The goal of this deck is to keep the enemy side of the board free of creatures, using deathtouch creatures and some artifacts, in order to swing in with creatures that cost the opponent large amounts of life, or cause them to lose on the spot.
Deathtouch: The base of this deck is cheap deathtouch creatures. A plethora of 1/1 deathtouch creatures like
Typhoid Rats
and
Wasteland Viper
begin the curve. We are able to get in the air with
Bone Picker
who has a 4 mana-cost, but with its ability, we always plan on paying 1 mana for it to come into play.
Ambush Viper
allows us to flash deathtouch into play for a surprise block, and
Leyline Prowler
allows for a small amount of ramp and lifegain.
First Strike: We achieve first stick in BG by utilizing equipment like
Bladed Pinions
and
Viridian Claw
, but our biggest killer is
Viridian Longbow
which allows us to kill any targetable creature on the battlefield while attached to a deathtouch creature.
Regeneration: In order to get the most out of our creatures, we have regeneration through
Isareth the Awakener
and can even grab a fallen planeswalker with
Storrev, Devkarin Lich
.
Finishers: While we have cleared the board with our deathtouch, now we need to finish off the opponent. This is accomplished through direct attacks with
Virtus the Veiled
, quickly cutting them to half life with each hit. Or, even better, taking them out with a single hit from
Vraska the Unseen
's Ultimate which creates 1/1 Assassins that cause the opponent to lose instantly, upon taking face damage.
Block Manipulation: The final piece to the puzzle is block manipulation, this is key in order to make sure our 1/1's like Virtus and the Assassins can get in to do their job. Some creatures offer block manipulation like
Gorm the Great
and
Ochran Assassin
, however a surprise
Lure
can also get the job done.
Overall this is my attempt to make a first-strike deathtouch deck somewhat viable against my other decks. It started as a 3-color deck, but the consistency was horrid and the artifacts offer enough first strike to get the job done. The biggest problem currently is taking the time to get Vraska up to her ult, speeding that up, along with some extra card draw, would certainly be helpful.
((This is one of my 35+ decks that I use to play against each other in casual, kitchen table style of Magic. My deck-building strategy is to have a large variety of cards while keeping a core theme. Trying to increase variety for and fun kitchen table play. I try to keep my decks ~$30, sometimes adding more expensive core cards over time.))
