New Format: One-Man Show

Casual* Casual

-Logician

Creature (35)

• 35x Shriekmaw

Land (25)

• 25x Swamp

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Maybeboard

Creature (114)

• 1x Akrasan Squire
• 1x Arcbound Worker
• 1x Ashcloud Phoenix
• 1x Auriok Champion
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Biovisionary
• 1x Blade Splicer
• 1x Blighted Agent
• 1x Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1x Boros Elite
• 1x Boros Reckoner
• 1x Brain Maggot
• 1x Bramblewood Paragon
• 1x Broodhatch Nantuko
• 1x Burning-Tree Emissary
• 1x Butcher Ghoul
• 1x Carnophage
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Champion of the Parish
• 1x Chancellor of the Forge
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Coral Barrier
• 1x Countryside Crusher
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Death's Shadow
• 1x Diregraf Ghoul
• 1x Disruptive Pitmage
• 1x Doorkeeper
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Eidolon of Countless Battles
• 1x Elvish Vanguard
• 1x Epochrasite
• 1x Essence Warden
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Flamekin Brawler
• 1x Fortune Thief
• 1x Furnace Scamp
• 1x Gatekeeper of Malakir
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Glaze Fiend
• 1x Gnat Miser
• 1x Goblin Guide
• 1x Goblin Rabblemaster
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Grim Guardian
• 1x Groundbreaker
• 1x Halimar Excavator
• 1x Hedron Crab
• 1x Hellspark Elemental
• 1x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 1x Hypnotic Siren
• 1x Joraga Warcaller
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Kavu Titan
• 1x Kazandu Blademaster
• 1x Kitchen Finks
• 1x Knight Exemplar
• 1x Knight of the Reliquary
• 1x Kruin Outlaw  ^Flip
• 1x Legion Loyalist
• 1x Linessa, Zephyr Mage
• 1x Mantis Rider
• 1x Mardu Hordechief
• 1x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip
• 1x Mogg Maniac
• 1x Mogg War Marshal
• 1x Mul Daya Channelers
• 1x Muscle Sliver
• 1x Myr Servitor
• 1x Nightveil Specter
• 1x Nyxathid
• 1x Obstinate Baloth
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Oriss, Samite Guardian
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Phyrexian Crusader
• 1x Porcelain Legionnaire
• 1x Predatory Sliver
• 1x Preeminent Captain
• 1x Protean Hydra
• 1x Quag Vampires
• 1x Relentless Rats
• 1x Rot Wolf
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Ruthless Ripper
• 1x Savageborn Hydra
• 1x Scute Mob
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Serra Avenger
• 1x Shimian Specter
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Siege Rhino
• 1x Signal Pest
• 1x Silvergill Adept
• 1x Skitter of Lizards
• 1x Skyshroud Ridgeback
• 1x Slitherhead
• 1x Spark Trooper
• 1x Squadron Hawk
• 1x Storm Crow
• 1x Stormblood Berserker
• 1x Student of Warfare
• 1x Sublime Archangel
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Tempting Wurm
• 1x Thragtusk
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Thrun, the Last Troll
• 1x Timberpack Wolf
• 1x Vent Sentinel
• 1x Vine Dryad
• 1x Virulent Sliver
• 1x Vulshok Sorcerer
• 1x Young Wolf

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Assemble the Legion
• 1x Ghostly Prison

Artifact (3)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Haunted Plate Mail
• 1x Rakdos Keyrune

Instant (8)

• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Flame Burst
• 1x Lightning Helix
• 1x Mindswipe
• 1x Skred
• 1x Soul Spike
• 1x Spiritual Visit
• 1x Stone Idol Trap

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Assault / Battery
• 1x Bump in the Night
• 1x Hordeling Outburst
• 1x Mana Clash
• 1x Martial Coup
• 1x Mind Bomb
• 1x Mind Sculpt
• 1x Sound the Call
• 1x Stain the Mind
• 1x Tempt with Vengeance
• 1x Tyrant's Choice

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-- Maybeboard now consists of many of the comment suggested cards :) Thank you for commenting! --

What is "One-Man Show?"

One-Man Show is simply a format where you pick one nonland card in all of magic, and that is your One-Man Show. With that single card, and any amount of basic lands, you construct your deck of exactly 60 cards (no more, no less, no sideboard). In the above example, I chose the card Shriekmaw. I can only choose one card, and so, other than basic lands, that is the only card I am allowed to use at all.

What happened to AEther Adept?

AEther Adept was a lot of fun, but if AEther Adept is on the play, the opponent can opt out of playing anything which will cause the AEther Adept player to get milled out. This is because AEther Adept's ability must always have a target, even if that means itself if there are no other targets.

How are matches played?

• After some playtesting, we've come up with some new rules for competitive play.
• At the beginning of a match, each player reveals three decks that they are going to use throughout the match. These three decks are called the stockpile.
• Games are played in a sort-of knockout fashion. As one deck beats another deck, the losing deck is knocked out and the losing player must choose between one of his or her two remaining decks in his or her stockpile to go against the opponent's winning deck.
• In the proceeding game, the player that won the round beforehand is not allowed to change decks, and doesn't automatically go first or second. A die is still rolled. This allows the losing player to pick up a deck that might hopefully metagame the winning deck.

Each time two decks are pitted against each other, we have thought of the following ways to make the match as fair as possible.

