Crazy Brewing Ideas: Making Synergies Work!
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EpicFreddi
4 September 2016
1457 views
4 September 2016
1457 views
Hello Tappedout! My Name is EpicFreddi and I hereby present you:
Crazy Brewing Ideas - Making Synergies Work!
The idea is fairly simple. We take a combo or synergy that has the potential to be successful and turn it into a complete deck. The format will vary from article to article, but will mostly focus on Modern/Legacy, since Standard is not my preferred format.
That being said, this first article will actually be about Standard (irony....).
Without further ado, let's start with the first synergy. It's a soft lock from Standard composed of Lunar Force and Starfield of Nyx (Shoutout to DarksteelBadger for telling me this).
Here's how it's supposed to work: The opponent casts a spell at which point Lunar Force will be sacrificed. The spell will be countered and Lunar Force will be brought back at the beginning of our upkeep with Starfield of Nyx. Keep in mind that Lunar Force's ability is not a "may", so it will always be sacrificed when an opponent casts a spell. With this combination of cards we can effectively counter the first spell on each of our opponent's turns while we build up our own board.
From here on out we could go three ways when building the deck:
- W/U Enchantment Control
- Esper Enchantment Control (With Demonic Pact)
- Jeskai Enchantment Control (With Fevered Visions)
I choose to go for esper, because it would open up more removal options and Demonic Pact. Here's my first rough build:
2x Caves of Koilos 2x Dead Weight 2x Demonic Pact 4x Disperse 3x Evolving Wilds 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium 3x Island 3x Languish 3x Lunar Force 2x Myth Realized 1x Narset Transcendent 2x Painful Truths 2x Plains 2x Port Town 2x Prairie Stream 1x Quarantine Field 2x Reflector Mage 4x Shambling Vent 2x Sigil of the Empty Throne 3x Silkwrap 1x Silumgar's Command 1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis 3x Spell Queller 3x Starfield of Nyx 1x Sunken Hollow 3x Swamp 2x Wasteland Strangler
This is a mixture of enchantment-control and tempo. We aim to control the opponents board until we can either kill them with our Starfield of Nyx Team, kill them with angel tokens, or beat them down with Reflector Mage, Spell Queller and Wasteland Strangler and/or a large Myth Realized.
Since there are many exile effects in the deck, "Processor" cards like Wasteland Strangler are great options too. Turn one Silkwrap into turn two Wasteland Strangler brings an insane amount of value.
Card Choices:
Enchantments
- Dead Weight - Early Game removal or a card that slows down an impending clock. Sylvan Advocate becomes a lot less scary with some Dead Weight attached.
- Myth Realized - A great one drop that grows over time. By just by playing our gameplan this can easily be a 6/6 by turn 6. Also a great card to dump your mana into. More than two would be problematic since drawing them mid/lategame is fairly bad.
- Silkwrap - Great early-game removal. Makes Sylvan Advocate even less scary, even after he got his boost. Great to remove Hangarback Walker and enables a combo with Wasteland Strangler.
- Lunar Force - One Piece (hehe) of our softlock. The card is pretty self explanatory. Watch out that it's not a "may" ability, so the first spell of your opponent will be countered.
- Demonic Pact - Our value-producer. It's a double edged sword since it can just make us lose the game, yet the other modes gives us insane value. You can either bounce it with Disperse or Silumgar's Command.
- Sigil of the Empty Throne - A great finisher. Turns all our Enchantments into 4/4's. Since it's on cast you will get your angel for sure, even if the spell is countered.
- Starfield of Nyx - The second part of our softlock. It's both a finisher and a value card.
- Quarantine Field - Lategame "mass-removal". If you need to stabilize this is the way to go.
Creatures:
- Reflector Mage - Does this card need explanation? There's "tempo" written all over it. Great card, great body, great value.
- Spell Queller - See Reflector Mage. Additionally this creature has evasion with flying and a great way to permanently exile a card - cast Spell Queller, target the spell, then immediately bounce Spell Queller, and exile the spell for good.
- Wasteland Strangler - 3/2 for three mana, so doesn't quite make the vanilla check. His upside turns him into removal with our early game enchantments.
Instants:
- Disperse - Bounce Demonic Pact to not die, bounce Spell Queller with his ability on the stack to exile the "quelled" card permanently. Great way to bounce big opponents creatures to save yourself.
