Most hug decks are content with coming second. Some hug decks attempt to wrest control of the game at the last moment and strike down the most powerful players at the most opportune moments.
This deck? It just wants to ignore as much of the basic concepts of magic as possible. Yes, you'll most certainly lose. Yes, you will have very little in the way of self-defense, especially since those ghostly prison triggers become useless once your opponent's lands tap for 4 and the lands untap each turn.
But here's the thing: you aren't here to win a game of Magic. You aren't even here to play a game of Magic. You are here to rip about the very base assumptions of balance and restraint, and replace them with a game where everyone draws 5 cards, has 40 mana, has a mana pool that never empties, and has their lands untap each turn. You're here to untap their lands for them and by god they're going to learn that you don't want their Kraj to put +1/+1 counters on creatures, you want Kraj to become "tap: target creature's controller sacrifices target creature". They'll learn that the reason you made them all draw 20 off of prosperity was because you were going to make them dump every permanent in their hand onto the battlefield. Anything less than this is heresy.
Magic isn't about strategy. Magic isn't about fun. Magic most certainly isn't about resource management or drawing a measly one card a turn. Magic is about becoming overwhelmed with so many options your opponents can't even recognize it as the same beast they once knew and loved. This, my friend, is how you play Magic. Recognize too much of a good thing is even better, and that in the world of the Gay Kings, there is only joy and happiness, regardless of whether your citizens want that or not.
Who Might Like It Show
This deck isn't designed to win the game. The idea is that it's, as a friend once put it, "Planeschase in a bottle". You probably won't win very often, though once in a while the other players will self-destruct and you'll win by default. If you haven't noticed, this is a deck designed to sit back and relax with. Not a deck to try to win. There aren't many combat tricks, and there is nearly no removal, short of a
Dismiss into Dream
. Leave the removal to the other players. If they haven't drawn it, or they're out of mana, it's certainly not due to your intervention.
This deck is for people who want to watch their opponents squirm more in confusion than anything else. It's not going to win much, and occasionally games may end in a flash or drag on forever. If you have "those people" in the playgroup, be careful and choose to sit to the right of someone who's going to take advantage of your kindness to make the game more entertaining, as opposed to trying to immediately end the game with the advantages they're given.
How To Play Show
For the most part? Just play it how you think you should. I tend to play mana ramp first, then draw spells after. This keeps the amount of removal and hate down, and you can explode and play a large amount of draw spells after all of your mana ramp has been dropped.
Politics is your best defense. This deck isn't designed to win and cards that deter attacks are mostly there to be there early on and as a deterrent more than anything else. Since you're hugging and a 2/8
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
is there it's at least inconvenient to attack you. It should be a bit easier to talk your way out of getting punched by others with that at least. You have a few ways to hold them off for a while, but your best defense is exclusively politics. Use mana doublers and extra draws as bargaining chips. Also don't pull this deck out against a card:Nekusar, The Mind Razer because you'll spend your free time crying.
Feel free to cast your commander as much as you'd like!
So, uh, can I actually end the game? Show
That depends. Like, win? I guess theoretically, yes? But if the game desperately needs to end, the best way to do it is to draw a ton of cards off of
Prosperity
or
Minds Aglow
after producing a ton of mana. Don't count on it though. A counterspell is a bit rough, after all (unless you have a
Hive Mind
out, since that copies x for Prosperity, though not Mind's Aglow's cost). A tie is like everyone half-won after all. With three players, that means your table had the equivalent of 1.5 winners. Kind of.
Few small notes Show
- I tried to keep as much of the "hug" as global as possible. It's easier to avoid making enemies this way.
- There isn't a lot of global life gain that isn't "use once", so
Arbiter of Knollridge
is on his own in that category.
- I shied away from asymmetrical hugging. It's more fun to just let the game go out of control.
Armistice
would be one I'd consider breaking the rule for.
- Games can vary wildly in terms of length. It depends on how competitive the person sitting to the left of you is, usually. Realize that this person is going to be the first to experience the benefits you're spitting out, so make sure they're going to be responsible with that. I'd honestly never pull this out as the first deck in a new play group until I have gotten a good reading on the people there.
Suggestions on cards are welcome. I'm particularly interested in obscure or awkward cards that hug globally.
