Green and Red Tournament Deck T2 during Kamigawa Block
The first core combo of the Deck is the pairing of:
Shinen of Lifes Roar + Blademane Baku.
Shinen is a Taunting Elf.
Blademane Baku gains counters from playing spirit or arcane cards, gets +2 per counter.
Shinen of Lifes Roar and Blademane Baku attack together, use counters to add as much damage as possible.
0 counters = 20 life = Win.
(Baku has 1 damage, so 9 counters removed would give 18 + 1 with one life remaining)
The second core combo of the deck is Arcane Cards:
Lava Spike + Glacial Ray + Finishing Move Ire of Kaminari.
Never cast Lava Spike for 1 mana. Always spend 3 mana total and splice Glacial Ray onto it for 5 direct damage to player.
Each are arcane spells that give Blademane Baku counters.
Splicing Glacial ray retains the card, allowing tons of direct player damage for cheap.
Glacial Ray can also splice on Unchecked Growth, Ire of kaminari, Devouring Rage.
On the higher end of mana cost for 3, you can cast Unchecked Growth to add +4/+4 and trample if it is a spirit.
It can add +6/+4 to Blademane Baku total if you have 4 mana, because casting an arcane spell adds a counter to Blademane Baku.
Ire of Kaminari deals damage to player equal to Arcane cards in Graveyard.
1 Lava spike spliced with Glacial Ray, 5 player damage. A second Spike with the same Glacial Ray, 5 more damage. A spare Glacial Ray, 2 more damage. 3 Arcane cards in graveyard + an unchecked growth = 4 more Direct Damage. 12 damage to the player then you splice a glacial ray onto Ire, then cast the glacial ray the next turn, 20 damage.
All of these arcane spells are raising Blademanes single unblocked attack swing by +2.
The third core combo of the deck is usage of Spirit Cards.
Dripping Tongue Zubera, Ember First Zubera are cheap and easy chump blockers.
When any zubera enters graveyard it either deals damage to player equal to # of zubera put into graveyard that turn, or puts a 1/1 into play for # of zubera put into graveyard that turn.
This builds an easy to play army of blockers that you WANT to block your opponent with and die. The red ones deal direct damage to the enemy player, the Green ones give you more blockers. If a pair of Green and Red die, 2 damage to player and 2 chump blockers.
The next Spirit card is Hana Kami, 1 Green for 1/1, can be sacrificed for to return arcane cards to your hand.
You can sacrifice a creature after declaring it as a blocker but before it deals combat damage. This allows the 1/1 for 1 to bring an arcane card back to your hand (which amp up blademane and gives you more direct damage spells) and block an attacker on the same turn. Great sacrificial Lamb.
The next Spirit card is Elder Pine of Jukai.
Elder Pine is the mana acceleration component of this deck and can activate on turn 4.
Elder Pine lets you sift through your deck at will to adjust your chances of the cards you need coming up.
The deck has a tight card list and all of the combinations work well together, so this is very advantageous.
Elder pine lets you reveal the top 3 cards of your deck when you play a spirit or arcane card. You add any land revealed into your hand and the rest on the bottom. This deck plays a LOT of spirit and arcane cards.
This card also has soulshift 2, which means if it dies i can return any of my spirit cards from graveyard into my hand. This is good because I can bring back my zubera chump blockers or hana kami or shinen of lifes roar(taunting elf).
This packs a lot of synergy and versatility into one card for 3 mana. More Zubera = More blockers that turn into damage or even more blockers. More Hana Kami means a blocker that can bring back my super cheap Lava Spike for splicing action or just direct damage action. 3 Lava Spike with spliced Glacial Rays is 15 damage, plus you still have the glacial ray, plus Ire of Kaminari could come up, or you can play the Glacial Ray alone, and the entire time you are building charges on Blademane Baku.
The fourth part of the deck is the cards that open up when you have 5 mana:
5 mana can do a hell of a lot with direct damage arcane and splicing.
1 Lava spike and 2 Spliced Glacial Ray in the hand can end up doing 7 direct damage for 5 mana.
5 mana can also bring out the beefy attackers:
Arashi is a pocket counter to flying. Tap and spend x + 1 green to deal direct damage to flying or channel and spend to direct damage all flying.
Jiwari is the exact same except for non flying.
Forked Branch Garami is a great 4/4 with Soulshift 4 x2 which can bring 2 Zubera or Hana kami back. More blockers, more direct damage, a great 4/4 to block something with and die to force the soulshift. Or just a 4/4 to hide behind Shinen of Lifes Roar and attack with Blademane. 4 more direct player damage means 2 less counters on blanemane to KO the enemy AND generates one counter since it is a spirit.
