Note: This is the legacy version of this deck. For the modern version, click here: Progress and Poverty.
Note 2: This deck has undergone some changes since the below guide and I'm still working through various new printings. Current iteration is strong but options abound in the maybeboard. I plan to solidify the list and update the guide when time permits. I'm not currently updating the modern version of the deck as I play legacy almost exclusively anyway, but suffice it to say the deck can be ported to modern while retaining its essential character.
What this deck does:
This deck seeks to answer the question: "What happens if we build a deck around the two most universally effective hatebears in Magic?"
After looking at every hatebear in the game, my conclusion was that limiting casting to one spell per turn is the most universal hatebear effect, and that disrupting ETB effects is number two. Making matters better, in any matchup where one of these is weak, the other often shines.
Designing around these effects is a bit of a challenge, which is a good thing, as it means that there's a high likelihood that our opponent will be hobbled by them.
Card selection:
Ethersworn Canonist is the perfect option to bring us to one cast per turn, as it is an artifact and so does not disrupt itself, and it plays very well with Aether Vial, enabling us to both cast vial and use vial's active to flash out creatures without it counting as one of our turn casts.
Since we can't take advantage of ETB effects, we have to find some other way to squeeze value out of our creatures. After looking at all options, I settled on +1/+1 counters as the most efficient and reliable value engine.
And since we're using +1/+1 counters as our value engine, we want bodies that have strong keyword abilities, as a +1/+1 counter with keywords is better than the same counter without them. With this in mind, I've selected Hushbringer as the ideal ETB hatebear. Not only does she have two fantastic keywords, but she also stops death triggers as an added bonus. What's more is that, as a 2 CMC creature, it's a trivial matter to hold vial on 2 and flash her into play to block ETB/death triggers on the stack.
Because Hushbringer is our ETB hatebear of choice, modular is no longer a viable keyword for us despite our +1/+1 value engines. This is because modular is a death trigger, and so we must look to other creatures to generate our +1/+1 value.
All of our other creatures are selected for their ability to either generate +1/+1 counters, or their synergy with those counters. The only exceptions being Mother of Runes which is our removal protection, since keeping certain synergies on the board is important to us, and a couple flex slots, namely Grand Abolisher and Serra Paragon.
I could not find a single competitive deck in either Modern or Legacy that doesn't want to use the stack on their opponent's turn, so I consider a one-of Grand Abolisher to be a perfect fit for the flex. It also synergizes amazingly well with Ethersworn Canonist since he brings the opponent from one cast per turn down to a devastating one cast per round.
Serra Paragon enables us to re-cast every other creature in our deck, as they are all 3 CMC or less, and she synergizes incredibly well with Hushbringer because the ability she adds to any creature we resurrect won't trigger upon their death, giving them infinite recursion.
Because we don't want to get flooded by our two main hatebears, we run 3x of each in the mainboard with the 4th in the sideboard. This allows us to reliably get one or two of each per game without flooding, and against any opponent that is particularly hosed by either we're able to side in the fourth for games 2 and 3.
Also, since most of our creatures are 2 CMC (with only one 3 CMC and one 4 CMC in the deck), we can very reliably leave our Vial on 2. If we get a second Vial we might leave it on one.
This is also why we favor a creature like Benevolent Hydra over an enchantment like Hardened Scales: Hydra can be flashed out with Vial, while scales can't. Hydra can be protect by Mother of Runes, while scales can't. Hydra can be used as a mana sink, scales can't. Hydra can pass counters to other creatures to save them from Lightning Bolts, scales can't.
