Cycling returned in Onslaught- and while everyone else focused on two-color cycling, I, in a fit of whimsy, threw this together... and bashed faces in with it.
This deck has since remained mostly the same. The overall changes have almost all been to the creature base- while the original was a block deck and thus used Morph creatures that it could slide out and then back in to flip them without paying the Morph cost, and
AEther Charge
to abuse the fact that most of them were beasts, I have since un-blocked it and applied all manner of better creature gimmicks to it (although it's hard to beat sudden
Krosan Cloudscraper
with no morph cost...)
The main points, naturally, are lots of cycling and Astral Slide
+
Lightning Rift
.
Astral Slide
is immensely useful control, sliding out attackers to prevent incoming harm and sliding out your own creatures to prevent destruction and impairment.
Library of Leng is no longer in the deck- as it turns out, the wording means it does not affect discards used to pay costs. Unfortunate, but sustainable.
Fluxuator is still around to ease cycling costs, though, and is now backed up by
Lens of Clarity
, which can help you decide when to cycle and when to hold back. If there's nothing left in-hand to cycle, Humble Defector allows for a recovery, which can be especially fun when you can Slide him back to your own control, while
Garruk's Packleader
acts to avert such a situation in the first place.
Reminisce
helps preserve your library, and Astral Slide
+
Jotun Grunt
takes advantage of the token-based nature of Cumulative Upkeep to refill the deck with more fine control.
Horizon Chimera,
Renewed Faith
, and Words of Worship all provide life funding to endure situations where incoming damage can't be slid or burned away.
Harrow lets you sacrifice a cycling land for two basic land, which can be extremely useful in accomplishing a full five-color fold, and Krosan Tusker is an absolute must for a deck like this.
Undead Gladiator provides one last line of insurance that you can always cycle.
Astral Slide
+
Nessian Wilds Ravager
forces the enemy to repeatedly make unhappy decisions between facing a Tribute-empowered creature and keeping their own creatures. Similarly, Astral Slide
+
Mindclaw Shaman
will stop people hording spells in their hands, and Agent of Erebos
+
Astral Slide
shuts down graveyard resource decks.
The sideboard contains corner-case cards, general aids, and a few odd utilities.
Possessed Skaab
and
Pharika's Mender
give back options you've passed over or used already, Siege Rhino is Siege Rhino,
Death Match
can be rolled into creature advantage alongside
Hooded Assassin
, Balustrade Spy can back up Sphinx's Tutelage in removing opponents' decks, Enlightened Ascetic and
Defiant Ogre
can wreck certain kinds of decks and
Faultgrinder
can wreck almost any kind of deck,
Write into Being
can work well with the
Lens of Clarity
, and Warstorm Surge makes 1v1 matches rather brutal.
This is a 'Sleeved' deck- meaning it's in more or less it's final form. I am not looking for cards to add to or substitute into it, but when I get more cards, I will look at them for things that fit.
My budget for cards is, essentially, nonextant. I very rarely buy singles (less than ten times so far in about twenty years of playing Magic), and usually prefer to see what I can come up with using the booster packs I buy.
