Ah, Worldslayer. You sweet, sweet, unplayable bomb.

Excuse me, did I say unplayable? That's exactly what your opponents will think until it's too late.

This is a combo-riffic graveyard shenanigans deck powered by a dredge engine. The aim of the deck is to assemble the Worldslayer Lock as quickly as possible.

Components of the Lock

Archetype of Imagination + Swiftfoot Boots + Darksteel Plate + Worldslayer

These four unassuming cards, individually, are decent in their own right. But together, they create an unstoppable engine of destruction that will leave your opponents weeping in awe and fear.

Archetype of Imagination is the key creature because it is essentially unblockable; it literally turns off the opponent's ability to block it, regardless of what they had on the field before the Lock. It's also critical that this is an Enchantment Creature, as it is a key part of assembling the combo.

Swiftfoot Boots will give your Archetype Haste and Hexproof, preventing the opponent from any instant speed shenanigans disrupting the Lock and also speeding your envoy of death toward your opponent in an expeditious fashion.

Darksteel Plate: second in importance only to Worldslayer in establishing the Lock, this nifty armor will shield your Archetype from the Worldslayer's draconian judgment and shield your opponent from any chance at victory.

Worldslayer: the very soul of Wrath itself, its keen edge whistles the song of ultimate decimation as your Archetype thrusts it upon your hapless foe.

The Lock

Swing with the Archetype fully equipped, which can be neither blocked nor interfered with. This triggers the Worldslayer to destroy all other permanents after your Archetype inevitably hits. Your opponent puts their battlefield into their graveyard while you are left with an Indestructible Archetype of Imagination - wearing Indestructible armor - wielding the Worldslayer. Every turn you get to swing with your unblockable, unkillable, world-slaying Archetype, keeping your opponent to just One land (and Zero hope).

"Sounds great!" You might say. "But wait..." You muse a moment later. "Those equip costs...on TOP of those casting costs...and getting all four cards together before my opponent kills me? It's...it's IMPOSSIBLE!" You wail to the heavens, cursing whatever cruel god that would taunt you with such a beautiful creation only to make it unattainable.

Well, dear reader, there is a hope in the darkness; a shining beacon who will come to our aid in this time of greatest need.

Indeed, with Sigarda's Aid, this wild ambition is at our fingertips! Journey with me a while longer, and I will reveal to you my eldritch secrets...

Step One: The Dredge

The fastest way to make that equipment combo happen is to first put all of the pieces into your graveyard. And as we all know, the fastest way to fill up your graveyard is our good friend Dredge.

We run playsets of Golgari Grave-Troll and Life from the Loam as our actual Dredgers, and playsets of Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion as our enablers. Let me tell you, there is nothing sweeter than pitching two Golgari Grave-Trolls to a Cathartic Reunion on turn two, and then Dredging 12 as you "draw" them back from your graveyard (and an additional card off the top of your library to boot!)

In order for the combo to work, you must have at least one of each of these cards in your graveyard: Archetype of Imagination, Darksteel Plate, Swiftfoot Boots, Worldslayer, and Sigarda's Aid. With all of our looting, rummaging, and Dredge action, you'll hit those five in no time.

Step Two: Reanimate

And here we arrive at the linchpin card of the deck: Open the Vaults. Cast this card, and you get to return EVERY artifact and enchantment that's in your graveyard onto the battlefield! This is where Archetype of Imagination pulls double duty, as it serves not only as your unstoppable evasion, but also as a creature that is returned from Open the Vaults. Each of the combo pieces above "see" each other entering the battlefield, so Sigarda's Aid allows you to automatically equip the Deathly Trio to your Harbinger of Doom!

"But...but...I get all my artifacts and enchantments back too!" Whines your trembling opponent. "WHO CARES?!" You half-scream, half-laugh. "I HAVE A WORLDSLAYER!"

And you tramp out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, once more loosing upon your foe the lightning of your terrible, swift sword.

A Little Insurance

That is, you'll have a Worldslayer Lock as long as you successfully cast Open the Vaults. In this world fraught with counterspells and the possibility of Dredging out all of your Vaults, it pays to have an ace or two up your sleeve.

For your consideration, dear reader: Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Mystic Retrieval.

