This is not my deck. The deck was originally posted by Nate Heiss as a part of the Building on a Budget series. Some of these decks are very hard to find on Wizards website, so I'm trying to document them. I couldn't find this deck anywhere and finally just contact Nate Heiss to see if I was going crazy, or if this deck actually existed. He was kind enough to send me the original text for the article.
Building on a Budget: Vaulatog
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year! I personally disappeared for a week, much to the chagrin of Dan Myers, but a guys got to keep his editor on his toes, sometimes! Yep – after a busy week full of gifts, parties, and fireworks, I wake up and reminisce about…Atogs. Disciples of the Vault fill my dreams. In them I am attacking with Fireshriker-equipped Nim Shriekers (because it only makes sense, right?).
Ever since Mirrodin came out I have wanted to write about a deck like this, and the time has finally come. Anyone who has played the set instantly realizes how much fun Disciple of the Vault is and they try to come up with some deck concoction that will make use of the bugger. Hey, I even played him in the sideboard of my affinity deck at States to help ward off Akroma’s Vengence (Wrath me? Well take 8!).
This deck was partially inspired by Aaron Brieder’s Atog/Grab the Reins deck that he played at States, however, there is a lot more going on. Aaron’s deck was basically affinity with Grab the Reins and Atog. I have spiced things up a little by adding Disciple of the Vault and Myr Incubator. The obvious cool setup is activating the Incubator, getting 20 guys, and then sacking them all to Atog, dealing 20 points with your Disciple.
Ok, so maybe it is a little overdrawn and flashy, but sometimes killing your opponent in interesting and flashy ways is what makes the game fun. Personally, I wouldn’t mind attacking with and Atog that has Fireshrieker on it and just watch your opponent as he does math. Unfortunately, there is no way in the deck to give the Atog Trample, but if you really want to go for a stylized kill, try adding Loxodon Warhammer or Megatog to the deck.
Building on a Budget: Vaultatog
3 Mountain
5 Swamp
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Myr Incubator
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Atog
3 Grab the Reins
4 Talisman of Indulgence
4 Iron Myr
3 Lightning Greaves
2 Fireshrieker
4 Leaden Myr
2 Bonesplitter
4 Nim Shrieker
4 Disciple of the Vault
Tips on playing the deck:
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Don’t Sacrifice Fireshrieker to Atog while first strike is on the stack – it will not do normal damage.
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Sometimes it is correct not to equip your guy with Lightning Greaves if it is your only creature, since you might want to equip other thing you will draw later. However, It is always correct of you have more than one creature.
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Be careful about throwing all you efforts into getting out the incubator unless you think you will be able to activate it without it getting destroyed before you untap.
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Try to play your Graves on turn 2 instead of your Myr, that way when you play your myr on turn 3, you can give it haste – being mana efficient.
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There are lots of great grab targets (Atog, Enforcer, Shrieker)– it is not too hard to entwine in this deck, but usually you will only be using it for one part or the other.
This deck comes out fast and wins from left field. While this may not be as strange as they come – it is certainly my flavor of deck.
The most interesting part about this deck from a deck building standpoint, is the strange equipment configuration. 2 Bonesplitters? 2 Fireshriekers? 3 Lightning Greaves? What happened to having 4 copies of cards in the deck for consistency? I wanted to have 4 equipments in the deck to help make my guys bigger, and Bonesplitter and Fireshrieker are the best suited. While you might say why not run 4 Bonesplitter for consistency, I saw why not instead have two of those Bonesplitters be much more powerful cards than Bonesplitters like Fireshriekers? Yes, in this deck Fireshrieker is superior to Bonesplitter – then why not 4 Fireshriekers? The effect of Fireshrieker is not cumulative; hence drawing 2 of them kind of sucks. If you only play 2 in the deck, this will not happen as much, but you will still have access to the power of drawing one on occasion. To me, this made a 2/2 split between the equipment a good choice. The same thing goes for Lightning Graves as the Fireshrieker – where drawing more than 1 isn’t stellar. I decided to play 3 since there isn’t another card that can duplicate the Greaves effect other than Fires of Yavimaya.
If you draw a Fireshrieker, all of your men go really large – like Myr Enforcer, Atog, and Nim Shrieker. Many games can be won simply on the strength of Fireshrieker. One of the coolest draws this deck can get involves casting a turn 3 Myr Enforcer with haste off of a Lightning Greaves, a Myr and three artifact lands, then on the next turn, moving the greaves to the Myr so you can cast and equip the enforcer with Fireshrieker, moving the Greaves back on for added protection. Yah – that means they are on 8 life on turn 4 staring down your4/4 untargetable double striker!
Ok – enough about Fireshrieker – while the card is really cool, this deck is about Disciple of the Vault! The little guy can really pack a punch – especially with everyone playing more artifacts. This deck is Block constructed legal, and in block there should be plenty of artifacts dying to help trigger him. While in this deck, he can only be triggered off of Atog, Spellbombs, and Grab the Reins, you can modify the deck to have cards like Krark Clan Grunt to increase the damage. However, in my experience, Atog should get the job done.
Notice the abundance of Myr in the deck. It is not only about mana acceleration (or the fact that I love them)…these guys routinely win the game by jumping in front and becoming a speed bump for your opponent’s team. After chump blocking they will activate the disciple and help get in those last few crucial points of damage while you come over in the air with your Nim Shrieker or on the ground with a menacing creature.
Adding more Money to the deck:
Glimmervoids and Chrome Moxes could increase the consistency and speed of the deck. Megatog makes it pack a harder punch, but I would not play more than 2 Megatogs. If you do not like the black, this deck can easily be converted to affinity with blue and Broodstars. Pentavus can make for some interesting times with Disciple of the Vault – since you can spend 2 mana to chump block then sacrifice the Pentivite you just made to do a point of damage. Beyond that, I would keep the deck pretty much the way it is. The only other card that could really go in here is Shrapnel Blast, which seems like a good add to any deck – I would swap out some Myrs for it if anything.
Until next time, Grab your Avatar.
