Do you think it would be funny to pull the pin on a grenade and then casually hand it to your friend? Would you balance a bucket of gasoline on a doorframe to prank your dad? Would you cheat to win Russian Roulette and laugh about it later?
This is the culmination of one of my worst, stupidest combo concepts. It originally started as a platform to host Leveler, and has evolved and improved into this current form. This stupid deck has been in progress for years, ever since I first laid eyes on Leveler. Various new releases, and ancient rediscovered tech have finally made it possible.
The deck is a distant relative of Zedruu "Bad Gifts", expanded deeply into black. There are a couple cards that I'm looking to swap out for strictly-better alternatives, but this is mostly its final form. It has won a handful of times, consistently kills at least 1-2 player, kills me every now and then, but most importantly, it actually works at all, and it can be really fun to play.
It's very precarious, if anyone figures out your plan and interrupts the execution, it will often end in your own death. These interruptions don't even need to be intentional, just a board wipe might kill you. It's quite thrilling; you have a terrible secret that you have to keep from the table until it's time to reveal the dumb, lethal thing you've built right under everyone's noses. Even the commanders give absolutely no hint to the plan (BTW the only one commander in these colors is Breya, Etherium Shaper, and she tends to pull too much notice).
With that said, here is the concept:
- Get Leveler or Inverter of Truth onto the field without suffering their effects
- Somehow make them ETB on an opponent's field.
- That's it, that's the joke.
There is a subtheme with Lich's Mastery, Nefarious Lich and Nine Lives, slightly different pathways but ultimately a similar mechanism.
Here is a very brief rundown of the categories:
- Tutor, Land and Mana are self explanatory. Some of the lands have relevant utility, but nothing exciting.
- Gifts are the ways you will kill. Your ultimate goal is to cause the Gift creatures to ETB on an opponent's board, OR give then destroy the Gift enchantments.
- Delivery represents the vector that actually causes an ETB of the gifts. Typically you Donate control of a delivery method, then kill the original creature.
- Donate is fairly obvious, it's the way you will give these terrible things to other players. I find Sudden Substitution and Mystic Reflection particularly hilarious ways to donate nasty things. You also donate "Delivery" cards, for example to point a reanimated Leveler to ETB on an opponent's board.
- PPE is critical (as always), and allows you to handle your radioactive hot potatoes without dying in the process. The whole point of the deck is that you brought hazard-specific PPE and the opponents did not. The category also helps defend against interference as you build up or execute the kill.
- Removal is another critical category. In addition to the usual function of removal, it will often be the killing stroke. For example, Fractured Identity + Nine Lives, followed by a Cyclonic Rift. There are also many times where you'll need to kill your own creatures to activate the trap.
- Utility contains helpful pieces that don't belong in another category. The GY removal simply helps make Inverter of Truth more immediately lethal.
Here is a breakdown of some of the core mechanics of the deck. Most of these pieces are interchangeable, there are many ways to make this work, these are just some of the ways it can happen. It's worth keeping in mind that for all of these, "Leveler" represents any of the Gifts. In a creature-focused version of the combo, Opalescence allows the Enchantment gifts to play along.
- Scroll of Fate+Leveler+Fractured Identity. This is the simplest, most boring table kill in the deck. If you can cast Leveler and Fractured on the same turn, you can skip Scroll (or any PPE), as everyone else will die before you.
- Leveler+Followed Footsteps, Donate the aura to another player. Best case scenario, you just keep passing control of the aura to each opponent in turn sequence.
- Leveler+Endless Whispers, sac or kill Leveler.
- Leveler+Minion's Return (or any of the other equivalents), Donate the aura, sac or kill Leveler.
- Summoner's Egg imprinting Leveler, then Donate the Egg, then any Removal targeting the Egg. This is one of the more dangerous, exciting plays. If anyone causes the egg to die before you can hand it off...game over.
- Leveler+Grave Betrayal (or any of the reanimation Auras), Donate the enchantment, then sac or kill Leveler.
- Fractured Identity also works with the lethal enchantments, but you'll need some PPE to survive your own enchantment leaving, but hey, always Wear your PPE!
- Win by concession: Donate Nefarious Lich, Lich's Mastery and Nine Lives to each of the other players. CONCEDE THE GAME. All permanents you own are exiled when you leave the game. Sure you conceded, but everyone else "Loses the game", right? Sounds like a win to me.
Level 0 (too easy, not in deck):
- Leveler+Laboratory Maniac or Oracle, Jace etc. Boring, easy, obvious...
- Anything to do with Phage the Untouchable. It's basically the same idea, but Phage is easier to execute safely (undesirable) and worst of all, she's known. Everyone knows what's up when they see Phage. The initial confusion and dawning horror of the Leveler play is the real juice.
Because it can be difficult to execute, a good portion of the game can be spent gently misleading, obfuscating and simply reacting, often passively. In most cases the "combo pieces" on the table don't look like they work together. In fact, when you're on the verge of going off, it appears that you're having a bad game and nothing is synergizing. To roll with that vibe, I usually just take attacks straight to the face, but there are a handful of nasty responses, like Deflecting Palm or Rakdos Charm if things get too hot. Because the dumb core play can take a long time to assemble, it almost feels like a Marchesa Aikido deck where you have to politically dance around conflicts and not draw attention. With that in mind, I kinda want to replace the tutors with draw effects to reduce suspicion and make the combo more "earned".
I am very interested in suggestions, or any ideas to stabilize the deck. Mana seems pretty stable, though a tad light on ramp. Likewise for draw, there is some, but perhaps not quite enough.
Thanks so much if you bothered to read this whole thing, I'm extremely proud of this deck! I know many of you will not like it or say it won't work, but it's my pet and it's my responsibility to provide the best care possible for all my pets. While it's an ugly duckling, it's one of my most favorite pet decks I've ever made and if you think the concept sounds fun to play, I assure you, it really is!