Devouring rage plays for 5 and as an additional cost you can sacrifice all your spirit zubera on the board, and for each sacrificed, +3 and another +3 if they were a spirit. We are talking +6 for each zubera, the more zubera on the board, the more mayhem ensues. 1 red and 1 green zubera? +12 to an attacker, +2 direct damage to the enemy player, +2 1/1 blockers.
Devouring rage is a single card because of its high cost, but it coming up at the right time can play into so many different synergy combos in this deck. Oh yeah it also gives Blademane Baku a counter.
One final card for 7 mana is Bounteous Kirin. Its a spirit! So Blademane prospers. It is Flying! That helps sometimes. If you play a spirit or arcane you gain life. Every card is spirit or arcane! Spliced Glacial rays proc this and stay in your hand! Its a 4/4 with flying, so it takes a bite out of the enemy health.
This deck has insane synergy on almost 3 levels with every single card that is played.
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Zubera Chump blockers can counter decks that pump lots of cheap attackers at you while dealing direct damage and bringing you more blockers. They also get into the Graveyard so you can soulshift them back out later. Kami as a blocker brings your valuable direct damage spells back. You need Lava Spikes to splice a single glacial ray onto.
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Direct Damage alone can kill the enemy with 20 damage. 4 Lava Spikes and 1 Glacial ray in hand can do this in 4 turns with 3 mana spent a turn.
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Taunting Elf style attacking allows your creatures to do direct player damage at any stage of the game.
Let Blademane build up a few counters and swing alongside Shinen of Lifes Roar for easy player damage.
Pair this with your zubera/kami chump blockers to swing early for good chunks of health. Save your shinen and baku by letting zubera/kami take all the hits.
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Direct Damage combos later into more direct damage based on the GY.
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You get to sift through a very limited selection deck with unchecked growth while putting mana in your hand.
Mana starved? Solved. Not getting the combo you want? Throw a few cards onto the bottom of your deck with every lava spike. If you see your 5-7 mana cards get pushed to the bottom you know the top cards have a huge chance of being the easy to cast and versatile direct damage cards you need or cheap blockers that keep on giving. Or to bring your next Shinen or Baku onto the field.
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Baku is an insane glass cannon. Imagine getting 2 baku onto the field guarded by 1 Shinen. 1 mana lava spike deals 3 damage to the player. +2 damage on each of the baku from counters later. 3 mana in one turn can deal 3 damage then boost 4 more. Shinen/Baku/Baku on the field, lava spike, add a counter to each baku, spend 1 mana on each baku. Assume the first baku gained a counter from the second baku. You attack with all 3, Shinen taunts, Baku 1 hits for 5, Baku 2 hits for 3. 11 damage in one go. This multiplies and goes further with every arcane or spirit in play and the arcane and spirit cards bring more arcane and spirit cards or direct damage to the enemy.
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Any opening hand with a baku, a lava spike, or a shinen in it is playable. 1 mountain is all it takes to fire off all the red cards. Spikes, Rays, Baku, etc.
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One glacial ray can be spliced all game. You can splice a glacial ray onto another glacial ray. Glacial rays can be cast without splicing. Direct damage cards hurt the opponent then come back to hurt again as counters on the baku.
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Baku got killed by an instant creature damage spell? Thats fine! There is enough direct damage and chump blockers to kill the enemy without it. No Shinen out? You better mulligan. But even without, Baku can hit like a beast for cheap. Unchecked growth can turn a baku into a great trample attack without the shinen.
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Each facet of the deck can work without the other part of its combo. Every facet of the deck you CAN get to work together amplifies the killing speed and power. Play Taunting Elf Style and just attack unchecked. Build Charges on Baku. Play Direct Damage Style and just burn your opponent down while your blockers keep you safe. Counter decks with tons of cheap attackers. Counter medium attackers with zuberas so they die in pairs or more. Wait until the bigger units come out and taunting elf attack with a huge lineup. Sift through your deck fast with every spirit or arcane played and increase your chances of getting any of your combos off.
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Sideboard contains a boatload of Artifact countering cards. During this phase Mirrodin was T2 with Kamigawa.
Splinter was a combo killer by removing all instances of an artifact from the game.
hearth Kami was a spirit and killed artifacts.
Wear away was an arcane spell that you can splice glacial ray on and it destroyed artifcats and enchantments and could be spliced itself. 3 Mana meant you could lava spike and splice this on to destroy things, then turn around and do it again, with just one wear away in hand. 2 Wear aways could kill 3 things over 2 turns. Splice on onto the other the first turn, then cast the lone one the next turn.
Gaze of the gorgon was a special card. 1 green and 3 any and it regenerated a target creature and destroyed all creatures that blocked target that turn. That meant taunting elf could take out an entire row of super powered enemies by the mechanics of the taunt and the regenerate. Cheap way to knock out huge armies or huge single cards.
