"Friendship is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."
-Muhammad Ali
Here's a deck inspired by Dan Felder's Friendship is Magic (See the article here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/1367-dans-deckshop-friendship-is-magic.html) for multiplayer shenanigans.
After seeing RussischerZar's post on the idea, I decided to challenge myself to build a Modern legal version of the deck. Usually my playgroup tries to pick a format for multiplayer games, so this deck felt like a natural choice.
The basis of the deck is to make friends with your opponents by giving them the gift of free creatures and cards. I decided to stick with two main features of the original build, Hunted Phantasm and Hunted Troll.
Without Questing Phelddagrif as an available option to build around, I decided to find a way to way to grind games down to a halt. Enter Stoic Angel. At the same mana cost you can net yourself a solid 3/4 body with flying and vigilance that makes people think twice about sending the tokens you give them in your direction.
Now with that out of the way, it's time to concentrate on other ways to make friends. Forbidden Orchard serves as a great mana fixer and reinforces the bond between you and your fellow players. While such a drawing powerhouse as
Trade Secrets
can't be found in Modern, Jace Beleren serves as a nice alternative to keep everyone happy.
Let's move on to the control portion of the deck. To stabilize the color wheel, I replaced Propaganda with Norn's Annex. I felt that being able to protect Jace was worth the life and/or extra mana. Detention Sphere became a solid option in place of Oblivion Ring, allowing the flexibility to remove multiples of the same problem at once. Or punish people for sending their tokens at you.
Finally, we come to the mighty Reins of Power. Unable to find a suitable replacement for such a big switcheroo, I turned my attention toward other means of getting lethal damage through. Behold Return to Ravnica's own Cyclonic Rift. Despite the steep overload cost, reaching the required mana in 7 turns shouldn't be much of an issue. With such a one-sided outcome, the impact of a well-timed cast may just be enough to put the game away.
Please be sure to check out RussischerZar's Simic version, Magic is Friendship. :)