• A die is always rolled to see who goes first in this submatch that can last up to two rounds.
• If either deck loses on the play, it's knocked out.
• If either deck loses on the draw, a second round is played with the loser on the play.
• If neither deck manages to lose on the play, both decks are knocked out and each player must choose a new deck to play among their stockpile of three decks.
• Based on these rules, there can be drawn one interesting conclusion. If a deck is on the play, it has everything to lose and nothing to gain. If a deck is on the draw, it has everything to gain and nothing to lose. It's actually better to go second, because then your deck doesn't have a chance at getting knocked out.
• The playtesting team is considering adding a turn limit to the games to weed out stall strategies. 10-15 turns for each player should be plenty of turns for a game to end. This is still only being considered, and isn't final yet. --- UPDATE: After several posts about a turn limit being detrimental to the game, it has been decided to not add a turn limit.

Things to know about the format

• Four-drops are an uncommon strategy because it's just too slow. An example of a possible four-drop that might be good enough to compete is Ghor-Clan Rampager. Maybe even Magus of the Disk, but both of those, especially magus, seem a bit slow.
• One-drop strategies are definitely viable, and in fact, pretty strong. Soldier of the Pantheon is decent, but there's honestly not a lot of multicolor going on in this format, because multicolor requires a bit of luck with only basic lands at your disposal. However, Boros Reckoner is extremely good at metagaming this format and Soldier of the Pantheon wins that matchup all day long.
• The interesting part of this format is that you will not find counterspells unless your opponent is a troll, because a deck full of counterspells can't actually win the game unless it's something like Countersquall, which will only defeat other non-creature decks. There aren't very many non-creature decks.
• Draw-power isn't common in this format. Probably the most viable deck that includes draw-power is Baleful Strix , but being multicolor is a huge disadvantage. You can easily lose due to getting mana screwed. When a Baleful Strix deck works, however, it's very, very strong.
• Tokens are very powerful in this format. There are very few decks that can defeat a Spectral Procession deck. Spectral Procession should be regarded as a tier 1 strategy that defeats almost all other creature strategies. I've only found one creature matchup that has a chance at beating it, and that's against Bloodghast. Bloodghast is actually a very elegant strategy and pretty tough to beat too. Hedron Crab has been known to be able to defeat Spectral Procession.
• At first I thought mill strategies weren't viable, but then people suggested Altar of the Brood and Hedron Crab. They're pretty good. Altar of the Brood is an interesting meta-game choice as it dodges most interactive strategies like Banisher Priest .
• I don't think a storm deck could really happen.
• A lot of degenerate play isn't even viable in this format, and it turns out that this format can actually be a lot of fun to play theoretically. You can take a pile of basic lands and just proxy all nonbasics as the card of your choice, then play!

What's the Banlist? (Include all functional reprints)

• Chancellor of the Spires - A deck of 60 of these is pretty much GG. Start the game by having your opponent mill 49 cards, then watch them lose as you don't do anything else...
• Chancellor of the Dross - Obviously..
• True-Name Nemesis - This should probably be banned, though I think it's beatable. Might be too good.
• Vexing Devil - A bit too fast. Maybe not completely unbeatable, but it's probably too good.
• Comeuppance - Yeah. This doesn't seem fair at all. Then again, with mill decks as stated in the comments, perhaps it's not as unfair as it may seem. Though with any creature deck (which would probably be most common) this seems MVP.
• Thunderous Wrath - Seems too powerful, though could definitely see an unban depending on the meta.
• Kindle - MVP burn spell.
• Goblin Guide - Just too fast.
• Virulent Sliver - Woah. just.. woah.
• Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike, Rift Bolt ... and Bump in the Night (thank you Skullman571)

Very Powerful, probably ban-worthy (this is a growing list, and is referred to as the "shitlist")

• Goblin Guide --- Moved to banned.
• Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Spike (also, Rift Bolt to an extent) can all potentially win one turn faster than even Kindle . The thing about kindle is that it very consistently wins on turn 5 if your opponent doesn't gain life. 3 damage 1-drops can win on turn 4 if they draw well enough, and probably turn 5 if they get a few too many lands. Turn 4 noncreature wins need to be addressed for sure. --- Moved to banned
• Countryside Crusher
• Champion of the Parish
• Lord of Atlantis
• Soul Warden
• Burning-Tree Emissary - Definitely a really good card, but not unbeatable. Lord strategies seem to defeat it. While its turn-2 is unrivaled, proceeding turns are less than impressive. 2 power first-strikers like Elite Inquisitor will always defeat BTE.

Generic Baning

• All cards with the text "Name a card" are not allowed. Variations like, "Name a nonland card" are also not allowed, obviously. Use your common sense here.
• Any card with a similar effect to Slaughter Games , Surgical Extraction, Memoricide isn't allowed. Specifically, the ability to exile all of a given card from the hand and library. Squadron Hawk is allowed though, just to clarify.
• All cards costing 0 mana are not allowed. ie: Memnite
• All cards with the "Ripple" keyworded ability.
• All cards from Un-Sets.

Now it's your turn!

• Comment here with some interesting strategies, as I'd love to try to see if there actually exists an unstoppable One-Man Show!
• Want to help with the banlist/shitlist? Let me know! We're trying to develop a team to playtest decks on cockatrice. We had three people working together on November 23rd for at least 6 hours and got a lot of insight towards the metagame and what cards are probably too good.

Current list of people that want to help with playtesting on cockatrice and/or untap.in

• Me, of course.
• bamfbanki
• Marley
• Frayace
• nighthawk101
• Skullman571

Top Ranked	Achieved #8 position overall 10 years ago
Date added	10 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	35 - 0 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	5.00
Folders	decks, Favorites, Favorites, One Man Show's, Not Mine, but OP, decks, hi2, New game type, Things to keep track of