- Silumgar's Command - A "silver bullet" against pretty much everything. It's removal, counter, bounce and more removal.
Sorceries:
- Languish - Good 'ol languish doesn't care about creatures. Remove pretty much everything to reset the board.
- Painful Truths - Drawing cards is never wrong. Nothing more to say.
Planeswalkers:
- Narset Transcendent - another pseudo card-draw engine. Her +1 gives us our needed enchantments, the -2 can do some silly stuff with our instants. Her ultimate locks most people out of the game. She's only a one-of because her -2 cannot be ulilized to the full potential in our build.
- Sorin, Grim Nemesis - The next card-draw engine with upside while "drawing". His minus ability can kill nearly every creature in the format while gaining you some life. His ultimate is not really interesting for us, but it can still win games.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
The strength of our deck is definitely the long game. Since we have so many value cards, we can easily out-value the opponent. Since we need a lot of mana though, it takes a lot of time to get started. If we have a slow start while our opponent slams out creatures on curve, we can struggle pretty hard. I would like to break down the meta here, but I lack the standard-experience. From what I can see online this deck ought to be around 50/50 against most opponents.
Conclusion:
Play this deck if you're looking for a fun and budget deck with a twist. It can be tuned according to your meta with more removal or more control elements. It has a lot of flex-slots, so optimizing is always possible and boarding fairly easy, because some cards are just dead in some matchups.
That's it from me. I hopped you liked my first article. I'm still very inexperienced in this, but I'll try to make this series as good as I can. Special thanks to user:chiefbell for editing this article so I don't sound like a kindergarden child.
Tune in next time for my next brew: Death's Shadow in Legacy!
See ya 'round.
- Freddi
TheRedGoat says... #2
Okay, so do you pick your ideas in advance for these or can you take a request?
I'm mainly asking because ever since hearing about it I've wanted to abuse the interactions of Demonic Pact, Harmless Offering (or similar cards), and potentially Emrakul, the Promised End. So what I would ask of you is your thoughts on a modern take of a deck focused around these cards.
The first 2 represent the win condition, but Emrakul represents the ultimate flavor win. The idea goes if you follow normal procedure to gift a used pact to the opponent, but have mana to spare for Emrakul (somehow), then you can gift pact early so that when you cast Emrkaul you can force the opponent to choose the lose option on the Pact before that would be there last choice.
To back up a bit though, I like your idea here about an Esper enchantments deck, but, knowing this deck will soon be falling out of standard, how could this be adapted to modern? Or can it not be?
September 4, 2016 9:42 a.m.
TheRedGoat says... #3
Okay, so do you pick your ideas in advance for these or can you take a request?
I'm mainly asking because ever since hearing about it I've wanted to abuse the interactions of Demonic Pact, Harmless Offering (or similar cards), and potentially Emrakul, the Promised End. So what I would ask of you is your thoughts on a modern take of a deck focused around these cards.
The first 2 represent the win condition, but Emrakul represents the ultimate flavor win. The idea goes if you follow normal procedure to gift a used pact to the opponent, but have mana to spare for Emrakul (somehow), then you can gift pact early so that when you cast Emrkaul you can force the opponent to choose the lose option on the Pact before that would be there last choice.
To back up a bit though, I like your idea here about an Esper enchantments deck, but, knowing this deck will soon be falling out of standard, how could this be adapted to modern? Or can it not be?
September 4, 2016 9:42 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #4
TheRedGoat Hey Goat!
I always have one topic in advance, but I'm always open for requests/ideas.
So to understand you correctly, you want me to build a deck with Harmless Offering + Demonic Pact + Emrakul in Modern?
I completly understand the first two, but I'm not sure about Emrakul because for it to work like you said, I had to wait 2 turn, then cast emrakul, get the extra turn and then gift them the Pact? Seems very complicated to me. Personally I'd like to try the Offering/Pact deck for modern.
You could, of course, build the esper enchantment list in modern. Problem there is that the format, compared to the current standard with delirium and stuff, is super fast. You might not survive until turn 4, so I wouldn't recommend it, if you wanted to bring it to a competetive FNM. The deck would also be a lot more expensive, given that you'll need fetch/shocks.
September 5, 2016 6:44 a.m.
TheRedGoat says... #5
@EpicFreddi I can understand that about the enchantment decks. I've looked up many of the worthwhile enchantments that are cheap to play and little to none of them would actually support being that quick in a modern setting (I had been looking them up for commander).
