This is my first time doing a theme deck, but I am sure fans of Dune will appreciate the effort, so let me know in the comments below if I have missed anything. I have decided to construct a deck called "Desert Power" to be completely themed based on Dune. We are going full into the Desert Theme here and there will be Wurms as well! I the description I will list each card's purpose and how it goes into the Dune/Arrakis theme.
Before I begin, I want to put out a call to Action for WOTC to do a formal Universes Beyond Product based on the Dune Universe. I mean, the Houses of Dune could all have an EDH deck for them and there can easily be themes for the Thinking Machines as well with the amount of Phyrexian cards and Necron content. It could be a similar release to Warhammer 40K which was a smashing success.
Our Commander is Hazezon, Shaper of Sand who resembles Stilgar about as perfectly as you can without naming him Stilgar. The sand warriors are basically Fremen. This is the ability we will build around, creation of Weenie tokens to overwhelm opponents. We will not be focusing on the token doubler cards or even many other token creators unless they are on theme. Our Commander is also Crucible of Worlds on a stick, so we can repeat the sacrifice of deserts for value. After Thunder Junction, I believe we now have enough Desert Land support to make everything work too. The Desertwalk ability is not likely to be useful. I have seen cards like Harmless Offering be used to gift Deserts to opponents and then tron up Hazezon for Commander damage, but at 3/3, that just takes too much work to set up and would be a different decklist.
Protection (6)
On Dune, we would use Holtzman Personal Shields. But in Magic, we have a few options to keep Hazezon alive.
- Swiftfoot Boots
- Mithril Coat
- Unbreakable Formation - which also helps protect our army.
- Rootborn Defenses - increases token count while also keeping our troops alive.
- Timely Ward
- Plaza of Heroes
Desert Lands (20)
In magical Christmas land, WOTC will create Basic Lands with the Subtype "Desert" similar to what we have with Snow lands. When that day comes (maybe the Return to Amonkhet?), this deck will be primed for lift off. But until then, we have 20 Desert Lands, which should be enough for now, because all we need to start the engine of the deck is to find one or two of these. In no particular order are:
- Desert
- Desert of the True
- Mirage Mesa
- Cactus Preserve
- Abraded Bluffs
- Hashep Oasis
- Shefet Dunes
- Sandstorm Verge
- Lazotep Quarry
- Creosote Heath
- Desert of the Indomitable
- Conduit Pylons
- Scavenger Grounds
- Painted Bluffs
- Ramunap Ruins
- Hostile Desert
- Desert of the Fervent
- Sunscorched Desert
- Dunes of the Dead
- Bristling Backwoods
Dune Theme Cards // Wurms
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Ornithopter of Paradise - Ornithopters are the basic mode of travel on Dune. We have a useful mana rock vehicle.
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Arcane Signet - every leader has a Ducal Signet Ring. This can be represented with the Arcane Signet.
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Smuggler's Copter - the Guild is bribed to keep observation of Dune in the Dark. Spice smuggler's are a thing, so this vehicle makes sense. It also helps with card selection.
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Sand Scout - is basically a Fremen warrior who creates tokens and ramps us with Deserts. A perfect 2 Drop to curve into Hazezon.
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Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot - is basically a lasgun wielding Mercenary warrior. Amplifies the damage dealt in our deck.
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Cultivate - Liet Kynes preaches turning Arrakis into a lush planet. It is a theme of Dune.
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Elfhame Wurm - this is the only card I can find where a creature is riding a sand wurm. Maybe I am wrong, but that is why I put this card into the deck. Overall, it is not the best Wurm card.
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Crush of Wurms - for 9 mana you get 3x 6/6 bodies. Not only that, but this spell flashes back. I think it is sneaky good value and also represents the spice blow behavior of Wurms on Dune.
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Enlisted Wurm - yes the Fremen use Wurms in combat, so this is on point. A 5/5 for 6 is not great, but it does have Cascade trigger!
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Ravager Wurm - a Wurm that can either destroy a Land or Fight for removal. I like this for the versatility. Riot means we can make it bigger or go immediately to combat with Haste.
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Sumala Rumblers - is a surprising gem in this deck. It comes down early and gets stronger based on # of creatures so combos nicely with Hazezon on curve. The real power is Myriad, so it hits everyone at the table equally hard on attack.
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Impervious Greatwurm - meet Shai Halud! This is my favorite Wurm in the deck. A 16/16 Indestructible for 10 is good, but the Convoke ability makes it better. Sometimes this can drop on T5/T6 if you have a board state for it.
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Greater Sandworm - most of the time you will Cycle this card for 2 mana, but occasionally you want a 7/7 for 7 that cannot be chump blocked.
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Colossal Rattlewurm - pretty much always will flash for 4 Mana. A 6/5 Trample is above curve. When dead, you can still exile it to put any Desert onto the battlefield. Value!
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Deathcoil Wurm is one of the few ways we "push" damage in the deck. It is a 7/6, but if is blocked, it can deal damage directly to a player.
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Sandwurm Convergence - we have a real issue with lack of flying creatures. So this card enabled us to shut off attacks from the air. It also creates 5/5 Wurms every turn. Basically a spice blow Wurm party.
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Baru, Wurmspeaker - this is Salim, Wormrider from Dune. The original Fremen OG who talks to the Wurms.
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Sifter Wurm - 7/7 Trampler with Scry 3 to set up our deck.
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Emergent Woodwurm - Backup boosts the rest of the other Wurms in our deck. A 4/4 for 7 is not on curve otherwise.
