The Lich's Tower (horde magic variant)

Casual*

Jebadiah_Jones

Creature (98)

• 1x Acererak the Archlich
• 4x Archghoul of Thraben
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 4x Grave Titan
• 4x Headless Rider
• 4x Hobbling Zombie
• 4x Infectious Horror
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
• 2x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nekusar, the Mindrazer
• 2x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Thraximundar
• 65x Walking Corpse

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 4x Plague Wind
• 3x Syphon Flesh
• 3x Syphon Mind
• 2x Temporal Extortion

Instant (10)

• 4x Crackling Doom
• 4x Sudden Spoiling
• 2x Time Stop

Enchantment (10)

• 3x Decree of Silence
• 2x Forsaken Wastes
• 3x Ghostly Prison
• 2x Painful Quandary

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This deck is designed as a variant to the format "Horde Magic", where players fight cooperatively against an automated deck. My tower will feature accompanied decks designed specifically to fight it.

Although with my own twists, my tower, and especially its rules are inspired by LuckyLooter's tower: Lucky Looter's Zombie Horde

Survivor Rules

• Before the tower takes its first turn, the players (survivors) get three turns to prepare. (The tower skips its first three turns.)

• Survivors share a single life total, and each player contributes 20 life to that total. Any effect that would cause a single player to lose life affects that life total individually. (For example, if Syr Konrad, the Grim is fighting four survivors and sees a creature die, he will deal 1 damage to each survivor, causing their shared life total to drop by 4 life.) The tower attacks the shared life total, not an individual player.

• Because the tower does not attack any specific player, any survivor creature can block as though its controller were the attack target. The tower cares about killing that single life total, and the players care about defending it.

• Survivors share the same turn, taking each phase of that turn at the same time.

• The survivors win when the horde has no library and controls no creatures. Any loss of life that the tower recieves is milled from the tower instead. (If the tower is hit by three 2/2s, it is milled 6 cards instead.)

• Each player's deck comes with a class card and a utility artifact card. These cards are treated as commanders. (This is something for flavor with my towers, and not a traditional horde tower gimmick.) In addition to commanders, players are given a free Dungeoneer's Pack. Players will begin with this artifact in play at the beginning of the game. "Taking the initiative" has no function within tower games.

• Soulbond creatures can bond with any creature the team controls, rather than it's controller.

The Tower's Turn

Simplified- "Untap, Upkeep, Tower flips, empties hand, combat, clean up, pass the turn."

The Tower's turn is autonomously played by a survivor. If the tower would be forced to make a choice, the party votes for the outcome.

Opening phase

• Untap, upkeep, flip, play hand. The horde untaps each of its permanents, then completes it's upkeep processes, if any. The order that triggers resolve are determined by the party.

• The horde tower flips X+1 cards off the top of its library one card at a time, where X is the number of survivors against it. Each card flipped this way it is cast without paying its costs. Treat tokens as though they are creature spells. If a permanent entering the battlefield or a spell resolving would cause other abilities to trigger, perform those triggers before moving on to the next card cast. (An example would be Grave Titan entering the battlefield and creating two zombie tokens before moving to the next flip.)

• Then, if the horde tower has any cards in hand, a player plays those cards one at a time until the towers hand is empty.

• After the hand is empty, the tower will activate any activated ability of permanents it controls. Horde creature abilities cannot be activated more than once each turn this way. The order that these abilities activate will be determined by the party until no new ability can be activated.

Combat phase

• All horde creatures have haste and cannot block. The tower enters its combat phase, causing each untapped horde creature to attack, if able. Legendary creatures the tower control do not have haste unless they have it naturally.

Clean up

• The horde passes a round of priority. If no actions are taken by survivors, all damage is removed from its creatures and the tower ends it's turn. The tower has no max hand size.

It is recommended that only one player be designated for making each of the towers actions. These actions should be automated, such as performing flips, moving cards to appropriate zones, and placing counters and should only be accomplished by the designated player.

Tower Actions and Rules

• Horde creatures have haste, can't block, and must attack each turn, if able. The only exception is that legendary creatures do not have haste unless printed on their card.

• If the horde tower would lose life, it mills that many cards instead.

• If the horde tower mills a Legendary creature, it is added to the towers hand instead.

• Tokens found in the horde tower can exist in the tower's graveyard and can be held in its hand, however they are not cards. Tokens created by spells and abilities cease to exist when put into a new zone.

Unique Card Rulings and Operations

• Acererak the Archlich does not trigger his etb.

• Archghoul of Thraben will always opt to mill a non zombie card, unless that card is a Legendary non zombie creature.

• Army of the Damned has "Flashback". At the beginning of the horde's casting step of its opening phase, if the survivors are at 13 or less life, the tower will cast Army of the damned from the graveyard.

• Josu Vess, Lich Knight When cast, this spell will automatically kick itself.

• Sudden Spoiling A random survivor is targeted for this spell.

• Syphon Mind The tower will cast cards drawn off of Syphon mind during the same turn it draws them, even if syphon mind is the last card in its hand. The tower will always attempt to empty its hand.

• Thraximundar When Thraximundar attacks, each player is considered a defending player and sacrifices a creature.

**Disclaimer!!! **

For my horde towers, I am designing decks specifically meant to fight this tower! The provided decks would help prevent the tower from having to make a choice that can't be easily automated, such as having the tower select a target or sacrifice a permanent. In situations where this occurs, it is up to the players discretion. The intent is that the horde deck operates autonomously and be played as a cooperative game. Additionally, Walking Corpse are currently representing zombie tokens.

White - Cleric

Blue - Artificer

Black - Warlock

Red - Mercenary

Green - Druid

Date added	3 years
Last updated	10 months
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 76 - 0 Commons
Cards	131
Avg. CMC	3.26
Tokens	Dungeon: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dungeon: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dungeon: Tomb of Annihilation, Goblin 1/1 R, Skeleton 1/1 B, The Atropal, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed, Zombie Knight 2/2 B
Folders	Cool Decks