"Jumpstart: Mad Science (Blue)"
**Prototype**
Happy Halloween everyone! Being a scientist in real life, I thought the concept of a Mad Scientist jumpstart pack for halloween sounded fun. I started with red because I was mistakenly thinking [[Mad Prophet]] was “Mad Scientist.” Oops. Along the way, I ran into Laboratory Maniac and realized that I was dumb for not considering him first. That led me into two distinct packs.
Card selection was pretty difficult for these packs. A lot of good cards were 2 color (primarily izzet) or rares. I also had some issues finding good creatures. There aren’t a ton of scientists because magic tends to skew towards wizards, so I had to improvise a little.
This post is for the blue Mad Scientist pack. Here is my red one if you’re interested.
So, I started this pack off with Laboratory Maniac. I decided early on that I needed an alternate wincon, so I also included Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. While Jace is not very thematic, I thought he did a good job advancing the overall game plan and would fill out the pack nicely as the second rare.
With the game plan cemented, I really needed some good draw/self-mill cards that were thematic AND not completely dead with other JS packs. [[Aberrant Researcher]] can become a beater, [[Deranged Assistant]] ramps, and [[Laboratory Brute]] has a solid body. For draw we have [[Scour the Laboratory]], [[Alchemist’s Vial]], [[Forbidden Alchemy]], and [[Chemister’s Insight]]. I thought all these fit the bill really well.
Removal was tricky. I really wanted a bounce spell, but didn’t end up finding one I liked. So I added Circular Logic and Rapid Hybridization.
Late in deck building, I realized that I was REALLY low on creatures, so I tossed out Arcane Laboratory because I didn’t feel like it did much for the deck. In its place I added Erratic Visionary to help churn through the deck a little more.