This deck is simply a shell built around the synergy between
Ruin Ghost
and
Sunscorched Desert
or
Crumbling Vestige
. Or any other land that does something interesting when it comes into play. Then it becomes a combo deck when you include cards like
Tideforce Elemental
or
Retreat to Coralhelm
.
So the combo works like this;
You have
Ruin Ghost
&
Retreat to Coralhelm
in play. You then put a copy of
Crumbling Vestige
into play. When the land comes into play it's own enters the battlefield trigger happens and you get to
add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. So you pick white and add it to your mana pool. Then your
Retreat to Coralhelm
landfall trigger happens and you untap your
Ruin Ghost
. You then tap your ghost for 1 white mana and exile then immediately return to play your
Crumbling Vestige
. This lets you pick 1 mana of any color again and triggers your retreat again to untap your ghost again. This can be performed an infinite amount of times. This would result in an infinite amount of landfall triggers. So in this deck that would mean:
Infinite 1/1 Bird tokens if you have an
Emeria Angel
in play.
Infinite instances of "Gain control of target creature" when you have a
Roil Elemental
in play.
Infinite +1/+1 bonuses to your creatures or infinite 1/1 Kor Ally tokens if you have a
Retreat to Emeria
in play.
Infinite Scry 1 or creature taps/untaps if you get a duplicate of
Retreat to Coralhelm
into play.
While not infinite you can also repeatedly untap your
Tideforce Elemental
for using on your
Ruin Ghost
. Or, alternatively, you can substitute your
Sunscorched Desert
for your
Crumbling Vestige
. Even though doing this will not let you go infinite, you basically get to shoot your opponent in the face for an amount of damage equal to your available white mana +1. Doing this in their end step will bring a game crashing to a close in short order. Also, once you get an
Emeria Shepherd
into play you can just keep returning creatures in your graveyard to your hand or right back into play whenever you blink a
Plains
.
So what you have is a pretty fast combo deck that will overwhelm your opponents.
So if you like combos, filling the skies with Bird tokens or just unusual ways to win then this deck is for you!
Here is the card breakdown:
The Creatures:
Emeria Angel
: This mid-game flyer is in the deck to provide either infinite Bird tokens when you get your combo or an alternate win condition with a medium-sized evasive flyer.
Emeria Shepherd
: This is a bigger version of the angel just mentioned but is also a source of recovery for your creatures. This amazing card lets you basically re-animate any creature in your yard whenever you put a plains into play. Using your
Ruin Ghost
+
Retreat to Coralhelm
combination with this can fill the battlefield pretty fast.
Roil Elemental
: Another mid-size flyer but as mentioned before becomes soul crushing for your opponents if you get your combo going. And it can attack for 3 in the air when you need it.
Ruin Ghost
: One of the main components for your combination. For 1 mana it taps to blink any land you control. By itself it is useful in this deck for landfall triggers but combined with your retreats or elemental becomes an engine full of win.
Sunscorch Regent
: Besides being in theme with your
Sunscorched Desert
this card is the real alternate win condition in the deck. Especially in multiplayer. This dragon can get huge very quickly and is a great source of lifegain as well during big casual games.
Tideforce Elemental
: This is in the deck to untap your
Ruin Ghost
so you can repeat activations and get more triggers during a turn. It's an alternate to your
Retreat to Coralhelm
if your retreats get hated out.
The Other Spells:
Into the Roil
: You are playing with blue mana. And bounce is part of a blue deck's arsenal so 4 copies of this card make it into the main deck. And if you pay the kicker they help you increase the tempo advantage over your opponents with some card advantage on top of the instant-speed bounce. This can mean a critical difference during a duel.
Unsubstantiate
: 4 more slots of bounce with a odd form of counterspell as well. This can delay your opponent's plays or even ruin them depending on when you use this card. Rarely a dead draw so also not bad to keep in the main.
Retreat to Coralhelm
: The other half of your combo engine with your
Ruin Ghost
s. Once your land a copy of this with a ghost your game is pretty much finished. Also can load your draws and protect you even without a ghost in play.
Retreat to Emeria
: A great source of speedbumps and creature buffs even without your combo.
Kefnet's Last Word
: This card is in the deck for one big reason. It is a great way to just outright take win conditions away from your opponents while doing nothing to hurt your own game. It's only disadvantage is nearly entirely negated by the combo the deck is built around. Depending on what you have in play, you can just blink all your lands with your combo and they return to play untapped. Between this and your other bounce and counterspells rounds out a control package that will keep you in the game until your combo finishes it for you!
The Lands:
Crumbling Vestige
: This is in the deck to allow you to infinitely trigger landfall in the deck. This is actually an alternate win condition land if you do not see a copy of
Sunscorched Desert
during the game.
Sunscorched Desert
: This land is what will kill your opponent once your blink engine comes online. Repeatedly shooting your opponent in the face for all the white mana you leave open for your
Ruin Ghost
will destroy your enemy very quickly.
The rest of the land is just basics including
Island
s and
Plains
. You can always add any other lands with enter the battlefield triggers depending on your personal tastes and what you want the deck to do.
That is it for the deck. Please leave any comments or suggestions here!
