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Creatures:
4 Eternal Witness
4 ______
4 Vine Trellis
3 Myr Quadropod
2 Viridian Zealot
2 Johnny, Combo Player
1 Richard Garfield, Ph.D.

Other Spells:
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Now I Know My ABC's
3 Commune With Nature
3 Sensei's Divining Top

Alpha-Bits.

Description of deck by it's author (quoted):
At first glance, it looks bad. Very bad. Well, guess what? It kind of is, but it sure is fun to play! [Which is the point of Unhinged. –William] Let’s go to the card-by-card analysis, as well as what letters each permanent contributes to the alphabet:

Eternal Witness
Contributing Letters: A, E, I, L, N, R, S, T, W

Okay. If I need to explain why Eternal Witness is good, then there is something very odd going on. About the only uncommon letter Eternal Witness contributes is the W, which you already have if you have Now I Know My ABC's in play. It's mostly in here for retrieving dead letters. It's also pretty good with Gifts Ungiven, I've heard.

______
Contributing Letters: Any of them, but only ones that are all in a legal card name

This card is your go-to guy when you are missing some letters in your alphabet. Need an X and a Q? Suddenly, for only one, he's now a Qumulox. Fugitive Wizard will net you V, W, and Z. And, of course, there's always things like the new longest card name ever, Our Market Research Shows That Players like Really Long Card Names So We Made This Card to Have the Absolute Longest Card Name Ever Elemental... the possibilities are endless!

[For the record, Our Market Research Shows That Players like Really Long Card Names So We Made This Card to Have the Absolute Longest Card Name Ever Elemental contains the letters A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, and Y]

Vine Trellis
Contributing Letters: E, I, L, N, R, S, T, V

Vine Trellis is one of three cards in the deck that give out a V, and it's probably the best for this deck. It's a mana accelerant and a decent early blocker, as well. Again, it's nothing new for this to be a decent card to play.

Myr Quadropod
Contributing Letters: A, D, M, O, P, Q, R, U, Y

Now we start getting into the *cough* marginal *cough* card selections. Basically, all Myr Quadropod is is a creature with a fair toughness and a few uncommon letters, including the lone Q in the deck. Its activated ability doesn't come up too often, although if you have enough mana, you can block, flip it, assign four damage, and then flip it again to regain its four toughness, netting an attacker if your opponent doesn't realize this. (Be ready for some arguments if they don’t understand damage on the stack, though.)

Viridian Zealot
Contributing Letters: A, D, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, V, Z

This card is my only actual Z in the deck, and I felt like I needed to have at least one. What if my opponent plays Cranial Extraction naming ______? (Although I could just change the names of the while they are in my library, I suppose...)

Johnny, Combo Player
Contributing Letters: A, B, C, E, H, J, L, M, N, O, P, R, Y

Although this deck may be mechanically based around Now I Know My ABC's, it's thematically based upon Johnny, the king of combo. In game, he's pretty good at fishing out Now I Know My ABC's, followed by whatever letters you are missing, probably in the form of a copy or two of ______. He also has a decent variety of letters in his name, as well.

Richard Garfield, Ph.D.
Contributing Letters: A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, P, R

Mmm...Mental Magic. Mr. Garfield can really help you fill holes in your alphabet, no matter what cards you have in hand. For example, Commune with Nature can be a Jukai Messenger or a Hana Kami; Vine Trellis is now Sakura-Tribe Elder or Dripping-Tongue Zubera, and extra copies of Now I Know My ABC's get turned into Temporal Adept or Kami of Twisted Reflection. He also gives you access to utility cards like Naturalize or Hinder. (Don't forget, lands cost 0, so extra Forests can be Welding Jars if you want them to be.) Too bad Gifts Ungiven can't become Fact or Fiction...

Gifts Ungiven
Contributing Letters: None; this isn't a permanent

Here is my other way besides Johnny to dig up a copy of Now I Know My ABC's. How are they going to keep it from me when I get Now I Know My ABC's, Eternal Witness, Johnny, Combo Player, and ______?

Ensnaring Bridge
Contributing Letters: A, B, D, E, G, I, N, R, S

Ensnaring Bridge is a bit of a stall tactic, preventing anything too big from coming at me while I set up. Usually anything that can get under the Bridge can't get over the Trellises and Myr. It also gives me a B, which I'm a little short on otherwise.

Now I Know My ABC's
Contributing Letters: A, B, C, I, K, M, N, O, S, W, Y

This is the lynchpin of the deck; the big cheese if you will. This is about the only possible way for this deck to win, so getting one is kind of important. It isn't too hard with Johnny, Gifts Ungiven, and Sensei's Diving Top, though.

Commune with Nature
Contributing Letters: None; this isn't a permanent

Commune with Nature is pretty good if you're looking for a Myr Quadropod just to get the Q; even if you don't see one, you're five cards closer. It can also pull out a ______, which is always good, or Johnny, which can get you whatever else you need.

Sensei's Divining Top
Contributing Letters: D, E, G, I, N, O, P, S, T, V

Spinning the Top helps you pull out whatever letters you need that are near the top of your library, and the fact that it has a V in its name doesn't hurt either. It also combos with Johnny's shuffling somewhat, allowing you to take the best of the top three during your next draw, and then shuffling the chaff away next turn while grabbing whatever card you want most.

Forest
Contributing Letters: E, F, O, R, S, T

These are awesome; they should go in almost any deck containing green.

Island
Contributing Letters: A, D, I, L, N, S

See Forest; replace green with blue.

Blinkmoth Nexus
Contributing Letters: B, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, S, T, U, X

A pretty good all-around card. With multiples, you can get a 2/2 or 3/3 Nexus to block with, and in singles, it's the X for the deck, along with another B.

City of Ass
Contributing Letters: A, C, F, I, O, S, T, Y

A fairly good mana-fixer, it's basically a City of Brass that only does half damage after it untaps, and with multiples, you can add up the 1/2s to actually be usable, and not take any damage. Plus, when you're using Unhinged, you got to work an Ass card in there somewhere, just because.

Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Seat of the Synod, and Tree of Tales
Contributing Letters: Bunches of 'em

Basically, these are all just lands thrown in to get some more letter variety in your mana base. The legendary lands also have Johnny and Richard that they can target with their effects, so they aren't totally useless. I thought about using a Shizo, Death's Storehouse, just for the Z, but I decided that the mana base was sad enough as it is.

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by Luke Hendricks @ www.londes.com

ALT-WIN: Now I Know my ABC's [UN]