Boseiju will shelter our linchpin sorcery under its sturdy branches, fending off the cold, cruel grasp of any opposing blue mage who dares to affront this gift of the gods. And Mystic Retrieval will safeguard us from that delicious lick of irony, seeing all of our Open the Vaults dredged into our graveyard. Retrieval also pulls double duty, allowing us some eleventh hour dredge power by returning Cathartic Reunion back to our hand on Turn 5, just in case you're missing that last combo piece.

Go Forth

Now that you have tasted the exhilaration of the Worldslayer Lock, dear reader, do not deny yourself the exquisite pleasure of knowing its magnificence firsthand!

Take these, my eldritch secrets - and if this dreadful power is truly what you seek, try looking in craters...

Suggestions

Updates Add

Comments

Remove 1 Darksteel Plate/Swiftfoot Boots/Open the Vaults/Mystic Retrieval. Replace them with boardwipes, ex:
Wrath of God
Anger of the Gods
Firespout.

This deck is super slow, and it fills the graveyard fast. Most of the time you will not need multiples of the equipment in the graveyard, only 1. You also do not need multiple Open the Vaults.

Fun.dec, needs defense.

December 19, 2016 12:46 a.m.

some good points actually

December 19, 2016 12:48 a.m.

I try...

Furthermore: you need basic lands. Remove: 1 Stomping Ground, 2 Sacred Foundry, 4 Inspiring Vantage. Add 2 Plains, 2 Mountain, 1 Forest, and Windswept Heath. This deals with all of the Blood Moons running around.

Why not use Whispersilk Cloak instead of Swiftfoot Boots, allowing you to use a cost efficient creature that actually helps the deck instead of a clunky flier instead? Haze Frog comes to mind...

Turn 1-2 is looting. Turn 3: Anger of the Gods. Turn 4 flashback Faithless Looting + Sigarda's Aid. Turn 5 Haze Frog. Turn 6 Open the Vaults...

December 19, 2016 1:06 a.m.

First, thank you for the suggestions Decks_On.Acid!

Second, this deck isn't really designed to be a contender against competitive Modern decks. It was more a thought experiment on how I could assemble the Worldslayer Lock with as few cards and as consistently and efficiently as possible.

What you see will assemble the combo on T6 95% of the time. T6 is just too slow for Modern if you're not doing anything to interact with your opponent's gameplan, so this version of the deck won't ever be competitively viable.

I'm actually tinkering with a competitive version that uses Gifts Ungiven and a super-interactive control strategy, keeping the Worldslayer Lock as the main win-con with options to board in other, more match-relevant win-cons. When I finish playtesting that brew I'll be sure to post it up and add a link to it in this goofy version's description.

In the meantime, I'd love to see your version of the deck! Take some of these suggestions you're making and see if you can make a list that is a little more resilient than this one. I would be totally chuffed to see the Worldslayer Lock hit the competitive scene, so every bit of iteration and tuning helps!

December 19, 2016 1:28 a.m.

Me: glances at deck "Why does he play Archetype of Imagination? Invisible Stalker would be so much better."

Brother: "Why don't you keep reading?"

Me: (This guy doesn't know what he's doing)

5 minutes later...

Me: -_____-

Brother: Derp face

December 19, 2016 1:34 a.m.

Oh, and +1

December 19, 2016 1:34 a.m.

Decks_On.Acid he is using Archetype of Imagination because it's an evasive enchantment creatures so Open the Vaults brings it back too.

December 19, 2016 1:35 a.m.

Hmm. Valid.

Even in the casual setting all that somebody has to do is find out that Goblin Grenade is a card and people are winning/losing on turn 4.

I'll see if I can do something involving worldslayer (do not expect much).

December 19, 2016 7:18 p.m.

I didn't like some of your card choices so I made another deck improving on it.The plan to make my playgroup quit magic!

December 22, 2016 7:44 a.m.

Dope +1

December 24, 2016 12:03 a.m.

love the idea and i enjoyed your theatrical presentation. well done and +1

December 17, 2016 10:05 p.m.

Absolutely magnificent - Bravo!

December 18, 2016 12:15 p.m.

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!


Important! Formatting tipsComment Tutorialmarkdown syntax

Please login to comment

Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Card costs (outer) Land mana (inner)
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3CreatureCreatureLandLandEnchantmentEnchantmentArtifactArtifactSorcerySorcery
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Converted mana costMana-curve8.1%8.1%10.8%10.8%5.4%5.4%8.1%8.1%10.8%10.8%10.8%10.8%10.8%10.8%10.8%10.8%8.1%8.1%8.1%8.1%8.1%8.1%0123456024681012