This deck is designed to be a deck of almost pure control...and sacrifice. It's probably not the best of it's kind, but it's pretty good. It almost always beats most of my really good decks. A few years ago when I first started playing magic, I became entranced with the concept of one card in particular, Mind Control. The idea that I could gain total control of an opponent's creatures really appealed to me. I didn't have all the right cards to make a deck based on it, but I wanted to perfect the idea and design a deck that was centered around gaining control of opponents' creatures. Since the creatures who did have this type of ability were usually few in number and low in power and toughness, and many of the cards only gave you control of the opponent's creatures until end of turn, I knew I needed to add an additional element to the deck to make it stronger and more effective. And since most people who gain control of their opponent's creatures until end of turn tend to sacrifice them before their turn ends, I had the idea of incorporating the sacrificing of opponents creatures into the deck. The results were actually better than I had hoped. Despite the fact that it's a tri-color deck and most of the cards' cmc are over 3, there is enough mana in the deck that it doesn't matter, since you draw mana quite often, but not often enough to drown out your creatures in a creature block. The large number of sorceries, instants, and enchantments and lack of creatures in the deck are due to the fact that most of your creatures will be composed of other people's cards. The high mana costs usually aren't a big deal, because even if your opponent does manage to get their creatures out before you, all you have to do is gain control of those creatures and then you have them and they lose them. It's quite handy, especially when your opponents throw down a lot of good and powerful creatures.
note: whenever I use the word "Mind Control" like that in quotation marks, what I'm really referring to is the property similar to that of the enchantment Mind Control, which involves taking control of opponents' creatures.
Cards in the Deck
"Mind Control" Creatures
Permanent "Mind Control" Creatures (these creatures help you gain control of others' creatures after your turn ends:
- Beguiler of Wills is a low powered creature which you may tap to gain control of target creature with power less than or equal to the number of creatures you control.
- Dragonlord Silumgar is a nice 3/5 flying deathtouch creature which gives you control of a target creature for as long as you control Dragonlord Silumgar, until the Dragonlord leaves the battlefield.
- Roil Elemental allows you to gain control of target creature for as long as you control Roil Elemental, whenever you throw down a land card.
- When the 5/5 legendary Spirit Dragon Keiga, the Tide Star dies, you gain control of target creature.
- Siren of the Fanged Coast is an either-or card, and varies depending on your opponents decisions. It is a Tribute 3 creature so when it comes into the battlefield, a target opponent either puts 3 +1/+1 counters on it, or you gain control of target creature.
Enchantments, Instants, and Sorceries:
- Mind Control of course, is the theme card of this deck, or, I suppose you could say it was the inspiration for this deck. this card is very nice because it let's you control another person's creature. The effect is pretty simple, there's nothing to explain.
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Legacy's Allure - cast this card early if you can. every upkeep you have it on the board, it gets a treasure counter, and then during your turn if you sacrifice it, you Gain control of target creature with power less than or equal to the number of treasure counters it has. Not very useful late in the game.
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Blatant Thievery is a very high-costing card, but it can be very useful in a multi-player game. When you play it you gain control of a target creature from each of your opponents.
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Entrancing Melody is a very effective card, allowing you to tap mana when you pay the mana cost of , and gain control of target creature with converted mana cost equal to .
Temporary "Mind Control" Creatures (These creatures have abilities which give you control of a target creature until end of turn. Usually those creatures gain haste. The point of these cards is taking your opponent's cards,
using them against your opponent, and then sacrificing them if they don't die in combat.):
- Conquering Manticore is a handy 5/5 flying creature that can get you out of a fix if you need it. When it enters the battlefield, you gain control of target creature until end of turn, you untap it, and it gains haste until end of turn. One idea with this card, since its ability only triggers when it enters the battlefield, is to use Sheoldred, Whispering One's ability of bringing target creature back from the graveyard at beginning of your upkeep to bring Conquering Manticore back into play, to re-trigger his ability. As with most red cards, the idea is to unleash your power in bursts, or all at once, and it involves taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves in the middle of the game. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is the brilliance of this card will come about as you use it in the game.
Enchantments, Instants, and Sorceries:
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Act of Treason - another signature card of the deck, this card gives you temporary control of another target creature, allowing you to untap it, give it haste, let you attack with it during combat, and then sacrifice it at the end of combat. it's a low-costing alternative to permanently controlling opponents' creatures.
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Hijack is pretty much identical to Act of Treason. The only difference is in the mana cost, with this card you have to pay instead of a and of any color.
Sacrificing Creatures Enchantments, Instants, and Sorceries (These creatures allow you to sacrifice the other opponent's creatures):
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Mogis, God of Slaughter - I just love the god cards in Magic the Gathering! So powerful, and indestructible, and many of them give all of your creatures really special abilities. The rather brutish brother to the centaur-like God of Red and White, Iroas, God of Victory, Mogis takes 2 life away from your opponents every upkeep unless they sacrifice a creature. Except for life-gain decks which can afford to lose 2 life every upkeep, this card is a real nuisance to the opponent, as they can't destroy it, and the only way to get rid of it is to have you exile or sacrifice it.
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Indulgent Tormentor, similar to Mogis, God of Slaughter, causes your opponents to sacrifice a creature, or lose three life unless they let you draw an extra card at the beginning of your upkeep. This will allow you to gain a greater edge over your opponent, by giving you more cards, or draining your opponents life total, or eliminating their creatures.
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Ob Nixilis, Unshackled - this creature makes it so that your opponents have to be really desperate to want to search their libraries. When they do, however, they must sacrifice a creature and lose 10 life. That's pretty deadly -- and not only that, but when any creature dies anywhere, then you put a +1/+1 counter on Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. And the last effect will also be triggered when you sacrifice your opponent's creatures after taking control of them with cards such as Act of Treason. Coupled with card :Sheoldred, Whispering One, which causes your opponents to sacrifice creatures every upkeep, and Mogis, God of Slaughter, which deals 2 damage to a player unless they sacrifice a creature, this card will gain counters pretty fast.
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Sheoldred, Whispering One does mean damage to your opponents, and it even helps you out too. Aside from the fact that its a 6/6 demon with swampwalk, it also resurrects a target creature card from your graveyard each turn, it reverses the effect for your opponents, and forces them to sacrifice a creature every turn, unless they have a cards which prevents that effect.
It honestly doesn't matter much that most of the creatures here take a while to get out, because chances are by the time your other players have time to cast their big creature cards, you will most likely have the means of capturing their creatures, right from under their noses!
Because I love the control aspect of this deck so much, I have been playtesting it against a lot of great and powerful decks I have designed, (such as Decree of Life), and against some that others have designed, and I've found that it's ability to "borrow" other people's creatures leaves them destitute, helpless, and hopelessly outnumbered.
P.S.: If you want the deck to be Modern-Legal, just replace the Blatant Thievery with another card, such as Hijack.
Disclaimer (I don't actually own the cards in this deck. One of these days, I hope to buy them. Not for a while though (poor college student ;) )
Update: I Finally Purchased that last few cards for this deck, and now possess all the cards in the mainboard!