Still, I'll see if I can't come up with something for both the enchantment and the Pact decks. I really can't stress how intriguing the Pact win looks to me. It's almost as appealing as the Tree+Phobia combos I've seen.
September 5, 2016 10:57 a.m.
Hey EpicFreddi, I love the idea. I've frequently toyed with Starfield of Nyx, but never gone so far as to actually build it out. I like it!
TheRedGoat, in a move of shameless self promotion, I may have the deck you seek. Still needs a ton of work and the mana base is definitely off, but take a look at Grixis Trix
September 5, 2016 11:46 p.m.
TheRedGoat says... #7
@saj0219 That's certainly a start, but I'll go one further and say that a full group-hug-ish deck is possible. I've just gotta find the right cards and I'll post my idea for it.
September 6, 2016 1:30 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #8
saj0219 your list looks like something I would've built, just better.. guess I'll scrap that idea. Sorry. TheRedGoat
September 6, 2016 10:45 a.m.
with the spoilers coming out, i'd love to see a deck featuring animation module, decoction module, and fabrication module. too bad Hangarback Walker is rotating in standard :/
September 7, 2016 1:08 a.m. Edited.
Great article btw! I'm looking forward to reading more!
September 7, 2016 1:09 a.m. Edited.
EpicFreddi says... #11
tempest thank you very much!
Regarding your Module-Idea: I guess by the time i finished the next article, there will already be a deck arround the modules I think. But if it's not done until then, I'll gladly try my best!
September 7, 2016 3:46 a.m.
Cyberpunk_Eevee says... #12
I was toying around with Gatherer's random card button, and came across Grinding Station. Looked in to it, and found Blasting Station, Grinding Station, Salvaging Station, and Summoning Station. What can you do with those?
I was thinking some form of Affinity-esque urzatron something or other with Darksteel Relic, I'm not really knowledgeable on magic cards from older sets, I just hit random button a lot.
September 7, 2016 6:08 a.m. Edited.
EpicFreddi says... #13
Cyberpunk_Eevee so if I get the station combo right, they all combo into each other, but they need all 4 pieces, otherwise the combo doesnt work really well. But it doesn sound interesting. I will, however, but it later on the list because I think Kaladesh would bring some new toys for said deck.
September 7, 2016 7:34 a.m.
Cyberpunk_Eevee says... #14
EpicFreddi Yeah, downside is it's basically an Exodia hand. If Kaladesh does something for it to be a bit more likely, I'd like to see it; otherwise, feel free to cut it from your list.
September 7, 2016 5:09 p.m.
Does bouncing/flickering Spell Queller only work to permanently exile a spell if you bounce/flicker the queller after it enters the battlefield but before the ETB trigger has resolved?
September 8, 2016 3:30 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #16
rorzor either that or you need to counter the leave-ability (with Summary Dismissal for example.
September 8, 2016 4:49 a.m.
Here's a deck I'd like to see, EpicFreddi:
- Ancestral Statue to bounce itself for enters the battlefield triggers.
- Reduced cost with Rakdos, Lord of Riots (and maybe Heartless Summoning for backup) to let it go infinite.
- Combine with some win-con like Purphoros, God of the Forge or Impact Tremors for infinite damage.
September 8, 2016 6:28 p.m.
EpicFreddi I'd love to see you have a crack at Inverter of Truth or Hedron Alignment..... in standard ;)
September 9, 2016 2:50 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #19
camomilk okay, so you want me to build an infinite-etb-combo? Does it need to be with Ancastral statue? Cause I think I have an easier idea to achieve the same gial. But it will be #4 on the list, so it might take mounths before it comes out.
That being said rorzor, I'll try that after the Kaladesh release. But I have both on my list. :)
September 9, 2016 3:13 a.m.
Thanks EpicFreddi! I was more interested in abusing the cost reducing effect of Rakdos, Lord of Riots than using Ancestral Statue in particular; I'll be looking forward to whatever you come up with. And I already love this column - building around crazy synergies is right up my alley. Looking forward to future releases!
September 9, 2016 10:54 a.m.
Cyberpunk_Eevee says... #21
rorzor There's a player at my lgs that won with Hedron Alignment. I'll see if I can grab his deck list.
ChiefBell says... #1
EpicFreddi
September 4, 2016 6:39 a.m.