4 Ankh Of Mishra
4 Rackling
4 Goblin Legionnaire
4 Sunhome Enforcer
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Seal Of Cleansing
4 Seal Of Fire
4 Abeyance
4 Elkin Lair
10 Mountain
10 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge |
  Fun
in Elkins, WV.
Description of deck by it's author
(quoted):
Okay, so let's look at this deck in a bit of
detail. Every card in the deck can be played immediately for an effect
if randomly selected with an Elkin Lair. Instead of a Disenchant, we
have a Seal of Cleansing. Instead of normal direct damage, we have Seal
of Fire. We have a selection of relatively cheap creatures at hand. We
have some cheaper artifacts and enchantments. Finally, the Abeyance can
be played immediately for a card.
If an opponent removes a crucial sorcery, stop it with
the Abeyance. You can use Abeyance to force through a vital permanent
against a counter deck, like the Lair. Otherwise, just play it whenever
you feel like it for a card. Ghostly Prison forces your opponent to make a
choice. The Elkin Lair will encourage your opponent to play their card
now, before they lose it. When they play it, however, they cannot attack
through the Ghostly Prison. It forces opponents to choose whether to
attack or to play a spell.
This will encourage your opponent to play as much mana
as possible. That's why Ankh of Mishra is in the deck. You want to punish
your opponent for trying to get enough mana to attack you or to play
higher casting cost spells. When your opponent randomly selects a land and
chooses to discard it instead of playing it and taking two, you know that
your deck is working.
Since your opponent will be losing cards, it'd be silly
not to take advantage of the opportunity a good Rack will do. Instead of
playing The Rack, I've tossed in Racklings. They are better in a
multiplayer setting where they hit multiple players and they add to the
low creature count of the deck. Goblin Legionnaire is a solid, cheap
creature for dropping when it gets Laired as well as removal and
protection on a stick. It's a perfect card for this deck, because its
versatility is when it is play, not in your hand, so it works well with
the Lair. Sunhome Enforcer is good because of its large rear. It's a fine
blocker for a deck that may need one occasionally. Additionally, it gets
you life, which will help if multiple opponents decide to target you for
death. What's really remarkable are all of the cards that didn't make the
cut that I was considering. You could look at some of these if you wanted.
Cursed Scroll is cheap to drop for the Lair while also getting better as
you lose cards from your hands. Along this vein is Null Brooch, which gets
better with a lower (read “no”) hand, and Ensnaring Bridge.
You could play regular The Racks. They are so cheap that
the Lair is hardly a problem for them. Because they only hurt one person,
you'd be less likely to be a group target. If you still want to attack
everybody but do it better and cheaper, look at Storm World. Seismic
Assault would be ideal because you would eventually want to stop dropping
your own land and therefore could still get a benefit from it. Scroll Rack
would help to find the key cards, and again costs little to play.
Commander Eesha would be a great aerial blocker for the few creatures that
get through. Fountain Watch would protect your key permanents while also
giving you a nice sized body. Enlightened Tutor would find you a nice
permanent. Sphere of Resistance would force your opponent to play even
more land or to attack even less when playing a spell when Ghostly Prison
is out. Zo-Zu the Punisher would be a nice adjunct to the Ankh of Mishra.
Since you are encouraging people to play creatures,
something like Congregate might work wonders for ya. One idea I was
consider was to run Aether Flash and creatures with higher than two
defense. The Aether Flash would hurt the decks that the Lair is weak
against — aggro decks. It would make your Seal of Fire better because
creatures of three or four power would still die if you sacked a Seal. It
would cause an opponent to lose smaller creatures as the Lair choose them.
I thought it'd be a nice move. You could not play it with the current
suite of creatures though; you'd have to find other creatures like some of
the other options mentioned above. Other choices might include
Subterranean Spirit, Wildfire Emissary, and Dawn Elemental.
With this creature selection, look at Wave of Reckoning
or Retribution of the Meek as mass removal spells that would leave your
own creatures alone.
|
. |
