Budget Building: Invasion of the Bodysnatchers

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Rustria

22 June 2011

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Let’s go with a different color from last week. This deck focuses on two cards. One is one of the more awkward cards to cast from NPH and the other is one of the coolest cards I’ve seen from the set. The toolbox enabler is Birthing Pod. This is one of the cooler concepts for magic decks. The toolbox allows you to have answers to a lot of things at your convenience. Birthing Pod also allows you to turn a random mana dork into the powerful Myr Superion. In case it is not obvious, this week’s deck is Birthing Pod. Let’s get started.

Birthing Pod: both the center of our deck and a support card. The Birthing Pod chain allows us to get out our important creatures and go all the way up to the big leagues. Birthing Pod also allows us to tutor out a Myr Superion, which we otherwise maybe couldn’t play.

Myr Superion: the most efficient beater. Not much else to say. It is just powerful.

Joraga Treespeaker: the best mana dork for this deck. This card allows a turn 2 Myr Superion easily.

Arbor Elf: the worst mana dork (in this deck). This is only here for ramp. If you have the money to invest, definitely replace this with Birds of Paradise.

Llanowar Elves: one of the mana dorks for Myr Superion.Ramp really helps this deck because of the big creatures this deck attempts to cast. Llanowar Elves combos with the next card for a turn 2 Myr Superion.

Nest Invader: a solid body and mana. With Llanowar Elves this bad guy gives you a turn 2 Myr Superion. Llanowar Elves’ mana and the eldrazi spawn give you the two creature mana needed. After the usefulness of this card has declined feel free to turn it into a

Leatherback Baloth: one of my favorite green creatures, and its good also! This is just an efficient blocker, attacker, whatever-you-needer. If this creature ever declines in value, trade it up for a

Kozilek's Predator: the bigger spawn. This card sits comfortably at a 4 drop and fills up the slot for this deck. It is worth 3 creatures, all of which can be traded up to more useful ones. The predator itself, trades up to an

Acidic Slime: a Swiss Army Knife. This card is awesome. It will destroy those pesky equipments, that Pyromancer Ascension (whoops!), and that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. And after that, it provides an amazing blocker is you choose not to trade it for a

Brutalizer Exarch: another fine Swiss-made product, although closer resembling a spork. It is a harbinger and a “destruction” spell. If you so choose, it will give you whatever creature you want from you deck. However, I believe the right play, more often than not, will be to send something to the bottom of your opponent’s library. And after you have exhausted Brutalizer Exarch’s usefulness, make it a

Pelakka Wurm: gives you what you need. At the point in the game when you would be either casting this or finding it with Birthing Pod, you will want the extra life this gives you. When you are all done with the wurm, it turns into quite a smaller creature. That creature, however, can make itself known.

Gigantomancer: the end of the chain. This creature allows a massive, game-ending swing. As soon as this guy hits the field you have a bunch of 7/7s swinging at your opponent. When combined with Overwhelming Stampede, the swing will me nigh unstoppable.

Overwhelming Stampede: wins the game. It makes all your creatures big, not much else to say. If you don’t have this rare, don’t want to spend money on it, or just plain like infect better, look no further than Triumph of the Hordes. Either card allows almost instantaneous win, especially when combined with Gigantomancer.

Lead the Stampede: the card advantage for this deck. This allows you to dig 5 cards into your library and get a creature. It is important to remember that if you see all big creatures, you will want to tutor later, sent them to the bottom. Do not take one unless you want to. That is the second function of Lead the Stampede. It lets you semi-control your draws.

Mana base: A simple 23 Forest mana base is all we need for this deck. If you want to upgrade it, add 3 oran-ried, the vastwood and take out 3 Forests.

Here is the finished deck:

Pod People

Modern Rustria

SCORE: 2 | 2 COMMENTS | 825 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

Sideboard:

Naturalize is always helpful, especially in this standard. I also recommend having Acidic Slime in the ‘board. Triumph of the Hordes is also a cool card to add to the sideboard. It changes the win-con of the deck so people won’t necessarily be expecting it. Fresh Meat serves as a nice anti-Day of Judgment card. Melira, Sylvok Outcast is a nice anti-infect card. Bellowing Tanglewurm allows unblockable things every turn. More Acidic Slimes are never bad, and Blightwidow serves as a nice friend to the slime, especially against those pesky Squadron Hawks.

