Almost 20 years ago, my local game store offered a challenge to us. Create the best deck using only lands, creatures and artifacts. Naturally my deck building spark was lit and I dove into my collection.
I built a deck that revolved around Storm Cauldron and Ankh of Mishra. Storm Caldron would return land tapped for mana to their owners hands. Ankh would punish them for putting those lands back into play. By grinding out games with creatures notoriously good at stalling out, I could force the opponent into situations where they can never play land again.
The version I bring to you today is similar to the original deck but features several more modern additions.
This deck can be created for under $30. Online, this deck can be played for just under 1 event ticket. The full deck list can be found here. Enjoy!
The Combo
4x
Storm Cauldron
4x
Ankh of Mishra
The combo created a very grindy situation involving returning lands to hands and painfully damaging your opponent with returning them to play. Ankh of Mishra deals 2 damage for each land returned this way. Eventually, players will be forced into having no lands and playing with whatever they have left in play to win.
The Creatures
4x
Utopia Mycon
4x
Thallid
4x
Elvish Farmer
4x
Spore Flower
4x
Thallid Devourer
3x
Citanul Hierophants
In order to crush out the combo, your going to need quite a few chump blockers, creatures that produce land and stallers. When given time, Thallid creatures can overwhelm the opponent with small saprolings. In the cast of this deck, they not only produce 1/1 creatures every few turns but the tokens can be used for mana, life, fog effects and creature boosts. This versatility without needing lands to function makes this deck work.
The Support
3x
Pack Hunt
2x
Hurricane
Pack hunt digs for much needed copies of the creatures that grind out the game. With this spell you can fetch Spore Flower and play them to keep a constant supply of fog effects. Hurricane helps in an area where the deck lacks, air support. Blast away pesky flying creatures or finish off opponents who have land locked themselves with little or no life.
The Land
16x
Forest
4x
Rushwood Grove
4x
Sheltered Valley
Rushwood Grove is the type of land that benefits from sitting and accumulating counters. Because tapping for a counter is not tapping for mana, the Grove will not return to you hand when Storm Cauldron is in play unless it's used for mana.
Sheltered Valley benefits late game players once the combo has been set. Keeping it in play with minimal lands out, garners a small stream of life.
Improving the Deck
Non budget improvements come in the form of Gaea's Cradle. This very expensive land grants you mana equal to your creature count, including tokens and increases your mana power per tap. Also considered should be Doubling Season which pounds out more counters and saproling tokens.
Swing Last,
Aiokii
Like this deck? You can find more at www.paperchampion.com You can contact Aiokii in the comments below or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Aiokii can also be found on MTGO, hit him up for a game sometime. Also, take the time to check out Reddit Budgetdecks for cheap discussion and deck ideas.