Notable synergies:
- Cenn's Tactician + Dusk Legion Duelist = card draw during opponent's turn
- Dusk Legion Duelist + Luminarch Aspirant = card draw during our turn
- Hopeful Initiate + Botanical Brawler = +1/+1 growth for both every attack
- Ethersworn Canonist + Aether Vial = no impediment to dumping our hand
- Serra Paragon + Hushbringer = infinite creature recursion since the death trigger doesn't exile
- Botanical Brawler + Benevolent Hydra = brawler grows from our hydras passing counters around
- Luminarch Aspirant + Mikaeus, the Lunarch = feed counters to Mikaeus, then to the whole army
- Benevolent Hydra + Mikaeus, the Lunarch = feed counters to Mikaeus, then to the whole army
- Mikaeus, the Lunarch + Botanical Brawler = counters fed to the army grow brawler rapidly
- Ethersworn Canonist + Dromoka's Command = Dromoka is uncounterable if we wait until after opponent's first cast
- Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Hushbringer = +1/+1 counters from innate Hushbringer lifelink
- Botanical Brawler + Botanical Brawler = one brawler gets a counter, the others do too
- Mother of Runes + Cenn's Tactician = any creature with a +1/+1 can chump block multiple creatures
- Cenn's Tactician + Cenn's Tactician = Tactician's block ability stacks for each in play
- Serra Paragon + Heliod, Sun-Crowned = fetchlands and Boseijus can be exiled to trigger +1/+1 counters
- Heliod, Sun-Crowned or Mikaeus, the Lunarch = Boseiju, Who Endures only costs one forest to channel
- Mother of Runes + Dromoka's Command = your creature can win a fight/finish off a blocker it would otherwise die to
- Dromoka's Command + Hushbringer = lifegain from fight mechanic (bonus: first & double strike don't work in 'fights')
- Dromoka's Command + Dusk Legion Duelist = instant speed card draw
- Dusk Legion Duelist + Cenn's Tactician = vigilant multi-blocker does work vs go-wide strategies
Regarding our sideboard:
I've tuned the sideboard for play against competitive tier decks. Hand disruption is very bad for us as we prefer one of our numerous synergies to be in hand, so 4x Leyline of Sanctity is a must. We also absolutely loath artifact decks because they aren't impeded by Ethersworn Canonist or Mother of Runes and often times they like our Hushbringer for cheating out their Phyrexian Dreadnought. As a result, we run 3x Force of Vigors in addition to our 2x mainboard Boseiju, Who Endures, both of which also help against Chalice of the Void locks.
Against our nightmare match (an artifact deck that's running Phyrexian Dreadnoughts) we'll side out all our Mother of Runes, all three Ethersworn Canonists, and two of our three Hushbringers. Side in everything else but the Leylines.
There are a number of potential cards for graveyard hate, but we favor Surgical Extraction as we can cast it on our opponent's turn 1 which is relevant against reanimator. It can also be useful against other archetypes such as Murktide decks, tron decks and many more.
Otherwise our main fear is from boardwipes. We run Gaddock Teeg in our sideboard for use against these, in addition to 2x Fight as One which is an incredible card in our deck. Our human:non-human ratio is 15:19, and of our two premier hatebears one is human and the other isn't. This makes it the perfect boardwipe answer for our deck, and the +1/+1 means it can be used to answer temporary whither effects or as a combat trick. Simply a great card.
And finally, we run a single Swords to Plowshares because sometimes you just need something big to be gone.
On Dromoka's Command:
This is probably the most controversial card in the pile for a deck that wants to be competitive. However, after testing all of the viable alternatives I kept coming back to it as the best instant available despite its 2 mana cost. The reason is pretty simple: we really want our instant speed cast to be something that will be a relevant response to our opponent's main phase spell, not a response to an opponent's cast during our main phase.
This is because, when Ethersworn Canonist is in play our opponent will certainly wait to cast their removal spell after we've cast our main phase spell, knowing that we can't respond to it. So, for example, Snakeskin Veil becomes useless in this situation since we can't cast it in response to our opponent's removal. Dromoka's Command, on the other hand, gives us a powerful instant that has a relevant impact during our opponent's turn.