Games:

Pod People vs. Darkblade

I lose the roll and mulligan down to 6, keeping 2 Forest, Leatherback Baloth, Nest Invader, Acidic Slime, and Joraga Treespeaker. My opponent keeps his original 7 and leads with a Seachrome Coast. I draw a Lead the Stampede, play a Forest and cast the treespeaker. My opponent plays an Island and passes. I draw another Lead the Stampede and play my Forest. I level up the treespeaker and attempt to cast Nest Invader. It meets a Mana Leak. I pass. My opponent plays a Glacial Fortress and casts a Squadron Hawk, finding its buddies. For my turn I draw a Joraga Treespeaker and cast a Lead the Stampede. I see Birthing Pod, 2 Forest, 2 Myr Superion. I grab a superion and send the rest to the bottom. I use the last Forest to cast another treespeaker. My opponent swings with his hawk, plays a Creeping Tar Pit and passes. I draw a Forest and play it. I level the treespeaker and tap it to cast my Myr Superion. I then cast a Leatherback Baloth that meets a Mana Leak. I pass. My opponent swings with his hawk and casts Day of Judgment. He passes. I draw and cast a Leatherback Baloth. My opponent casts a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and brainstorms. He then plays a Marsh Flats, breaks it for a Swamp, casts Inquisition of Kozilek and takes my Lead the Stampede. He passes. I draw a Myr Superion and kill Jace with my baloth. I pass. My opponent plays another Marsh Flats and casts a Squadron Hawk, finding the other two (from the brainstorm and shuffle). He passes. I draw a Forest, play it, and swing with baloth. My opponent Go for the Throats it and I pass. My opponent casts another Jace, the Mind Sculptor and brainstorms. He casts a Stoneforge Mystic and finds a Sword of Feast and Famine. He plays a Darkslick Shores and passes. I draw and play a Forest. I keep the Acidic Slime in hand for the sword. My opponent brainstorms and uses Stoneforge to play the Sword of Feast and Famine. He equips it to the Squadron Hawk and swings, after playing another Squadron Hawk, finding the last. I take 3 and discard the Myr Superion. He casts another Stoneforge Mystic and searches up a Sword of Feast and Famine. He passes the turn. I draw an Arbor Elf and cast Acidic Slime. It is promptly Mana Leaked and I concede.

Sideboard:

-1 Gigantomancer, -1 Brutalizer Exarch, -3 Leatherback Baloth, -1 Pelakka Wurm, -1 Kozilek's Predator, +2 Acidic Slime, +3 Viridian Corrupter, +2 Blightwidow. 2nd Game: I win the roll and mulligan to 6, my opponent keeps his hand. I keep 2 Arbor Elf, 2 Forest, Blightwidow, Birthing Pod. I lead with the Forest and Arbor Elf. My opponent plays a Darkslick Shores and a Preordain keeping both. I draw a Birthing Pod, play a Forest, and cast the Birthing Pod for two life. My opponent casts Preordain and plays a Glacial Fortress tapped. He passes. I draw a Viridian Corrupter. I cast another Arbor Elf and sacrifice the first to make a Myr Superion. I pass. My opponent plays a Creeping Tar Pit and casts a Stoneforge Mystic searching up nothing. He passes. I draw a Forest and play it. I swing with Myr Superion and cast my other Birthing Pod post combat using Arbor Elf. My opponent plays a tapped Glacial Fortress and passes. I draw and play a Forest. I swing and hit with Superion again. I pass with my opponent at 10. At the end of my turn, my opponent throws down a Sword of Feast and Famine with Stoneforge Mystic. My opponent draws for turn and swings with Stoneforge Mystic. I take the 1 damage and post combat my opponent casts Day of Judgment, plays a Creeping Tar Pit and passes. I draw and cast a Nest Invader. I use the Eldrazi Spawn to cast Viridian Corrupter, destroying the Sword of Feast and Famine. I pass. My opponent plays a Creeping Tar Pit and casts Squadron Hawk, searching up his buddies. He passes the turn. I draw an Arbor Elf. I attack with my Nest Invader and Viridian Corrupter. My opponent takes both. Post combat, I turn my Corrupter into a Blightwidow, cast my Arbor Elf, and turn it into a Myr Superion for 2 life. I pass turn. My opponent plays another Creeping Tar Pit and casts Sword of Feast and Famine. He equips it to the hawk and swings. He connects and I have to discard my Blightwidow and he gets to untap his lands. He casts double Squadron Hawk before passing. I draw a Forest. I attack with Myr Superion and it is chumped with a hawk. Main phase two, I turn my Nest Invader into a Viridian Corrupter, destroying his Sword of Feast and Famine. I pass the turn. My opponent casts another Squadron Hawk, animates a Creeping Tar Pit and attacks for 3. He passes. I draw and play a Forest. I attack with my entire team. My opponent blocks an infector and the Superion and takes 2 poison. I turn my Blightwidow into an Acidic Slime and destroy a Creeping Tar Pit. My opponent casts a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and bounces my Myr Superion. He passes. I draw a Joraga Treespeaker. I attack my opponent’s Jace with my slime and corrupter. He doesn’t block and Jace dies. I cast Joraga Treespeaker and level it once before I pass the turn. My opponent plays a Darkslick Shores and Go for the Throats my treespeaker. He then animates his Creeping Tar Pit and swings with it and the Squadron Hawk for 4. He passes. I draw and play another Forest. I attack with both my creatures for 2 infect and 2 regular bringing my opponent to 6 poison and life. My opponent plays a Marsh Flats, breaks it for a Plains, animates both remaining Creeping Tar Pits and swings all for the win This game was really close and I feel like I could have won if I had played a little differently.

