4 Howling Mine
3 Spellbook
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Sakura-tribe Elder
2 Myojin Of Infinite Rage
4 Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant
4 Journey Of Discovery
4 Obliterate
4 Pyroclasm
4 Seek The Horizon
15 Forest
7 Mountain
1 Oboro, Palace In The Clouds |
  Sasaya,
Orochi Ascendant.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
Usually I start my deck brainstorming by
thinking of mono-colored decks first, then allied-color decks, then
opposing-color decks, then five-color decks. I don't know... it's just
how I think. Sasaya is weird enough, though, that this approach isn't as
useful. Instead, I find myself focusing on what I want to do with
Sasaya's Essence and working backwards.
The first and best option, it seems to me, is
Obliterate. Obliterate can't be countered and it blows up the entire world
other than Sasaya's Essence. Even better, I just established that I have
seven land in hand, meaning that I can easily recover from an Obliterated
world. Myojin of Infinite Rage makes a nice back-up plan as well and adds
some duplication to Obliterate's effect. The rest of the deck involves
Green's land-thinning cards, some card-drawing, and some token defense.
Here is what I've played with mixed results online:
It's a weird deck, and one of those
packed-full-of-rares-but-rarely-works sort of decks. When Sasaya's Essence
flips, though, look out.
If I go the Fireball route, I think I want to use Elder
Pine of Jukai (maybe with Soilshaper as a backup plan), Loam Dweller,
Kodama's Reach, Hana Kami, Seek the Horizon, Traproot Kami, and, um.... I
don't know what else. With enough mana-fixing, I could also see adding
Patron of the Moon (a Spirit, which Azusa is not) and Myojin of Seeing
Winds. That sounds like a mess of cards, but my guess is the deck would
hang together okay.
Endless Swarm sort of feels like cheating with Sasaya's
Essence. I hoard land in hand, flip Sasaya, use the massive mana to cast
Endless Swarm (hopefully I've dropped a Spellbook or something similar
beforehand), and then I produce upwards of seven Snakes a turn. I would
worry about auto-lose cards like Night of Souls' Betrayal or Reverence -
which probably means using Oblivion Stone, Kami of Ancient Law, or some
other non-casting way to kill off enchantments. To speed up the kill, I
could use Orochi Eggwatcher, Coat of Arms, or Seshiro.
Speaking of Seshiro, Sasaya probably fits fine into a
weird Snakes deck. Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kashi-Tribe Elite, and a bunch of
legendary Snakes are obviously part of the deck. Maybe I should splash
blue for Trade Routes and Meloku (who I can fetch via Time of Need).
The problem is figuring out why a Snake deck needs so
much mana so as to make Sasaya a centerpiece of the deck, rather than just
a cute trick the deck can take or leave. Patron of the Orochi turns a
ridiculous amount of mana with Sasaya's Essence to a near infinite amount.
If you can find a way to use infinite mana in a Snake-ish way, go for it.
Another card I've mentioned is Iname as One. Most people
look at Iname As One and figure they'll never get the "if you played it
from your hand" ability and are content with the big body and the "leaves
play" ability. With Sasaya's Essence, though, twelve mana is easy. The
deck would need all of the usual Green land-thinning cards, maybe with
Howling Mine and Ambition's Cost thrown into the mix. After that the deck
is full of huge Spirits, the likes of Myojins, Iname As One, Bounteous
Kirin, Kokusho, Kuro, Masamuro, and hey, maybe even Thousand-Legged Kami.
Time of Need is probably in there, too. |
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