Lands:
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
13 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blood Crypt
1 Kher Keep
Creatures:
3 Gathan Raider
4 Putrid Imp
4 Nether Traitor
1 Kuon, Ogre Ascendant
2 Nightshade Assassin
4 Braids, Cabal Minion
3 Lavaborn Muse
1 Waning Wurm
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Liege of the Pit
Other Spells:
4 Gibbering Descent
4 Zombie Infestation
2 Dread Return |
  Mmm...Braids.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
If you're not, like, a pyromaniac, and burning
things to a crisp doesn't float your boat, try this. Both Braids, Cabal
Minion and Liege of the Pit are very unpleasant people to be around
during the upkeep. They get really testy and start to demand sacrifices.
To keep them contented, you can do a couple of things. One, put your
head in the sand and pretend the upkeep doesn't exist (perhaps by
playing a Hellbent Gibbering Descent). Or two, find a pair of Nether
Traitors. Put one in the bin and the other in play and you'll be able to
sacrifice them (alternately) all day. Nether Traitors are fine fodder
for Kuon, Ogre Ascendant's sacrifice ability as well (and flashing back
Dread Return is a great way to put Kuon into play).
Razormane Masticore has an almost uncanny symbiosis with
Gibbering Descent. It has a pretty steep upkeep cost, but that cost is
discarding a card which conveniently provides you with a Madness outlet
for Gibbering Descent. By the time you have no more cards in hand and
therefore can no longer pay that cost, you will be skipping your upkeep
anyway! It's like the opposite of a Catch-22. Or something. The kicker is
that the Masticore's other triggered ability actually triggers at the
beginning of your draw step, and not at the beginning of your upkeep like
you might expect.
To help you get your Gibbering Descents out early, I've
used Putrid Imp, Zombie Infestation, and the card Mark Rosewater previewed
on Monday, Gathan Raiders. A pair of Nightshade Assassins are the only
other Madness cards, but Nether Traitor and Dread Return are fine to
discard as well. I added some Lavaborn Muses because they not only work
well with multiple Gibbering Descents, but they also introduce a nice
tension when you also have Braids and/or Kuon and/or Razormane Masticore
on the table. If your opponent doesn't play any more permanents, Braids
will quickly gobble up the existing ones, but if he or she does commit
more cards to the board, the Muse will start doing it's old
Lightning-Bolt-you-every-turn routine. |
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