Hey guys,
When Vial Smasher the Fierce was spoiled, I just wanted to do one thing: fill up the graveyard and cast
Empty the Pits
. Since delve lets you exile cards instead of paying mana, and X spells retain the cmc of X while on the stack, this means that if you were to delve 36 cards when casting Empty the Pits, Vial Smasher deals 40 damage to a random opponent! Yup, you kill a random enemy! (Not to mention you have 18 zombies on the board after). I found that hilarious and set out to build a deck around this interaction. Self-mill, cantrip tribal, and turbo Traumatize all seemed okay, but ultimately a heavy blue build based around Curiousity effects has been not only effective at achieving the original janky plan, but actually powerful.
What's the gameplan?
This is a deck aimed at abusing Curiosity
+
Vial Smasher the Fierce
. Once Vial Smasher is enchanted, our first spell cast each turn becomes a cantrip. To take advantage of this, about half of the spells in our deck are instants, so we can continue drawing on our opponents' turns, as well as control the pace of the game. The deck runs each other similar effect in Keen Sense, Ophidian Eye,
Snake Umbra
, and Tandem Lookout. Each of these effects are cumulative, so if we have each of these on Vial Smasher, we would draw 5 cards for each first spell cast per turn!
To help us in the early game, we have ramp, disruption, and the fine Thrasios, Triton Hero. In the early game, we want to hold up mana to counter and remove our opponent's threats at instant speed. However, if there isn't anything threatening enough, or if we simply have nothing better to do, Thrasios lets us put that mana into a sweet scry and draw. Thrasios has a particularly sweet synergy with Training Grounds, cutting the cost of his ability in half. If you start with an early Demonic Tutor, Training Grounds is a fine target to help bolster our resources in the early game.
I want to mention three creatures that also have a special interaction with Curiosity effects that I think are worth running to draw you a bunch of cards:
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: This guy is very well known for his synergy (read: combo) with Curiosity. One Curiosity effect allows us to draw out our deck and deal damage equal to the cards in our library to creatures and players. Some playgroups can't stand this combo, so just take it out if you don't want to be that guy. It's a faster clock, but the deck has other ways to win.
Guttersnipe: This dude is a monster. Enchant him with one effect, and in a 4 player game, each instant / sorcery cast draws you 3 cards! Multiple Curiosity effects on him get out of hand very quickly. And, with so many instants and sorceries in the deck, he can actually win the game on his own if you protect him.
Tunneling Geopede: He's unassuming, and since he only pings for one damage, your opponents might dismiss him. But with a Curiosity effect, in a 4 player game, his ability says Landfall: Draw 3 cards! With extra land drops from Exploration, Burgeoning, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Thrasios, and double landfall triggers from fetchlands, we'll be swimming in card advantage.
So we've got our resources - how do we win?
Jank:
Empty the Pits
+
Vial Smasher the Fierce
Vial Smasher summons a bunch of Zombies, but before they even hit the field, someone dies, as long as we declare a large enough number for X. With all of the cheap spells we're casting all game, we can easily one shot a random opponent before long. Reclaim and
Noxious Revival
let us do it again. I know this is jank, but I can't help myself.
Reliable Combo:
Curiosity + Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
: ...yeah. If you want the deck to be competitive, you run this. If you want to make this a little less cutthroat, I recommend
Kaervek the Merciless
as a replacement! He'll draw you cards off of Curiosity effects, just like our other payoff creatures, and can dish out a beating on his own.
Infect:
Glistening Oil
+
Vial Smasher the Fierce
Vial Smasher throws around random infect damage to your opponents! Delve becomes extremely useful here - Treasure Cruise and
Dig Through Time
each dish out 8 poison counters to a random opponent, for as low as 1 or 2 mana respectively. Empty the Pits gets there as well.
Glistening Oil
+
Guttersnipe
: Cast 5 instants / sorceries with this set up and you kill the table.
Blue Stuff:
Gather Specimens
can win it for us on the spot. We can steal enemy commanders after an Unsummon, or turn our opponents' big creature spells like Selvala's Stampede against them.
Mind's Dilation could find us our opponent's win cons, and even if it doesn't, getting free spell casts for Vial Smasher is more than welcome.
Metallurgic Summonings can let us win the old fashioned way through combat damage. Following it up with a Treasure Cruise the turn you cast it, to get an 8/8 and draw 3 cards seems fine to me. And, it'll let you buy back a ton of your graveyard. Be careful not to delve away something you'll want to get back!
Well, there you have it. Try it out, have fun, and let me know what you think!
