Lands:
4 Dakmor Salvage
1 Ghitu Encampment
1 Kher Keep
4 Molten Slagheap
8 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Tresserhorn Sinks
Creatures:
3 Hamletback Goliath
4 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
4 Sunrise Sovereign
4 Thundercloud Shaman
Other Spells:
2 Foriysian Totem
2 Fury Charm
4 Incendiary Command
1 Liliana Vess
3 Living End
2 Mind Stone
3 Prismatic Lens
4 Terror
Sideboard:
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Fury Charm
1 Gathan Raiders
1 Gibbering Descent
1 Goblin Lore
1 Living End
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Mind Stone
1 Mindless Automaton
1 Pact of the Titan
4 Pyroclasm
1 Shriekmaw |
  Dear
Incendiary.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
I'll say right off the bat that this deck is
focused more on Thundercloud Shaman than the "lowly" Incendiary Command.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that Incendiary Command might not
be a good fit for this deck at all. Still, it's in there because, I
don't know, I enjoyed playing it. It's like a Lava Axe, a Lava Storm, a
Lava Blister, and a [insert name of future red card-drawer with the word
Lava in the title]—all in one! It provides some pyroclasmic redundancy,
is rarely useless, and is perhaps the only red card in this paragraph
that can destroy a Plains (think Savannah or Temple Garden), a
plainswalker, and a planeswalker.
Plus, Lorwyn top dog Aaron Forsythe recently called it
the worst of the Command cycle, and I just can't resist supporting the
worst of things. It's the reason I have been a Toronto Raptors fan for
many years (admittedly, they are now on the upswing) and it explains why
I write all of my articles on a CoCo 3 (although I'm still getting used
to its brand-new "lowercase" feature).
The inspiration for the deck was an old favourite of
mine from Onslaught, the last major tribal block. Dubbed Zombie Bidding
by a graduate of the School of Sensible Deck Names, it combined the
awesome power of Patriarch's Bidding with the slightly-less-awesome
power of Noxious Ghoul. Not only does Noxious Ghoul make for a great
insult if you happen to live in Elizabethan England (in my mind, it's
second only to Filthy Cur in this respect), but it's practically
guaranteed to wipe out your opponent's side of the board when you
resolve a Bidding and put it and all of your other dead Zombies into
play.
Thundercloud Shaman is Noxious Ghoul-esque, generally
better when it comes into play, but generally worse once it's in play.
The Ghoul has a couple of other advantages: Zombies are cheap and
plentiful, and its -1/-1 can still eliminate creatures with protection.
On the other hand, Thundercloud Shaman has cooler art.
In the role of Patriarch's Bidding is some combination
of Living End and Liliana Vess. Neither card is an ideal substitute
(they're both very slow), but if you want to stick to Standard (and I
do), they're all you've got.
The deck went through a number of permutations before
arriving at the list below. I tried a number of discard mechanisms,
including Oona's Prowler, Goblin Lore, and Mindless Automaton, before
settling on Incendiary Command. At one point, I even tried to build
Turbo-Living End (a contradiction in terms), with the Prowler, Goblin
Lore, a bunch of Giants, and Inner-Flame Acolytes (which would give my
biggest guy(s) haste, Hamletback Goliath in particular). Unfortunately,
the Faerie just died to all of my removal (at the time, the Terrors were
Pyroclasms) and Goblin Lore ended up being "Draw four cards, discard
three non-Giants at random" every time I played it. Mindless Automaton
was actually fine most of the time and could find its way back into the
deck at some point. Much of the time, I was just hard-casting my Giants
anyway. Incendiary Command gives you the chance to discard your hand if
you need to, but can do other things in the meantime. Here's where I
ended up... |
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