Below is the most enlightened viewpoint you’ll ever read, and it’s the inspiration behind me finally making a mutate deck. Also, I started playing when Ikoria had just come out (although I didn't buy anything until around ZNR) so Ikoria's cards do hold a bit of a special place in my heart.
“I've already seen old discussions of this so I know the majority of you will disagree and claim that mutate is weak. Lots of gas lighting trolls up in here. I pretty much just play Arena but I win the majority of my games. The only thing I consistently lose to is mutate decks or one of several super combo decks where suddenly I'm hit for 50+ damage in 1 turn. Mutate literally beats anything that doesn't play faster or isn't more or less an antimutate deck. So then your only options are mutate deck or antimutate deck. I can't even think of another set of cards that comes close to buffing like mutate does.For anyone who disagrees, please tell me how YOU would beat a mutate deck without saying "cancel deck" that's not playing. That's nobody playing.
p.s. Whatever you assume of my deck construction it doesn't change the fact that mutate is the only deck type that I struggle against. In Arena I'll quit discard/ mill matches cus I just don't want to deal with it.
TLDR Most deck types are useless trash against Mutate decks"
My idea is to produce as many tokens as possible with Anointed Procession + Raise the Alarm
and/or Anointed Procession + Leonin Wanderer. Then,
Lore Drakkis
's mutate can be used to bring Raise the Alarm back for another usage, or any of the other instants/sorceries in the deck. When it comes to closing the game, mutating onto one of the flying creatures, hopefully
Sky Terror
, can usually stack enough abilities to get around an opponent's defences. Although, this brings up mutate's biggest problem: It massively increases the value of opponent's removal spells. To help counter that (pun not intended), I've included
Saw It Coming
, and
Curator's Ward
.
Anticipate
,
Sea-Dasher Octopus
,and
Winged Words
are to help move through the deck. (R.I.P. Divination)
The sideboard leans heavily into . So much so, that I'm considering putting one or two more sources of it in the side. For now, I have a strategy of trying to get Enchantments out with
Archon of Sun's Grace
in order to go wide, and hopefully overwhelm an opponent's spot removal.
Sprite Dragon
provides another body that can grow, and be mutated into something very deadly.
Warrant / Warden
is my poor man's Azorius Charm, and in this deck it can also be used to provide a nice token to mutate onto later in the game.
It's a kind of janky deck, but I have a ton of fun with it. Although lacking rare WCs has hindered me, as I only had enough for 3 triomes for this deck. I'm considering adding a few copies of
Raugrin Crystal
instead of the 2 Magma Jets.