in the game, whether you need chump blockers or Nantuko Husk fuel it can serve a dual purpose. A budget version of the build could run
Call the Scions
in it's place.
Silkwrap
answers a lot of things in the current meta, no reason not to run atleast a 1 of.
Tainted Remedy
will damage any mirror, or pesky lifegain strategy, more or less turning it against them and almost making them kill themselves off. Ha.
Transgress the Mind a helpful card if you need more time for a particular win con. Use it in conjunction with Duress to help control what they can throw at you and make sure your win cons aren't too disrupted when the time comes to beat them to a pulp.
So there is the sideboard, a sort of hybrid transformative/ answer sideboard which can enable win-cons that bit more, but also answer a couple of threats.
One Last Burning Question!!
why aren't Drana, Liberator of Malakir and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar both playsets?
-good question: 1) because budget. 2) because although I like the cards, and they help my strategies, they aren't particularly essential to them. If anything THESE are the cards i'd probably cut for 2 more Hangarback Walker but while I have a copy each they may as well see play.
Finally that's the deck! I hope you enjoyed the read, like the deck and please +1 and comment!
Thanks for looking.