Pod People vs. PyroAscension

I lose the roll. I keep my 7 of: 3 Forest, Arbor Elf, Nest Invader, Lead the Stampede, Birthing Pod. My opponent leads with an Island and Preordain. He seals one and steals one. I draw and play a Forest. I pass an Arbor Elf and pass. My opponent plays a Terramorphic Expanse and passes. I draw and play a Forest and cast a Birthing Pod for 2 life. My opponent cracks the Terramorphic Expanse for a Mountain at the end of my turn. My opponent plays a Halimar Depths and passes. I draw a Forest and play it. I use Arbor Elf to sacrifice itself to Birthing Pod to get a Myr Superion. I attempt to cast Nest Invader but it is mana leaked. My opponent plays a Mountain and passes. I draw a Llanowar Elves. I swing with Myr Superion and hit my opponent. I cast Llanowar Elves but it is Mana Leaked. I pass turn. My opponent draws a card and passes the turn. I draw a Lead the Stampede. I swing with [[myr superion]. I then play a Forest and cast the Lead the Stampede. I see 2 Forest, Llanowar Elves, Joraga Treespeaker, and Overwhelming Stampede. I grab the treespeaker and cast it. I pass turn. My opponent plays an Evolving Wilds and breaks it for a Mountain. He passes the turn to me. I draw and play another Forest. I attack with the Myr Superion. I cast another Lead the Stampede and see: 2 Forest, Leatherback Baloth, Llanowar Elves, Birthing Pod. I grab the Leatherback Baloth. I sacrifice Joraga Treespeaker to Birthing Pod to get a Myr Superion and pass turn. My opponent draws a card, casts Slagstorm and a Lightning Bolt targeting a superion, says he wished he had another Mountain and passes. I draw a Kozilek's Predator and swing with Myr Superion. My opponent takes it and I win.

Pod People vs. Beserker Infect

I win the roll. I keep: 3 Forest, Joraga Treespeaker, Myr Superion, Acidic Slime, Overwhelming Stampede. I lead with a Forest and Joraga Treespeaker. My opponent plays an Inkmoth Nexus and casts an Infiltration Lens. I draw and play a Forest. I level Joraga Treespeaker and cast Myr Superion. My opponent plays a Forest and casts Necropede. I draw and play a Forest. I cast Acidic Slime, destroying Necropede which puts a -1/-1 counter on Myr Superion. I swing with Superion and pass turn. My opponent plays a Forest and animates his Inkmoth Nexus. He swings for 1 infect. He casts another Infiltration Lens and passes. I draw a Joraga Treespeaker. I play a Forest. I swing with my team for 7. My opponent goes to 9 life and I cast a Joraga Treespeaker and level it once. My opponent animates Inkmoth Nexus and attacks. I declare no blockers and he uses a kicked Vines of Vastwood and 2 free Mutagenic Growths to pump the Inkmoth Nexus to a 9/9. Nine poison counters later, I lose. That is how powerful that deck is. I would have won next turn. Beserker Infect is another budget deck, and very powerful to boot.

Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed this deck. It can have quite explosive starts and it is fun for Johnnys and Timmys. Spike will just have to settle for Darkblade, darn. I’ll be testing every deck against Darkblade to see how it turns out as well as against my last deck. Have fun customizing this deck the way you want. If you have any suggestions on the deck comment on the deck itself: Pod People. If you have any comments on the article, post them here. I’ll try to have another budget deck posted next week. Email me your awesome budget ideas and your tappedout username at [email protected] . Thanks!