What's more is that it offers great flexibility. Most of the time we will want to drop a +1/+1 counter and use the fight mechanic as removal after our opponent has cast their main phase spell with our Canonist in play. However, the ability to remove enchantments (Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
for example) is a massive niche upside since we can potentially get a 2-for-1. The instant/sorcery damage prevention is the least relevant ability, and admittedly quite niche, but against red it can handle some of our scariest removal spells: Blasphemous Act, Brotherhood's End, Anger of the Gods to name a few -- all sorcery speed, all cast on our opponent's turn. Beyond that, it can save us from Deflecting Palm humiliation, which, with how big our Botanical Brawlers tend to get, can be quite relevant.
Also, having two mana up isn't as difficult with a low-CMC Vial deck as with most archetypes, so that aspect doesn't tend to hamper us as much as it otherwise would.
Regarding our maybeboard:
The maybeboard gives some viable alternatives to various pieces of the deck depending on your meta. They are as follows:
- Legolas's Quick Reflexes, Snakeskin Veil, or Galadriel's Dismissal can replace one or both of Dromoka's Command and Fight as One. I know I just got done explaining why Dromoka is the best, but feel free to learn the hard way :)
- Vexing Shusher can replace Grand Abolisher. Shusher is better against chalice locks, but I still prefer the Abolisher since we already have quite a few ways to handle chalice and as explained above Abolisher is great with Canonist.
- Sanctifier en-Vec can replace Surgical Extraction, but keep in mind there is anti-synergy with the ETB effect. You could run Rest in Peace but it's an enchantment so it doesn't play well with Vial and it will count as a your single cast with Canonist in play.
- Cavern of Souls can replace Gavony Township. This is relevant in counterspell heavy metas and is another solid answer to Chalice. You'll usually want to name humans. I don't feel that this is necessary and Gavony can be a fantastic mid/late-game mana sink, but this is a pretty close call. Cavern is probably better in many legacy metas.
- Mana Tithe can replace anything in the mainboard as a 1x, but be sure to swap it to the sideboard after your opponent has seen it. If you want to make the deck slightly more competitive, this is probably a way to bump its power-level just a tad, but at the cost of reliability. A tough call but the option is there.
Mulligans:
In general if you have one or fewer lands then you need to mulligan, the exception being when you have one plains-producing mana in hand and one vial, in which case you can keep (although it's a tad risky, I prefer to keep in this instance). Against aggro you probably need two mana to keep, regardless of vial. Conversely, if you have more than 4 mana + vials in any combination then you should mulligan.
You'll want to playtest the deck a number of times so that you can glance at a hand and understand what lines are available and what synergies are relevant. The deck can go a number of ways in any given game as where you put your +1/+1 counters is sort of a choose your own adventure, so how you'll want to play it is heavily match dependent.
Conclusion:
This deck is meant to be fair. It turns creatures sideways to try to win games. It's also meant to be fun, at least for the pilot. And it's designed to be both unique and viable against a wide array of archetypes. It doesn't run a huge number of Legacy cards, so it's easy to port to Modern or vice versa, which was another goal of mine. Feel free to playtest and see what you think. It does take a little time to figure out all the synergies and how to run each hand, but it can be quite explosive and quite inhibiting for the opponent.
Thanks for checking it out!
Considered: Burrenton Forge-Tender, Fiendslayer Paladin, Nature's Chosen, Outland Liberator
, Runed Halo, Shinewend, Witchstalker, Selfless Spirit, Mosquito Guard, Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants, Ajani, Sleeper Agent, Warden of the Inner Sky, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Allosaurus Shepherd, Arcane Lighthouse, Drannith Ruins, Eladamri's Call, Elvish Spirit Guide, Esper Sentinel, Invasion of Gobakhan
, Legolas's Quick Reflexes, Pendelhaven, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Unbounded Potential, Urza's Saga, Worldly Tutor, The Mycosynth Gardens.
