Many Ghen decks are focusing on curses and other enchantments with lasting effects and high cmc, that you want to stay on the battlefield as long as possible to generate value. The goal of this deck however is to combine
Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
with as many ETB enchantments as possible, using flashy one-time effects that can be recurred. The focus of this deck is mostly on Sagas, because Sagas are awesome and cool.
Sadly, they have almost no synergy amonst each other. There are not really any "Tribal" cards for Sagas except the occasional
Search for Glory
and
Jhoira's Familiar
. They do however synergize greatly with Ghen, as Sagas only sacrifice themself after all of their chapters have left the stack, offering a unique opportunity to sacrifice them to
Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
's ability at the end of their lifespan to get another one on the board (rule 714.4. If the number of lore counters on a Saga permanent is greater than or equal to its final chapter number, and it isn’t the source of a chapter ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack, that Saga’s controller sacrifices it. This state-based action doesn’t use the stack.)
Chapter I: Ascent of the Worthy
To get into a winning position, we need to generate value.
Brought Back
is the All-Star of this deck. We can return two enchantments to the battlefield that were sacrificed this turn (either by their own effect or by Ghen) for only 2 mana. This also works with fetch lands and can be used to ramp ourselves. And if we don't want to play with our playgroup anymore, we can slot in
Fall of the Thran
to get ahead in Lands that way (
Boros Charm
or
Teferi's Protection
would work even better with Fall, but I really prefer not to go down that route).
Flicker of Fate
is another no-brainer, as it can reset Sagas when they run out of chapters, on top of the additional protection and ETB-shenanigans it provides.
Other than that we just want to draw a lot of cards with enchantments like
Treacherous Blessing
,
Demonic Lore
,
Showdown of the Skalds
,
Liliana's Contract
and
Demonic Pact
.
Mesa Enchantress
is a natural fit.
Rune of Might
and
The Birth of Meletis
at least cantrip before we sac them to Ghen. The former one can even give him haste to do so on the turn he comes into play.
Spirit Loop
returns itself to our hand when we sacrifice it.
Court of Ambition
,
Court of Grace
and
Court of Ire
give us the Monarch every time they ETB, which is great, because we won't necessarily be attacking our opponents much.
A special mention goes
Mythos of Snapdax
which is a boardwipe that leaves our most important stuff alive (Ghen, one enchantment to keep the sac going as well as one mana-rock) while leaving the enemy with their worst stuff.
Phyrexian Scriptures
works in a similar way, by turing Ghen into an artifact and then destroying non-artifact creatures.
Chapter II: Surviving the Showdown
Truth be told, we don't have a wincon that allows us to knock out multiple opponents in one fell swoop (at least until
Replenish
is reprinted). There are no infinite combos in the deck - no way to pump out a huge army, give everything haste and swing for lethal - also "you win the game" is sadly not yet printed on any Sagas. If the number of opponents dwindles however, we are likely to outgrind them (more on that later).
To get to this stage, we build a pillowfort.
Curse of Opulence
,
Ghostly Prison
,
Cunning Rhetoric
and
Delaying Shield
are great for that purpose.
Captive Audience
and
Overwhelming Splendor
can generate good will with other player when used on the arch enemy. My hope is that because these cards hinder only one player, the other players will not get as salty as they would if we used global STAX effects. The Monarch and
Mythos of Snapdax
are also great political tools.
Chapter III: The Triumph of Ghen
How do we win versus one or two opponents? Well, ideally we get either
Captive Audience
or
Overwhelming Splendor
to stick.
Captive Audience
conveniently leaves an opponent at 4 life, which is exactly the amount of damage that is dealt by
Demonic Pact
,
Boros Charm
, a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying or a 2-times non-Monarch
Court of Ire
.
If that doesn't work, our Plan B is to generate an army of Flyers with
Sigil of the Empty Throne
,
Court of Grace
and
Archon of Sun's Grace
.
Daxos the Returned
is an alternative on the ground.
Starfield of Nyx
also turns a critical mass of enchantments into creatures while returning one to the battlefield on each of our upkeeps.
Open the Vaults
is the poor man's
Replenish
but can still generate a huge tempo swing.
If all else fails, we use the opponents cards to win.
Stolen Strategy
,
Hedonist's Trove
,
Cunning Rhetoric
,
Cursed Mirror
,
Animate Dead
and
The Eldest Reborn
give us the powers we need, but not the ones we deserve.
Appendix: Notable Exclusions
Not all Mardu Sagas made it into the deck. The one I am most on the fence about is
The Akroan War
. On one hand it supports the "Use the enemy's cards to win" strategy, encourages opponents to take each other out and is a partial boardwipe. On the other hand, it paints a target on our back with all three Chapters. The opponents might just attack the player that makes them unable to hold back their blockers and threatens to blow stuff up next turn. And we only get to keep the creature as long as
The Akroan War
stays on the battlefield which makes it awkward to sac.
The other excluded Sagas have been cut for more obvious reasons.
Firja's Retribution
is not bad (we have some Angel synergies with
Sigil of the Empty Throne
and
Court of Grace
) but it's also not that great either. Most important of all, it's at 4 cmc which is a really awkward mana cost, as we don't really want to use it as sac fodder but also we'd rather bring back more powerful stuff.
Forging the Tyrite Sword
is decent at best only if all three chapters resolve and we were to include
Battlemage's Bracers
or a similar equipment in addition to
Lightning Greaves
.
Chainer's Torment
is too slow and risky,
History of Benalia
is just a worse
Tymaret Calls the Dead
in most cases.
The Flame of Keld
is a non-bo becuase the first chapter of every Saga is the one we use most.
Fall of the Thran
is a bit too mean for my taste and
Kardur's Vicious Return
,
The First Eruption
,
The Triumph of Anax
,
Rite of Belzenlok
,
Ascent of the Worthy
,
Triumph of Gerrard
and
The Bloodsky Massacre
are just bad in this deck. If you disagree on any of these, please let me know ;)