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World Shaper - this is Pardot Kynes to original Fremen Oracle.
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Worldspine Wurm - Behold this 15/15 Baddie, go ahead and kill it and 3x 5/5 Wurms appear.
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Mentor of the Meek - all heroes in Dune have Mentors. So why don't we include this body here, which also helps draw cards when our 1/1 Warriors hit the battlefield.
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Vandalblast - every time a new occupation force comes to Arrakis, there is a lot of pillaging going on.
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Bookwurm
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Secure the Wastes - literally depicts Desert Patrol Soldiers. An excellent card to draw early or late game when combined with our win conditions. Also one of the few token generators we have included.
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Tajic, Legion's Edge - this character reminds me of Duncan Idaho in the flesh. He soaks all noncombat damage for the team.
Non-Thematic Cards
I struggled with making everything into the Dune theme. Maybe over time we will have more cards that make it, but these are present for the value they represent. Dune Chanter and Sarinth Greatwurm failed to make the deck in my first round of cuts. I wanted to include several "Prison" effects to keep us from being beaten down while we build our Board in addition to "one sided" Board Wipes.
- Ghostly Prison
- Windborn Muse
- Norn's Annex
- Martial Coup
- Hour of Reckoning
- Cast Out
Ramp - Wurms are expensive, we will need to build mana quickly. Thankfully we are flush with the following options.
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Map the Frontier - searches for any two Desert cards and puts them onto the battlefield tapped. This can trigger Hazezon and be in addition to our normal land drop.
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Hour of Promise - we get to search for up to two Deserts and put them into the battlefield. Also, we usually will control 3 or more Deserts so we get 2x 2/2 Zombie (Ghola) creature tokens and can trigger Hazezon twice.
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Crop Rotation - we can sacrifice a land and go get any Desert we want. If it is a Desert we chose to Sacrifice, Hazezon can just play it again out of the graveyard.
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Cultivate
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Wreck and Rebuild - is targeted removal of Enchantment/Artifact or a way to Mill 5 cards and bring a land from Graveyard to Battlefield Tapped.
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Farseek - Gets anything with Plains or Mountain on it and helps with mana fixing.
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Roiling Regrowth - we can sacrifice any land (preferably one tapped to produce the mana for this spell. You only get Basic Lands, but that is ok Ramp.
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Harrow - to cast the spell, you need to Sac a land. However you pick two basics and they go to Battlefield.
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Sand Scout
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Sol Ring - as much as I tried not to include, here we are. We need the ramping ability.
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Satyr Wayfinder - digs 4 cards deep. You can put a land into hand or put them all into the graveyard for Hazezon to play later. A decent 2 drop body.
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Winding Way - most of the time, choose Creature. It doesn't matter if lands hit the grave with Hazezon, so there is no downside to this spell.
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Green Sun's Twilight - a solid way to slam large creatures onto the battlefield. Good early or late game as needed.
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Druid Class - is here for the ability to play additional lands every turn. This enabled Hazezon to possibly play two Deserts and Sac them regularly.
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Cleansing Wildfire - we actually intend to use this spell on our own Deserts. Hazezon can bring them back again and it ramps us a land while also drawing a card.
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Atarka 's Command - enables multiple land drops in a turn. Also burns the table and gives you the ability to block fliers.
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Worldsoul's Rage - is a fantastic Sorcery spell which allows you to damage targets AND drop lands from the hand and graveyard into the battlefield. It is a potential board dominanting Sorcery.
Win Conditions:
This is a strange deck, because we have potential to go big with Wurms and also to go wide with the Hazezon tokens. Here is how we win...
1) Wurms Beat Down - we ramp hard into creatures like Impervious Greatwurm and control the board state with baddies. There are 14 cards that either create Wurms tokens or support them. Also, Thunderous Debut is here so we can slam a few of them onto the battlefield.
2) Impact Tremors OR Pandemonium - we burn the entire table with the creation of our 1/1 creatures. A classic strategy given new life in this build. If one enchantment is destroyed, the other can be relevant. Pandemonium cares about the power of the creatures.
3) Raid Bombardment - similar to Impact Tremors, we attack with a huge army of 1/1 Warriors and can burn out the defenders.
4) Arabella, Abandoned Doll - has a stupidly strong impact with a board state full of 1/1 creatures. You burn the table AND gain life if she attacks with these warriors on the board.
5) Desert Warfare - this is the enchantment we are looking for. If we have this in play and 5 Deserts, Hazezon is damn near unstoppable.
6) Champion of Lambholt - gets huge with all the token creation, and subsequently makes anything with less power unblockable. An excellent and budget friendly win condition.
Wishlist // Notes:
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We may need to increase the tools to protect Hazezon from the current (6) all the way up to 10-15. This deck is currently being play tested. A few options are Lightning Greaves, Darksteel Plate and Aura of Invincibility.
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Scapeshift - as an alternate win condition would make sense for this deck. We could shift into 5 Deserts with Hazezon on board and produce an immediate army.
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We have 20 Desert and 20 Non Desert lands. The good news is that Fetch lands are not really a necessity in this deck because of the amount of ramping we intend to do. I might have to add more basic lands if anything at all.
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I was asked why I do not run the token doublers such as Anointed Procession, Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, etc. The answer is that we don't really need them. We find deserts and recur them easily in this deck. Adding these cards takes focus away from the core plans and Wurms.
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Wurms that have been removed: Autchton was just too expensive of a casting cost, even with convoke! I had this dead in my hand on multiple games, so even though we want a 9/14 with Trample, it's not always feasible.
