Have you ever looked at a card that is completely terrible in every way and wonder why anyone would ever play it? You then see a different card and think it's just kinda boring? Have you then ever realized that oh my god these two cards are actually made for each other? Well that is the case with this deck, which is technically a revival of the DMCries (Previous episode: Legends of Bant).
The Dynamic Duo
The Dynamic Duo in this specific deck is, of course, The Lady of Otaria and Elven Palisade. You see, The Lady of Otaria really wants you to put your own lands from the field into the graveyard. Elven Palisade sacrifices forests to give an attacking creature -3/-0. And while that is all well and good, there are many cards that can sacrifice lands for better value, so why Elven Palisade?
The Team Behind the Duo
It's important to remember The Lady of Otaria wants lands to kick the bucket so we can go get dwarves from the top of our library, which is absolutely phenomenal. But dwarves themselves lack any creature type cohesion. There are several small bits and bobs here and there, like land destruction and being tapped, but not much on a large scale. However, one of those bits and bobs happens to be making creatures with power 2 or less unblockable. Introducing Dwarven Nomad and Dwarven Warriors, the cards that do exactly that. This is why Elven Palisade forms into the dynamic duo—it gives the perfect amount of power reduction to turn The Lady of Otaria, a 5/5, into a 2/5, which can then be targeted by the Dwarven Nomad Warriors.
This does, however, pose the problem of "So what." We deal 2 damage each combat? Lame. No no, this is where more of the friendly Dwarves come in handy. Allow me to introduce Dwarven Thaumaturgist, a dwarf that will switch power and toughness at will, turning that 2/5 into a 5/2, which is a 250% increase. Dwarven Bloodboiler is also just stupid powerful and I low-key don't like it cause it kinda makes the deck lose its specific identity, but it's a dwarf and there are not a lot of those, so. Assault Formation is also a more thematic backup plan for Dwarven Thaumaturgist, by the way.
Dwarven Armorer is also very strong here, as for the simple price of discarding a card, you can put a +0/+1 counter on a creature—like The Lady of Otaria. This is the same sort of thing as Slagwurm Armor, providing toughness benefits to really make Dwarven Thaumaturgist powerful.
And if you're wondering what happens when you run out of cards, remember, The Lady of Otaria picks up up to four cards every turn, if you do it right. Which you should, there are so many lands here that sacrifice themselves for value of some kind. Not to mention a Splendid Reclamation for extra fun! Running out of cards in hand is also actually a benefit, because most of our card draw comes in the form of Wheels, effects that discard your hand to draw a certain number of cards. And wouldn't you know it, one such card is Amber Gristle O'Maul, a dwarf. Having no cards in hand just makes these strict card draw, which is powerful. (Other fun wheelers are Ox of Agonas and Vaultguard Trooper) Other draw is found in rummagers, which have a definitive downside, but the point is ultimately to find Elven Palisade, and the more cards you look at, the more chances you can find it.
Stand Out Cards
Some cards are just not important enough for the overall strategy but still incredibly helpful to that strategy. Case in point: Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Making a treasure whenever you tap a dwarf? Yes please. Additionally, her activated ability can be used to find Slagwurm Armor, Brass's Tunnel-Grinder
, Moonveil Regent or Phyrexian Dragon Engine
, all very helpful cards.
Speaking of Moonveil Regent, complete sleeper card. If you no cards in hand, you can just casting spells. You will nearly always be able to draw a card from the dragon so if you have mana (like from treasures or the high amount of ramp in this lands matter deck) you can keep going forever.
Pillardrop Warden can get back an instant or sorcery, like, say, that Splendid Reclamation. Regrowth and Shigeki, Jukai Visionary are also in the deck, just in case someone whacks your Elven Palisade.
Titania, Protector of Argoth is a secondary win condition, cause you can't have just one. Also works especially well with Assault Formation.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell.
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth allows you to sacrifice any of your lands to Elven Palisade's ability. If there's any card to grab with Crop RotationGC or Scapeshift first, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is a good shout. Other good lands to grab are Myriad Landscape and Blighted Woodland for the double land drop, Hidden Nursery and Hidden Volcano for that sweet sweet discover trigger, and Escape Tunnel to put the Dwarven Warriors and Dwarven Nomad ability on a land.
Druid of the Emerald Grove is ramp on a dwarf, which is perfect, and Fearless Skald can give double strike to The Lady of Otaria to completely Hammer someone if you want.
And to be honest, that's all there is for this. It's a very straightforward deck, but it does the thing I want my decks to do: Make people ask "What? Wait, what?!"
